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Love... What is love? Love is to love someone
for who they are, who they were, and who they will be. - Chris Moore


It was the Hogsmeade trip the next day. All of the girls woke early in order to help Lily get ready for her first date with James: I don't know who out of all of us was the most excited. Lily, normally calm and collected, kept dashing to the mirror to put on another coat of mascara, or tug at her clothes. Katie kept running up with different necklaces to try on, none of which were satisfactory to her. Alice kept trying to redo Lily's hair, hindered by Megs, who kept spraying copious amounts of hairspray on it.

Around this hurricane, the rest of the dorm was a mess. Clothes, shoes, books, towels, make-up and other feminine detritus littered the dormitory. I was busy mixing up a calming potion for Lily: I could tell already that she was very nervous, mostly because it was a first date etc, but partly because the rest of the school would be watching and passing judgement.

At five to ten, even Katie could fault nothing with Lily's appearance, and we all ushered her down the stairs to the common room, where James was no doubt waiting in a similar state of agitation. He was. His back was towards the stairs, as I came down first, but I saw his fists were clenched and his hair looked even messier than normal, due to the fact that he had been tearing his hands through it with the worry that Lily would cancel. Or that it was all a dream.

When he heard the footsteps on the stairs, he turned, and his face broke from a worried frown into a blinding grin when he saw that Lily was with us, and smiling at him. We left Lily to walk over to James alone, giving her surreptitious hand squeezes and reassuring smiles as we went.

We turned our backs to give them some privacy, Katie fiddling with her bag strap as we went over to the Portrait Hole. From behind us came a cough, the sort that was trying to get attention. Turning round, I saw the rest of the Marauders, Sirius at their head, making their way towards us.

"I trust you weren't planning on leaving without us?" asked Sirius, one eyebrow raised.

"I didn't think we had any plans to leave with you." I replied, also raising one eyebrow. (In case anyone is interested, it was my left eyebrow I raised – I can't raise the right one without looking like a complete idiot as I make a weird face in the attempt. Strange I know, but at least I can raise one. It's always been one of my favourite talents.)

He grinned at me.

"Would you like to make any? I would like to propose a day in which we go to Hogsmeade, trawl round the shops as usual, and then spy on the new couple. I'm pretty sure none of you would object to that?"

Katie laughed. "Sounds like a fun day."

"Yeah," added Megs and Alice.

"And Miss Loganberry? Or does she not approve of such underhand tactics?" asked Sirius.

"On the contrary, Mr. Black, Miss Loganberry will show you how it's done." I replied. "We should leave first so that they don't think we are following them."

The walk down to Hogsmeade was pleasant, and although it was a cold day I was sweating under all the layers I was wearing. Nurse Roberts had caught up with me in the Entrance Hall, made sure I had taken all my potions, but when she found out that I was only wearing a winter top, a jumper and a thick coat, as well as gloves, scarf and hat, she refused to let me leave until I had put a thermal vest on.

Fortunately, everyone was kind enough to wait for me, and indeed were all in fits of laughter when I came down, laughing about that fact that James and Lily were so engrossed in conversation that they walked straight past their friends, who were nonchalantly waiting for me.

Finally, we had been able to leave, after Nurse Roberts gave me an extra-dose of Pepper-Up potion, "just to be sure", and watched us beadily as we walked down the long driveway to make sure I didn't take any of my numerous items of clothing off. As roasting as I was, I knew that any hint that I was even going to take off so much as a glove in her line of vision would result in an immediate end to my Hogsmeade trip.

When we arrived at Hogsmeade, the boys rushed off in the direction of Zonko's, and when we caught up with them five minutes later, their baskets were already full of dung bombs and pranks. There was a rather hairy moment when Remus caught sight of a box with a "Portable Fountain" in it.

"Hey guys! Look at this – I think it's what was put in our dormitory." He exclaimed.

I caught Katie's eye and started to grin. I felt the laughter bubble up inside me, and bit down hard on my cheek to prevent it from escaping. So hard, in fact, that I drew blood.

"Someone pranked you?" asked Megs in a strangled voice. "The Great Marauders were pranked?"

"Yeah – hard to believe. But it was a pretty good prank on the whole, I would have to say. Worthy of a Marauder."

"Do you know who did it?" enquired Katie. I stared resolutely at the floor, knowing that if I caught anyone's eye I wouldn't be able to contain my laughter. My fingernails dug into my palms.

"We still have no idea who did it. We think it must have been a Gryffindor as obviously it is unlikely that anyone else would know our password. Although there was a hair tie in our dormitory beforehand, but then that disappeared. So it could have been a girl."

"A girl? And a Gryffindor. Perhaps you suspect one of us Gryffindor girls then?" teased Katie.

At this, I dissolved into laughter, which, luckily for me, dissolved into a real coughing fit. I still had a lot of the symptoms of cold, including the runny nose and bad cough. Instantly, everyone was clustered round me, asking if I was alright.

"Fine – I'm... fine." I wheezed.

"Give her some space." Advised Sirius, clearing a circle around me.

The store assistant had now come over to check what was happening.

"Is everything alright here? Do you need me to call an ambulance."

Even as I continued to cough, I rolled my eyes: people could worry so much over something so little.

Eventually, my coughing fit came to an end, by which time I had gathered quite a crowd. The boys hurriedly bought their products and rushed me out of the shop into the Three Broomsticks to get a drink.

"Are you quite sure that you're alright?" solicited Remus. "That really didn't sound so good. And went on for over five minutes."

"It's fine – sounds worse than it is."

Suddenly, a hand deposited a hot tankard of butterbeer before me.

"Get that down you, Loganberry. Clear those pipes up." Came Sirius' voice.

"Thanks – how much do I owe you?"

"It's on me." He replied.

"No – I honestly-"

"Don't argue. Besides, it gives me that nice warm fuzzy feeling to be saving your life."

"You are not saving my life – I was only coughing!"

"It sounded like you were dying."

I gave a huge mock sigh, but took a sip. It was delicious. The warm liquid was soothing to my ragged throat, and I felt that wonderful tingling sensation of warmth right down to my toes.

Sirius smirked at my reaction from across the table. I stuck my tongue out. When we had finished, we all rushed to stock up on stationary at Scrivenshafts and sweets at Honeydukes, and then it was time to stalk Lily and James. We found them walking on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, hand in hand, still deep in conversation.

We hid behind nearby trees, all having a great time following our friends, who were oblivious to our presence. Strangely, I kept feeling sudden burst of heat around me, and it was not until the fifth time it happened that I realised Sirius was casting warming spells on me.

I tried glaring at him, but he just gave me a half-hug round the shoulders with one arm and said "Need to keep warm, Loganberry." He continued to do it throughout the afternoon.

There came a point when Lily and James stopped walking and faced each other. All of us girls held our breath as James leaned in and Lily stretched up. Katie got out Meg's camera.

"Katie!" I hissed.

"It's fine, Rose! Just think how cute it will be for them to have their first kiss captured in a photograph! They can show it to their grandchildren!"

I frowned at her, but mentally conceded that the idea was quite cute, even if very intrusive. Eventually, we decided to leave, have seen all we wanted to see and giving them some privacy.

During the walk back to the castle, I found myself alongside Sirius.

"Had a good day?" he asked.

"Yeah – I never realised how fun stalking your best friends could be! Although now I might be a bit paranoid that I'll be stalked by my friends."

"Though your friends are with you most of the time. It's only on things like dates that you would want to be alone."

"Yeah – and like I'm gonna have a date this side of Christmas." I muttered sarcastically.

Obviously, his hearing was better than I thought it was because he frowned at this.

"Why ever not?"

I blushed.

"Well, there's only one Hogsmeade trip left for a start. Plus that fact that I am a walking germ factory doesn't make me a particularly attractive date."

"I disagree. Well maybe not about the germs, but –"

"SIRIUS!" He was interrupted as we walked across the threshold to the Entrance Hall. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

I felt my body tense as Titia appeared from the shadows, blonde hair perfectly wavy, wearing a low-cut powder blue jumper with the Ravenclaw crest which accentuated her slim figure.

"Oh – Rose. I didn't see you there. Are you feeling better?"

She didn't wait to hear the reply.

"Sirius darling, I just need to talk to you for a moment. Do you mind if I borrow him from you?"

Again, without waiting for an answer she dragged him reluctantly off by the arm, as Katie came back to give my shoulder a consoling squeeze.

"How do you feel about a visit to the Kitchens? I'm feeling peckish." She declared.

I nodded, and she and I walked off in the directions of the Kitchens, as the others returned to the Heads' Common Room. I began to imagine what Sirius and Titia were up to – most likely making out in a broom closet somewhere.

"I wouldn't think about it, Rose." Advised Katie.

I looked at her confused.

"About what?"

"About what Titia and Sirius are up to."

"How did you know that was what I was thinking about?"

"Because you're Rose. I assume you still... have the same feelings as before?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "More's the pity."

"I wouldn't give up yet. There's still hope. More hope, in fact, than there was before."

"Really?"

"Yep – just look at the way he was looking after you all afternoon. And he was so worried when you were ill."

I smiled a bit. "He was just being kind. It's what friends do."

She gave me a look, but by this time we were at the Kitchens and soon involved in ordering food. Arms full, we trudged back to the Heads' Common Room with lunch for eight, (sandwiches, pumpkin pies etc). I almost dropped my load in shock when I saw that Sirius was already there, and there was no sign of Titia.

"She was asking me out," he was saying, "but I said no. Titia's – that's the fifth time she's tried to get me alone. It's really annoying."

I hid my sudden grin as I deposited the food on the table.


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