Disclaimer: I don't own the main characters. I do own Delica Seagull, Orion Piper, the hooded figure, and William Pilar, okay?

A/N: Well, the plot bunnies attacked me last night as I was trying to go to sleep. Now, I've held them back many times before, but I couldn't this time. It hurt. So... I gave in and wrote this.

Chapter 1

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"Ten minutes. Tops."

"Aw, Padfoot, don't you think that's a little mean?"

"Not at all. Moony, have you seen the way Delica looks at him? I'm telling you, their date is only lasting ten minutes."

"Ah, I guess you're right. So, Paddy, ten galleons?"

Sirius smiled mischievously. "Ten galleons." Remus nodded and they shook hands, keeping eye contact the whole time.

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and almost every third to seventh year was at Hogsmeade. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were no exception. The two sixth year Gryffindors sat in the Three Broomsticks, a popular place for the Hogwarts students to hang out (especially on a not-so-nice day like that day).

The boys turned in their seats to watch Orion Piper and Delica Seagull, two seventh year Ravenclaws, on their date. The Gryffindor boys watched as Delica chattered away while Orion absent-mindedly stirred his drink with his straw, obviously not taking in a word she was saying. Evidently, Delica noticed this because she would give him dirty looks, but she decided against saying anything and continued talking.

Remus glanced at his watch after a few moments of watching the couple. "Only three more minutes."

The sixth year boys continued watching the date. Orion's water flowed over the rim of his glass a few times. Delica would stop mid-sentence and eye the small puddle of water and her partner in a less-than-impressed manner, but never failed to pick up her speech a few seconds later.

"Fifty seconds to go," Sirius informed Remus, who nodded in response. The latter crossed his fingers, praying that the date went at least a second over the time limit of ten minutes.

For the fifth time that minute, Delica picked up the one-sided conversation after glancing disapprovingly at the water on the table. "Anyway... so after that, Ralph said- you aren't listening to a bleeding thing I'm saying."

Orion nodded. "Uh huh," he said in a far away voice, "and then what did you say?" He continued to gaze at her.

Delica sighed irritably. "I'm talking to you! You aren't listening to a bleeding thing I'm saying!"

Orion snapped out of his trance. "Huh? Wha-what are you talking about?"

Delica's eyes narrowed. "Then whom was I talking about before?"

"Uh... Professor McGonagall?"

Delica stood up and placed her hands on her hips. Orion had a frightened look on. Delica was known for her hot temper. The only reason guys dated her was because she was gorgeous; there wasn't anything too great about her personality.

"Professor McGonagall?" she asked in a disgusted half-whisper. Orion gulped loudly, his blue eyes wide with fear.

Remus glanced at his watch and grinned. Five... four... three... two...

"Hey, Padfoot," he whispered, poking the boy next to him. "Times up!"

Sirius shushed him and swatted him away, gray eyes fixed on Orion and Delica.

"S-sorry Delica," Orion almost whimpered. Sirius snorted. Delica advanced on her date.

"You know what?" she asked the shaking boy. "I'm sick of this." She stepped closer to him and he even yelped. "This date is over, Piper," she hissed. And with that, Orion and his chair toppled over and Delica stormed out of the building.

Sirius turned to Remus a moment later with wide eyes. "Wow... did you see that, Moony? The way she scared him like that?"

Remus nodded but waved his hand as to say that it wasn't important. "Uh huh, yeah," he rushed, "you owe me ten galleons."

It took a moment for the words to sink into Sirius. He propped his head on his right hand and sighed. "How about I pay for your butterbeer?" he suggested, gesturing towards the hardly touched drink in front of his friend.

"You will be. Hand over the money."

Sirius reached into his pocket and took out three coins. "I don't have ten, only three," he lied.

"Ten galleons, Sirius," Remus sneered. Sirius groaned and dug deeper into his pockets. He dumped the seven coins into Remus's hands. "Greedy," he muttered. Remus grinned.

After paying for their drinks, the two boys decided to find their other friends, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, and head to Zonko's. The left the Three Broomsticks and were instantly soaked.

"Aw, this sucks," Remus grumbled as he pushed some of his wet brown hair off of his forehead.

"Hey, look," Sirius said, pointing down the nearly empty street. Remus squinted in the direction Sirius's finger was pointing. "It's James," the latter told the former.

As they drew closer to their friend, they saw that James was with someone else. Lily Evans to be exact. The two were under an awning and were talking. Well, more like attempted flirting on James's part and snapping from Lily. They didn't even notice when Remus and Sirius approached them.

"Don't deny it, Evans, you know you want me," James said to the girl with a wink. Lily sighed loudly.

"Yes, Potter, you keep telling yourself that." She shook her head and announced, "I'm leaving."

"Evans! EVANS! Come back!" James called to the redheaded girl as she ran through the rain. He was about to follow when he noticed two of his best friends. "Oh, hey guys," he said warmly.

"Aah, still going for fair Evans, I see? Well, better luck next time, Prongs," Sirius said as he patted James on the back. James frowned and decided to change the subject.

"Where were you two anyway?" he inquired.

Remus answered. "Betting on dates. I won," he added smugly.

Sirius glowered. "Don't rub it in."

"Oh," James responded vaguely.

Sirius sighed. "Yeah, well, while you were scouting out Miss Evans and Peter was off with his-" he coughed "-girlfriend-" James sniggered "-, Moony and I needed something to do."

"Well, Jamsie, Padfoot and I are off to find Peter and go to Zonko's... care to join us?" Remus asked. James nodded and the three were off.

Five seconds later, they were back under the awning.

"This is great, just great," Remus muttered as he watched the rain pour down harder than ever. He heard distant shrieks as people caught in the rain rushed into the nearest buildings.

"I guess we're not going to Zonko's then," James said sadly, eyeing the rain with great dislike too.

They stood outside for a moment, waiting for the rain to let up. It never did.

"D-d-don't you g-guys th-think-k we sh-should hu-hu-head into the st-t-tore?" Sirius questioned, his teeth chattering violently. He continued to rub his upper arms in hopes that he'd warm up but had no success.

Remus nodded, afraid to open his mouth, for he knew his teeth would chatter worse than Sirius's. He led his friends into the store and they were immediately warmed up.

"Welcome to William's," came a wheezy voice. An old man stood behind the counter looking at the trio. The hooded figure didn't notice them and asked, "Who are you talking to, Pilar?"

"Us!" Sirius called. As the person turned around, Remus smacked Sirius's head.

"Hm," the person said as he studied the boys. "William, do you mind if we continue this discussion in the next room?"

The old man nodded. "Of course." He looked at the kids. "I expect you to behave. You are only allowed to stay in here until the rain lets up. Is that clear?" he questioned in his wheezy voice. The boys nodded in response.

"Good," the hooded person said coolly. "Let's go, Pilar," he instructed and the two went into the door to the right of the counter. "Don't touch anything!" William called to them as the door closed.

Remus, Sirius, and James glanced around. The store wasn't lit very well; only a few candles here and there. There were different sized bottles on the many shelves lining the walls, all containing liquids of different colors and marked with labels.

"Look at this guys!" Sirius called excitedly. The other two walked over to see what he was looking at. It was a medium sized bottle with a clear liquid in it. James didn't see anything too special about it until he read the label.

"Veritaserum!" he hissed. "Way cool!"

"Let's try it!" Sirius exclaimed, lifting the bottle from its shelf. They glanced at Remus who shifted his weight from one foot to the next looking uneasy. Then he smiled. "Give it to James first," Remus said. Sirius obeyed and James opened his mouth; two drops were put in.

"So," Sirius said glancing at Remus. "What's your name?"

"James Potter," came the reply.

"Who's your crush, James?"

"Lily Evans," James responded dreamily.

Remus whispered something to Sirius, whose eyes became wide and he grinned. "Yes... who sleeps with a teddy bear?"

"Well," James said, "there's Marsha Blank in first year, and... Stephan Kramer in third year... James Potter in sixth year..."

"Ha!" Sirius laughed. "That's all we wanted to hear!"

"Who's your least favorite Marauder?" Remus questioned when he and Sirius calmed down.

"Peter Pettigrew," James admitted. Sirius and Remus sighed with relief.

James blinked. "Hey! The potion wore off!"

"Damn," Sirius muttered. "Well, I guess it's my turn."

Sirius was asked a lot of stupid questions, including "How do you spell 'hamburger' backwards?" and "What's five times a bicycle?"

"Five bicycles, of course," Sirius answered.

It was James's turn to ask him a question. "Who do you like?"

"Delica Seagull."

"WHAT?" Remus yelped. "How the hell do you like her?"

Sirius shrugged. "She's hot."

Remus was asked dumb questions on his turn too. James and Sirius soon found out that Remus liked Delica too and Sirius had hit him, calling him a hypocrite.

"I'm bored," Sirius announced twenty minutes later. The trio was sitting on the floor with their backs against the counter. It was still raining hard.

"I wish Lily was here," James sighed. Sirius and Remus shook their heads. "What?" James defended. "She could liven this place up!"

"Yeah, not before she murders you, mate," Sirius retorted.

"Whatever," James muttered. "Let's go down to the basement or something." Remus looked anxious again.

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Remus admitted. "This is a potions store. Anything could be brewing down there." But before he knew it, he was being pulled into the door on the left by James and was being dragged into the cellar.

"I'm telling you guys, you're going to regret this," Remus said. The other two ignored him.

"Cool!" Sirius said as he picked up a dark green bottle from the desk. "Dare me to drink it?"

James looked nervous now too. "Uh, maybe you shouldn't Padfoot. It's not labeled. You don't know what's in it."

"That's the fun in it," Sirius whispered, his eyes bright. Before his friends could stop him, he took a sip of the green liquid. As he swallowed, he wrinkled his nose.

"Yuck. That stuff is nasty."

"Well, when you get sick, Sirius, don't come running to us," Remus retorted. Sirius nodded but looked nauseous. "Are you okay?" Remus said in an unsure tone. Sirius's eyelids drooped; he looked very ill.

"Maybe we should go back to Hogwarts," James suggested. Just as they were about to climb the stairs, the room shook violently and the two healthy boys were jolted forward, knocking over Sirius.

"What... was that?" Remus breathed after the shaking stopped. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Must've been an earthquake," James said.

Remus gaped at him. "Here? An earthquake here? Do you know how unlikely that is?"

"Do you have a better suggestion?" James snapped back as he stood up and cleaned the dirt off of his robes. Remus was about to answer when the two heard a gagging sound from the other side of the room; Sirius had thrown up.

"Let's go back," James said, running his fingers through his hair. "We'll take you to the hospital wing, Sirius."

He and Remus carried Sirius up the stairs and into the main shop. William and the hooded figure still weren't out of the room. The boys decided to leave; the rain had let up a little.

-----

"Harry, Ron, maybe we should start heading back to the school," Hermione Granger suggested. She and her two best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were sitting at a table in the Three Broomsticks. It was a cold, wet, October afternoon. Halloween afternoon to be exact.

"Yeah," Ron agreed after draining the last of his butterbeer, "we should. It's all ready four o'clock. The feast is starting in a few hours."

"That's right," Hermione said as she put money on the table to pay for her drink. "And you two-" she pointed at Harry and Ron accusingly "-need to finish your advanced Potions essay."

"Oh, all right," Harry murmered as he too put money on the table. The three of them bid goodbye to Hagrid, who was sitting at a table near theirs, and headed out the door.

When they were outside, the trio noticed that they weren't the only ones who had that idea; the street was nearly full now that the heavy rain had almost stopped. There were many teens from their school. Some had shopping bags, some were chatting, and some were even carrying each other. As they followed the crowd towards the castle, they ran into Luna Lovegood, a fifth year Ravenclaw, and Ron's sister, Ginny Weasley.

"Hey all," Ginny said to the three of them. Luna smiled.

"Hey, Gin," Ron responded as the trudged through puddles. "Where were you all day? We were looking for you."

Ginny shrugged. "I had lunch with Dean- Ron, don't give me that look- and then I met up with Luna and we went shopping."

"Yep," Luna agreed. She reached into her shopping bag and said, "Harry, I bought you something."

Harry's eyebrows rose. "You did? Erm, thanks Luna." He gave her a lopsided smile.

"No problem," she replied as she handed him a model broomstick with his last name on it; Ginny, Hermione, and Ron glanced at each other, trying to hold back grins.

The five of them walked to the castle, Ginny, Luna, and Harry arguing about Quidditch while Ron and Hermione argued about homework.

"Oh don't give me that, Ron," Hermione snapped. "If you got into advanced Potions, then you're obviously smart enough to do the homework yourself. I don't need to help you."

Ron crossed his arms and shook his head. "I'm telling you, I can't do the homework. Snape only put me in it to show me that I couldn't do it and so I could make a fool of myself." As he finished his sentence, the two people in front of him stopped walking (and nearly dropped the person they were carrying), almost causing Ron to crash into them. Just as he was about to tell them to watch where they were stopping, they started walking again, faster than before.

----- I bet you can guess who the people that stopped were.

Next Time: Harry and James meet.

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