Author's Note: Wow, new chapter! Right in the middle of the fic too! Hehe. Expect new chapters to be inserted between the original ones. They're kinda like lost episodes or something.

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

Relationships

James entered the common room, panting. He had followed Lily up and down probably all of the staircases in the school. That itself was not too much of a problem. James was an athlete, after all, and he had great endurance. However, Lily had found it fitting to weigh James down with all of her schoolbooks and some random belongings of hers that James was sure had been charmed to be ten times their normal weight.

However, a bet was a bet, and there was absolutely nothing James could do to ease his suffering. Actually, looking at Lily's pretty face, James thought that maybe it wasn't so bad.

"Prongs!" Sirius called from across the room.

James glanced at Lily, who nodded. He handed Lily her things, then headed toward the place where his best friend was sitting. "What is it?" he asked, dropping into an armchair across from Sirius and Sarah.

"Sarah seems to think I was flirting with Venus Baker," Sirius said, looking at Sarah, who was sitting next to him with her arms crossed. "Tell her I wasn't."

James tried to remember seeing Sirius and Venus together during the day. "She's in Hufflepuff, isn't she?" When he received an anxious nod, he asked, "When did the incident in question occur?"

"After Transfiguration class," Sarah said, her voice decidedly cool.

"Oh, that wasn't flirting," James said. "That's how Sirius talks to all girls."

Sarah did not look remotely mollified.

"I don't like Venus, I swear!" Sirius said. "She was just asking me a question!"

"And what question was that?" the blonde asked.

Sirius replied, "I—I don't recall."

"James, do you remember what Venus asked Sirius?"

James adjusted his glasses. He wanted to defend his best friend but, seeing the look on Sarah's face, decided to go with the truth. "She—er—asked him if he was busy tonight."

"Oh, really?" Sarah said, turning to her boyfriend. "Interesting."

Sirius said frantically, "I told her that I was busy because I was going to be with you! I wasn't flirting with her, honest."

Personally, James thought it was difficult to distinguish between the times that Sirius was flirting and the times that he wasn't, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Sarah had begun to look more forgiving.

"James!" Lily called sweetly from across the room. "We're going to the library."

James groaned. "She's probably going to borrow twenty books just to make me carry them."

Sirius laughed. "See you later, Prongs." He turned to his girlfriend.

Sarah asked, "Did you really tell Venus that you were going to be with me?"

"Yes!"

"You made sure she got the message?"

Sirius sighed. "Sarah, you have no reason to be paranoid, all right? You're fantastic and beautiful and so much fun." His voice took on a lighter tone. "Besides, if I were going to flirt with another girl, you and I wouldn't be talking right now."

!!!

"Uh, Lily?"

"Yes?"

James looked puzzled. "This isn't the library," he said, looking into the empty classroom Lily had led him to.

"No, it isn't," Lily agreed, gently pushing him inside and closing the door.

James turned around. "So what are we—?" He was cut off by a kiss. After Lily had pulled away, he asked, "What was that?"

Lily smiled and shook her head. "You're really dense, you know that?"

"I take it we're not going to the library then?"

"No," Lily replied, kissing him again.

"Oh." James tilted his head when she pulled back. "What are we going to do then?"

Lily felt like smacking him in the back of the head. "James, you're a smart boy. Think about it." She crossed her arms and waited.

"Okay, we're in an empty classroom instead of the library…" James moved his hands about during his thinking process, pointing in different directions. "And you—you were just… Ah. I see."

Lily shook her head. "How is it that one of the brightest students in our year takes this long to figure out something that's really quite simple?"

In reply, James said, "I must have been mesmerized by your eyes."

"Have you been listening to Sirius?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm." James frowned. "That always works for him. How come I just get this suspicion from you?"

Lily moved back to sit on the edge of a desk. "Have you ever considered that maybe it works when he says it because he's the one saying it? I hate to say it, James, but you're not quite the charmer that he is."

James gave a slight scowl. "Why are you praising my best friend? I am your boyfriend, remember?"

Lily laughed. "I'm not praising him. I'm just saying that he's better at attracting girls than you are." Seeing James's worried look, she said, "Don't worry. I am immune to Sirius Black. Sarah, on the other hand, is completely smitten with him. I would never go after my best friend's boyfriend. Besides, I have you, don't I?" Lily stood and came toward James, ruffling his hair affectionately. "You're sweet, James. You're sweet and honest." She paused. "When you need to be," she amended. "Now, come on," Lily said, opening the door. "Let's go."

"Wait, I thought we came here to—" James protested.

"I'm sorry, mister, but you ruined it when your denseness overtook your brain." Lily began walking toward Gryffindor Tower.

James blinked in disbelief. "You're evil," he called down the corridor.

"Thank you," Lily tossed over her shoulder. "Hurry, before I make you run. You're still my slave, you know."

James hurriedly caught up with her. Sometimes he thought that he would have been much better off if the bet and its resulting events had not occurred.

!!!

Sirius stared at James, who was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Let me get this straight. Your girlfriend was instigating a major snog session, and you couldn't figure it out?"

"She's a very confusing person."

Sirius furrowed his brow. "And then you started talking… about me."

"Right," James said dully.

"Uh-huh." Sirius shook his head. "Hopeless. The boy is hopeless," he said to Peter, who had just entered the dormitory.

"Whatever you say, Sirius," answered Peter, confused.

Sirius appeared upside-down in James's view. "How did the conversation turn to the subject of me? And—why were you talking at all? You should have been—"

"I know, I know, snogging the living daylights out of her."

Remus, having also just come in, gave James a curious look. "Prongs, what prompted you to utter that sentence?"

James turned his head. "Hello, Moony," he said, not even attempting to answer Remus's question. Looking at Sirius again, he said, "I complimented her eyes, but she just looked at me strangely. I think I said that that line always worked for you or something, and we started talking about you. Apparently, Lily thinks you're charming."

Remus interrupted, "I am sure that's not exactly what Lily said."

"Something to that effect," retorted James. "Anyway, Padfoot, I've been wondering. Why does it work for you but not me?"

Sirius smiled. "Because I am Sirius Black, and you are merely James Potter." He laughed. "I have no bloody idea why girls like me better than you. Does it really matter? You managed to snag Lily with your own quirky ways, didn't you? You're lucky, even if you're not exactly charming." He sat down on James's bed. "To be honest, I think it's more difficult for me," he said. "Imagine having to fend off the female population of Hogwarts while dating Sarah Johnson. Like today, with Venus. That was just one small sample of what I have to go through every day."

"Don't be so melodramatic," said Remus, who was rolling his eyes. "You know you enjoy flirting."

"What can I say? Old habits die hard," Sirius answered. He smiled. "I'm trying to stop, though. For Sarah."

"Oh?" James asked, sitting up. "She's special, eh?"

"When I think about her, the need to flirt goes away—like I don't need to keep searching."

James nodded. "I feel the same way about Lily."

Sirius punched him lightly. "Prongs, Lily Evans is the only girl you've ever been interested in. What search are you referring to?"

"You know what I mean," James said good-naturedly. "I used to think she was terrible. I thought we would never get along. But I'm finding out that she's actually a lot like me. Better than me, actually."

"That isn't saying much, Prongs."

"Shut up."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? Well, enjoy this chapter that I just kinda stuck in the middle because I liked it when the idea came to me. More to come!