Lily, in short, was incredibly bored. It was very different not having any of her friends to talk to, especially Alice and Remus. She'd put in so much effort to look good in the hope someone would ask her to dance but as far as she could see, everyone – everyone – had a date. She watched all the couples bitterly from the side-lines, her own memories dancing around her head.

There was that time last year when the fit Ravenclaw the year above her had asked her to dance and the year before that she had her first firewhiskey then there was the end-of-year ball last year which only her and Remus had been invited to; they were both feeling pretty depressed so they had gotten slightly tipsy (well, maybe a bit more than slightly) and hadn't left the dance floor all night long. Albeit, her feet were sore for about the next week and her hangover had lasted at least two days.

Those were the good old days, Lily mused and let out a sigh. So far, Alice and Frank had danced for a while and then they sat down and were now talking animatedly, Sarah and Remus hadn't left the dance floor all night and Judith had been reluctant to leave Lily at the start but now she was dancing awkwardly as Amos whispered sweet nothings into her ear even though Lily could see Judith's heart wasn't into the party at all. The only thing that had kept Lily from running out of the party altogether was the couple of stolen kisses she had spotted between Sarah and Remus which no doubt made her smile. They really were perfect for each other.

Lily was about to die of boredom when all of a sudden all the lights went out, plunging the room into darkness and the music stopped abruptly. There were a few screams coming throughout the room from scared girls and panicked voices were getting louder and louder as people searched for their friends or dates. Lily had never been afraid of the dark per se but she had never exactly been a fan of the unknown that lingered within it. She felt her heartbeat pick up slightly as she grabbed her wand and held it tightly within her hand. It seemed that everything had gone completely wrong and something serious was happening… and then –

"Woohooo!" Lily felt wind rush pass her as two bodies flew over her head, their cloaks billowing behind them.

"I thought you said there was a party Slugs?" one horribly familiar voice said smugly from up above. Lily gritted her teeth.

Then, two golden wand lights appeared in mid-air and neat, swirly writing came from one of them as the other started drawing pictures. The writing said: We bring to you The Marauders: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs (but really just Padfoot and Prongs right now), and then the drawings were of a hoof print, a smaller paw print, a larger paw print and a… block of cheese? Then just as suddenly as it had happened, there was a flick of a wand and the writing disappeared just as all the lights in the room came back on, almost blinding Lily after she'd grown accustomed to the dark.

The light revealed two pranksters, who just so happened to be hovering over Remus, on broomsticks in mid-air with long black cloaks, dark jeans, black t-shirts and black shoes. They sat in identical positions on their brooms with their arms spread out wide and large grins plastered across their faces.

The whole room was quiet, taking in what had just happened. It was so quiet, you'd have been able to hear a pin drop. And then the snarky tone Remus's voice rang out through the classroom.

"I knew you were up to something."

Lily couldn't help herself. She let out a laugh along with the rest of the room when she looked at Remus who was looking up at James and Sirius with a tired yet bemused expression on his face. Sarah, who was holding Remus's hand, let go of it and clapped at the Marauders as she laughed. The whole room soon joined in and even Lily gave a small clap.

James and Sirius looked at each other and grinned like madmen when they heard the applause and lowered themselves down to the ground, bowing at everyone whilst doing so. This was the part when Lily stopped clapping and rolled her eyes at their conceitedness. When their feet touched the floor, Slughorn came bounding up to them with a wide grin on his face, even though his precious party had just been gate-crashed.

"Brilliant! Simply marvellous!" Slughorn praised, shaking James and Sirius's hands with enthusiasm.

"Thank you, sir. We worked hard on it," Sirius said proudly.

"I can tell you did. From now on you'll both receive invites to all of my parties!" Slughorn beamed and James looked triumphant while Sirius turned around to face Remus.

"You see Moony? I told you we were just as good as you!" Sirius gloated.

Remus laughed. "I never said you weren't Sirius."

After that, the party pretty much went back to normal. A whole crowd of girls formed around James and Sirius and they all listened intently as the boys retold their tale. Remus rolled his eyes then guided Sarah out of the room. What they were doing? Well… Lily didn't really want to know.

Lily turned her back on the party and faced the refreshment table. She picked up an odd looking food, decided it looked a little too odd looking and then threw it into the nearest bin. She went to pick up a bottle of firewhiskey and then she regretfully remembered that she had classes the next morning and she averted her hand and picked up a bottle of butterbeer instead. She took a swig then turned around and almost bumped straight into James. She frowned at him.

"What do you want Potter?"

"Oh nothing, just a firewhiskey," he said and leaned across Lily to get a bottle. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"You have classes tomorrow," she reminded him coolly.

James shrugged. "Who says I'll be attending them?"

"I could put you in detention for just saying that to me, you know?" Lily said to him, wrinkling her nose as he took a gulp of his drink.

"You'd never. I'd just get Remus to get me out of them," James shrugged again and took another sip.

"Remus isn't for being used, you know. He's an actual human being and he deserves to be treated with respect considering everything he's been through. It's not fair the way you treat him and you only keep him in your group just because you feel sorry for him," Lily ranted, her finger hitting James's chest and pushing him further away from her with each word. James's face wore as much expression as a stone.

"You know what isn't fair? The way you just assumed that's why we have Remus around and the way you just assumed we don't appreciate him. Sure, he's a good scapegoat and sure he's mostly the brains behind the pranks but you have absolutely no idea what Sirius, Peter and I have done for him. He's our friend, Evans. That's why we keep him around." James told her icily, took another swig of his firewhiskey then shot her a glare and walked away.

Sirius watched James jealously as the former walked away with all the girls which had originally been fawning over Sirius. He took a sip of his butterbeer and looked around the dance floor. He couldn't see Remus anywhere, James was surrounded by girls and Peter had opted to sleep instead of gate-crash so because of these reasons, Sirius was standing alone. A fifth year girl glanced at Sirius as she walked past him. As a natural reflex, Sirius winked at her which he soon found out was a bad idea. The girl blushed and glanced behind her; Sirius followed her gaze and saw and angry boy storming toward them. Although the guy was a year below Sirius and slightly smaller, that didn't make him any less intimidating. He put his hands on the girl's shoulders and steered her away from Sirius whom he gave a dirty look.

"Stay away from her, man whore," the guy spat. Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Merlin, get off your high hippogriff," Sirius retorted.

"I'm on no high hippogriff, Black," the guy argued. "I just know how to treat my girls and actually express feelings. Of course, you wouldn't know what they are."

Sirius snapped. The regret and anger and embarrassment over the last few days that had been sitting at the bottom of his stomach suddenly rose to the surface. He lunged at the guy and punched him across the cheek.

"You know nothing about me," Sirius hissed.

The guy sneered. "Sure I do. You're Sirius Black; your family hates you, you're a Beater on the Quidditch team, the most popular guy in school and you know it."

Sirius pushed the guy backwards into a crowd of people and when the fifth year went to punch Sirius, Sirius dodged and retaliated with a punch to the guy's nose. The guy punched Sirius across the cheek and Sirius could immediately feel it swelling. Sirius went to punch the fifth year but the guy avoided Sirius's fist and pulled his arm back, ready to hit Sirius again whenever the guy's girlfriend put her hand on his arm and Remus came out of nowhere and pulled the fifth year away from Sirius while Sirius felt someone's arm across his chest, not letting him get any closer to the fifth year. James came in between them with his arms spread out, one hand resting on Sirius's chest and the other resting on the fifth year's.

"Guys, cut it out!" James exclaimed and looked accusingly at Sirius. Sirius didn't care though and he didn't care that the majority of the room were now crowded round and watching the brawl. All that mattered was that the stuck-up fifth year knew his facts.

"You know what?" Sirius said angrily, narrowing his eyes at the guy. "The next time you pick a fight with someone, figure out their story before you judge them. That way you won't make a fool of yourself."

"Sirius, come on," a familiar, quiet voice said in Sirius's left ear. Sirius shot the fifth year one last glare before giving in to the tugging on his arm, turning around and walking away from the party, leaving the fifth year, James and Remus staring after him.

The wonderfully familiar, beautiful person who was leading Sirius away from the party never let go of his hand and he wasn't protesting. His mind was in a frenzy and it was buzzing too much to actually concentrate on anything. He didn't know where he was being taken or who was taking him. But it was okay. It was okay because for the first time in a while, he felt safe. Not the type of safeness you feel when you know you're in a safe a place and there's a slim chance of getting hurt but the kind of safe where you know no matter what you go through or no matter what happens that you'll be okay because this person is there right beside you.

Sirius didn't come to his senses until he realised he had come to a stop and was standing in an empty classroom and the person was standing right in front of him.

"Sirius?"

Sirius suddenly felt his tears burning his cheeks and he lifted his head to look at the person in front of him. Usually, he wouldn't be seen dead crying but here it was completely fine because this person was his everything. With them, he shared his smiles, his tears, his laughs and his frowns. With her, there were no secrets.

"Judith," he whispered.

"Oh Sirius," she repeated and he could see the sympathy deep in her brown eyes. She reached up and hugged him tightly around his neck whilst he hugged her back around her waist. He cried into her shoulder and he could feel her planting comforting kisses on the crook of his neck.

"Please don't leave me," he breathed over and over again.

"I won't. I promise, I'll never ever let you go," Judith promised firmly.

"I love you, Judith. I love you so much," Sirius told her when he finally pulled away from her. He gazed into her bottomless eyes.

Every single depressing and unwanted thought that had been swimming around Judith's head for two weeks had completely flown out the window. They were all replaced with Sirius. Nothing but Sirius.

"I love you too, Sirius," Judith replied softly.

She brought her hand down to rest it on Sirius's cheek; she gently touched his lips and he pulled her closer to him and slowly brought his lips down to meet hers.

Judith had kissed Sirius, and then some, many, many times before but none of those times ever came the remotest bit close to what this kiss was like. It was like a summer's day when you're a little kid. You get up in the morning and a feeling of joy gushes over you as you see the sun shining through your bedroom window. You know you have all day long to go out and play with your friends but every time you do, your mum always has to come out and ruin your fun later on by telling you that you need to come inside and go to bed. And as much as you don't want it to, that day always has to end. Just like this kiss. It has to come to an end but when that summer's day does end, you can reflect over it when you're lying in bed and have no regrets over it whatsoever.

AN: Whoo! Two in one day! So the party was in this chapter. What'd you think? Let me know please and thanks so much to the responses I got to the last chapter. Two reviews and two new followers in one day! Thanks guys! :D and to Loads ot Randomness, you seriously make me laugh :L and I'm really glad I made you laugh becuase I'm not used to writing humoursly and I wanted to get the banter just perfect so thanks so much for commenting on that! And as to what Sirius was doing to crack the mirror, I'll leave that to your imagination...

So I was thinking earlier after getting two lovely reviews about perhaps doing a sequel to this story? The Marauders could be in their seventh year? It's just a suggestion, let me know whether or not you think it's a good idea please :)

Anyways thanks, as always, for reading :D
LupinsGirl98 xx