A/N: As always I don't own Harry Potter or anything remotely to do with him.

Chapter 3

Lily awoke with a start one Saturday morning mid December, as a pillow smacked her in the face.

'Oof… what was that for?'

'It's the first Hogsmead trip all year and the last before Christmas and you ask me why I wouldn't let you sleep in, hmmm I wonder?' she replied sarcastically

'Wow Dor you sound just like Bella' remarked Alice from the bathroom.

'HOGSMEAD…what, today?' asked Lily getting up with a start and flying into the shower. 'Why didn't I know?' she called.

'Well if you bothered to check the bulletin board every once in a while, you'd know, now wouldn't you?' replied Bella from in front of the mirror.

' I stopped doing that because Potter's asking me out would become more and more frequent the closer we got to the trips, so I just stopped checking the board because he would just tell me when but …… hold on do you realize Potter hasn't asked me out all year?!?!?!'

'Oh yeah, I thought something was different' replied Alice

'Well yeah, there's been a shit load less of Lily screaming at him in the hallways and in the common room' said Dorcas

'Do you think he's over me' asked Lily

'Dunno, but he seems more mature this year… they all do' remarked Bella

'But their just as funny as ever though hey?' asked Alice

'If you can call being ridiculous and slutty all the time, then yeah Blacks hilarious.' Replied Dorcas as the other girls rolled their eyes.

'Hurry UP Lil!' yelled Alice.

'Relax, relax I'm ready' replied Lily who had on her casual robes, just like the others and her hair in messy bun.

The girls spent the entire day doing Christmas shopping; towards the end they split for an hour so as to get each other's gifts. They promised they would meet for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks when they were finished.

Lily had finished her shopping rather quickly for she had decided to get each girl matching muggle charm bracelets, so all she had to do was finish shopping for her family. She made her way over to the Three Broomsticks.

She was surprised to see that Dorcas had beat her there and was sitting with the Marauders laughing, it appeared to Lily at something that Remus had said. Lily walked up and took a seat in between Sirius and Peter. She ordered a butterbeer when Madam Rosmeretta appeared and quickly joined into the conversation about their recent potions class where Sirius had made another remark about Lucius' attraction to him which had cause Lucius, out of anger to lose sight of what he was doing and his potion exploded all over him. All in all a fairly productive class for the Griffindors, even Lily had to laugh when she saw Malfoy's face.

The group continued to laugh and talk and were soon joined by Alice and Bella.

'Oooo, Lily, I was going to buy some new dress robes for that muggle party your taking us to but I didn't know what would be appropriate so I decided against it.' said Alice after taking a seat next to Remus.

'That's good 'cause you have to wear muggle clothes and nothing fancy for it's not that type of party' replied Lily taking a sip of her butterbeer.

'But Lily we don't own proper muggle clothes that we don't look completely daft in' stated Dorcas from beside Sirius.

'Oh don't worry, we'll make a day of it and I'll take you shopping in muggle London.' Replied Lily with an excited smile matching that of her three friends.

'A muggle party…' stated James raising an eyebrow at Sirius.

'Did you say a muggle party?' Sirius asked Lily in a questioning voice that wasn't quite as convincing as he may have thought.

'Uh…yeah one of my friends parents are leaving for a trip just after Christmas so she's throwing a party.' Replied Lily looking at him quizzically. She noticed the significant look shared between James and him and decided to continue. 'But you can't come'

'Aww… come on Lillian, we want to come!' pouted Sirius

'Please Evans, pretty please! We'll be good we promise' begged James taking her shoulders in his large hands and turning her to look in her eyes.

'Uhmmmm… no!'

'Please' the two continued.

'Well…we could…. maybe…. no!' Replied Lily standing up to leave with the other girls and laughing at her own joke.

The rest of the evening passed rather uneventfully, for Lily who opted to stay out of a Marauder free zone, was able to relax in her dormitory without the constant attention she was receiving from one half of the foursome.

The next morning at breakfast Lily and Bella went down early since the other girls were still sleeping. Lily, relaxed and well rested, had just bit into her toast when a voice behind her spoke up.

'So Evans what day did you say that muggle party was that you invited us to?' asked Sirius as he plopped down on the bench beside the red head.

'I didn't' Lily replied curtly taking another bite of her toast.

'Aww… come on Evans why do you always got to be like that huh?' asked James ' Just say yes, and I'll make sure you'll have the time of your life'

'Wow why did this sound so familiar?' asked Bella sarcastically

'You know, your right Fint that's was this years been missing… a good old Lily Flower// Prongsy argument.' Commented Sirius contently.

Both Lily and James ignored their friend's comments and continued.

'Potter, I've never caved before so what makes you think that I'll all-of-a-sudden want you around?' Lily asked, her lip curling in triumph.

'Because. It's the right thing to do' Piped in Sirius.

'How about this Evans, we make a bet, a relatively fast one as break is coming, something easy that we can't control.' Said James quite diplomatically (if I do say so myself).

'…. okay. What did you have in mind' Lily asked skeptically.

'How about…. we each pick a house and the first person that has ten people from that house to walk in for breakfast wins.' James finished.

'Okay… so if you win you get to come to the party but what happens if I win?'

'If you win, then we (he gestured to himself and Sirius) will stop harassing you and will never even mention the party again…' Here James could tell that Lily wasn't really feeling that. '…and we'll do something horribly embarrassing, your choice, in front of people for your own vindictive pleasure?' he finished like a question hoping for Lily's approval.

There was a terse pause when Lily could feel six eyes on her as she leaned her head forward to think.

'Deal!' she replied, James and Sirius' faces both immediately lit up. 'But I get Ravenclaw' she finished.

James nodded and began whispering to Sirius who shook his head and whispered back.

'Sorry Padfoot, I'm going to have to go with my instincts here, and I can't believe I'm saying this but I pick those Slytherin toerags.' Said James his face twisting into an unfortunate grimace.

'All right the bet begins on the count of three' Bella began 'one… two…THREE!'

All in all it a quite uneventful start to such a heavy bet. For about ten minutes the foursome watched the door as a Griffindor came in followed by a couple of Hufflepuff first years but no one of great importance.

'Told you, you should have picked The Puffs, Prongs. Always listen to me, I'm like the voice of reason.' He finished; Lily was about to scoff when Lisa Barts a sixth year Ravenclaw prefect trudged slowly up to her table.

'Haha' Lily said to James rather childishly but just as she finished Evan Rosier came strutting through the door.

'And now the game is tied one to one' said Sirius taking on a rather good announcer voice and using the container of pumpkin juice as his microphone.

The bet continued for the most part as it had begun. Each side only ever up by one, until finally it was tied at nine each.

'Who would have thought that a bet with such importance as this would be tied right until the end. I don't need to point this out but the next one wins' said Sirius building more tension into what had to be an eventful ending.

A few minutes passed but the doors didn't open once. However after a few more minutes the doors slowly opened on to reveal non other than Severus Snape

'Yes that's game!' said Sirius. Jumping off the bench to pat his friend on the back.

James smiled in return, but stopped however when an odd thought popped into his head.

'You know' he said aloud 'I don't think I've ever been happy to see Snivellus before' he finished pensively.

'Your right Prongs mate, I would honestly put my life on the fact that that won't even happen again.'

Both boys chuckled a little, and then as if in unison looked over towards Lily expectantly.

'Fine, fine. A deal's a deal. But you have to swear to behave' she said with a slight smile and she was enveloped into a very awkward group hug with the two boys.

'Can't wait to tell Moony, and Wormtail.' Said Sirius as the four resumed eating their breakfast.

I'm going to regret that. Lily thought as the discussion turned into everyone's Christmas plans.

Days passed quickly from that moment on, you know when your dreading something time speeds up? It felt as though a minute passed and then Lily was saying goodbye to her friends at the train station and telling the Marauders to come to her house at around 9:00 on the 27th.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter lol. I know the bet was kind of random but that's how people solve stuff around here so I though it might work in this story as well lol. So next chapter is the party! Oh and that's for the reviews, positive feedback is always accepted! So please review!!! Should I continue?