Lily brushed her hair and put on some lip liner. It had been a while since she'd actually put on makeup because of all her studying. Lily was still studying hard, but now she was enjoying life a little bit more thanks to the Marauders and Jeanne. Humming, she dabbed some silver eye shadow on and put on her thick black cape. Winter was here because the Castle was slowly getting chilly.

But Lily didn't mind. Lily loved Winter down to the very last tip of the icicle.

Jeanne walked in smiling at Lily and gave her a pair of red fleece mittens.

" My mom bought us some winter apparel," Jeanne laughed and pulled out her own red ones. Lily laughed and they both took out their matching red hats from last year. Jeanne's mom loved to shop for the girls.

"Are you ready?" Jeanne asked and fixed her own hair up a bit. "Because Sirius and Company are waiting for us."

Lily nodded and clasped her cape together, admiring the silver glint.

"Let's go!" She called and dragged Jeanne out of the door. This was probably their 5th Hogsmeade outing with the Marauders. Sirius, James and Remus had made it a point to stay in touch so every other week, they'd go out to catch up on a foamy bottle of butterbeer.

Coming down the stairs were two lovely young ladies, one with beautiful red hair and glowing emerald eyes, James speculated. Hmmm. She was actually smiling; yes this was good.

" It's great to actually see you smiling." James complimented Lily.

"Yeah, That's the Lily we all know." Sirius added.

Remus opened the Portrait and called, " Should we all go now? We're wasting time."

Lily paled, "Oh that's right! Are we going the….er—sneaky way?"

Sirius and James grinned and replied, "Always." Lily and Jeanne had missed the horse carriage on one of their earlier trips to Hogsmeade and had came back to the Common room looking dejected. But to their surprise, James and Sirius were there lounging on the couch waiting for Remus to get back from the Library. As the men had seen them, they had immediately jumped up asking why the girls were so down. Telling them, a grin had spread across Sirius' face and James had sworn them to secrecy about their beloved entrance to Hogsmeade. (Yet, They hadn't told about the map.)

Anyway, Remus led the way to the Statue of the witch and Sirius stepped forward to whisper "Dissendium" and all five of them climbed into the hole one by one. Lily lit her wand and prompted four others to do so as well; she didn't like being in the dark. Sirius' head knocked up against the cellar opening first since he WAS the tallest and lifted up the catch slowly to make sure they wouldn't get caught.

First, Jeanne climbed out, than Lily and then Sirius, Remus, and then James. They brushed off the lint and dust from their thick winter capes and entered the store of Honeydukes. Bustling with customers, as usual, Lily's giddiness of being surrounded by so much candy spread throughout her body. Jumping up and down, she grabbed James' hands.

"Look! It's your favorite!" Lily pointed to the row of Chocolate Fudge.

"Do you want anything?" James asked, laughing.

"Nope! I'm perfectly happy." Lily smiled at him and ran out to the door.

"Dang, that girl moves fast." Sirius remarked as Jeanne nodded in agreement. "But we all love her as the same."

Remus and the rest of them snuck their way through the masses of people and to the outside where the snow was falling and Hogsmeade was slowly turning white. Lily was grinning and dancing around, trying to catch snowflakes. James laughed and called, "Come on Lily! We've still got a lot of shops to go to!"

Lily turned around and raced back to the group, linking arms with James and Remus; passerbys looking past them to see a blur of red fly by them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey James," Nina Filemonte smiled at him seductively. "How have you been? I haven't seen much of you by yourself."

James smiled back at her, oblivious to what her motions were. "Yeah, just hanging out with my friends. After all, we are graduating this year."

Nina was very pretty with shiny dark brown hair that was, at the moment, pulled up with a diamond studded clip. One week before Christmas and she was looking fantastic in fitted black robes with silver jewelry. Yes, she had a nice figure but she was a bit skinny, James observed.

"Who are those girls you're always with?" Nina asked, laying her perfectly manicured nails on James' toned arm. James was looking exceptionally nice today; not that he didn't always. So many girls vied for his attention, hoping to be that special one, after Marianne who clearly wasn't for him. Wearing a heather grey turtleneck sweater with light fawn colored khakis, Nina couldn't resist touching his silver chain around his neck.

"Who? Lily and Jeanne?" James replied. " Oh, they're really sweet. Sirius, Remus and I met them while we were on vacation and we just hit it off great." Lily…especially Lily..she was really the type of girl he could spend his time with….WAIT? What?! What did he just say? Oh my goodness. James' heart was racing. No wonder he didn't feel intimidated by Nina. Same with Marianne! He liked….Lily! No, it couldn't be. Lily was just his friend. But, she was just so special in her own way..and he didn't get those little butterflies in his stomach. No! He just had….an overreactive stomach! That's all.

"Ahh..well." Nina practically purred. " I was wondering, the Yule Ball is approaching really soon and I heard that you didn't have a partner yet." James looked at Nina in surprise. The Ball! Oh yes, that was what he and Marianne had been working on for so long.

" Ah, well yes." James smiled at her and ran his hand through his adorable hair. Nina was nice and in Hufflepuff, as long as they went as friends there would be nothing wrong with spending an evening dancing with her.

"Would you like to be my partner?" Nina looked up at him, smiling gently.

"Sure." James took a hold of her hand and kissed it, as he was a perfect gentleman and that was the perfect etiquette, but also added, " Just so you know, Marianne and I have to share some dances since we're from the Head party so do you mind?"

"No. Not at all." Nina smiled at him for the last time, glowing with success and waved. "See you in a week."

James grinned at her and waved. Whistling to himself, he walked up to the Great Hall doors and walked in, trying to find Sirius and Remus. Sure enough, Lily and Jeanne were sitting next to them, chattering and laughing happily.

"What's up?" He said, sitting down next to Lily and began loading food onto his plate.

" Sirius just told us the most hilarious joke," Lily replied giggling. Remus was also laughing into his food as Jeanne couldn't even eat considering she was laughing so hard.

"Ahhh.." Lily sighed as she relaxed her hurting sides. Life was good. It was near Christmas and the Yule Ball, but no one had asked her yet. No matter, even if she wasn't asked, she'd have fun. She WAS fun. Picking at her red sweater, she suddenly felt a presence behind her.

"Hey Lily," said Chris Foley. "Will you go with me to the Yule Ball?" With that, he knelt on one knee and produced a dozen blush colored roses from behind him. Now, the entire hogwarts population was looking at them.

Lily's face broke into an even wider grin as she heard some girls from other tables sigh and giggle. James was obviously not going to ask her so why not just take the first person who asked. Besides, Chris was extremely sweet and kind; she'd have some fun.

" Sure Chris!" Lily exclaimed as Chris handed her the gorgeous roses. James couldn't explain it but he suddenly felt angry and his heart was just thumping so hard. Sure, it was awesome that Lily was so happy, but it kind of irked him to see that it wasn't himself making her happy. Afterall, he and Lily were the close ones who shared everything, even happiness, not Chris.

Chris kissed her hand and waved goodbye to Lily as he walked back to the Ravenclaw table, highfiving fellow males at the table as Lily blushed.

"Awww.." Jeanne sighed. " Lily you're so awesome….that was just so sweet. Lily you're so lucky."

"Why what's wrong?!" Sirius asked in alarm. " Don't tell me the magnanimous Jeanne doesn't have a date?"

Jeanne looked a bit hurt. " Well, I guess not…"

"Good." Sirius said smugly as if he knew something she didn't. " Because…."

Sirius took out his wand and wrote in blazing white letters in front of Jeanne's face, JEANNE, WE'D ROCK IF WE WENT TOGETHER. WE'D ROCK HOGWARTS, SO WON'T U COME HAVE FUN WITH ME?

Jeanne was surprised but grinned and nodded yes as the words exploded up into the air into fireworks.

"HOORAY!" Sirius cheered while producing a bunch of daisies and tucking one into Jeanne's hair. " Yes, You and I are going to have some fun." Lily was laughing and she even managed to squeal and hug Jeanne.

"So who'd you ask Remus?" Sirius said, messing up Remus' sandy blonde hair. " Whoever it is, I heard her say yes."

"Ahaha." Remus laughed and pushed the hair out of his hazel eyes. "  Heather Chafely."

"Who's that?" Lily asked with wide eyes. She didn't' know any of these older girls.

"She's my year. Prefect in Ravenclaw and she's the one over there with the brown hair."

"ooh." Lily glanced over and saw a petite and curvy girl with shiny brown hair and rosy cheeks, chattering happily with her group of friends.

"Yes! We're going to have so much fun too." Lily's smile grew even wider if possible, but then faltered. " Wait, James? Who're you going with ? Did you ask anyone?"

James stiffened a little, remembering that he forgot to tell Sirius and Remus. " Oh yeah…Nina Filemonte just asked me and she's nice so I thought I'd go with her."

Sirius nodded cheerily, " That girl is nice, I remember her asking Remus to Hogsmeade and even when Remus---er.. couldn't make it, She was still nice about it."

Lily smiled as well as Remus suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "That's fantastic, James." Lily said softly. "You're still going to hang out with us right?"

James nodded gallantly and tugged teasingly on Lily's hair. "Of course my little Lily, of course."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jeanne and Lily were shopping in Hogsmeade as the snowflakes fell down onto their smooth silky manes. The ball was next week and Jeanne and Lily had totally procrastinated in getting their appropriate dresses. This was the fun part about the ball however. Getting all dolled up, feeling like a million dollars, and seeing the face of the date; Lily sighed and pointed out a pretty pale pink gown in the window of a boutique.

"Wow.." Jeanne looked dreamily at it through the window. " That's a pretty dress, but pink really isn't your color."

"Yeah, I know." Lily grimaced and pulled at her hair. " But I like the design. It's simple and elegant."

Jeanne laughed and pulled Lily along the way to the next store. Stopping by a butterbeer cart, Jeanne purchased two steaming butterbeer floats and gave one to Lily. Sipping it through the big straw, Jeanne sighed and pointed out another dress.

"Now that one is to die for."

Sure enough, it was stunning. The ballgrown dress looked like a picture out of a bridal magazine. Complete with a bronzy satin rose at the edge of the waste, the heavy satin material was sort of a creamy copper. There were obviously layers of mesh and fluffing underneath because the skirt itself poofed outwards, making the waist of the already tiny dummy, even more tiny. The top was strapless  but had satin sewn on the back to look like the wearer had a scarf of some type.

Lily nodded but reminded Jeanne that it probably cost more than Hogwarts did.

Jeanne sighed again and moved on.

Lily dragged Jeanne into the next store, Fleur Blanche, because it looked like it had hundreds of dresses, on sale too! As Jeanne was shifting through the piles of dresses and every other rack, Lily came up behind her and showed her three different dresses.

" These are the ones within my price range, and the ones that I like."

"Oooh," Jeanne glanced at one of the dresses. "That's very very pretty. Really like your style."

Lily grinned and then glanced at what Jeanne had in mind.

"I only have 4 so far," Jeanne replied defensively as Lily started snorting in laughter. " You know me, I have to try on all the ones I like." Lily nodded and then pointed towards the direction of the fitting rooms.

"Go there when you're done choosing. Room three, oh and take your time," Lily joked sarcastically.

Jeanne just rolled her eyes grinning and turned back to the rack of dresses.

Meanwhile, Lily had slipped off her robes and slipped into the silky sheen of the garment. This one was a pale lavender with a halter top. The hips were tight, maybe a little too tight, and it flared out at the end with a train. It came with matching purple gloves.

Boo, Lily thought. If only I wasn't so fat. But that wasn't true, Lily wasn't fat, she just had curves and she didn't realize that guys liked curves. (Namely a certain someone) Jeanne knocked on the door and Lily called for her to come in.

"Hmm…" Jeanne speculated Lily carefully. " I think the person meant to wear this, has no hips, like not as curvy as you are."

" Yeahh." Lily looked at the mirror again before stepping down and taking off the dress.

"How's this?" Jeanne modeled in a long black velvet formal gown with the front entirely covered but the back was bare and down to her lower waist.

" It makes you look too old I think." Lily said. "Yeah, try another one."

As Jeanne changed, Lily changed into another dress. Yes she liked this one. Calling to Jeanne as she zipped up the zipper, Lily looked in the mirror. Oh yes, this was a very nice gown and was 35 galleons. Not too bad.

"Ooh." Jeanne nodded. " This one brings out your eyes and the pink isn't clashing. Get this one." Lily nodded happily because her dress shopping was all done and put on her normal robes.

Now Jeanne stepped onto the platform once more. Twice, Three times. And more so. The first one was too small since Jeanne had even more of a figure than Lily. Second one was definitely not Jeanne style. And the other ones just didn't seem to bring out the best of Jeanne's figure. Finally dejected, Lily told Jeanne to wait as she went to find a dress for her. Jeanne liked elaborate styles but the ones she chose today weren't exactly bringing out her best features.

Stopping towards the rack near the window, Lily grabbed a satin red gown and rushed towards the fitting room.

"Here. Try this."

Jeanne put it on sadly, thinking that it wasn't going to fit, because it looked a bit small, but to her surprise, it fit fine. The length of the dress could be cinched a bit but otherwise, the dress looked really nice on her.

" Yeah, You should really take this one." Lily said with admiration. " It looks really nice with your skin."

Jeanne glanced hesitantly at her reflection. " You're sure it's not too plain?" Lily grinned back at her and nodded. " It's not plain, but that's what a little bit of icing is for. Come on, let's go pay and get more stuff."

Jeanne nodded, understanding and slipped out of the satin gown. Putting it safely on the hanger and slipping her clothes back on, The two girls walked out of the fitting room, paid for their gowns and walked out of the store.

" Ok.. Where do you find accessories?" Lily mumbled absentmindedly. "Oh! Over there. Duh."

Lily pulled at Jeanne's arm who was looking at her dress inside the package and pointed towards the large store with bustling customers.

" Yeah, that's the store, Fiona's has everything to do with formals."

Reaching the inside, Jeanne squealed as she found a set of faux diamonds that was charmed to glitter infinitely whether in the dark or light. It had diamond earrings, diamond bracelet cuffs and this gorgeous faux diamond necklace that would totally match with her dress. Gripping onto it tightly, Jeanne's grin satisfied Lily as she watched for her own accessories. She didn't know to match with her own dress; since it was kind of-----special. The jewelry had to be elaborate since her dress was simple but she wasn't finding anything so far.

"Oooh.." Jeanne gasped and pulled Lily to the counter of glass. "That would go perfectly with your dress."

Lily gasped at the price, it was so expensive!

"Don't be dumb." Jeanne beamed. " I'll share the price with you."

"Oh, nonono." Lily said humbly. " I could never make you do that." Jeanne shook her head and held up a hand to Lily's face.

"Like I told you, don't be dumb. You're my best friend. Money is no option. Besides, who helped me pay for my shopping debt that I owed to Daddy last year?"

Lily laughed and replied , "Whatever, you just needed a little boost."

Jeanne responded with a "Sure" and pulled out her leather wallet.

Waving at the lady at the counter, Jeanne confidently said, " My friend wants that one." The lady put on some gloves so as not to get oil on the beautiful circlet and put it in a blue box, wrapping it with a ribbon. Jeanne paid and handed the box to Lily.

" We're all set." Jeanne beamed and together, the girls left the shop to get back to Hogwarts by carriages.

A/N: Ahhhhhhhhhh!! I'm so extremely sorry, but school's out in a few days!! YAY!! I had a ton of finals to study for and I'm so sorry for making you wait. So completely sorry, but hope this was worth it. I'm still writing so don't' worry. Sorry again!! Please review^^ I hope Jeanne and Lily didn't sound too… "girly" in a way because the main point I was trying to get through is that when you go shopping for this kind of stuff, it's fun!! Plus, the guys aren't dating~ merely, having fun with a group of people and people can go to dances without actually 'dating' you know what I mean?