A/N: Change of plans here; my wonderful reader Rider Arya Svit-kona pointed out in a review that I should probably do an April Fool's Day entry. I started thinking, yes, I should! So here it is. The next entry is going to be on April 11th, and that is not going to change. :P

Sorry about the delay with this one, by the way. I'm still alive – I just had that damn writer's block again…

Side note: Feelings Show, by Colbie Caillat, is beyond perfect for Lily at the moment. :) For James, the song All About Us, performed by T. A. T. U. but written by The Veronicas, works pretty well. For a brief bit, Everytime We Touch, by Cascada, works too. :)

Lily

April 1st

Dear Diary,

Happy April Fool's Day.

Ugh, I hate this holiday so, so much; even more than Valentine's Day, if it's possible. I mean, really; it's so horrible to go around pranking people all day just because you can. Hogwarts students are even worse though, because they take it too far – sometimes, it becomes just plain cruel. When you throw in the Marauders, who take every opportunity to inflict disaster, you're set for trouble. That is, in essentials, what happened today; too much trouble.

Take today at breakfast, for example. Leila and I were walking in super late so that we could grab something and go when we saw Regina Masters screaming her arse off, covered in Stinksap and dung. Leila laughed outright at her, but I stifled my giggles as I got myself a peach. I knew right away that it was James's doing, as did Leila, but I wasn't going to rat them out – I loved James, and I didn't want him in trouble for something that had been waiting to happen since the day Regina had been born. Leila, of course, would die before she got those boys in trouble. Still, it was a mad start to an insane morning, which was my point.

But later, after that incident, I was walking down the third floor corridor with Leila this afternoon during our lunch hour – we had eaten early and were simply pacing to occupy ourselves. I couldn't sit still; I had to be in motion. Why? Because whenever the subject of James Potter came up, I had to diagnose myself with verbal diarrhea; I often got far too spirited, and had to pace in order to keep from exploding. Leila was bored too – walking worked for the both of us. Talking about James, of course, worked for her as well.

"Why don't you like him?" she demanded halfway through our walk. "He is perfectly darling; he was so sweet to you on his birthday, even."

"That was not my fault," I argued. "I didn't ask him to tell me what he did – it was his own thinking process!"

"Which makes it all the more darling," Leila said. "Lily, he is so adorable, and so nice to you, and so perfect – why in the name of Merlin don't you like him?"

"Because he's not my type!" I exploded. "He's every single bloody thing I'm not – or will ever be, for that matter – and he won't like me at all once he spends any amount of alone time with me! He only likes me right now because I'm something he can't get. Once the challenge is gone, he'll hate me, and I'd never be able to take my third lost boyfriend in one year!"

Leila's gaze was surprisingly gentle as she held my hand. "Is that all you're afraid of? That he won't love you after he knows you a little more?"

"It isn't as trivial as you make it sound," I said with a sniff. "But I don't even love him, so I don't have to worry about it."

She rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, though her eyes were still tender. "Lils, please; just tell me now – do you love him or not?"

I could have told her then – I could have told her everything. We were alone, and we had the time; all I had to do was find some gut in me and tell her that I loved James Potter. She would squeal, celebrate, go ballistic etc., and I'd have a huge secret off my chest – it was perfect. But of course I didn't tell her; I simply turned my head the other way so that she wouldn't see in my face that I was lying.

However, something happened then that completely distracted me from my torturous thoughts of James; it was James himself, accompanied by Sirius and Peter, chasing Severus Snape down the corridor. They brushed by Leila and I without even noticing us, which made Leila and I exchange extremely befuddled glances.

"Should we follow?" Leila asked.

"Of course," I said. "I'm a prefect – I'm supposed to put a stop to their shenanigans."

"Oh, how could I forget?" Leila laughed. "Come on; let's go."

So, together, we sprinted down the hall towards where we saw Potter, Black, and Snape go, and once we finally arrived at the Entrance Hall, panting, we found the three of them. Sirius was standing over Severus with a triumphant grimace, James was glaring at him, Peter was laughing, and Remus was nowhere to be seen – it wasn't anything new. I walked towards them and looked down at Snape; when I did, I gasped.

They had made a mess of him! He was completely covered in a strange layer of neon-green goop, sickly purple tentacles were sprouting everywhere, antlers were atop his head, his legs were obviously under a Jelly-Legs Curse, he had some kind of tail on his behind, and he was unable to move or speak. I rounded on James, Sirius, and Peter, furious.

"What have you done?" I demanded.

"Happy April Fool's Day, Lils," Sirius chirped, grinning at me.

I rolled my eyes, but kept my jaw set harshly in his direction. "First of all, don't call me Lils. Secondly, if this is your idea of a joke, I'm not amused."

"Relax, Lily," Peter said lazily. "It's funny."

Leila took a look at Snape then, made a face, and said, "Eew! If you wanted to play a prank, why couldn't you have done it in a slightly less disgusting fashion?"

"It's not funny at all, we're sorry," Peter said automatically.

Leila gave him a confused look, as did the rest of the boys and me. Peter shrugged, turned pink, and declined further comment. I then continued to gaze angrily at Sirius.

"Honestly, you three, what did he do?" I asked. "Or did you just need someone to torture since it's April Fool's Day?"

"Well, both," Sirius said matter-of-factly. "But as it was, Snivelly was eavesdropping on a private conversation; we were in a classroom with the door closed, Peter had to go to the loo, opened the door, and we find this bit of filth outside, listening for all he was worth. I got pissed; can you blame me?"

"Funny as it is, I can," I said. "You should have reported it to a teacher."

"As if we'd ever do that!" Sirius snorted. "It's easier, funner, and more efficient."

"Erm, Sirius, funner isn't a word," I told him.

"It is now," Sirius declared. "Funner, funner, funner; what will you do now, Evans?"

"I'll wonder why on earth we pretend you have a functioning brain," I said. "As for you, Potter – what do you have to say about this?" My heart skipped a beat as I whipped around to look at his beautiful, beautiful face, which was, at that moment, smirking at me.

"Lily, don't lose any sleep over it," he said easily. "We took care of Snivelly – now you don't have to deal with him yourself. Now just stop worrying your pretty little head about him and get going – you probably have better things to do today."

I was taken aback by his statement, yet at the same time, I was even more struck by how much he cared about me – his remark had been idiotic on every degree, but I still thought it was sweet that he thought he was somehow helping me by torturing Severus Snape. I didn't let that show though; I simply looked at him, and after a bit, I spoke.

"Well, James, it's my job to ensure that you don't do anything wrong, which you have," I said. "I'm afraid I'll have to report you to Professor McGonagall."

"If you really want to, then do it," he said. "Either way, we got what we wanted."

"Don't be a tattletale, Evans," Sirius added. "It's not good for a girl as sexy as you are."

Leila burst out laughing at that one while I felt the color rise in my cheeks. "Well, Black, I'm going to have to, because using hexes like these on a student isn't allowed."

"This is hysterical, but I really need to get going," Leila said. "See you later, Lils."

"Bye Leils," I said, sorry to see her go – I hated being alone with James when his friends were around. "As for you, Black – like I said, those hexes aren't permitted, and I'm going to have to get you reported."

"But I paid you a compliment," Sirius told me, aggravated.

"Yes, so?"

"You're supposed to let me off the hook," he said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's always worked with other girls."

"Well, I'm not 'other girls'," I said. "I am me, and I say that you're going to be in trouble – possibly a week of detention."

"You're too excited about that fact," Peter accused.

"Maybe I am," I said. "But either way, I'm going to need this mess on Severus cleaned up. One of you has to do it."

"Not me," Sirius and James said at the same time.

"I don't want to do it," Peter complained.

I sighed; this was going to be rather difficult. But then I remembered my coupons that James had given me for my birthday; I could use one of them. I picked randomly, and I ended up with the Sirius one – I smiled brightly towards him and then said, "Sirius is going to do it."

"And what makes you sure of that?" Sirius asked, eyebrows raised.

"Because I have coupons from my birthday left over," I said, waving one of them in his face. "You have to do what I say, and I say that you're going to clean up Severus; when you're done with that, you're taking him up to the Hospital Wing so that Madam Pomfrey can took a look at him, and then accompany me to Professor McGonagall to turn yourself in."

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that," Sirius refused, repulsed.

"There apparently is," I said, grinning as I showed him the coupon again. "James said I can use these for whatever I want, and that's what I want."

"She's right," James confessed. "Sorry Pads."

"Ugh," Sirius said disgustedly. "Damn you and your stupid attempts at wooing this bitch, Prongs."

I made a face at him. "I'm not a bitch, Sirius."

"Yes, you are," Sirius said. "A bitch who kisses good."

"It's 'kisses well,' you idiot," I said, rolling my eyes.

"See! There you go," he said. "That was super bitchy."

"No it wasn't," I said. "It was just me correcting your terrible grammar."

Sirius gave me the finger, but he sorrowfully took his wand out, muttered a few countercurses, and then let Snape stand up.

"Bastard," Snape spat at Sirius.

Peter stuck his tongue out, James tensed up, obviously ready to fight him, but Sirius waved his wand and extinguished Snape's voice. "I'm allowed to do that much, aren't I?" he asked me sarcastically.

"You deserved the insult, but I suppose you are," I retorted.

"Oh thank you," he said, rolling his eyes. He waved his wand once more to tie Snape up in rope and then drag him across the stone floor. Unable to scream, Snape thrashed around in his restraint to show his pain. All Sirius did was smirk and take care to tread on his fingers as he walked. I sighed, and then took out a small chocolate bar from my pocket.

"Peter, go follow him and make sure he does what I've said. I'll give you this chocolate if you do," I tried to tempt him.

Peter took the chocolate from my hand, inspected it, and nodded. "Okay. But only because I like this brand of chocolate."

"Thanks," I said. I let him follow Sirius down the corridor and turned to face James; it was just us two in the corridor.

"Happy April Fool's Day, Miss Evans," he said with a mock bow.

I kept my face as emotionless as I could; I'd had the strong urge to laugh hysterically and tell him that I loved him, and I couldn't possibly let him know any of that. He looked quizzically at me, trying to read my expression; I took pleasure in the fact that he couldn't, because that meant I wasn't an open book – I preferred an air of mystery rather than complete openness.

"Lils, are you all right?" he asked me. "You look…strained."

It was true; I was strained trying to hide my feelings from him. "I do?" It was best to play innocent in such situations.

"Yeah," he said. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

Yes, there was – but I would need three weeks to tell him all that I wanted to. "No," I told him. "There's nothing you need to know."

"Why do I get the sense that I'm not getting the whole story here?" Though his expression and tone of voice were playful, I knew from that glint in his eyes that he was being perfectly serious.

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe you're mistaken." Was it just me, or did I sound unintentionally flirty?

James reached his hand out to touch my face, and the moment his cool fingers brushed by my heated cheeks, I felt an electric shock go through me. The shock was followed right by a shiver down by back, and chills down my arms; it was wild, but it felt more wonderful than anything I'd ever felt before. And, if there was any moment during our entire conversation where I was almost positive that my feelings had begun to show, it was then; I could feel myself look at him with that unappeasable longing that I nursed around all the time.

He came closer to me, still stroking my cheek, and opened his mouth to say something, but at that very moment, Sirius bounded in.

"I turned myself in for you, just like you asked," he said, sounding quite displeased by that fact. "I've got myself a week of detention, just like you had wanted."

James's hand fell from my face, and he stepped away from me to turn to his best friend in sympathy. I swallowed thickly, trying to make my throat cooperate with me again, and made myself throw Sirius an exultant look.

"How does it feel being a good, honorable human being for probably the first time in your life?" I inquired.

"Lovely," Sirius said sardonically.

"Lily, where's my chocolate?" Peter ran in then, his hand outstretched and waiting for the candy. "I need that to give me energy to play more pranks today."

I gave him the bar resignedly, but then said, "Don't cause too much trouble, because I can easily report you guys again."

Ignoring me, Peter took his chocolate and ran up to the common room with Sirius, presumably to plan their next 'joke.' James, who was looking highly irate since his friends had burst in on our moment, apologized.

"Sorry," he said. "Peter and Sirius…their timing is just incredible."

"It's okay," I murmured. "I-I have to go though." I bit my lip as I looked him in the eye. "See you later."

James put his hand in his hair to ruffle it up like he always did when he was annoyed or when he wanted to show off, more irate than before, and said, "Bye, Lily."

I couldn't leave him like that; I just couldn't. Cautiously, I stepped towards him, and I put my arm out, trying to find a way to hug him or touch him or do something else along those same lines. My hand went to his hair (which was much softer than I had anticipated, by the way), and went down to the side of his face, to his jaw. When I was at his chin, I realized how embarrassing this would be later; coming back to my senses, I took my hand away at once, chewing at my lips hard, as though this would somehow erase what I'd done. James was motionless, his eyes calculating, boring into mine. I turned my head away to avoid evaluation and tore off down the corridor, not wanting to linger any longer.

As I ran, I was incensed with myself. Why had I done that? Why in the world had I all but screamed at him that I loved him? It was beyond stupid! I should've just left, but of course I didn't; I just had to go and bloody touch him. Ugh; I hated myself more than I could possibly write down – I wasn't supposed to stroke him! Damn, damn, damn; this was terrible. It would only be a matter of time before the whole world would know how much I loved him, which would, of course, destroy me. Stupid bloody James Potter. Why did I have to fall in love with him?

Anyhow, I've been in my dormitory since that incident. I know that James has been causing trouble all over the school with his friends, but that doesn't matter to me; Remus is a prefect, and he can deal with them. Leila and I did our homework together while talking about nothing, as we normally did. I kept trying to avoid thinking about what had happened with James earlier; it was so embarrassing, and I could only wish he'd forget about it too.

Knowing my luck, I highly doubt that he'll forget any time soon.

Despite my resolutions though, I have been thinking constantly about James and how he looked at me when I had touched him. It was as though he knew something that I hadn't wanted him to know – that was a very real possibility, but it was as though everything had made sense to him at that very moment, and he was going to come for me at any second to ask me about it. His eyes…my goodness, I had never seen them so intense. They could have been seeing right through me and reading my very soul; it felt as much.

I wanted him more than he could ever imagine. That had been established long ago, but never confessed. I wanted every part of him that he'd give me – it physically pained me to think about him and then realize I wouldn't ever let myself have him. I lie across my bed, wishing he was there with me – next to me, on top of me, it didn't particularly matter where – and then my stomach would hurt. I was nothing without him there to force my personality out; why couldn't I find the ability to let myself have what I wanted? It wasn't fair; girls committed sins like adultery to get what they wanted, but when love had found me and graced me with the perfect situation, I still couldn't get it right. Not only was that sort of ungrateful, it was downright pitiful.

Pitiful Lily Evans. Hmmm…has a ring to it.

Anyway, so I'm going to bed right now; it's only seven, and I've not finished my work yet, but I don't care right now. April Fool's Day sucks, the whole idea of love sucks, and I just want to sleep. Sleeping helps; sleeping ensures that I won't have to think about the matter I'm trying to avoid for a little while longer.

While avoiding things may be a bad thing sometimes, this isn't one of those times.

James

April 1st

Dear Diary,

Today was April Fool's Day! It's one of my favorite holidays, besides Christmas, Lily's birthday, my birthday, and Halloween, and once I explain what I was up to, it'll be obvious why I feel that way.

I should have woken up slowly at seven thirty in the morning, like I normally do, but not today – not April Fool's Day. No; I was woken up at five AM by Sirius flipping me upside down and shouting with laughter at my misfortune. Peter was sporting a huge, pus-filled boil on his forehead and Remus – good old Remus who no one ever pranked because it was just plain cruel to tease someone as joke-naïve as he was – was still asleep. Sirius guffawed like a maniac as he threw me back on my bed; he was having far too much fun.

"You should have seen your face, Prongs!" he shouted, hardly able to breathe for his laughter. "Hysterical!"

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth, forcing an evil smile on my face. "It would probably be about as funny as this." I grabbed my wand, flicked it once, and hosed Sirius down with water – it not only made him fall over, but it soaked him completely. Now it was my turn to guffaw like a maniac, and Peter joined me, eager to share in my joy at Sirius's misfortunes because of the boil he had been given.

"Nice one, Prongs," Sirius told me, grinning, as he stood up and dried himself with his wand. "Happy April Fool's Day."

"Same to you, Padfoot," I said, grinning back as I waved my wand at Peter to make his boil go away; he grinned with us only then, which I found rather amusing. We watched Remus sleep peacefully for a little while before Peter asked if we were going to wake him up as cruelly as he and I had been woken up.

"Nah," Sirius said. "Let him sleep."

"You didn't let us sleep," I objected playfully, throwing a pillow at him. "Bastard."

Sirius smiled lazily and yawned. "Moony would murder me if I tried to wake him up early. He's so bloody boring, that boy. Do you two want to get some breakfast from the kitchens?"

"Sure," I said. "Let's go."

I grabbed my wand (it was April Fool's Day, I explained to Sirius – anything could happen) and dashed out the door with my friends. Sirius ran ahead of Peter and I, but that worked to my advantage; stealthily, I followed him, and I picked a spot he was approaching to cast a Trip Charm. I whispered the few chosen words, and instantly when Sirius went near the area I had hit, he fell flat on his face. Peter and I roared with laughter and high-fived each other while Sirius smirked grimly at us.

"Hysterical," he said. "Now come on – I'm hungry!"

I rolled my eyes, grinned, and continued to walk with him; when Sirius was hungry, there was nothing in the world that would distract him from getting something to eat. I should have known.

After a hearty breakfast provided willingly by the Hogwarts house elves, I noticed that it was time for breakfast with the other students. I pointed this out to Sirius, who was munching on a cookie (desserts counted as breakfast for him – something that Remus didn't like too much), and he simply shrugged.

"Great – we get to eat more," he said.

"That's the attitude," Peter said warmly.

I snorted. "You could wipe out all the food in England between the both of you," I remarked.

"I'd have done that earlier, but I can't; women like muscular men, not fat ones," Sirius explained.

"Why are you so obsessed with girls?" Peter asked.

"Because, young Pete, women can provide some of the best pleasures life has to offer," Sirius told him mysteriously. "Maybe you should ask Leila out and you can see what I'm talking about."

"Why are you guys always ragging on me about her?" Peter whined. "It's not fair! I mean, I hardly even like her; that just kind of…slipped out."

"We rag on you because it's fun, Wormy," Sirius said, patting his head affectionately. "We're just messing with you. But if you do like that Patterson, it's okay – we don't care."

"I'd actually be glad," I added. "You'd get her off my back for me."

"You can ask her today," Sirius said suddenly. "Yeah! It can be an April Fool's joke if she refuses you, but otherwise, you've won yourself a date!"

"No," Peter refused. "I am not asking Leila Patterson out on a date – never."

"Tell you what," I said. "The day I get Lily Evans to go out with me, you have to ask Leila out."

"Oh, thank goodness," Peter said with relief.

"What?"

"You're never going to get Lily to go out with you – I'm safe," Peter said, smiling confidently. "That is the best deal you've ever made with me, Prongs."

I rolled my eyes at him and smirked. "Funny, Wormtail – very funny. Anyway, so where's Moony?"

Sirius scanned the area around us, then the Great Hall. "He's at the table," he reported. "Eating."

"Are we going to prank him?" Peter wanted to know.

"Maybe," I said. "Sirius, what do you say?"

Sirius thought for a good two minutes before saying, "No. We're not pranking Moony."

"Why not?" Peter and I asked at the same time.

"Look at him," Sirius said, pointing at Remus. "It's almost cruel to play a joke on a defenseless guy eating his breakfast. And he's one of our best friends too – we're Marauders."

"I'm a Marauder and look what you did to me this morning," I pointed out. "You're most defenseless when you're sleeping too."

"I just don't want to prank Moony," Sirius said, blushing very, very slightly. It was so slight that I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't known him about as well as I knew myself. I gave him a questioning look, but he simply ignored me and said, "We're not pranking Remus – end of discussion."

Peter was about as stunned as I was. "Sirius, you've never ended a discussion on pranking someone – are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine," Sirius said shortly. "Now c'mon; I want to do the classic bucket-of-water-over-the-head trick to Regina."

"Excellent," I said, grinning. "But isn't that a bit unoriginal?"

"Fine," Sirius said, sighing. "We'll fill it with Stinksap instead of water."

"Then I have a valid excuse not to kiss her today!" I nodded, pleased. "Let's do it."

Sirius laughed. "Everyone wins! Now c'mon; I'm itching to get that bitch."

"Now her, you can call a bitch," I told him. "Just don't call Lily that."

"Well, they're both bitches in their own rights, so I'll do what I like," Sirius informed me. "Now get me Stinksap."

"Here." Peter removed a few Dungbombs from his pocket and handed them to Sirius. "Get it out of there."

"Right." Sirius took the bombs, opened them up, and aimed carefully at Regina. He muttered a spell under his breath, and the sap and dung shot towards her, drenching her in the filth. Her friends began to squeal as Regina started to throw an almighty fit in front of everybody; it was quite a sight. Sirius, Peter, and I began to roll on the floor with our laughter; the best part was that no one had seen us – not even Moony, who was trying to take care of her, since he was a prefect – so we'd gotten away with it! Lily and Leila were nowhere to be seen; otherwise I was sure Lily would have accused us of our crime right away. She's just got it in for me that way.

After a few minutes though, Remus came outside and found us, looking rather cross. "Guys, why did you throw Stinksap at her?" he asked. "That wasn't nice."

"It's April Fool's Day," Sirius reminded him. "We're not supposed to be nice."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Sirius, please; I don't want to have to get you detentions for playing juvenile tricks."

"What's wrong with you, Moony?" Peter inquired. "I mean, you normally come with us and help us with this sort of stuff."

"Not today," Remus insisted. "Just don't do it, all right?"

"Sorry Moony, but we're going to do it," Sirius said. "This is the only day in the year when we're allowed to." He then took careful aim at Snivelly, who was leaving through the other side, and let the dung/Stinksap fly at him as well. When it drenched him, making everyone burst out laughing, Sirius grinned, satisfied. "Besides, this helps me with my aim," he added.

Peter and I doubled up with laughter as Remus glared at all of us. "Just don't do it again, all right guys?"

"Fine Moony," we mumbled at the same time.

But of course we didn't listen.

The rest of our day was spent in heavy pranking on anyone we knew – Dungbombs, Trip Charms, hexes of every sort, and plenty of wedgies. Wedgies are kid stuff, I know, but they're such fun! Especially when Sirius does them – he'll go up to a girl, pull her underwear up, and then stick his face straight in her neck. Then she'll either kiss him or slap him across the face – both have happened. Sirius's facial expressions don't help my hysterical laughter; they're always so foul when he's slapped or so excited when he's kissed, and that makes for high-quality entertainment.

I'm not going to detail all that we did, but in essentials, we were quite naughty, and we loved every minute of it.

However, our best prank of the day and one of the turning points of my life happened to day, at lunch time, and that's really what I want to write about. See, we were going to play another prank on Snivelly, since we adore him so, so much; Sirius, Peter, and I decided that Snivellus deserved to have more than one trick pulled on him – just for the hell of it. So we found him in the Entrance Hall on his way to lunch, and Sirius put a Trip Charm up for him. He fell right over, right on cue, and I gave him a slimy, tentacle-like tail on his rear. Peter laughed uncontrollably at what we'd done, which made Snape glare at us, infuriated.

"Bastards," he snapped at us. "What's your problem?"

"You," Sirius said simply, nudging his tail with his foot. "You're our problem, Snivelly. Do you know what today is?"

"April Fool's Day," he grumbled.

"Exactly," Sirius said, beaming. "Not as stupid as you look, eh, Snivellus? Yeah, it's April Fool's Day – that means we get to rag on you as much as we want."

"Don't you do that all the time anyway?" he asked, annoyed.

"Yes, we do, but today, we're allowed to." Sirius threw his head back and laughed. "Today is my favorite day of the year."

By that point, Snivelly had had it with us; he got up off the ground and shot a hex at Sirius and me. Peter dodged his somehow, but Sirius got a face-full of boils, and I got a cut that began to bleed.

He was dead.

Sirius went utterly ballistic; he shot Snivelly with every spell he could think of (besides the Unforgivables) while chasing him around the school. And, let me tell you, Sirius runs really fast when he's pissed. Snape tore off as fast as his legs would take him, but Sirius was never far behind – it was hilarious!

Peter and I ran after the two of them to watch their fight, but after a while, I got a bit tired – I Summoned my broomstick with my wand and rode after them. That meant that I not only had a good seat to watch the action from, I got to aim my own spells at Snivelly; could life get any better? Sirius and I did a fabulous job; by the time we got to the third floor, Snape was unable to go anywhere – we got to stand over him and laugh. Peter caught up to us eventually, and he joined in the laughter – April Fool's is, as Sirius says constantly, my favorite day of the year.

Eventually though, our fun was cut short; Lily Evans and her faithful sidekick (and Peter's crush) Leila Patterson came to the scene. Leila was amused (even if repulsed completely) by the whole deal, which I found awesome, but Lily – beautiful, lovely Lily who I love more than anyone in the world – did not. She glared at us in a way reminiscent to Snape's when we first attacked him, and she asked us what we did.

"Happy April Fool's Day, Lils," Sirius told her, exchanging a grin with me.

"First of all, don't call me Lils," she said. "Secondly, if this is your idea of a joke, I'm not amused." She sounded so cute when she said it! I had to keep my mouth shut so that I didn't say anything that would piss her off; she was so easily pissed, my Lily was.

So she began to argue with Peter and Sirius for a little while, but I can't even remember what she said – I was just mesmerized by her eyes. They were flashing evilly, true, but she looked so damn sexy; it wasn't even fair. She had no idea how she looked when she was standing there, this fire in her face, ready to kill someone – so long as it wasn't me she wanted to slaughter, I liked seeing her like that. I liked seeing her taking charge for herself – it was nice, since I always got the feeling she was a little insecure. But, while I was mulling these thoughts over, Lily snapped me out of it by saying, "As for you Potter – what do you have to say about this?"

I smirked, just because I thought it would probably be appropriate for the conversation I hadn't heard, and said, "Lily, don't lose any sleep over it. We took care of Snivelly – now you don't have to deal with him yourself. Now just stop worrying your pretty little head about him and get going – you probably have better things to do today."

"Well, James," she said stoutly. "It's my job to ensure that you don't do anything wrong, which you have; I'm afraid I'll have to report you to Professor McGonagall."

"If you really want to, then do it," I told her. "Either way, we got what we wanted." What we had wanted was to torture Snivelly, but now that I had seen Lily, I wanted to just take something off her plate – she had enough going on, I was sure.

Of course, though, Sirius ruined it – he said, "Don't be a tattletale, Evans; it's not good for a girl as sexy as you are."

If Lily had turned the other way, I would have smacked him for saying that – had he completely lost it? How could he say something like that to her?!

Leila found this very funny, but Lily didn't. "Well, Black, I'm going to have to, because using hexes like these on a student isn't allowed," she said.

"This is hysterical but I really need to get going," Leila said. "See you later, Lils."

Lily bid her friend good-bye, but the moment she was finished, she went back to telling Sirius she would report him. Sirius tried to get his way out of it by complimenting her, but naturally, it didn't work out at all. She said that she needed someone to clean up the mess that was Snivellus Snape; all three of us refused to do it. Lily, however, was undaunted – she pulled out her Sirius coupon from her birthday and ordered him to clean Snape up, take him to the Hospital Wing, and then turn himself in.

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that," Sirius said, nauseated by the very idea.

"There apparently is, because James said I can use these for whatever I want, and that's what I want." Lily smiled serenely at him; she knew she would get what she wanted, and I loved the confidence – I hadn't seen much of it around these days. I wondered where it had come from; probably from goading us – she liked doing that.

"She's right," I agreed with her. "Sorry Pads."

"Ugh; damn you and your stupid attempts at wooing this bitch, Prongs," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not a bitch, Sirius," Lily informed him.

"Yes you are," Sirius countered. "A bitch who kisses good."

"It's 'kisses well,' you idiot," she corrected him.

"See! There you go; that was super bitchy," Sirius said, gesturing wildly.

"No it wasn't," Lily said. "It was just me correcting your terrible grammar." I could see from the tone of her voice that she thought Sirius was quite thick in the head; she was kind of right, so I didn't say much.

Eventually though, Sirius was sent off on his way with Peter (who Lily bribed with chocolate to make sure Sirius did his job right) and Snape, and I was left alone with Lily.

"Happy April Fool's Day, Miss Evans," I told her, bowing.

Then she gave me this weird look – it was like she was stopping herself from doing something. I knew roughly what it might mean, seeing as I had been doing that myself from years (trying not to snog the bloody hell out of Lily Evans every time I look at her is a very difficult feat, you know), so I asked her, "Lils, are you all right? You look…strained."

"I do?"

"Yeah," I said. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No," she said a little too quickly. "There's nothing you need to know."

"Why do I get the sense that I'm not getting the whole story here?"

"I don't know," Lily said. "Maybe you're mistaken." It was odd when she said that though – it was as though she was implying, well, flirtation. I'd had such tactics used on me before from countless others. Was Lily Evans really flirting with me? I had to be dreaming.

Just to make sure I was indeed in the tangible world of the living, I reached my arm out to Lily's face. It was warm – probably because she'd been blushing so hard – and I loved the feel of it. She was so soft; I felt like I could break her apart with one blow too rough. I was intrigued by the look in her eyes too; it was as though she was trying hard to control something she didn't want me to see. I couldn't make heads or tails of it – what was going on?

I was about to ask her about it, since I was curious, but of course, at that very second, Sirius zoomed in to tell Lily (grudgingly) that he'd done what she had forced – ahem, asked – him to do.

I honestly could have killed him.

My hand came away from her face and I stepped back; I hoped Sirius would go away soon, so that I could be with Lily again. No such luck for a little while – Lily had to lecture Sirius, and soon Peter, about not doing such pranks again, and then let them off. I really didn't feel the need to listen to that conversation either; I simply waited for her to finish before saying, "Sorry; Peter and Sirius…their timing is just incredible."

"It's okay," Lily mumbled. "I-I have to go though. See you later."

How aggravating; the moment we were alone, she decided that she had to leave. I rumpled up my hair, just because I usually did that in such situations, and said, "Bye Lily."

She was about to leave and I was staring out into space, thinking about whether or not I should prank someone else later, but then Lily surprised me – she came towards me, something she normally didn't do if she could help it. Her arm stretched towards me, and she touched me.

No, I'm not kidding and no, I'm not fantasizing – she really touched me willingly.

She touched my hair and the side of my face softly, her fingers leaving chills in the path her hand took. She was so gentle, but cautious – she wasn't sure what she wanted or if she should even be near me, but she was doing it anyway, probably as an experiment.

I was perfectly okay with that.

However, after a minute or two, she minded; she took her hand away, looked once at me, and then ran. She just ran. Normally I would have been pretty annoyed – I hated watching Lily run away from me – but this time, I was still in shock. Sure, it was only a touch, but it had felt like infinitely more than that; it was like something was happening, something that would change everything. It felt right though; it felt like things were finally falling into place – were things really going my way? I hoped so.

I pondered this matter on my way to the common room; what if Lily Evans – my sweet, beautiful, wonderful Lily Evans – actually fell in love with me? What would happen? How would I react?

Well, if I was Sirius, she would probably be in my bed at any opportunity I was given. If I was Remus, I would take things extremely slowly and guardedly – I'd plan out every touch, every smile, every kiss before any of them ever happened, which is not only lame but just plain irritating; it's like, what are you afraid of? If I was Peter…well, Peter probably wouldn't have a love life, so I would do anything. But I'm me, James – what would I do?

Quite frankly, I don't know what I'd do. I wouldn't want her to be away from me, of course, so I'd have to have her near me, but I would take it as far as she wanted to. If she wanted to kiss me, I would be more than happy to oblige. If she wanted to be there, not saying or doing anything, all the time, I'd hold her hand and watch the rain, even though I hate rain. If she wanted to be my friend – talk to me, laugh with me – I'd do that too. Just so long as she never just turned around and said that she was done with me, I didn't care what we did.

After that incident, I didn't do any more pranks, though Sirius and Peter did – I decided to go with Lily's request and not prank anymore. I'd had my fun, and I'd had the girl I loved touch me – that was enough for me to back down and do what I was told. Haha, I can just imagine the looks on the faculty's faces when they hear that I'll only listen to Lily, and not them.

There's no 'haha' about it.

But anyway, I can hear Sirius laughing harder than usual – he's had to have done something rude and horrible, so I'd better be there to laugh with him. I mean, what else are friends for?

No, wait, I'll come up with a better answer to that question later.

A/N: Well, that chapter wasn't my best, but whatever; hope you liked it. But I must let you know; I'm entering the shadowy, misty realms of a place they call high school, so updates won't be as prompt as they normally are, thanks to the evilest of man's inventions – homework. Sorry about this, and I hope to get a chapter up every weekend if not sooner. Don't forget to review!

Side note: Five hundred reviews and still going! That is beyond amazing; you guys never cease to amaze me. I never knew this story would get the response it did, and I'm more than flattered that you guys are enjoying it. Thank you soooo much for your sweet reviews – you really don't know how much they mean to me. :)