Clairebl – I have written a bit from James's PoV earlier, in the second chapter I think it was. You'll be reading more from James's PoV in this chapter and in the future also. Though I think I'll focus on Lily's PoV, as I find it easier to write.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed and thanks to beta, as always. 

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Seriously?!

On Monday, exactly one week later, Lily and Aurora were enjoying dinner in the Great Hall.

"Where's Elisabeth?" Aurora asked.

"Probably supervising the printing of The Mirror," answered Lily.

"Oh! Today is the day!"

"Yes."

"You nervous?"

Lily shrugged. "No…" she said, though not sounding entirely convinced. "Maybe a little," she admitted. "Okay, I'm freaking out here!" she exclaimed when Aurora gave her a questioning look.

"I think it's exciting," Aurora stated.

"That's because it's not you hanging yourself out like this."

"Lily sweetheart, for the fifty-eleventh time. No one will realize it's you who-"

"Lily! Aurora!" A very excited Elisabeth came hurrying down the path between the tables, clutching a magazine tightly in her right hand. "Here," she panted and handed the brand-new issue of The Mirror to Lily. "We're just finished. It's not officially distributed until tomorrow morning, but I thought you'd like-" she interrupted herself and gasped for air.

Lily was flipping through the magazine anxiously. "Where? I can't find it!" she squealed as if it was a matter of life or death.

"Second last page," Elisabeth said.

Lily spread the magazine out on the table and the three girls bent down to read.

Perfect perfectionist with somewhat of a paranoiac characteristic needs distraction. I'm kind, generous and passionate though it might not always show. You need to be patient and fun though not to an extreme extent, as those kinds of people annoy me. You boys whose voices haven't even broken yet needn't bother; I'm in one of the upper years.

Mark responses with '009'

Yes, there it was, just as they had written it.

"How is the response-thingy going to work, anyway?" Lily asked.

"Well," Elisabeth said, "we had quite a hard time figuring that out. We didn't want to risk revealing someone's identity, and no one wanted to take the responsibility of being the secret-keeper who would be responsible. Instead, we decided to give that assignment to the two house elves which are normally doing the printing and other errands for us. I just hope it'll work out," she said and bit her lip.

"So," said Lily, "if I get any responses-"

"When you get your responses," Aurora corrected, "please be a little more positive, will you?"

Lily sighed but said, "When I get my responses, how will I be getting them?"

"They'll be placed underneath your pillow during afternoon classes," explained Elisabeth, "so you can read them when you get back from the final lesson of the day. There might be one or two replies tomorrow already, though I wouldn't count on it. Probably they'll start rolling in on Wednesday."

"I wonder who all these other people are," Aurora mused. "I'm pretty, I'm smart, you'd be lucky to have me. Seriously? Who wrote that?"

Elisabeth shrugged.

"You're editor-in-chief," Aurora said, "do you know who's behind all of these ads?"

"No," said Elisabeth simply. "I told you, it's in the hands of the house elves."

Aurora sighed but didn't look too disappointed. "It looks like it's gonna be an interesting term," she said. "If the ads turn out to be popular, I might even consider putting one in myself!"

"I'm bored," Sirius declared and closed his book with a loud bang on Tuesday evening.

"You've been attempting to study for a mere ten minutes," Remus remarked.

"I guess I simply haven't got that study brain of yours," Sirius answered with a grin. "Who's up for a prank?"

Remus sighed. "You're not in fifth year anymore, Sirius, and it's a miracle you did pass that year!"

Sirius looked around at his fellow marauders. "No one up for a prank? Seriously? What's wrong with you guys?!"

No one said anything for a few seconds. Only Peter did a little shrug and looked uncertainly at his friends.

"What type of prank do you have in mind?" James asked all of a sudden, almost with his old mischievous grin.

"Prongs! Jamie boy, you're back!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Seriously, James," said Remus, "I had hoped you had matured…"

"No," said James loudly and banged his fist on the table. "I've been immensely boring to hang out with lately, and being involved with a prank is exactly what I need, don't you think?"

"I second that." Sirius was grinning so hugely that it looked as if his face might be torn apart any second now; he was obviously extremely thankful that his best friend seemed to be back.

"Third that," Peter squealed.

Lupin grunted. "I guess it's good that you're feeling better," he said.

"So… any ideas?" James asked.

"Well, we could place Dungbombs in the girls' dormitories," Sirius suggested.

"No, no, no," James said, "way too… fifth year."

"Anything to do with Snivelly?" Peter suggested.

"Nah, he's getting boring. We need to do something different," James concluded while distractedly picking up the a copy of The Mirror, which was lying around pretty much everywhere as the latest issue had been distributed just today.

"Anything interesting in there?" Sirius asked.

"Nah," James said, "not really. Never bothered to actually read anything."

"You should," Remus said, "some of the articles are in fact very interesting. And the texts are usually very well written."

"Moony, puh-lease," Sirius said, "stop being so-"

"What's this?!" James inquired all of a sudden. "A lonely hearts-column?! In The Mirror?! Seriously?!"

"Seriously?!" exclaimed Peter.

"Seriously?" asked Lupin, finally putting his books away.

"Seriously!" James said.

"Seriously?!" Sirius cried out and snatched the magazine from James to see for himself.

"Seriously, what's the big deal?" James said. "Sure I'd never have thought I'd see that in that… thing claiming to be a magazine, but there's no need for excitement to that extent, is there?"

"Unless," Sirius began but trailed off. He was thinking so hard you could almost see the gearwheels.

"Unless…?" Remus asked.

"Padfoot's thinking," James said and sniffed. "Is it just me, or is something burning here?" He laughed, as did Remus and Peter.

Sirius glared at James. "Very funny."

"Everyone was laughing…"

"Do you want to hear my plan or not?!"

James, Remus and Peter nodded excitedly.

"Well," Sirius said slowly, "… drum roll…" – he clapped his hands on the table several times – "… we should answer an ad."

"What?!" Remus cried out.

"Seriously?" Peter squeaked.

"Brilliant!" James exclaimed.

"Um," Peter said uncertainly, "no one of you is having problems finding girl friends, are you?"

"No, stupid," Sirius said, "it'll just be for fun."

"We're totally make her fall for… Harry," James said.

"What Harry?" Sirius asked, looking confused.

"We'll need a pseudonym for the guy we'll be portraying," James explained.

"Brilliant!" Sirius said.

"Cool," Peter said, seeming a bit awestruck that his cool friends could come up with such an idea.

"No," said Lupin, "it's cruel, it's mean, and it's not funny at all!"

"Moony!" Sirius and James exclaimed in one voice.

"Someone's got to be responsible here," Remus said in a tired voice. "I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Remus," James said in a serious voice, "we need some fun. And it'll be just harmless," he added. "We're not seriously gonna hurt her. Just have some fun."

Remus sighed. "I tried to tell you, I really did… I take no part in this and therefore I have no responsibility whatsoever to the consequences."

"There won't be any!" Sirius exclaimed. "Just fun."

"Moony," James said, "seeing as you are the only one out of the four whose handwriting has the slightest chance to be readable, it'd be convenient if you wrote the letter."

"But," Remus said, "didn't I say I want no part in this?"

"Pretty please?" Sirius pouted. "It's not the same without you."

"I'm flattered, but-"

"Pretty please, Moony," James pouted, "you're also the very best when it comes to formulating oneself. We can't do it without you."

Remus sighed once again. "Okay. But – no responsibility!"

"Deal!"

"Which ad are we responding to anyway?" Remus asked.

"I'm pretty, I'm smart, you'd be lucky to have me," Sirius suggested.

"Nah," James said. "Too… boring."

"Anyone out there who wants to comfort a sensitive soul-"

"Urrrk," James said, "way too… sensitive and stuff."

"Perfect perfectionist with somewhat of a paranoiac characteristic needs distraction", Sirius read.

"That might just be it!" James exclaimed and Peter nodded enthusiastically. "Is that all it says?"

"No, there's more," said Sirius and recited the whole ad.

"I wonder who it is," Remus said with a thoughtful look.

"Doesn't matter," James said. "That's the one!"