Disclaimer: All the characters that you recognize belong to J. K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Thanks to ilovecaptainjacks, lOvEiNhEaVeN, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, MissMrprk, kj-11913, allie, RawBean, HarryPotterFan670, Denise, siriuszsecretlover, alli8, Pranks Are So Siriusly Padfoot, and Bella the Witch for reviewing! You guys are the coolest!
lOvEiNhEaVeN: Yeah, I made Anika up. She's not related to Sirius (according to the books anyways.) But I had always pictured the characters that J.K had written as Sirius's cousins having graduated from Hogwarts before Sirius did.
Bella the Witch: Oh, thanks for taking the time to email me the review! I really appreciate it! But you don't have to email to review, it's fine with me. I mean, if you really want to, you can. It doesn't matter to me.
"Can I go now, Madame Lingwood?" Lily asked. She was feeling much better, and was looking like her normal self again.
"Miss Evans, you've only just recovered last night," Madame Lingwood responded.
"But I have recovered," Lily stated.
"That's true," the nurse replied, although it was more for herself than to Lily.
"And I would hate to take up precious bed space, when other students may need it," Lily innocently told her.
"Don't be silly, you're not taking up any space at all," Lingwood said. She seemed to have snapped back into her usual self, not letting a student leave unless a full recovery with days of rest afterward had taken place.
Lily was determined though. She didn't like to be in the hospital wing. It had always given her the creeps for some reason. And it was quite depressing as well. Plus, Lily wanted to see her friends again, especially James.
She shut her fast a few times, forcing liquid to appear in her green eyes. "But, Madame, I can't afford to miss any of my school work."
Madame Lingwood turned to face Lily, and saw the glistening eyes of a child. Her soften a little bit, hating it when people cried. "Miss Evans, you are a terrific student, you won't fall behind."
"But, it's just that… because I'm muggle born, I'm always trying to prove myself. Trying to prove myself academically to all of those who don't believe muggle borns are good witches," Lily explained.
"Oh, dear, yes I understand. My best friend while I was here was a muggle born; she was always proving herself worthy of being a witch. I understand where you're coming from," the nurse said.
"Then you'll let me go to my classes?" Lily asked hopefully.
"Yes, of course," Lingwood replied.
"Thank you so much," Lily said as she jumped out of the bed.
As she walked out of the hospital wing, she was actually quite surprised that she had been able to pull it off. Truthfully, she didn't mind missing classes; after all, she was top of the class in charms. And in each of her other classes, she was close to the top, and if she didn't understand the material she could just force James to tell her, as he was the top in every class. True, he could care less about the topics, but he did have a knack for magic.
Once Lily had gone back up to her dorm and had changed into proper attire for class, she headed to the Great Hall for some breakfast. It would be wonderful to eat something delicious, and great to see her friends.
When she got to her destination, she quickly saw the Marauders. The four boys were sitting closest to the door, not fifteen feet from where she was standing.
"Hello," Lily said with a bright smile on her face as she sat down next to James.
"Lily!" the four boys exclaimed at once.
"What are you doing here?" James asked with a worried look on his face.
"Jeez, it's great to see you too…Madame Lingwood let me leave this morning," Lily answered.
"I'm just surprised to see you," James said.
"Okay, whatever. I'm going to go say hi to Gracie and all them," Lily told James.
"Bye," he said before kissing her lightly on the cheek.
Once Lily left them, Sirius let out a huge sigh, and then said, "Damn that was close."
"She's going to know, I can just tell," James muttered aloud.
"Are we still doing it then, even though Lily is here?" Remus asked.
"We have to do it. I've been waiting for this moment ever since I woke up this morning," Sirius complained.
"I agree with Padfoot, it'll have way too many laughs to pass up," Peter added.
James looked at his friends. He didn't want to disappoint them by not going along with the rest of their prank, yet he didn't want to get in trouble with Lily.
Just then, as if making up James' mind for him, Roscoe Jamison and his four roommates entered the Great Hall. All of them had pink hair, and looked restless from escaping their beds. And when the students saw the pink hair, they all burst out laughing. It really was a shame that they hadn't been able to see the five boys wrestle with their beds.
"Let's do it," James said with a grin to his fellow Marauders.
Each of the boys smiled in return, thinking about how amusing this was going to be.
…
It wasn't until Defense Against the Dark Arts did the Gryffindors truly see their plan in action. For that was their first class shared with the Slytherins.
When Roscoe Jamison walked into class that day, James almost burst out laughing. Roscoe had humongous boils all over his face, looking quite hideous.
"Check it out, Padfoot," James muttered to his best friend.
Sirius looked up from the almost finished essay in front of him, and quickly went into a small fit of laughter.
And it truly was quite a sight. Roscoe Jamison wasn't unattractive at all, sweeping the Slytherin girls off of their feet. He was smart enough to pass all his classes with good marks, which was more than some of his fellow Slytherins could say. And he was captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. So, to see him looking like this, even the Slytherins didn't want to be seen with him, for fear of catching what he may have gotten.
He had a mean look on his face, and shot a glare in the Marauders direction. And to their delight, another boil appeared on Roscoe's left cheek.
James just smiled, giving him a look that said 'we all know it was me, but there's no way to prove it.'
However, unnoticed by James, was Lily sitting only a few seats behind. She saw that look at once, knowing instantly that her boyfriend hadn't given up his old tactics. Her face became a bit fierce, wanting to yell at James, but knew it wasn't the proper moment.
A few moments later, Professor Keigwin walked into the classroom. He had a look on his face that said he was in no mood for jokes of any sort.
The lesson was actually fairly dull, nothing very exciting going on the class. They only discussed the reading and did a short presentation. Nothing compared to earlier classes when they were allowed to duel.
The only joy that the Marauders received was when a sudden boil would appear on Roscoe's pale skin. Of course, not all were visible to their eyes, but they could see Roscoe flinch every now and then, which the Marauders were sure, indicated a boil appearing.
When the class started coming toward an end, Professor Keigwin said, "Okay class, time to pass in those papers."
A huge groan could be heard throughout the entire room. But reluctantly, the students gathered up their essays to be passed forward.
"Lily, look at this," Zoë whined as she took her essay out. There were a few smudges of ink on it, and it was crumpled as well.
"What happened?" Lily whispered.
"I don't know. I was writing it, and then suddenly my ink bottle was levitated and fell on me. I tried to save the paper as best as I could, but it got a little crumpled and smudged in the process," she responded.
"Who did it?"
"That's the strange part," Zoë began as she passed her paper to the person in front of her, "Nobody was there except for a few kids across the room, and they were playing exploding snap. So they didn't' do it."
As Lily processed that information, her eyes started to squint a little. She knew who did it, the only people who owned an invisibility cloak.
…
"James, can I talk to you?" Lily asked once she had noticed that James had finished eating his dinner.
He looked up to see the smiling face of the woman he adored, and simply got up to follow her.
She led him into an empty classroom, which surprised James quite a bit. He had missed Lily quite a bit, but certainly thought that they could wait to snog until a little later that night.
However, when Lily turned around to face him, her face was deadly, almost scary looking.
"What the fuck is your problem?" she asked while placing her hands on her hips.
"What are you talking about?"
"Where should I begin? The pink hair, the boils, Zoë's ink incident?" Lily asked.
James felt his face drop. He was caught.
"Why are you asking me?" he asked.
"Because you did it!" she exclaimed.
"Not all of it… and I have good reasons," he replied sweetly.
"Good reasons? There are NO good reasons for doing that, James."
"Yes there are," he argued.
Lily sighed, completely ignoring his last comment. "I thought you changed… I thought you were through with pranking. But then you go and do it to one of my best friends."
"No, that was Sirius," James said a she defended himself.
"Then why didn't you stop him? I know you used the invisibility cloak," she answered.
"I don't know…I'm sorry," he said weakly.
"Don't tell me that, tell that to Zoë," Lily snapped.
"Well, maybe if you had actually let me come see you in the hospital it never would have happened," James responded.
"James, I'm sorry, it's just that, I don't know," Lily began.
"Lils, you should have let me come see you," James told her with concerning eyes.
Lily felt like she could melt right there on the spot, just having him gaze at her like that. But then she remembered, she was mad at him. He was the one that went around doing harmful pranks on other students.
"James, don't change the goddamn subject! This isn't my fault, it's yours," Lily snapped.
"Mine? How can it be mine? You're the one that wouldn't let me in," he responded wisely.
"No. God, you always do this! You just change the subject to make me feel like the sorry one, but listen, it's not happening again. No matter what you say, I'm not giving in. You need to start acting like a man, not pranking everyone you see. Just because I'm out for a few days!" Lily yelled while throwing her hands up for emphasis.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry," he said.
"No you're not, you're just sorry you got caught," Lily answered bitterly.
"What do you want me to do? I said I was sorry," he yelled back. He too, was now starting to get angry.
"Sorry doesn't cut it, James. Ink all down Zoë! She told me she spent an hour in the shower trying to get it all off. And that paper, she worked for hours on that, and you just ruined it by making her crumple and smudge it when she tried to cover it. And as for Roscoe, just because he's an ass, doesn't give you the right to make boils appear on him!" Lily fiercely told him.
"Sirius did the prank on Zoë. And as for the fucking Jamison bastard, he deserved it. He was the one that made you mess up the potions, Lily. He was the one that put you in the Hospital Wing," James responded.
She looked madder than ever at that comment. "So, you just decided to get even with him?"
"Well, yes. He can't just do that to you and get away with it," James reasoned.
"And the thought that I can handle myself never came into that miniscule mind of yours?" Lily asked. Her face had a mixture of confusion and anger on it.
"Well, not that you couldn't do it, but I'm your boyfriend, it's my right to stand up for you," he replied.
"You are such a git!" Lily screamed. She couldn't' believe the words that came out of his mouth. Since when did he have that right? Ever since she had come to Hogwarts, she had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want nor need help with anything.
"What did I do?" he asked.
"I can take care of myself, James. I'm not some damsel in distress," she retorted.
He didn't say anything to that, just sent a glare in her direction.
"You know what, James?" she asked.
"What?" he spat out.
"Some things never change. You've never learned that I can take care of myself, and that I don't need you to do it for me. You haven't changed at all, always a prankster… Some things never change," she said.
He didn't say anything to that. She was right. He was a prankster, and always would be. Lily was just going to have to get used to it.
"We're over," she told him.
He stared dumbstruck at her. She couldn't break up with him, she just couldn't.
Lily stood there for a second, wanting to know how he would react to her decision.
"The door's that way," he said while pointing to his right.
Author's Note 2: Okay, I'm sorry it too so long for me to update! It's been a hectic first few days at school, already giving out tons of homework. Anyways, don't be mad that Lily and James broke up; nobody can have a picture perfect relationship, not even Lily and James. But I do hope that you guys liked chapter 31! And please review!