I came back into the common room on Tuesday afternoon, having been in the library since class finished, working on my mountain of assignments. I spotted my friends sitting a corner of the room with the Marauders, and headed over to join them. I had thought it would annoy me, spending more time around the boys, but actually the times we had hung out as one big group since Potter asked Marlene out had been fun. I had always gotten on well enough with Lupin and Pettigrew, and I had to admit that Black, and even Potter were very entertaining to be around. Being inside their circle as they talked about pranks or joked, it seemed far less obnoxious than previously when I had been observing it from outside, and I would be lying if I said they didn't make me laugh. I flopped down between Potter and Prewett, smiling.
"Finished all your homework already, Evans?" Potter asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah - wanted to get it out of the way and it didn't take long once I got started," I told him. "Brilliant," Black joked. "That means you have time to do ours for us as well, right?" I shot him a mock angry glare while Marlene laughed on the other side of Potter.
"That'll be the day. Lily hasn't let me copy her notes since second year, when she realised that I wouldn't dump her as a friend for saying no."
"That's not why I stopped!" I protested. "I just got sick of you expecting it to happen, is all. Plus I was annoyed because you copied my Transfiguration essay and Dumbledore gave you a higher mark than me!"
"What can I say," Marlene smirked, "Some of us are more naturally gifted at essay writing than others.
"Exactly!" Potter broke in, smiling at Marlene. "Some people are good at essays; other people are good at charming buckets of red and gold glitter to tip over Slytherin students' heads. Stick to what you're good at, I say."
"Hear, hear," Black agreed with a deadpan look on his face. "And some Slytherin's are a magnificent sight in red and gold glitter – they should stick to what they're good at and wear it more often."
We all cracked up laughing at the memory of Parkinson and Avery walking into DADA looking disgusted. I knew that as Head Girl I should probably tell them off, but it had been a very funny and mostly harmless prank so I ignored the thought of scolding them on behalf of the younger Slytherin students.
"It was a good prank," Marlene told Potter. "But you could have charmed it for fifth years and above, the poor little first and second years didn't need to be victims to that. It just makes them hate Gryffindors more than they already do!"
I expected the boys to shout her down and tell her off for ruining their fun, but Potter paused, looking thoughtful.
"You're not wrong, Marlene, we don't want to encourage them to grow up like the older Slytherins. I don't know how we could have done that though?"
I opened my mouth to suggest an age detecting charm, but Marlene beat me to it. "You just add an age detecting charm on the tipping spell," Marlene told him "It's simple magic really. I can show you if you don't know how."
Potter grinned at her. "You're brilliant, you know that?" He told her, smiling from ear to ear. "We should have brought you in on the prank planning ages ago!" And he wrapped her in a celebratory hug. Something about seeing the two of them so close sent a jolt of irritation through me. I mean, they were sitting in the middle of a group of people, did they have to be all over each other? And did he have to smile at her like she was the best thing on earth? I wasn't a big fan of PDA, and for some reason when it was Potter and Marlene it was even more annoying than usual.
"Earth to Lily," Alice whispered beside me. "Why are you staring at them like that?" And I realised suddenly that I had indeed been staring at Marlene and Potter for far longer than would be considered normal. I shook myself slightly and smiled at Alice, trying to brush it off.
"Didn't realise I was, was completely zoning out," I told her with a smile, deciding to tune out the conversation between Marlene and Potter as best I could.
She looked at me thoughtfully, and asked; "what were you thinking about?"
I didn't want to tell her the truth, so I replied with the first thing that popped into my head. "Just thinking about what to do over the weekend, what are your plans?" I asked her. "Got any dates lined up?" I joked. Alice's boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, had graduated last year and I knew very well they were still together.
"No dates, I'm sad to say," she told me, brushing away a pretend tear. "I have absolutely nothing planned which is devastating. What were you thinking of?"
"I don't know," I told her, laughing. "I was hoping you'd have some good ideas."
"I have a suggestion," Remus broke in, grinning cheekily. "If you're up for some excitement?"
Alice nodded eagerly, but I was more hesitant. The Marauders definition of 'excitement' could often more realistically be translated to 'stupidity'. But then again, Remus was the smartest of the lot of them so if he was on board it might not be so bad.
He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned in close. "Sirius, Peter and I were planning to sneak into the kitchens on Saturday night for a late-night feast, if you would like to join us."
I laughed in relief; that was actually quite tame. "Sounds fun," I agreed.
Potter nudged me gently in the side, turning towards the three of us as Marlene showed Black the correct wand movement for an age detecting charm. "Are you lot planning a group date without us then?" He asked, smiling.
Mary and I instantly denied that it was a date but Lupin just laughed. "So what if we are, Prongs? Are you jealous?" There was an awkward pause where Potter and I looked at each other, then instantly away to avoid eye contact, but Potter broke it by biting back at Lupin.
"Of course I'm jealous Moony. You're my go-to kitchens date, and now you're ditching me for not one, but two ladies instead? I feel betrayed!" I couldn't help but laugh as Potter fell into fake hysterical crying, clutching at his chest with pain. The Marauders might be ridiculous sometimes, but time spent with them was never boring. I caught Marlene's eye as she and Black celebrated his having mastered the age detecting charm, and then without saying a word the two of us starting charming pillows from the couches to pummel Potter as he rolled on the floor pretending to weep. The others caught on quickly and in seconds Potter was begging for mercy as he fended off the mass pillow attack.
