Alrighties kiddies! Get ready for the second instalment! Usual claptrap... I don't own... wish I did... okays, but once again if anyone has issues or would really love to burn my story let us know... the worst that can happen is that I take your advice on board and change slightly... or I'll just abuse you back... either way!

"So there's this ball at Easter and I was wondering..."

"No."

"Harsh but fair Prongs, you tried, you failed, and you go." Sirius said as he clapped James on the back as he attempted to steer him away.

"But I didn't even finish asking..." James trailed off as he was pushed towards the other boys who were involved in very loud game of exploding snap. I smiled and turned towards Lily, "Tad cruel not to hear him out don't you think?"

She looked up from the parchment she was scribbling on, "Jez... I try to be nice, really I do, but going out with him would be like I applaud everything he does... the fights he gets into, the pranks he pulls... I'm a prefect; it's alright for Remus he is able to find the middle ground in the situation being both friend and prefect."

"Okay I get what you are saying, but firstly he only asked you to the Ball and secondly he asked you out before you were a prefect plenty of times... I think it's more that you just don't want to go out with him... you don't need to make up reasons, I get it. To you, being with James Potter just doesn't feel right."

"Hmmm well I'd like to think I have reasons, so just leave me with that yeah?" Lily laughed before turning back to her parchment. She scribbled something more before quickly looked back up at me.

"What?"

"Well I'm just thinking what if no other guy asks me out because they're scared of Potter?" Lily whispered.

I looked over at the boys playing in the corner and then back at Lily, "Well, let's be honest Lily, if a boy is too scared to ask you because of James then he probably was not worth going out with in the first place, right?" she nodded, "And if you're that desperate why don't you ask out a boy...?"

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that!" Lily laughed. "But Jez, you don't seem overly concerned by it?"

"It's a month away" I shrugged "... and I have a date..."

"What!"

The whole common room freezes as Alice Underwood screams out the words "What! Jezebella Phoenix has a date for the Ball?"

Uncomfortably I answered quietly "Yeah well it's not a date is it? It's a partner for the Ball... two different things..."

Lily glared at the boys who had abandoned their snap game to watch the unfolding of girl politics, she grabbed my hands to pull me in closer, meanwhile Alice and Careen had come to sit with us to gossip.

"Who, when?" Lily asked.

"Harold Hudson, and this afternoon in the library." I answered.

"Harold Hudson?" Lily smiled.

"Head boy...nice..." Alice said with Careen nodding approvingly behind her.

"That loser Hudson?" Sirius yelled from the couch "Seriously you could do a lot better than that Jez!"

Slightly annoyed I snapped back at him "Yeah, well at least he doesn't have to show me any body parts to hold my concentration!"

"The girls I go out with are interesting!"

"Really? What's Melissa's favourite hobby?" the girls behind me all nodded in unison... let's see him answer this.

He looked a bit confused for a second before answering "Quiddich? Oh seriously who actually cares? She's fucking HOT!" I'm pretty sure we all gave him the shallow man look because he then said angrily "Oh, well stuff you girls, you're standards for Mister Perfect are too high, you'll all end up spinster aunts to my many bastard children!"

"You could change that Evans... just..." started James

"No! And continue that game somewhere else! Some of us are trying to study... life changing exams at the end of the year Potter... don't know whether your foresight goes beyond next week, but you may consider doing some study!" Lily huffed angrily grabbing a book to find a passage.

"I'll get onto it Evans... it's just right now..."

"He has a life!" Sirius finished. But with that the boys slowly filed out of the room up to their dormitory.

"They're stupid... I just hope that one day they grow a brain and then they'd be smart and cute!" Careen commented and then turned back to me "So did Alice tell you asked her?"

I turned and raised an eyebrow at Alice "Well?"

She blushed a pretty pink before answering "Frank Longbottom..."

I smiled, I had seen it coming for a while now, "What is he like?" I asked softly. Lily continued to pretend to read intently, but she was secretly listening too.

"Well," Alice began "He is really intense about everything... I think his parents put a lot of pressure on him... you know only son and all. But do you know what his goal is? He wants to be an Auror... and not in the usual way that boys do, you know... 'I want to be an Auror so that I can kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' but he said he just wants 'to help in any way that I can...' I mean that's different right?"

Careen and I nodded before I replied softly "I doubt any Auror would be able to kill him... he has harnessed power that is different from anything I have ever felt before..."

Lily gave up her pretence of reading and said "You've meet him haven't you? It's the Malfoy's? They're his followers aren't they? Please Jez... I know that you trust and don't want to see the bad in people... but this is bad!"

"He hasn't been at the Malfoy's for a long time... it was a while ago when he didn't seem that radical..." I saw Lily's scared expression and added "Lily... I do not always understand or have clear boundaries, but if someone was to hurt you or those I care for... I would fight them with every power I had."

"I know... its strange isn't it? You're the pureblood Princess, and I'm the muggle-born in need of protection, but somehow I feel like I need to protect you, like you're an innocent or something!" Lily said with a tight smile.

There was a moment of silence before Alice joked "Innocent? She snagged Hudson! You don't do that by being innocent!"

Just setting a bit of a scene with characteristics of people that I feel are often neglected in stories... obviously I am focusing more on Jez... this is her story after all! If anyone has a character that they want to see featured from the era feel free to comment and I'll see if I can squish them in or thrust them into the limelight!