Harry Potter What we have friends to thank for

"Uric the Oddball was odd because he didn't want to go around killing muggles-" James Potter looked up from the essay he was c

AN: This is…my first Lily and James fic. It is, actually, my first Harry Potter Fic too O.o (scary..) so don't blame me if its absolutely horrible, I'm trying to get better…

All characters featured below are J.K. Rowling's, except Sammy, and she's mine O.o; (duh..)

Anyway, onto the story ^^;;

_"Uric the Oddball was odd because he didn't want to go around killing muggles-" _James Potter looked up from the essay he was currently reading and looked at his best friend, Sirius Black.

"Sirius, tell me again why Uric didn't want to kill muggles."

Sirius looked up from his "experimenting" miniature cauldron.

"James, James, James." He replied, smirking with a self-satisfied air about him.

"…?" James merely raised an eyebrow in a questioning stare.

"My dear James, it isn't my essay, so I, unfortunately, cannot tell you. Ask its author." He turned back to his cauldron and started mumbling.

James cast his eyes to the signature at the bottom of the roll of parchment.

"Argh!" He yelled, dropping the essay and falling off of his bed.

Sirius turned, picked it up and was about to comment on his friend's strange behavior when an angry yell rang up the boys' staircase.

"Potter! You bring back my essay now!"

"Whoops Potter. You had better go apologize to Miss Evans for taking her essay."

"_Me_ take her essay? Are you-" James paused, and a thoughtful look passed over his face.

"What's up, Prongs?" questioned Sirius, a grin appearing.

James grinned back at him. "First, I'm going to brush my hair." 

Sirius snorted. "Do you even know what that means?"

"More than you do," answered James, glaring at him reproachfully.

Sirius giggled and motioned for him to continue. 

"Then," went on James, "we'll go into Evan's dorm and-"

"Ooo.." grinned Sirius, catching on. "Gotcha. You go get the cloak and I'll calm Lily down a tad."

"And then we'll-"

"Yup. Lets go already."

"I'm already there."

James opened his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak, while Sirius bounded down the stairs, a plan forming in his mind. 

James covered himself with the cloak and followed Sirius down the stairs, grinning. "We're going to get Evans good."

Once Sirius had made her laugh, Lily had hit him into giving her back her essay, which he had brought down with him. He had succeeded quickly. Too quickly to help James, who should, by now, be in Lily's dorm. Sirius had to think of something to keep Lily occupied for a little longer. 

Lily couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. Hitting Sirius over the head with a hard book just to be sure, she went back to her homework and tried to ignore his quotes from her essay. 

After a while, he went to go talk to Sammy, another sixth year Gryffindor girl, whining about how hungry he was and challenging her to a game of exploding snap. 

Lily sighed with relief and bent her head, determined to get good marks for this homework. She just wasn't good at transfiguration. Looking up once or twice, she caught Sirius and Sammy; their heads bent together, talking quietly and looking at her, and occasionally towards the girls' staircase. Lily had a very foreboding feeling about putting those two together.

Sammy and Sirius caught Lily watching them, and they settled back to their game, talking quietly.

"Are you sure it'll work?" Sammy asked, her eyes wandering to her pack of cards.

"Yup. All we need is an irreversible locking spell and you to sleep on the couch." Sirius answered, throwing a card onto the table and waiting for an explosion. It never came.

"I know a charm like that…Wait a sec. Me, sleep on the couch?" Sammy raised indignant eyes to his. "What about blankets and stuff? It _is_ winter, you know!" 

"Hm? Oh you can always use his blankets." Sirius grinned. "_He_ wont be needing them."

"I… guess so… And if it's irreversible, how are they going to get out?"

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Sammy nodded without question, and threw in a card. The resulting explosion covered their faces with card ash and sooty black stuff.

James chuckled gleefully, digging through Lily's trunk and trying to find her shampoo, almost shrieking with alarm when Sirius dashed into the dormitory. 

"Quick Prongs! She's coming!" 

No need to ask who 'she' was. Sirius was fidgeting around the closest bed impatiently, waiting for James to finish.

"Shit! I'm not done yet! Go keep watch, I'll be right out!"

Sirius hid a smirk. He knew James would say that. He never left a prank unfinished. Obediently, he hid inside a doorway on the stairs, ignoring the stares and confused looks from the girls in the room.

Inside the 6th year dorm, James was frantically searching for his invisibility cloak, which had disappeared from the bed closest the door. 

He could hear Lily calling to Sammy as she came up the stairs.

Giving up, he dived under the nearest bed and hoped for the best, knowing if he were caught, a whole war would start between he and Lily. And that was the last thing he wanted.

"Hey Sammy, I'll be right with you! Just let me get something from my trunk!" called Lily, climbing the stairs. She failed to see Sirius, who was pressed up against the closed door of the 5th year dorm, cursing the girls inside. 

Lily walked into the 6th year dorm and stopped dead. All of her things were strewn out over the floor. Grumbling to herself, she picked up a few random items, wondering who could have done it. 

"It couldn't have been Hannah, or Helen, _or_ Kelly, because they're at home.. And Sammy was downstairs with me. So who..?" she muttered to herself, standing up and surveying the untidy room for any clue as to who it might have been.

"Talking to yourself, Lily?" said Sirius' smiling voice from the doorway.

Lily whirled around. "Sirius! What are you doing?!"

The door slamming shut, and an unintelligible muttering, that sounded remarkably like Sammy's voice, was her answer, but she wasn't paying attention. All she heard was the lock click. 

Sirius went downstairs with Sammy. 

"It's a pity Remus isn't here to glory in our plan.." he mourned. Remus was home for the holidays.

"It had better work. Lily's going to kill us." Sammy mumbled, making her way to the fireplace and pulling up a chair and a table.

Sirius bounced along behind her, and pulled up his own chair. 

"I know." he said merrily. "But wont it be worth it?" beaming at her, he got out the chessboard.

Lily got to the door hurriedly, and tried to unlock it, both with the key, and with magic, but to no avail. After yelling fruitlessly or Sirius for a few seconds, she turned and trudged to her bed, sighing as she sat down on it. She wanted to know why Sirius had locked her in her own room alone (or so she thought), and she wanted to know who had been through her things, and if she was still in the room.

Then, it clicked, and her face turned red with fury.

Sirius was up the girls' stairs. Sirius had locked her in. Sirius had a best friend. A best friend called…

"Potter!"

James heard the bedsprings creak above him, heard Lily's angry shout and guessed immediately what Sirius was doing.

"I'm going to kill you, Padfoot." He muttered, forgetting he didn't want to be heard.

There was an abrupt movement above him, and Lily's head appeared, hanging upside down and looking at him. Uh oh. Judging from the look on her cute red face, she was not a happy camper. And he was in trouble.

Rerunning that last thought through his mind, he decided to ignore the _C_ word.

Taking a deep breath, he looked up at her, and grinned alluringly. "Hi Lily."

"Potter. What are you doing under my bed?" Lily asked, in a dangerously calm voice.

"This is your bed? Hehehehe….ahem…oops?"

"Potter."

"Yea?"  
"Come out from there."  
James was suspicious. "Why?"

"So I can curse you."

He looked thoughtful. "Only if I can hex you back."

Lily crawled onto the floor so she was upright and looking James in the face.

"No deal." She frowned.

"Why ever not?"

"Because YOU are in MY room!" she snapped angrily.

"Yea well, I would let you if YOU were in MY room!" he countered, backing out from under the bed and standing up.

Lily scowled at him, then quickly turned and crossed her arms, pouting at the window.

A bed creaking behind her, she turned to find James on her bed, lying on his back, his hands behind his head and his gaze focused on the ceiling.

His messy hair was spread out over her pillow, had the strongest urge to brush it for him, and then bean him with a pillow. 

"Brush it for him?" she murmured to herself. "Where did that come from?"

James turned his head towards her. "Pardon?"

Lily jumped, startled, and blushed almost the same colour as her hair before turning back to the window, determined to stay silent. 

James looked at the back of her head thoughtfully. Had she really blushed? He could have sworn that she had said something like "brush it for him"

Knowing that this question would drive him crazy, he decided to find out.

"Hey, Evans?"

She let out a grunt that was remarkably ladylike. For a grunt at least.

"Do you have a hairbrush?" he went on.

She turned slightly and regarded him, her face still suspiciously pink.

He gave her his most I'm innocent it-couldn't-have-been-me grin, and she raised her eyebrows. 

"Why?" her tone was incredibly skeptical.

"So you can brush my hair, of course!" he beamed.

She instantly went red and whirled around completely, gaping at him.

His face fell slightly. "You mean you wont? I was _so_ looking forward to it!"

Lily shut her mouth and knelt down on the floor, searching through her things. 

"Where is it….I know its here somewhere…is that Manfred?"

She came up out of the junk, holding a little stuffed baby gorilla. 

"Manfred!" she hugged him tightly, oblivious to James' amused look.

Her previous thought came back, and after placing Manfred on Sammy's bed carefully, she carried on foraging.

James was just getting bored watching, when she sat up and examined her prize with delight.

Making her way to her bed, she decided that the look of horror on James' face was priceless.

Sirius paused in his chess game, listening carefully.

"Did you hear something?" he asked Sammy, as she moved her castle forward.

She was about to respond in the negative when an agonized male yell came down the girls' stairs, making all the Gryffindors in the common room stop what they were doing and look in bewilderment towards the staircase, before glancing curiously at Sirius, who shrugged innocently.

Sammy sidled closer to Sirius and whispered, "Do you think he'll be ok?"

Sirius glanced at the staircase and shrugged again. "Probably not. He'll have polka dotted hair and a few more eyes and stuff by the time we let them out."

He moved his queen a few spaces.

"You're taking this awfully calmly for a best friend." She replied, contemplating her move.

Sirius just grinned, but groaned when she said "Checkmate!" triumphantly.

James winced again. "Do you have to pull so hard? It hurts!" he complained.

She just turned his head around so he could see her stick her tongue out at him, and continued.

He winced again as she pulled the brush through a particularly stubborn knot, jerking his head back in the process.

He had never expected her to go through with it. He was loathe to admit it, but it felt sort of nice, to have his hair brushed, even if he knew it would be just as messy as it had been before.

She had, by now, decided that the brush would go easier if something else went through first, but she was at a loss at exactly what. Shrugging and telling herself she'd go back to the hairbrush as soon as there were no knots, she plunged her hands into his black hair and started running them through.

'Odd.' She thought. 'How come there are knots by brush but all my hands get is his silky soft-'

The thought stopped there.

He straightened up in shock as her hands brushed through his hair. It was as unexpected as him suddenly deciding to kiss her. He froze at the thought, and shook his head to try and get it out. All it did, however, was earn him a slap on his head. 

"Stay still." Lily hissed, and, unable to argue, he relented, and submitted to the feeling of her running her hands through his hair. It was silent for a while, and she went back to the brush quite soon. A little too soon for James, who almost missed her touch. 

'Almost.' He thought, smiling at himself mentally. Then something bashed into his head from behind, sending him forward, the force almost pushing him off the bed.

Lily grinned, still holding the pillow, which she guiltily hid behind her back when he turned to mock glare at her.

"What?" she asked, seemingly innocent.

He got off the bed, grinned at her, and grabbing Manfred off Sammy's bed, threw it at her head.

She shrieked, caught Manfred and cuddled it tightly, ducking her head over it, which was a mistake, as Sammy's pillow was brought down on her head a second later, hard.

She squealed in false anger and standing up, beat James over the head, first with Manfred and then with her pillow, until he was huddled up on the floor, shaking with laughter.

A female shriek this time, echoed down the stairs, but the Gryffindors had given up trying to find out what was happening, and ignored it, most satisfying their curiosity by glancing at a seemingly oblivious, grinning Sirius.

Sirius hiccupped. "One more game, and then I'll let you be the better player."

Sammy groaned. "_Let_ me? I should think it's obvious who the better player is. I _have_ won the last six games."

"Minor details." Shrugged Sirius "Just one more!" he insisted, adding quietly "And the ones after that until I win…."

"I heard that!" Sammy chanted happily. She liked winning. Casting an anxious glance towards the staircase, she turned back to Sirius. "Do you think-"

Sirius waved it aside. "They'll be fine. They love each other, don't they?" He started setting up the board again.

Lily slumped down next to James, still giggling occasionally. James looked at her. 

"Are you, by any chance, ticklish anywhere?" he asked.

Her eyes widened. "No!" she exclaimed, too quickly to be true. 

"On the contrary, my dear, I believe you are." He grinned.

Her eyebrows shot up. Had he just called her-

Sure, it was just teasing, but it still sent a wave of dizziness to her head. She was _his_ dear. Not just _any_ dear, but _his_-

She squealed and tried to get away from his tickling hand, but he grabbed her foot, pulled off her shoe and started tickling there, reducing her to a giggling heap on the floor.

James straddled her stomach to stop her from getting away and waited for her to calm down.

She did this, and it registered on her somewhat dazed mind that James Potter was sitting on her. She resolutely determined to ignore the advantages set by this, and looked up at his face, which was smiling down at her, his hair sloppy again, and falling into his eyes.

"Potter.." she murmured, unable to tear her eyes away from what had almost been neat hair.

"Yea?" he replied, thinking of how odd it would be if Sirius could see them now. 

"Get off of me." She ordered, dragging her eyes away from his hair to look into his eyes.

He blushed slightly, then grinned, unabashed. "Maybe later. I quite like it here."

Lily looked down at him a few seconds later, dusting off her hands and smirking at him.

"I _did_ ask you nicely." She reminded him.

James looked up, glowering at her from the floor. "Nicely? You didn't even say please!"

She frowned slightly, detecting a bit of anger in his tone. "Oh quit whining already, it was a harmless push."

"Harmless push, yeah right! Maybe it would have been, if that," he pointed at a nearby bed leg, "hadn't been in the way!"

He ran his fingers over a big bump that was appearing on his head.

"That's not my fault! Do you really think I'd want to hurt _you_ of all people?!" she yelled, before realizing what she had just implied. She slammed her hands to her mouth in a desperate attempt to pull the words back in.

James went white. "Did you…did you just…?"

She flushed crimson and turned away for a second, before turning back to James and attempting to smile.

"No." she told him. "No, I was just joking."

He eyed her incredulously. "No you weren't"

"Yes, I was!"  
"No, you weren't!"

"I said it, so I would know!" she screamed, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "Just go away."

He ignored her. "Lily," he said, stepping closer. "Lily, do you love me?"

Her eyes widened, and she paled immediately, contrasting to the red she was a second ago.

"No!" she shouted again, a hint of fear in her voice. Fear he would find out. Would know the truth. "No, I don't lo-"

She was cut off, rudely interrupted by his lips on hers and his arms around her waist.

Sirius grinned, his ear to the door of the 6th year girls' dorm. Still grinning, he bounced downstairs and up to Sammy, hugging her in his excitement.

"Well?" she asked impatiently, when he had let her go. "What happened?"

Sirius winked at her, and she squealed happily.

He grinned again. "Bingo. I doubt they'd want the door unlocked for a while, so we still have some time left before they kill us."

Sammy giggled and Sirius beckoned her out the portrait. 

Their voices echoed down the hall.

"Well, you were right Sirius."

"Yup. That's me, master matchmaker."

"Uh huh, right. We're going to have to fill Remus in. So what now?"

"Well, I was thinking of how _glad_ Snape would be to find his underwear in red and gold…"


End file.

Harry Potter, Humor, Romance