So, as promised, here is a really really long chapter (for me anyway). Before I started this I promised myself I wouldn't do any Sirius/OC stuff, but I have anyway as a Christmas present for all you Sirius lovers. Also, this will be my last chapter before Christmas, so happy holidays :)

Millie xxx

Chapter 11

"Okay, do I, or do I not, ask Elizabeth out?" Sirius looked around him.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

Sirius sighed. " Okay, Peter, why?"

"Yes, because, you obviously want to go out with her, and she will definitely want to go out with you, I mean, you're one of the most popular and handsome boys in the year…" he stopped, hoping for words of gratitude.

"Now you're worrying me Wormy." Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Okay, Moony. Why so down?" He smirked.

"I don't know why you're asking, as you're obviously going to ask her out, regardless of what I say. Yes she's pretty, and yes, she'll go out with you, but you'll ruin her and Marlene's friendship and get hated by the whole group for breaking them up." Remus paused. "I mean, do you like her that much?"

Sirius considered this for a second. "Valid point, but she'd hot and I don't care about her friends if it means I get to snog her." He smiled sweetly. "Prongsie?"

"If you want to go out with her, then I don't see why Marlene should get in the way. And, as a selfish reason, it gives me more opportunities to see and talk to Evans." James grinned. "Everybody wins."

"Except Marlene." Remus muttered.

"Moony, if you're worried she's going to feel all lonely, then just ask her out!" Sirius said loudly.

"Shh!" Remus hissed. "Why would I do that? I don't even fancy her!"

"Alright, alright! Keep your fur on." Sirius winked at this. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Talking of fur, when's it full moon?" James asked seriously.

"Two weeks." Remus and Sirius answered together.

The portrait hole opened and Lily and her friends entered the common room. James rose from his seat, but Lily took one look at him and exited to the Girls dormitory.

"Padfoot!" He whispered, then indicated to where Elizabeth was talking to one of her friends.

Sirius peered round James, then grinned widely and jogged over to where she was standing.

"Hey." He said simply. She looked shocked and a little flattered.

"Oh, um, hi Sirius." She smiled.

He pretended to be lost, looking into her face. It was one of his 'tricks', as James liked to call them.

"Can I talk to you for a second? It's about our Muggle Studies homework."

"Lame excuse." Remus said under his breath.

"It's working though…" James watched the friend wave, unsuspicious, and return to her friends. Marlene looked worried, but her friend assured her exactly what Sirius had said. James switched his glace to where Elizabeth was standing, awkwardly, while Sirius leaned against a banister. She looked a little disappointed about the whole homework thing. He saw Sirius lean over and whisper something in her ear. James's eyes flew to Marlene, and saw she'd seen the not-so-subtle indication of what Sirius wanted.

"Crap." James muttered.

Marlene's face looked angry, but controlled. Her nostrils flared and she frowned for a second, before composing herself and giving a forced smile. James looked back at Sirius, and saw Elizabeth smiling and nodding at his friend. Sirius grinned and touched her gently on the shoulder, before returning to the group. He gave a thumbs up to James.

He high fived Peter. "Hogsmeade, three broomsticks, three O'clock this Saturday."

"Padfoot, you should have seen Marlene's face." Remus said quietly. "She's furious."

"She'll get over it."

"If you say so." Remus answered. "But this isn't going to end well."

"Lily? Are you okay?" Elizabeth called from across the room. Lily looked up from her book, which she was reading on her bed.

"Yeah." She sighed. "I just didn't fancy any of Potter's stupid comments."

"You know, I think he really loves you." Elizabeth said carefully.

Lily snorted. "Yeah right. Potter just wants what he can't have, simple as that."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah. He's never been denied anything before, and he can't handle it. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it, he's an idiot." Lily sat up and looked at Elizabeth, who seemed nervous. "What's going on?"

"I've done something really bad." Elizabeth bit her lip.

"What? Lizzy, you can tell me."

"Sirius asked me out." She blurted. Lily looked at her in disbelief.

"You, you didn't say yes?"

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.

"But what about Marlene?" Lily asked.

"I don't know!" Elizabeth said shrilly. "He just asked me, and you know I've always liked him! I was pretty cut up when he asked her out last year, so when he suggested taking me to Hogsmeade…it just sort of slipped out." A tear started to slide down Elizabeth's cheek.

"Have you told her?" Lily asked quietly.

"No!" Elizabeth answered suddenly. "And you can't tell her. Not yet. Please can we keep this between us, just for now."

"I can't lie!"

"Please Lily, please." Elizabeth begged. "I'll do anything, please."She looked at Lily for a minute, the silent tension filling the room.

"Fine!" Lily spat. "But you seriously owe me. You know I hate lying, especially to Marlene and the others."

Elizabeth ran over and hugged her friend. "Thank you, thank you so much."

"Thank her for what?"

Lily and Elizabeth's heads turned in sync to see Marlene standing in the doorway.

"Urm, Lizzy was thanking me for…offering to write her History of Magic paper for her." Lily said, blinking rapidly.

"Yes." Elizabeth's acting skills were not brilliant. "Because…um…well, Lily's always known more about dwarf colonies than the rest of us, hasn't she?" She laughed mechanically, which Lily joined her on.

"Okay…" Marlene raised her eyebrows. "Um, Elizabeth, I don't want this to sound totally paranoid, but what was Sirius after a minute ago?"

Elizabeth gave her a fake smile. "Oh nothing, just wanted help with his Muggle Studies homework."

"Then why was he leaning over you, and stuff." Marlene tried to make the question sound casual.

"You know better than me Marlene." Elizabeth answered. "He can't do anything without flirting."

Marlene frowned.

"But there's nothing romantic there of course! He was only doing it to get me to give him the answers for our homework." Elizabeth said quickly.

"Oh, okay." Marlene was satisfied with this answer. "Yeah, that seems like the only rational answer."

Lizzy's eyes narrowed at this, but she said nothing.

"Yeah, the only rational answer." She said though tight lips. "It is Sirius after all."

"Are you meeting her there Padfoot?" Peter asked as they walked towards the small village.

"Yep."

"Nervous?" James smirked.

"Err…yes, Prongs." Sirius said sarcastically. "Of course I, Sirius Black, am nervous."

"It's possible." James shrugged. "I mean, I think you're losing your looks with age…"

He received a shove. "Shut up. She still wants to keep this whole thing a secret, it's so childish."

"Childish?" Remus snorted. "You're calling someone else childish?"

"What's wrong with that?" Sirius laughed. "I'm very mature."

"I didn't say you weren't." Remus smiled.

"I still don't get why Lily didn't want to come with me." James whined.

"Hmm. Tricky one." Sirius pretended to think about it. "I'd say…she doesn't like you."

James frowned. He did like Hogsmeade, but it always just reminded him that he wasn't with the person her wanted to be with.

"Anyway, I've got to go and meet my date!" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows.

"Go get her tiger." James winked, laughing. Remus rolled his eyes.

"So…Zonko's?" Remus smiled weakly.

"You okay Moony? You're looking a little peaky." James grinned. "Only one week, huh?"

"Don't remind me. Come on, lets go get those Dungbombs you wanted. Who knows what you're going to do with them."

"Okay, is this disguise good enough?" Elizabeth looked in the mirror. Lily laughed.

"Are you serious? Did you charm your hair dark?"

Elizabeth's usual strawberry-blond curls had been bewitched into a ebony shade, contrasting her pink, freckled skin tone. Her roots were tinged green.

"I know, it looks terrible! But it's the only charm I can do and undo this quickly. I tried to make it brown, but it won't work!"

"It wouldn't be that bad, if it wasn't so…"

"Green?"

"Well, yeah." Lily smiled sympathetically. "Oh well, you look fine. Put the glasses on."

Elizabeth slid on some dark shades.

"Name's Carter. Elizabeth Carter." She smirked, sliding the sunglasses down her nose.

"Lily? Elizabeth? Where are you? We have to go!" Mary called up the stairs.

"Coming!" Lily shouted back. "Quick! Turn it back!"

"Setabo," She muttered. Lily watched as invisible dye spread itself through Elizabeth's hair, changing it back to the original colour. "That's better." Elizabeth smiled at herself in the mirror.

"This is never going to work…" Thought Lily, grabbing her coat from the side.

"Guys!" Mary's voice rang around the room. "Come on!"

They ran down the stairs. Marlene looked at Elizabeth, who was wrapped up in a knee length coat.

"What's with the coat?" She said confusedly.

"Oh, nothing." Elizabeth said brightly. "It's just cold out at the moment."

As they walked, Lily couldn't help but glance over at her friend. She was nervous, and kept looking over at Marlene to check she wasn't suspicious. Alice didn't miss it, and tipped the contents of her bag onto the floor.

"Oh no! All my things!" She said loudly. "Don't worry guys, Lily here will help me pick them up."

Lily leaned down to help her put the items back into the bag, trying not to make eye contact. Alice looked in front to check the others were walking out of earshot, then took hold of Lily's arm.

"Lily Evans, you tell me what is going on RIGHT NOW, or I'm going to walk up to Lizzy and ask her what's going on in front of everyone, especially Marlene!"

Lily looked worried at this.

"Yeah, Lily. I'm not blind! I can see that this is something to do with her." She paused. "Tell me!"

"Okay!" Lily hissed. "But you can not tell Elizabeth I told you, do you understand?"

Alice nodded enthusiastically.

"Sirius asked Lizzy out."

"WHAT?" Alice shouted. Lily made a face at her.

"Shh!"

"Sorry. Are you serious? Did she say yes?" Alice asked.

Lily nodded. "She's going on a date with him now."

"I knew she wasn't going to Madame Puddifoot's with some guy called 'Vincent Oublè'. I mean, I was sure I'd never heard of him…" She trailed off.

"Alice, it doesn't matter. The one thing that does matter, is that Marlene doesn't find out! She'll go crazy!"

"Okay, secret safe with me. What's the plan?"

"Elizabeth is meeting him in the Three Broomsticks in five minutes. Our job is to keep Marlene as far away from the Three Broomsticks until twelve, where we will all regroup outside Honeydukes, as that is when their first date ends." Lily sighed.

"They have a deadline for their first date?" Alice said sadly.

"Oh yeah. If you ask me, Elizabeth seems to have him wrapped around her little finger. She doesn't realise it though. Come on, they'll be worried about where we are."

James held a bag of new Dungbombs in his hand. Remus looked at them warily.

"Don't sweat it Moony, they're not for now." He put them in his pocket, pulling something else out of the other. "This, however, is."

Remus backed away. "No way. We are not spying on Padfoot's date with that thing."

"Yes way. Look, we're just out of the village here. We can slip the cloak over our heads, go back into the village and not be seen. It's the perfect plan."

"I'm not worried about being seen!" Remus said loudly. "It's spying on Sirius's first date with someone!"

"Think about it this way, would Sirius do the same for you? Would he say 'Oh no Prongs! I am going to do the good thing, and not watch Moony's date with a troll.'" James imitated Sirius's husky voice. "No he would not! So are you in?"

"I cannot believe I'm doing this." Remus sighed a few minutes later, when he, Peter and James were all squashed underneath the cloak. "You do realise that you alone are six feet tall! Everyone will be able to see our feet!"

"Nah, not unless there are any dwarfs around. It's really busy." James laughed. "Okay, there's the Three Broomsticks. Let's go." He suddenly surged forward, nearly causing Peter to fall over.

"Sorry Wormtail." James muttered, walking more slowly. They waited near the door until a group of people went in, following behind. James slid the cloak off as soon as they were inside.

"He's over there!" Peter squealed.

"Shh! We don't want him to know that." James spoke as if talking to a child. "Back under the cloak."

They walked over to where Sirius and a dark haired girl were sitting very close.

"Who is that?" James whispered. They couldn't be heard in the loud atmosphere of the pub.

"It's Elizabeth!" Remus hissed in response. He moved slightly to let someone past before they hit him. "She's wearing a disguise."

Lily and Alice ran to where they saw Mary standing next to a lamppost.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you. They've already gone in!" Mary smiled.

"Gone in where?" Lily frowned.

"The Three Broomsticks, where else do we go for a drink? Elizabeth went off to her date and we waited for you a minute, but everyone got cold. We flipped a coin on who had to wait."

"What? They've gone into the Three Broomsticks?" Lily asked shrilly.

"Yes…why are you being so weird?" Mary looked worried.

"Sorry, um, I'm not feeling so good. Err…let's just go get a drink." Lily gave Mary a quick smile, and a worried smile to Alice.

"What are we going to do?" Her friend hissed to her.

"I guess just go with it. She's wearing a disguise." Lily shrugged. "Come on."

As soon as they entered the warm, buzzing pub Mary spotted Marlene and Emily sitting in a booth in the corner. From the fact that she was still smiling, Lily guessed that Marlene hadn't seen Sirius and his date yet. Lily looked around for Sirius and Elizabeth, and saw they were positioned purposely out of Marlene's view. From their table around the corner, they couldn't be seen. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey guys." She approached her friends, sitting down.

"Finally!" Emily smiled. "Where were you guys?"

"We got held up." Lily said through a forced smile.

"Anyway," Emily said quickly. "What are we drinking?"

"Five Butterbeers." Alice grinned.

"Four. I'll have Pumpkin juice." Marlene looked up. "What? I'm on a diet."

Alice rolled her eyes.

"So are you meeting up with Frank later?" Lily tried to keep the chat going.

"Yeah, we're just going to walk around town together, go to shops…" Alice smiled dreamily.

"Urgh." Marlene made a noise. "I'm going to the toilet."

"Oh." Lily looked around. "I'll come with you."

"I wonder if I'll see Sirius today." Marlene began putting lip gloss on in the mirror.

"Do you ever think, maybe you should go for someone else?" Lily suggested.

"No." Marlene said simply. "What we had was amazing, I'm not just going to let that go."

"Oh."

"Let's go." Marlene had finished her beauty touch up. Lily tried to get to the door first, so as to lead her away from possible Sirius-Spotting points and back to their table, but she was too late. Marlene walked out of the lavatory door, which was the exact opposite side of the room from where Sirius and Elizabeth were sitting.

"Crap." Lily thought.

"Who, who is Sirius with?" Marlene stuttered, shaking slightly.

"Mar…" Lily said slowly.

"No, Lily." Marlene spat. "I want to know." She stomped over to where they were sitting, Lily following and trying to stop her.

"Marlene, don't!" Lily called desperately.

"Who is this?" Marlene demanded, looking at Sirius, but pointing at Elizabeth.

"What's it to you?" Sirius said coolly.

"Who are you?" She directed this towards Elizabeth, so said nothing.

"Marlene, let's go, come on…" Lily tried to lead her away, but she wrenched herself free.

"No! I have to know who she is!" With this Marlene leaned over and whipped the glasses off of Elizabeth's face. She looked into her face, her very familiar face.

"Elizabeth?" She said incredulously. Elizabeth got up. The whole pub was in silence, watching the scene avidly.

"Thank you, Marlene. Thanks a lot." She put on her coat and stormed out of the pub.