The Gryffindor Common room was decorated with gold and red, the colours of Gryffindor. The other Three Marauders were sitting by the large fire and had a few bits of parchment out. James walked over and joined them. Remus looked at him as he sat down and noticed James' cheek was slightly red.

"What happened to your cheek?" Remus asked.

"Got slapped." James said almost proudly. Sirius and Peter looked up at this.

"By who?" Peter asked.

"Guess?" Sirius said hitting Peter like it was obvious. Peter still looked confused. "Lily, you idiot" Sirius said good-humoured. James couldn't hide anything from Sirius.

"Yeah." James said. He looked at the Parchment. "So what's the Plan?"

*    *     *     *

"I can't believe him." Lily ranted as she paced her Dormitory. Her best friends April Marsden and Jenny Chang sat on Jenny's bed watching Lily.

"Less then an hour and she's already at it" April muttered. April was a tall attractive blond haired beauty, her eyes were brown, speckled with green and she was slim and popular with the boys. Jenny, who was watching Lily amused, was a Chinese girl, who was just as clever as Lily. Jenny had long black hair and dark brown eyes. The three girls were all quite popular but only April exploited their popularity by dating quite a few guys but she never went very far with any of them. All three were sensible enough to realize when a guy was pushing them too far.

Jenny laughed slightly and Lily turned to them.

"It's not funny." Lily said.

"Lily, get a grip, it's just Potter" April said. "When did he annoy you so much?"

"Since he turned up at Petunia's party." Lily said sitting on her bed. April had been at Lily's house when that happened. "And then he tried to kiss me outside the common room." Jenny looked at Lily interested.

"What happened?" She asked Lily eagerly.

"Nothing, well I did slap him" Lily said with a slight smile. April rolled her eyes.

"Lily, if you want a boyfriend you have to stop slapping the ones who make a move on you."  April said.

"I don't want a boyfriend" Lily said. "I want to concentrate on my work."

"You're head girl, what else do you want?" April said.

"I want a good job, I want to show Petunia up as a loser." Lily muttered.

"Sister rivalry." Jenny said. "I got that when my sister was sorted into Ravenclaw." Jenny's younger sister, Lee, was two years younger then them and was a very smart girl. Jenny also had an older brother who was five years older then they were but they never spoke about him because he lived in China so there was nothing to talk about.

"Yeah, and look at Jenny and Lee now." April said. Lily looked at April, "No, you're right, there's no hope for you and Petunia." April said after.

"What did Dumbledore want?" Jenny asked.

"He was just telling us what we needed to do." Lily said.

"Oh, yeah, who's the head boy?" Jenny asked.

"Potter" Lily said with disgust. April looked at Lily slightly stunned.

"How did he get head boy? He wasn't even a prefect."

"I know." Lily said. "And he's always getting into trouble."

"Wow," Jenny said. Lily knew that Jenny had a slight crush on James but was currently dating a boy from Hufflepuff.

"Yeah, well, there's also going to be a dance because Dumbledore had a whim over the summer" Lily said slightly amused. April started laughing slightly at the stupidity of it. But their head master was very weird but oh so cool.

*    *    *    *

"Timetables." April said handing the timetables to Lily and Jenny as they joined her at the table in the great hall for breakfast the next day.

"But it's a Saturday." Jenny said slightly annoyed.

"I know, it's great isn't it? The first few days of school are a weekend." April said. She was looking up and down the table, no doubt looking to see if there were any decent boys. Just down the table, James and Sirius were surrounded by girls, Peter was sitting opposite them on his own and Remus was at the teacher's table talking to one of the teachers.

"So what do you want to do today?" Lily asked the girls.

"Well, I wanted to just sit by the lake today. It's so beautiful." Jenny said. She looked at the enchanted ceiling. "And it's a clear day." April nodded.

"Great, it'll give me a chance to work on my tan." Apirl said.

"You've been working on your tan all summer." Lily said slightly amused.

"Winter is coming up soon Lily, and if you haven't forgotten, there is no sun in winter." April said. Lily smiled and shook her head.

"You are unbelievable." She said.

"Thank you." April grinned. Just as April had said that there was a bang at one end of the Hall. The three girls turned quickly to see that half the Slytherins had turned into chickens.

"What the-" Jenny started to say but she was speechless. Everyone was laughing except Lily. She looked down the table to see James and Sirius in fits of laughter.

*     *    *    *

"That was brilliant Padfoot." James said as they walked out over the grounds of the castle.

"It was only to show what the Slytherins really are." Sirius said happily. Remus clapped Sirius on his back and they all started laughing again, with the exception of Peter. Peter was frowning slightly but the others didn't take any notice. The marauders went over to a large old oak tree that stood by the lake. The day was too hot to do anything and James wanted to relax for a while and bask in the sun.

"I swear the Marauders get better every year" came a girl's voice, James and Sirius looked at each other and looked down the shore of the lake to see Lily and her friends sitting at the edge of the lake. They weren't in their usual school robes but in their own clothes. April was lying on the grass with her shirt hitched up slightly to reveal her tanned stomach. Jenny was lying on the grass next to her and Lily had taken her shoes and socks off and had her feet in the lake.

"How can you think they're great. They're just stupid gits who don't have anything better to do." Lily said. James looked at Sirius, who pretended to look hurt. "Well, except maybe Remus, at least he tried to work." Remus beamed at this and James gave him a cold look. How dare Lily be praising someone other then himself. Most people always found it an honour if any of Lily's group or the Marauders praised them.

"Well, it seems you're no where nearer winning her heart." Sirius said. James looked at him and Sirius held up his fists ready to fight.

"Can't be bothered." James said. He put a hand in his robes and pulled out a tiny gold snitch.

"I can't believe your parents got that for you." Sirius said slightly amazed. James smiled.

"Well we are rich." James said. He let it go but didn't let it go any further then a foot or so away before catching it again.

Oh my god look at him showing off again, Lily thought as she noticed James playing with his snitch a little way off.

"So, Lily what do you want to do after Hogwarts?" Jenny asked. Lily picked up a stone and threw it into the water.

"I don't know. Probably work for the ministry." Lily said.

"Really, I thought you wanted to be an Auror?" April said.

"No that's you." Lily said looking at her friend. April thought for a minute and smiled.

"Oh yeah. I don't know what I'd do without two smart ass friends like you two." She said.

"Well, I nearly wasn't your friend. I could have been in Ravenclaw." Jenny told them.

"Same." Lily said. April looked at the two of them.

"What?!" She said. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Didn't need to say it before." Lily said shrugging. April thought this over and nodded.

"True." April said. Lily smiled and pulled her feet out of the water and went up the bank to join her friends but she didn't lie down. She thought about the outside world for a few moments. It was getting increasingly darker. Last year at least twenty pupils in Hogwarts had lost a member of their family to the new rising power of Lord Voldemort. Lily knew that his influence had reached overseas and half of Europe was being forced to follow Voldemort. Lily frowned as she thought of Voldemort's main objective. To erase muggle born and half muggle witches and Wizards. Lily's friends were safe from this but Lily's parents were both Muggles and were delighted that Lily was a witch. Unlike her annoying older sister.

"What's up?" Jenny asked, her eyes were squinted slightly to block out the sun that was shining in her eyes.

"I'm just thinking." Lily said. She noticed a shadow approach from behind.

"A penny for your thoughts?" said a boy coming from behind them. Lily turned to see James standing over her.

"Hi James, Sirius." April said sweetly. Sirius gave her a grin and sat down next to her.

"Nice body." Sirius said. April got up and pulled her shirt down properly.

"What do you want Potter?" Lily said slightly annoyed.

"I want to know what you're thinking about. Moony has gone to see the head master and Peter has wandered off somewhere." James said.

"We got bored" Sirius said.

"So you decided to come and annoy us with you presence?" Lily asked.

"That pretty much sums it up." Sirius said. "And James wants to ask you out again." James hit Sirius a bit too hard. Sirius lost his balance slightly and bumped into April.

"Sorry April." He said sincerely.

"So what were you thinking about?" James asked.

"If you must know, I'm worried for my family." Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Her family are muggles, remember?" April said.

"Oh yeah." Sirius said. He turned to Lily; "I've been meaning to ask, what was that thing that played music from those strange plastic disks?"

"It's called a CD player, you would know if you took Muggle Studies." Lily said. Her tone was less harsh towards Sirius then to James. Something James hated about Sirius but he could never truly hate Sirius. They were like brothers, nothing could tear them apart.

"You worried about Voldemort hurting your family?" James asked.

"Yes, he's been a bit more active recently." Lily said.

"I can get my Parents to check on your family occasionally if you want." James offered. James' parents were both Aurors and they were quite famous aurors. Lily felt slightly touched that James was offering to get his parents to protect her family. No, Lily thought, he's just trying to impress you again.

"No it's fine." Lily said. "But thanks for offering." Lily sighed and endured the rest of the day listening to James boasting.

"Kill me" she mouthed to April and Jenny, who both giggled.