Twelve – Smile for the Camera . . .

It was at about ten past six the following morning, when James woke up with a violent jolt from the most bizarre dream he'd ever experienced. He and Lily had been practising Quidditch on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, getting along very well without any psychotic ex boyfriends, fraudulent news articles or embarrassing bathroom entrances to ruin things. Yes, they had been getting on famously when, quite suddenly, Lily and her broomstick had begun to float away. Racking his brains, James couldn't say exactly where she had been going; it was in a generally 'away' direction, but when he had tried to follow her, he found himself drifting towards the ground.

Next moment, the dream had changed, and he and the Marauders had been sprinting full tilt down a secret corridor, pursued by Filch, but in the back of his mind there had been this panicked, wretched thought that cried 'Lily has floated away!'

Sitting up and looking about him, James discovered that he was in the Hospital Wing, and that Lily had not in fact, floated away, but was curled up in the chair next to his bed, sleeping with her head on her knees and her Quidditch uniform still on, even her arm pads.

Of course she hadn't snogged Padfoot, James thought to himself. Sirius was someone who Lily filed under the group title 'Kill before kiss', along with Amos Diggory, Snape and well . . . himself.

Even so, the Head Boy couldn't stop himself from reaching over and gently pushing her hair back from her face. When it tinkled, he saw her chain was still grasped in the fingers of his other hand, the clasp broken. Oh well, it gave him an excuse to buy her another one. James always looked on the bright side.

He set the chain down on the hospital bed's table and scrambled up from the bed. Lily squirmed in her sleep as he picked her up by under her back and her knees and put her down carefully on the mattress, taking off her arm and shin pads while he was at it. Lily struggled all the way and James had to avert his face to stop his eyes getting poked out at one point, but once she was safely laid on the bed and James was collapsed on the chair, she made a little satisfied sighing noise and clawed at one of the pillows, hugging it to her cheek.

James sighed as well, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose sleepily. Across the room, the curtains of the Hospital Wing drew back automatically, and the stark white room suddenly went a faint yellowish colour from the early morning sunlight.

James watched the dozing redhead wistfully until she began to stir.

Lily woke in a much more comfortable position than she had gone to sleep in. Her legs didn't seemed cramped anymore and her head was laid on something soft. She slowly identified this thing as a pillow, which was a definite improvement on her knees.

The odd thing was, the pillow she was lying on smelt of something familiar. It was nice, but stuck out in her mind. Snuggling into it happily, she tried to think what it was.

The poor pillow went flying when Lily suddenly realised what it reminded her of. Sitting up as fast as the mechanism of a mouse trap, Lily wondered in incredulousness why in the world of magic she would be sleeping on a pillow that smelt just like James's hair. She squinted in the sunlight through the window and located herself as being in the Hospital Wing and James as being in the chair beside the bed she was currently on.

He smiled at her lopsidedly.

"Morning," he said cheerfully.

Lily blinked and looked back down at the white sheets that creased under her hands. She would have said 'good morning' back, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was odd when she had only just seen him and she couldn't think of anything horrid that used to jump into her head when she usually caught sight of him. Before last night, all that she could have related his face to was the reasons as to how much she hated him.

Now there was nothing there . . . all the space that had been previously filled with bad memories was taken up only by the sight of his present lopsided smile.

James tipped his head sideways.

"Are you all right, Lilo?" he asked, frowning slightly.

She hadn't even realised when he'd switched teams.

Lily looked up and said something she hadn't meant to.

"You switched."

"Yeah, you looked a bit squashed in the chair and I thought it was only fair since I was awake and after I broke your necklace and everything . . ."

Lily wasn't sure whether she was glad or slightly disappointed that he'd taken it the wrong way. That charming smile of his was still stuck in her head. As she stared thoughtfully at the white sheets, a series of memories of that same smile flashed across her mind's eye as if they were on a film projector. It was the same smile that he'd flashed outside the horseless carriages after he'd kissed her hand. It was the same one he had on his face after their first Quidditch match and he'd kissed her outside the Heads' Dorms. Lily remembered it from when he'd carried her up her stairs and put her to bed, when they'd gone outside that night on Christmas Day, and from when she'd unwrapped the broomstick he gave the next morning.

She hadn't noticed it at the time, but every time she'd let him be especially nice to her, every time she'd humoured him or every time she'd shown him the slightest kindness, he'd flashed her that charming half smile, as if he were half shy or half embarrassed or half afraid that she'd curse him.

James was very confused. Lily was acting most strangely, kind of thoughtfully, really. She'd look at him as if she wanted to say something for a few moments, then she'd look back down at the mattress and finger the sheets until she looked up again. It was like that way she'd act with Verity or Remus, but somehow shyer.

Lily had never been shy with James Potter before, nor had she ever been friendly.

"Lilo, are you sure you're all right?"

Lily looked up again and stopped fiddling with the sheets as she watched his eyes flicker and a crease form down his forehead. For the life of her she couldn't think of what to say.

"It's nothing," she said quietly. James's frown deepened. Wordlessly, he stood up and sat down again on the hospital bed next to her, then he fixed her with a stare as thick as swamp water. Lily averted her gaze nervously, wondering what she could possibly say to him, or indeed, if she could say anything to him at all.

James gave up. If he had learnt anything about Lily, it was that if she didn't want to talk to you, you wouldn't hear the sound of her voice again for a long time.

"Fine, fine," he said, raising his eyebrows in a shrug-like expression, "you don't have to tell me, but at least give me a hug," he teased, holding out his arms.

Three seconds later, he decided there was something very, very wrong with the Head Girl. The Lily he knew would have cast an irritated look in his general direction and said something along the lines of 'Shove off . . . shove off and drop dead, Potter.'

But she didn't say anything. She just looked down again, and leaned towards him and James was so shocked, it was a moment before he realised he was supposed to do the same thing and that was how the whole 'hug' idea worked.

Wondering at his good luck, James leaned over, but recoiled sharply when he felt a pain on his chest. Lily pulled back too, giving him an odd look.

"Ouch," frowned James in confusion, and pulled up the shirt of his Quidditch uniform. "Lily, would you happen to have any idea about this?"

Lily cringed as the absence of shirt revealed a rather large red mark in an interesting shape on the Head Boy's chest, already starting to bruise outwards from the inside.

"Er . . . yes, that . . . may have been me," she admitted.

"Blimey, you must hit me a lot if I can't even keep track of them," marvelled James with a smile

"No, you were unconscious," Lily informed him.

"So I irritate you even when comatose," remarked James, amused. "Nice."

"No, it was just Sirius," said Lily, shaking her head and trying to think of something she could change the subject to.

"So I got battered for something he did?" James said, mockingly scandalised.

"No, no," Lily said, waving her hands at the same time as shaking her head. Oh, good grief, she was going to have to explain. "What happened was: Sirius told me that you mentioned the mouth-to-mouth incident to him."

James bit his lip.

"Ah," he said, with a single, worried nod.

"Yes," said Lily, hoping this conversation would not go too far, "so I hit you . . . a lot . . . and apparently caused extensive internal bleeding."

"I see," James said, in a monotone that tried valiantly to cover up his bewilderment. It was fantastic not to be beaten by neither fist nor wand, but this didn't make sense at all. "So what happened then? I feel as if I have somehow missed out on a vital chapter of my life."

"I . . . er, can't remember," Lily said, and her voice sounded so blatantly untrue in her own ears, that she sighed.

"Alright, Sirius asked me what exactly I hated about you," she mumbled to the space of white sheet between them.

"Oh, what a tremendous speech you must have made," grinned James, "what a vastly monstrous list you must have had to complain about. You know, frankly I'm surprised you're not still rattling on about it now."

That was when Lily hit him with the most determined stare, straight in the eye, and said in the most earnest voice she'd ever used, "Potter, I couldn't think of anything at all."

If James hadn't already been sitting down, he would have needed to.

"I . . ." he began but didn't finish. "You . . . I mean . . . er . . . pardon?"

Lily went back to staring at the sheets as her nerve failed her.

"I said I couldn't think of anything," she repeated downwards, "nothing at all, OK? My mind went completely blank!" James continued to stare as the small redhead's voice began to crack. "There wasn't anything, James, there was absolutely nothing to justify how I acted towards you this year, nothing to excuse how bossy, moody, irritable, angry, ghastly, mean, and downright nasty I have been to you."

Lily sniffed and dragged her palm across her cheek.

"Nothing at all," she finished miserably.

James blinked.

This was it.

This was what he'd been waiting for.

What he'd been waiting for, for all of three years.

Three years he'd wanted this.

Or at least he had supposed so.

It wasn't as if he didn't still love Lily. When he tried to trace back to where exactly he had fallen in love with her, his mind only came up with that day by the lake, where she had stood up for someone under his cruelty (albeit someone who deserved it), where she had frowned on the behaviour that he had been so proud of and where she degraded him down to below the level of a giant freshwater mollusc.

Ever since that day, he had been dreaming of some sort of recognition, some sort of small sign of approval.

Little by little, he forgot that he was supposed to be the most popular boy at Hogwarts. He forgot that he was supposed to be arrogant and rude and self-important. He forgot that at least fifteen girls whistled, stared or flirted while he walked the stretch of one corridor. He forgot he was allowed to curse people and make fun of their weaknesses because he could get away with it. Somehow, he even forgot he was tall and handsome, fearless and talented, heroic and sportingly able.

Because as long as Lily didn't speak to him, he stopped telling himself he was all those things. And as long as Lily didn't think he was all those things, he somehow stopped believing them himself.

So essentially, ever since the Day of Snivellus's Pants, he had been waiting for this kind of recognition.

Only now, it somehow did not taste as sweet as he had imagined, what with Lily crying and all.

If all of these events had transpired two years ago, when James had not forgotten all those things, he probably would have been jumping from one hospital bed to another and shooting sparks up in the air with joy at his triumph.

However, these events were transpiring two years later, when a lot had changed and at that moment, all James wanted to do was give Lily her cuddle.

Quite suddenly, Lily found one hand one way round her shoulders and another the other way round. Then she found herself being pulled towards the Head Boy into one of his very best, very tightest, very heartfelt hugs, where it seemed to her a little like being bundled up in a lovely thick duvet.

Sniffing and smiling slightly despite herself, Lily closed her eyes and curled her arms into her chest because James had caught her whilst she was trying to dab both eyes at once. James's smell reminded her faintly of toasted chestnuts and brandy.

It was quite a long hug. Exactly how long they stayed there, neither of them cared to say. All James cared about was that Lily was upset, and all Lily cared about was that James was giving her a hug.

After a while of Lily sniffing and wiping her eyes on the backs of her forefingers, James said, "Don't cry."

Lily sniffed defiantly. "I am not crying." Even so, she took the hanky that he offered her when he pulled away reluctantly.

"Haven't you already got one of my hankies?" smiled James, "I shall run out soon."

Lily laughed quietly through her nose, leaning against the headboard of the bed in a teary, good-natured sulk, and threw the balled-up handkerchief back at its owner. James seemed not to be too bothered that she had been wretched to him, and unfairly, but then again, that made perfect sense. He had never been bothered before, so why start now?

Even so, Lily felt the low, bubbling thickness of guilt in her bottom of her stomach as she leant her elbows on her bent knees and fiddled with her nails. James only watched her through the filter of the early morning sunlight. It was a bit of a fantastic feeling, knowing that the girl opposite him didn't detest him so much anymore. After a while, she looked up from her fiddling.

"Was I very horrid to you?" she asked, in badly projected casualness. James wrinkled his nose in dismissal.

"Nah." Lily raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"I was there," she reminded him ruefully. He smiled and gave a long, continuous shrug.

"Maybe," he told her. "All right, yes, but I did deserve it."

Lily went back to her fiddling, but it was slower as she shook her head in the negative.

"No," she murmured to her fingers, "you changed. You changed quite a bit." James only watched her. "You switched teams," Lily whispered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

James took a deep breath.

"So . . . are we friends?" he asked hopefully. Lily looked at him, nervous.

"I don't know," she said, "are we?"

"Lilo," said James seriously, "my invitation of friendship has always been yours, you've just never taken it."

Symbolically holding out his hand to her, James tried, but failed to stop himself grinning manically when Lily crawled forward to take it. Throwing all personal restraint out of the window, James rushed forwards to hug her, squeezing her so hard that Lily was thinking, with any luck, she'd come out of it taller. She clutched at his neck, actually quite enjoying being hugged to the death by James.

"So we are friends, then?" she said through a smile, her forehead squashed against his cheek.

"I should say so, yes," James replied. "We are friends."

Friends, he thought, which was definitely the furthest he and Lily were ever going to get. Friends is quite enough, Potter, he told himself, you may be in love with her, but it'd be downright stupid to ruin this. For Merlin's sake, get a grip and don't send everything down the drain now. Just friends, just friends, just friends . . .

Over the next twenty seconds or so, James found it increasingly difficult to keep repeating these words to himself over and over again. The reason for this could have been because the redhead in his embrace had raised her head and by some convenient arrangement had ended up with her face around two inches away from his.

Yes, things looked quite different from this point of view.

It seemed words had failed them both. James swallowed nervously while he watched Lily's eyelashes flicker as they skipped from his own eyes to what could possibly have been his lip. As words began to fail James, so did the ability to think logically. All consequences and foresight abandoned him as his lips drifted down towards hers.

Bang.

It is common, when one is not thinking to their full capacity for many things to be left up to instinctive reaction. Instinct told James that to kiss Lily would be very dangerous and therefore, when he heard the doors to the Hospital Wing burst open with a thunderous bump, instinct made him startled to the core. The noise made him jump, release Lily faster than the tail of a Basilisk and tumble off the Hospital Wing bed with shock, in that order.

Lily meanwhile, seemed to be attempting to collect herself and was blinking in a stunned way as the rest of the Marauders plus Verity dashed across the room to where James was scrambling up from the white tiles.

The newly arrived party looked as if they had run a good long way, but James hardly noticed this because he was still trying to work out whether or not the last twenty seconds had actually happened. Had he and Lily really suddenly gone from being in the shaky stages of a new friendship to being on the verge of kissing, or was James's brain misfiring from being unconscious all night?

However, another demand on the Head Boy's attention presented itself when Remus bent over, leaning on the arm of the beside chair and tried to stop panting.

"By Merlin," he gasped, as Peter looked as though he was moments away from collapse. "By Merlin, do we have huge news for you two . . . Why were you on the floor just now, Prongs?"

James stared.

Because I was just about to kiss the love of my life, the gorgeous girl you see before you, who has just told me I have been redeemed fantastically in her eyes and wants to be friends but maybe, sort of, was just about to kiss me back, he thought.

"No reason," he said aloud.

"Nevermind that!" Verity dismissed impatiently, "You honestly won't believe it! Honest to anything, you won't . . ."

By the slightly panicked tone of her friend's voice, Lily was just beginning to worry, when she noticed that last Marauder, Sirius, crouched on the floor of the Hospital Wing in the corner furthest away from any windows. He was acting very peculiarly, shooting shifty glances in all directions, shielding his eyes both hands and muttering.

"It's crazier than setting up a tent on the Gringotts' cart tracks!" Verity continued, waving her arms about. "It's ludicrousness on paper! It's . . . well, look!"

A heavy piece of parchment landed on the bed in front of Lily. It was an edition of Hogwarts Hearsay.

Far out into the Forbidden Forest, a flock of birds took their startled flight at the sound of the loudest scream ever to have graced Hogwarts Castle in all of its millennium of existence. Windowpanes in the Hospital Wing rattled.

Let it simply be said that Lily had ample grounds on which to be screaming. For instead of the newsletter being filled from top to bottom in print, the entire top half was taken up by a photograph. This photograph featured Lily. It also featured . . .

"Is that Snape?" demanded James, his eye wide in horror. "And are you kissing?"

Indeed they were. And under the photograph was the following article:

Hogwarts Hearsay
Issue 3, Volume 1
Thursday 29th April

Fraternising with the Enemy!

This photograph was snapped recently in the dead of night, and as you may have guessed, shows our own Head Girl, Lily Evans in quite busy circumstances with a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team, Severus Snape.

After her initiation in the Gryffindor Quidditch team early this school year, Miss Evans has seemingly been leading quite the scandalous life. Along with allegations that she was dumped by her long term boyfriend, Amos Diggory, after being caught snogging her fellow head student, James Potter, there were then rumours that she had offered to sabotage one of Gryffindor's matches in order to save Hufflepuff and win Mr Diggory back.

Now is seems she has been becoming quite familiar with Gryffindor's next opponents, the Slytherins. Mr Snape (pictured), known throughout the school for being somewhat antisocial, is here seen acting a great deal friendlier than usual toward the Gryffindor Seeker.

Of course, Mr Snape is also known for his long term rivalry with James Potter, who also, coincidently, has a long term rivalry with a certain Mr Diggory from Hufflepuff. Students of Hogwarts may be seeing a trend in Miss Evans's romantic dealings and could be forgiven for thinking that the Head Girl wishes to deliberately spite Mr Potter. We at Hogwarts Hearsay again implore Mr Potter to rethink his blatant affections for the Head Girl because she is obviously nothing but an evil little slut and is only out to calculatingly hurt him.

Let's face it, why else would someone voluntarily snog Snape?

After running her throat dry with screaming, Lily had pulled her knees up on top of the mattress and had scrambled away from the piece of parchment as far as the bed headboard, the sheets crumpling beneath her clawing feet.

"I don't believe it," she was muttering, "How could this happen? Why would this happen? What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"That photo is like feeding Skelegrow to a jellyfish," remarked Verity, "It is physically, morally and aesthetically wrong."

In a motion that was startlingly quick, Lily seized James's arm so that he had to bend down to avoid falling over.

"Please, oh Merlin, please, for the love of all things magic," Lily begged him, "take it away and burn it!"

"That won't do much good, I'm afraid," Remus said sympathetically.

"Yeah, she's been sticking them up at night," Peter added, "They're everywhere!"

Lily emitted something that sounded a bit like the dying scream of a dormouse. James, who predicted by the grip she had on his arm that he wasn't going anywhere soon, neither would he have any inclination to, sat down on the mattress next to her.

"Shh, Lilo, it's OK. Nobody would believe it if you paid them to," he said quietly, using his free arm to reach across and hold her other shoulder.

"But it's there!" Lily cried in horror, "Look at it! It's hideous! How did she do that?" Verity frowned.

"Come to think of it, how did she do that?" the blonde said, picking up the parchment from the mattress and scrutinizing it thoughtfully.

"Oh, there are various potions and charms and things you can do to make people in photos do whatever you like," Remus said, "but, I don't know. The thing is . . ."

"When have you or I ever seen Skeeter with a camera, that's what the thing is," James said, looking up from the Head Girl for a brief moment.

"That's true," Remus nodded, sitting down on Lily's other side. "Most of the magic is very complicated, and anyone who wants to carry it out has to be very experienced with cameras and all that photographic business. Somehow 'Skeeter the scarab' doesn't quite strike me as the sort of person who would spend two years researching the finer points of photography."

"What does that mean, then?" asked Peter.

"It means that the scarab is no longer working alone," Verity replied, disgustedly. She held up the article and made to tear it straight down the middle for her best friend's benefit, but Lily looked up at the photograph and frowned.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, snatching the parchment from Verity. "Look!"

"No, thanks," James wrinkled his nose and averted his eyes.

"No, here," Lily said pointing. The photograph contained both the Head Girl and Snape, both in their respective Quidditch uniforms, and, as mentioned, their two photographic selves were kissing quite passionately. James had to fight hard not to heave with horror or disgust or both.

Lily was pointing to the neck of herself in the photo. Around it was the necklace that was currently lying on the beside table with the clasp snapped. However, the necklace was doing something very strange. It seemed to be floating against gravity because the chain was halfway up Lily's neck and the clasp looked as if it was being held up by an invisible string from behind the redhead. It was also shaking slightly, as if someone was fiddling with the invisible string.

"I know when this person took my photograph!" Lily exclaimed, "it was when you were trying to fix my necklace, Potter! Right after Sirius and I were talking in the Changing rooms! They must have cut you out, but left my necklace in!"

"Oh, yeah . . ." James said slowly.

"That explains why Sirius was saying he was seeing . . ." Lily began, but trailed off to lean sideways, peering around Verity to see Sirius. Everyone in the Hospital Wing turned to look at the Marauder, who had not said anything (well, anything completely coherent) in the past fifteen minutes. He was still crouched in the corner of the room with his head bent slightly and his hands on either side of his face.

"Flashes . . ." he was mumbling, "flashes . . . (mumble, mumble) . . . flashes are everywhere . . . (mumble) . . . stay away from the light . . ."

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked sideways at Remus.

"Is he alright?" she asked in a low voice.

"He's been like that ever since last night," Remus told the party. "Didn't sleep a wink, avoids windows like he avoids the library and won't stop muttering long enough to tell me what's wrong."

"He asked me about these 'flashes' last night as well." Verity asked. "Do you think someone's been taking photos of him, then?"

"That'll probably be it," nodded Remus grimly.

"So," James said, "someone's been taking photos of him, and someone's been taking photos of you. Chances are: it's the same person, right?"

"Right," Lily assented.

"So this is what I suggest," James continued, "I don't know about you, but I need a shower." Lily nodded glumly. "So we'll all go to our dorm and work out what to do from there, alright?" Lily nodded again and stood up, drifting slowly towards the door. Half way across the room, James put an arm around her because she looked so miserable.

"Hey," he said quietly to her, and kissed the top of her head, "cheer up. I think I have an idea about what to do." Behind them, Verity abruptly stopped walking when her best friend neither cursed, hit nor shouted at the Head Boy, nor did she get even remotely angry. Verity and Remus looked at each other with identical expressions of shock.

"Come on, Padfoot," James said, walking over to the Boy and bending down to pick him up by the back of his collar.

"Oh, Merlin, the flashes . . . the flashes are everywhere!" Sirius continued to mutter as he was half dragged, scrambling, towards the doors.

"Oh, pull yourself together, man," James told him levelly, "we're going to catch whoever did this to you, and possibly prank them."

Quite abruptly, Sirius stopped muttering.

"Prank?" he asked, looking up at his best friend. James stopped pulling him along by the back of his shirt.

"Yes," he said deliberately, "prank."

"Oh," Sirius said, standing up and dusting himself down. "Alright then," he nodded cheerfully, before walking quite normally out the door.


a/n: So, after two weeks of pure 'no-time-to-write-ness' here is something I scraped together during lunch-hours and Chemistry lessons where I can't be arsed to pay attention. Ah! 66 days before my GCSE study leave begins! I hope to get this fic finished by then, or I shall fail. Yes, I shall.

JamieBell: Hello! Thank you so much for reviewing! It's always nice to hear from you, especially when you say nice things about my fic. :D I'm really glad people seem to like Verity, I was so nervous about her I was whacking cane on desks in front of her, shouting 'Shape up! Get better now! Grow yourself some more personality for Christ's sake! You think you're fit for an OC? You're not fit for a Mary-Sue!' So, yeah, she had a quite a bad time of it. As for James and his chronically unconscious state, he must have low blood pressure or something. Or maybe the thought of Lily kissing someone else (his best friend) was so shocking that even if his brain entertained it for a microsecond, he'd have a synaptic breakdown. You guess is a good as mine. Never thank me for plugs, if I give them, you deserve it. (Yes, you do.)

Alcapacien: Thank you so much. I think James is a little smarter than that, but you never know. I'm glad you liked the joke, obviously James didn't . . . :D

soccerchic1989: So you think I pulled it off? That bit caused me much suffering and distress. Hopefully this chapter worked as well.

Mr. Money: Cheers, sorry about the late update. And after you asked so nicely as well. Apologies.

Jillian Jacobs: Exactly, how can it possibly turn out well? I guess I've got a bit of challenge in front of me.

Tsusetsu: Which reminds me! I need to watch Shaun of the Dead this weekend. Thank you.

Thunder's Shadow: How the C2 going? Any new subscribers? Hey! That's a really good idea! No seriously, it is. That's really funny! Why the hell are you giving it to me? You should write a one shot! Go on, you know you want to. Write me a fluffy one shot! Please?

IamSiriusgrl: No, there was no particular reason why I called you honey. I have this unfortunate habit of calling everyone honey/love/darling/angel and other variations on theme. I know I should stop because it makes some people like 'Do I know you?' but it's just some slightly odd thing I do because I don't smoke and get that sophisticated image through a cigarette-holder. ;)

MissMrprk:) -k

FrighteninglyObsessed: You can never have enough Remus. I agree. Feel to point and laugh at me. A lot of people tend to feel the urge and who am I deny them:D

Anne-Janet: I have, of course, extended my sincere apologies to Mr and Mrs Skeeter for cursing them with two daughters. Cheers for the review love. What do you think? Will Rita's plan fail?

Call-Sugarhigh-Police: Oh, my gosh! Call an ambulance! Quick!

breziebear: I don't know. Were you suggesting something? Were you? Huh? HUH:D Thank you so much for the review. P.S. this fic is PG-13:D

shortywithbrains: Well the thing about the necklace is that when I have gym, my teacher has a hissy-fit at anyone who wears jewellery because it's dangerous. So I think she must have indoctrinated me to think that all jewellery must be removed before sport. Blame her. Sorry I didn't update last week. I had school, unlike some lucky so-and-sos

fairybells3: Aw! That's such a cute thing to say! Thank you!

ebony-plays-the-viola: Whoa, that beginning of your review was slightly scary. Never mind, you're back! You're right, Rose is doing a bang-up job. I used to watch coupling but I just sort of . . . stopped when it changed slots. When is it on, and surely it can't be better than Little Britain? There were half-hints of Remus liking Verity scattered through the chapters, but they were very subtle. Never mind. I think Sirius is a bit too much of a player for me to pair him up with someone. Besides, he's so much funnier single. ;) Get some sleep, luff, you sound a bit deranged. Night night.

Victoria87: It's OK, the position was funny, or at least I hope so. If you want a beta, I recently found this thing called Perfect Imagination, which is like an archive for Harry Potter betas. Writers can get in touch with people willing to beta for them. It's well nifty. I think it's perfectimagination and then dot org, but it could be dot net. Try both. If you don't find anyone, I'll be happy to take a look, but I'm not a good beta at all, as is demonstrated by my own hideous spelling and punctuation.

GlassBroomstick: Sorry about the lateness! Urg, doom and death and destruction. This week has been so busy. Yargh. Sorry. Here ends my rant.

kaiyana: Thank you so much for commenting on the epiphany. That was something I was nervous about. I hate those jigsaw puzzles. They're like rubix cubes, but even more annoying because they're not half as hard and yet I still can't do them!

Red-Emerald: Yes, I am evil. Evil I am. Am I evil? Yes, I am. :D I'm sorry you're so tortured by that one sentence. If I had known, I would not have put it in. Cheers for reviewing though, and expressing your outrage.

raj: Wow, that was very descriptive review. Got any fics?

Naidel: I love you! You're so cute with the reviewing and the comparing my chapter to weather reports and with the whole cuteness. glomp OK! FINE! I Lose! Happy now? There is nothing that rhymes with Harry Nubbins, all right? NOTHING! You're just sore because you can't rhyme. Although I would not have my Valentine poem any other way. Blows raspberry

Flavagurl: Thank you so much, Rita is going down.

LostConscience: Yay for Lily indeed. Cheers for reviewing.

The Big Dance: I like weird adjectives. They're great. I have also never read the Tempest, is it good? Sorry about the late update, this week has just been blowing my mind.

sCHEm: Ok! I will!

SnakeEyesHannah: You are very good with compliments. Thank you very much. I'm really glad you like the story. It makes me happy when people like the stories I tell. Arg, getting a bit deep and inspirational, there, are we, koonelli? Can't have that now. Gotta put on a good show and whatnot. I need food too.

Liisa Libelle: Hello! Welcome to the fold of the story. It's good to have you here. Glad you reviewed, otherwise I would have never known you were here, would I:D Yes, school is the bane of my life apart from Enlgish, history and Art. All else is a waste of time when I could be writing. You're completely right.

kiwislushie: I think she sort of knew it all along, but she didn't quite believe it until she realised he wasn't a complete arse. I think this chapter had a bit more Remus, but the next one will have a lot. Promise.

Phillippa of the Phoenix: Yes, poor James. I hope the question was answered about the flashes. Hehe.

LJstagflower4e: Exciting, eh? Indeed. :D

natalie: Hey, I'm really glad you like the story. Yay! I can't write people without a sense of humour. I just sort of . . . can't. Every time they see something serious, I say to them 'Come on, isn't it a bit funny? Not even a little bit?' Nope it doesn't work.

siriusforeva: Cheers, you're lovely.

Miss Lady Marauder: Grrr, you win this time Madam, but Sirius and James are mine! All mine! Go write your own! And if you have, stop stealing mine:D

Lady of Masbolle: I hope your not doing your science. Science is one of the evils of earth. It does it's best to make my life difficult since I am obliged to take three exams this summer in Physics, Chem and Bio. Groan

newsieduckling: Yes, school. Urg. Thank you for sympathising and reviewing.

Tracey: You've got a fairly good system going here. I like it. Well done. There's an Anita's Disco Club? I think you should go! Stand there in the middle of the dance floor, shaking it and sniggering to yourself. :D 'Nnyess'ing is what my friends do. It makes us sound incredibly camp and generally fabulous, like Ursula in the Little Mermaid when she goes 'Why a-yes!'

Chelime: Yay for hopeless romantics! One day we shall rule the world. I think James came to his senses once he woke up.

razzle-dazzle-me: God, I adore your name.

Sushinase: Yes, we British are prudes. Strangely, it does not stop us from streaking quite frequently at sporting functions. :D Lily gotten to his head or is it just his chronical quidditch-obsession? I suppose we shall never know. You thought it was Sirius and Lily snogging. I bet you never saw that one coming . . . evil grin

charbar: Hello, m'darling. I hope you're having a good weekend. Thanks so much for your review. I wouldn't worry, James is quite sturdy. Pats James on the back. I suspect he'll last a while yet before I have to change the batteries. :D

Elspeth Renee: I love people who print out chapters, they're so dedicated. I can never be bothered, partly because my printer is a demon under the label of Epson.

Coffee Shopper: Thanks for the review. P.S. Your name encompasses two things in the world.

abilars: Aw! Thanks!

Monica: Thank you so much, I'm glad you were amused.

milky way bar: Haha, yes, smart boy. Too smart for his own good by half. :D

mika-mitch: Haha, you leave the randomest reviews and I love them.

Bondariana: You do sound like a teacher. Except no teacher has ever been that complimentary to me.

AOPeeps: Haha! Pigeon English, how I love it.

Next chappy:
Sirius sings shirtless (I bet you're paying attention now)
There's a rally in the ranks of the first years
And there's broom closet activity for Rita Skeeter

Love, your no-time-to-put-pen-to-paper author