Disclaimer: I own nothing

Hand in Hand

Chapter 1: Shouting Partners

"Just tell me the damn spell, Evans!" James shouted for the hundredth time at the redhead.

"No way, not after the stupid prank you did on me, Potter! Work it out for yourself!" Lily screamed back at him.

James smiled innocently, trying to keep a straight face. "I don't know what you mean..."

"Don't know what I mean!"

Oh God, here she goes, James thought bitterly.

"Potter, look at my face! Just look at it! It's green! Green! And my hair, courtesy of you, is also green! Can't you see that something is wrong here? I look like a plant from one of the greenhouses!"

James tried to stifle a laugh. Lily was certainly right; her once fiery red hair was now emerald green along with her face, which showed a permanent unwell look, matching with her already vibrant green eyes.

"You tell me the spell to get all this green crap off me!"

"No way Evans!" James roared. "What I did to you wasn't that bad. My reputation is ruined because of you! Everyone thinks I'm bloody gay!"

"Hmm, I wonder why." Lily smiled evilly as she looked at the cocky James Potter's clothes, which had been drastically changed thanks to her. The first thing that came to her mind was the colour pink. James was sporting a stunning, fluorescent pink robe accompanied by a flashing sign at the back showing the words "I AM GAY!" complete with his new pink glasses and bright rosy cheeks. It was rather a horrifying sight.

"You don't know how bad it is for me! I got a few winks off some sixth year guys and I swear some guy felt my arse!"

Mentioning this, James thought Lily would take pity on him and tell him the reverse spell. Unfortunately she didn't, and the news only made Lily laugh at the thought of some guy winking at James and feeling him up.

"Stop laughing! Look at me! It'll be months before the ladies forget this. I'm supposed to be one of the hottest guys in Hogwarts!"

Lily snorted at this. "Yeah, whatever you say, gay boy..."

James glared at her icily.

"And what makes matters worse, is that I can't even get this bloody robe off! It somehow glued to me!" James tried pulling the sleeves of the astonishingly pink robe off his arms, practically wrestling with the clothing. It seemed the more he struggled, the tighter the robe clung to him. "Arghh! Damn it!" he cursed, as trying to rip the robe only resulted in him stumbling backwards over a common room chair and landed painfully on the floor, which was not cushioned for his comfort. This only made Lily laugh even harder as she clutched her stomach. James stood up, frustrated.

"Just tell me the damn spell!"

"No! Not until you tell me the spell to get me back to normal again!"

"You were never normal, Evans! You're bloody crazy!"

James' comment did nothing to lighten Lily's mood; she was fuming. Her eyes blazed in fury as she advanced towards James with her arms out ready to strangle him.

With a loud shriek, she declared, "I'm so going to hurt you, Potter!"

However, before she could get her hands around his neck to cause much pain, someone had grabbed her by the waist from behind, pulling her back.

James breathed a sigh of relief, "Padfoot! Thank Merlin! Thanks mate."

Sirius Black struggled with all his might as he picked Lily up from the waist, dragging her back, trying to lengthen the distance between the enemies. His black ebony hair fell over his eyes conveniently in the process. Many girls sitting in the common room swooned, sick with envy as Sirius had picked up Lily, now manically kicking out her arms and legs, all the while shouting "Lemme go Black!"

God, she is strong for a girl, Sirius thought, as Lily nearly escaped from his arms.

"Thought she was going strangle you to death for a second there, gay boy," Sirius added to James. James was not amused. "Honestly Prongs, I'm one of your best mates and you didn't even tell me about your true self! I've got no problem with you being gay, though! Don't worry! You don't fancy me though, do you?" he joked, quite audibly, winking at James in the common room This did not only make heads turn but whispers occur, listening in on the conversation.

"Not you too, Padfoot, shut up."

Meanwhile, Lily was wailing her arms and legs in every direction trying to break free of Sirius' hold.

"Calm down Lily! Get a hold of yourself. You're supposed to be setting an example to the midgets!" Sirius told her, midgets meaning the younger first years who were watching them in horror. The words seemed to get through to Lily as she cooled down and stopped trying to knee Sirius in the groin area. Grudgingly, Sirius let her go, though was still afraid of James' safety. Lily walked back over to James, not physically hitting him in any way, but returned back to their shouting match.

Oh bloody hell. Sirius had thought maybe they'd stop arguing for a while but he was thoroughly mistaken. He watched them for a second before returning back to his seat on the chair by the fireplace in the common room; Remus Lupin sat quietly content reading a book next to Peter Pettigrew, the final Marauder to complete the four, eagerly waiting for Sirius to return to their game of Wizard chess.

Angry screams from Lily and James rang through Sirius' head, giving him a headache. He pressed his fingers to the temples of his head.

"Moony...?" Remus made no signs of attention to his name being called by Sirius. "Moony...?" He tried again, "Moony!" Sirius shouted his name for the third time as Remus appeared to be deaf, comfortably reading his book. Sirius got up from the chair he was sitting, went over to Remus and smacked him.

"OW! Padfoot! What was that for?" Remus questioned, rubbing the back of his head.

"I've been calling your name and you didn't answer me." Sirius told him, sulking like a small child. Remus looked at him blankly before removing something from his ears.

"Sorry mate, haven't heard a word you've said. I've been wearing ear plugs," Remus explained. He removed the pink ear plugs from his ears and showed them to Sirius.

"What the hell are ear pugs?" Sirius asked. He had never heard of an "ear pug", or whatever the hell they were called.

"Ear plugs Padfoot; they're a muggle thing. Stick them in your ears and it blocks out all noise." Remus motioned towards the arguing twosome, Lily and James in the corner bellowing at each other.

"You have GOT to give me a pair of those." Sirius clutched his head in pain as his headache seemed to worsen every minute.

"They are really starting to annoy me, Moony. They won't ever shut up. Maybe if they stopped arguing they could tell that they would make a good couple and see they fancy each other." He stared and looked at the pair again; James was shouting in pain as Lily hit him on the head repeatedly with a thick Transfiguration book.

Remus winced. "That has to hurt," he commentated.

"I'm not sure you're right about them, Sirius. They're worst enemies. How can they fancy each other?" Peter asked in confusion.

"Oh I can tell," Sirius replied, tapping his nose trying to look intelligent and intellectual...and failing. "I think something is needed to be done, guys." Sirius grinned evilly.

"What exactly are you planning, Padfoot?" Remus asked. Sirius went into sadistic laugher, which made a few heads turn to look at him in the common room. He abruptly stopped.

"To find the perfect spell to get them together, and we need to do it tonight. I don't think I can take anymore of their daily—or should I say hourly common room shouting matches. "

"To the library?" Remus presumed.

"As always. The forbidden section of course."

"Wait, we're going to need Prong's invisibility cloak, and he's arguing with Evans. We can't make him come or he'll know what we're up to," Peter started worriedly.

"Calm down Wormtail. Don't get your knickers in a twist. Leave it to me." Sirius got up from his seat and made his way to the boys' dormitory.

Passing James and Lily on the way, Sirius said to James, "Hey Prongs mate, gonna borrow your cloak aright? To...umm...get some food."

Sirius and the others always sneaked off to the kitchens for food after curfew. Hopefully James would believe him this was another one of those times. To Sirius' delight, neither James nor Lily seemed to know he was actually there as they continued screaming their lungs at each other.

"Tell me the damn spell Potter, or I'll—"

"Or what, Evans? Huh? What'll you do?"

Already Sirius had run up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, not being able to handle their screaming any longer. Their shouting was beginning to make him become deaf.

And I need my ears and hearing to hear the gorgeous girls tell me how sexy I am, Sirius thought smugly. He found James cloak in his wooden chest by the bed -he should really hide it better- and jumped down the stairs eagerly passing the bickering two again.

"Do you want me to turn all your clothes pink, Potter! I swear I can do it!"

"Just tell me the spell or I'll turn you all green! And I mean every part of your body!"

Sirius returned back to Remus and Peter by the fireplace. Remus had again returned to reading his book, sticking ear plus back in his ears.

"Moony...? Moony...? Moony!" Sirius shouted. Fine, we'll do it the hard way, he thought, as he smacked Remus on the back of the head for the second time that night.

"OW! Padfoot, will you cut that out!" Remus stuck out his bottom lip as he rubbed his head again.

"C'mon lets go," Sirius said keenly, motioning them to get up, "Prongs is still arguing with her so he won't notice a thing."

Peter and Remus followed Sirius, leaving the common room as Sirius threw the invisibility cloak over them and they headed off to the library. It was late and past curfew, but thanks to the cloak that didn't matter.

Hehe, operation Get-Lily-and-James-Together has begun, Sirius thought happily.

---------

"Padfoot, we've been looking for hours and we still haven't found this 'perfect' spell you want to get James and Lily together," Remus complained. He put back yet another book to the shelf of the forbidden section.

Sirius skimmed through the pages of another book. "Keep looking Moony, keep looking..."

"What about this?" Peter asked Sirius as he handed him a dark pink book engraved in gold the letters: 'Lavish Love Spells to mend Lonely Hearts!'

Sirius took once glance at the book before giving a sound of disgust and tossing it to the floor. "No, no, no, Wormtail. Love spells, come on, that is so second year. Love spells make me want to vomit." Sirius shook his head disappointedly at him.

"If you don't want a love spell to get them together, then whatever spell are we going to use?" Remus asked. This so called perfect spell Sirius was asking for seemed impossible to find.

"We want something that will bring them together no matter what the circumstances are, so they can't escape each other, so resulting in realising their deep love for one another," Sirius replied coolly.

"Wow Sirius, that was unusually deep for you. You sounded the teensiest bit intelligent and mature," Remus commented, mildly impressed.

"I know! James and Lily will thank me for this. I'm going to be best man at their wedding and they'll name their kids after me! Of course, the name 'Sirius' for a boy, and for a girl...um...Sirius-lina...?"

"Um...yeah, you lost it."

"Damn."

They continued looking through the mountains of books. It wasn't until 1am when Sirius finally discovered the absolute, flawless spell. He noticed the book out of the corner of his eye; it seemed to glow and shine in the gloomy darkness of the library. It beckoned him, almost as if alive and was calling him from afar.

He picked up the book; it had a maroon red cover, with no title or author. It seemed so mysterious. The minute he opened the book, the pages turned in its own accord. All the pages looked blank, moving until it finally settled on the page: the page of the perfect spell he'd been searching for.

"Got it," Sirius announced in glee, with eyes shining with mischief. "Let's get back to the common room. I'll explain the spell on the way."

Remus and Peter followed Sirius, their feet shuffling along with tiredness.

----------

The trio returned to the Gryffindor common room, quietly muttering the password to the painting of the Fat Lady before stepping inside. They'd expected the common room to be empty considering it was the early hour of the morning; to their delight, James and Lily were still bickering. They had somehow both gone back to normal, no signs of odd colours or fluorescent robes. Fatefully, their arguing was still rolling.

"You annoy the hell out of me, Potter! Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"I leave you alone? More like the other way round," James retorted.

I'm surprised nobody stunned them, Remus thought moodily.

The three observed the couple under the cloak.

"We should do it now," Peter whispered. "I want a good night's sleep. Or shall I say: morning nap."

"Okay Sirius, do it, then," Remus said touchily, looking nervous. "We're going to get in big trouble if James finds out though."

"He won't find out, okay? All we've got to do is like knock 'em out to do the spell. We can't stun them, though…Maybe we could hit them with a book or something," he pondered, stroking his chin.

"The same one Lily was hitting James with earlier?" Remus suggested. "That looked painful enough."

As they wondered how they could temporarily knock out their best friend and shouting partner, Peter pointed his wand towards the James and Lily, swishing it forward and saying out loud the spell, "Soporato."

The two both turned quickly at the sound of the voice, confused at the sight of nobody being there. Their mouths gaped in bewilderment.

"What the—"

"Huh—?"

Mutually, their eyes rolled back and they both fell backwards on to the common room floor with a painful thud.

"Maybe we should have put cushions down or something." Remus stated.

"Umm, yeah, didn't think about that. Anyway: well done Wormtail." Sirius removed the invisibility cloak shrouding them. He looked at James and Lily who were out cold, eyes closed and sleeping surprisingly peaceful considering the loud 'thud' noise they made when they collapsed.

"Good spell, Wormtail. Where'd you learn that?" Remus questioned him curiously.

"Well, I-...um-" Peter started, looking nervous, before Sirius interrupted him.

"C'mon, let's get to work. How long does that spell last for Wormtail?" he asked.

"They should wake up in the morning."

"Great. This will be fun." Sirius happily rubbed the palms of his hands together.

---------

Lily woke to a splitting headache pounding the side of her head. She was confused, tired, and in pain: not a good combination for Lily Evans. She opened her eyes slowly to reveal some kind of carpet. She then realised she was lying on her stomach on the floor of some room.

"Wait—what the hell am I doing on the floor?" Lily asked herself. She raised her head, while still lying on the floor, and looked in front of her. She recognised a fireplace and what looked like to be the common room chairs.

"Wait- what the hell am I doing in the common room?" Lily questioned herself again, even more confused than before. She felt a thick blanket on top of her, which was very bemusing. She was about to pick herself up, when she realised something abnormally outlandish: something felt strange in her hand. It was soft, warm, smooth and soothing. It gave her tingles and butterflies in her stomach.

Wait a minute; it's not in my hand. It's holding my hand!

By now, Lily was completely freaked out. Quickly, she realised that it wasn't an object and recognised the feel and touch of what it could be; it felt like skin!

Really nice skin, might I add…but skin! What is going on?

She tried to free her hand, yet she couldn't. Somehow Lily turned herself on to her front and discovered something, or someone, next to her. However, they were hidden by the thick blanket.

Oh God, Lily thought dreadfully, this is not good. Quickly, she removed the blanket away from the hidden person, and their face was revealed.

She screamed.

------

Meanwhile, James Potter was having an unbelievably weird dream; a very, very strange dream. It all revolved around the person who annoyed him the most: Lily Evans. Of course, he'd always had dreams about girls. But Lily Evans: no way. She was different, and not in a good way.

He'd been acting extremely odd in this dream - well, at least he thought he did. And so was Lily. In the dream, he and Lily were sitting by the lake in the Hogwarts grounds, in the spot of comfort James enjoyed most: in the shade of the beech tree. What was so bizarre was that he and Lily were in each others arms. Never in a million years did James dream to be so close to Lily. And what was even weirder was that James liked it. It was comfortable and relaxing.

She looks so gorgeous, James pondered, WHAT! She's not gorgeous, she's Evans!

James looked into Lily's eyes; they were so alluring and gleaming. What! Why am I thinking that? They're not beautiful, or radiant, or so stunningly exquisite, or—STOP IT, STOP THINKING!

James saw his hands delicately stroke Lily's striking red hair. Why are my hands doing that? He wondered.

Before he could even think, he saw his hands softly cup Lily's chin and saw his head move closer to Lily, inches away from her face…inches away from her lips…

What the—…I'm gonna kiss Lily Evans!

Suddenly, James woke up. He wasn't sure if he was relieved that the dream had ended or upset because it had.

NO, you are glad you got out of that nightmare! He told himself.

After arguing with his self, he finally realised a thick blanket was over his head and body. He was puzzled to why he couldn't remember much of last night.

Maybe I got drunk in Hogsmeade. I can definitely feel a hangover. My head is aching!

Thinking logically, he came to the conclusion that he must be back in his dormitory.

I have got to avoid Evans today; no way can I face her after that dream.

James was about to rub away the painful headache that had formed, when he looked at his hand.

That was definitely not normal.

Suddenly the blanket was lifted off him and he saw a face.

He screamed.