A/N: Just a quick hello and I wanted to let you know that this might be finished in about six more chapters. Maybe more, maybe less. Like I said, this is just an estimate. So if you want to see anything, (a singing Filch, Snape dressed in pink-) just let me know.

"Oh, I'm glad to be back," Lily said as she flopped on her bed.

"The holidays were that bad?" Arabella asked as she walked into the dormitory.

"No, just…Petunia." Lily said. She didn't need to explain further, as Arabella knew how impossible Lily's older sister could be.

"I think my parents have completely given up on Petunia and I getting along now," Lily said, turning on her back to face Arabella. "And I'm not sure if I should feel relieved that they've finally realized that, or sad that they had to in the first place."

~*~*~*~

"Hullo, James," Lily said lightly as she walked into the common room. "So how were your holidays?"

James shrugged morosely. "Alright, I s'pose."

"That doesn't sound too good," Lily said as she sat down next to him on the couch. "What happened?"

James sighed. "Nothing. It's just-he had to work on Christmas. I know his job's important and all but-dammit, Christmas!" He stood up and started to pace. "I know his job comes before everything else-believe me, he's made that perfectly clear-but-" he shook his head. "Forget it. I was an idiot to think things were going to change." He sat down next to her again.

At a loss for what to say, Lily, after a second, took his hand in hers. "I'm sorry."

He looked at her sadly. "Me too."

~*~*~*~

"No," Remus declared, staring at Sirius with his you're-completely-insane look.

"Oh, come on, Moony," Sirius wheedled. "We'd be delivering justice, righting wrongs-"

"-and getting expelled," Peter finished.

Sirius looked at them. "James needs this." He didn't need to explain why. They all knew.

Peter sighed. "Alright." He glanced at Remus. "You in?"

Remus shrugged. "Yeah. I'm in."

~*~*~*~

Ellie Morgan and Maria Chase, two first-year girls, were staring at the clock fearfully. Frank, sitting across the room at the table, turned to Lily and asked curiously, "Why are they acting like that?"

"They've got detention with Filch at four," Lily whispered back. "They were outside and brought some snow into the corridors. Filch caught them, and-well, you know what Filch is like."

Frank nodded. No student needed to be told about Filch's insanity.

"They have to clean ALL the hallways top to bottom," Lily finished. "It's impossible-which is why Filch is making them do it."

Just then, Arabella burst in, along with a gust of wind and-snow?

Everyone stared. Arabella, breathless, said, "You have to see this!"

The Gryffindors trooped out-

-and their jaws dropped in amazement. The hallways were covered in snows and icicles. The Fat Lady had icicles hanging off her frame. Frank looked down at the snow, which came up halfway to his knees. "This is-"

"-brilliant?" Sirius finished off for him, coming around the corner with the other three Marauders, all of who had very satisfied grins on their faces.

Melissa looked at them in shock. "Oh, no. You guys didn't-you wouldn't-"

Rebecca looked at her. "They would."

Adam sputtered, "But-what-"

"Thought Filch'd gone too far, and we decided to do something about it," Sirius explained, still grinning.

Filch ran in, slipped, and fell. Everyone started howling. He got up, glaring, his back covered in snow.

"BLAST you six ways from next Thursday!" Filch screeched. "You're all going to rot in detention for the rest of the year, do you hear me!" He grabbed James and Sirius by their robes and dragged them off, Remus and Peter following.

~*~*~*~

"Did you hear that it took the teachers two hours to get rid of all the snow and icicles in the corridors?" Frank asked as he walked into the library with Lily.

"It was pretty funny," Lily said, grinning. "I think Ellie and Maria are going to start a Marauders fanclub."

"Shhh!" the librarian hissed at them, frowning.

Frank and Lily sat down. "Can you believe the paper McGonagall's making us write?" Lily asked sadly. "I swear, it'll be-"

"-a miracle if I pass Transfiguration this year," Frank intoned. "Lily, you say that every year about Transfiguration, and guess what? Every year you make brilliant marks in it. Face it, Lily...you can't fail at anything."

Lily grinned. "I'm going to go and find the books we need."

Wandering down the shelves, she ran into Peter, who was thumbing through a very old and thick book. "Hullo, Peter," she said.

Peter jumped and dropped the book. "Oh, it's you," he said quickly, with a hint of-guilt?

"Yeah," Lily said, wondering why Peter looked so nervous. "You dropped your book," she pointed out, leaning down to pick it up.

"No, that's alright, I've got it-" Peter stammered desperately, but Lily had already picked it up.

"Animagi: What Not To Do During the Spell-Casting," Lily read aloud, and then raised an eyebrow at Peter. "Interesting reading material."

Peter flushed. "It's just-uh, I was rather interested, you see and everything-so-"

Lily stared at him. Was he always this nervous?

"I have to go," Peter blurted and ran out of there, the book clutched tightly in his hands.

"Well," Lily said finally. "That was odd."

~*~*~*~

"Lily," Frank asked, "d'you really like Liam McAllister?"

Lily looked up from her essay. "Why?"

"Just wondering," he said. "I mean, I know Bella likes him and all, but he's a little-"

"Conceited?" Lily finished off, then sighed. "He is quite handsome...too bad he's so aware of the fact. But Arabella likes him, so..." Lily shrugged.

"I guess," Frank agreed. "If Bella really likes the guy, there's nothing more to be said...but sometimes I think one of the reasons she's dating him is because it drives Sirius Black crazy. Why he even cares is beyond me-"

"I've given up trying to understand those two," Lily said, shaking her head in disgust. "At this point, I'm just trying to make sure they don't kill each other. I wish they'd get along better though..."

For more reasons than one… Lily thought, dreaming about Sirius's blue eyes and grateful that Frank couldn't read her thoughts.

~*~*~*~

"Shut up, Black," Arabella ordered as she walked towards the windows.

"It's the middle of January!" Sirius howled. "Someone'll get pneumonia, for God's sake."

"It's a hundred degrees in here," Arabella countered. "I need some fresh air." With that, she threw the door wide open and an owl swooped in. Several people ducked as the owl flew to where James was sitting and dropped a letter on top of his books.

"It's from my dad," James muttered. Without even stopping to open the envelope, he crumpled up both letter and envelope and threw them both in the fire. He returned to his books, ignoring the shocked look on his friends' faces.

"What was that all about?" Frank muttered to Lily, who just shook her head and didn't answer. But she did keep a worried eye on James for the rest of the night.