Eye of the Serpent | HP MARAUDER ERA [2]

Chapter Twenty-Five

"C'mon, Evans, tell me! How'd you do it?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty ple—"

"No."

"Pretty pretty please?"

"Well, since you said 'pretty' twice..."

"Really?"

"No!"

James huffed out a sigh and crossed his arms, glaring at the smirking redhead in front of him. It was quite a change to see James with the look of annoyance and Lily the one who was sporting a smirk, but their roles seemed to have reversed a lot ever since Lily's prank.

It had only been a day since then and James was rapidly becoming obsessed with how she had done it. After James had incessantly badgered her into admitting that the prank was her doing, she had yielded, admitting it had been her; but that had seemed pretty obvious from the beginning.

According to her, however, the only reason she had actually admitted to it was because it had been such a great prank that she didn't want others to take credit for it. Though Alice and Marlene had helped, it had been Lily who had worked out every detail.

Lily Evans, the clever, sweet, sometimes goody-two-shoes Gryffindor prefect, had pulled a prank... and the thought only seemed to make James giddy with excitement. If anything, James's hopeless crush on Lily—which she had probably been hoping to shake off—had gotten ten times worse ever since he had discovered that she had pranking skills worthy of the Marauders.

He hadn't been too bothered by the prank itself, nor the fact that he had been covered in hair in all the wrong places. The main thing that bothered James was that he had no idea how Lily had done any of it.

James had taken the liberty of sitting in the seat across from Lily that either Alice or Marlene usually sat in, and for some reason Lily's friends were nowhere to be found that morning. Sirius, Remus, Peter and I sat nearby at the Gryffindor table, watching the two eagerly, waiting to see who would crack.

"Either James is going to give up and stop demanding explanations from Lily... or he'll bother her until she hexes him," I said thoughtfully.

I exchanged knowing glances with the three boys before we all said at once, "Second one."

"There is a third option, though," said Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows. "The third option happens to end with them snogging."

I gave him an exasperated look. "Sure, Sirius," I said facetiously. "That definitely sounds like Lily, especially since she hates him. Gosh, how thick are you?"

"I am not thick!" he yelped. "I am highly intelligent and I'm just hopeful for my best mate! Look at them: it's completely plausible for us to find them in a broom cupboard later."

He gestured towards James and Lily, who didn't look at all like they were about to snog. I wondered for a moment how they would be as a couple, and I could almost see them together. The thought was a strange one. Maybe not for now, but perhaps someday...

"Well, all I've learned from this prank is that Sirius should never grow a beard," said Peter, shrugging.

"Hurtful!" Sirius replied, turning to him with a hand placed over his heart. "I don't know what you're talking about, I looked gorgeous as always."

"You looked positively horrid," Remus added, grimacing. "Although it really didn't help that you had hair growing from your eyelids."

Sirius's facial expression brightened suddenly and he snorted. "Ha! Pawsitively."