A/N: I know I didn't update last week, but at least I am today! I hope everyone had a nice Holiday season. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Christmas came and went, and I still don't own Harry Potter… there's always my birthday…


Chapter Seven

"Lily!" Madison exclaimed, seeing Lily walk into the Gryffindor common room. "We thought you'd forgotten us!"

Lily laughed. "How could I forget you guys? Plus, it's the Saturday before Halloween, and you know what that means!"

"Less than a week till the ball, and incidentally, your date with James?" Darcie asked, innocence written on her face, quite literally.

"Erm, Darce, why is the word 'INNOCENCE' written on your forehead? Well, yeah that. But I was talking about our annual sleepover!" Lily said smiling. "I brought food," she said, pulling in a wagon filled with junk food. There was ice cream, chips, soda, chocolate, candy, pretzels, anything you could imagine.

"Lily, are we going as pigs for Halloween?" Alexa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"And what was up with that response, Miss Evans? We have to go up to the dorms right now and discuss this!" Darcie said.

"My response to what?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"I was trying to make you mad, reminding you of your date with James and it totally backfired," Darcie said, pulling her friends up the stairs.

"You just said totally," Madison pointed out.

"I know; I'm in a weird mood," Darcie said, blowing the hair out of her eyes. "So, what's up?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing really. I just decided to stop judging him and if I look at this ball with horror, then it won't be so much fun. Plus, James promised me a romantic evening so let's see if the famed Potter charm actually exists."

"I think it does," Darcie mussed, opening a bag of chips.

"Do you really, now?" Lily asked idly. When Darcie nodded seriously, Lily continued. "And why's that?"

"Have you seen the number of girls that fawn over him? And the few lucky ones who actually got to go out with him can't stop talking about it. Don't tell me that it's all about his looks. Not all the girls here are so shallow," Darcie explained.

Alexa giggled. "Well Marissa is. But she's after James, too."

"What do you mean by 'too'?" Lily asked, her head snapping to where Alexa was sitting.

"OOHH!" all the girls said together.

"What are you 'OOHH'-ing about?" Lily demanded peevishly.

"You're so worried that Marissa's after James. That means you like him," Madison said joyfully.

"It does not," Lily responded quickly. Too quickly.

"Oh yeah? What does it mean then?" Madison demanded, raising her eyebrows. The other girls imitated her.

"Oh yeah? What does it mean then?" Madison demanded, raising her eyebrows. The other girls imitated her.

"Okay, first of all, please stop doing that; it's really creeping me out. You look like psycho clones. And second of all, it doesn't mean I like him. It means that I don't like her. She's always trying to steal my boyfriends and it really bugs me," Lily said, helping herself to some food.

"So now James is your boyfriend?" Darcie asked, smirking slightly.

"ARG! Stop twisting my words! I never said that!" Lily cried, grabbing her hair.

"But do you want him to be?" Madison asked quietly. Lily turned to face her, calmer now.

"No! Well, I'm not really sure. I mean, I know he's cute and all, but I still keep remembering what a toe-rag he used to be," Lily said scrunching her eyebrows.

"Really?" Darcie asked interestedly. Lily just rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's think of it this way. You are at a party. You don't know anyone. James walks up to you and you two talk. Then he asks you out. What would you say?"

"I… I don't know. I guess I'd give him a chance," Lily said slowly, uncertainly.

"See, that's the way to look at it!" Alexa said encouragingly.

Lily just rolled her eyes. "Okay, enough talk about me and James. Let's get down to some juicy gossip. Madison, who're you going out with this weekend?"

Madison flashed them all a big grin. "Jordan Meyers," she told them.

"OOHH!" all the girls said again.

"Wow, he's the most popular guy. Way to go, Maddie," Darcie said, smiling.

"Just in Ravenclaw," Lily pointed out.

"Okay, so who's the most popular in all of Hogwarts?" Darcie asked.

"Duh, it's a tie between your boyfriend and James Potter," Lily told her, rolling her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, actually, it was.

"Yeah, I guess so. Wow, I guess that makes me popular too?" Darcie asked.

Yet again, Lily rolled her eyes. "You always were popular. Everyone thinks you're a frickin' veela or something."

"But I'm not," Darcie pouted.

"That drives the guys crazy too," Alexa pointed out.

Darcie giggled. "Well, at least I have real friends. Don't you feel bad for those girls that are popular and have like 200 friends, but they're like all fake?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Petunia always wanted to be one of those girls," Lily mussed.

"And what was 'the original conversation'?" Madison asked.

"Your date. When is it?" Lily responded.

"Next Hogsmeade weekend. We're just going to be going to the Three Broomsticks or whatever. Why the sudden interest in my dates, Lily?" Madison said.

"No reason. I'm just interested. Isn't that what a good friend is supposed to do?" Lily asked. "And anyways, I need some help."

"What kind of help?" Madison wanted to know.

"About the Halloween dance. I have no idea what kind of costume I should wear. Any ideas? I figured four heads are better than one," Lily told the group.

"What about Ariel and Eric from The Little Mermaid?" Alexa suggested.

"I thought of that too, but how am I supposed to dance with the fins? And if I don't wear the fins, it's not really a costume, ya know?" Lily responded.

"That's true. Well… how about Cinderella and Prince Charming?" Darcie said.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "That's so cliché. Besides, everyone will be doing that. I want something original."

"I got it! Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean!" Madison declared triumphantly. (A/N: I know that the movie wasn't out then, and I'm not sure about the ride, but bear with me)

Lily looked thoughtful. "You know, that's really not a bad idea. I'll go buy them in Hogsmeade next weekend. That's really good! I'm kinda excited about it!"

"Good! You should be," Darcie replied.

"How come it's always me that has to figure out costumes and themes for us?" Madison asked.

"Because you're the most creative of the group," Darcie said. "Incidentally, what are you going as?"

"Well, me and Sirius decided that we'd match costumes, unless you don't mind that I match with Sirius. He's the only one with black hair," Madison replied.

"No, I don't mind. I wasn't going to do something like that anyway. I'm going as a nurse. So what are you guys going as?" Darcie said.

"Aladdin and Jasmine from, duh Aladdin," Madison replied.

"Great idea. Me and Remus are going as Dumbledore and McGonagall," Alexa replied.

"Ha! That's really funny! Dumbledore's really gonna laugh at that one, but McGonagall's not going to like it. Make sure you pull your hair back really, really tight," Madison said, wiping her eyes.

"Okay, so we've got me, Darcie, Madison, and Alexa. All right, all the costumes are discussed. Anything else?" Lily asked.

"How's the planning going for the dance?" Darcie asked. "We haven't heard a word out of you about it."

"Oh… well, it's going good. It's gonna be really pretty. The whole room is going to be black and orange. Then we're Charming the ceiling so there's going to be this huge full moon out, because it's not a full moon this year," Lily told them excitedly.

Ohh, that sounds pretty cool. Can't wait," Alexa said, smiling. Lily nodded her head quickly, causing all the girls to burst out laughing.

The rest of the evening was spent that way. They all caught up with each other and talked about the ball. They also talked about Hogwarts, boys, school work, boys, gossip, boys, and boys.


Thank you to my newest reviewer:

Ktlyn—Hope you like this just as much!

And on Chapter one:

Sonja—I hope you kept reading. Please review!