-With an ominous creeeak, the door to the Fifth Year Girl's Dormitory slowly swung open. Three heads slowly peeked out, one on top of the other, peering cautiously into the room.

"Is she here?" the curly-headed blonde on top of the stack whispered, glancing anxiously at Lily's velvet curtains, swaying in the breeze of the open window. The short brunette at the bottom straightened out and replied, "I don't think so, guys." She ducked under the curtains surrounding Lily's bed, then announced, "Ok, it's clear!"

The other girls immediately clambered through the doorway into the room.

"So… where is it?" The blonde asked, green eyes glinting mischievously.

"Where's what, Alice?" sighed the brunette, falling back on her bed with a whoof.

"The present, of course!" Alice replied indignantly. "Did you see how she looked at James? She has to have gotten him a present!" The willowy beauty leaning against the wall rolled her eyes.

"And how do you know that, oh wise one?" She raised one eyebrow at the currently bouncing blonde. Alice stopped. "Because! That's how it happens. It's the classic love-hate relationship. The lofty, unattainable woman despises the lowly but charming and ridiculously handsome young man, but slowly, through time and perseverance, comes to find that he's not the person she thought he was at all, and bada bing, bada boom, true love!" She fake-swooned onto her bed, pillow clasped to her chest. Her friends exchanged an amused glance.

"Been reading your Jane Austen novels again, Alice dear? Or was it Disney movies this time?" Alice sat up and glared at the brunette.

"Make fun all you want, Andy, but true love is real. And it's happening-" she widened her eyes for dramatic effect- "right before our very eyes!" The other two glanced at each other and nodded.

"Jane Austen it is," Zahira stated.

"Well, fine," Alice huffed, "but I know for a fact that Lily got James a present!" The girls looked at her incredulously. She turned away and started rustling through Lily's wardrobe.

"It's got- to be- here- somewhere," she muttered. A shoe, perched precariously on top of a stack of boxes on the top shelf, wobbled, then fell and hit the unsuspecting rummager in the head. "OW!" "Karma's a bitch, ain't it," Zahira laughed.

"It's not in there," Alice panted.

"You barely searched!" Andy pointed out.

"I did too! If it was for James, it wouldn't likely be small, would it?" Alice retorted.

"Uh, you guys…" Zahira pointed at the trash can, the edge of which was decorated with the loop of a shimmery red-and-gold bow.

"See? I told you!" Alice squealed, as she danced over to the trash can and rescued the neatly wrapped box.

"So… congratulations," Zahira drawled. "You found it. Now what are you going to do with it?"

"I'm going to give it to James, of course," Alice replied absent-mindedly, as she checked the gift for any signs of damage due to its stay in the garbage. Whump! Alice glanced up at her two captors, currently pinning her against the bed.

"Uh… guys…?" she arched an elegant brow.

"No." Andy ordered, voice brooking no room for debate. "You are not getting involved in this. This is between Lily and James."

"This isn't one of your romance novels, Alice. This is our friend, ok? No getting involved." Zahira cut it. "EVER." They finished, glaring ferociously. Alice looked up at them, wide-eyed, present still in hand. Then, "How do you guys do that? It's like you read each other's minds or something,". Andy threw her hands in the air; Zahira gazed, boggled, at the blonde.

"Really?" Andy exploded. "That's all you got out of that?"

"Yup," Alice smiled. Andy sighed.

"Scarecrow, meet brain," Zahira muttered under her breath.

"Huh?" Andy looked at her incredulously. "Don't tell me you're going crazy, too!"

"No, you dimwit, it's a Muggle reference," replied Zahira.

"Oh. Well you didn't have to be so mean about it…"

Alice smiled as two of her best friends continued to argue, slipped out from their grasp, and snuck to the door. Present tucked safely behind her, she chanced a glance back at the two, still absorbed in their conversation. "This is for all of y'all," she whispered, then tiptoed down the stairs.

o.O.o

Later that day, James threw his bag carelessly onto his bed and fwoomphed down next to it. Something small and edged dug into his back, and he jumped up with a wince of annoyance. He looked down and found, lying innocuously on his bed, a neatly-wrapped parcel. He flipped it over and found the tag, reading in small, elegant cursive, "From: Evans. To: Potter." He grinned ear to ear, tearing through the wrapping. He pried open the box, working cautiously- what if Evans had figured out a way to fit hexes in cardboard without the box combusting? He peeked one eye into the box. His eyes widened, his mouth gaped open, and he sank down to his bed, stunned.

o.O.o

A/N- The story kinda got out of hand, and I wouldn't have been able to complete it, with everything I wanted to include, in a three-shot, so I moved it out of the "one-shot" category and into a whole new story! How exciting! Sorry for any confusion this might have caused, though. Right now, since I was intending for it to be one-shots in the beginning, it seems rather like a collection of one-shots instead of a decent story. However, in later chapters, it's going to be more cohesive and story-like. Which is nice, for a story. So I'll probably be re-writing these first two chapters sometime in the future. So, what did you think of Lily's friends? I really tried, but I couldn't bring myself to call a character by the name of Hestia. I'm sorry. Any name that sounds like some sort of vaginal disease will not be associated with my writing. Are Zahira and Andy too alike? Should I exaggerate differences between them, to make them seem less like one person? (I'm slightly worried about them.) How goes the reading? Is it easy, does it flow, is it what you're looking for? I'm new at this, people. Your wish is my command. As usual, reviews are amazing, and, also as usual, anything in Potter-verse belongs to JKR!