A/N: Here it is folks! The next part! Who am I to argue with my loyal readers??
A voice startled James out of his dreams of flying.
"James, James! Wake up!"
"Rise and shine, Jimmy boy!"
James knew both of those voices and he flung a pillow at the latter. There was a loud sarcastic "Oh, that really hurt," and James knew he'd hit Sirius.
"Shut up, Mr. BLUE," he mumbled.
"James, it's Lily. Come on, get up! I know you want to pratice throwing pillows while your face is buried in the blankets, but we've got Quidditch pratice."
James groaned. Lily, the Seeker and captian of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, had amazing persistance when it came to getting people out of bed.
"Go 'way, Lily," said James, raising his head an inch. "You're not supposed to be in here anyway."
"Too bad for me," was the reply.
"James," called Remus from the other end of the room, "you've got a vision of maidenhood for your girlfriend. The least you can do is appreciate her."
"Thanks, Remus," said Lily dryly. "I'm not even sure if that's a complement."
"Probably not."
"A vision of maidenhood, eh? I kinda like that," James commented, sitting up. "So, you want me to get up, Vision of Madienhood?"
Lily hit Remus over the head with a pillow. "Remus! Now you've gone and given him ideas."
"How about, 'Peerless Perfection of Maidenhood'?" asked Sirius innocently from the other side of the room. Lily dived and tackled him.
"Oh, be quiet!"
"When's Quidditch practice, oh Peerless Perfection?" asked James, grinning wickedly.
"You shut up too," Lily told him, beginning to beat Sirius over the head with a pillow.
"Why--achoo! --do I-- achoo! --have the --achoo! --feeling I've-- achoo! --gone through-- achoo! --before?" grumbled Sirius between allergy fits.
"Because we like to beat up on you," said Peter, heading for the bathroom.
"Right," said Lily. "And now that you're all properly awake, I'll see you on the Quidditch field in fifteen minutes!"
She gave James a kiss and walked out, kicking Sirius lightly as she did so. James watched her go.
"You know, you couldn't ask for a better lady than Lily," said James. "Smart, tough, got a senese of humor, has really cool friends, determined...slightly violent..."
"Yeah, well, it helps that she's pretty, doesn't it, Jimmy Sunshine?"
"Sirius! SHUT UP ABOUT THE JIMMY SUNSHINE THING!!"
"I can't help it if your parents named you a stupid name!"
"They didn't name me Jimmy Sunshine! They named me James Daystar Potter!"
"So you keep saying," said Remus, getting out of bed, "but sometimes, I do have to wonder."
"What, you think my name really is Jimmy Sunshine?"
"You know, we've got Quidditch pratice-- you'd better get ready." Remus avoided the question with the diplomacy he was famous for.
James grunted and fell out of bed, hitting the floor with a thud. None of the boys looked up; they had grown used to this odd custom. Upon asking, James would say, "It helps wake me up". No one knew whether to believe him or not.
James was in the bathroom when he remembered-- Snape! The smile was wiped from his face. How COULD he have forgotten? It was the big day...... and if they failed, Lily's maidenly innocence would be scarred forever!
There was nothing for it-- they'd just have to wait. James walked out to the Quidditch field with Sirius and Remus, his fellow Chasers. Lily was already there.
"Good," she said, ushering them into the locker room. "You're the last ones... I've got a new plan to explain and it might take a few minutes.."
The three looked around. The Keeper, Alexandra Peir, was slowly nodding off at the back of the room; the two Beaters, Katrina Porpington and Silvus Lewyn, had their heads together in a corner.
"Listen up, everybody," said Lily, clapping her hands. "I've got a new plan this year, and it really depends on aerodynamics and the body, not your brooms--"
James quietly zoned out, catching only the most important details of the lecture. When he finally walked out on the Quidditch field, his mind was certainly not on what he was supposed to be doing.
"What's the problem, James?" yelled Lily, looping him. "You were brillant yesterday, and it's not any earlier in the morning!"
James nodded his head, more to clear it than to answer, but tried to focus on the game. He did much better, but had a fierce headache by the time they ended.
As they all walked back up to the Gryffindor common room, there came a terrific explosion from the girl's dorm. All of the girls but Lily raced up to their rooms as there was another tremedous POW! Lily shook her head, red locks flying everywhere.
"I take it your exploding candalabras worked?"
"Sounds like it, doesn't it?" grinned Remus.
"How many did they light?" asked Peter wonderingly, as the explosions continued upstairs.
"I'd say someone was jealous and lit all of them to find out all the admirers," snickered Sirius, as shrieks came drifting down the stairs.
"That would be Martha," said James as Martha Herrald came charging down the stairs.
"You!" she screamed, "you, you, you-- MARAUDERS!!"
"My dear Martha," said Remus charmingly, "what did we do?"
"You planted those candles, admit it!"
"What candles?" asked James, feigning puzzledness.
"The exploding candalabras!"
"My dear girl," said James, putting on his best condesending smile, "I am Head Boy! Lily is Head Girl! Remus here is a prefect! Do you really think we would do something as-- spiteful as all that?"
For the first time Martha hesitated.
"Rest assured," Lily told her, stepping forward, "we will look into the matter."
Martha knew a cue from the Head Girl when she heard one. She walked away.
"Actually, we ARE the matter," muttered Sirius, and they laughed.
"So, why aren't you a prefect too, Sirius?" asked James teasingly. "You get good marks."
"His brains are too scrambled by all the buffeting with pillows," said Lily.
"Why does he get good marks, then?"
"Uh, guys," Trina Moren appeared beside Sirius's elbow. "Hate to interrupt your little argument, but I need to talk to Lily for a moment." She looked at all the boys and said pointedly, "Alone."
"What about?" asked Sirius, ever the nosy one.
"It's a girl thing," said Margaret Adava deliberately, coming to stand beside Trina.
Remus blushed a little. Margaret had been his girlfriend in their sixth year, but they'd never really hit it off. They were still friends, but Remus was a tiny bit uncomfortable around her.
"Pay toll," said Sirius, leaning down. WAY down.
Trina, always the cute one, gave him a kiss. "There you go, you handsome rogue," she said, laughing. "Let's go, Lil'."
"Yeah, you handsome rogue," said Lily, giving him a twisted smile. "Let us go now, please."
"How can I resist a request from the Peerless Perfection of Maidenhood," Sirius shot back.
"Sirius, if you were hitting on Lily, you've got a death wish." Margaret giggled. "You'd have three people who'd want to kill you: James, Lily, and Trina."
"Is THAT what you've been doing to Lily?" asked James with great interest. "I thought you were just teasing."
"Jimmy Sunshine, I AM just teasing. I wouldn't hit on your girlfriend... well, not much. Not actually HITTING on her, no....."
"Sirius, you may as well go jump out the window now, because, one of these days, my friend, I'm going to kill you over that Jimmy Sunshine insult. Hitting on Lily will just make your death a little more painful."
"I challenge you to a duel, you cad," taunted Sirius. "I'll take one on one! I'll take you both together!"
"Stop quoting Princess Bride, Padfoot-- we've seen that movie WAY too many times."
"Yeah, besides, we've got GUY things to talk about," Remus reminded them.
Five minutes later they were safely shut in their dormitory. James took a parchment out from his bedside table. "All right," he said, "here's what we're gonna do."
"First, could you give us an overview?" asked Peter, confused.
"We're going to make Snape think he's not destined for Lily."
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Sirius.
"Well, we're going to use our Animagi forms......."
Disclaimer: I don't own this, as usual. I don't own ANY of the characters, even the ones I made up... ::grins sourly:: and I don't feel like going into an explaination of WHY I don't own them.
A/N: Heeheehee! I'm evil once again! :::laughs::: I don't like slight cliffhangers, do I? Well, this particular piece of story was pretty short, but there's at least ONE more installment coming, maybe two. I don't know. Anyway, as always, review, please, I love reviewers.... they're such responsible readers and really show their appreciation... ::sigh::: Anyway... the next, and last, part is now up...
-- A very confused and tired Lizyrd