Disclaimer: It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 6: In which Lily Becomes a Hair Artist

Or

In which Lily Gets Revenge

Lily woke up early the next morning grinning like she'd won the lottery. And if she had, James Potter was a pretty darn good prize. She still had to pack for the holidays, since they'd gotten back to the common room so late last night, but that wasn't the reason she'd gotten up early. Oh, no. This morning was reserved for revenge; sweet revenge. Sirius wasn't going to know what had hit him.

Lily quickly changed into an all black outfit. After all, if she was going to act devious today, she had to look the part. More specifically the foxy criminal part, she thought as she put on some dangly black earrings. Ready to go, she rummaged through Ally's side of the sink. There it was. She grinned devilishly. Grabbing her find, she headed out the door. Sneaking into the boy's dorm was pitifully easy. She was tempted for a moment to go and snuggle up with James, but managed to stop herself. She could do that later. Revenge, however, had only a short time frame. Tiptoeing around the haphazard piles of clothes and books, Lily made her way to the bathroom. She found Sirius' shampoo easily; after all, it had betrayed her only the afternoon before. Opening it up she emptied the contents of the bottle of pink hair dye she'd borrowed from Ally into it.

Her hands kept shaking as she tried not to laugh. Putting the top back on she shook up the shampoo bottle and placed it back in the shower. Now she could have simply spelled the shampoo, but that wasn't the way to successfully get revenge. The only way you could hold your ground against the Marauders was in the muggle mindset. They all came from wizarding families and scoffed at Muggle Studies, so it was the one area where they were weak. So that's where you had to hit them. It would take Sirius weeks to figure out that she hadn't used a spell; weeks with pink hair.

Sneaking out, Lily gave into temptation and ran a hand through James' hair. He murmured something that sounded suspiciously like "Lily" and she grinned. Kissing his cheek, she headed out. It was time to start packing. An hour later she'd managed to cram everything she would need into her small over-night bag; she didn't want to lug her trunk with her. Because of the small packing space Lily had gone with things that took up the least amount of space, like those tank tops she told Ally she didn't have. Oh well; at the very least they would make James happy.

Grabbing an old muggle mystery, she headed down to the common room. It was already bustling; everyone couldn't wait to go home. Lily felt a pang at that, but ignored it, and settled herself by the fire. She'd been reading for only a little while when she (and everyone else in the common room) heard loud cursing emerging from the stairwell. Her name, it seemed, was being interspersed as well. Hmm...maybe it hadn't been such a great idea to tuck that drawing of a lily into the mirror. But what is the point of a great prank like this if one doesn't take credit for it? If you can out fox the Marauders then you deserve to advertise it. Ok, so it might also be useful that Sirius couldn't really get revenge on her without risking early death by James Potter.

As Sirius emerged into the common room Lily burst out laughing. He was only wearing a towel, which he as holding around his waist and his hair was....iridescent pink. He marched over to where she sat and stood in front of her, practically growling; in his hand he had clutched the drawing of a lily.

"Dashing new look, Sirius," she got out before dissolving into another fit of giggles.

"What the hell did I do to you?" He demanded.

"I don't know," she said feigning like she was deep in thought, "But it probably involved a camera."

"What's all the fuss about?" James said, stepping into the common room still in his pajamas. Then his eyes focused on Sirius; next, they then shot to Lily, who was grinning like a criminal mastermind (a sexy criminal mastermind at that). Sirius started sputtering about James keeping a tighter leash on his girlfriend, but James probably didn't hear, seeing as he was bent over double laughing his head off.

"Ugh," Sirius scowled, "Take the spell off NOW!"

"I can't," Lily answered truthfully.

Sirius looked like he was being desperately tempted to hit her, but she sat there serenely knowing he wouldn't. Whatever else he did, Sirius Black didn't hit women; he only pranked them to high hell.

"Maybe you'll think twice before you prank me again, Sirius Pink," she cracked up again; she hadn't been able to resist that last jibe.

"I'm telling you, take it off right now," he said, grabbing her belt loop and pulling her up.

Probably not such a great move; the second he touched her, James stopped laughing.

Sirius shot a look at James, whose eyes had darkened dangerously, and instantly dropped his hold on her. "Sorry..." he muttered, shooting another look at James, who had just walked over. "Well, maybe you can talk her into telling me which spell she used," he said, clearly giving up getting any answers out of Lily.

James wrapped an arm around her waist, "You're forgetting, Padfoot, that camera prank was played on me as well. Besides, I rather like your new look."

Sirius growled and turned to go back upstairs. Then Ally emerged from the stairwell and glanced at his hair. Unlike every other person thus far to do so she didn't laugh, she grinned, "I like it."

Sirius' grim expression lightened instantly, "Really?"

"Yeah, it's sexy," she said and ran her fingers through his dazzlingly pink hair, "I did wonder where my hair dye had gone."

"It's muggle dye?" Sirius choked out, looking horrified.

Ally grinned, "And if you're a good boy, I'll show you how to get it out."

Sirius looked eager at that. He'd probably be carrying Ally's books for the rest of the year to pay her for her expert knowledge of muggle hair dyes.

For a moment there was silence as Sirius followed Ally back up the stairs listening to her talk about purple highlights, and then every single person in the common room fell over laughing. James swung Lily off her feet and told her quite loudly that she was an absolute genius. She grinned as he kissed her on the cheek.

"My Dad is going to love hearing this one," James said grinning proudly. "He always said I was going to find a girl who was ten times sneakier than me, and it was going to throw me for a loop."

"I threw you for a loop?" Lily asked confused.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice that I spent all of the past two years trying to get you to go out with me."

"Actually, I did notice that."

"But Dad's absolutely going to love you. Anyone who can dye Sirius' hair pink will certainly be a god in his opinion. I have to say," he said, leaning closer to her in a sort of confidential way, "I thought it was very cunning myself."

Alright, chalk one up for her foxy criminal persona. It was in business.

"I guess I better go get dressed," James said.

"Do you have to? You look so cute in your boxers."

He laughed, "Although you do make a good point, I'd rather not freeze."

"Fine, fine, have it your way. Maybe you should take a shower too," she suggested casually.

"I took one last night! Do I smell bad already?"

"No, but your soap sure does smell good."

James grinned, "I'll save you some, if I can have a kiss."

"I'm not going to be blackmailed," Lily informed him and then promptly gave him a quick peck on the lips. Her will power seemed to be diminishing by the second. Worthless will power, it couldn't even hold its ground in the face of an amazing, wonderful, adorable, half-dressed, really good smelling man. On second though, who could blame it?

"Well I better hurry up," he said, "We wouldn't want to miss the train. Why don't you grab your stuff and meet me down here in 10 minutes."

"Alright," she said, still puzzling about her will power.

"Great," James said as he pulled away from her and with one last tug on her ponytail, headed back up the stairs.

Lily felt like swooning, but she figured that might be a bit embarrassing. Instead, she sank back into her chair trying to ignore all of the gaping first years. Her book had fallen to the floor, so she picked it up and tried to figure out which page her bookmark had fallen from. It was useless; her mind wouldn't concentrate. Heading back up the stairs, she side-stepped Sirius and Ally, who were making out on the landing, and scurried up the remaining stairs to the girl's dorm. Grabbing her bag, Lily swung it onto her shoulder. Looking around, she couldn't help feeling that she was forgetting something. Her eyes fell on the small wooden box that sat under the edge of her bed. Picking it up, she flipped it open and stared at the few photographs and other mementos inside. Looking away, she snapped the lid closed and keeping the box clutched in her hand walked out the door. She didn't know why she was bringing it, but for some reason she couldn't leave it. James was already down in the common room when she got there. He had a small bag at his feet and, of course, his broomstick.

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Wow! I got so many reviews. I'm absolutely speechless. I do want to thank everyone for reviewing though. I'm going to have to stop thanking everyone individually since there are so many of you, but if you feel the need for an individualized response or have a question, don't hesitate to say so.

Daystar: Alrighty, all my lovely comma mistakes are fixed, so you are off the hook. By the way, I completely earned 30 niffer happy minutes typing that new section.