Sugar & Spice

*Rosie's Point of View

"Okay, here's the plan." Lily and I stood outside the boy's changing rooms in the mud underneath a wide gold and red umbrella. Once more (and to nobody’s surprise but mine), it was raining. "We know that James, Black, Terry, Morton and Finnigan are in those changing rooms. They've just finished their laps and they'll be taking showers. You know what that means, don't you, Red?"

"Their clothes will be in the changing rooms, unguarded." Lily supplied cheerfully. I grinned; she caught on quick.

This was my payback.

And this was Lily's payback to James for all the times he pestered her about going out with him. Thankfully, she was more than willing to go along with my plan. I don't know that I would've chickened out without her help, but it certainly wouldn't be quite so much fun without her as my co-conspirator.

"So when they come out we'll be waiting by the door. But only Black and James' clothes, mind. The others haven't done anything." I reminded her. She nodded and we moved into position.

We pressed our ears against the wooden door. The sounds of showering floated through it.

"Let's move." I whispered. Lily and I entered the changing rooms as quietly as we could. I was a little worried we wouldn't know which things to take – from what I could tell, boys' styles didn't seem to be quite as diverse as girls' – but my concern proved unnecessary. I recognised Black's bag immediately and Lily found James's without trouble. Stifling our giggles we ran outside - bearing our prizes - and waited.

We hid as the other boys came out and made their way up to the castle, and soon the only people left in the changing rooms were Black and James. Lily grinned evilly and I winked back.

I flung open the door and she followed quickly behind me, moving to stand next to me in the doorway.

They didn't notice us at first, rummaging around under the benches with their backs to us, obviously looking for their things. Red and I exchanged raised eyebrows and giggled quietly.

"Nice arse Potter." Lily commented smoothly. I smirked as they whirled around and I got an eyeful of what Black had. I blinked deeply to get the image out of my mind.

I managed to tear my eyes away and couldn't stop laughing at the shocked looks on their faces. Lily and I held up their bags.

"Looking for these, boys?"

"Arrggghhh!"

"Get out!"

"You have a gorgeous body Black. Just so you know," I smirked, imitating his smooth lady's-man voice perfectly.

"Get out, I said!"

"Oh! By all means – do continue!" I could hardly get the words out properly, I was trying so hard not to laugh.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lily eyeing James's body appreciatively. If I wasn't biased I probably would've stared unashamedly too. As it was, I had my eyes full already.

Black didn't look impressed and it was all too clear that James didn't know what to think, the way Lily was looking at him. "So I guess all the things I've heard about you from the girls are true. I have to admit – I thought they were exaggerating."

"Oh ha ha, so funny Tamsworth!" I gave a little curtsy and moved further into the room behind Lily. James backed up slightly, handing his manhood, but Black refused to cover himself up. Have to admire that, I thought. He reallydoes have no shame.

"So I guess we're even now." I threw the bag to him and he caught it in his right hand. He held my eye and raised his eyebrow cheekily.

"Oh no, Tammie – you don't get off that easily. This is only the beginning."

"What for? I'm just getting you back." I made a concerted effort to keep my eyes on his face, but he was making it difficult, standing the way he was. He really did put Adonis to shame. It was almost depressing, how out of my league his body was.

"No – this means war!" James squeaked girlishly from the corner, blushing in a way I'd never seen him blush. I could swear, his whole body was turning red. Lily grinned and threw the bag at his chest where he fumbled to catch it before it hit the floor.

"Bring it on," She told him, and then winked at me. We turned towards the door.

"Don't catch cold!" I threw over my shoulder as we left the changing rooms. The second we started off towards the castle I couldn't hold it anymore; Lily and I burst out laughing. She dropped the umbrella and we both had to clutch at our knees for support.

I hoped they could hear it in the changing rooms.

"This'll be interesting." Lily remarked as I chased up the umbrella from where it had blown off to in our fit of mirth.

"Too right. Reckon we can give them a run for their money though."

"Couldn't agree more."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's it! Get out – all of you!" Black and I looked at each other, concealing wild grins as McGonagall shouted at James, Lily, Black and I. I rather thought I knew why.

"But, Professor! We haven't done anyt -!"

"Shut UP, Black! You, Potter, Evans and Tamsworth are all leaving my classroom right now. I've had enough!"

"But what about class, Professor?" This smart remark was from James. From the way he was smirking I knew he couldn't give half a hoot about class. Transfiguration was easy as breathing for him.

"GET OUT!" I couldn't help it – a girlish giggle slipped out as I was gathering up my stuff and before we were halfway to the door Black and I were hooting with laughter. I spared a glance back at Lily and James and then further back to McGonagall.

"Quick! She's going to explode!" Black whispered through his laughter, glancing around the class as they concealed their smiles behind their hands, unwilling to face the wrath of a rampaging McGonagall.

We flew down the corridors towards the common room and collapsed inside on the armchairs and couches.

"Well that's nice. We've got a free period now." Black commented, kicking his legs up on the coffee table.

"Yeah, and anyways, I don't know what her problem was. I think our hair rather suits us, don't you?" James added, playing with a strand of it while Lily laughed lightly.

"Oh yes," I commented, running my fingers through Black's fluorescent pink hair. "Very manly – and it really compliments your...uh, eyes."

Any tension between us had long since dissipated over the following weeks since our first prank and we were once more back to normal. Granted, I hadn't had any alone time with Black, but thankfully he wasn't pushing it.

"Yeah, I think we're even now – especially after the prank we pulled with turning your clothes invisible. Remember? We were in the middle of class and -?"

"Really?" Lily asked dubiously.

"No, Evans. He was just pulling your chains. Course we're not finished. This one's worth at least two from us. Pink is below the belt – we have reputations to uphold, you know." Black replied easily, placing his hand over my shoulder. I ignored it, only slapping his hand sharply when his finger curled absent-mindedly around a lock of my hair.

To name a few of the pranks that had been pulled thus far included itching powder, cold water in the morning, 'untuckable shirts' (so that the boys received detention for constantly being untidy), veriteserum, ants in pants (literally), jinxing skin blue, setting fire to clothes, invisible clothes, and…shrinking clothes.

There were, of course, more, but those had been the highlights.

I almost couldn't believe it had all happened this fast. Lily now spoke regularly to James and I hadn't heard the words 'fuck off' pass her lips in two weeks running.

"Prongs? Padfoot?" It was Remus. He came around the corner and Lily and I burst out laughing. Unfortunately sometimes our dorm mates got caught in the crossfire. Remus was pretty good-natured about it, but Sandra, one of our more hot-headed roommates, had already thrown two full-on temper tantrums. Especially after the dung-bombs the boys had sent in retaliation to the claxon wake-up call.

He ran a hand through his pink hair and sat down on my other side, giving me sardonic sidelong glances.

"What? I think it's nice."

"Well why isn't your hair this colour then?" He questioned dryly.

"Uh…well – that's – well because – that's beside the…because. Just because. That's why."

"Pff. Some lawyer you'd make. Think you should cross that off your careers list."

"What's a lawyer?"

"Oh, right. It's like being on the Wizengamut, you know? Similar, not the same."

"Alright, enough of that. How the hell are we going to get our hair back to normal? No chance I'm walking around like this for another day." Black huffed, eyeing the colour with distaste. I grinned and wiggled my eyebrows mischievously.

"I don't know…it's a pretty good charm – one of Red's."

"No cure." Lily supplied helpfully, winking when the boys weren't looking.

"Lies." James stood up and grabbed Black's hand. Black looked at him like he'd lost his mind for a second before catching on. They skipped, hand in hand towards and through the portrait hole, singing 'Ring Around The Rosies' in high-pitched cracking voices.

"Dear Lord." Remus shook his head and took out a book from his bag.

"Aren't you going with them?" I asked curiously. He gave me a dry look.

"You're kidding. I’ve hardly left Gryffindor Tower since yesterday. Just because those two are nuttier than pecan pie doesn't mean I'm going to prance around like a batty-boy with pink hair. It would ruin my image with the girls." He looked down at me and winked; I grinned widely.

I'd never thought of him as a lady's man, but really now that I looked…he certainly wasn't as ignorant in that department as James.

"So Lil'. What's with you and James? Don't even try to deny it – denier!" I shouted as she opened her mouth to protest loudly, pulling silly faces at me from across the other couch.

"Oh yeah? Right, I'm a denier am I? What about you and Black?" She wiggled her eyebrows as I pulled a face. "You think he's fit, don't you? You do! I can see it in your face Rose! You want to -!" I'd climbed over a sniggering Remus and covered her mouth with my hand.

"Wash your mouth out with soap, Red. I know what goes on in that head of yours," I teased, laughing as I ducked the cushion she sent flying at my head. “And I do not." I retorted feebly, sitting back again. She snorted, unconvinced.

"Remus?" I asked innocently. "Where's the woman in your life? Is there a woman in your life? If so, who is she? If not, why isn't she? I mean, you're a perfectly appealing male..specimen. So why don't you have a…girlfriend? Or, you know - something more…temporary." He blinked down at me in surprise for a long few seconds before he burst into bewildered laughter.

"What?"

"Answer the question, Lupin."

"There's nobody." He replied, biting his lip to stop from smiling.

"Has there ever been anyone?" Lily asked shrewdly.

"Pff, I think we both know the answer to that." I wiggled my eyebrows at Lily around Remus and she smirked back.

"Oh yeah?" Remus asked us, amused. "And what would be the answer to that?"

"Of course you have. I don't know about previous girlfriends but I think it's pretty obvious that you've…" Lily trailed off.

"I've what?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" He laughed.

"Sure I do, but I don’t kiss and tell." James and Black returned to find us on the floor with Remus, tickling him mercilessly.

"Tell us!" I laughed, going for his stomach.

"Never!" He cried, laughing so hard that tears streamed from his eyes. "No!"

"Alright girls. Torture session is over. We have to take Remus to the hospital wing with us. So much for no cure." Black looked pointedly at Lily. She shrugged and smiled innocently.

"I was so hoping."