I had meant to get this out before I went to Ohio, but I type incredibly slowly, so, no such luck. Also my stupid keyboard is screwed up, probably because my evil sister spilled chocolate milk on it. Thanks to all reviewers!

glowing-ice- I'm glad you liked the disclaimer! I came up with it while going through my stuff from the poetry unit in Language Arts last year. And running into several notes written entirely in verse during Algebra class. But please don't tell my teachers that, it would completely wreck my illusion of a perfect student. I will try to update sooner, but I type so slowly that I can't make any promises.

lilnovelist- Glad you think it's funny! I was thinking of writing something where Fred and George somehow got put back in time and ended up in a prank war with the Marauders...what do you think?

it's a riot- I hope your patience hasn't worn thin yet!

Trinity Day- Thank you for telling me that people don't like author's notes in the middle of text. I've never minded them, so I didn't know. I did take all of mine out. And I couldn't find where the text started to run together, so I have yet to change that. Let me know if it happens in this chapter too, and thank you for reviewing!

the-Wake-just-after-Midnight- Thank you! And, again, I didn't find where the dialogue ran together, but I will try to keep looking, and let me know if it happens in this chapter as well. Thanks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I could say this is mine,

But that isn't true!

Chapter Four: Bubble Gum

The next morning, James woke up to someone frantically pounding on his door. He thought whoever it was was shouting as well, but he couldn't be sure until he woke up a bit more. He stood up and opened the door, and Lily accidentally punched him in the face.

"Sorry," she muttered, "but class starts in five minutes and ―" she glanced at her watch "―thirty-seven seconds!"

James looked at her mildly. "Is that all? It sounded like you thought the castle was on fire or something," he informed her. She glared at him as though the possibility of being late was worse than the castle being on fire.

"How do you expect to get all the way down to the dungeons in less than five minutes?"

"How do you know what I've got first?"

"You're friend Sirius gave me your schedule to give to you since you weren't at breakfast. And besides, we've always had potions together. Now, how do you plan on getting down there in time?"

He shrugged at her as though it didn't particularly concern him. "There're a few passages here and there. Now shoo, so I can get dressed." He pushed her out of his doorway.

Three minutes later, Lily was on her way to Potions, when somebody walked out of the wall directly in front of her. She crashed into him, and then was sent sprawling on the floor. A blond boy about her age offered her a hand up. "Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded, blushing. "I am truly sorry for knocking you over. Could I take you out on Friday to make up for it?" he asked her. She nodded again, smiling at him. He was very handsome, tall with a nice body, neat golden hair, and ocean-blue eyes. His house badge had the Ravenclaw eagle. He flashed her a charming smile. "Great I'll be in the Entrance Hall at eight o'clock. It's Thomas Kadings, by the way." He walked down the hallway, leaving a dazed Lily to glance at her watch. She panicked, and broke into a run. Two minutes left!

Then, quite suddenly, James appeared out of the wall in front of her, and she was, once again, sent sprawling. Only, this time, James was sent sprawling as well, and so was incapable of offering her a hand up. He did, however realize that she would never make it to class on time, and so grabbed her arm, shoved aside a tapestry, and pushed her through it.

"James―" she said, but was cut off as she was suddenly falling down a chute. "Oof," she said three seconds later, when she landed on something soft. Almost instantly, James landed behind her.

"Welcome, Lily, to the official Hogwarts mattress sliding course. Please keep all body parts above the mattress at all times."

"What?" Lily asked. James didn't answer. Instead, he pushed the wall behind them, and the soft thing, a mattress, Lily assumed, slid slowly forward, but soon began picking up speed as the floor slanted downwards. Soon they were speeding down the chute, gathering more and more speed, until the floor started slanting upwards to slow them down. James stood, offered Lily a hand, and pushed aside a painting right outside the Potions classroom. Lily glanced at her watch. Over a minute left. She looked at James, who was sitting down by his friend Sirius Black.

"Thank you," she called after him. He waved it off, and she sat down by Grace, Jessi, and Abby, the last of whom was trying to explain to the others why the potions they tried mixing over the summer blew up in their faces.

"But I did put two of those flower-thingies," Jessi was telling Abby. Abby looked at her hopelessly.

"You were supposed to put in three of the roots. Did you stir it six times counter-clockwise?"

"I stirred it this way, if that's what you mean." Jessi indicated that she had, indeed, been stirring counter-clockwise.

"What did you stir it with?" Lily asked, joining the conversation.

"Um…a spoon?" Grace answered.

"What was it made of?" Abby inquired.

"Wood?" Jessi guessed.

"Was it holly?" Lily had the distinct impression that Jessi and Grace had used a normal muggle wooden spoon, as those were not labeled with the kind of wood they were made of.

"Yes? No? Maybe so?" Jessi looked completely helpless. It actually mattered what you stirred it with?

Lily and Abby looked at each other. Lily was pretty sure she knew what went wrong, but she had joined the conversation too late to be sure. She was about to inform Grace and Jessi of their mistake, when the dungeon door closed, drawing all attention to Professor Slughorn. All conversations immediately stopped. There was something slightly unnerving about being locked in a dark dungeon with a professor who didn't give a damn whether or not you survived the lesson, as long as he didn't get blamed.

Luckily, they were not actually making a potion today in class. Being the first day, it was only a review of things they had probably forgotten over the summer. The next few days would be covering simple or not-so-simple potions that they had made before.

Abby did not like review days in any class. Sure, it was easy, and her hand was up for every single question, usually before Professor Slughorn was finished asking. The professor was most displeased with his brilliant student who was only half paying attention. However, Professor Slughorn was wrong on that account. Abby was not paying half of her attention to class, it was receiving less than a quarter of her attention. The majority of her attention was occupied by the Marauders, all of whom, except for Remus, were not paying any attention at all. Remus was pointedly ignoring his three friends, who were whispering to themselves and passing a parchment around. By the look on Sirius's face, this was bound to be an interesting class period, and Abby did not want to be caught off guard when half of the classroom disappeared, or something. Not that it was actually possible to be on guard for anything the Marauders ever did.

About fifteen minutes after Abby noticed the movement over by the Marauders, Sirius waved his wand, muttering something under his breath. Instantaneously, what was left of Professor Slughorn's hair turned a bright bubble gum pink, and grew several inches, so you could actually see it. He, of course, did not notice, as his hair was not long enough for him to be able to see it, but the class certainly did. That, however, was not the end of it. After ten seconds, his hair turned a blinding neon green. Ten seconds later it was goldenrod. And ten seconds after that, well, you get the idea. His hair went from pink to green to yellow, then purple, orange, blue, and back to pink again.

Most people managed to hold in their laughter for the first thirty seconds or so, but the entire class, except Lily, was giggling by the time his hair reached green a second time. Lily, on the other hand, was scowling at the Marauders. Remus had assumed a carefully neutral expression, although his shoulders shook, but the other three Marauders were grinning broadly, winking occasionally at students who caught their eyes.

Lily stared intently at James until he looked at her. His grin faded a bit as she glared at him, and after a bit he began pouting. She raised an eyebrow, knowing James did not pout for no reason. He mimed sweeping floors, then writing lines, then polishing something, and so on through every type of detention he could remember Lily assigning him, until she ducked her head to hide a smile along with everybody else.

Professor Slughorn was immensely annoyed with his students. Giggling may not have been the eighth deadly sin, but he was not saying anything remarkably funny, and did not like not knowing what was going on. However, laughing was not against school rules, and he therefore could not give the entire class detention. He did, on the other hand, punish them in the only way she could: taking house points. Gryffindor must have lost at least fifty points in that lesson. They also gained about twenty, given Lily and Abby's correct answers throughout the class period. As I'm sure you incredibly talented readers know, that means they lost a grand total of thirty points. Which did not phase the Marauders in the least. They new perfectly well that their house was full of brilliant people, and had no doubt that they would be back in the lead by dinnertime. Other students were less confident.

Take Lily, for example. After mildly appreciating James's efforts to cheer her up, she glared daggers at him and Sirius all throughout Potions. And Divination. And Charms. And lunch. And then, they had a free period. Lily, of course, headed straight up to the Heads' common room, where she waited for James, glaring at the portrait hole to pass time.

After Lily had been glaring at the portrait hole for five minutes, the portraits in the room began to look at her oddly. Finally after about fifteen minutes the painting swung forward and James walked into the common room. He grinned at Lily, and asked her, "Good classes this morning, Lils?"

Which probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Her glare intensified. If looks could turn people to jelly, he would have been a pile of mush on the floor. "I'm sure there's something in the rules against hexing teachers. In fact, there's something in the rules against hexing people, period," she hissed, glaring at him even more intensely.

"Well," said James, "I didn't actually hex him. Number one, it was actually a relatively simple charm, as you well know. Number two, Sirius did it." He said the last bit as though he had spent years say this same thing, which he had. Lily could almost hear Sirius reply that, "What'd I do this time?" But right now, Lily did not care that Sirius did it. Actually, she didn't usually care who did what, but gave them both detention. Right now, however, James would get all the blame.

"But it was your idea!"

"Well," said James again, "it wasn't actually my idea." He wondered if he would have to tell her who the masterminds behind a good portion of the Marauders' pranks actually were. He sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to. Lily would kill them. Or put them in detention for the rest of their lives. But probably kill them.

"Then whose idea was it, pray tell?" Lily said in a tone that suggested ― well, screamed ― that she wouldn't believe a word he said. But he didn't answer her. Instead, he asked, "Do you remember our first three years at Hogwarts?"

Lily stopped glaring and thought about it. She didn't seem to notice when James sat next to her.

A/N: I'm going to end the chapter here, but I promise the next one quickly! It will be mainly flashbacks to the first three years that Lily and James attended Hogwarts, and will probably be up by tomorrow, possibly even later today.

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Love y'all lots,

Ab