Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters…accept for the ones who do not appear in the books or movies. They came from my head and any resemblances to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The plot, however, is completely mine, and again, any resemblance to any other is by accident alone.

Author's Note: Please give me your feedback. This is a rapidly changing category and I really wish to know what you have to say and if you feel that I should continue with this story. That having been said, enjoy!

A Marauder's Joy

James Potter thought that he was the greatest thing to hit Hogwarts since cauldron cakes. He and his buddies, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, would walk the corridors of the school, hexing the other students, smiling at the girls, and shamelessly flaunting the fact that they got away with pretty much everything. They called themselves the Marauders and they ran Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There wasn't a prank or plot that went down without their knowledge. They had taken over control in their third year and held onto it tightly. Now in their seventh and final year at school, no one dared to question their authority. Well, maybe one person.

Lily Evans was proud of her Head Girl status. She helped the first years, ran study groups for exams, and was always ready with a stern look for the troublemakers. The Marauders proved to be a particularly annoying group because it didn't seem to matter how late she patrolled the halls, she could never catch them when they would sneak out. She couldn't figure out how they did it and it was driving her insane. And it certainly didn't help that James took every opportunity to irritate Lily that happened to present itself.

James Potter had been asking Lily Evans out since fourth year and half of his career as a trickster had been dedicated to attempting to impress her. Perhaps his infatuation with her was due to the fact that she absolutely refused to fall for his charms.

Lily wasn't completely immune to James's charisma. She would never admit it, but the way his hair was always unruly drove her wild and she marveled at what a good flyer he was. These were her secret guilty pleasures. He was her secret guilty pleasure. When no one was around, she caught herself thinking about him. And at Quidditch matches, her eyes followed only him. She understood why all the girls flocked to grovel at his feet, but she would never do it. His head was big enough without her adding to his arrogance. He already thought he could have any girl at Hogwarts that he wanted and she was not about to add her name to that list.

While many of the younger girls looked up to Lily, most of the older ones thought that she was insane to resist James for so long. Even when he dated someone else, he was still very clear that he would drop them in a heartbeat if Lily showed the smallest bit of interest in him. Guys shied away from Lily for fear that James would make good on his threats to kick anyone's ass that so much as looked at her. James was famous for his pranks, but his jealousy when it came to Lily was legendary. There was a rumor that Daniel Melville had ignored the threats and asked her out fifth year, pissing James off in the process. When he heard that Lily had said yes, it pissed him off even more. Poor Daniel ended up in the hospital wing for a month while Madame Pomfrey tried to clear up his exploding puss filled boils. After that, Daniel stayed away from Lily. So, it became known that Lily Evans was off-limits by decree of James Potter.

Therefore, hitting on Lily became an insult to James directly and anyone who insulted James, insulted the Marauders, calling down their entire combined wrath in full. Not to make it sound as though Lily were unhappy at Hogwarts. On the contrary, she was very popular and well liked. She was constantly surrounded by people, including her two best friends, Cerra Caledon and Flora Peppersprout.

"Lily! Lily! Wait for me! Excuse me, excuse me, Lily!" Flora, a short, plump little girl raced through the throngs of Hogwarts students to get to her friend. "Lily!"

"Oi! Calm down, Flora, I'm waiting, aren't I?" Lily called as she stood in place waiting as Flora made it to her side. With as roll of Lily's eyes, the two girls made their way to potions class together.

"Cerra will be along shortly. She's a bit busy snogging Paul Furterow in the prefect's bathroom." Flora said, a slight blush crossing her heart shaped face.

Lily looked at her, "How did Cerra get into the prefect's bathroom?"

"I may have told her the password."

"Flora!"

"She tricked me! She's very good at it, you know."

"Yes, I know." Lily said. She could not stay mad, or even upset, with Flora. Flora was too sweet, sometimes for her own good. "I ought to hex her."

"You won't and you know it." Flora said in her light voice.

"Yes," Lily said, "but I can still threaten can't I?"

They walked into their potions class and quickly took their seats by their cauldrons. Lily watched as students entered a few at a time and became immediately alert as the fearsome foursome themselves strutted in. James's eyes instantly sought her out and sparkled when they found her.

"How is my favorite red-head, then?" he asked.

Lily narrowed her pretty green eyes at him. "Go sit down, Potter."

"Anything for you, Evans." James said and blew her a kiss.

Sirius chuckled and shoved James forward, making a whipping motion with his hand. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew followed the two. Remus nodded to the girls. "Morning, Lily, Flora."

"Good morning, Remus." The girls said at once. He was the only semi-rational one of the lot in Lily's opinion. Lily loved Remus greatly. He was as dear to her as a brother.

Professor Plumpkin walked in, chatting with another student, Severus Snape.

"Oi there, Snivellus!" Sirius called, winning him a stern look from Lily.

"Well then, today class, we are going to discuss…" the professor had just started when the door swung open and there stood Cerra, in all her glory. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen, golden locks askew. She beamed at Professor Plumpkin and said, "Oh, Professor, I apologize for my tardiness. I was tending to a matter that could not be ignored." She was out of breath, perhaps from running. Perhaps not. "My, you look handsome today, Professor. Are you wearing new aftershave?"

Professor Plumpkin's cheeks turned bright red. "Take your seat please, Miss Caledon."

"Certainly." Cerra flashed her million watt smile and went to sit next to Lily. That was Cerra's gift. She was tall and slender and looked like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Heads turned whenever she walked by. "Morning, Love." She said to Lily as she sat down.

Lily glared at her. "You are a wicked little woman."

Cerra feigned innocence. "What?"

"You've been shagging Paul…and in the prefect's bathroom, no less!" Lily hissed.

"Ssh!" Cerra whispered. "I did no such thing."

Lily cocked one perfect brow.

"Well," Cerra grinned, "I didn't shag him, anyway."

Lily just shook her head and covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

They were halfway through their lecture of Triasibar potion when there was a loud explosion from the back of the classroom. Lily didn't need to look back to know where the explosion had come from, but she did anyway. Sure enough, there were the Marauders covered in soot as smoke cleared from the air in front of them. James and Sirius were laughing hysterically, Peter was staring dumbfounded at the still smoking cauldron and Remus simply looked up at Professor Plumpkin and said, "Uh, um, a…a little too much calliwood juice."

This of course caused James and Sirius to laugh even harder. Poor Remus's face was steadily growing more and more red as he struggled not to laugh in front of the Professor.

Professor Plumpkin looked back and forth from each of the four boys before saying, in a rather stiff voice, "Ten points from Gryfinndor."

That quieted James and Sirius but they were still smiling. James, however, lost his smile as soon as he saw the look on Lily's face. He mouthed the word'sorry' to her, but she just shook her head and turned away.

When potions ended, James had meant to talk to Lily, but she, Flora, and Cerra had been the first ones out of the class. Sirius leapt onto James's back screaming, "No worries, mate! You'll charm that pretty little vixen before alls said and done!"

"I wish I were as confident as you." James said weakly.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed returning to his feet, "The great James Potter, self conscious?"

That brought James to a halt. "Mio? Self conscious? Never!"

Peter grinned, "Only around Lily, you mean."

Sirius laughed heartily and clapped Peter on the shoulder, "Right you are, Wormtail!"

"C'mon guys, we're late for divination." Remus pleaded.

"Oh, who gives a wank? That's woman's a kook!" James said.

Despite the comment, the four friends headed for their classroom in the tower.

After divination, the Marauders were charging down the halls. Sirius spotted his favorite target and slammed bodily into him. Severus Snape toppled over at the blow, spilling the pile of books he had been balancing.

"Sorry about that, Snivellus. Slipped on that grease spot that follows you around." Sirius called without looking back.

Snape opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a light feminine voice. "Clever, Black! Did you think that up all on your own or did Potter have to help you?"

Snape jerked his head around to have his gaze fall on the pretty face of Flora Peppersprout. She smiled at him and knelt down to help him gather his books. She handed them to him with another smile. "Here you are, Severus."

Snape blinked several times. "T-thank you, F-flora."

"Welcome." Flora said, "Don't worry about them. They're a bunch of immature little gits and deep down they know it." Snape managed to nod. "Well, I'll see you, Severus."

"Y-yeah. See you." Snape choked as Flora stood and waved goodbye with her fingers. He slumped back against the wall and watched her vanish down the hall, long brown waves swaying across her back.

Lily and Flora returned to the Gryfinndor common room after dinner. As soon as they had walked through the portal, Lily let out a yelp and Flora dropped her pumpkin juice and covered her mouth with her hands.

Cerra and her partner leapt apart quickly and scrambled to straighten out their clothes. Lily recognized the boy to be Theodore Chadwick, a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"What is going on, here?" Lily stamped forward.

"You mean it wasn't obvious?" Flora quipped.

"Flora!" Lily snapped and Flora tightened her lips. "This is inexcusable! I should take fifty points from each of your houses!" Cerra stood there chewing on her bottom lip while Theodore stared at the floor, hands in pockets, very contrite. "But, since this is your first offense, I'll let it slide. Theodore, back to your own house."

Poor Theodore didn't need to be told twice. In a blink, that boy was out of there. Lily turned to her two friends. Cerra was still chewing on her lips and Flora was desperately trying not to laugh. Lily took a deep breath and said, "Okay, Head Girl hat off," she broke into a grin, "Friend hat on! What happened to Paul?"

Cerra laughed, "Please, Paul is so twenty minutes ago."

"Literally." Flora added.

"So, you just move right on to Theodore?" Lily exclaimed.

"Why not?" Cera said.

"You slut!" Flora laughed.

Cerra smiled and shrugged. She knew Flora meant it as nothing more than a joke.

"Who's a slut?" came a deep voice. "Oh, Cerra's here. That answer's that."

"Eat me, Black." Cerra quipped.

"Love to, doll!" Sirius replied.

"Dip your head in a boiling cauldron." Cerra countered.

"You saucy minx! Come here to me!"

"Get away from me or I'll hex you!" Cerra threatened as Sirius began advancing on her. The threat kind of lost it's edge as she was laughing while Sirius chased her around the common room. He caught hold of her cardigan, but she managed to shrug out of it.

"There we go! Losing the clothes!" Sirius said, tossing the sweater aside. "Let's all do it. You next, Evans!"

"Go choke on a broomstick, Black." Lily said.

"Come on now, play along." Sirius said and reached for her, but before he even got close to her, James had him pinned to the wall.

"Padfoot." He growled.

"Good grip, Prongsy." Sirius smiled and James realized that he had done exactly what Sirius had wanted to do. He had protected Lily from the fate that was Sirius.

James smiled, "Good show, chap."

"Thought you might like that." Sirius said as James released his hold on his neck.

James turned to look at Lily, but she didn't seem impressed. She walked to the center of the group. "Okay, are we finished with the testosterone show?"

"Yes." James and Sirius said at once.

Flora giggled into her hand and smiled at Remus, who returned the gesture enthusiastically. Everyone was just staring at each other for an incredibly long moment, when a loud slap broke the silence. Everybody's attention shifted to Cerra and Peter, who was holding his cheek.

"The little worm was trying to look down my blouse!" Cerra exclaimed.

"Hey, lighten up! He is a guy after all and that is a very colorful bra." Sirius said. A second slap sounded.

The portal opened as Frank Longbottom and Clarence Castleguard walked in. James despised Clarence. Clarence's eyes roamed Lily's entire body as he entered, and James's eyes noticeably narrowed at Clarence. Frank on the other hand went to sit down beside Flora on the couch.

Evening, Lily." Clarence said.

"Hi,Clarence. Are you ready for that charms quiz tomorrow?" Lily asked conversationally.

"I don't feel it." Clarence said, "but I've been studying for the past two weeks."

Lily smiled. "You'll do fine, I'm certain." She said pleasantly.

"You have faith in me?" Clarence asked.

"Of course." Lily replied.

"Well," James chimed loudly, "that's all very lovely, really, but haven't you anything else to do, Castleguard?"

"Nope. Free as a bird." Clarence said, without looking away from Lily.

James looked to his friends. Sirius was cracking his knuckles, ready for action as always. Peter was still nursing his smack, and Remus was looking very distraught and kept glaring at Frank.

"Hey, Longbottom," James called, drawing Frank's attention away from Flora, "you're a good guy and I like you and all, but, please come get your dog so he'll stop drooling all over Evans's shoes."

"You're an asshole, Potter." Clarence snapped.

"Ah, come on, Potter," Cerra laughed, "he's only drooling a little."

Clarence shot daggers at her with his eyes, but he didn't dare insult her in front of Lily. Flora laughed into her hand and Frank discreetly scooted a bit closer to her.

"Didn't you hear James, Longbottom? Come and fetch your mate." Sirius demanded.

Frank looked away from Flora to the Marauders. They were all glaring at him, even Peter. He gave an apologetic look to Flora and pushed himself up from the couch. "Come on, Clarence. We gotta work on that essay for defense against the dark arts."

Clarence grudgingly headed away from Lily. "See you later, Lily."

"Bye, Clarence." She said with a helpless smile.

As soon as Clarence and Frank had left the room, Lily glared at James. "I am not your property, Potter."

"Not yet." James said.

"Not ever." Lily yelled and turned for the stairs…but after she turned, a smile crossed her lips and covered her entire face.