A/N: Yeah these next few chapters are those little lulls where ideas that stick completely to the plotline are low and inspiration is lacking…and things are getting hectic since one of my best friends who I've known for nine years is moving to Texas which is like the entire U.S. away! (awwww I'll miss you) and other people are intruding in my "private time" which I don't seem to have much of anymore.

And by the way YES I have a toaster…I still don't get it but okay…

Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter…Or well I don't own it's characters or the plotline but I DO own all six books! (throws confetti)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As luck would have it, James woke up late the next morning, along with the rest of the Marauders. The four boys rushed to get dressed and ready, swearing at their only alarm and realizing, unhappily, that there would be no time for breakfast.

And as luck would have it, their first class of the day was Transfiguration.

Professor McGonagall, as they had expected, was not pleased to see four students rush in late. "Ten points from Gryffindor," she scowled and motioned at them to sit down in the only row of seats left, the very front row.

Lily remembered back to her dream she had what felt like eons before. She should have realized it was a dream since, in it, the Slytherins were joined with their class, but in reality the Ravenclaws sat opposite them. When the Marauders all charged in late, she rolled her eyes at them and wondered what sort of prank they had pulled this time.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Professor McGonagall continued, throwing a dagger-glance at the four, very tired boys.

Lily, who sat one row behind them, poked James in the back with her quill when the Professor allowed them to quietly take notes out of their textbooks. Lily pointed to his blank piece of parchment, where the words, "What did you lot do?" appeared.

On Lily's parchment came the reply, "Nothing, now bug off." When James realized he had just told Lily to "bug off," he sent an apologetic note begging her to forgive him.

"As if I have any choice," her reply came.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans," a strict voice barked, "I have already assigned each of you to one detention. Would you really push your luck for another?"

Both stopped their notes immediately, not bothering to question how McGonagall had known.

After that, Lily's day went as if nothing had changed. In fact, until lunch came along, she had forgotten that anything had.

So, as she usually would have done, she walked past the Great Hall and up towards Gryffindor Tower.

Until four voice shouted at her to "get your arse over here." Lily chose to ignore them and began walking faster. They chased after her, or at least, James did, reaching her before she reached the top of the stair.

"Why aren't you coming down to lunch?" he asked her.

"I don't eat lunch with the rest of the school," she replied, still walking towards the tower.

"Why not?" James whined.

"I guess because I never had a reason to."

"Well now you do, so come ON!" He grabbed her arms and began pulling her in the other direction. Lily made no attempt to be released. Rather, she enjoyed having to be pulled. James quickly became exasperated and so, when they reached the stairs, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her all the way to the Great Hall

Lily could have easily run away once he put her down, but allowed James to continue dragging her to their seats.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" James grumbled as he continued pulling her towards the table.

"A girl needs to have some fun," was her curt reply.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Potions, the one class Lily exceeded in, and the same class James barely passed. They had an essay on the properties and uses of moonstones. Lily, Remus, and Sirius hadn't procrastinated and finished theirs during the Christmas holidays. Peter and James, however, were struggling to finish theirs before midnight on that Monday.

The five of them were the only ones left in the common room. Remus was attempting to help Peter with his essay, while Sirius bothered Lily who, as expected, was reading another book.

"Lillers, what're you reading?" he asked childishly.

"Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings," she mumbled. "And don't call me Lillers."

"Alright, Lils, why are you reading that?"

"Because it's an interesting book to read. And don't call me that either. Call me LILY, Sirius."

"Okay Lily Sirius. You have a very interesting name."

"Oh for the love of Merlin, Sirius!" James groaned. "SHUT-UP!"

Sirius pretended he hadn't heard anything (or in his case maybe he wasn't pretending.)

"Lily, do you remember that time in second year when I put a toad in your book-bag and you hexed me to have an outbreak in pimples?"

"Yes, and that hex never worked," she replied.

"Oh, no, it worked. The pimples were just in places a lady such as yourself shouldn't see."

"Oh Merlin, Sirius. Please don't EVER say anything like that again." She pushed him off the couch they were sitting on and stretched across it. "Besides, that toad chewed up my essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts. You deserved that hex."

"But they STILL haven't completely gone!" he whined.

There was complete, utter silence, where everyone stared at Sirius with his or her mouths agape.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed at the looks on their faces. Everyone shuddered.

"Well," Remus said, standing up, "on that pleasant note, I'm off to bed."

Peter stared with melancholy at his essay. "There's nothing else I can do for you," he said to it, rolling it up and putting it away. "Goodnight you all." He and Remus walked up the stairs to their dormitory.

In the silence that followed, Sirius's stomach could be heard growling, which he took as a reason to visit the kitchens and leave James with Lily, alone.

Lily continued to read her book quietly while James's quill was scratching across the parchment.

"LI-LY!" he eventually exclaimed. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" With a smirk, she put the book down and walked over to him.

"It's about time," she rolled her eyes. "I was wondering how long it'd take you to remember that I'm good at potions and you're, well, not."

He glowered at her as she sat down next to him.

"So, Jamesy-poo, what're you stuck on?"
"Jamesy-poo? You've made a pet name for me?" Though he was disgusted by the name, he couldn't help smiling.

"I did no such thing. Sirius made it. I'm just using it."

"So you're plagiarizing?"

"It's only plagiarism if it's copyrighted. I doubt Sirius would copyright something like a nick-name."

"Never doubt Sirius," James warned. "He's off his rocker. He WOULD copyright something like that."

Lily noticed just how close she was sitting to him. Their arms were in full contact, rubbing against each other warmly and comfortingly. Their heads were leaning on each other, both staring at James's weak attempt at an essay. She didn't know how they ended up like that, but yet there they were.

"Well it's a good thing he didn't," she replied, "since I'm taking credit for it."

"But you just told me that it was his idea, not yours."

"Oh hush!"

"You hush!"

"I said it first!"

"So what?"

"So…" But before she could say anything, James pushed her to the ground so that he held her up with one arm, his (undoubtedly handsome) face looming maliciously over hers.

"I told you to hush, but you didn't want to listen," he smiled.

"Oh no," she whispered.

"Now you're going to pay."

She let out a squeak of fear.

"Just how am I going to pay?" she asked, half expecting the answer.

"Well, that's where you have a choice. You could 1) kiss me, 2) kiss me, 3) kiss me, or 4) let me copy your potions essay."

Lily pretended to ponder over this, and then sighed. "Fine…given that those are my only options and the majority are to kiss you," she looked seductively at him and puckered her lips, "my potions essay is in my book-bag."

James kissed her anyway, AND he got his essay done.