A Lily Story

Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, I do not own any of the characters that appear in the HP books. I do own the ones that don't appear in the books, though.



“Hey Evans, will you go out with me?”

Lily sighed and kept walking until she had gone straight through the barrier that led to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Wow. This was going to be a fun year. Potter really had to be determined if that was the first thing he said to her. She turned around sharply to meet him.

“A hello would be nice before you ask me out again.”

“Oh, okay,” said James, beginning to grin, “hello. Will you go out with me?”

“No.” Lily turned and began to walk to the train, where she was hailed by her three best friends, Anna, Sierra, and Bailey.

“Lily!” they chorused.

“Hi,” she said. “Guess what? I’m Head Girl!” Lily pointed to the badge pinned to her shirt. She was immediately hit by a barrage of “Congratulations!”-s and “Why didn’t you tell us?”-s.

“Anyway,” Lily continued, trying not to look too proud of herself, “Guess who just asked me out twice in a minute?”

The girls began giggling. “You know, you should pay more attention to him, Lily. James is really nice when he’s not hexing Snape,” Anna said fairly. Anna was the sweetest of her friends and never said anything bad about anybody. She had thin blonde hair that fell halfway down her back and light blue-green eyes. She was medium height and skinny and quieter than the other two.

“I love his pranks,” said Bailey fondly. Bailey was the shortest of the four and had auburn hair, big brown eyes, and freckles. Out of the four, she was the troublemaker.

Sierra rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Lily. “You two would make a good couple, you know.”

“Wow, I just love all the support I’m getting from you guys,” Lily said, annoyed. “Possibly all of you haven’t yet noticed that Potter is an arrogant jerk who doesn’t care for anyone but himself?”

“Now that’s a little harsh,” said Sierra. She was the tallest of them and very outgoing. She had thick black hair and dark eyes. She was very likeable. When she and Lily met in their first year, they were instant friends.

“Yes, you know, James is Head Boy,” Anna said, nodding.

“What?!?!?” Lily dropped her heavy trunk on Bailey’s foot, who squeaked and starting hopping around in pain, clutching her toe. Lily didn’t notice.

“James—James Potter—is Head Boy?!? How could they have picked him?” Lily was angry. For as long as she had known she was Head Girl, she had wondered who Head Boy was, who she would share the Head Common Room with, who she would do her duties with…..and it would be with James Potter, the man who was desperately in love with her?! Aaaaah!!


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The train ride there was relatively uneventful. Lily, Anna, Sierra, and Bailey had a compartment to themselves. That is, until the four Marauders decided to come bursting in, pretending not to notice the four girls already there. They acted like the chairs containing Lily, Anna, Sierra and Bailey were empty and decided to have a seat.

“James Potter, you get off me this instant!” Lily cried, trying to push him off her lap, but with little success.

“I will if you go out with me,” he replied, grinning.

“Oh, come on, Lily, it’s not every day that you have a guy sitting on your lap,” said Bailey, who did not look the least bit objectionable to Sirius’s decision to sit down right on top of her. “Lighten up.”

Remus and Peter stood up. James and Sirius, however, remained seated. Finally, they too got into standing positions.

“Want a game of Exploding Snap?” James asked eagerly, looking around the room.

Soon the game began, with squeals from the girls every time the cards blew up. It was a highly competitive game; whenever one of the boys lost, particularly James and Sirius, they would yell loudly in anguish. It was extremely amusing to all, even Lily.

At last, the colossal castle was in view, and the group got off the train and managed to squeeze into one carriage. Sirius was still muttering about the unfairness of the last game.

“Apparently, the Head Boy and Girl have to lead the way to the castle,” said Sirius, looking at James. “Prongs, old boy, you’re gonna have to find the Head Girl, you know.”

“He’s sitting next to her,” said Lily, looking at the ceiling of the carriage. It was dark blue and peeling.

James sat bolt upright and stared at Lily with such a weird expression on his face that the whole carriage burst out laughing, with the exception of Lily.

“You?” he asked, shocked.

“Funny, I had the same reaction when I found out it was you,” Lily said coldly, still looking at the ceiling.

“You mean you were happy when you found out it was me? Does this mean you like me?” James asked, surprised. Quickly he said, “Will you go out with me?”

Sierra and Bailey both gave Lily identical aww-he’s-so-sweet-to-you-why-don’t-you-go-out-with-him? looks.

“No, I was not happy when I found out it was you. Quite the opposite. I meant shock, you dimwit.”

“You still haven’t answered my other question.”

“No, I will not go out with you.”

“Why?”

Lily stopped looking at the ceiling and turned to face him. “Why? I’ll tell you why. I will not go out with you because you are stupid, mean, and completely and totally full of yourself. Grow up.”

As Lily said this, a genuine expression of hurt feelings appeared on James’s face. For a split second, Lily felt bad and wanted to take back what she said. But only for a split second.

“Did you really mean that?” James whispered to her so that the others wouldn’t hear. They didn’t. Lily didn’t answer. She sincerely hoped James couldn’t see her battling feelings on her face. Unfortunately for her, he could.

Realizing that Lily didn’t really hate him as much as she had said, James settled back into his seat. He was still irked, though. Why couldn’t she just be nice to him, just once? He sighed.



James and Lily didn’t talk once as they led the way up the steps. A couple times James looked hopefully at Lily, but she had her eyes set straight ahead. She could be so stubborn. Then he, too, turned his attention to the castle.

Dumbledore met them at the door. He smiled.

“Ah, our Head Boy and Girl,” he said, beaming at them. “Welcome back, James, Lily.”

The two smiled at him.

“Thank you,” they said.



The school filtered into the Great Hall. Lily seated herself at the Gryffindor table. James sat down next to her. Lily scowled at him. He grinned in reply.
The Sorting was over fairly quickly. Soon, the tables were filled and the students looked instinctively at Dumbledore. He cleared his throat. Silence fell.

“Welcome back, all of you! To our newcomers: the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. To everyone else: Quidditch trials will be held starting on October 2, depending on your House, check the notice board. And now I have one command for you all: Eat!”

The plates, as usual, filled with food, and the feast began. Lily and her friend were waiting for one of the Marauders’ tricks, but it didn’t come. They must be planning something big, Lily thought. Ugh.

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The Marauders’ big prank became clear when they walked into the Gryffindor common room. First of all, they had set up portraits of the four of them guarding the entrance to the boys’ and girls’ dormitories. To get past them, you had to say, “Life is no fun without thy Marauders” or “Hail to thy Marauders”, depending on the portrait’s mood. Second of all, hung up on all the walls of the common room were mirrors. And they weren’t normal mirrors. When you looked into it, your reflection spoke back to you, telling you if you had Marauder potential or could only amount to a wanna-be. To cap it all, the Marauders themselves had dropped (or thrown, no one was sure) Dungbombs in all the separate dormitories. Lily was very aggravated.

“James Potter! You’re Head Boy! How can you do things like this if you’re supposed to be setting a good example?” she cried. James gave her a very cold look. It startled Lily.

I’ve never seen him look at me like that, she thought to herself. He usually looks lovesick every time I see him. Lily shook herself. I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care—“I am sick and tired of you on my back all the time. Lily, shut up.”

I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care. Lily turned to him and said,

“Fine. I hope you get impeached or whatever it is they do to Head Boys who have no maturity and self-control.” And with that, she stalked off to the Head Common Room, which was a few yards down from the Gryffindor common room.

“Password?” said not a fat lady in a pink dress, but a portrait of a little fluttering fairy.

“Catkin,” Lily replied dully. The portrait swung open. For a moment she stood there, dumbstruck by the luxury of it all. Then the fairy said impatiently,

“Are you going to stand here all night or are you going to go in?”

“I think I’ll go in.”

There were purple leather couches and beautiful silk-upholstered chairs. The fireplace was nearly twice as large as the one in the Gryffindor common room. She plopped onto a couch. A house-elf came up to her, bearing a tray.

“Tea, miss?”

“No thank you.”

For a moment Lily forgot her argument with James. Then it washed over her again like a wave as she remembered exactly who she’d be sharing this posh place with. A second later, the subject of her thoughts walked in.

“Oh, you’re here. I’ll just go then.”

“Hey! I never said you had to leave.” Lily was annoyed. Now he was treating her like some royal brat. She sighed. This was going to be a long, long year.

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“I’ll stay, then.” James sat down next to her on the couch. Lily almost smiled. She folded her arms.

“I said you could stay, not sit next to me,” she said, trying to sound cross. Unfortunately for her, James saw through it. He grinned at her.

“You’re glad I’m sitting next to you, I know it. You like having an admirer. You were a little afraid that I stopped liking you when I gave you that look.” Lily tried not to look astonished. He had just read her thoughts exactly. She tried to put on a bored expression. James saw through that one, too.

“Think what you want,” she said.

“I think I will,” he replied. “Right now you’re marveling to yourself about how I read your thoughts exactly. You try to appear not interested. I can read you like a book, Lily.”

“Stop!” she said shrilly. James grinned.

“So I’m right,” he said triumphantly. Then he frowned and looked sad. “How come you’re so mean to me? I know you don’t completely hate me. I have an inkling why, but I’m not so sure.”

“Well, what’s your inkling?” Lily snapped. She was getting tired of him reading her so easily.

“That since you have hated me since you met me, if you did start to like me, you would've been wrong about me. My inkling is that it’s a pride issue.” Lily stood up.

“Goodnight, James. Have fun making more off-the-wall predictions about what goes on in my head.” She left to go to the Gryffindor common room, which had mercifully had returned to normal. She got ready for bed and finally went to sleep.



The next few weeks went by quickly. The Marauders pulled more pranks and got more detentions. James was noticeably subdued. Lily didn’t care. Maybe it was because he had finally realized that she would never, never like him.

One day when Lily was in the Head Common Room and James had gone to bed early, the remaining group of friends were talking.

“You know, James is really upset about this,” Sirius was saying. “He seems depressed. He has barely said anything the past couple of weeks.”

“We really need to do something about it,” said Anna, looking really sad for their poor friend. “Could we talk to Lily or something?”

“No, she’s in denial,” said Bailey. “That wouldn’t do any good.”

“I have an idea,” said Sierra. “We could make a love potion, or something.”

“I don’t want to get expelled,” said Anna, looking nervous. “No.”

“I’m going to bed,” said Peter, oblivious to the conference going on around him.

“Maybe it’s not a love potion we need,” said Remus. “Just something to make Lily realize her feelings for James. Let’s go to the library.”

The group walked silently to the library, all of them deep in thought. They arrived. The group looked and looked and looked. Then Bailey pulled out a thin pinkish volume from the shelf labeled “Matchmaker” in peeling silver letters. She leafed through it and gasped.

“Guys, this is just what we need! ‘A guide to getting together that perfect couple.’” The table of contents looked like this:

Your Basic Love Potion………………………………………………….……….…….…2
Love Mist………………………………………………………………………………….5
Shadow Charm…………………………………………………………………………….9
Love Bouquet…………………………………………………………………………….10
Serendipity Charm……………………………………………………………………….13
Pulling It Off Unnoticed…………………………………………………………………15


“Look at ‘Shadow Charm,’” whispered Sierra.

“‘A shadow charm makes one of its two victims follow the other around like a shadow.’”

“Nah, they’d go insane,” said Sirius.

“Look at Serendipity Charm,” Remus said.

“‘The Serendipity Charm makes its two victims frequently end up in the same place at the same time, alone.’ Perfect!” Bailey squealed. She read on. “‘To begin the charm, the performer needs a hair from each of the victim’s heads.’ That shouldn’t be too hard. ‘Before the charm is performed, the opposite hair must be placed on the victims’ shoulders.’ Hmm. That’s going to be a little more difficult. Sirius and I will distract them with a prank, and you guys can go do that. ‘Lastly, the performer will tap the shoulder of each of the victims in turn, then say “Serendipitious!”’ Anna, you better do that. You’ve always been the best at charms, aside from Lily. ‘The charm ends at the victim’s first kiss.’ Aaah! This is perfect!” Bailey began dancing around until she tripped over her own feet and toppled to the ground. The group laughed and Sirius helped her to her feet.

“I don’t think that we should—you know—legally check this out of the library, wouldn’t Madam Pince think we were going to make a Love Potion?” said Anna.

“You’re right,” said Remus. “Sirius, hide this in your bag.”

The group walked out of the library, very proud of themselves.


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“So, how exactly are we going to pull this off?” Sierra asked, looking around the group.

“Well,” said Remus slowly, “maybe we should have a practice pair. You know, so if—”

“So if Anna accidentally kills the practice pair, well, at least it wasn’t Lily and James?”

“No,” said Remus, glowering at her. “So if it makes a big bang or something then we’ll have some warning. Also we can see exactly how well it works.”

“I like that,” said Anna. “So…….how about Bailey and …Sirius?”

“Great,” said Sierra. “I like it.”

“Don’t ask our permission first or anything…” said Bailey, annoyed. Everyone laughed. If James were there he would have told Bailey that she really didn’t care that she was to be part of the practice pair. But he wasn’t there, so he didn’t.

“Ok, Bailey, Sirius, do you consent to being the guinea pigs?”

“Well,” said Sirius, looking at Bailey, “I guess.”

“Alright,” said Bailey.

Anna was studying a complicated diagram depicting the correct wand movement for the spell. After about fifteen minutes she looked up.

“I’ve got it,” she said.

So she took a strand of Bailey’s red-brown hair and Sirius’s dark hair. After switching them she tapped them on the shoulder and did an intricate wand movement, muttering,

“Serendipitious!”

A thin, light mist hovered over the pair’s heads. It was pink and silver and if the group weren’t looking for some sign that the spell had been completed, they wouldn’t have noticed it. The mist formed a heart, then vanished.

Anna slumped onto a couch.

“That spell was difficult,” she said. “It required a lot of concentration.”

“Well, my fellow guinea pig,” said Sirius, looking at Bailey, “I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other.”

Sorry that post was so short! Once the computer's fixed I'll be able to post some longer ones.

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I've decided that I'm going to put a space between each paragraph. It's easier to read and it also makes posts look longer.

Bailey rose much earlier than she normally did on the following Saturday. The first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was today. She figured, being on the team as a Chaser, that she’d get in some extra practice time. Bailey was also the most athletic of the four girls and was the only one on the team.

She dressed quickly and headed down to the pitch, broomstick in hand. When she got to the locker room, however, she wasn’t alone.

“Hello, fellow guinea pig,” said a voice from the corner of the locker room. Bailey turned to see Sirius sitting on a bench, clipping stray twigs out of his broom.

“What are you doing here?” Bailey asked, taken aback.

“I might ask the same thing of you, but unlike you, I am not stupid. Serendipity, remember?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“You seem happy about it,” Sirius said sarcastically.

“I—I just remembered how—how the charm is ended.”

“Well, my fellow guinea pig, we’ll just either have to fall in love (I mean, that is the charm’s point, isn’t it) or keep meeting up for the rest of our sad, measly lives. Sound like a plan?”

Bailey laughed. “Sure,” she said. “Want to practice?”

The two headed out into the early morning sunshine. The leaves of the trees had recently begun to turn all sorts of gorgeous reds, oranges, and yellows. Bailey kicked off and flew in and out of the goalposts, her hair sparkling in the autumn light. Sirius caught up with her and they began to throw the Quaffle back and forth. Finally, they decided to go to breakfast.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, James met up with him. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten Lily in the thrill of the upcoming match.

“Were you guys just practicing? Great. Get a good breakfast, alright?”

The two nodded and headed to the Gryffindor table. A moment later the rest of their friends stumbled in, each of them looking extremely sleepy.

“Goodness, Lily, its not that early,” said Bailey, pushing her friend’s sleeping head off her shoulder. She was about to prod Lily in the back when a sudden thought came to her. She gently pulled out one of Lily’s dark red hairs and ran over to James, who was staring transfixed at his plate as though it was tap dancing. She roughly ripped out one of his hairs, but he didn’t even notice. After quickly switching the hairs, she ran over to Anna. A couple of minutes later, the pink and silver mist was hanging over their heads, and no one saw it. Bailey was very pleased with herself.

“We’re lucky we have such an infinitely creative mind such as mine to help us in these matters,” she said jokingly to the part of the group that wasn’t sleeping. They rolled their eyes.

“Don’t get cocky,” Remus said, chuckling.

About a quarter hour later, the school was piling into the stands overlooking the Quidditch field. The commentator, a Hufflepuff sixth year named Austin Van, was holding a giant megaphone to his lips.

“And today’s match—Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw! Should be a good game, folks, Ravenclaw’s recently made a few changes in the lineup… and here they are, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw!”

The crowd burst into applause and cheers.

“For Ravenclaw: Sidney, Aston, Burton, Sinclair, Furndon, Shabb, and Wheats! For Gryffindor: Mitchell, Black, Picone, Westfield, Wakely, Thrifter, and Potter! And the game begins!”

Madam Brinkley threw the Quaffle up into the air. Bailey caught it and passed it to David Westfield, who threw it back. She streaked towards the goal, took a shot, and—

“Picone scores! Ten to nil to Gryffindor!”

The game continued in the same manner, with the Gryffindor Chasers dominating the whole time until finally James snatched the Snitch right under Ravenclaw Seeker Wheats’s nose. The Gryffindors trudged up to castle, celebrating.

In his good mood, James decided to go to the Owlery to say hello to his owl, Mercury. When he got there, James found Lily, staring out of the glassless windows. She didn’t notice him come in. James snapped and Mercury came down and perched on his outstretched arm. Lily turned around.

“Why are you here? Did someone tell you I was here?” she asked, looking at him suspiciously.

“No!” said James innocently. “I just came to pay my owl, Mercury, a long-overdue visit.”

She continued to look at him skeptically. James threw up his hands, sending Mercury flying. The tawny owl squawked and returned to the top of the room. “Really! There’s no need to look at me like that. Besides, what are you doing here? You didn’t look like you were sending a letter.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she admitted. “I just wanted to be up high and look at the grounds. They're so pretty! I love autumn.”

“I could take you on my broom, if you want,” James offered. “We could ride over the forest, and the lake and the Quidditch pitch.”

“No thanks,” said Lily. “I like heights when they’re safe.”

“Oh, but it is safe! You know I’m a good flyer, I wouldn’t drop you or anything, come on Lily, let’s go!”

“I think I’ll go to the common room. ‘Bye, James.”

“Wait!” James called, but Lily had already left.


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The next day at breakfast, the whole school was buzzing. Rumor had it that there was a new student coming! When most of the students were sitting at their respective tables, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. Silence fell immediately.

“There is a new student arriving at Hogwarts today. He will be joining our seventh years. I expect you all to be especially nice to him. Students, this is Ubel Rews.”

Professor McGonagall walked in, leading Ubel by the arm in one hand, and holding the Sorting Hat and stool in the other. A moment later, the hat screamed—

“SLYTHERIN!”

Ubel stumbled off in the screaming table’s direction. He was of medium height and somewhat gangly, with pale skin and short dark hair.

“Uh oh,” Sierra muttered to Anna. “Just what we need. Another polite, kind Slytherin.”

“You don’t know that he’s mean,” said Anna, looking reprovingly at Sierra. “He just got sorted into Slytherin. Maybe he didn’t know it was the bad House.”

Sierra muttered something indistinguishable and turned back to her food.

At every House table except Slytherin, similar conversations were going on. Everyone was looking suspiciously at Ubel.

Soon breakfast ended and the school branched off to their different classes. Charms was first for Gryffindor seventh years. The Marauders were deep in thought, and the girls frowning.

No one paid attention in Charms that day; even Lily wasn’t listening. Suddenly Anna gasped.

“Ubel means evil,” she whispered. She read aloud from the book she was poring over. “‘'Ubel' is a name of German origin meaning, 'evil one.'’”

“Hang on,” said Lily, her brow furrowed, “wasn’t that evil wizard dictator of the magical community of Burkina Faso named Ubel?”

Anna nodded, her turquoise eyes wide.

Then the bell rang, but the usual noise that filled the air at break was gone.

Lunch went the same way as breakfast. Everyone was looking at Ubel. If Lily wasn’t scared that he might be evil, she would’ve felt sorry for him. The boy was staring at his food, trying to ignore the hushed whispers and furtive glances at him.

Suddenly Bailey clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh my gosh! I forgot! I haven’t finished that Potions essay! Lily, can I borrow yours, please?” She gave Lily a puppy face with her big brown eyes.

“You know very well that I am not going to lend you my essay, Bailey.”

Bailey moaned and left the table. She ran upstairs to get her half-finished, due-in-twenty-minutes essay. Grabbing it, she hurried to the library.

She plopped next to one of the tables and began writing furiously, occasionally checking the book next to her for some fact. A couple minutes later, Sirius stumbled in, looking in the same condition as her.

“You know, Sirius, I’d love to talk, but I’ve got that Potions essay due in ten minutes and I’m not finished.”

“Well, guinea pig, it seems serendipity has struck again. I haven’t finished mine either.”

The two worked steadily side-by-side up until the bell rang, when Bailey stood up and looked at her work.

“Well, I hope he doesn’t mind my absolutely horrendous handwriting, but I think I got all the information in.”

Sirius stood up too.

“I think I scraped up an Acceptable with this paper.”

The two tried to go to the door at the same time and bumped into each other. Bailey laughed and tried to hide her blush. Sirius grinned, and they walked to the dungeons together.


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The next couple of weeks were uneventful. Halloween was fast approaching, and soon there were colossal pumpkins growing outside of the gamekeeper hut. Bardo, the gamekeeper, was a squat little Scandinavian man who spoke little to anyone and mostly kept to himself and his pet tiger, Koshisigre. They were an odd pair and most people avoided them.

A fortnight before the greatly anticipated feast, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he called, “I have the great pleasure to inform you that this October 31st, a ball will take place.”

Girls squealed, and boys looked around the hall for possible date candidates.

“It will be for fourth years and above,” he continued, “but younger students may attend if they are invited by an older student.

“I’m sure that all of you will do your best to prepare and that no one—” he looked meaningfully at the Marauders, “—will ruin it for anyone with a prank.”



The next few days were all the same. The girls all were in groups together, either complaining about how Dumbledore had given them so little time to prepare or discussing what they were going to wear (I didn’t mean to rhyme that). The boys were either looking around for a possible date or else trying to get the courage to ask someone out.

None of the Marauders had dates yet. This was surprising as girls were constantly asking out the Marauders. Apparently, they all had people already picked out in their mind. They just hadn’t asked them yet.

Lily was hurrying towards the Gryffindor common room when she bumped heads with James.

“Ouch! Sorry, James,” she said apologetically. She tried to run off again, but James caught her arm.

“Lily,” he said seriously, “I need to ask you something.”

Here we go, she thought. He’s going to ask me out. She looked up expectantly. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say yet.

“Lily,” he said again. “I’m not going to ask you out. I just want to ask you—since we obviously can’t be boyfriend and girlfriend since you think I’m arrogant and mean—could we be friends? Can we go to the ball together—as friends?”

Lily looked at him, a small smile playing on her face. Maybe James had grown up. In any case, she was not going to go with him as his girlfriend. But going as friends was different.

“Yes, I’ll go with you,” she said. Seeing James’s triumphant expression, she added quickly, “As friends.”



The next weekend, there was a Hogsmeade trip planned. The girls were happy because they could shop for dress robes and such, and the boys were happy because, well, what could be a better place than Hogsmeade to ask a girl out? The Marauders and the girls trudged down the stairs and left the castle.

The girls headed to Madam Musselman’s Robe Shop (an outlet of Madam Malkin’s) and quickly found the section labeled “Dress Robes for Women.”

The girls were quick to find a set. Lily chose an emerald-green one; Anna picked a light, pastel teal one; Bailey selected a dark red one, and Sierra, much to the others’ dismay, chose a black one.

“What are you, a Goth?” Bailey asked incredulously. “That set looks just like your school robes. Why even waste the money on this set when you could just wear your other robes?”

“Fine, fine,” Sierra said. She flicked her wand over the robes and it turned dark midnight blue with glittering stars dancing across it.

The group bought the robes and walked out of the store. They saw the Marauders in the distance, looking like they were talking in low, secretive voices.

“Alright, we promised, remember, that we all have to ask out our girl,” Remus said. “We promised.”

“I’ve already got a date,” James said proudly. “Lily.”

The others gaped at him. “What?!” they said in unison.

“I promised her we’d go as friends,” James said.

The group nodded understandingly.

“You’ve got her, mate,” Sirius said, clapping James on the shoulder. “A couple months ago she wouldn’t have let you finish your sentence.”

“Let’s hope so,” said James.

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Sorry I haven't posted in a while. This one's a little short, but it's something.


Sirius looked around the group and found that the girl he had wanted to ask to the ball was not present. He sighed and decided to go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks.

The pub was crowded and noisy. Drink in hand, he headed to the only empty spot he could see. He looked up to see the other occupant of the table he was seated at. When he recognized who it was, he nearly choked on his butterbeer.

"Hello, Sirius," said Bailey. She smiled. "What brings you here?"

"Serendipity? I don't know," Sirius replied, shrugging. Why were his cheeks growing hot? Surely he wasn't blushing? "Well, what brings you here?"

"I just wanted to get away from Lily and Sierra and Anna," said Bailey. "They were getting really annoying about this whole ball thing. Going on and on and on about all that really girly stuff...... it's boring."

"Yeah, um, about the ball," said Sirius. "Do you have a date yet?"

Bailey's cheeks grew red. "No, not yet," she muttered, looking into her tankard.

"Well, neither do I," said Sirius. "Want to go as friends? Or as guinea pigs?"

Bailey looked up at him with wide eyes. "You'd go with me?" she asked Sirius incredulously. "Surely you would want to go with someone ... else? I mean, Sirius, you could go with practically anyone in the school!"

"I hope that wasn't a 'no'," said Sirius, pretending to be irritable, but his eyes were twinkling. "I really don't like being turned down."

"Well...." Bailey said, acting like she was making a tough decision, "I guess..."



When Bailey and Sirius found their friends, it looked like an awkward silence had fallen over them the moment before. As Lily explained in a whisper to Bailey, Peter had asked Sierra to go to the ball with him and been turned down. Sirius overheard.

"Ah, tough luck, mate," he said, nodding his head. "Sorry."

Peter looked as if he was going to cry. Bailey hurried over to him and began to comfort him, saying that Sierra probably just already had a date and, well, she couldn't go with two people, could she?

So somewhat subdued, the group went to a small restaraunt on the less busy side of the town. Bailey found out that Remus and Anna were going together. My, my, my, she thought, smiling to herself. How many feelings a ball can evoke!!

Soon the day was over, and everyone was heading sleepily back to the castle. The atmosphere was one of tired contentness. When they reached the front doors, however, it changed like traffic lights first to bewilderment, then terror. For etched on the door, in dark red paint, or what everyone hoped wasn't blood, was the Dark Mark.

And standing in the shadows about four meters to the left was Ubel.

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A nice new postie. Happy reading.

Immediately, panic and pandemonium broke out. Lily took charge.

“Alright, everyone be quiet!” she shouted. Amazingly, silence fell. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement among the shadows.

She grabbed James's wrist. “Take over for a moment,” she whispered. He looked puzzled but nodded. Lily ducked into the darkness and behind a tree. She looked up just in time to see Ubel look around to check no one was watching, then head back into the crowd. Lily started to do the same when she heard something move behind her. It's ok, she told herself. It's probably just an animal or something. In truth, she was terrified. Ignoring the noise behind her, she ran back to stand in front of the students.

James pointed his wand at his hand and muttered “Sonorus.” Then he snapped. It echoed over the ground. Then Mercury came flying out of the open windows of the Owlery. He landed on James's outstretched arm.

“Go to Dumbledore,” James said to the owl. “Find him.”

“It's alright, I'm already here,” Dumbledore said, walking quickly toward them. “The guilty party must have already left; the teachers and I searched the grounds and the castle. We should get the students to bed.” Turning towards the students, he said,

“I want all of you to go to your dormitories right now. Do not leave them. Anyone who wanders the halls tonight will be severely punished.”

Lily, James, and the prefects led the group of cowering students inside. The castle was eerily quiet. The portraits were all in their respective frames and silent. The warmth of the castle seemed to have gone with the perpetrator. Finally they reached the fat lady, and soon all were in the comfort of their beds.


The next day at breakfast was different. Replacing the usual happy chatter were anxious whispers and low muttering. Even the Marauders had acknowledged the seriousness of the situation; they too were talking in low voices and had not pulled a prank since before the Hogsmeade trip.

“Hey, you guys,” said Lily, making sure that everyone was looking at her, “I saw Ubel in the shadows last night when it happened. He wasn't with the crowd.”

The group gasped.

“It couldn't have been him, could it?” Anna said, glancing nervously at the Slytherin table. “I mean, what if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I mean, that's happened to you guys a lot.” She nodded towards James and Sirius.

“He looked very sneaky,” said Lily. “Did they--” she pointed at James and Sirius, “--look sneaky when they were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“I think he's innocent.”

“I think he's guilty. Or at least has something to do with this.”


Over the next few days the castle returned to normal, and the chatter began again about the upcoming ball. Girls were looking excited, guys bored.

“Hey, Bailey,” Lily called from across the room, “do you know what you're gonna wear yet to the ball?”

“Um, my dress robes,” said Bailey. “What did you think I'd wear, my pajamas?”

“No, dummy,” said Lily. “I meant how are you going to wear your hair. The ball's only in a few days, you know.”

“Oh. I don't know,” said Bailey. “Up?”

Lily sighed and walked over to her. “You are pitiful.” Bailey was about to argue about this unfair statement when Lily roughly ripped out the hairband securing her ponytail.

“Ouch!” Bailey cried. “What was that for?”

“For being too tomboy-ish. I am going to make your hair look beautiful.”

And, despite Bailey's protests, for the next half-hour Lily pinched and pulled, braided and twisted Bailey's hair. She was still working when James and Sirius entered the common room.

“Help me!” Bailey cried when they walked in.

“Of course, my good friend,” said Sirius, saluting her. He looked at Lily. “Are you done?” Lily nodded.

“I will save you!” Sirius said dramatically. He took hold of Bailey's hands and pulled her up from the armchair. She giggled as he said,

“Ah, and Sirius Black saves the day again!”

Feel free to feedback (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=29845) at any time!!!

Here's my newest update.



Lily awoke excited on Halloween morning. She got up quickly and dressed, even though it was earlier than usual. I think I'll go to the Head Common Room, she thought to herself. Maybe I can get some work done on that Potions essay.

When Lily entered the Head Common Room, she found that it wasn't empty like she had planned. Sitting on the couch, as though in a trance, was James. He jumped when she closed the door behind her with a sharp snap.

“Oh, hi, Lily,” he said. “What are you up so early for?”

Lily eyed him suspiciously. “I was going to work on that Potions essay. What about you?”

“I couldn't go back to sleep, so I came here.”

“Oh. Um, I better get to work on that essay.” Lily was surprised to feel her cheeks grow hot. Quickly she bent down over her bag to hide her blush. She hoped fervently that James wouldn't start saying her thoughts and feelings aloud again. She wasn't sure what they were exactly, but she didn't want to find out coming from him.

For the next half hour she worked in silence. James wasn't working. He spent the time staring at Lily. It made her blush even more, definitely not a good thing for his ego. Lily was usually mean to him because she didn't want him to get too arrogant.

Finally, she finished and stood up. James was still staring at her. Lily turned around.

“Will you please stop staring at me?” she asked irritably. “You're getting on my nerves.” Then she left, James still watching her until she closed the door.

The day went by surprisingly fast. The girls went to their dormitories four hours before the ball was due to start to get ready. Bailey was dragged up there, too, against her will.

“Why do you guys need four hours to get ready! I mean, really,” she said. “All of your makeup will come off before the ball even starts!”

None of them paid any attention to her except for Lily, who, despite Bailey's squeaks and cries, forced her into a sitting position and began to put up her hair.

The reason, it turned out, that the girls needed so long was that Lily was going to brew a potion that kept their makeup from wearing off, their hair from getting loose and such.

When the potion was finished, all the beautified girls went to take a glassful. It tasted of raw lemons and made the girls cough and sputter, but they got it down.

Finally, the time came for everyone to find their dates and to head down to the Great Hall.

In the common room, James held out his arm. Lily rolled her eyes.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “Friends don't link arms.” But she obliged.

As it turned out, Peter ended up going with some Hufflepuff sixth year who just wanted to go with a Marauder, any Marauder, and Sierra was going with a Ravenclaw boy.

The group left the common room and headed down to the Great Hall. When they got there, it was filled with the enormous pumpkins from Bardo's (if you don't know who he is, check the beginning of my either 7th or 8th post.) garden were flanking every doorway. There was orange and black confetti falling slowly from the ceiling dotted with stars. The house tables were gone; in their place were many little tables that looked as if they could seat about ten people. They surrounded a large space: the dance floor.

“Well,” said James to the rest of the group, “should we sit down?”

They found a table just off the dance floor and sat down. The school was piling in. When most of the student population was seated, Dumbledore stood up.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, looking around and beaming at everyone, “tonight I have the pleasure of introducing our music makers for this ball: everyone, please welcome The Odd Brothers.”(I know, it's dumb, but whatever.) In trooped a group of musicians that looked to be in their twenties. They were wearing robes of bright orange and purple, and were carrying various instruments. Everyone applauded. Then they began to play.

“Would you honor me with this dance, young lady?” Sirius said, looking at Bailey. She laughed.

“You're hardly older than me,” she said, poking him playfully in the shoulder. “But yes, I will dance with you.”

Sirius led her to the dance floor. The Odd Brothers were playing a slow song. The two began to dance with all the other students.

Bailey was surprised to find herself blush anytime Sirius said something funny or sweet. She didn't like him, did she?

A couple of meters over, Lily and James were dancing. James wouldn't take his eyes off her the whole time.

“Again you're staring! I'm not that pretty, you know,” Lily said, pretending to be annoyed. In truth, she didn't mind. Part of her hoped that James would see through this, part of her hoped he wouldn't.

“Yes you are,” he said.

“You're not supposed to look at me like that,” she said. She felt herself blush. “Aren't we here as friends?”

“You are,” said James. “I'm not.”


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Sorry this post is so short. The next one should be longer.

The song ended, and the two pairs sat down at their table. Soon Sierra and Peter had joined them as well. Their dates had wanted to sit with their friends and so had left.

The group was chatting amiably when Dumbledore stood up. The room grew quiet.

“Food is about to be served, so if everyone could return to their tables please.” Catching the disappointed looks on several people's faces that wanted to continue dancing, he added, “At least for a little while. Once the food has been served, do what you like.”

Sirius looked eagerly at the empty serving dishes on the table. Seconds later, they were piled with food.

“Alright!” Sirius said happily as he spotted shepherd's pie on the table. His hand bumped Bailey's as they both reached for the serving spoon. They both blushed and pulled their hand back. Then they both put their hand forward again. It continued in this manner with the two of them getting redder by the second until Lily finally reached over and pulled Sirius's hand back so that Bailey could get to the spoon.

Bailey was happy. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like she was having the best time in the world.

Lily was likewise happy. The two girls just had a feeling of contentedness. Just as she was thinking that there should be balls more often, James's hand brushed hers on the table. She immediately snapped out of her thoughts as her heart sped up. What was that? Lily thought to herself. Then James took his hand away. Lily's heart began to settle down at it's normal rate.

A moment later, James's hand touched hers again. What is wrong with me? Lily thought. The way my heart's pounding, everyone at the table will hear it. This time, though, James didn't move his hand away. Lily began to notice that he started to use his other hand for everything. For some reason, she didn't mind that James's hand was touching hers. She shrugged this thought away and turned her attention to the other occupants of the table.

After dinner was finished and everyone was full, the group decided to go for a walk. They chatted easily for a while and were just walking past a row of rosebushes when a twig snapped behind them. Everyone whipped around to see Ubel striding out of the darkness, looking nervously over his shoulder, alone.

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The following day was a lethargic one. No one felt like doing anything but sitting around, perhaps playing a game of Gobstones or chess. Even the Marauders were passive and did nothing but sit in front of the fire and talk. Lily, however, was a different story.

“Sierra,” she said seriously, “you better get a start on the Charms homework. If you leave it to the last minute, you'll be sorry.”

“I'm not doing any homework,” said Sierra crossly. “I'm tired. Don't bother me.”

“Fine. Get a zero. I won't be lending you my homework ten minutes before class starts. Bailey, have you done that Transfiguration essay yet?”

Bailey looked up sleepily from the armchair she had been napping in. “Someone say my name?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Argh!” Lily said in frustration. “What is it going to take to make you guys work?”

“A failing grade?” said Bailey, only half awake. “Stop nagging.” With that, she went back to sleep.

A couple hours later, a victorious-looking Lily was leading the way to the library, all of her followers staggering under the weight of various textbooks and rolls of parchment. Several meters from the library door, Lily stopped very suddenly, causing Bailey to walk right into her.

“Come on, Lily, first you drag me here, next you try to kill me--” Bailey whined, cleaning up all the things she had dropped. Lily hissed at her to be quiet. Bailey looked up. Ubel was standing in a little alcove off to the left of the library door. He was talking quite animatedly to a Ravenclaw seventh year, Clark Brantson. Then abruptly Ubel left. Clark walked over to them.

“Hello,” he said brightly. “How are you all?”

“Good,” said Lily, answering for all of them. She was looking at him a little bit suspiciously. Clark noticed.

“Oh, don't look at me like that,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Just because I was talking to Ubel, right? I feel bad for him. He doesn't have any friends, not even other Slytherins.”

“Why don't the Slytherins like him?” Anna asked.

“Something like he never is mean to anyone from the other houses the way the other Slytherins are,” Clark said sadly. “Just because he's nice.”

“And suspicious,” muttered Lily under her breath. Clark didn't hear her.

“That's nice of you to be friends with him,” said Anna, stepping forward and almost tripping over the body of Bailey, who had curled up on the floor and gone to sleep again.

“Yeah, none of the other houses like him either,” said Clark. “Just because he was sorted into Slytherin.”

“You can't blame them for that,” said Lily. “All the Slytherins are jerks.”

Clark gave her a severe look. “Except for Ubel.”


As they walked back to the common room (Lily had thankfully forgotten the purpose of their trip and they did not go to the library), Anna said,

“I really like that Clark. He's nice.”

“Yeah,” said Bailey sleepily. “He's nice.”

Lily ignored Bailey's comment. “You like him because he thinks like you,” she said to Anna. “He doesn't ever suspect anyone. You can't trust everyone, especially now what with Voldemort and everything.”

Anna flinched. “That's not a reason to hate him, though,” she said. “Sure, maybe he looks suspicious, but really, what if he's nice and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“We've been through this already,” said Lily dismissively. “And I don't want to go through it again.”


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Everyone in Gryffindor tower the following Friday night was excited: the next Quidditch match of the season for Gryffindor was scheduled for the next day, against Hufflepuff.

James was going around to every one on the Quidditch team and encouraging them to go for an early night. No one paid attention, however, most of them being, in contrast to the Sunday before, hyper. After several more futile attempts, James gave up and joined a game of chess with Sirius.


The next morning dawned grey and cloudy. Lily poked her head out the window and was met by a chilly wind. Hurrying downstairs, she decided to have some breakfast.

“Hello, my friend, how are you this lovely morning?” asked Bailey as Lily approached. Lily grinned and joined her at the table.

“Fantabulous,” said Sirius, sweeping into the seat across from Bailey and Lily. “Thanks for asking, guinea p--” Sirius stopped short. “Bailey, has anyone ever told you you look like a guinea pig?”

“Hm, I'm not sure,” said Bailey, trying to cover Sirius's mistake. “I always thought I looked more like a dog.”

“Well, that too,” said Sirius, clearly at a loss for words. Lily raised her eyebrows, but she was giggling. Luckily at that moment James plopped down next to Sirius.

“Hullo, mates,” he said, spearing a sausage. “You two ready for the match?”

“Yessir,” said Bailey, relieved for the change of topic. That had been a close one. She needed to remind Sirius to be on his guard for that kind of thing. Perhaps when they met up again. “Can't wait.”

“Well, we should go to the locker rooms pretty soon,” said James. “I want to review that new play we've been practicing.”

So ten minutes later, the Gryffindor Quidditch team traipsed down to the pitch.

“Alright, everyone,” said James from the Captain's chair in the locker room. “I know Hufflepuff isn't the greatest team, but we need to be prepared. We need to get out there, and do what we know how to do. We need to fly our best and do those plays we practiced. We need to work as a team. We need to...”

James's pep talk went on like this for quite some time. The other team members had engaged in a game of Exploding Snap, but James didn't notice. Finally Bailey got up, walked over to James, and pinched his arm. James jumped and looked up.

“Oh! Sorry, guys,” he said. The team groaned.

“You really gotta stop doing that,” said Jacob Wakely, a Beater. “That's the second time in two games. And I'm not even going to talk about last year.” The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

Outside, a whistle blew.

“It's time,” said James. “Let's go, team.”


“And Black takes the Quaffle,” Austin Van was shouting. “He shoots-- he scores!! Ten-nil to Gryffindor!!”

James circled overhead. The Hufflepuff Seeker, Katelyn Hillock, was pretty good. James didn't want to lose, especially to a girl, and his search became more intense.

The game was very close. Every time Gryffindor would score, Hufflepuff would, too. The two teams were tied when James went into a dive. Katelyn followed.

The Seekers were so close that they were bumping brooms every couple of seconds. James kept his eyes on the fluttering Snitch near the Gryffindor goalpost. Just then, Katelyn knocked into him much harder than the other times. James went spiraling off. He regained control of his broom in time to see her just feet away from the Snitch. James gripped his broom very tight and he shot forward. A few seconds later, a Bludger came speeding towards them. After a couple of seconds of a tangle of Katelyn, James, and the Bludger, in which both of them got completely winded, James emerged, gasping for breath and clutching the Golden Snitch. The crowd roared, and Gryffindor house trooped back to the castle, celebrating.

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James woke late the next day. He stumbled into the common room sleepily to find it empty except for Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

“Good Lord, the dead has arisen!” Sirius said sarcastically as James slumped into an armchair. “What took you so long?”

“I dunno, I was tired,” said James, rubbing his eyes. “What's the big deal, anyway?”

“The big deal is that the full moon is in four days,” said Remus. “Come on, how're we supposed to plan with only three Marauders?”

“Yes, yes, I know, I am the brains of these operations,” said James in mock superior tones. Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Well, Mr. Prime Minister, what do you propose we do next?”


Four days later, the Marauders minus Moony set out in James's Invisibility Cloak.

“Alright, everyone,” said James. “Let's transform.” A second later, a beautiful stag appeared next to a bearlike black dog. Scuttling in the shadows was a rat.

A minute later, the four Marauders were together in the Shrieking Shack. Remus had become much more tame in their presence. Animal company was good for him in his transformations.

The thing James enjoyed most about transforming into his stag form was that he could talk to animals. Or rather, think to animals. James, Sirius, and Peter often had ESP conversations during the full moon. They also would think soothing words to Remus, but whether or not he heard was a mystery. So Padfoot, James thought, how are you?

Not bad at all, good friend. I rather enjoy these things. Do you know, last time I had a stimulating conversation with a moth?

That's pretty cool, James replied. Hang on... what's happening to Moony? Remus was shrieking and slashing at the old furniture scattered around the little hut. James began to worry. Remus usually wasn't like this... what if he hurt one of them?

Moony... Moooooony... Come on, don't you remember Prongs? James thought quickly. Come on... come on, Remus, old pal, come on...

Remus, looked up at them. For a moment James was relieved. But then, claws outstretched, he started for them. RUN!!!!!

James wasn't aware of whose voice had cried that, but all he knew was that suddenly he was galloping down in the tunnel as fast as any legs had ever carried him, closely followed by Peter and Sirius. They shot out of the tunnel in a flash. Then they turned around to see Remus still following them.

Oh my God, thought James, we've lead him out of the tunnel.

- - - - - -

Ok, I just want to say this, I'm going to camp tomorrow, Sunday, and I won't be back until Friday sometime. So I won't be posting. A nice welcome home present, though, would be lots of feedback. (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=29845&page=2&pp=30)

Our only chance is for one of us to turn back into a human and-- and stun him or something, James thought hurriedly.

No! It's too dangerous! Sirius thought back. What if we got bitten? What then?

We just have to take that chance, James thought. And a minute later, the stag was no longer there. In its place stood James, cowering slightly in the shadow of the werewolf.

“STUPEFY!” James bellowed. A jet of red light illuminated the grounds for a moment before lodging itself in the werewolf's body. In the second that the vicinity was lit up, James thought he saw something moving around in the grass a little ways away. He turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

Remus's werewolf form, though surely hit by the spell, was not unconscious. James's attempt to Stun him only proceeded to make him angry and turn towards him, claws once again outstretched.

“Sirius!” James shouted. “Sirius, help me!”

The black dog leaped up on top of the werewolf. After a moment's scuffling punctured by whines and growls, Sirius was on top of Remus, his paw at Remus's throat.

“Impedimenta,” said James quickly. Sirius turned back into himself. The moon faded out of sight, and the Remus was no longer a werewolf, though still bound by the spell.

“Finite Incantatum,” (sorry if that's spelled wrong) said Sirius, and Remus stood up, shaking.

“I don't know what happened,” he muttered, his head in his hands. “I don't know what happened.”

“He should probably get rest,” said Peter, who was no longer a rat.

“And some hot tea,” said James, nodding.


“All I remember is this voice in my head, saying, 'kill them, attack, kill, kill...'” Remus's voice trailed off, and he stared into his mug.

“It's alright, it won't happen again,” said Sirius bracingly. “You need to go to sleep. We all need to go to sleep.”

So the four traipsed up to their dormitories, leaving their tea behind them.


The next morning James woke late to find the three other Marauders sitting in a corner of the common room, talking in low voices. Not in the mood for solving mysteries, he decided to go the Head Common Room to try and get some homework done and keep his mind off the events of the night before.

“Firecracker,” he said to the fairy. The door swung open, and James found Lily sitting on one of the fancy couches.

“Hello,” he said, closing the door behind him. “How are you?”

“Okay.” Lily sighed. “Remus isn't, though. D'you know what's the matter with him? He definitely didn't look himself today.”

“He's sick,” James replied mechanically.

“He sure gets sick a lot,” she said. James couldn't tell if she was skeptical or not. He decided to change the subject.

“So, er... did you know there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up? Next Saturday.”

“Oh,” said Lily distractedly. She looked as though she had other things on her mind. “Listen, I just wanted to say something,” she said, a blush creeping into her face, “I'm-- I'm sorry about being mean to you all these years. You're really not that bad.” Before James could reply, she said,

“Well, see you around...” and left the room, leaving an elated James behind her.


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Sorry I haven't posted in a while-- school has started and posts will probably get less frequent. :(

Remus was very subdued the next day at breakfast. He barely spoke, and when he did it was to ask someone to pass him something. The girls exchanged concerned looks but didn't say anything, for which the Remus was grateful.

After a couple of minutes of silent, undisturbed eating, Clark approached the table.

“Morning, all,” he said cheerily. He looked around the table. A frown crossed his face when his eyes rested on Remus.

“Are you sick?” he asked. Remus nodded mutely. Clark frowned again, but this time it was thoughtful. “I'll take you to the hospital wing, if you like. I need to go there anyway, I got a nasty bite from Koshisigre yesterday, I'm supposed to put this cream stuff on it every day—look--” he lifted his robes to reveal a large, ugly-looking bite mark near his ankle.

“But anyway,” Clark said, dropping his robes and looking up at Remus. “Want to go?”

Remus managed a weak smile and got up from the table. The moment they were out of earshot Lily said,

“You know, I think he's alright, that Clark. He's nice.”

“See? I told you,” said Anna. “I'm a good judge of character.” Bailey rolled her eyes, but not so Anna could see.


Soon breakfast was over, and Remus returned with Clark looking significantly healthier. Clark smiled and waved goodbye and headed to the other Ravenclaws. Spirits raised now that he was feeling better, Remus laughed and joked along with his friends as they walked to Transfiguration.


The day passed quickly. Bailey was behind on homework, so she walked to the library laden down with books. When she got there, she wasn't surprised to find Sirius sitting at one of the tables. Upon seeing him closer up, she noticed he looked frustrated.

“Hello,” Bailey said cautiously as she approached. Sirius looked up.

“Hi,” he said, smiling, but Bailey could tell he was still irked by something.

“You okay?” she asked, frowning.

“Yeah...” he said, looking at his hands. Then abruptly he looked at her. “No, actually, I'm not.”

“Did something happen?” asked Bailey.

“Well... my girlfriend and I had a fight,” Sirius said, carefully avoiding Bailey's eye.

“Since when have you had a girlfriend?” asked Bailey. “Because if you've had one since before the ball, you shouldn't have taken me. You didn't have one since before the ball, have you?”

“Well...” Sirius said again, “yeah, I did.”

“Sirius, how do you expect to keep someone if you do stuff like that?! My God, I didn't even know you had a girlfriend! I don't think anyone knew!” Bailey then lowered her voice. “Is she mad at you?”

“You bet.”

“Why did you take me? And what did you tell her? Who is your girlfriend anyway? I don't want her to think I was dating her boyfriend,” Bailey said. “Which, of course, I was not.”

“I told her I was taking you because-- because I felt sorry for you.” Looking back on it later, Sirius realized that was the worst possible thing to say. Bailey exploded.

“Because you felt SORRY for me?! SORRY?!?! I don't take charity!!!! I don't need you! What did you go doing that for!?!” Bailey's face had turned a bright beet red. Then she stopped shouting and said coldly, “And I thought you weren't arrogant.”

Forgetting her homework completely, Bailey turned and walked out of the room, leaving behind her an even more distressed Sirius.


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Sorry I haven't posted in a while!


Bailey stormed into her dormitory threw herself onto her bed. She glared at the canopy blurred by tears above her. Why? she kept thinking to herself. Why?

“He doesn't feel sorry for me,” Bailey said aloud. “What's there to feel sorry for? I am confident!” She realized that her shaking voice contradicted this statement and let out a groan of frustration. Bailey strode in front of the mirror.

“Do I look pitiful to you?” she asked her reflection defiantly. Noticing her puffy eyes and red face, she answered herself, “Well, yes, I do.”


Downstairs, Lily, Sierra, and Anna were talking about her.

“What happened?” asked Lily, frowning. “Bailey rushed past me and it looked like she was crying.”

“I don't know,” said Anna, her eyes full of concern. “She went to the library to do homework, and that was the last I saw of her.”

Sierra opened her mouth to confirm this but stopped upon seeing Sirius stumble out of the portrait hole. His eyes were intently focused on his feet and didn't acknowledge any of them as he walked slowly to the boys' staircase. Sierra jumped to her feet.

“Wait,” she commanded. Sirius, head still down, didn't respond. Sierra grabbed his arm and dragged him to an armchair. Only then did he look up.

“What?” Sirius said, somewhat waspishly.

“Did something happen between you and Bailey?”

Sirius looked as if he was going to deny it, but realizing they already knew the answer, nodded his head silently.

“What happened?” Sierra asked.

“I told Bailey I had a girlfriend. It all went downhill from there.”

“But you don't have a girlfriend,” said Lily bluntly, looking at him as though he were crazy. “So why the heck did you tell her you did?”

“Well...” Sirius was twisting his hands in his lap uncomfortably. His voice got quieter. “I wanted to make her jealous.”

“Why?”

Anna spoke up. “What do you mean, it 'went downhill from there'?”

Sirius hung his head once more. Speaking quietly again, he recounted the library incident.

“Wow,” said Sierra when he had finished, chuckling to herself. “Talk about tact.”

“You won't tell her will you?” asked Sirius desperately. “I don't want her to know I lied.”

“She's going to find out sooner or later,” said Lily. “She's probably really sad right now. Why not just tell her?”

Sirius shook his head stubbornly, and they reluctantly made a pact not to tell Bailey the truth behind it all. Little did they know she had heard it all from her spot just above the girls' staircase.

Kinda short, but oh well.

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Oooh, Bailey’s awful in this chapter :evil: Tons of fun writing, though :D Happy reading!

Bailey didn’t know whether to feel happy, sad, hurt, or annoyed. She settled on happy. Sirius wanted to make her jealous! That must mean something. Quickly she hurried up to her dormitory so the others wouldn’t know she’d overheard.

As Lily walked in timidly, Bailey remembered she was supposed to be upset. Hastily she put on a sad, angry expression. Lily came and sat next to her on her bed. Bailey sighed and looked at the floor.

“Sirius told me what happened,” Lily said gently. “You’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Bailey. “I—I just want some alone time, okay?”

“Sure,” said Lily, and she left the room. Bailey grinned at the canopy she had been glaring at minutes before. A warm, bubbly feeling was spreading through her. He wanted to make me jealous.

The next day at breakfast, the entire group (not including Sirius and Bailey, of course) shot furtive glances at Sirius as Bailey approached. She was still happy that Sirius wanted to make her jealous, but that was not going to stop her from letting him have it. Big time.

“Hello, everyone,” she said, looking Sirius in the eye. He blushed and looked down at his plate. Bailey settled herself at the table with a slightly superior expression. Noticing everyone staring openly at her, she barked,

“Is there something on my face? What’re you all looking at?”

The group quickly turned their attention back to their food. After a few minutes of silent eating, Bailey said quietly but loud enough so everyone could hear,

“How’s your girlfriend, Sirius?”

His head snapped up and he turned bright red.

“Ah—um—see, she, uh—” he stuttered. Looking even more superior, Bailey repeated,

“How’s your girlfriend?” Not waiting for an answer, she continued. “Or is it that you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Well—I technically don’t now—we broke up, you see—”

“Broke up? Was it because you took me to the ball? Because you felt sorry for me?” The group, minus James, Remus and Peter, who were looking bewildered, cringed. Sirius turned, if possible, a brighter red.

“Maybe—maybe I worded that wrong—not so much that I felt sorry for you—as—as—”

“As what?” Bailey hissed. As much as she was happy with the turn of events the night before, she felt a vindictive pleasure torturing him so much. Hey, he deserved it.

“As—erm—well, I don’t really have a word for it—” Sirius was stumbling over his words more than ever. His face was now the color of a stoplight.

“I’ve got better things to do than listen to a rambling idiot,” said Bailey smoothly, picking up her bag. “’Bye, all.” She swept out of the Great Hall. As soon as she left, Sirius slumped down in his seat. Anna and Lily gave him pitying looks, but Sierra was the first to speak up.

“Told ya you should’ve told her.”


Bailey started to give Sirius the silent treatment. Part of her wanted to talk to him, ask him what in God’s name made him say he felt sorry for her, but that part was overruled. More of her wanted him to regret his words terribly. That was the part that acted at breakfast.

During Potions Sirius was so distracted he completely messed up his Bliss Concoction, causing it to become black instead of the normal green. This mistake served to get him extra homework, further increasing his distress.

Lunch was a nightmare. Bailey stopped Sirius’s silent treatment to antagonize him. Finally, he broke through his embarrassment and cracked.

“SHUT UP!!!!” he yelled. Half of the Great Hall stopped talking to look. The group had all jumped, but Bailey was looking at him with something like amusement.

“I messed up, alright?! Now, would you just stop talking?! What you’ve said to me over the past few hours was way worse than what I said to you in the first place! I repeat, shut up!”

Bailey grinned broadly. “Welcome, back, Sirius, welcome back. I must say, that was fun. Heard you wanted to make me jealous?”


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Sirius gaped at her, his face turning red. “How’d you—”

“I have ears,” said Bailey smoothly. “I was sitting at the top of the stairs when you told Sierra, Lily, and Anna what happened.”

“Oh.”


With the two reconciled (and the boys filled in as to what happened), life returned back to normal. Sirius was still a great deal embarrassed about the incident, and tended to steer conversations away from anything that might possibly trigger someone’s memory to it.

One morning at breakfast, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. Silence fell immediately, and he began to speak.

"This year the staff and I have decided we need a tad bit more foreign culture in our school," he said. James and Sirius rolled their eyes. "So, next Saturday, we will be celebrating the American feast of Thanksgiving."

"This is stupid," James and Sirius said in unison. Lily glared at them.

"As you may or may not know, Thanksgiving is accompanied by ... well, a lot of food. And since you all are probably starving yourselves right now, I won't explain anymore than that."

James and Sirius suddenly looked delighted.

Soon it was Saturday, and the school happily trooped into the Great Hall, anticipating a wonderful feast. Quickly enough the platters were piled high with food, and everyone dug in.

“So, Lily,” James said, after a few minutes worth of silent, undisturbed eating, “how about going to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”

Lily eyed him appraisingly. “You’re not asking me out again, are you? I thought you’d given up on that. As much as I respect your perseverance, I beg of you, give it up.”

James grinned. “No, I’m not asking you out,” he said, sighing and rolling his eyes dramatically. “You don’t think I’m that in love with you, do you?”

The rest of the group that had been watching this interaction tried and failed to muffle their laughter. James ignored them.

“Well?”

“I—I guess,” Lily replied. “But it’s not by any means a date.”


The rest of the week passed quickly. Although she was not fully conscious of it, Lily became more and more excited about the upcoming weekend. James had been especially tolerable lately. So when Saturday rolled around, Lily was positively bouncing. Bailey noticed.

“What’s the big smile for?” she asked slyly, who had just woken up and was sitting in bed, grinning.

“I—uh, it’s Saturday!” answered Lily, unable to straighten her face.

“Gee, didn’t know it was that much of a cause for jubilation,” said Bailey sarcastically. “You are a terrible liar. I know exactly what it is you’re so happy about—you’re going to Hogsmeade with James!”

Lily sobered immediately, but a faint blush crept in her cheeks. “You know as well as I do that it’s not,” she said defiantly.

Bailey shrugged. “Just keep thinking that.” She started for the common room. Then she turned back and said grinning, “But I know the truth.”


James and Lily filed out of the castle with all the other students. James found he couldn’t think of anything to talk about. So he looked down at his feet all through the walk to the village. Once there, he looked up and said,

“Want to go for a butterbeer or something?”

Once in the Three Broomsticks, James began to feel more relaxed. He chatted easily with Lily and enjoyed himself immensely. Lily was having fun, too.

James really isn’t that bad, she thought to herself. He’s not conceited anymore. I’d never go out with him, though. I don’t know what Bailey was thinking this morning.

Suddenly James broke off their conversation about the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

“Lily,” he said seriously, “I want to tell you something.”

Oh, great, Lily thought. And everything was going so well, too! I’m not in the mood to hear about his undying love for me. Hang on—is that—

“Just a minute, James,” said Lily. She saw Ubel a couple of tables over. He had the distinct guilty look of someone who had just done something wrong.

“Sorry,” Lily said distractedly to James. “What were you saying?”

“It doesn’t matter,” James muttered. “Nevermind.”


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After her “date” with James, Lily wandered into Honeydukes where she saw Bailey.

“Hi!” Bailey brightened when she saw Lily. “I was going to send some of this stuff to my mum. She’s a chocoholic.”

“Right,” said Lily, staring at a display a couple feet ahead. The way her eyes were unfocused made Bailey think that caramel fudge was not really what Lily was seeing.

“Hello? Lily?” When Lily did not respond, Bailey waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Lily! Are you okay?”

Lily’s eyes had closed, and her body began to collapse to the floor. Bailey grabbed her before it could.

“Lily!!” she exclaimed. Bailey shook her, but Lily showed no signs of consciousness. Bailey gently put her down and ran over to the fat little witch behind the register.

“Excuse me,” she said. “I think my friend fainted or something. Could you help?”

“Oh, why sure, honey,” said the squat little witch. “Show her to me.”

Bailey hurried to the place where Lily’s body lay in a heap. When she saw her, she screamed. Lily’s face had turned a sickly yellow and her whole body was twitching.

“Oh my Lord,” whispered the witch, her face white, her eyes wide. “That’s no faint. That’s the effects of the Venin Potion.”



“There’s only one antidote,” said Professor Balgaire, sweeping so fast down the corridor, even carrying Lily, that Bailey could barely keep up. Her muscles seemed sluggish and slow. “I should have some in my private stores.”

“Okay,” Bailey squeaked.

“Is there anyone else that you might want to inform of the situation?” asked a voice. Bailey turned around to find Professor Dumbledore walking quickly behind her. Bailey didn’t have time to wonder how long he’d been following them.

“Yes, Professor,” said Bailey. “Do you want me to name them—?”

“Just come with me,” he replied.

“But—but Professor—shouldn’t I go with—” she stuttered. No! She wanted to stay with Lily!

“Come with me,” he repeated.

They walked and walked, Dumbledore leading the way in his quick, long strides and Bailey trailing numbly behind him. Finally, after a stone gargoyle and an escalator-like set of spiraling stairs, they reached Dumbledore’s office. Dumbledore offered her a small sheet of parchment and a pen.

“Write a note to your friends,” said Dumbledore. “I’ll send it with Fawkes.”

So Bailey took the note and scribbled,


Dear Sierra, Anna, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James especially:

Lily’s really sick. Somehow she ingested Venin Potion. I’m with Dumbledore and Balgaire is getting the antidote. Come back from Hogsmeade.

Love,

Bailey


Dumbledore folded the note, placed it in an envelope and sealed it. Then he gave it to Fawkes to deliver. In a flash of fire he was gone.

“Well,” said Dumbledore, “you may go to the hospital wing if you like.”

Bailey nodded and headed out. Ten minutes ago, when she had been hurrying down the corridors with the potions master, and when she had gone up to Dumbledore’s office, everything seemed to be going so fast she could barely keep up. But now everything was in slow motion. Every footstep took ages and echoed in the empty halls. The route to the hospital wing seemed triple in length. Finally Bailey could take it no more. She collapsed in a faint out of fear and exhaustion long before she reached her destination.

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Bailey awoke to many people bustling around her bedside. Blearily she opened an eye.

“Bailey!” Sierra shrieked. The “many people” turned out to be Sierra, Anna, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James. Lily was in the bed next to hers. She wasn’t conscious, but her face was its natural color and she was breathing deeply. That had to be a good sign.

“Lily okay?” Bailey asked.

“Yeah, she’s a lot better than she was,” replied Remus. “She’s weak, though, so she’s a lot more susceptible to sickness than us. She’s going to stay at least another night. You, too.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Bailey said quickly, beginning to sit up, but the frailty in her voice betrayed her. She knew before she finished speaking that it was no good. “I don’t need to stay another night.”

Remus raised his eyebrows.

“Okay, you’re right,” she admitted, collapsing back into her pillows. Just then Sirius walked over.

“Bailey!” he said, unmistakable relief etched on his face. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Be glad for Lily, not me,” Bailey replied. “She was the poisoned one. And besides, what could’ve possibly happened to me?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius said solemnly, “but you sure slept right through yesterday.”

“I did?” asked Bailey, alarmed.

“Oh, yes,” said Sirius. Remus started laughing. Bailey glared at the two.

“Very funny. When’s Lily supposed to wake up, anyway?”

“Well, we’re not exactly sure, but supposedly sometime tomorrow,” Remus informed her. “But we definitely know she’s alright. It was a close call, though. Dumbledore said he was really glad you were with her, or she could’ve died.”

-----------------------------

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Bailey woke with a start. It took her a second to remember where she was. According to the clock on the wall, it was just after midnight. Silver moonlight streamed in through the tall glass windows, casting long, dark shadows on everything. The moon glowed brightly above the treetops, which were swaying peacefully in a gentle breeze. Stars were scattered across the sky, sparkling brilliantly. Bailey gazed at it contentedly, not really ready to go back to sleep just yet. A noise from the hospital wing door brought her sharply back to earth.

Bailey turned slightly to see James creep silently into the room. Bailey quickly shut her eyes so he wouldn’t think she was awake. A sound from her close vicinity made her crack her eyes open a bit. James was sitting at Lily’s bedside, staring into her dreaming face. He tenderly took her hand and held it with his own. How long he sat like that Bailey didn’t know. But when she woke up in the morning, he was gone.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next few weeks passed in a blur. Christmas was coming, and everyone was preparing. Wreaths and garland were hung at every door. The Great Hall was filled with pine trees spectacularly decorated with silver and gold tinsel, sparkling lights and beautiful glass ball ornaments. The weather was getting colder and colder, finally surprising everyone one morning with a thick white blanket of snow.

Lily was especially excited. To her, Christmastime was the best of the year. Early one morning she awoke with the idea to decorate the Head Common Room. So, boxes of wreaths and stockings and all sorts of Christmas things in hand, she left Gryffindor Tower.

“Tinsel,” Lily supplied quickly as the fairy portrait opened her mouth. She stepped inside, carefully maneuvering both herself and her enormous pile of boxes.

“Lily?” A voice from across the room made her jump and she dropped all that she was holding. A loud crash resulted as it all hit the floor. No doubt some of it had been broken. She turned.

James was sitting on the couch, looking apprehensively at her as though she might start yelling. For a moment, Lily thought she was. But then, she started to giggle.

James, thoroughly relieved that she wasn’t going to shout, cracked a smile. Then a chuckle. Soon, the two of them were rolling on the floor, laughing and laughing until tears ran down their cheeks. Neither could explain why it was so comical; it was one of those times when you really just had to experience the moment.

When they got their breath back, an awkward silence fell over them. Lily found she could not meet James’s eyes. Finally, she spoke.

“What’re you doing here so early?” she asked.

“Er… I don’t really know, to tell the truth. I just sort of came down here because I couldn’t sleep this morning. Why are you here?”

“I was going to decorate,” Lily said, raising an eyebrow, “but now it looks as if I’ll have to do some cleaning first, doesn’t it?”

They both looked at the messy floor and burst out laughing again. After that, all the tension left and they both began to tidy the place, all the while chatting easily.

“You know…” James began slowly. Lily looked at him. “I think the house elves have already decorated.”

For the first time, Lily actually looked around. It was true.

“Well, looks like we’ll have to take those down, won’t we?”

James grinned.

An hour and a half later, they headed out. The room looked great (granted, not as good as the house elves had done), and they left very proud of themselves. And although neither of them consciously noticed, they left a lot closer.


The rest of the Christmas season went by quickly. Lily, Bailey, Sierra, and Anna had all signed up to stay over the holidays, as did James, Sirius, and Remus. Peter had mentioned going to his grandmother’s house for Christmas and, to tell the truth, the rest weren’t as sad that he was gone as much as they would have been had it been one of the others.

Bailey woke early on Christmas morning. She jumped up, looked at the clock (presumably checking that it wasn’t a terribly early hour of the morning) and screamed. The rest of her dorm looked up groggily.

“What time is it?” Lily asked, wiping sleep from her eyes.

“It’s Christmas morning, you idiot! Get up!” Bailey cried. She hurried to the foot of her bed to find a large pile of presents. The realization of what day it was fully sunk into Lily’s brain. For a second, she still looked sleepy. Then she jumped up and began dancing around the room, waking the other dorm members up.

“You guys, it’s Christmas! It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!” she said happily. “Now, get up!”

“Yes, do get up,” Bailey agreed. “Because if you don’t—” She pulled her wand from her pocket mischievously, “—then I might have to force you. How about a good Tickling Charm, or something? Or we could always just put ice down your shirt. That would work too.”

That got them up. Soon everyone was unwrapping present after present. Finally, they decided to go visit the boys in their dorms.

“Merry Christmas!” Bailey shouted, flinging open the door of the boys’ dormitory. All three of them were fast asleep.

“Maybe we should let them sleep a little longer,” whispered Lily.

“Maybe they’re not really asleep,” countered Bailey. Lily looked at her in wonder.

“Why would they fake being asleep? That’s nonsense.” Lily turned to leave, but Bailey stopped her.

“Wait,” she said. She tiptoed over to Sirius’s bed and looked closely at him.

Looking disappointed, Bailey began, “Well, maybe he is—”

At the same time, all three of the boys yelled “BOO!” Lily jumped and squealed, but Bailey looked satisfied.

“What did I tell you, Lily? Merry Christmas, guys!” she said brightly. The three of them were getting out of bed eagerly.

After another bout of unwrapping, they all decided to go and have breakfast.

The food was delicious. The boys ate so much that Bailey feared they might throw up at their snowball fight, which she was planning on initiating as soon as they went outside.

Go outside they did, and as soon as Sirius wasn’t looking, Bailey threw a large snowball at him. It hit him on the side of his head and he turned around slowly. Then it began.

It was the biggest snowball fight any of them had ever been in. It was every man for himself, and it was intense. Sirius and James even made their own forts to hide behind, though Sierra and Bailey demolished them with snowballs pretty quickly. It was the most fun they'd had in a long time.

After an hour or two more of chucking snowballs, they all began to head in. Bailey began to go, too, but Sirius held her back.

“Wait,” he said gently. Bailey followed him bewilderedly to a tree next to the lake.

“What about the others?” she asked.

“They can find their way back to the castle,” Sirius said, grinning. “We’ll meet them there in a second.

“The real reason I brought you here, well… I need to talk to you,” he said, looking at the snow-covered ground. “I…I really like you, Bailey.” There. He had said it. Any moment now she was going to run away, screaming. Why, oh why did he have to blurt it out like that? He was so stupid.

“I understand if you don’t like me like that,” Sirius continued, a lot more hurried than before. He wanted to get it all out before she ran away from him. Perhaps he could salvage the situation. “But—”

Bailey had a small smile on her face. She put a finger to Sirius’s lips, and he stopped talking. Gently, she leaned in and kissed him. Both their hearts were pounding, and an indescribable joy rose between them. It had started to snow again, and the flakes sparkled all around them.

And if either of them had looked up, they would have seen a shimmering pink and silver heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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