Author's Note: Here's chapter 4! I think I'm running out of ideas. If anyone can suggest a good prank, thank you very much.
Title: Role Reversal
Rating: PG
Spoilers: There aren't too many spoilers in chapters 1-12. The whole story has some spoilers, but how else do you write a fanfic? The chapter with major spoilers is "Old Friends".
Summary: James and Lily make a bet. Lily has to pull a bunch of pranks and James can't do any.
Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own Harry Potter or its characters. If you're reading this, you should already know whom it belongs to anyway.
Setting: This story is set in MWPP years. If you don't know what that means, you probably shouldn't be reading this fanfic.
!!! = setting change
italics = emphasis
italics = thoughts
-Week #1-
Lily's part of the bet was going pretty well. You might even say it was going swimmingly. She had successfully played one prank every day for a week.
Her first one was, of course, turning James green.
The day after that, she changed Lucius Malfoy's Transfiguration book into a doll. Professor McGonagall was not amused, to say the least. She asked the Slytherin to put his toy away until after class. His cheeks were burning red with embarrassment for the rest of class, and he didn't even have his book to do his work.
On Wednesday, she remembered what had happened on the Hogwarts Express and made Snape's robes transparent during Charms class. His heart boxers were clearly visible. Since the students were practicing making things invisible that day, Professor Flitwick dismissed it as an accident and changed the greasy-haired boy's clothes back to normal. That incident was soon heard about by just about every student in the school. That was just great for Lily, but not so fun for Snape.
Thursday, she made it so that every time Snape and Malfoy spoke to a teacher, they began with the words, "I pledge allegiance to my underwear." That one was also spoken about throughout the school.
On Friday, she decided to move away from the pranks on Slytherins and set off a Dungbomb in the Gryffindor boys' dormitories. The boys ran out of their rooms coughing and gasping.
On Saturday, she played a prank on a few Ravenclaws that were especially snobby. Whenever they tried to eat or drink, they would spill something on their robes.
Sunday night, she turned Snape's teddy bear into a kind of half-bear, half-toad creature. It also walked around and said "I love you" repeatedly to Snape. Lily heard him screaming in the dungeons all the way from the Gryffindor common room.
Lily had been careful to make it hard for someone she played a prank on to find out who did it. She didn't want to get in trouble just because of a bet.
!!!
James, however, was having a much harder time with his part of the bet. Every time he saw a prank opportunity, he remembered the bet and tried to restrain himself.
Sirius, Remus, and Peter didn't feel like playing tricks on people without their fellow Marauder. This was a huge relief to several people (especially teachers).
Sirius was spending more time with Sarah, which she was enjoying, of course. Peter was spending more time sneaking off to the kitchens. Remus, with no friends left to hang out with, got to know Veronica—that is, whenever he wasn't trying to stop James from losing the bet.
Since he couldn't pull any pranks, James watched Lily do hers everyday.
I gotta admit—she's pretty good, he thought, as he heard Snape's shriek of horror that Sunday.
"So," he said aloud, "What are you planning for your next trick?"
"I don't know yet," Lily replied. "I was thinking about doing something to a Hufflepuff, but I'm not sure. What about you? Been able to resist playing pranks on people?"
"Well, yeah, of course," the dark-haired boy replied truthfully but nervously. He was thinking of the many occasions during the past week when the other Marauders had to hold him back—sometimes literally—when he forgot about the bet and headed off to set up a prank.
The red-haired girl chuckled at the expression on James's face. "Oh, come off it, James. I cannot believe that."
"Yeah, you're right. It hasn't been that easy," he answered. Then something occurred to him. "You know, I think that's the first time you've called me by my first name."
"Huh. You know what? It is."
James grinned. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lily stopped him.
"Don't say it."
"But—"
"Don't!"
"I—"
"I don't want to hear it."
"Fine." He got up on the pretense of going to bed, then turned around and quickly whispered in Lily's ear, "But you know you have a soft spot for me." He walked up the spiral staircase to the sixth year boys' dorm without looking back at the green-eyed girl.
Lily just sat there for a few minutes, staring at nothing in particular. Then she got up and walked to her room.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note: Um... Tada?