Disclaimer: I don't own this. Weep for me.

Author's Note: I'm not in love with this chapter, particularly the end, but I think it is progress. I wasn't really sure what they were going to do at this part of the story. Sorry for the lame chapter title, I was having trouble thinking of one this time around.

Replies:

Fanglessphysco—Thanks so much for all your reviews. I had to stop there because I didn't know where I was going. The sad thing is that that's usually the case. I hope you like this chapter!

Poodle Luva—Thanks!

Atled Willy—Glad you liked this so much. Wow, this whole thing in one day? It's over a hundred pages! Thanks.

Marie0991—Thanks. I'm going to try and keep it so no one knows, but it'll be hard to write their rehearsal and keep from having the song known. Thanks!

Ladyla—Thanks. Really? I wasn't a big fan of LJ fics until a little before I wrote this one. Thanks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year right back at ya!

Lizziee—Nope. No costumes yet, just an excuse for Rosmerta. Lily and James still have to find costumes before Monday.

Annmarie Aspasia—Thanks!

Dark priestess tsubaki—Sorry about the HALFBLOODPRINCE thing. The line maker wasn't working and I didn't want to delay the posting of the chapter, so I created my own line. Thanks.

Briana Marie—I see Lily as the paranoid type. Not to mention, they never changed out of their Hogwarts robes. Glad you like it.

Magical Maniac Girl—Thanks! I'm glad you like it so much. I think that getting to see life from someone else's point of view is rather enlightening, so I thought it be a blast to do that with Lily and James. I've got other story plots, but at the speed I write, I'll never get them done.

J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks!

Shimby Kori—Thanks!

Radioactive Bubblegum—Hey, Rad! I had to give Remus a spotlight chapter or the world wouldn't be complete. All I'm going to say about Sirius for the moment is that the poor bloke will always be "a day late and a Galleon short".

Glaz—Thanks! He was fun to write. I think my finals went really well thanks. I only got a score on one of them (they don't typically tell us how we did on the final) but on that one I got the highest grade in my class, so things are looking up for now.

DOJ—Sirius is my comic relief in this. He can't be too smart or I'd have to kill him. :::wicked grin::: We'll see, we'll see. Thanks. I've had so much fun writing Remus in this story. He's been a blast to play around with.

Certified-weirdo—Sparkly red leotard? Gotta love it! We've only got one guy in our dance class at school and he was supposed to be Santa in that "Santa Baby" song that gets over-played on the radio every year. The Santa costume didn't arrive on time, so he had on a white t-shirt with red suspenders and sparkly red jazz pants. I thought it was pretty funny, especially with the elf shoes they put him in. Claimed it was Santa's lounging wear. :::snork::: James in a turquoise sequined mini dress! That would be priceless. I hope what I've got in mind is at least half as fun as that.

Animerocksjapanrocks—Thanks!

Shalaren—Thanks!

Lil Bazza—Yeah, it gets confusing. Sometimes there are scenes I want to write one way, and then I remember they aren't in their right bodies, so I have to nix it and start over. Like James carrying Lily up the stairs in the fourth chapter or something like that.

Angela Dawne—Thanks!

Gwendolyn James—Thanks. I figured I couldn't end the story without a secret tunnel trip. Sirius is a little too slow to catch the train this time I'm afraid.

Elladora D. Jobberknoll—Water polo is 7 players on each team (counting a goalie for each) and it's kind of like basketball or soccer. You've got a basic set up, but it's back and forward across the pool trying to get the ball and get it through the goal. I'm a wimp and it's really brutal. The ball is like a volleyball sized ball and you can only throw/catch it with one hand.

The line maker wasn't working and I thought it'd look funny without some sort of line.

I think Peter must have some amount of intelligence to not only have been able to deceive his friends, but Dumbledore as well.

You caught me; I was too lazy to look up the caved in passage in the book. I thought it was caved in before the Fred and George even got the map (thus I weakly attempted to provide an explaination) and didn't remember where the passage was. For shame. I'm going to pretend it's the one he knows about and is caved in.

Of course! Sirius knows what the important things in life are! Hehe.

It's kind of nice to have them before the holidays, because then everything's done and there's no thinking requirement for a solid two weeks.

Wish granted! Enjoy.

Chapter 22: Catching Up

Lily soon found James, just as he was leaving the kitchens.

He saw her and asked cheerily, "How was your afternoon off?"

She looked around to see if anyone nearby might have heard what he said. Good, no one was nearby. "I had a fine time. We brought you something."

James, excited at the prospect of a treat, bounced up and down excitedly. "What'd ya bring me? What'd ya bring me?"

"You're just like, Sirius," she said rolling her eyes. She did a double take as she handed him the Chocolate Frogs and he still bounced. "Are you wearing your…er…support today?"

"What?" he asked, blinking.

"Are you wearing your…" She made an upwards gesture in front of her chest with her hands.

"This?" He lifted the strap of his bra up out of his robe near the neck.

"Good you're wearing it. For a second I thought…"

"Maybe you just need a bigger one. Or one with more support," he supplied helpfully.

Lily blushed and felt like vomiting. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with James Potter. It was almost too horrible to consider. They were calmly standing in the hallway discussing her bra. She didn't even know what to say.

"It was just a thought," he said sheepishly. "It's not as though I know how this is supposed to fit."

"I hate shopping for those," she muttered.

"What?"

"It's embarrassing, alright?" she hissed at him, looking around to make sure no one else heard her.

"What's the big deal? It's just like buying regular clothes isn't it?"

"You've never been shopping with my mum screaming, 'Lily dear! Try on this frilly pink one!' and holding it up for the whole store to see." She shuddered.

James couldn't decide whether to laugh or blush. He certainly couldn't picture Lily in anything frilly or pink. He started to laugh, about to suggest that she go shopping for some new ones as she may have outgrown all her current ones. Luckily for him, she interrupted before he could suggest it.

"Shut-up," she said miserably, turning to leave.

"Don't be like that now, Lily. Come on let's go back inside and get some ice cream."

"Didn't you just eat?"

"Yeah, but you can never have enough ice cream."

With a little more coaxing James managed to convince Lily to come back into the kitchen with him and they stuffed themselves full of hot fudge sundaes.

"So, tell me about your day. How much fun was it for perfect Prefect Head Girl Lily Evans to cut class?" he asked, grinning. There was some hot fudge stuck on his lip.

"Technically, I didn't cut class. Lily Evans was in class most of the time. It was James Potter who cut," she said.

"Going to call me on a technicality like that are you?"

"Yes, I am."

He stuck his tongue out at her childishly and they went into the kitchens for their ice cream. As they sat down to the large bowls of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and nuts, Lily asked a question.

This was James Potter after all, how much had she ever trusted him? "You didn't do anything to make…er, them bigger did you?"

"Of course I didn't. What do you to take me for anyway? I thought we'd already covered this. I'm being a complete gentleman."

"Good. I hate them. Such an inconvenience. Good to be without them." She dug into her ice cream with renewed energy. A week ago she wouldn't put something like that past Potter. But now, she felt she could trust him when he said he didn't and wouldn't do anything horrible like that.

James nodded. "I never realized it 'til this week. Makes sleeping on your stomach most uncomfortable."

"You sleep on your stomach? I always sleep on my side."

"If I sleep on my back, my hair gets matted. If I sleep on one side, then my hair looks dented in the morning. Stomach is the only way," he sighed mournfully.

"You're impossible you know that? Absolutely mad?"

"I'm not. Really, I'm not," he insisted. "I just care about how I look. The saying goes 'don't judge a book by its cover' but how many people really listen to that?" He shoveled another spoonful into his mouth.

"Good point. Mmm. And good ice cream."

"You said it. I could eat this stuff all day. Speaking of which tell me about what you did today. Obviously went to Hogsmeade."

"We went through the entrance near Ravenclaw tower. It caved in. I have to go back and get your cloak. We left it there. When we left Zon—"

"Wait, you just left my cloak there? What if someone found it?" James looked like he was ready to explode.

"Nobody's going to find it there, James. You, me, Remus, Sirius, and Peter are the only ones who know about that tunnel, right?"

"As far as we know. Anyone else could know about it. How could you do that, Lily? That cloak is very important to me. My dad gave it to me. I haven't seen him in…a long time."

Lily stared. "Where's he been? Are your parents separated?" She saw the look in James's eyes and wondered if the second question was too rude to have been asked.

"No. They aren't. My mum visits my dad when she can. His work keeps him away for months at a time sometimes. He was gone all summer."

"Oh. What does your dad do?"

"We don't talk about it. It's a very closed-mouthed operation."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"I'm sorry, James. It must be tough. I can't imagine going longer than a term without seeing my dad. Or my mum. Or even old Tuna-face my sister, as bad as she is. I'll go back and get the cloak as soon as we're done eating. I promise."

"Thanks, Lily." He smiled gratefully. He turned back to his lighter and airier mood and asked what happened when she and Remus left Zonkos.

"Since we left the cloak behind, I had to throw some sort of rancid smoke bomb to get the attention away so we could slip out. After that, we went on our way to the Three Broomsticks."

"Was Rosmerta surprised to see you?"

"I'm not sure. Remus told her that I, or rather you were shopping for a costume for a glee club performance. She didn't give us any trouble and just let us drink our Butterbeers in peace. We came back to school through Honeydukes' and that was it."

"Did you have fun sneaking around?" he grinned.

Lily was about to say no, about to say it was wrong to skip class and sneak around, but found herself saying the opposite. "Yes! It was brilliant. I was afraid we were going to get caught. The risk is what made it exciting."

James nodded knowingly. "It's always more fun when we aren't supposed to be there. Especially when the air is cold and the moon is out." He shut his eyes, remembering.

Lily looked at him curiously.

"Er, never mind. It's not important. What is important is that you learned how to relax a little." He devoured the last spoonful of his ice cream and started looking at Lily's. Hers was only half eaten.

"No way," she said as he reached for her bowl. "This one's mine."

"That's not fair. Yours was bigger."

"Was not."

"There was more fudge on it."

"Was not."

"And more whipped cream."

"Was not!"

"Was too," he grumbled.

Lily looked at him, a slow smile curling on her lips. "Okay, you can have some more of mine to even things out."

James grinned, reaching for her bowl of ice cream. "Good. After all you did lose my inv—"

He never got the words out of his mouth.

Lily grabbed the back of his head and pushed him facedown into the ice cream. "Ha!" she screamed in triumph.

The look on James's ice cream covered face when he sat back up again was so priceless that Lily started a victory dance.

With her back turned toward him, James looked for something to throw and settled on a tray of brownies on a nearby table. He popped one into his mouth whole and threw another at the back of Lily's head (or rather, he supposed, the back of what had once been his head).

When Lily turned around to see what had hit her, he threw two more at her face.

"You'll pay for that one, Potter," she said, slipping back into use of his surname. She looked around for something to fling and settled on mashed potatoes that had been so sure they were destined to be consumed at the teachers' table and not flung at James Potter. The poor potatoes were sorely wrong, for Lily grabbed a scoop with her hand and flung it at James.

The projectile hit James squarely in the face as James discovered that mashed potatoes did not taste as good with ice cream, whipped cream, fudge, and brownie as one might have thought it would. He glanced around and found a bottle of chocolate syrup. "Prepare to meet your doom, Evans!" he cackled.

"You wouldn't," she said, staring at the bottle.

"Oh, I would," said James, grinning. He squirted the bottle at her, covering hair, robes, and face.

"Aaaaah!" she screamed, trying to shield herself and searching for something to defend herself with. She grabbed a large salad-mixing bowl and used it to shield herself, tossing out the leafy greens.

James was very sure this was a fight he'd win, but he hadn't reckoned on slipping on some of the chocolate syrup he'd spilled. Lily had meanwhile grabbed an open bag of flour, ready to fling it, when his sliding sent him crashing into her. Lily fell down on top of him, covering them both in flour.

"Truce?" James asked, coughing and having a little trouble breathing under the weight that was on top of him.

"Truce," Lily replied, rolling off to the side. "That was fun. I've never done that before."
"You've never been in a food fight?" he asked, incredulously.

"Never," she said firmly.

"Have you been living in a cave?"

Lily backhanded him in the stomach.

"What was that for?"

"Being your obnoxious self," she replied simply.

James raised himself up on his elbows, looking around at the mess they'd made. He saw the head house elf approaching and looked around rather sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Brinnie. We didn't mean to cause such a mess."

"Master James!" the elf scolded squeakily, looking at the person who looked like James instead of the person who was speaking to him. "We let you and your friends come in all the time, sir! And this is how you repay kind Brinnie? By making a mess so soon before dinner! We will be running behind, sir. But it is a house-elf's job, sir. Go and try no more mischief. We will clean this."

"We'll help," Lily volunteered.

"No, no. Go, sir. Brinnie and friends will take care of it. Go, out now."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked.

"Yes, no more mischief for the night." The elf, with the aid of some of her companions got Lily and James up and persuaded them out the door rather forcefully.

Lily stared as the portrait shut in their face. "I feel horrible. We've made an awful mess for them!"

"It'll be fine, Lily. They'll have the place spotless in no time with their magic," James assured her.

Lily looked up at him, glaring. "My name is Evans."

"Actually, at the moment, your name is Potter."

Lily held her head high and stalked off in front of him with as much dignity as she could muster, covered as she was in food.

James sighed. Maybe ice cream hadn't been such a good idea after all. He looked around and saw that Lily was gone. Apparently she didn't care to be in his company any longer. What else was new? Shaking his head, he continued on to Gryffindor Tower, then changed course and headed for the Prefect's bathroom, deciding to shower first and get the food off. Even though he wasn't a Prefect, as Head Boy he had access to use the room if he so chose. He was almost there when he heard a shout behind him.

"Lily Evans, what in Merlin's name have you done to yourself?" demanded an irate Alice.

James turned behind him and saw Alice striding toward him purposely. "Food fight."

"You?"

"James Potter started it," he said. Technically, it was true. He was James Potter and he had started it.

"Why am I not surprised? Come on, let's get you to the Prefect bathroom and clean you up. I think I remember you saying it's around here."

It wasn't long before they reached the painting that hid the Prefect's bathroom and said the password.

As they stepped inside, they realized they weren't alone. A figure at the other end of the room was starting to peel off his robe and heard them enter.

Lily Evans, looking like James Potter, spun around at hearing their entrance. She saw who it was. "Out! Out! OUT!"

Alice stared, seeing that "James" was covered in food as well. Apparently her friend had put up a good fight. Alice dug her heels in. "Lily has more of a right to clean up in here than you do, Potter. She's a Prefect. You're not."

"I'm a Head; that outranks Prefect. You aren't even a Prefect."

"I'm helping out a friend."

"Well then help somewhere else."

Alice and "James" bickered for a while on who had the right to be in there. Alice claimed that "Lily" had the right to be there because she was covered in worse food and being a Prefect and Head Girl she outranked "James's" Head Boy rank. "James" argued that being Head Boy made him entitled to the same privileges as Prefects since it was a higher rank and more importantly he was there first and didn't want to walk all the way back to Gryffindor Tower looking like a meal on the go.

The real James, deciding he was better off going up to his dormitory to get cleaned up rather than listen to the argument any longer. He wondered why Lily was arguing so much anyway. It was her friend she was fighting with after all. She should have just given up. But then she wouldn't have that oh-so-special Lily Evans personality he adored.

James held his head high as he walked through the common room and proceeded straight to the seventh year girls' bathroom, locking the door behind him and looking around for scented soaps and extra strength cleansers.

It occurred to James that Lily was either a superb actress arguing with her friend just to keep up the appearance of being him, or was really so embarrassed about walking around school dressed in food that she refused to have to go anywhere else to get changed and risk more people seeing her.

When Lily had finally gotten clean (after expelling Alice from the bathroom with more than a few threats) she returned to the common room, hair still wet, but school robes and body clean.

Sirius beckoned her over and she sat between he and Peter, across from Remus.

"Yeah?"

"You look like something the kneazle dragged in, what happened?" Sirius asked, clearly vexed that he hadn't been in on whatever fun had occurred.

"Food fight," she said simply.

"Food fight? Evans came up here a while ago covered in leftovers. Don't tell me you did that." Sirius stared at Lily disbelievingly. There was no way Evans could ever have been caught in the crossfire of one of James's food fights. It was unheard of.

"I did actually."

"Why? I thought you were starting to understand one another."

"Starting to understand that we despise one another, you mean," Lily said sourly. She'd had a lot of fun during the food fight, but afterward she felt completely miserable about all the extra work they'd made for those house-elves.

"No, that's nothing new," said Peter.

Remus came to Lily's rescue with a tactful change of topic. "James, did you ever go back and get that bag you left behind earlier? In the library?"

Lily saw a gleam in his eye and realized he was talking about the cloak. "No, I probably ought to."

"I'll come too. The librarian was holding a book for me and I want to see if it's been returned yet. Someone already had it out."

"Alright, see you later, Sirius, Peter," Lily said, getting up and following Remus out of the common room.

When they were a safe distance away and headed toward the caved in tunnel, Remus asked, "So what really happened?"

Lily proceeded to tell him and it was all Remus could do to stop himself from choking with laughter the entire time.

Author's Note: Okay, so how lame was it? This chapter was giving me some problems...