Hey, I've finally stopped procrastinating and am starting chapter 5...I know what you're thinking, and it's true, I only posted chapter 4 today, and I say I've been procrastinating...yes, sad but true, I got up at five-thirty this morning, took a shower, and then realized that I feel akin to crap. So I'm home sick and I've been procrastinating writing this all day. But here goes anyway...

JKR owns these characters,

She created them in her head.

I don't own any of them,

So I think I'll go to bed

my stab at DELIBERATELY bad poetry.

Chapter 5, A Bid for Popularity:

James took deep breath, and stepped out into the Great Hall. Okay, he thought, operation Big Entrance, in effect, starting right now. He did this every year, planning a way to reenter school in a way that would keep people talking for at least a week. Sure, he was popular now, but that could all change in a moment if he didn't keep up his performances.

This year's entrance was going to be easy; he was already in "costume," so now all he had to do was use it to his advantage. James grinned as an idea came to him, and he pulled his wand out of his back pocket (A/N: Yes, he keeps his wand in his back pocket, just like Harry...and yes, before anyone has to ask, his buttocks are still whole...the girls at Hogwarts certainly know that...).

With a single word, a red carpet came into existence at James's feet, rolling itself down between the tables, turning a corner, and ending at an empty seat at the Gryffindor table.

For a moment, the Great Hall was silent, but then it burst into cheering and laughter. James couldn't help but grin as he sauntered between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw house tables. The Slytherins booed at him; goodness knows they had reason enough to hate James, but James merely bowed in their direction, keeping a straight face with difficulty. The Ravenclaws, though, had far less hostile reaction. The girls were cheering, and James winked his right eye at them. The Ravenclaw boys were all laughing, and after a slight deliberation, James decided he'd be best off simply ignoring them. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had much the same reaction, but in the case of the Gryffindors, it was far, far louder.

James finally couldn't stand it anymore; he broke into a grin as he took his seat between Remus and Sirius.

"Attention, everyone: please, quiet down, quiet down." Dumbledore had a great gift for getting the attention of his students, and he used it now. "Alright, then, I know you're all terribly hungry—"

There was another outburst from the students.

"I'm starving!"

"—haven't eaten in days!"

"—in months"

"—in years!"

Dumbledore laughed his quiet laugh, and the students calmed once again. "Well, if you've survived your hunger yet far, I suppose you'll be all right for another twenty minutes or so."

A groan echoed through the hall.

"And so, with no further ado, I give you, the sorting hat."

James looked away from the dais, he'd seen sortings year after year, and they were all the same. He glanced over the rest of the table. Most people, including Remus, Peter, Lily Evans, Alanna what's-her-face, and Sara Corner were still focused on the sorting. James winked at a pretty red-head whose name he didn't know, and continued his scan of the table. There. Sirius was paying almost as much attention to the sorting ceremony as James was, which is to say that he was ignoring it completely. The boys caught eachother's eyes, and started to plot.

"So tell me, Prongsie, what's in store for tomorrow?"

James grinned, he loved being in charge. "Oh, I don't know." He pretended to think for a moment. Then, "What do you say we start off the new semester with a bang? If you know what I mean."

"Definitely. But where? I'd hate to disrupt any is very important to me."

James rolled his eyes. "Oh, if you insist...I suppose we're due for an early breakfast tomorrow morning."

Sirius caught James's meaning immediately, and turned around to inform Peter of the plan.

James then turned to his other side, and poked Remus in the ribs. No response. James poked him again. Still no response. "Moony, buddy, come on!" James hissed.

Finally, Remus turned his head a few fractions of an inch. "James, will you stop it? I'm a prefect and I'd really like to pay attention for a little while."

"Well fine, then, but don't expect me to warn you about tomorrow's happenings." James could hardly believe how annoying Remus was being. Honestly, if being a prefect was going to turn him into such a goody-goody, James would rather he have nothing to do with it.

After what felt like an eternity, the sorting was over, and myriad foods appeared on serving dishes throughout the hall. James, however, was still in a sulk. Next to him, Remus sighed.

"James, I'm sorry I'm in such a bad mood. It's just, you know." Remus lowered his voice. "Full moon was a few days ago."

But James continued to say nothing, concentrating wholly on the food in front of him.

"Come on, James. Spill, you know you want to."

Finally, a grin suffused itself back onto James's face. "Okay. Tomorrow morning make sure you wake up early..." That was almost laughable coming from James, who never got up early. "...and get straight down to breakfast. We'll have to eat quickly and work fast. By the time the rest of our distinguished student population shows up, we'll be ready."

Remus couldn't suppress a slight smile at the childish glee James was getting out of his plotting. But he refused to rise to the bait. "Sounds like fun," he murmured blandly.

James looked about to explode from pent-up energy. "Don't you want to know what we're going to do?" he asked, anticipation in every word.

"Oh, all right, I'll ask." Remus paused, then inflected his voice with drama, "What are we going to do?"

Abruptly, James turned back into the cool, confident guy he showed the world. "Oh, you know. Dung bombs. Not terribly original, I'm afraid, but we'll want to work up to the greater works of genius." You would never know that he'd been quivering with excitement a mere moment before.

Remus sighed; James could be like that sometimes. He would be so unguarded one minute, but the next he would transform back into the arrogant, popular James Potter, a completely different person than the one only the marauders saw. Remus turned to see if James wanted a response, but no, he was already engrossed in a conversation with Sirius, and Peter was hanging on their every word. Remus turned back to his food.

"So," James began, speaking to Sirius, "who's that blonde you wanted to ask out?"

Sirius spared a glance down the table, but Sara Corner was sitting out of earshot, with her two friends, Lily and Alanna. Sirius would rather Jemma's sister didn't know his intentions, as she was almost sure to try to interfere. "Jemma Corner. You went out with her for a month or so last winter."

James tried to remember the girl. And failed. "Er..."

"Sara Corner's twin."

James certainly knew that name. She'd been one of the girls in the compartment that day. She was one of the few girls that the marauders still pranked regularly. "Oh, yeah, I remember now. She was cute. And nice, but she was always off gossiping with her friends."

Sirius resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Then he thought, Oh, what the heck and rolled them anyway. "James, you've always got some reason to break up with those girls. It's not going to stop me from dating them."

"I know," James shrugged. "I just thought you ought to know."

"Okay, so I'll ask her out tonight. What about you, ol' pal. Who's to be your first conquest of the year?"

"Huh," James glanced down the table, and located the red-head he'd noticed earlier. "What about that girl, with the red hair, brown eyes."

Sirius squinted and found the girl. "Oh, Kelsey Peters. Yeah, she looks cute."

James nodded, and with the night's mysteries solved, the boys dove back into their food with a passion.

The author smiles and hums to herself for a moment, having nothing of interest to say...

and YAY for PinkyTheSnowman for being awesome and reviewing me, and for talking to me on im right now and telling me to update. read her stuff, its AWESOME!

Well, I really don't have too much to say. This chapter is fairly short, and there's not much action; it's basically setting things up for the first day of school, and further happenings in further chapters. Don't yell at me for making James seem like a jerk, he HAS to be an arrogant, presumptuous idiot for a while, because that's why Lily hates him.

In fact, next chapter, you will be getting a full explanation, direct from Ms. Lily Evans about exactly what it is about James that makes her so mad. In fact, everyone within a 2 mile radius of Lily will be receiving said explanation because she's got a fairly large voice when she chooses to use it.

Read'n'Review, all.

And if you get the chance, I've got another fic going now...it's gonna be interesting, so check out "Oddments and Essays"

LE MANCHOT DU DESTIN