"Hey Lil! Get up or we're going to be late for classes!" Dana bopped Lily on the head with a pillow. A few feathers escaped. Now wanting to cause a pillow fight, as she was not up to it, she got up without complaint.

"Lily! What happened? Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Clara, who was brushing her golden locks and singing to herself in the mirror, looked t Lily.

Lily propped her head up on an elbow and checked her reflection in the mirror and wasn't surprised with what she saw. Her eyes were circled by black eye bags. She looked deathly pale and her hair stuck up in different places. Her nightclothes were creased every where from tossing and turning all night. She hadn't gone to sleep as early as she thought she would.

"Ah, I just had a slight nightmare. I stayed up late with James. But, I'm ok," she hastily covered up for her appearance. Her two friends exchanged skeptical looks and nodded.

"Slight, meaning screaming about not leaving James behind and about a person names Harry," Dana said.

She sighed and said, "I just talked with James after I woke up. I couldn't get back to sleep, even tough I tried. Please, let's not talk about it anymore."

She went into their bathroom, had a quick shower, brushed her teeth, fixed her bed and got dressed in plain, black Hogwarts robes. Lily grabbed her schoolbag and went down to the Great Hall with her two best friends. She was greeted by McGonagall, who was hurriedly handing out their timetables. One look at the piece of parchment in her hands made her groan.

"Not Double Potions with the Slytherins again!" (a/n: I realized that the boys are in fifth year and the girls in fourth, but in my story, I made the two years share their Potions lessons. ()The Marauders came in, Sirius dragging his feet, Peter rubbing his eyes tiredly and Remus looking cheerful as ever, as he was a rather good morning person. James came in last-

"Whoa, James. Did you have a nightmare, too? Stayed up very late last night, now, with Lily, haven't we?" Clara asked innocently.

Lily sent a death glare at the blonde, who smiled sweetly and serenely.

James' hair stood up in more places than usual. His eyes were not unlike Lily's and he looked very drowsy.

"Yeah, we just had a little chat over some hot drinks. Bloody hell, I'm tired," he yawned.

Sirius snapped up. "What's this about, Prongsie, m'boy? Midnight talks? Are you sure that you didn't do more than just talk with Lily?"

James whacked Sirius' head and muttered "Shut up, Padfoot!" as everyone except Lily, whose face was aflame, sniggered.

They ate their breakfast and the Marauders were speaking in hushed whispers. The girls noticed this and demanded to know what they were talking about.

"Never mind, it's just a prank. Not important. Hey!" Sirius looked at his Quidditch watch, "We've five minutes to get to Potions! Caldwell'll have our heads if we're late, the nasty git! C'mon!"

They hastily finished their remaining food and followed Sirius, who had a slight head start. When they arrived in the dungeons, Caldwell wasn't there yet, so the Marauders decided to put their prank into action.

Sirius whipped out his wand, aimed it at Snape and muttered an incantation they probably made up. The four pranksters laughed hysterically but quieted down as the door slammed. In a flurry of black billowing robes, Professor Maurice Caldwell stood in front of the class.

"Back for another year with me, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room and his gaze landed on the Gryffindors. "Pettigrew, I do wish you'd stop sending your fellow classmates to the Hospital Wing. But I daresay we can expect that from you?"

He ignored the death glares set his way by Peter's friends and droned on about making the Polyjuice Potion. "I have rented this copy of Moste Potente Potions from the Restricted Section of the library and duplicated it for this class. Gryffindors will share and Slytherins will get one each. Pair up in partners and I'll distribute the ingredients."

Lily and Dana ended up together, James and Remus were partners, Sirius and, unfortunately for him, Peter, and Clara and Hazel.

While adding the lacewings to his potion, Sirius muttered under his breath, loud enough for the three girls to hear, "Bet you anything that the umbrella shoved up his arse went even higher."

Dana, Clara and Lily tried hard to suppress their giggles but failed. Caldwell heard them and snapped, "What, may I ask, is so hilarious that you have to interrupt the peace and quiet in my dungeon?!" Hearing silence as an answer, the potions master took twenty points from their House.

James exploded. "Twenty point for giggling? I bet you my arse that if any of his 'pwecious wittle Swythewins' laughed, he'll just go on about as usual. Watch."

He aimed his wand at Malfoy and muttered, "Rictusempra!"

Their attention turned to the pale, blonde boy, who sniggered hysterically, then to the professor, who went to check another Slytherin's cauldron, unbothered.

James, disgusted at the Slytherin's Head of House's favoritism, ended the spell. "Finite Incantatem."

He shot the others a look that said "I told you so" and went back to adding the shredded skin of a boomslang to his potion. An hour passed by and soon it was time for the testing.

"Silence! Now, get a piece of hair from your partner and slip it into your vial. Drink it after the swirling has stopped," Professor Caldwell said.

Lily picked off a strand of hair from her head and placed it in Dana's cup, while Dana did the same thing, putting hers in Lily's potion. When the swirling stopped, Lily's turned brown, but not the murky kind and Dana's turned scarlet. They both hoped for the best and drank it.

"Ouch!" Peter's (who now looked like Sirius) cry of pain caused Lily to open her eyes. When she looked at Dana, who now looked exactly like Lily, she gave a squeal of joy and relief. The now red-haired Dana opened her eyes and whooped.

Professor Caldwell wasn't paying any attention to Peter, whose face was deforming quickly and his knees had buckled beneath him. The pair went to help Peter up and pushed through Sirius, who was too busy celebrating his successful potion to notice Peter's state, and went to the teacher.

Lily gasped at Peter's heavy weight. "Professor, Peter's potion went wrong!"

He stared at her for a slight second and said, "Typical. I don't see why you're so surprised. Send him to the Hospital Wing. Potter, Black and Lupin will take your things for you. Go on!"

Heaving, the two girls left for the Hospital Wing with Peter's cries echoing through the halls. After leaving Peter with Madame Prinuella, ("Oh my! Mr. Black, what've you gotten yourself into this time?") who'd mistaken Peter to be Sirius, they headed for the Great Hall.

"Oy! Lily, Dana! We're over here!" Sirius flung his arms wildly about his sides, gesturing to the two girls.

They hurriedly ran over to their friends and Lily sat down beside James, while Dana as did to Sirius. They assured the group that Peter was all right and asked for their things. At mentioning their bags, James and Remus pulled them out fro under the table and gasped.

Remus remarked, "How do you manage to carry these around everyday around Hogwarts? Seriously, how do you girls do it?"

Clara asked angelically, "Whatever do you mean, dear Remus?"

"Well," Sirius put in, "first your bags are as heavy as boulders. I didn't now you took all these extra subjects, but you sure seem to have lots of bloody books!"

Dana laughed airily and explained. "You wouldn't understand if we tried to tell you."

Ignoring the three boys' protests, the girls all said together, "It's a girl-"

They were interrupted by a very colorful someone, who burst in though the great wooden doors of the Great Hall, yelling his head off.

"Potter! Black! Lupin! What the hell did you do to me?!" Snape strode over to the Gryffindor table and approached the laughing boys. His usually pale skin was purple, his greasy hair pink with blue polka dots, he clutched a unicorn stuffed toy with one hand, and he was wearing nothing but his bunny boxers.

Having a good look at the Snape, Lily burst out in laughter along with the whole Hall, excluding the Slytherins, who scowled with annoyance.

"POTTER!"