I found a list of 64 themes for Lily and James stories. I'm trying out a few; here's my first.

Audrie Melone

Takes place 5th year...

"Carlotta, is it just me or is Gryffindor down 100 points?" Lily demanded, her eyes narrowing as she moved toward the columns of House Points. She could have sworn Gryffindor was in the lead when she had glanced at it the night before, but it had been a quick glance.

Her friend sighed. "We're down 100 points."

Lily stopped. She didn't even need to know who! The question was how they had snuck out when she'd been up most of the night finishing a Transfiguration essay. "I am going to throttle him—them! Those self-centered, unruly b—,"

"Bad day Lily?"

Her head whipped around to see Sev standing beside her. "Gyffindor's lost 100 points!" she cried, jabbing her finger in the direction of the columns. "In one night!"

"Well, that's too bad," he told her. His voice was the only sympathetic part of his expression, though, for he could barely conceal a smug grin. She was slightly annoyed by his gloating but she could hardly blame him for supporting his House.

"Like you care," snapped Carlotta. She had come up beside Lily and she stood facing Severus, her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her chin jutting forward.

Severus glared at her darkly. "I was trying to be polite," he gritted.

"Try again, because you got a 'T' for Troll on your first attempt."

Lily sighed, her anger over the lost points momentarily forgotten in the face of her friends' standoff. "Carlotta why don't you go ahead? I'll catch up to you."

Carlotta glared at Severus as if she meant for her dislike to linger after she left. "If you don't come to dinner, I'll know who to search for," she told Lily, turning on her heel and marching away.

"Why are you friends with her?" demanded Severus when Carlotta had been swallowed up into the crowd heading to the Great Hall.

Lily smiled wryly and shrugged. "She asks me the same thing about you."

"I at least attempted to be polite."

She sighed. "I know, Sev." Lily smiled at him and placed a hand on his arm. "Thanks for trying. I really appreciate it." His pallid cheeks coloured slightly and he glanced down at her hand. Hastily, Lily drew it back. Her own cheeks warmed; she knew Severus didn't like to be touched. "Er, well, anyway, I'm going to find out how Potter and his little gang got past me last night."

Severus's feet shuffled beside her own precise footsteps as they headed for the Great Hall. "Maybe a disillusionment charm," he suggested.

"Maybe, but that seems a little too advanced. Then again, as much as I hate to admit it, they are too bloody smart for their own good."

"What's this I hear? I didn't think the great Lily Evans would ever call me smart!"

Lily jumped and choked as an arm was slung across her shoulders. "Potter," she coughed, trying to move from under his arm. His hand simply tightened over her shoulder. Her cheeks flamed; why did it feel so comfortable in the crook of his arm? And how did he hold her so firmly without hurting her?

"Get off of her," cried Severus, plunging his hand into his robes.

Lily couldn't see Potter's expression but his drawl told her he was probably wearing a goading grin. He twirled his wand in his finger tips. "Really Snivellus, your attempt at chivalry is admirable. Perhaps being in Gryffindor would've honed it far better."

"Shut up, Potter," Lily spat, trying to move away from him.

"I much prefer brains to brawn," sneered Severus.

Potter's arm tensed against her back. "I think I've proven that I have the brains, Snivellus," he said coldly. "Besides, your little mantra's getting a bit old. It grew kind of stale around First Year. Then again, you kind of grew stale around First Year."

"Potter if you don't let go of me," growled Lily, trying to reach for her wand in her bag as she struggled against him.

"Let her go," Severus repeated defiantly, his skinny fists clenching.

"Why don't you run along to dinner?"

"LET HER GO!" shouted the Slytherin.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Potter's wand move. She abandoned her one armed search for her wand. "Stop it, before you both get in trouble!" she cried. More softly, she added, "Go ahead to dinner, Sev; I'll handle this." Severus hesitated and Lily grinned ruefully. "Tell Carlotta that if I don't show for dinner, she better go looking for a messy, black-haired git."

Grudgingly, Severus trotted off. Lily wouldn't be surprised, if, despite his dislike of her friend, he delivered her message. Or came looking for Potter himself.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily snapped when they were alone.

He let her go and grinned down at her. She felt her heart racing and her cheeks flushing. It almost felt as if her hair crackled with her anger, which was further stoked as he grinned at her casually, as if he had not just threatened and humiliated her friend.

"There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and I was wondering—,"

"No," she snapped, clutching the strap of her bag. Her mind viciously beat down the small part of her throbbing heart that chanted for her to say yes.

"I mean, we—,"

"You mean, you and Black are so in love with yourselves you can go on a double date by yourselves. Potter and Potter, Black and Black."

"You could just say 'no'," he retorted, his hazel eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

"I might've if you hadn't prefaced your proposal by insulting my friend!"

"When are you going to see he's not good?" demanded Potter.

She laughed derisively. "Not good because he deflates your precious ego?"

"Not good because he's into the Dark Arts," snarled Potter.

Lily sniffed. "Just because he's top of the Defense Against Dark Arts class and you aren't—,"

"It's not about that, Lily!"

"Evans."

"Huh?" He appeared genuinely bewildered and inexplicably, something in her chest trembled pleasantly at his bemused expression.

She glared at him. "You call me Evans, not Lily, Potter. When I say 'no' I mean 'no.' I do not want to go out with you and I certainly don't need to discuss my friendship with Severus with you."

"Why won't you go out with me?" he hurled at her, his eyebrows furrowed in a scowl.

"For starters, you're so full of yourself that you don't give a damn about throwing away the points that other people have worked hard to gain."

"Hey some of those are my points. Who wins the Quidditch games?"

"Gryffindor does! Not James Potter, no matter how bloody brilliant you think you are at Quidditch, you couldn't do it without the team!"

"I'll earn the points back in class. Does that make you happy?"

"Nothing you do makes me happy, Potter!" she flung at him, her angry passion bringing tears to her eyes. "I am going to find out how you sneak out of the common room, and when I do, I will make sure you never do it again!"

She whirled around and ran off. Her raging dislike and like for him ricocheting off one another in her head and chest.

"Evans," he called after her. "Dinner's the other way!"

"I'm not hungry!" she shouted as she clambered up the stairs, nearly forgetting to skip the trick step.

"Lily, I think you should go to bed. You've been up three nights straight. You fell asleep in Charms today!" urged Aura.

Lily shook her head stubbornly. "I am going to find out how they get out."

"Aura, just give up. She's not going to leave. Come on," sighed Marlene wearily as she trudged toward the stairs, still dressed in her Quidditch practice clothes.

Carlotta had tried to get her to go to bed, and failed. Mary had tried. Marlene. And now Aura had failed too. Lily glared at the fire as she waited for her friends to go to bed. When their footsteps had faded, she crossed her arms. She would sit here until she knew how the Marauders snuck out.

Unfortunately, her resolve was severely weakened by her lack of sleep and she did remember not even succumbing to slumber.

She awoke with a start and blinked at the bright common room. The fire was banked and several students sat around, getting an early start on homework. She glanced down. There was a warm blanket draped over her. Had one of her friend's come down last night? Why hadn't they woken her up to either keep watch or to urge her upstairs?

Lily sat up and ran a hand through her hair to smooth it down.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." She looked up to see Potter looking down at her. "You made it to 2."

"What?" she croaked. It was too early for her to even glare at him.

"2 a.m. That's what time you fell asleep."

"I—how," she stammered.

"I was watching you," he told her with an ironic smile.

Potter had watched her all night and she'd never seen him! And she was no closer to finding out how he snuck out. With a grunt of irritation she flung off the blanket and dragged it after her as she stormed up the stairs.

She was too distracted to notice that Potter appeared as tired as she, nor to notice that a corner of the blanket was embroidered with initials. She flung the blanket onto her bed, dressed quickly, and headed down to breakfast. The blanket was returned to its owner before she returned.

Only Aura, who had paused to check on Lily before heading to breakfast, saw to whom the blanket belonged. She glanced between the Marauders and Lily at dinner that evening, but when Lily asked her what was wrong, she simply shook her head.