October

Peter Pettigrew bit his lip, looking towards the door of the Head Students' common room. The other three Marauders didn't even glance up at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The door swung open easily, and Lily edged sideways into their common room, holding out her heavy book bag at an angle. Seeing the slight smile on her face, Peter breathed a sigh of relief and went back to his work. Lily walked over to the desk she had claimed back in September and set her bag on the cushioned chair that accompanied it. She then went to the couch, moving some of Sirius's papers so that she could sit down. All four boys were still silent, their quills scratching feverishly. Finally, Lily couldn't help it.

"Have you all even been to dinner?"

Remus shook his head, taking a quick break. "Nope- someone forgot to remind us about a certain Potions paper due tomorrow..." A flush was creeping onto James's face. "Like I told you, I'm sorry," he apologized. His friends snickered. "Just messing with you, mate," Sirius responded.

Lily continued smiling until she glanced at Peter's paper. Prying his quill away, she neatly crossed out his last word, then wrote in the correct ingredient for a Euphoria Elixir. "Thanks," Peter muttered, and then he went back to writing.

"D'you want me to go get you something to eat before it's all gone?" Lily asked, feeling a bit awkward from just sitting in the silence.

Sirius and James both glanced up this time and exchanged a grin. "Nah..." James began. "If we just wait.. oh, a half hour, maybe, we can get whatever we want."

Lily raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "How so?"

Another exchanged grin, but this time more mischievous. "Just you wait, Evans, we'll show you."

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Crossing her arms to her chest, Lily looked up at the large painting with a mixture of apprehension and cynicism. "What's this supposed to be?"

Sirius draped an arm across the redhead's shoulder, smiling to himself as he imagined what James's reaction would have been were he there. But he wasn't; he and Moony had chosen to stay up in the tower, continuing to work. "The kitchen, of course."

"Oh?" was all Lily said as she gently put Sirius's arm down, grinning. She took a step closer to the still-life painting. "How do you get in?"

At that, Peter jumped forward, and reached up to the pear. He tickled it quickly, and in seconds, the door to the kitchens lay open. He made a move to go in, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder and wrenched him back. "Ladies first," he said, motioning with his free hand to Lily. And so she did; perhaps a bit hesitantly.Already, several house-elves were edging forward, looking perhaps a bit surprised not to see all four of the Marauders, but not unpleasantly so. Lily gave them a quick, polite smile, having never been around a house-elf before. She then looked expectantly to Sirius.

Sirius nonchalantly waved a couple of the elves over. "Hello," he began, but he soon was instructing them to get whatever food they could - enough for four. When they scurried away to get it ready, Sirius turned to Lily.

"So, how're things?" he asked nonchalantly.

Lily raised an eyebrow, knowing Sirius too well to just brush that off as an innocent inquiry. "Just fine," she replied. The truth was, for some reason, things had changed. She wasn't sure yet if she liked it or not.

At this same time last year, she would have thought it impossible, but James actually seemed a bit more mature. Not in a studious, serious way, though- just a bit more grown up. She hadn't caught him terrorizing Severus (or any of the other Slytherins, for that matter) once, and he didn't try to bribe her into a date every chance he got. Remus, Sirius, and Peter often came up to their common room to do homework or relax, and it was much more enjoyable than she expected. She had always known they were funny, but it was different. (Admittedly, she could do without Peter trying to put his feet up on her desk.)

Still, though, Lily could feel a wisp of disappointment go through her as James's attempts to ask her out grew more and more rare. While he wasn't unfriendly in the least, she found herself considering just using some other seventh-year to make James jealous. It was a horrible thought, for more than one reason, and she tried to forget it...

Sirius pretended to scrutinize her, shaking back his dark hair from his face. "You're not finding it a bit boring, are you?" Wanting to make sure he didn't completely give himself away, he added, "Future-this and N.E.W.T.s-that... gets old pretty fast."

Lily shrugged, looking around the kitchen, conscious of Peter staring at her. "Oh, I dunno," she said slowly at first. "I guess it could use some... spice."

Grinning, Sirius decided it was safe to keep going. "Any particular reasons why?"

Lily, who had taken a step to her left, examined a ridiculously large pantry, turning around briefly to answer Sirius's question. "If you're going to keep beating around the bush like that, I'm not going to tell you a thing." Sirius laughed. He knew that this was the Lily that James loved. Unfortunately, James had finally decided to take Moony's advice and try and tone things down a bit. Secretly, though, he was desperate to know if his newfound attitude around Lily was having any effect. "Fine," Sirius conceded. "I was only wondering if you maybe..."

"He was wondering if you still think James is an obnoxious prat," Peter interjected. Sirius grimaced out of annoyance, and Lily's green eyes widened. She wasn't quite sure how to respond. Luckily for her, however, just as she was getting out the word 'um...', two house elves came over toting a tray of dinner and dessert.

While Peter swore he didn't hear anything, Sirius would later promise James that just as he passed Lily on the way out of the kitchen, she murmured, "Things change..."

A/N: Okay, I made this one longer - sort of out of necessity, though. But I also don't want them to be huge. I have this great tendency to forget all semblance of a plot and climax, and then I give up. But thank you much for the reviews! Sorry that this one kind of sucked.