A/N: Alright-- So I miscalculated. Instead of this being the last chapter, its the second to last. Either way, I'm almost done!! I know I haven't written many A/N's or thanked those who have reviewed, so I'll do that now!! I really do appreciate every review--- I read them all.

Chapter 10- The Upcoming Ball

"Four fifths," Lily ventured.

"Wrong!"

"Two thirds?"

"WRONG!"

"Three quarters?"

"FAILURE! FAILURE!" James sing-songed.

"Ugh. What is it then?"

"Twenty-two over twenty-three," James said all-knowingly.

"That's not fair! That's such an arbitrary number!" Lily protested.

"Hey missy. When has Potions ever been fair?"

"Twenty-two over twenty three cups of crushed beetles?" Lily asked

"Yes ma'am. I believe you're a winner now!"

"I am going to fail tomorrow," Lily said, exasperated.

"Well, instead of answering the free response questions, you could fill the space with juicy sentences about how much you love Professor Wharton..."

"Very funny."

"And like oh my god!! The way you hold the chalk Professor... It makes my heart flutter!" James squealed.

"You're so amusing," Lily said sarcastically.

"And when you dice those dried squids!!" James panted dramatically. "I can't breathe!!!!"

"Shut up James."

Sirius, obscured in the kitchen doorway, watched the two Gryffindors laugh.

"Love is in the aiirr…" He thought to himself.

Slowly, he approached Lily and James, who were huddled around the fire.

"Hey look it's a dog!" Lily pointed

"Oh yeah…" James' eyes narrowed as he recognized the black dog.

"Hey isn't this uh…" Lily searched for the name, as James alsofrantically tried to remember the name he had delegated to Sirius' pet dog.

"umm… Sirius' dog…" Lily glanced at James, who was staring at the ceiling in a nonchalant way and twiddling his thumbs.

"Sparky?" She said at last and James turned to face her.

"Sure!" He bit his lip. The shout came out so over-enthusiastic; he was surprised that Lily wasn't more suspicious.

"Awww so cute," Lily said, ruffling Sirius' hair.

"Erm. Quite. Hey Lily, do you mind if I go get some food for this dog?" James said, staring meaningfully at "Sparky."

"Okay."

"Come, Sparky," James beckoned as he advanced toward the kitchen.

"Come, Sparky," he said menacingly. "Sparky, if you don't come right now, there will be no bone for you!"

Sirius just sat and cocked his head to the side.

"Hey you know Lily, maybe you could some food for Sparky? I'm not really sure what to get…"

"Uh, sure," Lily looked at him strangely. As she walked off to the kitchen, "Sparky" followed her obediently, despite James' efforts to grab onto the dog.

"What the hell is he playing at?" James wondered.

A few moments later, Lily came back with Sirius the dog saying, "Such a good dog. You're better than most people!"

Sirius looked properly amused.

"I've got to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," Lily said to James, and Sparky tried to follow.

"SPARKY!" James shouted indignantly, and the dog whined.

Lily was startled, but she didn't comment and just shot James a strange look.

"Sirius Black! What do you think you're doing?" James hissed, as soon as the bathroom door clicked shut.

Sparky gave a dog-like sigh and transformed. "I know who you like now…" Sirius laughed and made an impression of James. "I love you so much Professor Wharton! Oops-- I mean Lily."

"I do not talk like that! And… I don't like her!" But from the look on James' face, it was pretty obvious that he did.

"Ahh, you and Lily are horrible liars. It makes my life so easy," Sirius said gloatingly.

"Shouldn't you be asking Amy out right now?"

"Changing the subject so quickly. This must be a big crush!" Sirius danced in a circle, but froze when he heard the toilet flush.

"Go," James said crossly, and Sirius ran to the door, but before he could get out—

"Sirius? What are you doing here?"

Sirius spun around guiltily. The silence was almost painful. Then, without warning—"Purple spots!" He shouted accusingly, pointing at James. Then, without a word more, he turned and ran out of the room.

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"Hi Amy," Sirius gasped as he collapsed through the Fat Lady portrait. He had just run all the way from the Head Room, for fear that Lily might come after him--you never knew with redheads.

"Hi Sirius. Was there practice today?" Amy asked fearfully, noting that Sirius was covered in sweat.

"No," Sirius inhaled. "Just… decided to go for a run."

"Oh okay," she sat back in her chair. "Thank God. Otherwise James would kill me."

"Are you joking? James would have screamed at you, made you play on Saturday, then torture you slowly with a thousand knives dipped in poison so the pain would be intensified."

"And I always wanted to die in my sleep," Amy said glumly.

"Well you've still got a chance," Sirius grinned.

"Hurrah!"

"Soo… Amy… how… is everything?" Sirius stuttered, his heart pacing rapidly.

"I'm fine."

"Going to the ball on Saturday?" Sirius' heart was now beating so hard that he was trembling.

"Well I bought a dress."

"And are you going with someone in that dress?"

"Not that I know of…" Amy was now having trouble breathing too.

"Great. I mean, well… would you like to go with me?" Sirius spontaneously spat out.

"That'd be awesome," Amy said, looking straight ahead, not daring to look at Sirius.

"Great. So I'll see you then," Sirius nodded, thinking he was both the happiest guy alive and the sickest one too. The urge to throw up was almost irrespressible.

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Just as Sirius was asking Amy, James decided he would ask Lily. After all, he had intended to, hadn't he? He cleared his throat. Knowing that if he thought about it, he'd never do it; soJames began talking without even thinking.

"Lily."

"James…"

"The ball's on Saturday, and if you weren't going with anyone, I mean… I'd really like to go with you. But that's only if you want. Because if you don't, I totally understand," James trailed off and looked at her pleadingly.

"Sure, I'd love too," Lily said brightly.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"No."

"WHAT??"

"Just kidding," Lily laughed. "What's wrong with you? You look green."

"That's because I'm Yoda," James recovered.

"He remembers," Lily declared, amused.

"I've got the memory of a thousand Dumbledores."

"Minus 1001," Lily muttered.

"Hey! I am not worth a –1 Dumbledore!"

"Oh. I'm sorry. Were you shooting for –2?"

"You should be nice to me. Otherwise, you'll have no date come Saturday."

"Horror of all horrors," Lily said mockingly.

"You bet."

Lily smiled. She practically couldn't talk, and desperately wanted to tell James that she liked him.

"Hey James—?"

"Yeah?" He looked up confused. 'Please no,' he thought. 'Don't reject me now.'

"PURPLE SPOTS ROCK!"

Sirius burst into the room and ran around in a circle.

"Gotta love those purple spots!" He sat down between a frustrated Lily and a terrified James and began hugging them both.

"Did you miss your Sirius?"

"Not really," James said truthfully.

"Well, try up your tears, dearie. I'm here to stay!"

And the rest of the night passed with Sirius Black, sandwiched in between Lily and James.

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Okie dokie! Chapter 11's the last one, I wager. Please review if you've got the time, I'd greatly appreciate it. Currently I'm working on a new story, but its not coming along very well, so I don't know when I'll start to post it.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and please submit a review-- all the better if its constructive criticism!! I've been re-reading some of my chapters and there have been horrendous mistakes and awkward phrasing and whatnot. So I'll be revising some of the earlier chapters... I also hope to have TITLES for my chapters... because calling them "Chapter 1... Chapter 2... Chapter 3..." is very against my creative nature.