"Pay attention, Lily!" James said, snapping his fingers in front of Lily's face. It was nearing the end of November, and work had become increasingly difficult for the seventh-years. Patrols seemed to stretch out forever and thanks to Tiana Smithson, the Prefect meetings took forever as well. It was a late Tuesday night, after patrol, and they were trying to get some work done.

"Sorry James," said Lily, and she yawned. "I'm just so tired lately. Homework's really got me drained."

"Then take a break!" James exclaimed.

Lily rolled her eyes at this. "Then all I'd do is worry about the work I could be doing."

"Lily, how many essays do we have due in the next two weeks?" James asked, smirking.

"Four," Lily said, not knowing what James was getting at.

"How many are you done?"

"Three…" Lily blushed. "But the last one is for Transfiguration!"

"It's for the Friday after next- work on it on the weekend. Or even tomorrow."

"But what will I do now?" Lily asked, pouting.

James jumped up. "Come with me!"

"What?" Lily asked.

"You're coming with me and I will make you relax!" James exclaimed. "Go get dressed in warmer clothes, because there's no way the rest of this castle is as warm as this place."

Red nodded from her painted landscape. "I see students run in the halls to try and keep warm," she chimed in. Lily ran upstairs to grab her sweater when she noticed a small envelope on her bed. She picked it up and opened it, recognizing a slightly altered line from a favourite story of hers.

'Tis torture, not mercy. Heaven is here, where Lily lives,
And every Marauder, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her,
But the Half-Blood-Prince may not.

Lily sat down on her bed and held the parchment in her hand. She was shocked at it. Did an owl leave it there? She saw no marks to suggest it. "And you, Valen?" she asked, picking up the brown cat. "Did you see anything?" the cat meowed at her in response. Lily smiled and put her down on her pillow. She made a mental note to go tell April, Alice and May about the note, and to owl June about it if she didn't see her at the next meal.

"Lily? You coming?" James asked, knocking on the door.

"Oh, yeah!" Lily pulled a sweater over her head and opened her door. James was right there, holding a large cloak.

"Let's go!" James said. He led Lily down the stairs and out the Common Room door. As Red swung shut, he stopped Lily. "Stand close to me, okay?"

"Why-" The rest of Lily's question was blocked out by James throwing the cloak around them, and over their heads. "I can see through the cloak, James," she whispered.

"Congrats, your eyes are working," James mumbled. "This way," he said, leading Lily down a flight of stairs.

"You have an Invisibility Cloak!" Lily said, awed. "How did you get it?"

"My dad gave it to me before I started school. It's been in my family for ages." James said, and he smiled. "You might as well know how we are able to move along without being seen since I don't think we're in the pranking business anymore."

"Is it your plan just to reveal all the Marauder secrets to me today?" Lily teased.

"Not all of them," James said seriously. "I'm saving some for the next time you almost have a meltdown."

"I was not close to having a meltdown."

"Oh yes, you were." James said. The two argued playfully all the way down to the basement. James took the cloak off the two and Lily saw what was in front of them- a giant painting of a fruit bowl.

"That was anti-climactic," Lily said, and James held up a hand. He tickled the pear. Lily watched as it turned into a doorknob. James opened the portrait to reveal hundreds of House-Elves wandering around inside.

"I present to you, the Hogwarts kitchens!" James said elaborately, grabbing Lily's hand and leading her inside. "These little guys can do anything. Go on, ask them for something."

"Can I have some brownies and some pumpkin juice?" Lily asked the nearest House-Elf. He bowed and ran off, returning, with two other elves, carrying a huge tray of brownies and a fourth elf carried a jug of pumpkin juice. James led them to a clear wall in the back. He sat against it and took the tray and the jug, waving his wand, so a small table would be there for the tray and jug to sit on. Lily sat against the wall as well.

"This is nice," Lily remarked. "Is this where you get some of the food for the Quidditch After-Parties?"

"No, I get that from another source. You won't find that out until your N.E.W.T. meltdown," James teased. He took a brownie and nibbled on it. Lily waved her wand and made two glasses appear. She filled one with pumpkin juice and handed the empty one to James.

"Thanks," James smiled.

"Are you planning on taking Ada here?" Lily asked.

"Ada?" James repeated.

"Your girlfriend?" Lily asked. "She's been going on about this huge special date that you're raving about to her and only her."

"When did you hear about this?" James asked.

"Well, I first heard it from Moaning Myrtle-"

"Who?"

"A girl who haunts a toilet," Lily answered. "She asked me if I was going to ramble about huge cherry-popping dates or something. Apparently you're planning to sleep with Ada on that date. So I asked her who would do that, and she told me how Ada was bragging to her friends that her first would be James Potter. And then, yesterday, I heard it in the bathroom, and Ada was asking some girl for some makeup advice for the big-cherry-popping date."

James burst out laughing. "I'm not planning on sleeping with Ada!"

"That would make Kenny happy," Lily said.

"Kenny?" James asked, curious.

"Kenny Sondra. He totally has a crush on Ada. He broke up with me for her, because he didn't want to hurt me," Lily said calmly. "He's always glaring at you lately."

"But I thought that he was with a blonde at the dance," James said to himself out loud.

"The dance in fifth year?" Lily asked. James nodded. Lily sighed. "So that's where he went..." she sniffled. "He left for such a long time and I went to find you, and when I found you he appeared out of no where..." Lily fell quiet. James munched happily on brownies when he noticed several of the House-Elves glaring at him. One pointing to James, and then pointed to Lily. James turned to Lily and found that she was crying.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"I can't believe he would just... cheat on me while we were still together!" Lily sobbed. James sat there, awkward. Lily continued to sob, and James felt his heart break in two. Lily looked up at him, eyes red and puffy. "Am I ugly, James?" she asked.

James stared at her. "Are you kidding?" James asked in reply. "You're stunning! Even when your eyes are red and your nose is running you're extremely pretty, Lily. Not every girl could look good while crying, but you, you can do a sort of sexy cry," James teased to try and make Lily smile. It succeeded in the way that she giggled a little.

"Then why would Kenny cheat on me?"

"Because he goes for obnoxious sluts," James replied.

"That makes Ada an obnoxious slut..." Lily mumbled.

James put his hand under Lily's chin and turned her face to face his. "Maybe he glares at me because he realizes what a moron he was for ditching you, and I get to spend all sorts of time with you." Lily gave James a bright smile and hugged him. James hugged her back tightly. When James released her, he asked, "Does this give me permission to whoop his ass?" he asked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "James!"

"I'm just kidding!" James said, holding his hands in front of him in defence. "But Sirius might actually do it since you're friends now. So I suggest keeping it on the down low."

Lily smiled at James. "Thanks, James."

"Anytime, Lily." James smiled back at Lily. He felt his face grow hot and he coughed. "Should we be heading back now? Are you okay with that?"

"Sure," Lily said. The two got up and made it back to their Common Room without any mishaps. In between their two staircases, Lily stopped. "You're a good person, James. Ada's a lucky girl." Lily leaned over and kissed James on the cheek before making her way up the stairs. James walked calmly into his room before flipping out and doing a victory dance- and then he was reminded of the mess that was Ada.

"You did what?" April shrieked at Lily the next day. After classes, Lily dragged her friends to the Head's Common Room (including June) and ordered Red not to let anybody in, even James. She proceded to tell them about the adventure that she and James had the night before.

"I kissed him on the cheek!" Lily exclaimed.

"You like him!" June yelled.

"I do not!" Lily protested. "I mean, Annie kisses him on the cheek!"

"But they're like, brother and sister, Lily," Alice said, playing with her hair. "You two are definitely not brother and sister."

"Oh shut up," May snapped at Alice. "Lily, did you.. feel a fuzzy feeling in your stomach?"

"Yes, whenever I-" Lily stopped. "No! I refuse to believe that I have a crush on him. It cannot be done!"

"But you did feel fuzzy around him?" May pestered. "Sorry Lily, you definitely like him."

"I do not!"

June rolled her eyes. "Lily, stop being so ADHD. Stop changing your mind!"

"Psh. Tell that to May, Miss I-Like-Remus-All-Over-Again!" Lily said, and May blushed. "I guess seeing what a hot commodity he was helped your decision, huh?" Lily teased.

"It did not!" May said, but she blushed further. April cackled with laughter.

"It was Annie insulting you to oblivion, I bet!" April said. "Made you think, right?"

Lily turned to April, confused. "When did Annie insult May into oblivion? Why didn't I hear about it?"

"Oh, it was a small fight. Started out with homework help and snowballed into a fight about whose rune translations were more accurate," Alice said, waving a hand, while shooting April a warning glare.

Lily nodded, and then she remembered something. "Guys, stay right there!" She ran upstairs and grabbed the note, before running back down the stairs and handing it to Alice, who read it. Her eyebrows spiked into her hairline and she passed the note to June, before staring at Lily.

"Where did you get that?" Alice asked. "And who did you get it from?"

"I don't know!" Lily said, sitting down. "I found it on my pillow yesterday."

June, passing the note to May, asked, "Do you think an owl brought it?"

"Didn't see any little foot prints," Lily said, and she shook her head.

"Maybe the owl just dropped it," June said.

"My window was closed."

"Maybe it Apparated."

"Owls can't Apparate!" Lily protested.

May looked up. "Maybe somebody found out the password and snuck it in. Ask Red, I'll try to see if I recognize the handwriting."

"Red..." Lily said. The girl in the portrait turned around.

"Calm your horses, I heard!" Red said. "I didn't let anybody in besides the usual."

"Maybe somebody flew up to your window, opened it with magic, climbed in, put the note on your pillow and climbed back out, closing the window behind him!" April said. "Isn't that romantic?"

"More like stalkerish, April," said June, and she rolled her eyes. "Whoever wrote that really has it out for the Marauders."

"It's an altered line from Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare," Lily said. "He's an old famous Muggle writer, he wrote plays in the eighteenth century or something."

"Isn't Romeo and Juliet one of your favorite plays?" Alice asked. Lily nodded. "Whoever wrote it seemed to know you pretty well."

"Again, sweet or CREEPY?" June asked. "Either Lily is being crushed on seriously by somebody or somebody is stalking her."

Lily rested her chin on her knees. "But I think it's sweet, comparing me to Juliet."

"Yeah, both were morons," June muttered to Alice, who nodded. Their plan was going horribly wrong.

The group met again a few days later while James and Lily were out on patrol.

"So, we need to take serious action," Annie said, being filled in on what happened with Lily and her reaction to it. "One, we need to break up James and Ada. And two, we have to stop the creepy stalker, or at least convince Lily that the person is no good for her."

"How are we going to do that, though?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, Prongsie is too afraid of hurting Ada," chimed in Sirius.

April sighed, rubbing her temples. "I think the best way to convince Lily that the stalker is no good for her is waiting for another note. Then we'll do it- once, sorta understandable, but breaking and entering twice is creepy."

"But we still don't know how they got in!" Remus said. "Maybe Red lied."

"Why would she lie, though? I doubt she would have," May sighed. "Besides, she's a portrait. I don't think they can."

"But about James and Ada," Sirius said. "We need to get her un-interested in James and interested in somebody else."

"Yeah..." Alice mumbled.

"And for that, we need some sort of super casa-nova..." Sirius continued. Everybody else looked at each other and to Sirius. Sirius looked at them. "Oh, no. I am not doing it! What if she becomes crazy infatuated with me?"

"It'll give you a one-up in Valentine's Day cards," Annie pointed out.

"Please, Padfoot!" Peter pleaded.

"It's for James, Padfoot," said Remus calmly.

"Please, Sirius?" May asked, giving him puppy-dog eyes. June nodded, pouting.

"I beg of you, Sirius..." Alice said.

"Please, Sirius!" Annie exclaimed, taking his hand.

Sirius sat, thinking.

"James is your best friend, Sirius. He would do the same for you. Please, help him be happy," pleaded April. Sirius sighed dramatically.

"Fine!" He exclaimed. "I'll see what I can do, so we can get to Phase Three, which is well on its way."

"Oh god, don't remind us," Remus groaned.

"What happened?" Peter and Annie asked, who were both considerately out of the loop.

"Lily kissed Prongsie on the cheek! He got on his mirror and started screaming about it and woke us all up, and then he ran over here and woke us up more by screaming about it more," Sirius explained. "But that's not important now! Now, I have a girl to snog, and a couple to break up, and a girl to convince about a stalker!"

"I think you should wait until talking to Lily about the notes," May said. Sirius looked at her.

"Oh, no, Mary MacDonald is being stalked by some creeper offering gossip about some of the school's mega-people in return for favors. I'm going to tell her to stop, because the gossip in this school spreads like wildfire."

"I don't know if I should be worried or relieved," Annie whispered to Peter, who nodded in agreement.

"Oh, god.." Annie said, running through the halls. It was the 3rd of December, and she was currently late for Runes because she had run into Lily in the library at lunch. Thankfully, she hadn't gotten a new note yet. "I don't want to be late- oof!" she fell backwards.

"Watch where you're going-!" Regulus Black turned to her. "Oh- Hi." He offered her a hand, but she brushed it off. "I never got a chance to apologize, Anne..."

"Don't call me Anne." Annie snapped.

"But Sirius-"

"Sirius ran into a Death Eater attack to save my life. When you do that, you can call me Anne," Annie said coolly. "And what are you apologizing for? Nearly stalking me, coming on to me late at night, switching all your classes to match mine or having the gall to think that I would go out with you after you insulted me for our entire first and second years?"

Regulus rubbed the back of his neck. "None of those- Uh, I'm sorry about Thor punching you a while ago."

"Oh yes, apologizing for Thor Popo, the troll who can't string two words together without assistance," Annie rolled her eyes.

"I told him that I liked you and he thought that if he punched you and I stopped him it might help you, uh, like me," Regulus said, and he blushed.

"The Egyptian sun god Ra will turn into a flying goat and pig hybrid before I will go out with you!" Annie snapped.

"Can I at least help you with your bag?" Regulus pointed to Annie's bag, which was dripping with ink. Annie sighed.

"Fine, whatever," she said, handing Regulus her bag.

Regulus muttered a few spells, pointing his wand at her bag, and it cleaned up. "Here you go," he said. Annie took it.

"Thanks," she said begrudgingly. "Why aren't you in class?"

"I decided to switch out," Regulus smiled dryly. "Maybe stalking isn't the best way to win a girl's heart."

"It isn't!" Annie snapped, and she walked off quickly before giving Regulus a second glance.

Regulus stared after her, bewildered about her reaction. "What did I say?"

"Jamie!" Ada squealed. James was eating supper with Lily and Sirius when Ada ran up from behind him. From down the table, Remus and May rolled their eyes and Peter, who was eating with the couple, mimed gagging into his sheperd's pie.

"Hey, Ada..." James said, without any enthusiasm at all. Learning that Ada was expecting James to sleep with her was enough, but he had no idea how to pull it together and break up with her. She was more annoying then Stinksap to him.

Lily made a face to Sirius when Ada started kissing James. Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Ada turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" she said slowly, hands on her hips.

"I was simply noticing how cute of a couple you are. It filled me to the brim of ecstasy and I just had to laugh to get it all out!" Sirius said dramatically. Lily rolled her eyes as Ada smiled and giggled at this.

"Ohh!" She said. "Well- Thanks, then, Sirius!" she giggled again before dragging James out of the hall, despite that fact that he was clearly unhappy.

"I swear to god, that girl's only two main actions are giggling and being an airhead!" Lily said.

"Does she annoy you that much?" Sirius asked, curious. He felt a devious plan coming into shape.

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed. "She sticks to him like glue, and I have to deal with her trilling on about their baby making all the time!"

"Do you know if they actual have tried making a baby so far-" Sirius tried asking, before he got a face-full of pumpkin juice from Lily's spit-take.

"Sirius, how the hell would I know?" she asked, angry.

"Noises," Sirius replied, and he changed the subject to avoid getting murdered. "So if she annoys you that much, why don't you get an annoying boyfriend? Just date him for a while until Prongs gets annoyed, too."

"Sirius, that is a horrible plan!" Lily exclaimed. "A horrible plan, but one that could work! Who's the most annoying guy in our grade?"

"Kenny Sondra?"

"No."

"Okay.. Uh... Justin Ryam?" Sirius asked. Justin Ryam was an extremely annoying boy. He was in the Gobstones club, and often stalked various girls.

Lily made a face. "Uh- fine..." she groaned. She got up and walked down to the Ravenclaw table.

"Where's Lily going?" Annie asked, as she was walking by.

"To ask out Justin Ryam," Sirius said, and Annie sat down, jaw dropping, and with a panicked expression on her face.

"What? Why?" she demanded.

"To make Prongs jealous," Sirius replied.

"You were supposed to hit on Ada so she'll dump James, not get Lily a boyfriend!" Annie hissed, gripping Sirius' arm, her hair getting a red tinge. "Now we have another couple to break up! Great going, you dingbat!" She looked around the hall nervously. "Look, I need to go... Go tell the others your latest muck-up." Smacking Sirius upside the head, she got up. She walked quickly out of the hall, at the same time that Lily and Justin got up from the Ravenclaw table and left. Snape followed as well.

Remus, May and Peter all slid down their benches. "What was that all about?" Remus asked.

"I may have gotten Lily a boyfriend..." Sirius mumbled.

"Why would you even think about doing that?" May hissed.

"I was going along the lines of annoying Prongs, so he might take his frustration out on Ada, so she would be easier to manipulate," Sirius said quietly.

"Why?" Peter asked. "Prongs and Lily are probably so close, Ada might be jealous and already easy enough for you!"

Sirius looked around the table. "Look, I fucked up again, can we please move on to the next point of breaking both of them up?"

Remus and May looked at each other, and then at Peter. "We're going to the Library. Maybe we can find something interesting in there to help us..." Remus replied. "Coming, Wormtail?"

"And listen to you two snog?" Peter asked. "No thank you."

"We won't snog!" May defended, blushing. "Promise."

"Fine, then." Peter got up with Remus and May.

"Wait, guys!" Sirius exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Just- just don't do anything," May said, before the three walked away. Sirius sighed, as April walked into the Great Hall. She sat down across from Sirius.

"I hear you got Lily a boyfriend," April said.

Sirius groaned. "Can we please not talk about this?"

"I'm not going to bother you about it, I think maybe everybody's already done that," April replied calmly. She started to eat.

"April?"

"What?"

"Why did you become my friend again?"

April put her fork down, and Sirius watched as she stared into space thinking for quite some time. She shrugged. "'Dunno. Does it matter now?"

"I think everybody hates me."

"They don't hate you, they're probably just tired because of NEWTs," April said, shrugging again.

"And Anne?"

"Annie's been going out a lot at night lately, I don't think she's got the most sleep," April answered. "Just stop worrying about it. Nobody hates you, except for the Slytherins, and they're all pricks anyway so it doesn't count."

"She's been sneaking out?"

"Yeah, I can hear her fumble down the stairs," April said, and she began to demonstrate it with her food. "She always jumps the last two stairs of every staircase, and sometimes she messes up and starts swearing. It's really easily to tell that its her. No other girl uses the descriptive expletives that she does."

Sirius laughed, and then the two of them fell quiet.

"April?" he asked, after a while.

"What?" she asked back, looking up.

Sirius got up, grabbing his bag. "Thanks." When April didn't reply, he rolled his eyes. "You normally put in an 'anytime' or something in when people thank you, you know."

"Yeah, but I don't want to go through this bout of you pitying yourself again," April said, and she smirked. "Happy-go-lucky Sirius is annoying enough."

"Hey!"

"Just shut up, Sirius."

Oh my god. It's been months, right?

No excuse for it, really. Grade ten's a bitch, though. xD And I've been tired lately.

Oh, and I kept on trying to drag on this chapter when I realized today, like three minutes ago, "HEY. ITS LONG ENOUGH."
I have half a mind to scrap the entire thing and work on something less nonsensical. And better written. Cause the first few chapters = PAINFUL TO READ.

Review time:

.limits111: I'm trying to keep it up. School's hard. xD But yes, Ada's a bitch. We all hate her.

hpfan: Hmm, I can't really say anything about what you asked. But you can rest easy- Owen will be happy in the end. How he gets there is another can of fish.

A La DarkAngel: Well, here you go. Jealousy times a thousand.

This is 26, signing off.