Tears started to stream down Lily`s face.

How could she have been so stupid, so blind as to not see her best friend had been at her side all through this? Remus, Sirius, and even Emmeline had all told her she was making a mistake, but it had taken Alice herself to show Lily what a ginormous mistake she had made.

"Alice!"

If only she`d listened to Emmeline when she had the chance.

"Alice, wait!"

Lily chased after her friend, but she knew it was probably in vain.

Her best friend was gone.

Lily couldn't bring herself to go into her dorm, not after what she`d done. They all hated her, probably. So, instead, she kept on walking past the door to her room, and knocked on the one right next door.

"Hold on, coming!" The voice of Marlene McKinnon drawled from the other side of the door. There was a small thud, and the door opened to reveal Marlene with her blonde hair half curled.

Lily made brief eye contact with Emmeline over Marlene`s shoulder, and then asked, "Is it okay if I get dressed for the party in here?"

Marlene still looked quite confused, but Emmeline`s gaze softened. "Come on in."

"Do you have what you`re going to wear?" asked the dark skinned girl by the window, who Lily vaguely remembered as Nat.

"No…" Her green dress, jacket, and shoes were still hanging on her bedpost where Alice had put it earlier, when they were picking out what to wear. "Accio…"

"Wait." Emmeline cut in, and Lily lowered her wand. "If you accio them, it will try to break through a window or something, since their door is shut. If you want, I`ll go with you to get your stuff."

"Okay," said Lily, feeling more like Emmeline was giving her an order, not option. She must be braver now, around her friends.

The pair stepped out into the hall, and Emmeline looked at Lily expectantly when they reached Lily`s door.

Lily, suddenly catching her silent message, drew back. "I`m not knocking. You`re the one who wanted to come over here in the first place!"

"It`s your room."

"Yeah, it is, and I`ve never knocked to go into my own room!" She said, exasperated.

Emmeline smiled slyly. "Then go right in."

"You tricked me!" Lily laughed, and shook her head. "You`re more cunning than you look, you know that? You should talk to Mattie and Mel; they could use someone like you."

"Well, now you`re actually getting to know me." Emmeline shrugged. "People are not always as they appear, you know."

Leaning against the wall, Lily was still laughing in shock.

"I know you didn`t listen before, but I think you should reconsider being mad at your roommates. It`s really not going to be worth it in the end."

"Oh, I know what you mean. I`m sorry I didn`t listen to you in the first place. My logic must have been impaired or something, because anyone like me should have instantly listened to your words of wisdom."

"Lily, no offense, but I don`t think you took into account stubbornness in that evaluation." She said, patting her on the back.

"I`m not…! Well, maybe…"

"Would you be okay going in there by yourself? You do have to face them eventually."

"I can`t."

"You have to get your stuff somehow."

Lily sighed.

"Fine."

Without another word, she disappeared into her dorm.

"Who`s got my hairbrush?"

The dorm was in such a state of messy disarray, it was as if the niffers had struck again. The only person in the room not tearing around the room was Melody, who was doing a handstand against the bathroom door, eyes shut.

"Ow!" Mary rubbed her head, and crawled out from underneath her bed. "Has anyone seen my other shoe?"

Mattie tried to hop over to the windowsill to retrieve Alice`s hairbrush while shoving a boot on her hovering foot, but ended up slipped on a sock and tumbled to the ground. She reached out and snagged the brush, taking it with her in her fall. "Got it!"

"My shoe?"

"No, the brush. Heads up, Al."

Alice caught it with ease, and ran it through her hair briefly before starting to apply her makeup. As she did so, she saw her upside-down roommate reflected in the mirror. "What are you doing, Mel?"

"Waiting for you stooges to get ready."

"But doesn`t that mess up your ha-"

"Accio right flat!"

The shoe struck Alice in the back of the head, causing her to accidentally jab herself in the eye with her mascara wand. "Oi! Watch where you`re…"

Everyone froze at the double click of the door being opened.

Lily restrained herself from making eye contact or saying a word as she entered the room.

Grabbing her clothes off her bed, she didn`t stop to question the havoc around her; not the fact that two of her roommates were on the floor, nor the rogue line of makeup on Alice`s face, and not even the handstand. She just channeled her inner Petunia, pursed her lips, and left.

Twenty after seven, Lily was sitting around with Marlene in the common room (Emmeline had already left to meet up with her Ravenclaw boyfriend), waiting for Sirius to show up and escort her to the party.

The girls were sharing a sofa, each lost in their own thoughts. Lily was listening to Nat and Jill, Marlene`s roommates, debate whether or not they should bring their wands to the party.

"We could transfigure our clothes into pajamas and say we`re sleep walking if Flinch finds us coming back."

"Where are you going to keep it while you`re dancing? It could get stolen or snapped."

"Yeah, but what if you need it to get in?"

"So what do you think about Jeffery Gardener?" Marlene asked Lily, out of the blue.

Trying to picture the boy in question, Lily asked, "The Hufflepuff?"

"Mmhmm."

"He`s well fit. He`s a beater, isn`t he? I`m not surprised about all those muscles, what with all that quiddich… The real question here is, I would think, what do you think of Jeffery Gardener?"

Marlene blushed and turned away, towards the fire. "That is the question…"

"Tonight would be the perfect time to get to know him a bit better…"

"That`s what Jill was saying…speaking of well fit, here comes your guy."

Lily looked around, surprised and confused to hear anyone referred to as her guy. Spotting Sirius coming through the portrait hole, she smiled shyly, it finally hitting her who Marlene was referring to.

Was he her guy? He wasn`t her boyfriend, but did that mean he wasn`t her guy?

The last boy she`d dated had been back in third year, and this whole thing almost seemed like a foreign concept for a moment, but Lily quickly regained her confidence. Sirius`d asked her to the party, after all.

"Hey." He said, offering a hand to help Lily up off the sofa. "You look fantastic."

Cursing the blush she knew was creeping over her cheeks, Lily smiled. "You aren`t half bad yourself."

"Why thank you." He tipped the top hat he was inexplicably wearing. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Lily didn`t stop to think about why he was using words like 'shall' and wearing a top hat. She didn`t question the mischievous glint in his eyes, and dismissed the very faint smoky smell as coming from the fireplace. Instead, she waved goodbye to Marlene and the girls and allowed Sirius Black to whisk her out of the common room.

From the top of the stairs, Matilda Bell witnessed their departure, knowing full well why Sirius was smiling the way he was.

They met up with the other Marauders at the top of the stairs, next to the cupboard. Each of them, Lily was unsurprised to discover, were wearing identical top hats and grinning profoundly.

James looped his arm through one of Lily`s and pulled her from Sirius. "You`re looking marvelously stunning tonight, Evans. Wanna ditch your date for a real man?"

"And you look like something a dragon coughed up, Potter." She retorted, falling easily into their usual banter as she spun out of his grasp.

"What`s this real man business?"

"It`s okay, Padfoot, we`re all friends here. You can tell her, she was bound to find out eventually." James stage whispered.

Trying to not encourage their behavior, Lily asked Remus, "Where`s Ariana?"

"She`s coming in with her friends a bit later." He replied, Sirius talking over him.

"Oh, don`t worry about my manliness, Potter. If you have any questions about that, you should just ask your mum."

James made a move as if to gouge out his eyes. "Ack! Merlin`s beard, I did not need that image burned into my mind."

"Prongs` mum aside, we have an Extravaganza to host." Remus reminded them, and knocked on the door three times. "Mister Moony."

"Mister Wormtail."

"Mister Padfoot."

"What do the names mean?" Lily whispered to Peter, who just nudged her and nodded pointedly at the door. "Erm, Miss Lily…Lily-flower Evans."

"Mister Prongs."

A moment of quiet waiting (rare, considering the group) passed before Lily impatiently asked, "Isn`t someone going to open the door?"

"You can." Offered Peter.

Maybe it was the curiosity, impending excitement, or the enchanting smell of Sirius` cologne so close to her, but with her logical thinking temporarily impaired (because who in their right mind would not constantly be suspicious of the Marauders being up to no good?) Lily turned the doorknob, and opened the door.

It was just a normal cupboard.

"I don`t see how you`re going to fit- Ahhh!"

Lily was cut off as the ground disappeared from underneath her feet. In the time it took for her to blink, they were gone, descended into darkness. Had anyone been in the hall, they could easily missed the second of change as the floor slid back after the Marauders and a shocked Lily, and the cupboard clicked shut again.

The fall took less than a minute, and when she did land, she didn`t hit the ground as hard as she`d expected to. It took Lily ten seconds to realize that the reason why was because she sitting on James and Peter. Two seconds after that, she`d jumped up and brushed herself off, nonchalantly acting as if he elbow hadn`t been in Peter`s face.

Sirius was already up and proudly surveying the large room before him when Lily reached his side.

One whole wall of the room was devoted to tables of wide assortments of every food imaginable, from cornflakes to caldron cakes. Lily didn`t think she wanted to know what was in the coolers. The boys had also set up punch and giant barrels of Honeyduke`s finest butterbeer and firewhiskey, and in the far corner, Lily saw what appeared to be a live band setting up. Besides Lily, the Marauders, and the band, the only other early arrivals were the ghosts that were drifting in, loitering in the shadows and giving the room a cool eerie feel.

"Whoa."

"That`s what James` mum said…. Ow!"

By the time Alice fell into the party, the room, two-thirds as big as the great hall, was packed.

"I don`t think I know even half of these people." Mary exclaimed in wonder as she pushed herself off the floor.

The two narrowly managed to jump out of the way as the roof opened and the trapdoor brought in a bunch of sixth year Hufflepuffs. One of the boys on the bottom of the pile complained, "Couldn`t somebody have set up mats here or something?"

As if she`d somehow known her name had been said, Mattie appeared out of the crowd of students and made her way towards them, drinks in both hands.

"Did somebody request a set up?" Before Alice or Mary could react, the drinks were pressed into one of their hands and the other was being pulled closer to the music, madness, and general merry chaos that was the First Annual Marauder's Extravaganza.

Mary tapped Alice on the shoulder and said something that was drowned out by the music. Alice gestured to her ear, and Mary leaned closer, shouting, "HAVE YOU SEEN HER?"

Wincing from the direct scream, Alice didn`t need to ask who her friend was referring to. For a brief moment, her eyes scanned the room, flicking from face to face until she spotted the girl she was looking for. Pointing, Alice waited until recognition registered on Mary`s face before shouting back, "DO YOU THINK SHE`S GOING TO STAY WITH THEM ALL NIGHT?"

"I HOPE NOT. YOU KNOW HOW THEY GET AT THINGS LIKE THESE…I HOPE FOR HER SAKE, SHE FINDS A NICE GROUP OF RAVENCLAWS TO HANG AROUND FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT." Unspoken, both girls knew that`s what Normal Lily would have done if she was here. Actually, Normal Lily might have even opted out of the party and spent the night in the library instead.

Even Lily Evans herself had realized that she was no longer Normal Lily. Although her friends had no idea, even she had started to comprehend that something had altered her against her will, pushed and manipulated her into this new, Twisted Lily.

Unbeknownst to everyone but Emmeline and Marlene, Twisted Lily had just begun to unravel. Normal Lily was vaguely coming through as, across the room, Lily met Alice`s gaze.

"So," said Sirius, causing Lily to tear her eyes away from Alice, "How ready are you to get this party really started?"

"I`ve never felt more ready."

"That`s what I like to hear! Wormtail, Prongs, ready the cannons!"

As Lily was lead into the heart of the quickly heating party, James felt his chances at winning the bet swiftly slipping away.

"Hello everyone, if you`re not too tanked yet I`d like to invite you to move your eyes in the general direction of the wall opposite the refreshments. If any of you are wondering who is mysterious voice from above is and why you should listen to her directions, then Hogwarts isn`t completely filled with mindless sheep after all! Just kidding, we love you Amos. Anyway, to answer the former question for any questioning souls out there, this is Melody Williamson, fourth year Gryffindor and the most disputable school quiddich announcer since the invention of the broom, and I`ve only been doing it a year. Seriously people, I`ve got the detentions and suspensions to prove it. Pipe down Black, I`ll get to you. At any rate, hold on to your hats folks, because I`m going to be your emcee for the duration of this fabulous evening. You`d better hold on to your hand grenades folks, because this party`s just getting started."

Besides Sirius` brief attempt to make his signature joke, several other people loudly asked why they were being made to face a blank wall. Everyone was familiar enough with the Marauder's for these questions and protests to die out quickly, leaving a hush of excited anticipation in its wake.

"Now ladies, gentlemen, and ne'er-do-wells of all ages, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you… the fantastically ghastly, stupendously remarkable, cordially outlandish, and all around maniacal… MAURADERS!"

The roar of cheers and applause of the gathered students was only overshadowed by the large crack as columns erupted from the ground under each of the four boys lifting them up high above the crowd, and confetti cannons launched their contents across the room. Lily, who had been dancing with Sirius, jumped back as the ground began to rise, but Sirius refused to let go of her hand.

"Jump!" He urged, seemingly oblivious to the nearly two wands large (and rapidly growing) difference in the platform`s height.

She tried to pull away, but he just leaned down and grabbed her other hand. "Come on, it`ll be fun."

"Are you s…" Breaking off before he could answer that he was indeed Sirius, Lily took a deep breath, and jumped.

Naturally, as she was not a spider monkey, she didn`t make it to the top of the column in that single leap.

Instead Lily clung onto Sirius`s hands for dear life, trying to get a grip with her feet on the section of the column she`d reached. Fortunately all of the quiddich playing had given Sirius lots of upper body strength, and he pulled Lily up the rest of the way of the platform.

It was dizzying, looking down upon her classmates amiss the falling glitter and swirling lights. Lily found it almost impossible to focus on just one person. Across the room, Ariana waved at her from Remus` platform, where she`d been smart enough to step on right when it started rising. Melody was rattling off the boy`s names and counting down some of their best pranks so far, but Lily was too dazed to really pay attention.

"Whoa. This is…"

"Outstanding? Marvelous? The best idea ever?" supplied Sirius.

Lily laughed, finding it impossible to stop grinning madly. "Well, actually I was going to say insane, and ask how you installed all of this…"

"Magic, Lily-flower. You haven`t even seen the best part yet."

He turned to the other Marauders, and nodded once. James repeated the gesture to Melody, who smiled and said, "If you treasure your limbs, then it might be wise to please step back from that wall I told you to look at earlier. Alright, so each of you has been chosen to be here for a very specific reason. There is something that binds all of you, all of us, together. It is a quality that is the best, most wonderful quality of them all. We all know that the quality that binds the Marauder's together is their love of mischief, but does anyone know what the major element here is? I`ll give you a hint; it is not the innate desire to please…"

"Magic?" Called out a Ravenclaw, always wanting to be the first to answer.

One of the Slytherins raised their cup and belted, "Firewhiskey!"

But surprisingly, it was a small Hufflepuff who yelled the correct answer, "Par-ty!"

"That`s right!" Melody cheered, and then did her best McGonagall impression. "Can you repeat that a little louder please, so everyone can take note of it?"

"Par-ty!"

"Loud-er!"

"PAR-TY!"

"I`m sorry, did a hippogriff sneeze in the next room? Belt it out, people!"

"PAR-TY! PAR-TY!"

Suddenly, as the chant rose to a wall-shattering volume, the wall in front of them did indeed shatter. It was a spontaneous combustion into thousands of little pieces of confetti, which rained down onto the crowd like butter on toast. When the glitter and paper cleared, everyone could see the stone floor that extended past where the wall used to be, going farther than the ceiling and out into the open air.

"It`s a balcony." Stated Lily, awestruck.

Sirius chuckled. "So it is."

Lily suddenly realized how small their square platform was, only about a wand and a half or so across. She and Sirius were practically nose to nose when she was facing him. Taking a tentative step back, Lily failed to remember the fact that the smallness of the square did not allow much room for moving around until her left foot slipped off the edge, sending her toppling backwards.

Would anyone stop gaping at the balcony long enough to realize that she was about to land on them?

Before a scream could pass her lips, Lily`s somewhat rhetorical question was answered as a pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders, steadying her so she could regain her footing.

Blushing, Lily murmured a quick "Thanks." to her rescuer. Sirius didn`t reply, and when he didn`t remove his hands it soon became apparent he was aware of the smallness of the square, too.

For one long moment, Lily forgot about the wall, the party, her friends, and the crowd below. Finally, when Sirius did move a hand, he rested it on her cheek.

Sirius flicked his thumb across her skin. "You had a piece of glitter…"

With a nod, she wondered why he was looking at her like that if it had just been a piece of glitter.

Normal Lily didn`t completely trust Sirius Black, despite his reforms. She remembered the incident on the train, and wouldn`t have jumped on the platform. The other Lily didn`t care. When Sirius smiled and leaned in, Normal Lily would have pushed him off the platform and onto the mob below. That though never crossed the other Lily`s mind.

Lily Evans never would have thought she`d have done a lot of things that happened during her fourth year at Hogwarts, especially not kiss Sirius Black.

And yet suddenly, there they were, high above the ground, lips locked.

James Potter felt his stomach drop further then he`d fall if he jumped off his platform. Just good business.

In the brief moments the kiss lasted, Lily faintly heard the sound of fireworks going off beyond the balcony, and she couldn`t help wonder if that was why the smell of gunpowder still lingered on Sirius.

Severus Snape heard the sounds of the explosions, startling him into dropping his book.

Gleefully, he ran from his room.

He had them this time!

Despite the destructive noise from outside, none of the teachers even stirred that night.

Was it the muffliato charms that had been placed on them by certain individuals?

Maybe the sleeping potion they`d all ingested at dinner was a factor.

But honestly, it was mostly due to the fact that a certain Slytherin student had fallen into a stray puddle of quicksand. Actually, it was a transfigured rug that was never quite the same afterwards.

Out of all of her roommates, Mary was undoubtedly the sanest.

A Ravenclaw bumped her hip, almost sending her drink flying onto the drummer, and she burst into hysterical laughter that even she couldn`t hear over the pulse of music. Ariana joined in, and Mary tried to figure out what made all of this so funny. It was probably all the drinks, she decided.

There was a reason Lily usually held the title Mary was about to rid herself of. Was it because she had a tad more dignity? Maybe. Was part of it due to the fact Mary hung around Mattie and Mel more? Probably. Was it because Lily wasn`t as determined? Mary would like to believe so, and as she downed another drink, she did.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Mmm. Nothing," Mary beamed at the sight of Mel playing darts with the precision of a person only on their first drink. "It`s just I won`t be the one helping clean up from all of this."

Even though she`d been around the Marauders enough to have grown accustom to the strange ways of the Gryffindors, Ariana was thrown by this declaration. "I though the boys were going to magic this all away tomorrow morning… why would you get dragged into it?"

After an eye roll, Ariana got her explanation. "My roommates and I made this agreement after a particularly disastrous morning after a Gryffindor quiddich victory… whichever of us is the most together at the end of nights like this is supposed to clean up the messes of the other four. I had to do it once…" she shuddered at the memory. "Among other things, I had to get Mel`s heels from the astronomy tower and drive James out of our closet."

"Closet?"

Mary sighed, and tried to repress a smile. "Lily locked him in. Anyway, by the looks of it, I won`t be the one pulling the bodies out of the lake."

Ariana`s eyes were wide. "Bodies?!"

"Remus must really like you if he`s sheltered you this much." She chuckled, somewhat darkly, and patted her innocent friend on the shoulder. "Come on, let`s go find Mel so I can show you how the Gryffindor`s party."

"Oh…okay…" The Ravenclaw gave in and allowed her boyfriend`s friend to pull her towards certain insanity, knowing full well nothing she`d read in a textbook could save her now.

By the time the pair reached the dartboard, Ariana was paler than the great sphere in the sky that her boyfriend secretly feared.

"Worm-tail! Worm-tail! Worm-tail!"

"Wooo! Go Worms!"

"…And by the looks of it, Johnny is regretting opening that can of Worms…."

Peter grinned madly at Mel, caldron cake smeared across his face from ear to ear, delighted to have his name made into a pun.

"Come on, buddy, keep your head up, you`ve still got a chance! John-ny!" Alice belted out, jumping up and down.

Frank looked at Alice strangely. "He`s got no chance, Pete`s got him beat by twenty-two."

"Shhh, not so loud, you`ll discourage him, there`s still time for a comeback!"

"You`re a strange fish, you know that?"

"Johnny! Go, go, go! You got this, mate."

Frank shook his head, breaking into a smile, and started to clap. "Whoooo! Yeah, Johnny."

Long after the music had started up again, the columns had been lowered, and Peter had claimed his victory, a flash of red caught Mattie`s eye.

It was the first time all night she`d seen Lily without Sirius.

Mattie knew what she had to do. Lily was still her friend, and Mattie felt as if she owed it to Lily to warn her.

Dismissing the feud, she crossed the room, dodging and ducking around partygoers until she`d reached her friend, who`d been standing against the wall nursing a butterbeer. The crowd next to them looked like they were doing gillyweed, but Lily didn`t seem to notice.

The butterbeer was a good sign, since the Lily Mattie knew would never think of touching firewisky.

"Lils, I have to tell you something." Mattie said in a very small voice, almost hoping her friend wouldn`t hear. But she did, of course she did.

"Hmm?"

"Sirius….Sirius made a bet that he could make you fall in love with him by the end of the party."

Lily looked up, and quietly said, "I know."