Have you ever wondered how Lily found out about Remus' 'furry little problem' or how the Marauders turned into animagi?

House Competition 2017:
House: Slytherin
Category: Short Story
Prompt: "What homework?"
Word Count: 1,245

Disclaimer: And no, for those who are wondering, I am not JKR so I don't own Harry Potter.

Thanks for the help, Mags!

Lily turned a page of her transfiguration book, a small frown tugging on her lips. She shut her eyes tightly, unable to concentrate. She was sitting in the library, a stack of books piled in front of her. Usually, she would have finished reading most of them by now, but today it was different.

James Potter, the boy who annoyed her to no end, was currently behind her, clumsily trying to get out books from the very top shelf, causing dust to fall down on both of them. What bothered her was that he was actually pretty quiet and had not spoken a word to her. That was something he never did, as he always made sure to tease and annoy her when he had the chance.

Lily scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked finally, turning around in her chair to face James. He had several books piled up in his arms as he stepped off of a stool, then placed them on the desk opposite Lily.

"Nothing," James replied without looking at her. "Oi! Sirius, find anything yet?!" he called, brushing off the dust from one of the big, heavy and thick books, frowning thoughtfully.

Lily squinted and craned her neck to see the title, because James Potter never read books, especially not ones as big as that. Something was up, and she was going to find out.

"Advanced Transfiguration? What would you possibly want to do with that? We're not studying that until next year," she remarked, looking curiously over his shoulder.

"Nothing," James repeated, glancing up from his book. He pursed his lips for a moment, "Says the witch who's reading fifth-year transfiguration," James pointed at the book Lily had been reading.

"I was only doing some light reading," she replied slowly, reaching out and brushing off the dust from the other books, her green eyes turning wider in surprise, "Mystical Creatures; Full Moons; Process of...Change? What are you doing with these books, Potter? These are very advanced," she frowned at him, her green eyes narrow and she eyed him carefully.

James simply shrugged. "It's nothing," he replied once more, making Lily roll her eyes.

"Why is it that…whenever I talk to you, I feel like you're lying to me?" she asked him slowly, frowning a little.

Peter, at that moment, chose to walk in, a small pile of books in his own arms. "Because he is," he replied very helpfully, earning a thwack on the arm from Sirius who was behind him.

Lily smirked. "Well?" She turned to James, both her eyebrows lifted as she eyed him.

"Well," Sirius repeated, "It's quite funny, Lily dear, that you're asking Pron - James of all people. As you claimed in the common room, you hate him and wouldn't talk to him," he changed the subject quickly, smirking a little.

Lily rolled her eyes, feeling like she had been doing that a lot, lately. "You boys are impossible," she muttered. "Would you just tell me, already?"

James smiled innocently at her. "There's nothing to tell."

Lily's lips twitched in annoyance. "Because, Peter made that so very clear, right?" she commented sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"It's just homework. You know, to make….erm...Professor McGonagall….er...proud?" Sirius said quickly, nodding earnestly at Lily, just as Remus came in.

"What homework?" She made air quotes, before turning on Remus."What are they doing?" Lily demanded, sticking an arm out to the boys who had huddled together in a small group and were peering at the book in James' hand.

Remus simply shrugged. "I don't know," he replied, though he could tell plainly that Lily didn't believe him. "Really, I have no idea what they're talking about,"

Sirius glanced at Lily. "Listen, if you're going to keep nagging-"

"I'm not nagging!"

"-Then stop, because we aren't doing anything….unless you can prove it," he smirked, crossing his arms at the frustrated Lily. She had noticed something was different in the boys for the last few days and had made up her mind to find out, even though wise Lily hardly did so.

"Well…..they're obviously for something, otherwise, why would you be reading them?" She met Sirius' unbelieving glance with an even one of her own. "Why else would you boys be reading these?"

James grinned. "Light reading," He winked at her, making Lily groan in annoyance and turn away to her books again. Unable to get any answers from the boys, she returned to her transfiguration, blocking them out as she tried to focus on her studies.

It wasn't too hard because it was pretty apparent that they didn't want her hearing anything, so they went into the aisle opposite her, and were bent over the large stack of books, whispering and talking just like you would expect Marauders too.

Lily didn't bother asking them again, and continued with her work, ignoring them completely. So, she quickly got done with transfiguration and her 'light reading' and leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief.

'I have...ten minutes before dinner, wouldn't hurt to read some book about Hogwarts… it'll be better than going back to the common room and have the girls start scolding me for studying too much,' she thought, sliding out of her chair and picking up the books again.

She quickly piled the many books and got up to put them back from the various places they had come from. Grabbing a book to read at night, Lily was just passing through the aisles when her eyes fell upon four boys, still bent over the many books.

This was too much for her curiosity, and despite what she told herself of going there 'Not being worth it,' Lily quietly crept up behind them and hid behind a bookcase to listen to what they were saying. Fortunately, they were too enraptured by the book to see or notice her.

"I don't know about this, James," Peter frowned, "It's not the easiest of spells, to say the least."

Sirius clapped Peter's back, "And that's the fun of it! Otherwise, you know, how would we help our very dear Moony?" he shrugged, "And come on, we're Marauders! This is what we do."

Remus, even though he hesitantly agreed to their mysterious plan, shook his head at Sirius, "You lot shouldn't be doing this, you know? It's against the law...and if we were caught...there could - will be consequences."

James looked back at Remus, "How else are we going to help you? You can't exactly stop yourself so easily in your condition, you know," he pointed out.

"Ahem, Prongs, furry little problem, remember?" Sirius grinned goofily.

Behind the bookshelf, Lily blocked out their conversation once more. 'Condition? What condition….furry little..what? Whatever they're about to do, it's against the wizarding law.. How is this going to help Remus?' A million thoughts were going through Lily's head that moment, and she was having an internal debate about marching forward and asking them or waiting to listen.

She didn't do either, however, and as the boys huddled around James once more, she silently and carefully walked up to them, only a few feet away now. Gulping a little, she craned her neck over Sirius' shoulder to see the book in James' hand and her eyes widened until they looked like saucers.

A smirk rose to Lily's lips, "Well, I guess turning into animagi must be your type of light reading then, although I don't believe Professor McGonagall would like this..ahem...particular type," she remarked coolly, straightening her skirt before walking away in triumph.

"Oh crap…."