Disclaimer: I don't own this.

Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Miss me? I'm trying to make it shorter between updates, but I'm working on a story that I haven't started posting yet and I'm getting really, really into it.

Replies:

Ilovetom88—Thanks so much for all your reviews! It means a lot to me when somebody really likes what I write.

ThessalyD—Thanks! I'm glad you're reading it.

Moggy-is-cool—Thanks. I'm sorry, I'm trying to make sure the narration makes sense, but it's kind of tricky.

Briana Marie—Thanks. I want him to mess with Lily's brain too, but I'm still working on just how to do that. I think I've got an idea though. Thanks!

Snowgremlin—Thanks!

Glaz—Thanks! I love making people laugh. It's one of the main reasons I write. I love it when stories are entertaining. Chapter 14 was so much fun to write! I wrote it about six chapters early and kept waiting until I got to that part so I could post it.

Marauders3—Yep. He'll still be on it when they switch back. Although after they switch back it won't be his problem anymore of course.

Frankie Beeblebrox—Thanks! I see Remus as being loyal like that and not wanting to tell James what Lily doesn't want him to know. For Quidditch, I was kind of working off the theory of muscle memory, because otherwise there's no way Lily can avoid making a fool out of herself on Saturday. Thanks again!

Phantom radio—Lily is not seeing Remus. They're just secretly very close friends. Lily didn't want James knowing because she always thought James would try to use Remus to get to her. I think Remus and Lily understand each other at a level that James and Sirius can't understand James and Alice can't understand Lily. Don't know if I'm making any sense or not.

Annmarie Aspasia—Thanks. I hope you like this chapter!

Elladora D. Jobberknoll—Cool! Maybe I'll write Elladora Ketteridge's sorting. Hmm? A Ravenclaw? Maybe she had to go to the bottom of a lake or something to discover Gillyweed. Sounds like she'd be the inquisitive sort. I guess that's a sort for another time. Personally, I stick to Donkey Kong on Super Nintendo. Classic. True, true, about Sirius. He is very lovable. I really had fun with Remus last chapter. I was laughing so hard when I wrote that bit about the eye shadow. I almost called her The Thorn, but I thought about it, and I liked The Rose better. Glad you liked it!

Mandyzcool—Thanks! Oops. Didn't get the story up by Tuesday. Sorry. But Friday is a relatively soon update.

Allie—All in due time! The Quidditch match is probably several chapters away. After all, we've still got the rest of Friday to get through and there might by a chapter on Saturday before the match actually takes place.

Miss Lady Padfoot—Thanks! He was so much fun to write last chapter! And I don't think I'm done having fun with him yet.

Lunatic Pandora1—I haven't decided yet how many people are going to figure out what's going on. It might be just Remus, or it might not. Let's see just how careless Lily and James are with what they say.

Lizziee—Thanks! I love making people laugh. It's one of the main reasons I write.

J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks!

Siriusforeva—We can hope. But I don't know if it'll work. :::evil laughter::: Maybe she'll lose and humiliate James and have the whole Gryffindor house turn against her. Or rather, against James.

Gwendolyn James—Thanks so much! Remus was so much fun to write last chapter. He's not in this chapter, but I think I'm going to have a little more fun with him coming up soon in the story. Aren't we all insane? Sorry this update has taken so long again.

DOJ—Thanks! Hehe. That ended up being one of my favorite lines. That and, "Are you wearing glitter eye shadow?"

Luvsirius—Thanks.

XxTimesStopsxX—Thanks. Love will come when Cupid wills it. Right now, I'm holding Cupid hostage under my bed. He's been tied up with a bright pink jump rope and strapped to a surfboard.

Chapter 18: Unusual Conversations on a Friday Morning

James Potter smiled to himself as he woke up with sore muscles. He'd missed the feeling of flying until he was sore and knowing he'd had a good work out last night. His stretched his arms and sat up, only to be knocked down again by a finger jabbing at him.

"What are you smiling at? You had me worried sick! Didn't come in 'til almost one in the morning! Lily Evans, you're not acting like yourself! As you best friend I demand an answer!"

Alice's generally open and good-natured face had become so menacing that it wasn't until she finally stopped talking long enough to breathe that James noticed what Alice was wearing. She must have only just come out of the shower a minute before, because she was standing with a towel tightly wrapped around her, up to her armpits. He turned his head aside immediately, but she was relentless.

"Where were you? You weren't in the common room; I checked. You weren't in the library; I checked. You didn't have a Prefect meeting; I checked."

James wondered which parts of the truth Alice ought to hear. "After dinner I spent some time outside with Remus. Then I had to go speak with Professor Turpin."

"And the rest of the time?" she prompted.

James tried to buy himself some time. "You'll laugh if I tell you."

"No, I won't."

"I was taking flying lessons," James said, he tried to hold his head high in true Lily fashion, but looked back down at the bed as soon as he remembered what exactly he'd be seeing if he looked up.

Alice's mouth worked silently for a minute. She finally managed to choke out, "From who?" Then she gasped, eyes wide. "James!"

James jumped, shocked, thinking the worst, thinking she knew what she couldn't possibly know…

"You didn't want to tell me where you were because you were with Potter last night. I should have known he was the reason. How could I have been so blind? That's why you've been acting so strange. The hair, the makeup…you probably got detention just to spend time with him. This is so unlike you, Lily. How could I not have seen this before? It all makes sense now."

James listened to Alice draw the wrong conclusions. They were wrong, but still plausible.

"But when? Why? Why James Potter? Why? He's been chasing after you for seven years and you suddenly agree now?"

James had an answer ready, but it wasn't easy. It was going to cost him in the long run. "James and I struck a deal last week. If I went out with him and didn't like it, he wouldn't ask me out again. It turns out he's an okay guy."

"James Potter agreed to that? He was willing to put it all on the line for one date? Then again he always was conceited."

James wondered suddenly if Lily's feelings toward him weren't partly Alice's fault. "It was his idea actually. A last ditch attempt to get a date with me. It worked. This week has been…unforgettable to say the least." That much was true.

"I still feel like there's something you're not telling me," Alice said, turning away. She moved on to go get dressed.

James kept his eyes on the floor and gathered up some clothes and went into the bathroom to shower and get dressed. Angry Alice was definitely not fun.

James had wondered whether or not it might be better if he told Alice who he really was, but after this morning he knew there was no way h e could ever tell her. She'd kill him five times before he hit the ground.

Lily woke up, sore all over, and wished she were dead.

Speaking of death, she realized she'd have to kill James for doing this to her. Her muscles were so sore.

That is, she'd have to kill James if she could manage to get off this bed. She didn't feel like she ever wanted to move another inch again. Finally she forced herself to sit up, then fell face forward and got close out of her trunk lying belly down on the bed.

Peter looked over curiously at her. "Morning, James."

"Good morning, Peter," Lily replied with a yawn. She looked over at him, realizing that she'd been too tired to close the curtains around her bed before going to sleep last night.

"You tired?"

"Exhausted. Long Quidditch practice last night."

"You'll be fine for the game on Saturday."

"I hope so," Lily said fervently.

"You'll do fine. You always do. Anybody who can teach Lily Evans to fly and still survive deserves to win Quiditch Today's annual Golden Quaffle award."

"How'd you know about that?" she asked, surprised.

"Remus told me. How'd she do?"

"Pretty good. Better than I thought she would," Lily answered. "What time is it anyway? When did you talk to him?"

"Oh, it's still early yet. They're all asleep. Frank was looking for Lily last night, so Remus told us that you were teaching her how to fly. Why would you do something crazy like that?"

"I felt like a challenge."

"Bet you had your work cut out for you."

"You could put it that way. How'd your last Charms quiz go? I know you were having some trouble with that charm that made keys fly."

Peter blinked. How had James known that? He'd gone to Lily for help with the charm, but still had some trouble come quiz time. "I guess it went alright."

"Good." Lily sat there for a few minutes, not knowing what to say and just staring at the corner of the blanket. Sloppy stitches showed the initials J.P.

"Are you gonna go back to sleep?"

"What? No. Why?"

"You don't usually get up quite this early. And if you do, you go shower and brush your hair for hours."

"I guess I was just thinking about the universe."

"Oh."

"What are you doing up so early, anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep. Things haven't been well at home since that attack down the street from my house. Judging by my dad's letters, Mum's nearly hysterical with worry everyday that it could happen again. I wish I weren't a half-blood. I wish Mum hadn't insisted on living in a Muggle neighborhood to make Dad comfortable. I'm almost sure they're going to move before the year is out. They're gonna just pack up and leave the house I grew up in before I even get a chance to say goodbye," he finished angrily.

"Peter, did you tell them you feel this way?" Lily asked, anxiously.

"It wouldn't make a difference. My mum is scared absolutely stiff. I think she might regret even marrying Dad. Maybe she's right. She married a Muggle. If she would have married a Pureblood, then I would have been born a Pureblood. Muggles and Wizards shouldn't mix. It only leads to trouble," he said, clearly depressed.

"You don't mean that!" Lily said, shocked.

"I don't know. I don't have anything against Muggle-borns, or half-bloods particularly, you know. I'm no Pureblood. And Lily Evans is a Muggle-born and she's wonderful. But this situation... It's not easy. These are bad times, Prongs. Bad times." He stared "James" in the eyes.

"Don't I know it? Look, Peter. The situation is bad. But that doesn't necessarily mean there's nothing we can do to fix it. We've just got to change the way people think."

"People? Try the world. The world thinks that way, Prongs, not people. People like you, and me, and Padfoot, and Moony, don't think that way. The rest of them do. The rest of them out there are horrible."

"Not everyone is like that, Peter."

"But enough of them are. Can't you feel it? Walking down the dungeon corridors? The malevolence. When the Slytherin Head of House gives a lesson, can't you hear it in his voice? The way he looks down upon everyone who isn't like him. Can't you hear it in the way The Prophet is written? Or the way people look at you when they don't recognize your last name and guess what you are?" He stopped and shook his head. He'd talked on and on as if forgetting he had an audience. "I guess not. You're a Pureblood. You're a Potter. A well-known family. Well, I'm not. And people know it."

"Look, Pete. If there's anything I can ever do…"

"No, there's nothing. I'm sorry, James. I just get like this sometimes. I get depressed about the way things are going and I start rambling."

"You look like you've been up most of the night," Lily said, looking closely at him.

"I have." Peter got up and turned away from her. Facing out the window. "I told you I couldn't sleep. I woke up around 3 and have been up ever since."

"What time is it now?"

"Quarter to seven."

"Look, Peter, if there's anything I can do…"

"I just want to forget all this for a while. Escape, you know?"

"Yeah. I know the feeling."

"I'm gonna go out there for a while. Cover for me?"

Lily had thought that the first time one of James's friends wanted her to cover for them this week, she'd be in a major moral dilemma deciding whether to risk revealing their trade or do something she felt she shouldn't. That wasn't the case as at all. She felt sympathy for Peter and answered without hesitation. "Of course."

"I'll see you in Transfiguration then."

Lily watched Peter shrink before her eyes and turn in to a gray rat, with a wormish looking tail. She stared. Had he always been able to do that? Then he morphed back into a human so fast that she wasn't sure she'd actually seen what she saw.

"Do you want to come with me? The others'll just think we're raiding the kitchen or something," he asked.

"Er, won't somebody see us?"

"Don't be thick, Prongs. Nobody's going to notice a couple of animals coming and going on the grounds of Hogwarts."

Lily just shook her. "No thanks. You go. Maybe I'll try and get a little shut-eye." And maybe then my mind will stop playing tricks on me, she thought. There's no way you changed into a rat a minute ago.

"Alright. Open the door for me, would you?" Peter shrank and turned into a rat again. She was stunned. When she didn't come to the door immediately, he started scratching at it and squeaking.

Lily came back to her senses; she opened the door and let the squeaking creature out. "Wow," she whispered. That was a lot of new information to think about. She'd never seen this side of Peter Pettigrew before. He was deeper than she'd thought; frustrated with the way worked and almost ready to give in to it, mentally exhausted by the whole situation. Not mention the magic he'd just done! How had he changed shape like that without his wand? Maybe he was an extremely talented metamorphamagus? No, those were too rare. The chances of Peter being one were slim to none. And he had said "a couple of animals". That meant her too. Could James change into a rat too? Maybe it was an inborn trait; like being a silkie and turning into a seal when in water. She looked around. Everyone else was still asleep. She could hear load snores coming from Sirius's bed particularly. She shut her eyes and thought about rats. Se imagined herself as a rat. Then she decided that since she was in James's body, it ought to be James she was imagining as a rat. She opened her eyes. Nothing had happened.

Oh well. So much for that theory. Apparently James wasn't an Animagus. Otherwise, if he was a rat Animagus, theoretically of course, thinking it to happen and willing it to happen should have worked. She yawned. It was early yet. Maybe she ought to just go back to sleep. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. She went back over to the bed, lay down, fell asleep almost immediately.

Author's Note Continued: I hadn't really planned on making her conversation with Peter so meaningful, or her starting to find out about the Animagus thing quite yet. But I like how this worked out. Now time for a shameless self promotion: I built a new Geocities site that's linked with a forum I made for people to discuss fantasy books. Theories, rumors, when the books will be out, etc. The website is / findmeinoz (without the spaces) and the message board is located at wizardessofoz. proboards37 .com/index.cgi (without the spaces).