Disclaimer- I don't own anything, yada, yada, yada.
Summary- James has always been in love with Lily, and Lily has always though that James was a bigheaded toe rag. It is there last year at Hogwarts, and James knows that it is now or never to finally get Lily. James even has the advantage of being head boy and Lily being head girl. Well we all know that he gets her in the end…but here is how he did it.
Chapter 38- Lacking in Common Sense
About a week later…
Lily and Alyssa were over at Kendall's house to celebrate Lily's birthday. Peter was at Remus' house, and James and Sirius were at the Potter Estate planning for Lily's birthday.
James and Sirius were in James' room, planning for Lily's birthday. James was sprawled across his bed, thinking, unsuccessfully, and Sirius was sitting in James' desk chair, leaning on the back two legs, with his feet on the desk.
James let out a long. "Uh." In frustration.
"Why do I need to be here again?" Sirius asked, rather bored.
"You are here to help me think of what to do for Lily's birthday." James said.
"Yeah, I know that…" Sirius said. "But why?"
"Because I am bloody clueless, and it is the first time that I am actually going to get to be with Lily on her birthday." James replied, sitting up.
"Why don't you just have lunch with her or something like that, you know, with all the romance, and snogging, and lovey dovey time." Sirius said, blowing the hair out of his eyes.
"Padfoot…please try to be helpful." James said.
"Well…why don't you, as I said, set up lunch for her…or something." Sirius said.
"I guess." James said. "But where?"
"Up my bloody arse!" Sirius half yelled. "I don't know!" He yelled again.
"Ooh! Ooh! I know!" James said with a grin.
"What?" Sirius asked blandly.
"I'll take her to fairy world!" James exclaimed.
"What the bloody hell is a fairy world?" Sirius asked.
"Well, let's put one and one together mate." James said. "It's a world…with fairies."
"Thanks for clarifying that for me." Sirius said sarcastically. "Care to explain?"
"Well you see…I couldn't really tell you because…uh…fear of destruction…but there is, as Lily said, 'A fairy world conveniently located in my back yard.'"
"And you thought that you would just casually slip that into the conversation?" Sirius said, not quite believing him.
"Well, like I said mate, I was afraid that you would destroy the place." James said.
"Well…I suppose I can't blame you for that." Sirius said. "But are you serious…of course you aren't, I am…but really?" Sirius asked.
James just disregarded his comment. "Well yeah, there is. Should I have lunch for her there?" James asked.
"So I assume Miss Lillian knows about this place, eh?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah." James said. "I took her there when she was over at the very beginning of the summer."
Sirius brought his hand to his heart and said, "Prongsie, I am very hurt. How could you trust Evans more than you trust me?"
James threw a pillow at Sirius.
"Will you come with me, and help me set some stuff up?" James asked.
"Well I don't know Prongsie, I don't know if I can be trusted. That is if this 'fairy world' does exist." Sirius said.
James just gave him a look. "Please mate? I really want everything to look good." James said.
"Oh alright." Sirius said with defeat. "Evans sure has taken over your mind."
"Lily, her name is Lily." James said.
"Mmhmm." Sirius said standing up. "Yes, I know."
James laid back down on his bed.
"So where is Lilykins anyway?" Sirius asked.
"Well, she's at Kendall's right now with Alys…she's at Kendall's for a little birthday bash, and she's coming tonight." James said. "So we need to set things up today."
"And you thought that planning this the day she is coming was a smart idea?" Sirius asked.
"Well excuse me Mr. Procrastinator." James said.
"Eh, well I suppose I can see where you are coming from." Sirius said.
"So you'll help then?" James asked.
"Oh I suppose." Sirius said. "Just don't snog in my presence, if it can be helped."
"Will do mate." James said.
James and Sirius headed for the woods, and James showed Sirius the fairy world. They conjured up a bistro table and chairs, arranged with the fairies to bring food in, and surprisingly left with minimal destruction.
Meanwhile at Kendall's house…
Lily, Alyssa, and Kendall were sitting on Kendall's bed, and Alyssa and Kendall were giving Lily her birthday presents.
"Ooh! Open mine first!" Kendall said.
"Alright!" Lily said excited.
Lily unwrapped Kendall's gift.
"It's a diary." Kendall explained. "That only you can open. I thought that might come in handy."
"Brilliant! Thank you!" Lily said.
"Now mine!" Alyssa said.
Lily unwrapped Alyssa's gift.
Alyssa had gotten her a beautiful new bag.
"It's a purse that will never get filled up." Alyssa said. "No matter how much stuff you put in, it can fit it all."
"Thanks!" Lily said. "That sure will come in handy!"
Alyssa then grabbed one more gift.
"What's that?" Lily asked.
"This is one gift from the both of us." Kendall said.
"Aw, guys you didn't have to." Lily said honestly, although she was excited.
"Go on, open it!" Kendall said.
Lily opened the gift, and it was a large scrapbook.
"We thought that you would like a scrapbook of all of your memories from Hogwarts." Kendall said.
"There are a lot of funny ones in there." Alyssa said.
"Thank you guys! This is bloody brilliant!" Lily said, flipping through the pages.
She came across many that jogged almost forgotten memories. For instance, she had almost forgotten, or rather blocked out of her mind, how much she hated James.
There were pictures from 1st year until 7th year, and all three girls flipped through the pages, looking at the pictures.
"Oh look!" Kendall said. "This one is from 3rd year after James turned your hair green and you gave him a pig tail, that he didn't notice for almost the whole day." Kendall said laughing.
Lily laughed. "Hah, I almost forgot about that." She said.
"I didn't." Alyssa said. "He was in my transfiguration class that year, and you should have seen the look on McGonagall's face. She was the one who told him about it."
Lily laughed again. They flipped through the pages some more, and they had eventually reached 7th year. They saw pictures from the ball's, and the quidditch games, and on the last day.
A whole swarm of memories came rushing back to them, and they immediately started sharing stories.
"I think it's so cute how you and James were at each others throats constantly, and now, you are together. It's so sweet." Kendall said.
Lily smiled. "Yeah it is." She said.
They came across a picture of them at the Farewell ball, Lily with James, Kendall with Remus, and Alyssa with Sirius.
Alyssa quickly turned the page, but Kendall and Lily still hadn't heard about the whole break-up.
"Whatever happened between you to anyway?" Kendall asked.
"I just could tell that he was holding a part of him back…you know, just staying with one girl, and I didn't want to be the one girl that was holding him back." Alyssa said. "And I know that he feared commitment, so that wasn't working, and I guess…I guess I don't really want commitment right now either."
"Oh." Kendall said.
"How did he take it?" Alyssa asked Lily, knowing that Lily was over at James' house when she broke up with Sirius.
"He uh…he went around and destroyed half of the house…but once he had some chocolate, he was a lot better." Lily said.
Alyssa let out a forced laugh. "Ah." She said.
"Yeah, and then him and James were bickering, and I had to shut them up." Lily said.
Kendall laughed.
"But is he okay now?" Alyssa asked.
"Yeah." Lily said. She didn't think that she should mention the fact that the day after Alyssa dumped him, he hooked up with another girl.
Alyssa nodded.
"So when are you going to James' house?" Kendall asked, changing the subject.
"Seven." Lily said.
Back at the Potter Estate…
James and Sirius came out of the woods, where James had just set everything up for Lily's birthday, with the help of Sirius of course. They headed inside through the back doors, and were about to head upstairs, but James stopped short and pulled Sirius back when he heard his parents voices coming from the study, the door ajar.
They peered through the crack in the door, and listened to James' parents talking.
"…at twelve o'clock, that way we will have enough time." Mrs. Potter said.
"So how exactly will we be doing that?" Mr. Potter asked.
"Well they think that I'm going there, but you have all of the information, so we will be switching bodies for-"
"How bloody awesome would that be!" Sirius whispered to James.
"Bloody awesome! We have to find out how." James said.
"So the book with the spell in it is on the top shelf in the Library, I'll go get the ingredients for it." Mrs. Potter said.
"Alright, how long should we-"
Sirius and James ran up the stairs excitedly.
"Once they leave, we can go back and get the book." James said.
"This will be bloody brilliant!" Sirius said.
"Well…" James said. "If we've never heard about it, it might be illegal…it's probably only for Aurors, and it's probably pretty difficult."
"Prongs! We are two of the best and most handsome Marauders! So don't even talk to me about difficult!" Sirius said.
James laughed. "Alright."
They heard James' parents doing some sort of spell in the Library, and then exit, and head for the front door.
"Alright boys! We are going out to a meeting, we'll be back later." Mr. Potter said.
"Alright mum." James said, coming to the stairs, to see his parents off.
"Is Lily still coming over later?" Mrs. Potter asked.
"Yeah." James said.
"Okay, be careful, and tell her that we said hello." Mrs. Potter said. "We will probably be back really late."
"But that doesn't mean you can have a party here." Mr. Potter said, directing it mostly to Sirius.
"Don't worry Mr. Potter!" Sirius yelled from his room.
"See you boys later." Mrs. Potter said.
They both left, leaving James and Sirius alone.
James ran back to Sirius' room. "Come on, let's go find that book!" James said.
They went to the Library, and climbed up the ladders to the top shelf. They looked around, and searched for something that could have to do with switching spells.
"The Auror Files." Sirius read aloud, holding up a book.
James looked over at him, and Sirius turned to James.
"That was easy." James said.
They both climbed down and sat on the couch in the Library.
They flipped open the book and found a page marked.
"Alas!" Sirius said. "Body switching!"
James took the book from Sirius. "Here it is…the incantation." James said.
"What do we have to do?" Sirius asked.
"It says here…" James said, and pointed to a part on the page.
After they read over it, they started to grab the materials they needed.
"Alright, well we still have a couple hours before Lily comes, so we should be able to do this, and then switch back." Sirius said.
"You sure?" James asked.
"Yeah, yeah, it will be fine." Sirius said.
They then did the spell, and awaited for something to happen.
"I don't feel any different." James said. "Do you?"
"Nope." Sirius said, examining his hand. "Maybe we did it wrong."
"Oh well, maybe we can try it later, or after Lily leaves."
"Alright loverboy." Sirius said.
James and Sirius got up, and went for a swim before Lily came.
Back at Kendall's…
"Alright, I have to go to James' now." Lily said.
"Okay." Kendall said.
"Have fun." Alyssa said.
"Thank you guys so much for the gifts!" Lily said.
"No problem. Have a great birthday tomorrow!" Kendall said.
"Thanks." Lily said.
She then said goodbye, grabbed her things, and apparated to James' house.
Lily arrived at James' front yard, and walked up to the door and knocked.
She heard a door open, and two people running, and what sounded like someone slipping and falling. Then the door finally opened, and James stood there, dripping wet, still in his bathing suit. Behind him, Sirius was sprawled across the floor, clearly because he slipped when he came running in.
James grinned and gave her a big hug, dripping water all over her. When he finally pulled away, he realized that he had dripped all over her.
"Oh, I'm sorry." James said.
Lily laughed. "It's alright." She then took out her wand, and she was dry again in an instant.
"Happy early Birthday Lils!" Sirius said, attempting to stand up, but slipping again in the puddle that he made.
Lily laughed, as Sirius struggled to get to his feet.
"So what have you two been up to today?" Lily asked.
"Nothing" James and Sirius replied.
"Okay then, should I be worried?" Lily said.
"No really…we were….uh just in the pool." James said.
"Yep, just in the pool." Sirius added.
"Alright then." Lily said, still a bit unsure.
"Come on, lets go put your stuff upstairs, and I'll go get changed." James said.
"Okay." Lily said, as they headed up the stairs.
"I'm coming too!" Sirius added, finally getting up to his feet.
The three of them went upstairs, and Sirius went ahead of them to his room.
"So where should I put my stuff?" Lily asked.
"Well…you can have the same room as last time if you want…or…you could stay with me…?" James said hopefully.
Lily smiled lightly, noticing the eagerness in his voice. "Alright…but only because it's my birthday." She said.
James gave a big grin and they headed to James' room.
James opened the door, and then stepped to the side so Lily could go in first. She smiled in thanks, and walked in.
"Where should I put my stuff?" Lily asked.
"Uh…anywhere really." James said, still taking in the fact that Lily agreed to stay in his room.
Lily put her things in a nice neat pile in the corner of the room.
"So what do you wanna do?" James asked.
"Oh I dunno, whatever really." Lily said.
"Well you're the birthday girl." James said.
"Not yet." Lily said smiling.
"Well, in less than 5 hours…so it's up to you." James said. "Are you hungry? I'm sure we could whip up an early birthday cake."
"Alright." Lily said grinning.
James grabbed Lily's hand and they headed for the kitchen.
"I know there is some sort of spell book in here for making a cake." James said, searching through some cabinets.
"We could always bake one the muggle way." Lily said.
"What! That could take hours!" James said.
Lily laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll help you look for a spell." Lily said.
"Aha!" James said, pulling out a book from one of the cabinets. "Here it is…come on and choose which one you want."
Lily came over next to him and flipped through the book. He examined her as she flipped through the book, and twirling a piece of hair around her finger with her free hand. He ran his hand nervously through his hair, thinking about Lily's birthday, and hoping that she would like what he planned for her.
"Ooh! How about this one!" Lily said, pointing at a picture of a white confetti cake.
"As you wish." James said, looked up the incantation, and conjured up a cake.
Lily smiled. "Oh it looks yummy!" Lily said enthusiastically.
James got out two plates, two forks, and cut him and Lily a piece of cake.
"Happy Birthday love." James said handing her a plate with a piece of cake on it.
Lily took the plate and smiled. "Thanks."
They both sat next to each other on the counter in the kitchen, eating cake, and dangling their legs down.
Lily leaned her head on James' shoulder. "You know, if a year ago someone told me that I would be spending my 18th birthday here, I probably would have hexed them." Lily said with a laugh.
"Well what would you do now?" James asked.
"I dunno." Lily said with a mischievous grin.
James jumped off the counter, and held his hand out to help Lily down. "Let's go upstairs." James said.
Lily grabbed his hand and jumped down. "Alright." She said, still grinning.
James and Lily headed out of the kitchen, and then Sirius came in.
"Ello Prongs…Lillian." Sirius said.
Sirius looked like he wanted to tell James something, so he said, "Go on up Lils, I'll be there in a minute."
"Alright." Lily said, and she headed upstairs.
"Listen mate, I went over the spell, and I couldn't find out what we did wrong." Sirius said.
James sighed, a little perturbed that Sirius interrupted him for this. "Don't worry, we can figure it out later." He said.
"Yeah." Sirius said. "But how bloody brilliant would that be if we could get it to work? We could change bodies with anyone! And we wouldn't have to take a slow arse time to make a pollyjuice potion. It will be bloody brilliant."
"Yeah mate, it will be." James said.
"I just wish it would have worked, we have to figure out what we did wrong." Sirius said.
"Okay! We will! Can I go now?" James asked, impatiently.
Sirius laughed. "Alright then, go have some fun with Lilykins. But if you are going to do anything…use a silencing charm…I need my beauty sleep." Sirius said.
James whacked Sirius in the back of the head as he headed out of the kitchen.
As we all know, James and Sirius are a bit lacking in common sense…meaning that they didn't turn the page…which would have revealed that it took a few hours for the spell to take place.
(A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews guys! I have to give loads of credit to my cousins for help with this chapter. I know that this was a very long and boring chapter, but i have the next few chapters written, and trust me it gets much better. Please review! It will help me post faster!)