Chapter 17

(A/N) Thanks for your reviews! I have the song from Spongebob Squarepants stuck in my head… (F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me, N is for anybody anywhere here in the deep blue sea…)

Disclaimer: I own… (please refer to last few chapters) On with the story!

*~*~*~*~*

After the first week, James and Lily's business was obviously the most successful. The Ravenclaw's muggle sports followed closely behind.

*~*~*~*~*

"Business is slow today," James said, leaning back in his chair.

"Would you rather spend your time in Potions?"

"No."

"D'you play chess?"

"I, Evans, am the chess master."

"Sure you are. Want to play?"

"You're going down, Evans."

Lily raised an eyebrow, then took out a chess set.

"Why aren't the pieces moving?" James asked suspiciously.

"Because it's a muggle chess set. Just to be sure the pieces don't give you advice."

James scowled as he moved a bishop. "It doesn't matter. I'll win anyway."

"Sure you will… check."

"Check."

"Check."

"Check."

"Check."

"Wow, Evans, you've actually got talent," James said sarcastically. "Oh, and… check."

Lily frowned at the chessboard.

"Make a move, Evans," James sighed, fifteen minutes later.

Lily scowled at him. "Hmm… Check."

"Check."

Lily's eyes gave the chessboard a quick, calculating look. "Check and mate."

James looked up briefly. "You didn't touch the board."

"Oh, right." Lily moved a knight forward.

"That's a check, Evans, you're losing it," James said, moving his remaining rook.

"Check and mate." Lily moved her other knight.

"Do that again," James frowned, moving back the pieces.

"Hey-"

"What's my next move, Evans?"

"How should I know?" Lily scowled at the chessboard.

"You knew my next two moves before I made them," James said, looking at her strangely.

"How so?"

"You knew you were going to win, when you said 'check and mate' the first time," James said.

"That's not possible; lucky guesswork."

"You're a Seer, of course it's possible."

"Just because-"

"Uh, guys?"

Both Lily and James looked up to see Arthur Weasley, a seventh year, in the door.

"Yes?"

"Yeah, um, I need some help."

"We realize that, when you walked in her," Lily said, clearing away the board.

"Right. Um, Snape keeps on calling me 'mudblood lover' and my girlfriend a 'mudblood.' It just makes me so mad when-"

"Angry," Lily corrected absentmindedly. "It's angry."

"Right. Uh, it makes me so angry when he calls Melody a mudblood, that I just want to hurt him. So how d'you suppose I can, er, relieve my anger?"

"Punch him in the nose," James said bluntly. "We all know it's crooked already. You'll be able to vent out your feelings, and it's for the good of the world."

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed. "You're supposed to be helping him, not advising him to be foolhardy and stupid."

"What do you advise?"

Lily directed her speech back to Arthur. "Just ignore him. If he sees it doesn't bother you, he'll stop."

"Oh, like he's been doing to you for the past six years?" James asked sarcastically. "Your way doesn't work, Evans. You've ignored him since first year, and now he calls you mudblood twice a day."

"Well, maybe, he wouldn't if some idiotic people can get it in their thick brains that it's not their problem!"

James scoffed. "You actually believe that, Evans? Slytherins hate mudbloods enough already, you think that they'll just stop? That ignoring them would actually accomplish something?"

"Well, I'd never know, now would I? As Snape obviously sees that someone is very bothered by it!"

"Well, excuse me! I'm just saying, that, well, someone should stand up to that stupid-"

"Well, if you'd just shut up about it around Snape, he probably would have stopped years ago!"

"Oh, yeah. He'll just ignore it, like you do, Evans. Now we'll be one, big, happy, ignoring family!"

"Ignorant," Lily said grumpily.

"Ignorant isn't a related word to ignore, Evans."

"I know, Potter. I was referring to the brain in your thick head."

"Well, at least my head isn't thick enough to just ignore it!"

"I would soo love to slap you right now."

"What's stopping you?"

"There's a witness."

"Whatever," James sighed. "Don't tell me you're going to ignore it when he ignores you ignoring him!"

"Well, I don't go screaming hexes, now do I?"

"You do when I insult you," James pointed out.

"That's because you're stupid," Lily replied.

"Are you implying that Snape is smart?"

"Are you implying that I'm implying that Snape is smart?"

"And besides, what happened to dumping milk all over Snape? And trashing dorm rooms, two at a time?"

"I was doing it to settle my anger," Lily said, crossing her arms.

"Aha! So you admit, O perfect Lily Evans the prefect, that you need to vent out your anger, preferably the source?"

"I wasn't hexing the source of my anger," she said.

"Whatever. But you do admit it?"

"Yes! Fine! All hail to the great and powerful James Potter!" Lily said, sighing in exasperation. "What'd you want, a medal?"

"Wow, Eddie's right! You are good at this!" Arthur said, hastily shoving four sickles into Lily's hand before leaving.

"What just happened?" Lily asked blankly.

"Nutters, seventh years are," James muttered under his breath. "Alright then. Fancy another game of chess?"

*~*~*~*~*

Lily walked down from the stairs to the Common Room, seeing the Marauders hunched over the same table as three hours ago.

"You guys are still here?" Lily asked.

"Uh huh," Sirius answered, not turning.

"Well, I'm going now."

"Great."

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah," came Remus' reply.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Wonderful," James said.

"You're all idiots."

"Right."

"Severus Snape is the greatest being to grace this earth."

"I agree."

"James Potter is the ugliest, most lackluster, stupidest, most egotistical, feckless thing to walk this planet."

"I agree."

"Something's up."

"You bet."

Lily glanced over Peter's shoulder. "What's that?"

All the boys jumped. "Evans, what are you doing here?"

"I don't have to answer."

"Whatever. Go away."

"Sure," Lily turned, then shot James a direct look.

"Owowowow!" he said.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Tell me when you finish the map, by the way."

"Sure-" James stopped short. "How'd you know that?"

"Check your book, Potter."

James scowled. "Extracting information from the mind, Evans. I'm not stupid."

"Oh? You said 'I agree' when I told you that earlier." With that, she left, leaving the Marauders to wonder how they were supposed to coexist peacefully with Lily Evans in the same school as them.

*~*~*~*~*

"What are you doing here, Evans?" James asked, when Lily showed up at the quidditch match.

"I'm here for Gryffindor," she replied curtly. "Despite the obvious mistake that the Sorting Hat made."

"If you mean yourself, I agree," James answered.

"You're lucky I don't believe in unprovoked violence, Potter," Lily said. SLAP.

"What was that for?" James asked, rubbing the side of his face. "You just said that you didn't believe in unprovoked violence."

Lily shrugged. "That was for not being someone else."

"Good reason," James scoffed.

Lily ignored him, and turned sugary sweet to the Slytherin teams. "Severus, Lucious, hello. Good luck," she said politely.

"Oh, yeah, wish the opposing team luck."

Lily scowled, then pasted on a smile again. "Arthur! Good luck! Billius, good luck. Alicia, good luck. Sandy, good luck."

James frowned. "Aren't you going to wish me luck?" he asked sarcastically.

Lily gave him a calculating look. "You know, Potter, I don't think you'll need it."

She disappeared into a crowd before James could think of something to say.

Had Lily Evans actually complimented him?

*~*~*~*~*

"GRYFFINDORS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Yippee," Lily muttered, retreating to the Common room, where everyone was partying.

"Lily, you don't sound so happy," Bella noted.

"I'm happy, I'm happy," Lily said, shoving past some swooning Hufflepuffs.

*~*~*~*~*

"Hex, most definitely a hex," Sirius nodded.

"We could… make all her dreams and nightmares come true," Peter suggested.

"Wormtail, m'friend, where on earth did you get that stroke of brilliance from?" James grinned.

*~*~*~*~*

James tossed in his sleep. It was the same dream.

"Go! Take Harry and go!" "No!" "Good bye." "Avada Kedavra!" "NO!" "Not Harry, please!" "Avada Kedavra!" "NO!" "Good bye." "Good bye, good bye, good bye…" the last words that always echoed.

"James! Wake up! Lily's up! It's working!"

James woke up, shaken by Peter. They had slipped a potion into Lily's juice, and now she'd have to really experience her dream.

Sure enough, Lily was in the Common Room, clinging onto something invisible.

"Goodbye," she said softly.

James jerked up. It sounded like his dream.

"No! No! Not Harry! Please! Not Harry! Take me instead!"

"Whoa," Sirius said, "What kind of dream do you think she's having?"

"Harry?" Remus asked, looking at James. "Sounds familiar."

Lily was shaking now, her eyes rolling around, her breath coming out labored.

The Cruciatus spell.

James froze. That was really happening. If that did, then so would-"

"Evans, wake up!" he yelled.

Lily didn't notice as he and the others shot forward. "No! Not Harry! Please, not Harry!"

Her hand darted forward, and a nearby table erupted into flames, then into ash within a second.

"Lily Evans! WAKE UP!" James said. Remus seemed to comprehend this, and began to shake her.

"Wake up," Remus said.

A green light was reflecting in her eyes, getting brighter, brighter…

"What happened?" she asked. "Potter? Remus? Sirius? Peter?"

"You had the same dream," James murmured. "The same one."

*~*~*~*~*

(A/N) Another long one! Hmm… Now I have another song stuck in my head. ("Just A Closer Walk With Thee")

To Come: More on the dreams. Umm… that's going to take up a lot of the next chapter, which'll come around… two or three days, but check back in one, just in case.