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"Ugh, count me out of any duties ever again."

"It wasn't that bad." reminded Lily.

"Yes it was! Those stupid fifth year prefects kept on asking questions, and even worse- questions that we had already answered!"

"You need to get used to them. They'll grow on you."

"I really don't think so." said James, pulling a face. "But I have an idea of another thing they can grow on." he added under his breath.

They had just held the first prefect meeting of the year, and while things had mostly gone smoothly, James had had enough.

"Just go and complain to Remus, I'm sure he's a better listener." said Lily, fed up with James' moaning, quickening her pace. "I have work to do."

She stalked off in the direction of their dorm.

"He might be a good listener, but he's nowhere near as good-looking." James said to himself.

"Hey!" said Remus, appearing as if from nowhere, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, Moons, what I meant was that you're so amazingly handsome, I can barely keep my hands off you!" said James.

"Better." nodded Remus.

"How did I do?"

"You went pretty well. I think you covered most of the things I told you."

"Good. My plan is in action. My man-plan. I'm a man with a plan. Man with a man-plan, ready to man-plan all your man-planning arses off."

Remus stopped walking. He took a second. "What?"

"Man-plan." James concluded simply. "M to the A to the N to the P L A-"

"Don't finish that." said Remus, shaking his head, and pulling James along.

"LILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" shouted a loud, high-pitched voice.

"Hmm?" hummed Lily sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Her vision was temporarily blocked by a figure crashing into her and hugging her until her ribs hurt.

"IT'S THE WEEKEND!" shrieked Hestia.

"Um... Yay?" said Lily alarmed, and also very surprised that Hestia had remembered the password.

"You know, you're being very... Hugg-y lately." said Lily thoughtfully.

"Well you've been away, so I need to make up for lost hugging time." stated Hestia.

"Yeah, but you're not usually this-" started Lily.

"Come on!" said Hestia happily, cutting Lily off and gesturing to her laughing friends to help her pull Lily out of bed.

"Hest, wait, I have to shower and get changed, okay? I'll meet you at breakfast." said Lily.

"Oh, don't be stupid, girl-who-is-an-amazingly-talented-witch-but-doesn't-realise-it-when-she's-just-woken-up," said Hestia, flicking her wand at Lily. Lily's pyjamas were suddenly replaced by other clothes that had zoomed out of her trunk, while at the same time her pyjamas folded in mid-air, and floated on top of Lily's pillow. Her breath was minty, she felt like she had had a shower, and she was dressed, hair done and all.

"Let's go." said Hestia, skipping happily out of the room, pulling Lily along, Dorcas and Alice behind them.

"Now. Today... Is THE day... When Alice and Frank -or is it the other way? - FINALLY will get together!" declared Hestia.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Dorcas.

"Do I have a plan? Do I have a plan?" emphasised Hestia.

"Do you?" queried Dorcas, smiling.

"Well... No but I'll think up one over breakfast..."

"Oh c'mon you two, I'm hungry," said Lily.

"Right, so we're all un-hungry now, LET'S GO!" shouted Sirius.

"Pads, un-hungry isn't a word… or part of the English language… or anything remotely related to words," said James smiling.

"Well, are you hungry anymore?"

"No, bu-"

"Were you hungry before?"

"Well, ye-"

"So there you have it! You're un-hungried."

"Oh, so it's un-hungried now, is it?"

"Well it can be whatever; un-hungry, un-hungried, un-hungryified. They all work."

James finally gave up and laughed.

"You should know not to argue with Sirius' strange vocabulary by now," chuckled Remus.

"Yeah, after six years of it, I'd hope so," said Peter grimly.

"Yeah," said James, smiling. "I should, but it's nice to throw in an occasional argument every now and then."

"I strongly agree with that premise," said Remus.

"MARAUDER'S DAY OF MARAUDER'S PRANKING!" shouted Sirius suddenly.

"I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well," whispered Peter to James and Remus, who grinned.

Okay. First step: Find Frank." said Hestia.

"That should be easy. Alice has his schedule memorised." said Lily smirking.

"Lily!" shrieked Alice, turning deep red.

"I'm sorry, it's crucial information for our plan." defended Lily.

"It is not," said Alice indignantly.

"HUSH! Okay Alice- No embarrassment intended- where do you think Frank would be now?" asked Hestia seriously.

"Probably in the library," murmured Alice, narrowing her eyes at Lily.

"Good- that's a start. We'll see if he's there and then, if he is, start stage two." said Hestia, sounding quite organised- an uncommon occurrence.

"What's stage two?" questioned Dorcas.

"You'll just have to find out."

"Look, there he is!" whispered a voice.

"Where?" asked another.

"There!" answered another.

"Right beside those books."

"Oh, okay I was looking over there."

"Where?"

"Over near the window."

"Yeah, by that guy who's scratching his head."

"Oh, okay now I see, you know, he's not that bad-looking- I haven't seen him around before..."

"HEST!"

"NO!"

Lily, Dorcas and Hestia were quarrelling with each other, having found Frank, and were ready to put the plan into action. Alice was standing to the side, shaking her head.

"Shouldst we approach that gent with f'rocity?" said Dorcas.

"Why the sudden Shakespearean?" asked Alice.

"It seemedeth toeth fiteth our... Situation...eth," said Dorcas slyly.

"How does... Never mind," muttered Alice.

"Fine, I'll translate, seeing as you guys have no regard for wonderful Shakespearean reciting. Do you want to go up to Frank straight away, and alone, Alice?" huffed Dorcas.

"No!" squeaked Alice.

"Right so maybe-"

"Ehem! My superbly brewed-up-over-breakfast plan can come into place here!" announced Hestia.

"Alright, Hest, what do we do?"

"Watch and learn."

Hestia walked, with purpose- of course- over to Frank. Her wand twitched in the direction of the rest of her friends as she neared him. Lily saw this and wondered what Hestia had done to them, but waved it off. She would find out later.

Hestia stopped in front of Frank and, instead of taking the 'oh fancy seeing you here' approach, abruptly snapped his book shut and sat down beside him.

Lily, Alice and Dorcas suddenly found that they couldn't hear a word that Hestia and Frank were saying. Trust Hestia.

After a while, Hestia walked back with a happy smile on her face. Hestia once again flicked her wand, and this time, the girls found themselves in an almost transparent dome, in which no one would see them, or hear them. Alice gave her a questioning look and Hestia gave her a thumbs up.

"Is it using your wand day or something?" asked Lily incredulously.

"No I happen to be very skilled at spells, so to not use that skill would be a waste." sassed Hestia, snapping her fingers, also sassily, then smiled. "I dunno, I just think it makes it more dramatic."

"Fair enough," said Lily. "But what were you saying to Frank? And what's next?"

"Oh yeah!" Hestia squealed. "That's the best part! I was just talking to him, you know, chatting away and then I got bored- not of Frank! Just of dodging the topic- and I came straight out with it an-"

"Wait. Hold up right there. You asked him when we were standing almost right beside you?" exclaimed Alice.

"Well..." she said, averting her eyes and adopting a cheeky expression. "I may have made you invisible."

"Really, Hest? Really?" said Alice, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Alice. Yes. But anyway, so I asked him, and he blushed a bit, and then came out."

Lily, Alice and Dorcas' eyes widened and Alice's eyebrows shot up so high that they almost reached her hairline.

"HE'S WHAT?" they chorused.

Hestia gasped in realisation, and then sniggered. "No! Sorry- I'm sorry! I meant he came out with it! He's not- I mean, it would be okay if he was, no one would judge him. Well, actually Alice would be upset, but you know, and, well the important thing is that he's not- Anyway, he said he likes Alice- well actually, more than likes- but yeah, and that he wants to ask her out but is scared that she'll reject him, and he doesn't want to be shot down, because he really likes her, and that would be really hard for him."

Hestia sighed deeply. "Phew! That was a lot of talking. Even for me."

"Oh yes. We are so proud." said Dorcas sarcastically.

"Oh shush, that's not our problem. Alice! You and Frank! Together! Now! Let's get it going!" said Lily smiling happily at Alice.

"Alright," replied Alice.

"Well that happened faster than I expected." stated Lily.

Alice flushed. "Well, because I know he likes me now..." she said. "I mean, what have I got to lose?"

"That's the spirit! Right." said Lily, waving her wand. "Well now that we're visible, we have some setting up to do."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Frank walked over, somewhat timidly, and half-smiled.

"Alice? Can I speak to you?" he requested politely.

Alice's cheeks turned a little red- again- but she nodded, and walked out the door with Frank, looking back briefly to her friends, who were squealing loudly and high-fiving.

About thirty minutes later, Alice appeared in the heads dorms, where the others had retreated, a radiant beam showing on her face.

"Hi," she said breathlessly.

"Hi?" said Lily, Dorcas and Hestia at the same time, looking expectantly at Alice.

"Sooooo?" asked Lily waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I said yes!" screamed Alice.

The girls all immediately ran to her, enveloping her in a huge group hug.

After they had finished celebrating, Hestia ushered them all into a circle and pushed her hand forward, palm first, straight out in front of her in the middle of the circle.

Silently, one by one, the other three girls did so, until a small square was formed by their fingertips. All at once, a bright light shot up through the square, illuminating their grinning faces.

"Alice and Frank," they whispered in unison, quite dramatically, then ruined it by giggling.

A shower of coloured sparkles sprinkled down on them, the light fading, until they reached the floor, when the four girls were covered in a wave of dazzling rainbow light and confetti, which slowly cascaded into the floor, then disappeared.

Their grins widened. They had all spent a good chunk of their second year coming up with a spell that would unite their group, and later, be used to commemorate certain happenings that were worth celebration. As it so happened, it had also helped Alice and Hestia bond, as they hadn't gotten along very well until Lily helped them become friends.

Sirius was stood behind a suit of armour, holding what looked like a whip while a tapestry hid James, Remus and Peter.

They heard shuffling, and as it got closer, Sirius gripped the whip tighter. Just as they looked as though they would get caught, or even seen, Sirius brought his arm back and lashed the whip forward, which, instead of whipping whatever it hit, disintegrated into a million socks, all following after Filch, then whacking him over the head, while he tried to bat them off.

Sirius stumbled to the tapestry, holding his stomach due to laughter, to find the rest of the Marauder's in very much the same state.

Once they regained composure, Sirius rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Lots of Tiny- And Also One Big Prank Later- Pranks Day- Number two!" he announced.

All four Marauders were sitting at the lunch table. They were preparing for their start-of-term prank, and it was going to be a good one- they were sure of it.

James gave the other three a look and whispered "Three... Two... One"

A huge bang interrupted all conversations, and everyone's eyes were fixated on the grand ceiling. Fireworks zigzagged their way across it, then swooped down the walls in a parade of colours. Once they hit the ground, they exploded and shot up to the ceiling once again, but this time as toy unicorns, that raced all around in a blur of white. They gradually made their way lower down, and the white mist covered everyone in the great hall. Once it lifted, everyone's plates had disappeared, but there were paper planes zooming absolutely everywhere. They seemed to have a path, for each and every plane found its way to in front of a student, and unfolded itself, then forming a plate, bearing the words 'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, proud Marauders, 1978'.

The Marauders stood up, and took a mock bow, then high-fived and sat down again. The applause for them wore off after about five minutes of clapping and endless whistling, and people coming over to clap them on the back.

"NEXT!"

"Fine, Pads, but this has to be the last for the day, okay?" said James tiredly. After a whole day of pranking, you got pretty exhausted. Especially with Sirius.

He twirled his wand, and jabbed it forwards, sending a stream of scarlet light in a twisting path towards the Slytherin common rooms. He waved his wand again, and a screen-like image popped up in front of them, allowing to see through the walls, and into the common room. The carpet was a loud red, decorated in gold lions. The walls and ceiling were covered in scarlet red and gold stripes, and there was an enormous lion head that roared loudly on each wall. To top it off, streamers in Gryffindor colours decorated the whole room, and those who occupied it at that moment found that they now had a lion's mane instead of hair.

"Nice one Prongs," said Sirius, nodding in approval. "I didn't know our headship could pull pranks like those now that he's head of the school."

"Careful. I'll put you in detention," said James seriously, narrowing his eyes. After a second, they all burst out laughing, and didn't stop for a long, long, long time.

The Fidelius Charm- James Potter

The Fidelius Charm is

James froze, his quill hovering a little way above his essay, threatening to spill drops of jet black ink onto his fresh roll of parchment.

He didn't know what to write. He had no idea what to do or where to get the information.

Where is Moony when you need him? James thought, frustrated. He heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs, and his mood lifted. Lily! Lily is smart! He thought.

The footsteps came closer, and James turned around to see Lily approaching her desk.

"Eva- Lily?" he asked hesitantly.

She gave a nod to show that she was listening.

"I need help with the essay that Flitwick assigned us."

Lily's head flew up. "You're doing homework? Right now? On a weekday? Without prompting?" she questioned, looking at him incredulously. "Are you ill?"

"No! I mean, the other Marauders are in their dormitory and I can't contact them, and-" he started defending.

"It's fine, Pot- James, I was just wondering. It's good that you're actually not doing homework last minute. For the first time," she added under her breath. "What do you need help with?"

"Where do I find the information to do the essay?"

"Well, I've finished mine, and I looked in a guide to charms, the Fidelius charm: How does it work?, Complex charms and spells of the eleventh century, spells for-"

"Ugh, can't you just let me copy?" groaned James. "That sounds like so much work."

"No, you jughead! You have to learn. That's why you're here at school," she said, slapping James softly on the arm.

"I thought I was at school to have fun and play pranks! Have I been misled this whole time? Oh the horror! What will the parents say? How will they live?" he dramatized.

"Shush, you. Now, most of the books that I mentioned are in here, along those shelves. I suggest you have a look at them; it'll help out a lot with understanding your essay, and they tell you a lot of extra information too, and you get more marks for that. Anyway, I have to do some arithmancy homework, so try and keep it down, please?"

"Thanks, and I will." said James nodding.

Lily sat down and began to complete her homework. Her hair fell down from her shoulder, covering her face, and she brushed it away impatiently. Her expression became focused, her eyes staring intently at the parchment, her quill being twirled around in her fingers. Her brows furrowed at one point as she came across a harder problem, but relaxed as she solved it quickly.

As James started to get to work, he occasionally looked over to her, noticing her quirks and habits. He quickly picked some more books off the shelf and began to flick through them, noting down the useful information from them.

Lily was having an influence on him. He was doing his homework- on time. But, to be fair, it was probably time to start that anyway.

After a while, Lily stood and stretched and retreated to her room, coming back down the stairs a few minutes later.

"I'm going to the Gryffindor common room," she said.

"Can I come with?" James requested. "I've almost finished, and I was planning to go over soon anyway."

"Sure," said Lily, before she realised what she was saying. Sure? Sure! What are you saying Lily! Get ahold of yourself. It's James bloody Potter. You have just agreed to a walk with James Potter. Then another voice started in her head. It's only a short walk, there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Of course there isn't, it's not like he's going to kill you. Suddenly, she began to think she was quite mad, as the voices battled with each other. Well, actually you never know, he might have taken to hexing Gryffindor's too now... No! Of course he hasn't. He's being almost sufferable this year- stop overreacting. Wait! He might kill me! Oh shut it, he's not going to, he's not insane.

"Are you right there?" said James, interrupting her thoughts.

"Yeah, I- lets go."

Lily climbed out of the portrait and fell into step beside James.

"So..." said James, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"How are you finding being head girl?" he improvised. Oh, smooth James, he thought. Think of the most boring topic you can, and talk about it with the girl of your dreams, that'll make something happen.

"Pretty good, actually. It's a lot of fun being in the heads dorms, and being in charge of the school. What about you?" chattered Lily, making James feel a little better about his topic of conversation.

"Well, when my letter arrived, it was a huge shock already, but to be chosen as head girl... It was magical."

Lily cracked a smile, and so did James.

"Same as you." he concluded. "It's nice to have some freedom too, and a place to think."

"What do you mean?"

"Like a place where I can go to clear my head. I mean, I guess I used to go to the library, funnily enough."

"The only time you'd ever go there?"

"Spot on." James said, grinning. "There's a corner, I think opposite to the restricted section, and it's quite hidden. It has all sorts of books on old Transfiguration, and I liked to distract myself there. Ever since we came to the heads dorms though, I go to the big window, near the desks. I sit on the window seat there, just, sort of... looking out into the mountains."

"Sounds rustic. Arty. Intelligent-ish." Lily frowned. "That's not like you at all," James narrowed his eyes at her words, "Have you been talking to Remus?"

"Nah, I stopped talking to him ages ago. He's too smart for me, Pads and Wormy. We cut him off. You see, we have our rules- the most important being 'no smartness.' Oh, and 'no studying'."

Lily shook her head.

"Anyway, I see what you mean. Your 'thinking place'. I thought it might have just been me and the girls who had a thinking place."

"Actually, there's heaps of people I know that have a thinking place. Even my parents have found some spot in the house that they like the best.

"For example, Sirius goes to the Astronomy Tower, and Remus goes to the forest near the Quidditch pitch. Pete goes to the Quidditch Pitch. It might surprise you, but he's actually a decent flyer, and I can't say I disagree that flying takes your mind off things." informed James.

"I didn't know Pete could fly! But I guess it makes sense." decided Lily. "You know, Dorcas goes to the Black Lake, on the very far side, Alice goes to this old, tiny classroom that is on the second floor and doesn't get used anymore, Hestia goes to the Owlery- don't ask me why, the smell would drive me insane- and I go to the Astronomy Tower too."

"Might I just ask- what's the attraction to the Astronomy Tower? I mean, I sort of get it; the wind all around, all the space, nature. But what's so amazing about it?"

"Well, I don't know about Sirius, or anyone else who goes there, but I found the Astronomy Tower in my second year. I know that sounds silly, because we had classes there, but I mean I really found it. I hadn't been able to sleep, and I hadn't ever wandered the castle before, so, for the first time, I got out of bed and explored. I kind of got lost, actually, and I stumbled across it, and I realised its beauty. The wind can get so loud that you can't hear anything, and you just feel like you are the only person for ages. Ever since that night, I haven't even thought to find another place, so that's where I go."

Lily and James walked in silence for a while, though awkward at first, the quietness became comfortable.

When they reached the portrait hole, James muttered "damn" quietly.

"It's alright, James, I guessed the password. We can get in."

"How is it that you know everything?" he said, pretending to sigh.

Lily rolled her eyes and gave the password. When the portrait swung open, Lily said goodbye to James, and walked towards the girls staircases. What's up with you, Lily! I'm putting up with him- very well... He's being nice, organised... Maybe this year will turn out okay. Just maybe.

While Lily went to the girls dorms, James kept walking, and reached the boys room.

'Wow James, you managed a civilised conversation with her, for quite a while. Don't be a twit and blow it.' He found himself thinking.

A/N

HERE YOU GO! Some almost-not-really-but-you-know-it-will-be-or-maybe-not-be-just-kidding jily fluff!