Author's Note: I don't own Harry Potter or anything you recognize. That honor goes to J.K Rowling. :)

Chapter 6

It wasn't until dark when Frank, James, Alice, and Lily came into the common room. When they walked in, they all saw Layna snogging the boy she had been flirting with earlier.

"Wow," said Frank, "She gets around fast."

"Can you believe a couple hours ago she was balling her eyes out over the break- up?" said Remus.

"So, where were you guys?" asked Elizabeth.

"We were all in the library," said Alice, smiling and blushing slightly.

Remus looked at Frank with raised eyebrows, but Frank shook his head as if to say, "Not here, later."

"Where's Alana and Sirius?" asked Elizabeth, looking for two extra heads.

"They're not here with you?" said Lily.

"No," Remus and Elizabeth said together.

Just then, the portrait hole opened and in came a disheveled Sirius and Alana, laughing, holding hands, and soaking wet.

"It's raining!" cried Alana, laughing.

"What the bloody hell happened to you two?" said James.

"Come on you guys, I'll tell you all upstairs," said Alana, practically beaming. She waved to Sirius, winking as she went up the stairs, followed by the rest of the girls. The boys turned to Sirius expectedly.

"Well, after the shouting match between Liz and Remus' girlfriend-" started Sirius.

"Ex-girlfriend, we broke up," said Remus, pointing to Layna, who was on the couch with the boy.

"Oh, well good for you Remy Poo," said Sirius, "Anyway, we talked to Layna about her views." At this he cracked his knuckles menacingly. "We pretty much told her to take back what she'd said or we'd introduce her to the Whomping Willow. When you didn't come back, we decided to go work in the library, where Frank had fun, apparently." Frank blushed the color of the red carpet. "Well, Alana and I finished early, so we went for a walk. Then it started pouring so we ran for cover under a tree and, well, she was laughing and looked wonderful, so I leaned over and kissed her," said Sirius, smiling.

"And?" asked James.

"And what?" asked Sirius, confused.

"How was it?" said Remus.

"Oh, wonderful, definitely worth waiting for," said Sirius with a dreamy-sort-of smile.

…...

"He kissed you!" yelled Elizabeth.

"Yep," said Alana, grinning as she used a towel to dry her hair.

"Oh…my…Merlin!" exclaimed Alice.

"I can't believe Alana Tortelli, who in September hated him, kissed Sirius Black!" said Lily, laughing.

"I know, he's definitely changed."

"I told you so!" cried Alice.

"By the way Alice," said Elizabeth, "What happened in the library that made you blush?"

"N-Nothing." said Alice, who had all of a sudden gotten quiet.

"It was not "Nothing"!" said Lily, smiling a smile worthy of the Marauders. "Frank tried to kiss her behind the bookshelves."

"He did not!" cried Alice, who was redder than ever.

"Aly," said Alana, "He had you up against a wall, his face inches from yours, holding your waist. If he wasn't trying to kiss you, then he's a dead man."

"No, I mean, it's not how it looked. I was reaching for a book in the Herbology section of the library when one book started growing vines and was about to attack me. Frank pushed me away and I ran into a wall, he tried to grab me from running into it, but couldn't and the force of the push made him fall into me," said Alice.

"All right, you got out of this one, but I still say he tried to kiss you because you know he likes you," said Lily in a sing-song voice.

"So, Liz," said Alana, trying to change the subject, "What happened after you stormed off."

Elizabeth told the girls everything that happened, except the part about the two- way parchment. As Alana listened to her sister's story, she knew her sister was back to normal.

…...

As December came, so did the snow. The first weekend snowed so the girls challenged the boys, minus Peter who received a weeks worth of detention from McGonagall for all his missed homework assignments, to a snowball fight. The fight stopped when Alana's snowball hit Severus Snape in the nose and he went to the nurse, cursing loudly.

The next Hogsmede weekend was coming up, as was the dance. The students were going to get their dress robes in Hogsmede at a new store called Elaine's Elegant Dress Robes.

"It has all the latest fashions," Alice told her friends.

On the day of the Hogsmede weekend, the girls went to the robe shop with their purses heavy with gold.

"May I help you ladies?" asked a sales associate.

"Yes," said Alana, "We're from Hogwarts and need dress robes for a masquerade ball."

"Ah, yes. Come with me, we have some lovely selections in the back of the store with some matching masks we just got in a few days ago. And, since you're Hogwarts students, you get a discount."

They spent the next two hours tying on robes, picking out accessories and their masks. Alana got red robes with a red mask and heels, Lily got green robes with a black mask and silver heels, Alice got purple robes with a gold mask and ballet flats, and Elizabeth got light blue robes with a white mask and silver wedges. They left their bags with the ladies who would bring them up to the castle instead of the girls lugging them around all day.

"I think we did all right," said Lily as the left the shops with much lighter purses that before. The girls looked at each other for a moment and laughed hysterically all the way down the main road.

Author's Note: I know it's a short chapter so that's why I'm posting another after this. It's longer, I promise! :)