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** Chapter Two **
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"Right," said James, with a smirk on his face, "we've got everything worked out, we just need your co-operation."
Lily rolled her eyes, but none of the Marauders noticed. She had a bad feeling about this.
"As you might have noticed, girls," said Sirius, "today is Valentines Day. Time for some loving, eh?"
Lily convinced her heart not to jump out of her throat.
"You might have seen a couple here and there," Sirius was continuing, "as us guys certainly did. And we thought to ourselves, why shouldn't greasy- haired gits such as Snivelly miss out on all the fun?"
"I think I can see where this is going," said Ariella under her breath.
"We could hardly not notice," said James, "that Snivellus has some -- uh -- feelings for a certain Miss Mirabelle Scarlett in Slytherin --"
"How do you know?" Ariella interjected.
Unexpectedly, the Marauders burst into very loud laughter.
"How could you not notice?" James asked, shaking with laughter.
Sirius recovered enough to impersonate Snape when he was around Scarlett.
"M-may I take your books back to the common room, Mirabelle? I'd just love to lick them with my slimy tongue --"
Lily cracked up.
"Snape ... and girls ... it just doesn't fit!" she said between giggles.
"Oh, it fits all right," said James. He pulled a crumpled pieve of parchment out of his pocket, flattened it out and shoved it under Lily and Ariella's faces. "Check that out. Snapey chucked it into the dustbin in the Potions classroom yesterday and I grabbed it out. Juicy stuff.
Ariella snatched the piece of parchment out of James's hand and read it aloud.
"Severus 4 Mirabelle -- forever," she read, and began sniggering uncontrollably. "That's just --"
"-- Hilarious!" said Lily, cackling.
"All right, Snape's crushed on Scarlett, but what's this got to do with us?" Ariella inquired.
"Ah, now we get to the juicy stuff!" said Sirius, looking excitedly at the girls. "Would you be willing, for, say, the next week or so, to use Polyjuice Potion to turn into Mirabelle Scarlett? And lead old Snivelly on?"
"WHAT?!" Lily shrieked incredulously, her eyes and mouth very wide. "If you think we're going to run around the castle looking like snobby sluts and snogging Snape you've got another thing coming! And... Polyjuice Potion! That's seriously dangerous stuff!"
"You haven't head what's in it for you yet, though!" said James hurriedly, worried that Lily and Ariella might suddenly to decide that this was all rubbish and that they were going back up to their dormitory.
"All right then, James, tell us -- what's in this for us?" asked Ariella smoothly, an eye brow raised.
"We -- er --" Sirius said, obviously thinking furiously. It seemed that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter hadn't exactly thought through what they would offer Lily and Ariella as compensation for macking on Snape.
"If you do this for us," said James, grinning, "Sirius will go out with the both of you."
"What?" said Sirius, startled.
"No!" Ariella said quickly. "What if we don't want to go out with Sirius?" Her eyes were twinkling in the direction of Remus.
"But --" Lily began.
"Wait," said Remus calmly, "I can think of a better reward for them --"
"They can both go out with me!" James suggested, eyebrows raised cockily.
"Oh for God's sake give it a rest, Potter," Lily snapped at him. "Unless you're going to give us something actually worth doing this for we won't be doing it."
"Fine," said Sirius. "We'll need to think and talk about this. Anyone have any ideas? What about you, Wormtail?"
Peter shrugged.
"We could ..." Remus started, but then hesitated.
"What Moony?" James urged. "Just tell us!"
"We could give them ... the Cloak for the rest of the year ... perhaps ..."
There was a silence, during which the Marauders were looking pensive and the girls were looking curious.
"Of course!" said James finally. "The Cloak! You really are a genius, Moony."
"Cloak?" Ariella repeated, confused. "Why would we want some Cloak?"
"It's not just some Cloak, Higgins," Sirius explained excitedly. "It's an Invisibility Cloak!"
"What?" said Lily, looking both amused and incredulous at the same time. "An Invisibility Cloak -- a real Invisibility Cloak? Whose is it?"
"Mine," said James sanctimoniously. "Bought it a couple of summers ago."
"But they cost ... thousands of Galleons!" said Ariella, impressed.
"Yes, well," said James, "my Aunt Harriet died during June in fourth year. Tragic. She left me an awfully large amount of money ..."
Lily snorted and raised an eyebrow.
"And you spent it on an Invisibility Cloak?"
"Of course, Evans, of course!" James replied. "What else would a Marauder spend his money on?"
"Perhaps you could have used it to get a haircut for starters," said Ariella swiftly.
"Oh ha ha, Higgins," said James dryly. "Anyway, what do you girls think about that?"
"What are we going to do with an Invisibility Cloak, really?" Lily wondered, turning to Ariella.
"Oh, think of the possibilities, Evans!" Sirius said, looking at Lily as though she was stupid. "Imagine, you could sneak down to the kitchens to steal food ... walk around the castle at night ... go places you've never been before ... sneak into our dorm ..." He ticked these options off on his fingers.
"Well?" said Ariella. "What do you think, Lily?"
"It still seems a bit like a rip-off to me ..."
"A bit like a rip-off?" said Sirius disbelievingly. "Evans, this Cloak costs thousands of Galleons."
"I know that," said Lily patiently, "but it's not like we're going out to kiss the hottest guy in the school, are we? This is Snape we're talking about, not ..." Lily smiled -- she had been about to say 'Sirius'. "Not other guys ..." she finished lamely.
She could have sworn that Sirius had flashed a short and sweet smile in her direction while she was trying to avoid eye contact with him.
"All right," said Remus fairly, "how about we throw in the Map as well?"
"Map?" Lily repeated curiously.
"The Marauders Map, Evans," said James, "the secret of our success. We made it back in fifth year; it's a map of Hogwarts and everything in it. You really have to see it to believe it."
"OK then," said Ariella with another of her swift smiles, "we'll take the Map as well, thank you."
"No worries," said Sirius, "but I suppose we'd better explain all this in a bit more detail."
"Er ... yeah," said James, "well. We've got a couple of strands of Scarlett's hair to put into the Potion, right, and so every night one of you two will drink the Potion and assume Scarlett's shape. It'll only be one of you every night, so you only have to do it about three times each -- "
"But what if Scarlett sees us?" Lily asked. "You can't have two Scarletts running around Slytherin House."
"I was just getting to that Evans, stop being so impatient," said James. "Anyway, so you'll go hunt down Snivelly, wherever he lurks at night, and, you know, kinda lead him on. And while our Mirabelle Scarlett is seducing Snivelly, the real Scarlett is spending the night in the second-floor broom cupboard."
Ariella nodded.
"Interesting, to say the least."
"How are you going to get Scarlett into the broom cupboard?" Lily asked innocently.
"Ah, we're going to need the Invisibility Cloak for that," answered Sirius. "We've noticed that she studies in an empty classroom on the second-floor, right next to the broom cupboard, so we'll just drag her in there for a few hours while you're with Snivellus. She won't see us, of course, because we'll be in the Invisibility Cloak."
"But ... what about the Slytherin common room password?" Ariella inquired.
"We've already got that sorted out," said Remus cleverly, "it's 'Cognationis'."
"I won't even ask how you found that out," said Lily quietly.
"So when do we start this?" Ariella said.
"Tomorrow evening, chop chop," said James briskly. "We'll see you in that empty classroom near the first-floor toilets."
"Nice doing business with you," said Sirius with a broad smile, as the Marauders stood up and began to head up to their dormitories, but Sirius insisted on shaking each of the girls hands before following James, Remus and Peter. Long after Sirius had disappeared up the staircase Lily's hand he shook was still tingling.
She turned to Ariella, who looked as though she couldn't believe herself.
"I can't believe we're doing this either, Ariella," said Lily, grinning.
All of a sudden, the girls both started giggling.
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A/N: I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that Wormtail's not in this fanfic much, it's just that I can't bloody stand the little traitor. And don't worry, the romance is coming! Oh yeah, and REVIEW, your reviews are the only things that keep me writing this!
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** Chapter Two **
============
"Right," said James, with a smirk on his face, "we've got everything worked out, we just need your co-operation."
Lily rolled her eyes, but none of the Marauders noticed. She had a bad feeling about this.
"As you might have noticed, girls," said Sirius, "today is Valentines Day. Time for some loving, eh?"
Lily convinced her heart not to jump out of her throat.
"You might have seen a couple here and there," Sirius was continuing, "as us guys certainly did. And we thought to ourselves, why shouldn't greasy- haired gits such as Snivelly miss out on all the fun?"
"I think I can see where this is going," said Ariella under her breath.
"We could hardly not notice," said James, "that Snivellus has some -- uh -- feelings for a certain Miss Mirabelle Scarlett in Slytherin --"
"How do you know?" Ariella interjected.
Unexpectedly, the Marauders burst into very loud laughter.
"How could you not notice?" James asked, shaking with laughter.
Sirius recovered enough to impersonate Snape when he was around Scarlett.
"M-may I take your books back to the common room, Mirabelle? I'd just love to lick them with my slimy tongue --"
Lily cracked up.
"Snape ... and girls ... it just doesn't fit!" she said between giggles.
"Oh, it fits all right," said James. He pulled a crumpled pieve of parchment out of his pocket, flattened it out and shoved it under Lily and Ariella's faces. "Check that out. Snapey chucked it into the dustbin in the Potions classroom yesterday and I grabbed it out. Juicy stuff.
Ariella snatched the piece of parchment out of James's hand and read it aloud.
"Severus 4 Mirabelle -- forever," she read, and began sniggering uncontrollably. "That's just --"
"-- Hilarious!" said Lily, cackling.
"All right, Snape's crushed on Scarlett, but what's this got to do with us?" Ariella inquired.
"Ah, now we get to the juicy stuff!" said Sirius, looking excitedly at the girls. "Would you be willing, for, say, the next week or so, to use Polyjuice Potion to turn into Mirabelle Scarlett? And lead old Snivelly on?"
"WHAT?!" Lily shrieked incredulously, her eyes and mouth very wide. "If you think we're going to run around the castle looking like snobby sluts and snogging Snape you've got another thing coming! And... Polyjuice Potion! That's seriously dangerous stuff!"
"You haven't head what's in it for you yet, though!" said James hurriedly, worried that Lily and Ariella might suddenly to decide that this was all rubbish and that they were going back up to their dormitory.
"All right then, James, tell us -- what's in this for us?" asked Ariella smoothly, an eye brow raised.
"We -- er --" Sirius said, obviously thinking furiously. It seemed that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter hadn't exactly thought through what they would offer Lily and Ariella as compensation for macking on Snape.
"If you do this for us," said James, grinning, "Sirius will go out with the both of you."
"What?" said Sirius, startled.
"No!" Ariella said quickly. "What if we don't want to go out with Sirius?" Her eyes were twinkling in the direction of Remus.
"But --" Lily began.
"Wait," said Remus calmly, "I can think of a better reward for them --"
"They can both go out with me!" James suggested, eyebrows raised cockily.
"Oh for God's sake give it a rest, Potter," Lily snapped at him. "Unless you're going to give us something actually worth doing this for we won't be doing it."
"Fine," said Sirius. "We'll need to think and talk about this. Anyone have any ideas? What about you, Wormtail?"
Peter shrugged.
"We could ..." Remus started, but then hesitated.
"What Moony?" James urged. "Just tell us!"
"We could give them ... the Cloak for the rest of the year ... perhaps ..."
There was a silence, during which the Marauders were looking pensive and the girls were looking curious.
"Of course!" said James finally. "The Cloak! You really are a genius, Moony."
"Cloak?" Ariella repeated, confused. "Why would we want some Cloak?"
"It's not just some Cloak, Higgins," Sirius explained excitedly. "It's an Invisibility Cloak!"
"What?" said Lily, looking both amused and incredulous at the same time. "An Invisibility Cloak -- a real Invisibility Cloak? Whose is it?"
"Mine," said James sanctimoniously. "Bought it a couple of summers ago."
"But they cost ... thousands of Galleons!" said Ariella, impressed.
"Yes, well," said James, "my Aunt Harriet died during June in fourth year. Tragic. She left me an awfully large amount of money ..."
Lily snorted and raised an eyebrow.
"And you spent it on an Invisibility Cloak?"
"Of course, Evans, of course!" James replied. "What else would a Marauder spend his money on?"
"Perhaps you could have used it to get a haircut for starters," said Ariella swiftly.
"Oh ha ha, Higgins," said James dryly. "Anyway, what do you girls think about that?"
"What are we going to do with an Invisibility Cloak, really?" Lily wondered, turning to Ariella.
"Oh, think of the possibilities, Evans!" Sirius said, looking at Lily as though she was stupid. "Imagine, you could sneak down to the kitchens to steal food ... walk around the castle at night ... go places you've never been before ... sneak into our dorm ..." He ticked these options off on his fingers.
"Well?" said Ariella. "What do you think, Lily?"
"It still seems a bit like a rip-off to me ..."
"A bit like a rip-off?" said Sirius disbelievingly. "Evans, this Cloak costs thousands of Galleons."
"I know that," said Lily patiently, "but it's not like we're going out to kiss the hottest guy in the school, are we? This is Snape we're talking about, not ..." Lily smiled -- she had been about to say 'Sirius'. "Not other guys ..." she finished lamely.
She could have sworn that Sirius had flashed a short and sweet smile in her direction while she was trying to avoid eye contact with him.
"All right," said Remus fairly, "how about we throw in the Map as well?"
"Map?" Lily repeated curiously.
"The Marauders Map, Evans," said James, "the secret of our success. We made it back in fifth year; it's a map of Hogwarts and everything in it. You really have to see it to believe it."
"OK then," said Ariella with another of her swift smiles, "we'll take the Map as well, thank you."
"No worries," said Sirius, "but I suppose we'd better explain all this in a bit more detail."
"Er ... yeah," said James, "well. We've got a couple of strands of Scarlett's hair to put into the Potion, right, and so every night one of you two will drink the Potion and assume Scarlett's shape. It'll only be one of you every night, so you only have to do it about three times each -- "
"But what if Scarlett sees us?" Lily asked. "You can't have two Scarletts running around Slytherin House."
"I was just getting to that Evans, stop being so impatient," said James. "Anyway, so you'll go hunt down Snivelly, wherever he lurks at night, and, you know, kinda lead him on. And while our Mirabelle Scarlett is seducing Snivelly, the real Scarlett is spending the night in the second-floor broom cupboard."
Ariella nodded.
"Interesting, to say the least."
"How are you going to get Scarlett into the broom cupboard?" Lily asked innocently.
"Ah, we're going to need the Invisibility Cloak for that," answered Sirius. "We've noticed that she studies in an empty classroom on the second-floor, right next to the broom cupboard, so we'll just drag her in there for a few hours while you're with Snivellus. She won't see us, of course, because we'll be in the Invisibility Cloak."
"But ... what about the Slytherin common room password?" Ariella inquired.
"We've already got that sorted out," said Remus cleverly, "it's 'Cognationis'."
"I won't even ask how you found that out," said Lily quietly.
"So when do we start this?" Ariella said.
"Tomorrow evening, chop chop," said James briskly. "We'll see you in that empty classroom near the first-floor toilets."
"Nice doing business with you," said Sirius with a broad smile, as the Marauders stood up and began to head up to their dormitories, but Sirius insisted on shaking each of the girls hands before following James, Remus and Peter. Long after Sirius had disappeared up the staircase Lily's hand he shook was still tingling.
She turned to Ariella, who looked as though she couldn't believe herself.
"I can't believe we're doing this either, Ariella," said Lily, grinning.
All of a sudden, the girls both started giggling.
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A/N: I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that Wormtail's not in this fanfic much, it's just that I can't bloody stand the little traitor. And don't worry, the romance is coming! Oh yeah, and REVIEW, your reviews are the only things that keep me writing this!
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