Written by BookwormCM18. If I had written Harry Potter, Remus, Fred, and Moody would not have died. This is purely Fanfiction.

It is a perfect morning.

Now, James does not use that term lightly, but it is really spectacular. James feels like diving into the Black Lake. However, he does not get a similar reaction from his friends:

Moony - "Every day is a 'perfect morning' for you, Prongs."

Padfoot - *snort* " 'Perfect morning'? What are you, a sissy? Going to take up knitting next?"

Wormtail - "Oh, sure, Prongs! Now, if you don't mind, could you stop jumping on my bed, please?"

James quickly heeds Wormtail's shy request, and then proceeds to bicker with Sirius about how he is a 'very manly entity, unlike Sirius, who is stupid'.

"What is going on here?"

Everybody freezes, and surprise crosses their faces, for none other than Lily Evans is standing in the doorway of the Marauders' dorm room, with a pink tote bag slung over her shoulder.

"Well, what brings you here, Evans?" Sirius asks, clearly trying and failing to flirt with her, as he always does, now that they are all on somewhat good terms.

Lily just rolls her eyes. "Don't make yourself look foolish by assuming I came up here to talk to any of you. I'm actually here to give my notes to Remus. Unless any of you take arithmancy?"

This is pure sarcasm, as they all know that all of the marauders (except Moony) failed the first arithmancy test, and quit before the first month of school had passed. Remus had missed the class because of his, erm, furry little problem, as they called it.

Of course, they didn't tell Lily that, only that he had had a potions mishap, and was forced to spend all of Friday, and the weekend in the Hospital Wing.

Lily plops her backpack on James's bed, most likely on purpose, as the bag, which turns out to be very heavy, ruins his perfect morning with a bruised ankle. Lily ignores this and takes out a dozen rolls of parchment and five books, all about different subjects.

Remus picks up a book and reads the title, "Animagi Versus Animals: A Transfiguration Fabrication. Are you sure this is necessary?" He turns a delicate shade of red as he reads the topic for that week's transfiguration lesson.

"Checks out, mate," Sirius said, while rummaging through his trunk, "Transfiguration was boring this week."

You would say that, James thinks.

"Thanks, Lily." Remus, always the polite one, wants to free himself from this embarrassment as soon as possible. "But we have something really important to do right now, so if you would just..." He trails off, unsure of how to say it. Luckily for him, Lily catches on.

"Oh, sure! Marlene needs my help with a spell, anyway."

She grabs her bag and left as suddenly as she came.

Lily is glad that is over. The tension was nearly tangible in that room.

The excuse about Marlene is, in fact, true. Marlene McKinnon, the girl that Lily is unfortunate enough to have as her roommate, the girl that eventually grew on her, had asked for her help with beauty products.

Seriously.

Lily is not joking.

She is supposed to charm Marlenes's bottles, brushes, and palettes with everlasting spells, intention enhancers (they make whatever the object is supposed to do work at its best, always), and color-changing spells.

Normally Lily would never do it, but she had succumbed to the bribe of silence for two hours each day for her to study. But if she wants that, she will have to charm Mary's and Alice's as well.

But she will do it for good scores on her O.W.L.s. A simple permanency jinx will make sure that Lily will never have to do it again.

Still, this would be a long day.

Rhea wakes up on an armchair with no idea how she got there.

Only after sitting up, untangling her hair with a wave of her wand, and leaning back, does she recall the events of the previous night.

The Astronomy tower.

Lily Evans.

Cassiopeia.

Emmeline.

Iris.

It all comes back in flashes, but there is one thing that Rhea knows for sure: She owes Iris a lot.

Rhea is lucky that she always wakes up early, so there is no one else to see her embarrassment. Rhea jumps out of the plump chair and collects her thoughts, along with the bag that had stayed at her feet for the last night.

She slowly trudges up the stairs, back into her dorm room, to get ready for one of her excruciatingly long days.

Iris, unsurprisingly, had already gone to breakfast, but she left a note in her stead.

Rhea picked up the note carefully, skimming through its contents.

Dear Rhea,

I hope you're feeling better. I snuck in some chocolates from the kitchens; house elves can vicious when they want to. Thankfully, when I explained a friend of mine needed some helpful encouragement and chocolates are the only way to do that, they were surprisingly considerate, even offering more food. I promise I'd visit them again.

I'm getting off-topic. Anyway, I've made up an excuse for you to skip classes if need be. Everyone needs a break every once in a while. Don't stress yourself too much (I know how you are and if you even attempt to get back into classes, I will not be held accountable for any actions against you).

Sincerely,

Iris

Rhea smiles at the note, not afraid of the blatant threat in the slightest.

It seems that Rhea is skipping classes today.

The next day is quite the opposite of the one before. James literally wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, for he steps on Wormtail's quidditch figurines, breaking them, and having to hop on one foot to the bathroom, the dramatic person he is.

After half an hour of James crying out in pain, Padfoot yelling at the "care package" he had gotten from his mother, Wormtail dodging the Pureblood Products that Sirius was throwing at the wall, and Moony trying to muffle the noise with something he called 'earmuffs', and muttering, 'why does every morning have to be like this?', all four Marauders stumble out of the Gryffindor Common Room just in time for them to still be considered on time for breakfast.

In the Great Hall, where rows of food, ranging from eggs to your wildest imaginations were served, a certain James Potter looks around, bored.

"There's nothing to do here!" he whines, turning to his best friend, Padfoot, expecting him to do something about it.

"How about eat?" Moony snaps. With the full moon the next day, he can get a little...crabby, sometimes. The Marauders had learned to tolerate it and not take anything he said during this period to heart years ago, but they do get very offended when Moony says the right thing to make them tick.

Luckily, this occasion is not one of those moments. James clinks his perfectly round spoon against the slightly raised edge of his plate and begins to create a soft rhythm, to the dismay of several 3rd-year girls sitting nearby.

Moony's head falls onto the table, for his plate had vanished after he had finished eating the tiniest of breakfasts. He moans sickly and presses his hands to his ears.

"I think I'm going to go to the hospital wing."

"You should," Wormtail squeaks, "You barely ate anything!"

And so he does. With Moony, the only thing keeping the dynamic duo of the Marauders sane, gone, there is nothing stopping James and Padfoot from having real fun.

"I dare you to throw a bludger at the giant squid!" James taps his foot quickly in anticipation.

"Only if you do something I say!"

"Deal!"

"Swear to Merlin?"

"Yes, yes."

"Say it!"

"Fiiiine. I swear to Merlin that I will do whatever Padfoot dares me to do. But why-"

"I dare you to ask Lily Evans to Hogsmeade for this weekend!"

"What?!" James's mouth opens in horror. "Anything. Anything but that!"

"You swore to Merlin!"

It is true; breaking a swear to Merlin is worse than doing all three unforgivable curses on the Minister of Magic, and getting caught. Rumor is that if you did, the ghost of Merlin will make all your magic go haywire.

"But-but," stammers James. He would never dare tell Padfoot the true reason why he doesn't want to. He doesn't even know what Padfoot assumed, but it can't be worse than the truth.

James and Lily had finally become friends, after many misdemeanors. Asking her out will probably throw that all away.

But, what could go wrong, really? It's not like Lily would actually say no to him. It's a win-win; James gets to keep his social status and see Padfoot anger the Giant Squid, and Lily gets to go on a date with him. No big deal.

"Okay. I'll do it."

Lily is sitting on the opposite side of the table, but she is close enough to hear him. But no. James can make it better.

He gets on his knees on the bench and stands up. from there, he climbs on the table. By now, everyone's attention is on him. Even the professors, including Dumbledore, are staring at him.

McGonagall tries to say something, but Dumbledore calmly puts his hand up to stop her. He has a feeling he knows what the boy about to do.

After everyone is giving him his attention, James holds out a hand, pointing at Lily.

"Lily Evans, will you go out with me?" he says loudly, holding his breath, though anyone looking at him will not see a nervous boy, but a confident one.

Everyone else in the Great Hall waits with bated breath. What will happen? Will there be a new power couple at Hogwarts, the prankster and the teacher's pet, or will it be a disaster?

Everyone thinks this, except a select few people.

Dumbledore is thinking, 'Will this work? I hope it works; they would look so cute together!

McGonnagal's thoughts are, 'This better not be Esmeray's plot! I'm sick and tired of this charade. If they want to get together, let them. But they deserve to have a choice!

Rhea's mind is racing. 'Please work, please work! I can't relive my horrible life. Please work; let the Dark Lord fall!

But Lily Evans is the only one who voices her thoughts.

"I'd rather go out with a toad, you arrogant toerag!"

And there goes his pride.

Lily storms out of the Great Hall, feeling a mix of emotions. It is true, she probably shouldn't have yelled that in front of everyone, but it is so annoying! Why does he have to always call attention to himself?

And Lily knows for a fact that he doesn't actually like her. Well, he likes her, but not like that. As a friend. Not as a girlfriend. Lily refuses to be a toy, letting boys ask her out, then dump her. She will not go out on a date until she truly wants it.

Not like Tuney, who went on several dates before finding Vernon Dursley, whom she has been going out with for over a year (she is nineteen).

But still, James may have stalked away from the table, towards the minor entrance, which led to a small corridor, which then led to the library, but that didn't show how he actually felt. James Potter is an actor.

But after that stunt, Lily isn't sure she can keep up a healthy friendship with him anymore.

Rhea smacks her forehead.

Why didn't she interfere? Why didn't she stop him, or do something?

Rhe wonders if this is what happened in the old timeline, but that idea is quickly forgotten. James would have never asked her out had she not gotten them on good terms.

Why did she ruin it?

Of course, there is the option of telling them both the truth, and letting them know that the fate of the world depends on their marital status, but Rhea isn't that mean. Not that she is mean.

It is easier not knowing than knowing the truth. Even though some might argue, it is true.

Rhea does not know what to do now. She can't do anything. It is in moments like these when you realize the importance of having friends and family to lean on for help. But Rhea has neither.