Saturday 8th December 1977

Dear Mum and Dad,

Hogwarts is about to become the most exciting place to be! In the spirit of the season (and 'cause it's our last year), Dorcas, Emmeline and I are throwing a Christmas party. It's going to be the biggest bash these witches and wizards have ever seen! We're sorting out the guest list today. The party's planned for next week. I'll write with more news soon! Bye bye for now!

All my love,

Lily.

.x.x.x.

I put my quill down and read over what I had just written. I looked over at my two friends, Emmeline Vance and Dorcas Meadowes, who were sitting comfortably in the armchairs of Gryffindor Tower.

"I'll be back in a minute!" I called over to them. Dorcas nodded at me and continued to draw on unsuspecting Emmeline's arm.

I clambered out of the portrait hole and headed for the Owlery. I watched the snow fall gently outside of the windows. What a lovely –

"Hiya Lily!"

I winced. "What do you want, Chuck?" I asked without turning around.

Chuck Bare, a boy with thick glasses, greasy hair and a greasy face caught up with me. "Where are you heading on this fine day?"

I thought about lying for a moment. I changed my mind when I realized that probably wouldn't work. "Oh, I'm just going to the Owlery."

Chuck grinned. "May I accompany you?"

"No," I answered shortly. "Gotta go." I walked away from him.

"Okay then! See you around Lily!"

I reached the Owlery and pushed the door opened with some relief. Stepping carefully over the many thousands of owl droppings (Do they ever clean this place?), I reached my owl, Butterscotch.

"Hey Butters," I said quietly, stroking him gently. "Take this letter to Mum and Dad, okay?" I tied my letter to his leg. Butterscotch hooted and took off out the large window. I watched him go. I turned away from the beautiful view and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Niti est nitere," I told the Fat Lady. She swung open obligingly and I went in and sat next to Emmeline. "Would it be murder if I was holding the stick that caused Chuck Bare's fatal fall?" I asked her.

"He's not invited to the party then, I take it," said Emmeline, scowling at Dorcas. "Why did you write my initials with a love heart and the initials R. L.? What do they even – Hey!"

"Guys!" I said, as Emmeline looked ready to bring in the whole army forces to get Dorcas in revenge. They looked at me. "Who's on the invite list so far?"

Dorcas coughed importantly and shuffled the parchment sheets in front of her. "Well…" she said. "There's me, Emmeline and you."

"Is that it?"

"Um…yeah," said Dorcas sheepishly.

Emmeline and I stared at her.

"What? It's not like I'm the social butterfly!" said Dorcas defensively. "And anyway, I don't even know who you guys want to invite."

"We'll have to invite all the big names," said Emmeline, sitting up and holding up her fingers to count them off. "James Potter…"

"No," I said.

"Sirius Black…"

"No."

"Remus Lupin…"

"Does he even like parties?"

"And since they're all coming…Peter Pettigrew."

"No way," I said. "I'll put up with the rest if I have to, but he is not coming."

"Fine," said Dorcas, scratching down names. "Us and the three popular Marauders. Who else?"

"Did we already agree that this should be seventh years only?" asked Emmeline.

"Yes," chorused Dorcas and I in a bored tone.

"Okay then…Miki Hanson, our dorm mate should probably come," said Emmeline thoughtfully.

"Who are her friends?" asked Dorcas, scribbling furiously.

"Cheryl Danst," I said.

"No," said Emmeline. "She is such a cry-baby."

"Penny Farnew," I said.

"She's nice," said Dorcas. "I'll write her down."

"Taylor Pierce."

"No," said Emmeline and Dorcas together.

"And that other girl…what's her name? Oh yeah, Nicola Holton," I said, remembering.

"She is so invited," said Dorcas, immediately writing down her name. "She is nice…remember that picnic and now we all call her Picnic?"

"Yeah…" we all said, reminiscing.

"Back on topic," I said, snapping out of it. "Who else?"

"There are like a hundred seventh years," said Emmeline, unhelpfully. "So far we have…how many Dorcas?"

"Um, what comes after five?" asked Dorcas, confused.

"Nine," I said, adding them up myself.

"Nine," repeated Emmeline. "That leaves us with ninety-one to still sort out."

"Um, hello?" said Dorcas. "Take away like twenty-five 'cause we are so not inviting Slytherins."

"Right," I said, doing the maths in my head. "So that leaves us with sixty-six to choose from."

"Sixty-six?" repeated Dorcas. "God…"

"Don't worry," said Emmeline. "It won't be too hard to pick the party people."

.x.x.x.

"My feet hurt," complained Dorcas as we walked along the corridor that leads to the courtyard. "And we've only written down two more names; Holly Ponoll and Jeffrey de Pashka."

"Well, all the popular people hang around out here," said Emmeline as we sat down on an empty seat in the corner of the courtyard. "We'll get way more names now."

"Ooh!" I said pointing discreetly at a group of boys sitting off to the side. "Gryffindors; Nathan Parker, Ricky George, and Daywu Han."

"Right," said Dorcas, quickly scribbling down the names on the sheet headed 'Gryffindors'. "Nathan, Ricky and Daywu, right?"

"I went out with Ricky," said Emmeline wistfully. "He thought it would be funny to point out that women wear necklaces just to show off their cleavage. I told him that mine was a gift from my mother. Then he said that she probably got my dad by wearing the necklace. I think I threw my tea in his face then."

Dorcas snorted. "Oh!" she cried suddenly. "Group of the popular Hufflepuffs!"

I squinted at them. "David Kornea, Ashley Piccot, Coneix Tariff and I think that's Victoria Soberg."

"Coneix," muttered Dorcas, writing quickly. "And Victoria. Right. Anyone else?"

"Nope," answered Emmeline. "Let's go back inside, it's freezing."

"We'll get some more after lunch then we'll get the invitations done tomorrow," I said briskly.

Dorcas and Emmeline nodded in agreement.

"This is gonna be the best bash ever!"

.x.x.x.

Disclaimer: The characters that you may recognize in this story AREN'T MINE. I swear.

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