A/N: Hi guys! Thanks for all the positive reviews! (anon review is now ON! Thank you to The Almighty Pyro for pointing that out! I never even noticed.) There's also a bit of confusion about the end of Athena's relationship with Gideon, I probably should have been clearer, but they split because he left Hogwarts, although anything could happen ;) ALSO: There is a character in this chapter who is a reflection of a person who is seriously irritating me in real life, chances are you'll know who it is immediately! So sorry if it seems like I'm sending out seriously bad vibes, I don't really like to write characters like her, but my god I felt so much better after! ;)

The next morning was incredibly hectic. Gryffindor tower was buzzing with the possibility that there would be a ball that night, although quite a few people were convinced that Marlene was just making it up, the general feeling was absolute panic and nervous excitement.

Athena would be inclined to believe that Marlene was just trying to save face, but that would be a pretty hard lie to pull off come nighttime and there was no ball. Plus she believed Remus. And although she had been initially against another ball she couldn't deny that all the excitement was fun, and if there was a ball, she would no doubt have a good time. In fact, this was the perfect way to have one, because what she hated the most about balls at Hogwarts was the weeks leading up to it. This way, there was none of that drama, and only the fun.

"I don't know what you three are rushing about for." Brigantia Winters said huffily as Athena, Lily and Marlene hustled around, digging through each others closets for the perfect dresses before they had to go down to breakfast.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked kindly.

Athena rolled her eyes. Brigantia had shared a dorm with the three girls for their entire time at Hogwarts and she barely said anything to them that wasn't a complaint or a put down, not that she was putting down the other girls, but herself. Athena had no time for people like that. She felt mildly bad for the other Gryffindor because she was.. overweight and incredibly awkward and often the brunt of other peoples jokes. But all the girl did was passive aggressively complain about herself and others, and Athena just didn't get down with that so she generally avoided conversation with the girl. In fact she couldn't remember the last time she had spoken to her. Brigantia had gotten sloshed at a Quidditch party last year and confessed her love for Sirius to the entire girls dorm, and after that she kind of kept to herself.

"No matter what you wear you'll all look gorgeous. I mean it's not like you have to find dates or nothin' you've all got boyfriends." She said picking at her nails.

"Oi, don't go lumping me in with them. I haven't got a date OR a boyfriend." Athena said, a bit more snippily than she had intended for Lily gave her a sharp look, but if Brigantia noticed, she didn't mention it.

"What do you mean you haven't got a boyfriend? You have four." Brigantia said, matter-of-factly.

Athena gave her a quizzical expression. "James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin." She clarified. Athena looked at her in wide eyed shock as Marlene and Lily burst into hysterical laughter behind her.

"You're barmy Winters. They're just my friends." Athena said, glaring at the other two girls, who were red faced from laughing so hard.

"However you want to see it Dumbledore. Besides, half of the male population has been inquiring to your friends about whether you have a date to the ball yet, so I wouldn't be worried about it." Brigantia said, pulling an absolutely hideous set of dress robes out of the bottom of her trunk. It looked like a ball of grey fabric that had been ravaged by moths.

"What did you just say?" Athena asked, dropping the deep green dress that she had pulled from her closet for Lily.

Lily eyed the two girls apprehensively, not liking the way this conversation would inevitably turn out.

"Yeah. Ever since McKinnon made it clear that she wasn't going to accept not having a ball, blokes have been asking them left right and center about you. Naturally they told each one of them to bugger off." Brigantia said and if Lily wasn't mistaken, she seemed to wearing a gleeful grin, happy about bringing something forth that would cause Athena to fight with the boys.

"Excuse me ladies." Athena said tightly, and then stalked purposefully out of the room. Marlene and Lily looked at each other, before dropping what they were holding and following Athena's movements to the boys dormitory, where they stood outside the room that housed the 6th years.

"They were talking about it last night when she walked into the common room, they shut right up about it. I heard them but I didn't tell her because I knew she would get angry." Lily whispered to Marlene who nodded with understanding.

"There's no reason to tell her something like this. Gigantia was just looking to stir up trouble." Marlene said, using the cruel nickname that Brigantia had acquired. Lily frowned, but nodded in agreement.

There was a sudden explosion of noise from inside the dormitory. Lily and Marlene burst into the room to find Athena punching James with one arm, and hexing the other three with her wand in her other hand. Matt Gallagher had jumped under his bed to avoid being hit with a stray spell.

"HOW- DARE- YOU-!" Athena shouted in between punches and spells. Remus had been hit with a Rictusempra, Sirius with a rather well aimed hair-loss jinx that had him on the ground trying to gather up his beloved hair and simultaneously clutching his bald head in panic, and Peter with a nasty bat bogey hex.

Lily surveyed the damaged, wide-eyed for a moment, before rushing over to Athena and pulling her off of James.

"GET- OFF- OF- ME!" Athena roared, flailing her way out of Lily's grasp and onto the floor, where she sat cross-legged, glaring at everybody in the room petulantly.

"Finite!" Lily said, waving her wand in Peter and then Remus' direction, ending the spells.

"Merlin! Calm down Athena!" Lily shouted, giving her a fierce look. "What is the big deal? It's the same thing they've been doing since we were in fourth year." She pointed out.

Athena frowned, glancing over at Remus who was still red faced from the laughing curse, and Sirius who was staring at his bald head in the mirror. Peter was touching his face every few minutes in fear.

"I've just.. I just- What gives them the right to decide who talks to me and who doesn't?" Athena asked, waving her wand and restoring the hair to Sirius' head. Inwardly smiling when sighed and collapsed onto his bed in relief.

"Please, all of those blokes were tossers. None of them were good enough for you." Sirius said frowning.

"Oh really? and who IS good enough for me Sirius? You?" Athena asked, rolling her eyes. Her stomach giving a tiny flutter, which she quickly silenced.

James laughed "Of course not HIM. Of all people." He said shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the notion. Nobody but Remus caught the expression on Sirius' face.

"We're just looking out for you. All those guys that asked us were gits. You'd do the same for us and don't act like you wouldn't." James said looking down the bridge of his nose at her.

"Maybe I would." She mumbled, and James grinned.

"Alright, now, you're going with me tonight right?" He asked, offering her a hand and helping her off of the floor.

Athena looked at him incredulously. "What? I don't know." She answered, furrowing her brows. Since hearing that the ball would on, she had been hoping to get asked by somebody that she could actually have something with. She missed being with somebody, well if she was being honest she missed Gideon but there was nothing she could do about that.

"What are you lot doing about dates?" Athena asked the other three boys, who all shrugged.

"I haven't a clue." Remus said, Athena thought he looked a bit dejected, but she decided to think on that later. "Me either." Peter chimed in.

"I'm taking Peppa I suppose." Sirius said tonelessly, before heading off to the bathroom.

"Is he really cross about the hair jinx? I put it right. It won't fall out again honest." Athena said frowning. She knew Sirius had a serious attachment to his hair, but she had never seen him look so blank.

"I don't think its the hair 'Thena." Remus said smartly.

James looked perplexed for a moment, before apparently coming to a conclusion, and stood up abruptly. "Athena, Evans, why don't you two go down to breakfast." He said, addressing the redheaded girl in a non combative way for the first time in days. This time, nobody but Athena caught the expression of absolute glee that crossed her friends pale features.

"Yeah, let's go. Emerald Green said we could take a look at her dresses, her Mum sent a whole bunch of her new designs." Lily said smiling broadly, and led the blonde out of the boys dorms. Emeralds Mum was a designer for Gladrags, and she often sent the fifth year to school with tons of clothes to share with her friends.

"Why are you suddenly so cheerful?" Athena asked, as they walked back up to their room. Grinning when Lily turned a light shade of pink.

"Oh no reason."

"Might it have something to do with the fact that a certain James Potter isn't mad at you anymore?" Athena asked, grinning mischievously.

"What? No. Of course not. I did't even notice." Lily said, darkening to a scarlet color.

"I can't believe you gits didn't realize that Evans was in the common room last night." Sirius grumbled as he climbed back into bed, they didn't have to be down to breakfast for another half hour, and he had been up until 4 in the morning.

"Lily wasn't the one who told her." Marlene said from where she was sitting on Matt's bed. Sirius rolled his eyes, he had forgotten she was still there.

"Oh really? Then who did?" James asked sarcastically as he searched around for his tie.

"Brigantia Winters told her, she had that she had been watching you guys chase off potential dates for her for a week." Marlene said matter-of-factly.

"Ugh! I knew I hated that girl!" Peter said, rolling out of his bed.

"Yeah, you'd think for somebody so unattractive she would at least try and be nice." James said.

"Come on, don't you feel at least a bit sorry for her?" Remus asked, always the saint.

"No." Sirius said rolling his eyes dramatically "She's constantly in my business. Plus she's always gossiping about Athena."

"Well she probably feels inadequate, she lives with three beautiful girls" Remus said, his eyes flashing briefly to Marlene who grinned at the compliment "and she's less than gorgeous."

"Whatever mate." James said, before adjusting his tie and grabbing his wand off of the bedside table. "You ready to go Moony?"

"Yeah." Remus said jumping up and heading for the door with James "See you down at breakfast, Padfoot, Wormtail." He said indicating the other two Marauders who were still in their pajamas.

"Sound." Sirius said as he reluctantly pulled himself out of bed.

"Later Matt, Marlene." James said waving at the pair who were talking quietly on Matts bed, both of them waved without looking up.

"So what do you think was up with Padfoot this morning?" James asked Remus as they walked out of the portrait hole.

"I'm not sure what you mean.." Remus said, shifting uncomfortably, if his hunch was right, this was the last thing he wanted to be talking to James about.

"You know exactly what I mean. How angry he was at Athena's spell. I know what's going on here." James said, looking at Remus through narrowed eyes.

"W-Whats going on here?" Remus stammered, pulling at the collar of his shirt.

"It's obvious." James said "Parker is clearly filling his head with rubbish about Athena again." James said, looking quite pleased with himself for figuring it out.

Remus sighed in relief. "Yeah! You know you're probably right!" He said, regaining speed as they reached the Great Hall.

The first time that Peppa had dated Sirius she had gotten into his head and told him all sorts of stories about Athena and the rest of the boys not really being his friends. She had damaged their friendship because she felt threatened by them.

By the time that Lily and Athena got down to breakfast it was getting rather close to their first hour class.

"Bugger, we'll barely have time for toast." Athena said, looking forlornly at her growling stomach as the two girls made their way to the Gryffindor table where James and Remus were already 2 plates into their breakfast.

"Has Professor Dumbledore said anything about a ball?" Lily asked, sitting down next to Athena.

"No, not ye- Oi! Get your own!" James hollered mid sentence, glaring at Athena who had snatched bacon and a fried egg of his plate.

"Where are Sirius and Peter?" Athena asked, looking around confusedly. She noticed Peppa sitting alone at the end of the Ravenclaw table, glancing over at their group every few seconds.

"Dunno. They were both still in bed when we left." Remus said shrugging, and shoved his rather large Astronomy book roughly back into his bag.

"There he is, the filthy layabout!" James said grinning broadly as Sirius and Peter approached them, both looking exhausted.

"Were you guys..out last night?" Athena whispered to James when Lily was occupied with a conversation with Marlene who had appeared with Matt sometime ago.

"Nah, you know we'd come get you." James said with a wink. "I know Peter was up late doing the essay for McGonagall."

Athena nodded, and was about to ask what Sirius had been up to that he was so tired, but at that moment her uncle stood up and cleared his throat. The noisy hall fell silent, and everybody turned to focus on the headmaster.

"Now, there have been some rumors and speculation that there may be a Halloween Ball in addition to this evenings feast." Professor Dumbledore began, and the entire school was sitting on the edge of their seats.

"I have considered it greatly, and thanks to a certain pair of dedicated students-" Dumbledore paused, looking pointedly at Marlene and Remus, who both blushed.

"-I have decided that a Halloween Ball is an absolutely splendid idea!" He finished, smiling, and the hall broke out into applause and cheers. Suddenly everybody was scrambling to figure out what to wear, and who to go with.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and the hall fell silent again, excited tension filling the air. "In light of this rather abrupt development, I have decided to give you the day off from your classes in order to prepare for the evening." The hall burst into noise even louder than before. James, Athena and Sirius each jumped up and started doing a kind of bizarre square dance in celebration, much to the amusement of their peers.

"So, finish your breakfasts, and proceed to make ready for tonights events at your leisure! Enjoy the holiday everyone, and I will see you all tonight!" Dumbledore concluded with a wink, and sat back down in his chair at the head of the long Professors table.

Sirius Black was in a foul mood. He had to spend the rest of breakfast watching Athena get asked to ball multiple times, and his temper was wearing rather thin. Remus had to physically restrain him from tackling Dirk Cresswell who had the audacity to ask Athena 'If she knew a way around the sliding stairs yet'. Lucky for him, James was asking Daisy McCartney from Ravenclaw to the ball and wasn't around to hear it.

"Sirius! There you are! You look so tense!" Peppa exclaimed, coming up the aisle and sitting next to Sirius, and immediately began playing with his hair. If he was mistaken, Athena mimed vomiting to Lily, who snickered and nodded in agreement.

"Are you excited for this evening? I'm going to wear a red gown, do you have any red dress robes? or a red tie perhaps?" Peppa asked, moving her hands from his hair, to his thigh. He almost flinch away from her almost.

"Erm- yeah I think I've got a red tie." Sirius mumbled "If I don't, I can just transfigure one.." He trailed off.

"Oh of course! You are so good at transfiguration." Peppa said sweetly, intertwining her fingers with his. It bothered him that she was always touching him, always looking out the corner of her eye at Athena or any other girl who happened to be around, like she was marking her territory.

He heard a loud peal of musical laughter and looked over to see Athena smiling at a first year who had conjured her up a bouquet of roses.

"How lovely!" She said, smelling the flowers. "That was really clever Roger!"

Sirius frowned, this was low. He was jealous of a first year.

When Athena wasn't looking, flicked his wand under the able and transfigured the roses to sunflowers, her favorite flower. Much to his annoyance, Remus caught his eye, and gave him a look that could only mean he knew.

After a few moments of desperate panic, he decided he didn't really care. Maybe if he talked it out with somebody sane like Remus, he would realize that he had actually gone mad two years ago, and then everything would go back to normal and Sirius wouldn't have to watch the girl he loved from across the room, although the more he though about it, the more he was convinced that he would feel this way forever.