"I call first shower!" James cried, stumbling into the door in his haste.

"Watch out for the towel holders," Sirius mumbled.

"Prongs, I highly doubt the rest of us could beat you to the shower considering we were just ASLEEP!" Remus yelled. He was not a morning person, and working on three hours of sleep for the past week had not helped with his temper. What with packing and his transformation, there had been no time for such things as sleep. It had been a very lonely summer for the sandy haired boy. Without his friends to keep him company, the transformation was more intense and once in form, his thoughts all circled around killing. It was this inner monster that kept him at a distance from his piers. Even if they were comfortable with what he was, he could never face them if they could see into his head and glimpse the beast that was always lurking under the surface. Ever since the boys had learned to become illegal animagi, Remus had made great improvements with his self-loathing. He no longer saw his transformation as a curse. True, he would much rather be a normal boy, one who didn't turn into a wolf once a month, but with Sirius, James, and Peter around, he didn't seem like such a monster. Instead of risking an outing however, Remus has been forced to spend his summer months alone chained in the attic when the full moon came around. His parents tried to understand, but it was clearly out of their grasp. He would always be a burden to them, and no matter how talented a wizard he was, nothing would change their thoughts of him. The only reason he got strait A's in class, was his hope that they might notice him as a person instead of a beast.

Remus was shaken from his darks thoughts by a loud crash resonating around the room, followed a few minutes later with a slow groan.

"I told you that you should watch out for the towel rack James," Sirius laughed. Remus didn't remember hearing him wake up, but the other boy was unaware of his friend's troubles.

"Who fucking needs towel racks in the doorway? It's just plain inconvenient." James fumed. The bruise was already forming, but he knew a charm that would fix within seconds, leaving no mark behind.

"That never gets old," Sirius said. "If only he could be so stupid on a daily basis."

"We are talking about James right? Because I believe he really is that stupid on a daily basis." Peter replied.

The clock then chimed telling them that it was about an hour till breakfast. First day of term always sucked, Remus thought, but unlike the other students there, he had one thought that would always brighten his day, Lily Evans.

Lily yawned, her jaw cracking from being opened so wide. She rolled over in her bed, relishing the feeling of the warm covers and the bliss that followed a good sleep. Although she was top in her class, thinking of leaving her bed made her want to cringe at the lessons that would be starting that morning. Summer had flown by, although when it was happening, it couldn't have ended soon enough. If she had to watch Petunia and Vernon snog on the front porch one more time, she was going to scream. All in all, the break had been well. Vivian had come to visit along with a few other girls of their year, and they stayed up long hours of the night to gossip about what was going to happen when they went back to Hogwarts.

"Viv, wake up," Lily mumbled, still half asleep, but in the back of her mind, a voice rang out that they should really be getting up.

"Hmmm, ya Lily, I'm awake." Viv said.

"No you're not," Lily observed, throwing back the covers on her bed, and starting towards the bathroom.

"Unlike you, I have no one to impress, so bathing would be obsolete," Vivian stated, pulling her pillow over her head. She hadn't slept much since visions of Sirius chasing her though out the castle had replayed in her mind the entire night.

"Please tell me that was just a statement that was born of pure sleep depravation, because if you really do plan on not bathing, you can kiss out friendship good bye." Lily stated.

"Fine! Are you happy?? I am up!" Vivian shouted, throwing the pillow at the bathroom door where Lily was standing. Lily quickly closed it and shouted through the door, "Morning Sunshine!"

The boys headed down to the common room showered and dressed in their robes, although looking still half asleep. They found Lily sitting in a little owl cove, reading a book, but Viv was nowhere to be seen.

"And where is my love this morning?" Sirius asked.

"Hmm, she mentioned something about bathing being obsolete thing morning, but I think she has seen the light and is now in the shower." Lily laughed. She stole a glimpse at Remus, and found him staring at her. He blushed a little when their eyes met, but didn't break his stare. James observed this, and seeing it caused something inside him to flare up. He dismissed it as just him being jealous of her for taking his friend's attention off himself, but the thought was still nagging at the back of his mind.

"So what are you reading, Lily" James asked, taking the book from her hands. The spine of the book said Pride and Prejudice. Must be some stupid chick novel from the Muggle world, he thought to himself. Maybe he could have a little fun with it though. He ran up the stairs to his dorm, yelling over his shoulder that he forgot something and would be back in a second.

"James wait, you still have my……book," she finished as he disappeared up the stairway.

"So, the first day of term, what do you think is going to be the most exciting thing in sixth year?" Remus asked Lily. Lily being the bookworm that she was, he expected her to say something about the classes she would be taking this year, but instead said something that surprised him.

"To tell you the truth, I'm the most excited about seeing the new quidditch team. Sirius has been sending me owls non stop this whole summer describing in great detail the practices that he and James have been having, and all the new plays they have put together." Lily replied. "Well, actually I think if was more James doing the practicing and Sirius just flying around into trees."

No one would guess it, but quidditch really was her favorite part about Hogwarts. Some thing about the fast pace, and the adrenaline that flowed through the players and oozed onto the crowd, made her feel like all the spells and classes were nice, but nothing compared to the sport.

"She rises," Sirius said, as Vivian emerged at the top of the girls' staircase, fluffing her wet hair with one hand, and trying to button the last few buttons her robes with the other.

"Care for some help?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Sirius there is no way that I am going to voluntarily give you access to my chest, it's just not going to happen," Viv replied. The four of them laughed and James appeared at the top of the staircase holding a letter and Lily's book.

"About time," Lily sighed, as he handed her the book. "What took you so long?"

"I just remembered something that I needed to write parents to send," James smiled. Lily was so naive sometimes.

"And Lizzy felt his manhood swell beneath his riding pants," a seductive voice shouted, echoing the words through out the Great Hall. Lily held her spoon in mid air, looking down at the book that was sitting on the table next to her. It had started talking in complicated sentences describing sexual positions and scenes that Lily knew were not in the book.

"'Mr. Darcy' Lizzy cried," the book shouted, into the now silent room. In a wave, giggles erupted, and Lily quickly said a silencing charm on the book, to keep it from going any further.

"James!" She shouted. She looked down the table to where he was sitting, and was just in time to see the end of his robes flick around the corner of the door and disappear. He was going to get it, Lily vowed. She was never going to be able to read that book again in the same way, and he would pay for that.

The three remaining Marauders laughed at the end of the table, looking at the livid expression on Lily's face. They quickly focused in their bacon and oatmeal as soon as they glimpsed that she was headed their way.

"Where is he?" She demanded. Remus was the first to be composed enough to speak, and he told her that James could be anywhere by now.

"Well, when you see him, just remind him to watch his back, because prefect or not, I WILL get him," Lily seethed.

"I'll do that," Sirius said, collapsing into another fit of laughter. Lily just sighed angrily and stormed off the to library. Remus watched her go, and decided that the least he could do was help her calm down. At that moment, he would have taken any excuse to get close to Lily.

"Wait up," he called. Lily turned and waited; smiling when she noticed that it was Remus who had called. He jogged up the last few steps, and then they continued on the way to the library.

"I really am sorry about what James did. It was harsh of him to have your book become the next Dr. Ruth in front of everyone," Remus apologized.

"It's alright, I guess it was pretty funny, although I will never be able to read that book the same. Something about those riding pants and facts I really didn't need to know will sway my opinion of the book," she laughed. "Thanks for apologizing though, we all know James won't lower himself to do so, so it was nice to have someone do it for him." Lily smiled.

The reached the library doors, and Lily turned to him, "You really don't have to come in here if you don't want to. I know how much the four of you hate coming in here. All the scary books!" She teased.

"Well," Remus started. Should he say it, he thought? Will she laugh and tell him no, or will she say yes? Nervousness was consuming his body. "Um, Lily, do you maybe, that is if you don't have anyone else in mind, would you want to maybe go out sometime?" God he was stupid, he thought. If she could even sort out that she was asking her out from the piles of rubbish he happened to be spitting out, she still might not say yes.

"Remus, did you just ask me out?" Lily giggled.

"Yes, that is, only if you want. If you don't then you can always say no. No, it just rolls off the tongue, although many people don't like the word no. I myself when I am in a joking mood tell people Nin!" STUPID! He thought cringing. Can I just staple my mouth shut now, and quite while I still have some dignity left?

"Remus, I would love to go out with you sometime," Lily laughed. Why was he so nervous? Nin, what the hell was he talking about? She just smiled.

"I guess that means that I can finally do this then," Remus whispered, leaning in. He planted a soft kiss on her lips, and the warmth of him left a lingering tingle on her mouth.

"I guess that means you can," Lily said, leaning in for another kiss, this time though it wasn't so innocent.

James watched from the back of the study room as his friend kissed Lily lightly on the lips, and she pulled him forward again, this time deepening the kiss. He wouldn't have thought that he would wish that he could be in Remus's place kissing her, but he knew that deep down, he would die if he could just brush against her lips. Shaking himself from his trance, he slipped out of the library while Lily was still distracted. He knew that even though she was happy now, the minute she found him, he was dead meat. She knew enough charms to have him reeling for weeks without having to repeat one. He was only glad that her knowledge had no led her to look up more harmful charms.

As he left the library, he ran into someone around the corner and looked up to see that it was Sirius.

"Buddy, I have been looking everywhere for you! What is this, poisoning your mind with this non sense," he exclaimed looking at the library with a look of distaste on his face.

"Just hiding from Lily," James replied, dismissing his lasting feelings of seeing Lily with Remus. "Guess what I wouldn't have seen if I hadn't been in there though?"

Sirius smiled, "Ooo, secrets, I love secrets. This better be a good one though, the last time you had a secret it was that you put spiders in my oatmeal. It was only after I ate the whole thing that you told me though," he sighed. "Not too bad I have to say. Kind of crunchy but with a hint of spice as well."

"Ok, back to earth Sirius." James said, shaking his head at this friend and snapping his fingers in front of his face. "Remus and Lily were getting busy in between the shelves."

"That dirty rotten bastard!" Sirius gasped. "He couldn't have waited until I was there? I wanted to see it," he whined. "Maybe I could get an instant replay in the common room tonight."

"Not a chance Sirius," Remus laughed, exiting the library with his arm around Lily.

"Once again I say, you dirty rotten bastard!" Sirius said. Lily chuckled, but was a little uncomfortable that James had seen then kissing. She couldn't help but feel a little dirty, knowing that people had watched them, it was a little to private to be on display in front of everyone. That was Hogwarts for you though, no privacy at all.

Her uncomfortable feelings soon faded as she remembered her anger at James.

"What the hell did you think you were doing with my book?" she asked, hitting James in the neck since her aim was not the greatest. "Do you have any idea how many looks I got when my book started spouting out….profane things?"

James just coughed from the blow to his wind pipe, while Sirius chuckled, and Remus tightened his hold around Lily's waist but neither of them helped him ward off the blows she was showering on him.

"Is any one going to help me?" he rasped. How could his friends just stand there and watch him get the crap kicked out of him by a girl? Well, just goes to show that even when you think you know someone, they can always surprise you when a crazed red head decides to turn her wrath on you and beat you down in the hallway for all to see.

"Sorry James, but I need some pointers on how to accomplish my noble task of mascot, and this is proving to be a great tutorial. Now should I come in from the right…or would the left be better? Wow, nice left-hook Lily!"

Finally, Remus decided that James had had enough, and pulled Lily out of reach, leaving the black haired boy to catch her breath with a bleeding nose and cut lip. James looked like he had just gotten into a gang fight in the alleyways of London, instead of being brought down by a sixteen-year-old girl.

"If you even so much a glimpse at Sense and Sensibility, it will be three times this." Lily said. "Now if you boys will excuse me, I had best be getting on my way, I still have to grab my books before I head off to class. See you in transfiguration."