A Woman's Wrath

***

In the Girl's Dormitory, Lily and Celeste were howling with laughter.

"Did you see his face?" Celeste nodded, tears of mirth streaming down her face.

"The Starflowers, that's a good name. We should keep it. Make our whole purpose of existence to get the marauders." Lily thought about that and smiled.

"They already know it's us though. Not a whole lot of point. They'll get their revenge on us, somehow. And I bet it won't be pretty."The thought of the marauders getting revenge on the two girls sobered Lily right up.She reached under her bed, and pulled the two invisibility cloaks out.

"I can't believe they fell for that though. Did they really think we'd risk getting caught up there for a stupid trick?"

"Apparently. I just hope they don't get into too much trouble when they get caught." There was a bit of a silence as Lily wrestled with her conscience.

"Do you feel guilty?" she asked, knowing what Celeste would say.

"Not at all." Lily collapsed into laughter again, the fourth year dormitory ringing with sound.

"Damnit, where is the thing?" said Sirius, his voice boiling with irritation. James sighed, shrugging.

"I don't know."

"I've been around this bloody room about twenty times now, there's nothing here! When I get my hands on those girls..." Sirius cut off suddenly, and James heard a rather large gulp. He turned around.

"What is it, Sirius...oh. Good morning Professor Zabini." James finished lamely. He had turned around to some face to face with the Charms teacher, and the Slytherin head of house. He gulped, and braced himself for the punishment she was surely about to throw at him.

"My office, Potter, Black. Now. You'll be pleased to see Lupin and Pettigrew there as well, apparently they decided to come up and help you find your invisibility cloak." Her tone was quiet and dangerous. James groaned inwardly. Why did they say what James was looking for? He technically wasn't allowed to have an invisibility cloak on Hogwarts grounds.Having no other choice, James and Sirius followed after Professor Zabini as her heels clicked on the stone floor.

"I would have though even you two would have had more sense than that. You know my office is right under that room." Professor Zabini glared daggers at the four marauders, as James hit himself on the head inwardly. Of course he knew where Zabini's office was, he'd been in there may times before. "However, the point is you were caught. And thanks to your friend Mr. Pettigrew here, I know what you were looking for. An invisibility cloak. You are aware, no doubt, aware that they are not allowed at Hogwarts?"She glared at James, who said nothing. He was trying to keep from lashing out irrationally at the teacher.

"So, what to do." She smiled maliciously, a cold smile that didn't reach her steely blue eyes.

"Out of bed, searching for an object you aren't even supposed to have. First of all, I'll take the cloak." She stretched out her hand expectantly, and James spoke.

"We don't have it. It wasn't up there."

"Give me the cloak, Potter."

"I don't have it!" James struggled to keep from shouting and getting Zabini even more angry than she already was.

"Black, the cloak"

"I DON'T HAVE IT EITHER!" Sirius crossed the line, and bellowed. Zabini's eyes narrowed to cold blue slits, and the glared from one marauder to another.

"So why were you up there, looking for it!" Zabini's nostrils flared as she screeched her accusation. James shot a warning look at Peter, who has been about to speak.

"We were looking for it, but we didn't find it." Zabini frowned.

"Even so, you have admitted to owning one. Andyou were caught in the South tower." She smiled wickedly again, and the marauders remained silent.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor. And a detention, to be served tomorrow night. I will tell you tomorrow what you are doing. And Potter, you can bet your wand that I'll be getting that cloak from you, someday." She pointed to the door, and the marauders filed out.

"We got caught." Sirius was in shock. The marauders almost never were caught pulling off a prank.

"And you two!" Sirius rounded on Remus and Peter, who looked guilty.

"Why'd you come after us?" Remus frowned at Sirius' anger, and answered.

"Well, we weren't about to let you two get caught alone! Unfortunately, Pete here has somewhat of a big mouth." Remus glared at Peter, who sighed apologetically.

"Sorry guys, I just wasn't thinking."

"Forget it, it doesn't matter now." Snapped Sirius.

"James, why didn't you tell them about Lily and Celeste?" Sirius shouted at his friend, and James smiled easily.

"Well, I just though fifty points off Gryffindor was enough. And don't worry Sirius, " He added, an evil though crossing his mind. "Tomorrow, after the girls wake up, you sneak into their dorm and find the cloak. They must have kept it with them. Then, wear it to breakfast. I'll say you haven't come down yet. Scare Lily and Celeste a bit, and we'll work on the real revenge later. We'll make their punishment worse than anything a teacher could do to them."

When Lily woke up, it was almost time for breakfast.

"Celeste, wake up!" She shook her friend awake.

"Huh? What time is it? Go back to sleep!" Lily rolled her eyes and tried again, as Celeste rolled over and pulled the blanket back over her head.

"It's time for breakfast! Don't you want to see how the marauders are doing?" At the thought of the disgraced pranksters, Celeste bounded right up, and made a run for the shower.

"Oh no you don't!" Lily ran and grabbed the door first, sticking her tongue out at Celeste. "The early bird gets the worm!"

Ten minutes later, The Starflowers were downstairs, hair dried magically, and looking as good as the usually did. Nonchalantly, Lily sat down next to James.

"Sleep well?" To her amazement, James smiled and replied courteously.

"Yes I did. And yourself?" Careful not to let her guard down, she smiled and replied yes. Looking around, all the other marauders looked perfectly rested and in good moods. Lily snuck a confused glance at Celeste, who shrugged in reply.

"Where's Sirius?" Sure enough, the black-haired menace was nowhere to be seen. James smiled, with what looked to Lily like a mischievous glint in his bright blue eyes.

"Oh, he's upstairs." He wouldn't say anymore, but something about the tone of voice James used made Lily uneasy. The marauders were up to something again.

"Ouch!" Celeste glared at Peter, who was on her left.

"What did you do that for?"

"Do what?" Peter looked very confused.

"You pulled my hair!"

"I did not!"

"ARRG!" Lily screamed as her head was suddenly pushed down into her breakfast plate,by a hand that came seemingly out of nowhere.At the same time, a cup of orange juice splashed into Celeste's face.

"What the...?" Lily stood up, looking for the culprit. She saw no one, but at the same time, she felt a load of Hogwarts porridge being dumped on her head. Only vaguely aware of the whole common room watching her and laughing, she turned to the marauders. Trying to stay calm and cool, she smiled

sadistically and said, "James Potter, don't expect the Starflowers to stand for this. You will pay." She smiled sweetly and stood up, grabbing Celeste. The girls walked back to the common room, followed by a roar of laughter.

"Serves them right!" James said, laughing after the girl's retreating backs.

"Yep. Marauders- One, Starflowers, erm, two. But that aside..." Sirius had sat down and discreetly pulled the invisibility cloak off.

"Under Lily's bed." Said Sirius, indicating the cloak under the table.

"And, they have one of their own." James felt his mouth drop.

"What? How could they?"

"I don't know, but there were two invisibility cloaks under there. I have ours, Lily must have one."

"That explains a lot!" James frowned, thinking about what the girls were probably doing to his dorm room at the moment.

"When's that potion going to work?"James though about this, and turned to Peter, not knowing the answer.

"Wormtail?"

" It's rather slow, but by Charms tomorrow, the Slytherins will no longer be themselves.""Ah, well later is better than never. Thank-you, Gryffindor potion master." Peter smiled and bowed indulgently at James' teasing.

"Now all we have to do is sit back, and wait." Taking his own advice, James leaned back and rested, taking in a deep breath of air.

"Now what?" Lily stood back and admired her handiwork. She looked around the Gryffindorboy's dormitory; it appeared perfectly innocent.

"Can you see anything?" Celeste shook her head, and Lily smiled.

"Perfect. I supposethat should keep them quiet for a while. We are a force to be reckoned with. As if Sirius Black wearing an invisibility cloak was going to fool me at all. Carefully now.." She backed out of the room, dodging several invisible curses.

"What was that one?" Celeste was pointing at atrunk on the floor next to James' bed.

" Muting Hex. He won't be talking after he touches that." Lily grinned.

"Nice one, no?" Celeste nodded her agreement.

"Let's get out of here, before someone walks in." The girls left, silently snickering, imagining the effects of the curses on the marauders.

Breakfast ended, and James slowly made his way up to the dorm room he shared with Peter, Remus, and Sirius. Having not seen any sign of Celeste and Lily since the girls had been tormented at breakfast, James was sure that they had done something nasty to his bedroom. Filled with dread, he opened the door. Inside, it seemed innocent. The thick red curtains on the mahogany four-poster beds swayed lightly in the spring breeze from the open window.

He looked around. Cautiously, he walked into the room, eyes flitting around for signs of curses. He dodged a clump of air that he noticed was shimmering eerily, and sat down on his bed. He waited, and nothing happened. Satisfied that he was safe from the wrath of Lily Evans, he jumped off the bed and opened his trunk to get his potions textbook for his next class.

Almost too quickly for him to notice, a shaft of purple light hit James solidly in the throat. He gasped for air, grabbing his throat. After a moment of silent panic, James realized that he was fine, and he grabbed the book. Standing up, he felt an invisible curse slam into his legs with full power. The limbs crumpled underneath his weight, and he fell to the floor, a victim of the jelly-legs curse. At that moment, Sirius walked into the room.

"What are you doing on the floor?" James tried to speak, but finding he couldn't, he settled for pointing at his legs. Sirius shot him a strange look and walked into the room. Jamescringed as he saw another one of the Starflower's booby traps explode, as Sirius doubled up, coughing violently.

Peter Pettigrew was the next to walk in, handing Sirius a tissue with a very confused look on his pudgy face. James tried to stand up, succeeding partially. He was no able to walk around, though his legs quivered as though they were made of gelatin. Peter too, found a curse.

"What the hell happened in here?" Sang Peter in a shrill opera voice. James groaned silently, feeling great amounts of pity for Peter, the unfortunate victim of the Singing Hex. Remus stood at the door, a look of great confusion and a bit of fear on his face. He scanned the room, seeing Sirius hacking up his lungs as though affected by tuberculosis, Peter incessantly humming, and James mutely staggering around the room on jelly-legs. Remus opened his mouth, and shut it a few times, finally shaking his head and grabbing his book bag from his bed; a deadly mistake. Instantly,Remus tripped over James' wobbling legs. Standing back up, he fell again, tripping on the rug.

James frantically reached for his wand, struggling to keep his balance on his shaky legs. He knew the counter curse for jelly legs. He pointed his wand at his knees, and mouthed the words.Nothing happened. James threw his wand down violently. He couldn't take the curse off without his voice.

Having no other choice, he grabbed his bag and wobbled to the door of his dorm, followed by the others. It would be a very long day.

***

Lily waited in the potions dungeon, anxiously anticipating the arrival of the marauders. She couldn't wait to see the effects of her curses on them.

Sure enough, she saw James wobble in on very unsure legs, followed by Peter, who, she was pleased to note, was humming loudly. Remus who was tripping every three or four seconds, and Sirius was apparently hacking his lungs up.

She stifled a grin, turning back to face the front of the classroom. At the podium in front of her, Professor Veneno was looking at the four boys curiously. He turned towards Lily and Celeste with aquestioning glance, to which Lily responded by shrugging and looking as innocent as she could physically make herself. Professor Veneno turned towards the boys as spoke.

"What happened to you four?" It was Peter who answered, clearly having forgotten his unfortunate affliction. He sang quite a stunning melody, complete with Baroque runs and ornamentation, causing Professor Veneno to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

"Well Sir, we were in our dorm room, and all these hexes seemed to come from nowhere, and this is what happened!" Having finished singing his explanation, Peter clapped a hand over his mouth, instantly regretting his musical response. The classroom burst out into great tides of laughter at the operatic performance, and Professor Veneno had to shoot sparks into the air to create order.

"Finite Incantatem!" He bellowed, pointing his wand at Peter, who gasped in relief.

"Thank you, professor!" He said, once again speaking in his normal voice.

Lily stole a glance at Celeste, who was turning purple from laughing so hard. She gave in to temptation, and laughed as well, as one by one the Marauders had their curses removed. Finally, Professor Veneno dismissed the marauders to go sit back down, still amid gales of laughter from the class.

Sirius shot a look of pure venom at Celeste, who in turn, laughed even more violently.

Given his voice and his legs back, James sat down next to Lily, and gave her the oppressed and irritated look that comes with being a teenager. Turning to look straight ahead atthe professor, who had begun his lecture on wit-quickening solutions, he whispered to the redhead.

"War, is it? We can play. Don't worry, girls." He grinned, and turned back to his lesson, rapidly taking notes, and well aware of the strangely pleasant tension between him and Lily.

The school day ended, after what seemed like an eternity of classes and laughter from Celeste. Silently communicating, almost in the ESP-like way they did in animagi form, the boys walked upstairs in unison. James pointed his wand around the room, breaking the few hexes and curses that remained.

"We have been humiliated." Said Sirius, strongly reminding James of a drill sergeant reprimanding his soldiers.

"Will we stand for it?" he asked.

"No!" was the universal reply. James got up and stood next to Sirius.

"I have an idea. Let's give them a taste of their own medicine." The marauders agreed, and the planning began for revenge on the Starflowers.

Lily and Celeste were discussing their success of the day.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it? I mean, we've gottenat James' supposedly precious cloak twice already!" said Lily, almost mournfully.

"Did you charm it?" said Celeste, pulling out a copy of Teen Witch Weekly and beginning to thumb absent-mindedly through the pages.

"Yes." Lily grinned wickedly. She had snuck into the boys' dorm room and placed deception charms on the cloak so that the invisibility properties of the cloak wouldn't work, though they would appear the same to the marauders.

"We're a good team, you and me." Said Celeste, pensively, putting down the magazine. Lily nodded, and the girls gave each other a high-five, collapsing back into giggles.

"You know, it's hard to be annoyed at Sirius when he's angry." Said Celeste, after a while, as though she was thinking out loud.

"To use a cliché, he's cute when he's mad." Celeste burst back out into giggles at the thought of her boyfriend. She flipped back on to her stomach, and peered through the curtains of her bed at Lily, who was lying silently on her back, thinking.

"So, when is Red going to hook up with Mr. Prongs?" she asked, teasing. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't call me Red! Nobody does, or has, since grammar school." Lily shuddered, fighting down her memories of the Muggle school she had attended before coming to Hogwarts. She was purposely avoiding Celeste's question.

"You're avoiding the question, Lily." Celeste's voice was full of playful malice, and Lily sighed. The bad part about having a best friend like Celeste was the fact that she always seemed to know exactly what Lily was thinking.

"What if I am!" she snapped at Celeste, who smiled in return.

"See? You like him!" said Celeste, drawing out the word "like" vindictively.

Lily rolled her eyes, feeling her light skin turn pink.

"Good night, Celeste." She shut the curtains dismissively, and fell back onto her bed.

"When you stop denying your love for Prongs, then talk to me!" came Celeste's voice, muffled through the curtains of Lily's canopy bed.

"Shut it, and go to sleep." Celeste laughed, and the lights in the dorm room went out. It wasn't long before Lily drifted into a long, dreamless sleep.

"They have two." Said Sirius, announcing the existence of the second Starflower invisibility cloak for all the marauders to hear. Peter's mouth dropped open in surprise, and Remus raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I told James this morning. I don't know how she did it, but Lily has an invisibility cloak. That's how she got us the other night." Remus groaned and sat down.

"But," said Sirius, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"They don't have one now." With a flourish, he pulled a silvery blue cloak out from under his arm.

"I give you the Starflower's invisibility cloak, and our revenge!"

"What...? How...?" James could find no coherent words to express his surprise at seeing Sirius with the other invisibility cloak. He noticed that Peter had a similar expression on his face.

"I transformed. I'm taking it to detention. I'm going to need a run to the kitchens afterwards, and two cloaks are better than one, right?" James nodded, seeing Sirius' unique brand of logic in a new light. In the few minutes before detention began, Sirius refused to tell anymore about his adventure into the lair of the Starflowers, except to say that the cloak had been under Lily's bed. After a few minutes of trying to squeeze more information out of Sirius, the marauders headed off to the potions room for detention. Remus and Peter nodded their approval. James grabbed the cloaks and stuffed them into their bags, heading down to the dungeons.

Unfortunately, instead of seeing Professor Veneno standing in the dungeons, the marauders met Professor Zabini, standing tall in the doorway, her hands on her hips.

"Get to work." She said coldly, and conjured up soapy buckets.

"Make it shine. No magic." She snapped, storming down the hall. James looked around the deserted potions room, and his heart sank. The first years had been using crocodile hearts, and the whole room was covered with their rubbery remains.

"This is going to take ages!" groaned Peter, as James pulled out his wand.

"Remus, you use scouring charms, we'll do the Muggle work." He said, diplomatically. Remus looked very pleased with the arrangement.

"How come he gets to use magic?" said Sirius in a very whiney voice.

"Shut it, Sirius. Just get to work." Remus spoke quickly, defending his comfortable job assignment. Grumbling, Sirius bent down and went to work.

Three hours later, the immense stone room was clean. The four marauders stood back, admiring their handiwork.

"Not bad!" said Peter, grinning at some secret idea.

"Would it be safe to throw in a subtle joke?" The rest of the marauders looked at Peter warily.

"Trust me, fellows." Taking out his wand, Peter pointed it at a wall.

"Nitidus Totalus!" shouted Peter, and James watched as the room began to shine and sparkle.

"It shines." Said Peter, wiping his hands and putting the wand away. James laughed, shaking his head.

"All right then. Now where's Zabini?"As if in answer to James' thoughts, he heard the tell tale clicking of the Charms Professors' shoes on the stone floor. She entered the room, and did, in James' opinion, one of the best double takes he had ever seen. She frowned at the sparkling room, and at the innocent expressions on the Marauders' faces, and looked at the soapy buckets.

"Ten points from Gryffindor. You weren't supposed to use magic. Out of my sight!" she spat, and the marauders walked out.

"That..." Sirius swore loudly, causing Remus to look wildly around for teachers.

"Sirius!" he hissed.

"Watch it! What if Zabini heard?" Sirius frowned as he defended himself.

"Well, she is!" Remus rolled his eyes in response.

"Cut it out, you two. Are we still headed to the kitchens?"asked James.

"Yes!" Sirius at least was enthusiastic, and so the marauders pulled out the two invisibility cloaks.

"Take Lily's'." James tossed the cloak to Sirius.

"You go with Peter. Sorry Pete, but I'd rather he didn't grab my arse again." Said James, grinning at the fury on Sirius' face and the revulsion on Peters'. Silently, James crept under his invisibility cloak, followed by

Remus.

Sirius and Peter lead the way to the kitchens, followed by Remus and James. The marauders moved swiftly through the darkened castle, making no noise as they crept towards the painting of the fruit bowl. It was past midnight; the cleaning had taken almost three hours, and James was rather tired.

Fortunately, Sirius ate his éclairs and pasties quickly, and the marauders headed off again, back to Gryffindor tower.

"James?" James heard Sirius' voice whispering from next to a vase in front of him as they made their way through the second floor corridors.

"What?" he snapped. It was late, and the tension of the prank war that was going on had set James' nerves on the edge.

"Your cloak..." Before he could finish the sentence, however, the vase Sirius had been standing next to fell to the floor with a deafening shatter.

"Oh no..." said Sirius.

"What is it?"

"Look!" An invisible hand shoved part of Lily's cloak in James' face, and he saw several large rips. He groaned, thinking of what Lily would say when she saw her priceless cloak, ripped to shreds by the shards of glass.

He didn't have much time to ponder that subject, as at that moment, James heard footsteps coming his way.

"Get under this!" Sirius quickly threw Lily's torn invisibility cloak over James and Remus.

"What did you do that f..."

"Shut up!" James fell silent dropping the invisibility cloak he had been wearing on the floor. He gasped, feeling his eyes widenas he saw the form of Professor Zabini stop right in front of the boys.

"Peeves!" she yelled, to no avail, as the castle poltergeist was not the culprit this time.

"A priceless vase.." she fumed, her eyes wildly searching for a guilty party. James held his breath, trying not to let any sign of his existence give him away. Then, he saw the Professor's eyes fall on the invisibility cloak on the ground.

"Potter and Black." She spat, searching around for them. Seemingly assured that the boys were nowhere nearby, she walked off, grabbing the cloak.

James let out a long breath.

"That was close..."

"You have no idea!" said Sirius, vehemently.

"Your cloak wasn't working! I could see you and Remus! I was about to tell you when that thing broke!" He gestured violently at the remains of the priceless vase, in shards on the floor.

"Reparo."He muttered, and the vase was restored.

"What? That's..."said James, as what Sirius had just told him sunk in. There was a pause, as what must have happened occurred to James.

"Lily." He said, and Sirius nodded slowly.

"Had to be." Agreed Remus. James fumed silently, thinking some surprisingly violent thoughts about the girl he supposedly liked.

"What happened with you two?" asked Remus, looking down at the broken vase and the tears in the cloak.

"I bumped into the ruddy thing, I was so busy looking at your malfunctioning cloak." Said Sirius, with a large amount of bitterness in his voice.

"Why doesn't that woman ever sleep?" asked Peter.

"I don't know..." said Remus, pensively.

"I don't care, but she took my bloody cloak." Said James, horribly angry at the second, and more permanent disappearance of his cloak.

"Reckon she's a vampire?" ventured Peter, trying to break the tension. The marauders shared a quiet laugh at that, before gathering the ripped cloak.

Back in the common room, James and the marauders assumed their normal seats by the dying embers of the night's fire. He was a bit in shock that he had finally lost the invisibility cloak, by all accounts, for good. Remus was over in one corner, trying various charms to fix the rips in Lily's invisibility cloak, apparently with no success.

"Give it here!" said Sirius, irritably. He pointed his wand at the fabric and muttered at charm.

"Reparo." He said, lazily, and the cloak mended. Remus looked dumbfounded.

"That's not supposed to work! It only works on glass!"

"Apparently not." Said Sirius, handing the cloak back to Remus.

"Someone go put that thing back.

I've been in their dorm way too much. I'm starting to smell like that horrible perfume Lily wears!"

"I like that stuff!" said James, before he could shut himself up. He felt himself blushing at the sudden look of great amusement on Sirius' face.

"Oh do you? I'll be sure to tell her that. Maybe she'll buy you a bottle!"

"Please. I meant I like it on her." Said James, trying to sound dignified, and failing, as that statement caused an even greater look of amusement on the faces of his friends.

"Honestly, you two. If you're just going to sit there and laugh, I'll do it." Remus grabbed the cloak and stormed up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. A few moments later, he was back. "That wasn't so bloody hard. Stop whining Sirius." He said, sitting down. It was silent for a moment, as the anger in the room rippled over the feeble attempts at humor.

"I'm going to bed, before something else wonderful happens. This has been quite a lovely day, hasn't it?" said Peter in a very sarcastic voice. The marauders voiced their agreement angrily, and the four headed up to bed.