2nd year

JAMES POV

"I don't think his mum is really sick."

"What?"

"Remus. He's been gone every month to see his mum. I don't think she's really sick."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. He looks like he's the sick one."

James paused to think about it," Yeah, you're right. I mean, he always looks worse after he gets back, doesn't he?"

Sirius nodded, but Peter leaned over his toast to say," Don't you think that could just be from him being worried about her?"

"Well, yeah, but why would he go home every month? Even if his mum is sick, he wouldn't go home every month to see her." Sirius said.

"He's only gone home two times."

"Still."

"You're just saying that because you don't like your family." Peter frowned. Sirius scowled at him.

"No, he has a point. I wouldn't even go home to see my mum that often if she was sick. I would only go if I thought she was about to die so that I could see her one more time." James reasoned.

"Exactly!" Sirius crossed his arms.

"Well, he could be closer to her. Or she could be getting really weak and be almost dying." Peter argued.

"Every month?"

"Yes!"

"You two can argue about this all you want. I'm going to go see if anyone's using the pitch." James got up and went to his dormitory. Sirius did have a point, but he didn't want to dismiss Peter's argument either. They both made a lot of sense to James. Maybe he could just ask Remus when he got back in a few days.

No one was on the pitch from what James could see from his dormitory. He grabbed his broom and hurried outside. The weather was just starting to cool down. The school grounds were bathed in colors of red and orange. James loved autumn. He would never admit it out loud, but he thought it was the most beautiful of the seasons. Even though he couldn't play quidditch and all the plants were essentially dying for the next four months, he loved how the weather cooled and brought people together. He loved the smell of the wind, the way the wind messed up his permanently messy hair, the new foods that were brought with winter.

It also helped that autumn meant winter was soon, and Christmas was in winter.

The quidditch pitch was still empty when he got out to the pitch, which he thought was strange. The first game of the year was in a few weeks between Gryffindor and Slytherin. James was sure one of the teams would be out practicing this morning. It wasn't early, and the weather was perfect for playing conditions. If he was captain, he wouldn't be wasting a perfect day like this.

James flew around the pitch a few times and practiced a few flying maneuvers before picking up the quaffle he had brought with and went to practicing with that. He was out there for almost half an hour when a team finally come out on the pitch. It was the Ravenclaw team. The captain- Richards- demanded to know what he was doing on the pitch during their practice time, and James simply said that he was practicing until someone came out and told him that he couldn't.

Richards drew himself up, obviously not wanting to come off too pompous when he said," Well, we're here now. You can go."

James glared at him coldly and glanced at the rest of the team. They all had Shooting Star brooms.

"Is that the best broom you've got?"

"What?" Richards snapped.

"Your brooms. Have you only got Shooting Stars?"

"It doesn't matter." Richards ground his teeth.

"No, I suppose it doesn't if you know how to fly properly. Alright. I'll just be going. Have a nice practice. Good Luck against Hufflepuff in a few months."

James left with a pleasant, albeit forced smile. Richards and the rest of his team looked at James with a mix of anger, confusion, and nervousness.

Ten minutes later, James was putting his broom back in his trunk when the door flew open and Frank tumbled in looking very rumpled.

"What happened to you, mate?" James asked.

"What? Oh. N-Nothing."

"Your hair's all messed up. And you robes are on backwards. I'm pretty sure you didn't leave like that this morning. So what happened?"

"Nothing. Just some fourth years-"

"Gryffindors?"

"Yeah but-"

James was already out the door.

"James!" Frank shouted and scurried after him, trying to correct his wardrobe malfunction.

James stomped downstairs and looked around for the fourth years. He spotted a group of smirking boys in the corner of the room. This group burst out laughing when Frank fell into the common room. Literally fell. He'd stepped on his own robes in his rush to stop James.

The laughter only fueled James' anger. He ground his teeth and stomped up to the group of boys, pointing at Frank," Did you do that?"

"What's it to you, firstie?" One boy sneered.

"Did you do it?"

"Maybe I did and maybe I didn't."

James narrowed his eyes," Leave him alone, yeah? He didn't do anything to you."

"And what are you going to do about it? You haven't even learned how to levitate anything yet."

Although James didn't want to admit it, he was right. They hadn't used any magic in any of his classes yet. They weren't practicing for another week.

"You don't want to know what I'll do." James growled.

"Whatcha going to do? Bite me?" He laughed. His friends laughed along with him.

James, who had steadily been turning red, lunged forward and punched the boy in the nose. While the boy was recovering from the pain in the nose, his two friends pulled out their wands. With his fast reflexes, James punched another in the throat, making his drop his wand and cough. The other friend managed to send a leg lock curse at him. James fell over, not being able to use his legs. The first boy got up with a nasty grin and sent a curse at James. Angry purple boils sprung up all over James' body. His entire body was screaming in pain, but he forced himself to stand in his locked legs. He swung his arm to punch the guy again, but someone hit him over the head with a hard book, and he blacked out.

LILY POV

"Did you hear what happened to James?" Marlene said, sitting down across from Lily in the library.

"No." Lily said, not looking up from her charms homework.

"He's in the hospital wing."

Hearing that, Lily looked up," Why?"

"Apparently, some guys were picking on Frank, and James decided to fight them. Physically fight them."

Lily furrowed his eyebrows," Why would he think that fighting is a good idea?"

"I dunno considering we only know magic theories right now."

"He doesn't have any brains, does he?"

"But he was defending his friend. He punch one of them in the nose and another in the throat. Then the got him with a couple curses and knocked him out with a copy of Hogwarts, A History."

"How do you know about this?"

It was happening while I was getting my Transfiguration book. I just got to the common room when James came out of his dormitory. Let me tell you, he looked really angry."

"Well, I'm glad he was defending Frank. Too bad he's in the hospital wing."

"You're not going to ask if he's okay?"

"Mar, if he wasn't okay, you would have dragged me down to the hospital wing by now. Potter's probably fine."

"He's going to have a bad headache when he wakes up."

"Yeah. I'm glad I'm not him."

Marlene rolled her eyes and sat down to do her homework. They were joined a minute later by Alice and Mary. Alice had found their small group better than Tiny, Bethany, and Katy's. Marlene relayed the news to the two new girls and got a more satisfying response from them.

"Is Frank okay?" Alice asked.

Marlene raised an eyebrow and smirked," Frank's fine. He was walking down to the hospital wing behind the two guys that carried James."

"Oh. That's good." Alice quickly looked down at the blank parchment in front of her.

"Why are you so concerned for Frank, Alice?" Marlene leaned forward. Lily's eyes flickered up for a second before she focused on her Charms homework again. She already knew the answer, and Alice wasn't going to give the truthful one anyway.

"He's my friend. I can be concerned for him if I want." Alice said.

"But you didn't ask if James was okay."

"Please. You would have taken us to the hospital wing already if James wasn't okay." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Told you." Lily muttered, not looking up.

"Fine. Whatever." Marlene threw her quill on her book," I hate Transfiguration."

"We should go visit James. I'm sure his friends will be there, but I still think it'll be nice for him to have friends there when he wakes up. Do you think Sirius and Peter know James is in the hospital wing?" Mary asked.

"I don't-"

"He's what?" A few voices screeched. The girls swiveled around and saw Katy, Tiny, and Bethany looking at the rest of the girls in pale horror.

Madam Pince, the strict librarian, appeared from behind a bookshelf and started reprimanding them for proper voice levels in a library. Quite hypocritically, Lily noticed. Madam Pince was shouting almost as loud as the girls had been. Once she swooped back into the depths of the library, the girls swarmed their dorm mates.

"What about James?" Tiny asked frantically.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Marlene snapped, grabbing her quill again.

"Listen, Underwood. James Potter is my future husband. I need to know what's happened to him."

Lily frowned at Tiny," You're eleven. You can't possible know that he's your future husband."

"Like he would fall for the likes of you. You're muggleborn. He's pureblood. You two just wouldn't work."

"I'll have you know-" Lily started, standing up. She leaned forward on her hands, about to give her a lashing out that would put Madam Pince to shame, but Marlene stood up, knocking Tiny away from the table in the process.

"Purebloods and muggleborns are no different. Magic is magic. It only matters how you use it."

Tiny rolled her eyes," Spoken like a true half-blood."

"Better than you. All you think of is blood status."

"Blood status is important."

"It is not. Bloody hell. If it were, do you think there would be any mixing of purebloods and muggleborns in the school? Do you even think that muggleborns would be allowed in the school? Blood status is not way to tell if someone is a good witch or wizard. It's all on how talented and practiced you are." Marlene all but shouted.

Tiny looked over at the stacks of books, waiting for Madam Pince to come out and chastise her too. But the librarian just lurked next to a bookshelf, pretending the girls weren't talking at all. Tiny's face turned pink in outrage," Madam Pince! She's shouting in the library!"

"Shh!" Madam Pince shot her a severe look.

"But-"

"Quiet. This is a library!"

"But they were shouting!"

"I heard nothing. But you obviously do not know the value of quiet in the library. Out."

"What? But-"

"OUT."

Madam Pince chased Tiny and her two friends out of the library. When she walked past the remaining girls, she paused at their table, looking at the severely over her glasses," In fact, I did hear you shouting, but I'm letting it slide this time. I believe you are right. Blood status does not matter in anything. Ability in magic only comes from practice and experience."

"Thank you, Madam Pince. I'm sorry I shouted. I won't do it again." Marlene said with what could pass as a genuine promise. Lily had only known her two months, and she knew better. Marlene only apologized when it was really important. She wouldn't mean it if it was something as mundane as shouting in a library, no matter who the librarian was.

"See to it that you don't. Or you'll all be banned from the library." Madam Pince stood up more rigid than usual.

"Of course. I think we should go anyway. We don't want to disturb the peace anymore." Lily said sweetly.

"Right. And we should visit James. Make sure he's alright and everything." Mary nodded. Alice stood up with them.

Madam Pince just gave them a stiff nod and went back to the stacks of books.

The four girls quickly packed up their things and left the library. Lily wasn't happy to leave the library and there was no way they would run into more trouble there, but Mary was right. They should make sure James was okay. He was their friend after all. Sort of. And she didn't know if Sirius and Peter knew yet. Remus definitely didn't. He was visiting his sick mother again.

"Do you think they'll be at the hospital wing?" Alice asked.

"Who?" Mary looked at her in confusion.

"Katy and Beth and Tiny."

"Oh."

Marlene shook her head," Tiny probably got so upset that she forgot her dear sweet Jamie was in the hospital wing."

Lily snorted," James. Dear and sweet. That's a good one."

"I don't know why you don't like him." Mary said.

"It's not that I don't like him. He's okay. It's just that...well, he's full of himself, isn't he?"

"A bit, yeah." Mary allowed.

"More than a bit. James Potter has the biggest ego in the school."

"Have you met Sirius Black?" Marlene said.

"I'd say they're even on that front. I can't stand either of them."

"But you can't deny they're good friends. They stand up for each other." Alice piped in.

"Yeah, I suppose there's that." Lily nodded.

They changed the subject to the Transfiguration homework Marlene had yet to start. That's what they were talking about when they got to the hospital wing. Alice led them through the large doors and hurried toward Frank, who was sitting in a chair next to a bed halfway down the right row. The rest of the girls followed at a slower pace.

"Are you okay?" Alice blurted.

"Me? I'm fine."

"Marlene said some older boys were bothering you earlier, and that's why James got into the fight..."

"Yeah, but I'm fine. I think James just overreacted, honestly."

"How is James doing?"

"He's fine. Healer Palms got rid of the boils and took off the leg lock curse. Whenever James wakes up, he's going to have a massive headache though. They hit him really hard with that book."

"Poor James."

"Do Sirius and Peter know?" Lily asked.

"I haven't told them. I don't think they know yet."

"I'll tell them. Do you know where they are?"

"Dunno. Maybe down my the lake?"

"Want me to come with you?" Mary offered.

"No, it's fine. If I don't find them, I'll probably just stay out there and finish my Charms essay."

Frank frowned," I thought that wasn't due until Wednesday."

"It's not, but I'd rather get it out of the way. Besides, I still have the Potions essay and Herbology essay to do. Not to mention the Astronomy charts and all those questions McGonagall gave us to answer." Lily sighed.

"Right. I forgot about Astronomy." Frank deflated.

"I haven't done it yet. Maybe we can work on it tomorrow." Alice offered.

Frank smiled at her," Really? That would great, Alice!"

"We can start it at breakfast if you like."

"Sure. I'm usually up by nine. Want to meet then?"

Alice nodded.

"I'm going to find Peter and Sirius. See you guys later." Lily waved at her friends and started towards the Great Hall. Better check there before going outside, right? It was on the way at least, and those boys could eat more than she thought possible. But they weren't there when she checked. So she went out onto the grounds and found them walking back up to the castle.

"Evans." Sirius smirked.

"Black. Your other half is in the hospital wing. I think he'll want you to be there holding his hand when he wakes up." Lily said.

"James is in the hospital wing? Why?" Sirius said in shock.

"Some older students were messing with Frank, and James decided punching them in the face was the answer. Long story short, he got cursed and knocked out with Hogwarts, A History."

"Who was messing with Frank? A flobberworm would do more damage than him."

"I don't know. I wasn't there. Marlene told me about it. Why don't you go talk to her. She's in the hospital wing with everyone else."

"Right. Let's go then."

"I'm not going with you."

"You're not?"

"No. I have a ton of homework to finish."

"That's what Sundays are for."

Lily rolled her eyes," Goodbye, Black."

"See you around, Evans."

Lily sat down under a tree by the lake. There wasn't anyone else around, so she was able to concentrate on the essay in front of her. She had just finished it and started her Herbology when someone sat down next to her.

"Hello, Lily."

Lily's head snapped up, and a smile spread across her face," Hi, Sev!"

"Haven't seen you around lately."

"I know. Sorry. It's just- there's so much homework, and I just want to get it finished."

"Is that why you're out here all on your own?"

"Yes, well, a few things happened. I was in the library, but then bloody James Potter had to go and be noble."

Severus snorted," He doesn't know what nobility is. He's just looking to be the center of attention."

"He's in the hospital wing for standing up from someone." Lily almost frowned. Almost.

"He probably just did that to make himself look good."

Lily didn't say anything. She wasn't particularly fond of James Potter, but Severus seemed to thoroughly loathe him.

"Do you want to work on the Potions essay?" Lily changed the subject.

"Sure."

JAMES POV

James stood in line, and he couldn't sit still. He was too excited. It was only his second year in Hogwarts, and already two Chaser positions on the quidditch team had opened up. He was going to make the team. He would do it if it killed him.

"Okay, since there are so many of you, I'm splitting you into three groups of five." The captain- Anderson- said loudly. He counted off the first five and sent them to the far end of the pitch to practice passing the quaffle. The next five he sent to the middle to do the same. James was in this group with a third year girl, one of the boys James had fought with, and two seventh years that almost looked bored.

The group got into the air and started passing. James was pleased to see that the boy he had fought with had too loose of a grip on the quaffle and couldn't catch it properly. He couldn't throw it properly either. It made for difficult catches, mostly to James. James didn't miss one pass though. He caught the quaffle with a firm hand and tossed it to the girl with a strong arm. She caught it easily. The two seventh years lazily tossed the quaffle, and it made James wonder why they were even there.

"Okay, I'm making the first round of cuts!" Anderson called. Everyone flew over to where he was standing. James tried not to look to arrogant, but he knew he wasn't getting cut yet. Anderson looked at the list in front of him and called out five names before looking up," I'm sorry, but you've been cut. Keep working. Maybe you'll make it on the team next time."

Much to James' dismay, neither the boy nor the seventh years had been cut. But he didn't get to think about it much because Anderson was explaining the next part of tryouts. He listened carefully as he explained that they were splitting into groups of five again and play a quick game. James ended up on the same team as the girl and one of the seventh years, but he was with a third year boy that looked like a first year and a fifth year girl that looked like she could squash them all like bugs.

"You lot better not hog the quaffle." The fifth year girl growled.

James frowned but didn't say anything. Why wouldn't he pass the quaffle? Sure, handling the quaffle was important in being a Chaser, but so was sharing it with the rest of your team. If you didn't pass it, you weren't much of a team player, and that didn't fly well as a Chaser. You could only get away with that as Keeper and Seeker because you didn't have to rely on others in your team.

James' team lost the game. The fifth year girl had hogged the quaffle for a good portion of the game, and she had cost them the game because she was too stubborn. But when James had had the quaffle, he had managed to slip in some expertly executed moves before passing it off to the others on his team. The third year girl did good too, but the seventh year had collided with another player and was carted off to the hospital wing. The third year boy had been so nervous during the game that he had fainted and was actually the one the seventh year collided with.

"Now we'll never get bloody picked." The third year girl muttered when she and James landed.

"If she had just passed the bloody quaffle." James grumbled.

She nodded and turned to Anderson who was now reading off five more names. James didn't hear his name, and apparently the girl's name didn't get called either. But the fifth year girl's name did get called, and she threw a massive fit that she got cut. She grabbed the front of James' robes.

"YOU DIDN'T PASS ME THE QUAFFLE ENOUGH, YOU BLOODY GIT! I TOLD YOU TO PASS THE QUAFFLE!" She screamed in his face. James didn't even flinch.

Anderson and the others who were already on the team pried her off James, pushing her off the pitch. Anderson returned with a huff," Sorry about that. Now, I want the five of you to try and score on Blake. You each get five shots."

First up was the fourth year boy James had punched. He missed four of the five shots and dropped the quaffle twice (James tried not to laugh). Second was the third year girl (James still didn't know her name). She made four of the five. Next was a sixth year boy who was nothing impressive, but he made three of his shots.

James was next. He was a lot more nervous now that he was on the spot. He was never usually nervous about anything, especially about quidditch, but he was in the spotlight at tryouts. This was what was determining if he made it on the team. But he had been watching the Keeper. Blake leaned to the left, but he was strong at defending the right. Since he was already on the left, that was well guarded. Maybe if James went for a trick shot-

One.

James grabbed the quaffle before it could go more than ten feet down and attacked the goals again, this time feinting right and shooting left.

Two.

Nervous sweat was beading on his forehead. He feinted to the left and shot in the middle last second.

Three.

James was starting to feel the pressure now. The Keeper was getting closer to blocking the quaffle. He knew James was going to feint. So if James didn't feint-

Four.

Suddenly, he didn't feel pressured. He'd made all four of his shots already. Unless the last guy made all five, he was most likely going to be on the team. Now that there was no pressure on James, he smirked and decided to show off a little. He did a double feint, confusing Blake and leaving the left hoop wide open.

Five.

"Nice one." The girl smiled when he landed.

"Thanks. You did good too."

"Maybe we can both make the team then."

"Think we'll make it?"

"I think so. That first guy was kind of..."

"Not at all good?"

She raised an eyebrow," Not as good as I would have thought."

"Sorry. I don't really like him."

"Isn't he the guy you punched in the throat last year?"

"Maybe."

She laughed and watch as the last guy missed the first two shots and gave up. He flew to the ground and walked off the pitch without a word. Blake watched him in confusion. Anderson shrugged and scratched his name off the list.

"Alright. Potter. Yates. You're on the team. You made the most shots, you're decent fliers, and you're good on a team." Anderson said.

The first boy got angry and left without saying anything to anyone, though he was swearing up a storm to under his breath. The other boy just shrugged and trudged away, his head hanging.

The rest of the team gathered around the three of them.

"Right then. We're going to have a quick practice to get used to flying all together, yeah? Sort of a get-to-know-you practice." Anderson said.

They all nodded. The rest of the team introduced themselves to the new players. There was Camden Clarke (Beater), Ingrid Fathers (Seeker), Thomas Landon (Beater), Blake Childs (Keeper), and Andrew Anderson (Chaser). James shook hands with them all and Yates (well, Claire, actually) did the same.

"Alright, everyone. In the air. Passing drill, then we'll do some laps." Anderson said cheerily.

Clarke looked at him warily," Which laps?"

"Both." Anderson said happily.

James and Claire looked at each other in confusion.

"Come on, Anderson. We don't need to run. We just need to know how to fly." Ingrid whined.

"Keep that up and we'll go even longer."

No one said anything and just got in the air. An hour later, James could see why Ingrid had complained. Anderson had made them run two laps around the pitch, which was huge. By the time they were finished with practice, James was ready to sleep for an eternity. He and Claire trudged up to the castle together and decided to get food because they had worked up a massive appetite.

LILY POV

"There he is!" Lily heard Peter exclaim as she finished her pot pie.

"OI! JAMES!" Sirius shouted.

Lily rolled her eyes and continued to read her Defense Against the Dark Arts book. She needed to finish this homework today.

"Did you make it, James?" Remus asked when James sat down. The group of boys was just a few seats away from her and her friends. But her friends were all busy studying. His friends had been planning on how to get their hands on a niffler and set it loose in Filch's office.

"Yeah. Claire and I are the new Chasers on the team." James reported. Lily noted that he sounded more human than usual. He wasn't arrogant about it. And she was sure that it was because he was in shock from making the team. She peeked over and him and realized that it was probably from him being exhausted. He was covered in sweat. His messy black hair was even wet down from it. The girl next to him looked just as tired.

"What happened to you two? It looks like they shoved you in the lake." Sirius said.

"Anderson's crazy, that's what happened." Claire muttered.

Lily smirked. She knew the quidditch captain was crazy. She'd talked to him a few times and overheard him at mealtimes. All he thought about was quidditch. Even last year, he was a major fanatic. Everything he talked about related back to quidditch.

"He made us run the pitch." James added.

"Run the pitch? But you're flying, not running. This isn't a muggle sport."

"Yeah, well, Anderson's a little confused, I think." Claire said.

Lily's smirk grew. But then she realized that she was listening to James talk about quidditch tryouts and not reading her book. She shook her head and focused on her book. Or she tried to. Her focus was shot now. She only saw the word pixies, and nothing was processing in her head.

She sighed and shut her book," I'm going to the library. See you later?" Lily said to Alice.

Alice nodded. Lily got up and was starting to leave when James stopped her.

"I made the quidditch team, Evans." He said with a smirk.

"Congratulations, James." Lily nodded and tried to leave again, but James put an arm out.

"That's all?"

"What's all?"

"Just 'congratulations, James'?"

"Well, what else is there to say?"

"You tell me."

"You're the one that's fishing for compliments. I'm not a part of your fan club, I'm sorry to inform you. They're over there." Lily pointed at Tiny, who was currently glaring at Lily," Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library to finish reading this chapter so I can do the Defense essay."

"C'mon, Evans. You have all weekend to do homework."

Lily sighed impatiently," And I have a lot of homework to finish. If you'll excuse me."

"Alright. Sorry. See you around." James let her pass and turned back to his friends.

Lily hadn't gotten far when she heard Sirius say," You've got it bad, mate."

"I haven't got anything."

"You like Evans. It's obvious."

"I do not."

"Even I noticed it." Peter said.

Lily was out of earshot before anything else could be said. She was out of the Great Hall a few seconds later.

She seriously hoped that he didn't like her. She didn't know if she could handle that. James was barely tolerable as it was. If he had a crush on her, then things would just become ten times worse.

"Hey, Lily." Severus said from a table covered in books. Lily sat down with him.

"What are you working on?" She asked.

"Defense."

"I still need to finish the chapter. I was hoping to do that here."

"Oh, I can tell you about it, if you like. We can work on it together."

That's exactly what they did. They spent the rest of the day working on Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy. At six thirty, they walked down to the Great Hall together. At the doors, they cast sad looks at each other and walked to their respective tables. They had learned quickly that Gryffindors and Slytherins essentially hated each other, and they didn't like that they couldn't sit together. They had a few times in first year, but it always ended in Severus getting cursed and Lily being mercilessly teased by the Slytherins and her horrible dormmates.

When Lily got to the Gryffindor table, she found that none of her friends were around. She used that as an opportunity to get more homework done, and by the time she had finished eating, she'd gotten a good way through her Herbology homework. Her friends had yet to make an appearance, so she decided just to go to the common room and finish her Herbology.

They were all sitting around a table near the back of the common room when Lily arrived. Alice was in tears, and Mary and Marlene were comforting her. Lily hurried over.

"What happened?" Lily asked, sitting down with them.

"That sixth year Malfoy was sending tripping hexes at her all afternoon." Mary said.

"I'm going to hex him next time I see him. Bloody git thinks that just because he's a pureblood, he can do whatever he bloody well pleases." Marlene growled.

"Not to mention he's a prefect too." Mary added.

"Exactly," Alice sniffled," He's a prefect. You can't do anything. He'll put you in detention if you try anything."

"Not if he doesn't catch me." Marlene crossed her arms stubbornly.

"She's right, Mare. Don't risk it. You'll just get in trouble. Malfoy isn't worth it." Lily said in a calm voice.

"Malfoy may not be worth it, but Alice is."

At that, Alice gave her a watery smile," I appreciate that, but I'm really not. McGonagall will probably make you clean the trophy room or something."

"So be it."

"Mare, come on. We can figure out some way to get back at him." Lily said.

"Planning revenge without us?" James Potter and his friends sat down around the girls. Franks sat down next to Alice, looking at her in concern.

"What's wrong, Alice?" He asked.

Alice explained what happened to her, and Frank had the same reaction Lily did. He was upset but rational about the entire situation. He patted her shoulder and said not to let it get to her because everything would work out.

"Some Slytherin's picking on you for no reason?" Peter squeaked.

"We'll fix that." Sirius stood up.

"No! You'll just get yourselves into trouble." Mary said nervously.

"We'll be fine. We'll be careful. Don't worry about us." James waved her off and looked over at Sirius," I have an idea."

"Yeah?"

"We're going to need some dung bombs, cockroach clusters, and a lot of ink."

"Potter, you're going to get everyone in trouble." Lily scowled.

"Relax, Evans. You don't have to do anything. Besides, we won't even tell you what we're planning so you can say that you didn't know what we were doing if McGonagall asks you what happened."

"I already know enough to turn you in."

"You wouldn't turn in your friend."

"Are you my friend?"

"Aren't I?" James smirked and raised an eyebrow.