Doesn't Ring a Bell

It was 6 am on Christmas morning at Hogwarts and everyone was still asleep. Everyone, that is, but Sirius Black, who was hiding behind his bed and slowly levitating a bucket of ice cold water above the bed of his best friend, James Potter. A slightly evil grin crept onto his face as he took away the charm, causing the water AND the bucket (an old fashioned, metal one) to fall on James. James sat bolt upright, sputtering and looking around for the culprit. Sirius tried as hard as he could to keep silent but he just couldn't help but let out a whoop of triumph.

"Sirius Orion Black!" James shouted as he jumped out of bed and chased Sirius around the room, running into Remus Lupin's bed and waking him up quite rudely. James finally caught Sirius, who was in a fit of laughter and too weak to get up. The final Marauder, Peter Pettigrew, woke up to the sound of James attempting to choke Sirius with a scarf. After the novelty of seeing Sirius turning a brilliant shade of purple wore off, Remus split them up using a nearby fire poker.

Sirius froze where he was; he was deathly afraid of fire pokers. James, not thinking it would be fair to keep choking him in this petrified state, released the scarf. Sirius stood up, rubbing his neck, and scowled at James, who just scowled right back.

"If you hadn't tipped water on me then that would never have happened!" he told Sirius, who pouted.

"I was just trying to wake you up so we could see Evans' face when she sees the Christmas gift we left for her!" James forgot about being mad at Sirius and both of their faces cracked into identical evil grins.

"Well she won't see it yet; it's six in the bloody morning!" Remus pointed out, ever the voice of reason. Peter was looking between the other three Marauders with a puzzled look on his face (nothing new about that).

"What gift?" He obviously hadn't been let in on the prank.

"Just wait and see..." said Sirius mysteriously...

* * * * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A scream broke the silence of the castle, making a few birds take flight from the trees outside. The person doing the screaming was Lily Evans, who had just opened the Marauders' 'gift', a charm which turned her hair almost the same shade of purple as Sirius's face had been earlier that morning, and made her teeth grow into great yellow fangs. The best part was the fact that the charm wouldn't wear off until 6 o' clock that evening, and any attempt to remove it would only make it worse. The Marauders fell about themselves laughing, falling out from behind the chair they were hiding behind.

"You..." Lily stormed up to James, who looked ashamed (and a little confused, as the prank was Sirius's idea). "I HATE YOU, JAMES POTTER!" she yelled, and James was surprised to see that she was crying.

"Evans, wait!" He tried to apologize but she had already run up to the girls' dormitory. He attempted to run after her, unaware that the staircase would turn into a giant slide if a boy approached. He looked up at Remus and Sirius from his newly assumed spot on the floor with a bewildered look on his face. "You didn't tell me it would do that," he accused.

"You didn't ask, mate," said Sirius with a huge grin plastered on his - as the girls would have said, 'gorgeous' - face.

"Nor would we have had time, you ran off so fast," said Remus, who was also quite good looking, although he often looked tired.

"Forget it..." he muttered, getting to his feet. "Evans!" he called up the staircase. One of the other girls came down a few seconds later.

"She says sod off!" she spat, glaring at James, before walking straight out of the common room, slamming the portrait behind her (which earned a fair amount of protest from the Fat Lady).

"She can't stay up there forever," James mumbled to himself, "she has to eat doesn't she?" It wasn't really a question. Sirius looked on in disbelief.

"Prongs, what do you care if Evans is upset?"

"One would think... that James here fancies Evans," stated Remus in an amused sort of way.

"Fancies!? What are you talking about Moony?" James was drawn away from his spot at the bottom of the girls' staircase to ask this question in bemusement.

"Prongs, fancying somebody is when you want to snog them senseless, shag them silly and any other romantic junk that girls love," said Sirius knowledgably.

"Don't be silly. Fancying someone isn't just snogging and shagging. It's when you want to be with that person, just to see them smile if something amuses them, to hear them laugh, to hold them if they're sad," declared Remus (who was always sentimental). James looked disgusted.

"But I don't want to do any of those things with Evans."

"Suit yourself," said Sirius, "but Evans is quite good looking, and she's stacked."

"Sirius!" protested Remus. Lily was his friend after all.

"I say it with great respect to Evans!" added Sirius hastily. "And her chest," he added under his breath so that only James could hear him. This threw James into a coughing fit that made Peter ask him if he was alright, and tell him that if he was sick maybe he should go see Madam Pomfrey.

* * * * *

After reassuring Peter that James was not dying, the Marauders set about opening their own gifts.

Sirius got a huge box of Honeydukes chocolate from Peter, Remus and James, who hadn't been able to think of anything else to get him, and a safety pin from his mother, enclosed within a note.

Maybe you can use this to stab that half blooded, part human werewolf friend of yours multiple times, and then use it on yourself.

"Well that is just lovely," drawled James sarcastically, having read the note over Sirius's shoulder.

"Well, we all know what a bitch my mother is. What did you get?" Sirius asked James. James showed him - he had received a book titled Quidditch Through the Ages from Sirius, a box of chocolate frogs from Remus, and a hand knitted Gryffindor scarf from Peter. The whole house was currently wearing Peter's scarves, he loved knitting but they were all he could make, not that anyone was complaining... it was winter after all.

The day went on, as days tend to do, and the Marauders soon got bored and decided to play the age old traditional game of truth or dare.

"Prongs, truth or dare?" Sirius went first.

"Truth," replied James, knowing all too well what kind of dare that Sirius would dream up. (He still vividly remembered the 'pink frilly knickers incident', but that's another tale).

"How do you really feel about Evans?"

James thought about his answer

"Truthfully? I really don't know."

"Aww, you're no fun," said Sirius, pouting.

"Well then Sirius, truth or dare?" James was going to have his revenge for the 'pink frilly knickers incident'.

"Dare."

"I dare you to find a charm to make someone's clothes invisible, and use it on..."