"BOOM!!!"
"Little kiddies sneaking out, there be no doubt, dare I to shout, lest they to pout. Shall I yell, or ring a bell, for this tiny rebel may meet his hell."
"Peeves," a voice rang out, stopping the continuous rhymes from flowing out of the mischievous ghost's mouth.
The small poltergeist's face broke out into a wide grin and he started to cackle. "Could it be Hogwarts' own image-breakers, the notorious mischief-makers?"
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter threw off the invisibility cloak that had hidden them. "How many times do we have to tell you, Peeves, it's the 'Marauders', not 'mischief-makers. And why in heaven's name are you wearing that questionable leprechaun suit." said a semi-irritated Sirius.
Peeves popped a raspberry at them and said in a snooty tone, "'Tis St. Paddy's Day, it is. What do you want?"
James grinned, "Peeves, remember the time we covered for you when you filled Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with soap…well, we've come to have the favor returned…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily awoke with a gasp, noticing she was in the Head's common room, her book lying on the floor face down, and that she was curled up into a tight ball in one of the most comfortable chairs in the room.
Then, with a stunned realization, she looked down at herself and let out a hollow, astonished laugh, breathing out, "I'm not dead. I fell asleep…and nothing happened."
Her face became somber and she whispered, "Yet."
Getting up, she headed towards her room to shower and dress.
As she grabbed her robe, Lily noticed a sudden cool air penetrating the once warm atmosphere. She glanced around curiously but spotted nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, she walked towards her lavatory, not noticing her robe tie stuck on the end of her trunk. She also didn't notice the trunk lid being lifted and the tie of her robe being set free.
As she walked into the lavatory, she would have slipped on a bar of soap on the ground, no doubt being carelessly dropped there courtesy James. Only, she didn't for the soap had astonishingly moved two inches to the right.
Then, as quickly as the presence of the cold air came, the warmth of the atmosphere returned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remus' muggle watch read 6:03. Sirius was talking to Peter, grumbling about James' newfound ability of annoyance.
"You see, Peter, it's all about psychology. After two whole years of rejection on Lily's part, a part of James' brain…the sane part, that is…decided to pack its bags and fly away to a safer place. That, my friend, is my hypothesis."
Peter stared at him, a painfully blank expression on his face. "What was that thing you said about photography?"
Without another word to Peter, Sirius turned his back and walked towards Remus, muttering, "Why do I fool myself into believing I may have an actual fifth grade level conversation with that kid?"
James was looking around the corner they were near, impatience settling in the pit of his stomach.
"Where is he?" said James quietly.
"Relax James. We don't even know if Lily's awake yet." rationalized Remus.
"She wasn't going to sleep, Remus, of course she's awake." said Sirius.
"You think Lily has the will-power to stay awake all night long? Sirius, she fell asleep on numerous occasions in Flitwick's class, and Charm's is her favorite subject."
Before Remus had a chance to retort, cackling boomed through the large corridor.
"Finally," murmured James.
"Ist thou troublesome fawn getting a wee bit on the edgy side?" wondered Peeves, changing from his invisible appearance to visible right before their very eyes.
"Never mind, anyway, did you do it?" asked Remus.
"Aye, captain loony loopy Lupin, I did." answered Peeves, bouncing around in the air.
James smiled widely, "Excellent. Nice work Peeves."
"Anything for me best allies." replied Peeves, taking off the leprechaun hat from his head and putting it over his heart while saluting.
"You remember the rest of the plan, don't you?" asked Sirius.
"But of course. Now, if ye be excusing me, I'm off to pinch Moaning Myrtle. After all, the lass has but only grey, drab robes about her." answered Peeves, taking off down the corridor.
The four guys looked back and forth at one another when James broke the silence, "Alright, everyone know their jobs?"
"She and I both have Charms and Arithmacy together." said Remus.
"I have her during the break between 10:00-12:00 and Care of Magical Creatures." said Sirius.
"I have Herbology with her." said Peter.
"I have Astronomy tonight with her and we all, except Peter who has Double Divination instead, have Transfiguration and Potions with her." said James, nodding. "Right then, why don't we go on to the Head's common room and walk with her to Potions."
"See you later, Peter." called out Sirius as the four separate.
"So, you really don't think she'll suspect something?" asked Remus, skeptically.
"Don't worry, Moony. I know what I'm doing. I know Lily; everything will be fine." said James right as they approached the portrait of a unicorn, where he said clearly, "Quaffle." The portrait opened and the three of them walked in.
Lily was just walking out of her lavatory, dressed in green robes. (Every year, the teachers taught the children how to charm their usual black robes into green ones. Though, every year some select students would come up with a way to change them different colors other than green. There was a rumor going around school that the Hogwarts' administration was going to do away with this tradition if that behavior didn't stop.)
She looked up when she heard the portrait hole open up. "What are you three doing here?" asked Lily.
James checked his watch. It read 6:45. Fifteen minutes till the start of breakfast in the Great Hall. Perfect. "We came to escort you to the Great Hall, of course." he said with a grin.
Lily's face turned to one of suspicion. "Why?" said asked.
"Do we need a reason to walk with our favorite Gryffindor seventh girl down to the Great Hall?" said Sirius, in his own charming way.
Lily simply raised an eyebrow at him and said, "Alright," all the while thinking that this may be a trick, the horrible occurrence on this St. Patrick's Day.
So, they walked off to Potions.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Seriously, Adrian, if yeh don' help me with this, I'm goin' to chop of that hair of yers an' boil it in th' stew!!!!!!!" exclaimed Lily, chopping up some frog's feet and putting them in the steaming cauldron in front of the two girls.
Adrian scowled at Lily and said, "That's disgusting." She pointed to the frog's feet.
"Duh!" said Lily, "You think I enjoy doing this?" she asked, calming down a bit. "Now chop some of those eels."
Adrian rolled her eyes and started to chop, making girly revolted noises.
All this James heard from his table one to the right and one ahead of Lily's. Sirius was one table behind Lily's and working with his partner, his cousin, Bellatrix Black. Remus was to the left of Sirius' table, working diligently on his potion with his partner, Trisha.
"Stop daydreaming, Potter, and help me out with the potion." snapped a voice behind him.
James sighed and turned to his own lab partner, Severus Snape, formally known as Snivellus to the Marauders.
Without a word to him, James began to do the same thing Lily was doing and chopped up some legs. Somehow, though, his focus was again turned back behind him to his friends and Lily. His eyes widened at a dangerous sight.
Sirius and Remus in a heated discussion (from the way Sirius' hands were flailing about, James could only assume the topic at hand was Quidditch), oblivious to anything around them. That wasn't what James was staring at, though.
Bellatrix's face had that sinister look she was infamous around Hogwarts for. She had her wand out and was pointing it towards Lily's cauldron. The sound of Snape's angry voice didn't penetrate through James' thoughts. All he was worried about was stopping Bellatrix.
Grinning, and not at all worried, James started to have a loud, and fake, coughing fit. It was loud enough to break through Moony and Padfoot's conversation, for they both turned and looked at him. James jerked his head towards the unperturbed Bella.
Sirius looked over at grinned widely as he did not miss a beat to take out his own wand and mutter a curse himself. Bellatrix broke off her muttering when she felt something different about her hair. She screamed, causing every single occupant in the room, except for Snape, to look up and start laughing at her head full of hissing snakes.
She ran out of the room, screaming, leaving Sirius to pound the table in fits of laughter. Lily looked astonished, giving Sirius a reprimanding look, but only half-heartedly. She never did get along well with Sirius' cousin, and probably never would. Their teacher gave Snape a detention, fighting off a smile.
James, from his spot in the room, was clutching his stomach that had begun to ache with all the laughter emitting from his mouth. Suddenly, he heard Snape's rage-filled voice exclaim behind him, "POTTER!!!!!!!!!" right before a small explosion erupted from within their cauldron, pouring the green, 4-leaf clover draught all over the two. As if Bella's curls of snakes weren't enough to entertain the Potion's students, the sight of the notorious James Potter and unpopular Severus Snape covered in growing clovers sent them over the edge, this time, the teacher could not keep a straight face.
"I TOLD YOU TO ADD THE FROG'S LEGS THRITY SECONDS AGO!!!!" shouted Snape amidst the laughter of the students.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N- another chapter should be out shortly. Thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!!!!!!