James paced back and forth in the common room glancing several times at the stairwell. "Are we sure we didn't miss them?" He asked for the second time. Sirius absentmindedly threw a ball into the air as he laid on the couch.

"Yes. Their roommates said they were still sleeping. They are going to miss breakfast at this rate though."

"They could have lied for them though."

"Fair enough. Then when Remus and Peter get to the Hall in a sec-" he stopped as both the girls walked down the stairs whispering softly. Lily nudged Vivian, stopping their conversation. They shared a look that made both James and Sirius feel uneasy. The boys knew mischief when they saw it.

"Good morning," Lily nodded to Sirius. James frowned as she walked right by him. He stood up straighter and adjusted his cloak self consciously. Vivian whispered something to Lily that seemed to put them both on the verge of laughter. Sirius nodded to the both of them as he caught the ball one last time before sitting up.

"Morning." James said. He nodded to both of them rather stiffly. "So about last night-" The girls burst out in laughter. He watched Lily frowning as he tried to reason out what had got them in such a mood. There was something we had missed, clearly a joke of some sort. It was an odd feeling. One he didn't very much like. Just before break where he and Peter had laughed at Severus every time they saw him for a full day. Severus had spent the whole day trying to figure out what sort of prank they'd pulled on him. He's gotten a real laugh when Severus had taken his whole cloak off to check if he and Peter had taped something to him again. This though. This wasn't funny in the slightest.

"Like I said yesterday. It was a girl thing. Not something your little boy brain would understand." Lily said. Her eyes were shining with laughter while she pressed her lips together harder. James frown deepened as he glanced between the two. Lily grew more and more pleased at his very apparent confusion and growing discomfort. She decided she needed to tease him more often. It had been a while since her sides had hurt from laughter.

"Why don't you try us? We might be able to understand more than you think." Sirius said, having made his way to the door. "You can tell us on the way to breakfast." A quick look at James's clenched jaw made him usher the girls out hurriedly. James had quite the mouth when angered. If James said much more now Sirius was sure he'd have to listen Jame's regrets later. Sirius himself wasn't sure what to make of their behavior. Just last night Vivian had very clearly been stressed. Lily hadn't looked much better. Now they were the cheeriest he'd ever seen the both of them, to the point of silliness. Vivian had warmed up to him the past couple weeks even to the teasing, but not to this extent. He smiled to himself as he remembered when she'd initiated a small snowball fight just a couple days prior. James roughly bumped his shoulder into his side.

"What are you smiling for? Don't tell me it's contagious." James said. His mood had eased some watching the girls laugh and whisper together. "And you two. What are you planning?" Vivian turned around to face them walking backwards down the hall. She smirked.

"We are planning how to sneak a rooster into the school." With that she opened the doors to the Great Hall. James narrowed his eyes looking back and forth between them. He made a point to sit directly in front of Lily instead of their usual table. Lily grinned at him. He'd been expecting her to chase them off as she'd done once before. Solving mysteries is what he did best. A little bit of laughter wasn't going to throw him off enough to let the matter go.

"We are curious…what kind of tricks do you have? I know you must have picked up a few good ones during break. Do you have any like the ones you shot off in the Great Hall before break?" She was leaning forward eagerly now. The best way to get something out of the boys was to use their pride. "Those were bloody brilliant and beautiful."

"Or the one that stunk of the Potions classroom for a couple days." Vivian said. "That was bad enough that a lot of students said they couldn't smell anything else for almost a week."

James stared at Lily trying to gauge her sincerity and what it had to do with her odd behavior. Lily took as much pride in following the rules and he did in breaking them. It was more than likely that she was trying to trick him into revealing his secrets to get him in trouble than for her to actually be serious in using them.

"Why…," He asked cautiously, "and what does a rooster have to do with this?"

"We are going to kill a Basilisk." Vivian answered as she surveyed the food.

"Or not. Either way it's best to be prepared, ya know?" Lily added. Both girls looked as if they were talking about going on a stroll in the middle of spring as they filled their plates.

"And…where exactly are you going to fight this…Basilisk?"

"In the girls' bathroom above the Great Hall of course."

The boys stared at them just as Lupin and Peter walked up.

"What's the deal?" Peter asked angrily. Of course it was the girls again. It seemed they were constantly interrupting the group. The amount of times he'd heard "Lily this" or "Vivian that" made him disgusted. The four of them were perfectly fine without the girls. Scaring them last night was satisfying, but it wasn't enough. Next time he'd try something bigger. He'd have to pin it on the Slytherins though or James and Sirius would never let him hear the end of it. Maybe that Snape boy. It would be killing two birds with one stone. Humiliate them a little and sever the friendship between them.

"It's nothing you need to know about." Vivian answered. The shift between cheery to serious surprised everyone, including herself. She wasn't sure why she'd cut Peter off, but there was something about telling him that made her stomach turn. "Just girl stuff. The boys were just hoping we'd be up to no good is all." She forced a quick smile before turning to Sirius and motioning him leave. He gave her a smile and a wink before standing so quickly he almost knocked Peter over.
"Should have known better. All they've got planned is to study after dinner tonight." He sighed and shook his head as he wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulder. "All that wondering only to find out they wanted to talk about our dear boy Jame's crush on Lily. Heard about it from a third year apparently." Lily bit back a sarcastic remark with a cough.

"He's right," She looked down slightly and covered her face with her hands as if to hide her embarrassment. "I thought it was a lie." James just sat there like a deer in headlights. For the first time in ages he hadn't the slightest clue how to respond.