Valentine's Day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a monumental occasion every year, bringing the hormone driven teenagers to give chocolates and kisses to one another. There wasn't one student that was depressed about the holiday.
And with a exams looming nearer, a raging prankwar and other stressful subjects, most seventh years looked much forward to a Valentine's Day at Hogsmeade. Most seventh years had dates or previous engagements, whereas others did not. Either way, a day at Hogsmeade was much needed for the students at Hogwarts.
And yet, as James stood there in the courtyard with all his friends and fellow classmates, watching Lily talk animatedly to Chase Davies several feet away from him, he couldn't help but feel that this had to be the worst Valentine's Day yet. Even with the Marauders leading in the prankwar 345-330, James couldn't bring himself to hardly smile as he caught sight of Lily's hand entwined in Davies'. The last few weeks or so had been hell for him, seeing as Lily gradually began disappearing to the Library for hours at a time, and when he would look for her, James would indeed find her in the Library, with none other than Chase Davies by her side.
The prankwar was sagging, and even with small pranks here and there, it was hard for the Marauders and Marauderesses to make a deadly move on one another, especially with some of their team members being so distracted with one another.
"Do you think they're an official couple?" James asked Sirius distractedly, who was leaning against a pillar and winking at the occasional girl walking by.
"Huh?" Sirius raised his head.
James rolled his eyes; there was no hope in getting Sirius to focus when he was busy scoping out the opposite sex. "Never mind."
"Where's Angie?" Sirius asked conversationally.
"In detention." James answered, looking not worried one bit. "She'll be joining us in the later part of the afternoon."
He turned back to the groups of students, eyeing the couples with a bitter look. Emmaline and Remus were standing next to one another, chatting amiably and acting very unlike two people who are supposed to be on a date. Lily was still talking to Davies, James noted angrily, and the pair looked more like a couple than anyone else in the courtyard.
"Hey James," Gracie walked up, clad in jeans, a fuzzy sweater and a Gryffindor scarf. She glanced at Lily and Chase and rolled her eyes, "If you're trying to burn a hole in Davies' head, I'd suggest moving closer."
James gave Gracie an amused look, "I was actually trying to send Davies telepathic messages telling him to leave Lily the hell alone, but you're close enough."
The brunette let out a shout of laughter, causing Sirius to get knocked out of his Hot-Girl-Induced coma and focus his attention on Gracie. Before they could start arguing, James spotted Davies walking away from Lily and took the chance to practically sprint over to her.
"Lils!" James practically yelled. The knot of jealousy in his stomach loosened somewhat when she turned around, beaming at him.
"Hey, Jamesie!" She cried back. "You got a date to Hogsmeade?"
"Angie's joining up with me later," James shrugged, "What about you? Did Davies already dump you?"
"No." The red-head narrowed her eyes. "He's just going to the restroom."
"Oh." James stood there, awkwardly blushing for a minute or so. "Er....what time will your date be over?"
"It's probably going to last the whole day." Lily sighed happily. "Chase has got a bunch of things for us to do."
"Really?" James voice shot up a few octaves as a new wave of jealousy ripped through him. "That's great. But...d-don't we have to visit Harry at some point?"
"Oh, crap." Lily smacked a hand to her forehead. "I forgot. Um....how about we go at around two in the afternoon or so. I'll tell Chase to wait for me, or something."
"That's fine." James smiled. "Just don't be late, Evans!"
"I'm never late, Potter," Lily sniffed, trying and failing to hide her smile, "Everyone else is merely early."
James shook his head with an even bigger smile than before. "I'll see you later."
"Bye James." Lily waved.
He walked away, and by the time he turned once more to wave at her, she was once again locked in an intimate conversation between her and Davies. The Head Boy found himself once again on the edge of the courtyard, watching everyone else, and wishing he had Lily as a companion as opposed to Gracie and Sirius, who were arguing heatedly about Sirius' intelligence level.
"What do you think they're going to do on their date?" James asked Gracie, who finally gave up on arguing and was ignoring Sirius.
"I don't know," Gracie answered with a grimace, "Probably someplace really kinky, like the Shrieking Shack."
James' reaction was more or less very amusing.
"WHAT??!!!!" He shouted, causing several third years standing nearby to give him weird looks. "He's taking her WHERE?"
Gracie was laughing so hard she could barely speak. "I...was...kidding, you dolt!"
But James had already had the seed of insanity planted in his mind, and it was most certainly growing and driving him crazy.
"Gracie," He grabbed the brunette's arm, "We have to follow them. I don't want that slime Davies' taking my favorite red head to someplace like the Shrieking Shack."
"Relax," She said, rolling her eyes and removing his hand from her arm, "I was joking."
It was like he didn't hear her. James just couldn't get the nasty images of Lily and Davies at the Shrieking Shack out of his head, and he was going to do anything to prevent them from happening.
"C'mon," This time, James grabbed both Sirius and Gracie and pulled them after him, "We're going undercover."
"To do what?" Sirius asked, completely clueless as to what was going on (he had gone back to eyeing the ladies).
"Spy on Lily and Davies." James answered stonily, his jaw set. "We're going to grab the Invisibility Cloak and the Map and then we're going to sneak into Honeydukes."
"The what and the WHAT?" Gracie asked sharply, never having been let in on Marauder secrets.
Sirius suddenly stopped walking. "Wait...waitwaitwait!"
James whipped around angrily, "What? We don't have time for this?"
The grey-eyed Marauder crossed his arms over his chest, "Why do we even need the Cloak and the Map? Why don't we just go down there?"
"We don't need them to be suspicious?" James answered. "Now C'mon!"
"We can't let a GIRL in on Marauder secrets!" Sirius hissed. "They're the things that define us as men!"
"Or as incredibly masculine women." Gracie muttered under her breath, earning a glare from both boys.
"We can trust Gracie," James said, "Right, Gracie?"
She raised her hand, "Scouts Honor."
"We're gonna regret this." Sirius mumbled to himself as they stumbled along the tunnel leading to Hogsmeade.
"This is so cool," Gracie said to herself, glancing around the blackened space, "And don't worry, Black, your secret is safe with me."
"Ugh, sure it is. The queen of ice is going to keep a Marauder secret? Likely."
Though Gracie couldn't see Sirius, she could practically hear the rolling of his eyes.
"You know," The brunette huffed as they trekked through the unwinding dark, "I was under the impression that you were attracted to me. Why the nasty comments?"
"Hey, you kissed me, not the other way around."
"WILL YOU TWO JUST QUIT IT?!" James shouted, sending echoes down the dark passage. "Jesus, I can barely think with all your racket!"
A pause. Then, "She started it."
"Shut up, Black." The accused growled.
James heaved a sigh. They still had half the tunnel to go through and it was already turning into a verbal sparring match with Gracie against Sirius. In the back of James head, a clear picture of Lily snogging Davies was playing, and getting ever so clearer and likelier to him.
"Has she snogged him?" He asked, interrupting his friends' bickering.
"Has who snogged who?" Came Gracie's voice, sounding slightly more then relieved to be removed from the verbal sparring match.
"Lily. Has she snogged," James gulped, "Davies?"
"How should I know that?" Gracie scoffed. "We've got more important matters to worry about other than Lily's love life. I mean, she like the guy, James. It's not a crime."
"No, but underage sex is." James replied sharply.
Sirius snickered at the word 'sex' and Gracie elbowed him.
"James," Gracie tugged on his sleeve, "I know that you want to look out for Lily, but this is a little extreme, don't you think?"
He didn't answer, merely checking the Marauder's Map under the light of his wand.
"The passage exit is about thirty feet from here." He said a minute later. "We'll all put the cloak on and find Lily."
"Hang on," Sirius said, "I don't want to spend the whole day stalking the object of your affections, mate."
"I agree." Gracie added, "I have an essay for charms calling my name."
"Guys, please?" James put his best puppy dog face on, despite the dark.
A moment of silence, and then his companions nodded.
"Thanks." James replied, walking ahead.
"You're so going to lose the bet." Gracie whispered in Sirius' ear as soon as James was out of earshot.
"Oh yeah? And how's that?"
"It's clear that he's already off his rocker and cracking very easily." Came the smooth reply, triumph clear in its tone.
"They have to be somewhere here!" James shouted frantically, squinting through the fabric of the Invisibility Cloak.
"I'm not sure they--OW! Sirius, you stepped on my foot, you prat!"
Sirius' muttered apology was cut off as James let out a cry of happiness and dragged the two across the street into a shop. He tore the cloak off of them and tucked it into his bag.
"Madame Puddifoot's?" Sirius raised an eyebrow as he looked about the restaurant while Gracie shuddered. "This is that horrifying place where you were so afraid Lily was going to be shagging a boy other than you?"
James said nothing, only glaring and ordering a table for three. The waitress gave the trio an odd glance but lead them to the little pink table in the corner of the tea shop, handing them each a menu. Gracie took one look at hers before throwing it down disgustedly. Sirius continued raising an eyebrow, while James stared to the right of the restaurant.
The three ordered some coffee and cookies and sat in silence, Sirius and Gracie looking repulsed with everything around them and James staring at a red head.
James wasn't sure what he was doing there, and now felt incredibly stupid just sitting there with Gracie and Sirius, while Lily, some fifty feet away from him, was enjoying a nice romantic date with Chase Davies.
"What does she even see in Davies?" James blurted loudly, causing the waitress delivering their coffee and heart-shaped cookies to give him a dirty look.
"Is that a rhetorical question? Gracie asked, snapping a heart shaped cookie in half with a self-satisfied smile, "Because James, I hate to say it, but Davies is a pretty nice guy. Sure, maybe I have to agree with you and admit that his ears are rather funny looking, but he's smart and good looking."
"Are you actually admitting that a member of the opposite sex is attractive?" Sirius asked incredulously, staring wide-eyed at Gracie.
"Yes," She sniffed, "I do that sometimes."
"Why don't you ever tell me that I'm attractive?" He asked indignantly.
Gracie looked at him flatly before answering, "You're attractive when you're not acting like a right arse." She paused, narrowing her eyes in thought. "I actually did once say that to you, when I was getting rid of my clones."
"But how could I have known if you were telling the truth?"
The brunette smiled devilishly. "There's no way to be sure. Even now."
"I'm all of those things!" James interrupted exasperatedly. "I'm nice, smart and handsome. AND," He lowered his voice, "I don't have funny looking ears!"
"Are we still on this subject?" Gracie groaned, swinging around to face James, "Look, why don't you just tell Lily how you feel about her and tell Davies to take a hike?"
"It's not that simple!" James followed Gracie's idea and took out his anger at such a frilly restaurant on the heart-shaped cookies by snapping them in half and was surprised to find hat is did make him feel better. "I would end up looking like an idiot times a million and Lily would probably never speak to me again."
Gracie shrugged and turned back to snapping cookies in half before drowning them in her coffee.
They (Sirius, James and Gracie, that is) went back to their original positions. Sitting there with nothing to do was what they did for the next hour or so. James hated to admit that his jealousy grew with every time he saw Lily smile or laugh at something Davies said. He even had to clench his fists every time he saw Lily's and Davies' hands entwined under the tables.
"I'm really bored." Sirius finally announced after waking up form a nap on the pink table. "We've been here for over an hour. I've had my coffee and yet this place is still boring me to tears!"
Gracie nodded, snapping a cookie into smaller and smaller pieces.
"What time is it?" James asked, not replying to either of his friends' pleas.
"Half past one." The brunette answered over a yawn. "Please, James? Can we just go?"
James looked at Gracie and Sirius, both practically identical with their haughtily amused and tired expressions.
He waved them away, "Fine. Go have fun. I'll just go visit Harry a little early."
Gracie smiled with appreciation and patted Sirius on the shoulder, "You hear that, Padfoot? We're free!"
The two were out of the restaurant before James could say goodbye. With a shrug of his shoulders, he payed the coffee and cookie bill, trying to ignore the couple across the room.
"She's fifteen minutes late, Harry." James said to the moose. "Fifteen minutes late. Your mother has never been late."
The moose blinked lazily back at James with those big brown eyes.
It was true. Lily Evans was NEVER late, so that fact that she was at the moment was unsettling to James, almost terrifying.
"What if she's hurt?" James asked nervously. "What if she's at Madame Puddifoot's lying dead on the floor because she choked on one of those demented heart-shaped cookies!? What if she's--"
James never got to ponder the possibilities of what could be keeping his red-head friend so delayed for at that precise moment, she came running over to him, date trailing along in her wake.
"James!" She cried. "I am so sorry I'm late." Despite the apology in her voice, she looked positively happy with being latte to the Harry Visit. "But Chase took me to see the Shrieking Shack and we decided to go inside and lost track of time."
"Yeah, sorry about that Potter." Chase said, not looking very sorry at all as he beamed at Lily. "But it's hard to get somewhere on time when you've got this one," He jerked his finger towards her, "Hanging onto you because she's so scared of the Shrieking Shack."
"I was not scared!" Lily defended, swatting Davies playfully on the arm.
"Was too!"
They continued the game back and forth, laughing like two chattering parakeets. James didn't find it funny at all, but kept his mouth shut.
The couple and Marauder stood for a minute, before Davies said, "I'll reserve us a table at the Three Broomsticks. Don't take too long, Lils."
Lils. That was James' nickname for her, and no other blokes. As Davies squeezed Lily's hand and walked away, James turned back to Harry and gave him another carrot.
Lily walked over to the corral fence and hopped over, stumbling a bit as she landed next to the father of her moose. She grabbed his sleeve and leaned into him as she righted herself. She let go quickly, flushing and focusing on Harry.
"Hi there, Harry." She cooed, scratching behind his ears and petting his nose. "Sorry to be late."
"He was in the midst of a mental breakdown," James said, "I had to keep feeding him carrots so he wouldn't go galloping off to find you himself."
The red-head wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she saw Harry give a great big roll of his eyes.
"Well," She said in a stern voice, "How dare you restrain Harry from his mother."
The two humans stood there, petting the moose in a silence that was both awkward and bated. It held all that the things that Lily and James did and didn't want to discuss.
"So...you and Davies?" The question came out of James' mouth before he could stop it.
Lily tensed beside him before answering tersely, "Yes."
James gave a flippant shrug. "Congratulations."
Her defense was up immediately, "Look, James, I don't need an opinion."
"I never gave one." He replied stonily.
She faltered, "Well....good."
"It's just weird," James continued, wishing he could just shut up, "I mean, isn't Davies a little out of your league?"
Lily glared, dropping her hand from Harry's fur. "Meaning what?"
"Nothing. I'm just saying that Davies must be quite desperate to date a girl with no prior guy experience."
Oh, he'd done it now. James didn't know why he was even talking. He kind of just wished the Earth would swallow him up whole.
"So what?" Lily snapped. "So what if I have no experience?"
He had no control of the words coming out of his mouth anymore. All he wanted was for Lily to be single again, making her that more than possible option as a girlfriend.
"James," Lily continued in an ice tone, "What are you saying?"
"That usually, a girl that hasn't dated a boy until the age of seventeen has...well....something wrong with her."
It was meant as a joke, but the way it sounded didn't make it that way.
"Something wrong with me?" Lily's voice cracked with anger. Harry trotted away, frightened.
"Possibly." James answered coolly.
They stared at each other for a minute or so, but just as Lily opened her mouth to say something back, a cry sounded from the edge of the corral.
"JAMESIE!" A blond head of hair bobbed up and down as Angie called her boyfriend.
"Hey Angie." For once, James was glad to have a girlfriend around.
The blond climbed over the corral edge, eyeing Lily with a glare and leaning away from Harry as he nosed her hand for carrots. "I'm here now, so you wanna go grab a butterbeer?"
James took one look at Lily, whose expression of disbelief and anger was evident upon her face and said, "Sure." He took Angie's hand and the two of them walked back to Hogsmeade.
Lily watched them go and then rounded on Harry, eyes blazing.
"There's nothing wrong with me, is there Harry?" She reached out and handed him a carrot, distractedly petting his muzzle. "James is just being a prat."
The moose blinked back at her.
With a scoff, Lily hopped out of the corral, gave Harry one last carrot and started off towards the Three Broomsticks, hoping to get her mind off of things.
The minute he walked into the Pub, she saw him.
"What is he doing here?" Lily hissed, watching James and Angie take a seat at a table directly across the restaurant from her and Chase.
"What are you talking about?" Chase asked with a smile.
After staring at the couple for a second longer, Lily turned back, shaking her head. "Nothing, I just thought I saw one of the Professors. What were you saying, Chase?"
Chase continued his lecture on British Monarchy and Lily picked absentmindedly at the scratchy looking table, hardly able to believe her luck. She thought James was happy for her, but then he went off on her at the Harry Visit, and now he was here with Angie. Her head was whirring just from the thought of it.
"I need a drink." She said. "You want another butterbeer?"
Chase grinned at her. "I'll get them, Lils."
She nearly cringed. She didn't like the way Chase said Lils. It had to much of a lisp in it and not enough 'L' sound. It was all wrong.
She saw James lean over and whisper something to Angie, who giggled madly. Lily, looking for a distraction, spotted Emma and Remus sitting next to each other, talking amiably. Lily smiled and walked over.
"Hey guys."
"Hi, Lily." Emma said, smiling up at her.
"H-how are you?"
"Um...." Remus gave Lily an odd look. "Fine. And you?"
"I'm...I'm alright." She put a false smile on her face.
"Really?" Emma raised an eyebrow, glancing quickly at James; table.
"I'm fine." She said firmly.
"Ok." Emma said lightly, looking like she didn't believe Lily one bit.
"I'll er....see you guys later."
"Okay." They waved goodbye.
She sat back at her table, staring at her hands and trying not to look up. It was hard, seeing as she really wanted to see what James was doing? And what had happened to Gracie and Sirius? They had been with James at Madame Puddifoot's just sitting there and breaking up the cookies.
Feeling someone's gaze on her, she looked up quickly to find James looking at her. It was hard to look back without smiling at his hazel gaze. A second later, James had turned to his side and delivered a kiss to Angelina White, who accepted it eagerly.
Something inside Lily snapped. Chase came walking over to the table and set two drinks down it.
"Hey there," She gave her flirtiest smile and reached for both his hands, holding them under the table.
Two can play at that game, James, she thought to herself.
James obviously saw what Lily did because he started cuddling with Angie.
Lily gave Chase an 'Eskimo kiss' which her date blinked at oddly, but accepted all the same.
James went back to snogging Angie again.
Emma and Remus, who were watching this, very amused, turned to each other.
"This is better than Muggle Television." Emma said, sipping her drink.
"You said it." Remus laughed.
Suddenly, Lily grabbed Chase and pulled him in for a long kiss, which James saw in clear sight.
And that's when James snapped. He knew that Chase would have to pay for stealing his girl, and the minute he got back into the castle, he would get it big time.
"I'll see you later, Angie." James stood, wrapping his scarf around his neck.
"Where are you going, Jamesie?" She asked in her girliest voice.
"I've got...homework." He said, walking out of the restaurant.
When she heard the door of the pub slam shut, Lily pulled away from Chase with a small smile. Because no matter how much this situation was all James' fault, she knew that his girlfriend would have to be the one to pay.
"I'll see you later."She suddenly stood up and walked towards the end of the pub. "I've got to go talk to McGonagall about that essay."
"Wanna eat dinner with me later, Lily?" Chase asked.
Lily looked at him, with his mousy brown hair and blue eyes. He was nice, funny, and even a little quirky with his strangely shaped ears. She liked him. But why didn't she feel anything?
"Sure." She grinned.
The grin vanished from her face as soon as she turned around, walking out of the pub and making the trek back to the castle.
"So...."
That was as far as the dinner conversation had gotten, James' attempt to talk. But it was clear that with the slightly more than awkward behavior of everyone at their section of the Gryffindor table; it wasn't going to get better.
Gracie and Sirius sat on opposite ends of the table, neither looking up from their plate of food. Emma kept blushing at the oddest things, while Remus kept drifting off into quiet thought. Angie was the only one who was acting as normal as ever, running her fingers repeatedly through James' hair, while James stared across the Great Hall. Lily had never showed up to dinner at the Gryffindor table, seating herself at the Ravenclaw table next to Chase Davies and his friends.
Not once did she glance at James.
It was honestly the strangest dinner the Marauders and Marauderesses had. As well as the one emanating the widest range of emotions, not that anyone noticed.
But of course, this is the story of a prankwar, and therefore, the silence was not bound to last long.
There was a sudden scream from the Ravenclaw table as well as a string of curse words and Davies was hoisted ten feet in the air, suspended by nothing but his boxers. Everyone at first thought something was wrong, but once his platter of food began attacking him in the form of food bullets, they knew that the pranks were back on.
"Owww!!!!" He screamed, dangling in mid air by his boxers, which were hoisted up as if being held by an invisible hand.
Amidst the laughter, Sirius looked up from his plate and yelled, "Now THAT, is how the Marauders do an Atomic Wedgie."
The girls all hooted at the opportunity of getting to see Davies boxers, while the guys found it rather amusing that the bloke was getting pelted with bits of mashed potato and Yorkshire pudding.
James, who had his wand under the table, had no plan to let Davies down until that wedgie became permanent. This would teach the little slime ball from taking out Lily Evans again.
Speaking of the red-head, she had just whipped around and given the most ferocious glare to James, probably trying to undo the spell with her mind. She was furious, both because the prank was on Chase, and because the prank was from the Marauders.
She didn't do anything, however, but merely smiled at Angie and yelled, "Nice hair!"
The blond grabbed a mirror out of her pocket and screamed. Her hair was green, her makeup was somehow replaced with some smelly substance that looked like dragon dung, her nails were long and cracked, her face was covered in hideous acne, and her back was sprouting something that looked an awful lot like a pink pair of dragon wings.
Angie shrieked again and leaped out of her seat, drawing everyone's attention from Chase Davies to her and causing another wave of raucous laughter. Before she could all tell them to shut the hell up, she began choking on something as an object appeared in her throat. She reached in and drew out a small parchment that looked too familiar for her to be happy about.
Trust us; you look better this way, darling.
Sincerely,
The Marauderesses
It took Angie all of five seconds to throw the paper at James' face with a feral scream.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" She yelled.
James couldn't even bring himself to apologize, because he was laughing so damn hard. He didn't care who the Marauderesses were, because all he knew is that they were bloody brilliant.
"You think this is funny?" The blond (or whatever you call someone with green hair) yelled again. "Fine then, James. If you can't be a supportive boyfriend, then I'm breaking up with you! I can't take this anymore! Bloody Marauderesses!"
The announcement of her prank culprits sent the Great Hall in another round of glee, including cheering and stomping. Gracie smiled into her plate while Emma coughed back her laughter.
James just sat there, still laughing.
"Ugh!" Angie stalked out of the hallway, laughter following her the whole way out.
James was laughing so hard he forgot to keep the Atomic Wedgie spell in check, which sent Davies careening towards the floor, screaming painfully.
Lily bent over him, probably offering to get him to the hospital wing. James held back the jinx he so wanted to mutter under his breath that would give Davies another wedgie as Lily locked eyes with him. Whether her eyes held a plea or a threat, James was not sure because as soon as her gaze met his, it was gone.
"A successful night of pranking, don't you think, gents?" Sirius smiled to himself. "Random, yes. But nice all the same."
"Successful, yes." Emma agreed, "But random? I have a feeling that the victims of the pranking were picked long before the pranks were decided, don't you think?"
No one responded, because they all knew what the answer was.
The Marauders and Marauderesses didn't sit with each other as usual that night in the common room. The girls kept to the right corner and the boys kept to the left. Students around the room buzzed excitedly as they discussed who they would vote for after that night's pranking.
Remus sat quietly, playing a game Wizard's Chess with Sirius as Peter munched on a bag of Bertie Botts.
Emma was reading a book, Gracie worked on her essay and Lily stared off into the fire. James copied her actions.
Sirius' grey eyes snapped from James to Lily. "Prongs, I may not be a total expert on the whole 'romancing' category, but don't you think it'd be good to go and talk to Lily?"
James flinched; that was clearly the last thing on his mind. Nevertheless, he payed heed to his nicer side, stood up and walked over to Lily.
"Hey." He ran a hand through his hair and glanced nervously at her.
"Hi." She didn't even look up from the fire.
"How is Davies?" He asked after a pause.
"He's in the hospital wing, getting his boxers removed." Lily answered, still not looking up as her lips got thinner.
Instead of apologizing, James simply turned around and walked away. Lily stood up.
"Where do you get off?" She asked angrily. "What the hell gives you the right to prank Chase?"
"The Marauders had no control over who they pranked, Lily. You're overreacting." James snapped, turning around to face her.
"Why do I have a feeling that my dating Chase has everything to do with who you pranked today?" She asked, voice rising. Sirius and Remus looked up from their game of chess.
"I don't give a damn who you date, Lily." James replied.
"Good, because Chase is my boyfriend. Got it, James?"
If she had been standing close enough to James, she might have seen that the hardening of James' eyes had a flash of pain in it, but of course Lily did not. He blinked at her for a few seconds before saying, "Got it."
The two went up to their dorms after that, because there really was no point in staying in a room with someone who you can barely stand to look at.
That night, the scoreboard ended up reading 367-360 with the Marauderesses leading, yet no members of the opposing teams could bring themselves to care.
I know it's been ages since I updated, but I have this new policy where I actually update about once a week. I know this chapter was a little more angsty, and my attempts to make it lighthearted were pretty pathetic, but please review, vote for which prank you liked the best and tell me what you thought about this chapter on a whole. Please?