James met Sirius and Peter by the doors; they transfigured quickly and took off towards the Whomping Willow. The full moon shone brightly above the Hogwarts grounds. Prongs raced behind Padfoot, eventually surpassing him. Wormtail was sitting on Prongs�s back, on which he had jumped after they Transfigured. At the secret tunnel under the Whomping Willow, they met Moony, and pushed him into the passageway, as the transformation was now taking place. Inside the Shrieking Shack, they calmed the werewolf and eventually the four animals were able to go into the forest. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs did this every month, and they thanked God and Merlin it was only for one night.
They returned, as usual, to the school a bit after daybreak, all back to normal as James, Remus, Sirius and Peter. Then, under the cover of a cloak that James had been given by his father, they snuck back to their dormitories.
As James walked into his own common room, wincing as he moved, he stopped dead.
Lily was sitting on the couch, facing the fire.
James dared not move. Lily shifted in the couch; her head fell slightly forward, almost as if she was putting the last finishing touched onto an essay. James took a single, silent step forward and waited for the thing he knew would inevitably follow this moment; he had watched her as she did homework enough to know her every study-homework habit. However, that moment did not occur; her head did not come back up, nor tilt from side-to-side as she was wont to do when examining an essay.
James took a deep breath, and knew she was not writing an essay. He came up even with the arm of the couch, and saw that Lily was, in fact, sleeping. He grinned, knowing that he had escaped questioning about his late return� for now.
He started to walk into the washroom, but stopped. He realized that he couldn�t well leave her there, knowing that if she woke up uncomfortable in the morning, she would be as disagreeable as the government of England if the ravens were to leave the Tower of London (not that he had ever actually understood that idea, being wizard-born). He walked silently over, and pulled book, parchment, quill and ink off her lap. He lifted her gently into his arms, chuckling when her head lolled against his shoulder, right under his chin.
He carried her slowly to her room and gently placed her on her bed. He looked down on her, smiling. Reaching out, he moved aside a piece of hair from her face and leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. He certainly hoped he�d have more chances to do that, but he felt it wise to take the opportunity.
James turned away, rubbing the back of his neck. Moony had been a bit more vigorous than usual and had dealt Prongs a pretty bad blow to the back of his neck. Prongs could remember being slightly disoriented, but thankfully nothing too serious happened as a result. He didn�t really want to discover what it was like to pass out as a large white stag. James shuffled slowly to his own dorm and walked to his bed, kicking off his shoes and throwing his robe to the side as he did so. He was planning on taking a shower, but the navy blue quilt was a bit too enticing.
He fell onto his bed, and his last thought was that he hoped he wouldn�t look too bad tomorrow.
Lily awoke the next morning very comfortable, except that her robe had twisted around her frame and her hand was tingling from lying on it funny. After she opened her eyes, she wondered how she had gotten to her bedroom; the last thing she had seen were the dying embers of the fire in the common room. She shrugged and, rubbing her eyes, rose from bed. After pulling a clean uniform from her wardrobe, she walked to the bathroom.
When no sound responded to her knock on the door, she slowly opened the door, only to shriek and close her eyes.
James was standing�without a shirt�his head leaning against the wall and appearing to be asleep. Lily blinked in surprise a few times, wondered how he could possibly be asleep, and then walked over. As she gently shook his bare shoulder, she noticed a dark bruise on the back of his neck, a couple of scratches on his face and a pretty nasty looking gash on his side. She was worried. Certainly detention could not have possibly put him in that much trouble.
He stirred slightly and she shook him again. This time, he woke up entirely and looked to his left. He jumped at the sight of Lily and began to rub his eyes vigorously.
�Lily? What are you doing here?� asked James, his voice tired and cracking.
�Well, until I opened the door and found you asleep against the wall, I was hoping to take a shower,� said Lily, keeping a chuckle down. She also tried to keep her eyes off of James�s well-defined shoulders and trim waist. �But I see that you have occupied it so I�ll go....� She turned to walk back out the door, but James�s hand stayed her.
�No, it�s all right; I�ve already taken my shower. It didn�t help much to wake me up, though.�
�McGonagall must�ve worked you pretty hard to get you that tired. And why are you bruised and scratched?� asked Lily.
James looked at her with a confused expression in his hazel eyes, but then comprehension dawned.
�Oh, the bruises� yeah. It was a pretty� gruesome detention. We were out in the Forbidden Forest, uh, collecting some night-growing plant for Professor Sprout. And the plant was rather evil,� he added, chuckling. He gathered up his things (a dirty uniform, Lily noticed, not pajamas) and walked past the girl.
Lily sensed that under his laughter, James was a bit flustered. She also had a feeling that he wasn�t being completely truthful.
�Well, wait a moment.� Lily dropped her clothes onto the floor, and pulled out her willow wand. She closed the distance between her and James, then moved his arm away from his torso. James winced again when she very lightly touched the cut there.
�How did that happen?�
�Uh, branch with thorns� Cut right through my robes.�
�Uh, huh.� Lily hoped her disbelief was apparent, but she muttered a spell, and the gash started to heal. James sighed.
�Thanks; it was pretty hard to shower with that there,� he admitted, chuckling. He smiled at Lily�s blush. �You don�t have to worry about the others; they don�t hurt as much.�
�But that bruise; it looks terrible.�
�It�s fine��
�No, it�s not.� She sighed. �But, if you want to be a troll and enjoy the pain, come with me; I can give you a salve that you can rub on that to make it heal. It doesn�t work right away; so you�ll still feel some pain.�
�What? I don�t want to be a troll! It just doesn�t hurt that much; it seems a waste to use something on it.�
Lily raised an eyebrow, and walked back into her room. James leaned against the door as Lily rummaged through her trunk. She came up with a little covered bowl.
�Here, take this; you don�t need to use that much, but it�ll make the bruise go away.�
�Thanks, Lily,� said James, grateful. �I would ask you how I can repay you, but I can tell that you�ll take the sight of me without a shirt as payment enough.� He smiled suavely as Lily blushed. �Ah� you were looking, weren�t you?�
Lily exhaled sharply, keeping her head down as she blushed further, and slipped past him back into the bathroom.
James smiled after her. �I�ll see you later, then. Do you want me to wait for you outside?� he asked.
Lily turned back. �If you want to. I can�t really stop you, can I?�
�No, probably not,� James admitted.
�Then why even bother asking?� Lily asked, exasperated.
�Because a certain redhead instilled in me the want to use manners more often, in hope that one day, she would say yes.� James smirked.
Lily glared, but James was happy to see a slight smile in the corners of her lips.
�Smart girl, that one.�
�Indeed; the smartest here.�
Lily declined further comment, and began to walk back into the bathroom.
Before she reached it however, she turned. �Potter?�
He turned from his own doorway.
�I fell asleep last night in the common room. I woke up this morning in my bed� Do you have any idea how that could�ve happened?�
James smirked, and merely said, �Magic.�
He entered his bedroom, chuckling softly.
She raised an eyebrow as his absent form, and as soon as the bathroom door was shut, she chuckled softly. What a character.
Just as Lily had suspected, James had waited for her and together, they walked to the Gryffindor dormitory to meet the rest of their friends. Lily�s eyes took on a look of bewilderment when she saw the rest of the Marauders looking as equally tired. How long were they in the Forest? she wondered.
Sirius had a scratch on his cheek that looked like it could have possibly come from falling out of bed because he was so tired, or as if he, too, had been cut with a thorn. Remus looked to be the most tired of them all, with dark circles under his light brown eyes. He also had little bruises and cuts. Peter was the only one who didn�t look too tired, though he usually looked slightly tired and teary-eyed.
They had breakfast, which being the first meal of the day was normally subdued. Without the Marauders cracking a few jokes, however, it was more subdued than usual.
Lily left with Nikeia to their Astronomy class. They began to go over star charts, an activity that was preparing them for their NEWTs.
Lily remembered that last night had been the full moon. Suddenly, the conversation she had with a certain Slytherin a few years ago, and thought of again only last night, came back to her. She wondered if it could really be true�
The day went much the same as any other day. Stacey and James continued to go over things when they had the chance; during lunch, or break periods. Lily found that she was once again a bit jealous.
They only difference between this day and the others�beside the normal random acts�came at dinner, when everyone at the Slytherin table left the Great Hall dressed just slightly different...
The Marauders and Frank and the girls walked into the Great Hall after depositing their bags in their dorms and cleaning up a bit before the meal. Sam and Monica did not sit with the Marauders and the other seventh years; they had found new friends in their own year, and no one begrudged them the new company. They still sat near, but they did not talk as much with the seventh years.
Dumbledore had clapped his hands and the food appeared on the tables in a way that no one knew; at least, no one who hadn�t been down in the kitchens in their Hogwarts career. The Marauders knew exactly how the food appeared on the plates every breakfast, lunch and supper.
After taking enough food to satisfy them for a bit (they were definitely were going to eat more) the Marauders began talking quietly to one another. Lily, Nikeia and Josey looked to each other in exasperation, knowing exactly what was going to happen. It was the starting, or completing, of the final stages of a prank. The girls filled Stacey in on how to tell when something bad was going to happen. She was nodding her head, taking it all in, when the bad thing happened.
There were a few screams, a few shrieks, a few yells and a few clattering plates. Lily lifted her head and her eyes got very wide. Nikeia, who was sitting on the same side of the table, had an identical appearance on her lovely features. Stacey, Josey and Alice turned quickly to see what was going on, and soon, all five of the girls wore the same expression.
Every single one of the Slytherins were wearing identical pink�baby pink or rose pink or neon pink�robes, each covered with an atrocious amount of bows, beads, and ribbons. Their hair, too, took on a style that would have made a clown jealous. Red�not orange-red like Lily�s hair, but tomato red, ketchup red, or bad-grade-red�covered the heads of each and every Slytherin. Lily�s eyes started to water because of the brightness and atrociousness of the situation.
Everything was silent for a few seconds, and then more screaming, shouting and clattering filled the Great Hall. The angrier ones charged for the Gryffindor table, but were thrown back by an invisible barrier, apparently set up just for that reason.
Another sound filled the Great Hall with such a force that it shook the floating candles.
Laughter.
Every person who was not a Slytherin was rolling around, hardly breathing for the laughing. Even some of the teachers at the Staff Table were cracking. Dumbledore, too, was smiling and chuckling. Slughorn, even though it was his house that had been affected, was jovially laughing and beaming, as he always loved a good joke.
Nearly every person at the far end of the hall wearing the offensive garments was trying to disenchant the coloring, but nothing worked. Dumbledore stood, cleared his throat and the Hall slowly went silent.
�Well, I don�t think I need to ask who has done this, so fifty points from Gryffindor.� Most Gryffindors didn�t moan or groan, in fact they seemed to be happy that the Headmaster counted fifty points a fair enough punishment for the discomfort of a quarter of the school, and joy and laughter for the other three-quarters. �Now, gentlemen, how long will this enchantment last?� asked Dumbledore, turning to the only four young men who could have possibly played such a prank.
All four boys stood, smiles broad, and James addressed the Headmaster.
�Well, Headmaster, we figured that the Slytherins are quite mean, so their... predicament... will last until a nice comment is made. This means that each Slytherin must make an honest apology or comment�a positive comment�to someone not in their own house and they will return to normal,� said James, a smirk now taking over his features.
Dumbledore chuckled and nodded slightly to James. �Well, I�m sure the Slytherins will be able to have their enchantment thrown off by the end of the day.� A great amount of coughing erupted at this statement, and a few Slytherins once again tried to break though the barrier. McGonagall gestured down to Dumbledore, and whispered to him. �Professor McGonagall is of the opinion that points are not quite enough punishment for you. She suggests working in the trophy room, polishing and cleaning until it is once again pristine, no matter how many nights it takes. I must say I agree with her. Do you think you can handle that?� asked Dumbledore, a smile still on his lips.
James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius�s faces fell. The trophy room was no fun to clean and, as it was only reserved for the worst of detentions, it probably hadn�t been cleaned in a while. Not since the last time James and Sirius had been ordered to clean it anyway.
The Marauders looked to each other and groaned softly, but turned back to Dumbledore and shrugged good-naturedly.
Lily grinned at their punishment and couldn�t wait to watch them walk back into their common rooms very tired. Though... a part of her did admire the enchantment they had placed upon the Slytherins. It must�ve been difficult to come up with and to research. And, it caused discomfort to the Slytherins, so it was very good.
Stacey, however, was not as agreeable. �How could they do that?� she cried.
�What? The enchantment? It�s probably a spell they found somewhere. Probably a few-�
�No! I mean,� Stacey interrupted Lily�s explanation, �how could they give a whole House reason to be ridiculed?�
�Stacey, they�re just Slytherins,� said Josey, frowning.
�They�re still people. And students. That was a nasty thing to do.� She stabbed a piece of chicken.
�Oh, come on, American!� said Sirius, lifting his glass in her direction. �It�s just a good natured prank. Not anywhere near as mean, if that�s what you want to call it, as when we managed to change the Hufflepuffs� glasses into fat hedgehogs. They totally destroyed the lunch table.�
The four boys started laughing with the memory. Lily frowned; it had not been easy to wrangle the silly creatures together�and she wasn�t thinking solely about the hedgehogs.
�This was just changing their clothes and adding an emotional level to it,� finished Sirius. The self-satisfied smirk on his face did nothing to calm Stacey.
�And what if they pranked you?� Stacey challenged.
James barked in laughter. �Ha! Sirius would look amazing in pink!�
Sirius angled a kick under the table at James.
�Stacey,� Remus put in, ignoring the antics of his two friends. �The Slytherins prefer to act in secret. We�ll get paid back for it eventually; it just won�t be in front of the teachers. That way they can skive off the punishment. They�re slippery enough to do that.�
Stacey still didn�t seem appeased, but added a final statement: �It was still a horrible prank.�
�It�s just a way of life for the Marauders, Stacey,� added Alice. �Don�t worry. Cleaning the trophy room is horrible enough. They�ll not be happy about that over the next few days.�
The four Marauders had the decency to grimace.