A/N

I'm back! And this one is better than the last one since it's all happy and cheerful again and there's no sadness or angst. :)

Not many people reviewed the last one, so I was sad :( Was it because I deleted the author's note so there was a chapter 8 repeat? Because somebody said that you can't review a chapter twice...Eh, if you review this one lots then it'll all be okay. :)

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I need more Pottermore friends! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Read on!

Lily wasn't talking to James. She said it was because the last question was absolutely horrible and she didn't want something similar or something even worse to happen, and she wanted to cut off all contact with the Marauders. Alice, Marlene, and Mary all doubted she could do it, because her curiosity would once again get the better of her. Also, Potter kept trying to talk to her, but each time, Lily had managed to slip away. Avoiding Potter really was difficult and it was even harder if you were Lily Evans.

Secretly, Lily now had a valid reason to avoid James, and she was glad.

And on a gloomy, stormy, and gray day, Lily was in the library, with a mood that matched the weather exactly.

"Lily."

Silence.

"Liiillly."

Nothing.

"Lily. Lily. Lily."

No response.

"LILY!"

"What?! What's happening?!" The redhead jumped and looked around wildly. She gave a relieved sigh when she saw that it was only Alice.

"I've been calling your name for five minutes Lily!" She exclaimed.

"Oh-er, sorry, I was thinking."

"About You-know-who?" Alice asked cautiously.

Lily had given Marlene, Alice, and Mary strict orders to call Potter you-know-who, and she insisted, despite their sighs and agitated looks and the confusion it caused.

For example…

"You-know-who's coming!"

"VOLDEMORT'S COMING TO HOGWARTS?!"

"No, not that You-know-who, the other one!"

"The other one? What other one? What-ohhh."

"Yeah, that one! Honestly, stop thinking Voldemort's going to attack us any minute!"

And other similar situations.

Back in the library, the scene at Lily's table was the same as any other day. Lily had been focused on the book and paper in front of her and her quill was moving across the page quickly as she wrote, until she drifted off. Alice had put her book, quill, and parchment away, and she was playfully poking and calling Lily's name. Mary was trying to pay attention. (Keyword: Trying.) Marlene had completely given up and was now gently snoring with her head on the table.

"What were you saying, Alice?"

"I was saying," Alice said, "that I was just daydreaming-ahem, I mean writing, when Black and Lupin rushed by and gave me this thing." She waved a piece of purple paper in the air, accidentally whacking Marlene in the process, who gave a loud snort and jumped up immediately, looking embarrassed.

"Whazzat?" She sleepily slurred.

Alice cleared her throat and read aloud. "Go go go! The eighth Marauder question is up now!"

Below it was a large '8' and a yellow smile face, which kept blowing raspberries and winking.

"Huh." Mary said, raising her eyebrows. "Since when did they start handing out flyers?"

"…I don't think they did start handing our flyers! I mean, if they had, they would've had a bunch of them to start giving to people, wouldn't they? But they were only holding one, and right after they gave it to us, they left." Alice looked at all the other people in the library; they were all flyer-less. She shrunk a bit when she caught the eyes of some blond barbie girls, who were glaring and looking at the purple paper enviously.

"Why do you think she only gave it to us?" Mary asked, even though she already knew the answer: Lily. Lily was the only known student in Hogwarts history who actually needed motivation, reminders, and some pushing to get her to do something the Marauders had asked.

"Whatever," Marlene chirped, smoothing down her hair. "You don't have to tell me twice! I'm going now!"

Alice and Mary both got up to follow, but Lily stayed firmly planted in her chair.

"You coming, Lily?" Alice questioned.

"Of course not!" Lily answered sniffily, "I told you guys already; I've had enough of Potter and Black's games and I'm never going again-and I actually mean it this time!"

Mary sighed resignedly at her forceful tone but Marlene seemed amused. "Whatever you say, Lils."

They then left, looking positively delighted to be able to ditch homework. All of a sudden, Lily felt a combination of many different emotions.

1. Anger. Well she wasn't flat-out furious, but she was a bit upset that all of her friends would ditch her to go see some stupid Marauder notice.

2. Loneliness. She felt a bit alone no that everyone else was gone and nobody had stayed with her.

3. The-'out-of-the-loop'-feeling. She was sure that when her friends returned and they would be talking about the post. And because Lily didn't go see it, she would have no idea what they would be talking about.

4. Annoyance. Which was directed at Potter, of course. This. was. all. his. fault.

Lily was snapped out of her daydream when some Ravenclaw seventh years giggled madly at a nearby desk. Madam Pince shushed them crossly.

Lily looked back down to continue her homework, but instead her eyes caught the purple flyer Alice had left behind. She quickly averted her glance and looked back at her half-finished essay.

But she couldn't concentrate. The flyer was sitting nor far from her, and Lily, for some weird reason, didn't dare reach out to touch it, much less grab it and throw it away.

Though the flyer wasn't alive and hadn't been enchanted to be, it seemed to lay there, silently taunting her.

Lily glared at the flyer.

The face on the advertisement was still winking and sticking our its tongue periodically. All of a sudden, it grinned widely and let out a cackle of laughter.

Lily jumped back, scared out of her wits. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was it was just the flyer, though she was still a little creeped out by the sudden sound.

Another loud yell made her jump again.

"This is a library!" the voice screeched. Three guesses who that was. Madam Pince stomped over, looking furious. "Miss Evans! I cannot believe-oh is that where that awful noise cam from?" She changed paths as she caught sight of the funky parchment on the table. "Was that where the awful noise came from? It's got the Marauders' names written all over it!" She continued sniffily. "Give that to me, Miss Evans!"

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Lily's head. Madam Pince could see the paper. That meant she could see what was on the paper. She already knew that it was the Marauders' doing. So if Lily showed the librarian, who would tell McGonagall, who could put a stop to all this…Everything could go back to normal! It was brilliant.

Excitedly, Lily grabbed the flyer and shoved it into Pince's hands. She looked at it for a long moment. All of a sudden, the face blew an extremely loud raspberry at her. Scowlling, she tapped the paper with her wand and said, "Silencio."

She handed the paper back to Lily who looked at her, confused.

Madam Pince did not notice Lily's befuddlement. "Giving a girl a paper with nothing but a face on it!"

Just a face.

Just a face.

Just. a. face.

"Just a face?!"

"Why yes, Miss Evans. Just a face." She nodded and began walking away huffily. "The nerve of some people!"

Lily sat back down slowly, feeling oddly exhausted. So the Marauders had thought of enchanting the flyer.

"We're baaack!" A voice sing-songed. "Did we miss anything?"

Lily, scowling, told them her story. She was surprised at their reactions. When she was finished, shock was written all over their faces.

"Blimey, Lily, I can't believe you actually told on them!"

"I meant it when I said I'd had enough of them! I'll do anything to get them to stop this nonsense!" she snapped.

"Anything?"

"Anything?"

"Anything!-except for murder and torture." she added quickly, scowling again.

"Well," Marlene muttered under her breath, "It seems like we're back to square one again with the Jily plan…"

"Nah," Alice replied, her lips twitching, "We still got Lily to admit she had some feelings for Potter. Let's say we're at square one and a half."

"Oh, honestly!" Lily interrupted. "We're obviously not going to get anything done, so let's just go back to the common room."

Eagerly, Alice, Mary, and Marlene crammed their parchments and books into their bags and jumped up. Lily nodded for them to leave without her and as they walked towards the exit, Lily carefully placed her book between her Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions ones. And, when she was sure no one was looking, she took the flyer, folded it, and cautiously slid it inside her pant's pocket.

It was killing her. Everywhere she went, she heard fellow students (especially girls) talk about the new question. It was all people talked about, yet the actual question was never mentioned, so Lily still did not know what it was. The curiosity was slowly breaking down the brick wall she had just rebuilt.

After one Transfiguration class, she had reached breaking point.

"Guys, tell me what the question was!"

They gaped and turned to Lily, eyes clearly filled with confusion.

"I'm just curious! And everyone's talking about it, I feel so out of the loop."

"…I don't think we should tell you…"

"What, why? It's not like there's a rule for that our anything…"

Alice grinned sheepishly. "Well-no, but they said that if we told someone who hadn't checked yet they'd find out and prank us of it."

"We've seen the revenge pranks they pulled and I don'y want to be on the receiving end of one of those."

"Just for telling?"

"Mhmm…" Marlene said.

Lily, grumbling, gave up. But she grew considerably crabbier as they entered the Great Hall and more chatters about the question were heard.

After dinner, when the common room was almost empty except for the four girls and some first first years who were about to go to bed, Lily suddenly called out to an especially frightened-looking firstie.

"Oi! What's your name?"

"M-Max E-E-Elmwood." He stuttered.

"Well, Max, I am Head Girl and I need you to tell me what the Marauder question was!" Near the end of her command, her voice rose until it was almost an awful, shrill, shriek.

"B-b-ut the post said-"

"Now."

"Itaskeduswhatourfavoritenumb erwas!" He squeaked, then scurried up the stairs, hoping to escape Lily's wrath.

"Lily, what in the name of Merlin was that all about?"

"Well, I had to find out somehow to-err-make sure it wasn't something bad-I am Head Girl after all-and since you wouldn't tell me, I had to do scare that poor kid into spilling."

Marlene was smirking. "Isn't that abusing your power Lily? And if I remember correctly, on the train ride here, you yelled at Potter for telling a first year he needed that Chocolate Frog because he was Head Boy! A bit hypocritical, don't 'cha think?"

"-what?-oh, please, these are two completely different things!"

"How?" Mary asked, and she was also grinning.

"Yeah, Lily." said Alice, "Do enlighten us."

"You-Know-who made that little kid lose money or a frog, I didn't make that Max Elmswood lose anything!"

Marlene was snickering now. "Nah, I think you made him lose his pants because you scared the pants off him!"

All, except Lily, hooted with laughter.

"Oh haha," She said, rolling her eyes. "Very funny." But there was the shadow of a smile upon her face.

However, inside, instead of feeling elated at successfully finding a loophole, she felt horrible. Was it because finding a way around the question rules had taken out all the fun? Or was it a mere coincidence that right after getting someone to spill, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach?

Of course it was just a coincidence! The former suggestion was so ridiculous Lily almost laughed out loud. Almost. Well, sort of almost. Okay fine, her lips didn't even twitch.

And Lily found that her eyebrows were suddenly fixed in a scowl. Roughly decrying that she was off to bed, Lily hurried up the staircase. She hurtled into her soft bed and immediately fell into a warm, blissful sleep. She hadn't realized how tired she was.

Her soft, paradisal sleep soon morphed into one of the craziest dreams she had ever had. She was in a white nightgown, walking in a beautiful garden. But as she kept walking, her surroundings began to disappear. It happened slowly: the color first faded until everything was pale and looked almost translucent. Lily felt like she was in an old newspaper. After that, one by one, everything began to vanish until she was completely surrounded by white. It was so white Lily was almost blinded. And suddenly a face appeared. One second it wasn't there and suddenly it popped out of nowhere. Lily nearly had a heart attack. It was Potter's face, and its appearance shocked Lily more than anything. The dream was turning into a nightmare. Then another Potter face came. And another. And another. Now there were more than thirty Potter heads bobbing around her. Their lips moved as though they were speaking, but no noise issued from their lips. The faces did not carry their trademark smile. Instead, they all looked dead and serious, and their wordless chanting only added to the eeriness.

One face was coming closer and closer to Lily's own, and she stepped back , hoping to increase the distance between them. But Lily clumsily tripped over her own two feet and she fell on her back. Hard. Sweat was pouring down her face. She sat up, but something wet and squishy plopped into her lap. A sponge.

And suddenly she was back in the Gryffindor girl's dormitory. There was a yellow sponge in her lap and Marlene, Mary, and Alice were crowded around her four-poster bed, looking nervous, anxious, worried, and relieved all at the same time. There was a long pause as they all stared at Lily who stared right back. Color was returning to their pale faces.

"What happened?" Lily croaked. Her voice sounded hoarse.

"You've been quite ill." Mary answered softly. "Nightmare?"

Lily nodded.

"It was scary," Alice said, looking shaken. "When we woke up you were sitting up in bed, b-but you were still…asleep, and your legs were…twitching alternately…like right, left, right, left, and after a while you finally stopped-"

"-but you began sweating." Marlene continued. "And then you fell back down in bed, and Mary went and got water and a sponge-"

"You were hyperventilating and you looked like you couldn't breathe-"

"-we tried to wake you but no matter how hoard we shook, you just wouldn't-or couldn't-wake."

"After a while you suddenly sat back up and then woke…" Alice trailed off.

Lily couldn't believe it. She was never much of a 'sleep-mover', and she was shocked a dream about Potter could make her act like this.

Alice and Mary and Marlene didn't ask what the nightmare was about-Lily supposed they assumed that it had something to do with Lord Voldemort, with the rising threat of war looming before them. She was glad they didn't ask. If they found out the nightmare was actually about a boy and not a murderer who was at large, they'd laugh themselves silly and Lily would never hear the end of it. She'd rather keep everyone else in the dark. She didn't like hiding this from her friends, but it had to be done…

The next night was a little better, but not by much. She didn't exactly have a nightmare, but Lily was haunted by flashes and visions of her previous dream. She was unable to fall asleep no matter how many sheep she counted. She was so desperate she even counted stags, monkeys, goats, otters, horses, donkeys, and bumblebees, but nothing worked.

In three nights, Lily had very visible, dark, purple bags under her eyes.

"Perhaps the reason you're having dreams is because you're too stressed. Try loosening up a little." Alice suggested after seeing Lily's face.

"…You're right." Lily lied smoothly.

"I am? I mean-yes! I am!" She seemed flustered.

"So what should I do?" Lily knew that Alice's advice would most likely be unhelpful since she thought her nightmares were about You-Know-Who (the real one). But Lily was willing to get advice from anyone.

"How about answering the Marauder's poll?" she said. "It's fun and it'll take your mind off things!"

Of course. Lily thought sarcastically. Alice wanted to solve Lily's problem with Lily's problem.

But Lily took her advice. Yeah-that's right-Lily went back and answered another one. (Even after promising herself she wouldn't-again.)

This time she wasn't surprised since she already knew what the question was.

Nice to see you again. That's all we've got to say. Onwards!

What is your favorite number between one and ten?

Well, Max Elmswood had left out the 'between one and ten' part, but it didn't make much of a difference since her favorite number was ten anyways. Without further delay, she entered her answer and swiftly left the notice board.

That night, Lily had the best and soundest sleep she'd had in ages.

The result came exactly the next morning, surprising everyone. They were all used to long waits, so everyone had thought that they were safe for at least a week. How wrong they were.

That early day, Lily groggily awoke. She wished she could sleep in and make up for lost time, but there were classes to go to and unlike Marlene, she actually cared about being on time.

Lily glanced at her left and saw that Marlene was still asleep and snoring gently. Yawning, she climbed out of bed and trudged to the bathroom. Marlene was standing by the door, leaning against the wall.

"Morning." Lily greeted.

"G'Morning." Marlene answered back.

Lily sleepily walked inside. Marlene was washing her hands.

"Uh-" Lily began.

Marlene cut her off. "I'm all done now, Lily. Bathroom's all yours."

Lily thanked her as she walked out.

It finally hit Lily when she was washing her face.

Marlene sleeping…Marlene standing…Marlene washing her hands…Hold on. How could Marlene have been in three places at the same time?

Lily rushed outside and uttered a shriek. Lilys and Alices and Marys and Marlenes were lounging around the dorm.

"Keep it down, will ya?" A Marlene said.

But the sleeping girls had already woken up and they all wore identical looks of disbelief as they took in their surroundings.

"How-what-huh?" was the general reaction.

"Marauders." Mary said simply. That one word explained it all.

"But who's the real one?" Alice cried.

"I am!" Everybody answered.

That did not help at all, Lily thought.

"I'm guessing that the real ones are the ones still in bed-except for Lily. She's the one standing at the door of the bathroom with water all down her front." Mary supplied.

Lily looked down and sure enough, she was covered with water. Lily flushed but nodded.

"How are we going to tell each other apart?" Marlene moaned.

Lily suddenly had a spark of inspiration. She sped to her bedside table and got her wand. Then she separated some strands of her own hair and spoke a color changing spell. It turned from red to purple. Smiling triumphantly, she did the same to all the real people. Now all the real girls had a purple streak in their hair.

Lily finished admiring her handiwork and turned back to the fakes.

She gasped. All the clones also had a purple highlight in their hair and everyone looked identical again.

"Oh no!" Alice cried.

"Looks like what happens to us also happens to them…" Mary said slowly.

"Now what?" grumbled Marlene.

Everybody tried to think and another light bulb lit up in Lily's head.

"Food!" She blurted.

"…Lily, this isn't the time to stop for snacks!" Mary said, "I expected that from Marlene, but-"

"Hey!"

Lily interrupted. "No! We have to mark ourselves with food! It's one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, so if we use food, they can't copy us because they can't create food our of nothing!"

"That's brilliant, Lily!" Alice praised.

"I have no idea what she just said…" muttered Marlene.

"Anyone got any food?"

No answer.

"What about Mary's private chocolate stash?"

"My secret-what? No! Err-I mean, private stash? What private stash? Haven't got one! I can't believe-no, psh, what stash? Where'd you-hey!"

Lily had waved her wand and accioed a pile of chocolate right from underneath Mary's bed.

"Perfect!" She said happily.

"No-not perfect! Argh, a private stash is supposed to be that-private! Alice!"

Alice tried to look sheepish.

"Liquesco." Lily said. The chocolate melted into a puddle of fudge. Lily used her index finger and drew two horizontal lines across her cheeks, like a football player.

She did the same to Alice, Marlene, and Mary, who was still looking grouchy.

"All done! Just err-try to not eat it." Lily instructed, especially towards mary, who was already trying to lick her own cheek.

The chocolate-less clones followed them downstairs, and at the base of the staircase, they ran into the Marauders.

Lily immediately began attacking James with her fiercest glare, but the arrival of Professor McGonagall broke off their fight.

Her nostrils flared. "Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew-another two weeks detention for you. Also, classes have been cancelled because of this mess. Good day." She left without another word.

"Classes-cancelled-no!" Lily huffed. She pointed her finger at the spot between James' eyes. He was now cross-eyed. "This is all your fault!" She ran out the portrait hole, leaving everyone befuddled.

Sirius shrugged. "Ooooh, is that chocolate?" He pointed excitedly at Marlene's cheeks.

She nodded, blushing slightly. Before she could say anything else, he had scooped away one fudge line with his finger and ate it.

"Yummy." He said. They all trudged out the common room.

Marlene squealed. "Did you see that?"

Mary and Alice shared looks that said "Here we go again…" They followed the Marauders out the common room. Sadly, they had to listen to marlene's nonstop chattering for another hour.

It was very chaotic, especially for the teachers. They each had twenty clones, which make it extra confusing with all the extras, but it was also hilarious. Professor Castallanta seemed to have also tried dying some hair, but the spell had backfired somehow and all her skin was grass green, like the aliens Muggles imagined. Every time Lily saw one of the Castallanta's she would crack up. Once she began giggling, all the other clones would mimic her and then there would be a crowd of eleven laughing Lilys.

But other than all the chaos, nothing else that interesting happened, and Lily subconsciously decided that this question really wasn't that bad.

But that didn't mean she was forgiving Potter that easily.

A/N

I hope you liked it! I think this one's the longest one so far.

Thanks to awesomeness33 (AGAIN! LOVE YOU ;D) for this cloning and favorite number idea.

Any ideas on what Lily's favorite hat should be? Help me :) But a hint: The question is not 'What is your favorite hat?' It's something else! I just need the hat as an extra little thing. :P Well, I'm not sure the next one is even a question! But I'm saying too much. ;)

Finally, thanks and cookies to all the readers, followers, favoriters, and above all, REVIEWERS! Thanks for sticking with me throughout this story; your support means a lot to me!

Review, guys! 3

Until next time!

~TheEvilPinkCupcake