“Why am I doing this again?”

Lily gazed around the room, but no one answered her mutterings. Her long red curls were beginning to frazzle as she leaned over the cauldron, stirring the dark purple liquid. “Do you know why I am doing this?” The potion understandably didn’t reply. She shook her head; she was going insane.

Lily reached for a small grey bottle from her pocket. Turning the bottle over in her hands, she pondered the label. Inachis oil was rare, powerful and very difficult to obtain. She had stolen it from Professor Slughorn’s stores. Of course, she would never be suspected of the thievery, she knew Slughorn would never dream his favourite student was the culprit. But even Lily would get in big trouble if she was caught.

Crossing her fingers, she prayed to whichever God, or Ancient Wizard at least, was listening. She had successfully obtained the oil, but at any moment, someone could burst in and catch her red handed. Being caught could mean suspension or worse: her Head Girl badge.

Knowing she had no choice, Lily read the next line of instructions. For motivation she pictured Alice’s face in her mind. “Please Lily,” Alice’s face begged, close to tears. “You have to do this for me!” Lily snorted in an unladylike way. Alice was her best friend. From the moment her eyes had filled with tears Lily was sunk. She knew she would have to do whatever Alice asked.

Alice greatly missed her boyfriend Frank Longbottom. He was older and no longer went to Hogwarts. With growing numbers of attacks from Death Eaters, security had become very tight. With all the uncertainty Alice wanted to be close to Frank, but it was almost impossible for her to see him during the school term. She wrote letters to him by the day and counted down to holidays and Hogsmeade visits. It wasn’t enough. Alice desperately wanted to spend some time with him.

One week previously, Alice had come across a potion in an old textbook. When drunk the potion would bring your soul mate to your side. If Alice drunk the potion, Frank would appear next to her. They could then spend some much needed quality time together at Hogwarts. After twenty-four hours, the potion would wear off and Frank would return home. It was the perfect plan and Alice was ecstatic. The potion held the solution to all her troubles. However, there was a flaw. The potion was a very difficult to make and Alice didn’t have the skills required.

That’s where Lily came in. As the only accomplished potions brewer Alice trusted, Alice had begged for her help. At first Lily refused, citing all the school rules she would have to break. She was Head Girl after all and had to set an example. But slowly, Lily had begun to change her mind. She saw how much Alice missed Frank and knew Frank felt the same. Lily understood how much it would mean to both of them to just spend one day together. After only a few days, Lily caved and agreed to make the potion.

So there she was, slaving away over a hot cauldron whilst the other students were having dinner.

Lily’s stomach rumbled. “Stop it!” she ordered. “I’m trying to work!” Sending a quick scowl at the offending body part, she unscrewed the lid of the Inachis oil. She carefully leaned over the potion to add one drop. It was essential she get it right. According to the instructions, adding too much could have disastrous consequences. “Alice had better be grateful,” she added under her breath. She hated going hungry.

She wondered if anyone had noticed that she wasn’t at dinner. Alice would obviously, but she knew very well were Lily was. The teachers would miss their favourite student, but they probably thought she was off somewhere enjoying the clear night. No one would ever know.

Except for him. He might miss his favourite form of dinner entertainment. She dismissed the thought from her mind. He was too wrapped up in his own world to wonder what…

“What, my darling Lily flower, are you doing down here?” a smug voice said, very close to her. Lily groaned. Of course James Potter would notice she wasn’t at dinner. Of course he would track her down, like an irritating sheep dog. It was just like him to suddenly appear. Never mind that it was a deserted dungeon, or that it was almost impossible to find without knowing where it was. She refused to acknowledge him, continuing her work. Maybe if she ignored him he would go away.

Her plan failed. He made up for her silence by continuing to talk. “A potion I see. Making it the dark? Is it a love potion?” He laughed a deep chuckle that irritated her further. “Don’t worry, Lily dear, I already love you.”

Why is he so infuriating? Thoroughly annoyed, she turned around to lecture him. Something about him always made her snap. In her angered state, she was unaware that the bottle in her hand was slowly turning upside-down. Drops began coming out one by one.

Drop…

“I’ll have you know…”

The potion fizzed.

Drop…

“That it is none of your…”

Bubbles began to appear.

Drop…

“Damn business what I…”

It began to crackle.

Drop…

“Decide to do with my free time…”

It began to swirl.

Drop…

“And if I choose to spend it in a dungeon…”

The potion became still, turning a dangerous blood red colour.

Drop…

“Brewing potions far beyond your meagre skill level….”

CRASH!

Lily only had a brief second of victory from her speech before the potion exploded into a cloud of gas. For a brief second, Lily felt as though she was weightless, soaring through the air without a care in the world. For what seemed like hours, she drifted into nothingness, before she came back to her state of mind with a thump.

She opened her eyes. Something was wrong. Her normally perfect vision had become very blurry. Worried, she searched the dungeon for James, groaning in a voice that didn’t sound at all like her own. Alarmed, she felt a small hand on her shoulder. Turning around slowly, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw.

Expecting James, she found herself staring into a pair of very bright and very shocked green eyes. Green eyes situated on her face.

Lily Evans was staring at herself.

It was true that James had a huge, and very public, crush on Lily. For years, he had wanted to get close to her, to understand her and to get inside her head.

But this was taking things too far.

In fact, when he got up that morning, he hadn’t imagined being ripped from his comfortable, well-worn body and being dropped unceremoniously into the body of his long time crush.

“What,” he said slowly, planting his new hands on his small hips, “is in that potion?”

Lily didn’t look too happy either. “Oh my god. Oh my god,” James saw himself say. He looked quite distressed; an expression that rarely crossed his face. As a Marauder, he strived to stay calm and cool at all times. He saw himself start to hyperventilate and fought laugher. This was ridiculous. He was watching himself have a panic attack.

Diverting his eyes for a moment, James gazed around the dungeon. He caught sight of himself in a cracked mirror. God, Lily was pretty. He ran his hands over his face and through his curly red hair lost in thought. He had never touched it before, it was so soft, softer than silk, and it was just so…

“Stop that!”

“Stop what?” he asked confused, hands frozen in their position.

“Touching me!” she yelled, her deep voice outraged.

“Settle down, handsome! I’m nowhere near you,” he sung back. “I’m all the way over here!”

Lily gave him an icy glare that looked ridiculous on his face. “I mean stop touching my body.”

James realised what he was doing. Then he grinned. This was much better than he realised. So much better. He was in the most attractive body in the world. He glanced in the mirror again. Lily grinned straight back at him. Being in Lily’s body was perfect. He could stare and touch all he wanted, and no one would stop him.

“Since you are the one who just showered us in body changing potion, I don’t think you are in the position to request anything.” He tugged on one of his new curls.

“Even if you have suddenly become exceedingly handsome.”

Lily sniffed and placed a hand on her new hip. “It is not a body changing potion ,” she spat out. “It’s a…” she trailed off. She knew she had to tell him; after all he was stuck in this too. She grabbed the potion book and shoved it at him. She couldn’t tell him out loud what she was making. It was too humiliating, even if it wasn’t for her. He would know she had broken the rules. His eyes widened as he scanned the page. He began to read the description out loud.

“Adsum sodalis amans, commonly known as the ‘Caller of Kindred Souls’ is a potion used for summoning one’s soul mate. Popular in the early 19th century, once drunk the drinker’s soul-mate will be transported beside them, remaining there for one full day. ” He stopped reading and looked at Lily, who was avoiding his gaze.

“You were looking for your soul mate?” he asked, unable to keep the slightly hurt tone from Lily’s high pitched voice. Why had she resorted to such drastic measures? Surely, this potion wasn’t even allowed; why would she even attempt to make it? James felt as though somebody had punched him in the gut. Perhaps he would never have a chance.

“It wasn’t for me,” she replied curtly. Relief swept over James and his spirit soared. Perhaps he did have a chance after all. As soon as they reversed bodies he’d give it another go. Euphoric thoughts of chances with Lily were stopped as another thought crossed his mind.

“Who was is for?”

“Can’t say,” she replied, not looking at him.

“Why did they need it?”

“Can’t say!”

James paused. “Why did we switch bodies?”

“Can’t say.” she said again, this time amused at the annoyed expression James had put on her face.

“Lily!” he said slowly, in her most menacing voice. He was starting to sound more like her.

She grinned. “I seriously have no idea what went wrong.”

Lily paused for a moment, her grin vanishing. Scanning the dungeon, she pondered his question. What had gone wrong? She had added everything correctly, right up until the beeswax. It had been the perfect dark purple. All she had to add was the…

With a strangled cry she grabbed back the potions book from James and furiously scanned the page to a small footnote at the bottom. Dumbstruck with horror, she began reading out loud the passage.

“The Caller of Kindred Souls is extremely difficult potion that has a variety of side effects if brewed incorrectly. However, the strangest side effect results from an excess of Inachis Oil. When this rare and powerful ingredient is overused, the potion slightly changes the wording of the effect. Instead of transporting the drinker’s soul mate beside them the potion transports the drinker’s soul mate inside them, causing them to switch bodies. The effects of this modified potion are undocumented, but are said to wear out eventually. Another interesting side note is while the ‘Caller of Kindred Souls’ only lasts a day, the modified potion can last anywhere between four to six weeks, or until the souls reach an understanding.”

Lily’s eyes drifted to a small grey bottle on the floor and gulped. It was a small empty grey bottle. She picked it up and handed it to James. Confused he read the label. Then understanding dawned, lighting up in his green eyes.

“Looks like we're soul mates, eh?” he chuckled. This was brilliant; there was no way she could deny it now.

“I doubt it,” she sniffed, rereading the passage for any additional information. “It only speaks of the drinker. We didn’t drink the potion. We must of switched bodies because we were touching at the time.” Lily’s soul mate was strong and brave, like the hero of a romance novel. He would swoop her off her feet and carry her into the sunset. There was no way Lily would believe that a big-headed buffoon, otherwise known as that James Potter, was her soul mate.

“Believe what you want to believe.” James shrugged. “The point is moot. We can’t get married and have five children until we are back in the right bodies. Let’s go to Madame Pomfrey. She will be able to fix this.”

Lily, inclined to agree with him about Madame Pomfrey, nodded her head once and turned to the door. The sooner she could get out of this body, the better. Hopefully, they could keep this quiet. She didn’t want everyone knowing she had spent the night inside James Potter’s body.

But before she could move any further, a horrible thought dawned upon her. If they went to Madame Pomfrey she would have to explain what happened. She would be in big trouble. Not only was the potion banned, but also she had stolen teachers’ property. She could be suspended or lose her Head Girl badge. With the new security measures, there was even the remote possibility she may be expelled.

She couldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t let that happen.

“We can’t!” Lily burst out, grabbing James’ arm to stop him leaving.

“Having five children would be a bit of a stretch, but sure we can. Well, not in these bodies, but as soon as I get back in there,” he pointed at Lily, “I’d be happy to oblige you..”

Lily just glared at him. “We can’t go to Madame Pomfrey.”

“And this is because?”

“I could be expelled!”

James just raised a red eyebrow.

Lily knew she was slightly exaggerating, and that the likelihood of being expelled was very low. But she needed for James to see sense for once. She grabbed the bottle from his hand and held it in his face.

“I took this from Slughorn’s stores.” Lily then pointed to the book, “and this is against school rules.”

“What do you suggest we do? We can’t stay like this forever!”

Lily motioned to the book. “The modified potion can last anywhere between 4-6 weeks,” she read aloud. “If we're lucky, this could all be over in a month.”

James sighed. He knew how much it meant to Lily to stay out of trouble, but a month was a very long time. Yet, he threw a quick glance over at the mirror, maybe a month wasn’t a long time at all.

“Fine,” he said, reaching his decision. He could last a month as a girl, especially one as gorgeous and as well liked as Lily.

She nodded. “We can’t let anyone know! It could still reach the teachers ears. This stays between us!”

James just smiled. “Do you think you can handle being me?”

“Phur-lease, piece of cake!” she said with a wink, before vanishing the cauldron with a flick of her wand and storming out of the dungeon.

~*~

Many hours later, as Lily lay in James’ bed, she began to worry. On her way up, she had lost five points for entering the girl’s bathroom, fallen over trying to climb up the girl’s staircase, been hit on by three girls she considered friends and was now pretending to be asleep to avoid interacting with any of James’ friends.

Plus, she was petrified of going to the toilet or having a shower.

It was going to be a long month.

Lily was not having a good morning.

Firstly, she hadn’t gotten to sleep until nearly dawn. She had tossed and turned, worrying about what the new day would bring. Secondly, she was not gently shaken awake by Alice as she usually was, but sat on by someone rather heavy. She opened one hazel eye to look at her captor. It was Sirius. She closed her eyes, wondering what on earth he was doing sitting on top of her. He was talking about something, vaguely mentioning the words “breakfast” and “late.”

Sirius, seeing that Lily was in no way inclined to rise, decided to try a new tactic. He ripped the nice warm cover off the bed. “Get up, Prongs, breakfast started twenty minutes ago.” Sirius looked at Lily, taking in her appearance. “What are you still doing in your school robes anyway? And for that matter where were you last night? Last I heard you went dashing off to find Lily. Then, when I came up here at nine o’clock.” He emphasised the word nine as though it was ridiculous time to think of bed. “You were fast asleep.”

Lily groaned. Why was he sitting on her? Why was he babbling at Godric knows whatever the time it was? And for that matter, why wasn’t he wearing a shirt?

Deciding that it was best to just give in to his demands, Lily sat up reaching for her now mandatory glasses.

Nodding at Lily’s actions, Sirius also rose to his feet. Then he whipped off the scant towel that was covering his waist and began to get changed. Right in front of Lily.

Swearing, Lily grabbed the curtains of James four poster bed and pulled them across just in time. That was close. Too close. What the hell had Sirius been doing? Didn’t he get changed in his own bed behind the curtains? Cursing boys and malfunctioning potions, she sighed to herself. There were some things she couldn’t handle in the morning.

~*~

Lily sat down with James’ friends at breakfast, just in time to see herself come in; except she looked different. Instead of having her hair in a ponytail, it was out, falling in unruly waves down her back. Her robes were pushed up at the sleeves and she was walking in an odd way.

She wasn’t walking at all. She was strutting.

James had somehow dishevelled her normally neat appearance. She scowled at him as he sat down at the breakfast table opposite her.

“Hey, sexy, can you pass the cereal. I’m absolutely starving.” He shot her a flirty wink and flipped his hair.

Sirius and Peter stared open mouthed at the pair of them. Remus, who was eating fruit salad, began to choke on a grape. Peter, regaining his composure, thumped him on the back. The grape then soured across the table towards Sirius, who, leaning back on his chair, was still staring at the pair of them. The grape hit Sirius in the eye, catching him off balance and causing him to topple to the ground.

This went unnoticed by Lily, who was glaring mutinously at James.

“You don’t usually call me that, Lily,” she spat out, emphasising the last word. He just smiled, clearly enjoying himself far too much.

“You don’t think you are sexy?" he asked, still smiling smugly. "I don’t know about that, you are the best looking boy at the table. In fact, the only better looking person in Gryffindor is me.” James pouted and began playing with his hair.

“Well, you are definitely more attractive than me,” she returned, anger welling up inside her. “But you are also a nice person which is more then I can say for me. In fact, I have been wasting my life mucking around, when I should have made more of an effort to be like you.”

James nodded his head, pretending to consider it. Then slowly, turning his head to make sure she was watching, he smelled his hair.

“Mmm,” he murmured, breathing in the scent. “There is nothing like this smell. It must be the shampoo.” He shrugged, a devilish gleam entering his green eyes.

“Washing my hair this morning was especially good for some unknown reason. It was the most fun I’ve had in a shower in a long time.”

The three other Marauders, now fully recovered from the grape incident, were watching the word-play like Muggles at a tennis match. Their heads darted from Lily to James, then back to Lily. Clearly, there was something they were missing.

Lily, however, had gone bright red. He had a shower? In her body? He was going to pay. He was going to pay big-time.

“Oh, look, Lily flower,” she said, imitating his style as best she could. “It’s your boyfriend.” She pointed over at the Hufflepuff table to a lanky boy who was eating toast. “He’ll be coming over for a kiss soon, I’m very jealous of him. I hope you have as much fun as you did in the shower.” Lily flashed a shocked James a smile. “I’m going to get ready for class.”

She got up to leave, but James grabbed her arm.

“I have a boyfriend?” For the first time that morning James looked truly worried. It was one thing to be stuck in Lily’s body, something that had its advantages, but having a run in with her boyfriend could be very bad.

“Oh, yes, his name is Rodger. You have been seeing him in secret, but you were going to go out with it in the open.” Lily paused as though trying to remember something.

“In fact, you told me he said he was going to come up and kiss you in front of everyone; today at breakfast. All you had to do was send him a message.”

The Hufflepuff boy caught James staring at him and sent a flirtatious wink. He then stood up and started making his way over to the Gryffindor table. Lily pulled free of James' grip and strode out of the room. She really had planned on warning James about Rodger, but seeing him so confident in her body made her snap. If she was going to suffer, then she was bringing him down with her. Smiling properly for the first time that day, she exited the Great Hall.

~*~

Everything had been going well, until breakfast.

After Lily had left him in the dungeon the previous evening, James had slowly made his way up to Gryffindor tower. No teachers had stopped him to ask what he was doing and no girls had tried to gain his attention. He had reached the common room in time to see Lily slide down the girl’s staircase in his body, looking mortified.

It had been hilarious.

He had then enjoyed sitting in the common room, listening to conversations he usually didn’t pick up on. People trusted Lily in a way they didn’t trust him and they would say anything in front of her.

Lying in Lily’s bed, late at night, he pondered his situation. The coming month could be a lot of fun. He was definitely going to enjoy it. With that final thought, he had slipped into pleasant dreams.

By breakfast, he had been in a fantastic mood. He had been gently awoken by Alice, who was, in James opinion, better to see in the morning than Sirius. After getting up, he had a long shower and finally let Lily’s hair free in a way she never wore it. Taking his time, he had spent a good thirty minutes getting dressed, carefully in front of the mirror.

During breakfast he had been quite pleased to note that Lily looked quite dishevelled. She didn’t even look as though she had changed from the night before. He had a great time at breakfast vexing her and confusing his friends until she had dropped that bombshell.

She had a boyfriend and he was coming this way.

As though watching a train crash about to happen, time slowed for James. A countdown began in his head.

Twenty seconds until impact.

James recognised the boy as a member of the Hufflepuff Quiddich team. He looked stupid. Well, maybe not stupid but not particularly bright. What did Lily see in him anyway? James didn’t know if he was more jealous or more scared.

Ten seconds until impact.

James briefly considered fleeing. Then the boy might see it as a game and chase him. And he definitely didn’t want to be alone with the boy.

Five seconds until impact.

Could he hex the boy from here? It would probably look too suspicions.

One second until impact.

James looked around for Lily. She had gone, leaving him to fend for himself. He wondered if she would jump in and save him at the last minute. She didn’t look like she was going to. She was a dead girl.

“Lily.” The boy wrapped his arms around James, breathing into his neck. James swore under his breath. This was not good. The boy turned James around in his arms so they were face to face.

“I’ve wanted to show everyone this for so long.” The boy’s voice was way too husky for James’ liking. He pulled James into a tight hug, beginning to move his hands to the middle of his back then…

Where on earth were his hands going? The occupants of the Great Hall watched as James took a step away from Rodger. Unfortunately, the step was not big enough and the boy’s arms remained around James.

Taking this the total wrong way, the boy leaned in slowly for a kiss. Brief thoughts of where he would rather be drifted through James’ mind: the Forbidden Forest, the bottom of the lake, Bulgaria and standing stark naked in a field were just a few options that briefly featured in his mind.

James panicked and just before their lips met he reached for his wand. Whatever happened next, he told himself, he was not responsible for his actions.

Twenty minutes later, James brushed passed Lily on the way to Transfiguration. Standing on tip-toes, he whispered something into her ear.

“I don’t think your relationship worked out.”

~*~

Lily was suspicious of James. The moment he had walked into the classroom, people had started whispering and pointing. Something had obviously happened in the Great Hall and it probably meant bad news for Lily. She moved to follow James in order to decipher his cryptic comment, but Sirius grabbed her and steered her to the back of the classroom.

“I can’t believe you left the Great Hall!” Sirius gushed as soon as Lily sat down. “It was absolutely hilarious!”

That couldn’t mean anything good. Ignoring Professor McGonagall’s angry stare, Lily motioned for him to continue.

“That Ronald guy from the Hufflepuff-”

“Rodger!” Lily interrupted, dread building up inside her.

“Whatever, the Hufflepuff Keeper. He comes up to Lily and was all over her- it was actually quite disgusting, probably best you missed that- Lily was obviously a bit freaked out by all the attention, so when he goes in to kiss her she �“” Sirius burst into laughter.

“She what?” Lily asked urgently. What had James done? Was Rodger even alive? Sirius, attempting to control his laughter, continued his story.

“Oh, sorry, you should have been there. Just as their lips are about to meet, Lily whips out her wand and he freezes, his lips stuck in a ridiculous kissing posture. Then, she calmly tells him that it is over and stalks off, telling no one how to remove the curse. So, all the teachers surround the guy, and it took fifteen minutes before he could move again.”

“H-She left him there?” Lily shut her eyes in anguish before giving a weak smile; Rodger would not be happy.

Sirius laughed again. “I thought you might like that,” he said, taking Lily’s smile to be one of glee. “You should have seen his face when he unfroze, he was furious. Talk about being stood up. Who would have thought it of Lily? Looks like you have rubbed off on her a bit.”

Sirius paused and stared at her. “You don’t have anything to do with this do you?” he asked sceptically. “You didn’t slip Lily a love potion last night?”

“There was no love potion involved,” Lily sniffed. “I have no idea why Lily would do something like this, to an innocent boy.”

Sirius raised a solitary eyebrow. “As though you can talk, you hexed her last boyfriend.”

“I did what?”

“Don’t play dumb, you put him into a leg-locker curse and stuffed him in the laundry, remember? I suppose that’s why this Rupert fellow didn’t want to go public with Lily at the start.” Sirius rolled his eyes at who he thought was his best friend.

“Really, James, you are way too obsessed with her.” Sirius gazed at 'Lily' who was sitting at the front. “Look, I understand why you like her, but she is not worth it, Prongs! Granted, she is rather pretty and I suppose she has a great pair of¬”

“Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, I am sick of your constant chatter. Detention for you both.” McGonagall was staring furiously at the pair of them. James turned from his position at the front to give Lily a sickly sweet smile.

Sirius just shrugged, obviously used to it. Lily groaned, wasn’t being James enough of a punishment?

Lily paced outside McGonagall’s door. It was 8:30 in the morning and she had to serve a detention. If that wasn’t enough, Sirius was irritating her with his cheerful mood. This obviously was not unusual for him. In fact, Sirius had managed to get three detentions the previous day that Lily had hung around with him.

Lily yawned, trying to think opportunistically about the day ahead. She was now single, which could be a good thing. She only had to get through one detention, even if she had to serve it with three mean looking Slytherins plus Sirius, then she had the rest of the day to just relax. James hadn’t done anything this morning to screw up her life. She shut her eyes and smiled to herself. In fact, she hadn’t seen him at all today, which was definitely a…

“Look who’s here, Prongs.” Lily opened her eyes at the sound of her nonsensical new nickname. Cursing Merlin, God, Buddha and anything else that was holy with Muggles and wizards alike, she saw herself approaching. James, of course looked completely confident in her body as he strutted down the hallway towards them, he was even running his hands through his hair.

“What are you doing here?” Lily spat out. Had he come to mock her, or did simply enjoy finding new ways to ruin her life?

“I got a detention,” James replied in a happy voice.
“For WHAT?” Lily yelled, causing the three Slytherins to jump. She had been to Hogwarts for six years and three weeks and she had managed to gain only two detentions, for minor offences.

James Potter had been in her body for all of 36 hours and he had managed to get one. A small voice interrupted her train of furious thinking. Why on earth was she surprised? She waited for his answer.

“I punched Gladon, that Slytherin kid--” He gave a cheesy smile to the three Slytherins who scowled back-- “in the face after dinner yesterday. It broke his nose.” James examined his fingernails as though this was nothing more out of the ordinary than talking about the weather. The terrible threesome cracked their knuckles, but made no further moves. Maybe they were afraid of ending up like Gladon.

“Why?” Lily asked in exasperation. She was a little shocked. What had possessed James to punch a six foot Slytherin in the face?

“He insulted my hair,” James answered fluidly. “That is of course the stupidest thing in the world. My hair is gorgeous.” He flipped it over his shoulder, proving his point. Lily sighed; was there no end to this madness? Why couldn’t she have swapped bodies with someone more normal and less possessive?

A small part of her was rather impressed with James, she had wanted to punch Gladon in the face since first year. She ignored this part of her. Was this some sort of karma for trying to break the rules?

Sirius was obviously not thinking at the same rate as Lily, because he was just standing still and staring, a look of amazement on his face. He then spontaneously swept James into a hug, swinging his small frame around in a circle.

“You broke his nose?” He laughed, releasing James from his tight grip. “Why, Lily, I do believe James is rubbing off on you!”


~.~


At precisely quarter to nine, McGonagall ushered the six detainees into an empty classroom. The three Slytherins sat in the back row, Lily and Sirius sat in the middle, while James slipped into the front. It was their job to sort out old potions ingredients into what was useable and what wasn’t. It was utterly disgusting and boring work; perfect for a detention.

Lily was furious with James, and an hour of sorting dead newt’s eyes into jars had done little to improve her mood. He’d only been in her body one day and he had managed to rack up half the detentions she had in seven years at Hogwarts. Punching people in the face, breaking up with her boyfriend, taking long showers and Merlin knows what else. He seemed to enjoy messing with her.

Suddenly, she was overwhelmed by the desire to do something immature. She glanced over at the potions ingredients. Hundreds of eyes glanced back. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand reached out…

She flicked a dead eye at him.

He flinched, obviously ready to respond but as he turned to move, Professor McGonagall caught him and gave him a warning glare. Although it was not as harsh as the one he would have received in his own body, the message was clear. Talking, moving, turning, tapping and even breathing too loudly was a big no in her detentions. Satisfied he got the message, McGonagall turned back to her papers. Seeing this, James decided to take a chance and turn…

Lily flicked another, just as he was turning around. It hit him straight in the face, causing him to slop brown liquid all over himself.

Lily silently began to laugh, but stopped suddenly at the devilish gleam in James’ green eyes. In the instant their eyes connected, she knew she was out of her depth. Starting a war with James was a very bad idea. She sent him a pleading look, but it was wasted. James had already begun his next move.

Very carefully and deliberately, James sighed.

“Oh, no, it’s all over my robes!” James cried in a very good imitation of girly disgust. Quickly, he pulled his robes over his head and threw them to the ground. Lily was unsure where he was going with this, but immediately felt wary. McGonagall looked at James with a peculiar expression, but said nothing. She seemed unsure at how to react.

“Oh, no, it also looks like I got my shirt too,” James continued, faking a huge sigh. “I should take that off as well.” Staring Lily straight in they eye, he slowly itched his fingers to the bottom of the wet top. Lily began to panic, darting quick glances around the room.

McGonagall had frozen, for the first time ever she had no idea how to handle her students. The three Slytherin’s were looking on with great anticipation, looks of excitement barely concealed on their ugly features. As a last ditch effort, she stole a look at Sirius, who looked very pleased, too pleased, with the turn of events.

“NO!” Lily yelled before James could go any further. Six pairs of eyes stared at her. The green eyes, belonging to James, were full of mirth and superiority. He knew he had won and was silently gloating at her. The dark brown eyes, belonging to McGonagall were extremely confused and a little irritated. The grey eyes, belonging to Sirius were half shocked and half furious.

“Er, Lily, I don’t think that will be necessary,” McGonagall interjected before anything could go any further. “You obviously haven’t been feeling yourself these past few days. You may leave detention and go clean yourself up.” She shot a kind smile at James, one that someone would bestow on a daughter. He shot a wink at Lily before skipping out of the room.

“As for you, James, I have absolutely no idea what has gotten into you today.” She eyed him warily. “You may also leave.”

“What about me, Professor. I swear I’m different too…” Sirius smirked while Lily stalked from the room. “I’ve also been up to something strange and mysterious…”

“Just go,” McGonagall sighed, also motioning to the Slytherin boys that they could leave. Sirius sent her a wink on his way out. Professor McGonagall sighed, at least some things weren’t completely out of order…


~.~


“Merlin, Prongs! When was the last time you had a shower?”

This was not what Lily wanted to hear. Finally arriving back in the dormitory, all she wanted to do was curl up on her bed (well, James’ bed at least) and shut her eyes to the world surrounding her. Sirius hadn’t followed her from the detention, so she thought she could slip in some alone time.

Apparently she had been wrong.

Upon entering the dormitory, she had found Remus and Peter sitting on the bed, talking about Godric knows what. She had walked past them on the way to James’ trunk, hoping to find something at least marginally interesting to read. But as she passed the boys on the bed, they both wrinkled their noses in distaste. Hence the comment about showers from Remus.

Lily turned back around to look at the two boys, who were now looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. Apparently the question was not rhetorical and they were expecting an answer.

“Thursday,” Lily replied. In reality she had no idea if James had had a shower on Thursday or not. That had been when the potion exploded.

“You do realise its Saturday, right?” asked Peter in a mocking tone. “Most people at least change their clothes once a day.”

“They also occasionally shower.” Remus added, before both boys chuckled. So they were more observant than Lily gave them credit for at least. That was bad news for her; she would have to find a way around it. Why did James’ friends even care about his shower habits anyway?

Remus just laughed at her tortured expression, rummaged through his own trunk and threw a bar of soap at Lily. “I suggest you use it. Seriously, you smell like a drunken rabbit has died on you. If you don’t go have a shower, I swear I will drag you there myself.” He smiled at Lily’s bewildered expression. “We do have to share a room with you…”

“Damn it!” Lily cursed inside her head. Weren’t boys meant to be dirty creatures who didn’t mind missing a few showers? Maybe if she could somehow escape from the dormitory…

Lily gulped, recognising that resistance was futile. Maybe it was time for the inevitable.

~.~

Twenty minutes later, Lily was standing in front of the mirror staring at James’ dishevelled form. Apparently, someone out there didn’t hate her, because she was blissfully alone in the shower room. Glancing at the mirror, she turned this way and that, examining James from a variety of different angles. He really wasn’t terrible looking she decided. In fact, he was more attractive than Rodger.

Pushing the thought aside, she pulled the filthy robes over her head to reveal a long baggy t-shirt and plain jeans. The clothes looked good on James; simple, yet strangely alluring. She lifted up the shirt slightly to revel a very toned stomach. Laughing, she dropped the shirt and leaned in closer to the mirror

“I’ve heard people say,” Lily said to the reflection, trying to force James’ voice as low as possible, “That too much of anything is not good for you, babe.” James’ reflection looked half amused, half seductive. Lily smiled at the thought. She was all alone in James’ body. There was no harm in having a little fun was there?

“My darling I- ” she sung as she lifted the shirt again to reveal her stomach, then let it drop back into place. “Can’t get enough of your love, babe.”

Lily slowly pulled off the shirt, dancing as she went. Moving into a grapevine spin, Lily increased the volume of her singing. “I don’t know wh-i-i-y.” Gazing in the mirror at James’ attractive body she began to sing louder still, swinging the shirt over her head like a lasso.

“I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF YOUR LOVE BA-”

“What in Godic’s name are you doing?”

Lily jumped back and hit the counter, accidentally forcing the nozzle to come off the ancient plumbing. Water sprayed everywhere, soaking Lily and her unexpected guest from head to foot. Sirius was standing in the doorway, his face now a very wet picture of shock.

He gazed up and down at Lily, who was still holding her shirt in her hands, above her head. They both looked at the offending item of clothing for a full second, before Lily quickly threw it across the room.

“I heard singing,” Sirius said slowly, gazing at Lily as though she was from another planet. “I came in to see what was happening”

“I was just getting, er, changed…” Lily murmured. She was mortified. While she didn’t care if Sirius saw James stripping to Barry White, if it somehow got back to James she wouldn't ever live it down. Hoping against hope that Sirius would never, ever bring it up again, she began looking for an escape route.

Sirius slowly, as though approaching a crazy animal, walked forward and placed his hand on her forehead.

“Do you have a fever? Are you sick? I think I’m going to call a Healer, because you certainly aren’t acting like you are normal today.” Lily just shook her head, if only he knew. “Nonetheless, I am talking you to the hospital wing for a check up.” He pulled Lily towards him and sniffed, as though unsure of what he was smelling. “Right after you have a shower,” he finished before shoving Lily into a cubical.

~.~

“I have the greatest news!” Alice burst into the dormitory where James was trying on every item of clothing Lily owned. Momentarily stunned, Alice scanned the bombsite James had made of their dormitory. She paused for a moment as if trying to decide whether she should continue. Deciding she would interrogate Lily later, she went ahead with her news.

“Frank managed to get some work up at Hogsemade as part of his training! Professor Dumbledore is allowing him to visit me in the castle on weekends!”

James vaguely remembered Frank as a Gryffindor boy two years his senior. He had been nice, often the first to join in the laughter after a prank - even if he was the subject. He had no idea that Alice and Frank were dating, but from the look on Alice’s face, it was obvious it wasn’t just a schoolgirl crush.

He wondered why he had never known this news when a sad thought hit him. When he really thought about it, how much did he know about the Gryffindor girls who weren’t Lily? Sadly, not enough. Vowing to use this time as Lily to find out a little more about the Gryffindor girls, he realised he wasn’t even listening to what Alice was saying. Quickly, he tuned in, trying to pick up the conversation.

“- And I know how hard you were working on the potion, so I’m sorry for that �“”

“The Potion was for you?” James blurted out. Relief washed over him. Lily hadn’t been lying when she said the potion wasn’t for her. But didn’t Alice just say she was going out with that Frank guy? What was with girls?

“Yes, Lily, remember?” Alice said, speaking very slowly, as though talking to a two year old with a mental problem. “It was so Frank could come and visit.” Alice scanned James again, deciding now she had shared her good news she could go into a full scale lecture.

“What has been up with you the last few days? First, you try and drown yourself in the shower. Seriously, you were in there for like an hour three times yesterday and twice today. Then, not only do you break up with your boyfriend, but you do it in a very public way. Yesterday, you punched Gladon in the face. I know you have wanted to do that for years, but still it’s not like you. Then you totally forget about the potion you were making for me, which has consumed your thoughts for the last three weeks. What is wrong with you?” She paused, obviously very out of breath. James tried quickly to think of a plausible explanation, but was interrupted by Alice again.

“You’re not hormonal are you?”

“I hope to Merlin, Godric and any other guy with a big white beard not.” Alice just shot him a sarcastic look, assuming she was correct. For the second time in three days James felt very scared. He just hoped to hell that he would be lucky this month.

Chapter Five: The Moronic Moose

Sunlight danced over her bed as Lily awoke on Sunday morning. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she focused on the peace that was running though her. Ever since she was a little girl, she had been able to find peace on Sunday mornings in that brief moment between her body awakening and her mind following. Today was no exception; it felt nice to just lie in bed, with nowhere to go and nothing to do, just focusing on her irrational peace.

Unfortunately, her peace was rather short lived as memories of the previous day came back to her as her mind woke up.

Humiliation seemed to be the word of the day. The humiliation of being caught doing a weird striptease followed the humiliation of being shoved into the shower (Lily refused to admit to herself that she enjoyed it). For more humiliation, Sirius had even waited outside the bathroom for her to finish.

Then, the most humiliating of all, Sirius had unnecessarily dragged her to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey had fussed over her for an hour, with Sirius looming in the background.

“What seems to be the problem, dearie?” Madame Pomfrey asked Lily kindly as Sirius shoved her into the Hospital Wing.

Before Lily could answer Sirius had already cut in, “I’m worried someone has cast some sort of spell on him- he’s not acting normal.” Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius shot her a warning glance.

“What’s he been doing?” Madame Pomfrey asked, this time ignoring Lily completely and speaking to the annoying boy beside her.

“Just stuff that’s really out of character; to start off with he started listening in class which is a little weird. Then, he didn’t shower for a few days or even change his clothes. I mean, usually he is the one bugging all of us on personal hygiene. Weirder still, he suddenly didn’t get along with the love of his life and he actually stopped her taking off her shirt!” Sirius shot an offended look at Lily as though this was a serious crime.

“Anyway,” he continued, “before I had a chance to figure out what was wrong, he was dancing to some strange Muggle song in front of the mirror…” Madame Pomfrey was silent during Sirius’ explanation, but had began walking around Lily, tapping her with her wand.

“Hmm,” she murmured, “there is some sort of magic residue on him,” Lily held her breath, “but nothing I can exactly pinpoint. Maybe some sort of love potion gone wrong?” She addressed the question to Sirius as though no-one else was in the room. Neither noticed Lily’s soft sigh of relief. Her secret was safe for now.

“That would make sense �“” Sirius agreed, “he does have this weird admirer in 6th year…” Sirius cast a spectatory eye over Lily.

“Hopefully it will wear off soon, keep and eye on him and get back to me if he keeps acting strange…”

Lily returned back to the present, but refused to open her eyes. Sirius hadn’t given her one minute to herself since their visit to the Hospital Wing. He obviously took Madame Pomfrey’s words close to heart. Either that or he actually cared about James and was worried about him. Why, Lily had no idea, but it seemed a plausible explanation.

Realising there was actually a chance she would have to do something today, Lily finally opened her eyes, scanned the room and blessed her good luck. Sirius was nowhere to be seen and the rest of the boys had already left. The only other living thing in the dormitory was a rather large, shaggy black dog on Sirius’ bed.

Lily sat up and examined the dog further, she didn’t think she had ever seen it before. Snoring softly, it’s huge chest rose and fell in a calm rhythm. Occasionally it would kick out in its sleep, as though it was dreaming. She never knew Sirius had a dog and wondered why he never showed it off before, it was gorgeous. Lily slowly walked over to the bed to examine the dog further. It was larger than she had first imagined, with silky black fur and large, soft looking paws. Not wanting to wake the animal, she began to back out of the room, but the dog must have heard her, because it slowly opened its eyes to give her a beady glance.

Lily’s heart melted, the dog was adorable. She began to pat the dog, who �“ did it just roll its eyes? Dismissing the thought, Lily continued to pat the dog absentmindedly. “You’re such a good doggy,” she cooed. The dog nodded as if it understood her and was playing along to some strange joke. “I bet you’re a good listener too,” she murmured to herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself spilling her thoughts to the dog.

“It’s just all so confusing, I feel like I’m having an identity crisis. It’s all Lily this, James that, when it should be the other way round!” The dog sat up to face her, as though it was pleased. “I can’t even make sense of it anymore,” she continued, “it’s not like I was doing anything that bad! Why did the bloody potion have to go and ruin everything!”

The dog gave her a disgruntled, but unfazed look. Before Lily had a chance to process this thought, the dog jumped of the bed and morphed into Sirius Black.

“Thank Merlin, you’re obsessing over Lily again. I thought you’d never get back to normal.” He paused to think, “So you think it was a potion after all…”

Lily very nearly fainted. One rational thought held her in her place. There was no way on earth James would not know that his best friend was an Animagus, so Lily could not make a scene. Either way, she couldn’t believe it, but she tried not to let her shock show.

Sirius Black can transform into a big black dog. Her mind was spinning at a million miles an hour when a thought suddenly hit her.

“Padfoot. Now that makes sense,” Lily blurted out. How many times had she pondered their nicknames? She mulled the other names over in her head; Moony, Wormtail and Prongs. Could they all have some sort of hidden meaning?

“What makes sense? What are you on about?” Sirius gave her an odd look. He was too perceptive for his own good when it came to James.

“Er,” Lily tried to think of an excuse for her odd behaviour, “I was just thinking about how clever your nickname is. Who thought of it again?”

“Never miss a change to gloat do you, you Moronic Moose.” Sirius smiled. Obviously she had said the right thing, what James would have done.

“What?” Hold on, what had he called her?

“Don’t play dumb you antlered idiot. ‘Who thought of it again?’” He punched Lily affectionately on the shoulder, “If you recall correctly, while you came up with the actual nicknames, it was my idea to create them around our animals.” Lily looked up shocked. Could it be true? Sirius continued talking, “Anyway, you’re obsessing over Lily and subtly bragging over your clever nicknaming skills. It’s good to have you back.” He slapped Lily on the shoulder, but she hardly noticed. She needed answers that she couldn’t ask Sirius without giving away her identity.

“Speaking of, um, Lily. I have to find her. We have, um, Head Duty,” she improvised before running out of the room.

“And now he has randomly rushed off to find Lily,” Sirius murmured to himself, “thank goodness, my life is back to normal.”

~.~

“You stop!”

“No, you stop!”

“I can’t believe he would say that to you!”

“Get out!” James interrupted. He was sitting in the common room, surrounded by a pack of girls. They were all gossiping about some Ravenclaw boy who had been ‘flirting’ with lots of girls. Apparently this was considered very scandalous. James chuckled to himself, even the word scandalous was great. James couldn’t remember the last time he had this much fun. Why didn’t guys do this again?

“So anyway, what was Rodger like at kissing?” A girl called Rebecca changed the subject and it took a few seconds before James realised she was talking to him.

“Horrible.” All the girls laughed, and James faked a huge sigh, “I don’t know what on earth possessed me to go out with him. He’s not even that attractive.”

“You know who would be really good?” A blonde girl who’s name was Janelle interrupted, “Sirius Black!” This made James laugh even harder. How many years had girls been fantasying about them behind their backs with them completely oblivious? Once again, he realised that the girls were expecting a comment from him. He had always respected Lily, and it pleased him to realise just how much the rest of the girls in Gryffindor did too.

“Really, do you think so?” James commented, trying to appear casual. “I’d rather kiss Remus.” He laughed at his own private joke. Remus and Sirius would have to be the last people on earth he would ever consider kissing. Well, maybe Peter…

“What about James, he’s so devilishly handsome,” interrupted a petite brunet, who had suddenly joined the conversation. James recognised her as Lauren Nertick, a girl from sixth year who always seemed to appear next to him at the most random of times. James shuddered, she’d probably be about as equal as Sirius on his list. It wasn’t that she was unattractive, it was just her personality that was a major turn off.

“Here comes the handsome devil,” James called out as he saw Lily approaching. It annoyed him to notice that Lauren also sat up straight, what was she playing at?

“Lily, we have head duty.” Lily seemed a little on the edge, but he didn’t want to leave the girls just yet. Not when he was having this much fun.

“Er, do we? Can it wait? I was just having a conversation with the girls here?”

“You’re only gossiping, it can’t be that interesting. Come on!”

“James!” James moaned in anguish, “I’m enjoying myself."

Lily, ignoring his pleas, grabbed him arm and stormed out from the common room.

~.~

“Where are we going, Lily?” James cried, annoyed, when they rounded yet another corner. “Are we even actually going on Head Duty?”

“No,” Lily replied curtly, “we are finding somewhere to talk in private.” With that, she yanked open the door of a broom cupboard and pulled James in after her.

“Why a broom closet?” James asked. In his opinion broom closets were used for two reasons only; hiding and making out. Although at any other time James would have loved to have been alone in broom closet with Lily, her being in his body wasn’t exactly one of the situations he had imagined.

“You have some explaining to do,” Lily stated clearly. She obviously was expecting a long answer, because she sat down on an upturned bucket.

“Er, why?” James asked confused, but he followed her lead, sitting down on an empty box.

“Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,” she spoke in a clear voice, emphasising the last word. “Do these names mean anything to you?”

“Er… That would be my friend’s nicknames?” James ventured slowing, hoping that she didn’t know any other details.

“I think you misunderstood me,” Lily said in a business like tone, “what do those names mean to you? Why do you call yourself Prongs. In fact, why are all your nicknames derived from animals?”

“Because we’re nature experts?”

“That would make sense, seeing as you like to keep big black dogs in your dormitory. No wait, I’m sorry, that just happened to be Sirius Black., Lily spat sarcastically as James gulped. They both sat in silence, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, barely more audible than a whisper, Lily asked the question that James was dreading, “Are you an Animagus, too?”

James face went completely blank, answering her question.

“But that’s crazy!” There was nothing quiet about Lily’s voice now, “Not only is it illegal to be unregistered, but you have to be at least of age before you attempt it! The way Sirius was talking, it sounds like you have been Animagi for years!”

“Since fifth year.”

“Since when?!”

“Just hear me out, okay?” James pleaded.

“Hear you out, you Moronic Moose! What do you mean hear you out?” yelled Lily.

“I mean I want you to hear me out before you go crazy!” James yelled back, “And I’m not a moose, I’m a stag,” he alleged, with such an air of one who had been greatly insulted that Lily just had to laugh.

“Okay, you stupid stag,” she said in a much calmer voice, “I was just using Sirius’ expression.” She sighed, “Why did you four decide to become Animagus?”

“The three of us and it’s a long story. I will tell you, but I want you to swear to me you will never tell another soul about it. This isn’t just about me, but also my friends. I also want you to keep your mind open and promise me what I tell you will not affect your judgement about certain people.”

“Okay.”


~.~

For almost an hour they sat in the broom cupboard while James talked and talked. He told Lily about how they had all become friends during their first year, and how at first Remus had been really shy. He spoke of how Remus had gained confidence throughout the year and was really starting to come out of his shell. However, he often missed school, citing problems at home and with his heath as the cause. James talked of how at first they had believed what he said about all the times he went away but eventually they became distrustful and it began to drive a hole through their friendship. Remus refused to tell them what was happening, and they had a big fight on the train home at the end of first year.

He told Lily how it was Sirius who figured it out first. He was in a detention for Defence against the Dark Arts, on the second day of their second year. It was his job to copy out Dark Creature profiles that had been damaged. As soon as he read the werewolf card, he knew what Remus was. James also told Lily how Sirius had come to tell him and Peter straight away, and they had gone to find Remus together. James told her all about the confrontation with Remus and how shocked he was when he realised that his friends didn’t care, and that they would all still accept him.

He told her of Remus’ explanations of how horrifying it was to be a werewolf, and how he was completely alone. He told of how they longed to help him, but had no idea what to do.

James then told Lily how barely a month after they had found out about Remus, he came up with the idea of becoming Animagus. If they couldn’t keep him company as human beings, why not try as animals? Secretly they smuggled small animals into the Shrieking Shack to see how Remus would react. He didn’t attack any of them. Even bigger animals he had no problem with.

He told her of their plan, how they set out finding all they could about turning into animals. For three years they spent hours and hours looking up books and practising spells. James told Lily of the frustration they all felt, and the sorrow of seeing Remus suffer through month after month alone, with no-one to help him.

James told how finally, just a few weeks into fifth year, Sirius achieved his goal. He described the feelings of elation and triumph when barely minutes after Sirius, he transformed into a stag for the very first time. It wasn’t until two weeks after that, with a lot of help, that Peter was finally able to transform.

James described the almost immediate effect the presence of his best friends had on Remus. Being a werewolf became much more bearable, almost like he could keep his human mind. He told of their wanderings around school, learning all about the grounds. He told them how they had learned details of the school that no-one else knew. He told them how they had nicknames themselves the Marauders and they had created a Map, documenting what they knew. Eventually his voice wavered off and he stared at Lily waiting for a reaction.

Lily was amazed. Could it be possible? James and his friends, who she had always seen as arrogant, little toerags, had gone to huge lengths to make someone’s life much more bearable? True, they had broken huge amounts of school rules, plus a fair few wizarding laws, but they were unselfish and caring. A new image of James formed in her mind. The new James was strong, brave and would do anything for his friends. He was smart enough to attempt very advanced wizarding magic, yet modest enough to keep the secret between only those it concerned.

She didn’t even realise James was speaking until he began tapping her on the shoulder. “Er, Lily…” he said, obviously trying to gauge her reaction.

“You are a surprising boy, James Potter, I’ll give you that.” A smile spread across James’ face. It felt so good that she knew. The secret brought them closer in an odd sort of way. Well that’s how it felt to James anyway. She tilted her chin forward in thought, “Remus is lucky to have such wonderful friends.”

“We all are. We are all lucky to have each other.” He smiled and put his small hand over his chest in a mock salute. When he moved his hand, his finger caught on a chain around his neck, pulling a small locket above his robes. Lily grabbed the chain, pulling it and James towards her.

“Where did you get this?” she demanded, holding the small heart shaped pendent in her hand.

“I found it among your jewellery when I was… er… Searching for something to wear.”

“Oh,” she murmured, not looking him in the face, “I’d prefer if you didn’t wear it.”

“But-”

Before James could finish his question, a stream of sunlight burst into the cupboard. James and Lily turned, dazzled, to the intruder who they were unable to see amongst the light. The impostor could see them though. He took in the image before him, James Potter and Lily Evens were sitting in a broom cupboard, in very close proximity. Potter’s hand was clasping a necklace around Lily’s neck and they both looked a little bit dishevelled. His face turned very red and anger built up inside him.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRLFRIEND, JAMES POTTER, AND COME OUT AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!”

With an enraged shout, Rodger pulled Lily out of cupboard and into the corridor, where a crowd was beginning to gather…

“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Lily stumbled to her feet, after Rodger let go of her collar and pushed her to the ground. A circle had formed around them, and the crowd, delighted, had begun to chant. Lily spied James over in one of the corners. He was being held by one of Rodger’s friends. Obviously he didn’t want ‘Lily’ intervening.

“Rodger,” she yelled, trying to put some sense into his head, “can’t we just talk about this?”

“Expelliramus!”

Or not. Lily’s wand flew out of her hand before she had a chance to use it. Normally she was a better witch, but the whole situation had her flustered. She hated these kinds of conflicts, always attempting to break them up between her classmates.

“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

The chanting grew louder as more people arrived. Lily could see Sirius trying to push his was through the circle, but he was being blocked by a rather solid looking Hufflepuff boy. Rodger began to move, pacing the circle. Lily followed his lead, trying to keep as much distance as possible between them.

“There is nothing going on between Lily and me!” she yelled above the noise, hoping that the smart caring boy she knew would return to Rodger’s body.

“There is nothing going on between you and me, Ronald!” yelled James. Lily wanted to hit him. Hadn’t he just proven he was mature? Why was he making things worse? And for Merlin’s sake, how hard was it to remember one name?

“Please,” Lily begged Rodger, shooting a scowl at James, “give me back my wand.”

Rodger threw Lily’s wand to one of his friends. The guy then sprinted off, and Sirius, realising what had happened, chased after him.

Strangely Rodger put down his wand also, making Lily feel hopeful for a second. Maybe he did want to sort things out. Her hopes, however, were dashed with Rodgers words, “I am going to fight you like a man, Potter. You going to wuss out?”

Oh dear. Lily knew nothing about fist fighting. How could Rodger be so immature? She had dated him because he wouldn’t do things like this. Suddenly she felt as though she didn’t know him at all. Was this his real nature that he had been hiding from her? Was he just another jealous and aggressive little boy? Maybe it was a good thing James had broken up with him.

“You are an idiot,” she spoke calmly, unwilling to waver on her principles regardless of who she appeared to be. “I refuse to fight. Lily should be disgusted with you.” With that, she turned to walk away, but she didn’t get far when she felt a sharp pain the back of her knees. Rodger had kicked her when she had her back turned! Fury took over her mind as she swung out her elbow, connecting with soft flesh. With a satisfying grunt, she heard someone hit the floor.

She knew that she could easily finish Rodger off. It wouldn’t even be difficult. However, she still didn’t want to fight him; it wasn’t something she believed in. But she did want one last cutting remark before she left.

Lily turned around to face him, a retort on her lips, just in time to see a fist flying towards her face.

Then Lily saw black.

~.~

“Should we take him to the hospital wing?”

“Nah, remember what McGonagall said �“ one more fighting related injury and all four of us would be in detention. He’ll be fine in a second. This happens to him all the time.”

“Oh there he is,” a new voice called out in the distance and there was the sound of footsteps approaching. “Er, what is he doing on the floor?”

“He was in a fight,” Sirius’ voice replied calmly. “Lily’s ex-boyfriend knocked him unconscious.”

“Oh that makes sense,” said the unknown voice, “but when do you think he will come around?”

“Soonish,” came Remus’ voice. “Why?”

“I was wondering what’s going on with Quidditch. He is the captain and he hasn’t scheduled any trainings in the last three days.”

“Yeah, I think he was affected by some sort of love potion gone wrong, perhaps given to him by that Lauren girl in sixth year. You know the one?” There was a pause, probably while the still unknown boy was nodding. “He seems okay now though. This morning he rushed off to find Lily and then got into a brawl with her boyfriend, which shows he is behaving like himself again. I’m pretty sure he will schedule something soon.”

Lily groaned for three reasons. Firstly because her head felt like a million garden gnomes were holding a party inside her skull, secondly because she was mortified that she had obviously been knocked unconscious and was currently lying on the ground, and thirdly because of one word, Quidditch.

Please Merlin, no…

“Good morning Princess,” called Sirius, noticing Lily groan. “I got your wand back for you.” He threw the wand onto her chest, somehow having retrieved it from Rodger’s friend. Lily decided not to ask what happened.

Lily barely had time to sit up before an eager voice piped in. “Do we have Quidditch training today?” It was a Gryffindor boy from fifth year. Lily was fairly certain his name was Adam Douglas and he was the keeper of the Gryffindor side.

“Actually I was thinking...” she started.

“Don’t make it after dinner,” Sirius interrupted. “Alex and Jake have Gobstones, so Alex won’t be able to make it. Plus, I thought we could have a bit of a Marauder meeting while the dormitory is free.” Peter and Remus, who had obviously joined them when she was unconscious, nodded enthusiastically.

“Okay, but I was going to say…”

“McGonagall said that the pitch is free after lunch,” Adam put forward.

“Well there is the problem of…”

“Don’t worry,” he interjected helpfully. “I can get the team ready quickly. Is two o’clock good for you?”

“I suppose, but…”

“Fantastic. See ya there.”

Fantastic indeed, Lily thought to herself. I have precisely two hours to find James and learn how to play Quidditch.
~.~

Lily couldn’t find James anywhere. According to Remus, who had arrived just in time to see her knocked out, ‘Lily’ had disappeared right after the fight. When she was lying on the floor, ‘Lily’ had broken free of her captor and slapped Rodger across the face, before kneeing him in the groin. When he was lying on the floor next to ‘James’, ‘Lily’ had then stated clearly, “I told you, scumbag, it is over between us.” Then she had stormed off, muttering about her reputation being damaged.

“I don’t think she liked the whole fighting thing.” Remus then added with a kind pat on the shoulder. Lily strongly suspected that it wasn’t the fight he was unimpressed with, rather the way the immortal James Potter had been beaten by Rodger. Now he was probably off sulking somewhere.

On completely different note, Lily was surprised to find that the way she saw Remus had not changed. If anything, she had gained a sort of respect for him. Perhaps, being a Muggle-born, she hadn’t grown up with the stories, but finding out what he was had not made her scared or disgusted. To her, Remus was the same person, and a brave person at that.

With James nowhere to be found, Lily accepted the inevitable and slowly made her way down to the Quidditch pitch at one thirty. Pacing the locker room and waiting for her team to arrive, she tried thinking of as many excuses as possible. None of them were in any way, shape or form plausible. Of course, none of them were as far-fetched as the actual truth, but she couldn’t think of one single way out of it that didn’t involve her ending up in the Hospital Wing.

Eventually she ran out of time and six Gryffindors filled into the small change room.

“Hello team,” she said nervously as the last player sat down. The team stared back at her. They all looked excited and pleased that training had been scheduled. They obviously deeply respected James, as they were staring at her with an intensity that awed her, as though the next words out of her mouth would be some kind of gospel.

“Um,” she stumbled, before finding a good idea. “I thought we’d start of this training session with a bit of a pop-quiz.”

“Alex,” she said, pointing to a boy she knew from her own year level. “When is our next game and who are we playing?”

“Saturday and Hufflepuff.”

Oh Merlin no.

She would still be James. If James was a less important player, she could have faked sickness, injury or something else. But he was James Potter, hero of the Gryffindor Quidditch side and captain to boot. She would need a big plan to get out of it. She made a mental note to consult James as soon as possible. But right now, she had to act like she knew what she was talking about.

“Rebecca,” she pointed at a sixth year, who she had talked to occasionally as her normal self. “What did we talk about in the last training?”

“You talked about how playing Quidditch is all about teamwork,” she replied fluently. “You said there are no individual winners or losers on a team, but we all win or all lose together. Then you gave us all nicknames, to make us feel more ‘spiritually bonded’ together,” she let out a laugh. “Mine was Daisy, because as a Chaser, I should be everywhere.”

“All right,” said Lily, stalling for more time. “Does everyone else remember their nicknames?”

“Elm,” said Benedict, one of the Beaters, “because I’m tall, strong and rather solid.”

“Willow,” said Eva, the other Beater, “because while I may look feminine, underneath I am highly aggressive and can beat people up.”

“Vine,” said Adam with a grin, “because I need to wrap myself around the goal posts.”

“Moss,” said Alex, another Chaser, “because I can stick to people like glue and I’m hard to get rid off.”

“Venus Fly Trap, or Venus for short,” said Robin, the Seeker of the team, “’Cause I need to catch, small flying objects.”

He named his entire team after plants? thought Lily, What on earth is that all about? That wouldn’t have anything to do with my name would it?

Almost afraid to know the answer, Lily asked, “Do you all remember my nickname?”

“The Gardener,” they all chorused. “Because you like to keep control of the plants.”

~.~

After using her “pop-quiz” idea for fifteen minutes, Lily finally emerged onto the pitch. There were only so many questions she could ask after all. During the questions however, she had come up with a new plan. James was captain and as captain could do whatever he wanted. There was no reason she couldn’t just watch a training session and run it from the ground. All she had to do now was to formulate a plan to get out of Quidditch on Saturday and she would be fine.

“Okay team!” she yelled, “Just do all the drills I have taught you this year and I will stand here on the ground and watch.”

One by one the team shot into the air and dutifully began playing drills. For half an hour she watched them fly and yelled out encouragement. Everything was going fine until Alex dived to the ground and came to stand beside her.

“Dude, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Then why aren’t you flying? You should be out there man, feeling the wind in your hair! There is something different about you…” He leaned in closer, as though he was playing spot the difference.

“I’m fine!” Lily nearly yelled leaning away. Alex gave her a sceptical look.

Obviously James had never ‘watched’ a session. Lily eyed the broomstick next to her. She tried to remember back to her flying classes in first year. She had never been awful, but she hadn’t been particularly good. Plus, they had only ever gone five to ten feet off the ground. After those few lessons, there had been the option of signing up for another class designed to cater for the people who wanted to learn how to fly properly. Lily had decided that she had no interest. A decision that she was starting to regret.

Slowly, Lily clambered onto the broomstick. I can do this, she whispered to herself. Alex had taken off again. There is nothing wrong with flying.

She pushed her feet to the ground and the broom shot into the air. The ground rushed away from her. Her hands began to shake and she could feel vertigo coming on.

You can do this!

She sped up a little bit. The ground was a long way away now, so she didn’t want to try anything too fancy. Wind whipped through her hair. It felt kind of cool. She sped up a bit more. It was actually kind of fun.

“James!” someone yelled, causing Lily to look over her shoulder. “Are you going to join in on the drills?” Lily sighed to herself. She might be starting to enjoy the flying, but there was no way she was up to playing Quiddich properly. Besides, there was no way she was going to take her hands off the handle.

“JAMES!” This time a few people yelled at her. She twisted further in her seat to reply.

“Just give me a minute…” she started, but she was interrupted.

“TURN AROUND!”

Lily turned around just in time to see a rather large white goalpost.

Then for the second time that day, Lily saw black.

~.~

Meanwhile, James was engrossed in a book.

While it had been rather comical to see himself knocked to the ground, it had left James in a rather sour mood. Lily had had the upper hand, but she had allowed herself to be sucker punched, something that would have never happened to him. He did have a reputation to maintain after all.

After his dramatic exit from the fight, he had come back to his dormitory to plot his next move. Calming down, he decided he would go and go and find Lily immediately, as they would need to plan a few things. He thought back to their previous conversation and he could no longer be annoyed with her. After all she had taken his secret so well, he felt so much closer to her then before. He got up to leave, but he noticed a book on the end of his bed.

Orsha’s Wish
By Catherine Joyce

James picked up the book and turned it over in his hands. It must have been one of Lily’s favourites because it looked as though it had been read a number of times. He began to read the summary on the back.

A tale of true love among the ruins…

Usually that would have turned him off. After all, no self respecting guy liked to read a romance tale. But he was interested in what Lily liked so much about the book.

Seventeen year old, Orsha Waitè, had everything she could ever ask for. Wealth, status, popularity and beauty were a part of everyday life and Orsha couldn’t have been happier.

But in the year of 1940 her world came crashing around her. The war arrived in France and after the death of a close friend; Orsha must decide if she will flee with her family or join the resistance movement of the French underground.

Yet, amidst the disaster, Orsha finds herself falling for the last person she ever expected. As her country’s situation becomes desperate, Orsha learns she must fight for what is right, but will she come to her senses and fight for her love before it is too late?

Scoffing at the plot summary, James had decided to read the first page only before trying to find Lily. That way, when he returned back to his body, he could charm her with a few lines.

Before he knew it, four hours had passed. James stared at the book, devouring the words. The tale was beginning to reach the climax.

“For god’s sake Orsha!” Alain sighed. “I’m perfect for the job. I’m strong, a good fighter and I know what I’m doing. By achieving this mission we can gain so much for the resistance movement!”

“But it’s a suicide mission!” yelled Orsha, fighting back the tears forming in her eyes.

James felt so overwhelmed. After all Orsha had been through, how would she react if she lost Alain? A tear slip down his face and landed on the page.

“There’s a chance I’ll come back…”

“But a higher chance you won’t.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Besides, I’m not married or attached. If I die, no-one will be left behind.”

In that moment Orsha realised that she had to say something. She finally realised that…

“Lily!” Alice bounded into the room, grabbed the book from James’ hand and slammed it shut. James panicked. What did Orsha finally realise? Would Alain go on the mission? Would she admit to herself she loved him? Would they end up together? With all these questions unanswered, James eyed the book. Maybe if he somehow gave Alice a concussion…

“Oh stop looking so upset,” the girl in question stated. “I have seen you read that book millions of times. We need to talk!”

Luckily, James was prevented from saying something he knew he would regret later by three more girls entering the dormitory. Eva, Jannelle and Lorèley, the three other girls who shared Lily’s room, came in and sat down on their respective beds.

“We’ll talk later,” Alice whispered to James, who was still staring at the book. “How was Quidditch training?” she asked Eva.

That got James’ attention. Why hadn’t Lily consulted him before she scheduled training? Did she even know how to fly? Oh dear Merlin! The match on Saturday! After ending up in Lily’s body, for the first time in five years, Quidditch had completely slipped his mind. What were they going to do?

“It was very strange,” Eva was saying. “At the start we pretty much told James everything we had remembered from the years’ training so far. It was an interesting change, useful though as a recap. Then James watched us train for a bit, which again was interesting because I don’t think he has ever done that before. But that was nothing compared to what happened after that. Pretty much the minute James got on his broom, he got distracted and rammed straight into a goal post, giving himself a concussion. Luckily, Adam and Benedict were close by, so they managed to catch him. The boys took him up to the hospital wing.”

What had she been thinking! James clambered to his feet. “I’ve got to go,” he murmured. “I’ll talk to you girls later.” With that he ran out of the room.

~.~

“So you say this is the second time today he has been rendered unconscious?”

“Yeah, concurrent concussions,” replied Sirius, laughing at his own joke. “Hopefully he doesn’t decide to make it a hat-trick”

“You say the first time he fell down the stairs?”

“Ah-Huh.”

“That’s odd, he has no other injuries to match that description.”

“Um, we healed him?” Peter put forward.

Lily groaned. Why was this happening to her? What had she done that had been so awful that the karma gods were ultimately punishing her?

“Good afternoon, Princess-Prongs,” said Sirius, “You seem to be making a habit of this.”

Lily opened her eyes to see Sirius, Peter, Remus, the three guys from the Quidditch team and Madame Pomfrey watching over her. Madame Pomfrey held her out a cup. “Drink this,” she said thrusting the cup into her hands. “Then sit there for half an hour while the potion takes effect. I have a short errand to run, I’ll be back soon.” With that she walked away, still muttering, “Playing Quidditch after a concussion...Never have I seen such stupidity, if those boys hadn’t caught him…”

After Madame Pomfrey left, the remaining Quiddich team members also said their good-byes. As soon as they had left, the Marauders began to all talk at once.

“Man, Prongs, you are an idiot.”

“Goal posts are solid. You throw the Quaffle through them, not yourself at them.”

“Seriously,” said Sirius. “I am never,” he grinned, emphasising the word never, going to let you live this down.”

Lily laughed. She hoped he wouldn’t. It would serve James right for disappearing this afternoon.

“Prongs, mate,” said Remus. “Is there anything going on between you and Lily?”

Lily paused. Although it was a useful alibi for all the time they had been spending together, she refused to let James’ friends think there was romance going on between them. “I have decided to stop pursuing her,” said Lily. “I think it’s in both our best interests.”

Sirius snorted, Peter shook his head and Remus rolled his eyes. “Here we go again,” Peter groaned after their unusual display. Lily raised her eyebrows in question.

“Remember last time you tried to give her up,” asked Sirius, taking in Lily’s perplexed expression, “You barely lasted a fortnight mate. Then you were straight back to, ‘I’ll never get over her, she’s just too beautiful.’”

“Or the time before that, remember?” Remus added. “After ten days you were right back to droning on and on about how smart, witty and intelligent she is. You even wrote a poem about her.”

“Some things in life you just have to accept,” Sirius added again, “You told me that. You said that you always wanting to be around Lily is just something you have to accept, whether or not she returned the feelings, it wasn’t something you could control.”

“Why didn’t I just tell her that to her face?” Lily asked confused at James’ words to his friends. “Why do I always go and act all cocky and annoying?”

The boys laughed, “You always act like an idiot around her. Don’t start beating yourself up over it again.”

Just at that moment James burst into the hospital wing.

“I need to speak to Lily.”

“I need to speak to Lily.”

The small group surrounding Lily’s bed all turned to look at James. James looked back at them in confusion, before realising what he had said. He opened his mouth to correct his mistake, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

“Um, Lily, why do you need to speak to yourself?” asked Sirius, raising one eyebrow.

“I don’t,” covered James, searching for an explanation. He moved his eyes around the Hospital Wing, before seeing Madame Pomfrey’s office. “Er…Lily is Madame Pomfrey’s first name,” he improvised.

“Really?” asked Remus, “I never knew that… I thought it was Poppy.”

Crap, thought James. “No, Poppy is just what everyone calls her,” he babbled. “Her real first name is Lily.”

“If her name is Lily, why does everyone call her Poppy?” Peter asked in confusion.

“For the irony, you know. Different types of flowers…”

“That is exceedingly odd,” commented Sirius, eyeing James sceptically, “I never knew you were even close to Madame Pomfrey anyway. Why are you on first name basis? Plus, if everyone else calls her Poppy, why do you call her Lily?”

“She’s an old family friend,” James replied looking at Lily for help. She just shrugged and covered her mouth to hide her smile. James was totally on his own now. He scowled and grasped for more explanations, “I call her Lily because…er… it was this game we used to play. When I was little I called her ‘Big Lily’ and she called me ‘Little Lily.’ I suppose we just kept things going.”

“Really? That’s so odd,” Sirius noted. “I didn’t realise you had a connection to Madame Pomfrey. I thought you were a Muggleborn?”

“Yes, but so is Madame Pomfrey. She lives next door to me,” James improvised wildly. Lily shook her head, desperately trying not to laugh.

“How come you never mentioned this? How come she never mentioned this?” Remus asked. James mentally cursed. If anyone knew anything about Madame Pomfrey it was Remus. Madame Pomfrey was the one who looked after him every month.

“Er…I meant she… used to live next door to me. Long time ago, when I was ten. Anyway,” he continued quickly, so no-one else could ask anymore questions about his ridiculous statements, “since she is obviously not here, could I please speak to James?”

“Okay, boys, I think that’s our queue to leave…” Sirius shot James an odd look as he passed. Obviously, he thought ‘Lily’ had gone crazy. As soon as they were out of earshot, the real Lily burst into laughter.

“They call her Poppy because it’s ironic? Oh Merlin, James that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard…” she looked back up at James’ annoyed expression and burst into another round of laughter.

“Oh shut up,” James spat. “At least I consult you before I make decisions regarding your life.”

Lily stopped laughing. “You broke up with Rodger!” she yelled in indignation.

“Pfft,” James rolled his eyes, “that was just something that needed to be done.” He began pacing the floor. “Why did you schedule training? Do you even know how to fly?” He folded his arms over his chest and shook his red hair out of his eyes.

“Not really,” Lily said sarcastically, “So yeah, I could’ve used your help. But no, you buggered off some where and I couldn’t find you. Where were you anyway? I looked for you for ages!”

“I was in your dormitory,” replied James stiffly.

“For two whole hours?” Lily questioned, unbelieving.

“I was reading.”

“Reading what?”

James paused, “Orsha’s Wish,” he mumbled.

Lily also paused, digesting the information, “Did you like it?” she questioned.

“It was okay, nothing special,” James lied, not wanting anyone, even Lily, to know how deeply he had gotten into it. If it ever got back to Sirius, he wasn’t sure he would be able to live it down. Plus, even hearing the book’s name made him want to run back to the dormitory to see what happened in the end. It was just too distracting, especially when he had more important things on his mind.

“Now,” James said clearly. “What are we going to do about the match on the weekend?”

“We have to find a way for me to get out of it,” Lily murmured. “Is there anyway you can fly? Polyjuice potion or something?”

“I thought you didn’t want to break anymore rules? Plus, you of all people should know that it takes at least a month to brew. There’s no way you can get out of it, you are meant to be Quidditch Captain. Plus, at the moment we don’t even have a back up Chaser. I’m going to have to teach you how to play Quidditch and we hope Robin catches the snitch really, really quickly.”

~.~

As soon as Madam Pomfrey, first name not Lily, returned and let Lily go, James dragged her straight back to the Quidditch pitch. For an hour and a half they did drill after drill. About half way though, it began to rain. Tired, cold, wet and angry, Lily swore that for every minute they trained that she would exact horrible revenge on James. But even so, she had to admit that he was an excellent teacher.

By the end of the training, Lily had learnt to steer as well as how to take her hands off the broom. She was in no way prepared for the match on Saturday, but it was unlikely she was going to fall off the broom due to her own carelessness, which was definitely a big improvement. At six o’clock, James finally dismissed Lily. Starving, amongst other things, she had slumped back to the dining room to eat a well deserved meal.

James however, as soon as Lily was out of eyeshot, bolted back to the dormitory intending on finishing Orsha’s Wish. As he ran through the corridors, cutting through at least three different passages that he was fairly sure the real Lily did not know about, he wondered how it would end. Would they end up together? He could see they suited from the start, despite how much they bickered and argued. Pondering this thought he burst into the girls’ dormitory in record time.

However, he was not alone. Alice was sitting on Lily’s bed, tears welling up in her eyes, Orsha’s Wish, open on her lap.

“Um, Alice,” James asked, his patience reaching its breaking point. “I was wondering if I could just borrow that book for a second?”

Alice looked up, her eyes narrowing, “But you must have read it hundreds of times before. You know what happens in the end. Why do you need it right now?”

“I was in the middle of re-reading it…” James tried. Alice was meant to be Lily’s friend. She should give up the book.

“No. I’m reading it now.” Or not. He supposed no-one liked being forced to stop reading in the middle of a novel. Especially not in a heart-wrenching climax. James paused in his thoughts. Eternally grateful that no-one could read his mind, James couldn’t believe that he had just used the term heart-wrenching. Giving himself a little shake, James returned his attention to the situation at hand. He wanted that book and if Alice didn’t relinquish it, he might have to kill her.

No, that wasn’t true. Despite how much Alice was annoying him at that precise moment, he couldn’t help but like the girl. They had never really spent much time together, but hanging out with her the last few days, James had really started to respect her. She was sly and witty, often coming up with off the cuff remarks and clever comments that made him laugh. She was obviously a very trustworthy person, and seemed like she was in for the long hall with Frank; something that he deeply respected.

James suddenly remembered that she was going to tell him something before he ran off to find Lily. Putting aside his own desire to read Orsha’s Wish (if only for a moment) James inquired to Alice what her news was.

Alice put down the book. “Frank is going on a three week training mission before Christmas in France. When it’s over, he wants me to join him for a week.”

“Oh wow.” Even James knew that that meant things were getting serious, “What did you say to him?”

“I agreed,” Alice looked slightly sheepish, “I have a good feeling about this relationship. I feel, I don’t know, like it could last for a very long time. Like, I want to wake up beside him every morning, and kiss him goodnight in the evening. I think I want him not just now, but forever.”

James nodded. He wasn’t sure, but he was beginning to think he wanted all that with Lily.

After a moment of silence where both James and Alice were lost in their own thoughts, James returned back to the present.

“Can I have the book now?” James asked.

“Not a chance,” said Alice with a smile, before picking up the book and turning the page.

~.~

Monday and Tuesday passed without much hassle. James and Lily, now slightly more adjusted, slipped into the pattern of each other’s lives. They attended classes, hung out with their new friends and kept themselves clean, much to James’ delight and Lily’s embarrassment.

However, both mornings, James woke up Lily at the crack of dawn for Quidditch training, teaching her drills and new skills. James left reams of instructions of what to tell his team, and Lily ran the trainings in the evenings. Lily told the team that, due to her concussion, she had temporarily lost a few skills. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; after all they might even let her out of the match. However, after seeing their total and utter panic, she had informed them that she would be fine by Saturday.

If only.

James on the other hand, had started a war with Alice. Unfortunately, Alice was a busy girl who liked to read books over time. James was dying to know what happened in the end of Orsha’s Wish, but Alice refused to relinquish her hold. In her eyes, Lily had read the book multiple times and didn’t need to find out what happened in the end. She carried the book around with her, in case she was bored in-between classes.

James had made a few unsuccessful attempts to steal it, but Alice had thwarted him each time. She obviously thought it was some kind of game to encourage her to keep reading it. James was going slightly stir crazy.

At six A.M on Wednesday morning, whilst James was teaching Lily how to throw a Quaffle properly, James finally cracked.

“Lily, you know, Orsha’s Wish?”

“Yes, James, it is one of my favourite books,” Lily replied sceptically.

“Does it have a happy ending?” James blurted out before he could stop himself.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” James said a little more clearly, “through the whole book Orsha refuses to admit to herself that she loves Alain, even though it is very obvious she does. Does she end up with him?”

“Why do you want to know?” said Lily with a small smile.

“No reason,” James muttered.

“Then there is no reason to tell you,” said Lily slyly.

“Okay, fine!” James yelled, flailing his arms in the air, “I read about three quarters of the book before Alice started to read it! I got up to the part when he is about to go on that sabotage mission and Orsha is going to say something, before I had to come get you! I want to know what happens. No, I NEED to know what happens!”

“Hold on, Alice is reading it?” said Lily surprised, “I’ve tried to get her to read it for years, what did you say to her?”

“I just left it open on the bed! It’s getting her to relinquish her hold that’s the problem,” mumbled James. “Now, does Orsha end up with Alian?”

“Now, James,” Lily said with a small secret smile. “Patience is a virtue.”

“No, it bloody well isn’t.”

“Yes, I’m afraid it is. I think I smell breakfast.” Lily began to dive to the ground �“ she was getting much better �“ “I’ll see you round,” she called, leaving a confused, but annoyed James hovering in the air.

~.~


“Lily Evans, if you do not explain to me what the conclusion of Orsha’s Wish is, I swear I will start embarrassing you.”

Wednesday had passed with little incidence, save for the constant pressure by James for Lily to spill her secrets. Lily had continued to thwart him, continually smiling and replying that patience was a virtue.

“Like how?” Lily asked this time, actually interested in what he planned to do.

James saw a Ravenclaw boy passing.

“Hello, handsome,” James said, making his voice smooth and sleek. “Would you like it if I took of all my robes right now?” Dropping his wand, he leant over slowly to pick it up. Straightening and flicking his hair, he leant out to stroke the boys face.

The boy laughed and kept walking.

James turned, confused, to Lily, who was also laughing.

“What?” spat James, annoyed that his plan was apparently backfiring.

“That’s Arty,” Lily choked out through the laughter, “I flirt with him all the time. It’s this little joke we have. He’s actually gay. I’m one of the few people he has told.”

James stamped his foot. “For Merlin’s sake, I can’t handle it. Just tell me what happens in the end, will you?”

“Ah, but James. Patience is virtue!”

“So I’ve heard,” James grumbled as Lily began to stride away. “What the bloody hell is a virtue anyway?” James yelled at Lily’s retreating back. “Sounds like a load of bullocks.”

~.~

On Thursday evening, while James was staring jealously at Alice, who was reading the book, Lorèly burst into the dormitory crying.

“He broke up with me,” she sniffed. “Tomorrow was going to be our six month anniversary and he broke up with me.”

“Lore, honey,” Janelle said with sympathy before she and Eve moved to her side. James was a little confused. This was something that boys definitely did not do. The girls began to comfort her. James, who was obviously expected to do something, followed the other girls lead and moved to her side.

“I’m going to be so alone tomorrow,” she whispered, letting out a large sob. “We had this big date planned and it’s all come to nothing.” She planted her face on Eve’s shoulder and continued to cry.

James stared, his mind boggling. He remembered the time when Sirius had come back to the dormitory, after his girlfriend of two months had called it quits on him. The conversation had gone as thus:

“Pfft, Rach broke up with me.”

“Skank,” he had replied.

And that was all. He looked over at Lore. Her face was still buried in Eve’s shoulder as she wailed about how her life was over. Janelle was stroking her hair as she murmured words of encouragement into her ear. James realised Lore had grabbed his hand. He was probably meant to say something too.

“Don’t worry, Lorèly. He was a skank,” he tried. All three girls looked up. Lore actually giggled. The other two smiled.

“Thanks. You always say the right thing, Lily,” Eve whispered.

“As for tomorrow night, Lore, don’t worry, we’ll have a girly party,” Janelle declared, “we’ll invite the sixth year girls to come and join us. Who needs boys anyway?”

James did not know what a girly party entailed, but the thought immediately caused him to break out in a cold sweat.

Alice, who up until that point was completely ignoring the commotion, shut her book, tears streaming down her face.

“Girly party you say? Just what we need,” she said boldly, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “Oh, thanks Lily for the lend; I just finished.” Alice placed the book on James’ bed and moved over to Lore to give her a big hug.

James stared at the book. He would finally know what happened. He stared back at the girls, who were still making lots of noise. Knowing he wasn’t going to get any peace in the dormitory, he quietly slipped away with the book.

~.~

Orsha’s heart stopped beating. Lying in the gutter was Alain, covered in blood. But the pause was short lived, within seconds, Orsha’s heart was beating again, thumping against her chest in horror. With a strangled cry, she began to run.

“Don’t die, Alain!” she cried upon reaching his side, “I love you! For god’s sake, you can’t die without hearing that. You can’t die at all. I love you, Alain. Please wake up.”

Orsha found the bullet wound and ripping off her jacket, she pressed it to the injury. Alain was still breathing, but it was growing fainter. The bullet had pierced his side and Orsha prayed that it had not hit any vital organs.

“I realised it the day you said you were leaving for this god awful mission. But right as I was going to speak, the bombs dropped and I was knocked unconscious. When I awoke, I found that you had gone, and that note that you left made me cry.” Tears began to pour down Orsha’s face, splashing on Alain’s body.

“Wake up, Alain! I love you, I should have realised long ago.” Burying her face to his chest, she cried for what she had lost, and the future they might have had. However, something changed. Orsha could feel Alain’s breathing becoming stronger beneath her. She looked up, Alain’s eyes were open.

“Good job patience is a virtue,” chuckled Alain, “because I have waited so long for you to say that.”

In that moment Orsha knew that Alain was going to be okay. She yelled to other members of their group to grab a stretcher and take him away. Passing out from the pain, Alain had looked into her eyes one last time and whispered her name. But Orsha knew that he would awake and that they could be together. Although in these uncertain times the future would be unknown, whatever would happen, they would have to wait and see. But they could wait and see together. Orsha smiled to herself, it had been a long time coming. But Alain was right, patience was a virtue.

Fin

At the top of the Astronomy tower, James finally finished the romantic tale. With tears in his eyes, James decided that Lily Evans was a genius.

But he loved her all the more for it.

Chapter 8: What’s Our Game Plan?

James was man enough to admit that he was having the time of his life.

In all truth, he’d been more than a little worried when Janelle had first suggested the idea. After all, he had no idea what a “girly party” entailed. The idea was enough to make any guy run away screaming.

But after finishing Orsha’s Wish, James had walked right back to the dormitory on Thursday evening. Expecting the girls to spend hours cheering Lore up, he was surprised to see when he opened the door, that she was no longer crying. All the girls in the dormitory were in full planning mode and Janelle was obviously leading the group; directing them in a way that would have put the Head of Aurors to shame. James was rather scared.

As soon as Janelle spied him in the doorway, he had been sent to the sixth year dormitory to inform them of the event. They had squealed and jumped up and down in excitement. Lightly touching his ears, he had vacated the room as quickly as possible. Apart from hurting his hearing, the girls reactions only served to make James more frightened then he had been in the first place.

On Friday, after classes had finished for the day, Janelle instructed Lily and Alice to pilfer some food from the kitchen. James was impressed; apparently Alice and Lily had known about the secret entrance for ages. Alice had charmed the house-elves into bringing out lots of miniature sweets and pies as well as a few bottles of pumpkin juice. After mentioning she was having a small, girls only party, they brought out a cake, with “Boys Suck” written in pink icing. Alice had smiled at the house-elves, telling them they were wonderful. James was astonished. He thought he could steal food from the kitchens, but Alice was truly a master with it.

At eight thirty, all the girls arrived in the dormitory, bringing along even more food and drinks. The girls had been keeping a supply of Honeydukes chocolate, Butterbeer and other goodies from Hogsmeade especially for times like this. For an hour they simply pigged out, gossiped and did each others hair. James was in charge of platting Eve’s hair.

Unfortunately for Eve, James was not very good at plaiting. In fact, he knew nothing about plaiting at all. After fifteen minutes of attempting to plait, Eve’s hair looked sort of like a birds nest. Pulling out his wand, James attempted to charm her hair into some sort of order. Regrettably in his panic, he accidentally turned her hair purple. Continually tapping her head, he tried to find her original colour. Eventually, when he found a colour that was almost right, he stopped and started work on untangling her hair manually.

“Hey, Lily, can I try on some of your clothes?” asked Jane, a girl from sixth year.

“Um, sure…” replied James, still sorting though Eve’s hair.

Jane then ruffled though Lily’s trunk and grabbed out a green sweater. Then, to James’ shock (and delight), she proceeded to get changed straight in front of everyone.

“Hmm, that looks okay,” said Alice. “But I think it would look better on you, Jane, in blue.” With a flick of her wand, Alice turned the sweater midnight blue. “Yeah, that looks perfect.” Jane went and examined herself in the mirror.

Alice cocked her head to the side in thought. “Hey, Jane,” she asked, “before I change the colour back, could I try it on too?”

And then the girls were off, stripping down to their underwear and trying on all of each others clothes. In the middle of the dormitory, they got changed with nothing to hide. At first James could do nothing but stare, but he soon realised he could encourage them.

“Janelle, darling, I think you would look excellent in this,” he held up a shirt that would most likely be too small. “Rebecca, I’m not sure that blue singlet has the right look, why don’t you try on this dress? I’m sure you will look just perfect.”

Although he personally believed none of them were as good looking as Lily, he was still a male and they were still girls taking off their clothes; he was in heaven.

At about eleven thirty, Rebecca and Eve, whose hair was still tangled, went to go and sleep in the empty sixth year dormitory. They didn’t want to stay up too late when they had Quidditch in the morning. James briefly wondered how Lily was doing. He considered going and giving her a pep-talk, but Janelle interrupted his thoughts.

“Who’s up for truth or dare?” asked Janelle, causing the rest of the girls to giggle. She reached for an empty Butterbeer bottle and placed it on the dormitory floor. The girls then moved into a circle around it, with James quickly following suit.

Tapping the bottle with her wand, she muttered, “Roto,” which caused the bottle to spin quickly, before stopping on Alice. The girls cheered and giggled, before Lauren finally yelled, “Truth or Dare!”

“Er, Truth!” Alice replied uncertainly. James didn’t blame her, after living with these girls for more than a week, James was fairly sure he would be uncertain about going first in truth or dare too. Alice was one brave girl.

“Are you in love with Frank?” asked Katie.

“Yes,” Alice replied with no hesitation, blushing to the roots of her hair.

The girls erupted into fits of “Awws” and giggles and the game continued on. By the time the bottle landed on James, one girl had admitted a deep secret and one girl had given some very interesting details about an ex-boyfriend. It seemed that girls did kiss and tell. Jake Collins, a boy from James’ dormitory, had his face painted in make-up without him being aware, and two girls had sprinted up the corridor in nothing but bras, pants and knee high socks.

James was really enjoying the game.

Despite what had happened in the game so far, James was not worried when the bottle landed on him. After all, he enjoyed dares and he couldn’t wait to have some fun in Lily’s skin.

“Dare,” he said firmly and clearly. Dares were always more fun and besides, it wasn’t in his best interests to pick truth. After all, there was a chance he wouldn’t know the right answer anyway, and he might have some trouble trying to explain his way out of it. Plus, he doubted the girls would be able to throw anything at him that he wouldn’t do. James Potter never backed out of dares.

“Okay, Lily Evans,” said Janelle, grinning in a rather evil way, “I dare you right now to go into the boy’s dormitory, gently awaken Sirius Black and kiss him full on the lips.”

“TRUTH!” James yelled. Kiss Sirius? Why on earth had he picked dare? These girls were crazy.

“Who do you like?” asked Lorèley, once the laugher at James’ outburst had died down.

“Er… James Potter?” he tried.

He thought he’d seen them laughing before, but obviously he had been wrong. This time the girls really laughed, rolling around on the floor until tears fell out of their eyes. They were in hysterics for what seemed like forever. After a while James felt a bit put out. It wasn’t that funny, was it? In his mind, it held at least some merit.

Finally after five minutes, Alice calmed down enough to say, “Merlin, Lily, you are hilarious. Who do you like truthfully?”

Before James could say anything else, the girls began to theorise.

“Remember when she said the other day that she would never go out with someone younger than her?” said Lore, causing most of the girls to nod in assent. “According to her, most of the guys in this year level were immature, let alone the ones below. I think her mystery man is in seventh year.”

“She also has said that she would never go out with a Slytherin,” added Kate, “because at some stage or another they have all called her names, or said horrible things about her birth.”

“What about the Ravenclaws?” asked Jane, staring at ‘Lily’.

“I remember her saying Rodger was the only person from another house who had ever caught her eye,” replied Alice. “I don’t think that’s changed �“ she hasn’t been looking at any of the other tables recently. I reckon it’s a Gryffindor.” Most of the girls nodded in assent. James was shocked at the pace they were going. He hadn’t even opened his mouth and they had narrowed it down to five people.

“Okay, it’s not Sirius because otherwise she would have kissed him,” said Jane, “or at least blushed when she refused or something,” she added.

“What about Peter?”

“Nah, she’s always said that she’s never found him particularly attractive and he still looks the same as before. I think we can cross Peter off the list.”

“So that leaves Alex, Jake and Remus.”

Throughout the girls hurried conversation, James remained gob smacked. They’d jumped to so many conclusions in the last three minutes that he was finding it difficult to keep up. The girls looked at James’ blank expression, obviously looking for some sort of sign. James shrugged. The girls looked back at each other. Suddenly, Janelle’s eyes widened as a thought hit her.

“MERLIN!” she yelled, covering her mouth with her hand. “Remember what she said the other day, ‘I’d rather kiss Remus!’ SHE LIKES REMUS!”

The girls erupted into giggles and squeals.

“You are so right, she likes Remus!”

“Awe, how sweet…”

“It’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t pick it up before…”

“I don’t! It was a joke!” yelled James, trying to be heard above the rabble. The girls ignored him. Lily liking Remus! The concept was ridiculous; it was stupid, it was… it made him feel jealous.

“Look how red she is going! It’s true!”

“Don’t try and deny it, Lily. You looovvvee him.”

“Oh, for the love of Merlin,” James sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Admit it!” the girls chorused.

“No!” James replied.

“Admit it!”

“No!”

“Admit it!”

“I’m going to bed!” James yelled, before storming off the sixth year dormitory to sleep with the Quidditch girls who had gone to bed early. He knew he would never be able to reason with the girls. Plus, he needed to be awake bright and early to talk to Lily before the match.

As James was asleep in a different dormitory, he didn’t hear the girls talking about him. Unfortunately for James, he had no way of knowing what they were planning. It was definitely something he wouldn’t like.


~.~

Lily was on the verge of giving up the whole charade. What is even the point? she thought for the millionth time. After today, who on earth is going to think that I am James?

But at seven in the morning she got up, dressed and headed down to the breakfast table. To add to her woes, arriving in the Great Hall, Lily saw that it was pouring outside. While she was looking at the ceiling, a huge clap of thunder shot across the enchanted roof.

She smiled as a thought hit her. Maybe the rain was not a bad thing at all, surely they would cancel Quidditch if there was a storm and she wouldn’t have to play after all. Grinning at this new outlook, she spread some marmalade on her toast. Life seemed so much better without the threat of Quidditch.

Adam came and sat down next to her. “You seem cheerful,” he commented to Lily who was now humming. “I suppose that’s a given though, we are after all playing Quidditch soon.”

Lily frowned and looked up at the sky. “But it’s raining,” she said rather stupidly.

“A little rain never hurt anyone.” Lily looked back at him as a huge clap of thunder lit up the enchanted room.

“True,” she replied sarcastically, “but flying in a thunderstorm might.”

“You should know better then anyone that they never cancel Quidditch because of the weather…”

“But…but…”

Adam looked shocked. “You don’t want them to cancel it do you?”

Yes. “No, of course not,” murmured Lily, before turning back to her toast. “I just love to fly.”

Luckily, Lily was saved from further interrogation by the arrival of Jake Collins, who for some reason looked suspiciously like a drag queen. Adam snorted into his porridge, but made no other sign that he had noticed anything odd.

~.~

By eight, most of the school had come down to breakfast, except, it seemed, for James. Lily had passed through the stage of nervousness and was heading into down right panic. James had agreed that they would talk before the match to give her some last minute tips and strategies. For some absurd reason, it had made her feel better. She was counting on that talk, and didn’t want to leave the Great Hall until it happened. However, by nine, she had no other choice but to head to the change room with the rest of the team.

Her team watched her as she paced the floor, looking up at her with huge respect. In the mists of her jumbled thoughts, something stood out completely clear. In that moment Lily realised exactly why James had become Head Boy.

James was a natural leader, and people both trusted and respected him. Besides, no matter how closely someone followed the rules, or how much the teachers liked them, if they weren’t a leader, what was the point in putting them in a position of power? In that moment, despite the prejudices she felt, she knew Quidditch captains were just as much leaders as Prefects. Both had positions of power, had to make decisions and were in charge of groups of people. Both positions gave enough experience to be given the position of Head Boy.

James knew how to lead people and though he could be a trouble maker at times, he had a good heart and Dumbledore had faith in him. If she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that in no way so far had James let him down. Dumbledore had made the right choice.

“James?” Rebecca’s voice pulled Lily back to reality. “What’s our game plan?”

“To win,” replied Lily, without batting an eyelid.

“And what’s our strategy to win?” asked Adam smiling.

“Scoring goals and catching the Snitch.”

A whistle blew and Lily rose to her feet.

“Sounds like a good plan to me…” Robin murmured, watching ‘James’ as he strode out of the change room.

~.~

James stretched as he awoke in the morning. The dormitory was very quiet as most of the girls had slept in the seventh year dormitory. It was so peaceful, he couldn’t even hear the Quidditch girls sleeping.

James sat up in his bed. The girls were not in their beds, obviously they had already left. He was completely alone. Shooting into the seventh year dormitory, he stepped over two girls sleeping on the floor to grab some robes.

“Wake up!” he yelled at the girls. “What time is it?”

Alice groaned, but rolled over and looked at her watch anyway. “It’s ten A.M. Why do you care anyway?” she grumbled.

But James had already left the dormitory. Sprinting down the hallway, he found that Hogwarts was almost empty. In the distance he could hear the rumble of a crowd; the Quidditch match was starting.

~.~

Lily walked forward to meet Madam Hooch in the centre of the pitch. Madam Hooch had only been teaching at Hogwarts for a year, but her hawk like eyes still made Lily feel unsettled.

Rodger also walked forward, glaring at her. He obviously was not going to let his issues with ‘James’ go. Madam Hooch opened a crate and they watched while the Snitch was released into the air.

“Okay, shake hands please, captains.”

Rodger grabbed her hand. Oh, Merlin, Lily screamed inside her head, is he attempting to crush my hand?

Finally, after what seemed like hours of agony, Madam Hooch cleared her throat and Roger dropped his hand. “Okay teams, I want a fair match.” She looked at both Lily and Rodger, obviously suspecting there was something going on. “No foul play.”

Roger nodded, but didn’t meet the Quidditch teacher’s eye.

Lily decided she was very scared.

~.~

By the time James reached the Quidditch pitch, the game had been going for ten minutes. Out of breath, he sat down beside Jake. It seemed he had noticed his face was covered in make up, tried to get most of it off, and failed miserably. He now looked like he had some sort of weird skin disease.

“What’s been happening?” James panted out of breath.

“Nothing much. The score is even, one goal each. James has been playing really oddly, but you know James, he probably has some elaborate plan up his sleeve.”

James didn’t bother replying. He was too nervous. Looking up at the game, he saw Rebecca pass the Quaffle to Lily, who tried to pass it to Alex too quickly, which allowed it to be intercepted. There was a collective groan from the Gryffindor side. James put his face in his hands. If we ever got out of this mess, he thought to himself, I pray to Merlin that our children inherit my Quidditch genes.

~.~

“Ugh!” Lily murmured to herself, as a Bludger just missed her face. “Why on earth would people do this for fun?” The game had been going for at least half an hour. While she was beginning to play a little better (she had actually helped Rebecca score a goal), she knew people were beginning to question what was going on. James Potter was meant to be brilliant, not going on average. Cursing Alice, potions, Inachis Oil, Bludgers and James (for no other reason than it was easy to blame him) she refocused on the game.

Alex threw Lily the Quaffle and she was moving towards the goals when she saw Rodger. He was grinning, which couldn’t be good news for her. However, his gaze quickly moved from her face to something in the distance. He inclined his head slightly, motioning to something behind her. Lily moved her head to see what he was looking at when…

“Ouch!” the commentator yelled. “Two of the Chasers from the Hufflepuff team have deliberately collided with Potter! Of course, if the rumours are true, a move like that was probably orchestrated by Fairgon, the Hufflepuff keeper, who believes that his ex-girlfriend…”

Someone coughed in the background.

“Sorry, Professor McGonagall. Potter moves forward to take the penalty.”

Winded, but happy to be alive, Lily moved forward to take the penalty. She gulped. If she didn’t make this shot, people would start questioning who she was. After all, as far as she could remember, James Potter had never missed a penalty shot.

~.~

James didn’t understand how other people could stand it; the tension surely must be getting to everyone by now. He supposed that most people were not watching both their long time crush and themself play at the same time. Instead of getting more accustomed to the situation, James was getting more nervous as the minutes ticked by.

In fact, the only time that James’ tension left him, was when Lily had been attacked by the Hufflepuff Chasers. Two emotions had crashed over him, one after the other, sweeping the worry away. Firstly he had felt fear; for a brief second, Lily looked as though she was going to topple from her broom. He knew that she didn’t have the greatest control over her flying skills, and for a moment, he had feared greatly for her safety.

The second emotion he had felt, as soon as he knew Lily was going to be okay, was fury. How dare they break the rules of Quidditch and play dirty to satisfy their Captain’s grudges? It was something he would never ask of his team mates and it made him disgusted.

But, after wobbling briefly, Lily had righted herself on her broom. The crowd had cheered as she moved forward to take her penalty.

That was when James’ anxiety returned. He knew that Lily could shoot penalties, it was one of the things he had taught her to do when they had trained the previous week. But would she be able to do it under pressure?

“Madam Hooch hands Potter the Quaffle. Of course, this is a big showdown for the boys,” the commentator was saying. “As we all know tension has been high between the Captains since Fairgon found his ex-girlfriend, Lily Evans, in a closet with Potter. Still smarting from that embarrassing public scene in the Great Hall, Fairgon is obviously blaming Potter for stealing…”

“MR. GORDING! ARE YOU COMMENTANTING ON A QUIDDITCH MATCH OR ARE YOU GOSSIPING?”

“Sorry, Professor. Potter looks like he is aiming and … AMAZING! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! Potter hit the Hufflepuff Keeper on the top of the head with the perfect angle, causing the Quaffle to bounce straight into the middle goal. Ladies and gentlemen, you may call that a fluke, but that is what I call pure skill. If I was Lily Evans, I know which man I would choose...”

There was the sound of someone being hit over the head with a rolled up newspaper.

“And Gryffindor leads, 60-40.”

James swelled with pride. While he did have to admit that there was a very high chance that it was a fluke, the goal was not only amazing but had spectacularly embarrassed Rodger. James had never been more proud of her.

~.~

Lily was fast growing sick of the game. True, scoring that goal had been awesome, and the crowd screaming her name (well, James’ name at least), made her feel on top of the world. Of course, the crowd didn’t know that she had actually aimed for the right goal post, slipped slightly, tried to recover the ball, nearly dropped it and ended up completely missing her target. Lily did not believe that she was a lucky person (especially taking the events of the last ten days into account) but in that moment, she could have sworn someone was looking out for her.

However, it did nothing to solve her two main problems. Number one, that she really was not good at Quidditch and her team kept passing the ball to her, and number two, that the whole Hufflepuff Quidditch team seemed to be out to get her. In fact, her goal had embarrassed Rodger on a whole new level and it seemed Rodger had asked his team to lend him a hand in her destruction. Lily tried to take solace in the fact that they weren’t out to kill her but to kill James.

It wasn’t a very comforting thought.

The game was slowly getting dirtier and dirtier. The Gryffindor team were getting angry at all the unprovoked attack on their captain, so they were starting to play dirty too. Penalty after penalty was called on both sides, but it seemed nothing Madam Hooch did could stop the players acting like Muggle spectators at a soccer match.

Rebecca passed off the Quaffle to Lily. A Hufflepuff chaser grinned evilly, and started to make his way over to her. Deciding she had had enough, Lily shot off in the other direction. She no longer cared that she was holding the Quaffle, or that she was meant to be Quidditch Captain. The crowd gasped, but Lily kept moving. She didn’t care what they thought; she just wanted to make it out of the game in one piece.

Suddenly, there was an excruciating pain in her arm. She barely had time to comprehend that thought, when the whistle blew.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT! JAMES POTTER HAS SAVED THE DAY!”

The real James Potter had gone completely white. Lily had done something he wasn’t sure he would even have had the guts to do. Robin had been diving to catch the Snitch, unaware of her surroundings. A Bludger had been flying straight at her head and just as it was about to hit her, Lily had stopped it with her body. He wasn’t sure if she was brave, stupid or crazy.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, EVEN IF YOU AREN’T A GRYFFINDOR, YOU HAVE TO ADMIRE BRAVERY LIKE THAT!”

Lily looked as though she was going to faint. James stood up, desperate to help her in some way. What if her stunning display of bravery had been an accident? James touched his arm, it was almost as though he could feel her pain. Bludgers were painful at the best of times and Lily had rammed straight into one. If she hadn’t been prepared, she would be in shock.

“What an exciting end to a Quidditch match!” the commentator continued in a calmer voice. “Robin Bardona has caught the Snitch, after her Captain took a Bludger for her. There is no doubt about what happened here. James Potter saw that the Bludger was heading for his Seeker, who was too absorbed in the chase to notice, and decided to fly straight into the Bludger, blocking it from its original destination. Roger Fairgon should take notice of this, because that is the sort of bravery that may win our beloved Head Girl’s heart…”

James looked over at the commentary box, but McGonagall seemed to be cheering too widely to notice that the Ravenclaw boy was gossiping again. A gasp went though the crowd. Lily had passed out, slipping off her broom and was falling to the ground. James caught his breath.

Yet, luck was on her side and James exhaled in relief. Eve and Benedict caught her and did a lap of honour before making their way to the ground. The crowd cheered wildly. Benedict and Eve waved and smiled before leaving the pitch, carrying Lily between them.

“And it looks like they are taking James to the hospital wing,” the commentator sighed. “What a fantastic match.”

James just shook his head, hoping he would never, ever have to watch another match like that again.

~.~

“Humph,” Madame Pomfrey huffed as Lily opened her eyes. “I hope I never meet another student that gets themselves into as many dangerous situations as you do. “Despite what you may think, I don’t like seeing you constantly.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience,” Lily muttered, before surveying the hospital wing for the fourth time in a week. It seemed a small fan club had gathered around the foot of her bed. Noticing her eyes were opened, they cheered. Well most of them did anyway. Remus, the only male member of the group, was there too, and though he wasn’t cheering, he did look quite smug.

“How long have I been unconscious?” Lily asked, staring at her arm, which looked completely normal.

“Oh, not long at all,” replied Madam Pomfrey. “I did mend your arm while you were out though, only took me a second. You are free to go, right after you drink this potion.” She rolled her eyes. “Please try not to do anything brave or stupid for the next few days.” She paused. “Especially anything that covers both categories.”

Lily rose to her feet to take the potion from Madam Pomfrey’s outstretched hands. The fan club gasped, causing Lily to roll her eyes. Seriously, some people simply had no lives. She shot a pleading look at Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to understand, shooing out the giggling girls. “Thanks, Lily,” Remus said as Madam Pomfrey was leaving. She gave him an odd look, before retreating into her office.

“So what’s going on?” Lily asked Remus, sipping at the potion. “Who won the match? I couldn’t think clearly after I was hit with the Bludger. Where are the others?”

“Yes, we won. About two seconds after you intercepted the Bludger for Robin, she caught the Snitch. Sirius and Peter went to Honeydukes to get some supplies. Everyone wants to throw a party in your honour. That was some pretty cool flying.”

“I did wh- hold on a minute, they are going to Hogsmeade?” Lily asked surprised.

“Yeah, I know, it’ll take a while. They should be back soon though. They left straight after the match.”

Lily decided to add it to the list of seventy-four thousand things that James’ friends said or did that didn’t make any sense.

“So when does this party start?” Lily asked, changing the subject.

Remus just grinned. “As soon as you get there.”

~.~

Everyone cheered as she walked through the portrait hole and into the common room. It seemed that Peter and Sirius had made it back to before them as three tables had been pushed together, piled high with Honeydukes sweets, butterbeer and many other goodies.

Lily made her way through the crowd, being patted on the back by what seemed like everyone as she went.

“Well done, James!”

“Great job, Potter!”

“Amazing flying!”

“So brave!”

“Thanks for saving me,” Robin said with a smile. “I would have been knocked unconscious, no doubt about it.”

“Um, sure,” Lily said embarrassed, “you did an awesome job with the Snitch.”

After circulating the common room a few times, Lily finally made her way over to James, who was sitting on the couch watching her.

“You really scared me for a minute there,” he commented when she sat down. “I was afraid you were going to hit the ground.” He paused for a second, a glint in his eye. “Did you actually fly into that Bludger on purpose?”

“Sorry for the inconvenience, James, I didn’t mean to stress you out,” Lily said sarcastically. She looked down at the floor, blushing. “No, I didn’t do it on purpose. I was actually running away from that Hufflepuff Chaser. I didn’t even see the Bludger before it hit me. What a complete joke. Everyone seems to think I’m really brave when I’m not.”

“No,” said James, leaning back on the couch. “Lily, you are brave. You chose to fly in a Quidditch match when you have never played before. That takes more bravery then you know.” Lily stared at him open mouthed. “However,” he continued with a sly grin, “I never, ever, want you to play Quidditch ever again.”

Lily laughed. “Afraid you are going to lose your flying reputation?”

James just shook his head. “No, no matter what you look like, I just don’t like the idea of you getting hurt.”

With a last glance at her, he got up and went over to talk to Remus. Lily watched him walk away, and an odd feeling washing over her. One thing stood out foremost in her mind, he wasn’t lying to her, and he had meant every word he had said. He truly cared about her.

~.~

The party raged from late afternoon to evening, then on into the night. Someone had brought in a magical radio, and the furniture was moved to the corners to make a makeshift dance floor. The Gryffindors seized the opportunity and it seemed everyone joined in the dancing with enthusiasm. Year levels didn’t matter, and everyone danced with everyone. At one stage in the evening, Lily had spied Robin and Adam doing a slow dance in the corner, staring at each other like there was no-one else in the room. It was rather sweet, and Lily at least thought they made a cute couple.

However, Lily had little time to ponder the romances of others, because she was hot demand. In fact, it seemed three quarters of the females in the house wanted to dance with her. She knew James was popular, but she had a sneaking suspicion that many of them had just been impressed by his show of ‘bravery’. At many points in the evening she had felt like rolling her eyes. Hadn’t they been watching the rest of the Quidditch match? Were they really that shallow?

The party went on until about twelve, when Sirius stood on top of a table and called for the music to be turned down. “Alright, everyone!” he yelled at the crowd. “We’re going to step up this party and take it to the next level. However, you know our rules. Everyone under the age of sixteen, off to bed.”

There were grumbles and moans, with one kid in fifth year yelling, “Whose rules are they anyway?”

“That’s the way it’s always been,” retorted Sirius. “Sorry for the inconvenience, but you can stay when you are older.”


There were more grumbles and moans, but eventually the younger year-levels made their way to their dormitories. Some tried to stay, but Sirius pushed them all out. Most of the sixth years, and a handful of the older fifth years, looked extra excited. After all, they had never been allowed to stay behind before.

Lily watched Sirius, fascinated. Old enough to stay at a few of these types of parties the year before, she had still decided to go bed with the younger year levels. She hadn’t felt the need to stay behind and witness the drunken antics of her classmates.

However, she had always been interested to see how they were set up. So she watched with great interest as Sirius pulled out his wand, and drew a line in front of the staircase to the dormitories. Then, quietly sneaking outside the common room, he drew a similar line about one hundred metres from the portrait hole.

Stepping back into the tower, he grinned at the remaining Gryffindors.

“If you don’t remember from last year, or you weren’t old enough, this line,” he pointed to the line in front of the dormitories, “stops anyone under sixteen entering. The line outside sets off an alarm if anyone over twenty, namely teachers, walks past. If you hear the alarm, vanish any evidence you can and make your way to the dormitories as quickly as possible.” Lily raised her eyebrows, wondering what Sirius Black could accomplish with his brains if he ever decided to use them for good. “Okay, my dear friends,” he continued, clapping his hands. “Let the real party begin!”

The crowd gave a cheer and the music was turned up. Lily followed Sirius over to the rest of the Marauders in the corner.

“Look what I got,” said Sirius, flicking his wand and muttering an incantation. A bottle flew down from the dormitory and straight into his hands. Even though she was a Muggle-born, after seven years in the wizarding world, she was beginning to be surprised less and less.

However, she had never seen anything like the blue bottle that Sirius was holding. She glimpsed at the label. It was midnight blue, slightly lighter then the bottle, with beautiful mermaids swimming and frolicking on the painted rocks. Knowing Sirius, she had an inkling about what it was, and was just reading the expensive looking golden lettering when Peter answered her unspoken question.

“Mermish Port!” he exclaimed. “Oh man, that stuff is so expensive.”

“And rare,” Remus added with awe, “Isn’t there a twelve month waiting list?”

“Yep,” Sirius replied proudly. “Nicked it from my father right before I ran away. It was his pride and joy. Never drank it, just liked to stare at it.” An evil grin flashed across his face, “Bet he’d be annoyed if we drank it all at once. You boys up for it?”

“Hell yes,” yelled Peter, sending a mock salute Sirius’ way.

Remus sighed. “Why not, if you can’t beat them, join them, right?”

Sirius and Peter laughed and turned to Lily, who was looking at the bottle sceptically.

“Oh, come on, Prongs,” Sirius said surprised. “You are usually the first to agree to my plans.”

“Yeah, I just feel bad letting something so good go to waste,” Lily covered.

Sirius seemed satisfied with that answer. “Trust me, I know. I’m planning on sending the empty bottle to my father as a Christmas present.”

A few others were also summoning bottles and shot glasses from their dormitories. Bottles of Firewhisky, Glitter Gin and other drinks Lily didn’t even recognise were flying though the air, making it impossible to move without being in danger of getting hit. A few people grabbed their bottles and came and joined Lily and the boys in the corner. Sirius opened the port, causing the Mermaids on the label to yell and shake their fists at him. One mermaid, a young girl with long blonde hair, was even crying. Sirius ignored them and began to pour the out the golden liquid into four little glasses.

“Flaming shots for all!” Sirius yelled, setting the shots alight. All three boys downed the flaming liquid.

Lily examined the flaming drink for a second, before simply shrugging. She bet James drank all the time, and his body was probably used to the alcohol. Throwing back the disgusting drink, Lily decided that if she was careful, there was no way that she would end up drunk.


~.~

Before Lily knew it, she was really drunk. Obviously James did not have as high an alcohol tolerance as she had thought. Sirius had continued to hand her drink after drink, until he had chosen other, more noble pursuits, such as dancing in his boxers on the table.

“Come join me, James!” he yelled, swinging his robes above his head. Lily just shook her head, stumbled and fell to the ground. Sirius hadn’t given her any drinks in the last half an hour, but the damage was already done. Lily stared up at the roof. Does it always spin like that?

“Hey sexy,” said two blondes at once, coming up to Lily. “You should be more careful.” Lily blinked. There was only one blonde, Lauren Nertic, from sixth year.

Lauren offered her hand to give her a lift up. Lily staggered and nearly fell over again, but Lauren caught her, “Easy there, tiger,” she cooed. Lily was grateful for the hand, the common room was starting to feel like being on a sailing ship. She opened her mouth to ask when Hogwarts had become sea tight, but immediately forgot what she was going to say. Lauren led her over to a couch, and sat down close beside her.

“You are so handsome,” she said, stroking Lily’s messy black hair.

Lily giggled. “I’m not used to flirting with girls. It makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“Oh, really?” Lauren asked in surprise. “But you are so popular with them! You hide it well.”

“It’s funny,” Lily said, trying to move away from the girl, but her co-ordination failed her. “Usually it is the guys who are attracted to me. In fact there is this one guy in particular who keeps professing his love for me. It’s rather annoying actually.”

Lauren looked at her for a moment, as though trying to decide whether she was being serious or not, before throwing her head back in laugher, “It doesn’t surprise me that guys are after you too. You are so good looking and brave. It was amazing what you did today on the pitch.”

“That was an accident,” Lily said quite seriously. “I didn’t mean to do it.”

“Oh, James,” Lauren sung, hitting her lightly on the shoulder. “Stop being so modest.”

Even in her incapacitated state, Lily felt as though their conversation was going down a bad road. Lily wasn’t even sure if she liked Lauren, let alone trust her enough to be around her when she was drunk. Lily attempted to move, but Lauren prevented her. Before Lily had a chance to see it coming, the girl’s lips were on hers.

“I don’t swing that way,” she spluttered, pulling out of the kiss. “I’m sorry!”

“You’re gay!” Lauren asked, her eyes popping out in disbelief.

“No…,” Lily said, quite confused. James, in his actual form, (which she had gotten quite a good look at) popped into her brain. No, she wasn’t gay at all. She shook her head and laughed. If she was imagining James Potter as a possible romantic item, then she must be really drunk.

“What did you mean then?” Lauren asked, her eyes searching her face in confusion. She seemed annoyed, obviously believing she was the butt of some sort of joke.

“I don’t know,” Lily replied in all honesty. “I mean, I’ve never even kissed a girl before…”

At first Lauren looked shocked, but she quickly schooled her features into a kind smile. “Its okay, James, there is no need to be nervous. I won’t tell anyone. We’ll just have to practise.”

~.~

James usually would feel disappointed that he didn’t get to join in the drinking, but knowing that it was actually Lily stumbling around drunk made it totally worth it. He’d spent most of the night in the back corner, talking to Rebecca and Eve about the match, keeping an eye on Lily and her increasing drunkenness. Laughing to himself, he’d watched her as she was led away by Lauren. He knew what was happening and considered rescuing her, but he still remembered being stranded with Rodger. Some things deserved payback.

However, after he had spied Lauren kissing her, he had decided that it was enough. He was about to go over and rescue her, when Alice discreetly pulled Sirius off the table, climbed on herself and attempted to call silence the chaotic common room. The room quieted down, with most people (the ones that hadn’t passed out anyway) tuning in to pay attention.

“Alright boys and girls,” she called to the party goers, “it’s time for a game.” There were a few cheers, and cat calls from the crowd. Alice grinned. “I suggest, my fellow Gryffindors, a little bit of seven minutes in heaven.” The crowd cheered louder, and out of the corner of his eye, James saw Lauren sit up very straight. He rolled his eyes. For the sake of Lily, he would have to put a stop to that before it got out of hand.

“If you don’t know the rules,” Alice continued. “You go into the closet with someone from the opposite sex, or same sex if that’s what you fancy, for seven minutes of alone time or, as some call it, heaven.” She pointed her wand to one of the cupboards in the common room, which burst open.

There was a mad dash to be first in line, but Lauren was very fast, pulling Lily to the closet door in record time. However, even though she was first to the closet, Alice blocked her path. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Lauren, but you will have to go second.”

James smirked at Lauren. He’d also arrived at the closet quickly, prepared to stop Lauren before she could take advantage of a drunken Lily. However, just before he could make some sort of comment, Alice quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the closet.

James had no idea what was happening, and was about to ask Alice what was going on, when he saw something so disturbing that his heart began to beat faster. Janelle was pulling a slightly tipsy Remus towards the closet. James began to struggle. There was no way he was going in there, but Alice was too strong for him.

He caught a glimpse of Lily, laughing so hard she was crying, before he was pushed into the dark closet. His wand was lying on the table. There was no escape. Remus landed on top of him as the closet door slammed. James quickly scrambled to his feet. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but Remus cut him off.

“Lily,” he said simply, before leaning in closer…

Remus leaned in closer, and just as James thought he was going to die, he kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m sorry Lily, I really respect you,” he said with a sigh, “but I think we should just be friends.”

“Friends, yes,” James choked out, his heart still beating frantically. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”

“You’re not upset are you?” Remus peered at ‘Lily’ hoping that ‘she’ was okay.

“No!” James blurted out, slightly too enthusiastically. “This has been just one big misunderstanding.”

“Good,” said Remus, looking relieved, “because I really like you Lily, but just not in that way.”

“Thank Merlin!” James muttered under his breath. He had come within inches of never being able to look one of his best friends in the face ever again. He wondered if his breathing would ever return to normal. However, if Remus heard James’ comment he ignored it. He took a deep breath and began to speak again.

“I think you should give James a chance. I know he can seem a bit conceited and arrogant, and sometimes he forgets to wear deodorant.”

Hey!

“But he is one of the bravest, kindest and most loyal people I know.”

“Thank you, Moony,” James said with sincerity.

“What?” asked Remus.

“I mean, thank you, Remus, for…er… the advice,” James quickly said. “I’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Consider it.” Remus raised his eyebrows. “Hey, do you want to make James jealous…”

“NO!” James yelled.

“Jees, Lily! It was only a joke…”

~.~

“Only three minutes to go,” muttered Lauren, pacing outside the cupboard door. “Stupid Alice, why’d she let Evans and Lupin in first?”

Lily was still laughing. James’ panicked face had been absolutely priceless. She had no idea why Alice had put them into the closet together. Remus had never shown any interest besides friendship in her and she didn’t like him in that way either. However, her head was way too muddled for her to actually reach any logical conclusions.

Lauren pulled at her hand. “Come on James, let’s lift the spell off the door a few minutes early.”

Lily looked at the cupboard, then at Lauren, and then back at the cupboard. “I’m not going in there with you…”

“Why not?” asked Lauren shocked.

“Because I don’t like you,” Lily said frankly. “I want you to stop taking advantage of me.”

“What?” Lauren yelled looking more outraged then hurt.

“I mean it it’s not fair,” Lily said moodily. “Leave me alone.”

“But…”

“No, enough is enough. I’m going to bed.”

However, before Lily could move, there was a high pitched whistling noise. Peter, the only Marauderer who was not drunk, or locked in a closet, stood on the table. “TEACHER!” he yelled. “EVERYBODY RUN!”

Total chaos reined. People began running everywhere, vanishing empty bottles and mess before sprinting up the stairs, dragging their drunk friends behind them. In seconds, the common room was void of all life.

However, ‘Lily’ and Remus weren’t so lucky. The doors had been charmed to only open after seven minutes, so they had only just been let free when Professor McGonagall stormed into the deserted common room.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise, looking at the pair of them standing in the centre of the ordered room. “Lily, Remus.” She nodded her head towards them. “Where is everybody else?”

“In bed, Professor McGonagall,” James said with a sweet smile. “Remus and I just met down here by chance. It seems neither of us could sleep.”

Professor McGonagall looked sceptical, but nodded her head. “Yes of course, I was just checking up to make sure the party was over and nothing untoward was happening.” She glanced over the room quickly. “But seeing as it is you, Lily, I’ll be on my way.” James nodded placidly, but inside he was laughing. There was no way on earth that McGonagall would have believed them it had of been his true self and Remus.

However, just as she was about to leave, there was a loud snore from behind the couch. To his horror, James saw what Professor McGonagall had missed. Sirius Black was passed out, wearing nothing but his boxers and a bright purple cape. An empty bottle of Mermish Port was in his hands. James prayed that McGonagall wouldn’t notice.

“What was that?” To James’ dismay the Professor’s head snapped around, looking for the noise.

“Remus coughed,” James improvised. He would have owned up to it himself, but the sound was too deep for him. Remus looked perfectly fine, so as soon as McGonagall looked away for a spit second, James elbowed him in the ribs. Remus faked a large coughing fit.

“Better get him to bed,” James said, putting his arm around Remus as he continued to cough. “Don’t want him getting sick.”

“Yes of course, especially this close to…” She paused, before quickly adding, “Winter.” James sighed in relief. Professor McGonagall nodded at them both and left through the portrait hole.


~.~

Lily woke up feeling horrible.

Groaning, she wondered what small creature had crawled into her throat and died. Moving made her stomach churn, her eyes were itchy and she felt light headed and dizzy. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself on the floor of the sixth year boy’s dormitory.

What surprised her more, however, was the fact that she was not alone. It seemed three quarters of the people at the party had ended up in the room. The sixth year dormitory was the first dormitory on the male staircase, and by far the closest to the common room. In the mad panic, many people had piled into the room, where they had eventually fallen asleep.

Rolling onto her back, Lily felt incredibly queasy. Why on earth would anyone ever get drunk? It can’t possibly be worth it.

Cursing Sirius, who wasn’t currently in the room, Lily stumbled to her feet. She didn’t know much about hangovers, seeing as she had never had one before, so she didn’t know the best thing to treat it. There was probably some sort of magical cure that she didn’t know about, but it would probably have to come through one of the teachers.

However, her mother had once told her that eating something in the morning always made her feel better, so being careful not to wake anyone, Lily stepped over two sleeping boys before making her way down to breakfast.

~.~

James woke up feeling horrible. It was rather unfair, in his opinion, since he hadn’t even drunk anything.

What did I eat last night?

James clutched his middle, he had the strangest stomach ache he had ever felt. He felt bloated and sore at the same time. It was probably all the chocolate I ate at the party, he thought to himself. But I couldn’t help myself, I was really craving some.

The girls’ seventh year dormitory was very quiet. Most people had slept in the boy’s sixth year dormitory, while a few couples had made their way to the other dormitories. The only other person in the dormitory was Alice, who was sleeping peacefully. James looked down at her pretty face. Apart from the obvious reasons, he was glad Remus hadn’t kissed him. It would have been such a waste to kill Alice.

James stretched. For some reason his back was rather stiff. It was odd; he hadn’t been doing any hard physical exercise and Lily’s bed hadn’t given him a backache before then. Nevertheless, he decided he would consult Lily at breakfast.

After having a long shower, (James firmly believed in showers. In fact, the last two weeks he had made an effort to have one at least twice a day, sometimes slipping in one at lunch time) James made his way down to the Great Hall for the morning meal.

James grumbled to himself all the way to his destination. He was feeling restless and well, rather cranky. He hadn’t drunk anything and his stomach still hurt, it just wasn’t fair. Yet, it seemed such an odd reason to feel annoyed. It’s probably just stress, he thought to himself, or tiredness. It’s not like this is a usual situation.

On the way down, a first year accidentally bumped into him. “Watch it you snot nosed little brat!” he yelled as the kid ran off in fright. He gave himself a little shake. Why was he so temperamental? Most of the time his temper was reasonable.

Although he still felt lousy, he was cheered up immensely by the sight of Lily. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was pale and her robes were creased and mangled. As he moved towards the Gryffindor table, he saw her put her head in her hands.

In short she looked awful, and from past experience, he knew she felt as bad as she looked.

“Good-morning, sunshine. How are you this morning?” he asked chirpily to annoy her. She didn’t even raise her head from her hands. James picked up a goblet and twirled it in his fingers. Then, with a loud clunk, he dropped it loudly onto the table. Lily slowly raised her head from her hands to glare at him. James grinned back and started rapping his knuckles on the table.

Lily’s hand shot out to grab James’. “I’m not a suicidal person, Potter, but I swear if you do not stop doing that, I will kill you.”

“Such a long sentence for one so hung-over,” James cooed at her. “Pray tell, how was Lauren last night?”

Lily looked as though she was going to hit him. “Pray tell, how was Remus last night?”

“Fantastic, we were still in the closet hours later. I’m totally in love.” Lily raised her eyebrows.
“Actually I don’t even want to imagine that,” James continued shuddering. “It seems he just wanted to be friends. His loss I suppose.”

“And you?” Lily asked jokingly.

“Heartbroken, but also rather glad. Who would have helped me haul her Alice’s body to the lake?”

Lily laughed, winced and touched her head lightly in pain. “Urgh, I’m never drinking again. Why did she lock you in the cupboard?”

“There was a girly party and…”

“You told them you liked Remus?” Lily guessed. “That was a stupid thing to do.”

“Actually,” said James in an annoyed tone. “I said I liked me, and they assumed I liked Remus.”

Just at that moment Alice and Sirius walked in the Hall. Alice looked fine, but Sirius looked like road kill.

“Morning, Sirius,” James said brightly and loudly with a smile. Sirius narrowed his eyes over the cup of water he was beginning to drink.

“How’d it go last night with Remus?” Alice asked, turning to look at James.

“Remus?” Sirius spat out his water and looked at ‘Lily’ in shock, before shooting a glance at ‘James’ to see if he had a reaction.

“Nothing happened,” James replied with a scowl.

“You were locked in a closet with Remus?” Sirius turned to ‘James’. “Where were you?”

“He,” said Alice scornfully, “was making out with Lauren.”

“Lauren Nertic?” Sirius asked disbelieving and a little bit disgusted. “Prongs!”

“I was assaulted!” Lily spat back at him. “At least I wasn’t dancing in my boxes.”

“He has you there Sirius,” Alice interjected with a grin. “And speaking of your boxes, the pattern was quite intriguing.”

Sirius ignored her. “Why didn’t anyone pull me off the floor when I passed out? My back is killing me.”

“No guaranties your back wouldn’t be killing you though,” James grumbled, his mood turning again. “My back is hurting like angry Hippogriff’s stampeded over me all night. And I slept in a bed. Totally unfair, I woke up with a stomach ache too and I didn’t even drink.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “That’s because you’re about to get your period sweetie. It has nothing to do with alcohol.”

“Ew,” said Sirius, pulling a face. “I’m eating and hangover here. Give a man a break.”

James rose to his feet so quickly that he hit his thighs on the table. “Stuff… must do… have to go…” he struggled out, unable to form a coherent sentence, before running from the Great Hall.

Alice laughed. “Ah, Lily on hormones. She’s so unpredictable.”

“Remind me to stay away from her,” mumbled Sirius.

“I better go and see if she was okay.” Lily muttered vaguely. Then she got up and sprinted after James.

~.~

James was fast in his panic, but Lily managed to intercept him on his way to the hospital wing.

“Get off me, Lily!” James grumbled, trying to shake off Lily’s grip.

“James, we can work...” Lily started.

But James was not having any of that. His eyes were wide as though he was trapped in an airless cell. They darted left and right as though he was looking for somewhere to escape, before they settled on Lily’s arm around his wrist. “I said get off me, Lily!” he said in a strained voice.

“Its okay, James…”

“SHUT UP, LILY!” James yelled.

Lily released his arm. “Whoa, looks like someone has bad PMS…”

“You are not helping.” He paused. “So Alice was right.”

Lily nodded at James, whose face drained of the little colour that remained. Lily knew it was true; there was no doubt about it. In fact, she had done the maths a few days previously. She was going to try to find a way to tell him, but of course she had put it off. Now it seemed that that had been a very bad decision.

“Okay,” James said calmly. “We are going to Madame Pomfrey and she is going to switch us back.”

“James, no!” Lily exclaimed. “You said you would do this for me!”

“No, I said I would be you for a month,” James retaliated childishly.

Lily rolled her eyes. “This is part of me!”

“I don’t remember this being in the job description!”

“Can’t you do this for me?” Lily pleaded. ‘Please, James?”

James sighed. “Lily, let me make a list of things that I would do for you: I’d dive into the lake in winter, I’d pull out my fingernails, I’d live in Antarctic, I’d streak across the Great Hall. Lily, I would die for you. But what you are asking me to do right now, well in all honesty it is every man’s deepest fear.”

“You would?” Lily asked shocked. He’d never said anything like that to her before, even when he was in his own body; even when he had been going through one of his stages of attempting to get her on a date.

“Yeah,” James murmured looking at the floor. “I would.”

There was a moment of silence while both of them comprehended what passed between them. However, it wasn’t long before James broke the moment. “I CAN’T DO IT!”

“James! It’s not that bad!” Lily said, trying to keep her voice calm. Honestly, boys are complete wusses.

“No,” James said, mimicking her frustrated tone. “It’s worse. We have to go to Madame Pomfrey, NOW!”

“James! It happens to every single girl once a month!”

“Exactly, Lily. It happens to every single girl,” he emphasised. “Not every single guy.”

“It’s only for one week…”

“A WHOLE WEEK!” James roared, stunning Lily into silence. This, it seemed was news to him. It was lucky there was no-one else in the corridor. “ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

“Please, James, I’m begging you.”

“Hell, no,” he folded his arms over his chest and looked away.

“Please?”

“NO!”

“James!”

“Okay, fine,” James sighed finally giving in. “But only because you are adorable. Okay, I suppose in your normal form you are not too bad either.” Lily rolled her eyes at his joke, but James suddenly became serious again. “But you owe me! You owe me big time.” James turned to make a dramatic exit, but Lily stopped him.

“You probably should learn a little more before you go anywhere…”

~.~

Half an hour later, James was sitting on the lid of a toilet seat, listening to Lily’s instructions. Lily had a variety of products that she was showing to James.

“So, those ones goes on the outside,” James pointed at the blue packet in Lily’s right hand. “I understand that. But those ones,” he pointed at the small pink box in Lily’s left hand. “Did you say that you actually put them up your…”

“Yes, James,” Lily cut him off, “but for now, we should probably stick with these.” She handed him the blue packet.

James twirled it around in his hands. “So you girls really do this every month? I have a whole new respect for you.”

“Like I said, it’s really not that bad.”

James rolled his eyes, clearly believing she was insane. “So you get symptoms and stuff like a week before?”

“It’s different for every girl. Usually I’m totally fine up until two or three days before, and then all the PMS symptoms hit, the mood swings, cramps, cravings.”

“Sounds like fun,” James sarcastically commented.

“But it usually clears up when I start men-”

“Stop, stop, STOP!” James put his hands over his ears. “Just because I’ve agreed to do it, doesn’t mean I want to hear it!”

“James.” Lily gave him a quick hug. “You are the most awesome person ever.”

“Why don’t I feel happy that you are saying that?” asked James, looking up to the roof as though seeking guidance. “Why couldn’t you be saying that because we are dating and not because I’m a hormonal teenage girl whose boobs hurt?”

“What are you doing in the female toilets?” asked a Ravenclaw girl, poking her head over the top of the cubical.

“I think it’s nice to see a man in touch with his feminine side,” said her friend, also poking her head over the barrier. “Lily, you’re so lucky your boyfriend is okay with holding your box of tampons.”

“Oh, we’re not going out,” Lily replied hastily, throwing the box of tampons at James, who was nodding enthusiastically at the girls. James quickly ducked to avoid them.

“Oh, just ignore James,” he chuckled. “He’s just a little hormonal.”

~.~

Later that evening, James was curled up in Lily’s bed, eating a bucket of ice-cream. He’d been feeling irritable, but the house-elves had been nice to him anyway. He spun the spoon around on his fingertips, but he lost concentration and it slid onto the floor and under the bed.

Grumbling, he set down the tub of triple-choc-fudge and crawled on his hands and knees to grab the utensil. However, something caught his eye. A blue, leather bound journal was sitting under the bed.

A small voice protested that it was probably private, but he quickly quashed it. It didn’t really put up much fight after all. Opening the cover, he read the first page.

Diary of Lily Evans, Volume IV

If you are reading this, you have somehow got past my security system (this diary opens only to me) or I am dead.

If I am alive, I swear I will kill you.

If I am dead, please avenge me. Happy reading!

James chortled, Lily had a bizarre, but good sense of humour. Flicking though the diary, James determined that it covered from the start of sixth year to the present.

…James Potter…

A thrill went though him when he read his name. Quickly he scanned the rest of the paragraph

…Sirius Black, Rodger Fairgon, Rosalinda Fitzpatrick…

He sighed; she was listing people who had returned for N.E.W.T. Charms. She didn’t mention him again for a number of pages. Doesn’t she ever write about me? He shovelled down some more ice-cream to console himself. Not bothering to scan each page, he flicked further forward, until he reached the spring of 1978.

James Potter is an arrogant, self obsessed, pain in my…

Ah, that was better. It was nice to be written about.

He has decided that once again he likes me. It seems once every three or four months he goes through a stage…

Not true, James thought to himself. It’s only every three or four months that I get vocal about it… He skim read the rest of the page.

Just as I ditched Potter by hiding under the staircase…

So that was where she hid. He should have known, or at least found somewhere to check the Marauders Map.

But Rodger was there and…

James tore out the page. Disgusting. We don’t need a reminder of THAT. He Vanished the page with a flick of his wand, and turned back to the diary. It was time to purge it of all boy related mementoes. Well, any romantic moments that didn’t involve him at least.

However, the page that rested beneath his fingers caught his eye.

14th of May, 1978

There was more bad news in the paper today. Deaths, attacks, disappearances; I’m finding it very hard to understand. How can people do it to their fellow humans? How can people be so cruel? Sometimes I can’t help but think about who could be next. Could it be me, or worse, someone I love? But I have now reached a decision. As I once said to my former best friend, I have chosen my path. I know the way I choose is right.

As I am writing this, I look down the Gryffindor table and a few faces stand out to me. Alice, who sits beside me, is holding herself defiant. She has already made her choice clear to me; she will fight on the right side. There are others too, Sirius Black and James Potter, who are sitting a few places down, are also having a deep discussion, the newspaper in front of them. When it comes down to it, I know they too will join ranks against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I am proud to say that we will fight together…

… Even if Potter is the most annoying boy to ever walk the planet.

James sank back against the pillows. Lily would fight by his side and he didn’t know if he was pleased or worried. While he hated the idea of Lily fighting, the word together sounded amazing. The only thing left for him to do was to convince her that he was not the most annoying boy to ever walk the planet.

Either that, or convince her that he was worth it anyway.

Chapter 11: The Head’s Dormitory

“Lily,” James moaned, sliding into the seat next to her at dinner. “This is so gross.”

Lily kept eating her kidney pie. It had been four days since James had agreed to keep their secret. Four long, excruciating days that Lily wished she could simply forget.

From the moment he’d agreed to keep his silence, James had been a nightmare. For two days he had snapped at everyone, thrown tantrums and generally acted like an insulted hippogriff. He was not used to all the hormones running though his system and had suffered from PMS so terrible, that at once stage McGonagall had sent him to the hospital wing out of sheer irritation. Lily wasn’t sure, but she had an inclination that James had been hamming it up a bit, just to annoy her. She wouldn’t put it past James to make her suffer.

However, if that had been bad, the moment James had actually got his period he’d become even worse. Moody James was replaced by whining, complaining James. And as Lily was the only one aware of the full situation, and partly (well, mostly) responsible, he had spent two entire days complaining to her. He was so irritating that Lily was beginning to wish that the hormonal James was back. At least it had been partially entertaining.

“Seriously, Lily,” James continued, ignoring her silence. “It feels like I’m…”

“Enough, James!” Lily spat, slamming her fist on the table. The first year sitting next to her eyed the two of them warily. “About one in five girls are going through the same thing in this hall, so if you don’t change the subject, I’ll hex you!”

“But…” James trailed off when Lily shot him a look so cold, it could have frozen a phoenix. James paused for a moment and tilted his head to the side as though a thought had hit him. Before Lily had a chance to even dread what he was about to do, James sat up straight and looked Lily in the eye. “Okay, fine. I think we should call our first child Charissa.”

“What?” Lily dropped her glass of, thankfully empty, pumpkin juice.

“I’m changing the subject, just as you asked,” James replied with a cheery smile. “Charissa means beloved or loved one. If she looks anything like you, she’ll be a little angel. Plus, Charissa Lily Potter has such a nice ring to it and �“”

“James,” Lily cut him off before he could go any further. “We are not going to have a daughter!”

“Oh,” James paused, digesting the information. “You think it will be a boy? Jeez, Lily, I hadn’t even considered that. I’ve always pictured a little girl with bright red hair, green eyes and amazing Quidditch skills.” James shrugged. “Not that I would mind a little boy, I would love him just the same. So, if you’re sure, we should probably start thinking about names. Any male names you particularly like?”

Lily rolled her eyes. He was a nutcase. “James, can you please go back to complaining already.”

“No, this is a far better topic of conversation,” James grinned. “Besides, we have to start talking about it sometime.”

“Only when we have children,” Lily said, before realising her mistake. “No wait, I mean, if we have children. IF we have children, which we definitely won’t.”

“In denial, Lily,” James murmured, shaking his head. “You may as well just accept it. Okay, say we are not talking about us. What would you name your son?”

“Not important,” Lily said dismissively. “Oh, and I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s the Marauders Map? I overheard Remus and Peter talking about it last night.”

“It’s a map we created; I think I mentioned it when I told you about �“” James went completely pale. “Oh, no, full moon is coming up. I can’t believe I forgot about it!”

Lily’s face went even paler. How could she have forgotten? Sirius, Remus and Peter had even made references to it a few times. She looked up at the moon; it was nearly full. Full moon was only two nights away. They would have to come up with a plan, and fast.

“What are we going to do?” she asked James in a panicked voice.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Remus asked as he sat down, looking at Lily and James’ worried expressions. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, there are about five in this room,” pointed out Sirius, joining them. He turned to James and Lily, eying them sceptically. “Something is definitely up with these two though. Do you reckon the power has gotten to their heads?” Sirius smirked. “Get it, Heads?”

Lily ignored Sirius’ pun. She glanced over at James and could see that he was deep in thought. She relaxed slightly. Hopefully James could come up with some sort of plan. Perhaps she would even be able to transform. A thrill ran though her, it would be exciting to morph into an animal, if it was possible. She’d love to run around as a stag.

James broke her out of her thoughts, “James and I have to go to Head’s dormitory.”

Before Lily even had the chance to register what he had said, James had grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the room.

After watching them exit the Hall, Remus turned to Sirius, “I didn’t know there was a Head’s dormitory.”

Sirius shuffled over to where Lily had previously been sitting, and begun to shove the remaining kidney pie into his mouth. “Who knows, Moony, who knows…”

~.~

Accidentally knocking over a mop, Lily turned to the person occupying her body, “James, what are we doing in a broom closet?”

“It’s a good place to meet,” he replied smoothly, sitting down on the dusty, cluttered floor. “Don’t you recognise it? We’ve conversed here before.”

Lily sighed; all the stresses of the few days had clearly pushed James over the edge. It was cruel of her to allow him to continue in the madness, so she made a mental note to find him good therapist when it was all over. “Why did you say we were going to the Head’s dormitory?”

James shrugged, “It’s a good code-word for when we want to make out later on.”

She scratched the therapist idea. James hadn’t been affected at all. “Right, I’ll store that in the, ‘it’s never going to happen’ section of my brain.” Lily quickly got the point. “What are we going to do about full moon? Can you teach me to transform? Could you transform yourself?”

James shook his head, “No and no. I actually tried to in your body, it doesn’t work. You see, transforming is both a mental and physical thing. You need to cast a whole lot of spells on your body to make it work, but you also have to be mentally able. I can’t teach you that in three days, when it took us the better part of three years. Neither of us can do it by full moon.”

“So, what are we going to do?” Lily asked, her voice growing in urgency. If neither of them could transform, then they might have to come out with the truth. Her heart sunk, they’d come so far to be foiled at the last minute.

“I have a cunning plan, hence why I suggested we meet here.” James waved his arm, gesturing to their surroundings, managing to knock over two broomsticks and a mop in the process. “There was one time in sixth year Sirius couldn’t come along because he had a detention. Ever since then, we’ve all been careful the few days leading up to full moon but…”

“So your suggestion is I actually try and get a detention?” Lily said sarcastically. James smirked. “That’s a stupid plan!” she retorted.

“You got anything better?” James asked, raising his perfectly sculptured eyebrows.

“No,” Lily admitted.

“Well, I suggest we now leave the Head’s dormitory,” James declared, pushing the door open with his foot. Lily rolled her eyes and got up to leave, but James pushed in front of her.

“Ladies first,” he said, skipping out into the light.

~.~

“Eric?” James asked Lily, reaching over to grab her glass of pumpkin juice to take a sip.

“I know I look like a guy,” Lily scowled, grabbed a new glass and poured herself a drink. “But my name is Lily, remember James?

“No, I mean for naming your son. I remember you said once that you liked it.” James had actually read it in her diary, but he wasn’t exactly going to tell her that. It seemed that the only thing that made him feel better on his hormonal days was reading Lily’s diary. Even now, he was mortally afraid that his robes were going to be stained. Although it wasn’t quite as bad as he had expected, he was still glad that he would never, ever, have to do it again.

As for the name he’d found written in her diary, he personally wasn’t overly fond of it, but if that was what Lily wanted, then he could live with it. Eric Potter didn’t have the best ring to it, but it would do. As long as it was their child, he’d be happy.

Lily narrowed her eyes, “I do like the name, but I don’t ever recall saying it out loud.”

Damn it, thought James. She’s too smart for her own good.

“So,” he ventured, moving the conversation away from dangerous areas. “That’s a no on baby Eric Potter?”

“That’s a no on any baby Potters that are related to me,” Lily said. “So stop trying to guess names. How is the plan going?”

“Lily, for your benefit, I have compiled a list.” He reached into his robes and pulled out a scroll of parchment with a flourish. It had taken him a long time, but he was fairly sure he had gotten everything down. “I believe you will find it most instructive.”

Lily grabbed the scroll from James’ hand. As she unravelled it, he watched her eyes widen as they flickered over the words. It was a comprehensive list of things he had received a detention for. It reached the ground.

53. Not doing homework
54. Talking in class
55. Dancing in class
56. Singing opera in class
57. Causing all of the Slytherins in class to sing opera

Lily looked up from the list, “When was that?”

James looked into the distance, reliving the memory. “Ah, potions class in January of second year. A beautiful rendition of The Magic Flute by Mozart. Did you know that he was a Muggle-born too? Anyway, you were missing from that class because you had the flu and had to go to the hospital wing to take a potion. The Slytherins were surprisingly good at singing; I especially enjoyed the way Snape sung soprano.”

He saw that Lily tried very hard to frown, but she ended up smiling at him instead. Even though he was in her body, he loved that he had made her do it. “How did Slughorn know it was you?” she asked.

It was a good question, but James didn’t really know the answer. “Common sense I suppose. Most teachers go by the theory ‘guilty until proven innocent’ when it comes to us. Plus, Slughorn’s not stupid. Who else could it be?”

Lily turned back to the list. “Do you think I should try a few things? Will it work?”

James shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt...” He stopped talking as he saw Peter and Remus approaching. Lily followed his gaze.

“We should continue this conversation in private.”

“Head’s dormitory?” James asked.

“Head’s dormitory,” Lily agreed with a small laugh. As crazy as he was, James was definitely entertaining.

~.~

Back in the broom closet, James pulled out a scrap of parchment. “I was thinking about the last time I used the Marauder’s Map, and I realised that I had left it in the dungeon.”

“I thought you said it was a map?” Lily asked, staring confused at the paper. “That’s just a scrap of parchment.”

“Ah, Lily, you wound me. This may appear as a just a piece of parchment to most people, but once you have the right words it’s a guide to excellent adventure.” He pulled out his wand and tapped the parchment. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

“Those are the magic words?”

“Hey, it beats, ‘Abracadabra’ or ‘Despite the fact I’m really hot, I’m a know-it-all who follows the rules’. Although, that isn’t half bad.” He turned to Lily. “If you ever make a map that should be your password.”

“Duly noted. Oh, wow.” Lily watched as ink lines spread all over the page. “Messer’s Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?”

James nodded as she looked up in disbelief, “A man needs his proper title.” Lily turned back to the map and to her astonishment, she found herself staring at a detailed map of the school.

However, the map itself was not what she found astounding. There were hundreds of tiny dots moving around the castle, each individually named. She could see Sirius, Remus and Peter still at breakfast, Dumbledore in his office and many other students and teachers roaming the corridors.

Excited, she scanned the paper for her own name. With an intake of breath, she discovered that her name was not there once, but twice. There were two dots secluded together in a broom cupboard. But these dots were labelled differently to the others.

One was labelled, James Potter as ‘Lily Evans’ and the other, Lily Evans as ‘James Potter’.

She looked up to see James staring gravely back at her. He obviously already knew. “The Marauder’s Map never lies, Lily. After I got it from the dungeon this morning, I saw what it was written. You see, if you change your appearance in any way, such as polyjuice potion or some other form of magic, the Map can still identify you. But we are different. We didn’t just change our appearance, we actually switched bodies. It seems the Map isn’t exactly sure what to write.”

The bell rang, but neither of them moved. “How do I keep this from your friends?” Lily finally asked. “Sirius asked me if I’d seen the Map yesterday.”

“Just tell them that Filch confiscated it and we’ll break it out of his office as soon as possible. They don’t really need it anyway; we know all the secret passages.” James quickly tapped the parchment. “Mischief managed,” he murmured. “We’ll come back to this later. Right now, it is essential that you get a detention. Are you ready to act like you are actually James Potter?”

Lily gulped, “As ready as I will ever be. Let’s go.”

~.~

Lily waltzed into Potions twenty minutes late. She’d spent the previous twenty minutes throwing paint at Slytherin first years, hoping that a teacher would come along and punish her. Usually, she would feel bad about attacking people, but desperate times called for desperate measures. However, that would be too easy. When she was caught by Professor Flitwick, he didn’t hand out any punishment. All he did was confiscate her paint and tell her to go to class. It seemed that he wasn’t particularly fond of the first year Slytherins either. She would have to resort to Plan B.

She hoped that Slughorn might give her a detention for being late, but her hopes were dashed when she saw that he was in a good mood. Looking over at his desk, she could see a fresh box of crystallised pineapple. She cursed the unknown gift giver; Slughorn’s mood would only make her job more difficult. A thought came to her. She raised her hand.

“Yes, Mr. Potter.”

“Professor,” Lily said slowly. “Is there a potion for weight loss?”

“There is, James,” Slughorn replied, obviously perplexed at his question. “However, it is difficult to make and it tastes awful. Why do you ask?”

“I think you should consider taking some, you are after all very fat.”

“What?” Slughorn struggled out. The class turned to stare at him in shock. Sirius stamped on her foot, but she ignored him.

“Haven’t you heard the song about you?” Slughorn’s face was beginning to turn red. “No? I’ll sing it for you.” She stood on her chair and began to sing,

“A fatter man has never been born,
Than the enormous professor, Horace Slughorn,
On sweets and wine he dines all day,
Next to him, others waste away.
Small children, watch out and be alert,
Slughorn may eat you for dessert.”


Finishing the final notes with a flourish, she sat back down. “Well, it’s something like that anyway. The second years sing it all the time. If I were you, I’d do something about it. You don’t want to die young.”

Slughorn’s mouth fell open. Sirius looked at Lily with a mixture of pride and shock. The rest class was trying very hard not to laugh, particularly James, who looked like he was going to explode from the effort. Finally, to Lily’s astonishment and dismay, Slughorn closed his mouth and nodded his head. “You know what, James, I appreciate your honesty. Maybe I have been carrying a bit too much weight. Michael, that is Michael Finwick the Quidditch player for the English side, was saying the same thing the other day. Maybe I could ask him to train me…”

Lily swore under her breath. Getting a detention wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought.

~.~

“Adam?”

“No, James. We have more important problems. I still don’t have a detention for tomorrow night. What am I going to do?”

“George? Okay, so recap what you have done so far?”

“Definitely not, stop guessing. I told Slughorn he was fat, stood on a chair in class and sung about it. In Charms, I filled the room with bright pink foam, causing the whole class to evacuate. After lunch, I picked a fight with Peeves in the south corridor on the second floor. They’ll be cleaning that one up for a while. Finally, I charmed the Slytherins to tap dance in Herbology.”

By the time Lily had finished her list, James was laughing so hard he was crying. “Oh, Lily, you may not like what you are doing, but you have to admit that you’ve got great style. I only got the tail end of the fight with Peeves, but from what I saw, it was epic. Slytherin’s tap-dancing in the greenhouses? I now wish that I still did Herbology. I can’t believe you haven’t got one detention.”

Lily sighed, “Well, at least Slughorn decided to change his life.” She put her face in her hands. “I’m so unlucky. Flitwick was so amazed at my spell work that he actually gave me five points for Gryffindor. Peeves was blamed for the corridor we destroyed, even when I said I started it. As for the Slytherins, Professor Sprout ended up joining in their dance. She’s quite the dancer.” Lily laughed, in a humourless way. “Why has everyone in this school gone insane?”

“Because it’s more fun that way,” James said simply. He patted Lily on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Lily, tomorrow I’ll help you get a detention. We’ll figure it out. How about Treg?”

Lily didn’t even dignify his question with an answer. She simply stood up and started heading towards the dormitory.

“It’s a legitimate boy’s name!” he called after her. “I bought a baby names book!”

~.~

The next day was a success in some ways, but a failure in others. On one hand, Lily managed to get a detention. In fact, she managed to get six detentions. Unfortunately for her, they were for the six nights following full moon. It seemed all the teachers wanted that particular night free, deeming all her efforts useless.

After a short meeting in the Head’s dormitory, James had decided to take control of the pranks. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, she was having more fun then she had had in years. James was truly a genius when it came planning, and the look on Filch’s face had been priceless. However, as the true coordinator of the pranks, he’d too gotten into trouble. Still, he’d only gotten two detentions. After all, all the teachers loved ‘Lily Evans’.

When he wasn’t devising more evil plans, he’d guessed as many male names as possible. Fitzpatrick, Mervin, Reagan and Galvont were just a few he had come up with. It seemed he had bought a baby names book by owl order. At random times during the day he had called out names, attempting to guess at what she would name her child. Lily had no idea how he had managed to get his hands on the book so quickly, but after all, he was James Potter.

Lily slid down in the seat next to him. Despite all their efforts, full moon was that night and she still didn’t have a detention. Sirius and Peter were already very excited, talking endlessly about plans. Remus was looking nervous. Sirius had taken Lily aside and given her a long lecture on the importance of being well behaved before full moon. He’d gone on to say that while he respected him for finally giving up the ‘Head Boy’ business, he had plenty of time to get back into the game after that evening. The situation was getting rather desperate.

“Okay, this is our last chance,” whispered James. “It’s do or die.”

“So you have a plan?” Lily asked hopefully. James was right, it was their last chance. His plan could save them or condemn them.

James leaned over and whispered something in Lily’s ear. Lily’s eyes widened. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, she’ll murder us alive.”

“Come on, Lily!” James slapped her encouragingly on the shoulder. “You know this is our last chance. Plus, I’ll be seen as a god for the rest of eternity.”

Lily shrugged, “I suppose it is your funeral.”

Taking a deep breath, Lily contemplated James’ instructions. He was right; it was almost guaranteed to grant her an immediate detention. Dessert had just appeared on the golden plates. The house-elves had decided to cook pies. She leaned over the table to pick up her weapon; a perfect cream pie. In her hand it felt light; as though it was made to be airborne. She looked at James, who grinned. Come on Lily, she thought to herself, it’s do or die.

Trying not to think of the horrendous consequences, she selected her target. Holding the pie firmly in her right hand, she turned and threw it at the high table.

Time seemed to slow. She knew it was cliché, but it was like waiting for a train to come and hit her. She didn’t even know how the pie was going as far at it was, until she realised James was probably giving it a bit of extra help. Like a pie-shaped bird, it soared the air in a perfect arc until it finally reached its final destination with a splat.

Professor McGonagall’s face.

The entire Hall fell completely silent. Nobody moved as the pie casing slid of her face and fell with a clatter to the table. The sound echoed loudly around the Hall, as loud as a fatal gunshot. Slowly, she raised one hand and wiped the cream from her glasses. Her eyes were blazing with fury.

“POTTER!” McGonagall roared. Lily winced, even though she looked ridiculous, her anger was still frightening. “MY OFFICE, NOW!”

A moment of silence followed her exclamation. However, it didn’t last long. Seconds later, the Hall was filled with the sound of laughter. James had broken down into hysterics, tears rolling down his cheeks. It set off a chain reaction, until the entire Hall was crying with mirth. Even some of the teachers were laughing, but only when Professor McGonagall turned away.

Professor McGonagall’s cream filled eyes narrowed. “Miss Evans, I don’t know how or why, but you are some way connected with this. Both of you, my office, now!”

~.~

Scrubbing filthy cauldrons, James couldn’t help but smile. Professor McGonagall had been so furious, that she had decided to lock them in the dungeon to clean through the night. However, regardless of the punishment, James couldn’t remember the last time he had had as much fun. He’d spent the whole day with Lily, talking and playing practical jokes. The pie had been the icing on the cake, so to speak. Lily had carried out his plan with absolute perfection, creating a prank that would go down in history. He would be willing to bet that his friends wouldn’t even care he had missed full moon. Besides, he also got to spend the whole night with Lily, which was definitely a bonus.

“Harry,” Lily’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see that she was grinning as well.

“What?” he asked, slopping cold water all over himself. “Who’s Harry?”

“If I had a son,” she explained, her smile even wider then before. “I would call him Harry.”

James hummed to himself as he started on another cauldron. Harry James Potter was perfect.

“Australia, totally.”

“What?” James asked, obviously confused. He couldn’t see anything that reminded him of Australia, particularly in the cool weather of early October. He was sitting with Alice in the court yard, before dinner, watching the sun set. It was the first night he’d actually had free since the pie incident, as he and Lily had spent almost every night that week in detention. Despite the fact that he had really enjoyed his time with Lily, it was great to have a moment just to sit and relax.

“Even better, India.” She pointed over to some boys across the way. “Ouch, too bad his friend is Greenland.” Alice nodded at a few boys in the distance. “There is Cuba hanging out with France.”

“I’m confused,” said James, still looking around wildly. “Since when are you so interested in geography?”

Alice shook her head dejectedly. “Lily, I am very disappointed in you. Maybe all those detentions have been playing with your brain. We are playing the game.” James stared at her blankly. Alice rolled her eyes. “You know, when you categorise boys based on their looks, and name them after hot or cold countries? The hotter the boy, the closer to the equator he is.”

James grinned. He couldn’t wait to teach the game to Sirius. His smile got wider as he saw Rodger passing in the distance. “Antarctica.”

Alice laughed. “You were the one who went out with him, not me. Mmm, check Bali over there.”

James turned to see Sirius and Lily in the distance. However, before he could agree, he noticed that Alice wasn’t looking at Lily at all. “Sirius?” he spluttered when he realised what she meant. “A Bali? You have got to be kidding me!”

Alice shrugged. “I thought you said he was better looking than James.”

James felt as though he’d been slapped. “No, I would never say that. Tell me I never said that.”

Alice looked at James as though he had gone mad, which in light of recent events, seemed to be a common occurrence. “I suppose it could have been the other way around,” she conceded with a sigh. “I can’t be expected to remember these things.”

James relaxed. “It was the other way around, trust me. James is hot.”

“Okay, crazy lady,” laughed Alice. “It was the other way around. Actually, you may have labelled them both Iceland. Oh my,” she gushed, her eyes going wide, “check out the Jamaica! I’d take a holiday there!”

James didn’t even bother to turn his head. “Frank?” he reminded her.

“Don’t worry,” Alice giggled, hitting James lightly on the shoulder. “I’m only sightseeing. Frank is my homeland. Forever.”

Suddenly, James wanted to understand. He’d been pining after Lily for years, but he still wasn’t sure. He’d never brought it up with his friends, half because he was afraid they’d mock him, but more because he was afraid of finding out the truth. Yet, Alice was a girl who quite clearly knew what her position was, so before he could stop, he found the words spilling out. “How did you know? When did you figure out you were in love?”

Alice sighed. “Love is such a strange thing. You see, everyone has a different way of falling in love. Some people fall in love slowly, some fall head over heals. Some people know from the beginning who they will fall in love with and to others it comes as a total shock.”

“For you?” James asked, eager to know.

Alice stared off into the distance. “I never believed that I would fall in love with Frank until it happened. I mean he was a great guy, strong, brave, smart and kind, but I didn’t expect to do anything more than casually date him.”

Watching her relay her story, James realised that she was no longer with him, but had slipped back to some previous summer.

“Yet,” Alice continued absentmindedly, “It all changed in one single moment. It was right before Frank left for the summer holidays and he was trying to convince me to come and meet his family before Christmas. We started arguing and I went to walk away. He tried to follow me and tripped over the rug and landed on his face. Horrified, I bent over to see if he was okay. He looked up at me, his nose bleeding and bent, and laughed. He then steadfastly refused to be taken to the hospital wing until I agreed to meet his parents. In that moment, I don’t know why, but I knew in that moment that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”

For a moment, the two of them watched the last rays of sunlight flitter below the horizon. Then Alice turned to James, looking him directly in the eye. “You see, everyone has a different view on love. For some people, it’s all consuming, damaging even, but for others it completes us. Good people, people like you and me, know how important love is. Because everyone has a different view on love, everyone has a different way of falling in love. It doesn’t matter if you realise after a romantic gesture, or if you discover it in the most unconventional of ways. You’ll know when it happens.”

James leaned back against the wall. “I want that to happen to me.”

“It will, Lily, it will. Besides, I believe you now.”

“About what?” James asked, surprised.

“About what you said at our little party, in truth or dare. I thought you were lying, but I believe you now.”

James racked his brains, but didn’t remember what she was talking about. “Sorry, Alice, I’ve forgotten.”

Alice grinned. “Don’t worry, because I have a good feeling it will work out.”

James smiled in return. Even though she was confusing, it had been all too easy to become friends with Alice.

~.~

“James ‘Prongs’ Potter, do you know why you are here?”

“N-no?” Lily stuttered. After three nights of consecutive detention, McGonagall had calmed down enough to listen to reason. Once she was listening, James had managed to convince her that their behaviour for the previous days had been the result of a bad potions accident that altered their sense of right and wrong. McGonagall had picked up that it was the truth (even though she didn’t realise it wasn’t the whole truth), and convinced the rest of the teachers to let them out of their remaining detentions. Of course, as James looked like Lily, the excuse seemed much more plausible than if he was in his in his own body. It was great to finally have a night off.

Yet, standing in the dark secret passageway, Lily was beginning to wish that she still had detentions to do. Something about the situation screamed bad, very bad.

“I call judge!” Sirius suddenly yelled.

“No fair! I’m never judge!” whined Peter.

“Tough,” Sirius replied, casually flipping his hair. “Wormtail, you’re defence. Moony, you’re prosecution.”

As though a penny dropped, Lily realised that they were creating some sort of a crazy trial. This probably affirmed her ‘bad’ feeling. “Can I be jury?” she asked hopefully.

“No,” the three boys called in unison. “You are the defendant.”

Sirius flicked his wand twice, conjuring a lectern and a small hammer. He then stood behind the lectern. Remus sat down in a chair to Lily’s left, while Peter came to sit beside Lily. “Mr. Prongs,” Sirius started in an official voice. “You stand accused of the heinous crime of missing full moon without due provocation. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty,” Lily quickly replied. It was a rather stupid thing to do, seeing as she had deliberately missed full moon, but for some reason the words came straight out of her mouth.

Sirius coughed.

“Not guilty, your honour?” she tried.

“Thank you.” He turned to Remus. “Prosecution?”

Moony got to his feet and cleared his throat. “Defendant deliberately provoked a volatile teacher during good behaviour week. Such action was guaranteed detention, thus wilfully removing himself from activities regarding full moon.” Remus shot a wink at Lily before he sat down again. Lily tried her hardest not to burst into laughter. Everyday she had been in James’ body she told herself that nothing else could surprise her. She’d been wrong.

“Defence?” Sirius continued without batting an eyelash.

Peter got to his feet. “We plead for leniency due to the awesome nature of the prank.”

Sirius covered a chuckle with a cough. “Duly noted, you may sit. Any other points from the prosecution?”

“Yes,” Remus replied, standing up and beginning to pace. “Defendant has been especially secretive over the last two and a half weeks regarding the nature of his relationship with one Lily Evans.”

“Objection!” called Peter. “Not relative to case.”

“Overruled,” Sirius called, with a little rap of his hammer. Lily rolled her eyes. Could James’ friends get any stupider? “Moony has a point. What is going on between you two?”

“Nothing...,” Lily started automatically.

“Objection,” Sirius interrupted. “You are lying.”

“Judges can’t object,” Lily felt the need to point out. A small smile escaped her lips. The whole situation was ridiculous, but she found that she was quite entertained.

“They can now,” Sirius replied stiffly. “Answer the question.”

“Defence would like to make a deal,” Peter interjected, before Lily could open her mouth. “Full details on what is going on between my client and Lily Evans in exchange for acquittal.”

“Objection!” called Lily. “Lawyer did not consult client.”

“Overruled!” Sirius interrupted with a grin. “Deal accepted!”

“Hold on,” asked Lily. “What’s the punishment if I don’t tell?”

“Same as always,” said Peter, surprised. “As the Marauders, we only have one punishment; running from our passageway to the Astronomy tower at midnight. Naked.”

Lily froze. “No, that’s ridiculous. I’m not doing it.”

“But you made…”

Lily gritted her teeth. “Let me guess, I made that one up?” she said, cutting Remus off. So much for James’ detention plan. He’d probably known all along. She was going to kill him.

“Sure did,” said Sirius, rapping his mallet on the lectern. “The punishment deals with the crime. If you let down the team, you have to run. It ties in with our motto, ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’.”

“That’s not our motto,” cut in Remus with a grin. “It’s ‘We solemnly swear we are up to no good.’”

“Whatever,” said Sirius, rolling his eyes. “They are along the same lines. Either way, we are a brotherhood where everyone is equal and thus everyone gets the same punishment.” He pointed his mallet at Lily. “So, James, what is going to go? The secrecy or the clothes?” He paused and thumped his hammer for effect. “Tell us the full extent of what is going on between you and Madame Evans.”

“I don’t know how I feel,” Lily said with a truthfulness that shocked her. What was going on between her and James? It was strange, but the last three nights she had spent in detention, two of them with James, she found that she had really enjoyed herself. James had this ability to make her smile and laugh and his humour was infectious. She had no idea how she had never seen it before.

“Sure you don’t want to add anything?” asked Sirius, obviously frustrated. “I mean come on, you chase the girl for years and now that you are spending time with her you’ve gone all silent?”

Still lost in her thoughts, Lily nodded. Could it be possible? Could she be developing a crush on James Potter? The situation was absurd, beyond absurd. After all, who developed a crush on someone when they were in their body? But then again, he was good looking and they would switch back eventually…

“Prongs,” sighed Sirius, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but that information is not good enough to acquit you. As awesome and memorable as that prank may have been, there is no reason that it could not have waited until the next day. You’ll have to tell us about Lily eventually. The punishment will have to stand.”

To Lily’s dismay, he rapped his mallet on his lectern before she could protest.

“Sorry, mate,” said Peter, slapping him on the back.

Sirius, obviously having the time of his life, threw a small black cloth at Lily. To her horror, she realised that it was a balaclava. They couldn’t possibly expect her to run could they?

Sirius, as though answering her question, nodded his head, an evil grin spreading across his face. “Looks like you have a race to run, Prongs old pal. The time is five minutes to midnight.”

Seeing that Lily hadn’t moved, Sirius pulled out his wand. “Lose the clothes.”

~.~

“Lily, wake up.”

“Huh-wah?”

James opened his eyes to find Alice staring at him. “I can’t sleep,” she whispered. “Will you come get a warm drink from the kitchen with me?”

James didn’t really understand why girls had to go everywhere together, but he nodded anyway. Maybe it was a safety in numbers thing, but James was fairly sure if he had woken up Sirius for any reason other than Voldemort himself attacking, there would be hell to pay.

The trip down to the kitchens passed in relative silence. James was too tired to really take notice of anything, except for vaguely recognising that Alice was acting strangely. He pushed the thought from his mind as the house-elves offered him some cake. There was nothing like a midnight snack.

However, after exiting the kitchens, they found that they were not alone in the corridor. Three Hufflepuff girls from sixth year were giggling and making their way to the entrance hall.

“Wonder what that’s all about,” asked James, watching the girls sneak around a corner.

“No idea,” said Alice, looking away. Once again, James was confronted with the sensation that Alice was up to something.

They walked in silence for a while with Alice leading the way. James was about to confront her, but as they rounded a corner, they bumped into Arty.

“Oh, hey Lily, Alice,” he grinned. “Finally come to see what it is all about? I’m taking bets. Any takers?”

“A Galleon on James,” said Alice, pulling out a coin from her pocket. James stared at her in shock. At James’ expression, Alice blushed slightly. “Okay, I didn’t really want a drink, I just wanted to come.”

“What?” James asked, fear building in his chest. They couldn’t mean what he thought they meant.

“Well,” Arty replied, barely able to contain his excitement. “Word is that the Marauders are holding a trial again. You know what that means.”

James looked shocked, so Alice interrupted Arty. “In fact, Lily has no idea what you mean. She likes to remain ignorant of these things.” She turned to Lily. “I don’t know why, but once in a while, one of the Marauders run to the Astronomy Tower, completely naked.”

“That’s why we mortals gather to watch.” Arty smiled and took her coin. “James hasn’t done the run in a while, but I hope that you are right, for Lily’s sake anyway. Either that or Sirius. What a babe. Last time it was Peter. Urgh, his is so not my type.”

“You’re taking bets?” James finally struggled out. “How many people come and watch?”

“It grows every time. Obviously not too many, or the teachers would probably cotton on, but a fair few do come. Used to be only a select few, as it was hard to find out when they were going to do the run. But now it seems more and more people are figuring it out. You ladies better find yourselves a good spot…”

Somewhere in the distance, James heard a clock chime.

“Too late, that’s midnight,” whispered Alice, pulling Arty and James behind a suit of armour.



~*~

“Boys…are…such…imbeciles…”

Lily turned another corner, wearing nothing but a balaclava. Who on earth had come up with such a ridiculous punishment? Oh, yeah, James Potter.

Shivering slightly, she quickly ducked behind a statue as a few ghosts drifted by. Hogwarts was cold at night. She supposed the rumours were true and the cold definitely did have an effect on…

“What have we here?” cackled a voice, causing Lily to jump.

Wasn’t this bad enough already? “Please, go away Peeves,” Lily pleaded.

“It looks like someone stole your uniform. Perhaps you should make a report to Mr. Filtch.”

“I think I’ll be fine, thanks.” Lily attempted to go the other way, but Peeves cut her off.

“Are you going to battle?”

Lily sighed, “Yes, Peeves, I’m going into battle.”

“Are you Celtic?” Peeves asked, without moving.

“Why?” replied Lily, in exasperation. She knew Peeves was just stirring trouble, but hoped that if she didn’t rise to his bait he would go away.

“Because you should be blue.”

In one foul swoop, Peeves dropped a bucket of blue paint on her head. Lily tried to move after him, but blinded by the paint, she skidded across the corridor and crashed into portrait. With a clatter, the golden frame fell to the ground. The portrait began to scream, the sound filling the corridor. Lily struggled to get to her feet, wiping the paint from her eyes.

“Hey!” Lily turned in horror to see Fitch rounding the corridor. His hands were over his ears to cover the noise. “What are you doing?”

Lily didn’t wait to see what he did next, but sprinted down the corridor in the opposite direction. She wished that she had her wand to create some sort of divergence, but she’d given it up on her trial.

She turned her head just in time to see Filtch slip in the pile of blue paint and crash to the ground. Laughing, she ran straight into Professor Sinistra who, taking one look at Lily, fainted.

Deciding that it wasn’t the best time to show her more compassionate side, Lily stepped over the shocked woman and ran away as quickly as she could.



~*~

Five minutes later, James watched himself streak past.

“What a show, they’ve livened it up this year,” gushed Arty. “Great body though; I wonder which one it was. Do you reckon there is a reason for the paint?”

James sighed, wondering how long Lily was going to let him live. “That was James and I have no idea.”


~.~

Sirius laughed at her predicament. “Never do things by half, do you. May I ask about the blue paint?”

Lily had arrived at the Astronomy Tower to find Sirius the only one there. He had transformed into a dog, carrying her clothes and invisibility cloak in a small bag in his mouth. He'd left a few minutes before she had, so he'd be waiting for her to make sure she didn't cheat.

“No, you may not,” Lily replied, shivering. “Give me some clothes!”

Sirius laughed and tossed some clothes at her. Lily gratefully began putting them on and came to sit down beside him.

“Your shirt is inside out,” Sirius commented casually.

“Bite me,” Lily replied, smearing some left over paint in Sirius’ hair.

Sirius laughed and pushed her hand away. “Isn’t exercise meant to make you feel better?”

“Why am I friends with you?” Lily asked mockingly. In all truth, it had been all too easy to become friends with Sirius. She never thought she would miss anything about being James Potter, but she was coming to realise she would miss Sirius.

“Because I’m adorable?” he replied, putting a puppy dog expression on his face.

“Sure you are,” Lily laughed. “So, are we heading back?”

For some reason, Sirius’ face lost the humour of the previous moment and he stared out into the starry night. “Do you mind if we sit just a while?”

“Pretty, eh?” Lily commented. Away from all the Muggle pollution, the stars shone at Hogwarts brighter than any she had seen before.

Sirius turned back to look at her. “Prongs, I know sometimes I don’t say it, but I’m really glad you are my best friend.”

Lily was taken aback. If she had learnt anything about Sirius in the last few weeks, it was that he hardly ever showed his emotional side. Yet, Sirius didn’t look like he was going to stop with the one off comment. He looked like he was starting to say something he had been holding back for a while.

“Do you remember that day I arrived on your doorstep, oh man, it would have been over a year ago now?” Even though she didn’t remember, Lily just nodded. She knew from looking at Sirius face that it was something James would never forget. But if Sirius noticed her second’s hesitation, he didn’t say anything, he just continued speaking. “At the time, I was so lost and confused and overall I was sick of everything. I was sick of the madness, sick of the pure-blood mania and sick of the dark house that screamed Slytherin around ever corner.”

Sirius took a deep breath, and looked straight at Lily. Lily restrained a gasp; his face was alight with pain, something that ran very deep. Whatever he was about to tell her would be something very important to him. He turned back to look at the stars and let out a deep breath. There was a moment of complete silence, before Sirius started to speak.

“I never told you this, but the night I ran away, my parents called a special celebration dinner. It was supposably to celebrate both of us coming home from school, but really my parents didn’t give a damn about me. Even though they hadn’t seen me for a year, they were much happier that Regulus was home.”

Lily wondered what it would be like to have her parents cast her aside. Having her sister hate her was enough, but her whole family disliking her would be excruciating.

Sirius sighed, caught up a million miles away. “So, we were eating dinner and my family was dropping hints about how much better a son Regulus was. I didn’t care; I mean that was nothing new, I’d been hearing that everyday since I was eleven. But just as I was daydreaming, I remember my mother asking Regulus about what he planned to do when he finished school.”

Sirius’ mouth grimaced in pain, making Lily long to put her arms around him. Yet she knew if she did, he would never finish his story. “I remember looking over to my brother, wondering what his answer would be. At one time in our lives we had been close, but I had hardly talked to him since he had been sorted in Slytherin. For the first time in the evening I paid attention to the conversation. I wanted to know what my brother was going to say.

“His face lit up when he answered her question. ‘I’m going to join the Dark Lord,’ he said boldly and proudly. Just as simple as that, seven words outlined the dark plans for his future. Seven words that outlined the murderer he wanted to be.”

“I’ll never forget how proud my mother and father looked at that moment. They looked at him with delight in a way I never, ever, had seen them look at me. I looked at Regulus who looked excited, actually looking forward to becoming a murderer. Something inside me snapped. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I dropped my knife and fork to the table with a loud clash. My parents looked at me, horrified, but I was already on my feet, screaming at Regulus.”

“‘Your life ambition is to become a murderer?’ I remembered yelling at the boy who shared my blood. ‘Are you going to kill your classmates? End their lives with a curse.’ Regulus said nothing, but his silence only fuelled my anger. 'Why are you better than them? I’ve slept in the same room as Alex Deakin for six years and he is one of the nicest kids I know. What about Lily Evans? She’s smart and kind; fifty times the person you are. Rebbecca Jones, Ian Cary, Kate Bridges, to you they are all acceptable targets, but to me they are good witches and wizards! What the hell makes you think you are better than them?’ ”

“My father just looked at me as though I was piece of dirt on the bottom of his shoe. ‘They are all Mudbloods,’ he said simply and clearly. 'Your brother, at least, understands that. Our family is above that filth.’ ”

“I looked at them one by one; my furious mother, my disdainful father and my shocked brother. I wondered how I could possibly be their son. Opening my mouth, I was surprised to find my voice completely calm. ‘I have no family,’ I said clearly, before walking from the room.”

Sirius turned his face towards Lily. It was dark, so she couldn’t tell, but it looked like there were tears forming in his eyes. “Yet, in the moment after I said it, I knew I was wrong. While those pure-blood fanatics were not my family, I knew where my real family was. So, I packed the few belongings I needed into my trunk and walked straight out of that house. I stuck out my thumb, climbed onto the Knight Bus and told the conductor your address.

“You see James, you are my real family. You, Remus and Peter are my brothers. In the moment you opened the door I knew I’d been right. As you stepped aside to let me in, I smiled for the first time since school had ended. That night you knew exactly what to do. You didn’t ask questions, or demand to know what happened. You just accepted me into your house without a word and your parents adopted me as a second son.”

Sirius looked out into the sky. “Later that night we sat on your roof and looked at the stars. As we stared, you told me stories that your parents had told you about the sky. Then you looked me in the eye and told me that they were watching over us. I laughed at you, but you continued anyway. I still remember the exact words. ‘Whatever happens’, you said. ‘Look up at the stars. Because whatever chaos is surrounding us, they will always be there, consistent, shining every night. Even if it’s cloudy and raining and we can’t see them, we know they are still there, temporarily invisible. The clouds will always clear and the stars will reappear to us. If something ever happens to one of us, we can look at the stars and know that somewhere out there, the other will be looking too. And the stars will be there, watching us from above.’”

“Ever since then, no matter how chaotic everything has seemed, I’ve always been able to find some comfort in the stars. It was something you gave me James, something that I’ll always be able to keep. It’s something that helps me get through the hardest of times.”

As Sirius finished his story, he looked over back at Lily. She was sobbing.

“Er, Prongs. For my sake, please man up.”

Lily continued to sob, and pulled Sirius into a hug. “You’re so beautiful, Sirius.”

Sirius patted her back awkwardly, before pushing her away. “Okay, Prongs, I’m going to let that slide, but if you don’t stop crying, I’m afraid I’m going to have to hit you.”

Lily wiped her eyes and sniffed. Sirius punched her on the arm. “Promise no more girly moments?”

“I’ll try, Padfoot, I’ll try.”

“Got any plans for the holidays, Peter?” Sirius asked as he sat down to breakfast. “Or are you going to disappear off the face of the planet like James?”

“Not really,” Peter frowned, considering. “Probably just stay home with mum.” He searched the hall, perhaps looking for James. “Do you reckon something about running naked spooked him?”

“Nah,” Sirius replied. “He’s done it before.” He sighed and began to butter his toast. “I just wish I knew why he’s been acting so weird lately.”

The boys sat in silence for a while, eating their toast, until they were interrupted by Remus.

“Why is James chasing Lily?” he asked, joining the table.

Sirius sighed but didn’t look up from his food. “Let’s think about this for a moment before we accuse. James has been chasing after her, but it’s not the only thing he does. Plus, he’s tried to stop, okay? Maybe one day he will finally give up but until then we have to be...”

“No,” Remus cut him off. “I mean literally.”

Sirius looked up to see ‘Lily’ running from the Great Hall. A few moments later, ‘James’ rushed passed, right on her tail, his face contorted with rage. Sirius watched as James reached the end of the Great Hall, paused to catch his breath, before setting off in pursuit of Lily once more.

Shrugging, Sirius turned back to his toast. “Remus, my friend, I have no idea.”

~.~

Sprinting through a secret passageway, James stopped to breathe as he pulled out from behind a tapestry of three monks. Lily wasn’t unfit, but her body didn’t quite have the stamina that he had. She obviously didn’t run away from angry people as often as he did.

He wasn’t stupid -- he knew that his ‘plan’ would have consequences. He also knew that the only reason he was still alive was that Lily didn’t want to permanently damage her body. Still, he knew that she could still administer a large amount of pain. Thus, he planned on keeping out of her way until she cooled off.

Lily obviously had other ideas though. Even when he thought he had managed to lose her, she would suddenly appear near him again, a vengeful look in her hazel eyes. Luckily, he had managed to avoid any confrontations, using a combination of secret passageways, bribery and his invisibility cloak that he had cunningly stolen from the bottom of his trunk while Lily had been sleeping. It hadn’t been easy though and Lily didn’t seem to be getting any less angry. He couldn’t avoid her forever, but he could damn well try.

Putting his bag on the ground to grab out the invisibility cloak, he noticed his shoe lace was undone. As he bent down to tie it up, a flash of red light shot past him, narrowly missing his head.

Under attack, he rolled to his feet, avoiding three more bright flashes. Lily was standing at the end of the corridor, her glasses askew, her hair standing up on end. They stood in silence for a moment, on opposite sides of the empty corridor. He looked directly into her eyes, his hands twitching, the silence enveloping them both. Then, James, being the brave Gryffindor he was, turned on his heel and ran away. He was prepared to fight and die in the rising war, but an angry Lily; that was just plain dangerous.

Reaching an intersection, James dove around the corner, narrowly missing a bright orange spell. Rolling to his feet, he had just enough time to check himself out in the mirror, before taking off again.

As he ran, he could see the three monks from the portrait pushing people out of the way to follow him. Soon, a whole crowd of assorted characters were running through the portraits, creating a running commentary.

“Oh! The young man nearly hit the girl with a hex then! Did you see how she dove out of the way just in time?”

“In my day,” screeched an old woman, who sounded suspiciously like his grandmother, “Boys did not chase girls! Scandalous!”

“Oh, hush, Magnesia,” hissed her companion, waving her cane. “You’ve always been such a prude. I love chases, they don’t happen enough these days!”

The monks were whispering bets to each other. “My bets are on the girl, she did know our secret passageway…”

“But did you see how angry the boy was? Rage is a good motivation, Friar John…”

James ignored the cat calls and jeers, focusing instead on his impending doom. As he ran, James could hear Lily closing in on him. Why am I so fit again? James mentally cursed. She was taller than him after all. He shot a tickling charm over his shoulder, but it missed, causing a suit of armour to keel over in laughter.

They rounded another corner into a deserted corridor. James began to zig-zag, to avoid Lily’s spells that were being shot thick and fast.

“Run, run as fast as you can,” James called, as a purple spell barely missed him. “You’ll never catch me I’m the gingerbread…woman?”

“That book was a present from my mother. And I will catch you, you gingerbread fool! Just you wait. You’ll be sorry.”

James ducked to avoid a violet ray of light. “If I let you catch me, will you bake me gingerbread man every Friday when we are married?”

“No,” Lily called, shooting a spell so quickly that James was required to dive out of the way.

“Chocolate cake?”

“No!”

“Rhubarb crumble?”

“NO! Potter, how can you think I’ll ever marry you?” Lily laughed in an evil sort of way. “You are nothing but a stupid, stupid, stupid little boy.”

“Hey, at least one of those stupid’s was uncalled for.” James panted. “But if you won’t promise me dessert, you’ll just have to deal with the healthy consequences.”

Smoothly, James transfigured one of his bobby pins into a banana peel and threw it over his shoulder. Lily’s eyes widened as she saw what was coming for her, but she was running too fast. It was too late to avoid. With a guttural cry, she began to slide.

For a moment, she was suspended in mid air, hovering over the ground. Unnaturally, she stayed there, defying reality, her eyes a mixture of shock and rage. But gravity soon took its toll and she crashed to the ground with a gut wrenching thump.

Unfortunately for James, he was laughing too hard to see Professor Slughorn. Running at full pelt he bounced off his large stomach and crashed to the ground. Before Slughorn could say a word, James rushed an apology. Taking only a second to recover himself, he quickly stumbled to his feet and ran off down an adjoining corridor. The chase had resumed.

“Attacking innocent students in the corridor, Mr. Potter,” he called after a yellow spell narrowly missed him. If she was going kill him, he decided, he may as well have fun as he went down. “I always thought I hated that.”

“You do,” Lily called back, barely even out of breath. Damn all the exercise he’d done over the summer holidays! Lily’s voice was even closer as she called, “Quite clearly you are not an innocent student.”

“Admit it,” James laughed. “You love breaking the rules. I’ve shown you how good life is.”

Lily seemed to slow. James grinned, his plan of annoying her was actually working in his favour. “Don’t you for one second think you have any influence over my life,” Lily called back. “I broke rules before you came along moose-boy. I’m just not stupid enough to get caught.”

“Liar!” James yelled as he reached the Entrance Hall. Ducking under a stream of dangerous looking spells from Lily’s wand, he made it to the doorway unharmed and slammed it shut. Lily crashed into it with a bang, allowing James precious seconds to sprint towards the greenhouse. When Lily finally burst through the doorway, if possible, even more mad, he called back.

“I bet you loved it. I know the first time I had a shower in your…”

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Lily roared, sprinting towards him. James had no chance. Like an airborne pie, Lily jumped through the air and knocked James to the ground, quickly sitting on top of him so he couldn’t get away. A few watching first years cheered, but Lily shot some smoke at them, causing them to run off.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” muttered James.

Lily ignored him. “Why?” she asked simply.

“Because tackling you to the ground always seemed like it would be great fun.” James’ voice was muffled, due to the fact that Lily was sitting on him. “Firstly because the whole touching you thing. You’re always so unobtainable. I mean, I’ve seen you hug some of your male friends but never me. Secondly, tackling is fun whoever is involved and …”

“Shut up. Why didn’t you tell me what would happen if I agreed to the plan? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that your punishment was to run naked.”

“Bah, but you did it, didn’t you?” James argued from underneath Lily. “You needed a way to get out of the plan and I provided you with the only option. You never would have agreed if I told you what would happen.”

“Of course not!” Lily spat. “I…”

“Point proven,” James cut her off. “I did what needed to be done.”

“You are so annoying!”

“Obviously, I’m now also quite fat,” James groaned, trying move under Lily’s weight. “Was I always this heavy? What have you been eating these last three weeks?”

Lily ignored him. “Do you have anything to say before I kill you?”

“Yeah,” James held up a pink envelope. “This letter arrived for you.”

Lily immediately snatched the envelope away from James and stood up. “It’s from my mother,” she answered before James could ask. “She usually only writes once a week,” she continued, only just loud enough for James to hear, before tearing the paper open. “I wonder why she is writing now.”

Lily stood in silence, reading over the words. For what seemed like a very long time, she stared at the elegant writing on the page. James was about to ask what it was about, when he noticed a single tear slide down Lily’s face and onto the page. With horror, James saw Lily sink to the ground, the letter still clasped tightly in her hands. Soon, sobs were taking over her body.

Immediately, James feared the worst. In dark times, a letter could mean a whole assortment of awful things. Things he couldn’t bear happening to Lily.

“Lily,” he whispered, moving to her side. “What’s happened?”

“It’s my sister,” Lily whispered.

James went pale. “Is she okay?” he asked, fearing the answer.

“Yes, she’s fine. Better than fine.” Lily sucked in her breath, her hands shaking. “She-she’s getting married.”

This was the last thing James expected. “What?” he managed to splutter. “I don’t understand.”

By this stage Lily was crying too hard to answer. Instead she thrust the letter at him. He began to read.

Lily,

I have such wonderful news! Your sister is engaged!

I know we’ve all been waiting for it since your sister and Vernon started dating last year. Anyway, today he popped the question to Petunia with a beautiful one carat diamond ring. The ring looks stunning, I’m sure you’ll love it. Your sister is over the moon.

Petunia would have written to tell you herself, I’m sure, but she has of course been rather busy with all the arrangements. She has already picked out her wedding gown, with all the traditional trimmings. She’s so organised, I know at my wedding I was all in a dither till the last moment. The bridal party has too been chosen. Just one bridesmaid, her friend, Rhonda, will be attending her. She’s going to look gorgeous in the green dress that Petunia picked out.

We’re having a small, family only, party to celebrate this Christmas. I thought it would also be a good time to induct him into the family and tell him all about your powers and school. How exciting! I’ll bet he’ll be so proud that we have our own little witch in the family.

I must finish now, as Petunia is calling. We are going around to the florist to look at bouquets.

Write Soon,
Love Mum.


James finished the letter confused. “What’s wrong with your sister getting married?” he asked. Everyway he looked at it, he couldn’t see why Lily was so upset. Unless she was in love with Vernon. James shook his head. He wasn’t even going to consider that.

“Don’t you see?” Lily sniffed, unable to raise her head from her hands. “Read the letter again.”

James glanced at the paper. “Is it something about Petunia?” he asked. Her mother seemed to think she was fine, but perhaps it was some sort of code for something. Maybe Petunia wasn’t getting married at all.

To his surprised Lily nodded, before choking out. “She doesn’t care. She didn’t even write to tell me herself.”

James glanced though the letter, trying to see through the lines. Taking it from a new angle, he could see how she could get that impression. But why would her own sister not bother to invite her to her wedding? He’d never even heard Lily talk about her sister before. Seeing her anguish was like having someone grab a hold of his heart and squeezing it until he choked. There had to be another explanation. “So? Maybe she really was busy.”

Lily sobbed harder, leaning into James for support. “Where did everything go wrong?” she gasped, “When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a beautiful woman. And the moment I would show everyone how grown up I was, would be at my big sister’s wedding.”

Just at that moment a few members of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team walked past, obviously on their way to practise. Upon hearing James’ comment, they burst into laughter.

James grimaced. It wouldn’t be long until that comment was over the whole school.

“I wanted to be my sister’s bridesmaid, I wanted to be the one in the long green dress and the high heels…”

She sobbed harder, causing some more passers by to stare. “Why not just do it now, James?” one of them called, making the rest laugh. James knew that his popular reputation was going down the drain. Yet, he found that he was much more concerned about Lily’s feelings.

“I wanted to smile coyly at my sister as she said her vows. I wanted to help her get ready. I wanted to dance with the most handsome groomsman there was…”

A passing group of girls bust into laughter as they heard his words, but James just hugged Lily closer to him. Some part of him begged him to get up and move from where they were sitting, the only pathway to the Quidditch Pitch and Hogwarts grounds. But this was greatly over-shadowed by the need to comfort Lily and to make everything okay.

“Lily, you can still go to the wedding…”

Lily looked up at him, her hazel eyes shining with tears. “But my sister thinks I’m a freak. It can never be the way I imagined it in my childhood. When her Vernon finds out, he’s going to think I’m a freak too.”

“Lily, you’re not a freak,” James shushed, pulling Lily to his chest. To an outsider it must have looked strange, a girl comforting a much larger, sobbing man, but James was concentrating on what Lily was saying.

“Petunia certainly seemed to think so,” she sobbed, her tears seeping though James’ robes. “But I’ve always loved her. For her thirteenth birthday I bought her a locket. It cost me all my pocket money. It was right before I got my Hogwarts letter. She promised that she would wear it always and never take it off.”

James’ memory immediately went back to the moment in the cupboard. It was the first time he’d felt truly connected to Lily, not just liking her from afar. Everything had been going well until she had seen that he was wearing the locket.

Lily continued talking, bringing him back to the present. “A week after I arrived at Hogwarts, I received an envelope with her handwriting. Eagerly, I opened it. I thought maybe she would apologise for all the words she said, and tell me that we would be sisters again.”

She paused, the tears falling faster against his chest. “There was no letter inside, only the locket. It was smashed. I repaired it easily, hoping that one day she would wear it again, but when I got back for the holidays, she wanted nothing to do with me. I tried to show her some of the things I learnt, but she just screamed and called me names. I got a warning from the ministry too, but I didn’t care. I’d lost my sister. Every since I found out I was a witch, there was no hope.”

James now knew why she had been upset in the broom cupboard. The locket was her sister’s betrayal, the cold dismissal of someone she had looked up to. It was the end of the close bond that should never have been broken. James couldn’t believe that Petunia would throw Lily’s love away.

“Sometimes,” Lily murmured, almost inaudibly, “I feel like there is nowhere I belong. In this war, I’m worthless to the Death Eaters because I’m a Mudblood. Yet, to my sister, I’m a freak because I have magical powers.”

“Shhhh,” said James, drawing her in closer. “You’re not a freak, or a Mudblood. Anyone who thinks so is wrong. You are Lily Evans, a smart and sassy witch. Well, you actually look a strapping young wizard at the moment, but under that handsome, rugged exterior, you are just Lily Evans.”

Lily finally smiled briefly, and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “I don’t know if I can face this engagement party or the wedding. It will just be a reminder of what’s lost between Petunia and I.”

James knew in that moment that he would do anything to ensure he could make Lily smile again. An idea came into his head. “I think I can help. I know Alice is busy over the holidays.” He paused. “I’ll come with you.”

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but something stopped her. The thought of James helping her through, making her laugh seemed so much more bearable than going alone. “I’d love that James.”

“Great,” James clapped his hands together. “If Vernon is mean to you, I’ll put him in a leg locker curse!”

“No, James! You can’t do that!” she said outraged, but lost the illusion when she grinned. “Besides, he’d still be able to speak.”

James joined in the laugher, slapping her lightly on the back. “Fine, if he upsets you, I’ll turn into a stag and we can ride into the sunset.”

Lily blew her nose on her sleave. “I said you could come to dinner,” she giggled. “Not take me to the sunset.”

“Give me time, Lily,” James said standing up, “and you’ll be begging me to carry you into the sunset. The only question will be Hawaii or Australia for our honeymoon.” He pulled Lily to her feet. “Sorry, for making you run naked.”

“Sorry for chasing you,” Lily replied with a smile.

“Bah,” James grabbed Lily’s hand and began leading her back to the castle. “Every good romance needs an exciting and deadly chase scene.”

“Evidently,” Lily stated in a serious voice, “You’ve never seen a proper romance film.”

“Okay, Miss Lily, what would be a proper romance film?

“You know,” Lily said, stopping. “A movie with lots of romance and beautiful moments. Predictable, but wonderful. They are almost exclusively watched by women. They never contain chase scenes.”

James wrinkled his nose. “Sounds horrible.” He paused. “What’s a movie?”

“Never mind,” laughed Lily, putting her arm around James’ shoulders and moving back to the castle. “Actually, I’ll take you to see one in the holidays…”

~.~

In bed that night, Lily pondered her day. After James had cheered her up, they’d spent most of the Sunday just enjoying the good weather. James told her how he had been using the invisibility cloak to avoid her, while she had admitted to using the Maurader’s Map to find him. He had been overjoyed to hear it, regardless that it was his downfall. Under his gentle questioning, she had told him more about her family, particularly her parents and her life in the Muggle world. He seemed very interested in the concept of films in particular, and talked endlessly of what they would do when he visited in the holidays. Yet, even when he joked about his schemes, she didn’t feel any remorse for inviting him. He was just so easy to talk to.

Sighing, she opened a little black diary and skimmed to October. She’d found it when she’d first swapped bodies with James and had been using it to mark off the days until she could return to her own body.

Yet, for some strange reason, it was with sadness that she crossed off the date, “October the 21st”. She’d been in James’ body for twenty-three days, and if everything went to plan, she would be back in her own body in five.

A small voice interrupted her train of thought. Is that really the plan? She gave herself a little shake. Of course that was the plan. What was wrong with her? Did she actually like being in James’ body? That wasn’t it at all. She liked being a girl and she missed her identity. Besides, boys definitely had hygiene issues. However, unlike the days previously, now the deadline was so close, Lily could feel no anticipation.

Sadly, she realised, she was going to miss everything. She was going to miss hanging around with Sirius, Remus and Peter. The way Sirius woke her up in the mornings, down to the way they ate breakfast as a group each morning. Unbelievably, she was going to miss being captain of the friendly Quidditch team, and the comradeship they provided.

But most of all, she was going to miss spending time with James.

Lily brushed the thought aside. True, she had developed a sort of bond with James, but it was almost impossible not to in their situation. No-one could go through what they did without becoming closer. Of course, they’d probably be friends when everything was over.

But was that enough?

The words burned in her mind. Memories of the last three weeks came flooding over her like all the water in the black lake. She remembered the look on James’ face as he told her the story about Remus, and everything he had done. He didn’t look proud, or boastful, only nervous that she wouldn’t accept his friend. He didn’t act as though it was a favour, or brilliance; it was just something that had to be done.

She remembered the careful and caring way he had taught her to play Quidditch. True, he’d pushed her hard and made her work, but he’d been patient and caring too. He had made her believe in herself, yet she knew how worried he had been. The words he had said to her after Quidditch, ‘All I care is that you are safe.’ She knew that truer words had never been spoken.

Reflecting, she thought about the fun they had had, trying to get detentions. The way they had holed up in the broom closet, plotting and planning. It was strange, how looking back, she couldn’t think of a time when she’d had more fun. They’d made a great time, and even though the detentions were meant to be punishment, James made sure that there was never a moment when she felt that way.

She thought about everything he had done for her. Agreeing to keep their plan secret, despite everything he had to go though; how he said that he would do anything for her; and the way he could make her smile, no matter how angry or upset she was.

Mostly she thought about James himself. She now felt as though she knew him, inside out, and how more than anything else, she wanted to be with him forever.

“Merlin’s beard!” Lily gasped, sitting bolt upright in her bed. “I’ve fallen in love with James Potter!”

“No need to be so conceited James,” mumbled Sirius in his sleep, leaving Lily to stew on her thoughts.

Chapter Fourteen - Love Works in the Weirdest of Ways

An onlooker might have thought it strange to see James Potter walking down the corridor, muttering to himself. They may have said that he was different, or, perhaps, that he had gone slightly crazy. Most dismissed these tales, but loved to gossip about them anyway. However, Lily Evans, who was in the Head Boy’s body, wouldn’t have listened. She had other things on her mind.

“Okay, Lily, it’s not that hard to do,” she whispered to herself. “James, I’ve realised something. I love you. No, that sounds stupid. James, the past month has taught me something about myself and I now realise what I feel… Oh, that’s stupid too.”

“In a bit of a pickle dear?” a voice asked kindly, interrupting Lily’s practice. Lily turned, eyeing what she thought was the empty corridor. “I’m over here,” the voice called, and Lily realised that it belonged to an old lady in a portrait. Seeing that Lily had come over, the women started again. “Having a bit of trouble are we?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Lily replied with a sigh. With so much going on, she really needed to talk to someone. “You see, I’ve just realised I’m in love with this guy.” She then remembered who she was. “I mean girl! I’ve just realised I’m in love with a girl!”

“It’s okay,” the lady murmured with a smile. “You don’t have to lie to me. Is it that black haired fellow?”

“Pardon?” Lily stopped in her tracks. The comment had thrown her completely off guard. Could the portrait be psychic?

The lady blushed, her painting cheeks turning dark red. “The young man I always see you with in the corridors. Handsome, rugged sort of boy.”

“Sirius?” Lily asked in disbelief. The portrait was about as psychic as her Transfiguration textbook.

“Ah, yes, the young Black.” The lady giggled, taking Lily’s incredulity the wrong way. She seemed to have taken Lily’s reaction as evidence. “I can see why. Still, it must be so hard when you’re secretly in love with your best friend.”

“What?”

At that moment, Sirius came around the corner and dropped all his books. Remus and Peter, who were right behind him, walked straight into Sirius, knocking all three of them to the floor.

“We were just coming to find you,” Sirius said uncomfortably, pulling himself to his feet. “But I see you already have a companion.”

“Sweetie, this young boy here has something he wants to tell you.” To add insult to injury the portrait winked at her. “Maybe the other two should run along.”

Remus, obviously finding the situation hilarious, grabbed Peter’s arm. “We know our cue to leave.”

“Have fun, boys,” Peter chuckled. As soon as they were around the corner, Lily could hear them burst into laugher.

“So what were you guys chatting about?” Sirius asked, his face betraying no emotion. Lily was not sure, but she thought that she could see a glint of humour in his eyes. It seemed he was thriving on his ‘best friends’ discomfort.

The portrait, it seemed, was eager for the ‘truth’ to come out. “Honey,” it cooed, when Lily made no answer, “this young man is in love with you.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows, but made no other gesture that he had heard.

Lily, mortified, grabbed Sirius’ arm and moved as quickly away from the old woman as possible. Why did she have to run into the craziest portrait in the school?

“Sirius, how do you tell someone something?”

“Well, generally, you seek them out, open your mouth and say it. It’s called speaking.” He patted James on the shoulder. “Most learn it when they are one or two, but I suppose you can’t help it if you are a bit behind.”

“Helpful,” Lily scowled. “I don’t know why I can’t say it, Padfoot. There is nothing else I want to say in the whole world.”

Sirius flipped his hair. “Going to confess your love for me?”

“Yes,” Lily replied, grinning as Sirius’ face turned to one of shock. It was priceless. “No,” she continued, putting him out of his misery, “but I do love that expression.” Lily punched him on the shoulder. “Don’t be a prat.”

Sirius laughed. “Good, because I know I’m adorable, but it might make our friendship a little weird.”

“Merlin you sound like James, er, me sometimes. Look, there is something I just never thought I would say. I’ve got to tell someone something. They really deserve to know, but I just can’t make myself do it.”

Sirius patted him on the shoulder. “Prongs, I believe in you. I admit, I may have been sceptical before, but I think you are in with a good shot. Just go for it! Now come and hang with us three; we haven’t done Marauder things in ages.”

Lily took a deep breath and followed him. He was right, she did have a chance. She would find James and take the plunge.

~.~

“So, we’re reaching the end aren’t we?” James murmured, as Lily sat down next to him the following day. Despite the fact that she had vowed to ‘take the plunge,’ Lily had spent most of the previous day avoiding James. It wasn’t exactly hard, as Sirius had insisted that she hang out with him, Peter and Remus.

Still, she had been a chicken and she knew it.

“James…” Lily started. It was time to tell the truth. “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course,” James replied. “You can tell me anything.”

“I think I am falling in love with…” she trailed off. Thoughts started to buzz through her head. What if he had changed his mind? Or worse, what if he hadn’t?

How would she cope?

“Yes, Lily?” James’ eyes were burning bright. All she would have to do was finish the sentence to tell him how she really felt. For the first time in weeks, Lily felt as though she was wrong from the beginning. Perhaps them switching bodies had nothing to do with the fact they were touching. Maybe, just maybe, he was actually her soul mate.

“Football,” she finished lamely.

“What?” James’ confusion was totally understandable.

“Er,” Lily covered. Coward Lily Evans! “I think I’m falling in love with football. The English Premier League to be more specific,” Lily tried, mentally hating herself every word. “Bristol City beat Manchester United 3-1. It was a great match.”

“Oh, yes.” James raised an eyebrow. “I love football too.”

“Really?” Lily dropped her glass of pumpkin juice, effectively turning the front of her robes orange. “You’re a Muggle football fan?”

“No,” James replied, smoothly picking up Lily’s glass before she could do any more damage. “I actually have no idea what it is. What the Godric is football?” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t answer that-- I don’t care. But I care about you, and I know you are lying. What were you originally going to say?”

“I think I…” Sirius sat down at the table, and before Lily realised what she was doing, she bailed again. “Lily, Sirius loves you,” she said quickly, before running out of the Great Hall. She knew it was cowardly, but at least James wouldn’t be able to follow her.

“I do?” Sirius questioned, his eyebrows furrowing, watching Lily run away. “Well, that’s a new one.”

James laughed. “How long have you had these feelings for?” he asked jokingly.

“Approximately twelve seconds it seems.” Sirius smirked. He pretended to consider James for a moment. “Will you go out with me?”

“No,” James replied swiftly, fighting the urge to smile. A girl from across the table scowled jealously, but Sirius didn’t even noticed. He found that the situation was much more fun when he wasn’t on the receiving end.

Sirius faked a frown and clutched his heart, as though the response had wounded him. “Didn’t think so. I’m crushed. Not as crushed as James was though. He actually cried the first time you rejected him.”

“I-er-he did not,” James stuttered. It was only one tear and Sirius had promised not to tell.

“Did so,” Sirius replied. “He’s pretty soft, really.”

Betrayer! “Well at least he didn’t accidentally kiss James’ next door neighbour Bessie,” James retorted, “or should I say, Bernard, last summer ...”

Sirius’ eyes widened in horror. “What has James been telling you?”

“Nothing,” James commented lightly. “Just some stories of what you did over the break. Was it fun?”

“Oh, shut up. Why did James run off like that? And what was it with the pumpkin juice on his robes?” he asked, staring after who he thought was his friend. “Wonder what has gotten into him.”

“Tell me about it,” James agreed, poking his fruit salad with his fork. Lily had been avoiding him since the previous afternoon they had spent together. Sure, they had had classes together, but she had always disappeared as soon as the bell rang. He didn’t understand what he had done wrong. They had connected, he’d been sure of that. He’d been able to comfort her when she most needed it. Although they had been getting closer, it had been like a wall had fallen down between them. So why had she been avoiding him? And what was it that she wanted to say?

“Are you going out with him?” Sirius asked quickly, interrupting his thoughts. It seemed he was trying to spark a reaction by asking stealthily.

James looked up. “No, we are not.”

“Damn.” Sirius looked away again. “Well at least he hasn’t been lying to me.” Unwilling to give up on the idea, he continued his questioning. “Do you like him?”

“I don’t know,” James whispered to himself. Perhaps that was an explanation of Lily’s behaviour. James was usually a good judge of character, but Lily was a puzzle to him. They were definitely close friends, but damn it, he could feel something more. Was it possible she could too?

Sirius’ head swivelled, so he was once again staring at James. Only this time his mouth was wide open. “Wait a minute… you actually like him.” He shook his head as though his ears were full of water. “Why don’t you tell him?”

“Because I’m not sure,” James replied honestly. He wanted to believe that Lily had feelings for him, but it seemed impossible. Yet, he’d once believed she would always hate him. Was it possible that they could actually be together?

“Okay, just picture you are James for a moment.”

James laughed, If only he knew. “I think I can give it a shot. Let me get into character; tall, dark, mysterious and cheeky.” He cleared his throat and ran his hands through his hair. “Hey, Padfoot, want to go hang out at the lake later?”

Sirius opened his mouth in shock. “Okay, that is really creepy.” He shook his head, recovering slightly. “See, you obviously know him well. He really likes you. Please, just give him a go.”

James’ grin vanished, and he looked up at the rain falling from the roof. There was nothing else he wanted more in the world than for Lily to follow Sirius’ advice.

~.~

James searched for Lily all day, but couldn’t find her. He needed to know what she was going to say. But it wasn’t just that, he missed talking to her. He’d even go back to her insulting him, just to have some interaction.

However, his efforts were completely useless. It wasn’t until the next day, before breakfast, that he saw his own figure scooting around a corner and into a secret passageway. Lily had obviously been making good use of the Map. James was too proud to be angry.

Yet, before he had a chance to follow her, he bumped into something -- or rather someone-- big. As soon as the person saw who James was, he turned and stalked away. James was about to leave, when he stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes in agony. You can do this, he thought, before yelling out.

“Rodger, wait!”

Rodger froze, and slowly turned. “Yes, Lily?”

Once again, James was filled with an absurd jealously. This boy had actually succeeded in going out with Lily, something that he had never achieved. James just wanted to squish him, but he knew that was wrong. There was something he needed to say.

He took a deep breath. “Rodger, I just wanted to apologise for everything that has happened the last three weeks. I know I’ve been acting like an idiot, but things really threw me. I was hoping you might forgive me.”

For a moment, James thought Rodger would would hex him, but the moment was short lived. “That’s okay, Lily,” sighed the Hufflepuff Keeper. “You are an amazing girl, but anyone can see I’m not meant for you.” He shook his head. “Just make sure James doesn’t hurt you.”

James didn’t know whether to be pleased or angry. On one hand, Rodger was being completely reasonable, yet he was completely wrong. James couldn’t help being defensive. “What makes you think he would ever do that?”

Rodger looked taken aback. “He’s popular, Lily. I think he sees you as a prize not a person.”

James opened his mouth in shock. “You’re wrong.”

Rodger just shook his head. “You’re probably right. Even before I started going out with you, I could see the way he looked at you. I suppose I was just jealous. I never thought I’d get a chance with someone like you, and I didn’t want to ever give you up. But more recently, I can see the way you two look at each other. Who am I to stand in the way of that?”

“Thanks, Rodger,” James said with sincerity. No longer jealous, he was able to see Rodger as just another person who had seen how beautiful Lily was.

Rodger leaned over, and for a petrifying moment James thought he would kiss him again. But Rodger just kissed him on the cheek. “Good luck, Lily,” he said, before leaving.

~.~

Later that afternoon, Lily finally got the guts to go and see James. It had taken all day, but she had finally worked up the courage. Pulling out the Marauder’s Map, she located him on the fourth floor corridor.

However, by the time she got there James was not alone, but chatting to Alice. She took a deep breath. They could still talk in private, she told herself, trying to resist the growing feeling to run. Everything would work out.

When she drew closer, Alice looked up and elbowed James in the ribs. James looked up, and Alice smiled coyly. Lily narrowed her eyes. She knew that look. Alice wanted them together. No doubt she had subtly been trying to talk who she thought was her friend into saying something.

“James,” the boy in her body said with a smile. “Long time, no see. Why have you been…”

“Lily,” she cut him off. “I’m sorry. I need to tell you something…”

“Lily,” said Sirius, coming around the corner. The dratted boy had followed her. “I think you should tell James something.”

“Lily,” a booming voice interrupted, causing the four students to turn. “I was wondering if you’d seen anyone with red…” Slughorn trailed off in horror. James looked down at his hands, only to find that they were bright red and glowing. When did this happen, he thought to himself in shock.

He shot a quick glance at Lily, hoping for answers. To his surprise, she had a similar expression on her face. Her hands too were bright red. Slughorn followed his line of sight and opened his mouth in amazement.

“I see,” Slughorn struggled out, his moustache twitching. “I didn’t expect this, especially not from the two Heads.”

“Professor,” Lily stuttered. “What’s going on?”

“James was with me every night the last week,” interrupted Sirius. “We were, er, out checking out tail.”

“Black, I do not know what this ‘tail’ is and I don’t condone it. Potter, I should be asking you the same question.” Lily had never seen Slughorn so angry, his eyes were almost popping. “Filtch, the new caretaker was cleaning out one of the unused dungeons when he came across this.” Slughorn pulled out the empty bottle of Inacias oil. “This potion ingredient has been missing for the last three and a half weeks, but I knew it had been taken from my stores. So, I cast a thief’s reveal spell on it. Do you know what the thief’s reveal spell does, Lily?”

“Does it send out a giant net to catch thieves?”

Sirius laughed, but Slughorn grimaced. “Now is not the time for jokes, Lily. You are in serious trouble. Do you know what it does, Potter?”

Lily shook her head, but she knew the answer. The thief’s reveal spell was a charm cast on an object left behind at a crime scene. It revealed everyone who had touched the object after it had been stolen.

Lily looked over to Alice, who looked confused. She’d never told her that she had stolen the potions ingredient, as it had been a spur of the moment thing. She hoped that Alice wouldn’t figure it out, or she would definitely jump in and tell the truth. But facts were facts, and the evidence pointed to Lily. There was no use the both of them being in trouble.

“You see, Lily, I was going to ask you if you had seen anyone with red hands.” He shook his head. “I never dreamed it would be you.” He straightened to his full height, his stomach puffing out. James swiftly stepped back to avoid it. “Perhaps you two should come with me.”

James went completely white. They’d been caught, literally, red handed. The consequences of this would not be good-- they both had a chance of losing their badges, getting suspended or even being expelled.

He wasn’t sure he could handle Lily’s heartbreak if that did happen.

James looked over at the girl in question. She was looking at the floor as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. But James had seen that expression before; Lily was trying not to cry. He longed to go over and comfort her, but he knew it would do no good. He wished he had a plan to try and get them out of it.

A sudden thought hit him. While the consequences would be permanent, he thought back to the words.

…the modified potion can last anywhere between four to six weeks…

It was the 26th of October. He’d been Lily for nearly four weeks. According to the potion, there was only a maximum of two weeks left until they switched back bodies.

If Lily took the blame in his body, she would escape from the long term consequences. The thought humbled him. He’d give up anything, even his place at Hogwarts, to ensure that she was happy.

“Stop!” he burst out, causing Slughorn to stop in his tracks. “Professor, this is all just one big mistake!” Lily looked strait at him, and he silently begged her to go with the plan. “This is all James’ fault,” he continued. “About a month ago, he handed me that ingredient and asked me to hold it for one minute. I didn’t know what he was planning on doing with it, and I haven’t seen it since. Whatever he did with the oil, I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s all James Potter’s fault.”

“Lily!” Alice whispered. “Why are you saying these things? He means more to you!”

Slughorn looked confused, so James continued, “James did it. Look at me, I’m a fantastic student. Kind, well behaved and always trying to stop fights when they come about. I’m the last person who would steal a potions ingredient. Yet, there is so much more to me then I ever imagined. I care about other people so much, that I would do anything for them. Even if it meant doing something that goes against what I want to do. I’m braver then anyone else I’ve ever met.”

“Merlin, you sound like James,” Sirius said sarcastically. Obviously he resented the attack on his ‘friend’. “Only more, if possible, conceited.”

James sighed, ignoring everyone and staring straight at Slughorn. “James doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near me. Everything that happened was entirely his fault.”

As his rant drew to a close, James looked over at Lily. She looked stunned, unbelieving of what he had said. So, in fact, did his friends. Never had they heard ‘Lily’ talk about herself in such a way. Slughorn, on the other hand, looked rather convinced. After all, Lily was one of his favourite students.

“Well,” he said, looking over to ‘James Potter.’ It looked like he was going to buy the ruse. “Potter, is there anything you would like to say before I take you to my office?” James shot another pleading look at Lily, trying to convey that she should allow the plan to continue. It was vital that she didn’t give herself away otherwise she too would be in huge trouble.

However, to James’ chagrin, Lily did not remain silent. “No, Professor! Lily did it!” she yelled in defiance. Slughorn paused, confused by this new outburst. “Lily,” she said, shooting a look at James. “You should tell him the truth.”

“Are you confused?” Sirius whispered to Alice. “Because I feel like I’m missing something.”

Alice nodded her head. “Merlin, they sound like Alain and Orsha.”

“Who?” Sirius asked.

“Er…Never mind.”

“You see,” Lily continued, ignoring her spectators. “Lily may seem like a well behaved student, but it was she who stole the potions ingredient. My only crime was not being able to see what she was doing, because I too believed she was a model student. Still, I held the oil for a moment, and agreed to her plan, because her feelings meant so much to me. I can’t believe I was so blind.”

“I know, I may look like a bit of a trouble maker, but I’m actually a really nice person underneath. You see, I care about what is happening to other people and I’d do anything for my friends.”

Lily paused, and looked over at James. “I can’t believe I was chasing after Lily all this time, when she should have been chasing after me.”

“You really think that?” whispered James. Both of them had forgotten that they were in a corridor and that Slughorn, Sirius and Alice was standing a few feet away. “Because I still feel the same way. No, that’s not true. The last month has really showed me that you are so much more than I ever imagined. Where as before I only liked you,” he paused. “Now I’m in love with you.”

Lily opened her mouth in shock, her heart beating a million times a minute. Could this be possible? Could this giddy feeling really be stemming from the boy she once thought of as only a nuisance?

But the last month had changed her �“ changed both of them. She could now see things from a different view and James had never looked better. In fact, nothing had ever felt more right than the possibility of being with James. She wanted to hold him in her arms and never let go. Lily Evans was in love, and she’d never been happier.

“James, I love you too,” she whispered softly. Yet, for some reason, Lily felt that words weren’t enough. With feelings enveloping her, she rushed towards him. For it was in that moment that she finally understood. It didn’t matter what happened, but she was meant to be with James.

So, Lily screwed her eyes shut and kissed him.

However, the kiss didn’t last long at all. For a brief second Lily felt as though she was weightless, soaring through the air without a care in the world. For what seemed like hours she drifted into nothingness, before she came back to her state of mind with a thump.

Lily Evans was herself again.

“YES!” James yelled, punching his fist in the air. “I’M BACK IN BUSINESS!” Then, before Lily could say anything, he kissed her properly. Neither of them knew how long it was that they stood there, it was almost as though they were in a world of their own. Finally, Slughorn coughed and they broke apart, hands remaining intertwined.

The first thing Lily noticed was that Sirius was dancing. “FINALLY!” he called. “Damn confusing, and I don’t understand how or why,” he patted James on the shoulder, “but you got there!”

Alice smiled up at her, a knowing look on her face as she dabbed at her eyes with the bottom of her robes.

The second thing Lily noticed was Slughorn. He, unlike her friends did not seem impressed by the lovers’ kiss. Truth be told, he looked down right mad. “What is going on?” he yelled, causing his stomach to wobble dangerously. “First you are insulting each other and now you are kissing! Who actually took my potion ingredient?”

“I did!” James and Lily said in unison, their hands still intertwined. “Alone,” they added together.

“Obviously one of you is protecting someone else…”

“That would be me, Horace,” a bold voice interjected behind them. James and Lily turned to see Dumbledore approaching, his blue eyes twinkling.

“What are you talking about, Albus?” asked Slughorn. “I caught these two red-handed. One of them has done it.”

“Do you really think that these two lovely students could do such a thing? They are protecting me.” He smiled at the two Heads. “I took the Inachis oil, I meant to tell you, but, it slipped my mind.”

Slughorn looked sceptical, but a little relived. He didn’t want his favourite student in trouble. “Why did you take it?”

Lily and James could only stare as Dumbledore shot them a smile. Clearly, they were to remain silent. “I needed it for a top secret mission, something that would not occur without a little help. But I can see everything has worked out now, and I was just about to come and find you to explain the truth.”

“Oh, well,” Slughorn stuttered, unwilling to believe that the culprit was none other than the headmaster. “Then why are these two taking the blame?”

“Who knows, Horace. I did tell them not to tell anyone. I suppose they are just being loyal �“ a most admirable trait. Alas, they have had quite an interesting time over the last few weeks, so I’m sure they have learnt their lesson anyway. It’s best we leave them be.” Dumbledore shot them a wink before taking hold of Slughorn’s arm and leading him away. “I have some great Elf’s wine in my office…”

“Well,” Sirius said, as the headmaster walked out of sight. “You two have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Really?” asked James without looking at him. Nothing could tear his eyes away from Lily. “I rather thought it obvious.”

“Uh huh,” said Alice sarcastically, tapping her foot. “Tell us the truth.”

Lily smiled. “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”

“We’re not leaving till we have an answer,” Sirius argued.

James just ignored him. He never wanted to look away.

Sirius stamped his foot. “Tell us!”

“Sirius, my friend,” James said, still gazing at Lily. “It is a long, long tale. A story for another day.”

“Fine,” said Alice, giving in, knowing she owed Lily. “We are unwanted by the lovebirds. Come on, Sirius. We’ll interrogate them later.”

“But I want to interrogate them now,” whined Sirius.

“Come on!” she said, grabbing Sirius and dragging him away.

James and Lily watched as Alice led Sirius away. As soon as they were out of sight Lily did a little jig. “I’m a girl again!” she turned and gave James a big hug. “You’re a boy!”

“Glad you were able to deduce that, Lily.” James grinned. “Some detective work there,” he continued, earning him a swat on the shoulder from Lily. “And they say I’m arrogant. At least I’ve never kissed myself.”

Lily laughed. “I don’t know why I did it. I suppose I just wanted to show you how I felt.”

“Well, I’m not complaining.”

“Unlike Sirius,” Lily joked, before stopping her dance. “We’ll have to tell them one day.”

“Maybe.” His now hazel eyes gleamed. “Maybe we’ll keep it a secret. Just between us.” He grinned. “A romantic little secret.”

Lily giggled. “Romantic. Really?” A thought hit her. “Hold on, speaking of secrets, do you think he knows?” James greeted her with a blank look. Sighing, she continued. “You know, Professor Dumbledore. Do you think that he has known all along?”

“Probably,” James shrugged, grabbed Lily’s arm and pulled Lily close to him. “He knows everything that goes on at Hogwarts. Wonder why he didn’t turn us in?”

“You know Dumbledore,” Lily sung, “Always happy to see a little more love in the world.”

“So, all it took for you to see my side of things was to live as me for a while?” James cocked his eyebrow.

“Love works in the weirdest of ways.”

“Speaking of which,’ James grinned, twirling a lock of her hair in his fingers. “Lily Evans, will you go out with me?”

Lily pretended to consider for a moment. “Let me see. By going out do you mean, spending lots of time together, living practically in each others skin, sleeping in each others beds, knowing all of each others secrets, holing up in broom closets together and comforting each other when they are crying?”

“I suppose so.” James smirked. “But I was thinking more along the lines of this.” Before she even knew what he was doing James swept her into a passionate kiss.

After a moment, Lily broke away and smiled. “Yes, I do think I will.”

But that was all she managed to say before James kissed her again.

Fin

Red was a funny sort of colour. It was the symbol for so many things. Red meant blood that was being shed, and would continue to be shed into the future. It showed the anger that simmered below the surface at the injustice of some people in the world. Yet, red wasn’t all bad. It was the colour of Gryffindor and bravery and quaffles. It was the colour of the love that people found in one another.

Red was the colour of Lily’s hair.

James smiled as he sat outside his home. Currently, red was the colour of the sky. The sun still hovered over the horizon, as though it was unsure of whether it wanted to set or not. For James, it was hard to believe that the sun still set the same way that it did, after everything that had happened under the sky in the last few years. So many things had happened, some wonderful and some absolutely terrible. James didn’t know how he would have done it without Lily. She’d been there to hold onto as the world became a dangerous place. No, he thought, she was his world. James continued to sit in silence, as the sun finally skipped below the horizon. Closing his eyes, he knew that he could sit and enjoy the rare peace and quiet forever.

Sirius, however, was not thinking along the same tracks.

“I have a new theory,” he chimed, interrupting James’ serenity.

James groaned, with those five words he knew all hope of peace had just evaporated. “Are you ever going to give up?” he asked even though he knew the answer.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, James,” Sirius retorted, “but if you simply told me the truth I would stop having to tell you my brilliant theories.”

Sirius had been coming up with “theories” ever since he and Lily had gotten together. Giving up was simply not in his vocabulary. It was funny how Lily and James never planned on not telling their friends. At first, there had been a mutual agreement to let them keep guessing, simply because it was funny. But over time, the joke had turned into something more. It was an experience that belonged only to them, something that they shared. It was the one secret that they kept from everyone else in the world. So despite the guesses, bribery, threats and theories, James and Lily had never told.

Sirius had never let it go.

To be fair, in the beginning he hadn’t been alone. At first, it seemed everyone in the whole school had been throwing around wild and ridiculous theories. Many thought it involved something to do with the fabricated illness “air-borne pie fever”. After a few weeks, the buzz had died down and people had stopped asking why. Their friends had, of course, taken an interest for much longer.

“I talked to Alice…” Sirius started.

“And she listened?” James interrupted vaguely.

Sirius ignored him. “She agrees with me, it has something to do with that potion.”

In the early days after they had returned to their bodies, Alice and Sirius had been quite a task force. Remus and Peter had joined in too, but never with quite the organisation or pure enthusiasm. In the course of an early discussion, Alice had mentioned that ‘Lily’ has started acting strangely after she had made the potion. Sirius had of course jumped on the idea, and the two had rushed off to find the book. However, when they went to find the potions book, it was gone. It seemed Lily had never returned it to the library and it had simply disappeared.

The library had no record that the book had ever existed.

This had sparked a mad fury. Alice could only remember what the potion was for, and she had obviously never read the subtext, so they had only a limited amount of information to go on. Initially, Alice, a romantic at heart, was inclined to believe that Lily had drank the potion and ended up next to James. The boys didn’t believe it. They didn’t think that Lily would have believed James was her soul mate just because a potion told her so. Alice had realised, taking into account Lily’s stubbornness, that they had been right.

When Lily and James had laughed off all questioning (or simply started kissing) their friends had begun to develop theories. Some involved the potion, some did not. One involved a visit from their teenage children of the future. James rolled his eyes, whatever the theory, they’d been over it a thousand times.

“Hello?” called Sirius, waving his hand over James face. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, although I don’t know why,” James retorted, rolling his eyes. “You said that you talked to Alice about the potion again?”

Sirius scowled, but ignored James’ clear lack of enthusiasm. “Yes I did, and I also told her my new theory.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “She agrees with me.”

“Was your theory that you should let it go?” James asked, his lips creeping into a smile. “Because I agree too.”

Sirius hit his friend on the shoulder. “Listen to me. This is what I think. Lily was making that crazy potion for Alice. You, being an idiot,” he nodded his head towards James, “agreed to let her test it out on you. However, you were accidentally poisoned and had only a few weeks to live.”

“So your theory involves me being dead?” James asked calmly, taking a sip of his drink.

“Yes. I mean no!” Sirius flailed his arms. “Let me finish! The potion explains your bizarre behaviour, in particular the singing,” he shivered slightly at the memory, “but you didn’t mention anything as you didn’t want to get her in trouble. Anyway, she found an antidote and gave it to you in time.”

James sighed. He’s theories were not getting better with age. “That’s all well and good, Sirius, but why did she agree to go out with me?”

Sirius paused. It seemed he hadn’t actually thought that far through.

“Ahah!” Sirius cried, after a moment’s silence. He was obviously improvising. “When she was making the antidote, she felt so guilty, that you convinced her to go out with you.”

“See, there’s the flaw in your plan,” said a voice behind them. James turned to see a heavily pregnant Lily standing behind them. “I wouldn’t have felt guilty.”

Sirius deflated slightly. “Yeah, you’re right. It wasn’t my best.” He grinned. “Personally, I liked the you-both-were-miraciolously-sent-to-the-future-and-met-your-amazing-children theory. It was quite genius of me.” Sirius got off his chair and knelt down beside Lily. “So how’s my favourite foetus?” he asked her stomach.

“Great,” Lily replied, sliding down so she was sitting next to James.

“How’s my mum-to-be?” asked James, placing a kiss on her lips.

Sirius laughed. “Still constipated?” he interrupted, before Lily had a chance to answer.

“James!” Lily hit him on his shoulder. “Is anything a secret?”

James grinned. “Not when it’s that entertaining.”

Lily just looked to the sky, as though for guidance. “Why am I doing this again?”

“Well,” started James. “When a Mummy and a Daddy love each other very much.”

“Or if they get bored one particularly cold, autumn day…” Sirius interrupted.

“Oh hush,” Lily shushed. “What did I do to deserve you two?”

“Think of it as being served a big bowl of karma,” said Sirius with a grin. “Maybe if you told me what the inachis oil was used for, we wouldn’t be in this pickle.”

“Sirius, you really are…” Lily trailed off, a delirious smile lighting up her face. “Yes, maybe with inachis oil…” she murmured. Her eyes glazed over.

“What was that, Lily?” James asked pleasantly, not really listening. Even after three and a half years together, her kisses still made him giddy.

She didn’t answer him. This wasn’t exactly uncommon, but after a moment James began to get worried. She was murmuring things under her breath, as though a spell had been cast over her. He looked over to Sirius, who just shrugged. It seemed his best friend was just as clueless as he.

“Lily, what’s going on?” he asked her again.

However, before he could ask a third time, Lily seemed to snap out of it. In fact, before he could even comment on her strange behaviour, she leaned over and pulled him towards her. Their lips connected and James no longer bothered to think about why her mood had turned so quickly. She was pregnant after all and entitled to such things. Besides, he loved the smell of her. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it must be her shampoo…


~.~


The week wore on, and James thought very little about Lily’s strange behaviour. Between meetings with the Order, a few minor scuffles with Death Eaters and having to fly out at three am to buy Lily baked potatoes, he hadn’t exactly had time to consider what had transpired. To him, everything was completely normal.

He was going to be in for a shock.

One week later, Sirius and James were admitting defeat. Undertaking some work for the Order, they had planned to follow Lestrange all day, but they had lost him by about one o’clock in the afternoon.

“So what’s our game plan?” asked Sirius, drinking a chocolate milkshake. After an hour of trying to pick up a trail, they had stopped for a break in a small muggle coffee shop. After staring at the menu for at least ten minutes, both men had decided that coffee sounded too exotic and hence had ordered milkshakes. They were getting some odd looks.

“I don’t know,” sighed James, running his hand through his hair. On purpose or not, Lestrange had definitely disappeared. “I’m not sure there is much else we can do.”

“Yeah,” agreed Sirius. “Let’s go report everything to Dumbledore.”

However, just before they were about to leave James had a look at his watch. An idea had struck him. “Do you mind doing this one alone?” he asked. “Just for once I’d love to surprise Lily with breakfast in bed.”

Sirius smiled. “Of course. Just one question.”

“What?” asked James, preparing to leave.

“When will you spontaneously come and surprise me with breakfast in bed?”

James laughed. “Maybe when you become exceedingly handsome.”

Sirius flipped his hair. “I’m sorry to hear about your eyesight problems. Now, go home to your wife you.”


~.~

By the time he apparated to his street, James was in a fantastic mood. True, they had lost Lestrange, but James felt as though he deserved a break. For one morning, one blessed morning, he was going to forget about the war. Besides, he was really looking forward to spending some quality time with his wife. Death and destruction could wait for him this time.

“My darling I,” he sung the familiar tune to himself as he walked up his garden path. “Can’t get enough of your love baby, mmm.”

Lily was going to be so surprised to see him. He had thought about sending ahead his patronus, but Lily had been sleeping a lot lately. He didn’t want to wake her up if she was.

Thinking of the brilliant breakfast he was about to whip up, he headed around the back of the house. He hoped that she wasn’t awake, and pictured her waking up the delicious smell of bacon in the air. He grinned, he was going to be getting major brownie points. It was for this reason that when he did reach their quaint house, he entered very quietly.

Yet something made him pause as soon as he stepped over the threshold. A strange smell, something he vaguely recognised, was coming from the kitchen. For some reason, the smell reminded him of something. Something that was not good. Immediately, his thoughts turned to Lily. Was she safe? Had something happened? Worried, he darted swiftly down the corridor, extracting his wand from his pocket. He was about to burst through the kitchen door when a thought occurred to him.

If something was wrong, and his gut told him something was, bursting in may not be the right path. If Lily, Merlin forbid, was tied up or being help captive, bursting in wands blazing could get her hurt. He swallowed fear. The wrong course of action could get both of them hurt.

Slowly, but surely, he backed out of the house. The kitchen was on the lower floor, looking out into the yard. If he was careful, he could look in the window without being seen. Thinking only of Lily and their unborn child, he made his was around the side of the cottage.

What James saw in the kitchen shocked him.

Lily was not tied up or being tortured as he had feared. In fact, she was in perfect health, standing in front of a potion, her red hair frazzling in the vapours. For a moment James’ frantic heart slowed. Lily was fine and it wasn’t uncommon for her to get lost in making a potion from time to time.

His relief was short lived. Just as he was about to call out a greeting his eyes caught something on the bench behind his wife. Standing slightly separately from the array of ingredients was a small, grey bottle that sent a chill down his spine. He would recognise it anywhere. It was the potent, highly rare and extremely terrifying inachis oil.

His wife wanted them to switch bodies.

His pregnant wife wanted them to switch bodies.

This could not be good.

~.~

Lily considered the potion in front of her. It was bubbling nicely away, exactly how she had remembered it to be from her seventh year of Hogwarts. She let the vapours wash over her, remembering the familiar smell. It smelt like honey and flowers and sweet, sweet revenge.

Lily wasn’t sure what had pushed her over the edge. She’d been okay with the morning sickness and the cravings. She’d coped with the kicking, the back aches and the great friendship she had developed with the toilet.

If she really thought about it, it was the waiting that was killing her. From the moment James had found out she was pregnant, she wasn’t allowed to do anything that might put her in the slightest of harms way. Lily wanted to be out there, protecting her friends and fighting in the thick of everything. She found it near impossible to sit at home and wait for her loved ones to come home, all the time worrying that they were in danger, or that they simply would return at all. Besides, the way that everybody treated her like a delicate flower that needed to be protected really got on her nerves. That was what was really bothering her.

That and the heartburn.

Yet, it hadn’t been until Sirius had mentioned the inachis oil that she had actually thought about doing something about it. With the mention of the magical ingredient, it was as though the missing puzzle pieces had fallen into place. James was always telling her he loved her, right? He’d always promised to do anything she wanted. She was sure he’d be fine with taking control of her body for a little bit, while she went out and fought the Death Eaters.

Well maybe not fine, but once he was in her body she was sure he’d eventually come around to the idea.

She gazed around the room. It hadn’t been easy to keep the potion from James’ sight. But she wasn’t the best witch in her year for nothing. Sighing, she dropped in the bee’s wax and the potion bubbled slightly. The sight made her smile. Last time she had seen the potion look like that, she had been thinking about James. To be more precise, thinking about how much of an arrogant toerag that he was.

How times had changed.

A small noise from the garden drew her out of her thoughts. Immediately, she picked up both her wand and the bottle There were enough protective spells around the house that a Death Eater couldn’t just burst in through the kitchen door without warning, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

If it was James, she wanted to dump the oil in the potion before he knew what was going on.

Tentatively, she took a step towards the doorway, moving her hand towards the lid of the bottle.

“Honey,” she called out. “Is that you?”

There was a moment of silence and Lily slightly relaxed her guard. There was every possibility that it was just an animal or a gnome in the garden. Or perhaps she had imagined the whole thing. However, just as Lily was about to lower her wand, there was a shocking noise from behind her.

“Nooooooooooo,” a voice yelled, as Lily turned around. Her husband had dived through the window, sending glass flying everywhere. Seeing at it wasn’t everyday that Lily saw the man she loved diving through the window, for she couldn’t do anything but stare in shock.

This was her mistake. In her frozen state, James had enough time to point his wand straight at the bottle of inachis oil and yell, “Expelliarmus!”

However, in the excitement of the moment, James was perhaps a little too enthusiastic. The couple watched as the bottle went soaring across to the other end of the room and landed quite miraculously upright the shelf above the potion.

“ACCIO…” Lily started.

“SILENCIO!” James countered, pointing his wand at Lily before she could do any damage. Her response was a death stare. Lily raised her wand, this time pointed at him. He was in big trouble. The silence wouldn’t stop her for long. She was considering which non-verbel curse to use, when James held up his hands.

“Truce! Lily wait!” he pleaded. He wasn’t an idiot, He knew her facial expressions all too well. “You don’t want to hex me. Particularly when you know I can’t hex you back.”

Lily raised her eyebrows. So he was going to play the innocent husband role was he? He wasn’t exactly innocent seven months ago. Still fuming, she reluctantly lowered her wand. Her moment of surprise was gone anyway, so she would have to develop a new plan.

“Lily,” he asked, as though talking to a wild animal who was about to attack. “What the bloody hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked in a huff. It was his stupid fault that she was the size of a small country and he was going to suffer the consequences. It was time that men everywhere learnt their lesson. Instantly she began scheming. Was there a way that she could get to the bottle and drop it into the potion before he got away? She couldn’t believe that she had been caught before she could carry out her plan. It was all James Potters fault. The annoying, arrogant…

“I can see you looking over at that bottle,” James interjected her insulting thoughts. “There is no way I’m letting you get me up the duff!”

“Wow, I wonder what it feels like to have no choice!” Lily argued. She chose to ignore the fact that she had been happy to have a child. “You stupid men and your happy go lucky attitudes!”

“But Lily,” he pleaded his face falling. One look at his face and she knew she had gone too far. “I thought you wanted kids.”

Lily shook her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean that. I do want children, but I don’t want to be pregnant anymore.”

James raised his eyebrows. “So you are suggesting,” he asked, as calmly as though he was discussing the weather, “that I become pregnant instead?”

“Why not?” Lily asked. “Male seahorses do.”

There was a moment of silence, while James processed this, before he exploded. “Lily you do realise that that is insane! You are seven and a half months pregnant!”

“And?” Lily asked again.

“What if we don’t switch back within a month?” James demanded. “What if I have to, and I have to you know…” he dropped his voice to a whisper, as though even speaking the words would cause harm, “give birth.”

“So it’s okay for me to go through childbirth,” Lily asked, her hands on her hips, “but for you it’s not?” Men are so hypocritical.

“Well… yes,” he summarised, with a half apologetic smile. “Common Lily, it’s worse than every man’s worst fear. We’re just not made to have children.”

“But you would be in my body!” One look at James’ face and Lily knew that that line of argument was not going to work. She was losing ground and decided to take a different tactic. “Don’t you love me,” she asked, batting her eyelashes. Hey it had worked before. “How bout you take this one, and I’ll take the next one?”

James did not look convinced. “It won’t work,” he nodded towards the potion. “Our souls have reached an understanding.”

“Looks like they reached an un-understanding when you did this to me!” She gestured at her stomach.

“What?”

Lily took a step towards him “How about YOU,” she poked him in the chest, “deal with the morning sickness and YOU” she poked him a little bit harder, “deal with the kicking and YOU,” she pushed him down onto a seat, “deal with the needing to go and pee twenty-six times a night!”

“I would but…”

“But what James?” Lily said in a mocking voice. “Too busy running around with Sirius saving the world?”

“Lily, I just can’t do it.”

“Why?” Lily looked down at him, a slightly mad look in her eye. “Do you want me to suffer?”

“No! I want to protect you!” James burst out. “I can’t stand the thought of you being out there, facing Death Eaters. It used to worry me so much, but at least I was there beside you. Now that you’re pregnant, well I didn’t realise that I could worry for someone else. I want both of you to be safe in the house as long as possible. I need to know that you are both safe.”

All at once she knew that the whole plan crazy. How could she punish James when he felt the same way that she did? “James, I love you so much. Can you forgive me forgive me?”

“Of course,” James replied with a smile. “Look at the size of you! If I didn’t forgive you, you would beat me up!”

Lily laughed and was about to respond, but before she could reply James had already gotten to his feet at cut her off with a kiss. In fact, he had gotten up so quickly, that his chair had fallen to the ground with a bang. Enveloped in their passionate kiss, the couple didn’t notice that the chair had slid into the shelf and caused the little bottle to topple over. Yet, fallen it over it had and drop by drop the liquid was dripping into the potion.

Drop…

The potion fizzed…

Drop…

The potion began to turn red…

Drop…

The End