So, i have been really pushing myself to get this chapter out. Right now as I'm writing this it is 4:12 in the morning. I've been writing most of the night because I am very sick and cannot sleep when I'm sick. The reason why I'm pushing to get this chapter out is because I will be on vacation this week and I am going away and will not have time to write. This means the next chapter will probably be a little late, so sorry in advance.

Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to do these because I am an idiot. Everything created by J.K. is J.K.'s. Trust me, I am not her, I checked. So, yeah, nothing belongs to me, which is sad, but I still get to write about it semi-illegally on the internet, which is good!


Morning came fast for Lily Evans. Marlene was shaking her awake at seven o'clock. Maria was already awake and shaking Eli harshly to get her up. Aylin Fernley was also up, brushing her almost-perfect hair.

Lily tried to be the nicest person she could be to people, even if she didn't like them. James Potter was the only exception. However, Lily's three other dorm-mates usually brought her close to exploding.

Aylin Fernley wasn't too bad, but when she was with her friends, she had a personality to match Lord Voldemort's. She was brunette, her dark hair falling to her waist and creating a curtain around her. She was skinny, but still had curves that made others jealous, and legs for days.

Tammy Furst was the stupidest girl Lily had ever met. She had short, curly, light hair, and a childish smile. Her pale skin was dotted with freckles and she was often thought to be younger than she was, despite being as tall as Lily. She followed around Arabella and Aylin like a lost puppy, and was rarely seen without at least one of them.

Which brings us to Lily's seventh and final dorm-mate: Arabella Layfield. If Dracula and Voldemort had a love child, Arabella Layfield would find a way to make it feel like a baby bunny. It wasn't that she was "mean" she was just… perfect.

Her figure was a perfect hourglass, her hair looked as if sunshine had been chiseled into wavy locks upon her head, her skin was a perfect olive color, and her eyes were shaped like almonds, with a chocolate color. She was polite about everything in a way that made you feel inferior to her: "Oh, you're wearing that?" "Your hair is a little messy today, just so you know." And she said everything in a voice as sweet as honey.

Arabella wasn't in the dorm that morning, but she rarely was. She slept very little in her own bed, which was good for her dorm-mates, because their dorm had the most people.

"Good morning, Aylin," Lily said, politely. Aylin only looked at her in the mirror and gave her a half smile, before turning back to Tammy, who was sitting on Aylin's bed talking nonstop to her.

Lily took a quick shower, and by the time she got out, even Eli was awake. Eli stumbled to the bathroom to take her shower.

"Hey! I was gonna take a shower!" Tammy said, pouting.

"Maybe if you stopped talking long enough to see that the bathroom was open, you wouldn't have this problem," Aylin said, searching through her trunk for something. Tammy only rolled her eyes at Aylin, not taking any offense to the other girl's harsh words.

Lily used her wand to dry her hair, before picking up a brush and brushing her hair in front of the mirror. Marlene went to the window by her bed and sat down on the sill, looking out over the grounds. "I'll never get tired of this view," she said, softly.

Lily nodded her agreement. "It's never easy to look away from."

Lily was almost done braiding her hair when Eli walked out of the bathroom and let herself fall onto Lily's bed, saturating the pillow with her wet hair. Tammy ran to the bathroom, though there was no need—everyone else had already taken their showers.

Lily finished braiding her hair, and stood. "Ready?" she asked the other three. Marlene, Maria, and Eli nodded. They picked up their bags and headed down to the Grand Hall for breakfast.

However, in the common room, they were stopped by Terri Smith, Eli's younger sister. She was a fourth year, but tried to act older. This was mostly because she was in the James Potter Fan Club, or the "JPFC" as Lily and her friends called it. It was a club of people, mostly female, who were either in love with James Potter or whom he had wrapped around his finger. Arabella Layfield and Tammy Furst were both adamant members of the club.

"Eli!" Terri said. "I need to talk to you!"

"About what?" Eli asked, irritated by 'the imperfect version of herself.'

Terri looked around at Eli's friends. "Well, it's, you know, private. Between us."

"Well, it will have to wait. Right now, I'm starving, and I would like to go eat with my friends," Eli said, starting to walk away.

Terri sighed and watched her sister leave. Then looked up to Lily and said, "Tell her it's really important." Then she turned and walked to some of her friends who were at a table in the corner.

Lily, Marlene, and Maria hurried after Eli, who was already out the portrait hole. "Why didn't you just talk to her?" Lily asked Eli.

"I don't have the time, nor the energy," Eli said, bitterly.

"What is going on with you two?" Marlene asked. "I'm not the biggest fan of my siblings, but I'll at least talk to them, especially if it sounds so urgent!"

"I don't have anything to say to her," Eli said, annoyed by her friends' persistence.

"Maybe not, but it sounded like she had something to say to you," Lily said softly.

"And she said it was important," Maria said. "You could at least listen."

"I'm done with this conversation," Eli said. "Can we please talk about something different." It wasn't a question.

"Fine," Marlene said. "Do you think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor will be there today?"

Eli had pointed out the night before that the professor had been absent from dinner. Though Dumbledore didn't say anything about it, the entire school had been wondering and speculating.

The four girls immediately started talking about her. "Amy Sans said she was really pretty," Eli said, "and young."

"Are you spending time with Amy Sans?" Maria asked, saying the name like it was poison.

"No!" Eli said, defensively. "I heard her talking about it in the common room last night. She was bragging about how she will definitely pass the class, since the professor knows her mom."

"Hopefully not," Marlene said. "The last thing we need is another biased teacher."

"As long as she teaches us something," Lily put in.

As they walked into the Great Hall, all four girls looked up to the staff table.

Eli sighed, saying, "She's not here today either! Where is she?!"

"Calm down," Lily said, leading Eli to the Gryffindor table. "Maybe she's preparing for class, or something."

"Or something," Eli said softly, grabbing some toast.

"What do you mean, 'or something?'" Lily asked. "And don't start with—"

"Conspiracies," Marlene said, grinning at Eli, who nodded.

"Oh, stop, you two!" Maria said to them. "There are no conspiracies at Hogwarts!"

"I agree," Lily said. "There's just no—"

"Marlene!" The girls turned to see Bradley running up to them. He was panting and his face was slightly red.

"Bradley!" Marlene said, immediately concerned. "What's wrong?"

"The twins," he panted. "Flitwick caught them… illegal potions… in trouble…"

Marlene's face darkened. "What?" she said, dangerously. "Where are they?"

"Ravenclaw… table…" he said. "Can I… sit down?"

Marlene stood and Bradley took her place next to Maria. "When did this happen?"

"Before breakfast," Bradley said, before drinking most of Marlene's pumpkin juice.

Marlene started to walk over to the Ravenclaw table, just as the Marauders walked into the Hall. They looked around, then spotted Bradley and ran over. For reasons that no one understood, the Marauders loved the McKinnons. Specifically, the younger ones. Sure, they liked Marlene, but they loved the twins and Bradley. The twins were often asked to help in their schemes, and Bradley became James's and Sirius's favourite kid after he had impressed them with his seeker skills.

James sat to the left of Bradley, pushing Maria over, while Sirius sat on the right. Remus sat across from them, on Lily's left, while Peter sat to his left.

James slung his arm over Bradley's shoulders while the boy ate what Marlene had left on her plate. "How's our favourite McKinnon doing?" James asked.

"Wow," Eli said, next to Lily. "You realize there is a McKinnon whose in our year, in our house, and on your team?"

"And we appreciate her!" James said, defensively. "But Bradley is special."

Sirius smirked as he put some food on his plate. "Yeah, he's won countless games for us. We can do without one beater, I mean, you still have me. But without Bradley, we would lose the game!"

"Yeah, just don't tell Marlene you said that," Bradley said, looking over at Marlene, who was still yelling at the twins. "She's already jealous of the twins."

James snorted. "Well, who wouldn't be!? They're awesome!"

"Speaking of siblings," Remus said, getting everyone's attention, "Elizabeth, Terri was looking for you. Said it was important."

Lily gave him a warning look and shook her head ever so slightly. Remus gave her a confused look, but Eli had, of course, already heard him.

She turned her head and gave him a fake smile. "Is she?" Eli asked through gritted teeth, her voice far too nice. "That's nice." She turned back to her food.

Everyone looked to Lily for an explanation, but all she did was shrug.

"Anyway," Maria said, getting the attention, "we were talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"We heard it's a woman!" Peter said.

"And that she is both young and pretty!" Sirius said, a wolfish grin on his face.

"I heard she used to be an auror," James said. "I think—"

"No!" Remus cut him off. "The professor does not have any sort of 'second agenda.' She's a pro—

Eli's head had shot up to look at James, grinning, and she promptly cut off Remus shouting, "Conspiracies!"

James and Sirius looked at Eli, grinning. They nodded and James said, "Yes!"

"We think she's got some reason, other than teaching, to be here!" Sirius said.

"Oh, come on," Remus said. "Not you too, Eli!"

"What other reason could she possibly have for being here?" Lily asked. She looked up and, for the first time that school year, her eyes met James Potter's. She had been avoiding looking at him during the entire conversation. She looked away, to Sirius, who was already answering her question, but she could feel him still looking at her.

And he was. He was watching the way she rolled her eyes at Sirius's explanation. He was watching the way she spoke, her perfect lips forming perfect words with her perfect voice. He was watching the way she laughed lightly at Remus. He was watching the way she smiled at Bradley, who blushed. He was watching her, and he hated it, but couldn't stop. Maybe being "done" with Lily Evans would be harder than he thought.

"Maybe, she's here to force students to become aurors!" Sirius said, answering Lily's question. "They have a serious lack since all the attacks."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Please. They can't force students to do that. And they can't persuade them either. Everyone knows how hard the training alone is."

"The only thing she's gonna 'force' is you, to do your homework. That's the only thing you care about!" Remus said. Lily laughed lightly and Sirius made a face at Remus.

"Well, as long as she doesn't try to kill us, I don't think it really matters why she's here," Bradley said. Lily smiled at him, and he ducked his head so she wouldn't see him blush.

Eli opened her mouth, but Professor McGonagall came around with timetables. Lily took Marlene's as well as her own and immediately started comparing them to Eli's and Maria's.

James took his and looked at it. "Aw, c'mon, we have Transfiguration first today!"

"What was that, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked, the corners of her lips almost turned up in a smile. Everyone laughed at him. He heard Lily's laugh over everyone else's, a beautiful laugh, really.

Yes. It would be very hard to be "done" with Lily Evans.

xoxo

"How the hell did you manage to do it?" Marlene asked, approaching her brother and sister at the Ravenclaw table.

David's and Valerie's identical brown eyes widened, then looked up to Marlene, who was standing over them, hands on her hips. "We find ways to do a lot of things we shouldn't 'manage' to do," Valerie said, calmly.

"You'll have to be more specific," David said, equally as calm.

"How did you get illegal potions into this school?" Marlene asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, please," Valerie said, waving her hand at Marlene.

"We're a wizard—"

"And a witch—"

"With determination—"

"And skill—"

"We can do anything," David finished.

"Are you kidding me?" Marlene asked, exasperated. "I put five spells on your trunks specifically to prevent this from happening!"

"Please!" Valerie said. "Do you think we'd be stupid enough not to think of that?"

"Your magic is too strong," David said. "We knew we would have to be creative, and we were."

"Well, I hope you enjoy your detentions!" Marlene said, starting to walk away.

"Oh, we will," Valerie called after her.

"Especially what comes after," David called.

"What comes after?" Marlene asked, walking back.

"Well, old Filius said he was gonna write home," Valerie said, nonchalantly.

"Tell the housekeeper all about our wrongdoings," David said, shrugging casually.

"What?!" Marlene yelled, panic rising in her chest. If Flitwick wrote to Mrs. Peters about this, she would tell Marlene's parents. Then Marlene would be in trouble. "How could you two do this? Do you know how extremely irresponsible and horrible you are?! Do you know what happens now?"

The twins looked at each other and Valerie opened her mouth, but Marlene cut her off:

"I will have to ask, no, beg Flitwick to trust me to give you guys a second chance! I have to beg that I will watch you, when I can't! Either that, or Flitwick writes to Mrs. Peters, and she writes to mom and dad, and you know what happens then? I get in trouble! I have to—"

"Marlene!" Valerie's voice, harsh and cold, cut her sister's off.

Marlene looked around. Everyone immediately surrounding them at the Ravenclaw table was watching her. Neither twin would meet her eye.

"We're sorry," Valerie said to Marlene, her voice soft and kind, well for her anyway.

"We'll be more careful next time," David said.

"No," Marlene whispered harshly. "No. There will be no 'next time.' This will not happen again. Nothing like this will happen again. Understand?"

The twins nodded.

"Good. Now if I hear anything like this about you two, I will personally make sure you two never see the light of day again." Marlene turned and walked back to the Gryffindor table. They were laughing at something as McGonagall walked away. Marlene sat in between Bradley and Sirius, accepting her timetable from Lily and stuffing some toast in her mouth.

xoxo

In Transfiguration, the Marauders sat in the back of the class and ignored Porfessor McGonagall, as usual. Instead, they talked.

"Did you see Brad at breakfast?" Sirius asked James, who sat next to him.

"What about him?" James asked, suspiciously.

"The way he was watching Evans? Puppy love right there. I saw it on your face, once upon a time."

"What's your point, Padfoot?" James asked, groaning.

"I just think you got some competition. More than just Tommy Petch."

"What are you talking about?" James asked, glaring at Sirius. "I'm done with Lily Evans, remember?" he whispered the name to ensure that the red-head in question didn't hear them from a few rows up.

"Oh, please. That will last a month, at the most. Besides, I saw the looks you were sending her at breakfast. Not so innocent looks!" James opened his mouth to, most likely, yell at Sirius, but he cut James off, saying, "All I'm asking is that you don't kill Bradley. We need him."

"Why would I kill Bradley?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sirius shrugged. "Jealousy probably. Or while fighting for the affections of Evans. You've hurt some of her past dates. Just don't hurt Bradley. His chances with her aren't too good anyway. You can kill Tommy though. He's too good a keeper for Ravenclaw."

"I'm not killing anyone and I'm definitely not fighting for Lily Evans's affections!" James said angrily.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall called out. "While I'm sure your conversation is very important, I'm quite sure you can save it for a better time."

"Yes, Professor," James and Sirius said.

The rest of class passed slowly and was very boring. However, at the end it changed.

As the bell rang and the class started to leave, Professor McGonagall called out, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew. Please stay."

The four boys approached her desk. As the last student left, she said, "I'm sure you witnessed the spectacle at the feast last night?"

They nodded.

"You wouldn't have had something to do with that would you?" she asked, her eyes moving over each boy.

"Are you suggesting it was us?" James asked, boldly.

"No," she said harshly, her eyes flicking to him. "I'm asking if it was you."

"Do you have any evidence? Anything to suggest it was us?" Sirius asked.

"Only memories of the past, filled with your foolish ideas of jokes," she admitted.

"Then I'm afraid, we can't help you," Remus said.

"Hmm," she tapped her wand to her thin lips. "I suppose not. You are dismissed."

xoxo

"Professor Flitwick?" Marlene approached the small man's desk as the other students in her class left.

"Yes, Miss McKinnon?" Professor Flitwick asked, looking up at her.

"Um, I was wondering if I could talk to you about my sister and brother. Valerie and David?"

He sighed, and said, "I suppose you're going to talk me out of giving them detentions?"

"Oh, Merlin, no!" Marlene said, eyes widening. "They deserve to be punished! I was just going to ask if you could, maybe, not write home?"

"Miss McKinnon, this matter is very serious! I realize you are looking out for them, but writing home is a necessary action under these circumstances."

"Oh, come on! They stole some potions, so what? Sure they're not allowed on school grounds, but this isn't the first time this has happened."

At this, Professor Flitwick sat back in his chair, studying Marlene with a grave look on his face. "Miss McKinnon, you do realize that there was more than just some potions that I found."

Marlene watched him, the only word that came out of her mouth was, "What?"

"They were found with a number of potions not allowed at school, various potions ingredients, also not allowed. Some are not even legal in the country! Illegal alcohol, notes on how to cast spells far too advanced for—"

"Alcohol?!" Marlene said the word so loud and so forcefully, it caused the professor to jump in his seat.

"Among other things, yes," he said, as calm as possible. "So you see why I must write home? This behavior is worrying!"

"I can see why you have to," Marlene said, calming down. "But that won't stop me from asking you not to. You have to understand, my parents are out of the country. I'm supposed to be taking care of David and Valerie. If my parents find out about this, I will be the one in trouble, not them!"

Professor Flitwick took off his glasses and sighed, rubbing his eyes, thinking. "Very well, Miss McKinnon, but if this happens again, I will have to write home. Understood?"

Marlene grinned, relief sweeping through her. "Thank you so much, Professor. And I promise, it won't happen again."

Marlene ran out of the classroom to get to Herbology on time. She only hoped she could keep her promise.

xoxo

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Those were the most said words in school that day. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws sat in the Dark Arts classroom, and the new word of the day became "Professor."

After five minutes, the door opened, and the class fell so silent one could hear a pin drop. However, as everyone turned around to see the new professor, moans and groans were let out as Professor McGonagall swept into the room.

"Quiet," she snapped as she moved to the front of the room.

"Wait. Are you the new Defense professor?" James called out from the back. "No offense, but we heard she was young and pretty." The class giggled, but as McGonagall turned around, they fell silent again.

McGonagall looked at James and said, "No, Mr. Potter, I am not the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Something came up and I'm afraid she cannot be here today or tomorrow. However, she was kind enough to give you an assignment. You will research and write one parchment roll on Bowtruckles."

The class groaned. "Yes, such hard work," Professor McGonagall said, sarcastically. "You have four days, counting today, so I would get started, if I were you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my own class. And I will be putting a charm on the door, to ensure none of you leave before the end of class. That means you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black."

"Dammit!" James swore as the door clicked shut. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We could do our essays," Remus suggested.

"Or you could write four essays and write each of our names at the top." Sirius said back. Remus only shook his head.

"Hey, maybe the new professor has some of her stuff in the room! Maybe we can find a name!" Peter said, next to Remus, Sirius grinned and nodded.

"No," James said. "I came here last night to check. I don't think she's even come here yet. Her office is completely empty."

"When did you come down here?" Remus questioned. He remembered James being in the dorm with them.

"And why?" Sirius added.

James shrugged. "Around midnight. Couldn't sleep. And I was bored. And curious, I guess."

Remus shook his head. "You're 'curiosity' will get you killed one day. Or worse, get us killed!"

Most of the class was talking, now, and not doing their essay. James heard something. Something perfect. He looked up and saw Lily Evans laughing.

She was sitting extremely close to Tommy Petch, her head on his shoulder, their hands intertwined. They were talking to Lily's friends, who were sitting around her.

"You know, I'm starting to think you just want to torture yourself," James heard Sirius say. He turned to look at Sirius, who was looking at him as if James was a stray puppy.

"I don't know what you're talking about," James said, flatly.

"You stare at her all pathetically, it's like you're punishing yourself." Sirius said.

"I wasn't staring at anyone." James said, annoyed.

"If you say so," Sirius put his hands up, innocently. "Hey, I heard the McKinnon twins got busted for some stuff."

Remus and Peter jumped into the conversation, but James just watched, and barely paid attention.

His mind wandered to Lily. He didn't fancy her, he was done with her. So why did he care? He cautioned a glance at her. She was looking at Tommy Petch with interest clearly on her face. James sighed. Why did he care so much?

xoxo

As the door shut behind McGonagall, Lily turned to her friends. Eli was sitting at the desk next to her, with Eric Tomkins. Maria and Marlene were sitting together at the desk in front of Lily.

"Conspiracies," Eli sang to Lily.

Marlene nodded, "You can't deny it, Lils!"

"She's an auror, she probably had something important to do!" Lily defended.

"She was an auror!" Eli said. "Now she's a professor!"

"She could be both," Tommy suggested. His hand had found its way into Lily's, and her head was leaning on his shoulder.

"The only way she could be both, is if she was assigned here, for a job," Marlene said.

Eli grinned, realizing what Marlene was saying. "Which would back up our conspiracy theory!" she said. She was so excited, Lily and the others couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, when you get solid evidence, I'd like to hear it," Lily said.

"We will get it," Marlene said, confidently. "And when we do, we will prove how close-minded you can be!"

Lily rolled her eyes, but said nothing else. The conversation moved to quidditch, and Tommy immediately started talking about the professional games he had gone to. Lily watched him, but her mind started to wander.

Tommy was her first boyfriend for longer than two months. He was also her first kiss, not that she told him that. He had perfect brown hair and perfect brown eyes, and he was perfectly athletic. He was just… perfect. And Lily loved him.


Woohoo! Alright. It's now 5 o'clock in the morning and I just edited this chapter so yay! I'm super tired, so forgive me for any mistakes I missed. Also, I want to thank the two readers who reviewed, you guys are awesome and I'm so happy you're enjoying the story.

If you are like my story, follow, favourite, and/or review. Especially review about what you liked/didn't like so I know how to write future chapters! Thanks a bundle! Lots of love and see you next time!

~Jill
MissSlytherinxoxo

XOXO