“Pssst, Prongs.”

A rough shake was enough to wake me up from this comfortable four-poster bed. I slowly opened my eyes, squinting to see who the intruder was. All I could see was long, black, shaggy hair. I reached over to the bedside table for my glasses.

“Hey, mate,” I replied as I sat up, stifling a yawn.

“This room is impressive,” said Moony over in the corner, head tilted sideways as he read the names of books on a shelf. “I might have to borrow a few of these books from you.”

“Go ahead,” I mumbled, getting out of bed. “I’m not going to read them anyway.”

Sirius stretched himself on top of the covers as I headed over to my trunk. Peter was nowhere to be found. Remus, however, was plopped on an armchair with a book in his hand.

“Where’s Wormtail?” I asked, looking around.

Remus shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, mate, he was gone when Padfoot and I got up this morning.”

“Probably alone somewhere,” Sirius snickered. “He’s got no other friends than us.”

“Well wherever he is,” I said while pulling out some clothes, “someone needs to remind him of our meeting in a certain Room of Requirements during our first break. And remember to think ‘I need a place for a base of operations’ as you walk past the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.”

“We remember!” Sirius exclaimed, rolling his eyes. “We’ve gone over this only a hundred times or so on the train yesterday.”

“Right,” I muttered. “Maybe we should get changed so we can go to the hall for breakfast already?”

Sirius and Remus left as quickly as they came, leaving me in solitude as I glanced around the room. Operation: Lily came to mind. Will it work or am I wasting my time? What if the year ends and she hates me even more than she already does? Sighing, I quickly got changed and found Remus waiting for me in the common room.

“Where’s Padfoot?” I asked, meeting up with him.

“He left for the Great Hall with Natasha and Lily,” he shrugged. “’Said you wouldn’t mind.”

“Ah well,” I made room for him to pass through the portrait next to me. “Wonder how long this girl’s going to last him.”

“I think you do,” Remus sighed. “You shouldn’t be playing her like that. She’s Lily’s friend.”

“Look, it will all turn out all right. I’ll get Lily and Sirius can stay with Natasha if he likes.”

As we made our way down the stairs past a group of giggling girls, I couldn’t help but wonder if Remus was bound to go after someone he fancied this year.

“So, Moony,” I began, swinging an arm around his neck as we reached the Entrance Hall, “you going to get a girlfriend this year or what?”

“Prongs,” Remus muttered. “You know with my condition… It just wouldn’t work out.”

“Don’t be such a downer on yourself. I bet you could get any girl if you tried.”

The nasal voice of a greasy-haired git was heard from behind.

Glancing quickly around to find Lily nowhere nearby to scold me for my soon-to-be actions, I thought, 'This is my lucky day.'

“And you think any girl would fancy a hook-nosed git?” I smirked, hand in pocket gripping my wand as I thought, just in case.

“Why you…” Snape began, pointing his wand at me.

“Oh, Snivellus,” I laughed, “you know no good is going to come out of that.”

"CRUCI-”

“INCARCEROUS!”

Just as thick ropes wrapped around Snape, Professor McGonagall pushed open the Great Hall doors. I glanced at Remus, who held out his wand in front of him. I had barely gotten my wand out when he shouted the spell.

“What is the meaning of all this trouble?” Professor McGonagall asked sternly. “Mr. Lupin, I’m surprised to see you in such a compromising position.”

“It wasn't Remus, Professor,” I blurted out, while Remus attempted to keep a straight face.

“Ah, Mr. Potter,” McGonagall sighed. “I’m not surprised to see you at the root of it. You too, Mr. Snape. To my office, boys.”

She undid the spell Remus cast on Snape. Trudging slowly, I followed her up to her office while shaking with anger. Snape followed next to me, his hands in his pockets probably gripping his wand. I was doing the same.

“No need to take a seat, boys,” Professor McGonagall said, crossing over to stand behind her desk. “This will only take a moment. Now, I don’t care to hear any excuses but heed my warning. This is your last year. It will not be a year of carelessness and foolish decisions. It is easy to forget that this year you will need to work hard because after you finish at Hogwarts, you two will be entering the real world where foolish decisions receive harsh consequences. There will be no detentions or loss of House points. There will be Azkaban waiting. You understand?”

“Yes, Professor,” we mumbled simultaneously.

“Good,” she continued. “Since term hasn’t even started, I will let you two go. If I need to see you two in my office again, you will not leave punished lightly. Off you go now.”

Silently we left the room. As soon as we were a few feet away, Snape turned to me.

“Better watch your back then, Potter,” Snape sneered.

“I would be careful if I were you, Snivellus,” I hissed.

“Boys,” Professor McGonagall sighed, “do I need to take House points?”

“Sorry, Professor,” I replied, leaving back down to the Great Hall.

I hurried quickly down the steps while my stomach grumbled for food and pushed open the doors to the Great Hall. I looked behind me to find Professor McGonagall holding a stack of parchment in her hands. “Must be the schedules,” I thought. I made my way to the Gryffindor table and squeezed between Remus and Padfoot.

“What did she say?” Remus asked, folding his Daily Prophet and placing it in front of him.

“Nothing much,” I replied, grabbing toast, eggs and whatever else was in front of me. “Just gave us a warning. If only she had been there a few moments earlier when Snivellus yelled one of the Unforgivable’s at me.”

“Which one did he yell?” Sirius asked, his attention no longer on Natasha, which meant her attention was on me and Lily’s attention as well. Now she can hear how her scum of an old friend really is.

“The torture one,” I whispered as a professor passed behind us.

“That slimy git!” Sirius exploded, and then lowered his voice to a whisper. “He’s going to pay for that.”

“No, he isn’t,” I advised, catching a quick glimpse at Lily’s face, she looked surprised. “Provoking him isn’t going to make the situation better.”

“Then lets just hope we don’t have any classes with him today or else…,” Sirius promised.

He turned his attention back to Natasha and I returned mine back to the food on my plate. A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall walked up the table and handed schedules.

“Excellent!” Sirius proclaimed. “An easy morning, Herbology with the Ravenclaws and a free period.”

“The afternoon is not going to be a fun one,” I mumbled. “Potions and Transfiguration, you can count on homework tonight.”

“Speaking of Transfiguration,” Remus added, sighing as he looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention, then whispered, “It’ll be soon.”

“Don’t worry, Moony,” I smiled sympathetically, “It’ll be alright. We’ll discuss it later.”

“Get our schedules yet?” Peter asked, breathing heavily. He squeezed in between Remus and I, then grabbed all the food greedily in front of him.

“Oi, Wormtail!” Sirius called from across the table. “Where have you been running from?”

“I-I-I was,” he stuttered, looking panic stricken. Stuffing food in his mouth he exclaimed, “Nowhere!”

It was unlike Peter to have any sort of life beyond being around us. He had no other friends after all. What could he possibly be doing that involved socializing?

“Well,” Remus said, handing him his schedule, “we’ve got to go. Don’t want to be late for Herbology now.”

Our little group expanded as we left the Great Hall, with the addition of Natasha and Lily. However, while Natasha’s attention was being directed at Sirius, Lily’s was being directed by Remus as they brought in the rear. I was stuck with Peter, not that he’s a bad fellow. He just he doesn’t know when to stop talking. This was going to be a long morning.

“I need a place for a base of operations,” I thought, walking back and forth past the blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Finally a wide, wooden door revealed itself to me as Peter, Remus, and I walked inside. The room was perfect. It was about the size of the boy’s dormitory, with stone flooring, and a fireplace at the end of the room. There was a table in the middle of the room with snacks provided. A bookshelf lined one wall containing titles such as How to Woo the Woman You Love, 100 Foolproof Ways to Get a Date, and So She Won’t Accept A Date With You? After inspecting the room a little while, the door opened and Sirius swaggered in with a sloppy grin on his face.

“Where’ve you been?” I asked a tad peeved.

“With Natasha,” Sirius replied grinning, grabbing an apple off the table. “Don’t get mad at me, isn’t that part of the plan after all?”

“Yes but we’ve got quite a bit to discuss,” I sighed, taking a seat at the table. I pulled out the notes we had taken on the train ride and examined them. “Would you all take a seat?”

“Ooh listen to Commander Prongs,” Sirius teased. “You sound so official.”

I rolled my eyes. “We have to take this seriously.

Okay mates, Operation: Lily is ready to go into action. Sirius, how are things with Natasha? Do you think you’ll be able to commit to her for a while?”

“I’ll try,” Sirius hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. “Natasha might have no problem. She never stops talking. I know her whole life story and more. Well, I would if I was listening. She’s great to snog though. Don’t know how soon I’ll get bored with her though.”

“Don’t get bored,” I advised, shaking my head. “Natasha is really important to this operation. She’s Lily’s best friend. That’s the only way I’ll get close to her.”

“What about the rounds you two have to do together?” Remus asked, chiming in. “Not going so well?”

“We did separate rounds last night,” I sighed, leaning back in my chair. “She left as soon we started. I didn’t see her until I got back to the Fat Lady.”

“What did you expect?” Remus asked, chuckling. “Term has only started and nothing has happened to make Lily change her feelings toward you.”

“By the end of this month,” I started, “she’ll be warming up to me.”

“Well then what’s the next step?” Peter piped up. I almost forgot he was here.

“I’m glad you asked,” I said, directing everyone’s attention to the task at hand. “Lily mentioned at dinner last night that I couldn't be polite. So for the rest of the month, as hard as it will be for me, I will not pick any fights with the-Slytherin-who-shall-not-be-mentioned. Or at least I won’t while Lily is anywhere around. And I won’t flirt with Lily but I can pay her compliments.”

“Er, Prongs?” Padfoot asked, putting the back of his hand to my forehead. “You feeling alright, mate?”

“That’s some task,” Remus remarked, shaking his head. “James, you can’t change yourself for a girl. That’s not the way to go about it.”

“That’s just it, Moony,” I sighed, exasperated. “Lily isn’t any other girl. She is the only girl I want.”

“Mate-,” Remus tried to speak.

“Moony,” I moaned, “she doesn’t like my current personality. So something has to change, right?” I looked to Sirius but he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t look at me,” Sirius said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m not the one chasing after the impossible.”

“I’m telling you guys,” I persisted, “Lily is the one.”

“Then what’s the other task, Prongs?” Sirius asked, changing the subject.

“Right,” I said, shuffling through the pages in front of me. “Remus, I need you this time.”

“I told you on the train,” Remus sighed. “I don’t want to be a part of this.”

“But why?” I asked, at the point of begging. “Moony, I need you. Help a best mate out? A fellow Marauder?”

“This operation can only end badly,” Remus said.

“Have a little faith in me?” I asked, desperately. “All I need you to do is be Lily’s partner in potions.”

“Why?” Remus replied, narrowing his eyes. “Natasha is her partner.”

“Not after today,” I piped up. “Sirius is going to ask her to be his partner.”

“Then who will be your partner?” Sirius asked.

“Peter,” I replied casually. “You’ve been getting good marks in Potions right, Peter?”

“I’m okay,” Peter said hesitantly.

“There’s no harm being my partner, Wormtail,” I laughed at his reluctance. “What could go wrong?”

“We did accidentally blow up our cauldron last year,” Sirius added, laughing. “Remember?”

“Right,” I replied, nodding my head. “All for a good cause though. It was worth seeing Snivellus covered in warts.”

I checked my watch. We were going to be late for Potions if we didn’t leave soon. I pulled out the Marauders Map, scanning for Lily’s dot. She and Natasha were headed there from the Gryffindor Common Room.

“Time for Potions,” I announced, folding the map. I tapped the map with my wand and mumbled Mischief Managed. Well, managed for now at least.