Chapter 7

(A/N) Yippee! Reviews! Reviews, reviews, reviews! Ahem. On with the story.

Note to Readers: I don't know how to spell Draco Malfoy's father's first name. If anyone knows, please tell me. PLEASE?

Disclaimer: You know the drill… I own the plot.

*~*~*~*~*

As we left off, the Gryffindors had just had a victory against the Ravenclaws in their snowball war. However…

"Sacrifice our own tower, Evans? Are you mad?" James shouted.

"No. I was under the impression that you wanted to win," Lily answered quite calmly.

"That tower has our best ammunition in it! There is no way we're sacrificing it!"

"You play chess, don't you?" Lily asked sharply.

"Yes," James said distractedly.

"You make sacrifices in chess in order to win, don't you?"

"Fine," James sighed.

Lily smirked and returned to the parchment with the plans.

"The Hufflepuffs will be easier to defeat than the Ravenclaws…"

*~*~*~*~*

"Lieutenant! We have Ravenclaw refugees at the door!" a third year Gryffindor shouted just outside the fortress.

"Send them in," Lily instructed.

Nearby, there was a cough that sounded like "pushy".

Turning from the ice-desk that Lily had conjured, she turned to see the opposite wall, where James was magically bound to with ropes.

"Pardon me?" she asked. "What did you say?"

"I said, Miss Ice Princess," he chuckled at his own joke while Lily rolled her eyes, "That you are pushy."

"Well, if being pushy gets things done, I'll be pushy the rest of my life," she replied, as a knock sounded from the door. "Come in."

Sirius walked in, and glanced at James, who grinned and shrugged- Well, he tried to shrug, but as soon as he did, the ropes tightened.

"Uh… I'm not even gonna ask," he said, nodding towards James.

Lily swiveled around in her chair to face him. "We had a disagreement while you were gone," she stated. "So… What's your report, Captain Black?"

"As you thought, the Hufflepuffs have a quidditch player- er, I mean, a soldier at every window. They keep lookout and fire snowballs in defense."

"Defense? Ah," Lily swiveled around again in a full turn to face Sirius again. "So that's their strategy. To stay in the shadows, and wait for the other houses to destroy each other until they're the only ones left. They wouldn't have to do much. Smart, but…"

She paused, and said firmly, "Each window of their tower is small, so that they can see out, but nothing can get in. The windows, being made of ice, are definitely where they would put the firmest packing of snow and ice. Unless they thought very much ahead, they would have neglected the spots inbetween. So you aim for their weakest spot."

"Sort of like their Achilles' Heel, right?" Sirius asked.

"Right. But the windows are close together, and the firmly packed spots are probably the firmest next to the window, and the weakest right inbetween. If you aim a bit off target, it'll have no impact whatsoever, and that'll be wasted ammunition. Understand?"

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Sirius saluted. "Oh, and the Ravenclaws, what do you want to do with them?"

"Put them to work," Lily said, waving him out the door.

Once Sirius left, James coughed again.

"What now?" Lily asked irritably.

"You're becoming a dictator," he said simply.

She responded by charming a piece of tape over his mouth.

*~*~*~*~*

Within seconds after their attack, the Hufflepuffs waved their flag of truce.

"Potter."

James glared at her silently.

"The Slytherins are our next target," Lily informed him.

James glared at her silently.

"We've already defeated the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs," she continued.

James glared at her silently.

"Now we must do the same with them."

James glared at her silently.

"And their castle is modeled on the outside the same as ours, which leaves it near impossible to defeat," Lily said.

James glared at her silently.

"So, this one will take a more intricate plot," she told him.

James glared at her silently.

"And it involves you," Lily said slowly.

James suddenly managed to peel off the tape with his teeth. "What?!" he shouted.

"You heard me," Lily said.

"Yes, I did, and there is no way I'm doing you a favor, even if it means winning," James said.

"All you need to do is get inside the castle with a bit of self transfiguration," Lily said. "And-" he could see her teeth grit, "-You are very… good at Transfiguration."

"Say I'm great at it," James ordered.

"You're- You're… great at it," Lily said slowly.

"Say I excel at it," he instructed.

It was rather odd to see James bound to the wall ordering Lily around.

"You… excel at it," she said.

"Say that you will never be able to match my astounding abilities at Transfiguration," James grinned.

"I will never be able to match your astounding abilities at Transfiguration," Lily said flatly.

"Oh, come on! Say it like you mean it, Princess!"

"I… will never… be able… to match your astounding abilities at Transfiguration," she said sarcastically.

"Hmm… I heard a bit of bitterness in that… Say 'James Potter is better than Lily Evans in every way possible and she should fall to her feet and beg for this favor'," he said. "And doing so may better your chances," he added as if an afterthought.

"No way! Are you doing this or not? Because I can probably fund another person for the job quite easily," Lily said, folding her arms.

"Probably," James said, as his bindings snapped apart. "Thank you," he nodded. "Anyway, no one's better for the job than me."

"You are so self-centered!"

"I have a good reason to be," he shrugged. "Don't I?"

"Argh. You are so infuriating," Lily said. "Are you up for it, or not?"

"Hmm… I just need one more thing…" James said. "Say-"

"Don't even try it, Potter," she snapped testily.

*~*~*~*~*

In the Slytherin fortress, things were running quite smoothly, with Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy in charge. The two were watching the Gryffindor fortress with malice, plotting its demise.

"You know, we could just wait for them to destroy the professors' on their own, then destroy them," Snape countered.

"That's what the Hufflepuffs tried," Malfoy replied.

"Right… But what are the Gryffindors trying? What's their strategy?" Snape wondered aloud.

"Don't know," Malfoy grunted. "We'll win."

"But we don't have a strategy," Snape protested.

"We do," Malfoy argued. "It's that we'll beat them."

"That's not a strategy, that's a goal," Snape said.

"Don't get all intellectual on me," Malfoy complained.

"Snape? Intellectual?" an all-too-familiar voice that wasn't welcome said behind them.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" Malfoy sneered, turning around, anticipating James Potter.

Instead, he saw a mirror with James' appearance.

"Quite cozy, this," he commented, suddenly taking human form again. "Looks to me like it's built of bricks… and an ice covering over it. Cheating, eh?"

"Get. Out!"

"Oh, but I'm here on a mission," James grinned. He thoroughly enjoyed the mixture of fury and confusion on the two's faces.

"Get. Out!" Malfoy spluttered.

"Oh, but it's so warm and comfy in here," he protested.

"Get. Out!"

"Quite a limited vocabulary you've got there," James noted.

"Get. Out… now!"

"Why, you're so kind and welcoming."

"Security!"

"You have security? Very impressive," James grinned; Lily's plan was working.

"Get out of my sight!"

"Are you incapable of words with more than one syllable?"

"Get… Out!"

James shrugged. "As you wish. Descrucis Justidis."

Within a second, the walls flattened out and fell.

"Oops."

*~*~*~*~*

Inside the Gryffindor fortress Lily smiled. Naturally, the Slytherins had put up a large wall of charms around their fortress, but had obviously neglected the inside. James suddenly materialized before her.

"It's rather hard to transfigure into air, into a mirror, into normal form, into air, and into normal form again," he said.

"That's lovely," Lily said dismissively, as she eyed the professor's fortress.

*~*~*~*~*

"It's quite ingenious, the Gryffindor's strategy, isn't it?" Albus Dumbledore commented, as he watched Lily Evans discussing battle plots with James Potter and Sirius Black in the highest tower.

"Yes," Professor McGonagall agreed. "Do you suppose we may be defeated, Albus?"

Dumbledore sighed. "That wouldn't be the great loss, Minerva, dear."

"Whatever would it be, then?" McGonagall asked.

"You see, Miss Evans had been baking cookies for me earlier. I do believe they are all burnt by now," he sighed heavily again, as if there had just been a declaration that Christmas was canceled.

"Pity," McGonagall nodded. "I do hear she makes wonderful pie and cookies."

"Wherever did you hear that, Minnie?"

Professor McGonagall frowned. "Albus, you know better than to call me that."

"Sorry, Minerva. You were saying?"

"I heard it from a group of my students; almost in every year. Apparently, she hands them out at prefect meetings," Professor McGonagall said. "I was never one to try them, but I feel a sudden yearning for chocolate chip cookies."

Loading a snow cannon, Dumbledore's eyes took a dreamy glaze. "Last year, she gave me some of her grandmother's apple strudel. It was superb! She wouldn't let me have the recipe, though."

*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor's fortress, the conversation topic was far from the apple strudel of Lily Evan's grandmother. They were, instead, coming up with the strategy of defeat against the Professors'. Suddenly, Lily was struck with inspiration… it involved certain sweets that Albus Dumbledore was quite fond of.

*~*~*~*~*

"Sirius!" a shrill, female, voice shrieked. "Quit eating the snowballs!"

The voice was, recognizably, the Head Girl's. She sounded angry.

"But they taste good," Sirius whined.

"Oh, really?" Lily asked sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

"Yeah-" Sirius grabbed a snowball out of the crate- "I must get the recipe-" he slammed it against the wall- "What's the charm for this again?" he asked, scraping the remainders of the snowball off the wall and licking it. There was a large hole where Sirius had hit it.

"Sirius! You're destroying our own fortress," Lily scowled at him.

"Let him eat, Evans," James said lazily, as he watched Sirius repeat the process.

Lily sighed, but the two together were too much for her. The plan would be working, had Sirius not been eating their ammunition.

They had charmed the snowballs to be flavored on the inside, of random treats, but the flavor wouldn't be activated unless its acid shell slammed against a solid wall. Thus melting the shell, the acid would burn the wall, leaving the flavored snow inside.

"Can we launch now?" she tapped her foot against the floor.

"On three," James nodded. "One, two THREE!"

*~*~*~*~*

"What on Earth are they doing?" Professor McGonagall asked Dumbledore, as Professor Sinistra wheeled in another cartload of snowballs.

"It seems that they have burned a hole through their own tower," Dumbledore said cheerily.

"Then why is Black… eating the snowball?" McGonagall asked. "Perhaps my old eyes are fooling me."

"No, indeed, Minerva. He appears to be enjoying himself thoroughly, in fact," Dumbledore replied.

Suddenly, a large snowball was hurtled at their tower, burning straight through the protective shield and the ice wall, hitting Dumbledore in the face.

"Albus!" McGonagall jumped to help the Headmaster, who was sprawled on the ground, quite surprised, and chuckling- chuckling? "Are you alright?"

Still chuckling and muttering to himself "ingenious", he stood up and brushed himself off. Licking his snow-covered pinky, Albus assured her he was quite fine. "Mmm… Apple strudel!"

Minerva McGonagall stared at Dumbledore as if he had gone insane. She was quite within reason- After being hit in the face with a giant snowball, he was licking it off?

"Albus? I… I fail to comprehend what you're saying," she said slowly.

Another snowball suddenly zoomed through and hit her in the face.

She was growing quite red in the face, and Dumbledore feared she would burst any moment. And then… "Strawberry! Delicious!"

*~*~*~*~*

"Yes! Right on target!" James cried happily.

"Bull's-eye," Sirius nodded in agreement.

"You mean McGonagall's face?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "Ready, aim, FIRE!"

*~*~*~*~*

Dumbledore clapped as another snowball flew at them. Sure, their wonderful fortress was falling apart, with holes everywhere, but the professors appeared to be enjoying it, and weren't even attempting to retaliate.

Of course, he knew the strategy. But the snowballs were just too good to resist. Flitwick had been lucky enough to receive an entire turkey dinner flavored snowball, and was in the north tower, moaning over a bloated stomach.

Alas, it was time to admit defeat… though one more attack of flavored snowballs couldn't hurt, could it?

*~*~*~*~*

"Yes! We won!" Lily jumped up.

James did a quick little jig as they moved inside.

Someone chuckled behind them.

It was Dumbledore.

"Ah, had fun, now, didn't you?" he beamed. "It's about time the two of you start taking time off to enjoy yourselves."

"What do you mean, sir?" James frowned.

"Well, the two of you have been working non-stop at the Christmas Ball. I'm just glad to see you two take some time off."

"Oh," Lily said softly.

James shrugged. "Er, right. We won, we won, we won!"

"Ah, when you have flavored snowballs, there are no losers," Dumbledore said jokingly. "Gave Professor McGonagall quite a full stomach, in fact. I do believe I've gained a few pounds in holiday weight myself."

"Exercise," James advised.

"Well, you must admit, it was rather ingenious, wasn't it-" Lily was cut off, as a shrill scream sounded in the kitchen.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Professor! Lily! James! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

Mildly amused, Lily peeked in the kitchen to find Sirius despairing over a smoking tray of cookies.

"Oh, come on, Sirius they're just cookies," Lily said, walking over.

"Just cookies? Just cookies? Just cookies?" Sirius regarded her with a look of disbelief.

James cleared his throat. "Uh, Evans? Sirius takes his cookies, pies, and any other items at the top of the food pyramid very seriously… believe me, I know."

Lily took the tray from Sirius, who was looking quite remorse. "These can't be salvaged. I'd fix them with magic, but it wouldn't taste nearly as good. I guess I'll just have re-bake them."

*~*~*~*~*

"Tea, professor?" Lily offered, as she poured each of the Marauders a cup as they waited for the cookies.

"Why, thank you, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said, holding out his own.

James coughed something that sounded faintly like "suck up". Sirius, meanwhile, was popping the sugar cubes into his mouth.

"Sirius! Those sugar cubes should be for mixing with your tea, not eating," Lily said, sliding the sugar box away from him.

"I'm drowning my misery of lost cookies in sugar. Now leave me be, woman," he said, reaching for the sugar box.

"It's for tea."

Glaring at her, he popped a sugar cube in his mouth, then swallowed all his tea in one gulp. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Lily said sarcastically.

*~*~*~*~*

(A/N) That was fun to write! I apologize if there are any typos… Yes, it does read quickly.

To Come: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Snowmen! (Ahem. And Snow women.) The old quidditch bet resurfaces (refer to Chapter Three: Quidditch and Such).