Lily Evans was quite sure her friends were mad, to tell you the truth. They had finally lost it and she was around to watch it happen. In order for you to properly get the picture, you must know what happened the first night back to school for she and the rest of the seventh years.
As soon as the feast was over and they were finally back home, back into their four-poster beds and messy as ever room, the madness ensued. Marlene McKinnon pulled a magazine of sorts from out of her bag and shamelessly tossed it onto Alice Prewett's bed. Alice didn't even look up right away, she was sure it was another Witch Weekly, and when she did she stifled her giggle.
"What is this Marlene?" she said, finally allowing herself to laugh.
Marlene looked over at her while unpacking and winked, looking in the direction of their third best friend Lily and grinning. Alice giggled a little bit more before Lily finally looked up and wonder what had her best friends in such a fit of laughter.
"Alright, I'll bite. Why are you two suddenly so giggly tonight? Did Sirius spike your pumpkin juice with Firewhiskey?" she asked, moving her long hair out of her eyes.
The two other girls they shared their dorm with were overcome by curiosity and walked over. Mary and Hestia were great girls but preferred to hang out with each other more often than with the other three. All in all, the five of them seemed to get along swimmingly for the past six years.
"It's a personality quiz-" Alice began.
"Come off it, you can't stop laughing because of one of those quizzes? They aren't even that good." Hestia said, slightly disappointed in the object in question.
Marlene sauntered over and snatched it from Alice. She waved it in front of Hestia, Mary, and Lily so they could get a proper look. Lily didn't see much, except what looked like the corner of Remus Lupin's face. This time, Mary snatched it from Marlene to exam in. Once she looked it closely, she too was overcome with silent laughter.
"Lily, you have got to take it." She insisted, shoving it into Lily's hands. "Take the quiz and tell us your result."
Lily gave her friends a look of confusion before properly looking at the object in hand. Once she saw what it was, her face heated up and she thrust it, finally, to Hestia.
"I will not." She declared, crossing her arms.
"A personality quiz that decides what Marauder you would be best suited for? Who in Merlin's came up with this?" Hestia said once she thumbed through the magazine.
"Well, girls, gather round," Marlene smirked, tossing her long black hair behind her, "Apparently, the seventh year Ravenclaw girls got smashed the night before summer was over and made it. They all took it and recorded their answers in the back. Today on the train all the Hufflepuffs our year took it and did the same. After dinner tonight Bridgett Smith told me about it and said when we were done hand it off to the Slytherins. They want to see which boy is the most fancied."
At that point all the girls were suddenly overcome with desire to take the quiz themselves. Lily was hoping, praying, that she didn't get James so her crush on him wouldn't be as obvious as it already would. She was thinking she would try to answer in order to get Remus.
"Have you taken it, Marlene?" Alice asked her as she read the first question.
"Course I have. I got Sirius, which isn't much of a surprise, seeing as we snog in broom closets so often." She grinned.
Sirius and Marlene were the most beautiful, dramatic, not couple in the entire school. The whole of Hogwarts was obsessed with their notorious fights turned to snogging turned to revenge turned to not speaking to each other. They were more like a gossip rag then real couple, which suited them fine, especially since neither of them wanted to settle down with the other.
"You aren't really going to keep up the antics with him for another year, are you?" Lily groaned, patiently waiting for Alice to finish the quiz.
"Evans, darling, Sirius and I will continue our horrible love affair our entire lives I'm sure. Even when the other is married and we haven't seen each other in years. We are brought together by passion, we-"
"Enough." Mary ended Marlene's speech early, "We don't need the details of you and Sirius' passion thank you very much."
Lily secretly agreed. Alice was waiting for the magazine to magically add together all of her answers when she let out a low moan of disappointment. It wasn't as if the quiz mattered to her since she and Frank had been going steady for two years now. The rest of the girls hurried over to see her result. Marlene snorted.
"Wait until Peter knows you two are practically soul mates, Alice, he might drop dead of shock. You're much too good for him, but alas the quiz doesn't lie!" Marlene continued with the dramatics.
Hestia tugged the magazine out of Alice's arms and went to her bed to begin taking it, after recording Alice's answer.
"He isn't my soul mate! It's just a rubbish quiz." Alice snapped, "Besides, my soul mate is Frank."
"There are no such things as soul mates." Marlene told her, while rubbing her back to cheer her up.
Lily didn't think Marlene knew the proper way to cheer someone up. Alice only gave her an eye roll before continuing to wallow in despair over her results.
"I've got Sirius as well, Marlene." Hestia winked before putting her name in and passing it to Mary.
Lily's stomach was filled with more and more butterflies as she thought of the results she herself might get. Marlene pretended to be offended by Hestia, although they all knew she was too much in the know of all the girls Sirius actually did snog to be properly offended.
"I got Remus," Mary giggled, blushing slightly, "You know I have always thought he was rather cute."
"Better him than Peter." Marlene laughed.
"There's nothing wrong with Peter!" Alice protested, "He's very kind."
"That's right, Alice, you stick up for that boyfriend of yours." Marlene deadpanned.
Mary passed the quiz to Lily. This was what they were all waiting for, really. They had all assumed, without telling her, that she fancied Potter quite a bit. But Lily was Lily and needed to tell them on her own terms. Lily turned away from her friends before beginning the quiz. She decided to be honest, because she was always curious and didn't fancy lying even on stupid quizzes, so she took her time really filling it out. Once she was finished she waited a moment before a name appeared at the bottom of her paper. She could just feel her face heating up.
"I've got Remus too, Mary." She lied to her friends.
They all eyed her for a moment. Out of nowhere, Marlene launched herself onto Lily's bed and grabbed the parchment from her where the name 'James Potter' was still gloating at her. She groaned at what Marlene would make of this.
"Lily Evans you minx, lying to your dear friends. So it's just as we thought, you got Potter. This shocks, well no one, and we couldn't be prouder!" Marlene sang, teasing her best friend.
Before Lily had a chance to defend herself, there was a knock on the door. It was getting rather late, and unless it was a first year girl, the other Gryffindor girls never knocked when visiting friends from older years, then they had no idea who it was. Alice's bed was closest to the door so she climbed out of bed to open it. It was Remus Lupin.
"Remus?" Alice asked, "How did you get up here? Boys aren't allowed."
It was widely known, for one reason or another, boys could not get into the girl's dorm. That was a real treat for the girls and a bit of a hassle for the boys. Not because they wanted to sneak in and knick personal things, as Sirius did, but because sometimes when they snogged a girl it had to be in the boys dorms, which were downright messy.
"Alice," Remus greeted her, "I cannot tell you, although, it has taken us the better part of a year of us really trying to figure it out."
"Us?" Lily called across the room.
"Right, the point of me being up here, is that were rather bored, and Frank misses Alice, and we were wondering if you fancied a late night butterbeer." Remus informed them and shrugged.
Alice grinned happily and began to leave when Marlene chucked the only thing she had in her hand at Alice to stop her from leaving before they could discuss the merits of their evening plans. Unfortunately, the object in question was the quiz. Now, Marlene didn't care who knew her results but she knew present company would care very much.
"Hey," Remus said, seeing the magazine, "Why is there a picture of my face?"
They all froze. Before any of them could react he bent down and picked it up. Alice reached forward to take it back when Remus stepped back onto the staircase, which promptly turned, into a slide, and the magazine, and Remus, was gone. Lily turned around to face Marlene who was planning her own funeral.
"What have you done?" she seethed.
All of their names, along with most seventh year girls in the school, were on that. And more to the point, those boys did not need their heads to be filled with any more self love than there already was. At once, all five girls sprinted down to the common room. They arrived to find the boys all extremely interested in what they were reading. Frank looked a bit put off, to be honest.
"Accio!" Mary shouted once she regained her breath, but it was no matter really, James Potter had a firm hold on it, expecting one of them to try that.
Lily had seen James a few times over the summer with her friends. They had written to each other, both pretending it was purely platonic. She had spent the train ride with him and even sat next to him at dinner. But not that she was really looking at him, in the face of the boy who frequented her daydreams all summer, she was suddenly very nervous. She knew they were right friends now, had a great time together, and had grown very close last year. But none of that was reassuring as he was looking through the quiz and the results.
"What genius had this bloody brilliant idea?" Sirius laughed, feeling very arrogant indeed. "Noticed you got me, Marlene, and you Hestia. And a good portion of our year. I'm very popular, it seems."
Mary and Alice managed to roll their eyes at the same time.
"Don't let it go to your head, Black. These quizzes are rubbish, I was just telling the girls." Alice informed him.
"Is that because you got Peter or because you really mean it?" Sirius quipped, ignoring their fifth roommate's murderous stare. "No offense, Pete, mate."
Alice blushed and Peter looked rightly offended. Lily noticed Remus shyly glancing at Mary, who would in turn look at him once he looked away. Well, at least maybe the quiz had done one good thing.
"I already told you lot, the quiz doesn't lie!" Marlene reminded them.
"This is ridiculous." Lily said in an exasperated manner. "I'm going to bed."
"Wait a minute, who did Lily get?" she heard Peter ask as she turned away.
The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. She felt very subconscious suddenly and hurried away from them, hoping no one saw her blushing face. She didn't feel as if her legs were moving as fast as she hoped they would. She made it all the way to the stairs when someone grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
"Evans, wait up." And she would know that voice anywhere.
Praying, and making all sorts of wild promises to God, she said she would do anything for that damn blush to leave her cheeks. She turned around slowly to face James. He didn't look arrogant or mean, although looking extremely happy, he seemed to try and downplay his feelings, which she appreciated more than he knew.
"Come to ask me about the quiz then?" she said, getting the worst over with. "I know you saw my result."
"Nah," he leaned up against the stonewall, "Just wanted to say sorry for all the commotion caused. We just wanted to hang out with you lot, honest."
Lily felt a rush of warm, strong feelings for the messy hair four-eyed boy eyeing her calmly. She wished her feelings were purely friendly, so she wouldn't have to face his recognition, but she understood she was probably being punished for something she did to Petunia this summer. He smiled at her, a great big smile lighting up his whole brilliant face, when he saw her smaller, more tentative one.
"Oh, well, thanks." Lily said and could have kicked herself. "I mean, er, that's nice of you, Potter. I mean it."
"Honestly, Evans, I have to tell you I would have been disappointed if you had gotten anyone else on that quiz. Not because I'm a great, big jealous bloke but because much as I try, I can't seem to get you out of my head." He admitted, ruffing his hair. "And because Sirius would have taken the mickey out of me if you had gone and gotten him."
Lily laughed at this, which caused James to laugh as well. Suddenly, she was floating on could nine and couldn't even remember why she had been so stressed before. He still liked her!
"Tell this to anyone else and I'll deny it," Lily smiled, "But I'm quite glad myself on the result I got."
James face broke into pure happiness. If Lily could bottle the look she was sure she could end this war and the broken world. James Potter's smile could do things like that. She turned to walk up the stairs, trying to remain cool when she heard him.
"Fancy a date with me, Evans?" he called up hopefully.
"I thought you'd never ask."