Disclaimer: Si j'etais J.K. Rowling, je serait tres riche! Mais, je suis pauvre. Oh la la. Hey, who says you can't practice your French online? And, if you're French, I'm terribly sorry if I totally butchered that. lol

A/N: Ahhh! I feel like Draco Malfoy just Stunned me and Harry Potter Rennervated me. lol I don't even know if that analogy made sense, but seriously, YOU ARE ALL THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE EVERRR! Thanks a million zillion to: Claudita, beinginfinite, Mrs.YoungRoseRamone, A. Fan, dollarbanks, lilbit18, Red n Black Roses, Angeleyes274, novella07, Ali Keys, serenity12345, LyLMystikeLf, Chocolate Chip Cookie, braveatheart, pigs can fly, Cookies94, Sprut, Moon Comix, -Jeisa-, vintage bluejeans, Bellas-lullaby, Mrs Claire Potter, grayx3eyedsoul, Cristipotter, ForgiveButNeverForget, soccerxpotterxlife, MusicShoes, potterlady4691, A-Lady, FollowMyLead, berniebotts, TheHorcruxHunter, LILYandJAMESareCUTE, aChocoholic, siabrach, zozotheterrible, Yay-Watermelons, TwinkieTUTUS, chili's-girl, IHeartJamesPotter, loonysango, stardust718, C San, Quiver, PrimaDi88, scribbles.pooksta, coffee dessert, tin-tin456, mae garnder, Lilybet Edyvean, and Princess Gillybean.

So, I've realized that I've gotten into a habit of writing incredibly long author's notes, so this one will be almost non-existent. Anyways, nothing exciting has gone on in my life in the past week that I could talk about. lol

Real quick. I thought I'd respond to two questions/comments brought up last chapter.
1) Personally, I don't think Lily over-reacted to the conversation she overheard in the library between the Marauders. I mean, she had just made up her mind that James really did like her, and then she hears him saying that he can't wait to get rid of her. Man, he should consider himself lucky that she didn't Avada Kedavra him right there and then. lol
2) Hmm. Yes, James did accept his loss a bit too quickly, didn't he? Sorry, can't say much more on that particular subject.

Okay, so have fun reading!

Chapter 20: Winner at a Losing Game

It was done. Everything had gone back to normal, for better or for worse. In Potter's case, normalcy wasn't turning out to be such a positive thing, though, if the past six years hadn't been any indication, most things weren't taken into a positive light when it came to James Potter. With the bet now finished, he had no one to impress in order to win over and thus had immediately regressed back to his Marauding days. In fact, two days after he had lost the bet to Sirius, he and Black had landed themselves in detention for bewitching two suits of armor up on the fourth floor to insult anyone who dared pass them. That must have been a new record or something.

In classes, as in the hallways, his attention-seeking, noise-making schemes were…creative at best; it appeared that James's way of dealing with loss was to create as much havoc as he possibly could.

It was unfortunate that most of this distress was channeled out of his system by harassing Lily. The boy was doing his best to make her life a living hell. Though Potter denied it countless of times, Lily knew it was he who had placed that firework in her cauldron, causing her potion to erupt all over herself and Slughorn, who had been about to give her an Outstanding mark. So certain was her belief that she would prepare to put money on it, but then that would be considered a bet and she had come to seriously dislike bets.

"Bloody Potter," Lily snarled savagely, siphoning the sticky Draught of Happiness concoction off of her robes. She watched as, a few feet ahead, Sirius high-fived James. Even that little gesture made Lily want to shove her wand right up their—

"And to think," Dorcas began with a laugh, "that you were—" she broke off almost immediately, glancing at Marlene who had given her a warning look and a subtle stomp on the toes.

Lily stiffened, though continued to walk like nothing was wrong, pocketing her wand now that she was fully clean of the mess. Cheers, Potter. "That I was what, Dorcas?" she asked casually, keeping her voice neutral.

"Nothing," Alice finished for Dorcas a little too quickly.

"Yeah, nothing," Dorcas confirmed, her eyes darting from ceiling to floor. Wow, her friends were awful liars.

Psh, nothing her buttocks. She knew what Dorcas had been about to say. Ever since they had found Lily in her dorm after the Quidditch party, staring quite intently at the wall, Lily had caught her friends countless times whispering amongst each other; any conversation would immediately cease once they saw that their friend had entered the room. They had also gotten into a habit of not mentioning Potter's name, first or last, whilst in the redhead's presence. It was very annoying. It wasn't like Lily had actually—she shook her head, continuing to lead the way towards the great hall for lunch.

Something big, black, and incredibly chaotic caught Lily's eyes from up ahead as James's head of hair disappeared around a corner; Lily didn't even want to try to imagine what he and his friends could be up to now. There had been more pranks pulled in this castle in the time span of a week than in all of her years at Hogwarts.

And that was saying something considering that pranks, courtesy of the Marauders, had become somewhat of expected, and even anticipated, events amongst the majority of Hogwarts' population.

Actually, now that Lily thought about it, the only thing that was slightly out of place that stopped things from being completely normal in her life was that James no longer asked her out—not that she missed it, mind. In fact, he didn't even speak to her unless absolutely necessary. Those crucial times usually came under the heading of causing her humiliation or contradicting her in lessons.

So idiotic. At least his maturity level had gone back to his standard so he had some kind of an excuse.

Marlene and Dorcas sat down on either side of her at the Gryffindor table while Alice sat across from her. It was as if they had strategically placed themselves so no Marauder could come into close proximity to Lily, which is why Lily convulsed horridly and upset her goblet of pumpkin juice as a horribly familiar voice called out, "Quidditch practice, Evans, tonight. Do be more graceful on a broom than you were in potions today."

James didn't even turn his head to look at her. Sirius gave a bark of laughter while Peter giggled appreciatively as well. Remus simply looked at Lily and shook his head in a disappointed fashion.

Pricks, the lot of them.

"Well, at least my broom will be able to lift off of the ground, unlike yours. What, with that big head of yours…" Lily shot back, not wanting to give Potter any type of satisfaction whatsoever as she blatantly ignored the fact that they were within two feet of each other.

That was another thing that had gone back to normal; the abandonment of first names, as well as the constant bickering and use of insults. In a very scary way, Lily half-wished that she had continued going with the dare, just so Potter wouldn't be so annoying.

Now that was a creepy thought indeed. Her stomach seemed to swoop. She ferociously ignored it.

"Clever, Evans, come up with that on your own, did you?" James shot back; Remus was tugging on his arm.

"Like you're one to talk; I bet you need your friends' arms to help get dressed in the morning, the way your mind works."

Sirius turned and fixed Lily with a stare; there was something…Satanic in his eyes. Fire was blazing…or was it mischief? "Maybe if you had six extra arms you could actually hit the Bludger," he remarked, winking.

Lily gaped, fists clenched. How dare he continue to try to psyche her out when the bet was finished! "And I would check your socks if I were you before you talk about anyone else's dressing habits," James finished, before plopping himself in a flurry on a bench a couple feet away.

Wwwhatt? She swung her head around to face her friends, Marlene still glancing from James to Lily at a loss as to what had just transpired…or, more accurately, stunned to see them fighting, the likes of which hadn't been seen by Hogwarts' population for nearly half a year.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, pretending to be clueless, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Which, last year, wouldn't have been so unusual at all.

Dorcas shrugged, grabbing a sandwich. "Beats me…but, hey, practice tonight."

Bullocks. Quidditch? Tonight? It would be the first practice since the incident (or, as her friends had begun to call it, 'the-night-that-Potter-died-and-was-reborn-as-an-arse-per-usual'). Having to deal with Potter barking orders left and right for an hour and a half was not something that she was particularly looking forward to.

Well, at least he hadn't kicked her off the team.

She glanced over at Potter. Trying to be subtle, she took a peek down at her socks.

Holy great-grandmother of Merlin. What had happened to the white socks she'd put on that morning? And, more importantly, why was she wearing one green sock and one glittery silver one? She didn't even own glittery silver socks.

"Potter!"

OO

The shrill noise of a whistle stopped the practice for about the fifth time that evening. Lily groaned, as did everyone else—though the other team members were less upfront about their displeasure. For the love of Quidditch, couldn't they go five minutes without that bloody disruption? Gritting her teeth, Lily prepared herself for the worst as Potter, predictably, began flying towards her, his voice echoing off of the surrounding mountains. Of course he was going to comment on her, because that's what he'd been doing ever since practice had begun!

Bloody wanker.

"What was that, Evans?" he asked harshly, pulling to a stop beside her and talking about something or another that she must have obviously done wrong. Seriously, how someone could hit a Bludger wrong was beyond her.

She met his gaze and was surprised he was coming within five inches of her, to be honest, considering she had a very heavy—and lethal if need be—bat in her hand. He may be a twat, but he had guts. Or maybe he was just stupid.

"I thought it was obvious," Lily shot back, "that was your whistle stopping play, again."

No one dared to laugh at Lily's smart comeback this time. Not after James had made Mark Botley take five laps—by foot, not broom—five minutes previously for chuckling after Lily had called James a "big head on a stick." The team now knew not to mess with their irate and agitated captain, something that they had begun to blame Lily for.

"Two laps for your smart mouth, Evans," James said.

"Well, that explains why you haven't had to do any yet," Lily began, unable to stop herself, "everything that comes out of your mouth is nothing but useless, unintelligent garbage."

Lily watched with sick satisfaction as blood began rushing to James's head, his anger finally over-riding his attempted cool. It appeared that mocking James's smarts, and his sport, were bad ideas. "That's it. Practice is done for you, Evans. Get off my pitch," he bellowed. He whipped out his wand so fast that it was nothing more than a blur and, a split second later, Lily felt her Beater's bat being ripped from her right hand.

How dare he use force with her! In another instant she had her wand out and the two were suspended in mid-air, straddling their broomsticks, glaring daggers at each other.

"Give it back," she demanded of him, waving her wand.

"No."

"Yes."

She didn't really know what she was planning to do once she had gotten her wand out. It had mainly been an empty threat, because, being Head Girl, she could not hex her fellow Head Boy—no matter how much she resented him.

Maybe if no one was looking...

"It's mine," she fought back.

"Who's the captain?" he taunted and Lily was reminded unpleasantly of when he'd been shouting at Amelia Evans. Prat, he'd probably done that on purpose just to make her remember how she'd come to be on this team in the first place. Potter was invading her mind!

"This is ridiculous," Dorcas finally announced from the side-lines, flying forwards and stopping in between the Beater and the Chaser like a human barrier. "You," she declared, turning to face James, "are a prick."

"At least it's better than being a lousy Beater," James retorted quickly, eyes flashing.

"Why, you little—"

Mary Macdonald screamed shortly, probably out of surprise, as Lily practically launched herself off of her broom, across Dorcas, and over to Potter. She could only imagine how comical it had to look to the onlookers. The only reason she didn't quite make it was the fact that Dorcas had grabbed her shoulders and restrained her, forcing her friend back onto her broom. James was holding his wand out in front of him, staring wide eyed at the redhead, shocked that she had attempted to cause him bodily harm.

"I could give you a detention," James snarled, brandishing his wand about; a couple of red sparks flew out the end of it.

Lily's eyes narrowed, her chest rising and falling heavily with every breath as she strained against her friend's strong grip. "And I could give you one!" she retorted as Daniel Sparks smacked his robes to put out the spark that had landed on his sleeve.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Ten more seconds went by as the two Head students simply glared at each other like there was no tomorrow. And, to think no one was bursting into flames? Amazing! Determined not to let Lily win this little staring contest, James chucked the Quaffle he'd been holding under his arm at Robbie Tyler—rather forcefully—before putting his whistle to his lips and blowing it shortly once again.

Prat! He'd done that on purpose! He'd nearly blown her eardrum out!

"Back in formation, everyone."

The team, minus Lily, Dorcas, and James zoomed off to their original positions almost instantly. "Evans, you're dismissed," he added, his face red and jaw set. And, finally drawing his eyes from her face, and without a backward glance, he flew off to join his two other Chasers while levitating Lily's confiscated Beater's bat to the ground with his wand.

She was still breathing heavily, reminding her unpleasantly of one of those bulls at a Muggle rodeo show her dad used to like watching, as she began to descend with Dorcas at her side. "Dim-witted twit," she was muttering, her wand twitching in her fingers.

"Lily, don't let him get to you," Dorcas soothed in an undertone.

Lily snorted. Potter? Get to her? "Over my dead body."

Dorcas glanced at her friend. "Look, maybe we should just go up to the dorms, maybe sneak some hot chocolate from the kitchens—"

"Meadowes, where are you going?" James's voice called from above, the sound of him cutting through Lily like she'd just walked straight through the Bloody Baron. Shiver. It was always awkward when she accidently walked through a ghost. For goodness sakes, couldn't they ever watch where they were going? She supposed being dead for so many years had addled their—

Oh, this was all beside the point.

The blonde glanced upwards at the practice that was now resuming play. They were all gathered in a circle, playing a game of fast-paced catch. Dorcas looked torn. Lily knew she was caught between wanting to make sure her friend was alright or obeying her captain and going back to the team.

Lily sighed. "Go ahead, it's alright," she said, motioning with her hand for Dorcas to rejoin the group, wishing she could go along as well. At the same time, however, Lily was content to get as far away from James Potter as possible.

"Are you sure—"

"Of course," Lily affirmed, interrupting her friend. "Besides," she continued, glancing at James out of the corner of her eye who had just made a spectacular catch (he was so helpless, really), "I would hate for you to have to suffer Potter's terrifying wrath as well."

"I could kick his buttocks and then chuck his broom half-way across Europe before he'd even noticed the pain in his arse," the blonde Seeker responded confidently, trying to make Lily feel better. She grinned at Lily, who smiled back despite her anger. Dorcas always had a way with words…and a way with spotting the Snitch, which is why Lily wanted her up there and not down on the grass with her. "Thanks, Lily," she said gratefully, patting her friend on the arm, before flying back up to her team mates.

Honestly, Lily didn't mind that her friend had gone back to Quidditch. Besides, she felt like being alone, perhaps she could get some homework done…She hopped off of her broom and threw it into the school shed before heading back up to the castle. As she walked through the double entrance doorway, Lily didn't realize how cold it had truly been out there. Her fingers started tingling, the sensation that usually accompanied a dramatic change in temperature, as the heat from the lit torches along the walls began to defrost her fingertips.

Godric, how she hated James Potter. He was so obnoxious. Her footsteps slapped against the stone floor, echoing off of the walls and ceiling; the hallway was rather deserted. Apparently dinner was finished and everyone was either in the common rooms, the library, or detention. ...Stupid Potter. What gave him the right to correct her about everything? She had been playing fine! Though she'd only been a Quidditch player for less than three months, she knew that she hadn't done anything wrong! He was just trying to make her life intentionally hard.

Hey, but what else was new?

However, even she had to admit that their fighting hadn't been this bad before the bet, even in fifth year when they were quite possibly at their worst with each other. He had always been tolerable, just a little annoying.

Stupid bet.

She began ascending the main staircase her thoughts lingering on her and Potter's arguments during the practice. Just because he was captain did not give him the right to—"

"Hey!" Lily shouted in surprise as someone grabbed her around her upper arm and dragged her through a concealed passageway hidden behind a tapestry of four warlocks playing cards. Blast it! Her arm was starting to go numb! Whoever was holding her was grasping her hard! It surely wasn't a friendly sign…Her heart was thumping against her chest as she reached into her Quidditch robes and extracted her wand.

Brainless, really, that the bloke hadn't tried to disarm her.

"Impedimenta," Lily cried, pointing her wand at the general area of where her captor should be. Well, at least that's where she hoped she was pointing…it was rather dark in this hidden passageway.

There was a yelp of pain. Aha, her aim at been true. Her kidnapper instantly relinquished his hold on her as her offender flew back into the opposite wall out of shock. "Ouch! What the—"

A male's voice. So, it was a guy. It was a very familiar voice. Lily's heart skipped a beat. "Remus?"

"What was that for?" Remus hissed, and in the darkness Lily could just make out the Marauder pushing himself away from the wall, shuddering with pain.

"You just jump out at me, take me hostage, and expect me to cooperate? You really are quite daft, Remus Lupin," Lily commented. "Lumos," she said and light flooded the small, thin area of space they were currently residing in.

"Well, I didn't expect you to react that quickly," he replied, glaring at her.

"Terribly sorry," Lily said, her eyes narrowing

Remus's mouth twitched at the corners, like he was about to smile, but then his face went completely blank again. Lily leaned against the wall behind her. "Look, is there some reason you brought me here? Or is it a habit of yours to kidnap unsuspecting girls?"

There was a silence as Lily held her lit wand above her head so she could watch the werewolf's face. The light illuminated his features and the many scars that lined them. A small twinge of pity swept through her, but then she thought about what he'd just done and why he'd probably done it, and she didn't feel so sorry for him anymore.

"You were using him," Remus finally said, bringing out his own wand and igniting it as well.

The situation was quite humorous: both of them, shining their wands in the other's eyes, like a melodramatic detective show. Except detectives usually didn't have wands.

"Merlin, can't you just drop it already?" Lily asked, exasperated, as she rolled her eyes. "I mean, really, we've only had this conversation like three times in the past week."

It was true. He'd cornered her plenty of times ever since the end of the bet, yet the conversations usually ended pretty quickly. He would berate her for tricking Potter into sharing their rather illegal secrets, she would retort with the fact that she hadn't asked him to tell her anything; he would shake his head in disappointment, and she would leave. And so it went. It was becoming quite tiresome. Lily had seen quite enough of the Marauders this year than she would've liked to.

"But you've never told me why," he responded, sizing up to her, which was quite pointless seeing as he was about four inches taller than her anyways. "Why James?"

"I thought you knew all the answers," she shot back.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other; clearly he was annoyed with her. Well, that made two of them. "Lily…" he said in a warning voice, as if he was her mother and he was scolding her for playing with matches.

"Fine, I was burning with curiosity of the Marauders' cunning ways and had a passionate desire to learn more so I could, hopefully, put you all into Azkaban. Happy?" she said, wanting to cross her arms but being unable to due to the fact that she was still holding her lit wand in Remus's face.

"No, actually, I'm not."

A slight frown was looking back at her, almost accusingly. Really, this had gone on quite enough. She was sick and tired of all of the Marauders. Especially Potter. Regardless, she didn't dare tell any of them she had figured out the bet. It would ruin the whole effect of the dare. Knowing Potter, if he found out that she had known, he would probably say something arrogant about how she really did like him but had only broken it off with him because causing him to lose was some sort of tribal marriage ceremony…or something along those lines.

Whatever.

"Remus," she began, "we're friends. You know I wouldn't intentionally use someone—even if it was Potter—unless I had a good enough reason," Lily explained. She immediately froze as she heard herself speak. Oh, Godric, that hadn't come out the way she had wanted it to. It had sounded better in her head, where she should have just left it! Great, she was in for it now.

His eyes widened. "There was a reason, then?"

"I never said that—"

But Remus shook his head and grabbed her wrist. "He cared about you—" Lily couldn't help but snort in disbelief, the effect of which was almost ruined as Lily's heart jumped to her throat. "—No, he did, and if his behavior this past week hasn't been enough to prove that…well, then I guess you're the dense one."

Holy mother of Merlin! The bet was over! He didn't have to keep making up these lies to placate her. Potter never cared. Potter only ever cared about making her life miserable. If anyone was the victim here it was her and definitely not foolish James Potter! The bet was done— finished. Finito. Zip, zap, gone!

So…why were the Marauders still acting like the bet was still on?

Out of anger that seemed to have accumulated out of nowhere, Lily twisted her wrist out of his grip. "I'm leaving," she stated simply, bringing her wand back down to her side in one fluid, harsh movement.

And as she turned to leave the way she came, she caught Remus shaking his head at her sadly. Gah, there he went with his guilt trip actions again. Lily stormed away, confused at the fact that Remus was still trying to feed her lies, was still trying to win the bet, even though the bet had finished six days previously.

He must just be a sore loser.

OO

"Detention?" Lily shrieked loudly, causing a group comprised of three second year girls to glance at the Head Girl with mild interest. It also forced the owl that had delivered the letter to take off in a mess of feathers, almost knocking over the tray of buttered croissants displayed across the table.

Her green eyes zoomed across the small scroll again, convinced that there had to be a mistake. Perhaps the owl had given it to the wrong person. But there was her name in the top, left corner and again at the beginning of the notice.

Miss Evans,
Your detention is set up for next Monday evening, beginning at six o'clock. Please drop by my office promptly after breakfast.
--Professor McGonagall

"B-but I didn't do anything!" Lily clarified to no one in particular as she began to hyperventilate because of the injustice of it all. The letter was scrunched tightly in her hand, which was beginning to sweat slightly. Oh, Godric, what did McGonagall want with her? Scold her for whatever she had done? Take away her Head Girl badge? No, she couldn't possibly—could she? She glanced up at the staff table in the Great Hall; McGonagall's place was empty, no doubt she was waiting for her ex-best student in her office…emphasis on the 'ex.'

"Calm down, Lily," Alice cooed, handing her friend a glass of milk.

"Yeah, none of us would like it very much if you passed out and overturned all the food on this table," a deep voice a few seats down spoke.

"Shove off, Black," Marlene shot back angrily.

Lily glared and flicked her wand carelessly towards the Marauders, where the pitcher of water that had been sitting innocently on the table spilt into Potter's and Black's laps. Satisfied with herself, and having let out some of her anger, Lily gathered up her bag and grabbed her transfiguration book. "I better go," she said to her friends as James and Sirius attempted to dry themselves off as a few Hufflepuff fourth years sniggered. "I'll meet you in class."

Her friends nodded, offering her words of wisdom and good luck, as she stood up from the bench. Three minutes later she stood outside her head of house's office. On the way, she had convinced herself that there truly must've been a mistake and McGonagall surely just wanted to call her in to ask her about it. So, with that in mind, she knocked on the door.

"Come in, Miss Evans."

It always amazed her that her professors always seemed to know what was going on. It was like they had super powers…well, to put up with all of these kids they had to have some sort of resilience

"Good morning, Professor," Lily greeted, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

McGonagall nodded. "Take a seat," she offered, pointing to the hard-looking chair that sat before her handsome, mahogany desk. It didn't look all the comfortable, but it oddly seemed to fit the personality of Minerva McGonagall.

"Biscuit?"

Well, that was odd.

"No, thank you, Professor

Lily sat and waited for her teacher to continue. You didn't do anything wrong, Lily, you're innocent. Just breathe, be polite… "Now, Miss Evans, it appears that Mister Potter has set you a detention," McGonagall began promptly, peering at her student.

Her neck clicked, making an unnatural pop, as her head shot up painfully. "What?" she asked incredulously. Unbelievable, this was un-bloody-believable.

The deputy headmistress nodded solemnly, her hands folded neatly in front of her, her eyes stern. "He filed it for," she took out a piece of paper from her desk and began to read off of it, "'un-cordially conduct towards fellow students' and 'deliberate disobedience towards the Head Boy.' Does this have any meaning to you?" she asked, setting down the small piece of parchment.

Lily gaped. No freaking way. Had Potter really stooped so low? Had he honestly given her a detention for what had happened at Quidditch practice? Someone had to be joking. This had to be a cruel prank.

Curse the Marauders.

"Miss Evans?" McGonagall inquired.

"Well—you see—It was Quidditch practice and…" She was furious. This was unmerited! Potter had started it! If it weren't for him and his blasted whistle, none of this would have happened. She wanted so badly to start mouthing off about how insane Potter actually was, but since that was what she had been sent here for…Merlin, James bloody Potter was sabotaging her life even after she thought she'd gotten rid of him!

McGonagall sighed, nodding, as if Lily had just confirmed the charges that had been brought up against her. "I'm disappointed in you, Miss Evans," McGonagall began, pushing her reading glasses up her nose with her index finger. Lily felt herself blushing in shame. The professor stood up slowly from her seat, and taking it as her cue to get up as well, Lily rose. "I've never had trouble from you before," McGonagall continued, "so I can trust that this won't happen again." Lily nodded, backing out towards the door. "Six o'clock, Monday, my office then."

With one last curt nod, McGonagall shut the door with a quiet snap, leaving a ringing silence. Lily listened to herself breathe for a while, standing outside of her professor's office, all kind of thoughts running through her head. Why was Potter such an imbecile? Everything going wrong in her life was his entire fault! She hadn't been serious when she said she was going to give him a detention, and she had thought that he hadn't been either.

Well, two could play that game. It would be easy enough to find something to convict Potter of. Seriously, he was like a walking, talking emblem of trouble. But it had to be something good—Merlin only knew that detentions had no affect whatsoever on the deranged boy. Hmm, but what to file him with…and then, something hit her. If she hadn't screwed up her Astronomy charts, Lily was pretty positive that tonight was a full moon.

OO

Time ticked by. Lily waited. The clock struck midnight. Lily still waited. Her friends fell asleep. Lily continued to wait, because she was one hundred percent certain that any moment now and the portrait hole would open, depositing three very tired, and invisible, boys.

Her back was dead straight against the back of her chair, and her eyes were wide open, almost unblinking, like a cat who was watching a ball of yarn being rolled across the floor. An hour passed by and Lily continued to resist her sagging eyelids. Any moment now…

She couldn't help but think how much things had regressed. Here she was, at the end of the dare, waiting for Potter to return. Five months ago she had been doing the same thing, at the beginning of her dare. In between that time things had gotten so far between Lily and James, and then it had all crashed around them, like she had known deep down that it would, because it had been too good to last. She had won her dare, and caused him to lose his bet.

And yet, here she was, still wanting to extract revenge on him. Perhaps revenge was a bit addicting…

Finally, her ears perked as the portrait hole creaked open. Soft footsteps were muffled by the carpet as they entered. She knew they were there even though she couldn't see them. Thanks to James, she knew most of their secrets now.

"Shut up," she heard someone mutter. She was pretty sure it had been Peter. Ha, so they'd spotted her.

Good.

"Stop," Lily said clearly. The footsteps did in fact stop and Lily, feeling oddly powerful, swished her wand, forming a tripping jinx (mentally thanking Amelia for the idea) which caused the three boys to tumble unceremoniously to the floor in a heap of entangled body parts.

Lily grinned as Sirius swore heavily, bits and pieces of the boys' bodies reappearing at odd intervals. Sirius's feet were exposed as his hand was lying on Peter's exposed back. Peter's leg was jumbled beside Potter's no longer invisible head. They all untangled themselves quickly, all muttering dark curses under their breath.

"Your fault, mate, for showing her," Sirius muttered to James who scowled. Meanwhile, Peter was folding up the Invisibility Cloak behind his friends, delaying the moment where he'd have to look the Head Girl in the eye.

Smirking at all of their stricken faces, Lily approached them. "You're right, Black, thanks Potter for the tip," she said, motioning towards the silvery material bundled up in Peter's pudgy arms. All three of them bore slight scratches, but nothing looked serious.

She glanced at the only bespectacled trouble maker of the lot. "Out after hours…I think I just might have to give you a detention, Potter."

His hazel eyes narrowed dangerously as Sirius and Peter looked at each other, clearly confused as to why they had apparently gotten off so easily. "You know what we were doing, Evans," James hissed severely, taking a step towards her as if threatening her.

Perhaps she was being a bit too vindictive? Oh, for the love of everything magical, this was Potter, whom she hated. "I know, which is why I'm making it a double detention," Lily responded easily.

James continued to glare so viciously that Lily actually felt a bit guilty for what she was doing. Though his fancy towards her had been false, the lengths he went to help his friends was not, as much as she hated to admit it. She took in his messy hair (which a little, brown leaf was entwined in), his torn robes, his dirt splattered face…this is who she had wasted half of her seventh year with. A guy who only was nice to her so that he could win five galleons from his mate; a guy who was so aggravating, so conniving, so thoughtless, so good-looking—

Hold the owl. Potter wasn't, and never was, handsome in any shape or form. No way.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Black glance between the both of them. Peter was shuffling his feet anxiously, worried that at any moment Lily might turn on him and hand him two detentions and a death sentence as well.

"Why does only Prongs—"

"Shut it, Padfoot," James demanded of his friend to the surprise of all in the room. He focused his gaze on Lily. "You really are something, you know that?" he said, his voice dangerously low. "One minute you make a bloke think that you like him, and the next…"

"The next, what?" Lily countered. James didn't answer. She glowered. "Well, at least I can count on you to act like I'd expect you to twenty-four-seven."

James seemed beside himself. He kept making odd, sporadic hand motions as if he were desperately trying to restrain himself from poking her with the wand. Not a playful kind of poke, though; the kind of poke that little kids do at the zoo when trying to get a rise out of one of the reptiles sleeping behind the paneled glass…

…Or she supposed he could always hex her, which coming from him, right now, would hurt.

"You are so…" he broke off, shaking his head wildly; the leaf fell to the floor. "Fine, I'll take your detentions," he stated vehemently, "nothing new for a bloke like me, right?"

He jerked his head towards the staircase and his friends followed him to the boys' dorm. James's arm brushed against hers as he passed and she immediately shivered. Peter kept glancing back, apparently shocked and extremely relieved that he had escaped unharmed. As they wound the corner of the stairs Lily craned her head to keep them in view. It wasn't until she heard their dormitory door slam—unnecessarily hard she'd like to add—that Lily stopped pursuing them.

She didn't know why, and she couldn't explain it, but something did not feel right.

It wasn't until the next morning, when she was sitting quietly in transfiguration chatting with her friends, that it happened. It wasn't until Potter strutted in—determinedly not looking at her— and Sirius smirked in her direction that she knew why she hadn't felt right the night before.

"Looking forward to detention with Prongs on Monday, Evans?" Sirius called out.

Oh, Godric. How coincidental…curse the Heavens. This was not going to be pretty.

Ohh, I just love "Winner at a Losing Game" by Rascal Flatts. I was actually listening to that song when I was writing this chapter so that's why it's the title...and it seemed to fit. So, that's that. Haha, Lily and James have a lot of issues to sort out with each other...bwahaha.

Next chapter: Sirius tells the truth...shocker, right?

Have a great weekend! And it would be awesome if you reviewed! I know this chapter wasn't as action-packed as the last one, but it was necessary to show how Lily and James got along now. Hopefully you enjoyed it!

--HeyLookTheSnitch