Disclaimer: The characters you can recognize are JK Rowling's and the characters you can't recognize are mine. There. A short and sweet disclaimer.

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"What's a crossword puzzle? Come on, tell me!" Sirius was irritating Naomi, who was very tempted to throw a hex in his direction.

"Shut up, Sirius!" Naomi screeched irritably.

" Interesting… the theme for this crossword puzzle is 'Emotions'," Lily observed mildly, scanning the sheet of paper.

"Just read out the first clue already," James groaned impatiently.

"Fine. 'A feeling of not liking somebody or something'," Lily read out in a clear voice.

"How many letters?" Remus asked, trying to look over Lily's shoulder at the puzzle.

"Seven." James replied in the lazy drawl that Lily hated, looking down at the crossword puzzle lying on the table.

Lily glanced around the room, racking her brains for the answer.

Naomi was tolerantly explaining to Sirius what a crossword puzzle was, after much pleading on his part. Peter? He had pulled a Chocolate Frog out from his pocket and was munching contentedly on it. Remus was thinking deeply, oblivious to his surroundings.

And James. Lily's eyes rested on him last, probably because he was her most hated Marauder. In her eyes, he was a conceited, arrogant toerag with a huge ego that needed to be deflated. He was staring into space now, obviously thinking. Or trying to think, anyway, Lily thought viciously. I'm not even sure James can actually think. It might be too much for his brains to handle. Lily had forgotten completely about the crossword puzzle now, satisfying herself with insulting James in her head instead.

James seemed to sense Lily's eyes on him and looked up.

"Making sheep's eyes at me now, Lily?" He asked, grinning mischievously. His right hand unconsciously jumped to his hair and started rumpling it.

Lily eyed James' hair in distaste and a word suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Has anybody thought of the word yet?" Lily asked aloud. She was answered with murmurs of no and the shaking of heads. Sirius stared blankly at her and asked," What's the clue again?"

Lily ignored him. "I've thought of a word that can fit!" She proclaimed happily.

Everyone looked at her expectantly.

"Dislike!"

"Hey, you're right! What inspired you?" Remus asked curiously.

Lily smiled. "Potter, of course!"

James pretended to look hurt, but he soon cheered up.

"Does that I mean I get a reward?" He asked Lily, tilting his head to one side cockily.

"Nope." Lily replied, disinterested in the topic.

She wrote the word 'dislike' down on the crossword puzzle.

Remus was just about to read out the next clue when Naomi interrupted him.

"Holy cow! Lily, do you realize we have Divination on in five minutes?" Naomi exclaimed, looking at her watch.

Lily snatched up the crossword puzzle, stuffed it in her bag, said a hurried goodbye to the Marauders and left the room quickly with Naomi at her heels.

"Divination!" Sirius threw his hands up in disgust. "Who in their right mind would take up such a subject?"

Remus tuned out Sirius' complaints about Divination and turned to James. James was obviously deep in thought. He was frowning.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Remus waved a hand in front of James' face.

James jumped up, startled.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Remus repeated every syllable slowly, as if he was talking to a retarded child.

"Oh. I was just thinking about… you know… Lily." James' hand jumped to his hair again.

"Ah. Lily." Remus nodded, comprehending.

"Hey! Have you three been listening to my views on Divination at all?" Sirius suddenly asked indignantly.

Peter, who was now starting on a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, nodded his head earnestly, in way of showing that he had been listening carefully to Sirius' views on Divination.

Sirius seemed mollified and started off on his opinion of Divination again, Peter listening closely to his words while working his way through the packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Remus and James continued their conversation about Lily.

"Am I really as awful as she makes me out to be?" James asked meekly.

Remus looked at James curiously. James was now in one of his insecure moods again. He usually did not get in these moods often, more like once in two blue moons, but when he did, he was in a most vulnerable state. Might as well make the most out of it, Remus decided.

"Well… you definitely have room for improvement," Remus told James.

James hand went to his hair again, without him conscious of the fact.

"For example, you can stop messing about with your hair so much. Lily hates that," Remus quoted an example on how James could start changing.

"Does she really hate me?" James looked thoroughly miserable.

Remus decided to put him out of his misery.

"No… she just dislikes you. Hate and dislike are two completely different matters."

"How so?" James brightened up a little.

"Well, she wouldn't step on your hand if you were hanging on to the edge of a very high cliff with your hand." Sirius suddenly stopped voicing his views on Divination and decided to add in his bit of conversation.

"Err… well, I suppose I agree with Padfoot. If she hated you, she wouldn't think twice about stepping on your hand in that situation. But she only dislikes you, so she would probably make an attempt to haul you back up." Remus agreed with Sirius.

James was now fully convinced that Lily did not hate him and that he was not that bad.

"I'm hungry. Want to come with me and raid the kitchens, anybody?" He grinned cheerfully at his friends.

A wave of relief surged through Remus and Sirius. The insecure mood had passed. They stood up and joined Peter and James, who were already making their way to the kitchens.

A funny seven-letter word- Dislike. Not hate and not like. Just somewhere in between.

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So… how is the first official chapter of Life's Crossword Puzzle??? Tell me! Tell me! * Author goes crazy and starts bouncing up and down in excitement * Come on, be a nice person and click the 'Review' option and then click 'Go'. You know you want to… don't you??? Please? :D

Oh, and a BIG 'Thank You' to all the people who reviewed for the prologue! I was thrilled to bits! (As you can tell by now, this is the author's first attempted fanfic ever) Thank You sooooo much for reviewing! Your reviews made my day! Honestly. A BIG BIG THANK YOU once again! X)