A/N: Hello dearest readers, we're back! First things first. We are STILL trucking on the story. It's just hard when we live in separate states most of the time. Second, after much examination we discovered that the writing style in the first half of the story didn't really match that of the second, so we are revising the chapters steadily, as well as working on new ones for your reading pleasure. Here is the first revised chapter of PRD. Third, we'd like to thank Bethany for jumping back on the bandwagon and becoming our beta editor after starting the story so long ago with us that night in the basement. Finally, thank you all so much for sticking with us. The road to completion will be slow, but totally worth it.

Points in the Right Direction

Chapter One:
The Old Black Magic

"I hate you, Potter, you arrogant, conceited, mongrel of a man!" Lily Evans screeched as she strode angrily away from the lake, brandishing her wand. A flustered James Potter jogged after her. He was careful to sidestep the puddles of water Lily's dripping robes were leaving in her wake.

Several heads turned in the direction of the commotion, as James' friends scurried up the manicured lawn behind the pair, already trying to placate the other irate Gryffindor girls.

"I said I was sorry," James bravely tried to defend himself. "I tried to stop you! Do you really think that I'd try to get you dunked in the lake?" He blinked pleadingly at Lily, trying to hide a very unhelpful smile. He couldn't help it if he thought she was adorable attempting to look dignified when her shoes were making such a ridiculous squelching sound.

And while ticking Lily Evans off again had not been the desired outcome of their botched plan, the sight of her soaking blouse clinging to her like that was almost worth her ire.

~PRD~

The four devious seventeen-year-olds self-named the Marauders were, to all prying eyes, strolling aimlessly along the shore of the lake. However, the reality was that they were deep in conversation about their next, soon to be infamous, prank.

"Padfoot, are you sure this is a good idea?" the tall, thin, raven-haired, bespectacled Marauder adjusted his glasses uncomfortably. This was James Potter. He was known to the male population of the school as its most talented Quidditch player, while the female population preferred to term him the Second Most Eligible Bachelor.

James fixed his roguish friend with a dubious gaze. A perfect example of the 'tall, dark, and handsome' stereotype, it was no surprise that Sirius Black filled the top spot on the Eligible Bachelors list above James, in addition to being regarded Hogwart's supreme bad boy.

"Prongs, you worry far too much," Sirius scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "My brilliance will pay off once again and there will be uproarious laughter, dancing in the Great Hall, and all the pretty ladies will fawn upon us excessively." A disbelieving snort followed this pronouncement.

Sirius whirled to face the source of the sound, a pale sandy-haired boy clutching a large tome. The manner he held it in seemed to indicate that he felt it could ward off his friends' most recent bout of idiocy.

"You two are going to be the death of me," Remus Lupin muttered matter-of-factly. "I refuse to be a part of this." He abruptly threw himself down next to an ancient beech tree, and began to peruse the volume, pointedly ignoring his friends.

"Moony, show a little faith, will you?" Sirius chided as he flopped down beside his seemingly bored companion. "Wormtail believes in me, see?" He clapped their silent, pudgy companion on the back. The boy, named Peter Pettigrew, eagerly nodded his agreement to Sirius' statement.

"Oh, I hold great faith in you Padfoot. I hold great faith in your stupidity when it comes to women. I also hold great faith that your half-baked ideas always end in utter chaos," Remus said scathingly. He punctuated his remark by closing his book with a resounding thud.

"Remus, you honestly think this is not going to go well, then?" James inquired, settling in beside his beleaguered-looking friend.

"James, I think that this is going to end up on par with the Charms fiasco of third year, if all goes well. If not, it may even reach the stupendous heights of the catastrophic Snivellus incident of fifth year," said Remus sourly. Peter, winced at the memory of the aforementioned incident, causing James' scowl to deepen.

"So, not well. . ." James deadpanned, staring stonily at his friend.

"No, not well at all," Remus reiterated.

"But Moony, Prongs, I tell you this is utter genius!" Sirius lobbed a ball of grass confetti at his friends in protestation. "Only complete morons wouldn't realize that the lake has never had a dock in our seven years of being at school here. And what are all Slytherins?" Sirius raised his eyebrows expectantly waiting for an answer he didn't receive.

"They are all complete and utter morons," he barreled on magisterially. "Ergo, my dear friends, the Slytherins will walk out onto the dock we conjured made of vanishing boards and fall into the waiting arms of the giant squid. I bet it's been rather lonely lately—"

"Sirius, what part of 'There are so many things that could go wrong!' aren't you understanding?" James interrupted, firing off his own grass projectile.

"Obviously, it's the wrong part." Sirius got up with the air of someone greatly put upon and began pacing the few feet of shore in front of his friends. "Honestly, you two, where has your sense of adventure gone? Wormtail here—" he gestured to the silent Marauder who was merely pulling apart grass strands next to Remus— "is the only one acting like a true Marauder."

Sirius brandished his finger accusatorially at his friends. "Are you both so whipped already that you cannot see the prestige this act will gain with our fellow wizards and witches in training?"

"Moony," James said, rolling his eyes at his best friend's antics. "We should never have gotten him that word-a-day toilet paper."

"And who exactly is supposed to be whipping us?" Remus asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, please," Sirius said, smirking, "I know what you two do all alone in the Prefect's Bathroom at night."

"And speaking of being whipped. . .there goes Electra!" James said, pointing toward the school entrance where a laughing group of girls had just emerged. They ran playfully toward the edge of the lake, teasing each other happily while tossing off their robes and loosening their ties.

"And they're taking off their robes. . ." James pointed out, grinning as his friend's head snapped around eagerly, his eyes frantically searching for the source of distraction.

"Where? I don't see her!" he cried, distressed when he could not immediately locate the object of his hormonal affections.

"Over there," said Remus, in an exasperated tone, opening up his book again but doing an unconvincing job of reading as his eyes kept straying to the other side of the lake. "She's in between Lily and Spencer."

"Ahhhh," said Sirius, observing James' already large smile widen in response to his longtime crushes' name. "Aren't the objects of nature fascinating to behold?" he began, imitating the affected accent of their Care of Magical Creatures professor. "Observe the graceful witchus maximi entering into the peak of mating season, preening themselves, no doubt, to attract the attention of the pack of alpha wizardi maximi behind the bushes to their left who they are pretending to ignore in order to entice their counterparts."

"Did we learn about them in class?" Wormtail said, finally having something to say, his eyes wide and confused as he searched for the mysterious creatures.

This statement was met by a resounding groan from the other three Marauders.

"Honestly, I don't know when to take him seriously anymore," Sirius sighed.

Wormtail opened his mouth to speak but Sirius cut him off with a growl. "Not another Sirius-serious joke, please."

James was staring dreamily at Lily's legs, even though they were pretty far away. He thanked heaven profusely for the warm September weather. He had only spoken to Lily a few times this year and each time it had been strictly prefect business. He wished she would talk to him about other things, like Quidditch, classes, maybe going to Hogsmeade together, snogging…

"Prongs," Remus said, guessing where his friend's mind had disappeared to. "Prongs? Pron-gs!" James snapped out of it as Remus shoved him over. "Why don't you go talk to her? She's always nice to me. And she was fairly civil to you during our last Prefect meeting.

"Oh God," James groaned. "Padfoot! I need moral support." Sirius was already on his feet, nudging his friend ahead of him and closer toward the girls.

"Right behind you, mate," Sirius grinned. "Do you need me to hold your hand, too?"

"No, I should be good," said James distractedly.

Sirius shrugged. "Alright maybe later. Can we skip too?"

James glared at him. "Stop it, Sirius."

"That's not what you said last night." Sirius smirked. "Okay, okay," he said hastily, holding his hands up and backing away slightly as James' hand went toward his pocket. "But you know you can't resist me."

He ducked when James chucked the Snitch he always carried forcefully at him. "Damn, mate, you don't want to lose that." He deftly caught the flitting winged toy and returned it to James. "It's the only ball you've got."

"At least I've got one," James retorted sarcastically.

"Electra!" Sirius yelled, waving his hand genially. "Getting ready for me already? But taking your robe off was my favorite part!"

"Ah, well, I knew you can't keep it up very long, so I thought I'd get things moving for you," the girl named Electra said calmly, turning to face the newcomers. Her dark eyes were flashing with amusement or irritation, James couldn't tell which.

Yards away, Remus, who had been observing the encounter over the cover of his book, suddenly sat bolt upright beneath the tree. His amber eyes were riveted on a lone figure in the distance. "Wormtail," he said in a hushed voice. "At the end of that stupid dock of Sirius'. That's not. . ." The two boys were on their feet instantly, tearing off toward their friends.

"James!," Wormtail yelled frantically, flailing his arms to attract his friend's attention. "Lily's gone out onto our pier!"

"What!" James roared, abruptly turning his attention away from Electra's latest jab at Sirius' manhood. He had been so distracted by Sirius' own girl troubles that he had neglected to look after the source of his own romantic angst, who was currently walking amazedly down the prank dock. Her sweet, brunette friend Spencer was following closely behind.

"LILY!" James bellowed, bounding down to the shoreline. She whirled around at the sound of her name, her eyes narrowing as she located the source. "LILY, GET—"

The words died in James' throat as the planks gave way beneath her and she tumbled, shrieking, into the water.

"Oh FU—"

"POTTER!"

~PRD~

James had tried to stop her. He really had. He had already stammered numerous times that it hadn't been his idea. Or, he really hadn't agreed to it, anyway.

So he couldn't truly see why she insisted on flicking her soaking wet hair at him as she stormed away. James noted that she was blasting off a rather impressive string of obscenities as he hovered by her side, trying to be a gentleman and offering the towel he'd just conjured to her.

"Lily, please listen to me!" James shamelessly begged as she marched across the grounds towards the castle. "Lily, I tried to stop you. It was not meant for you! Lily, please—" She had broken into a fast walk and even though she was a good eight inches shorter than James, he had to break into a gallop in order to keep up with her.

"Lily, it was Sirius' idea! It was supposed to be for some stupid Slytherin's who weren't paying attention. I tried to stop him, but you know how Sirius gets—" he continued as they entered the Entrance Hall. To his great surprise, Lily rounded on him and the color of her face made her dark auburn hair look pale.

"OH! THAT'S RIGHT, BLAME SIRIUS!" Lily jabbed her wand into his chest, her emerald eyes blazing with fury. She was breathtaking.

"IF SIRIUS FLEW HIS BROOM OFF THE TOPMOST TOWER, WOULD YOU DO IT? IF SIRIUS ATE TWELVE POUNDS OF SPOTTED DICK—"

A group of third years stopped abruptly on the staircase. One boy exclaimed loudly, "Did someone just say dick? Oh, it's just Potter and Evans. Never mind." Upon realizing they had walked into one of the pairs' reoccurring arguments, the third years sat down off to the side of the staircase, primed for their afternoon's entertainment.

"JAMES, YOU ARE SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD! YOU ARE HEAD BOY FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! GROW UP! STOP BLAMING YOUR FRIENDS JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE BALLS TO STAND UP TO THEM!"

"OK, WAIT A MINUTE—WHY IS EVERYBODY QUESTIONING WHETHER OR NOT I HAVE BALLS TODAY?" James hollered back. The Hall went silent as everyone milling around stopped dead in their tracks and stared. The group of third years was now gawking with rapt attention. A few feet away, a group of fifth years had emerged from the lower levels. The group seemed to keep a close watch on the Lily-James row front, as they had pulled out a notebook devoted entirely to the subject. One girl made a tsk-ing noise, marked something with her quill, and quietly remarked, "Point Evans."

"Is she in the lead now? I've forgotten," asked the boy to her left, leaning over her shoulder to study the paper.

"Yes, actually, she has a solid seven point lead," she responded.

James and Lily, not noticing any of this, seethed at each other. Then, without any warning, Lily turned on her heel and in a half-walk, half-jog made her way back to Gryffindor Tower. James just stood there dumbfounded. After what felt like hours of people staring at him, he felt a hand clap him genially on the shoulder.

"Ah mate, you can't win every one," came Sirius' deep growl.

"Apparently he can lose them all though. He hasn't beaten her since the eighth of December last year," the boy by the stairs noted. James glared at the impertinent offender, who shrank back slightly, before he stomped after Lily, plowing his way through the milling crowds.

Electra came out of the mob to stand next to Sirius. They glanced at each other, grins breaking out on their faces as they turned to address the assembled students. "Alright," they cried in unison, "who lost money today?"

Slowly students throughout the Hall came forward, grudgingly passing over galleons. Sirius and Electra had co-founded the Potter/Evans betting pool in their fourth year and had profited tidily ever since. It seemed that the predicted winner of the next row was the only thing the pair could agree on.

"Thank you, thank you, better luck next time, eh?" Sirius said to a particularly sour-looking fourth year.

"Hey, you. Yes, you," hollered Electra to a stocky boy hiding himself in the crowd, "I believe you bet they would be together by now, looks like you owe me eight galleons." Her dark eyes flashed as they boy took off up the marble staircase. "Oh don't you dare run away from me!" she shouted, hot in pursuit.

As the last of the students paid up on misplaced bets throughout the hall, Remus stared at the pile of gold jingling happily in his friend's school bag.

"Sirius, you're really betting against your best friend?" Remus asked incredulously.

"I love Prongs, but I'm not stupid. You," he said beckoning to the girl by the stairs, "come here. Please present the facts to my dear friend, Mr. Lupin, here."

"Statistically speaking," the girl started, "Miss Evans has a distinct advantage over Mr. Potter for several reasons."

"There you have it, Moony," Sirius smirked as Remus' eyes began to glaze over as the girl prattled on. "That will be all! Thank you Katie," Sirius said, giving an abrupt clap to the girl with the ledger. She gave a short bow and retreated.

"Come on, Moony, let's make sure Prongs hasn't killed himself yet," Sirius said cheerfully as he guided his friend toward the stairs. "It would definitely put a damper on dinner, and you need to eat, you're looking peckish."

~PRD~

Dinner that night was a rather subdued affair. James gazed morosely at his golden plate while pushing his food around. He kept glancing down the table at Lily, who appeared to be in a deep and engaging conversation with her three best friends, Spencer, Constantina, and Electra.

"That looks intense," Sirius observed. "What do you think they're talking about? Whatever it is, it doesn't look good."

"Isn't it obvious?" Remus remarked, spearing a runaway pea. "They're rather pissed about earlier, aren't they?"

"How do you know?" Sirius snapped. "Did your girlfriend tell you that?" He took a swig of pumpkin juice and stared at Remus expectantly.

Remus sighed patiently. "Constantina didn't tell me anything. I used common sense," Remus explained, rather like an adult explaining to a small child that one plus one equals two. "Honestly, Sirius, you have no skill with women unless it involves seducing them into a broom closet."

"Bite me," Sirius spat.

Remus gave him a pointed look.

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled quickly.

"Anyway," Sirius said, quickly changing the subject from his werewolf friend's sensitivities, "they still look a wee bit miffed. This calls for a touch of the 'Old Black magic'."

James' head jerked up and he stared at Sirius in trepidation. "No, Sirius. Just don't."

"Hey, when things have gotten this bad, they can only get better!" Sirius said brightly as he got up, dodging James' attempt to wrestle him back into his seat.

"Or they could get worse," Remus murmured as he watched Sirius strut down the Gryffindor table like a hippogriff in heat. "Definitely worse."

"He's dead set on ruining any chance I ever had, isn't he?" James said mournfully as he surveyed the beautiful redhead down the table.

"Ladies," Sirius said gallantly as he attempted to shove between Electra and Spencer with his knee.

"Black," Electra said calmly, raising her steak knife without even glancing at him. Sirius realized in shock that the knife was aimed at a very sensitive area. "Move seven more inches to the right and I will be delighted to serve everyone spotted dick for dessert."

"Well then," Sirius said hastily, backing away towards the safety of his previous dinner seat. "It's been corking to chat with you. I'm glad we could have this little heart to heart. So, if we've cleared this all up, I'm out."

" I think that went rather well," Sirius told the Marauders a moment later as he slid back onto the bench beside James.

"She threatened to castrate you again, didn't she?" Remus said, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smirk behind a forkful of mashed potatoes.

"In a word? Yes."

Wormtail snorted into his plate of shepherd's pie, earning a whap from the somewhat annoyed Sirius.

The quartet fell into silence as dessert came and each brooded over their own thoughts. Towards the end of the meal, Sirius couldn't help but notice Electra eyeing a tall, buff, Quidditch player from Ravenclaw with blond hair and an easy smile. When the boy got up and exited the hall, Electra gave a quick goodbye to her friends, and followed him.

"Don't," Remus said from behind the book he had propped open against the dessert tier as Sirius shifted to get up again.

"You don't even know what I'm doing!" Sirius protested.

"I don't care." Remus waved his hands exhaustedly. "Just don't."

"But she just—"

"Even more reason if it has to do with Electra. Don't." Remus brandished a bit of turnover at Sirius threateningly.

"I have to know what she's doing with that bloke from Ravenclaw!" Sirius glanced at James for support, but James seemed determined to stay out of anything dealing with Lily or the other girls tonight.

"Seriously, Sirius. Don't do it." Remus repeated.

"Did you just make a Sirius-serious joke?" Sirius said menacingly.

"You said 'bite me,'" Remus murmured.

Sirius thought about this for a moment. "Well, fine, then. We're even. But I'm still going after Electra. See you later."

~PRD~

Sirius exited through the vast doors of the Hall, his eyes scanning the surrounding passages for his quarry. He found her halfway up the marble staircase, deep in conversation with the Ravenclaw.

Putting his hands in his pockets and doing his best to look nonchalant while eavesdropping, Sirius strolled up the staircase.

"How 'bout next week, luv?" said the Ravenclaw in a thick Cockney accent. He beamed at Electra in a winning way.

"I don't think so," said Electra somewhat distrustfully.

"Aw, come on, luv! Do me a favor!"

Sirius couldn't contain himself. Obviously, this man was trying to coerce Electra into giving him something she didn't want to give, which was clearly unacceptable as that was Sirius' job.

Sirius strode up to the girl of his dreams and slid a protective arm around her waist. "Is there a problem here?" he demanded darkly.

"Who's this bloke?" asked the Ravenclaw with an expression of genuine confusion on his face.

"I'm the bloke who's dating her, that's who," Sirius said hotly, sincerely hoping that Electra wouldn't completely ruin his bluff. "Isn't that right, Electra, darling?"

"Black," Electra gritted out as Sirius tugged her even more tightly against him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, well, I see you two are busy right now," the Ravenclaw said, smirking. "So I'll just be going." The boy turned and jogged up the staircase in the direction of the Ravenclaw dormitory.

"Jones!" Electra called after him, attempting to wriggle her way out of Sirius' iron grip. "Don't think you can get away from me! I'll pop up one day and shock you! Electra isn't my name for nothing!"

"Technically, your name is Stephen," Sirius pointed out without thinking. He cringed when her shoulders went rigid, the muscles suddenly tense under his arm. He was definitely in for it, mentioning her forbidden and secret real name, but…

Damn, she was sexy when she was angry. Her olive skin shone with her fury and her glorious long dark hair swirled as she turned to face him.

"It is not my fault that my parents thought I was going to be a boy and were too lazy to change my name!" she shouted. "Why the hell are you still touching me?"

Sirius hurriedly dropped his arm as she landed a well placed jab to his bicep. "And more importantly," Electra continued, holding up a small velvet bag rattling with coins. "Why the hell did you try to interfere with my collecting? That numbskull owes me thirty galleons!"

"B-but," Sirius stuttered, clearly taken aback. "That bloke was-"

"'That bloke is my good-for-nothing cousin!"

"I was just trying to protect you from the shallow pricks of the world!" Sirius flared.

"Then protect me from yourself," Electra huffed.

"That was a low blow, Stephen," Sirius growled. The words fell into the shocked silence of the students that had just left the Great Hall. A few giggles and surprised whispers were heard as one of the most feared and sought-after girls in the school deepest secrets—she had kept it relatively quite for nearly seven years—was declared for all to be heard.

"Oh, you've done it now, Black," she hissed. "This," she jabbed a finger in his face. "This is war!"

Seeing her three friends at the bottom of the staircase, she gestured to them to follow her as she flounced off towards the Gryffindor common room, leaving a confused Sirius to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of her exit from behind.

Constantina stopped to say goodnight to an utterly exasperated Remus. Their hands clasped as they watched James move to guide a stunned Sirius away.

"I suppose this means that we aren't supposed to speak with one another for the next two weeks or so," Remus told her calmly.

"I suppose so," Constantina sighed, squeezing his hand gently.

"So I'll see you in Transfiguration tomorrow?" Remus murmured, leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek. "I'll save you a seat."

A/N: Please review and let us know what you think of the changes. Motivate us to finish the new chapters. :)