Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the characters you don't recognize, my sense of humor, and my prankster mind.

A/N: Hope you liked t he last chapter. The prank during the summer was from a dream that I had. I hope you like this chapter. I think you'll be surprised. :

Remus watched as the hooded girl run to the front doors of the castle and stop. She stood for a moment, seemingly thinking about whether to exit or not. She reluctantly opened the door, and stepped out, but sat down on the first step of the stairs that led up to the castle.

"Reeemmmuusss…Moooonnnnyyyyy" Remus snapped out of his trance when Sirius started shaking him.

"Huh? What? What do you want Padfoot?"

"What were you looking at; you were in some kind of trance." Amelia said, looking at him curiously. Oh shit, I looked like I was in a trance? I can't still love Lily, James has been in love with her since he's seen her, oh man, what am I gonna dooo? I bet it doesn't even matter that I still like her, I mean I bet she's moved on." Remus thought to himself.

"Oh, erm, nothing…just…thought I saw something." He said sounding confused about his answer. He looked over at James who had done nothing since Lily had left the table. James knew that it was his fault that she left, and he had been in these kinds of situations before and it didn't help much when he tried to talk to her, it only made things worse.

"You sure, you look like you want to do something but something's holding you back," said James, tapping him on the head. Remus slapped him and put his head in his hands.

"I dunno" he started playing with his food and wondered if Lily was still on the steps "Hey James…If you saw something that happened to a girl that your best friend liked but you liked too…and your best friend wasn't going after her…would you go after her yourself?"

James had to think about it a minute, he looked a little startled at the question and didn't know how to answer. "Well, I dunno. I guess I would. Why do you ask Moony?" Remus looked up and nodded.

"Just wondering." He shrugged and started twirling his fork, debating whether to go after Lily. "I'll be right back."

He got up and jogged out of the Great Hall to find Lily. When he got to the steps that she was sitting on moments before, she wasn't there. It was still a little bit light outside, and he could see that she was running towards the forest, her hood and fallen when she had started running. As he started running after her, he felt someone grab his shoulder. At first he thought that it was Professor McGonagall but turned to see that it was James.

"Where are you going mate? It's not the time of your month for your Furry Little Problem."

"It's nothing James, just go back to the Great Hall, I saw something and I want to see what it is."

"Well I'm going with you, besides after this I think I'm going to check on Lily, she seemed really upset."

"No Prongs, I really think I should do this on my own."

"Moony, no I'm going with you."

Remus looked towards the forest and realized that he was losing sight of Lily. Before he could protest any more, he started to break into a run.

"Fine, but if you can't keep up I'm not stopping to wait for you."

James didn't respond, but started running after Remus.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I told you I saw something and I want to know what it is, now be quiet."

From that moment James said nothing, but only followed Remus deeper into the forest.

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

Lily felt like she was being watched. She stopped for a moment and turned around but saw no one there. She started walking, but still felt like someone was watching her. She broke out into a run but stopped because she thought she heard voices. As soon as she stopped, the voices stopped. She cautiously looked around again, but didn't see or hear anyone.

-----------

Remus made James be quiet as they followed Lily through the forest. James finally knew what was going on, Lily had run out into the forest and Remus was going after her. But why didn't he want me to come? That's quite selfish of him. He knows that I love Lily like no other girl I've ever met. Why is he holding me back? Does he still like her? No way. Can't possibly be. James thought to himself as he and Remus hid behind a tree. Remus knew that they were close to the Lake that Lily was going to; he had been there with her before and knew that it was one of her favorite places to go.

For a moment, James and Remus had lost sight of the red head, but soon saw her again when she started running once more. But all of a sudden, in mid run, she almost disappeared. Oh no, she can't be apparating. Please don't apparate Lily, please don't. Remus thought. Of course she wasn't. Although she had past her apparation test, she wasn't that comfortable with it yet.

Remus knew that they were getting closer to the lake, and saw a flash of black before him. He knew it wasn't a human. No human could run that fast. He tried to find the black blur again and saw it heading towards the lake. Oh no, whatever that thing is, if it's dangerous it will hurt Lily! Remus thought.

He started sprinting towards the black blur, James in tow.

"Isn't this dangerous Moony?" he asked.

"If you're scared you can go back to the castle." Remus said, very seriously. James stood for a moment and looked back towards the way out of the forest towards the castle. He couldn't decide. Save Lily from danger, or go back to the castle. (Big ego much? I think so.) But eventually, he decided that he was going to save Lily from the monstrous thing that was running after her.

Remus got to the Lake first. He looked around and Lily was no where in sight. He looked up into the trees around the lake, thinking that she might have climbed one to get away from everything that had been going on and to see the sunset. Remus agreed with her, Serenity Lake was the most beautiful place to watch the sunset. As he looked up, he saw the 'black blur' that he had seen only a few moments ago. He saw that it had beautiful green eyes, and silent tears coming out from them. It was on a low branch in the tree, with its large paw barely touching the water.

James and Remus both backed up behind a tree so that the Black Panther couldn't see them. Unknown to them, the panther already had, but didn't move.

"James, you have to change into Prongs and see what that Panther is up to. We need to find Lily. I know she was coming here, and she isn't here." Before Remus could say anymore, James had already started changing into a Stag.

James, now Prongs, walked carefully over to the Panther, and bent his head down to look into its eyes. The Panther was startled, and looked up, almost falling out of the tree. She looked up into the Stag's bright blue eyes, and started to get lost in them. When Prongs started talking to her when he was in his animal form, the Panther was startled once more, not knowing what to do.

"Have you seen a girl with red hair and a black cloak around here?" he asked. The Panther looked up immediately.

"I think so…why do you ask?" It said lazily dragging its paw through the water. Prongs could tell that it was a girl.

"I was just looking for her; I don't want her to get hurt. What's your name anyway?"

The Panther stopped dragging her paw through the water for a moment, as if to be thinking.

"Call me Ruby" She said casually, before putting her paw back into the water, it was soothing for her.

"Ruby, are you an animaegus?" Prongs asked circling her.

"Why would you ask something like that?" Ruby said quickly, almost too quickly.

"I dunno, you remind me of someone I know"

"Oh, really…"

"Yeah, so are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

------------Back at the Castle-----------

"How do you think Lily's doing?" Amelia asked Caitlyn.

"She's probably at her window reading or outside watching the sunset" Flora leaned in and told them. She was the only one that knew Lily was an animaegus; she knew that Lily went to the lake to transform. Before Remus told the marauders about his 'furry little problem' Lily had found out and offered to help him. He refused her help with it, but Lily became one anyway. No one but Flora knew.

"Sirius, where did James and Remus go?" Caitlyn asked him.

Sirius looked up briefly from chowing down a bag of marshmallows and looked at her. "I oono. Hes shed shoomshing aboot sheeing shoomshing band bolloowing bit." He replied, mouth full of food. The girls looked at him in disgust and turned to Peter.

"What did he say?" Caitlyn and Flora asked in unison.

"Well…" He said shyly, turning bright red, obviously not talking to girls that often. Flora looked down and realized that her bra was falling down slightly, she pulled it up and looked at Peter for a reply, "I think he said: 'I dunno. He said something about seeing something and following it' I think they ran out of the castle." Flora looked up. Oh no, what if they see her transform, I'm sure that's where she went. CRAAAP!" she thought.

"Er, I'll be right back, I'm gonna check on Lily." She said, getting up and letting her hand rub Sirius' back slightly. He watched her walk out of the Great Hall, not hearing anything else. The other girls shrugged, knowing that Lily would be upset but would get over it. A lot of people in the Great Hall were still fuming from the marauders prank, laughing at girls bras, and seeing their boyfriends in their boxers. It was quite funny. Most people were laughing at Professor Slughorn, who looked very nervous, and trying to escape the Great Hall, but every time, Dumbledore would tell him to sit back down, no matter how embarrassing his clothing was. You see, he was clad in his whitey tighties, that weren't so white. They had brewing potions on them. Everyone in the Great Hall was amused, and even Professor McGonagall was laughing, which was a change for the Marauders to see.

The Marauders had also put some sort of protection on each person, so that they couldn't take off their clothing, or put anything on over it. It would also protect their outfits to not get wet when they showered.

Amelia looked over at Sirius who had already eaten half a bag of marshmallows. He had now decided that he was going to melt chocolate frogs and drizzle the marshmallows with it. Amelia, Caitlyn and Peter all started laughing when they saw Sirius' face. He was covered in chocolate from his chin to his ears.

"Bwaht?" he asked through a mouthful. The girls shook their heads. "Nothing Sirius, nothing" they said, not wanting to tell them that he had chocolate all over his face. He liked to hear people laugh, but not when it was at him, they figured that they would give everyone something hilarious to laugh about.

Sirius looked at the bag of marshmallows he had conjured up. He realized that the bag was empty, and conjured another bag up, along with melted chocolate. The girls watched, dazed, as Sirius ate 5 bags of marshmallows in 15 minutes.

"I think that's a new world record" Peter said half laughing, trying not to spit Pumpkin Juice out of his nose. Sirius saw him doing this and realized that he was quite thirsty after all the marshmallows. He took a swig of Pumpkin Juice and decided that instead of trying not to get Pumpkin Juice up his nose, he was going to get Pumpkin Juice to come out of his nose.

Everyone surrounding him started laughing as he smiled his famous charming grin. He finally achieved his goal and sot Pumpkin Juice in Peter's face.

"OWWW! IT BURRNSS! IT BURRRRNNNSS!" He screamed, running around the Great Hall like a lunatic.

"MR. BLACK! MAY I ASK WHAT ON EARTH YOU ARE DOING!" Professor McGonagall asked him, anger in her voice.

"Er, Professor, he shot Pumpkin Juice out of his nose, and he's saying it burns…" Peter said, being careful as not to make McGonagall any angrier than she already was.

-----------------At the Lake with Prongs, Ruby, and Remus ------------------

"What do you mean I'll find out soon enough, I'd like to know now!" Prongs told Ruby impatiently. Ruby got down from the tree and started slowly walking around the lake.

"Well, lets see, you disrupted me watching a peaceful sunset, on my own. And come to think of it, I don't know who you are either. So unless you're willing to tell me who you are, considering I've never seen a stag in this Forest before, you won't know who I am."

Prongs started to follow her, but thought twice about it and decided that he would wait a few moments before he did. "What if I don't want to show you who I am?"

Remus watched this in amusement. It was so like James to start trying to confuse the poor panther. If he could have he would have changed into an animaegus himself and tried to see who it really was.

"I can see where this is going," said Ruby lazily, "You're going to confuse me to try and get me to tell or show who I really am," she looked into the stag's bright blue eyes and started to get lost in them, "But it won't work on me." She tore herself away from his glance and went back to the tree that she was on moments ago, and climbed back onto the same branch. Only this time, she started to play with some of the leaves on the ground instead of getting lost in thought by dipping her paw in the water.

"Oh no, you have me all wrong, see I was just asking what if I didn't want to tell you. That's all" he said circling her. Hmm, should I splash her with water to get her to talk? He thought to himself, his thought was interrupted by the panther talking again.

"Hmm, but then that would say that you weren't listening, because I already answered your question in my little … explanation. I said that I wasn't going to show you who I was if you weren't willing to show yourself. So I guess we'll never know then."

"Oh, right. Well, I can't show you who I am." Prongs said matter-of-factly.

"Well why not?"

"Because if you are some one that wants to get me in trouble, you could turn me in for being an animaegus illegally."

"I won't get you in trouble, I'm illegal too." Ruby said shyly. Prongs looked at her in a way that his bright blue eyes absorbed the bright blue color of the lake, but he looked shocked. He didn't think they're were any other illegal animaegus at Hogwarts besides him, Sirius and Peter.

Prongs stopped and thought for a moment before telling Ruby that he would be right back. He pranced off behind a tree, and Ruby lay on a branch her paw once again in the water. I wonder if he's changing or just going to the loo…hmmm. She thought.

-----Behind the tree------

Prongs transformed back into James so he could talk to Remus.

"Mate, what do I do? Do I tell her who I am or do I keep it a secret like she is? I know she won't tell anyone, I'm pretty sure I can trust her."

"Only if you want to James, you never know who this could be…it could be a professor for all we know."

"It can't be. It's a student, she's illegal, and she goes to Hogwarts."

"Tell her, mate, it could be a good thing."

James changed back into Prongs and walked out from behind the tree. When he got back to Ruby, he had noticed that she had fallen asleep while laying in the tree. He nudged her gently with his antlers to try and wake her. She stirred a bit in the tree and he noticed that more of her paw was in the water and that she was slipping. He gently poked her again and realized that she was slipping more. He bent down low to the ground so that when she fell, she would fall onto him. As soon as he was settled, sure enough, Ruby fell right on top of him.

"Whoa, sorry about that, I didn't realize I had fallen asleep."

"It's alright, I caught you." Prongs stated with a glimmer in his eyes.

"T-t-thanks"

"No problem" He got up and trotted to the other side of the lake. Ruby followed him, and he turned to look at her.

"Are you going to show me who you are?" she asked.

Prongs looked reluctant for a moment but started changing back into James. Once he had finished, Ruby's eyes visibly widened.

"Ok, I changed…" James said, running a hand through his already messy hair. Ruby was so startled; she didn't think that James Potter was the gorgeous stag that was standing before her moments ago. James walked up to her and started stroking her back. Ruby all of a sudden broke into a run and headed back towards the castle. James ran behind the tree and got Remus so they could follow Ruby to see who she changed into. But they were obviously too late. They didn't see the panther anywhere when they got out of the woods. Remus spotted Lily sitting by the edge of the Lake and dipping her feet in the water, the giant squid temped to grab her feet.

"Hey, Lily!" Remus called to her. Lily looked up to see James and Remus standing above her.

"Hey guys, what are you doing out of the castle?"

"Er, we just saw someone run out of the castle and we wanted to see who it was, but we couldn't find them. How about you?" James asked.

"Oh, the sunset looked beautiful, I just came out to think, and besides, I don't particularly like having people stare at my chest JAMES!" Lily said, her temper starting to rise. She was still upset about having the boy's pull a prank like that. James stepped backwards, coming out of his trance. He had been looking at Lily and she had seen him. Crap.

"You know what else is beautiful, Lily?" James asked. Lily was shooting daggers at him. "You…"

"YOU ARROGANT PRAT! HOW DARE YOU TRY AND SAY THAT TO ME WHEN I'M MADE AT YOU?" she said in a huff.

"Will you go out with me?" James asked in a rush.

"NO I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU! I WOULD RATHER DATE A CHOCOLATE FROG!" Remus started pulling James towards the castle but James stood his ground. Lily walked off towards the castle in a huff. James and Remus chased after her, and when they had finally gotten back, they realized that the feast was over and everyone had either gone to bed or was in the common room. They followed Lily and saw her run into the common room. When they had reached the common room, James saw a flash of fiery red hair go up to the girls dorm.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Any ideas on who Ruby is? Idea for her name was from Flora, thank you I hope to get the next chapter up by next week.

R.E.V.I.E.W