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Chapter 3: Bold Characters

"Prooooooongsie!" Sirius addressed James loudly, as he made his way through the crowd of onlookers. The minute the crowd heard Sirius' voice they immediately made a path for him and Remus to get through; it was as if they were treated with royalty in Hogwarts. There were some dreamy "Hi there" responses and winks from the girls, and some "Hey dude" replies and high-fives from the boys.

Oh no, no, no, run now, hide, James chanted in his head.

Sirius finally found his way to the couple with Remus following behind; his head down, trying to hide his silent laughing.

"Prongs, I've been looking for you everywhere mate! You didn't go to your bed last night-", Well done, Sirius, now everyone knows that, it makes everything seem more suspicious then before, James thought madly, "- and now I've found you down here with the beautiful Lily Evans." Sirius winked flirtatiously at Lily. She replied to this comment with a middle finger.

"Ooo, bit cranky this morning Lily! Wonder why, eh? Anyway, you two are holding hands after such a night of passion in the common room! Prongs, you old dog! Wait, that's what people say to me...I mean, Prongs you old stag!" Sirius corrected himself.

"Sirius, do you ever think before you speak?" James asked tediously.

"Yeah, sure I do, all the time!"

"Did you think now, before you spoke?" James questioned.

Sirius looked at his friend blankly for a few seconds. "Uh...I dunno, I can't remember." James closed his eyes and sighed.

"Look, people! We are not voluntarily holding hands!" Lily shouted in clarification to the onlookers. There were some laughing, sniggers and glances between people, obviously hinting to each other that they didn't believe a word she said. Most particularly there were sixth and seventh year boys giving James the thumbs up and clapping in applause, obviously coming to their own conclusions on what Lily and James had been up to. However there were also girls -of all years- glaring daggers at Lily.

"If I found out who did this to us then I'll kill them!" Lily shouted angrily. Sirius and Remus flinched slightly in wariness, but neither Lily nor James noticed.

"So...James," Sirius tried to direct the conversation elsewhere, "Going to give us the details? How was she?" he asked cheekily.

Lily was about to strangle him but James forced her back telling her, "Don't worry, Evans, I'll strangle him personally for you. Look Padfoot, we didn't do anything."

"Liar, liar pants on fire!" Sirius sang. Lily rolled her eyes at his immaturity.

"Padfoot, please, don't remind me of that experience..." James remembered nearly being burned to death by the deadly fireplace that caught his trousers on fire only moments before.

"Huh?" Sirius was confused. "What are you on about?"

"I'll tell you later," James replied. He wasn't in the mood for story telling at the moment.

Meanwhile, Remus was in such a fit of laughing that he had resulted in sitting on the common room chair, desperately trying not to look at either of them.

"Oi, Moony, you got something to say?" James questioned, arching a brow.

"No James, not at all," Remus replied, trying to stifle a laugh. "I have to say though, you two look quite good together. Your hands look rather comfortable." He ended on a smile.

"Thanks Remus, you're a pal," James muttered moodily.

Did he just say comfortable? Wasn't I thinking that earlier…? This is not good, James concluded to himself. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a girl's offensive, brash voice.

"Excuse me! Move it! I said get your arse out of my face! Do you want me to let off a dungbomb?"

The girl pushed her way through the masses of Gryffindor pupils; the mention of a dungbomb made it easier for the girl to pass.

Aw crap… it's Anna, Lily thought, as her best friend boldly made her way across the common room, with her dusky, brown hair flouncing over her shoulders. Anna was unusually loud for such a small person; that quality in her is what Lily liked about her

Not today though.

"Hey there, Anna. You're looking gorgeously sexy today," Sirius told her enticingly.

Anna turned to Sirius, smiled sweetly at him, and then replied to him exactly as Lily had done: the famous middle finger.

Ouch, Sirius thought, wincing.

Anna turned to face Lily, without looking around at Sirius who was standing watching her behind, literally, and said "Sirius, stop staring at my arse."

Said boy muttered an apology and stepped in line with her, out of buttocks view.

"Lily, there you are! What's going on-," Anna halted when her eyes landed on James. "James," she said suspiciously, and he nodded politely in response.

Her eyes landed on their hands, the blanket and tossed trousers on the floor, and also the fact that James was wearing just his pants.

"Oh. My. God," Anna whispered to herself.

Lily could tell where this was going. Paling, she tried to said quickly, "Anna, honestly, it's not what you think, me and Potter-"

"Lily I cannot believe you!" Anna gawked. "You never told me you and James were, um," she did nothing to reduce her loud voice, "'doing it'!".

"WHAT?" Lily and James spat. However, Anna carried on talking.

"- But you know Lily, you're only 15, I hope you were using protection, and I hope he didn't force you into-". By this time Lily was trying block her ears.

Please, why won't she stop talking? I'm going to kill her. I don't care if I have to strangle her with one hand! This so embarrassing! I do not need the ' birds and the bees' talk with my best friend in front of the entire Gryffindor House! Lily covered her heating face.

"And, in the common room Lily? That's well, a bit slut-ish don't you think-" Anna carried on.

"EXCUSE ME?" Lily cut in.

Did my best friend just call me a slut? I don't believe this! I don't care if the whole of the Gryffindor House is watching: I'm going to kill her. Who cares if there are witnesses! It'll be worth it!

Anna carried on as if she hadn't spoken."- I mean, its a bit unhygienic and kind of rude, people sit here to talk and stuff. If you wanted privacy in the dormitory then you should have asked. Oh, and by the way James, nice pants," she finished.

James quickly grabbed the blanket from the floor and wrapped his lower body, trying to save any pride he had left - which wasn't much.

Lily was fuming and James was highly embarrassed. His face shone a bright red, silent and with an expression of confusion. Anna spotted Sirius who was watching the situation happily with a delighted expression.

"Did you know anything about the two of them 'getting it on'?" Anna asked him curiously.

Ooo yes, do carry on speaking as if we aren't here! James thought sarcastically. Continually embarrasses us and makes arses of us! We don't mind! Continue talking as loud as possible while an army of Gryffindor pupils watch the situation!

"No not at all Anna, my dear! You know, he doesn't tell me any of his secrets. I remember that day James admitted to being gay by wearing that delightful pink robe. I never knew he was. I remember it like it was yesterday!" Sirius spoke merrily.

"Sirius, that was yesterday," James reminded him, "And I'm not gay!" He glared at Lily. The pink robe was entirely her fault. Lily showed no guilt whatsoever.

"Oh, of course, we know that now Prongs, since you spent the night with Lily and won't let go of her hand."

"Shut up, Black," Lily snapped.

"Oh I bloody give up..." James muttered, massaging his forehead.

"Look James, could you leave me and Lily alone for a second, I want a private chat with her," Anna asked suddenly.

"What?" James looked at Lily but she was looking elsewhere, not putting two and two together.

Anna grabbed Lily's arm to lead her off a few steps but was startled to see James had also followed her.

"It's sweet and everything James, but just let go for a minute."

James stared at her blankly. There was no way of separating their hands. The private talk they wanted was not going to happen.

"James, just let go of her hand so I can speak to her alone," Anna repeated more fiercely.

Oh no, is that fire I see in her eyes? She's getting seriously mad, James thought.

"Look, Anna," he gritted through his teeth, "I can't let go of her hand-"

"Okay, James, you're acting a bit possessive now, aren't you-"

"Anna, he can't-" Lily began.

"James! Just let go already!" Anna ordered. "You're really starting to piss me off!"

Sirius and Remus watched the current state of affairs, along with the crowd of Gryffindor pupils, who were still observing and enjoying the show. Everyone's heads turned back and forth between Anna and James, moving as though they were watching a tennis match. There were some even betting on who would win the 'fight'.

"I bet on Anna! She's freakin' scary!" someone spoke in the back.

"I told you already, Anna!" James had resorted to yelling. "I can't!-"

"Just back off, James! Go away!"

"What part of the word 'can't' don't you understand, woman!"

That was it. She snapped.

Anna punched James in the eye, and he yelped in pain and staggered backwards - luckily not into the fireplace this time, as much as Anna would have liked that. There were cheers of glee coming from the swarm of Gryffindors as the gamblers who bet Anna would win the fight collected their winnings.

"YES! I won five galleons!"

At once, James looked fiercely at the person who said that with the one eye he could see through. Lily looked surprisingly distraught by what had happened, checking if James was alright, along with Remus who was also worried.

"Are you okay?" Remus asked, observing James' face.

James uncovered his eye with his hand to reveal a black bruise that was deepening within every second. Remus unexpectedly made a snigger. He did feel pain and pity for James, but also found it hilarious that he had been so painfully beaten up by a girl. He tried to cover his laughter with a mask of concern for James. However, Sirius was on the floor, clutching his stomach in laughter.

"Man, Prongs, you totally got beaten up by a girl!" he laughed hysterically, trying to control himself but failing by far.

"I'm so sorry Potter," Lily apologized. She turned to face her friend with a face of disbelief. "How could you just punch him, Anna?"

"Because he was in my personal space! And he called me 'woman'! No one calls me 'woman' and gets away with it. I have a name. Besides, he didn't need to get in such a hissy fit; all I wanted to do was have a private chat with you!"

"No, Anna," Lily shook her head. "Listen to me, please. Potter isn't holding on to my hand on purpose. Our hands are somehow joined together by some spell. Okay? Do you understand now?" she carefully explained.

Anna stared, expressionless. Lily hoped she was thinking, and not just staring at her in complete confusion.

After such quiet silence, Anna finally spoke up. "Oh...I get it now! It makes sense…heh…" She looked guiltily down at her feet, embarrassed for the rage and sudden outburst resulting in James' new eye make up. Her eyebrows narrowed. "You know, you should have told me in the first place."

What! James thought angrily clutching his sore eye.

"I tried explaining to you but you didn't bloody listen-" James began irritably, before Lily had clamped her free hand over his mouth to silence him, signaling him to shut up or Anna might hit his other eye.

"I'm sorry, James, really, I am." Anna told him, looking shamefaced and uncomfortable. James was about to yell at her some more, but he was nudged in the stomach lightly by Lily, who was looking at him with sorrowful eyes, telling him to let it go.

Woah, those eyes make her look cute...wait, what did I just say? James thought. I seriously need to see Madam Pomfrey about these conversations in my head.

"It's alright," James muttered in the end, "I'm sorry for calling you 'woman'."

Sirius grinned, "Happy families again!" There were groans of disgust and boredom from Gryffindors who had lost interest by all the sappiness of apologizing and how the fighting had stopped. Some were retreating back up the common room stairs, ready to go back to bed. "Now all the drama is over with!"

However, he was wrong.

It was only a few seconds after Sirius had unfortunately jinxed them that another new character pushing themselves through the crowd, shouting "Jamesie!" The few that had started retreating to their bed's immediately ran back down to observe on what would happen next.

The busty blonde -who was already covered in thick make-up, despite how early in the morning it was- was not at all happy.

Sirius cowered nervously; he'd completely forgotten about James' current girlfriend, Amber, whilst doing the spell.

Oh well, he was going to dump her soon anyway, at least, I hope he was, Sirius defended himself. He could defend himself in any situation.

Amber stormed up to the group of Sirius, Anna and Remus around the couple. James immediately ruffled his hair in nervousness to what was about to come, "Hey, Amber, how you doin'?"

Lily rolled her eyes. Old habits die hard, she thought, watching James mess his hair after specifically telling him to stop doing that. She abruptly smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow! Will you stop continuously hurting me! I've already got a black eye!"

"You deserved that smack, Potter," Lily retorted.

Anna and Remus laughed silently in amusement. Sirius was too busy to laugh as he was checking Amber out.

The light haired girl was pounding with rage, narrowing her eyes at Lily. "Don't you dare touch him!" she shouted possessively.

Sirius rolled his eyes. This one was certainly dumb, but still exceptionally hot, he thought. "Bit late for that, love," he pointed to their joined hands clasped together.

Amber eye's slowly moved to their hands. Her eyes seemed to burst out of her head. If looks could kill, James would be dead in an instant. In fact, he'd be killed several times, and several more times over.

"How could you, Jamsie? Let go of her hand right now or it's over!" Amber roared.

Great, she'll forgive me, only if I let go of Evans' hand, which I can't bloody do. Just great, James thought bitterly.

"Look, Am, I can't." James said softly.

"What do you mean you CAN'T? You're choosing her over ME! What the hell is wrong with you? Everyone knows that blondes have more fun!" Amber flicked her blonde hair over shoulder, casting a disgusted look at Lily. Not only was Lily raging, but Anna looked like she was going to rip every blonde hair that belonged on her head.

"Whatever you say," Lily spat at her.

"Blondes having more fun aren't necessarily true, Amber," Sirius said huskily to her, joining the conversation. He ran a hand through his ebony hair.

Amber replied by signalling the middle finger, just as Anna and Lily had done earlier.

Wow, that's three times in one morning! Sirius thought worriedly. I can't be losing my charm! Don't panic!

"Sirius, can you please contain yourself from flirting with my girlfriend while I'm in the room," James warned him.

"Sorry mate, reflex action." Sirius apologized, backing out of the conversation.

"Correction, James. I was your girlfriend. Not anymore, it's over!"

"But-" Before James could continue in his defence, Amber slapped him hard across the cheek.

This was not a good day for James. He'd been punched in the eye and slapped in the face both by the opposite sex. He was losing his pride, dignity and manhood all in the space of ten minutes. "So. Much. Pain." He clutched his cheek in agony.

"And you," Amber looked Lily up and down with a filthy look, "You can have him, you mudblood."

Lily was about rip Amber into a thousand pieces until Sirius, again like yesterday, had pulled her back as Amber stormed off up the common room stairs.

"She did NOT call me what I think she just did! Why do you keep stopping me! Let go of me! I'm going to kill her!"

"Lily, that'll be a bit hard to do considering James hand is attached to yours."

Lily finally stopped struggling and sulked moodily. The common room now was empty except for the five of the fifth years. The mass of Gryffindor watchers had all returned to their beds; they had a few hours before classes started that Friday morning and it seemed as if everyone wanted those few hours to sleep and rest. The drama of Lily and James had completely exhausted them.

"I so could have taken Amber," Lily sulked.

"Don't worry, I'll kick her butt later," Anna informed.

"I can honestly say I definitely believe you, especially judging from James' black eye," Remus told her. Anna smiled, thanking him. James, however, glared at them both.

The group of five stood silently watching each other, no idea on what to do next.

"Alright, I'm going back to bed," Anna and Remus said together, strangely in unison. They looked at each other strangely, blushed, and retreated up the stairs to their dormitory. Sirius watched the two oddly as they left. He returned his attention quickly back to James and Lily.

"Soo...I'll be going now. Gonna go see if Wormtail's up yet. He's probably slept through the whole thing. I'm hoping he's still sleep so I can prank him! I'll be leaving you two alone, again," the two glowered at him, "So...bye, bye, lovebirds!" He ran off quickly before either of them could physically hurt him.

Now the common room was completely empty.

"Well, that was certainly an eventful morning," Lily broke the silence.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to think that it's probably not the end of it and there will be more to come."

They two looked at each other, both awkward and unable to think of what to say.

Why are we acting nervous now when we're alone? This is weird, Lily stated in her mind.

James' thoughts automatically wondered back to the dream he had, no matter how much he forced himself not to.

"Um, Potter, maybe we should go see Madam Pomfrey now, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," James replied absentmindedly. He walked towards the portrait and exit of the common room. Lily obviously followed, but grabbed his arm and stopped him just as they were about to leave.

"Huh?" James was confused to why they had stopped and why Lily had stopped him so suddenly. Lily smiled at him, beaming.

Wow, that smile…I really hope I'm not drooling...Er...what am I saying?

"Potter?" Lily was holding on to his arm.

"Evans?" James dreamily replied.

"Maybe you should go put some trousers on. No matter how hilariously funny it would be to see you walk around Hogwarts in just your pants covered by a blanket; maybe you should change. You might scare or even blind a few pupils."

The smile James portrayed quickly left his face at this comment.

Lily Evans is definitely a feisty girl.

"Okay then Evans," James replied, acting cheerful. "I'll put some trousers on for your benefit, since you just can't stop looking, talking and mentioning my pants and great manhood."

Lily glared at him, reddened slightly, not meeting his gaze.

"Accio trousers!" James called as a pair of black trousers zoomed from the Marauders dormitory, down the common room stairs and straight into James' hands.

He threw the blanket aside and carefully putting the trousers on with one hand, zipped and buckled them up. He faced Lily, who had turned away, embarrassed, whilst James had been changing.

He placed his hand on her chin and turned her head to face him. Lily was bewildered by such actions.

As their faces inches closely to one another, James whispered "Let's go then," before dropping his hand. He pulled Lily as he walked through the portrait on their journey to the Hospital Wing.