'I'm not going Marley, I've been telling you all week and nothings changed.'

'And all week, I have not been taking no for an answer and nothing has changed there either Lily.' The two girls were standing in Lily's bedroom staring each other out, both as stubborn as the other. 'Come on, what happened to this year being a fresh start?'

'A fresh start means I'll be civil when I have to Marley, not that I'm suddenly going to become best friends with Potter, honestly I think spending all summer with those two has made you crazy!'

'You don't have to be best friends,' Marlene rolled her eyes, 'come on, he's my cousin, he's throwing a party, everyone's going to be there, you won't even have to talk to him if you really don't want to.'

Lily sighed, a party in Potter's house. She knew her friends had been to party's there a couple of times in the last few years, but she had always found an excuse not to go. It wasn't that she didn't like a party, of course she did, but she preferred when the parties were at Marlene's or Alice's house, where she knew she could escape to another room if Potter started asking her out in increasingly loud and embarrassing ways, which he usually did. But still, it had been a while since she'd been to a party, it had been a long summer away from her friends… 'If I say yes, do you promise not to abandon me as soon as we get there?'

'Yayyy! I knew you'd cave eventually!' Marlene was almost dancing, 'I mean, yeah course, now come on, everyone's getting ready at my house, grab your stuff and get a move on!'

Lily couldn't help but laugh, it would be good to relax, let loose, last year had ended on a bit of a low for Lily and she felt a pang of sadness as she thought about her ex-best friend who's letters she had been ignoring all summer. It had been good to escape to France for a few weeks, even if her sister had invited her pig of a boyfriend along, but it got lonely after a while and she was glad to see her friends again.

Less than an hour later, Lily found herself in the middle of Marlene's bedroom surrounded by several girls, all in the process of getting ready for the party. The three Gryffindor girls were joined by two Ravenclaw's, Dorcas Meadows and Emmeline Vance, who they had met in a muggle pub in London last Christmas. The girls had spent quite a night drinking and dancing and had remained friends after spending quite a few more nights out exploring muggle London together. Lily looked around the room at the girls, all in various stages of getting ready for the party.

Lounging on Marlene's bed was Alice, the only one who was already dressed, drinking from the neck of a half empty bottle of fire whiskey. Alice was a pretty girl, she didn't wear a lot of makeup, she was just naturally pretty, so she was always the first one ready when they were going out.

'Slow down Alice, you're going to be finished that bottle before any of the rest of us are even ready,' laughed Dorcas, looking up from the mirror.

'I'm just getting a little head start,' replied Alice taking another drink, 'And don't worry, we've got plenty more,' She held up another full bottle, almost spilling the open one in her other hand as she did so, 'Whoops.'

The other girls laughed.

'What is Frank going to say when he meets you later and you can hardly stand up?' asked Lily with a grin, watching her friend try to sit up straight on the bed.

'Oh I told him that it's the end of the summer, a summer which I spent getting to know his wonderful mother,' Alice grimaced slightly and took another drink from the bottle, 'So he knows that I intend to get sloshed tonight!' Frank was Alice's boyfriend, the year above them in Gryffindor. They had been together almost two years, since Alice was only fourth year and they were perfect together. Frank was the caring type, always looking after Alice, especially when she'd drank an entire bottle of fire whiskey by herself.

Fighting over the full-length mirror were Dorcas and Emmeline, Emmeline holding up two very similar and equally revealing dresses, one in red, one in black, trying to decide which one to wear and Dorcas trying to decide which shoes matched her outfit just right. Everyone knew Emmeline had a thing for Sirius no matter how much she denied it and wonderful as she was, it was just like her to pick a dress she knew would catch his attention for all the wrong reasons.

Finally, Marlene was trying to force Lily out of the jeans and shirt she insisted on wearing and into one of the many dresses hanging in Marlene's wardrobe.

'So do you think Sirius will be here tonight?' asked Emmeline casually.

'Course he will Em,' replied Dorcas as the rest of the girls rolled their eyes, 'Him and Potter are practically brothers.'

'You shouldn't go there you know,' said Alice knowingly from the bed, 'he's trouble.'

'I don't plan on going anywhere, I was just asking!' Emmeline shook her head defensively, finally deciding on the red dress.

'Just try it Lily,' argued Marlene, holding out a cute black dress. She herself was still wearing jeans but had a sequin skirt and top ready to change into.

'Alice, give me some of that,' Lily made a grab for the fire whiskey, 'I'm going to need something to get me through tonight.' Marlene and Alice both laughed as Lily took a drink from the bottle and snatched the dress.

The party was in full swing by the time the five girls were finally ready. Luckily it was only a short walk from Marlene's house to James.

'Marley!' Sirius was the first to spot the girls when they made it through the door and quickly pulled Marlene into a bear hug which she desperately tried to wriggle out off, smoothing down her hair.

'How much have you had Sirius?' She laughed, knowing that he only called her Marley when he wanted something or when he was really drunk.

'Emmm, enough to know that you look hot!' he grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She gave him a shove and laughed as he bowed grandly in front of the other girls, 'Lilykins, always a pleasure, no Frank tonight Alice? Does that mean I'm in with a chance?'

'You wish Black, he said he might pop in later for a while.'

'My heart breaks, ahh my favourite Ravenclaws!' Emmeline's face flushed as he took her hand and raised it to his lips before ushering them all further into the party.

'So, where's Potter then? Isn't this meant to be his party?' asked Dorcas, looking through the crowd.

'Err, last time I checked, he was otherwise engaged…if you know what I mean,' Sirius said suggestively. Lily rolled her eyes as the others laughed, how long did she have to stay here again? 'But never mind him,' continued Sirius leading them to the kitchen, 'Who's for a drink?'

Two hours later Lily flopped down on a sofa next to Dorcas, drink in hand.

'How are you not exhausted, I think I've seen you dancing with every boy in the room?' asked Dorcas.

'I'm pretty sure I've seen you up there dancing a fair few times too!' replied Lily as Dorcas laughed and finished off her drink. They watched as what seemed like half of Hogwarts lounged, drank and danced in James Potter's house which Lily had not failed to notice was more like a mansion than a house.

'I think Remus is going to ask you to dance,' whispered Lily a moment later.

'What? Remus? No way,' Dorcas laughed uneasily but allowed her eyes to look over to where she had spotted Remus sitting not so long ago.

'He's been staring at you for ages, maybe you should ask him!'

'He has not,' Dorcas protested but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks, 'And who said I wanted to dance anyway?'

'If you say so,' giggled Lily, pulling Dorcas to her feet and out onto the makeshift dancefloor.

'SHOTS!' Marlene was still in the kitchen, she'd never actually made it back out into the living room where the music was playing and everyone was dancing. She had lost count of how many drinks she'd had, willingly provided by the circle of Ravenclaw boys around her and the room was starting to spin. She had just slammed her glass back down on the table when she spotted James.

'Jamesy! Come and have a drink with your favourite cousin!' James staggered through the door with a girl Marlene recognised as the Hufflepuff seeker on his arm.

'Marley! What are we drinking?' He made it to Marlene's side before collapsing into a chair and lifting the bottle, drinking straight from the neck.

'Is this the year you finally get over Lily Evans then?' asked Marlene, nodding at the girl beside James whose eyes had quickly closed when she leant her head down on the table.

'Ahh Lily, such a lovely name, the love of my life, centre of my world, where is she?' James looked around the kitchen suddenly, as if expecting her to jump out of a cupboard.

'I'm pretty sure I saw your Lilykins dancing with Fenwick not too long ago Prongs,' Sirius entered the kitchen and slapped James on the back, 'Seemed pretty cosy so they did.'

'Fenwick? What's she see in him? He's an idiot.' James took another drink from the bottle in front of him.

'Yeah, he's cute though.' Said Marlene, taking the bottle off James and having a drink herself.

'Not helping Marley.'

'Hey, where have you been all night Sirius, I've hardly seen you since we arrived?' Marlene's attempt to change the subject roused James interest.

'Yeah Padfoot, where've you been?'

'I've been around,' he replied mysteriously.

James snorted, 'yeah I'm sure you have,' which gained him a whack over the head from Marlene.

'I'm going to find my girls, I need a dance.'

A/N

I'm not great at writing party scenes sorryyy! But I think the next chapters better...hopefully anyway.