TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY

Part I Thrill of the Chase

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the famous characters or the world of Harry Potter. I'm borrowing them from JKR's fabulous writing. I just own the characters you've never heard of and the ideas. ;P

A/N: Prologue in chapter one - check that out if you haven't. I've checked this chapter over, checked the storyline, checked everything there is to check (I probably still missed something though) and this chapter seems fine the way it is. This chapter has nothing new in it so proceed on, doing something worth your time if you've already read this, or if you haven't, you're more than welcome to read. I'm sorry for the delay, I'm back, it hasn't been a month, so my promise is still worthwhile ;P I apologize again for the people who are waiting for new material and advances into the plotline (as in a new chapter, eh hem chapter 8, which was where I left off before revisions occured). Soon, very soon. Just hang in there. I'm expecting it to be somewhat smooth sailing, with only time as my enemy. Oh yeah.... REVIEW (if you haven't).

Chapter 2 The Prank Competition

"I dislike James Potter very, very much right now. More so than usual!" Lily yelled frustrated as they flew into their dorm room one by one.

"Who exactly are those guys?" Ashlynn asked curiously, thinking back to the crazy event. "They're unlike so many of the guys I've ever met."

"You don't want to meet these guys," Lily warned. "They're awful creatures."

"The one guy seems nice enough. He actually talked to me." Ashlynn was not the greatest at making friends, she wasn't really the type to talk to people first. Lily thought that it was more of her insecurity and what she thought people would think of her that held her back from making the first move. Although she couldn't see why. Ashlynn was nice and pretty, with thick, long raven black hair past her mid-back and dark almond shaped mysterious eyes. Her olive skin was usually tan and sun-kissed.

"Who?" Lily and Latisha both raised their eyebrows menacingly.

"Ummm..." Ashlynn stood on one foot, trying to remember his name. "Sirius is it?"

"Black?" Lily spat out. "Stay away from him. Stay away from ALL of them."

Ashlynn shrugged. "Can't you tell me a bit more about them?" she begged.

Lily took a deep breath. "You're gonna be scarred for life." Lily thought about it for a moment, and then gave in. "Fine, let's start with the best of them, James Potter, the ringleader, the oh-so-mighty-I'm-smart-and-you're-not-the-girls-worship-the-ground-I-walk-on prat. The loser who thinks that his pranks are funny and that he's the greatest guy on the planet. The ego-balistic one. Just stay away from him."

Latisha had to hold in her laughter at the way Lily was describing James Potter. "Oh Lily," she sang sweetly. "I think you're leaving out a very important detail about James."

Lily tried to look confused, but failed.

"Concerning you."

Lily blinked, still feigning confusion.

"Well James li-" Latisha began.

Lily clapped her hand over Latisha's mouth, trying to shut her up. She removed her hand cautiously and glared at her. Latisha remained silent, a great feat due to her outgoing and spontaneous nature, but had a knowing smirk across her face. Latisha was also really pretty. She was tall and slender, with legs that seemed to go on forever. Her caramel skin gleamed against the candlelight of the dorm room and her dark eyes twinkled threateningly.

Lily sighed, giving in. "James won't leave me alone."

"He likes her!" Latisha shrieked childishly, pulling back her dark, wavy hair. "James Potter likes Lily Evans!"

Lily buried her head under her covers. "No he doesn't! He hates me, can't you tell?"

"No he doesn't. For the longest time he's been asking Lily out," Latisha filled in.

"That's because he knows it annoys me."

"Sure, think what you want," Latisha commented snidely.

Ashlynn now had a knowing smile on her face and Lily glared at her. "Don't tell me you agree with her!" Lily exclaimed in horror.

"I didn't say anything. No comment."

"Let's just drop it," Lily said crossly, her temper beginning to rise. "I dislike James Potter very much. He is an immature prat. End of story."

"The others?" Ashlynn asked curiously.

"Sirius Black. He's just as bad if not worse than James. He's known for his notorious dating background. Boy, does he play the field. If James pranks are bad, his are WORSE. And together they are AWFUL. Sirius doesn't bother me as much. But he sure as hell is annoying and doesn't know when to quit. Stay away from him too."

"But him and James are great Quidditch players," Latisha added. "They're extremely good. Very talented. James plays chaser and Sirius plays beater. And might I add, James is a really good Quidditch captain, it's no wonder he's already one in his sixth year. He's very-"

"Continuing on," Lily interrupted. "Remus Lupin. He's not as bad as Potter and Black, but that doesn't mean he's friendly either. He's the more sensible one of the group, if that's possible. Stay away from him. And lastly, Peter Pettigrew. I don't know much about him, just that he's always with them and will play pranks with them, though not on his own. He's the most tolerable one of the group, mainly because he doesn't say much. Nevertheless, stay away from him too. In fact," Lily thought about it for split second, "Stay away from all of them."

"And together they are some of the most eligible bachelors of the school," Latisha remarked, digging around in her trunk for a quill, ignoring Lily's advice. "Half the girls of this school worship them, literally. They're known for their pranks and good looks. But of course there's some other boys who are just as good, if not better, than them."

"Half the girls of this school are blind," Lily mumbled underneath her breath.

"They're really not THAT bad," Latisha smiled. "Lily makes them sound like monsters."

"They are," Lily howled.

"Interesting," Ashlynn nodded, smiling slightly.

---

Ashlynn got to see much of what Lily and Latisha meant the next morning as they watched the Marauders trudge in to breakfast. Most of the girls were silently watching them from every table, swooning. They seemed oblivious to this fact and didn't do anything to acknowledge it, except for Sirius, who was blowing kisses left, right and center. They sat down to breakfast, James glaring swiftly at Lily before he did so. Lily glared back. She wasn't going to have her breakfast ruined just because of some group of ego-balistic guys with a club of blind admirers.

After scowling at the whole lot of them, Lily turned back to her food and resumed eating. She piled a few more pancakes onto her plate and looked around the table, trying to find the bottle of syrup.

"Ashlynn, pass me the bottle of syrup, would you?"

Ashlynn distractedly passed her the bottle of syrup, staring out into space while eating her cereal. Latisha was grumbling under her breath about getting up so early (again, and probably will again and again).

"Where were you all night Julie?" Lily asked, holding the bottle of syrup in her hand while glancing over at her.

But before Julie could answer, the doings of James Potter had kicked in. The bottle of syrup in Lily's hand expanded and before Lily had the chance to register what was happening, the almost full bottle exploded, squirting syrup in all directions and showering her and her friends in syrup. Lily stared, her mouth open, at the syrup oozing down her hands and where the bottle had been. She was drenched in syrup. It was all over her clothes, all down her front, and all in her hair. She looked at her friends. Latisha was now wide awake and wiping syrup off her face disgustedly, Julie looked too shocked for words and Ashlynn had snapped back to reality, pushing her bowl of now syrup away from her.

Other students around her had got a bit of the syrup shower, but not the full blow like her and her friends. They stared at Lily, her mouth still open.

"I can't- for Merlin's sake!" Lily banged her fists on the table as she stood up, glaring at the Marauders. James was smiling sweetly and Sirius was once again in laughing hysterics. Remus continued eating his breakfast as if nothing happened and Peter stared at the scene in amusement.

"Potter!" Lily screamed, pointing her finger at James, tissue paper sticking to her hands from when she had banged them onto the table. She furiously tried to rip the paper from her hands, only to have them stick to her fingers. Fuming, she swung her legs over the bench and stride up to James, who was looking up at her innocently.

"You wanted to get involved in our pranks, as you displayed with Snape last night," James said sweetly. "Now you are."

"You! Are the most big headed prat in the entire universe! Argh!"

"Go on Lily. I can stop it all if-"

Lily stared at him in horror, hoping he wouldn't dare say it.

"-If you go out with me."

"No, no, no! What makes you think I'll change my mind after all these years, after all the times you've asked me? No Potter, get it through your thick skull! I will not and will never go out with you."

"Never say never," James replied, turning back to his food, shrugging. "Suit yourself. This is only the beginning. Until you go out with me of course."

Lily stared down at James, furious. She was not going to let him get away with this. She was not going to be made a fool in front of the school. Because she was a prefect. She was the one in control. And like she promised, she was going to give James Potter a run for his money.

"You're right James," she said sweetly, bending down a little so she was right by his ear. "This is only the beginning." With that, she took her syrupy hands and smothered them all over James' face before turning and stalking out of the Great Hall.

James stared after her, amazed. "She didn't-"

"Just wipe syrup all over your face? Yup, she did," Sirius laughed, pointing at his friend.

"Shut up Sirius!" James then quieted, thinking to himself. He absently picked up a napkin, wiping off his face. He didn't notice the bits of tissue sticking to his face as he lowered the napkin.

'So she wants to have fun, does she? I know a competition when I see one.'

---

Lily was in a horribly quiet mood all day. James and his fellow Marauders had not played any pranks on her during the day, but she doubted that was where it ended. She was going to fight fire with fire. She didn't know how good her pranking skills were, but as long as she embarrassed James Potter and his friends she didn't care. But she was prefect. She didn't want to risk that title just to get even with Potter. Unless...

"Guys, I have a huge favour to ask you," Lily asked out of nowhere. They were sitting at a table in the common room, deeply engrossed in doing homework. Her friends looked up at her.

"I'm afraid," Latisha mumbled.

"I want to get even with Potter."

Julie raised her eyebrows skeptically.

"Will you guys help me?"

"Do what?" Latisha asked.

"If Potter wants to play pranks on us, I say we should play them right back."

"No!" Julie said in horror. "Look, I don't want to get involved in this. Especially not with James and his friends. You know they're like the masters of pranks."

"Just give them a little competition," Lily replied, a bit disappointed at Julie's reaction.

"This is a competition we'll lose," Julie remarked, thinking logically. "Just let it go Lily."

"I won't." 'Because I'm the one in control...'

"A prank competition huh?" Latisha commented, not forgetting her syrup shower that morning. "Yeah, count me in."

"Me too," Ashlynn smiled mischievously. "Sounds like fun."

"No way guys!" Julie exclaimed in horror. "You're just going to get yourselves embarrassed even more! We're talking James Potter and Sirius Black."

"Why do you care, if you're not helping?" Latisha asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"It's just, I don't want my reputation ruined!"

"What?!" Lily asked incredulously. "What do you mean ruined?"

"I'm just not seeing eye to eye on this prank competition thing," Julie said. "I think I better go." She got up, her honey blonde hair swishing as she gathered her things. "When this all blows over, then let me know."

Lily stared after her best friend. "Julie! Won't you help? Even a little bit?"

Julie stopped, halfway across the common room, listening to her friend's pleas.

"Fine," she gave in, her beautiful blue eyes narrowing. "I'll help give you ideas. But I'm not performing them."

"You're awesome!" Lily got up and hugged her friend happily.

James Potter was going to get a run for his money alright...

---

"Can you believe Evans did that to me?" James asked in disbelief. "I can't believe it."

"It was priceless," Sirius roared in laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face."

"It was rather funny," Remus added, smiling.

"It was a shocker," Sirius mumbled incoherently, due to the fact that he was laughing so hard. "I'm going to have to keep a mental picture."

Peter shook his head, laughing at his friends. "You are getting quite mean to Evans, James. I thought you liked her."

James silenced. 'Me too. But there comes a time when you get a bit frustrated. Even James Potter has a limit to what he can take.'

"So?" James retorted, hoping it sounded like he didn't care at all. "She deserves it. She has the nerve to insult my friends. AND she won't go out with me."

"What are you going to do to her tomorrow?" Peter asked.

James shrugged.

"I've got just the idea," Sirius said excitedly. "Just wait until tomorrow morning."

"Why play the pranks in the morning?" Peter asked, flipping through a herbology textbook and furrowing his eyebrows in thought.

"Because that's when the whole school sees," James answered, smirking.

---

Almost the entire population of Hogwarts had witnessed the amazing moment when Lily Evans had smothered syrup all over James Potter's face and were waiting for a great show that morning. The Great Hall was full of talk but when the Marauders sauntered in for breakfast, the talking ceased and was down to a minimal. The Marauder's took their place at the table and everyone waited for the show to begin.

A few moments after the Marauder's came in, Lily and her friends entered. Since they were running late, all four girls were hungry and were in a hurry to be seated. But as they lowered themselves onto the bench, they missed and plopped, at the exact same time, on the floor, making a gigantic thud that echoed through the hall. The red and white cloth sitting on the table was pulled off as Lily had instinctually reached for it as she realized she was going to miss the bench. The food and plates toppled on to Lily and Ashlynn, causing the students in the Great Hall to turn and stare. On the other side Julie had ended up falling on top of Latisha and both were sprawled on the floor. Latisha's friend, Morgan, who was already seated on the bench next to her, received a great whack on the face as Latisha's arms flailed when she fell backwards.

Blushing madly, the girls hurried to seat themselves again, only to find that they missed the benches once again and once again fell on the floor. James and Sirius were laughing, it was clear that they had made their benches disappear when they had went to sit down, making them look like fools. The girls cautiously looked at each other and after they were sure the bench was not going to disappear on them they sat down slowly, their faces flaming.

Julie looked like her worst nightmare had come true. She had not expected to be pranked herself. Latisha was mumbling under her breath about how her ass was sore. Lily said nothing, she wasn't going to show any reaction whatsoever. She was going to take what Potter was giving her without complaining.

Ashlynn was the first to recover and silently whispered a charm, flicking her wand as she watched James and Sirius toast their goblet of pumpkin juice to each other for the successful prank. The goblets disappeared and they both socked each other in the face, pumpkin juice spilt all over their robes, making it look like they wet themselves.

"What the-" James broke off, standing up and glaring at the girls direction.

Lily caught Ashlynn's eye and they both smiled. It wasn't nearly as embarrassing or clever as the prank the Marauders had played on them, but it was something, and something was better than nothing.

---

Lily sighed, frustrated. Getting the Marauders back would be hard. Unlike the Marauders, pranks did not exactly come easy for the girls, and while the Marauders could spontaneously think up of a prank at that precise moment, it was a different story for the girls. They sat, thinking hard of a worthy prank to play, but since pranks were not their specialty, none came at the moment. And while the Marauders could come up with pranks on their own, Lily and her friends struggled to think of one together.

"What if you did something with their appearances?" Julie suggested thoughtfully. "You know, since most of the girls think they're good looking and everything."

"That's a good idea," Lily agreed.

"Let's make their hair stand on end!" Ashlynn exclaimed.

"Better yet, let's make their hair frizzy and stand on end!" Latisha added.

The girls excitedly stood up and hit fives.

---

The Marauders seemed one step ahead of the girls in every prank. The girls made the Marauders' hair frizzy and stand on end alright, but it couldn't hide their very handsome features. Sirius laughed gleefully at his friends and felt the top of his head and then laughed gleefully at himself.

'Stupid git,' Lily thought to herself as she watched Sirius laughing at himself, the afro he called hair sticking out everywhere, as if he had just stuck his finger into an electric socket.

She herself wasn't laughing when she stared across the table and saw Latisha. Bald. With no hair whatsoever. Just her beautiful dark hair gone, and her bald head gleaming like a star under the light, reflecting everything around her. She sat there, gaping at Latisha and pointing. Latisha sat up, felt her hairless head, and then screamed bloody murder with the threat of a smile quirking her lips. She thought this was amusing...

Lily definitely did not find this funny like Sirius or amusing like Latisha. She found this... atrocious.

The next day didn't go any better either. The girls turned their robes funny colours, interesting shades of pink and purple, some with stripes and spots, while the Marauders turned their hair funny colours, interesting shades of puke green and even rainbow coloured. It was a losing battle, but Lily was determined not to go down without a fight.

Latisha and Ashlynn seemed to immensely enjoy the 'prank competition' and didn't seem to mind half as much as Lily did when pranks were played on them. Although Latisha was more outgoing than Ashlynn and would yell things across the Great Hall, Ashlynn was more shy and quiet about the whole ordeal. Julie was shocked about the whole thing. She couldn't quite get over the fact that she was being pranked too. It wasn't like the pranks were the type that the Marauders played on Snape, they were more friendly and less atrocious. But to Lily, they were equally atrocious.

The Marauders, meanwhile, were surprised at the determination that the girls had and had to admit, that even though their pranks were nowhere near as good as theirs, they were at least making an effort. Which made it all the more entertaining.

---

James sighed, placing his head in his hands. He had just looked at the list of Quidditch players and found that he needed a few positions to replace. Chaser and Keeper. He groaned. It was times like these he wished he wasn't the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

"Who are worthy Quidditch players?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged, distractedly munching on a chocolate frog. He thought for a moment. "Actually, I was talking to Latisha about Quidditch. She was wondering when you were going to start practices. She wants to try out her Shooting Star. She was finally able to get one, after she saw that everyone else had one."

"She still talks to you even though you play pranks on her?" James asked.

"Well, we're playing them for fun. Well you and Evans aren't, but we are. It livens up the school a bit. Anyways, she was going on about that Ashlynn girl. Supposedly she's a good chaser."

"Guess we'll have to check her out. Anyways, you can tell Latisha we're starting practices next Monday and that we'll have Chaser and Keeper tryouts on that Friday."

Sirius shrugged again. "Will do mate."

---

Of course, the prank competition did not stop the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. In fact, even after a week the Marauders did not show any sign of wavering or running out of ideas. Lily was beginning to feel frustrated that they had barely played any pranks and the ones they did play weren't exactly good quality. She wanted to think of one that would totally surprise them and knock their socks off. And so she sat and thought. And sat and thought some more. And eventually one came to her.

The morning started quite normally actually. Lily and her friends entered the Great Hall for breakfast and pranked were played on them. This time, their feet had grown huge and heavy and they could barely lift them. Latisha had ended up stepping on a lot of people's feet and even clobbered someone when she tried to seat herself on the bench.

But feet weren't the only thing that were huge and heavy. As the Marauders' laughter subsided and they continued shoveling food down their throats (Lily wondered if they even tasted their food), they began to grow. They began to grow fat. And huge. James had to undo his tie or else his enormous neck would have been constricted and he wouldn't have been able to breathe. His forehead drooped over his eyes and his eyes were almost shut due to the fact that he was so fat. His robes expanded and stretched. Beside him, Sirius was also growing at an alarming rate and so was Remus and Peter across from them. They kept growing and started taking up so much space that people were shoved off the end of benches. The benches creaked and groaned under their weight so that Lily was almost sure the benches would give way. Then something even more amusing happened. All four boys seemed to weigh much, much more than the weight of the other people sitting on the benches, so that Lily's end of the bench began to lift and everyone slid down towards the Marauders. Lily decided that at the point it would've been a good idea to stop the charm. And so she did. After everyone had toppled onto the Marauders of course.

Lily found herself laughing hysterically. When her laughter had calmed a bit, she realized she was laying on top of someone, and was looking into the angry hazel eyes of James Potter himself. Realizing this fact, she quickly jumped up and dusted herself off. James also got to his feet, now back to his regular size.

"Nice one, Evans," he said sarcastically through clenched teeth.

"It actually was a good one," Sirius said excitedly. "I didn't think you had it in you." He immediately shut up when James glared angrily at him.

"It isn't over yet," James promised, before he turned and quickly left the hall.