Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy – it's mainly fluff but it's a bit different to what I normally write about.

MsCaitlinL = I hope you will want to read this chapter three times! That's amazing, thanks so much for you comment.

Guest = I'm so sorry for the grammatical errors, sometimes I just get lazy with my editing but most of the time I get confused with which one I'm supposed to use. Hope this chapter is better edited.

LILY POV

It felt weird being back. It almost felt off.

Lily trudged straight to the Heads Dorm, determined to avoid that nights dinner. At the beginning of the school year she'd dreaded having to share a space with James Potter, and now – here she was – practically jogging to hide herself in their dorm. Who would've guessed?

Usually the drama subsided over the holidays, everyone went there separate ways and returned whole-heartedly relaxed and excited. But now was different. Marlene had always been friends with Sirius and James, and Lily had always been close to Remus but over the last term their groups had kind of merged, and suddenly they were blowing up all over the place.

It was horrifying just to think of all the awful things Marlene had said to Remus. It was horrible to see the tension between Sirius and Marlene. And Lily felt awful for not being able to do anything about it. And then there were the things she didn't know – the things people were keeping from her.

"Lemon drops," Lily said to the portrait.

"Good holiday dear?" The portrait replied.

Lily grunted.

"Sometimes the best form of action is no action at all," the portrait said whimsically, before swinging open and welcoming Lily inside.

Pondering the portrait's advice Lily hurriedly rushed towards a scarlet sofa, throwing herself down and propping her feet up onto the coffee table. Deciding the warmth of the fire would feel better on her bare feet Lily kicked off her shoes. Then, figuring that maybe the portraits advice was beneficial, Lily was determined to ignore James and Sirius suspicion, and whatever had gone down between them and Remus. She thought about Frank and Alice instead, her toes curling with happiness.

She was given about fifteen seconds to bask in their cuteness before the portrait door opened and all four Marauders streamed in, grinning and laughing. Lily watched them, her chest suddenly tightening.

"Oh hey Lily," Sirius said, spotting her on the sofa. "You skiving the feast to?"

Lily nodded, the tightness in her chest now restricting her throat.

"Well good thing you're friends with us," Sirius said, dumping a huge basket of food onto the table. "We're ditching too."

The four boys all took seats, Remus smiling brightly at Lily as he took his place beside her. James quickly kissed her on the top of her head before rushing over to the food and passing out platters of deserts. He handed Lily a plate of chocolate pudding. It was easy, carefree.

"Desert?" Lily choked out.

James' brow crinkled a little at her tone but he nodded encouragingly. "Tradition," he said. "Desert first, dinner last."

"Peter started it," Sirius called, kicking his shoes off and flicking them at the door. "In like second year or something. When we found the kitchens."

Peter shrugged his shoulders. "Actually the House Elves suggested it."

"You did asked to be surprised though," James said.

"I asked for a surprise breakfast!" Peter said, laughing. "Not a surprise desert feast fit for ten people."

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Sirius said, going to punch his friend. "You finished it all anyways." Peter danced out of the way, nearly knocking his plate of food to the floor.

"Worth it though," Peter called, picking up a pillow and pegging it at Sirius. Lily couldn't help laughing as it whacked an unaware James right in the face.

His eyes instantly went to hers, widening as she laughed. He smiled broadly, a cheeky grin swallowing his entire face. "All right," he said. "You're on." He grabbed a pillow and rugby tackled Peter to the ground.

"I'm afraid that they're all actually seventeen," Remus muttered to Lily. "Regrettably."

"I hadn't realized," Lily said soberly. She hadn't looked Remus in the eye yet – and was nervous to do so. She didn't know what to expect – sadness, anger, acceptance? She could feel him staring at her.

"Lily?" Remus said.

Lily shook, her fingers suddenly growing hot. Why did she feel so guilty? She hadn't made Marlene say those things? It didn't even make sense – Remus was less mad than she was. Maybe that was it – it was just so damn unfair.

"Stop beating yourself up over this," Remus said, his voice now sounding a little sad.

Lily turned to face him, scanning his skinny and exhausted face. When was the last full moon? A few days ago? Or was it weeks ago and was now rapidly approaching? How did he feel when he was all alone, waiting to transform? Lily could imagine him shivering the in the darkness and it filled her heart with anger. If anyone didn't deserve this it was Remus.

Lily forced a smile. "I'm actually mentally beating Greyback up over and over."

Remus smiled sadly, leaning back into the sofa. His eyes strayed to his three friends as they chased and tackled each other across the room. "I don't blame Marlene, you know?" He said evenly. "I mean, I could – I could be really mad at her but I want to give her time."

"You're giving her the benefit of the doubt?" Lily said disbelieving.

Remus nodded. He raked his fingers down the sofa's armrest. His eyes flickered across Lily's face, studying her. As he did it his features softened, the sadness in his eyes vanished a little.

"There are more people out there that hate my kind than people that don't," Remus said.

"That doesn't make it –"

Remus shook his head. "Peter was scared of me at first, you know?" He told her. Lily's eyes widened. She'd never heard the story of how the three boys found out – or even how they'd reacted. "They guessed in second year. I reckon James might've known before, or at least suspected. But he never said anything. They asked me about it in second year and I just told them. It was such a relief, not having to lie anymore. James and Sirius were fine with it – they even thought it was cool having a werewolf as a friend. But Peter was scared. He didn't say anything, he admired James and Sirius way too much for that, but he acted a little differently. He didn't talk to me for a bit, and sometimes he would flinch when I came to near him."

Lily could imagine them – four twelve year olds – learning about their friend's secrets. And she didn't even blame Peter for acting how he did, since he'd obviously changed his mind dramatically. And besides, they were twelve, and boys to boot. Not strong in the emphatic compartment.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"He grew out of it I guess," Remus said. "And he apologized. It wasn't easy for him to admit it – Sirius paid him out afterwards – but he did it anyway. He was even the one to suggest in third year that we –"

Remus' eyes went round, his sentence abruptly stopping. He didn't even bothering covering up whatever secret he was about to reveal – he was that shocked. Lily studied him, her curiosity arousing.

"Suggest what?" Lily carefully pressed.

"He was the first to suggest Monthly Slumber Party," Remus said lamely. His eyes darted towards Peter who was pressed against a wall, frantically trying to work a way around James' and Sirius' advance.

Lily first heard about Monthly Slumber Party from Marlene, who'd managed to wheedle it out of Sirius when they were dating. All she knew about it was that the Marauder's would plan pranks and pull an all nighter. She couldn't see the link between that and Remus' condition. Then again, judging by the way he'd instantly clamed up Lily doubted what he was about to say was as innocent as a sleepover. Then again, it was pretty embarrassing considering.

"Is tonight the night?" Lily said.

Remus nodded, some of the coloured having returned to his cheeks. Lily tried to convince herself that it was fine – Remus had never lied to her before. She settled back in the couch, pushing away the nagging feeling. How badly she wanted to pick at that can of worms, to unearth each Marauder secret. Alice would tell her such thoughts were unhealthy, but right now she couldn't care less.

"So you just talk about pranks all night?" Lily said, sounding doubtful.

Remus hid his surprise neatly. "Errr, I guess."

"And the desert first thing is part of it," Lily said, trying to piece together the mystery that was the Marauders.

"Yeah," Remus said. He rubbed both elbows, glancing around the room. "I know it sounds stupid but –"

"I didn't say that," Lily said, musing over how she and the girls didn't do such things together. In fact, their dorm was usually divided in two – Mary and Poppy, and Lily, Marlene and Alice.

"No one knows about it," Remus said. It was clear what he was insinuating.

"I won't tell," Lily said. Who would she even tell? Marlene had already told her and Alice. She barely even spoke to the other two girls. How come the Marauder's were all so close? Surely she should know more about Poppy and Mary – blimey she'd lived with them for six years. Did that make her ignorant? Rude? Selfish?

And now what was she doing? Wallowing in self pity? Draw yourself together Lily, she thought firmly. In that split second she made a resolution – to fix what had gone wrong. How specific Lily, she thought sarcastically. She wondered what Alice would say about her internal brain arguments.

"I've got an idea," Lily declared.

She blinked out of her daze to find four boys staring at her quizzically. It took her two seconds to realise she wasn't in her dorm and it wasn't Marlene holding back a sarcastic smirk or Alice smiling encouraging.

"Good stuff," Sirius said, perching himself on a seat. "Does it involve the Giant Squid?"

"What? No," Lily said.

"The Whomping Willow then?" Sirius quipped.

Remus sent him a sharp glare, which Peter didn't seem to notice. "Or maybe a Thestral," he continued obliviously.

"No," Lily exclaimed. "It's not a prank."

"Hang on then," Sirius said, glancing at James who was smiling softly. "Who even invited you to the Monthly Slumber Party?"

"Ahhh," Lily said meekly.

"I did," Remus piped. He glanced at Sirius, almost daring him to disagree. "This group needs another voice of reason."

"Was that an insult?" Peter said.

James laughed. He looked at Lily before rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. There was something smug about his posture that Lily couldn't quite figure, but it was also disarming and Lily couldn't think of anything to say. She felt a weird rush of affection.

"I was going to suggest New Year resolutions," she said. Before Sirius could scoff or Peter could laugh she quickly added, "before we discuss an epic prank."

"Alright, I'll bite," Sirius said, which surprised Lily. Was he faking his eagerness, or was it genuine? "We talk rubbish then you help us with our prank."

"Fine," Lily conceding, wondering what she was getting herself into.

"Sure you're up for it Evans?" James teased, winking at her.

Lily hid her nerves behind a bright smile. "Never been surer."

"It means staying up all night," Peter warned her.

"I know," Lily said boldly. She was surprised to realise she actually looking forward to it.

"Ok so resolutions," Remus chimed. "Group ones or individual."

"Group," Sirius said instantly. "I've got a few prime suggestions."

"We should write these down," James said. "We'll keep them here too, for privacy and such."

"I'll scribe," Peter offered, getting up to grab a piece of parchment and one of James' multiple quills that were scattered among numerous surfaces. He dipped the tip in the inkwell and wrote across the top MARAUDER & LILY'S RESOLUTIONS. "So I guess Lily can go first," he said, glancing up.

"Uh," Lily started.

"Start big," Sirius said. He rubbed his hands together.

The way he was looking at her – encouragingly and honestly – seemed to quell any worries that maybe her ideas would be scoffed at, or seriously judged. There was nothing too big, too daunting to them, which was strangely comforting.

"Well ideally I would want to stop the Slytherins from – "

"Acting like dicks?" Sirius chirped. He pointed a finger at Peter, "jot that down Wormtail. Moony you're next."

Remus glanced around the room, hesitant. "Give me a second."

"Fine," Sirius said. "Prongs?"

"Marlene," he said.

"Hang on, don't just write her name down," Sirius said, distractedly waving a hand at Peter. "What about her?"

"I think she needs two resolutions," Lily said. The four boys glanced at her with worried expressions, and Lily realized that might've been a little harsh. "Ok well firstly we need something like a werewolf appreciation thing."

"I don't want that resolution," Remus said firmly.

"Okay fine," Lily said, suddenly feeling angry. It wasn't her place to press, but Remus was adored around the school. Younger years always approached him for tutoring help, and last year – when they were both prefects – most of the Gryffindor's went to him for advice or help. He was kind and approachable and truthful. If they just knew, then maybe they could help raise his confidence. "Ignore that issue. We need to fix Marlene's issue with Sirius."

"She has an issue with me still?" Sirius gawped.

"She like didn't for a bit then now she suddenly does again," Lily said. She obviously wasn't making any sense since Sirius was still looking confused. "Gah, fine, whatever. I give up. Sometimes the best form of action is no action at all."

"Good this was a weird idea anyway. So are we still doing the prank?" Sirius quipped.

"Definitely," Peter chirped.

"Hang on, what other resolutions do you have?" James asked. "All we have is," he glanced down to the paper before Peter and rolled his eyes, "get rid of all the Slytherins and convince Lily to dock one million house points from them."

"What?" Peter said, faking innocence as James started roaring with laughter.

"Wouldn't you have a better chance convincing me?" James said, still guffawing.

"Not the point," Peter said. "Imagine Evans trying to find a plausible reason for taking away one million house points in front of McGonagall and Dumbledore."

"Fair point," James conceded. "So anymore suggestions?"

The question was obviously aimed at her, but Lily felting herself freezing up. When she imagined voicing her remaining resolutions it involved her, Alice and Marlene huddled on a bed in their dorm, surrounded by Chocolate Frogs and Celestina Warbeck muffled in the background – she had not imagined herself surrounded by four boys with a huge serving of pudding and scattered pillows and feathers dotting the room. Lily quickly ran through them in her head to see if any were speakable:

Talk to Severus

Confront Severus about attacking James (i.e. face her demons)

Sort out her feelings for James (talk to him about their kiss?)

Find out more about Remus' infliction

Find out what Remus was actually about to say

Learn every marauder secret

Figure out why Dumbledore has been holding secret meetings all over the castle – that seemed important

Figure out how James knew Sirius was in the Astronomy tower that night

Lily skimmed the list over in her head and blanched. Why had she even suggested this idea? "Well," she said unevenly. It was all or never right? "I want to find out more about these secret teacher meetings."

Sirius gasped dramatically. "Are you feeling okay?" He said, leaning forward with his hand as if to check her temperature.

Lily swotted him away, frowning. "I feel fine," she told him.

She noticed that James was watching her curiously, his expression unreadable. He then glanced at Sirius, as if unsure as to whether he was allowed to speak or not. A weird silence had settled over the room, and Lily felt as if she was crossing some kind of line. Remus was scowling a little, Sirius was smirking but somehow managing to look uneasy and Peter was frowning.

"What theory are you running with," Lily pressed, when it became clear no one was about to speak.

JAMES POV

"How do you know about that?" Sirius questioned her, his face hard. James knew the expression well – he was smirking and his face probably appeared eager to Lily – but Sirius was actually nervous.

Lily gasped, her face growing crimson. It was adorable, and highlighted her freckles even more. Her eyes flickered to him, an instant giveaway and he waited for the brunt of Sirius' anger. Lucky for both of them it never came.

"You really can't keep your mouth closed around her, can you prongs?" Sirius said, losing his pissy expression.

James shrugged. "We reckon Professor Robertson is a Ministry Spy. We reckon the Ministry is aware of Dumbledore's secret group and is using her to learn more about it."

"But Roberston has been teaching here for years," Lily said.

"Well we don't reckon her main goal is to be a spy," Sirius pointed out. "It just was a lucky coincidence she also had a Ministry job."

"Why does it need to be a secret though?" Lily pressed.

James could practically see the cogs moving in her brain, both processing the information and trying to make sense of it. He knew their theory seemed bizarre, and very far-fetched, but it was worth considering further. James knew from experience that if you wanted to hold a secret meeting, you did it in the middle of the night when everyone was sound asleep.

"The Ministry is patching up everything," James told her. His voice sounded bitter and he noticed Lily frowning at the tone. "They don't want everyone knowing about Voldemort."

"But why?" Lily snapped. Her hands were balled in fists, her eyes wide with frustration. "People need to know." She paused, shakey. "People need to prepare."

"We know Lils," James murmured gently. He hated seeing her so worked up, but her passion was intoxicating and matched his perfectly. There was a solution in her bright head and it was so goddamn unfair that she'd never have the chance to voice it to those with the power to implement it.

"I think Dumbledore will tell you two about it," Remus said abruptly, as if the thought had just occurred to him. Both Lily and James spun to face him, their faces mirror images of surprise.

"What?" James said at the same time Lily said, "Seriously?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "You're both Head Students," he said soberly. "And he's trusted you enough to keep an eye on the Slytherins," catching their confused expressions he elaborated – "you know, by upping your patrols."

"A theory that you four made up," Lily said, but she didn't sound so sure. She frowned, her thoughts unreadable. To James it almost looked as if she was thinking about something that made her frustrated and angry.

"We haven't actually seen the Slytherins doing anything wrong lately," James pointed out. "Well," he corrected, "anything more wrong than normal. You know, for Slytherins."

"Well put Prongs," Remus said sarcastically.

"Did you understand me?" James said.

"Well, yeah," Remus replied.

"Then your comment was a moo point," James said.

"Moo point?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Like a cows opinion. It's meaningless. It's a moo point."

James grinned at the frown on Lily's face. She turned to look at Remus, her eyebrows raised. "It worries me that that actually makes sense."

"How are you surprised? I'm usually a fountain of sense," Sirius said, kicking his legs up onto the coffee table.

"What about that time you thought it would be a good idea to skinny dip in the black lake?" Peter said. "How many detentions did we get?"

"A perfectly reasonable number of detentions considering," Sirius pointed out.

"Well at least you agree with the severity of your punishments," Lily said. She placed her bowel of pudding onto the table, her dark hair slipping off of her shoulders and into her face. James watched, mesmerized. "Alright boys, I'm going up to bed."

"No, no, no," Sirius said, grinning. "The Monthly Slumber Party is an all-nighter."

"You're joking?" Lily said.

"Definitely not," Sirius told her. "We have a prank to plan."

"No way am I getting involved in one of your pranks," Lily said.

"How can you say no when you have no idea what it is we have in mind?" Peter pointed out.

Lily gave him a pointed look, one that James' easily recognized as her are-you-stupid look. "Because nine times out of ten what you have in mind gives me considerable grief."

"Well maybe we'll beat the odds," James said, unable to help the mischievous grin that spread across his face.

Lily blinked, her face blanking. Then her eyes zoomed onto James' mouth and something inside him stirred. The look in her eyes was blazing, her cheeks crimson. He could hear Remus snorting, and he could only imagine the look on his face. Lily blinked again, this time a few times rapidly, before rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair back.

"What the heck was that?" Sirius said.

"What was what?" Lily said, and James groaned. He recognized the look on Sirius face, and the next words from his mouth would either be something dirty or something graphic.

"All that – that sexual tension," he said.

"Sexual tension?" Lily scoffed, but James could've sworn her voice hitched a little. "C'mon I thought we had a prank to plan?"

As usual Sirius seemed to have a thousands ideas already and he eagerly offered them to his friends. Peter listened enthusiastically, nodding and "ooohing" in the right places (apparently) since Sirius was lapping up his support with earnest. Remus was scowling, but occasionally he would add something here or there. That's how it always worked – Remus pointing out how everything could go wrong and all the detentions that would accumulate, then he would tweak parts to make them more over the top or more dangerous or more extravagant. Lily was just listening, her expression growing more and more confused and shocked. Usually James would be right in the middle, culling Sirius' more stupid ideas before they could get out of hand (or before he could convince Peter to do it with him) but he still felt sort of dazed.

Had he imagined the look in Lily's eyes? It was the first time he'd seen her looking at him – at anyone – like that. He couldn't even describe it, all he knew was that he liked it – a lot.

"So you think it will work?" Sirius asked, and James realized the question was for him.

"I think it sounds like a lot of effort and research," James said. Because it did – it involved a huge amount of magic. But if Lily was actually going to help them… "I'm in."

"Great. We'll need your transfiguration skills. Pete?"

"As long as I'm not the one casting the spell," he said.

"You disperse the charmed objects," Sirius said. "We'll give you the map. Moony?"

"I think this will be a fiasco," Remus said. "Luckily I have the book we need in my room."

"You do?" Lily finally inputted.

"Light reading probably," Sirius said. "Don't ask. You in Evans."

"I think this is stupid," she said truthfully. "What if someone gets hurt?"

"You're supposed to say: 'wow, that's just crazy enough to work'," Sirius told her. "Otherwise you just hurt my feelings."

"Incredibly, chance does seem to bend itself to his bizarre machinations," Remus said.

"That's his superpower," James offered.

"His superpower is luck?" Lily said skeptically. "He's lucky."

"The luckiest," Sirius quipped.

"Fine," Lily groaned. "I'll help with the transfiguration."

LILY POV

The prank was stupid. Not to mention time wasting and time-consuming. She should be polishing off McGonagall's homework. That was a nifty piece of charm work. She'd been partnered with Remus – which was a nice sentiment – but since she'd hadn't seen much of him over the holidays, and when she did it wasn't in the best circumstances, she'd done most of the work herself. Besides, he hadn't mentioned it so she suspected he'd done the same.

"Good thing we have all these pieces of parchment," James said, dropping the stack of old notes onto the desk. Lily snapped back into focus, the sound of James' voice like a perfectly tuned radio station. "I'd hate to have my bed transfigured into something like a spoon."

"I'd like to think that's were we'd draw the line," Lily said.

"You'd hope," James said. He sounded sincere, which was worrying. "Padfoot is a perfectionist when it comes to pranks."

The word gnawed at Lily's mind. She hadn't really accept James' explanation that their nicknames were because of their patronuses, since she was pretty sure they'd been calling each other that since fifth year. Why was she so damn eager to find out?

"I think this essay on the benefits of gillyweed in medicines can be an inkwell," James said, waving his word.

The inkpot was perfect.

"Damn," she muttered.

"Feeling competitive?" James teased. He waved his wand a second time.

A damn near perfect fork.

"Oh you are on," Lily said, picking up her wand.

The pile of objects grew before them at a frantic pace, each less perfect than the last as the two students got more and more clumsy and messy with their spell work. When James' hairbrush still sported his mark from a charms essay (An acceptable) Lily snorted and her piece of parchment burst into flames.

"Merlin's beard," Sirius shouted from across the room. "Keep it together."

"It's under control," Lily said, frantically trying to douse her flames.

"Is that why everything's on fire?" Peter teased.

"C'mon," James reasoned, dousing the flames with ease. "It's nearly four in the morning. And Lily's new to these all-nighters."

Was he defending her against his friends? Weird. What was even weirder was the weird rush of affection it gave her. She suddenly wanted to hug him. Weird and weirder.

"Here," Lily said, shoving the pile of spoons, forks, ink wells, hairbrushes, perfume bottles, goblets, quills and socks towards the three other Marauders. "Charm them."

While Lily and James had spent nearly two hours transfiguring parchment to ordinary objects, Remus had been teaching Sirius the charm that was vital to the pranks success rate. Without it the ordinary objects would remain ordinary. And then they would most certainly be a waste of her time.

"You can probably go to bed now," Remus said teasingly.

"Oh I plan too," Lily said.

This feeling was frustrating. She flung herself onto her bed, exhausted and thoroughly confused. She desperately wanted to talk to Marlene – who she knew would have an answer – but she was still mad at her. She could talk to Alice, but when it came to feelings the blonde girl was just as useless as Lily. Great, great, great.

She was in for an uneasy sleep. She just hoped the Marauders prank – their prank – wouldn't backfire tomorrow.

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LONGER THAN USUAL CHAPTER. Tell me what you think the prank will be! Also, tell me if you liked Lily/Marauder interactions or if you want more just Lily/James interactions.