Previously:
Suddenly, without a warning to anyone else in the common room, Peter shouted insanely, "Tomorrow's the OWLs!" every seventh year "SHHH!" him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At 7:30 in the morning, the Gryffindor tower was very quiet, which was a little odd. The first through fourth years, along with the sixth years, were funnily enough, tip-toeing down the stairs and out of the portrait hole, all in a single file, stealing glances to everywhere around the room, where the fifth and seventh years were aimlessly sprawled out, faces snoring into books and parchment in front of them.
Apparently, the fifth and seventh years were just a tad bit rude to the rest last night, so the younger and sixth year children decided to give them what they deserve. They didn't bother to try to wake any of them up.
When the very last person exited through the portrait hole, down to breakfast, none of the previously tense school kids even twitched in response.
It was around 8:45 when the first of them finally awoke. Lily moaned softly as she moved her head up from its position on James' shoulder. She opened her eyes to a blurry scene. She tried to move all the way to a proper sitting position, but found herself held back by something. Looking over to her right, she smiled affectionately when she saw Sirius leaning his head on her shoulder, a carefree smile on his face. Moving him a little, she sat up and stretched while she yawned. Blinking a few more times to focus her vision, she now looked at the scene around her.
Remus had his head resting on a book on the coffee table in front of them, snoring softly. Peter was in an armchair next to the couch, curled up, and, much to Lily's enjoyment, sucking his thumb. She noticed Cassandra and her two followers sleeping in a nearby corner, some textbooks, and even some fashion magazines sprawled about them. A few seventh years that were seated in a desk last night, were still at their desk with their heads down on them, fast asleep. A few more seventh years were in some corners, snoring loudly.
Lily laughed softly at them all. 'It must still be early…' she thought, reaching over for her muggle watch. When she actually saw the time however, her eyes widened considerably and finally she said simple, and a little louder than normal, "Oh my!"
James awoke with a little snort and sighed as he said, "Lily, that you?" he reached over for his glasses on the coffee table.
Lily jumped to her feet, not really hearing James and she then shouted to everyone in the room, "Everyone, wake up!" most everyone jerked awaked and James put his hands over his ears in pain because of Lily's volume of loudness. Everyone turned to look at her, curiously and confused.
"It's 8:55! Get up! The tests are starting in 5 minutes!" she shouted. In a split second, everyone was up to their feet in frenzy. Most seventh years ran out the portrait hole then and there, ties flying around their necks, yesterday's uniforms still on and very wrinkled, a lot of them were barefoot or just socks on, girls' hair a tangled mane around their heads. Of course, Cassandra, Stacey, and Kelly were freaking out, rushing up to their dormitory for a quick as possibly (45 minutes) shower. Lily and the guys parted to go up to their dormitory to change into presentable uniforms and at least wash their face and teeth.
Lily changed and brushed her hair quickly and rushed into the bathroom to wash her face and teeth. Not caring in the least about makeup, she grabbed her shoes and struggled into them as she hopped down the steps hazardously. She was down to the last five steps, when she lost control of her balance and fell forward, arms coming up from her feet to flail uselessly for the railing.
Right before she hit the ground, a set of arms shot around her and put her back upright.
"Thanks, James." Lily gasped out.
"No time for that," James said, pulling her and Sirius by the arms, Remus and Peter following quickly behind, towards the portrait. As soon as they were out of portrait, they all broke into a sprint.
Peter whimpered, "I didn't even get a chance to look over my Transfiguration notes this morning."
Remus rummaged through his papers and textbooks he was balancing in his hands and handed Peter a stack of parchment, "Here, look over it while we're running."
"I don't know what you are all worried about. It's going to be so easy." Sirius said calmly as he jogged along.
"This coming from the guy that fell asleep last night with minimal amount of studying." James said just as evenly.
"You guys!" Lily shouted from a couple feet behind, "Slow down a little. I'm smaller than you, you know. My legs are shorter; I can't run as quickly as you."
Without missing a beat, both Sirius and James at the same time grabbed each of her hands and dragged her along.
"H-How much...farther?" Peter gasped out, red faced and sweaty, still looking over the Transfiguration notes.
"Almost there, Petey." James said, relaxed and unfazed by all the running, unlike Peter and Lily.
Finally, they reached the Great Hall where the Transfiguration test would be held for the fifth years first. The seventh years were going to be in a different room for their first test.
Before they opened the door, the five of them all looked at one another, each with a different expression on their faces. Peter, who looked the worst off out of the lot, was sweating and panting as though he just ran a 30 mile marathon. He looked so nervous, almost enough to wet himself. Remus, not sweating, but a little red in the face, was frowning a little and held an uneasy look on his face. James, not at all sweaty or red, was taking deep breaths to calm himself. Lily was panting, but not sweaty or red, clutching a stitch in her side from the running, she did not seem too nervous about the test at all. Finally, Sirius, calm and cool, was just looking a tad bit bored.
"How you guys can run that much and not be fazed by it, is beyond me." Lily said breathlessly, face contorted in pain from the stitch.
"What can I say," Sirius started, stretching in a fake conceited way, "Some guys just have the talent."
"Yeah that, and we've had in all those Quidditch practices in." James cut in.
"Anyone else feel like they're walking to their deaths?" Peter said abruptly, looking at the door as though it were a snake about ready to strike.
"Calm down, Wormtail, it won't be so bad." Lily said comfortingly.
"Alright, let's do this." Remus said assured.
Sirius put his hand on the knob, about ready to turn it, and looked back at his friends, "Are we all ready? Wormtail?"
Peter nodded quickly, "Yes, I'm ready."
"Me too." James said.
"Yep." Remus answered.
Lily nodded, giving him thumbs up.
"All right." Sirius said, "Let's get this over with." He opened the doors and all five walked in…
To be greeted by the strict face of Professor McGonagall.
"I see the fifth year Gryffindors have finally decided to join us. After all," she said sternly, glancing down at her watch, "you all are only fifteen minutes late."
"Is that all?" Sirius blurted out, seeming genuinely impressed. He looked at the other four, "We did well on time." James nodded along with him.
Lily bit her lip to stop a smile forming on her face when she saw the look the severe professor was directing at them.
Apparently, the other students found Sirius' remark hilarious. At least, his fan clubs did. They all burst out into loud, high giggles, only stopping when Professor McGonagall jerked her head sharply around to give them a frightening glare.
"Find your names and sit down." She said, gritting her teeth. They didn't need telling twice. They all looked around and with the help of their fellow classmates, located name places and sat down.
Lily found hers in between Rebecca Wilst, a peppy Ravenclaw she once helped in History of Magic, and Gary Henderson, a nervous Hufflepuff that reminded her strongly of Peter. In front of her was an empty seat. Lily strained to see what the name card said on the desk and smirked while she shook her head when she saw the name Kelly Abraham. Her and Stacy and Cassandra were still absent, most likely drying their hair.
When Lily turned around to see who was behind her, she was met face to face with Adam Jasper, a Hufflepuff, and he was staring at her with dazed eyes. When he saw she had turned around to face him, he fumbled and blushed, laughing nervously. Lily gave him a half smile, raising an eyebrow, and turned around. She could hear him whisper berating words to himself. She just shook her head and smiled with relief when James took a seat in front of Gary, sitting kitty-corner from her. He looked back and smiled cutely at her, which she gladly returned, despite the fact Rebecca was looking at her with jealousy.
Sirius was seated two seats behind James, meaning he was kitty-corner with Lily from behind, and Lily noticed, stifling a laugh, that the girl who sat behind Sirius, Tristy Berks, was staring at the back of his head, hopeful and lustfully. Remus was two over from Lily from her right side, and one seat back. Peter was three seats ahead of Remus. They all looked at one another, Sirius and Lily supportively, and James, Peter, and Remus nervously.
Professor McGonagall tapped a ruler sharply on a desk from the front row to quiet everyone down. When the attempt was achieved, she began handing out tests, after putting anti-cheating charms on them. It was at that moment that the doors burst opened and in came Cassandra and the other two, looking a bit flustered. McGonagall glowered and barked at them to take their seats. When they did, the Professor went back to handing out tests.
"You may begin."
~*~*~*~*~ Next Day, 2:55~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They were all seated in the same seats they have been for the last five tests. The final one, was the dreaded History of Magic test. Most of the students were pale and hyperventilating because not one of them had listened to a single lesson in their entire lives. Of course, living up to her title of the smartest witch in Hogwarts, Lily never missed one. She had taken down fantastic notes and had let the Marauders look off of them.
"Alright, everyone." Professor Binns said in a deep, lowly voice that immediately bored every student in the Hall. "No more talking." He started to hand out the tests.
"And…" he said when all the tests were out and no one was talking, "Begin."
Lily and Remus were the first two finished. They could see it would be a while before everyone was finished, and since they couldn't very well talk to one another, Remus put his head down to rest a little while Lily just stared dreamily into space.
A few of the Ravenclaws finished next, then some Hufflepuffs and Slytherians. Finally, James and Sirius seemed to finish at the same time. James, who had turned his test face down, grinned widely as he yawned and stretched, looking back at Sirius, who gave him thumbs up, then at Remus, who had taken his head off his desk and nodded as he smiled lopsidedly, then to Lily, who snapped out of her reverie and flashed him a bright smile.
Peter was still working with quite a few others. Most had sweat drenching their faces with dread, a lot scribbling and erasing errors. One time when he looked up, face fallen, he caught Lily's eye and she gave him a sympathetic, encouraging half-smile.
Finally, Binns collected all the tests and that was it. They were finally finished with their OWLs! James and Sirius literally ran out of the hall screaming with joy, while the more sensible Lily, Remus, and Peter just laughed and walked casually out with the rest of the fifth years.
When Lily, Remus and Peter finally met up with the other two again, they walked out to the lake, taking in everything about the sweet summer day. Birds were chirping, not a cloud in the sky, a soft, soothing breeze that smelled faintly of blossoming tulips and roses and lilacs blew through their hair gently, kids laughing and running around, happy all the stress was over.
They chose a spot under a large beech tree.
Sirius climbed onto a lower branch and sat with his feet dangling down. Remus
pulled out a book, sitting against the tree, looking very content and peaceful;
the full moon wouldn't be coming again for about three weeks. Peter sat next to
Remus, pulling out some grass from the ground. James sat down at a nearby rock,
leaning back with his hands behind his head casually. Both Sirius and James
lost their ties somewhere while they were wrecking havoc after the test, and they
both had their sleeves rolled up, trying to be as comfortable as possible in
their uniforms. Peter and Remus and Lily still were dressed smartly.
Lily, choosing not to sit down, settled for leaning against the beech tree, staring out into the horizon of the big lake. They all lapsed into a comfortable silence. James set his eyes on her, watching just how beautiful she really was. He just couldn't believe that a human could be that perfect. Everything about her was flawless to him. Eventually, Lily felt someone staring at her and pulled her eyes away from the beautiful scenery to look into his gorgeous eyes.
Again, they felt that same peacefulness they had felt that day in the Infirmary when they stared deep into each other's eyes. James eyes reflected some of Lily's twinkling and they both felt like time had stopped. Smiling slightly at each other, they were pulled out of their trance when they heard Peter finally say, "That was really hard. I betcha I failed."
"I dunno, I thought I did pretty well. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be." James admitted.
"Same here. With Lily's notes, every question seemed easy." Remus supplied.
"Yes well, as for I, Sirius Black," Sirius began in a mock holier-than-thou attitude, "I believe that without Maiden Lily's oh-so-wonderful notes, I have achieved all Os on my tests."
"Please, please, Sir Sirius Black," Lily said in a helpless damsel voice, putting her hands over her heart, "Do not let us, oh-so-simple mortals stifle thy great modesty."
She, Remus, Peter, and James burst out laughing as Sirius jumped down from the tree and started to walk dangerously over to Lily. He picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.
"Sirius Black, put my down!" she screeched, not noticing he was walking towards the lake.
"But, my dear lady seemed very dehydrated and warm. The lass deserves to be cooled down." He answered in a mock concerned voice.
Lily immediately knew what he meant and thrashed around some more, "Sirius you wouldn't dare!"
He looked back to the rest of the Marauders, eyebrow raised. James looked a little apprehensive, but nonetheless, his eyes were twinkling mischievously. Remus was quirking his head to the side, his eyebrow raised in question and biting his lip. Peter was laughing wildly, urging him to throw her in.
"Peter!" Lily yelled indignantly, "You're taking his side?!"
"What can I say, Lils, I'm just so much more persuasive than you." Sirius said, throwing her in.
Just as she flew out of Sirius' arms, she managed to say, "Yeah RIGHT!" and before Sirius had time to react, she had taken a strong hold of his left arm and held on. They both fell into the lake.
They both emerged to hear Remus, Peter, and James hollowing with laughter at the lake's edge.
Lily was struck with a plan. She dunked back into the water and unnoticeably latched Sirius' foot with some very strong seaweed. Then, she came back up and started up on some pretty good acting.
She coughed and sputtered, making sure she was far enough away from Sirius, and then gasped out in a panicky voice, "He-elp!" she went under for effect, "Pl-please, you…..guys, I-I can't," she went under again, "s-swim!" she went under a few feet, her hand only visible when it extended.
"Sirius, go help her!" Remus shouted, terrified.
Sirius was struggling, "I-I can't, my foot's caught on some seaweed."
A few bubbles appeared where Lily was.
"Well, someone has to help her!" Peter shouted.
James was staying quiet, smirking, not too worried. He knew for a fact that Lily had been to plenty of swimming lessons.
"You guys, she's drowning!" Sirius shouted.
From underneath the water, Lily was holding her breath, waiting impatiently.
"Alright, fine!" Remus shouted, he jumped in the lake. Peter slipped in after he lost his balance. James stood at the edge, shaking his head at them.
"We're coming Lily!" Remus shouted.
By now, the group had caused quite a commotion. A large crowd had started to gather around. Sirius looked up at James, curiously. Surprisingly, he found that James had burst out laughing.
Remus and Peter had swum over to Lily and went under to find her. Seconds later, they emerged, along with a main of red hair. Lily's eyes and mouth were closed and she didn't move.
"Come on, Lily, we got you." Remus said as he and Peter dragged her back over to where Sirius was still prying his foot loose from the weeds. Sirius, Remus, and Peter all crowded around her, looking anxious.
After what seemed like hours, Lily eyes suddenly opened quickly. The boys jumped in surprise. She spit water on them and started to laugh. They looked at her in question.
"You dolts!" James said from the land. "Lily's been swimming since she was in diapers."
"Then, then, why….." Peter trailed off.
"Revenge." Lily said simply.
"So we got in here, for nothing?" Remus asked astonished.
Lily smirked and said, "Looks that way."
Sirius looked right into her eyes and said seriously, "You do know what this means, don't you?"
"What?" Lily asked.
"War." He said simply as he dunked her head under.
"Water FIGHT!" James shouted as he jumped in without hesitation.
The group that gathered around them cheered and shouted as many of them too jumped in, uniform and all.
They spent the whole afternoon out there. It was the best time any of them had in a long time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was around five o'clock before many of the students actually pulled themselves away from the lake and went in to change so they could get some dinner. The Marauders and Lily all walked over to their beech tree and sat down again.
"So, same thing as last year?" Sirius asked suddenly.
"What?" Remus asked, none of them knowing what he meant.
"We still need to do and end-of-year prank." Sirius said as though it were obvious.
"Oh yeah," James said, thoughtfully, "We really should think of something new this year, though."
"What do you suggest?" Lily asked.
"I'm not sure yet." James answered.
"Why don't we have another slumber party and we can think of it then?" Sirius said excitedly.
The others looked a little weary of the idea of another slumber party, well remembering what happened at the last one.
Though, Lily looked confused and asked, "When did we have a slumber party?"
"It was when you still had amnesia. That was the night you got it back, though." James said carefully.
"Oh," Lily said, then her eyes got wide with understanding and she said a bolder, "OH!"
"Yeah," Peter said, nodding his head.
"But we shouldn't let that stop us," Sirius whined. "It was fun last time, other than the fact we almost all died."
"That's a pretty large 'almost' Sirius." Remus said.
"I still think we should have one. Come on, this is the second to the last night we're here until next fall, we should do something fun." Sirius argued.
"It's a little weird for a guy to be this excited for a slumber party. Gosh, it's a little weird for a guy to be excited for a slumber party period." Lily stated.
"Ah, oh well, we can humor him I guess." James said, "What do you say everyone? Slumber party tonight at 7?"
Everyone sighed and then nodded in agreement. Sirius whooped and shouted in delight.
~*~*~*~*~*~
So, after lots of junk food, some truth or dare, and some muggle games of 4 Doors, Bloody Mary, and Stiff as a Board Light as a Feather, the Marauders all managed to achieve a great prank idea, courtesy of Lily and Remus mostly.
Now, everyone in the Great Hall for the end of year feast, they were all excited to see what great prank the Marauders had in store this year. Even the teachers were ready for it. McGonagall was hovering near the Gryffindor table, knowing full well she would be issuing 5 detentions out and probably taking about 50 points off Gryffindor, but that didn't matter, because Gryffindor had already won house cup with 630 points, Slytherians with 560, Ravenclaws with 545, and finally Hufflepuff with 510.
"Alright, everyone knows what to do?" Sirius whispered. Remus rolled his eyes and spoke for Lily and himself.
"Sirius, we're the ones who came up with it." He said.
Sirius acted as though he hadn't heard him and said, "Alright, everyone on the count of 5. Wands at ready."
They all raised their wands discreetly.
"1," Peter whispered.
"2," Remus whispered.
"3," Lily whispered.
"4," James whispered.
"…5!" Sirius shouted and they all shouted out their assigned curses.
Swiftly, the Slytherian table turned into puppies. Cute, cuddly puppies that ran around. Some chasing their tails, some ran over to the other students and teachers. Dumbledore was petting a small Dalmatian, chuckling merrily. Even McGonagall had one in her hands, cooing at it. The Hall was filled with small, adorable barks. The Marauders was one on the table in front of them, Lily cooing and making baby noises at it.
"Oh my, aren't you just the cutest thing," she gasped, not noticing James staring lovingly at her.
'I'm going to marry her one day.' He thought to himself, smiling goofily.
"I think our prank went a little on the girly side this year," Sirius said, noticing how all the girls in the halls were squealing and gasping as they picked one up.
"Well, it was at a slumber party we thought of this." James said, snapping out of his trance.
"Good point." Sirius replied, chuckling as Lily lifted the puppy up to his face and cooed some more.
Suddenly, the puppy Lily was holding started to lick at her face and nipped at her shirt collar. Lily struggled with it as the boys laughed.
"Someone wanna help me?" she said, trying to hold the puppy back from going down her shirt.
"Looks like the pup's got the hots for you, Lils." Sirius laughed.
James and Remus eventually decided to help her. But, just as they were making an attempt to grab the puppy, all the others started to change back into Slytherians with a pink bow in their hair and signs above their heads stating, "I love Gryffindors." or "No really, I am as dumb as I look".
The puppy that Lily was holding started to transform back into a Slytherian as well. And when it did, Lily face went ashen and her eyes got wide, "Ewww!" she moaned.
"Snape!" James shouted, glaring daggers at the now normal Snape. James gripped his wand tightly at his side.
"Potter, I swear, one of these days, you'll be sorry you ever did this to all of us." Snape spat out angrily.
"Well, it looks like you had a fun enough time in any case. Trying to go down Lily's blouse!" Sirius shouted while Lily stood on, mortified.
"Sirius!" she exclaimed quietly, "Shhh!"
"You know, Snape, you're really pushing it on this whole 'I have a crush on Lily' thing." James said furiously, not hearing Lily, "First, you try to rape her-,"
"WHAT!!!!?" Lily roared, not caring if anyone heard them now, eyes blazing with rage.
All the guys jumped at the outburst and turned their heads meekly to her.
"Oh my gosh!" Lily, a little calmer, a little sicker, breathed out, "Eww!" she put a hand to her mouth, looking a little greener than what would be considered normal.
"I think I'm going to be sick" she said through her mouth and she ran out of the Great Hall. James turned to Sirius and said, "Take care of him." and ran off after her.
Sirius turned back to Snape and grinned evilly, not caring at all that teachers were looking warily at them. "This is going to so be worth it…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Lily?" James called out, looking for any trace of her. He was just about to go get the Marauders Map and was just nearing Gryffindor tower when he spotted her, walking down the stairs. She looked a little paler than normal and her eyes were glossy.
"Lily," James said again, quieter. She looked up and saw him, smiling a little, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just didn't feel well for a little bit," she said.
They looked at each other in silence for a second before Lily said, "He-he didn't really try to rape me…did he?"
James struggled with an answer, "Well, let's put it this way…if we hadn't got there in time, he could have had the chance to. But, you looked like you could have handled yourself very well anyway. When we finally did reach you, it looked like he had been punched a few times."
Lily giggled a little at the thought. "Thanks James," she said quieted.
"Anytime, Flower." He whispered back.
They stared at each other again in silence. Lily broke it again when she said very softly, "James, that time at the lake…when you wanted to talk to me alone? What did you want to tell me?"
James' face paled a little, heartbeat quickening. Now was as good a time as any.
"W-well, you see, Lily, t-the thing is," James stuttered. Lily's face started to form a smile. He looked so adorable when he was flustered. "F-for a while, I-I-,"
"Hey, James, Lily!" someone shouted from behind. Lily turned to look and saw the rest of the Marauders, along with a large crowd going back to their dormitory to finish packing and get some rest for the night. While Lily's back was turned, James silently mouthed frustrated swear words and vented in angry hand motions. Sirius and Remus saw this and exchanged glances.
"Hi there, guys." Lily said, flashing them a smile.
"Well, we took care of the Grease Ball, oh, and by the way, we've each got a detention tonight at 9 for a few hours for the prank." Sirius explained. James and Lily nodded and they with the rest walked into the common room to wait until 9.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Their detention ended up not being too bad. They had it with Professor Flitwick, splitting up into two groups. One, which included Lily, James, and Remus, helped Flitwick grade the last of the homework, and Sirius and Peter helped clean his room.
Now, the next morning, they were standing in front of Hogwarts Express, waiting for it to leave. They all dragged their trunks over to the storage place. James and Sirius put theirs in first, then Remus, then Peter, and James and Sirius put Lily's in for her. Lily took this opportunity to glance around and take a look at her fellow peers. She spotted her roommates a few feet away, getting ready to board. Lily grinned and decided to try something out.
"Bye Cassandra!" she called out. Quite a few pairs of eyes turned to look at her incredulously, including James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
Cassandra's head snapped around, grinning widely, looking for the source of the voice. When she saw that it was Lily who had said that, her grin faded a little, but nonetheless, swallowed hardly and she finally managed to call out in a cool voice, "Later, Evans."
Lily smirked a little, inwardly laughing at Cassandra's behavior. She was such a fake, but it made things a lot more interesting.
"What was that about, Flower?" Sirius asked, brows furrowed confusedly.
Lily shrugged nonchalantly, "I guess we just understand each other."
The boys were convinced enough. They all started to board the train and head to their usual compartment.
"So Lils, you start up your Prefect duties next year," James said, his arm around her shoulder casually, "Excited?"
Lily nodded, a smile forming on her face, "Yeah, I kinda miss them."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll have enough time to act all studious and serious next fall, for now though, you get to relax and goof off," Sirius cut in, stubbornly.
"Oh, hey," James said, glancing over at Lily, "I got a letter from Melly a few weeks ago. She'll be home this summer."
Lily's eyes lightened up. She hadn't seen or spoken to Melanie for quite some time because of Melanie's Auror training taking up all of the summers and holidays. "I can't wait to see her again. You know it's been about 2 years since I have."
James nodded, "Yeah, she says she can't wait to see you either. I think she was going to plan a shopping day with you sometime within the first week we get back."
Lily grinned so widely it looked like her face would crack.
"Well, I have the first day of break planned out for us," Lily started, practically jumping up and down in her seat excitedly, "First, we go to the lake, then, after that, we'll go to a thing called a movie theater-,"
"I can't on the first day. Let's make it the day after tomorrow." Peter said.
"Why not?" Remus asked.
"It's my grandmum's birthday party. I have to go to Spain tomorrow. But the next day, we'll definitely do that." Peter answered.
They continued making plans for the rest of the summer. Finally, they got bored of the topic and they went on to other stuff. Lily and Remus were playing Wizard's Chess on the floor, Sirius, Peter, and James took out a Quidditch magazine each and were reading intently.
Finally, they heard a voice on the loudspeaker telling them that they would be arriving at Platform 9 and ¾ in about five minutes.
"I'd better go get changed, you four should probably do the same," Lily stated.
"Alright, see you in a few," James answered as Lily closed the sliding door behind her.
"So, James," Remus began casually after exchanging a look with Sirius. Peter and James both looked up from what they were doing, "What's been going on with you recently?"
"What do you mean, Moony?" James asked as he struggled into his sweater. A soft, wool dark green one that James knew Lily happened to love.
"Oh come off it, Prongs," Sirius said, changing into his own dark blue shirt, "We've all noticed how different you've been acting around our precious, beautiful flower petal."
James paled a little, surprised, "Y-you have? Like when?" he demanded nervously.
"Like last night, right after we saw you two in the hall after dinner. What was with the little puppet show with silent words?" Remus insisted. He and Sirius smirked; they knew exactly what was going on with James. Peter looked slightly confused, but amused at the same time.
"And the time at the lake, when I saw you two right before my date with what-her-name." Sirius supplied
"You luuurve her, don't you." They both mocked at the same time, laughingly.
James blushed, but nonetheless, answered confidently, "Alright, fine! You've figured it out. I do love her."
"Knew it!" Sirius chuckled.
"Knew what?" a new voice interrupted. All four of them jumped in surprise, turning to see the curious Lily standing in the doorway.
"Lily! Next time, knock! We could have been changing in here!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I did!" she defended herself, giggling, "Plus, it's not like I would see anything I haven't before."
"WHAT!!!!!" James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all roared furiously at the same time. Lily burst out in loud laughs.
"Just joking, guys. Jeez, what kind of girl do you think I am?" she managed to get out between her laughs.
"A girl who won't be going on a date for a long time if we have anything to say about it," Remus muttered, frowning at her joke.
"Oh look," James cut in, "Here we are!"
They all walked out the compartment door, moping amidst Lily's giggles.
"Oh stuff it, Lils." James muttered as she hooked onto his arm, still howling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N- ok, there's the next chapter. I'm very very sorry about the wait and I hope this long update makes up for it. I won't be putting up a long preview, because, frankly, I got quite a bit of reviews (THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH) and I want to get this out as soon as humanly possible. Thank you again, everyone for reviewing.
*"How about a haircut, Lils, your hair is getting pretty long."
*"It's times like these when I know I'm head over heels for her."
*"Well, it looks like it's just you and me."
*"Isn't that beautiful?"
*"Lily, I wanted to tell you something for quite sometime now, and I'd better do it right now before someone interrupts us."