Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Harry Potter related copyrights.

Lily grinned as she tightened the laces of her runners. She hadn't truly smiled in three days, no matter what James had done to try to win back her favor, but the feeling of her well-worn runners enveloping her foot in a tight hug was enough to reverse her sour mood. She stretched quickly, impatient to begin running, a move she would come to regret.

Lily's grin only deepened as her foot made contact with the solid earth. This was going to hurt; she was going to make sure of it. She would push her body to its absolute limits, to the very verge of collapse, because it was there, at the end of her abilities that she found the most peace. There was a quiet desperation that existed there, a need to reach the physical end of the run and the mental end of the problem.

As she ran various opinions and pieces of advice flitted through her mind. After getting over the initial shock, Sirius had predictably sided with James, and advised Lily to forgive him. Sirius had pointed out that no one is perfect; Remus concurred and added that Lily had made mistakes in their relationship as well, and James had always forgiven her. Peter agreed with his two friends.

Mrs. Potter, feeling very embarrassed and uncomfortable about the subject, had not approached the topic with Lily. Actually, she had barely approached any subject with Lily in the past few days. In doing so, she seemed to advise avoidance of the problem until it simply went away. Her sister-in-law had advice that was much more Lily's style.

Eileen had personal experience in this area. Earlier that afternoon she had invited Lily to tea, an offer which she readily accepted.

After exchanging greetings and indulging in some mindless small talk, Eileen dove right into the heart of the conflict.

"A couple of months before I met Harry I was engaged to a man named Derek Smallwright," she began as she stared off into space. "I was blissfully and blindly in love with him. He was handsome, charming, suave, and very slick, all warning signs I had chosen to ignore. It was hard not to fall in love with him, all the village girls did; he just had this way of looking at you as if you were the only girl in the whole world, and some of the compliments that came out of his mouth… you would think it was poetry," she gushed.

Quickly returning to reality, Eileen continued, "Actually it probably was poetry; I wouldn't be surprised if he memorized those lines… Anyway, the point of my story is that two months before we were supposed to be married, I caught him cheating on me. It was then that I realized he had probably been cheating on me all along and probably would continue to do so after we were married because that was the kind of man he was. I immediately broke things off with him, and although it broke my heart to a certain degree, I never looked back. He begged, pleaded, and lied through his teeth, but it was too late because I had finally seen him as the snake he truly was."

Lily thought for a moment and then said, "So do you think that I shouldn't forgive James for what he did?"

Eileen smiled softly, "I think that you should think about the kind of person James is. If you think that he is the same type of man as Derek, a man who would never be faithful to you, then yes I don't think you should forgive James. If you are ever in a relationship with that kind of person get out as fast as you can; those relationships degrade you and make you constantly worry if he's with someone else."

"James isn't that kind of man," said Lily quietly but firmly.

"Then why not forgive him? He made a mistake, but he's only human. You're only punishing the both of you by not forgiving him. And you know that he would forgive you."

"He has forgiven me," admitted Lily softly.

These were the thoughts that occupied most of Lily's attention. As the kilometers added up behind her things became clearer. She realized that she had been acting ridiculously; deep down she knew that James had never meant to hurt her, but the pain that resulted from catching him with Marlene hadn't allowed her to think rationally. Running always restored rationality to Lily's thoughts because physical pain nearly always put emotional pain on the backburner.

By the time Lily came to peace with herself and her decision, it was dark and had just started to rain. Dumbledore had taught her well; she had her wand with her as she did at all times.

She didn't cast a water repelling charm because she liked the cleansing feel of the cold rain on her sweaty face, but she thought Lumos and her wand tip immediately began emitting light. This light was faulty because she was still running and couldn't keep the wand steady. That explains how she missed the rotting log in her path. She stumbled and was unable to regain her balance before she crashed to the ground.

Lily groaned; she did a quick diagnostic stretch and discovered that while nothing was broken, she had landed awkwardly on her right ankle and it was severely sprained. She sighed; she probably had another three kilometers before she would arrive back at Potter Manor. She knew that she could run on the ankle, but she didn't want to risk doing more damage to the injured muscle. She probably could have healed or at least bandaged the ankle well, but she needed her wand for both light and the healing spell.

Lily laughed. She was wet, muddy, cold, sweaty, and in the middle of an unfamiliar set of woods with a sprained ankle. She ended her laugh, an outlet of a mixture of emotions, with a sigh, and changed into her animagus form.

It took a bit of effort to get off the ground without the ability to push herself off with her legs, but once she was airborne, she faired well. Although she was relatively inexperienced at flying, an unfamiliar set of instincts soon kicked in and she found herself deftly navigating the turbulent winds of the storm.

Within a few minutes Lily dove under the cover of the trees lining the edge of the manicured lawns of Potter Manor. She transformed back and began hobbling out of the forest. Her ankle hurt more than she would have thought, and the walk to the Manor was a greater distance than she had planned, but she couldn't take a risk that someone would see her animagus form and link it to her. One never knew when Mr. Potter might have his team of Aurors at the house, and Aurors were most dangerous for her, considering they would be the ones to escort her to Azkaban.

Finally Lily could see the house, but her muscles were so sore, from both flying and running as hard as she could for nearly an hour, that she just had to take a break. She slowly sank to the ground and sighed in relief. She extinguished the light from her wand, intent on conjuring crutches for herself. She had the same feeling that she did earlier, when she had first thought of the assistance: there is no way that they won't slip on the wet and muddy grass. However, she was now too desperate not to try; her ankle throbbed and had swollen already.

Before she conjured the crutches, she decided to try to remove her shoe; the tightly laced sneaker had felt good earlier, but now it was incredibly painful. It took her a minute, but the struggle and pain was worth it; the throbbing subsided somewhat. She lit her wand again to see what the swelling looked like, and was surprised to find she was not alone.

James was slowly walking toward her, but the rapid rise and fall of his chest told her that he had sprinted from the open door a few hundred meters away.

"Are you okay?" he shouted through the noisy storm.

"No," Lily answered immediately. "I sprained my ankle and I can't walk any more."

James didn't ask any more questions. Surely he bent down and picked up his girlfriend just as her arms reached out to him. James pulled her close to his chest, carrying her bridal style, and she smiled. It wasn't a grin of joy or triumph, just an easy smile that came from feeling as though one belongs. Both James and Lily knew that things were going to be okay for the two of them; all they needed were the words to be able to close the case and put it behind them.

Lily apologized for taking so long to forgive him. James apologized for hurting her. They kissed. Problem solved.

-----

After Lily's ankle and her relationship with James had healed, the Prank War was on again in earnest. Unfortunately Team Lily was down a member, Peter had to start work at the Ministry the first Monday of July. She would have been even more disabled if she hadn't been able to convince Remus to stay at the Manor. He was going to spend the summer looking for a job, but in return for his help, Lily promised that she would help him in his search. Remus grudgingly agreed; he knew that he needed a job, but he hadn't been looking forward to the search which would inevitably lead to rejection. Although he knew it would only be temporary, he welcomed anything that stalled the process.

Day 1

Lily looked in the mirror and discovered, with a shriek that brought a smile to the faces of James and Sirius, that she had green hair. A later check of her shampoo revealed magical dye. Remus found himself in a similar situation.

Sirius and James were disappointed to find that they two had been pranked in the night. Sirius's face was green, and James's was silver. Slytherin colors they noted with disgust and manly shouts.

Score:

Team Lily: 3(one from the prank on Marlene and James)

Team Sirius: 2

Day 4

Lily woke up to discover that all of her clothes, sans her lingerie, were gone. James's doing no doubt. She sighed and transfigured some of her underwear into real clothes. How childish. She rolled her eyes.

Remus woke up bald. He wasn't surprised.

Around lunchtime, Sirius and James discovered that they had horrible and extremely itchy rashes in the area covered by their boxers. Analysis showed high grade itching powder.

Score:

Team Lily: 9

Team Sirius: 7

Day 10

Lily awoke screaming. She had thought she had felt a light touch on her arm as she approached consciousness. She didn't think that her bed would be filled with spiders. Although Lily was as brave and smart as they come, dealing with spiders was not within her abilities. Luckily Remus heard her screams, and already having levitated the snakes that coated his floor out of his bedroom window, he rescued her. Lily, in a shaky voice, vowed to step up their game; like many people, when Lily was scared she became angry.

There was no surprise when Sirius and James woke up bald that morning; revenge had always been a specialty of Remus's. However, they hadn't anticipated that they wouldn't be able to charm their hair back like Remus had. They also hadn't anticipated that Team Lily would play more than one prank on them that morning. Both of their bathrooms were literally covered by flobberworms. It was hard to convince the usually dutiful house elves to deal with that mess.

Score:

Team Lily: 18

Team Sirius: 17

Day 15

Lily woke up carefully, checking her surroundings before opening her eyes. She didn't hear, smell, or feel anything out of the ordinary. She opened her eyes and looked at her reflection in the mirror on her nightstand; her face was normal. Next she checked her bedroom; everything was as it should be. Lily was worried, wondering when the prank would kick in. It finally did when Lily stepped into a shower of mud. It appeared to be water when she looked at it, but once she stepped in it became mud, complete with earthworms and clumps of grass.

"James Potter!" screeched Lily in frustration.

"Yes beloved?" smirked James as the furious and muddy redhead stomped into his bedroom wearing nothing but a towel.

"I'm using your shower," she said coolly, knowing that her anger would only fuel his fire.

"Okay," he said, still smirking. His grin widened when he heard her shouts when she discovered that it wasn't just her shower that was charmed.

"You charmed them all, didn't you?" she asked tiredly.

"Yup!" he replied smiling.

James and Sirius laughed as they watched Lily and Remus walk down to the lake in bathing suits. Little did they know that Lily and Remus were planning more pranks for the day while in that lake.

As James was strolling around a corner, incredibly proud of himself, he was suddenly struck by a charm. After a quick diagnostic check, he thought nothing was wrong, but when he opened his mouth to triumphantly gloat, he found that he had been struck mute. No matter how many counter-spells he tried, his situation hadn't changed. So it had been Lily who had charmed him.

Sirius was subjected to the same fate. They were infuriated when they told by Team Lily, that the spell would last for a whole week. That severely limited their magical capabilities.

The day didn't end there. Every food that James and Sirius ate tasted like their least favorite foods. Team Lily had struck them hard, but Team Sirius would strike back.

Score:

Team Lily: 28

Team Sirius: 30

Day 24

Butterflies were incredibly distracting, of this Remus and Lily were sure. They would know, over fifty butterflies had been fluttering around each head since they woke up that morning. The fact that they knew dungbombs were waiting for Sirius and James in the bedrooms didn't even cheer up the irked duo. They needed to come up with something bigger, and better and they needed to do it soon; they were behind.

"Did they really think they could beat us?" asked Sirius as he handed James a butterbeer from the silver tray the house elf had just brought in.

"If they did, they are stupider than we thought!" boasted James as he clinked his bottle with Sirius.

"We are the best pranksters that Hogwarts had ever seen! And now we get to use all of those ideas we ran out of time for at Hogwarts!" he crowed.

"We are brilliant!"

The two young men certainly were extremely talented, but they would certainly feel less brilliant once Lily and Remus had executed their next plan.

Score:

Team Lily: 49

Team Sirius: 51

Day 24

"Mate, I'm starting to think this war was a bad idea," said James solemnly.

Remus surveyed him carefully. "It always was a bad idea. But why do you think so?"

"Because I can't remember the last time I kissed Lily," he muttered dejectedly.

Remus laughed, "What did you expect? That you could prank her one minute and just expect her to fall into your arms the next? That sounds remarkably like the perspective of Fifth Year Prongs."

James thought on Remus's words for a few minutes. "I can't quit."

"You can't? Or you won't?" asked Remus astutely.

"I promised Padfoot that I would help him. He had a feeling that I'd have a hard time because we were against Lily, so he made me promise. I can't back out now," explained James.

"No I suppose you can't." If there was anything the young men understood it was loyalty, loyalty to one another first, before girls, other friends, or jobs.

-----

That afternoon James discovered that while Remus had distracted him, Lily had charmed all the furniture in his bedroom to be stuck to his ceiling. He imagined that Sirius's room had suffered similarly. When he went to commiserate with his friend, he had to stifle a laugh; Sirius's furniture was suspended from the ceiling, but so was Sirius! It appeared that Sirius had been taking a nap when Lily had arrived and she had dealt with the shift in plans well. James decided he would let his partner sleep for a while longer. Surely he would want revenge when he woke up and seeking revenge was very tiring.

James was also tired; nights were mostly spent putting plans into motion and daylight was spent in cautious surveillance and vigilance. He decided that a nap would do him good too, but since his bed was currently out of reach, he decided to borrow Lily's. He was only going to lay down for a few minutes, but exhaustion caught up with him, and minutes quickly spiraled into hours. He only awoke when he felt someone slid in next to him.

"Wha?" he asked groggily.

"Hush," Lily responded softly. "Go back to sleep."

Sirius would have had some harsh words about fraternizing with the enemy had he been there, but James couldn't care less at this moment. He drifted back off to sleep, his arm tight around his girl, and a smile on his face.

-----

The next morning James woke up alone, alone and also in the middle of the lake. Actually, as he noticed a moment before his sudden movement toppled him off of his raft, Sirius was stuck in the same boat… raft. James's surprised shout awoke Sirius, who also fell into the cold lake water when his startled movement upset his raft.

Both men surfaced and spluttered; neither had expected to wake up quite this way.

"Damn Lily," cursed Sirius just as James uttered, "Damn Moony."

The two men laughed and then began a race to the shore, where Team Lily had watched the whole scene victoriously.

"Enjoy your swim?" asked Remus, one eyebrow quirking as his two best friends emerged from the lake sopping wet.

"Not nearly as much as I'm going to enjoy this!" shouted Sirius as he ran to Remus with his arms throw wide to give his friend a very special hug.

Lily, slightly faster on the uptake than Remus, had started to run as soon as Sirius opened his mouth, but eventually James caught her, like he always did.

"By the way," remarked Sirius as he left to change into dry clothes. "Those hugs count as a prank for us."

Day 25

Score:

Team Lily: 73

Team Sirius: 80

Day 33

The Prank War was getting out of hand. There was little less than a month left and both sides were choosing to increase their efforts. Both teams were also stooping to basic tricks in order to rack up the points, especially Team Sirius because Team Lily was rapidly catching up, and although they wouldn't admit it, both soon-to-be Aurors were scared.

Remus sighed as he observed his environment. He and Lily had needed to plan, and they had been reduced to meeting in a dusty corner of the attic guarded by several charms Remus had never heard of. Was he the only one who thought this was going a bit far?

Sirius and James also took cares to protect themselves when they were plotting. They, however, had the advantage of having spent far many more hours at Potter Manor than their opponents. They weren't hiding in the attic; they had far more secret and comfortable locations in which to plot.

Fireworks, slime, dungbombs, and undergarments abounded in Potter Manor. Marilyn was at her wits end; even the house elves had joined in the skirmish (having been recruited by Remus and Lily to their side.) More than once she had been caught in the cross-fire; the teens had quickly agreed that pranking Marilyn resulted in the deduction of a point.

The only one who seemed unaffected by the war rocking his house was Christopher. He was rarely home these days, and when he was he seemed to be the only one with reflexes fast enough to protect himself. Every time that Marilyn approached him on the subject of stopping the war, he merely chuckled, but then in a serious voice informed her that the war in his house kept him in practice for the war outside, and he hoped it was preparing the children for what they would soon face.

Score:

Team Lily: 109

Team Sirius: 112

Day 48

With only two weeks left Sirius and James were on the offensive. They had their finale prepared, but hadn't anticipated needing it so soon. They couldn't ignore that Team Lily had finally edged Team Sirius out for the advantage, and so they decided to unleash their secret weapon, hoping that it would be enough to dishearten Team Lily to the point of distraction or surrender.

At dawn their plot erupted; Potter Manor literally shook as weeks of planning came to fruition. All the pranks that James and Sirius had played in the past forty-seven days were repeated, in addition to quite a few new ones. Team Sirius smirked as they watched the day and their best friends unravel.

Lily and Remus were miserable. They were half-bald (the other half of their heads was covered in hair that was constantly changed into obnoxious colors), and had skin that was itchy, scaly, and bright green with yellow stripes. They were also charmed to trip constantly, sing obnoxious show tunes every time they opened their mouths, and be relentlessly followed by all manners of bugs and animals on the ground and in the air. This all happened by lunchtime. Lily didn't even have time to comprehend all of the stuff that happened to her between eating a light and hasty meal and returning to her bedroom to find that it had been cleared of all her furniture. A single tear streaked down her cheek. She had been bruised, but not broken. After conjuring a blanket and mattress for herself, she settled into an uneasy sleep. The last thought she had before embracing sleep was that she wished she had never started the war in the first place.

The last thought Remus had before entering a similar state was that he was going to have to finish this war soon; it was driving them apart.

Score:

Team Lily: 203

Team Sirius: 409

Day 50

Remus and Lily had recovered and now were ready to launch their revenge. It wouldn't be flashy like the tactic of James and Sirius, but much more effective. It was more their style.

James and Sirius had slept like babies the night before. Day 49 had not brought a declaration of surrender, but it hadn't brought forth any pranks from Team Lily either. Team Sirius fully anticipated that an admission of defeat would be directed toward them that day. How wrong they were.

As morning dawned, Lily and Remus sat at the breakfast table, politely making conversation as they munched on delicious breakfast items. The angry shouts only served to brighten their morning.

"Where are our wands?" bellowed Sirius as he slid into the dining room. James would have been on his heels had Remus and Lily not bewitched the two so that they repelled each other. Team Sirius was forced to be apart at least ten feet at all times, and due to their wandless state, nothing could be done to rectify the situation.

"Don't worry," smirked Lily. "They're safe."

"Give them back!" shouted James from the hallway.

"Yeah," concurred Sirius. "You can't take away our wands!"

"Anything goes," uttered Lily, stressing each syllable.

"But how are we going to do anything?!"

"We are ready and willing to accept your immediate surrender," offered Remus calmly.

"We won't surrender," promised Sirius angrily.

"Have it your way," Lily replied loftily. "But don't say we didn't warn you."

"I imagine that everything that is going to happen to you today, and every day, until you surrender, will be much more difficult to cope with when you don't have a wand to reverse the effects," said Remus gravely, trying, and failing, to make his pigheaded friend see reason. "Just give up now."

"Never!"

Sirius Black ate his words, just as Lily had predicted, two days later.

Final Score:

Team Lily: 410

Team Sirius: 409

The minute Team Lily had surpassed them in points, James and Sirius surrendered. They had depleted all of their pranking objects that didn't require wands during their finale, and they had failed to regain their wands. Finally they had realized that it was futile and painful to resist any longer, and their pride wouldn't allow them to see the score become even more skewed.

Remus and Lily were merciful. They retrieved the wands from Uncle Harry's house and restored them to their owners immediately. They then reversed every charm on the two men. The war within Potter Manor had halted, but outside of the old and guarded walls, the real war still raged. Lily and Remus were soon going to feel the heat of that particular fire…

A/N. So some questions! Thanks for reviewing everyone! I have the next two chapters written, just motivate me to edit and post them! :D

How did you feel about the prank war? About its outcome? Favorite prank?

How did you feel about the make-up between James and Lily? About Auntie Eileen's advice?

What do you think is going to happen to Remus and Lily in the next chapter?