This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

Mstar

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 6
Published: 26/02/2006
Last Updated: 15/07/2007
Status: in_progress

The girls in the seventh year dorm decide to play a little game. Poor Lily- with friends like these, who needs enemies? Oh well, at least James ends up happy.

Chapters

1. Uno

2. Dos

3. Tres

4. Cuatro

1. Uno

This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

AN~ This little ditty was originally intended to be a one-shot, at least when I started writing it. It's kind of morphed into a three-shot, I guess. Anyways, this is my first fic to be posted on Port-Key, so YAY!!! for me. Enjoy.

Uno

“I can't believe you guys conned me into playing this,” Lily said sourly.

“Oh, come on, Lils,” he friend, Evlyn, replied, “you don't wanna be a party pooper! I mean, the rest of us are playing!”

“I believe that's called peer pressure,” Lily retorted. The six girls that resided in the Gryffindor seventh year dorm (for girls) were sitting in a circle on the floor, with various containers of icecream and cookie dough (to be washed down with exorbitant amounts of butterbeer) spread amongst themselves. They had decided to have a girl's night in, and what girl's night would be complete without a rousing game of truth or dare? Lily was still trying to figure out how she was convinced to play when the game started.

“Me first!” (Ev)Lyn exclaimed once she was sure everyone was playing. Lyn was an interesting person. She was perpetually sugar-high and could be as mad as a hatter. What most people didn't know about her was that she was the smartest person in her year, if not the whole school. She just didn't brag about it. With her, you either loved her to death, or couldn't stand to be within a thirty-foot radius of her.

“Umm…” she mused as shed looked around the circle. “Truth or dare… Joy!” Out of the six girls in the dorm, Joy was the quiet one. She was normally by herself, but as time went by, she found more and more people joining her. She was a good person to talk to, because she kept secrets and would listen. She may have been quiet, but she was very sweet, and everyone loved her for that.

“Er… truth, I guess,” she answered timidly.

“”Ok!” Lyn replied, bouncing up and down. She was a stark contrast to the reserved Joy. “Ok… uh… Oh! I got it! Which guy at this school turns you on?”

Joy blushed a deep red. “I-I, uh,” she stuttered.

“Well, out with it!” Lyn pressed.

Joy muttered incomprehensible.

“What was that?” Lyn asked, leaning in closer to her embarrassed friend.

“Amos Diggory,” she answered in a small voice.

“Diggory?!” all the girls exclaimed in unison, followed by twin squeals from Lyn and her best friend, Joanna (called Jo or Anna interchangeably).

“Ok, it's your turn,” Katie, another girl in the dorm (who was best friends with Lily), replied to Joy, who very closely resembled a cherry.

She took a deep breath and then looked around the circle, trying to decide on the next victim. “Uh, Jo, truth or dare?”

~*~

After a few (somewhat) shocking truths, and several truly insane dares, it was then Fred's turn to go. Fred (short for Eloise Winnifred, as she liked neither her first or middle name) was Lily's other best friend. It was kind of ironic, as Fred was considered by most to be an honorary Marauder. The Marauders were a group of boys, consisting of the ever-so-charming Sirius Black, the oh-so-brilliant Remus Lupin, the Lord-he's-pathetic Peter Pettigrew, and the bane-of-Lily's-existence James Potter, who pranked, annoyed, flirted, showed-off, and caused all-around chaos at Hogwarts

It was funny, because Lily and Fred were best friends, and Fred and Potter were also good buddies. Due to this mutual friendship, Fred was endlessly trying to set Lily up with Potter, and Lily was ceaselessly foiling her plans.

Let's just say Fred found a window of opportunity.

“Oh, Lily-kins,” Fred called in a sing-song voice, “'tis your turn- truth or dare?”

Lily slipped up. She didn't even realize she had. She was tired and getting bored with the game, so she oh-so-carelessly answered, “Dare.”

An evil grin spread across Fred's face, causing Lily to panic. Oh, crap, she thought to herself, as she figured out where she went wrong. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! “Don't even think it!” Lily hissed.

“Too late,” Fred replied, looking an awful lot like the Cheshire Cat. Or maybe the Grinch. It doesn't really matter, so who cares?

“Don't you dare!” Lily threatened.

“I believe that's the whole point.”

“Which is why I don't play truth or dare.”

~*~

“We'll be here waiting,” Fred told Lily as she and the rest of the girls pushed the poor girl out onto the staircase leading to the common room.

“I'm never going to forgive you for this,” Lily informed her (former) friend.

“Hey,” Fred said with a laugh, “it's not my fault you chose dare.”

Knowing that it was pointless to argue, Lily stalked down the stairs. After sending one last glare to the giggling girls behind her, she turned to face her doom.

“I can't believe I'm doing this,” she muttered to herself as she approached the small group of four in the corner of the mercifully empty common room.

“Are you sure we can get away with that?” Lily heard Pettigrew ask timidly.

“Of course not, Wormtail,” replied Black, “and that's the fun of it!”

“You have a strange definition of fun,” another boy retorted. Remus Lupin was the only one of the self-proclaimed Marauders that Lily could stand. Why he hung out with the other three was beyond her.

“You know we'll have to-” The fourth Marauder stopped talking as he noticed Black, sitting directly across from him at their table, making a slashing gesture across his throat. Potter turned around and grinned, seeing who it was that had interrupted their scheming. Had it been anyone else, they probably would have been hexed.

“Hey, Evans,” Potter replied in as charming a voice as he could muster. “You're having a pleasant evening, I hope?”

Lily ignored him and sent another glare to the girls, who were now all standing at the foot of the staircase. Taking a deep breath, Lily mentally prepped herself for the dare given to her. “Potter,” she said exasperatedly, “shut up and listen.”

She took another deep breath and started:

“My name is Lily E.

Fred has set a task to me.

In our dorm we play a game-

Truth or dare is its name.

I chose dare and chose wrong,

For now I must sing this song.

James, here is a choice for you:

Choose wisely option one or two.

The first choice is lots of fun.

You will like choice number one.

Choice one is a lovely date.

I'll go with you, the one I hate.

Or you could pick choice number two.

Youll really like this choice for you.

When you hear it, you'll do flips,

`Cause I'll kiss you on the lips.

Hurry up, pick one or two.

Either way, I'll follow through.

Like I said, pick what you will,

Quickly, for I have Fred to kill.

“Hey!” Fred exclaimed from behind her embarrassed friend. “I didn't write that last part!”

“I know,” Lily replied tartly, “I did. You're dead after this, so you might want to start writing your will. I get dibs on your broom.”

James, meanwhile, was in shock. “Are you serious?” he managed to spit out.

“Unfortunately, yes,” she answered bitterly.

James glanced over at his friends, and then replied, “I think I need to discuss this in committee.” He then proceeded to join his friends in a huddle.

“Go with the kiss!” Sirius whispered loudly. “I'm telling you, she's never gonna go out with you of her own free will, so this may be your only chance to get some action!”

Before James could reply, Remus shook his head and said, “Don't listen to Sirius. He may have been with a ton of girls, but Lily isn't one of them, thank God. Besides, out of all the girls he's dated, he's never been with one longer than a week. Two weeks tops.” Before Sirius could protest, he continued, “Trust me. I `m actually friends with her. Take the date. Show her that you're a nice guy. That may lead to another date, which may eventually lead to kissing.”

James looked back and forth between Moony and Padfoot, trying to decide. As much as I hate to admit it, he thought, Sirius may be right. Evans has never said yes to any of my offers before. But then again, Remus knows her far better than I do. Maybe, just maybe…

James exited the group and turned back towards Lily, who had been waiting impatiently, direly wanting to commit homicide. “I'll take the date,” he announced.

“O, joy,” Lily retorted before storming back over to the others. “Truth or dare,” she said viciously, “FRED!!!”

“Truth!” Fred answered, before scampering up the stairs and into the dorm. Lily ran up after, looking ready for murder.

“Curse you, Fred!” the guys heard Lily call out from within the dorm.

And then, there was silence…

“Yes!” James erupted, shattering the quiet. “I got a date with Li-ly! I got a date Li-ly!” he sang as he danced around the common room.

Sirius muttered something along the lines of, “What an idiot.” Remus rolled his eyes and Peter simply shrugged. It was going to be a looong night.

-->

2. Dos

This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

AN~ I've finally decided to be good and type up this chapter, which has been sitting in a notebook doing nothing for a while now, so yay me. Just to warn you, though, this chapter sort of rambles… a lot. There- now none of you can harp on me about it in reviews. I do have an excuse, however. See, I wrote the first chapter one day when I was bored out of my mind, and had no real direction with it, and as I started the second chapter, I was actually writing it with no real point in mind. So I kept writing, and writing, and writing, and wasn't willing to stop until I figured out where I was going with it. And I did. But then, my mom and grandma cleaned my room while I was away on a trip with my church youth group, so all my stuff was moved around and I ended up losing the last half of part Dos and the first half of part Tres. So I had to attempt to recall what got lost and make up new stuff to fill in the blanks. So here it is, part Dos in all its rambling goodness.

Dos

Lily couldn't stop fidgeting. She was just so utterly pissed at Fred, that it was affecting her focus. I knew I shouldn't have played that game! She thought furiously. Really! Who started that game to begin with?

Professor Binns droned on as Lily inwardly cursed the creator of the game in question and all of his/her descendents to slow, painful deaths. Normally, she was able to suck it up and take notes in History of Magic, but sometime during the first half hour of class, her notes had strayed away from the most important individuals of the past century, to a list of why Fred Wilkins and James Potter should die.

From the back of the classroom (three seats down and one across, to be exact), one of the sources of Lily's rage watched her. Actually, he was alternating periodically between watching her and scribbling something down on a piece of parchment.

Ok, James told himself, this may be my one shot, so I've really got to wow her. To his surprise, he had no clue as to where to take the object of his affections on their date. It's just that he was so used to being rejected, he had never really given it any thought. Hogsmede's next week, but… James let out a sigh of frustration, running a hand through his hair. Contrary to Lily's belief, his habit of running his hand through his hair was not to make his hair look windswept, but was actually a nervous habit of his. And although he acted all charming and confident (and like a bit of an idiot, sometimes) around her, in reality, he was scared to the bone. Hence the nervousness, so hence the running of the hand through the hair.

He also did it when he was frustrated, like now. James's problem was that he had no clue how to impress Lily. It wasn't like anything he had tried in the past had actually worked. He had literally tried everything. The summer before his sixth year, he had thought of every single, solitary thing about himself that Lily had ever expressed a dislike for. He stopped hexing people just for the sake of it (even Snape, which, for him, took an incredible amount of self-control). He stopped bragging and showing off. He was even taking his Head Boy duties seriously, which pretty much forced him to quit pranking (though not entirely, of course).

But for some reason beyond his understanding, his brain still turned to mush whenever Lily was within his eyesight, so all those changes he had made meant a whole lot of nothing as long as he couldn't speak to her without sounding like an idiot. He had gotten better about it, though. As long as he didn't make eye contact, he could moderate the words coming out of his mouth.

James was thrown from his reverie by a ball of parchment hitting the side of his head. He turned and glared at the offender, wondering who dared to hit him. Sitting two seats across and one forward, Fred flashed him a grin and then pantomimed opening a note.

James raised his eyebrows, both curious and suspicious. He bent down and picked the ball off the floor, then as quietly as possible, he opened it.

So when's the big date?

James scribbled a response and tapped it with his wand, which caused it to fold itself into a paper airplane. He threw it at Fred, who to James's displeasure caught the plane before it crashed into the side of her head. She took a moment to read it, then sent it back, having wrote a reply.

What do you mean you don't know?!

I just don't, now leave me alone.

Is that any way to speak to your savior?

Shut up- you're starting to sound like Sirius, and frankly, it scares me.

You're welcome. So what are your plans?

For what?

The date, you moron!

That's what I'm trying to figure out, if you'll stop bothering me.

Fine then. I just won't tell you what I was going to tell you.

What?!

No, you're being rude and ungrateful. You don't deserve to know.

A thousand apologies, now what?!?!

Lily likes strawberries and chocolate… a lot. I swear, that girl goes rabid if you go anywhere near her Honeyduke's stash.

Ok… anything else?

She's allergic to peppermint and chocolate frogs give her the creeps.

But you said she liked chocolate!

She does. She just doesn't like chocolate frogs.

James thought for a moment before writing his next response.

Is she afraid of heights?

Not that I know of. Why?

I have an idea.

At that moment, James was poked in the head by the occupant of the desk adjacent. “What?” he asked irritably, not appreciating the abuse to his head by his so called friends.

“What are you and Fred talking about?” Sirius inquired, leaning back in his chair.

“What do you think?” James replied with a look (you know, the “that's a stupid question, you moron” look, which my biology teacher seems to have mastered).

Sirius rolled his eyes and answered, “You're obsessed, you know that? Ask Fred if she'll go out with me.” James just shook his head and scribbled Sirius's addition onto the parchment. Fred's answer was less than polite.

“Well?” Sirius asked eagerly.

James turned to his friend and replied, “She suggests that you go screw a tree.” He stifled a laugh at the look on Sirius's face. Farther up, Fred was doing the same thing. Noticing the glare Sirius was now sending in her direction, she flashed him a grin then tossed her red-brown hair over her shoulder, turning back to the front to pretend to take notes.

One of the reasons that Fred hung out with the Marauders as much as she did, was because she had found out their little secret the year before. It wasn't like she had meant to, or anything- it had been completely on accident. One night, she hadn't been able to fall asleep, so she decided to take a midnight stroll outside. Unwittingly, she came upon the animagi morphing back into their human selves. They freaked, and pretty much begged her to keep it a secret. She had agreed, under the condition that they tell her the whole story. And they did. Reluctantly. Very much so.

Sirius sulked, as he wasn't used to getting rejected. Fred was next on his list of girls to date, and she was not cooperating. That was the third time he had asked her out, and the third time he had been shot down. He was starting to feel like James, with the having of multiple rejections from one girl. Then he brightened up- he hadn't had a challenge in quite a long while, as girls usually seemed to throw themselves at his feet. Might as well make the best of it.

~*~

Lily collapsed onto the couch in the common room- it had been a long day. A long day. Why do people have to make such a big deal out of this date with Potter? Apparently it was because there had been multiple bets made on the outcome of the whole Lily and James drama. The people who had bet that she'd finally date him in fifth year had lost, along with the sixth year betters. So, as one would expect, those betting on seventh year had begun to sweat, and since Lily had agreed to play truth or dare, her impending date with James counted. Not that the people who had betted that Lily wouldn't date him at all hadn't tried to call it a foul, as she wasn't going with him of her own free will. No matter, the ones who had “won” still had to wait until Lily went through with the date before they could collect.

She sighed, annoyed with the student population, and pulled out A History of Magic. I might as well attempt to catch up on today's lesson, she thought tiredly. But as she opened the book, a note fell out. Curious (and a little distrustful), she opened it.

Dearest Lily,

As you are well aware of, we have a date. I would be pleased eternally if you would join me in the common room at the hour of 8:00 PM on Friday night. That is all I ask of you.

Love,

James

Lily sighed. Though she knew it was coming, it was still unpleasant. She just wanted to know how he had gotten the note into her textbook. If her memory served her, Fred and Potter had been passing notes back and forth in Binns's class…

“Fred,” Lily hissed under breath. I would feel sorry for Fred if I were you.

~*~

Meanwhile, in the boys' dorm, they finally had a chance to celebrate. They had decided to blow off homework and have a mini-party instead.

“To James finally getting his date!” Sirius proclaimed, thrusting his bottle of firewhiskey up into the air. The others in the dorm likewise raised their bottles, toasting James's success.

“To us not having to listen to James gripe about not getting a date!” Eric Banner, another seventh year boy, toasted. Once again, bottles were raised in agreement.

“So…” Peter said, once toasts were finished, “now what?”

The boys took a moment to think, not sure what to do. It's not like they were girls who would gossip all night long.

“Let's play a drinking game!” Sirius suddenly announced, shattering the silence.

“Like what?” Eric asked.

“How `bout I Never?”

“What's that?” Peter inquired.

Sirius rolled his eyes at his friend's naïveté, and answered, “Someone says something that they never did, and then everyone who's actually done it, takes a drink. Like this: I've never eaten something disgusting on a dare.”

“Yes you have!” James retorted.

“Hey, just because I've actually done something, doesn't mean I can't propose it!”

“Do you even listen to yourself talk?” Remus asked. “You've just contradicted what you said earlier.”

Instead of replying, Sirius merely stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry.

“If you lot are done now,” Eric said impatiently, “I never… got slapped by a girl.” James and Sirius promptly took a swig of firewhiskey, accompanied by Peter and to everyone's surprise, Remus joined them.

In answer to his friends' stares, Remus just shook his head and said, “Don't ask.”

“Ok…” James replied, still looking at Remus suspiciously. Suddenly a wicked grin alighted upon his face and he said, “I never got slapped by a girlfriend for calling her my old girlfriend's name.”

Sirius glared at James before taking a drink. Jordan Josten, yet another boy in their dorm, smiled evilly and said, “I never got caught snogging in a closet on multiple occasions.” Once again, Sirius took a drink. Eric did too, for that matter.

Peter, catching on, replied, “I never dated five girls at once.”

Sirius took a drink, but not before snapping, “Peter, at least I've had a date, unlike some people.” Peter decided to shut up for the rest of the game.

Remus, looking unusually evil, said, “I never got a detention for `indecent exposure'-”

“-and then spent the detention snogging the girl I got it with!” James finished. The dorm shook with laughter as Sirius took yet another drink of firewhiskey.

“Ha, ha,” Sirius said sardonically, “you've had your laugh. My turn.” Setting his sights on James, he replied, “I never had to have my diaper spellotaped on as a kid.”

“Give me a break, I was two,' James shot back defensively, then taking a drink. “At least, I never ran down a muggle street wearing nothing but a thong.” Sirius glared at his friend as he had a swig of he drink.

“Ok, I definitely don't wanna know what happened,” Jordan said, disgusted.

“Yeah, I think he just about gave that one old lady a heart attack,” James replied with a laugh.

“And if she had died, “Sirius retorted, “you would be the one to blame!”

“No I wouldn't!”

“Hey, you're the one who dared me!”

“Yeah, but you were the one stupid enough to do it.”

Half an hour later…

While most of the boys were still on their first or even second bottle, Sirius had no less than five lying empty in front of him. To be perfectly honest, the guys were running out of things to say.

“Umm…” Eric started, “I never strapped a chicken to a broom and sent it flying through a window.”

Reluctantly, Sirius had another drink.

“I never…” Jordan thought for a moment, then said, “got arrested by Bolivian police for… graffiti-ing `Black Sux' on a lamp post.”

“Wizard police, or muggle?”

“Muggle.”

“Oh, come on!” Sirius groaned as he took yet another swig.

Remus shook his head and replied, “Well, I enjoy wasting Sirius as much as the next person, but as it is, I'm rather tired. Let's wrap this up and go to bed.”

“I second that emotion,” Jordan agreed, stretching out his arms as he yawned. With that, the boys rather hastily put everything up and then hit the sack, falling asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

~*~

That same evening, in the seventh year girl's dorm, Lily was giving her “friends” a piece of her mind, to put it nicely. “Et tu, Brute?” Lily cried out in disgust. “Or I suppose it's a little too late for that. It would have been more appropriate for when you gave me that, that- that inexcusable dare!!!!!”

Fred, who was sitting on her bed, looking at Lily with an expression akin to amusement on her face, shook her head and said, “Lils, it was for your own good. You'll thank me one day- I promise.”

“Yeah, and chocolate will rain from a green sky,” Lily snapped, collapsing onto the bed, next to Fred.

“Hey, considering that this is Hogwarts,” Lyn replied with a grin, “that may actually be a possibility.”

Lily glared at her smart-eleck friend who was leaning up against a dresser. “Ha, ha, ha. Not. You wouldn't be making fun of me if you had a bloody stalker. I swear, James Potter is going to drive me straight to St. Mungo's.”

“But Lily,” Lyn said innocently, “he's pureblood- he doesn't know how to drive! Maybe he'd fly you there, but drive…”

“Lyn,” Jo said warningly, as Lily looked like she was at the end of her patience. When Lily lost her temper, it wasn't pretty, and there was a good chance that things may get violent. Jo was normally the peacekeeper, breaking up fights and many a time preventing Lily from attacking James- both magically and physically.

“What if,” they heard from the corner of the room. They all turned to see Joy, who, to all of their surprise, had spoken up. “What if,” she started again, a little nervous to have all of the others' attention, “he really does care about you, Lily?”

“What makes you say that?” Lily asked quietly, no longer looking pissed, as not to upset the normally quiet Joy.

“Well,” she replied, moving from her bed in the corner, to Lyn's (which was next to Fred's), “I see stuff. He stares at you an awful lot.”

“Well, duh,” Lyn said, quite bluntly, causing her to receive glares from the others.

“Besides that,” Joy continued tentatively, “he talks about you to his friends a lot, and he seems quite… sincere when he talks about his feelings for you to them. I think he loves you.”

A bit taken aback, Lily replied, “How do you know that?”

Joy blushed bright red, all the way to the roots of her white-blonde hair. “I had a crush on him in fifth and part of sixth year. I followed him… a lot.”

“Oh,” was all the others were able to say.

“But I think you should date him,” Joy ventured further. “You know, give him a chance.”

Lily shook her head with a vehement, “NO.”

“Why not?” Jo asked, leaning against the wall. “Maybe he'll leave you alone after the date.”

“It's the principle of the thing. I've yet to say yes, and don't think I don't know about those bets! What's the pool up to now? A hundred to those on seventh year?”

“One-fifty,” Lyn muttered under her breath.

“Whatever!!!” Lily exploded. “I don't want to gratify all the idiots who get their kicks betting on my love life! And I'm pretty sure at least a couple of those idiots reside in this very dorm!”

“Oh get over yourself, Lily!” Katie finally snapped, sounding disgusted. She had yet to voice her opinion on the matter, and now, finally having spoken up, she continued, “I think you won't go out with him because you're afraid you'll get to know him and decide that you actually like him, and then heaven forbid, you won't have anything to rant about!”

Lily was absolutely flabbergasted. Katie always sided with her1 She never snapped at Lily like that! Suddenly jumping up from the bed, she shouted, “It's a conspiracy! A bloody conspiracy!” With that last sentiment, Lily stormed from the dorm. She kept storming right on down the steps, through the common room, through the portrait hole, through the halls of Hogwarts, and didn't stop storming until she reached the Astronomy Tower, which was vacant because there was no class that night.

She stayed up there, staring out over the school grounds, oblivious to the October chill. She somehow drifted off to sleep, muttering something about “Idiot Fred” and “Stupid Potter”.

~*~

James Potter groaned as he forced himself to get up. Cursing his bladder all the while, he made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. Having done so (I believe it's hardly necessary to go into the details), he returned to his bed. After an hour or so of futile attempts to fall back asleep, he gave up and with a silent curse he sat back up and stretched. Maybe a walk will tire me out enough to go back to sleep, he thought as he pulled on a sweater and a pair of jeans over his bowers, which was all he normally slept in. After pulling on his shoes, he also grabbed a jacket, remembering how cold it could get in the castle. James hated being cold.

While taking a look at the Marauder's Map, making sure that the coast was clear, he noticed that the little dot labeled Lily Evans was at the top of the Astronomy Tower. That's peculiar, he wondered, as a glance at his watch showed that it was two in the morning and Lily was hardly the rule breaker. He left Gryffindor Tower and set a course for the Astronomy Tower, determined to find out what the love of his life was doing there.

~*~

Lily woke up not sure where she was. All she knew was that she was cold. Normally it didn't bother her, but remembering the fight in the dorm, she realized that she must have been out there for a while now. She was also suddenly aware that somebody had sat down beside her.

“Here,” an all too familiar voice said as he put a jacket around her shoulders, “you look cold.”

Lily looked at James and said, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” he replied with a grin. “To answer said question, I couldn't fall asleep so I decided to take a walk. My wanderings brought me here, and there you were, sleeping.”

Lily furrowed her brow, wondering how long she had been up there, exactly. “Potter, what time is it?”

“Ten after two,” he answered, hoping that Lily would explain why she had been sleeping at the top of the Astronomy Tower, in the frigid cold, no less.

Lily groaned, realizing that she had been sitting there in the cold for at least five hours.

“So I take it you've been here for a while. Wanna talk about it?” James asked as he put an arm around Lily's shoulders. To his immense surprise, she didn't pull the arm off as she had done in the past.

Instead, she sighed and said, “My friends and I had a fight and I ran up here.”

“Sounds like they ganged up on you.”

“Yeah, they did.”

“If it's not to personal, what was the fight about?”

Lily thought for a moment, unsure of whether or not she should tell him. Finally she replied, “They want me to give you a chance and I don't want to.”

“Well that explains that burning sensation I had about the ears… Look, Lily,” he said looking her in the eye, “I would love to be able to take your side, if only to make you feel better, but I kind of agree with your friends. You should give me a chance. Come on, name your reasons why you think you shouldn't.”

“Well, there's the obvious of course- you're arrogant, you hex people without a second thought, you can be utterly cruel with your pranks at times, and there's also the fact that you've asked me out at least twice weekly, though usually more, since third year, you have no regard for the rules at all, and, and- your hair's a mess!' she finished, slightly breathless.

“Is that all?” James said with a grin. “Ok, first of all, I've put forth a conscious effort not to be so arrogant. Also, when's the last time you've seen me hex or prank someone who didn't deserve it? And think back, have I asked you once this year if you would go out with me? No, ma'am, I haven't. And although I believe that certain rules are meant to be broken, as Head Boy, I have to at least have some regard for them, as it's my job to enforce them. As for my hair, nobody's perfect. You think that you can make it lay flat? Then by all means, have a go. If you can, then you'll have accomplished what my mum's been trying to do since I was two.”

To Lily's amazement, he was right. Thinking back to the beginning of the school year, she realized that James had seemed more mature, less cocky. He had indeed not asked her out since the previous school year, and although the Marauders hadn't ceased their pranking, so far their targets for that year had only been Slytherins who really deserved it. Shaking her head, Lily replied, “Well why then does it feel like you've only asked me out because I'm the only one who won't say yes?”

“Lily, you're a smart girl. Do you really think I would waste the past four years of my life chasing after someone who I really didn't care about?” James asked in response. “Also,” he continued, “I was thirteen when I first asked you out- it's not like I had done a lot of dating,”

Lily didn't know what to say. She knew he was right, but she really didn't want to admit it. “Actually,” James started after Lily had neglected to reply, “I've never dated that much. I mean there's a few girls I asked out in between asking you, but I never stayed with any of them for any more than two weeks. My honor just wouldn't let me kiss someone while I was thinking about someone else.”

They both knew who that “someone else” was. I guess it goes without saying that he means me, lily thought to herself as James continued.

“I suppose the worst was when I dated Tonya Treese from Ravenclaw. She was starting to get attached and I knew it would be an even worse break-up if I waited longer. That didn't stop her from being pissed, though.”

“Oh yeah,” Lily replied with a laugh, “I had almost forgotten about the incident with the pumpkin juice.”

“I tell ya, that stuff stains,” James said, grinning. He looked down at his watch and with a start realized that it was past three AM. “See, I knew you didn't hate me. We've been talking for an hour and you've yet to yell at me.”

“I never hated you, Potter. I just dislike you, quite strongly at times.”

“Well you can't dislike me that much if you're sitting here with me talking, late at night, with my arm around you.” Standing up, he offered a hand to Lily. “Come on, it is late, or should I say early?” Lily rolled her eyes at him, yet still took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. With a grin, James offered her his arm and said, “To Gryffindor, milady?”

“I must be delirious from the cold,” Lily muttered as she slipped her arm through his.

His grin now a couple of centimeters wider, James replied, “You delirious and me delusional, because only in my dreams would you actually be this nice to me.”

“Somehow, in your dreams, I think I'm more than nice to you,” Lily answered, shaking her head.

“One step at a time, Lily dear, one step at a time.”

AN~ Success! Dos es completa! Go me, go me!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know, in my original version of this, the James/Lily convo took place in the common room and they said some completely different stuff, but I think I like this better. As a treat for you having to wait so long, here's a preview of part Tres:

“No,” he interrupted, “I've changed my mind- I'll take option number one, thank you.” With that, he suddenly threw his arm around Lily's waist and pulled her forward, meeting her lips with his. A small gasp had escaped her, only to be cut off as all coherent thought had left her mind completely.

Teehee! Review por favor!

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3. Tres

This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

AN~ So now I bring myself to type up Parte Tres. If anyone bothered to read the author's note of Parte Dos, you'd know that I had lost the first couple of pages of this chapter, so I'm having to rewrite them. It's quite irritating, really. I love writing, but hate typing. Grr… Oh, and by the way, this is where all the good stuff starts happening. I guarantee you that nobody will expect what happens. Well nobody that is, except for my bestest friend and writing confidant, FrogsofChocolate. Alas, no more stalling. Might as well get on with it.

Tres

Sirius Black was a man. A man on a mission. A mission of love. Or lust, at least. I will not let Fred scorn me any longer! he thought angrily, as he crept through the halls of Hogwarts. He slowed down, a bit more cautious as he neared his destination: the Potions room. He whipped out the Marauders' Map, and satisfied that no one was there, proceeded silently into the classroom.

It wasn't at all hard for him to locate his target. The huge set of cabinets that housed Slughorn's vast array of potions was perhaps the most visible thing in the dungeon. Sirius crept over there and opened the cabinet that he knew housed the love potions (why Slughorn kept pre-made love potions was beyond him- actually, to be perfectly honest, Sirius really didn't want to know). “You will be mine,” Sirius said under his breath. Now he only had to find a way to slip Fred the potion…

~*~

James was perhaps the happiest he had been in ages. In fact, he couldn't remember a time he'd been happier. In roughly fifteen hours, he would be on his first date with Lily Evans. He was quite determined for it to be the first date- he thought he would go insane if he was given a little bit of Lily, only to be cut off from more. I'm an alcoholic, he thought as he lay awake in bed, and Lily is my kind of brandy. Or is brandy an accurate label for her? Perhaps wine. She is kind of fruity and smells good. Wait- that sounded weird. Well, beer is certainly too blue-collar of a drink and champagne is too white-collar. Besides, she's neither foamy or bubbly. Oh! I know! Firewhiskey! She's amazingly appetizing, and although her temper kind of burns me, I still keep coming back for more.

“What are you doing?” James looked up to see that his best friend, Sirius Black, had just entered the dorm, unnoticed by James who had been lost in his reverie. Never mind that it was five in the morning and Sirius was notorious for oversleeping and having to be woken up with buckets of water. Coming in at incredibly late (or early, in this case) hours was business as usual for the Marauders

“Oh, just contemplating what type of alcoholic beverage Lily Evans is,” James replied, smiling.

“Really?” Sirius said as he sat down on his bed, which was adjacent to James's. “Did you decide on one?'

“I believe she would be a firewhiskey.”

“Good choice. Too bad that she doesn't have as much alcohol in her as a firewhiskey does, or you might actually get some.”

James rolled his eyes at his friend and threw his pillow at him as he got up to start getting ready for school.

~*~

She couldn't do it. She just couldn't do it. Lily glanced down at her watch. It was five `til eight. She had just managed to shoo her friends out of their dorm and lock the door, after they had played beauty shop on Lily. Why had she locked the door? Because she couldn't do it.

After her conversation with James the previous night (or should I say morning?) she thought she had managed to convince herself to go through with it. But as the day wore on and the clock ticked closer to eight, her resolve weakened and she had come to the realization that she just couldn't do it. She absolutely could not go out on a date with James Potter.

She looked her watch again- it was a minute `til eight. It was kind of ironic, the situation. Lily's favorite book had always been Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin. She couldn't help but think how funny it was that a case of both pride and prejudice were keeping her from walking out the door and into the awaiting arms of James (so to speak). Her pride was keeping her from going on the date, as she had turned him down for so long that it felt shameful for her to give in now (even if it was under duress). She also prevented herself from dating James as she had a long-standing prejudice against him and the Marauders in general.

Lily couldn't help but feel just a little (more like a lot) guilty about standing the poor guy up. It wasn't his fault, after all, that she had been dared to date him. She knew he would be crushed when he realized that he had been stood up.

No! she thought angrily, mentally slapping herself. He probably only wants to get in my pants. A larger part of herself than she was willing to admit didn't believe that though. She kept thinking back to her conversation with him and how sincere he had seemed. Yet she still couldn't bring herself to go out with him.

She looked at her watch again. It was now ten past eight. You can still go; it's not too late, the annoying James Potter-liking part of her said. She ignored it and crawled into bed. She curled up into a ball and tried to shut out the ticking of her watch, which wasn't necessary as it was drowned out by the beating of her heart.

~*~

She stood me up, James wondered in disbelief. It was 9:34 PM and Lily Evans had stood him up. Her friends had even gone up to their dorm and pounded on and hexed the door, but it stayed resolutely shut. If Lily had spelled it shut, nothing short of Dumbledore was going to open it- she was best in their year, if not the whole school, at charms, after all.

James got up from the couch and headed towards the portrait hole. He knew that he shouldn't be all that surprised. Hadn't Lily made it perfectly clear over the years that she wanted nothing to do with him? What difference was one night of connection and a dare going to make when put up against years of disgust?

He stumbled out through the portrait hole and into the corridor blindly, not paying where he was going the least bit of attention. He stumbled along and somehow found himself in the Entrance Hall, heading towards the door. He wandered outside and the cool night air was like a slap to his face, which was still warm from the Common Room fire.

He collapsed against the beech tree, a familiar place of comfort. It always had been ever since his very first year at Hogwarts. It was universally known to the denizens of Hogwarts that the beech tree was the property of the Marauders. End of story.

Lily had stood him up- deep down, James had expected it, but every time the thought hit him, a shock was sent though him, shaking him to his very core. He felt physically hurt by Lily's rejection. Yeah, she had turned him down for dates countless times before, but somehow, this was different. Suddenly he knew something. Everything that had been so hazy since his realization that he had been stood up came into sharp clarity. It was like his friends had been telling him for a while now-

He was in love with Lily Evans.

One would think that he would've figured it out sooner, and yet, he hadn't. It had just only dawned upon him that he was in love with Lily. Why else would he have pursued her from almost as soon as hormones kicked in? Why else would he take so many rejections? Why else would he want someone so different from him so badly? Love was the only explanation.

“And she wants nothing to do with me,” James said aloud, disgusted with himself. Damn, I'm screwed.

~*~

Lily once again found herself looking at her watch and cursing it as is ticked relentlessly forward. It was Sunday, almost two full days since she had stood James up. She hadn't seen him at all that weekend, and her friends were now refusing to talk to her. They were royally pissed off that she had done such a thing to him.

As it was 11:00, Lily reluctantly put away the Transfiguration essay she had been working on. She had been dreading going on patrol with James. Since they were the Head Boy and Girl, it wasn't like they had a choice, so despite their avoidance of each other, they would have to see each other now.

James came down the stairs from the boys' dormitory, a hideously dead look in his eyes. “Coming?' he asked her in an equally dead tone. She nodded and joined him as he left the Common Room. She fell in step beside him as they walked through the school's corridors in silence.

It had barely been half an hour when Lily cracked. She sped up and then spun around, facing James. He stopped and looked at her, that same dead look still in his eyes.

“James, please. Please talk to me. I don't care if you yell at me, or curse me, or cuss me out, for all I care! Just please, please say something, anything! I just can't take this awful silence anymore!”

He looked at her in silence for another moment longer, and then finally, with a deep sigh, said, “What is it Lily?”

“Is that all you can say?” she asked desperately.

“What do you want me to say?” James replied sharply, just a hint of anger flaring in his eyes, much to Lily's relief. “Do you want me to forgive you? Is that it?”

“I- I don't know. I guess. I'm sorry, I really am,” Lily pleaded, “It's just that I was scared. I was all ready to go and everything, but-”

“You don't have to explain yourself to me,” he interjected. “Lily, I forgive you. You'll always have my forgiveness.”

“Then why-”

“Why have I been like the walking dead the past day or so? Yeah, Sirius has already accused me of that. That has nothing to do with you. Well, it does, but it's not your fault.”

“What is it?”

James looked down at the ground for a moment, then looked back up, his gaze riveted to Lily's. There was something different in his eyes now, an emotion Lily couldn't quite place a finger on. “Unrequited love,” he said simply. Oh. It was that emotion.

“James, I-”

“No, Lily” he interrupted, “I've changed my mind- I'll take option number two, thanks. It may be the only chance I ever get.” With that, he suddenly threw his arm around Lily's waist and pulled her forward, meeting her lips with his. A small gasp escaped her, only to be cut off as all coherent thought left her mind completely.

AN~ Yeah, I know it's kind of short, but I rather like this chapter.

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4. Cuatro

This is Why I Don't Play Truth or Dare

AN~ Ok. Announcement time. This fic I intend not to exceed five chapters. Also, it is to be the first in what is projected to be a trilogy of fics; the two following may or may not be longer. For the sequel, I am torn between ideas. The third fic, however, I know exactly what I want to do with it. It's most likely going to be entitled, Survivor's Guilt, and takes place during Harry's time (5th year to be exact as it suits my purposes to have Sirius still among the living) and is told from Fred's POV. She will relate to you all the events following her, Lily, and the Marauder's graduation and how what happened affected her. Oh, and to those of you that asked, I just finished taking Spanish III. I tend to speak in Spanglish a lot as I enjoy speaking Spanish but don't know enough to be considered fluent. And one more thing, the last paragraph of Parte Tres was in italics for no important reason. My computer was being evil and was determined to screw up the formatting.

Cuatro

James Potter is kissing me, Lily thought incoherently. It was rather hard for her to form complete thoughts at that particular moment, as James proved to be very good at the activity at hand. Very good. Later on, she would wonder how he got so good at snogging, but at present she was simply enjoying the ride. If someone had told her last year, or last week, or heck, even the day before that she would be frenched by James Potter in the middle of the hallway past curfew, she would have laughed in their face. And the fact that she was enjoying it- that was the kicker. If she could form a rational thought at that moment, it might have been something along the lines of wishing she had accepted the Marauder's previous offers of dates, as the snogs were well worth it.

Suddenly she felt the cool of the corridor wall against her back, releasing her from the spell James's lips seemed to have cast over her. She pushed him away, her lungs gasping for air. His breathing was rather ragged too, from what she heard in front of her.

“Lily,” she heard him say roughly, “s-sorry. I got a bit, a bit carried away.”

She was unable to reply. She shook her head and looked at the floor- anywhere but him.

“I guess-,” he started, taking in a shaky breath, “I should go, or s-something.”

Lily's head shot up, startled by such a notion. He couldn't leave- she wouldn't let him. She wasn't ready for him to go. He had to stay. But how? she wondered as she watched him turn to leave. There were certainly other things she could've done to make him stay, but her mind was still spinning, so she did the only thing that seemed logical to her at the time.

“James!” she called after him. He stopped and turned his head to look at her.

“What?” he inquired as he came back towards her a few steps.

Lily shook her head and then did something that she likely wouldn't have done had she been thinking rationally: she crossed the few feet between them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and then proceeded to snog him.

~*~

Fred Wilkins looked at the candy bar before her suspiciously. Now she was never the one to refuse chocolate, but she also knew better than to accept candy of unknown origins that had been left for her mysteriously in the common room. There was no doubt that the chocolate in question was meant for her; it did, after all, have Eloise Winifred Wilkins written on the wrapper, but she couldn't help but be suspicious of anything that used the vile names that had unfortunately been bestowed upon her by her sadistic parentals. There was, of course, only one solution to this problem: she must do as any other teenaged girl would, and go consult her comrades. So she took the bar with her and continued on her merry way to lunch.

As Fred joined her friends at their usual part of the Gryffindor table, it soon became apparent that there was another, far more grave, matter at hand: Lily Evans had skipped Charms. Oh yes, she really did, and the girl in question was still missing.

“Where on earth could she be?” Katie exclaimed as she stabbed her grilled chicken with a little more force than what was perhaps necessary. “She never misses Charms! It's-”

“-her favorite class- we know!” Lyn replied, cutting her off.

“Have you checked the Hospital Wing?” Fred asked, joining the conversation.

“Twice!” said Joanna, a look of worry apparent on her face.

As the girls continued to parley over the whereabouts of their AWOL friend, none of them noticed that the Marauders were also absent, for they too had a missing buddy.

“Where on earth could he be?” Sirius exclaimed, pounding a fist against the wall, causing the nearby portrait of a rather elderly witch in a violently pink beret to give him a rather dirty look. He returned her sentiments and continued, “I'm so worried about him!”

“I am too,” Remus agreed. “He's been so… morose lately.”

“It's all because that b-”

“Sirius!”

“-int stood him up!”

“That does seem to be the problem,” the werewolf replied grimly. “I just hope he hasn't done anything stupid. He's really going to regret missing Charms today.”

“Remus, there are things more important than school, you know!”

“It was a really important lesson! Flitwick said that 50% of the upcoming exam was going to be on the material covered today!”

As the boys continued to argue over the importance of Charms, James and Lily, who happened to be missing together, were actually in a broom closet two hallways over. Why were they in a broom closet together? Well you can imagine…

“Isn't this… much better… than Charms?” James asked in between the kisses he was bestowing on Lily's neck.

“Possibly,” she said, before his lips found hers again and talking became out of the question. When they came up for air, Lily couldn't help but check her watch, which caused her to remark, “We've missed lunch.”

“I'm not… hungry,” James replied, although the way he was going at her neck suggested otherwise.

“And we're going to miss Transfiguration.”

“So.”

“McGonagall won't be happy.”

“She'll… get over… it.”

~*~

Minerva McGonagall was very confused. Indeed, she had seen many a teenage drama unfold in her near forty years of teaching, yet it had been quite some time since she had seen one as odd as the one before her at present.

Lily Evans was certainly the sort of student she would describe as “serious” and “dedicated”:

Her homework was always turned in on time.

Her grades were almost all “O”s with the occasional “E”.

Her essays were always the proper length.

Her spelling and grammar was impeccable.

She was always punctual and never skipped classes.

And then one day, she walked into class ten minutes late. Ten. Ten! What's more, she hadn't done her homework, she failed miserably the quiz the professor had given, and she hadn't even attempted the extra credit. Minerva McGonagall's world was all askew.

Naturally, at the end of class, she called Lily up to her desk. “Miss. Evans,” she started, choosing her words carefully, “is something… wrong?”

“Er, um…” Lily stuttered, clearly flustered.

“You were a complete mess today,” the professor continued. “Is there something going on that I should know about?”

Lily quickly shook her head and replied, “Oh, no! It's nothing! Nothing at all! I just had trouble sleeping last night, so I skipped lunch and took a nap and I overslept, so of course I was late!” The poor child's babbling, Minerva thought to herself, knowing that by Lily's reaction that something most certainly was wrong.

The plot thickened as she discovered that Lily had started skipping classes, and again arrived late to Transfiguration. These were very strange occurrences indeed. Stranger still, James Potter, a somewhat slacker student yet still quite bright, had begun skipping even more classes than usual, and not in the company of his usual skipping cohorts. In fact, many of these new skippings coincided with the truancies of Lily Evans! It was common knowledge, even among the professors, that Lily rather, well- hated James. The idea that they, Head students no less, were skipping class together was preposterous! And yet…

~*~

James Potter was happier than he had been in a long time. Of course, things weren't perfect and could potentially turn disastrous, but they were still pretty good, considering. He was, after all, snogging with the long-time sought after Lily Evans on a somewhat regular basis. Not that anyone knew, of course. She wouldn't have that.

McGonagall probably wasn't pleased with him, as he had been skipping more of her classes than usual. He and Lily would skip lunch in favor of snogging and then they'd end up late for Transfiguration, and as turning up late together would have serious implications, Lily would go to class and he would skip. Although sometimes, they would both ignore the clock and just keep on kissing.

His friends were also on the edge of excommunicating him from the Marauders, he was willing to bet. He had been flaking out on them rather often and they probably hated him for it. I deserve it, he admitted to himself as he made his way up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He hoped he didn't look too ruffled, as he was returning from a particularly… spirited session of Lily snogging.

He walked in to find an empty dorm, and shrugged. His roommates were probably still at dinner, so he headed across the room to the bathroom. Suddenly, the door flew shut, followed by the distinctive click of a lock. He turned around to see his three best friends (where they had been hiding, he had no clue), and then suddenly all went black.

When regained consciousness, James was naturally upset to find himself tied to a chair with bits of ropes and unless he was mistaken, what appeared to be several Gryffindor ties.

“What the bloody hell is going on here?!” he exclaimed angrily.

“Hey, buddy,” Sirius said, sounding a little bitter, “long time, no see.”

Before James could reply, Remus said, “Sorry that we had to knock you out, but this is an intervention and we didn't want you to escape.”

“An intervention?” James sputtered in disbelief.

“Prongs,” Sirius said, straddling a chair opposite of his friend, “we are worried about you. First you're all depressed over Evans. That's understandable. And then you seem to recover from this slight only to disappear almost completely from our lives.”

“You've been skipping even more classes than usual,” Remus added, sitting down properly in a chair next to Sirius, “you haven't been doing your homework, and your grades are slipping.”

From the other side of Sirius, Peter said, “You've been missing lunch and dinner, and you've also been getting to bed even later than Sirius.”

“And I'm the king of night owls,” Sirius agreed, nodding.

“But you're a dog,” James replied with the bare hint of humor.

“That's not the point!”

“Then what is it?”

“There's something wrong with you, mate!” Sirius shouted, shaking his friend by the shoulders.

“What is it, James?” Remus asked, in a much calmer tone of voice.

“I can't tell you.”

“Why the hell not!”

“Sirius, be quiet. James, why can't you tell us?”

“It's a secret.”

“A SECRET?”

“Sirius! There's no need for violence! James- we're you're friends and we just want to know what's been going on with you lately.”

“You can tell us anything. You know that!”

“Exactly, Peter. James?”

“Well, it's… complicated.”

“And who would understand better than us? Your FRIENDS.”

“Sorry, Padfoot, but there are loyalties beyond friendship.”

“What?!”

“Like I said, it's a secret.”

“Oh, for the love of Merlin- TEEEELLLL UUUSSSS!!!!!”

“SIRIUS!!! I SAID NO VIOLENCE!!!!!!!!!”

“SOMEONE! HELP!!! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!!”

“No I'm not! I'm trying to be your friend!”

“Well you suck! I can't even fight back!”

“There'd be no need for fighting if you would just TELL US!!!”

“MMRPF!”

“He bit me! Remus he bit me!”

“You deserved it.”

“But-”

“But nothing. Now James-”

“I'm not telling you anything!”

“Please?”

“No!”

“Now be sensib-”

“NO!”

“Can I hit him, Moony?”

“No!”

“But he's being uncooperative!”

“NO!”

“Maybe we should just let him go.”

“SHUT UP, PETER!”

~*~

Now by happenstance, Lily Evans had entered the still deserted common room to hear a horrible din coming from the boys' dormitory. She probably would have ignored it had not one of the voices of the ruckus sounding very much like James.

“SOMEONE! HELP!!! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!!” she heard quite distinctly, and after a moment or two of consideration, she ran up the steps to the dorm and then quickly found the room in question. When she tried the door, she found it locked, so using her vast expertise of charms, she unlocked the door and hurried inside.

The first thing she noticed about the seventh year boys' dorm was the smell. It stunk. It stunk bad. It was a unique stench that was a combination of body odor, urine, rotting food, cologne, wet dog, and a smell that she couldn't quite place (nor did she want to).

The second thing that took her notice was the scene taking place in the center of the room. James, her beloved snogging partner, was tied to a chair with rope and Gryffindor neck ties, while Sirius Black and Remus Lupin argued loudly and violently and Peter Pettigrew cowered in the corner.

“What in the bloody hell is going on here?” she said, although no one heard her over the two boys fighting.

So naturally, she repeated herself.

“WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”

That got their attention.

“Oh, um, hello, Lily,” Remus greeted her nervously, straitening his tie with which a moment before Sirius had been trying to strangle him.

“Yes, how are you?” Sirius replied while smoothing down his hair, which Remus had previously been pulling quite hard.

Lily shook her head and demanded, “Why is James tied to a chair?”

Before either of them could formulate a reply, James said, “They're giving the good cop/bad cop treatment and failing terribly. Could you please untie me?” But as Lily came forward to free him, she was seized by the interrogators.

“Sorry, Lily,” Remus replied, “but I'm afraid we're not quite done with our friend yet.”

“With friends like these, who needs enemies,” James informed Lily as she was likewise bound to another chair.

“It's for your own good mate,” Sirius told him. Turning to Lily, he said, “We'll let you go once James talks, but we can't have you rescuing him in the mean time.”

“This is sadistic,” she said angrily, “making me stay here against my will amidst such a foul stench. What do you do? Drag wet animals in here and let them run around? That, at least, would account for the mess.”

“Just let her go,” James pleaded. “There's no need to drag her into all this and I'm sure she would make no further attempts to free me.”

“You got that right.”

“No dice, mate,” Sirius replied with a shake of his head. “She doesn't go free until you spill the beans.”

“What beans? What's going on here?” Lily asked.

“We've been trying to account for our Jamsie's whereabouts the past few weeks.”

The color drained from her face as the horrible truth dawned on Lily. “I'm sure it's none of your business!” she informed the Marauder before her.

“Aha!” Sirius exclaimed, having noted Lily's reaction. “It would appear, Mr. Moony, that Miss. Evans may know something that we don't!”

“Are you suggesting, Mr. Padfoot, that we include her in our questioning?” Remus said in a mischievous tone that Lily couldn't recall having heard from him before.

With a nod and a downright evil grin, Sirius spun his chair to face her and then returned to straddling it. “Where, pray tell, were you on the night of the twenty-fifth?”

“Oh, this is ridiculous! I refuse to be subject to this nonsense,” she informed him.

“Lily, please, we're just worried about our friend. Surely you can understand that?” Remus asked sensibly.

At this point, Lily was actually feeling a bit guilty. True, she couldn't blame them for being worried about James, but her pride wouldn't allow them to know the truth. As much as she hated to admit it, several nights of laying awake over the past week or so had brought her to the unfortunate conclusion that she liked James. More than liked, actually, but she refused to allow herself to even think the “L” word. So instead she continued to snog him in various Hogwarts broom closets, trying not to think that she loved the snogger in question, in a fashion that some would refer to as “using”. She also had the distinct feeling that “some” would include Sirius Black, as he was the master of the activity in question, and had it been of anyone else, he probably would have congratulated her, but as the using was of his best friend, he most likely would hex her lips off or something equally as fitting, or knowing him, worse.

Before Lily could think of a suitable lie, Peter, who had at some point stopped cowering and returned himself to the action, made an observation:

“What's that on James's collar?”

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Bugger. Bollocks. Bloody hell. Crap.

Curious, Sirius turned to inspect his incarcerated friend's collar, and to Lily's horror, the light of understanding filled his eyes.

“Well looky here, Moony! It would appear that our friend has been snogging!”

Remus, seeing that it was indeed lipstick on James's collar, smiled quite deviously for one of his character. “So we now know what you've been up to, my friend.”

“Yes, you do,” James replied irritably. “Now can you let Lily and I go?”

“Why certainly,” Sirius said graciously. “Ladies first,” he remarked as he began to untie Lily. She might have gotten away too, had Sirius not gotten a close up of her face.

“Merlin!” he exclaimed, a look of complete astonishment plastered across his face. Instead of finishing untying her, he retightened the tie he had been loosening and replied, “What is that on your lips?”

“None of your business, now let me go!” Lily shouted, struggling against her bindings.

Remus stepped forward and looked intently at Lily's lips. “Sirius,” he said, “get me a piece of parchment.” Sirius complied and Remus further instructed, “Now hold her head still.”

“No!” Lily shrieked. “You will NOT touch my head!” But as she was bound hand and foot, she really had no say in the matter. James couldn't watch- he knew what was going to happen.

The lipstick from Lily's mouth on the parchment would match the lipstick on his shirt.

His friends would know the truth about what he had been doing over the past couple of weeks that was so engrossing as to take his time from them.

Sirius would shout at an ear-splitting volume, “LILY EVANS HAS BEEN SNOGGING JAMES POTTER!!!”

Remus and Peter would stand there with their gobs open in shock.

Lily would be mad. Heck, she might even cry.

James knew very well what would happen indeed. And it did.

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