The Diary

Chapter Two - The Absence

September 1st

Dear Diary,

Another year at Hogwarts has begun. Classes look to be quite interesting. I do hope that they will be as good as last year's. My summer was dismal; Petunia was absolutely dreadful. Well, she was dreadful on the few occasions she did speak to me. Otherwise she just glared at me, muttering things like "freak" and "unnatural" when she thought I couldn't hear her. Mum and Dad were great, but they spent a lot of time at work, leaving me alone with Petunia. Emily let me come over a number of times, thankfully. Her family is absolutely wonderful.

The opening feast was delicious, and it was great to see everyone again. It's much better than being at home.

Until later,

Lily

James scanned through the next few entries. Evans seemed to be writing every few days, but all the entries appeared to be horribly boring. Didn't she write anything interesting in her diary? He thought back to the first week of September. He and the other Marauders had transfigured her hair so that is became a violent shade of blue, but there appeared to be no mention of it in Evans' diary. That was odd. Flipping through the diary, there was not a word about the Marauders or any of their pranks. Considering how upset Evans became at the very notion of rule breaking, James thought it was quite unusual that she didn't write about them. If he was going to go through with this prank, he needed some material from Evans.

In fact, James was somewhat hurt. All that effort they went through, and Evans didn't even think it worthy of recording? Well, that just wouldn't do, would it? Perhaps she just hadn't been provoked far enough...

Sirius was busy flirting with some girls in the common room when he spotted James bounding down the steps. He excused himself from the girls, who moaned and asked him not to leave. They let him go after he promised to return later.

Remus raised an eyebrow as James sat down next to him. "I thought you were going to bed?"

"Couldn't sleep, knowing there were people out there that were not being doused with water at this very instant." James grinned. "I got to thinking-"

"That can't be good for your health, James," interrupted Sirius. James laughed, signalling to Remus and Peter that all was forgiven.

"I'll try to be more careful, mum. But seriously, I think there has been a definite lull in our shenanigans lately. We need to do something big, lest people fall into a false sense of security."

"Can't have that, can we now?" mused Remus as he continued to write.

"Certainly not!" agreed Sirius. "I assume you have an idea?"

"Why, of course! You don't expect me to be unprepared, do you? And I know just who the target should be, too." Remus put down his quill and they all leaned in to hear James' plan.

0 0 0

Lily Evans rushed down the corridor toward the Great Hall for lunch. She still had to finish her Transfiguration essay for the next day and pick up a book from the library. She would have finished it the night before, but had been helping her best friend Emily Wood finish a Potions essay and had lost track of time. Unfortunately for Lily, she was so preoccupied at the moment that she didn't take note of the fact that she was alone in a corridor that should have been bustling with students.

Accordingly, she was quite unprepared when she was hit by a spell from seemingly nowhere right before she reached the Hall doors. Before Lily knew what was happening, she had been pushed through the doors and into the Hall. It was right in the middle of the lunch hour, so it was packed with students. Everyone began to point and whisper at Lily, but she didn't know why. She saw her friend Emily jump up and run over from the Gryffindor table.

"Why is everyone staring?" she whispered to Emily.

"Because you're practically flashing the entire school!"

"What?!' Lily looked down to find that her shirt had indeed gone missing. "OH!" She quickly closed her robe around her chest as her cheeks changed colour to match her hair. Emily led her out of the Great Hall, only to find the four Marauders standing on the other side of the door, howling with laughter.

"Nice bra, Evans!" shouted James.

"POTTER!" Lily roared. "I should have known you were behind this! Why when I get my hands on you-" She almost pulled her hands away to reach her wand, only to realize that that would leave her robe hanging open.

"Nice planning there, James," Sirius pointed out. "And Lily, I don't suppose you'd mind if I took a picture, would you?" He whipped out a camera and a flash went off. This, of course, didn't make Lily feel any better.

"I hate you, James Potter, and I will NEVER forgive you for this, you arrogant bastard!" Lily stormed away up to the tower with Emily by her side.

"I get the feeling she wasn't too pleased about that, eh Remus?" Sirius was laughing so hard that he had to hang onto Remus for support.

Remus was smiling and suppressing a laugh. It hadn't been kind, but he had never been able to stop them before. And it was a little bit funny.

Peter was laughing so hard it seemed a little put-on. The sight of him rolling on the ground only made the other three laugh even harder.

That ought to get a response, thought James.