Chapter 4: Suprises and bad news

The next morning Lily woke up with the sun on her face. She sighed because everything was at peace for a moment, but then she remembered James Potter and the smile was wiped off.

The nerve of some people! Why can't he just get over the fact that I don't want to go out with him and go chase some other girl?

Because he likes you!

Did I ask for you to talk?

Of course you didn't! But I talk anyway!

Has anyone told you your annoying before?

No…why?

Because you are very annoying!

No I'm not!

Go away!

Fine I will leave…for now!

Lily groaned and decided to get up. She looked over to her friends beds. None of them seemed to be up. She smirked. This could be fun.

Creeping up to Anna's bed she pulled the doona off quickly. Anna moaned and rolled over, still dead to the world. Lily got out her wand and muttered a spell. A great gust of wind spurted from her wand tip, right onto Anna's sleeping form. Anna woke with a start and looked around. When she saw Lily giggling she glared at her.

'Rise and shine!' Lily said cheerily.

Next she crept up to Alice's bed. Just as she was about to attack her with a pillow, she knocked over a glass of water. Alice woke instantly and Lily cleaned up the glass, grumbling about Alice being too light a sleeper for her to have any fun waking up. Alice giggled and lily smiled, then moving onto Ellen's bed.

Ellen had the sheets drawn over her head, and so even if she was awake, she wouldn't be able to see her. Out of all her friends, Ellen was the deepest sleeper, but this made her the most fun to wake up. Without removing the sheets Lily whispered a charm and water spurted out of her wand, soaking the sheets.

Ellen shot up in her bed, with the wet sheets clinging to her. Lily laughed as Ellen groaned and removed her sheets. The laugh was soon turned into a startled cry of disgust as she looked. Ellen cocked one eyebrow at her.

'What?' Ellen said.

Lily could only point, mouth agape. Anna and Alice came over, and were also rendered speechless.

'Tell me what the hell you are all staring at now or face the consequences.' Ellen said angrily, even though she was half asleep.

'L-L-Loo-Look in the the mi-mirror.' Anna managed to say. Ellen got up with a deep sigh and made her way to the bathroom.

'I really don't know what you guys are gawping at. Honestly it really can't be anything that B-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Ellen finished with a scream as she saw her reflection.

Her hair which had once been brown, was now a bright blue. Throughout it there were little hearts patterned into it of various shades of red and pink. Not only this but it was cut very short and was up in little spikes. Each spike had a tiny flag on it of a various colour. There was a box fringe to it that was coloured like a rainbow, complete with moving colours and two delicately patterned pots of gold, one on each side. On the back of her head was a small plait which was a fluro red. All in all it was an impressive display, and could be called a work of art, if it had not been on Ellen's head.

Ellen came back out into their room, took one look in another mirror, and fainted onto one of the beds.

Lily, Alice and Anna snapped out of their bewildered states and raced over to Ellen, waking her up with some more water. She spluttered and looked at them.

'Whoever did this, I am going to strangle them and then throw them in for the giant squid.' She said shakily because of how angry she was.

'Don't look at us! We would never do something like this!' Alice cried. Lily and Anna nodded their heads in agreement.

'Well who did it then?'

'I think I have a sneaking suspicion who,' Lily said. 'Lets fix this mess first.'

It took 15 minutes to get every colour out of her hair, her fringe back to normal and her length back the way it was. By that time they had to rush to get ready so that they would have time for breakfast.

When they got down they took the only seats left, next to the Marauders. They all looked at them when they entered, and Lily caught Sirius looking bewilderedly at Ellen, particularly her hair then he smirked as they sat down.

'Good morning girls, you're down late, aren't you?' James said, amused.

'Shut up.' Lily stated, piling food onto her plate.

'Any reason why?' Sirius asked slyly. Ellen took one look at him, stood up and dragged him up by the collar. Sirius gave a startled yelp as Ellen brought him a couple of inches from her face.

'Nobody, and I mean nobody, but me, messes with my hair. Understood, Black?' Ellen said in a deadly whisper through gritted teeth.

'I understand,' Sirius said in a strained voice, as his collar was cutting off valuable air supply. 'But you have to admit it was a work of art. Much better then anything Prongs ever did. And because of this fact, will you go out with me?'

Ellen looked like she was about to explode, then suddenly calmed. She let Sirius down and smiled slightly at him. Sirius looked even more bewildered then before.

'Wow for a second there I thought you were gonna punch me or something.' He said, relieved.

It was then that Ellen's fist contacted with his face.

Sirius' face swung with the fist and he almost fell from the impact. He grabbed his cheek with mouth agape in shock and pain as Ellen sat down, satisfied. She started out at her breakfast, head down. The three marauders left at the table where staring at her, unbelieving. James had his mouth open in shock. None of them said a word throughout the rest of breakfast.

'Why didn't that work? I thought it would!' Sirius exclaimed as they walked down the hall.

'Of course it didn't work, Sirius. No girl likes it when you change their hair.' Remus said.

'But it was a work of Art! So intricate was the design!' Sirius said as if he were talking about a Painting.

'Yes but no matter how intricate the design was, you still turned it blue.'

'That is true,' Sirius said, looking thoughtful. 'Maybe a more natural base colour next time-'

'Next time!' Remus exclaimed.

'Yeah. Well I think I'm on the right track with this.' He said.

'No, Sirius. Stay away from her hair. She has an obsession with it. Leave it alone if you value your face.' James said, laughing.

Sirius got out his list and crossed something out, then looked at it.

'You know, this is harder than I thought it would be.'

When Lily and her friends went down to breakfast the next morning, there was something different; something missing. As they sat down in the only spots left, next to the marauders, she realised what it was; or rather who it was.

James and Sirius weren't there.

'Where are Potter and Black?' Anna asked Remus, who looked up at them.

'They probably just overslept as per usual.' Lily stated breezily as she sat down.

'Be quiet, Lily, leave them alone.' Remus snapped at her. Lily frowned. She had never heard him speak so harshly.

'Is something wrong?' Alice asked him, concerned.

At this point an owl dropped the daily prophet onto the table in front of Lily. Lily Picked it up to examine the news and gasped when she read the front page headline.

Harold Potter killed in Death Eater Attack

'What is it?' Ellen asked, reading over Lily's shoulder, her expression changing to one of horror. Lily read on

Last night a group of top Auror's were attacked by a group of Death Eaters. Only one death occurred and to Harold Potter; one of the most experienced Auror's.

They were alerted of a Death Eater attack in the Eastern Suburbs of London late last night, and moved to the scene immediently. The woman who had been attacked was a muggle, and suffers only minor injuries. Her memory will be wiped as soon as she has recovered.

As soon as they reached the scene, they were ambushed by a large group of Death Eaters, and a fight began.

Harold Potter was killed just before the death Eaters ran. The killer was not identified, but Auror's are attempting to track down the group of Death Eaters.

Harold Potter was the senior Auror there, and the most skilled. "It is a great shame to lose someone as experienced as Harold, and he will be remembered always." States the Minister for Magic.

Arrangements for a funeral are taking place, and a memorial plaque is to be set up in his honour.

More on Page 3

There was also a picture of someone who looked a lot like James; Harold Potter she expected and a woman who stood next to him; his wife and James' mum. Then between them was James. They all waved and smiled up from the pages at her, and anyone else reading the story.

'Oh no.' Ellen whispered.

'That's why James and Sirius aren't here. There preparing for the funeral.' Remus said sadly.

'Why Sirius though?' Alice asked.

'It was like a second home to him, a second family.' Remus replied.

The rest of breakfast was quiet; in fact the rest of the day was quiet. Too quiet for anyone's liking. Class just wasn't the same without James and Sirius cracking jokes, even if the girls hated them. Strangely none of the teachers even asked where they were. Lily supposed they already knew.

That night, Lily couldn't get to sleep. She kept on thinking about James, as much as she hated the thought. She could swear she felt sorry for him, and she found herself grabbing the paper and staring at him, until she fell into an uneasy sleep.

A/N: well there we go! This was originally going to be two chapters..but they were both short so I mashed them together. Ellen please don't kill me! Hehe read and review!