Hey readers! I decided to speed things up and post the third and fourth chapter today, so I can hopefully move on to year seven soon (it's already written). But anyway! You know the drill, read and review!

Chapter 3

Sweet Revenge

The next morning, Belle, Madison, and Lily prepared themselves for class. Lily brushed out her long, red hair and smiled. That night while lying in bed, she had come up with the perfect way to get back at James. It wasn't too harsh, but good enough.

"What's our classes for today?" Belle asked.

"Potions and Charms this morning, then I have Muggle Music, and Transfiguration." Lily replied.

"Hm. Not too bad." Madison said. "I just hope Professor Trelawny stops picking on James this year. She was constantly saying he would die last year!" She exclaimed.

"I don't see why you care." Lily said. "James is an arrogant prat."

"Whatever. I think he's cute." Madison replied, leading the way down the dormitory steps. When Lily spotted James and the muraders dashing down the boys' steps, Lily pulled James aside.

"Look, James." She began. "I wanted to apologize for last night. We're both hard-working, and we both deserved this." Lily pointed her wand at him, and whispered an incantation under her breath.

"It's all right." James said shortly, then walked away. Lily smiled, shaking her head.

Lily, Madison, and Belle followed the muraders down to the dungeons for Potions. A few people pointed and laughed at James, but he didn't seem to notice. When Amos Diggory spotted James, he outright pointed to James' chest and laughed. James only gave him a puzzled look and continued walking.

"Oh, James! Always the jokester!" A brunette replied as she walked past. Then James whirled around and looked at Sirius.

"What the Hell? Why are people laughing at me? What did I do?!" He shouted. Then he added in an undertone, "I don't have anything hanging out of my nose, do I?"

"No, no!" Remus said, chuckling. But then he pointed to James' Prefect badge. But instead of reading "Prefect" it said "Pinhead".

"I can't believe you this long to notice, James." Lily scoffed. James turned to look at her. "I mean to say, you're always checking yourself out in the mirror. You'd think you would have seen it."

"You? You did this?" James replied. "Well, change it back!" Belle laughed.

"I think I'll leave it the way it is, thanks." Lily said, pushing past him and the muraders. "You'd better not mess with me, Potter." She added over her shoulder.

When they were out of earshot, Madison replied, "Brilliant. Simply brilliant."

They entered the Potions classroom, and were greeted by none other than the Slytherin students. Professor Walter was leaning against his desk, skimming through a book. Walter was a tall man, about forty years old. He was balding slightly, but he covered his head with a large hat. His sweeping red robes dangled around his feet.

"Good morning, girls. Please take a seat." He said, motioning toward the two person workbenches. Madison and Belle scurried to a table, leaving Lily seat-less.

"You could sit here…" Siverus Snape replied shyly.

"Er… okay." Lily said, placing her bag on the desk. "Thanks."

When the rest of the class was seated in the cold, drafty dungeon, Professor Walter gathered their attention.

"Okay everyone. I know it's the first day back, but I'd like you all to start thinking about an original Potions recipe. We will be getting into partners and creating these recipes as a project. In the end, I will grade you on the originality and, of course, correctness. In fact, why don't we get started now…" Snape turned to Lily automatically.

"Partners?" He asked. Lily cast a glance at Madison and Belle.

"Um, all right." She shrugged. "What potion do you want to do?"

"What about the Truth Potion? That's very interesting. You know, the Truth Draught?"

"Okay. I don't know the recipe, but we'll find it somewhere." Lily said, smiling awkwardly. Snape blushed bright red and turned away.

After Charms with Professor Flitwick, was lunch break. It sped by far too fast for Lily, and soon she was hauling her flute to the Muggle Music classroom. She walked up to the fifth floor, and opened the door. The sweet smell of vanilla reached her nose. The room had about twenty stools and music stands in five semi-circles surrounding a conductor's stand. The carpets were a rich purple and the walls were decked in green fabrics.

Lily took a seat and unpacked her flute. Other familiar students filed in with an assortment of instruments. Lily's friend Dana took a seat next to her and put together her clarinet.

"Hey." Dana replied. "Where's Professor Radcliffe?"

"I don't know." Lily shrugged. But as she spoke a tall, dark haired young man strode into the room. He wore glasses and had smoky blue eyes. Many girls at Hogwarts thought this teacher was incredibly handsome, and Lily couldn't disagree.

When all the students were unpacked and ready to play, Professor Radcliffe stood up on the platform. "Let's play the Hogwarts school song, shall we? It's a good warm up." So Lily brought the flute to her lips and played. She loved her instrument; it always soothed her heart. Lots of her friends said she was amazing at it, but she didn't think so. She just liked playing.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and James was standing there.

"Lily Evans is needed for a Prefect meeting." He said, holding the door open. A few people waved to him, and he smiled back.

"Well, Lily. What are you waiting for?" Radcliffe said. Lily quickly packed up and left the room.

"What's the meeting for?" She asked James.

"How should I know? I'm a 'pinhead'." He said shortly. He walked fast, and didn't say anything more.

When they reached the Great Hall, McGonagall and all the other Prefects were seated at a House table, facing each other.

"Ah! There you are!" McGonagall sighed. "Now we can begin. Since Professor Dumbldore is our new headmaster, I thought it would be nice for us to hold a ball of some kind in his honor. I thought you all could plan it. What do you think?"

"Sounds great! But what theme should we have?" Stephanie Brooke from Ravenclaw asked.

"A luau?" Jonathan Lionel of Hufflepuff suggested. McGonagall scribbled down the idea.

"No… what about a costume ball?" Cindy Ashonal replied. McGonagall nodded and wrote it down.

"A Masquerade." James muttered.

"What's that, Potter?" McGonagall asked.

"A Masquerade. You know, a masked ball?" James said. Some Prefects nodded their heads. Lucius Malfoy stood up.

"That's stupid. How can we ensure everyone will wear a mask? I wouldn't want to wear a mask to a ball!" He said forcefully.

"I think it's a great idea." Haley Parkinson said. "We could hand out masks as they arrive… or sooner."

"Yeah…" Cindy said. "I like that idea."

"We could decorate the Great Hall too." Lily suggested.

"But of course!" McGonagall said, jotting down the ideas quickly. "And when should we hold it?"

"Over Christmas?"

"Halloween!"

"Valentines Day?"

"We could make it a surprise." Lily said.

"That's great! We'll tell everyone to dress up, and not tell them why! Then, they'll come down to the Great Hall, and it will be decorated. We'll give them masks as they arrive, and then the ball will begin!" Jonathan exclaimed happily.

"Perfect! Perfect!" McGonagall said, writing this down at the speed of light. "Wonderful ideas! All of you!" She cheered. "Oh my, you'd best get back to class. Your teachers will have a field day!" She said, shooing them out of the room.

James ran off quickly, but was not heading towards Divination. Lily wondered where he could be going, if not to his elective class.

Chapter 4

A Little Rain Cloud

The next morning at breakfast, Lily sat down at the table and applied herself to her scrambled eggs. Madison had come down with her, but was complaining about the weather. It was still raining steadily and the enchanted ceiling was covered with thick, gray clouds pouring buckets of rain. Lily thought unhappily about Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology- both taking place outside that morning.

James and Sirius walked boastfully into the Grand Hall carrying buckets and shampoo bottles. Many confused students watched them cross the hall to the Slytherin table. They proceeded to dump the buckets of ice cold water on Siverus' and Lucius' hair. Lucius was infuriated.

"What are you playing at?!" He shouted. But Sirius paid him no mind, and squirted a fair amount of shampoo on Lucius' head.

"We decided we'd wash your hair for you, since you never do." James said calmly. Siverus stood up slapping James' hands away.

"We're doing you a favor, boys!" Sirius said. "I mean, it must be embarrassing walking around school with greasy hair!"

"How DARE you!" Lucius shouted, whipping out his wand. James and Sirius took a step back and pulled out their own wands. James grinned as though this was what he was hoping for. Students around the hall were watching with interest. Lily, however, couldn't sit back and watch James and Sirius blow Lucius and Siverus to bits.

"Stop it! All of you!" She said, rising from her chair. Only the water from the Slytherin boys' hair could be heard dripping to the floor.

"This is none of your concern, Lily." James snapped. "Sirius and I can handle ourselves."

"Please. Leave them alone, James." Lily said, more bravely than she felt. James glared at her, but grabbed Sirius' arm and dragged him out of the hall.

"James… she ruined the perfect prank!" Sirius moaned as he fought to continue washing Lucius' hair.

When they left the hall, Lucius and Siverus stormed out of the hall, leaving behind puddles of water and bubbles from the shampoo. Madison turned to Lily in shock.

"Bloody hell! What were you thinking?!" She whispered sharply. "You do realize that now you're their new target, don't you?!"

"Better me than someone innocent." Lily said, returning to her eggs. Madison simply rolled her eyes.

"You can be so thick." She muttered.

Madison, Lily, and Belle trudged out to Herbology after Defense Against the Dark Arts in a bad mood. They had stopped by the common room to put on their cloaks, and they were now holding them tightly to themselves. The wind had picked up, and rain was splattering against their faces. Lily shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck.

The Gryffindors sixth years met up with Professor Sprout and the Ravenclaw sixth years in Greenhouse 4. This particular greenhouse was filled to the brim with exotic plants Lily and the other Gryffindors had not seen before.

"These are Wigglebees." Professor Sprout replied. She was a stout little witch with a large hat topping her flyaway gray hair. "I need you all to re-pot them, as they are growing quickly. I fear if we don't transfer them soon, they will die altogether." She replied sadly. "Groups of three, and make sure you wear your dragon hide gloves!"

Lily, Belle, and Madison moved to a station, and pulled on their gloves. Immediately, Lily could see why gloves were necessary when dealing with Wigglebees. These plants had long purple stocks and a small flower- if that's what you could call the brown sprout at the top. The thing that got Lily was that they were covered in little thorns. She had no clue where to grasp the thing to pulling out of the dirt without harming her hands.

"Grab them firmly around the stem, and yank- hard. They should come up." Sprout replied. "But don't grasp them too hard, or their thorns might sting you."

Lily cautiously put her fingers around the horny stem, and pulled. It didn't come up right away, so she yanked again. This time, it popped out of the pot with such force that Lily stumbled back. A light buzzing was coming from the plant's twisted roots.

"Get the big pot…" Lily instructed Belle. Belle snatched a pot from the table and held it beneath the plant. Lily dropped it in, and Madison filled the pot with fresh soil.

Lily and her friends had re-potted about ten Wigglebees before Herbology ended. But before Lily even stepped out into the rain, she felt water splashing down her neck. She glanced up, and saw a tiny rain cloud hanging above her head, pouring water on her. She turned around and saw James and the Muarders howling with laughter.

Lily dashed outside with Belle on her heels. Even when they were back in the castle, the rain cloud hovered over her head, drenching Lily. Her hair was wet and hanging around her face.

"God, Lil. We'd better get you to Madam Pomfry before you get sick." Belle suggested.

"I'm not going to give James that satisfaction." She snapped.

"But you'll catch a cold!" Madison replied. "And you look ridiculous…"

"So?" Lily said angrily. "I'll find a way to curse it off later." She added, wringing out her hair. But there was no point, for the rain cloud continued to drip icy water on her.

"What's wrong, Lily? Having a bad day?" Sirius asked, laughing madly as approached Lily.

"No, Sirius. This is how I always spend my second day back at Hogwarts." Lily snapped. Trying to walk away.

"Is something bothering you?" He asked sarcastically. "You seem to have something hanging over your head."

"A little rain cloud, perhaps?!" James chimed.

"Shut your traps." Belle said, shoving past the boys. She put her hand on Lily's shoulder, but pulled it away, shaking off water. The muraders laughed hysterically.

"Oh come off it. Just admit you're being thick, Lily." James said. "We don't have to play pranks on you. But you've got to stay out of our way."

But Lily didn't answer. She sneezed horribly, and walked away rapidly.

"Come on, Lily! Don't storm off like that!" Sirius shouted after her, causing the muraders to burst out in laughs.

Later after Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic, Lily and Belle went down to the Grand Hall for dinner. Madison claimed she wasn't hungry and stayed in the Gryffindor tower. Lily's rain cloud was still hovering over her head, and although each teacher she saw suggested she see the school's nurse, Lily refused saying it wasn't that bad.

She had endured many taunts and teases from the muraders all evening, but by keeping the cloud over her head, she thought she was proving that she didn't care what they did to her.

Lily and Belle sat down at the table. Sniggers reached their ears, but Lily ignored them as best she could. Then, as usual, the Muraders walked into the room with their posse of girls.

But this time, a tall, blonde Gryffindor was clinging to Sirius' arm, grinning widely. She whispered something in Sirius' ear, but he seemed to not notice.

The group of them sat down near Belle and Lily. The blonde girl did not need a chair however- she parked herself straight on Sirius' lap. Lily shook her head and tried to laugh, but it turned into a hacking cough.

"Lily, this is silly." Belle replied softly. "Go see Madam Pomfry."

"No." Lily said defiantly. She turned her attention back to Sirius and the odd girl on his lap.

"Si…" the girl whined. "Why can't we go to Hogsmeade together this weekend? Everyone from third year and up is allowed to…"

"I told you. I doubt we can, Dot." Sirius answered. Lily, of course, picked up the fact that Sirius and this girl, Dot, were dating. As of when, she didn't know. But it was obvious that Sirius wasn't planing on seeing this girl for long- he never did. 

Diner sprouted up on the table, and Lily ate quickly so her food wouldn't grow soggy because of the rain splattering down from the rain cloud. When the plates were gold and sparkling again, Lily pushed her chair back under the table so she and Belle could leave.

Sirius suddenly stood up, completely forgetting about the girl sitting in his lap. His girlfriend fell flat onto the floor, and Sirius broke into laughter.

"Help me, Si!" Dot shouted. He offered her a hand, which Dot took and pulled herself to her feet. But since Lily was standing there for awhile, rainwater was covering the floor and as Dot stood up, she slid on it. She and Sirius tumbled to the floor.

"Smooth, Sirius. Real smooth." Lily scoffed, as she and Belle turned to leave. She could hear laughter coming from the hall as Sirius and Dot stood up as proudly as possible. That was a revenge Lily couldn't have planed better.

But she wasn't going to let this rain cloud incident go unnoticed, she resolved as Belle pulled her to Madam Pomfry's hospital wing. No. She was planning something even better than humiliation in front of the school. Why not in front of Hogsmeade?