When James Met Lily

It was Christmas Day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The snow from the previous day had long gone, washed away by the rain that had been heavy earlier that morning, but had now reduced to a light drizzle. Turkey had been eaten, presents had been opened, and everything in the Gryffindor common room was calm and peaceful. The few students that were in there were too stuffed from the feast earlier that day to want to do little more than sit around and read or play chess. Well, most of them were, anyway.

"I'm bored!"

"That has to be the five hundredth time you've said that," Remus remarked from over the top of his book.

"And that has to be the five hundredth time you've told us," Sirius replied cheekily. Remus shook his head with a grin and disappeared back behind the book.

"Yeah, I'm with Sirius," James said, getting up from the chair he had been lounging in. "It's the Christmas holidays, for Merlin's sake! We should be doing something fun, not just sitting around reading."

"Oh? And what sort of fun did you have in mind?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows.

James was grinning. "How about a little Christmas prank to liven the place up?"

Peter gave a squeak of delight and Sirius returned the grin. Remus looked dubious. "What kind of prank? Not something that will hurt anyone, James - not on Christmas Day."

"As if I'd do a thing like that!" James said, pretending to be hurt.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you'd never intentionally hurt anyone, would you?"

"Well, not unless it was Snivellus..." Sirius remarked with a smirk. Peter sniggered softly to himself.

"Hmm..." James looked thoughtfully over at the portrait hole. "Back in a sec." He jumped up and dashed towards the staircase, disappearing into the third-year boys' dormitories. Remus sighed and went back to reading his book.

It wasn't long before James returned, and he was carrying a bucket.

"What is that for?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, James," Sirius said, accompanying his words with a roll of his eyes. "I mean, a bucket? Not exactly prank of the century, is it?"

James sighed exasperatedly. "It's not the bucket that's the prank, my friends," he said, the hint of mischief that they all knew too well creeping into his voice. "It's what's inside the bucket." With a twinkle in his eye, he shoved the bucket towards them with a flourish.

Sirius, Remus and Peter crowded around the bucket and peered in cautiously. Inside was an oozing, sticky-looking green substance, pulsing gently against the bucket's edges. It glowed with a fluorescent light.

"What is it?" Peter asked, sounding slightly fearful.

"Oh, just a little something I like to call Fluoro-Dye," James said casually.

"What does it do?" Sirius asked, cautiously poking a finger into the bucket.

"Dyes," James shrugged.

"It's dead?" Peter frowned.

"No, you idiot," James said scornfully. "Dyes, as in like clothes and stuff."

Sirius examined his finger. "Doesn't work," he reported.

"It's not designed to dye your skin," James explained. "It only works on hair. It'll turn your hair bright green."

"Permanently?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Nah, it only lasts for a couple of days or so," James assured him. "Anyway, I haven't been able to test it out yet, so I was thinking we could charm it to hover over the portrait hole, then the first unlucky victim to walk in will become the test subject."

"I think it's brilliant," Sirius said with a grin.

"I don't know, James," Remus said doubtfully. "I mean, you haven't tested it yet. You don't know if it'll have any side effects. Shouldn't you really try it out on yourself first?"

"But this way's just so much more fun," James smirked, producing his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The bucket sprang to life; jumped out of James' hand and flew over to the portrait hole, stopping to hover slightly when it met its destination.

"Now all we have to do -" James flopped down into a chair with a grin "- is sit back and wait."

Remus allowed himself a small smile. "OK, I guess it could be pretty funny."

The four boys sat expectantly, on tenterhooks to see who would walk through the portrait hole.

They didn't have to wait long; after a few minutes the portrait hole swung open and someone walked in; talking to someone else over their shoulder. The boys had enough time to see that it was a girl with long, dark red hair, before the bucket overturned and the green dye cascaded over the her head.

Sirius, James and Peter burst out laughing; Remus bit his lip to hold back from bursting into laughter too. The rest of the common room was roaring with laughter; James' pranks were notorious around Hogwarts.

The girl spun around, wiping the goo out of her eyes. Instead of running from the room in embarrassment, like the four of them expected, the girl marched up to them, daggers shooting from her eyes. She stood, hands on hips, glaring at them so forcefully that Remus, Peter and Sirius all took a step back. James was laughing too hard to notice.

"Which one of you did this?" the girl demanded. James finally stopped laughing and looked at her. He vaguely recognised her as a girl from their year; he had seen her around but couldn't remember her name - it was Rose or Violet or something. She was very pretty, with green almond-shaped eyes and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. Her hair, which was normally red, was now the same colour as her eyes, and thick goo coated her clothes and hair. She was shorter than him, but very fierce looking.

"It was just a joke, Lily," Remus said nervously, stepping forward so he was standing next to James. Ah, now he remembered - Lily Evans, her name was.

Lily ignored Remus and continued to glare at James. "This was your idea, wasn't it, Potter?"

James cleared his throat. "Well, yes, but -"

Lily didn't let him finish. "I'm really sick of your childish pranks, Potter! What if that bucket had hit me on the head?"

James hadn't thought of that. "Aw, c'mon, it was just a joke!" he pleaded.

"One of these days someone is going to get seriously hurt." Lily whipped out her wand and pointed it at him threateningly. "And it might just be you."

Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Sirius raise his eyebrows and step up so he was standing next to James. "Look, Evans, calm down," he started.

Lily aimed her wand at him. "Don't push me, Black." Sirius closed his mouth and Lily turned her attention back to James.

"How long will it take for this to wash off?" she demanded.

"A - a couple of days," James stammered, dreading her reaction.

"Days!" Lily's eyebrows shot up. "You mean I've got to walk around with my hair this colour for days!"

"Don't worry, it suits you," Sirius sniggered. Lily rounded on him furiously.

"Engorgio!" Sirius's nose began to grow larger and larger and larger. He clamped his hand over it in an attempt to stop, but it carried on growing.

James laughed out loud. "Ha, Sirius, your nose is almost as big as Snivellus's!"

"And you, you arrogant prat," Lily spat out, turning on James. "You're going stay away from me while I go to Professor McGonagall and see if she can do anything about my hair."

"You don't have to tell McGonagall -" James began, but Lily silenced him with a glare, before turning to leave.

"Evans, wait," James pleaded, attempting to follow her, but Lily turned around, muttering something and casually pointing her wand at him. James's shoelaces unravelled, and then tied together, causing him to trip over and land with a thump.

Just before she exited the portrait hole, Lily turned back around for a final word. "Mark my words, I'm going to get for this, James Potter," she announced for the entire common room to hear.

Sirius, who had shrunk his nose back to his normal size, came over to help James to his feet as Lily left. "You alright, mate?" he asked, as James dusted himself off. "Bloody hell, she's got a temper, hasn't she?"

"Yeah," James said distractedly, staring at the portrait hole after Lily. "She was pretty, don't you think?"

Sirius shrugged. "I suppose so. Not much of a sense of humour, though."

James continued to stare at the spot that Lily had just vacated. Sirius, Remus and Peter exchanged glances. "James, you sure you're OK?"

"Yeah," James said, finally tearing his gaze away. "Come on, let's go."

The four boys exited the common room, not knowing yet that Lily had already gotten her own back. For this was just the beginning of James's infatuation with her, and that, for Lily, was going to be the sweetest revenge of all.