1. Meeting the Marauders

Hello people! Yes! It's an HP fic! And I'm writing it! When did that happen?

I've been telling myself to write this little L/J for ages. I originally wouldn't write it because, as it's HP, it's so huge that if I make a mess of it there are big repercussions on my writing life. But I gave in when I came up - coughcoughyeahrightcoughcough - with this L/J idea.

Okay, so I didn't exactly come up with it. But I didn't outright steal it, either. Some of it's mine. Some of it just…isn't. I'm sorry if I borrowed part of your fic. I didn't mean to offend you!

Disclaimer: I own everything! Yeah right. Do I LOOK or SOUND like JKR? I mean, come on. Get your eyes checked.

Claimer: Um…I own everyone you don't recognise—basically everyone except for Petunia, Lily, the Marauders, and the familiar teachers.

I hope you enjoy this teeny leetle fic. I'm into L/Js at the moment. It's my next phase after F/Ans.

This is going to be a surprise to me, too, as I have no idea what I'm going to write. I never have any plans! This'll just go as it does.

Oh, and I don't mind flames as long as that's not all I get. Actually, I laugh at flames, and then leave little pointers to the people who left them, just to get them mad at me. I find it funny to get flames. Don't flamers have anything better to do with their lives?

This is my first HP fic. Tell me if it sucks!

The rating is for swearing and stuff like that. NO SEX. I am not that disgusting. I am only fifteen, to ease your concerns! I am writing about seventeen-year-olds (and briefly eleven-year-olds), and teens swear! So there! Don't read if you're offended!

And, in case you didn't get it, this is a traditional love/hate L/J (as in Lily/James, for those of you who don't understand letter language) fic!

Please R/R.

---

Chapter 1, Meeting the Marauders

Two girls watched each other. They weren't the best sisters. One of the sisters didn't bother to say goodbye as her younger sibling walked over to the barrier reading `9'.

The redheaded girl turned back and looked at her family. Her mother and father waved goodbye to her, and she waved back. Then she watched as the three members of her family turned and walked away.

Eleven-year-old Lily Evans resumed her staring at the platform sign. She was standing at King's Cross Station, September 1st, and trying to get to the Hogwarts Train area. Platform 9 3/4, the letter had said, she remembered. But looking up, there was no sign proclaiming the area she wanted. There were just `9' and `10'. Nothing between them.

Lily sighed and sat on her trolley in annoyance. Her brown owl, Jill, squawked next to her. Lily giggled.

`Well, seeing as I'm here, I may as well make myself look even more foolish,' she thought. She heaved back on her trolley and smashed into the barrier between `9' and `10'.

Except that she didn't quite smash. She went through it. On the other side was a large red train proclaiming `Hogwarts' on the side.

Lily was amazed she was here. It had been a couple of months since Lily had received her letter to go to `Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'. Originally everyone had thought it was a joke, but then they realised it wasn't when Lily discovered Diagon Alley completely by accident.

After that event, Lily had truly believed that everything was real. She was going to a boarding school to become a witch.

Lily walked up to the train. A blonde girl with bright blue eyes fell over as her companion cracked a few jokes. She banged into Lily's trolley.

Lily reached out and grabbed Jill's cage before it could fall over. The blonde girl and her companion, a rather fit black haired boy with grey eyes, reached out and tugged Lily's trunk back onto the trolley as it started to topple over.

“Thanks,” Lily told them.

The blonde shrugged. “It was no problem,” she said. “I'm sorry for knocking into you. It's just that Sirius is always so funny. My name's Bethany.” She stuck out a hand. Lily took it.

“I'm Lily,” she told the two.

“Sirius,” the boy said unnecessarily. Lily nodded.

“Do you have anywhere to sit?” Bethany asked her. Lily shook her head. “Come on, you can sit with us.”

They pushed Lily's trolley towards the train, and with combined efforts, managed to heave her trunk into one of the compartments in the train next to theirs. They all sighed and fell into the seats along the side, Bethany in the middle.

“Are you from a witch family?” Beth asked. “I am, and so is Sirius. We've lived next to each other forever.”

Lily shook her head. “No, I'd never even heard of witches before I got my letter. All my family are normal.”

Beth looked a bit annoyed as Lily said the word `normal'. “You mean muggle,” she told the redhead.

“Sorry?”

“The term for non-magical people is muggle,” Sirius explained to Lily.

“Oh.” Just then, another girl walked into the compartment. “Can I sit here?” she asked. “Everywhere else is full.” The new girl had brown hair and eyes. She was quite tanned and reasonably skinny, but not too much. They agreed to let her stay, saying that the more there were the merrier.

The girl's name was Tawny, and she was from a muggle family, same as Lily. The two girls hit it off immediately, chatting about the new TV drama A Penny for Your Thoughts.

About half an hour into the journey, a boy walked in. He had long black hair and deep eyes that it was impossible to tell the colour of. He grinned at Lily.

“My, oh my, what a pretty thing we have here,” he said. “Let's see what we could do with you…”

Sirius jumped up and pointed his wand at this uninvited guest. “Get lost,” he said.

“Why should I?” He saw Lily's questioning glance. “Oh, if you're wondering who I am, you may call me…”

“If it isn't old Snape,” a boy cut in over him. This new arrival (there seemed to be a lot of them, Lily thought, seeing the two boys behind him. One of them seemed to be with this boy, but the other was further away, like a spectator) had unruly black hair and brown eyes beneath round black-rimmed glasses. The boy directly behind him had brown hair and hazel eyes, and the boy further behind was slightly chubby and short, with dirty blond hair and grey-blue eyes.

The first boy, Snape, said, “Severus, actually,” to the other boy.

“Severus Snape, then,” the second boy said. “Why don't you be going? You have no purpose here, really, apart from getting on everyone's nerves. Go.”

Snape rolled his eyes, but exited. “Fine, Potter,” he said as he left.

Potter sighed but grinned at everyone in the room. He noticed Sirius and his eyes lit up. “You dislike him, too?”

Sirius nodded. “I'm Sirius Black,” he told the other boy.

“I'm James Potter,” James said.

“Remus Lupin,” the boy behind James put in. The boy further back scurried up.

“I'm Peter Pettigrew,” he told the three boys. They all turned to look at him, but thought nothing of it and turned back to each other again.

The four of them talked about anything and everything, and realised that they all had a passion for mischief-making and Quidditch, a game poor Lily and Tawny had never heard of. Remus and James had met in Quality Quidditch Supplies buying their Danzip brooms, and had got talking. Now all of them decided to create a club.

The three girls rolled their eyes at the boys and started talking closely to each other.

---

The Sorting Hat process was the scariest thing to happen to Lily that evening.

“BLACK, SIRIUS!” and “BROOK, TAWNY!” had got in Gryffindor, and Lily decided she'd like to be in their House. She was nervous when her turn came up.

“EVANS, LILY!” Lily walked up slowly, her school robes flapping after her, and she sat on the stool, the Sorting Hat on her head.

Barely minutes went by as the hat considered her house, but it felt like forever to Lily. Then finally:

“GRYFFINDOR!” Lily raced across to sit next to Tawny. Remus got placed in Gryffindor, then Peter, then James, then finally Bethany (Towers). Snape got put in Slytherin, which he deserved, according to James.

The first few days went well. The seven of them were really close friends. Then they drifted apart as the four boys (or the Marauders, as they called themselves) started scheming and pranking people. The official split was only between Lily and James, and it was when James charmed Lily's ink bottle to pour over her head. The two of them were never friends again after that.

---

So, what do you think of that? I'm quite proud of it, actually. Yay! I wrote the first chapter of an HP story and liked it! Go me!

That might seem really slow but I had to introduce all the main characters and, ugh, Snape. The next chapters will have the story sped up and in the future.

I hope you enjoy it, and please submit a review! Please!

Cazzy

xxx

-->

2. Becoming Heads

Thanks:

babbling, hazeleyedmarauder, Anna

R/R

---

Chapter 2, Becoming Heads

SIX YEARS IN THE FUTURE

Petunia grimaced as another of those really pesky owls flew through the downstairs window. She was grateful that Vernon wasn't in; he'd be totally freaked out. She hadn't exactly told him that his future sister-in-law was a witch. That would come after the wedding.

She heard jumping and screams coming from the sixteen-year-old's room, and after five minutes deigned to relieve herself of the misery and quieten the girl.

“What on earth is it now?” she snapped angrily at Lily.

The redhead beamed at the blonde. She chucked a piece of paper over to Petunia so that she could read for herself.

Petty unfolded the paper and scanned it.

Dear Miss Evans,

We are delighted to inform you that you have received the position of Head Girl. You will need to attend a meeting on the Hogwarts Train the day you come back to Hogwarts. You will find your badge in the envelope.

Sincerely,

Your headmaster,

Albus Dumbledore

Deputy Headmistress,

Minerva McGonagall

“So, you got a badge and a flipping HG position. So what?”

Lily didn't give in to her sister, and rushed downstairs, proudly sporting her HG badge.

---

Tawny picked up her phone and pressed the answer button. “Hi,” she said into it. She smiled over at Beth, who was staying over for the summer. "It's Lils,” she mouthed over.

“Get Bethie on the other phone,” Lily told her. Beth grabbed the other handset after Tawny repeated this to her.

“Guess what, girls,” Lily started.

“What?”

“I'M HEAD GIRL!”

“Yeah, well I got your Prefect position,” Tawny said smugly. Beth huffed.

“Why am I always the reject? I didn't get any positions. Wait!”

At that moment a barn owl flew through the window with a letter in its beak. Tawny chuckled as Beth eagerly ripped open the envelope and cheered.

“So much for that. She got Deputy Quidditch Captain.”

Beth was a Quidditch chaser and trained religiously every day until she fell into her bed at night. She'd tried teaching Tawny and Lily Quidditch: Tawny vaguely got the idea and was able to grasp the concept of chucking a ball through a set of hoops as she played netball, but Lily couldn't understand it at all. Sometimes Beth reckoned this was because the infamous James Potter was on the team too, and they couldn't stand each other. Coincidentally, he was Captain this year, a fellow chaser, and one of Beth's good friends. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn't as arrogant as Lily thought him to be, and wasn't half of a player as it was rumoured. She knew he had a slight soft-spot for Lily and thought that if she and Tawny played their cards right they could get the two of them to date.

And it didn't hurt that Beth fancied Sirius and Tawny didn't think Remus was at all bad-looking.

But Lily was insufferable. She wasn't going to even be sociable around James, so they knew they had to devise a plan to beat all plans.

They just didn't know where to start.

“Hello?"” Lily's voice through the phones reminded the girls that they were still talking to the remaining third of their famous trio.

“Hey girl! Looks like we're all gonna be partying on the train next week. You know who HB is?”

“Nope, but I hope it isn't Potter. Anyone but Potter.”

---

“POTTER?”

“And what may I do for you milady?” James chuckled evilly and brushed locks of raven-black hair away from his mirth-filled hazel eyes.

“You can start by telling me that isn't what I think it is pinned to your uniform.”

The trio's party had been going well. They'd invited the other two Gryffindor girls in their year into the compartment, and they were just as thrilled.

“Omigosh Lily! You're so lucky! You get to work with whoever the HB is! I bet he's really fit!” Alice said dreamily. Alice Nesbit had short and curly dark brown hair and blue eyes. She had a thing about cute guys, and even though she was too shy to ever talk to any of them, she frequently fantasised about the boy of her dreams, who she'd recently started going out with. He was a few years older than her and had finished Hogwarts. His name was Frank Longbottom.

The other girl in their dorm was called Madison le Lievre. She had hip-length black hair with red all over the bottom where she'd dipped it in Wendy's Witch Dye. Everyone had tried to talk her out of it before she did it, but it looked great.

The five of them had been talking for ages about all of their successes and boys, when who should open the compartment door but James Potter, with his loose black robes on over his uniform and a large, unmistakable four-coloured badge on his chest. Lily felt like she could die.

Beth chuckled lightly, trying to make a joke out of it all. “Well hey, at least you know that the HB's not an axe murderer.”

Yeah, and not fit, too! Lily thought. She looked over at James, her evil glance unwavering. “Oh no,” she breathed.

“Oh great,” James muttered angrily. “No wait, you're old enough. Oh shit.”

The remaining four girls looked at each other. So maybe they weren't going to like each other quickly…

“What are you here for, Potter?”

“Heads' meeting, Evans,” he told her in as few words as he could manage. “Let's go.”

Lily gave him a curt nod and turned back to the girls. “I'll be back later, see you.” She left.

The meeting lasted an hour, and just finished when they arrived at Hogwarts. There they all got off, and headed towards the castle in the carriages.

After another sorting ceremony, another of Dumbledore's famous speeches (which all sounded the same to Lily now), and an introduction of the two Heads, Lily and her friends headed down the familiar corridors to their common room; ten new first years trailing nervously behind them.

---

The next day Lily had Double Potions followed by Double Charms and then Double Transfiguration.

Double Potions was hard as usual. Lily was quite good at the subject, but she was partnered up with an annoying Slytherin called Rose Hawthorn who had spindly legs, a waist the size of a pen, long blonde hair and blue eyes, and an amazing crush on James Potter.

Why on earth would a Slytherin fancy a Gryffindor unless they were mental? Lily asked herself. Barbie was certainly mental, as she proved it when she turned their potion bright pink when it was supposed to be dark purple (an inverting gravity potion), and took the blame herself instead of saddling Lily with it as any normal self-respecting Slytherin would.

Lily vaguely understood that Barbie thought that if she took the blame instead of letting a Gryffindor, Lily's fellow Gryffindor James would like her.

Though in real life it just made him think she was stupid, as his hand actions proved.

And that lost Gryffindor five points for rudeness, and another five for insolence when James protested against the first five. Smooth.

Charms the following period was a breeze for Lily. She loved casting spells and making things hover. On the other hand, James found it extremely hard.

That day they had to form fire in a mug on their tables, and then freeze it. Lily flicked her wand and said the spells quickly. The fire froze.

“Well done Miss Evans, ten points for Gryffindor,” tiny Professor Flitwick said pleasantly. He was very proud of Lily as she was his best student since forever. “Oh no, Mr. Potter! You weren't supposed to make the fire gain in power…” He gained an idea. “I don't suppose you could help him out, Miss Evans?”

You're right to not suppose, because I won't, Lily thought snappishly. But she knew that wasn't what Prof. Flitwick would want, so, sighing, she got up to help James out.

James was awful at Charms. She didn't understand why, as it was so easy, but she guessed he didn't pronounce the spells right or something like that.

“Wave your wand like this,” Lily instructed him. James watched her movements and tried to copy them. “Then say the word like this.” She spoke the spell. “Glacius!”

James repeated the spell, mispronouncing it. The flames leapt up even higher; now several feet above the mug yet not spreading over the edge. James bit his lip, nervous.

Lily sighed and extinguished the flames. She showed him the spell again and again, and eventually he got it. “Thanks, Lily!” he said automatically, forgetting that he usually called her Evans.

The room silenced. Everyone turned to stare at James. They'd never heard him call her Lily before.

James shrugged his shoulders and looked at everyone as if they were mad. “What's everyone looking at me like that for?”

Sirius's jaw dropped. "You just…you said…I can't…"

“You can't speak, how about that?”

Sirius shook his head and sighed. Remus turned to smile at Beth and Tawny. The two girls raised their eyebrows and nodded inconspicuously in the direction of Lily and James. He got the message and beamed. “Yup!” he mouthed back.

The lesson finished without anything more interesting happening, and James still not realising what he'd said. The went to the Marauder end of the lunch table and Lily went to her end.

“Well, that was surprising,” Tawny stated.

“Yup,” Lily replied absently. “It certainly was.”

---

Transfiguration was so hard.

As Lily looked over to James's table she got annoyed. This boy, who had so much trouble freezing fire with a simple charm, was finding this effortless. His mouse had turned into a jug almost before Prof. McGonagall had told them the spell. Lily, on the other hand, had just managed to give her mouse a tail-like jug handle and a long pointy spout for a nose.

McGonagall sighed. “Mr. Potter, would you help out Miss Evans before her mouse has a heart attack?”

James bounced up and Lily cringed, knowing he was going to gloat at being better than her at something. But instead he just helped her the way she'd helped him during the previous lesson.

At the end of the lesson, Lily smiled up at him gratefully. “Thanks James,” she told him.

He blinked. “What did you…?”

She shrugged. “You called me Lily last period.”

“Oh. So that's what they meant…”

“Besides, isn't it a little childish? I mean, we're in the same house and we're Heads together. Shouldn't we be on first-names terms now?”

He nodded his head. “Sure, Lily.”

“Great, James.”

And at that moment, even though they still weren't friends, Tawny, Beth, Remus and Sirius knew that they'd at least slightly forgiven each other.

---

I hope that was better. It was waaaaay long. I decided to make it long because I knew that if it wasn't, it would be boring. I'm glad I made it longer, though I'm not sure if I put too much story into it.

I've just got my idea for some of the story! Yay! I know how some of the chapters are going to go! Let's just say, the romance is not going to come for a long time. They have to become friends first. I'm not gonna make them go `oh, I love you! Let's make out even though we're still not friends!'

I hope you enjoyed that,

Luv ya,

xxxJayxxx

-->

3. Password Trouble

Thanks:

Remus`sweetie, hazeleyedmarauder, babbling, and aliasfreek

I guess I should say thanks to Anàwiel, too…after all, she did make me laugh until I cried. Even though she was trying to be mean. I'd never got a real flame before; I liked that…you may think I'm weird (one of my best friends did), but that really made my day. I was upset before that…

Just so anyone else decides to flame me, I started writing this when I was just fourteen last February (2004). I am now nearing sixteen, and so you cannot compare my writing then to my writing now. It's impossible! It's so much more grownup now…

Pleeeeeease Read and Review, I'd love you forever!

---

Chapter 3, Password Trouble

Remus watched Lily and James chat in the Gryffindor Common Room. They were talking about ideas for the Christmas party, though nobody else knew that.

Sirius chuckled. “What's with Prongs?” He thought for a moment. “No, wait, don't answer that, I know.”

Now Lily and James had decided to become more civil towards each other, they'd started spending an awful lot of time together. Beth and Tawn liked to tease Lily about it, telling her that she fancied James, but Lily always protested that they weren't even friends. And it was true.

The two girls trotted down the stairs of the girls' dorm and over to the two Marauders. “Lily's been spending a lot of time with James, hasn't she?” Tawn stated.

Remus nodded, “Yeah,” he said, watching Tawny out of the corner of his eye. Sirius and Beth noticed this, and they nodded to each other. Another match-maker job.

Just then, as everyone was preoccupied with things they shouldn't be (James with Lily's eyes, Remus with Tawny, Sirius with ideas to make the people in his head come out of his head, and Beth with how to set Lily and James and Tawny and Remus up together), Peter rushed into the room and announced that Dumbledore wanted to see Lily and James, as he clutched his side and got his breath back.

Lily looked at James wonderingly, and they left together.

---

The two Heads arrived at Dumbledore's office just as he was emerging from the portrait.

“Follow me,” he told them.

They trailed after him until they came to a portrait with a blonde-haired girl on a Palomino horse on it.

“Password,” the girl said pleasantly as they arrived. She looked at the two sixteen-year-olds. “Hey, are these the Heads? Cute.”

Dumbledore smiled amusedly at the girl. “Sure, Jenny…” he told her pleasantly. He turned to Lily and James and said, “I assure you will think of a good password. Good day.” Then he turned and walked off.

Lily looked at James with a surprised look. “Where does this painting lead?”

“The Heads' Rooms, dear,” Jenny replied. “Look, you can't stand there all day. Come up with one quickly, or I'll make it something you won't want it to be.”

Lily raised one eyebrow at the girl, who didn't seem to be any older than seventeen. “Um…James?” she asked him, hoping he could help.

“`Marauders are fun'?” he supplied thoughtfully.

Lily rolled her eyes. “How about `James is an idiot'?”

“Sexy idiot?”

“Arrgh. Maybe something simple like `Butterbeer'.”

“`Lily is cute'?” James offered.

“I prefer `Butterbeer'…” Lily muttered.

“I will let you think on it,” Jenny said impatiently. “Tell me your password later.” She swung her painting back much like the Fat Lady on the Gryffindor CR entrance.

The two Heads eagerly entered the room, and when inside, they gasped at the glory.

The room was large and gold, with red, blue, and green decorations everywhere to liven it up. There was a large table in the centre of the room, with a large, comfy-looking sofa lining one side of it. To the other side of the room were two desks; one green and one red for Lily and James respectively. Against the walls were three doors—one for a bathroom they both shared, and one for Lily and James each.

Lily walked over to the door that read `Lily' on it, and entered. She liked this room greatly, she decided.

The room was light green and lilac, with a four-poster bed, a large wardrobe full of clothes, a desk much like the one outside except it was purple, and a large bookcase heavy with volumes. Pictures of Beth, Tawn, and her were everywhere, from every year. Her trunks were already there, placed against the walls so she could sort them out. She smiled, happy with the room.

She turned and went to find James, who was studying his own room.

James's room was red and gold and had Quidditch banners hanging everywhere. He had a large, comfy looking bed positioned right in the middle of the room, and his trunks were against the walls behind the bed. He had many posters of Quidditch and photos of the Marauders together around his walls. There was another red desk and several comfy chairs positioned in various places in the room.

James beamed as he walked over to one of his trunks. Lily watched him with amusement as he started pulling things out and haphazardly threw them on the bed. Lily couldn't help but giggle as a snitch (what was James doing with a snitch? He's a chaser, she wondered) escaped a sock and started flying around the room.

James rolled his eyes at her and leapt in the air, trying to catch it.

“What are you doing with a snitch, James?” Lily asked, chuckling to herself at his bad attempts.

“Improving my skills,” he told her, sighing.

Lily nodded, pretending that she understood the relevance between a snitch and a quaffle and from that to the chaser position. “Cool…” she wracked her brains for something else to say. “Do you need help?”

“No, I'll be fine…” There was a big crash as he fell off his bed, but he at least had the snitch in his hand. This set Lily off in another bout of giggles.

Lily couldn't stop laughing. James rolled his eyes, muttering about stupid hyper girls.

“Like your room?” he asked when she'd stopped laughing. Lily nodded.

“Yeah, it's great! You like this one?”

“Yes. Okay, shall we come up with a password so Jenny won't get mad at us?”

“I still say `Butterbeer'…”

“Too obvious. `Lily and James are best friends'!” James chuckled at the thought. He didn't think they'd ever be that close.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure about that? I was under the impression that we weren't friends at all.”

“Well, let's start over then,” he said thoughtfully. He stuck out a hand. “What do you say to being friends?”

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. “Sure, whatever…” She took his hand and shook it. And that was the start of their friendship.

---

Lily struggled so much in Transfiguration that week that McGonagall snapped. “Miss Evans, ten points from Gryffindor and stay after class!”

Lily's jaw dropped. She'd never lost Gryffindor points before, and especially not from a teacher in Gryffindor. She'd never even lost points in Potions before.

But a few minutes later she was confused again. “Mr. Potter, ten points to Gryffindor for a wonderful transformation and stay after class please!”

Lily and James looked at each other and shrugged. Lily thought she was going to be punished, but then why was James there, too?

After class had finished, the two Heads went up to McGonagall. James spoke.

“What did you want us for, Professor?” he asked.

“Well, I've been noticing that you have been having some problems with this lesson, Miss Evans, and yet that Mr. Potter is very skilled at this class.”

James blushed at her response though he knew he shouldn't. Lily bit her lip.

“But what does that have to do with James?” she asked.

“If was wondering, Mr. Potter, if you would be so kind as to tutor Miss Evans until she is better in this class.”

James nodded and McGonagall waved them away to their next lesson.

---

The same thing happened in Charms next day.

“Miss Evans and Mr. Potter, would you mind staying after class?” Flitwick asked them near the end of the lesson. The two friends nodded and stayed behind.

“Miss Evans, I would like to say well done, your Glacius charm is super. But Mr. Potter, you seem to be having difficulty with yours. Miss Evans, would you mind helping Mr. Potter out until he improves?”

Lily sighed and nodded. “You mean tutor, professor? I suppose I could, yes.”

“Thank you Miss Evans. You may leave now.”

---

“What did McGonagall and Flitwick want?” Beth asked.

“Oh, just would James tutor me in Transfiguration and would I tutor James in Charms,” Lily told her friends.

“How much time are you spending with him now, Lily? He's not even your friend!” Tawn asked.

“Oh, yes he is. We made up a couple of days ago. And I just spend time with him because we're the Heads. I guess he isn't really that bad when you think about it. He was just being mean because we weren't friends, but now he's okay.”

“That's good,” Beth said. “I was wondering now if you could see who Remus likes…”

“You like Remus?”

Beth shook her head hurriedly. “Are you kidding? No, of course not. Tawn does.” She tapped her friend's shoulder.

“What are you talking about?” Tawn said.

“You're in denial,” Beth told her understandingly. “But you do fancy him. And I'm sure he fancies you back.”

Tawn shook her head violently. “Nooo, I don't…”

---

“Just ask Beth out.”

Sirius shook his head. “And who's talking, Moony old chap? You should ask Tawn out.”

Remus shook his head. “I could never go out with her. You know why. She wouldn't understand.”

“Sure she would,” James put in. “She's Muggleborn. She has no reason to think of you badly. Just go for it.”

Remus shook his head again. “No, I can't. You couldn't understand what it's like to be me.”

James knew that that was true.

---

So, I started with all the romancey-stuff. I hope you like it!

And now they're friends. But it's gonna be a long time before something else happens.

I hope you enjoyed that. The beginning I started at midnight this morning, so it might suck a little, but I hope the rest is better. If it isn't…well, I'll just use the flames to light my fire. It's so cold over here…

Well actually, it's June. It's quite warm now. But I wrote that in March 2004, so I guess it would be cold…same thing applies, though.

I edited this chapter! It's edited! lol seriously; better language I hope!

Luv ya people, please review!

-Jayxx

-->

4. Planning

Thanks:

babbling, hazeleyedmarauder, alan22

Disclaimer: Bugger off. I never owned this, never will.

Please R/R!

---

Chapter 4, Planning

The moon shone high in the sky. Remus looked at his hands in misery.

“Full moon soon, eh Moony?” James said, nodding his head sympathetically. It was four days to go until the full moon, and Remus was starting to get very fidgety.

Remus nodded his head and started to bite his fingernails; looking down at the Herbology homework they'd been set. It would normally be a simple case of writing in what they'd done that day, but he couldn't remember what they'd done.

“Prongs? What did we do today?”

James shrugged and turned to look at Lily over with her friends. Her eyes captivated him. They were an impossible shade of green: somewhere between emerald and forest green. A colour of beauty, and he was awestruck. He seemed to be looking at Lily a lot more these days.

Remus smiled knowingly. “Ask her out then!”

James shook his head. “I don't fancy her…I don't think…”

---

Lily smiled at Bethany. “Come on, Beth, ask Siri out!”

The raven-haired girl shook her head. “He's my best friend. I couldn't go out with him. That's like suicide.”

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to look at Tawny, who was smiling to herself.

She waved her hands in front of Tawny's face and the girl completely ignored her. Lily decided to have some fun.

“So, he's cute, isn't he?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, he must have a strong body.”

“Yeah…”

Beth grinned and joined in. “Sirius is just the sexiest girl to even walk the planet, right?”

“Yeah…”

Lily and Beth started cracking up quietly about the mention of Sirius as a girl and being even remotely attractive that way. Beth continued.

“I mean, she has lovely hair…sprouting from under her arms, don't you find that fetching?”

“Yeah…”

“Hey, I think James is coming over! Doesn't James have gorgeous eyes?”

“Yeah…”

“I mean, don't you just want to shag him?”

“Yeah…”

By this point the two girls were almost rolling around, but they kept it going.

“And isn't Snape just the most dreamy devil ever?”

“You know, I think Amos has a twelve pack.”

“Malfoy fancied you before he left. Do you wish he'd stayed so you could go out with him?”

“You are so cute, you know that Tawn? I sooo fancy you. Will you go out with me?” Lily laughed as Beth told their love struck friend that.

All of these were replied with a `yeah…' until,

“You know, I think Remus is going up to the girls' dorm.”

“WHAT?” Tawny yelled, snapping out of her daze.

The two girls, at her stricken face, just burst out laughing non-stop for the next ten minutes. Tawny's expression was completely worth having the whole common room stare at them in shock.

---

James and Lily sat down in the Heads' Room later on that day. They'd been asked to design something fun for all years at Christmas. At the moment they were verging on a ball (A/N: yeah yeah, clichéd…) or a dance, but they weren't sure.

Lily started scribbling on a piece of paper, whilst trying to think of a suitable password for the room. They still hadn't sorted one out.

Just then, James crumpled up a piece of paper and chucked it over his shoulder at Lily, yelling, “Heads up!”

Lily froze, and the paper hit her on the head. James chuckled. “Oops! Told you to watch out, didn't I!”

“That's it!” Lily breathed.

“What?”

“The password for the Heads' Rooms! `Heads Up'! Because we're the Heads.”

He nodded. “Great idea, Lils. Though of course I…”

He broke off as Lily cuffed the back of his head.

---

Snape watched as the four animals darted around the trees outside. He knew their secret, since Sirius had tried to get him killed and nearly got them all expelled. He even knew about the Animagi. But most of all, he knew about Moony.

“Little werewolf rat…” he muttered. He was going to get Remus, and get him good. He deserved it, after all, he was a monster. He deserved shooting.

But of course, he couldn't kill Remus. Tact, my friend, tact, he thought. No, of course he wouldn't kill Remus.

But he could toy with their hearts a little. And who better to hurt the Marauders than a little, powerfully scented flower.

That generally went by the name Lily.

---

So, what did you think? Probably not as good as usual…but hey, I tried. It was very hard. I still have homework to do, and it's half eleven.

Questions: TODs please! And should I do a ball, a dance (like a disco or something) or something else? You decide!

Luv ya all,

Cazzy

-->

5. Finding Out

Thanks:

hazeleyedmarauder, mime, Remus`sweetie

This chapter: prolly more clichés! I love that word: prolly. Or prolzably. So much easier than probably…

Graduated is American, but it also means finishing college/Uni in Brit ling., and the kids aren't going to another school after Hogwarts, so I thought it would fit.

Disclaimer: The idea for what the two evil bastards do to Lily is sort-of my idea, sort-of the idea of everyone who wrote it in their fanfic, but mostly belongs to my mate Daniel, coz he's never read ff and came up with it off the top of his head, so really it should be dedicated to him… (that's a dedication to him, too, lol)

Well, I'd better get started now.

R/R and I'll love you forever!

---

Chapter 5, Finding Out

Severus Snape smiled evilly at Lucius Malfoy.

Malfoy, as it so happened, had graduated the previous year. And here he was, back, to chat to Snape…if you could call it a chat. It was more to receive some advice.

Snape thought about how he was going to word his proposition. He could be straightforward and boring, or straightforward, to the point and cunning, or vague with many gaps for improvement, or sly and cunning. He chose the sly and cunning idea.

“You know the boss has been after Potter and his family for years?” he asked.

“Yeah…what's that got anything to do with the reason you called me here?” his fellow Death Eater asked. Okay, so Snape wasn't exactly a Death Eater…more like a DE-in-training.

“It has everything to do with it. I suggest you listen closely. You know that Evans bitch? I was thinking we could use her to get to the so-called `Marauders', and from there on to Potter. After our little joke, they won't have a clue what marauding is about.” He proceeded to tell Malfoy his idea.

Malfoy threw Snape another incredibly malicious and malevolent smile that came so easily for him, and stated, “That just might work, Mr. Snape…welcome to the honorary Death Eater gang.”

---

Tawn and Beth were both mourning over the fact that their crushes hadn't noticed them yet, whilst Lily was too busy planning the upcoming Christmas Ball she and James were hosting to fancy anyone. Alice and Madison had an idea.

“Hey girls,” Maddy called over. “We were wondering something.”

“D'you wanna have a girls' night in? Seeing as the boys are somewhere else…” Alice added.

Lily beamed. “Sure!” She grinned widely. The girls all hurried up to their dorm room, where they chatted about random things, fit boys, sex, and chocolate, whilst waiting to annoy the boys when they came back.

Of course, none of them had any idea what was going to happen a little while later.

---

The next day a letter came from Lily's Dad, Michael Evans, saying that her Mum was very ill, but she would get better soon and she wasn't to worry about it. Lily couldn't help worrying as she read the other letter from Petunia, saying it was her, `the freak', that had caused it and if her mother didn't get better soon, she'd pay for it.

Lily sighed and put her head in her hands. Petunia was soo annoying sometimes. She hoped her mother would get better soon.

---

Her mother didn't get better. The doctors had no idea what the mystery illness was, but they realised Lauren Evans was definitely not improving. Several times Lily asked to go back, but the hospital her mother had been admitted to refused to allow a just-seventeen-year-old in its wards to see such a patient. The illness could very well have spread and infected Lily herself.

Lily knew otherwise. She knew that the disease couldn't be treated, because it was magical. She didn't know how she knew, but she did, and her mother was not going to get better. She was going to die from the disease, and Lily wasn't allowed in to say how much she loved her.

Petunia seemed to notice this fact too. “You little…witch,” she muttered one day. “What did you do to Mum?”

Lily paled. She knew Petunia hated her a lot…but enough to accuse her of trying to kill her own mother? “I didn't do anything,” she replied steadily. “I would never do such a thing as to hurt her.”

Petunia looked down her nose at the girl, and finally replied with, “If she dies, bitch witch, it's your fault, and you'll no longer be my sister.”

From then on, Lily tried as much as she could to fix her mother and help her get better, abandoning all her Christmas preparations to make way for her mum. To no avail.

Lauren Evans died on the 1st of December, 1976. Lily was distraught, but even more so when Petunia's letter accusing Lily came.

And then disaster struck, a day later.

In the form of Voldemort, killing her father.

Lily read the letter from the Ministry through three times before she took in what it was saying. She'd been orphaned. Voldemort had sent the curse to upset Lily, and to force the Ministry to surrender, as Lily knew James, and his father was the Minister for Magic at that time.

The Ministry had refused, and Lily's mum had paid the price for something she hadn't deserved.

How she hated Potters now. They hadn't the decency to keep her mother alive. They'd sacrificed her, a woman who was completely innocent. And then Michael had been killed by the selfsame man who cursed her mother.

Lily couldn't take it, as she read through the letter again and again. She hadn't told anyone, not even Beth or Tawn, about her mother's death, and now her father was to be buried in a grave alongside his wife. Petunia had a field day with that one.

The letter read, simply,

So, you fucking slut. You got what you always wanted. Mum and Dad to fucking die, so you could have all the glory. Well guess what, bitch? No-one likes you. No-one cares. You're just an ugly slag who is so fucking upset with her miserable life full of fucking freak stuff so you take it out on other people. So what people `think' you're fucking popular. Guess what, bitch? You're NOT. You're not fucking special. And you're no fucking relation of mine. After the funerals that's it. You can find a home with some other person who fucking cares, one of your freaky man whore boyfriends or something. I'm married now, but don't think of contacting Vernon or I. You don't exist as far as we're concerned. That's it, slut. You've had it.

- Petunia Dursley

Lily stared at the many swearwords and the contents of the letter in horror. In one leap, she'd left the breakfast table, and with four more she'd left the hall completely. She had no idea where she was headed, but as she left the castle and headed towards the Forbidden Forest, tears streaming down her face, she knew exactly where she was going.

---

Beth and Tawny's eyes followed Lily as she left the hall.

“Should we follow her?” Tawn asked.

Beth shook her head. “Leave her to cool down. She's pretty upset about whatever it is.”

James looked over to the space where Lily had been. He shook his thoughts away from Lily, and focused on what Sirius was telling him about, the next prank they were going to play on Snape, completely unaware of the somewhat morbid and sinister prank he'd just played on them.

---

It was 10pm and Lily still hadn't come back from wherever she was. Beth and Tawn were getting worried.

“Where the hell can she be? What's so bad that she has to stay out for fourteen hours straight?” Tawny said frantically. Bethany was trying to calm her down.

“She'll be okay, she's not one for doing stupid things.” Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her. She turned to find Sirius and James sitting, playing a card game rather quietly for them. James had a closed, set expression and Sirius didn't look too happy or expressive, either.

“Have either of you two seen Lily?” Beth asked them nervously.

Sirius shook his head. “Not since breakfast this morning. We—Prongs, Moony, Wormy and I—were wondering what had happened to her.”

Tawn lifted her head and looked at him and James. “I hope her mother hasn't died or something terribly tragic has happened like that…she doesn't deserve grief like that.”

James turned to look at Sirius, his expression pleading. It was usually James who made all the decisions, but he was quite distraught this time round, and Sirius realised it would be up to him for once.

Sirius nodded his head and turned to look at the two girls. “We'll find her, don't worry.”

He turned and ran up the boys' staircase, coming back down a few moments later with a piece of crumpled parchment in his hand. Beth snatched it out of his hand. “What is this? What's it going to do to help? It's blank.”

“Give it back to me Beth, please.”

“Why is it so special to you? C'mon, I mean look at it. You can't want to write anything on it.”

“But…we do!”

“Then why didn't you just ask me for a piece of parchment? I've got some right here.”

Sirius bit his lip. This girl, his best female friend, was starting to drive him insane. “Give me it back, Bethie, or you will be subject to a Prank War tomorrow. Now what would you prefer?”

This probably wasn't such a good idea, as Beth beamed up at him, and said, “It must be really special to you. Let's see…Show me your secrets.”

The parchment did nothing.

Tawny looked at it in interest. “What do you contain?” she asked it, wondering if politeness was what it desired.

Beth finally snapped. “I, Bethany Louise Towers, command you to show me your secrets!”

Writing flowed across the page, and Beth looked smug at the fact she'd unlocked the secret of the blank sheet of parchment…until she read what it said.

Mr. Moony would like to tell Bethany Towers to butt out of what does not concern her.

Mr. Wormtail agrees, and says that maybe she should go and bother someone else.

Mr. Prongs tells Bethany Towers that unless she wants to feel guilty, she should go and do something more productive.

Mr. Padfoot finishes with the fact that although Bethany Towers is incredibly cute, it is not going to help her escape a Prank War later this week.

Bethany looked up from the parchment. “Low, James and Sirius, low.”

Tawny chuckled. “You really think she's cute?”

“Um…sorta…she is my best friend, it doesn't count though…”

“Of course it counts,” Tawn told him stubbornly, beaming, “coz she fancies you right back!” She shoved Beth over to him.

“Um…hi?” Beth asked nervously. “Forgive her, she's overreacting…”

“I don't think so,” Sirius said, smiling slightly. “Do you really?”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Sirius admitted.

“Well I suppose I agree with that…in a way…” Anything else she was going to say was cut off by Sirius's mouth on hers.

James looked at them, confused. “That was hardly romantic…”

Tawny smiled. “Of course it was. Now, weren't we talking about Lily before all this happened?”

James's eyes widened. He grabbed the parchment out of Beth's hands, and at the same time he took hold of the back of Sirius's shirt and dragged him out through the portrait, Sirius mouthing `We'll finish that later!' to Beth as they left.

---

The two boys checked in the Map and tried to find Lily. James spotted her beside a tree in the Forbidden Forest and they headed there.

Once they were outside the castle, they both transformed into their animal counterparts and rushed down to Lily.

She was sitting there, completely still, looking like she was going to faint. Her legs were crossed tightly and she was staring straight ahead, three pieces of paper clutched tightly in her hand. She looked over as the two animals neared her.

“Oh, hello,” she whispered, and reached out a hand to Sirius.

The large black dog padded over and sniffed her hand, then licked it. He went and snuggled next to Lily. She stroked behind his ears and giggled, “You're adorable, aren't you.”

The other animal, a magnificent white stag, looked miserable, if stags could look miserable. He walked over elegantly. Lily looked up at him.

“And you're beautiful,” she told him, rubbing between his antlers. James settled down on her other side and put a head on her shoulder. Sirius nudged her in her side, impatient. She patted him with one hand, and stroked James with the other. The letters lay crumpled, forgotten, on her lap.

“I'm so glad to have some company,” Lily told the animals. “I couldn't believe it. I think I really need to tell someone; at least you won't get annoying. I just have to say, I hate the Potters.”

James looked downcast. Sirius talked puppy-talk in his head, trying to make James happy again.

Lily didn't notice this at all. She continued, “I don't want to ever see one of them again. They're responsible for all this. I mean, first Mum got a mysterious illness. Then Petunia insisted it was my fault, and if Mum died she'd disown me. Then Mum started getting worse. She died yesterday. She was used as bait to make the Ministry surrender, as I'm friends with James, the Minister's son. But the Minister just let my mum die. He didn't do anything to help. And then Petunia sent me a rather great letter about everything. Then this morning, the Ministry sent me a lovely letter about how You-Know-Who had killed my dad. Just great. And then the adorable letter from Petunia came. You'd think she didn't know any words but `fuck'. She used as many words to describe me as she could, and then said I could live with one of my `freaky man whore boyfriends' as she put it. But I don't know any boys that would put up with me. And I can't stay at Tawny or Bethany's houses over the summer: Tawn is poor enough as it is, and Beth has four sisters and brothers. She doesn't need another person in her house. I just don't know what to do,” she finished in a whisper. She leant her hand back against the tree behind her, and fell asleep absentmindedly stroking James and Sirius's coats.

James and Sirius transformed back a few moments later. James reached out and read all the letters, stiffening at the two from Petunia. The second one enraged him quite substantially, and he vowed, aloud, that that would not be the last time any of them heard from that little bitch: he was going to make her pay.

Sirius looked down at Lily. “Shall we take her in?”

James nodded. He bent down and lifted Lily up into his arms without any help from Sirius at all. He carried her inside to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey proceeded to reprimand the two for being outside past midnight.

The two boys left to go back to their dorms, but later on James left to go back to visit Lily. He couldn't help but think there was a lot more to this than anybody was letting on.

---

Lily woke up to find James next to her bed, asleep in a chair. She chuckled quietly, and then raced across to the bathroom. When she came back, she was hit with a large surge of hunger, and her stomach rumbled.

James was having a nice dream where he and Lily were living together in a house, and she was flirting with him incredibly and telling him how much she loved him. It was a nice fantasy, one that he knew would never come true, and he wanted to stay there forever.

He was snapped out of his dream when Lily's face entered his dream in the wrong place. Of course, it was a little blurry—he'd taken off his glasses the previous night. He could work out what seemed to be Lily playing with something black and shiny.

“Hey! Give me back my glasses!” he told her, annoyed. Lily leant over and perched them on his nose.

“What are you doing here? And…what am I doing here?”

James smiled gently and told her that he and Sirius had been walking around outside when they'd come across her. They'd done the noble thing and carried her back inside, but she was so weak they'd brought her to the Hospital Wing.

Lily thought hard, back to last night. “Did you see two animals? A stag and a dog?”

James shook his head, all the while thinking, She remembered us! She remembered us!

“I'd better be going,” he told Lily, standing up to leave. “Before Pomfrey comes. She might be a bit mad at me.” He turned and began to leave.

Lily remembered further, and she remembered something when she'd been on the edge of consciousness. Two boys talking, right next to her.

“Stop,” she commanded. James obeyed. “Turn.” He did so. “Explain.”

He sent her a weak, nervous smile. “About what, Lily?”

“Try one moment I had animals next to me, the next I had people. The voices were noticeably yours and Sirius's. How did you manage to get there so fast, and still didn't see the animals? I think you're lying.”

“Well…maybe they slipped off.”

“Or maybe they weren't animals in the first place.”

“Come off it Lily, of course they were animals!” James told her, becoming incredibly worried.

“Not unless,” Lily said, thinking for a moment. “Not unless they were Animagi.”

James bit his lip anxiously and tried to think of something to say to that. She carried on.

“Animagi by the names of Sirius Orion Black and James Harold Potter. Padfoot and Prongs, see? A dog: Padfoot. A stag: Prongs. I'm not stupid, James. I would have figured it out long ago. And if you two are…then the others are, too. Wormtail: a rat or mouse, most probably.”

“Rat,” James muttered.

“And Moony…” Lily stopped for a moment. “No, he's not Animagi, is he? Of course not, I see it now. Every month, he's away at the same time…he says his mother's sick, but I've met her, and she seems perfectly healthy. He always vanishes the night of the full moon. You disappear, too, so you must know. He's never in class, and the teachers don't question, so they must know, too.”

“Where is this leading?”

“Remus, Moony, is a werewolf.”

“Clever Lily. The only person to figure it out. What are you gonna do, blast him now or something?”

Lily looked surprised. “No, he's my friend, why would I blast a friend? It doesn't matter that he's a werewolf.”

“He wanted to tell you, all three of you, but he thinks you'd shun him. Especially Tawny, he loves her like hell.”

Lily smiled, she'd been expecting that. “I always hoped they'd get together. Beth and Sirius, too.”

“Oh, Tawny got them together last night. Via the Map…” he shut up hurriedly.

Lily raised her eyebrows, as she couldn't raise one. “The Map?” she asked. “Mind telling me what it is?”

“Yes, I mind. I'm not telling you. You know too much already. Do not tell anyone of this little conversation we had, all right? Or you'll regret it.” He started heading for the exit.

“All right, I promise. And James?”

He turned to look at her.

“I'm sorry for saying I hated all the Potters.”

He grinned. “No problem. What Dad did wasn't right for your mum, though it was for our country. I hope everything sorts itself out and you're welcome to stay over at ours for the holidays.”

Lily smiled genuinely at him. “Thanks, I'd like that.”

With one last smile at Lily, James left the Hospital Wing, his hands in his pockets and a sincere smile on his face.

---

Woah…long chapter there…

Thanks,

Cazzy

-->

6. Deathly Serious

Thanks:

Fluffy pink thing (I know…thanks), babbling (you tend to do stupid things under drastic circumstances), aliasfreek (again), Remus`sweetie, hazeleyedmarauder

Disclaimer: Davey Cort doesn't exist. Mine all mine. Plus Alice's surname and behaviour, Maddy, Tawny, Beth, and anyone else who doesn't seem to exist. And any OOC, weird behaviour of the recognisable characters is mine, too.

That's it, I'm done. I hope you enjoy the chapter, please R/R! You'll all get virtual chocolate buttons.

Oh, and more chocolate for the person who managed to find the quote in last chapter, and can tell me what the quote was from. It's during the part Lily is in the Hospital Wing, I'll give you that much. Happy hunting!

Thanks bunches!

---

Chapter 6, Deathly Serious

Tawny watched Sirius and Bethany snogging with a dreamy smile on her face, as if they were a TV show she was particularly fond of. She looked up and smiled as James and Remus came down the stairs from their dorm and flopped down either side of her.

“Enjoying the show?” James asked.

“Am I ever! Lily and I have wanted this to happen for, like, ever!”

Remus grinned. “They were too blind. Kind of like Lily.”

James raised his left eyebrow perfectly and said, “Oh?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “I will not talk about Lily whilst you're here. You used to prank her all the time, and ask her out non-stop. If I give you an idea you'll go back to your old ways.”

James shrugged. “Okay,” he replied, and returned to watch the `TV'. Then he had a thought.

“If Lily's like that, then you are, too, my dear friend Moony!” He dodged Remus's arm and smiled innocently at him.

Tawn looked confused. “Huh?”

“Never mind…”

James smiled to himself. He'd have to talk a bit to Lily and Beth, and maybe Remus himself, but he'd see to it that Remus and Tawn got together, and before the Christmas Ball.

---

“Ask. Her. Out.”

“NOO!” Remus replied. “She won't…I can't…what if she's afraid of me after or something…?”

“Right then. Tell her. Tell Beth too. Tonight.”

Remus looked into James's eyes and raised his eyebrows. “Why not Lily?”

James thought hard. He couldn't think of anything to say to that.

“She knows, doesn't she?”

James couldn't do anything but nod weakly.

“I can't believe you told her. I mean, after you knew I didn't want anyone else finding out. It had to be my choice who told everyone. I didn't want you just going around and telling people like that. I mean, it's bad enough Snape knows. What did Lily do, freak out or something?”

James tried to calm Remus down. “I didn't tell her. She worked it out all by herself, and the fact that we're Animagi. I managed to refrain from telling her about the Map, though, which is probably a good thing. And she said you're one of her friends, and it didn't care what you were, you were still Remus. She won't react differently. And she won't tell anyone; I swore her to secrecy. It's your decision, Moony.”

Remus sighed, and nodded his head. “You're right. It has to be done. The point is, how?”

---

The septet crowded into the Heads' Common Room early that night, just after dinner. Lily had been let out of the Hospital Wing, and she'd agreed to participate. She heard James's reasoning, and, after telling him it was screwed, relented.

They were playing Truth or Dare. They decided that they wouldn't play Strip Truth or Dare, but rather they'd play a game with consequences. If they didn't want to tell the truth or do the dare (which refrained from `having sex', but that was it), they had to do a consequence (which were on cards James had materialised), which was a lot worse…if sleeping in the same bed as someone else and in your underwear counted as worse than stripping completely (needless to say, very few consequences were expected to be handed out…unless they were vital).

James spun the charmed bottle (courtesy of Lily), which they'd decided to have rather than picking on people. It landed on Beth. “Truth or Dare, Beth?”

“Truth,” Beth replied, shaking nervously.

“What's the most nerve-wracking thing you've ever done?”

Beth looked at her nails and thought for a moment. “I kissed Sirius for the first time,” she replied timidly. She spun the bottle, and it landed on Lily. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth.” James raised his eyebrows. Pathetic girls.

“Who do you fancy?”

Lily pondered this for a few moments, before coming to the conclusion that she didn't fancy anyone, unless Davey Cort counted (famous film star of their time). All six of the others just looked at her.

“Woah,” Peter said. “That's weird.”

“And pathetic,” Sirius added. James sighed.

“Spin, Lils.”

She did so. “Peter, T or D?”

Peter shook a little before `signing the petition' as it were. “Truth.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Do you love Angie?” Angie was his girlfriend.

Peter squeaked out, “Yes.” He spun the bottle. “Sirius, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare!” he cried out cheerfully. Yay for Sirius, James thought in relief.

“Um…spend the night with Beth somehow.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and grinned seductively at Beth, who giggled. After spinning the bottle, he said, “Speak of the devil! Beth, the little T or the big D?”

“Um…T again.”

“Have you ever had any romantic feelings for anyone in this room but me?”

“No.”

“Good!” he replied, his face all lit up. He was smiling cheerfully.

After that, the truths and dares went smoothly. Nobody had yet got a consequence…until Remus, of course.

“Tell us your most embarrassing secret,” James told him, rather cheerfully. He didn't know it, so it was going to be good.

But Remus shook his head automatically, turning a rather interesting shade of red. “Consequence, please.”

James picked up a consequence and grinned. “Spin the bottle, Remus.” He knew who he was hoping the bottle to land on.

As it were, it landed exactly where he'd hoped it to. On Tawny.

“Tonight,” he read out, “you will share a bed. And yes, you will be in your underwear.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Great. Maybe I should have told you my secret…”

“But this is great news Moony!” James said cheerfully. “Because after all, weren't you just saying how much you fancied Tawny?”

Remus's eyes narrowed. Tawny's, on the other hand, lit up completely.

“You fancy me?” she bubbled. Remus shrugged, and Tawny beamed.

Then Tawny spun the bottle, and the game continued.

Finally, Beth grinned at Remus. “Tell us your deepest, darkest secret,” she told him.

Remus bit his lip. Tell them…tell them not…tell them…tell them not…tell them. He'd have to at some point anyway.

“I'm…a werewolf,” he whispered almost inaudibly.

Tawny and Beth stared. “OMG,” Tawny breathed out. “Well, that's certainly something, right?” She smiled gently. “How do you cope?”

Remus smiled genuinely. “The guys are unregistered Animagi, they became during their third year. They help me through the transformation. It's quite a relief, let me tell you that.”

Tawny nodded in sympathy. She yawned. “C'mon guys, it's really late. We'd better be off to bed. Night Lily, night James.”

All of them left but the two Heads, who chuckled together at the thought of the two couples.

---

Lily received the letter by owl post early next day. It told of her parents' funeral that evening. She wanted to go, but she needed someone to go with her. Of course, the only person who was allowed to go was James.

“Fine,” she sighed eventually. “You'll have to do.”

James refused to take offence for a change and nodded grimly. He turned around just as Remus and Tawny walked into the hall, giggling.

“Good night, Tawn?” Lily asked her friend as she sat next to her, Remus on her other side. Tawny blushed and nodded.

“The best,” she replied. “It was so romantic. We just talked at the start, but…”

Lily smiled and nodded. “Hey, James and I are going to my parents' funeral later. So don't miss me, okay?”

Tawny's eyes widened. “Your parents died?” she asked in shock.

Lily bit her lip, having forgotten that she hadn't actually told them. “Um…well…yeah…sorry for not telling you…”

Tawny tapped her foot lightly on the floor and raised her eyebrow delicately. “Missy, when you get back you are telling us, okay? And I can't believe you told James and not us!”

“And Sirius,” James offered, not realising how big the hole he was digging Lily into was.

“And Sirius?”

“Accidentally,” James continued.

“How could it be accidentally!?” Tawn shrieked quietly.

Beth and Sirius bounded in before James could anything to dig Lily's hole even deeper, and Tawny automatically rounded on Sirius.

---

Lily and James flooed to Lily's house later that day. Lily was insulted by Petunia, who then proceeded to flirt shamelessly with James (being the `catch' he was, as she put it) and ask Lily how come she managed to get such a damn good-looking boyfriend. Lily's protests that he was not her boyfriend were drowned out when they had to leave for the funeral place.

It was a very sad funeral, for both Lily and Petunia. In the end, Lily buried her head in the front of James's shirt. He had unfortunately sat next to her, and was therefore subject to a wet shirt for the next hour or so.

Finally, they left to go back home, and then, the next day, they flooed back to Hogwarts.

---

Evie, James's little sister, had been very worried about her Auror parents. She'd convinced James to go home with her to check on them.

They were gone for a few days, in which James's friends had no word from either of the siblings.

James returned from his trip a week later, pale as ice and almost shaking. Every time someone came up to him he'd jump a mile.

The first breakfast meal he was back, he walked into the Great Hall and sat next to Lily rather stiffly. She tried to ask him what was wrong, but he wouldn't reply. Lily asked him where Evie was and he visibly shivered. This led Lily to believe that something seriously wrong had happened.

Just then, the owls came with the morning papers. James paled even more when he saw the front page, excused himself arduously, and left the room. Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something about boys to Beth and Tawn, who were both sitting with their new boyfriends (Remus and Tawny got together the day of the funeral). Then she turned to her paper, and her face whitened.

THE NEW SCHEME OF HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED

You-Know-Who has just struck again. Two days ago he attacked four Muggles (Mr and Mrs O'Brien and their sons Jack and Howard) and a family of well-known Aurors.

The Potters were attacked at their home just before noon on Wednesday. He demanded they join him, and when they refused, he killed their daughter Evelyn (16). After that he killed Mr and Mrs Potter in turn. Their son, James (17), managed to escape after trying to negotiate with You-Know-Who and return to his school Hogwarts, where he is Head Boy.

Lily stopped reading after that. She just stared in shock at the paper. James had watched his family be killed before his eyes. He'd negotiated with Voldemort, and had survived. That boy was amazing.

Remus's eyes spoke the question and Lily wordlessly slid the paper over to him. His eyes widened and he nodded at her, needing no words to tell her to go after James.

Lily got up and hurried after him, wanting to pay him back for helping her.

---

He was sitting, on a bench, next to the lake. He watched the Giant Squid's tentacles splash about in absolute silence, terrified. His head was in his hands and he was trying hard not to cry.

Lily sat down carefully next to him and patted his arm tentatively. “They wouldn't have wanted you to mourn,” she told him quietly.

James shrugged. He'd started chewing his nail.

His eyes lifted up towards her face, and she saw the telltale glint in the corners of them. “It's okay to cry, you know. Your family was just murdered. Let it out.”

He shook his head rapidly. “I can't. I have to stay strong. I'm the strongest, and I'm the only one left. I don't want to betray their trust…”

Lily sighed and scooted further over towards him. “You're no less a man if you cry, James. You have reason to. In fact, I'm more afraid of you not crying.”

He sighed, and a trickled rolled down his cheek. “Why? Why them…then…?” he asked in a whisper.

Lily reached out and hugged him tightly to her, allowing him to cry into her shirt. After a while he pulled back and smiled sheepishly at her. Then he began to break down again.

Lily, seeing he needed comforting, did the only thing she could think of to do. It had seemed comforting at the time, and it obviously helped.

She leaned across and gently pressed her mouth against his.

It wasn't a romantic kiss. It was solely platonic, and for the purpose of comfort, and nobody could misread it. But even so, Lily felt something there.

After a while, she pulled back. He smiled nervously at her and said, “Thanks Lily, for everything. You're the greatest friend a guy could have.”

---

Now, what did you think of that?

I've been planning that last scene since before I even started writing this fic…it was meant to take place in another chapter, but I didn't know what to use as filler.

They're not going to start going out now that they've kissed. It was platonic, but there'll be a lot more of them, don't worry.

I hope you enjoyed that,

Ly,

x Kirstie x

-->

7. Friends with Benefits

Thanks:

cilverblood, Maria, aliasfreek

The quote is `Stop…turn…explain' and it is from 10 Things I Hate About You. Nobody got that.

I hope you like this!

R/R

---

Chapter 7, Friends With Benefits

It had been a week since Lily had kissed James, and she hadn't left the girls' dorm room (where she'd decided to rest) since then. Bethany and Tawny had spent the entire week bringing her homework and food.

Lily couldn't help wondering if it had been a mistake. She hadn't kissed him because she fancied him or she was giving in to him, and she was sure that he knew so. But she'd still been too scared to leave the room in case he thought more of it. Her two best girl friends were left confused and in the dark, but they still stuck by her.

She was so lonely, but she wasn't going to risk going outside, in case James was waiting for her.

---

Sirius sighed, sitting next to Beth on the couch of the Gryffindor Common Room. “Bethie, do you know why Prongs has barricaded himself in the Heads' Rooms yet? It's not about his parents and sister anymore.”

Okay, so they hadn't been entirely truthful with Lily. James had locked himself up, too.

Beth shook her head. “Lily's been driving me crazy. I can't get a word out of her. James would be able to get her out of that room, but he's just as useless. She could get him out of there in a heartbeat, but she won't get out…maybe we should tell her about James?”

Sirius shrugged. “It's worth a try. You go up; I'll wait here.”

Beth gave him a quick kiss before running up to tell Lily. “Lils?” she asked as she went in.

The redhead turned on her bed, and the blonde could see the tearstains on her friend's face.

“What's wrong, Lily?” Lily shrugged. “I have to ask you to do us a favour. It involves going out of the room, but only for a short while.”

Lily sighed. “I suppose I have to get out at some point,” she said, her voice shaky with tears.

“It's James,” Beth went on. “He barricaded himself in the Heads' rooms. I mean, barricaded. He put a spell so that you can't get within two metres of the painting, and Jenny seems to be choking a lot. We thought you might be able to sort him out. You're the best at Charms, after all, and you're the one who taught him to do that spell in your tutoring sessions. And you're his best friend at the moment, so we thought maybe…”

At the last sentence, Lily shot up in bed. “I'm not his best friend!”

Beth smiled gently. “I hate to break it to you, doll, but actually you are.”

Lily's face took on an expression of shock. “And you know this…”

“Sirius told me that James had told him that he'd confided in you. Which he never does with Siri. And James trusts you. He has very few people that he trusts now.”

Lily sighed and she grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor. She slid into them and muttered, “Well, fine then…”

---

Lily walked up to the painting. She realised what Beth had meant.

The portrait had some strong spell on it that pushed people away forcefully. Luckily, she knew the counter-spell and she muttered it quickly.

She pushed open the painting (after muttering the password) and allowed it to drop back and hit the wall loudly. She walked over and slammed open James's bedroom door.

The boy was sitting there, on his bed, in his boxers. He was shivering and staring at the wall, unaware of the tears running down his cheeks.

Lily sighed and went over to sit next to him. “James? Jamie?”

He snapped out of his daze for a few minutes to turn to her and whisper, “She used to call me that. Evie.” He started crying again. Lily sighed and did what had worked last time; she kissed him again gently.

She pulled away quickly and sighed. “Calm down, James. It's okay; we're your friends and we're here for you. But please come out of here now! You've been in here for ages and it's upsetting Sirius, Peter and Remus. And full moon's only a few short days away.”

This snapped him out of his daze. “Merlin! Moony!” He got up and grabbed another pair of boxers out of his drawer. Lily turned away as he got dressed, not trusting him that he wouldn't go back into his trance if she left the room. A few moments later he'd grabbed her hand, kissed her quickly, and pulled her through the doors and down the corridors to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

As they entered the GCR, Tawny got up from where she was sitting (Remus's lap) and hurried over to hug James, who looked rather surprised at her show of affection.

“I wasn't gone for a year…” he told her.

“But we were so worried about you! It's been a week! Young man, do you know how scared you can make people in a week?”

“Sorry Mum, won't do it again,” said James, trying to keep the humour out of his voice.

Tawny put her hands on her hips and said sternly, “I should think so, too…”

Remus grinned apologetically at James. “Come on, Tawn…” He picked the girl up and sat down, pulling her onto his lap again.

The septet sat there for a while, chatting. In the end, they brought up the topic of the ball.

“So, how're the preparations going?” asked Sirius, of all people.

Lily's eyes widened. “Oh no! It's in two weeks and we haven't finished!” She grabbed James's hand and said, “We'd better do some planning now!” They rushed off.

Beth grinned. “How long do you think it'll be til they go out, do you reckon?”

Sirius chuckled. “3 galleons says next week.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “3 galleons for the night of the ball.”

Tawny pitched in her bet. “3 galleons for the night before.” Remus raised his eyebrow at her.

“Hmm, going against me…”

Peter said, “3 galleons—two weeks away.”

Beth grinned. “3 galleons, and I reckon it'll be the night of the ball, too, but I think they'll get together during the last dance that we're going to make them have without them even knowing about it.”

Sirius laughed. “Now that's a winner. How on earth are we going to make this one happen?”

“Just tell Dumbledore,” Beth said cheerfully. “He'll agree.”

The five of them looked at each other and just cracked up laughing. This was going to be fun.

---

Lily and James arrived in the HCR without a thought of what their best friends might be doing at the moment.

“So, shall we get started?”

“Just let's sit down, first.”

When they sat down, James close to Lily, she lay her head on his shoulder, her hand still clutched in his, and he, in turn, laid his head on hers. After a few seconds, Lily realised James's lips were on hers.

After a while of kissing, Lily pulled away. She had a question to ask.

“What are we?” Lily asked James softly.

“Well, I'm a wizard and you're a witch,” James replied with some slight amusement.

Lily slapped his arm. “No, I mean what are we? Are we…friends who kiss or what?”

“I believe the term for that is `friends with benefits',” James replied. “And seeing as that you're one of my best friends and we're not going out…I guess so.”

“Friends with benefits,” repeated Lily quietly. James smiled.

“You got a problem with that?”

Lily shook her head hurriedly. “No. I think it's perfect.”

---

Well, I hope you're suitably indulged…

The `wizard and witch' comment at the end belongs to a friend of mine called Vanessa. I nicked it from her fic; the very second HP fic I ever read.

J xx

aka

Cazzy Loe Vesjames

-->

The Trouble With Heads

1. Meeting the Marauders

2. Becoming Heads

3. Password Trouble

4. Planning

5. Finding Out

6. Deathly Serious

7. Friends with Benefits

8. Epilogue