The Marauder's Fourth Year

The Marauders' fourth year

(Thanks to Jo for beta-reading)

CHAPTER ONE

James Potter stared down at his untouched plate of bacon, eggs and sausage at the Gryffindor table in Hogwart's great hall, with his mind elsewhere.

"Come on, eat!" said his best friend, Sirius Black who himself was wolfing down almost every item of food on the table. "You won't get chosen if you faint of hunger and fall off your broom!"

"Much as I hate to admit it, Sirius is right." said James' other friend, Remus Lupin, earning himself a punch in the ribs from Sirius.

"I'm not hungry," muttered James.

"Leave him alone, " cried Peter Pettigrew, leaping to James' defence. "He's nervous."

"No need to be," replied Sirius with his mouth full. "You're the best flyer here. They'd be stupid not to choose you for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I'm not nervous. They'll love me."

"I wish I had your confidence," sighed James. "And it doesn't help that they're making us play Slytherin."

"Yeah, that slimy git Snape is trying out for the Slytherin team. He'll try to knock us off our brooms or something," Sirius grimaced.

"Well, I suppose it does make sense to play against them. It means the respective captains can see how we play against each other, before making their player selections," said Remus thoughtfully.

"Remus, you know Snape will do every thing possible to make us look bad up there on our brooms," snapped Sirius.

"I do know, but there's not much you can do about it."

"What positions are you going for?" asked Peter.

"BEAT-UH!" said Sirius, spraying food all over poor Peter.

"Seeker," mumbled James.

"That's what Snape's going for," said Sirius. "Rather you than me. Imagine playing against him every week!"

"Thanks, I feel better now," declared James dryly.

James felt as though he had a million snakes writhing about in his stomach. He felt physically sick. He did not think he had ever wanted anything more than he wanted to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. James loved flying and he loved Quidditch. He and Sirius had played together for years, but James doubted Sirius wanted to be chosen half as much as he did, Although Sirius would make an excellent beater, with his temper.

At twelve o'clock, James stood beside Sirius on the Quidditch pitch with three other Gryffindor hopefuls, facing five Slytherin hopefuls, including Severus Snape, a greasy, dark haired, sneering boy. Sirius was clenching his fists, obviously wanting to do Snape some injury.

The stands were full of mostly Slytherin and Gryffindor students who had come to watch the tryouts. James could just make out Remus and Peter in the stands and he felt a little better knowing that they would be cheering him on. He glanced sideways at Sirius, who broke his glare with Snape to give James an encouraging wink.

The muscular, blond tanned Gryffindor captain, Curtis Lightowler, marched in front of the Gryffindor hopefuls.

"As you know, Quidditch games normally last one hour. There are two halves, each lasting a half-hour. Now, two of you are trying for seeker. Two are trying for beater and one for chaser. We only need one of each. Three of you will compete in the first half, while the other three will compete in the second half, where I shall be the chaser as we have only one chaser hopeful. Don't assume that being the only one will get you chosen!" he grinned at the chaser hopeful. "Are there any questions?" The Gryffindors shook their heads. The Quidditch referee and Hogwarts teacher Madam Hooch marched into the centre of the pitch. James and Sirius were in the first team and mounted their brooms. They soared into the air waiting for Madam Hooch's whistle, which would signal the start of the game. On the other side of the pitch, Severus Snape mounted his broom and soared into the air. He was playing against James in the first half. James seriously thought he would throw up with nerves.

Madam Hooch gave a loud clear blast on her whistle. A Ravenclaw prefect was commentating for Remus and Peter to hear.

"Sixth year Declan Finnigan has the Quaffle, heading towards the Slytherin goal.... No! Saved by Slytherin captain Douglas Fawcett...Gaby Bulstrode has the Quaffle, heading towards Gryffindor goalposts...BAM! Nice Bludger work there by third year Sirius Black!"

There was much cheering and screaming from girls in the crowd. Remus and Peter rolled their eyes at each other.

"Declan Finnigan has the Quaffle again, dodging a Bludger there sent by Martin Crabbe...Fawcett flying out to meet her...saves again. Nice effort though. Finnigan has the Quaffle again...turning around for another attempt...no! Hit by a Bludger from Martin Crabbe, drops the Quaffle, caught by Bulstrode, heading towards Gryffindor...she shoots! She SCORES!"

There were many groans from the Gryffindor stands. Remus felt sorry for Finnigan, it looked bad for him if the Slytherin chaser scored before he did.

Up in the air, Sirius had thrown off his Quidditch shirt in the scorching heat from the sun and was now playing bare-chested. This got the girls in the crowd cheering. James was circling the pitch, searching for any sign of the winged golden snitch. Capturing this ball would win the team one hundred and fifty points and end the game. Severus Snape was tailing James closely; cutting in front of him which prevented him from seeing what was happening in the game.

"Think you're a good flyer, Potter?" he yelled, laughing.

Snape's repeated snide comments were having the successful effect of distracting James from the game. Twice, a Bludger hit him.

"James! Pay attention, goddamnit!" yelled Sirius from below him.

Cursing himself, James brought his attention back to the game. It was hard to concentrate however, he was furious at Snape. He decided to teach the slimy git a lesson.

Faking a look of sudden concentration, James dived towards the ground. There was an "ooooooh!" from the crowd, who thought he had seen the snitch. Snape clearly thought the same for he went zooming after James, which was what James wanted. At the last second, James pulled out of the dive and flew back into the air again. Snape, however, crashed into the ground. The Slytherin end of supporters groaned.

"Brilliant!" roared Remus from the stand. "That showed him!"

School matron Madam Pomfrey rushed onto the pitch to look at Snape. She declared him not seriously injured and he mounted his broom again and flew back into the air, looking madder than ever. The game resumed.

"Gryffindor have the Quaffle...Finnigan heading to goal...he shoots...HE SCORES! Ten-each! Quaffle now taken by Bulstrode...heads towards Lightowler on goal...no! Stopped by a Bludger from Black! Finnigan has the Quaffle again...heading towards goad...HEY!"

The Slytherin beater had sent a Bludger towards Sirius in retaliation for his Bludger and Sirius had been hit on the head. He was now flying around aimlessly, not being able to see properly.

"PENALTY!" shouted Madam Hooch, flying up towards the two beaters. "Penalty to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their beater!"

The Gryffindors shook their fists at the Slytherin beater, James included. He spun around to watch Douglas Finnigan take the penalty. The crowd held their breaths.

"HE SCORES! Twenty-ten to Gryffindor!"

James cheered along with the Gryffindors. Finnigan was a good chaser. James hoped he would be chosen.

"JAMES!" came an anguished yell from beneath him. James looked down. Snape was diving, determination on his face. Down near the pitch below them was the golden snitch, and Snape was going to catch it.

The Slytherins in the crowd rose to their feet, screaming and shouting the Slytherin seeker on. James froze in horror.

"JAMES!" yelled Sirius again. James unfroze and urged his broom downwards. He was gaining on Snape; he was getting closer and closer. Now the Gryffindors in the crowd were on their feet also, screaming and shouting on their seeker. James was now level. He reached out his arm to catch the winged ball, but Snape swung out an arm and hit James in the face. For a few seconds, James could not see. But he could hear. He did not need to see in these few seconds to know that Snape had caught the snitch. The noise from the Slytherin side of the crowd was deafening.

"Cheer up James," said Sirius afterwards, as they sat on benches waiting for the second half. "You flew really well."

"No I didn't. I let Snape catch the snitch. Can you imagine what the rest of the year will be like?"

"I know James, but I'm telling you, you were the better flyer. The way you pulled out of that dive! Snape should have known you were feinting! It was obvious!"

"He'll take advantage of this. I know he will."

Sirius sighed. He knew James was right. He tried hard to think of something that would reassure his best friend. "The decision hasn't been made yet. Look at that seeker! Lightowler will never chose him over you! Look, I'll distract everybody okay?"

"What do you mean, distract?"

"Take people's attention off you. Besides, it's really warm." With that, Sirius had whipped off his trousers and boxers and proceeded to race across the pitch, stark naked.

"Oh bloody hell," groaned Remus, putting his hands to his face. Girls in the crowd screamed as Sirius danced around the bottom of the goalposts and waved his arms maniacally. Professor McGonagall was yelling at him from the stands. Madam Hooch caught up with Sirius and used her witch's hat to cover his modesty. Professor McGonagall looked enraged, but Sirius just grinned at her.

As Professor McGonagall lectured Sirius, Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, signaling the start of the second half. James watched miserably from the bench. The other Seeker hopeful was very good and caught the snitch this time. Once the second half was finished, Curtis met with some of the other current Gryffindor players who had been watching from the stands, and conferred with them in low voices while the Slytherin captain did the same on the opposite side of the pitch. The Gryffindor hopefuls looked at each other nervously. Some students remained in the stands waiting for an announcement. Curtis and the other Gryffindor hopefuls headed over to the first half team. Once all hopefuls were seated, Curtis began to speak.

"Well, you all want to know my decision, no doubt. Therefore, I won't keep it from you. Firstly, I'd like to say that I was very impressed by all of the flying I saw today."

Sirius gave James a nudge to say "I-told-you-so!"

"Hence, I'd like to announce the new members of the Gryffindor team are Douglas Finnigan as Chaser."

Douglas Finnigan grinned. James and Sirius applauded him. He had certainly been good.

"For beater, I have chosen...."

Sirius closed his eyes. James crossed his fingers.

"Sirius Black."

"YEAH! YEAH! YA DANCER!" cried Sirius in his broad Scottish accent. He jumped up and danced around. The other Gryffindors gave him bemused looks. James grabbed Sirius' sleeve.

"Sit DOWN!" he said, grinning.

Now Curtis was going to announce the Gryffindor seeker.

"The new Gryffindor seeker will be...Abigail McDonald."

James and Sirius's mouths fell open. James could think of nothing to say or nothing to even think. Although he had told Sirius he wouldn't be picked, he had never actually believed it. They could not join in the applause for Abigail. James barely heard Curtis announce him as a reserve seeker, and didn't know how he got back to the Gryffindor common room.

All four Gryffindor third year boys sat around the fire, saying nothing. More than an hour was passed in complete silence, before Sirius spoke.

"Maybe we could try the Furnunculus curse?"

"Come off it, Sirius!" cried Remus. "That's not going to change the fact that James didn't get chosen!"

"But I want to get revenge on that..."

"It needs something bigger than the Furnunculus curse."

"What do you suggest?" Sirius asked.

"I'm not sure. We could turn him into a giant slug?"

"We'd get expelled." James spoke up, his voice muffled under his hands, which were hiding his face. "We need something discreet but effective."

"Excuse me." Came a new voice from behind them. It was their Gryffindor classmate, Lily Evans.

"This is a private conversation," Sirius snapped.

"If it is private, then you should keep your voices own." Lily snapped back."

"Did you want something?" Remus asked, feeling every bit as annoyed as Sirius, but better at concealing it.

"I have a better idea as to how you can get your revenge."

Sirius snorted. "Oh really? What makes you think you're a better prankster than us?"

"I didn't say I was better than you guys," responded Lily. "But I'm Muggle-born. That means I have access to a wide range of tricks and jokes that you guys don't. Muggle tricks."

"Muggle tricks are pathetic," muttered Sirius, waving his hand dismissively.

"Have you ever used a Muggle trick?" asked Lily. Sirius didn't answer. "Well, then, shut up. One trick I use frequently on my older sister is laxative chocolate."

"Laxative chocolate?" questioned Remus.

"It means you lose control of your bowel movements, depending on how much you take. I was thinking we could disguise it as a new Honeydukes chocolate, and convince Severus to eat the whole bar. He'll be running back and forth to the toilet all day."

James eyes lit up. "I think I like it." Remus and Peter nodded their agreement. But Sirius looked surly.

"What do you think Sirius?" asked James.

"I think it sucks. There's got to be a better idea."

"I haven't found one," said Remus. "Sirius, are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Jealous of what?"

"Of the fact that someone came up with a better prank than you."

"No!" Sirius cried vehemently. James and Remus exchanged knowing looks.

"So tomorrow in History of Magic..." Lily began. "Someone always has to partner a Slytherin due to class numbers. I'll make sure that's me. I'll try to get Snape to partner me, and get him to eat the chocolate. Professor Binns won't notice anything, so I'll get away with it."

"Why do you want to help us anyway?" snapped Sirius.

"Because I'm sick of him calling me a 'Mudblood."

"Fair enough," shrugged James. He met Sirius eyes and silently told him that he wanted to go for this and Sirius was to shut up. Sirius did shut up.

"Tomorrow then," said James.

James, Peter, Sirius and Remus made sure they were first to History of Magic the next morning, something they never did. They almost ran into the classroom and took seats next to each other so they would have partners. There were three Gryffindor girls in their year. Lily had arranged to arrive at the last minute, so that the other two Gryffindor girls would partner each other and she would be left to partner Snape. Several Slytherins came in after the Marauders and then the ghost teacher, Professor Binns appeared through the wall to teach.

"There's still some Slytherins to arrive. What if Snape partners one of them?" whispered Sirius, anxiously.

"Snape is usually late. Hopefully he won't have enough time to partner someone else," said Remus, hopefully.

Snape came into the classroom just then and sat down at an empty table in front of the boys, shooting them a nasty smirk. Lily entered the classroom and sat down next to him.

"Sit somewhere else, Mudblood," snapped Snape, drawing away from her.

"I will not." Lily said coldly. "You don't own this table. I can sit here if I want."

"Then I'll move," said Snape and he stood up.

"You will not!" cried Lily desperately. "Because the class is about to start and I'll tell Professor Binns you're disturbing the rest of us!"

Snape looked at her, then sat back down. The four boys behind breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Fine," Snape snapped. "But don't touch me. I don't want to catch anything."

"Me neither," Lily snapped back.

The class started. Professor Binns lectured in a dull, monotone voice and soon everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, except the Gryffindor boys who were waiting impatiently for Lily to produce the chocolate. Professor Binns had been speaking for more than twenty minutes before Lily produced two chocolate bars from her back, covered in the same blue wrapping.

"This class is really boring, isn't it?" she asked Snape, who didn't reply. "I can't wait until lunch, can you?" Snape grunted in reply.

"Do you want a chocolate bar? I won't eat them both. It's a new chocolate from Honeydukes. It's supposed to be really nice," she cracked a piece off the first chocolate bar and popped it into her mouth. "Mmmm!" she turned around in her seat and offered pieces to James, Sirius, Remus and Peter who took one each, realising that this bar was not the laxative one.

"Mmmmmm!" said the boys, hopeful that they would encourage Snape to take the other bar.

"Go on, " said Lily to Snape, pushing the bar towards him. "Take it, it's nice."

"No, thank you. I don't want to be poisoned."

"I haven't done anything to it! I haven't touched it!"

"Fine," said Snape, and he took the bar. Sirius and James shot each other triumphant looks.

Snape spent most of the rest of the lesson eating the bar. James thought Sirius would have an aneurysm waiting for something to happen. Towards the end of the lesson, their patience was rewarded. Snape began to squirm in his seat, grimacing.

"are you alright, Severus?" asked Lily, in mock concern.

"Fine," Snape grimaced.

He continued to squirm uncomfortably in his seat, pursing his lips and grimacing. Finally, he could take no more. He shot out of his seat, earning himself some surprised looks from the rest of the class.

"Sir," he asked, hurriedly. "May I be excused?"

"Certainly not!" cried Binns. "Why, the class will end any minute!"

"Please sir, I have to go!"

"Ten points from Slytherin for your rudeness Mr. Sponge, now sit back in your seat!"

"But sir...!" cried Snape, then stopped. A horrible smell had filled the room. Everyone put their hands to their noses.

"Sir," said Snape, blushing furiously. "I have to go!"

"And I said..." but Snape did not wait for him to finish, he ran out of the classroom as fast as he could. Sirius ducked under his desk to hide his laughter. Peter was giggling openly. Remus shook with silent laughter, while James thought the pain of not being able to laugh would kill him.

"Another ten points from Slytherin!" cried Binns, looking enraged. "And a detention for Mr. Sponge! I trust someone will inform him!"

CHAPTER TWO

"Oh my god!" gasped Sirius, stopping for breath between laughter as they sat down at the Gryffindor table for lunch later. "I'm going to cherish that memory forever! Slimy Smelly Snape!" he roared with laughter.

"Think he'll guess what we did?" asked Peter nervously.

"I don't think so," replied Remus. "I mean, even wizards get occasional diarrhea, so he won't know it was the chocolate."

"It was good of Lily to help us," James observed.

Sirius snorted. "We still could have come up with something better."

"Oh shut up, Sirius. Lily's alright."

Sirius turned to face his friend. "You fancy her." It was a statement, not a question.

"No, I don't!" cried James hotly, but he couldn't help blushing.

"You know, I think you do," Remus joined in.

"I do not!" snapped James. "Shut up, will you?" he hissed as Lily sat down for lunch near them. James gave her a 'thank you' nod, which she acknowledged with a shy smile. Sirius and Remus exchanged knowing looks.

"So James," asked Remus in a whisper. "Does this mean you'll ask Lily to the Yule ball next fortnight? We still need partners you know."

"You've got to be kidding me! You go with Lily Evans?" cried Sirius.

"Sshhhh!" James hissed. "I told you, Lily's alright."

"That's a 'yes'. You are going to ask her."

"There's a lot of girls I could ask"

"True, including Lily Evans."

"Who are you going to ask?" James said, trying desperately to change the subject.

"Dana Nixon." Said Sirius promptly.

Remus accidentally spat his pumpkin juice all over Sirius. "Dana Nixon?"

"Yup."

Remus laughed. "She's three years older than you, Sirius. And she's dating Curtis. He'd kill you if you hit on his girlfriend."

"It's just a rumour that he's dating her. And I'm better looking."

"You wish. Well, if you want to get your head kicked in, go ahead. It will give us something to laugh at."

"Oh thank you!" snapped Sirius sarcastically. "I'm so lucky to have you as a friend. But she'll say 'yes'. I know she will." He finished, confidently.

When Professor McGonagall, their head of house had announced there would be a Yule Ball this year, James had thought it would be easy to ask a girl to be his partner. After all, he was somewhat popular, and girls were always asking him, Sirius and Remus (but not poor Peter), to Hogsmeade with them. James had gone, but he had never really been attracted to any of the girls. Sirius however, was attracted to almost anything female. Now, however, the thought of asking Lily Evans to the ball with him made him think that losing the seeker position wasn't that bad.

James and Sirius were the only ones who had still to find partners. Remus had to go home for Christmas as 'his mother was unwell again.' The other Gryffindor boys knew this wasn't true, Remus was a werewolf and there would be a full moon on Christmas day. James felt extremely sorry for Remus for missing Christmas. Peter was going to the ball with his younger cousin, "because no one else will go with me," he said glumly.

"Have you asked her yet?" Sirius asked James later that evening, when both of them were around the fire. Remus had already left to go home for the holidays and peter had been given detention by professor Rookwood for getting his work wrong, again.

Realising he could not lie to his best friend about whether or not he was going to ask Lily, James said "not yet."

"I won't pretend I think you're nuts for asking that know-all, but it's up to you. You need to ask her before someone else does."

"I will ask her."

"When? Next century?"

"No! I'll ask her when...when I'm ready."

"How about now?" said Sirius, nodding to where Lily sat with the other Gryffindor fourth year girls.

"No! Later!" but Sirius was ignoring him. Striding over to where Lily was sitting, he said: "lily, James wants to ask you something."

Lily glanced over to where James was sitting. James walked over as Sirius walked back, and gave his friend a really dirty look. Sirius just winked.

"Uh...Lily..." James stammered, sincerely wishing there was no one else sitting near them. What if she says no? With all these people watching?

"What?" asked Lily, frowning at him. The other girls looked at him curiously. He could feel his face going bright red.

"Would you...if you want...would you...go with...go to the ball with me?"

He went even redder as the other girls began to giggle loudly. Some of the boys began to guffaw. Lily went red too, which made her look strange when contrasted with her red hair.

"Uh...um...yeah, okay." She stammered back. James gave her a shy smile and she smiled back. Then he headed back to his seat next to Sirius, relief flooding over him.

"See?" said Sirius, giving James a playful punch. "Piece of cake."

"Your turn," said James, wanting to get revenge on Sirius for embarrassing him. Dana Nixon had just entered through the portrait hole. She was tall, long-legged and blond. James could see why Sirius liked her; almost every guy in the common room stopped talking as she walked in.

"James! No! Don't you dare!" cried Sirius.

"It's a piece of cake, Sirius." James strode up to Dana, ignoring Sirius's protests from behind him. "Dana?"

"What?" she snapped at him, rudely, tossing her longhair back.

"Sirius wants to know if you'd go to the ball with him."

The whole common room went quiet as Dana looked at Sirius, sitting with his hands covering his face, his neck and ears bright red.

"Him? As if!" she laughed shrilly. "I asked Curtis and he said 'yes'."

"that's a shame." Said James. Dana missed the sarcasm, and strode off. James headed back to where Sirius was sitting. Sirius looked up at him, looking furious.

"thanks, Potter." He marched off to his dormitory, leaving James feeling like crap.

James shook Sirius awake the next morning after a restless sleep. He didn't want to remain enemies with the boy who was supposed to be his best friend.

"Get off me," Sirius said roughly, pushing James away.

"Sirius, you're being stupid."

"Oh really?" Sirius said, his eyes flashing. He turned to face James properly. "Don't you know how humiliated I was last night? Didn't you hear what she said? "As if?" it's alright for you! You've got a date. I've got the whole bloody school laughing at me! And it's all your fault!" he poked James hard in the chest.

"My fault, is it?" snapped James, pushing Sirius' finger away. "You're the one who streaked across the Quidditch pitch and you're always talking about how girls are falling at your feet, how their clamouring to go out with you, but when it comes to it, you can't ask them out! You leave it to me to do your dirty work! At least I had the courage to ask Lily!"

"I would have asked her, in private! I didn't ask you to ask her!"

"And I didn't ask you to ask Lily. You're being childish, Sirius and I don't have time for this." James got up and walked out of the dormitory.

James barely spoke to Sirius for the next week until the night of the Yule Ball. He came out of the shower, freshly washed and shaved to find Sirius sitting dully on his bed.

"Aren't you getting ready?" he asked.

"I'm not going," Sirius snapped.

"Why not?" asked James, in surprise.

"Because I'll be laughed at, that's why!"

"You've never bothered about that before."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "That's because people were laughing at my jokes, not at my expense!"

James walked over and dragged his friend roughly off the bed. "You're going."

"Stop it! Leave me alone! I told you, I'm not going!"

"Fine! Don't go! Sit here and have fun!"

James got changed into his blue robes quickly and left Sirius in the dormitory. He went downstairs into the common room where it had been agreed he would meet Lily. He barely recognised Lily when he saw her. Her hair was no longer long and sleek but it had been cut to shoulder length and curled so that her hair fell in waves. Her robes were emerald green to match her eyes and her eyes certainly stood out more. James couldn't understand how he had never noticed Lily before. She smiled nervously as he approached.

"You look...really...nice," was the best James could say.

Lily blushed. "You look nice too. Shall we go, then?"

"Yeah."

"Where's Sirius?" lily asked, as they followed other students down to the great hall.

"He doesn't feel like coming."

Lily shook her head. "That's stupid. That Dana Nixon is so full of herself. A right snob. It's a good thing he isn't going with her, he's too good for her."

"You think so?" asked James, surprised.

"Yeah. I know Sirius doesn't like me much, but he's a nice guy. He makes me laugh and he's smart. I saw his face when she spoke to him like that. It was really horrible. I felt sorry for him."

"I shouldn't have asked her for him." James mumbled.

"She shouldn't have spoken to him like that. In front of everyone too! It's her fault, not yours. Is Sirius still not speaking to you?"

"No."

Lily gave James' arm an affectionate squeeze. "He'll come round."

They had reached the Great H all. They both entered and sat down at a table next to Peter and his cousin. The hall looked spectacular. Tall Christmas trees surrounded them with never-bursting bubbles floating amongst their branches and real, live fairies. Icicles hung from the bewitched ceiling and candles hung from the air. The golden plates in front of them did not contain any food, but then the headmaster, Dumbledore, stood up and clapped his hands, and food appeared on their plates. Once all the food had been consumed, music began to play and the students made their way onto the dance floor. James put his hands around Lily's waist and she put hers around his neck. They swayed slowly to the music.

"I don't really know these songs," said Lily.

"That's okay, this isn't a good song anyway. Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah, are you?"

"Yeah, I have you as a partner," realising what he had said, James blushed furiously. Lily blushed also.

"Hey, there's Sirius!" she cried suddenly, pointing behind James. James turned around. Sure enough, Sirius had entered the Great Hall, wearing wine-coloured robes. Spotting Lily and James, he headed over to them.

"So you changed your mind," James said by way of greeting.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry James."

"That's alright," James grinned at him and gave him a playful punch. Laughter caught his attention, and he saw some Gryffindor students pointing at Sirius and laughing.

"Let them laugh," sighed Sirius.

"No!" cried Lily. "You're supposed to be enjoying yourself, not getting ridiculed!"

But just then, Dana Nixon walked past arm in arm with Curtis Lightowler. She shot Sirius a disgusted look as she passed.

"Right that's it!" cried Lily, looking enraged. "She has NO right to treat you like that. I'm going to make her talk to you tonight."

"wha...wait, Lily...what are you talking about?"

"I'm going to make Curtis ignore Dana, and you can butt in."

"Butt in, yeah right!" snorted Sirius in disbelief. "And have her insult me again? No way!"

"We'll have to find a way to make her notice you," Lily frowned, obviously thinking. James and Sirius looked at each other confused.

"I'll have to make a confession," Lily said finally.

"What's that?" asked Sirius.

"Well, you guys are not the only pranksters in this school."

"We figured that out," said James impatiently.

"Well..." Lily shifted uncomfortably. "A couple of months ago...um..." she shifted uncomfortably again.

"I'll have died of old age before you tell us!" snapped Sirius.

"Okay, fine. A few months ago, I overheard you guys having a stupid debate over who was better endowed."

James spat out some of the pumpkin juice he was drinking. "What about that? You always seem to be eavesdropping!"

"You always seem to be talking loudly! Let me finish would you?" Lily sighed. "This was before your streaking incident. Basically, I performed a charm on your dormitory door to see inside but you couldn't see out, and...well, I was quite impressed. I dare say Dana would be too."

"I am not getting my thing out for Dana Nixon," snapped Sirius, "I'm not that desperate."

"You did it at the Quidditch try-outs didn't you? If you want to be laughed at for the rest of the year, that's fine with me. Or you could be Mr. Popular," Lily shrugged.

"I'd like to be Mr. Popular...by another means."

Lily ignored him and marched over to where Curtis and Dana were talking. Sirius and James gave each other panicked looks and edged closer, to hear what Lily might be saying.

"Hey, Curtis," Lily said when she reached him. "That was really great flying on Saturday. You made some really good saves."

"Thanks," Curtis muttered. Dana was giving Lily several dark looks.

"Are you having fun? It's a good ball, isn't it?"

Now Dana butted into the conversation. "Excuse me, but Curtis is my date. I believe you're with those little boys over there?" she pointed in Sirius' direction. He ducked behind James, unsuccessfully, as he was several inches taller.

"Oh, I wouldn't call them 'little' boys," Lily whispered confidentially to Dana.

"What are you talking about?"

"That Sirius Black in particular, he's quite well-endowed for his age."

Dana raised her eyebrows. "Is that so?"

"Didn't you see him at the Quidditch try-outs?" Dana shook her head and laughed.

"What an immature thing to do."

"You'd have been impressed, but I already knew. You see, I'm pretty good at charms. I did a visibility charm on their dormitory door, on several boys' dormitory doors actually. That's how I know. And if you ask me," she leaned a little closer to Dana, who leaned forward, looking very interested. "You're here with the wrong guy."

Dana's eyes widened and she glanced over to Sirius and James. "Kill me now," Sirius muttered, bright red. James however, was grinning,

"I didn't think you'd object to this Sirius."

"The most gorgeous girl in the school is commenting on my manhood, James!" cried Sirius. James just laughed.

"Hey, she's coming over!" he nodded. Sirius went from red to white.

"Hey, Sirius," said Dana, when she reached him. She tossed her long blond hair over her shoulder. "Would you like to dance?"

"Uh, yeah...okay," Sirius mumbled. Dana led him away to the dance floor. Lily came back to James.

"That was cruel, Lily."

"It got Dana to notice him didn't it?" Lily grinned. "Come on, let's sit down, I need a drink."

They walked to a nearby table, Lily in front, but before she could reach the table, she tripped over someone's foot. She went flying into several plates of cake, food, and goblets of pumpkin juice. She could hear several people laughing at her.

"Oops," came Severus Snape's sneering voice.

James snapped, before Snape knew what was happening, James had thrown himself at him, knocking him to the ground. Fists went flying through the air.

"POTTER! SNAPE!" came Professor McGonagall's voice as she struggled through the crowd that had gathered to reach them. Lily stood up, covered in food, her robes ruined.

"James," she tried to pull him off Snape. "James, come on, I want to go, come on."

James stood up, he had a cut lip and Snape had a black eye. Professor McGonagall had reached them.

"In my office tomorrow morning! Nine o'clock sharp! Detention for both of you!"

"Come on, James," Lily cried. She grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the Great Hall where they began to walk up the marble staircases towards their dormitory. James glanced at Lily when they reached the portrait hole. Tears were streaming silently down her face. Once in the common room, she ran up to her dormitory, without saying goodnight to James. He hesitated before following her upstairs. He knocked on her dormitory door. Lily was sitting sobbing on her bed, her robes off, with just her underwear on.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" cried James, blushing. He backed towards the door.

"No, don't go," said Lily, looking up. She looked so sad and miserable that James could not help crossing the room and sitting down next to her, taking her in his arms and stroking her hair.

"I'm such an idiot," Lily sobbed.

"You're not an idiot Lily," said James soothingly.

"My robes are ruined!" Lily sobbed.

"It doesn't matter, you looked beautiful tonight," said James, genuinely.

"Really?" Lily's tear-stained face looked up at him.

"Yes, really," James nodded. "Look, I'd better go."

"No! Stay here, my roommates are home for Christmas. I want someone to talk to," pleaded Lily.

"Well, okay then," both Lily and James lay back on her bed. Lily snuggled into the pit of James arm and he stroked her hair.

"You're not a bad guy, James." Lily murmured sleepily.

"You're not bad either," James whispered. He watched Lily as she fell asleep, feeling certain he would never see anyone so beautiful as her. He lay watching her, long after she finally did fall asleep. He could feel himself falling asleep also when the dormitory door creaked open and Sirius poked his head around.

"I was looking for you, what are you doing in here?"

"Lily wanted company," James explained.

"Sure, she did," Sirius smirked.

"She was upset,"

"Uh-huh, right."

"Where were you anyway?" James quickly changed the subject.

"With Dana, we went to the shrieking shack."

"Why?" James asked, confused.

"She...uh...wanted to see if Lily was telling the truth." Sirius blushed.

"And was she?"

"Dana seemed to think so," in the darkness, James could tell Sirius was smirking.

"You're disgusting. Don't tell me anymore."

"I'm disgusting?" Sirius laughed. "I'll leave you two alone, shall I?" with that, he closed the door and went into the boys dormitory next door, whistling happily.