Lily Evans, honored and noble prefect and brightest witch in her class, stared, unbelieving, at the mirror. Reflecting back at her were vibrant green eyes, at the moment wide with astonishment, a rosy pink mouth more accustomed to impish grins than the current position of dangling loosely open, and… "Green hair," she whispered to herself. "Green. Effing. Hair." Her lustrous locks, normally an eye-catching shade of wine-red, had somehow managed to turn a shocking verdant green. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her subconscious registered that the shade complimented her eyes nicely, but that was all it got in before- "JAMES POTTER!" she tore out the bathroom, through the door to the Fifth Year Girl's Dormitory, and rampaged down the staircase, searching for the Marauder most likely responsible.

James Potter, purveyor of green hair dye and rejected-but-still-hoping suitor of one Lily Evans, propped his face against his hand as he shoveled food into his mouth. Remus and Sirius lounged in similar positions- careless in manners, but efficient in food-to-mouth shoveling. Peter scurried down between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, throwing his bag down and landing next to James with a huff. "I haven't missed it, have I?" he wheezed, trying to catch his breath and swipe the remaining suds off his left ear at the same time. "Calm down, Wormy, you haven't missed anything but Sirius' bad jokes, and we all could stand to miss those," Remus answered. "Hey!" Sirius started to protest in what would surely have been quite a good comeback, but was cut off by a chorus of "shhh"s as the ever-gossip-hungry hall grew silent.

A small green-haired figure clad in nothing but an oversized t-shirt stalked through the doors to the Great Hall and bore down on the Gryffindor table with alarming speed. Lily marched up the aisle, quickly clearing the space between her and James of any fellow students. James watched her progress almost lazily, humor glinting in his hazel eyes. "Alright, Evans?," he called as she neared him. "YOU!" she shrieked, pointing her finger at him and waving it viciously. "NO, Potter, I am NOT alright," she panted, storming up the remaining few steps between them and violently poking him in the chest. "How do you get this stuff off? I've tried everything!" she raged, fists waving in the air. "Haven't the foggiest what you're on about, Evans. Nice hair, though- really goes with your eyes," he snickered. "You half-breed idiot- haven't brains to fill an acorn cup- mother must've dropped…" James zoned out as she continued to mock, degrade, and insult him, used to it by now. She's thrown in some new ones, he mused, but his attention was mainly focused on the way her legs were accentuated by the height of the tee shirt, and imagining how she would look in one of his tee-shirts- maybe his Quidditch jersey- "Huh?" He was jerked out of his doze as she awaited the reply to a question apparently asked sometime in the last five minutes, looking at him questioningly yet still murderously- How does she DO that, he wondered. She sighed, grabbed him by the tie, and pulled him in close- he unconsciously licked his lips, as slightly shocked hazel eyes locked onto murderous green ones. "You listen, Potter, and you listen good," she hissed. "I know you did this- I don't know how, I don't know why, but you did. You will tell me how to get this dratted stuff out, and you will tell me now." She leaned back, eyes glinting viciously. "Or I'll have to take Drastic Measures," she glared. Potter, wondering halfheartedly how she had managed to imbue spoken words with capitalization powers- another hidden talent of his Lily-flower, he mused-, held his hands up in defeat. "Ok, ok, Evans, you got me." He admitted, the picture of meek submission. "But," he glanced up mischievously from behind messy brown bangs, "I'm not telling you the antidote," he paused dramatically-"WHAT?" came the incensed reply- "unless you kiss me", he finished, full-out grinning. Beyond words, Lily shrieked at him, then whirled away to find McGonagall, who would surely set her hair back. "By the way," the teasing voice continued, "nice robes, Evans." Lily looked down, confused, then stood stock-still; she had forgotten to change from her nightclothes in her quest to find Potter and rip him to shreds. Calmly, she turned on her heel, marched back to Potter, grabbed his tie again- very useful, those things were turning out to be-, pulled him down to her level, and whispered, "Mark my words, Potter- You. Will. Pay. For. This." She released him and stalked out of the Great Hall, head held high, as James sat down on the wooden bench dazedly.

"Man…" he sighed. Remus leaned across the table. "She's really going to kill you now, James. She had that look in her eye," he warned. "You got her good and mad. You don't want to get women mad at you like that- it gets ugly real quick." James sighed again, lost in thoughts of Lily. "Yeah, but did you see how close she was? I could've reached out and kissed her," he mooned, ever the lovesick swain. "Don't think shed've taken it well," sniggered Sirius. "Well, yeah, but…" James trailed off. The three looked at each other and shook their heads. "Hopeless," Sirius good-naturedly shook his head. Remus murmured thoughtfully, "But, you know, guys, that shade of green really did compliment her eyes…" The other three looked at him, disbelieving, then roared with laughter and, with no further interruptions, continued their breakfast routine of taunts, bickering, and food.