Edited: Aug 9, 2012

Disclaimer: None of the recognizable themes or characters belongs to me.

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The sun was starting to peak out of the clouds after the many days of rain that had been. Its lingering scent laced the musty halls. Dew was fresh on the grass, creating the effect that it was sparkling. Hogwarts always looked amazing in the days between September and October. The sun would hit the majestic castle just right and produce a stunning sight to see. It was just like a picture out of a storybook. It was magical; that's just what Hogwarts was though, a school of magic for young witches and wizards.

At this time of year the weather was perfect to sit outside, study, or mess around in and the teachers were always in a sunnier mood. They gave easier essays and their grading lacked its usual harshness. Some kids suspected this was because the teachers were about to finish the first month of school (which was always the 2nd worst time of year, right next to exams). Others thought they just enjoyed having the students being outside rather then inside. Both were understandable reasons.

The only thing better then a beautiful fall day at Hogwarts was a beautiful fall Saturday. The chance to sleep in and do whatever one wanted all weekend brought smiles to the students' faces, including the one of Lily.

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Head Girl Lily Evans pulled herself up and out of bed while slipping into her furry pink slippers at the same time. It was a skill required if you didn't want cold feet in the morning. She yawned, pushed her long auburn hair out of her face, and quickly pulled it into a plait that hung down her back. A piece of her bangs fell into her eyes and she blew them out of the way. They flopped to the side of her face and luckily stayed there and that was certainly an accomplishment.

Lily trudged over to the bed of one of her best friends, Alice Prewett. Apparently being Head Girl also gave her the job as personal alarm clock to her longtime besties. It also meant that she had to patrol three times a week, write up Prefect schedules, and schedule school events and outings. As prestigious as the title was, it was more than a handful.

Lily yawned and stretched her limbs, relishing the feel. Her mind resembled that of one filled with sand, but it would soon awake and resume its usual quick thinking.

They had decided to have one of their famous late night sleepovers. Lily could only stand sharing a dorm with Potter for a short period of time. He may not be such an arrogant git this year, but Lily wasn't able to function properly with the excess of Marauders that always seemed to pop up every time she walked into the dorm she and James shared. She had no idea how James convinced her to let him give them the password. She must have been half asleep or something.

The Marauders. They were four of the most eligible guys at Hogwarts and were notoriously known for pulling all sorts of outlandish pranks. With their stunning good looks, charm, and ability to breeze by in class they were any girls' dream, anyone besides Lily and her friends that was. Having been victim to many of their pranks, the girls didn't quite appreciate their presence at the school.

James Potter was the ringleader of their little group, Head Boy to her Head Girl, and the bane of Lily's existence. Her theory was that he was born to annoy the living heck out of her. It was accurate enough as it seemed to the rest of the school. What with his constant date requests and egoistical mannerism he was a nightmare and he just happened to have an infatuation with his fellow Head Girl.

Sirius Black, who might as well been James' brother, was almost as bad, but Lily would prefer his presence any day over Potter. For some reason the female population of Hogwarts found his sarcastic comments and "bad boy" look irresistible. Lily of course suspected he wasn't half the player he was made out to be. Sometimes though, he'd be lucky enough to throw out at least one decent joke that almost made Lily smile.

Remus Lupin was the most bearable of the horrible group and was actually her good friend. He was bookish and intelligent and put up a good argument on Transfiguration theories. He had been Lily's study partner for as long as she had been at Hogwarts. Remus had a more...difficult life then the rest however. You see; he was a werewolf. It was a fact few knew of due to the prejudices of the world.

Peter Pettigrew was sadly what Lily suspected to be the Marauder's pity case and the final member of their quartet. He was small, mousy and horrible at Potions. Somehow he was still adopted into the group and was treated no differently then the rest. The other Marauders were able to throw away his shy side and corrupt him with their numerous pranks.

All thoughts of the Marauders aside, Lily returned to the task of awakening her friends.

"Alice…wakey wakey!" she said as softly as she could in a singsong voice. She knew her friend was easily startled. Who wasn't now days?

Alice bolted up and hit her head to Lily's on accident. Lily smiled. Something like that always happened and Lily assumed that she grew some sort of resistance to the pain for she never seemed to notice it anymore.

"Whoops" she giggled, "Sorry Lils" Alice jumped out from under her thick red and gold covers and retrieved the slippers Lily had gotten her for Christmas in their 3rd year. They were almost identical to Lil's but matched the soft blue color of Alice's eyes.

"C'mon…lets try to wake Marley" Lily said walking over to the bed of Marlene McKinnon.

Lily had shared a room with Alice, Marley, and Hestia Jones for the past 6 years of her life. Three of the four girls had grown amazingly close while Hestia preferred to hang out with the Ravenclaws. They were on friendly terms, but not friendly enough that they could comfortably discuss ways to theoretically murder the Marauders.

"What should be try today…Game Plan #4 or #6?" asked Alice with a yawn.

After living with Marlene for as long as they had, they composed a list of the most effective ways to wake her up. You see, she was one of those people who wouldn't wake up if you blew a bull horn in her ear…not that she knew what a bull horn was. Marlene was a pureblood and her obliviousness to all things muggle was a source of constant entertainment to Lily. There was only one thing on the list that would cause immediate reaction from the sleepy Marley.

"Well…I want to get to breakfast a bit early…what about #3?"

" It's risky, but I like the way you think!" Alice said grinning mischievously.

She was slightly scared of the reaction they would likely get from their friend, but she was a Gryffindor so she sucked it up and went on as planned. She walked over to the door of their dorm and knocked on it.

"Oh, hey Sirius! You wanna see Marlene? Well she's sleeping,"

Marlene instantly awoke and toppled out of the large bed.

"I'M AWAKE!" she screeched. Her long curly brown hair was sticking up everywhere (reminding Lily strangely of James) and her many blankets were now on the floor.

At the sight of their friend, Lily and Alice threw back their heads and laughed, leaning on each other for support. It had been a long growing suspicion that Marlene was harboring a tiny crush on Sirius. It felt good to forget about the darkening world if even only for a few moments.

"Oh Marley! You got it bad!" said Lily between giggles.

She wiped a tear from her face. Marlene grinned and started slowly walking towards them with an evil glint in her chocolate brown eyes. It was that same glint that the Marauders got whenever they devised a new way to boost their popularity while effectively embarrassing a large number of Slytherins.

Lily and Alice then took the opportunity to slowly step backwards and continue to run out the dorm screaming at the top of their lungs. They almost ran into a half-asleep Hestia who was coming back from the bathrooms and they knocked over a pile of books that were sitting on the stairs. Marlene chased them through the common room to the amusement of all the people present.

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Lily rounded a corner and looked behind her.

"I-I think we lost her-f-for now" she said panting, about to sit down on the ever so inviting floor.

"Nope! We have to keep going!" Alice grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the Great Hall.

They had only used Game Plan #3 once before and it ended very badly. Marlene was incredibly fast so they were lucky that they were able to make it as far as they had before she tackled them to the ground.

They burst into the hall and ran to the Gryffindor table before stopping.

Both girls were still in their pajamas and slippers (although Alice had lost one slipper in the common room).

"What do we do?!" Alice whimpered in mock distress.

Her eyes were darting from place to place trying to scope out a reasonable spot to go to. They needed to hide somewhere where Marley wouldn't expect them. She did NOT wish to get tickled by Marlene for half an hour. The only bad side about being friends with her was that she knew all of your ticklish spots.

"There is only one thing left to do…" Lily replied grimly, her bangs falling into her face again.

"NO!" yelled Alice dramatically falling to her knees.

At this point all people in the great hall were looking at them. They were used to their antics by now and most were either amused or annoyed. Even the teachers were watching! Some students noticed that Professor Dumbledore had transfigured his robes into purple pajamas while Professor McGonagall frowned at him.

"Alice! Snap out of it! It NEEDS to be done!" Lily yelled pulling Alice off of the ground and looking her in the eyes while shaking her slightly. Alice sighed.

Suddenly they heard footsteps from the hallway next to the Great Hall. They also heard,

"LILY MARIE EVANS AND ALICE ANNE PREWETT! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE!"

Alice was about to scream but Lily put her hand over her mouth. Most of the room was snickering by now…that or trying to figure out what they would do next.

Lily then dragged Alice over to the three (Remus was too nice to count) people they disliked most.

The Marauders, who had been watching everything, grinned at the sight of them.

"Hello ladies" smirked Sirius trying to act suave. Sadly, he succeeded.

"Move over Black," replied Lily scowling.

She grabbed the shoulders of James Potter and Sirius Black and pushed them over, giving her just enough room to squeeze in between. Alice sat in between Remus and Peter in front of her. Lily waved her wand and transfigured Alice's light brown hair to a startling blonde and changed her own dark red hair to mousy brown. They ducked their heads at the same time and stared at the table intently. Both girls were shaking with silent laughter.

"I think I like it better red, Evans," James whispered in her ear as he twirled a strand of her now brown hair around his finger.

A shiver went up her spine at his close proximity. She really needed some kind of invisible bubble that she could walk around in to fend off boys like James. It would be a plus if it shocked those who touched it too. Lily swatted his hands away with a huff and scowled.

"Don't touch my hair, Potter," she hissed.

He raised his hands in surrender and Sirius chuckled. He was able to bet on his mother's life that they'd be dating by the end of the year. He didn't like his mother much though, so maybe that didn't really mean anything.

A few moments later Marlene ran into the Great Hall. Her hair was flying everywhere and she was only wearing one slipper. She was grinning in a way that said, "I'm making a complete fool of myself, but I don't care". She saw the whole room looking at her so she straightened up bit, widened her grin, and waved as if nothing was happening. She then walked nonchalantly down the hall to the long Gryffindor table, trying to make out the forms of her two friends.

She saw that they weren't at their usual spots and they weren't sitting with Hestia either. Her eyes moved right past the Marauders and suddenly flicked back. Who were those two girls? The looked almost familiar…and they had the same pajamas as Lily and Alice…Marlene grinned at the lengths her best friends went to to hide. Who knew Lily Evans had the guts to between Potter and Black! She casually walked over to them.

"Hello boys…may I ask who you have sitting with you this fine morning?"

Alice chose that moment to scream and hide behind Remus who ducked his head.

"Lily! Alice! I could barely recognize you! Oh and I love that new hair color you guys are trying out!" Marlene said in an overly sunny voice.

"Potter! Now is your time to impress me! HELP!" screeched Lily. She slid under the table and Alice did the same. The four boys scooted back together and Sirius looked at James expectantly.

"Boys…we must show our bravery by making sure that Marley here doesn't eat Lily…and Alice!" James declared courageously.

Marlene laughed evilly.

"I highly doubt that you could hide them for long"

Peter cowered at that sentence and would have slid under the table too if Remus wasn't holding him back.

"I'm sure we can actually!" replied Sirius.

James, Sirius, and Marlene took the next five minutes to bicker about who was more cunning (little did they know that they were technically arguing about who was more Slytherin). Remus took those five minutes to grab a napkin and a pile of toast and pass it under the table. He grabbed a piece of parchment from his satchel and scribbled a quick message on it.

Crawl under the table to the doors in a few minutes! I'll make sure James and Sirius keep Marley occupied. Why is she after you anyway?

He slipped it under the table with a quill. Lily read it and passed her message back up.

Thanks Remus! You're a lifesaver…Marley's after us because we used Game Plan #3 to wake her up.

Remus read the note. He remembered something similar had happened last year…he still had no idea what this "game plan" was.

What's Game Plan #3?

Lily responded almost immediately.

Sorry, can't tell…we're going to make our escape!

She tugged on James' pant leg, hoping he would understand. He looked down and she handed him the notes they had been passing. He read it quickly and turned back to his conversation with Marley.

Alice signaled for Lily to go first so they crawled under the long table, pushing people's feet out of the way as they did. They emerged from under the table and stood up, brushing their pajamas off lightly while looking triumphant.

Lily saw Professor McGonagall looking at them from the head table and she winced. At first the teacher's stare was fierce but it slowly turned into a small smile as if she was congratulating them on their escape. A look at Dumbledore showed an equally small smile on his face as if he didn't want the students to know he enjoyed the girls' antics. Lily grinned and dragged Alice out before Marley could realize they were gone.

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"Sirius! There is no way you can keep them from me all day! Just admit it!" Marlene said getting annoyed.

"Why are you so mad at them anyway?" he asked innocently.

"They used Game Plan #3 again" Remus interrupted.

"What's that?"

"Can't tell you. And I am not mad at them…I'm just very…annoyed" she said calmly.

"Why?" asked James running a hand through his hair as was habit.

"Well…they tried to prove something that they shouldn't try to prove by waking me up while trying to prove it," she said thinking it our carefully.

"I'm confused," said Peter. Marley shrugged her shoulders.

"Revenge needs to be served." She ducked under the table before the boys could do anything. She found it empty.

"WHAT! WHERE ARE THEY!" she yelled. Remus was looking sheepish so she decided to bully him first.

"Remus...how long have they been gone?" she asked fiercely.

"Ummm" he couldn't decide whether or not he should tell her.

"They left 32 minutes ago Ms. McKinnon now I suggest that you keep your voice down or I will have no choice but to give all of you detention!"

Marley flipped around to see Professor McGonagall standing behind her.

"Oh yes…thank you…sorry professor, I'll just leave now." She gave the boys one of her death glares that left them shivering and walked out of the room set on finding Lily and Alice.

"That girl has spunk," said Sirius whistling.

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"Well Lils…how should we spend the rest of this fine day…hiding outside? Or hiding in the castle?" said Alice casually as they walked up to the Gryffindor common room to plan how they were going to avoid Marlene. She tried to push her short hair behind her shoulders and laughed. She had cut it over the summer and still wasn't used to this new length.

"Ummm-" Lily stopped at the sound of quiet sobs.

Being Lily, she rushed to the source of the crying. Alice followed her behind a tapestry of a large, roaring lion where they found a first year hugging her knees to herself. They recognized the little girl as a fellow Gryffindor. Tears were flowing down her face, leaving little streaks.

She looked a mess; there were bags under her small eyes and her hair looked like a literal rat's nest.

Before Alice could do anything besides look around the room and wonder whether the Marauders knew about it, Lily had sat down beside the girl and hugged her tightly. It was something she would do of course. Lily was one of the friendliest people Alice had met. She was always willing to help and was great with all the younger years even if she didn't really know them.

"Shhh…what's your name little one?" she said patting down the girl's dirty blonde locks of hair.

"An-n-nabe-lle" she choked out. Alice sat on the other side of Annabelle and grabbed her hand.

"Please tell us what's wrong Annabelle…so that we can help you" Alice whispered.

The girl withdrew her hand from Alice's and pulled a letter out from her black robes. The envelope was a matching color and slightly ominous.

Dear Annabelle Michelson,

We are sorry to say that last night at precisely 11:34 PM that your father and mother, Amy Lind and Carson Ray Michelson, were killed by Bellatrix Black in their home. We are sorry for your loss. You may attend the funeral on October 5th at 8:00 AM sharp. You are allowed to bring students if you wish.

Signed,

Millicent Bagnold

Mister of Magic, Order of Merlin First Class

"I got it last night" she sniffled.

Tears came to Alice's eyes as she read the note over and over like a broken record. Lily already had them streaming down her face into Annabelle's hair. Bellatrix Black had graduated from Hogwarts just last year and she was already killing people. It was sickening that someone would want to rip the lives of others away.

It was common knowledge that she had joined the forces of Voldemort. A man so feared that few dared to say his name. He started out as an innocent student like they all had, but the monster was unleashed once he left school and it gained the power he needed.

Things were getting worse and they all knew it. Letters were being brought more and more often pronouncing that loved ones had died or been injured and more and more tears came. Every morning a new student would leave the hall in shock after receiving a letter stating that a loved one had been lost.

The professors shushed everything up and you never really knew what was going on unless you saw it yourself. Lord Voldemort was rising. Who knew one little note could ruin a perfectly fun and good morning.

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This story is set after the first month of school in Lily's 7th year. Please Review!