Millie Johnston and Becky Fumagall grinned at each other from different sides of the dormitory they were in, currently occupied by only the two of them. They were both getting ready for the January Hogsmeade trip and had delayed their dates so they'd have enough time to get ready. And so they could sleep in.

Millie sat down at her dressing table again, to check her hair. It was long and blonde with very short layers at the top, gradually getting longer until it was very long at the end. She instinctively used one hand to poof it up and Becky giggled from the side of the room. Millie laughed and turned back to the mirror, pulling freaky faces, at which Becky copied in her own mirror.

Millie leaned in close to check she was looking okay. She might sound vain, but she was a little conscious about her first date. Behind her glasses, her blue eyes sparkled and she smiled at herself, thinking about what could happen later in the day.

Becky stood up and gently tugged a little strand of her short startling red hair, pulling a face. Her blue eyes caught the light, and for a moment, they flickered green. Sirius and Remus had always had debates on whether they were green or blue, but they had settled on them being ever-changing. Becky had tried to hide her eyes with her fringe at that point, but secretly liked the fact she had 'original eyes' according to the boys.

"Ready?" Millie asked from her dressing table, standing up. Becky blew a raspberry in the mirror and straightened up as well.

"Yeah," She answered and moved to the door, Millie following. Becky paused and moaned, "Stop growing!"

"Shut up," Millie laughed, and they both went down the stairs, chatting about the day ahead, into the common room where they met two certain boys.

Both girls made it down to the common room without anyone being pushed or pulled down the stairs. When they finally made it down they were both greeted with hugs, and the two smiling faces of some very good-looking boys.

Sirius pulled Becky towards him, causing her to laugh. "Do you want to go then?" He asked. Both Millie and Becky nodded. Just as they were leaving the common room Millie saw a flicker of red out of the corner of her eye, it wasn't Becky's hair.

"Oh-" she paused, "just a sec okay?" Millie said parting ways with Remus and grabbing Becky too. There you could see Lily Evans peering over a book, as always.

Millie and Becky leaned over the top half of the couch, smiling. "You okay Lils?" Millie asked.

Lily looked up and smiled half-heartedly, "I'm fine," she looked over to see Remus and Sirius standing awkwardly near the door. She waved to them and they waved back.

"You better get going"

Becky grinned, "no need to rush, they can wait"

"Hey!" Sirius yelled from the door.

"Stop eavesdropping!" she yelled back, not even bothering to turn around.

Millie rolled her eyes, from a far distance you could also see Remus rolling his eyes. "You could come with if you wanted Lily" She offered.

Lily shifted her weight slightly, "nah, it's fine! Go have fun okay?"

"I feel guilty leaving you alone, though!" Millie said.

"Well, it would be kind of..." Lily tried to find the right word.

"Awkward?" Becky replied and Lily nodded.

"Yeah, seeing as you're on a 'double date'!" She grinned, but felt a little sad. Why wasn't she going out and having a laugh too, maybe with a boy, instead of tutoring bloody Peter Pettigrew? He couldn't even light the flames under a cauldron without causing a catastrophe in Potions, so there was no point her even trying to teach him the Shrinking Solution.

"Well, you could always go with James, hey?" Millie grinned and Lily slapped her arm lightly.

"Girls!" Remus said from the door, "I don't want to rush you, but the carriages will be leaving soon!"


Both couples were sat in the three broom-sticks laughing together. "Aw, y'know, if Lily were here, she'd be telling you off for that," Millie laughed in Sirius's direction.

"Ha! Yeah, probably!" He replied and took a swig of his butterbeer.

"Where is Lily? Is she coming in?" Remus smiled and sipped his drink.

"No, I don't thin-"

"She's tutoring your friend, Remus," Becky cut over Millie.

"Oh yeah!"

Millie paused, "Poor Lily..."

"What? Why?" Asked Sirius.

"I just think she won't let herself have fun. Well it seems like it, anyway."

"Come to think of it, where's James?" Becky asked.

"He stayed back," Sirius said, "Didn't want to hang around romantics, he said!"

Remus snorted on his drink at the thought of Sirius being 'romantic'. Becky and Millie looked at each other.

"If Lily can't come out because she has no boyfriend-" Millie started.

Becky said,"-And James can't go out because he has no girl friend-"

"-Then-"

"Why can't they go together?" Millie and Becky said in unison. Remus and Sirius looked at each other.

"That was a little freaky..."

Millie and Becky were grinning ear-to-ear, "we should do it!" Becky voiced.

"Yeah, but-" Remus started.

"Yeah! We should!" Millie cut off.

"But I-" Sirius tried.

"RIGHT. Time to plan!" Becky said rubbing her palms together.

"What if they don't want to be together?" Remus asked.

"Well they have to be. They obviously love each other" Millie said smugly.

"Have you heard the yelling in the corridors they produce?" Sirius asked unbelievingly.

Both Millie and Becky looked towards each other, "they only do that because they have no other way to express themselves," Becky ranted.

"I don't think Prongs has any issues with 'expressing' himself"

"Anyway," Millie asked and turned to Remus, "Don't you think it's a good idea?"

Before he could hesitate, Remus automatically replied, "Yes," and smiled at his girlfriend. She smiled back and took a sip of her butterbeer.


It was Monday morning, the worst mornings of all mornings according to Millicent Rose Johnston that is.

Millie had decided to stay up all night reading. Normally she would have been sleeping, but she just couldn't put this book down! So she ended up staying up till four continuing to read it, only now she way paying for it.

Lily and Becky were eating there breakfast while Millie laid spread out onto the table groaning about 'reading being painful.'

"Millie just sit up?" Lily asked politely.

"I will never go into a Library! The books may try and eat me alive!" Millie said sitting up rubbing her eyes.

Lily and Becky swapped concerned/inquisitive looks and look back to Millie, now pouring pumpkin juice in her cereal and drinking porridge. This was actually her normal breakfast, but it was still weird.

"Hey," A familiar voice said opposite Becky. She turned to see Sirius sit down across the table, with James and Remus trailing behind, concentrating on reading and walking at the same time. Becky smiled at Sirius and James let out a rather loud yawn. Lily, sitting in front of him, raised her eyebrows.

"What?" James asked blearily.

"Not a good night?" Becky asked, seeing as Lily wasn't going to even try and act normally. She was too busy 'hating' him.

"No... Peter was ill in the night and had to be escorted to Pomfrey by ME." He moaned and suppressed another yawn.

"Almost sounds as bad as Millie's night," Becky laughed and Millie's head nodded, her eyes closing.

"Shh!" Sirius grinned and everyone was quiet for a second. Suddenly, in a shrill voice, Sirius squawked, "MISS JOHNSTON?"

Millie's head snapped up, "Wha? What, Professor?"

Everyone burst out laughing and Millie, realising, pouted.

"That's not funny," She grumbled and reached into her bag as Remus drew up to the table. Pulling out a scrupled piece of paper, she examined it and groaned again, "We have Transfiguration first!"

"Millie, read this!" Remus said shoving the book to her face. Millie intern quickly stood up and said, "no more books, ever!" She grabbed his book and walked off to her next lesson.



The class filed into the Transfiguration room and McGonagall ordered them to sit with a space next to everyone. The class looked mystified as they did as told.

"Okay class, today we will be working in pairs to produce our final project. You'll be working in these pairs for about two weeks, by the end of it you'll have to present what you've learnt together." There was a number of groans form the class.

Mary, a Ravenclaw put up her hand to ask a question, "will we get to pick our pairs?"

"No." More groans came from the fifth years.

"Stop it!" She warned, "Okay the pairs are.."

She called out names and everyone did go with people in their same house, but not the same gender. This made them more annoyed but some girls liked to have the chance to flirt. Or course, every Gryffindor girls eyes were on James and Sirius and Becky watched evilly as they pouted at her boyfriend.

None of them had realised McGonnagal had moved onto Gryffindor until -

"Black, Sirius!"

He jumped, "Yeah?"

"Were you not listening? Come stand at the front!" She beckoned.

Sirius grinned and swaggered to the front of the room, winking at Becky on the way, who smiled.

"Paired with..." The professor looked down her list and called out, "Fumagall, Rebekah!"

"Wooh!" She shouted, and couched slightly when some people looked. Sirius's grin widened and he went and sat next to her.

"Johnston, Millicent?"

"Yup," Millie mumbled, standing up as a few people giggled at her name. She stood at the front and was ecstatic when she heard McGonagall say-

"Paired with Lupin, Remus!" She nearly ran up to him and fell in the seat.

"Evans, Lily!" Lily stood up.

"Potter, James"

For a moment all eyes were on both James and Lily. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Even so Lily swiftly moved and sat in the seat next to James, grinding her teeth.

"Hey Evans," James grinned and Lily had to stop herself saying something quite unladylike in response.

"Aw, c'mon Lily," James tried to persuade her. He moved closer and she instantly moved away, McGonagall oblivious to what was happening there, "If we have to work, let's at least do it properly!"

"See that?" Millie grinned to Remus, watching James and Lily from across the classroom, "They're never going to work properly!"

"I thought you were the one that wanted to get them together?" He replied.

"We will; I just hope this project doesn't get in the way of the schedule."

"You have a schedule?" Remus asked in surprise, "Then when are you planning on them finally getting together? Christmas?"

Millie laughed, "Don't be so silly!"

"When?" He smiled.

"Valentines day, of course."

"It's not going to work," Sirius said to Becky, they too were watching James and Lily.

"It will"

"It wont" Sirius snapped back.

"It will!" Becky said getting annoyed now.

"Look, listen to me? It-Will-Not-Work"

Becky snorted. "Well it's not going to if you have that attitude!"

"Exactly Miss Fumagall!" McGonagall yelled to the class.

"Eh.." Becky said scratching her neck trying to hide her embarrassment.

"If you all want this project to work you're going to have to show the right attitude" She said eyeing some of the pairs.

"The project that you're going to be studying is very complex and advanced, but I'm sure you will remember the demonstration I provided for you in your second year," McGonagall said, with a hint of a smile, "You will be studying Transformation and Anamagi!"

With a flourish, she turned into a tabby cat with spectacle markings around her eyes, to the applause of the class. She turned back again, and beamed.

"I want research; using the Library, or books you already have; a way to present your findings to the class and some demonstrations! You may have the remanding 45 minutes to plan your ideas with your partners. Remember - I want every group working to the best of their abilities! Go!"

You would of expected with that last word everyone would of got up and ran to the nearest library, instead everyone seem to move even more slowly. Either they weren't looking forward to this project, they didn't like who they were paired with, or they just couldn't be bothered.

Millie grabbed Remus' hand and walked over to James and Lily, smiling happily. "You two okay?" Remus asked trying to hide laughter.

"Just fine" they both said in a bored tone.

There was a awkward silence when finally Millie piped up with 'we better go.' All four were leaving the class-room when Millie suddenly stopped. She turned round and looked into the empty class room, "where's Sirius and Becky?"

"Probably took a short-cut while we weren't looking." Remus said casually. Millie looked to James and Lily who looked like they would rather be anywhere but here.

"You guys carry on, I forgot my bag" Lily speed of down the corridor leaving a trailing James, Remus was about to walk off to when Millie grabbed his hand. "Not you!" She laughed.
"I really can not be bothered," Becky said, and held Sirius's hand in hers as they walked down the corridor, "Do you want to just do something else?"

"Oh, but I like Transfiguration!"

Becky stopped, "What?"

Sirius rose an eyebrow, "You know that the Marauders are-" Suddenly he remembered that no, Becky didn't know that the Marauders were in fact Animagi.

"Are what?" She smiled.

"Are... are..." He quickly thought of an alibi, "Good hard workers... right?"

"Ha! Good one," Becky laughed. Sirius grinned and laughed a little nervously.

"You just want to go to the Common Room, then?" He asked.

"Yes!" Becky grinned and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, Mr Pads, we will work next lesson!"


(lunch)

All three girls were sitting where they usually sat, but without the boys.

"It's horrible," Lily whined.

"I know!" Becky said.

"What?" Millie asked confused to why Becky was agreeing.

"Man-united lost the cup! This is just sad." Becky said leaning on the palm of her hand.

"No, not that! Working with James"

"I'm sure it wont be that bad" Millie said half-heartedly.

"Millie, it's with James!"

"I don't think I'll ever eat again" Becky said dramatically pushing her food away.

"Becky this is serious" Lily said.

"No it's not. Sirius is not here, he has detention" Becky glared.

"Ha, ha" Lily sarcastically remarked.

"So is Remus…James must be there too" Millie said.

"-Lily!" Jenifer a ravenclaw yelled.

Lily turned round and put on a fake smile and asked politely, "yes?"

"Come here a sec" she beckoned.

"See you later guys" Lily muttered grumpily.

"Hey," Jennifer said when Lily came up to her, "I saw you were put in pairs with James in Transfiguration today-"

Lily's lips thinned but she nodded.

"- I was wondering; if you can't handle a big boy like that, we could always swap," She said with a smirk on her face, while her two friends laughed behind Lily.

Lily narrowed her eyes, and turned to walk past Jennifers friends Kerry and Cactus-head Annie who both elbowed the books out of her hands. They all walked away, laughing and Lily bent down to pick up her books. She shook her hair forward to hide the tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey-" A voice said, and at once Lily saw two hands helping to gather her books up. She discreetly wiped her eyes and looked up to see James Potter holding her books.

"Um... Thanks," Lily said, sniffing.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Why do you care? Aren't you meant to be in a detention?" She snapped. She didn't mean to. James's face fell.

"I'm only trying to help..." He said. Lily took her books backhand glanced over his shoulder; Millie and Becky were jumping out of their seats and rushing over to them, expecting a fight about to start.

James sensed this too, "See you," He said quickly and went away.

"What happened?" Millie said as soon as she drew up, "Sorry, we were arguing about football teams!"

"Nothing," Lily replied. She didn't want her friends to start a fight with Jennifer, so said, "I dropped my books and he helped, is all."

Becky narrowed her eyes as James left the hall, "What were you carrying?"

"Um..." Lily said and checked her hands, "Advancedc Potions Making, Most Potente Potions, Hogwarts: A History and..." Suddenly the colour from Lily's face drained, and she whispered, "No. He's got my diary!"