The marauders had all four been sitting in the corner of the Gryffindor common room for an hour. Remus was helping Peter with his potions essay while James and Sirius played wizard's chess. They wanted to be outside enjoying the nice weather before summer left them, but Remus had insisted on doing his essay even though it was just assigned that day. Peter had agreed, saying that he wanted to start fifth year off right by not falling behind right away and he wanted to be able to do the essay with Remus. James had sympathized with that and gave up the fight, convincing Sirius that they could have fun inside as well.

"You may as well just do your essays now as well," Remus told them. "You'll just have to do them later when Peter and I are done and want to be doing something else. We're going to have completely opposite schedules. "

"Nah," said Sirius as he made the final move to checkmate James, "by the time Prongs and I are going to do this essay, you'll already have another one to do. Then when we get to that one you'll have the next. It won't catch up to us until the end of the year, and that's assuming we do all the assignments anyway!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better."

James smiled at his friends. He didn't want to tell Sirius that he did, in fact, plan on doing all of his homework. He always found time to do it while Sirius was off with a girl or something. "Up for another?" he asked, seeing how little progress Peter had made so far and knowing they'd be there for a while.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Sirius. "I'm sorry mate, but I can't keep playing this game. It's boring winning all the time." He winked at James as he said it.

James laughed. "Alright, then what do you propose we do?"

At that, Sirius got a mischievous look on his face. "Bet you I can pull I bigger jinx than you without getting caught."

"You're on!"

"Really guys?" Remus sighed.

"No worries Moony" James assured, "it's all harmless. Like Peter said, we wouldn't want to start fifth year off on the wrong foot."

From there, Sirius started and the boys took turns playing little pranks on the other people in the common room. This went on for a while, the pranks getting bigger each time as each boy tried to one-up the other's previous attempt.

"Nice one!" laughed James after Sirius had cast a bedazzling hex to briefly change a fourth year's robes into an invisibility cloak, making their body disappear for a minute.

"Took the inspiration from you, naturally. I'll admit that one made me nervous. I thought for sure that we'd get caught for that one. I mean, he definitely noticed! But he didn't look over this way and seems to have calmed down now that he's back to normal. I'm calling that a win. Top that!"

James thought for a moment. He too was surprised that that wasn't the end of their game, and now he had to go again. Sirius saying that he took inspiration from James, however, gave him an idea. He just needed to choose the right target. Finally he saw a second year boy sat with a group of friends in the opposite corner. "Watch this" he laughed to Sirius as he sent an instant scalping hex the boy's way.

Immediately the boy's head went completely bald and his friends gasped, alerting him to the situation. They all started to laugh, as did James and Sirius, but to their horror the boy started to cry. By the time James was ready to send the hair regrowth spell that way and fix the mess it was too late. Lily Evans had already walked over to the boy trying to console him.

"What happened sweetie?" they heard her say in a soft voice to the young boy as she knelt down beside him.

"My-My-My… My hair's gone!" he cried.

"That's okay" Lily said, again in her calm, comforting voice. "We can get it fixed, no problem."

"I can't go to Madame Pomfrey!" he said horrified. "I can't leave the tower and let everyone see me like this too!"

"Don't worry. I can fix it for you right here. See?" She cast a quick hair regrowth spell and let the boy reach up to feel it. "All better?"

He visibly relaxed and stopped crying, but his face remained red from embarrassment upon realizing that everyone in the common room was watching the scene.

Once he calmed down Lily stood back up. Dropping the comforting voice, however, she addressed the group sternly. "This is why you shouldn't play around with hexes. No harm no foul, so I won't bother asking who did it. Just take this as a lesson. It could have ended up much worse."

She started to walk away before one of the boy's friends spoke up. "It wasn't any of us! We were all just sitting here talking when it happened out of nowhere."

Lily looked confused for a moment and started looking around the room. Once the kid had calmed down, everyone stopped watching and went back to what they were doing. Everyone except James and Sirius, that is. "Don't worry," Lily said to the group of second years. "I'll handle it." Her eyes narrowed on James and he gulped as she started making her way across the room towards him.

"I think that is officially victory for me" Sirius laughed.

James punched his friend in the arm and told him to shut up. He fixed his face into his usual cocky smile as Lily approached them. "Evans!" he called. "So nice of you to join us. Care for a round of wizard's chess? I've been destroying Sirius here and he needs a break. Or did you come over here to ask me out? I'm flattered, really, but I'm a bit busy tonight. How's Saturday?"

"Don't give me that Potter. I know it was you who hexed that boy!"

"Ah yes. I saw all that from across the room here. Tragic thing. Good thing you were there to save the day. No wonder Dumbledore made you a prefect this year!"

"Save it. I already know it was you. Stop wasting my time. Why'd you do it? Picking on people your own size getting too scary? Need to pick on little kids to feel good about yourself?"

"Come off it. It was just a bit of fun. You said it yourself: no harm, no foul. I was going to send the regrowth spell over his way soon; you just beat me to it. Besides, he overreacted. He's a Gryffindor! He should be stronger than that. He won't fare well against any Slytherins if that's how he reacts."

Lily rolled her eyes. "He's just a kid!"

"Sirius and I were second years when Avery used the same hex on us, and we didn't have Miss Perfect there to comfort us. We didn't even know about the regrowth spell until the next day!"

"Well I always knew you were just as bad as the Slytherins. Worse actually since you're older and should know better."

That finally broke James. Up until now he had been calm, but he hated being compared to Slytherin scum. He was nothing like them. They were all blood-purists and were actually out to hurt people. His pranks were always just in good fun. "That's not true and you know it. I just did it as a joke and was going to fix it immediately. Avery did that three years ago because it was the worst thing he could think of. That's what they all do. They do whatever they think will cause the most harm. You're just too blind to see that." With that he walked away up to the boys' dormitory with Sirius following.

"You can't let them get away with things anymore Remus, you're a prefect too now" was the last thing they heard from Lily as they made their way up the stairs.

Sirius was smiling like a mad man when they walked into the room. "I won our game, but you definitely won that fight! She always reverts back to comparing us to Slytherins when she has nothing else. And your closer? Bloody hell that was gold. You should have seen her face!"

James couldn't help but smile. As mad as Lily made him, he loved fighting with her. He'd fancied her since first year and she's hated him almost as long. The only time she ever pays any attention to him is when they are fighting. Sometimes he picks a fight with her just for that reason. He likes to think that she enjoys it to somewhat, if not for getting his attention then for the adrenaline rush that comes with a good row.

Not long after James and Sirius came upstairs, Remus and Peter joined them.

"Well congratulations James," Remus said, "You've managed to make Lily angry and it's just the first week. Not to mention that she bit my head off after you left."

"We heard the beginning of that," Sirius commented.

"Yeah," James agreed. "Sorry you were collateral damage."

Remus sighed. "The worst part is that she has a point. Dumbledore made me a prefect, and I'm sure that he is expecting me to keep you two in line. Please don't make it difficult like this for the entire year."

"Don't worry Moony. They'll make it difficult for the next three years!" joked Peter. The four marauders laughed and the subject was dropped. They were on to discussing more important things like what dinner was going to be.