If you've read the first part of this chapter already, scroll down to the stars to find the second half!!!

~*~ James The Jack Russell Juggler ~*~

~Now and then

~You'll go and shock me

~Take me completely by surprise

~Leaving me to ask

~What the hell was that?

Cake. Food. Banner. Yep. Friends. Well, most of them. Now all we needed was...

'James?' I laughed, immediately cracking up at the sight of Mr-I'm-holier- than-thou in a grass skirt and a bikini top.

'Is this reality or have you just popped out of an episode of Hawaii 5o?' I asked, leaning on the back of a chair for support. He glared good naturedly at me.

'Oh, dear gods. Bella! Get you arse down here, and grab a camera while you're at it!' I yelled, still laughing hysterically.

'Shut up, would you?' James sighed.

'Nope,' I giggled, shaking my head, shaking with amusement.

'Lily, shut it,' he moaned, cheeks burning red.

Just then, Bella appeared at the top of the stairs. She took one look at James and collapsed against the railing.

'Lily, I didn't know you were dating a transvestite. Did you?' 'No, because I'm not dating anyone,' I replied, narrowing my eyes at her before turning to James.

'OK. I am now officially over my hysterical breakdown. You may now explain.'

'Sirius did it,' James said plainly.

'How?' I asked. 'We're not allowed to use magic out of school.'

'Oh, but he didn't do it out of school. He mixed the concoction at school.'

'A 'concoction', huh?' I asked, raising an eyebrow.

'What - the bring-out-the-true-homosexual-in-you concoction?' Bella giggled, walking giddily down the stairs.

'No, the bring-out-your-inner-costume-theme charm. He supposedly charmed some water and gave it to me in the car. And drinking the charm in the water seemed to have the same effect as having the charm cast on me.'

'Hmm,' I said thoughtfully. 'That could be handy to know.'

'Anyway,' he interrupted, glaring at me, 'I need it fixed.'

'But Jamsie,' I said, smirking. 'We aren't allowed to do magic out of school. And I do quite like you like this.'

'I agree. All in favour of James staying like this throughout the party, raise your hand,' Bella giggled. She and I both raised our hands.

'A unanimous vote!' Sirius said gleefully, appearing at the top of the stairs.

'Sirius, I'd keep away from me unless you want to die a very slow and painful death,' James said in a strained, cheerful tone.

'Try and catch me in that skirt, James. You wouldn't want it to fall down,' Sirius teased.

James's cheeks reddened, and I cocked my head to one side to look at him.

'And what's all this about?' I asked curiously.

'She doesn't have to know,' James told Sirius.

'I think I do,' I argued.

'I think she does too,' Sirius agreed, walking down the stairs very slowly. 'No she doesn't,' James moaned.

'Yeah, she does,' Bella piped up.

'What?' I asked, grinning. Sirius poked his tongue out at James before turning back to Bella and I.

'Jamsie boy here,' he said teasingly, 'isn't wearing any underwear.'

'What? I am too!' James protested. 'Where did you get that from? I thought you were going to tell her...' He shut his mouth quickly.

'Nah, James is wearing underwear. Fortunately. The thing is, Jamsie made a promise in the car.'

'Oh?' I said airily, enjoying every minute as James squirmed uncomfortably.

'He said, during a short conversation in which I teased him about being madly in love with you and wanting to marry you, that the day you wanted to marry him was the day that he would pull his skirt down in front of everyone at the party.'

I grinned mischievously. I got up and walked over to James. He gulped as I got down on one knee.

'James, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?'

'Would you fancy that, James? It seems that Lily wants to marry you,' Sirius said with an air of surprise.

'But not sincerely,' James said, his face pale.

'You never said the day she wants to marry you sincerely, James. You said -'

'But I do want to marry him,' I interrupted. 'I want to marry him so that he will pull his skirt down at the party.'

Sirius and Bella both smirked at James.

'There you have it, Potter,' Bella said. 'Lily wants to marry you. For twisted reasons, yes, but wants to all the same.' 'And since today is the day Lily wants to marry you, it is also the day you must pull down that lovely skirt of yours at the party.'

'Noooooooooo,' James whined.

'Yeeeeeeeeees,' I mocked.

'Face it, bro, you're screwed,' Hilary called from the couch.

'Oh, sleeping beauty's awake, huh?' I asked, seeing Hilary sit up and stretch.

'I need an afternoon nap to beautify myself for the party,' she said disdainfully.

'Lav, no amount of sleep could make you beautiful,' James sighed.

'Shove it, James. I'm not the one in a grass skirt.'

James immediately shut his mouth.

I snorted.

'Looks like you got told, Jamsie,' Sirius laughed.

'Shut up,' James said, plucking at the seam on his bikini. 'How do you girls wear these things?'

They appeared to be sitting rather uncomfortably, especially considering James had nothing to 'fill' the bikini with. Bella and I read each other's minds.

'Shoulder pads,' we said together. Hilary and Sirius smirked as I dashed up the stairs, returning a few minutes later with two of my mum's creamy shoulder pads.

'Give us a look, Jamsie,' I grinned, fitting one into each section.

'Much better!' Sirius exclaimed.

'You guys are so going to pay for this,' James muttered.

* * *

Joey was at Melody's. She had been there since yesterday, and they were both due back around four. This was the moment when we would all jump out and say surprise very loudly, possibly scaring her half to death. This would have been almost guaranteed to work, if you overlooked one small detail.

Sirius Black and James Potter were involved.

They just couldn't seem to understand the whole concept of surprising someone. As professional pranksters, you would think the element of surprise would be the tiniest bit valued by them. Secondly, James was in a difficult mood.

'Lily, why do I have to wear this skirt?' he whined.

'Where should we go for our honeymoon?' I asked teasingly, ignoring his question.

'Gross,' James said, obviously taking the whole idea of a honeymoon the way that James Potter would.

'Never heard of that place I'm afraid, Jamsie. How about the Bahamas?'

'Whatever,' he muttered, walking out of the kitchen and into the lounge.

'What's up your bum, Potter?' I sighed, following him and flopping down on the Taylors' couch beside him.

'Nothing,' he said gruffly.

'Don't lie,' I said, poking him.

'Don't poke,' he said back.

'Someone's in a grump,' I said.

'Someone's in a prying mood,' was his reply. I rolled my eyes and changed the subject.

'Did you and Sirius finish putting up the decorations?'

'Dunno,' he shrugged.

'Why don't you know?' I asked, frowning.

'Because I wasn't helping.'

'Why not?'

'Oh gods, Lily! What's with the twenty questions?' he snapped, raising his hand. Surprised, I jerked back, scared he was going to strike me. I searched his eyes for the few seconds he held my gaze before he turned away.

'Sorry,' I said, frowning at him. 'No need to bite.'

I got up to leave when his hand grabbed my arm. I looked at him.

'I'm sorry,' he said, releasing his grip. I sighed and left the room. I couldn't be bothered dealing with James Potter and his mood swings at that moment.

'Sirius!' I yelled. 'Yeah?'

'Have you finished with the decorations?' I shouted, glancing towards the lounge where James was still moping on the couch.

'Yep!' he called back.

That was good - it meant everything was done. I checked my watch. Quarter to four. Where was everybody? As if on cue, Bella walked in.

'René's here,' she said.

And so she was, for soon enough, René was calling out.

'Lily Evans, get your bum here and give me a hug!' she laughed, coming out into the kitchen. James appeared out of the lounge just as she pulled me into a tight hug.

'Oh my god, it's so good to see you!' she squealed.

'You too,' I grinned, pulling back. Just then, the door bell rang.

'I'll get it,' called Hilary, running downstairs and out into the hall. 'Oi, Lil! Elizabeth's here!' I dashed out into the hall.

'You came!' I said, surprised.

'How couldn't I?' she laughed softly. I was just greeting her when a red car pulled up in the driveway. 'Who's that?' I asked, peering through the window on the door.

'Sam,' René answered automatically, coming to have a look.

'Oh,' I said, wincing slightly.

* * *

Ten minutes later and everyone except for Avril and Peter had turned up, and we were all hiding in Joey's activity room, lights off, waiting for her to come home. It was almost guaranteed that Joey and Melody would come through here; it was the quickest way to Joey's room. The problem was that it was upstairs and the bathroom was downstairs, so everytime someone needed to go and had to sneak out they had a long way to walk.

Finally, at about five past four, we heard the doorbell. There was a bit of shuffling around, then everyone fell silent. A few minutes later there were footsteps, and Joey and Melody's voices. Everyone held their breath, and soon enough the door opened. Joey flicked on the light and was looking over her shoulder saying something to Melody when we all jumped out.

'SURPRISE!'

She screamed, and jumped about a mile. After she had regained composure, she began to laugh.

'Oh my god, Lily Evans, what have you done?' she laughed, turning immediately to me.

'How do you know it was me?' I asked innocently. Joey placed a hand on her hip.

'Because I know you. Come here and give me a hug!'

I did.

'Thank you so much!' she said happily.

'You're welcome,' I grinned back. Most of the people present came up and hugged her, the exclusions mostly my friends who didn't know her that well. I was half expecting James to go up and hug her, but he didn't. Which reminded me.

James had a promise to keep.

************THE NEW PART!!!******************

~*~~

'Hey Jamsie,' I said, grinning and flinging an arm around his shoulder.

'What?' he asked warily.

'Oh, nothing. Maybe just a little promise you made...'

James groaned. 'Lily...'

'You promised!' I insisted.

I pulled him along as he grumbled, into the middle of the room.

'Hey, everybody!'

Everybody slowly fell quiet, looking curiously at me and James.

'Um, OK. Maybe I should explain. This morning, my good friend James here sort of made a promise that day I was wanting to marry him was the day he would pull down this lovely skirt, which is a long story in itself, at Joey's party. And it stands to fact that I proposed to him about two hours ago, so since it's the day I'm wanting to marry him, it's also the day he's pulling down this great skirt of his.'

At this point, James rolled his eyes, Joey grinned, quite a few people clapped, and Sirius wolf whistled.

'Go on, Jamsie,' I teased.

'What do you want me to do? Just undo it at the back, or what?' he asked, frowning.

'Yeah, just take it off,' I shrugged. He reached around the back and broke the knot that held the skirt together. It immediately fell down to his ankles, leaving him in short-like bikini bottoms that weren't as revealing as your average bikini bottom but without the privacy of boardies. Everyone laughed and whistled and James did a little dance which made them laugh harder. In the confusion that followed, James disappeared. I frowned to myself, but didn't think much of it. But when he had been gone for some time, I decided to go look for him. Several people had asked about Joey, too, so I wasn't too surprised to find the two locking lips out in the front yard.

I sat down near the window with interest and amusement. Joey drew back, then went on tip toe to whisper something in James's ear. But the funny thing was, James didn't seem very happy. He had a hard look on his face, and his mouth was set in a line. In fact, he had been like that all day. The only time he had seemed the tiniest bit lively was when I had been teasing him just before he took the skirt off, and during his little dance. But then again, James always enjoyed being the centre of attention.

Tiring of watching my best friends making out, I slipped back upstairs to where the party was, and slid into a circle of people next to Bella, and casually joined in the conversation. After awhile I noticed some people I didn't know over the other side of the room and decided to go and introduce myself.

I had left René in charge of inviting Joey's new school friends, since I didn't know them. Seven of them had turned up in total.

'Hi,' I said, walking up to one of them while she was getting a drink. 'My name's Lily.'

She raised her eyebrow at me and coolly took a sip of my drink.

'Tiffany,' she said. She was African-American; tall, dark and full framed. I didn't think much of her clothes, though - it was more a question of what she wasn't wearing rather than what she was. She was half hanging out of it.

'You're Joey's friend?' she asked, chewing gum and laughing disbelievingly.

'Yeah,' I said, slightly icy. 'I am.'

'Right. Well, laters,' she said, walking off to join her circle of people.

So this was who Joey hung with now? The popular snobs - the kind of people we had detested in primary school. Rich or perfect snobs that thought they were holier than everyone else or something. And I wasn't about to be someone I wasn't just to fit in with the cool people.

'Kinda sad, huh?' asked Melody, coming up behind me. I turned.

'What?'

'Those girls Joey calls her friends. They're all fine while they're all gorgeous and have money, but they'd never be there for you. Just last week they ditched some girl because she was in an accident and scarred her face. It was terrible.'

'Joey used to hate those kind of people,' I sighed.

'Yeah, but if you were offered the chance to become one of the beautiful people, what would you do? It's recognition, Lily. Everybody loves them. They rule the school.'

'It's hard to believe,' I said softly.

'You see the black girl?'

'Tiffany?'

'Yeah. She's a ballet dancer, and she's bulemic. Retches in the toilets every lunchtime. The one with the long blonde hair? According to everyone, lost her virginity last year. Lily, these people are barely twelve years old. It's crazy.'

'Gods, that is crazy,' I said with disbelief. 'They're throwing away their childhood. All they ever want to be is sixteen but when they get there they'll be wishing they'd slowed down.'

'Well, well, well. If it isn't Lily Evans.'

I winced at the voice and slowly turned around.

'If it isn't,' I replied, forcing a smile. 'Sam. So nice to see you again.'

'The pleasure's all mine, really,' he replied. He had become reasonably taller, and his hair was longer. He still had his lazy trademark smirk and casual stance.

'So tell me again why you don't go to our school?'

'I go to school over in France,' I said, frowning.

'Why? You're not French.'

I shrugged. 'It's a... special school,' I said truthfully.

'Yeah, figured. Stupid smart girly that you were,' he said, screwing up his face. He glanced suspiciously at me. I was just opening my mouth when he beat me to it. 'Yeah, I know, stupid smart doesn't make sense. They totally contradict each other -'

'Sam, what I was going to say is, stupid-smart is an oxymoron. Like accidentally on purpose, and taped live,' I teased.

'So it's not grammatically incorrect, then,' he replied, smirking.

'It depends how you look at it,' I said, shrugging. 'Evans, you're a contradiction in a nutshell,' he sighed.

'I heard you're going out with Joey,' I said with amusement, smiling across the room at James as he met my eyes sneaking back in with Joey. He didn't smile back.

'You heard right,' Sam shrugged, just as Sirius came up, bouncing like a hyperactive ferret on sugar pills.

'Can we go on the bouncy castle yet, Lily?' he whined. Joey, who was standing nearby, overheard.

'Lily Evans, you got a bouncy castle?' she screeched.

'Oh my gosh, I'd forgotten. Yeah, it's out the back,' I laughed, seeing Sirius bursting with the effort of containing his excitement.

Joey's eyes had lit up, and she looked pretty happy about it. But when we got out into the backyard, something happened that annoyed me a little. It was all because of Victoria. Another one of Joey's friends. Her and Tiffany had decided that bouncy castles were so not cool that it wasn't funny, and that only someone pretty childish would have thought of it. For a moment I had thought Joey was going to contradict them, but no. She must have felt she had some image to keep around her friends and decided to play fit in with the cool people. She gave me an apologetic glance before following her new friends inside.

I just rolled my eyes and watched her walk off for a minute before I heard someone come stand behind me. It was James.

'I'd like a go on the bouncy castle, Lils,' he said quietly, and I gave a small laugh.

'Yeah, I guess. You're not worried you're going to break a nail, are you?' I asked, putting an arm around his shoulder as we walked over, Bella and Hilary coming up next to us and Sirius running excitedly ahead.

He was on the castle in an instant, squealing like a five year old. Bella stood, arms crossed, watching him with amusement. James and I exchanged a glance, reading each other's minds. In a few seconds we were up behind her, picking her up and swinging her through the air a few times before throwing her onto the castle. She was screaming and laughing at the same time, and I could tell she had loved it. She landed, out of breath, and looked at James and me.

'I wanna do that again,' she breathed.

But before I could reply, James had picked me up and thrown me on too. 'Hey!' I exclaimed, landing on my knees and bouncing a few times. I stood up and tried to balance in between Sirius's energetic jumping, glaring accusingly at James, who grinned innocently before taking a run-up and jumping on too.

'Come on, Hil!' I yelled, and moved towards to edge to grab Hilary's arm and yank her on. She fell on her stomach and laughed before pushing me over.

Let's just say we had a bit of fun.

* * *

Half an hour later and we were inside for birthday cake. It went reasonably well - Joey loved it - but the good luck didn't last for long.

Joey had taken her cake and moved away, letting everyone else move in to get their pieces. Bella had been reaching for hers when Dana, another of Joey's friends, had shoved in to grab it, shooting Bella a dirty look. I saw Bella's eyes flash angrily and that was all I could see before the cake exploded. All over Dana, Tiffany, Victoria and Sirius. The Sirius thing was a fluke, I supposed - he just happened to be in the way, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed rather happy about it. However, the bitch brigade didn't.

For a moment, everyone just stared in shock. Bella was looking frantically at me and I decided I had better say something before something really bad happened.

'James,' I said, glaring at him, 'I can't believe you actually put one of your stupid fireworks in the cake! Look at the mess!'

Luckily for me James caught on to what I was trying to do, and played along.

'I didn't mean to!' he insisted. 'It was an accident!'

That was all the explanation anyone needed, although Joey did shoot me a few suspicious glances. A big commotion was caused by the three girls screeching about how their new designer clothes were ruined, but everyone who wasn't part of their group pretty much ignored them. Most people were actually laughing. I was making my way over to Bella when I passed James.

'You owe me,' he whispered with a smirk.

'Lily, I'm so sorry!' Bella said when I reached her. 'I didn't mean to! I was just so mad, and it just happened...'

'Yeah, well it wasn't too major,' I said with relief. 'Gods, I haven't done anything like that for ages.' 'Me neither,' she said. 'The last thing I did before that was before I came to Hogwarts. I blew up a vase.'

'I covered him in paint,' I giggled, gesturing to Sam. 'I got a detention for it, and that's how I met René.'

It was then when Sirius called for everyone's attention. Oh no, I was thinking. What was Sirius going to do?'

'Everybody, I have for your entertainment today, James, the Jack Russell Juggler!'

Now, as long as I had known Joey, I had known her dog Gemma. Gemma was a jack russell, and had recently had five puppies, whose names were Ralph, Forrest, Milo, Zip and Cookie. Joey had, because she was moving, given them all away. It had been difficult for her, I knew, but there just wasn't them room for six dogs in a New York apartment, no matter how small they were. But now, in walked James, looking rather amusing. On his head was a hat that consisted of a dog's basket, and in it, sitting quite happily, was Ralph and Forrest. James was wearing his skirt again, but had put a t-shirt over the top. And under each arm, was another puppy. Milo and Cookie.

Joey was ecstatic. Her jaw dropped and she rushed over, taking her puppies off James and hugging them all madly. They all got rather excited, licking her happily. James and Sirius were grinning at her excitement.

'We're afraid we couldn't hunt down Zip, his owner seemed unreachable...'

'Oh my gosh, thank you!' Joey said, hugging both James and Sirius. I smiled. James and Sirius had done that for someone they barely knew. And it made me appreciate what great friends I had. Even Tiffany and her friends didn't say anything to get in the way off Joey and her puppies; the look on her face when she had seen them had been enough to tell everyone this was something no one could interfere with.

Another half an hour and the puppies had to be returned, but not before a tearful goodbye from Joey. People were saying their goodbyes and leaving. We'd put the finish time for the party as six, because Joey had to leave at seven thirty, and it left us time to pack up. By quarter past six, I was the only one left. Joey and I were about to let the bouncy castle down.

'Listen, Lily... I'm sorry about the bouncy castle,' she said. 'It's just... I don't know. I feel like whatever they say goes.'

'You know,' I said slyly, looking at the castle, 'You could always have a go now.'

Joey grinned.

'Race you,' she called, and we both dashed over and jumped on.

That was the pretty much the most fun last half an hour I could have spent with Joey before she left. When it was time for her to leave, it wasn't easy.

'I can't believe you're going,' I whispered.

'Me neither,' she whispered back. We were both crying now, and Joey had mascara running down her face.

'I'm going to miss you so much, Lily Evans.'

'I'll never forget you,' I said, hugging her.

'Friends forever?' she asked.

'Yeah,' I grinned, pulling back and wiping my eyes. 'Friends forever.'

'We're both going to miss you, Lily,' Mrs Taylor said, giving me a quick hug. She had already spent the day before with my mum, because she was working that day.

'You too, Mrs Taylor.'

'Tell you're mum I said goodbye,' she said, wiping a tear from her own eye.

'I will,' I promised, as she and Joey hopped into the cab.

'Goodbye, Lily!' Joey called as they drove off, waving until I couldn't see her anymore.

'Yeah,' I whispered to myself, still wiping my eyes.

'Goodbye, Joey Taylor.'

*********************************************

Guys - biggest apologies, OK? One, ffnet wasn't letting me update. Two, I just sliced my knee open right on the knee cap and have stitches, so my knee hurts and sitting in a computer chair isn't that comfortable. But you're lucky that a day off school meant I had nothing better to do rather than type even though I was in pain. I was in pain anyway :( but that's why I've only written half a chapter. But it makes chappie 20 whole now! Isn't that good? :D

Well it's better than nothing and I promise PROMISE I'll update Saturday. If I don't, flame me. *grimaces*

Oh yeah, the following people contributed to the plot and are now owed large quantities of virtual whatever:

Jodz

Celine

Amelia Bedelia (great idea with the cover blowing, btw - I just couldn't se it because Joey returns in later chapters and the plot needs her to be able to remember magic. Otherwise i would have used it!)

Maigon Jesolite

And to whoever asked: I made Firregaze up. The name, I mean.

And Amelia Bedelia: YOU HAVE TO UPDATE LIGHT RIGHT NOW OR IM GONNA KICK YOU OUT THE WINDOW AND NOT WRITE YOU ANYMORE CHAPTERS!!! Hmmph. Wow, I'll settle down now. Ignore me, OK? But it would be great if you updated. *hint*hint*