Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not.
Highlights of the Last Chapter: Pranks abound; James proves Lily wrong (possibly for the first and last time, if Lily has anything to say about it); Lily and James have a very intellectual discussion on the character of Romeo from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Books are thrown; the boys take James out for his birthday, specifically to a nightclub, where Sirius wears tight leather pants, Remus wears ruffles, they all get hopelessly drunk, and James wanders off with some random redhead whom I never saw fit to give a name. Meanwhile, Lily discovers James's not-diary and goes into a fury, and we never actually see the boys get back to Hogwarts.
Before going into the next chapter, I would just like to take the time to say something: a lot of people expected that random redhead from last chapter to become important or something. That's totally unintentional, because she's not GOING to become important. She's a random hooker who, as far as I was and am concerned, is never going to appear again. There might be more hookers, but not that particular one. Okay?
Other Author's notes at the end of the chapter, like usual. Onwards and Upwards!
X-X-X-X-X
"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself. Happy birthday, by the way."
James groaned – every inch of his body aching – and sat up, before giving a very manly scream and falling from his bed, sheets tangled around his legs. He reached for the bedside table, fingers grasping, and then found his glasses and jammed them onto his face. He was dimly aware that Remus and Peter were snorting as they tried to wake up ("Who died?" Remus demanded groggily, before wincing at the sound of his own voice), but James was only aware of the fact that Janine Garnet lay sprawled on his bed, in her school uniform, twirling a strand of hair around one finger.
"What," he asked in a wheezing voice, "are you doing?"
"Giving you your present, pillock." She sat up on her knees, clutching a large square box done up in a bright Gryffindor red ribbon. She cocked her head. "And I would advise you to stay in bed today, for your own health."
"Because I'm hung-over?" he croaked, and immediately winced at the noise.
"Well, there's that, but mostly because McGonagall's going to kill you. She'd have to beat Lily to it, though. I really do advise you to stay in bed today. And breakfast is almost over, did you know that?"
"What happened to our stuff?" squawked Peter suddenly. "Someone's been through our things!" James scrambled up and regretted it as the pounding in his head became fiercer and his insides began to swim.
"Not through ours," Remus mumbled, climbing out of bed on his hands and knees. "Just James's." James squinted as his trunk, only to find it upturned, all of his things sprawled on the floor. Janine's face twisted into a grin. "D'you know who did this?" Remus asked hoarsely.
"Yes, I do," Janine said, setting her present aside. "But if I tell you, it takes all the fun out of telling you. Where's Sirius, by the way?"
"Isn't he-" James stopped, trying to sort through the hazy fog of memories that was last night. Oh. Flashes of images went through his mind-
Sirius handing him a lopsided cake, singing a slurred birthday song with dirty lyrics as Remus and Peter grinned madly in the background, and the curvaceous bartender smiled coyly at him, blowing cigarette smoke out of her pouty red lips –
A pretty redhead, pressing her hands into his lower back as she leaned closer, swaying in time to the music, whispering sultry things into his ear as he mumbled, "Why aren't you always this nice to me, Lily?" causing her to giggle, whispering back, "I can be, if you'd like…" -
Sirius grunting something and waving them off as he sauntered up the stairs of the club, his arm around the waist of a shrilly giggling brunette who was most definitely not Janine, for she wasn't nearly as pretty in James's opinion although his opinion didn't count for much as he couldn't really remember his own name at that point -
"Went off with some girl last night, I think," James muttered, but he soon regretted it as Janine's eyes flashed angrily.
"Oh, it figures," she said in disgust. "I'm so finished with him."
"Sure you are," James muttered quietly, but it couldn't have been all that quiet, because Janine grabbed his present and flung it at his head. He howled as he dropped to his knees, clutching his head. "Effing hell, Janine! Hurts enough without you making it worse!"
"Serves you right, you snarky bastard," she retorted angrily. "Ooh… I hope Lily does find you, it would give us all a laugh!" She stormed out of the dormitory, snapping back, "Happy Effing Birthday, Potter!" SLAM.
James winced as the door slammed shut, the noise reverberating around the room. "I didn't even do anything," he whined plaintively in Remus and Peter's direction.
"Shouldn't have told her, mate," Peter advised blearily. "It would have been better to let her figure it out on her own."
"Shut up, Petey." James scowled down at the mess before him. "Damn it all – I should have gotten it out of her, who did this."
"Check if anything's missing," Remus groaned, crawling back into bed and pressing his face into a pillow. "Fen wet uth no."
"What?"
Remus's head popped up, and he snapped, "Then let us know, idiot!" He and James both flinched at this. Peter had probably drunk the least of all four, and looked a little better than James felt. James sat back on his heels, chewing a lip.
"Damn."
"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked, looking a little pasty. "He should…" He stopped for a moment, then plunged ahead. "He should have gotten… er, he should have… would you excuse me for a moment?" He leapt to his feet – James marveled that he could – and raced into the bathroom, barely managing to slam the door shut behind him. Soon followed the unmistakable sounds of retching, which made James feel rather ill himself.
"So, apparently Lupin can't hold his liquor," a voice grumbled woozily from the doorway. Sirius leaned against the frame, his eyes red-rimmed with heavy shadows beneath them. "Whazzamatta with Janie?"
"Where were you all night?"
"Snuck back in this morning," Sirius told him, letting go of the doorframe long enough to stumble in before tripping over his own feet and landing in a heap in front of James's. "I passed out in the common room, I think," he told the floor. "And then she woke me up by slapping me across the face and saying we were through."
"Oh, good," James told his friend, who still lay nose-down on the floor. "Get up, will you? Someone's been through my stuff, Moony's puking his guts out, and Wormtail is oddly cheerful considering we're all hung-over and have to plan a day of pranks right now and somehow manage to give an excuse to Minnie once she finds us."
"Ugh." Sirius sat up, holding his head. "I think I might puke my guts out, too." James scooted back hastily. "Not on you," Sirius snarled, annoyed, and then moaned and fell forward onto the carpet, one hand pressed to his forehead. "I wished Janie would come and hold my head for me," he moaned pitifully.
"Poor Padfoot, doesn't have his girlfriend to stroke his head while he's drunk."
"I'm not drunk, Wormtail!" Sirius growled. "I was drunk last night. By the way, you guys were morally obligated to keep me from wandering off with that brunette last night, and you didn't. You bad boys."
"I don't even remember you doing that," Remus moaned from the bathroom door, holding onto his stomach and looking even sicklier than was normal. "Who was she?"
"No idea," Sirius grunted from the floor. "And I've got more important things to worry about now…" He curled into a tight ball. "Screw tradition," he groaned. "I'm going back to bed."
James couldn't have agreed more.
X-X-X-X-X
Despite the notable absence for the second day in the row of four very conspicuous boys, and the rumors that they were a) dead, b) kidnapped, or c) drunk (Severus was willing to bet on answer c), Severus Snape found himself unusually apprehensive as he entered the Great Hall for lunch. He knew it had been James Potter's birthday (everyone did, with Janine Garnet and Jennifer King sulking yesterday that the boys hadn't taken them along on their little road trip or whatever it was). But oddly enough, nothing happened. Janine was scowling into her plate furiously while her friends shot her curious looks. Severus decided she was the best bet.
Once lunch was over, he hurried after her, tapped her on the shoulder, and asked her for a word. He noted that she attempted to fix a smile on her face as she leaned against a wall, tilting her head to indicate that she was listening, but it came across more as a grimace than a smile.
"Where are Potter and his friends?" Severus asked without preamble. Her face got sulky, and Severus quickly added, "I want to avoid whatever nonsense they have planned for the day, and I'd hoped that-"
"-I'd know? Ha." She scuffed her shoes against the floor. "They're all probably asleep, sleeping off the hangovers from last night. Stupid bastards," she added. Severus's eyebrows shot up as she continued, scowling at the floor sullenly. "He didn't even thank me for his present," she added despairingly.
Something in her tone caused Severus to frown. "You've seen them, you mean?"
"Sure. They're in the dormitory. This morning." Her eyes mirrored the distaste that Severus was beginning to feel. "Except Black. That stupid arse was having it off with some slag he picked up at a bar."
"Oh. Sorry." He wasn't.
"I don't care." Janine flipped her hair over one shoulder. "I'm over him."
Severus couldn't prevent his snort of cynicism. Her eyes flashed angrily at that. "Do your friends believe that?"
"It's true!" Severus waited, and she added crankily, "Although they don't know I've seen the boys yet."
"Ah." Severus leaned against a wall, too. "Why do you date Black? He's making your life a misery. You told me he makes you laugh, at New Year's." Severus frowned. "But it seems as if he makes you cry more than anything.
"I don't cry over boys, and certainly not him!" she burst out furiously. "I'm better than that!" Severus blinked. In his experience, a great number of girls like Janine cried when their boyfriends cheated on them. He didn't expect her to be any different. "Besides, I only wanted to date the best-looking boy in school," she snarled at the floor. "And I did, didn't I? Just proves I can get any guy I want. I got him, and I don't want him anymore. He's… he's not good enough for me!"
"Of course not," Severus agreed emotionlessly, figuring it best to agree with whatever she said.
"I mean, I could have practically any guy I want! I don't need him, do I? No, I don't!" she added without waiting for Severus to answer (not that he was going to, anyway). "I'm worth more than Sirius effing Black! Aren't I?" she added desperately.
"Everybody's worth more than Black," Severus muttered.
"No, I mean, I'm worth it, right?" She looked upset. "Is there something wrong with me? Am I driving him away?" Severus really had no idea how to deal with an emotional Janine Garnet.
"How the hell should I know?" he demanded waspishly. What happened next startled him, though. Loudly, abruptly, she burst into loud sobs. Severus hastily stepped back. It was fortunate that the hall had already emptied out. This was not how this conversation was supposed to go.
"Oh, God, I am driving him away! I'm a terrible girlfriend, and a terrible friend, and-"
I wonder if she's PMS-ing… Severus wisely decided not to say that. "I'm sure you're not," he said awkwardly, and rather impatiently too. "I mean, not that I'd know, because I've never dated you and we're really more acquaintances than friends, but-"
His arms began to windmill as she flung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips firmly to his. He gave a muffled shout before allowing his arms to enclose around her uncomfortably – and then she pulled away and sniffled. "Sorry," she muttered. "I just… lose it, you know? I mean, he cheats on me all the time. I tell Lily that I don't care, and that I do it too, but I really don't, you know? Not anymore, anyway. I mean, I always figured Sirius was worth it, giving up all that fun I used to have with guys, and-"
"I thought you said Black wasn't worth it," Severus muttered, his pale skin flushing red. She wasn't supposed to kiss him and then go off about Black, was she?
Her eyes flashed again. "He isn't worth it! I thought you understood meSeverus!"
God, he thought. Who would understand? You keep changing your mind. "I do," he muttered quietly to the floor. "I mean, I don't, not really, but I'm trying to." He gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm sorry," he apologized finally, not sure what the hell he was apologizing for, but if she would stop crying, it would be worth it. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to make you cry." Merlin, I'm getting sappy.
She gave him a wobbly smile and hiccupped softly. "Oh, I know you didn't. You care about me, don't you Severus?"
"Er-"
She twined her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his chest (he wondered vaguely if she was drunk) and sighed deeply. "Sirius is so awful to me," she murmured. "Bet you wouldn't treat a girl like that…"
"Look, I only wanted to know what Potter and his friends were planning so I could avoid it," Severus finally muttered in the direction of her hair. "I didn't chase after you to talk about this."
She pulled away abruptly and her eyes flashed again. "Oh, of course not. Never mind that I'm all emotional and upset and heartbroken and looking for a little sympathy… you're only worried about your own skinny little arse, aren't you?"
Severus could not deal with a crying Janine Garnet, but he could deal with an angry one. "Did you expect anything else? I'm a Slytherin?"
She cast him a sullen look and finally snapped, "Screw you!" She pulled from his arms entirely and stormed away; Severus watched her go and was not sorry at all to watch her stalk off.
Then he paused, thinking back to her words. Wait… heartbroken?
X-X-X-X-X
Janine slammed into their dormitory long after dinner had finished. "You skipped classes," Lily told her reprovingly. "You're getting as bad as those boys."
"Boys? Boys!" Lily blinked in surprise; Janine's eyes were red and she looked livid. Perhaps that wasn't the best way to greet her, Lily thought, but it was too late. "Don't compare me to those bloody boys! I'm not bloody drunk and in bed and hung-over, am I? Screw those boys, screw Sirius, screw Snape, screw classes, and screw you!" She stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.
Lily paused, unsure of what to say. She looked around at Jen, Alyssa, and Marlene, who all appeared perplexed. "No idea," Jen replied at once. "Somebody must have said something to her."
Lily wasn't listening to Jen, though; she was contemplating Janine's words. "She's seen them," she realized suddenly. "The boys. Sometime today – she's seen them. How else would she know that they're drunk and hung-over?"
"How can you be drunk and hung-over at the same time?" wondered Marlene aloud, but the others ignored her.
"Of course she's seen them," Alyssa replied. "She told me."
Nobody heard this, though, because Jen cut her off to speak. "She probably knows because anyone with half a brain would. Four boys, one birthday, skipping two days of classes, not found anywhere around the castle. Yep, bet they snuck out and got drunk off their arses and are regretting it now."
"Well, that's not going to do. I'm going to go tell them off so loudly the whole castle will hear." Lily's eyes flashed dangerously as they landed on James's red journal, sitting innocently on Lily's bedside table. "Besides, I have a few things to say to Potter."
"Come on, Lil, he's not going to take it kindly if you yell at him – I mean, have you ever been hung-over? It hurts to bloody talk, much less have somebody yell at you…" Jen trailed off at the look on Lily's face.
"If they were out drinking, it's their own bloody fault," Lily snarled in response. "I don't care if it was Potter's bloody birthday, I don't care if it was the Minister of Magic's bloody birthday. That is no excuse to skip school AND leave the grounds illegally."
"We have no proof," Jen reminded Lily from behind. "They might have just snuck Firewhisky in, or something, and used one of the lesser known classrooms-"
Lily whirled on her. "Oh, you know that's not true! Everybody knows that they were out drinking and-"
"Everybody doesn't know for certain, Lil," explained Jen calmly. "But I'll bet Janine does. And I'll also bet Janine's not going to let McGonagall know that she knows that, and you can't prove that Janine does. It's not like they'll use Veritaserum on her for something like this, Lil, and Janine's a convincing enough liar. No matter how angry she may be at the boys, she isn't going to rat them out. It's like, an unspoken rule of being a teenager. You don't snitch on others. So… there's really not much you can do."
Lily scowled at Jen, unaware that Janine was slinking towards the door, trying to sneak out.
"Face it, Lily." Marlene was stretched out on her bed, chewing thoughtfully on her quill as a long roll of parchment stretched out before her. "Jennie's right. What are you going to do about it? There's nothing you can do, not really."
"That's not true!" Lily snapped.
"Is so," Alyssa replied from where she was leaning out the window, the cold air blasting her in the face. "I mean, sure, you could go tell McGonagall you found them, but what's that going to accomplish? Sure, it might get them in detention for a few days, but the only people who know for certain that the boys ditched school and went off-grounds, are, well, them and probably Janine. Nobody else can prove it, and none of them are going to."
Lily ignored that, scowling. "I still ought to yell at them, or at least tell McGonagall." They turned as Janine appeared in the door of the bathroom, eyes even more red than before, her face clean of makeup, clad in a pair of yellow knickers that proclaimed in white letters: "I NICKED THESE KNICKERS FROM LONDON" and a pink t-shirt that screamed, "GIRLS RULES AND BOYS DROOL."
"God, Janie, that's really juvenile," Jen muttered. "Didn't your auntie get you that, thinking you were, I don't know… TWELVE?"
"Girls do rule, and boys do drool," Janine replied haughtily, and then gave a hearty sniff. "And don't you even get me started on those boys," she added in an irritated voice to Lily. "I may be irritated with them, and I may be finished with Sirius," ("Sure you are," grumbled Jen, and Janine shot her a very ugly look but continued on regardless), "but I'm not about to get Remus, James, and Peter in trouble," she replied, looking just as sulky. "They're my friends. They care about my tender feelings." Alyssa snorted.
"Really? I thought you chucked Potter's present at him because he was being an insensitive clod. That's what you told me during Transfiguration, anyway."
"Piss off, Comforts!" Janine snapped. Lily hummed slightly. She knew for certain she'd been in a grouchy mood all day, mostly due to James's idiocy and his damned journal or whatever it was, but Janine had been in an even worse mood. Lily often wondered if they all ought to just kill Sirius Black or Janine or both and just put the pair out of their misery.
"Oh, shut up, Janine, stop whinging. Why're you in such a cranky mood, anyway?"
"I'll have you know, Evans, that Sirius Black has cheated on me FOR THE LAST TIME-"
"Merlin, not that shit again. I love you, Janie, you're my best friend, but this is absolute shit, you're always in a tiff about him, so just shut up once and for all-"
"Look, Evans, why don't you just-"
"SHUT UP, Janine-"
"Right, so productive as this argument's been," Marlene interrupted, "I really do need help on my Charms essay, Fabian asked me to meet him in an old classroom to… er… study, in an hour, and even though it's the day after Potter's birthday, there have been no unfortunate accidents. So?"
"So what?" Lily asked blankly.
"So, what do we do? I mean, everyone's just waiting. All that nonsense about tradition and all that – maybe they skipped class to plan the prank to end all pranks."
"Or maybe," Janine began in a sarcastic voice, "they were so wasted last night that they're in awful condition this morning and couldn't bear to hear themselves speak because it made their heads hurt even more. And seeing as I'm the only one who's actually seen them in the last forty-eight hours or so…"
"Shut up, Janine! So we're going to their dormitory to grill them, and then we're off to McGonagall to tell on them," Lily said firmly. "Right?"
"Wrong. You can do that," Jen replied. "Marlene and I are doing our Charms essays."
"Er… Davy asked me to meet him in the library this afternoon," Alyssa said. Lily whirled on the last of her friends.
"All right, Garnet, you have permission to speak now, so long as you don't start whinging again. Are you coming with me?"
"No," Janine said sullenly. "I'm going to bed – screw all my homework – and I'm going to fall into a deep sleep and hopefully never wake up. And I'm not tattling on the boys, I already told you that, so you may as well lay off."
"We should at least let McGonagall know that they're back," snapped Lily. "And drunk."
"Correction, Evans – they were drunk last night. They're just suffering the after-effects of it."
"Fine," Lily said huffily. "I'll go on my own, then. You guys are useless friends." She stalked out, leaving behind her four friends.
For no apparent reason, the girls had been snippy at one another lately. Lily had been in a consistent bad mood since yesterday; Janine since this morning. Marlene had been suspiciously grouchy when she'd returned from her "study session" with Fabian last night (though she was hopefully meeting him again to make up), Jen had been in an abnormally bad mood since Remus's birthday party, often snapping at her friends for no reason, and Alyssa had wisely decided to leave most of her friends alone.
As far as Lily was concerned, most of these problems stemmed from the boys – four boys in particular, although she couldn't really fault Peter, as he hadn't really done anything. (And technically speaking, Marlene's problems stemmed from Fabian, or so she would assume, anyway).
Nevertheless, Lily was going to give those boys a piece of her mind. Snatching up Potter's journal, she added to that though, Man, is HE going to get it…
X-X-X-X-X
James scrambled madly for his blanket the moment he felt it ripped away from him. "Hey!" he protested loudly, sitting up. He was feeling better – a little, anyway – although Remus's continual throwing-up hadn't been constructive towards his feeling better. Right. Memo to self: Never let Moony do shots again.
He saw Lily Evans standing there, hands on her hips, red curls in disarray. And although she was smiling sweetly at him, her eyes flashed with undeniable anger. Oh, great. What did I do now?
Hang on, that's right – I snuck out of school illegally and got pissed, and – shit, Janine didn't tell on us, did she? I'm never speaking to her again.
"H'lo, Lily," he said. He winced slightly as his voice slurred a bit, and made an effort to clear his mind. "Whatcha want?"
"Hello, James," she replied in a pleasant voice. She sat on the edge of his bed, cooing, "Are you feeling all right?"
Some of the anger seemed to have gone out of her. James blinked. Am I dreaming? Yes, that's it. I'm dreaming.
Although it kinda sucks that even in my dreams, I still feel like hurling. Aw, gross, I hope I don't puke all over Lily; she probably won't like that, although if this is a dream…
"Er… s'pose so," he mumbled.
"Well, that's good," she declared, smiling triumphantly, her eyes glittering again. James stared at her, and registered somewhere in the back of his mind that the other boys were all staring at her in amazement.
It was turning out to be a halfway decent dream, at least until she whipped something from behind her and chucked it at James. It hit him in the nose and fell with a dull fwump into his lap, atop the covers. He yelped in pain and clutched his nose, which was surely broken and bleeding by now (this was James's overactive imagination, as it was doing neither of those things) and yelled, "Effing hell, Evans!" he roared. "What was that for?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you weren't feeling bad before, I certainly hope you're feeling much worse now," she snapped. "I ought to strangle you."
James suddenly found that he wasn't in the mood to deal with another of Lily's temper tantrums. Couldn't she direct them at, say, Sirius, for a change?
Then he glanced down in his lap and blanched. A little red journal, one that was strikingly familiar to him.
Oh, fuck.
"Ah… you found my homework planner," he tried lamely. No go.
"Homework planner, is it?" She snatched it out from under his nose – he made a mad grab for it and missed entirely – and read loudly, "Subject does not like Quidditch very much. Got very irked when friends discussed upcoming match against Hufflepuff. Must resolve not to discuss Quidditch much when dating." She stared up at him. James saw Sirius – who was evidently feeling none the worse for his busy night, judging by the gleeful expression on his face – stuff his fist into his mouth to stifle his laughter, only succeeding partially. Lily ignored him. "I don't suppose you would be writing about me, would you?"
"Er…"
James looked helplessly at Remus, who was again dashing for the bathroom, but not before shooting him a reproving look that seemed to say, I-told-you-so. "Thanks for your help, Moony," he muttered.
"Potter! Explain this, right now!" Lily had leapt up from his bed now; her fists were planted once more on her hips, and her green eyes sparkled with rage. Judging by the fact that James's glasses seemed to have broken slightly in his sleep (he'd never bothered to take them off), it was a bit difficult to see, but if he squinted just so, it rather looked like her entire head was on fire and/or sparkling with electricity, due to the way it was arranged wildly about her head.
James thought she looked absolutely beautiful, but he thought now wasn't the time to tell her so.
"Look," he tried reasonably, "I think you should be flattered." She gaped at him. "I mean, how many guys are going to pay that much attention to you? Come on, Lily." He gave her his most earnest look, going for the innocent and honest appearance. (Lily viewed it as more of a smirk than an earnest look, but she didn't tell him that). "I adore you. I always have." She scowled. "Who's going to give you that sort of attention, huh? Like I said – I adore you. I always have," he continued, and then added, lying just a bit, "And I probably always will, you know. I can't help it – I just wanted to get to know you better, that's all."
"I don't suppose," she replied in a dangerous tone, "you ever thought about just speaking to me, did you?"
"How could I?" he cried theatrically, amazed that he could even act this way when he was completely arsed. "You never let me near you!"
"That's because you chat me up every time you come by!" she shot. "Maybe if you didn't, I wouldn't find you such a complete arse!"
"I'm not an arse," he muttered woefully, "at least not a complete one. Come on, Lily." He tried for an earnest look again. "Aren't you the least bit flattered?"
Lily gave him a look as though she'd given up all hope. "You know, you didn't have to do this." She waved the book. "You could have sent me flowers or just written bad poetry to me, or something."
"I could have," he agreed, "but you usually throw aways my flowers. And the poetry wouldn't have been bad." He fought back a smirk as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards. "So do you forgive me?" he asked promptly, ignoring the fact that Peter was now snoring loudly while sitting up – he appeared to have gone to sleep, listening to Lily and James.
To his amazement, it actually looked like she might be considering this. "I might," she finally said grudgingly, looking surprised with herself for it.
James scrambled forward onto his knees, until he and Lily were more or less at eye level. "Tell you what," he said. "Forgive me, and I'll do anything for you."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Anything?"
When James was feeling better, he was probably going to regret it very much. "Anything," he promised solemnly.
"You really mean it. So, if I ask you to… oh, I don't know, snog Snape, you'll do it?"
James was beginning to regret it now. "If you really want me to," he mumbled, knowing he was going to regret this. God, I hope she doesn't ask that. I think I'd have to kill myself afterwards. Ah, he added thoughtfully, the things I do for your affection, Lily Evans.
"Or if I ask you to go to class naked for a day and then offer to shag McGonagall when we walk into Transfiguration, you'll do it?" He heard Sirius snort from somewhere to his left.
"I guess." James was beginning to become uncomfortable. His option seemed to be slim her – Merlin forbid, what was she going to ask him to do?
"Or if I-"
"Lily." His face was pained, but he made the promise anyway. "I swear. I'll do anything you ask. Okay?"
"I'll hold you to that, then," she replied after a moment's thought. She looked irritated, still, but at least she didn't appear to be livid anymore. "And Potter, do me a favor." She tossed the book onto his bed and began to leave.
"Yes?"
She was almost out the door. "Burn that book, please."
X-X-X-X-X
So I'm really sorry for the delay, but as you've not doubt noticed, I'm abysmally lazy and should probably be shot for it, but hey, what are you gonna do. I should tell you all that I flipped out when I thought I wasn't getting any reviews, and then I went and checked the story and there were like twenty and I was like… "Huh?" I haven't been getting any info from in my inbox lately; like no notices about reviews or my favorites getting updated or anything. Does anybody else have that problem, or is it just me?
About this chapter – I know Snape was a little OOC, but I mean, how ELSE is he supposed to deal with a hysterical Janine Garnet? I tried to keep him true to his character, but I don't think I succeeded so well, so if I get really pissed at it later, I might go and alter than conversation a little, so that he seems a bit more… Snape-ish. And just to give you an interesting mental image – you know those knickers/panties/underwear Janine is wearing? I have a pear JUST LIKE THAT and I think they're so funny, but they're purple not yellow. And I so want a t-shirt like the one she has…
Okay, so I guess this was a kind of boring chapter – seems like most of them have been that way lately. I didn't elaborate on James's presents – sorry – and Lily didn't get quite as mad as you or I had hoped for, but now James owes her something and you KNOW that she's going to pick something good. I've already got the next chapter in the works, and it hopefully should be good – we get another Hogsmeade trip, some Lily-James time, another Sirius-Janine fight, and mention of Sirius's birthday, although probably not the birthday itself. James also agrees to give Lily lessons in something – or rather, he persuades her to take lessons from him – but I'm not telling you what they're for. You'll just have to wait and see!
In better news, I'm on spring break and should hopefully have TONS of time for writing… but we'll see. I'm so running out of ideas, so I just want to get sixth year FINISHED with because seventh year is when the good stuff happens – you know, when Peter begins to turn, Lily and James get together, and stuff happens… etc. Just so you know, I'm going to split this story up – after they graduate, once and for all, from Hogwarts, I'm going to start a new story – that is, the sequel to this one. I originally had a lot of plans for that so that it would become sort of AU-ish and then go into Harry's sixth and seventh year and I'd write those, but what with HBP coming out in July, I'm starting to think I WON'T do that. Which is a pity, because I had a really interesting female character planned for Harry to meet in his sixth year (well, I thought she was interesting, and before you ask, NO they wouldn't have started dating – my original plan was for them to HATE each other with a passion – and no, she also wouldn't go to Hogwarts and suddenly become Ms. Popularity so you needn't worry about that) but anyway, I don't think I'll do that. If and when I get to the end of this story – I mean the REAL end, when L+J die (Man, I'm sad just thinking about it) I'll tell you guys about said female character if you're still interested… you know, like in the final author's note or something. But first I have to decide if I want her to exist or not. If she doesn't it changes a LOT of things, but whatever…
Okay, I've written enough. I hope you guys liked this chapter, and keep watching for the next one! Love you - Peaches