Disclaimer- As always, it's not mine although I do own a number of nice (and PRETTY) things.

Authoress' Note- I apologize to my Summer with the Arrogant Prat readers for not updating it before this one (I try to write my fics in a rotation so one of them doesn't sit forever while the others skyrocket ahead), but I'm in a Seven Years of Marauding mood right now and I DID update Summer (too lazy to write the whole title) twice in a row and within a period of 2-3 days too! A record! I'll get the next chapter written and posted soon! Much love! E.D.J.

P.S. Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload this yesterday and I was thinking about holding onto this chapter till Friday, but I'm too anxious to wait that long! Be grateful that I'm unable to withhold chapters from you guys!

Thanks for the reviews!

La Conquistadora- You do like to end everything with FIN don't you? Because of your request to see James' parents' reactions to James' three friends suddenly appearing in their home, this chapter is still in the summer! Unlike I'd planned. See how much nice stuff I do for you? Can't think of else to say... I know, I know ME not being able to talk? Shocking!

ThelovelyladyLily- Glad you like the chapter! And yes Sirius rocks my socks!

Constructive Criticism- Hi! Thank you for pointing out the whole Andromeda thing. If you go back a chapter, you'll see she's now nineteen. Whoo she aged eight years! I feel stupid for not figuring the whole age thing out. Sorry! I did that earlier in the story with Molly Weasley, but then I did something calculating about her age and her children's' ages, so I removed her from the story and made her older. Anyway, thank you for pointing that out right away so I could fix it. I DO use the Harry Potter Lexicon to check facts though. I even think I checked the Remus being a half-blood fact from the last chapter, but the Andromeda thing didn't come to mind!

I won't go into the whole age thing again, but it won't be changing. I know underage people read R rated fics and it completely sickens me. But it's not so much the readers' ages as the fact that R rated stuff is out there. I'm sure some of it's extremely well-written and yada yada yada, but do these writers actually believe that Ms. Rowling's books, which eight-year-olds are reading, are going to suddenly become some sort of sex fest between the sixteen year old characters? Anyway I think taking a relatively PG book and making a fic go so far that it needs an R rating is just wrong. Just my thoughts. –end rant-

I don't really think Lily has a tragic upbringing at all. Sure her older sister has a great deal of anger and fear towards her, but does that really classify as "tragic"? I don't think I've given Lily any amazing powers either, but anywho...

Also, I realize you are offended by other people's reviews, but as you said, by posting my fics I AM asking for other people's opinions and I would consider their opinions to extend to the things other reviewers say. Please refrain from insulting my other readers in your reviews because they, as well as you, are entitled to their own opinions involving anything and everything that is connected to my stories.

I agree with you that merely writing "The story's good! Update!" and sending your review on its way has almost no value. Reviews that I consider valuable are ones that tell me what they liked in the chapter because then I actually know that they read the chapter and didn't just skim over it and write "Oh yeah it's good!" Also people who simply write, "I liked it, but it wasn't as good/funny as the last chapter" are useless because they don't point out what could have made it better or more funny. I know sometimes people have little time to write a review when a certain chapter comes out, so I suppose in those circumstances something is better than nothing if that person truly feels the need to say something to me.

I'd like to thank you for all the advice, but I will say that I can't guarantee that I'll follow it. I like to think I'm writing for me rather than for the readers because of the fact that I enjoy writing and developing my own view on how things would happen during the Marauder years. I'll contemplate any and all advice (I'll try not to be offended by it or take it too personally) and would only ask that you perhaps include something that you DID like from a particular chapter to let me know that you find something well-written, funny, etc... I'm a person who likes to know if parts of chapters I enjoyed were truly liked by readers too. It's quite alright if that's not your style though.

Romulan Empress- Ouch, a cast. Not fun. Glad you liked the chapter.

Tri- I'm happy to have a new reader! Though what you said about most fics have Remus and Sirius having the same character when they are young confuses me. Are you saying that they are like that in my story or aren't? And are you considering that a good or bad thing? Lily will be showing weaknesses and losing battles all in good time. I'll try to start avoiding that in future chapters, but it may be because I enjoy seeing the girl outwit the guy, you know girl power! –whirl of confetti- I'm not saying she'll never win again and yada yada yada, but I'm sure she'll "lose" in future chapters. The Marauders DID manage to prank her with the hair dye stuff though. –sniggers- Anyway before you say it, Lily is not my favorite character and I'm not making good things happen to her because of favoritism. I love the Marauders so much than Lily. Especially REMUS! And if you are a Remus/Sirius shipper please get off my page this instant before I burn you with my laser vision. I don't think that those too are so unlovable that they have to get together with each other. Sigh...
Ch. 22- Mrs. Potter

Lily Evans was woken by an earsplitting shriek that seemed to shake the entire house.

"WHAT IS THIS BLOODY BIRD DOING IN MY BEDROOM?" screeched a voice, which had to be Petunia's because only she was capable of making her voice reach such high decibels so early in the morning.

Lily didn't even bother to get up and see what was the matter.

Let her handle it, she grumbled to herself. It's not like Petunia will appreciate you helping anyhow.

Lily grabbed her well-read copy of A History of Magic from her bedside table and quickly hid herself behind it, so she would look entirely innocent when Petunia came barging into her room.

Sure enough, nearly thirty seconds later, Petunia ran into her younger sister's room, still shrieking. She was trailed by a rather ruffled-looking grey owl. "What is this... thing doing in my room?" demanded Petunia, flinching as the owl flapped over her head to land on the bed next to Lily.

Lily stroked its head absently and said nonchalantly, "I suppose she flew through the first open window she found. If it bothers you so much, maybe you should think of shutting them before you go to sleep."

Petunia gave a loud indignant huff and stomped out of the room.

"What do we have here?" Lily asked softly, untying the letter from the owl's leg. "Ah, it's from Emmeline. I should have guessed."

She slit open the envelope and proceeded to giggle through the rather lengthy letter:

Dear Lily,

How are you? I'm fine, but my home is always positively mad during the summer holidays. My brother Liam is finally back from doing only Merlin knows what for the Department of Magical Transportation in Luxembourg. I think it had something with testing country-to-country Portkeys. Yes, I do remember Liam saying something about traveling from Spain to Germany in ten seconds flat. Why it required him to stay in Luxembourg for six months I'll never know. Couldn't they have just let him use one of those Portkeys to go back and forth between here and Luxembourg? Anyway, we're all thrilled to have him back particularly Mum who nearly started bawling the second he apparated in (though it could be possible she was crying because he accidentally landed on top of the new Fanged Geranium she bought on sale in the garden shop next to Flourish and Blotts).

We keep getting invited to tea at all the neighbors' homes since Liam's been back. I suspect the invitations are not so much to welcome him back as to allow their daughters a chance to fuss over him. Liam never seems too upset by it, so I suppose he enjoys having girls throw themselves at him. I find it quite hilarious in a sickening sort of way, but after one tea where the daughter spent nearly two hours making puppy-dog eyes at my brother and whispering to her friends about how 'devastatingly handsome' he is, I'd had about enough. I've been trying to convince Mum and Dad to let me out of going to the next few, but they keep going on about how rude it would be if I didn't show up. Even Dad, who's a Muggle, insists that I keep going. I admit I was a bit snarky at him for the next few days after that.

We've even had a party to celebrate Liam's homecoming and I was stuck with the unhappy task of entertaining the Hogwarts-age kids, which, unfortunately, included Faye's simpering sidekick, Deidra Lennox and those two Hufflepuff girls whofancy Potter. The bright spot of the evening was I somehow convinced Mum to invite the Lupins (who Mum knows somewhat from the Ministry) and Remus came! My jaw nearly hit the floor when someone tapped me on the shoulder and it turned out to be him! I'm sure he thought I was beyond mad, standing there, gaping like an idiot, but then I somehow snapped out of it and he helped me start some chess, Gobstones, and Exploding Snap tournaments amongst everyone. Remus even asked me to play chess against him, and I lost spectacularly, due to the fact that I wasn't paying much attention to the game, if you know what I mean. You know I've got it bad if I can't even manage to beat him in chess, Lils! I am the master of the game and I could barely remember, what shape a knight moves in! I'm starting to babble, aren't I? I don't care! Remus even told me he "had fun" before he left! Alright, alright I'll stop, but when you find a bloke that you fancy, don't come crying to me about how I never listen to you!

Much love,

Emmeline

When she was finished reading the letter, Lily grabbed a slightly crumpled piece of parchment off her desk and sucked on the end of her quill as she proceeded to write her response:

Dear Emmeline,

Life in the Evans's house is so boring compared to what your house sounds like! Even a life with one Muggle parent has got to be more interesting than here. I am happy to see my family (though certainly not Petunia who nearly had a heart attack when your owl arrived), but I feel so separated from the wizarding world. It's driving me absolutely bonkers! I spend most of my time reading, so I don't go completely mad. Has Bella written you at all? She's written me a few times, but she's really not the letter-writing type, is she?

I wish I could have seen how even half-wizarding families throw parties, but I suppose it was mostly families of girls interested in Liam, eh? I'd pretend to be in love with him if that's what it took to receive an invitation! Yes, I'm sure you're vomiting at the thought right now. Do try to keep it off your carpet though. I've heard it stains (and smells) rather badly.

I can't believe your Mum actually invited the Lupins! Wasn't she at all suspicious of why you asked her to? Nevertheless, it sounds like you had fun, despite Deidra and the sickeningly Hufflepuff drips being there.

Nothing much has happened here since you last wrote. Petunia's still getting a number of lectures a day from Mum and sometimes Dad, for calling me a 'freak' and the like, but she doesn't seem to care that she's lost access to the telephone and the telly. The next thing to tick off the list will be seeing her friends, but so far she's doesn't seem to want to lose that particular privilege. The whole insult episodes have quickly gotten old and I'm starting to just tune her out, which seems to make her even angrier. It barely even gets to me anymore because she seems to have run out of original insults and has had to resort back to previously used ones.


I simply cannot wait until September to go back to Hogwarts! I miss you and Bella so much! I'll give your owl a good kick if she's slow in getting you this letter. Just kidding. I think the poor bird's already damaged enough by Petunia.

Love,

Lily

Lily slipped the letter into an envelope and sealed it. The owl held out its leg, and she tied the letter on. The owl gave an indignant hoot (it was probably still upset about all the shrieking from Petunia) and glided out the window while Lily watched fondly as the bird became smaller and smaller until it was no more than a speck on the horizon. She hoped it would find somewhere to bed down for the day because most Muggles would be quite unnerved to see an owl flying by day, let alone one carrying a letter.

After gazing out at the bright morning light that filtered into her room for a few minutes, Lily decided to get dressed and try to scrounge up some breakfast before retreating outside to read.

"JAMES POTTER! JUST WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, YOUNG MAN?"

James gave astart and shot up, realizing he was in the sitting room and not in his bed. He rubbed his eyes and found himself looking into the angry blue eyes of his mother. He glanced around and noticed Sirius, Remus, and Peter blinking bewilderedly at him. They too had been woken by Mrs. Potter's shouting.

"Oh damn," muttered James.

"What have I told you about using those types of words, James?" said Mrs. Potter, her voice rather fiery.

"Sorry, Mum. Won't happen again."

"Of course it won't!" snapped Mrs. Potter, sighing slightly. "Now, how did these boys get into my house?"

James looked at his friends helplessly, making sure to give Sirius a stony glare for causing this whole mess.

Sirius winced as James's eyes bore into him and he said slowly, "I'm Sirius Black and I'm sorry, Mrs. Potter. This was all my idea. You see, I wanted to get away from my parents for a bit and your home was the first place that came to mind." He sighed heavily. "I invited Remus and Peter here too so we could have more fun with all four of us here instead of just James and me all by our lonesome." Sirius hung his head, trying to look the picture of guilt, shame, and at the same time, innocence.

"Well, dear Merlin," said Mrs. Potter, a smile playing across her face. "If I didn't have James here," She jerked a finger at her son who smiled guiltily, "that performance would have been quite convincing, Sirius."

Sirius's head immediately jerked up, and he grinned smugly.

"Now, James," said Mrs. Potter, her voice business-like. "If you want your friends to visit here for some of the holiday, I would insist that you don't have the staying in my sitting room. You can move their things into three of the guest bedrooms. But first, please introduce me to your friends."

James grinned inwardly at how capable his mother was of switching off her anger with barely the blink of an eye. He cleared his throat. "Well you met Sirius." He pointed at the boy who was still grinning. "His parents are nasty Slytherin purebloods, and he got angry at them, so he came here. And this is Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew." He pointed to his other two friends.

"Wonderful to meet you, boys," said Mrs. Potter, smiling at them. "Well, I'll inform your father we have guests, and I would suggest you four start moving things upstairs."

With that, Mrs. Potter turned around and walked briskly toward the kitchen.

After lugging the trunks and bags upstairs, which resulted in an injured foot and a lot of whimpering from Peter, the boys trudged down to the kitchen, their stomachs growling. A breakfast of eggs and toast was already set out for them, and they all dug in eagerly.

When they had finished, James suggested a game of Quidditch in the hidden clearing behind the house and his three friends agreed heartily. Sirius ran upstairs to get his own broomstick, and James lent his father's broom to Remus and found one of his old ones for Peter. Brooms over their shoulders, they ran outside and drew straws for teams. Remus and Sirius were paired together and James and Peter were the other team. James insisted he play Chaser since he planned to try out for the position in September, and Sirius planned to try out for Keeper, so he whined ceaselessly until Remus finally let him have it out of sheer frustration.

Peter threw the Quaffle up in the air between Remus and James and rocketed backwards, nearly missing the makeshift goal hoops he was supposed to be guarding. James, being a more experienced Chaser than Remus, was able to easily grab the Quaffle from the air, and he zoomed toward Sirius's end of the makeshift pitch. He feinted to the left, but Sirius easily caught the ball as it flew toward the center hoop. Later, however, James managed to get a goal past Sirius. The game continued in much the same fashion with Sirius and James saving and making a similar number of goals while Remus and Peter made a few goals and saves of their own.

It's a good thing they'll be on the same team, observed Remus as he caught the Quaffle under his arm and held up a hand to stop James from barreling into him. James jerked to a halt in midair, narrowly avoiding knocking Remus off his broom.

"I'm beat," said Remus tiredly. "Do you mind if I watch for a while?"

James wiped sweat off his forehead and nodded. Remus did look rather peaky. Remus slowly descended to the ground and headed back up the house. He returned with a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them under his arm and settled himself against a tree, grinning as he watched James and Peter attempt to get goals past Sirius who seemed to be trying to throw pinecones at them as well as defend the goal posts.

Nearly an hour and half later, the three boys landed with thumps on the ground, but Remus was so engrossed in his book that he didn't notice them until the book was ripped from his hands.

"'Once a month, at the full moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard or Muggle afflicted transforms into a murderous beast. Almost uniquely among fantastic creatures, the werewolf actively seeks humans in preference to any other kind of prey,'" read Sirius. He squinted at Remus who looked a bit pale. "What are you reading about werewolves for? Yeesh. 'Ministry of Magic Classification: XXXXX or known wizard killer/impossible to train or domesticate.' There has to be something a bit less frightening in here." Sirius thumbed through the book. "Ah, here's something. 'The Clabbert is a tree-dwelling creature, in appearance something like a cross between a monkey and a frog.'" (A/N- Excerpts are from the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book by Newt Scamander a.k.a. J.K. Rowling)

He handed the book back to Remus who mumbled a thank you, but didn't glance back at the book again.

"Are you alright, Remmy?" asked James, noticing his friend's pale face.

"Yeah I'm fine!" said Remus, his voice a little too cheery. "Are you three done with Quidditch?"

Sirius, James, and Peter nodded and James suggested they go back inside and clean up. His friends willingly agreed and the four boys trudged back up to the house.

I don't know about you, but I feel sorry for poor Remmy! –huggles Remus- Sorry that it was a bit short! Hope you liked the chapter anyway! Mwa mwa! E.D.J.

P.S. Yay! I'm happy now because all my divider things are working now-pauses- I probably just jinxed it. Damn!