Downstairs, Lily and Sarah, who had comedown when she heard the commotion, collapsed in laughter. They left the common room, and went to breakfast, so as not to be cursed when the guys came back down. Lucky they did, because no less than 20 minutes later, the four boys came hurtling into the Great Hall. Red and gold haired, with glitter covered robes, scanning the crowd for a specific redhead.
They found her easily, and ran over to her direction, wands drawn, but before they could do anything, Lily saw them. She stood up on her chair and yelled, "Look at the new Gryffindor Mascots!" pointing at James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. The whole Great Hall burst into laughter, even Dumbledore gave a dazzling smile. The boys turned as red as their hair. They slowly made their way to Lily.
"Oh, hello, Boys! Blow dryers not work?" Lily asked trying to hide her smile.
"Oh they worked wonderfully, but for some reason, the glitter stayed in AND our hair turned colors." Remus said, sarcastically.
"Well, can you blame me?" Lily asked.
"Yes." Sirius said bitterly.
"Hey, now you can say you know how hard it is to get glitter out of your hair." Lily said busting out laughing.
"Well done, Miss Evans. I think you are one of the first people to ever pull a prank on these boys first." Lily looked up to see Professor Dumbledore smiling down at her.
"Thank's, Professor." Lily said, blushing slightly.
"Don't mention it. It was a well-needed laugh. And I'm finally glad to see someone who isn't afraid of these boys." Dumbledore said before leaving a stunned group of students.
"You're lucky, Evans." James muttered as Dumbledore left.
"Oh, am I?" Lily asked amused.
"Yeah, we would have…" "James, she's right. We deserved it." Sirius cut in.
"Thank you, Sirius. I believe the school needs someone to protect them from you guys." Lily said smiling warmly.
"Well, I guess that is true." James sigh, a bit less angry. After all, who could resist her smile?
"Plus, you guys better learn how to handle a joke. Either that or stop pulling pranks on people." From then on, the boy's learned deal with the revenge they got from their pranks, or at least from Lily. (Seeing as she was the only one smart enough to out wit them.)
Sarah and Lily had the same schedules, and James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all in the same classes. At 8:00, the group split up and Sarah and Lily made their way to Charms, as the boys went on their way to Potions.
Charms went by without a hitch. They took notes for the period as Professor Burke showed them the basics of levitation, light, and unlocking spells. Professor Burke was a stately man in his late 30's with brown hair and calm brown eyes. He was kind and compassionate yet not someone to cross. He was easily trusted and knew many of the things going on between the students, as he was the unofficial 'counselor' at Hogwarts.
"Class, please turn in a short essay on one of these three spells by next class." He called in his stern voice as the class groaned.
The girls made their way out of the Charms corridor and to the Transfiguration room.
"Class, no need for books today, only your wands. We will have a practical lesson. You will be attempting to turn a match into a needle." Professor Peele said, gazing around the class. She showed the class the right spell to perform the transfiguration and left them to work. She didn't expect much from the class. But she was surprised.
"Professor Peele." Lily called out.
"Yes, Miss Evans?"
"Is this good enough?" Lily asked quietly, pointing to silver needle
"Well, Miss Evans, This is very good if I may say so myself. 30 points for Gryffindor for Miss Evans spell. Class, you may be dismissed early." Professor Peele said to Lily.
Lily was congratulated and thanked by almost every student in the room for getting them out of class. Lily and Sarah walked to their dorm slowly, talking about the guys.
"I think I like Sirius. His silver eyes are kind of mystifying." Lily said blushing.
"I'd have to take Remus. He has some mysterious light about him." Sarah said absentmindedly.
"I could see you guys together." Lily said smiling at her friend who was lost in her own dreamland.
When they finally got back to their dormitories, Lily asked Sarah, "How much time do you think we have before lunch?"
"Oh, I'd say about an hour." Sarah responded looking sat her watch.
"That should be long enough. I'm gonna go run, oh about 2 times around the school." Lily said while walking to her dorm.
"2 times! That's about 4 miles!" Sarah exclaimed, following Lily up the stairs.
"Yeah, and your point would be?" Lily asked.
"You're crazy." Sarah finally answered.
"Yup, I know I am." Lily said dashing out the portrait hole, and out onto the lawn.
Her muggle cross-country coach would have been proud, Lily had finished four miles in approximately 26 minutes. She quickly hurried upstairs to take a shower.
"My, that was quick, Lily. Finally realize that 4 miles is a suicide mission?" Sarah asked.
"Nope, just finished." Lily said laughing at the horrified look on Sarah's face.
Lily left Sarah sitting in the same position, as if she had stupefied her. Lily barely managed to finish showering and changing before classes were dismissed. She was at the bottom of the stairs when people started pouring into the common room.
"Hey Lily, you're all wet!" Peter said, stating the obvious.
"Well, duh!" She said. "It's not like I was going to go to classes all sweaty."
"Sweaty?" Sirius asked, confused.
"Yeah, would believe she ran FOUR miles? AND in 25 minutes!" Sarah said incredulously.
"FOUR MILES?" the guys shouted together.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Lily asked. She had been interested in running a marathon over the next summer, so four miles was a piece of cheesecake.
"That's…That's…that's like really long!" James stuttered.
"Not really. I've run up to ten miles before." Lily said walking out of the common room, leaving behind her five bewildered friends.
She made it to the Great Hall five minutes before her friends, who had finally roused themselves out of their stupor.
"You know what, Lily?" Sirius said.
"Huh?" she managed to say through a forkful of chicken with rice.
"I think you're crazier than all of us. Even me." He said laughing.
"Well you know what scientists say: 1 out of every 4 people are crazy. Check 3 of your friends; if they're not crazy, you are" Lily said laughing. "Though in this case, it's wrong."
"Why do you say that?" Remus asked sitting down next to her.
"Well, look at all of us. You three can't say you're sane, I'm just a nutcase, Peter's too paranoid to do anything, and Sarah is just about the least crazy person among us, but since she hangs out with us, there must be something wrong with her."
"What about me?" Sarah asked when she heard her name; she had been talking to Mariko.
"I was just saying that you're the sanest person out of all of us." Lily said.
The conversation somehow managed to transfer to Quidditch. Lily was only half interested so she started up a conversation with Mariko in Japanese.
(Italics are in Japanese.)
"Hello! What's going on?" Lily asked.
"I didn't know you could speak Japanese." Mariko said surprised.
"Yeah, I love learning languages. I can speak French, Spanish, Latin, Greek Hebrew, German, Russian, the list goes on." Lily said laughing.
"Geez, it took me forever to learn English." Mariko said astounded.
"What are they talking about?" James asked.
"I dunno. I don't speak Japanese." Sarah replied.
Lily laughed. "This is fun. They have no clue what we are saying."
"Yeah, hey, which one do you think is the cutest?"
"Ummm, I'd have to say Sirius. What about you?" Lily asked.
"James, definitely!"
Lily laughed, "That stuck up arrogant guy?"
"Yeah. He may be arrogant, but he's sweet, kind, and smart." Mariko said, defending her crush.
"Whatever you say!" Lily said laughing.(A/N: I CANNOT speak Japanese so that is why it is in English.)
"Would you guys, PLEASE speak a language we can all understand!" James shouted, earning glances from other tables. He just waved and pointed to Lily and Mariko.
"Oh, is poor Jamsie confused and feeling left out?" Lily pouted mockingly, while Remus, Sirius, and Peter flinched at the sound of "Jamsie."
"Why, yes I am!" he said, astonishing the guys, who expected him to get mad at Lily.
"Well then, go learn Japanese!" she stated.
"How about you teach me?" he said giving her his most charming smile.
"How about not." She said as she left to get her books.
James was stunned. She was the first girl to EVER say no to him. A look of anger passed over his face.
"Wooo Hooo! Go Lily." Sirius yelled at her back. She turned and gave him a large smile before leaving the Hall.
"Shut up!" James said, hitting Sirius in the stomach as the bell rang for classes.
