A/N I hope you like this part. Still relatively cliched, in the manner of all L/J love/hates... but where would society be if all cliches were eradicated? grin Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Most of it's not mine, and if it's yours I apologise for stealing it... unless you're J K Rowling, the theft was completely unintentional. If you are her... um, I apologise?

Chapter Two

When Lily got to the turning between the boys' and the girls' dorms, having decided to track James down and physically harm him, she changed her mind. She had a better idea. Lily went up the girls' stairs, and got a spare quill from her trunk. Then she went back to writing her essay. It took her another hour to finish, and by that time the common room was empty. It was time for her revenge.

Lily moved all of her paper and books onto a nearby chair, and then cautiously moved the quill into the newly emptied table in front of her. It began singing, but she dropped it immediately. James wasn't very good at charms so, hopefully, a new spell that Lily had created ought to work. It would undo the last spell that had been done on an object, and show Lily the nature of the spell, so that she could replicate it if she so chose.

Her plan was to learn how the spell was done, and then perform it onto every single one of James's and his friends' quills. Which is why, when the spell was removed from her quill, she was very surprised. Instead of turning the quill back from yellow to its normal colour, as she had assumed, Severus Snape sat there on the desk. Lily looked at him with horror. She had automatically assumed that James had placed a charm on her quill, she hadn't thought that James would, well, transfigure Snape.

Snape glared at her frostily. At last, Lily said, "What did he do to you?"

"You mean Pot-head?"

Did he want her to turn him back? James might be one of the most irritating boys she knew, but he was a Gryffindor and 'Pot-head' was one of her own insults. Not Snape's.

"Yes, him," she replied, trying not to grit her teeth.

"Performed a few charms on me, and then transfigured me into the quill. What does it look like?"

"Why?"

"Why does the dung-brain do anything?"

Lily clenched her hands into fists. That was really pot calling kettle… at least James wasn't stupid enough to get himself turned into a quill!

"Do you know what charms he performed?"

"Well, duh!"

Lily was getting really annoyed. No wonder James played so many pranks on him. He really was a greasy, ungrateful slimeball.

"So what charms were they?"

Snape rolled his eyes but replied, "The first one froze me to the spot, so I can't move. And the second one… well, touch me."

Lily cautiously prodded his arm. He started singing the 'Song That Never Ends.' She withdrew her finger hurriedly, and instinctively wiped it on her robes. Talking more to herself than to Snape, she said,

"So he performed a freeze charm... it obviously isn't the full body bind. Must be the 'petrificus umerus crurisque' charm... which makes sense, since it's probably one of the easiest he could find. And then he performed a singing charm - must be one he invented himself. No, Remus probably invented it and then taught it to James. So there are more than one of the Marauders involved in this. Then he transfigured you, put you in his pocket, and waited for an opportunity to switch you with my own quill. Not so simple, but when you reverted after the customary ten hours, I'd get in trouble for it. And I'd be embarrassed, because you would suddenly appear in my room, hopefully for him while I'm changing."

"Clever, aren't you?" Snape remarked snidely.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "But of course you're much cleverer than me. I'm sure you're able to take off all of the charms by yourself, without my help. Shall I turn you back and you can demonstrate your prowess to me?" Snape glowered at her, but didn't say anything. Lily smirked. "Well, then. Shut up."

She raised her wand, and took off the spell that froze Snape's arms and legs. Lily didn't remove the singing charm. She had a better idea. "Okay, you're done. Go." Snape looked at her icily and stalked over to the portrait hole without thanking her or looking back.

Before he could open it, Lily called out, in a voice much deeper than her usual one, "Petrificus Totalus!"

She couldn't, after all, have him incriminating her when he was found in the Seventh year Gryffindor boys' dorm leaning against James's bedpost. Lily would, however attach a note to him. She leant him against the wall of the common room, and tied his hair up in a ribbon. A pink ribbon. Lily smiled to herself. Her pranks were always so much better than James's. Then she wrote, on the back of his neck,

Potter,

A little gift from me, in payback for your trick. Nicely done, but a little bit easy to see through and counter. Keep on trying though, I'm sure you'll come up with something to mildly confuse me sometime.

CH

Lily grinned as she levitated Snape upstairs. CH stood for carrot-head; James would know what it meant. And he wouldn't be able to prove that she had done it. Feeling content after a good prank well reversed, and all homework done on time, she fell asleep.

The entire of Gryffindor woke the next morning to gales of laughter, and one person swearing loudly. Lily, having forgotten the events of the night before momentarily, woke with a start, threw on her dressing gown, and ran in the direction of the noise. It was James's dorm. She slammed the door open.

"What is going on in here?" she thundered. Then she remembered what she had done with Snape. Without changing her facial expression at all, she asked, "What have you done to Sn- Severus?"

James glowered at her, and the other boys in the door continued to laugh hysterically. Sirius managed to gasp out, "Good one, Lily!"

"Evans!" James said. "You undid it, didn't you?"

"Undid what, Potter?"

"What I did to Snape!"

"Oh, you did something to Snape, did you, Potter? And you admitted it in front of the Head Girl? Detention!"

"Oh, very funny, Evans. Get over your power trip... you know you can't give the Head Boy a detention. Only a teacher can do that... as you found out the hard way," he reminded her, smirking.

"Whatever, Potter," Lily replied offhandedly, trying not to remember the incident. Bloody James Potter always had to embarrass her. It didn't occur to her that he had been retaliating after the facial hair prank. "Do something about him," she instructed. "And please don't wake the entire of Gryffindor tower at," she looked at her watch, "5:30 in the morning again."

And Lily swept out, allowing her face to grin as she looked away from them. She guessed that James prodded Snape, because she suddenly heard, "This is the song that…" before it cut off. She laughed softly. James would have a headache by the time he got Snape out of Gryffindor tower. After all, he wasn't good enough at charms to be able to take off the charm he had put on Snape in the first place. And by the looks she had seen on the other boys' faces, they weren't going to help either.

Lily, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again, decided to have a shower. She had to be prepared for whatever James would come up with next. And it would be sure to be aimed at her, after this morning's humiliation. Lily grinned, and went off to take her shower.