Disclaimer: see first chapter

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Lily rolled over, pulling her covers up closer to her face. As she did so, her finger brushed lightly over something squishy. Lily's eyes snapped over and she rolled out of bed. She rushed into their bathroom and looked into the mirror.

"I don't." Lily gaped, her jaw dropping slightly. Her normally red- gold hair was streaked with green, blue and bright violet. Her face had been decorated with some kind of black marker and green goop at been spread all over. "Potter." She muttered. Lily turned around and stalked out of the bathroom.

"Vikki." She pushed her sister lightly. Obviously she had suffered the same fate, her brown hair was bright pink, Victoria hated pink, and her skin was coated with green goop. "We have a problem." Victoria groaned and opened her eyes, which she quickly snapped shut again.

"What have you done to your face?"

"Oh yes, don't you love it. This goop is apparently a great new skin treatment." Lily muttered sarcastically. "Get up, the Marauders have been here, and look in the mirror while you're at it."

"What?" Victoria's eyes popped out as she sat bolt up right, and rushed into the bathroom. "LUPIN!" Lily cringed at her sister's yell. She stalked back out of the bathroom, with her face clean and her hair back to normal. "Come here." She motioned to her sister, muttered a spell and Lily went back to normal.

"Come on." Lily said, as she pulled her sister toward the door.

"Where are we going?" the pair was up the stairs to the boys dorms and Lily was pounding on the door.

"OPEN UP POTTER! WE NEED TO TALK!" without waiting for an answer, Lily opened the door and walked in. Sirius looked half-awake lying out on his bed; he blinked owlishly at the girls. His sheets were wrapped tightly around his waist; his bare chest bore some marks to show what he had been lying on all night.

"How nice to see you ladies this morning." Sirius said, smiling up at them.

"Up, Potter." Lily had ripped back the curtains on his bed, flooding the four poster bed in early morning sunlight. She reached under the mattress and flipped it over. There was a strangled yell, and James Potter smiled disarmingly up at her from the floor.

"Well hello, Lily. How are you this morning?"

"Shut it, Potter." Lily growled. "I don't care about your pranks, but I don't want you in my room in the middle of the night. Got that?" James stood; he was only in a pair of boxers. Most girls would have enjoyed the sight, but right now, Lily Evan wouldn't have cared if he were naked.

"I don't really care what you want and don't want." He was smirking. "I'll do whatever I please, and that includes entering your room late at night." He reached over and played lightly with the strap on her shirt.

While they had been arguing, Victoria had picked up the pitcher of water, pulled back the curtain on Remus' bed, and dumped the ice cold water on to him. He jumped out of bed with a hoarse yell.

"Hands off, Potter." Lily growled, swatting his hand off and backing away.

"What the hell was that for?" Remus yelled, hold his shirt as far away from his body as possible. After a minute he gave up and pulled the shirt off, throwing it across the room were it landed with a resounding splat.

"You just looked much too happy."

"I had the curtains closed!"

"X ray vision."

"X ray vision my foot!"

"Hey," Victoria snapped, glaring at him. "You dyed my hair and covered me in goop. Don't you dare call this unfair." She turned and stomped out of the room, grabbing Lily as she passed, who was still arguing with James all the way down the stairs.

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The next few weeks passed without event. Unless of course you call dancing chipmunks in pink tutus, singing I will survive in their very high voices one breakfast, eventful.

The full moon came and went and it was late September before anything worthy of note, apart from the chipmunks, happened.

Perhaps it was a result of the passing of the full moon, perhaps it was just his emotions getting the better of him, but late afternoon on September 29th found Remus Lupin standing by the lake under an overcast sky.

Victoria could never truly say what brought her outside on that day. And she was never sure afterwards whether or not she cursed it. In later years she might have claimed it was another argument that Lily and James were having full throttle in the common room, or perhaps she wanted pictures of the overcast sky. But she hadn't bothered to bring her camera.

"What are you doing out here?" Victoria asked, it was chilly out and she had wrapped her arms around herself.

"I have no idea." Remus said, not bothering to look at her, his eyes was focused on the sky.

"Aren't you cold?" she asked, rubbing her hands up and down her arms in vain attempt to warm herself up. She glanced over at him and noticed the light shine of tears of his face. "Are you all right, Remus?" she put her hand on his shoulder.

"My parents are dead, you know?" he glanced at her. "They died in 5th year." Victoria reached up and brushed some of her hair away from her eyes.

"I know." She removed her hand from his shoulder and glanced out of the lake. "I'm sorry, you know."

"For what?" Remus asked, keeping his eyes on her. Perhaps it was their constant bickering that made this interlude so unusual, or perhaps it was the fact Remus had never realized her eyes were such a startling green. "You didn't kill them, did you?"

"Well. no, but."

"Then you have nothing to be sorry about." He cut her off.

"I'm sorry about us."

"Us?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Has there ever been an b us /b?"

"You know what I mean." Victoria answered, glaring over at him. "I'm not looking to be friends. But maybe we can try and put this behind us?" she waved her hand around to emphasize her point. "This is our last year, shouldn't we try to enjoy it and not fight the whole time?"

"You're not dd hitting on me, are you?" he asked with uncertainty. She snapped around and stood facing him.

"Why? Would you like me to?" Remus was caught off guard by the question. They had always been fighting, but he couldn't deny that she was very pretty.

"No, no." Remus answered, looking down again. "You know, I don't mind putting it behind us. Of course this doesn't mean I won't prank you."

"Yeah, yeah." Victoria waved at him and grinned.

"I miss them." Victoria's grin feel abruptly. There was a roll of thunder over head, and the skies opened up, drenching the pair in a downpour.

"I know, me too." She sighed, and concentrated her gaze at the ground, ignoring the rain. "Mine died in 2nd year." She glanced back up at Remus. His eyes seemed slightly glossy. The marks from pervious tears had dried on his face. "If you need anything."

"I'm fine," Remus snapped at her, turning away. Fresh tears were running down his face, mixing with the rain. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, Victoria didn't seem to care that they had just made amends, she gave him a hug.

"It's ok to cry you know." She sighed and moved out of the embrace. "If you do need anything, if you need to talk." Remus was looking down at her in a shell-shocked manner. Standing there, drenched by the sudden downpour, her pair plastered to her face, robes hanging heavily around her, Remus suddenly realized how beautiful he thought she was. He did his best to ignore the fact her robes to clinging to her, and shifted uncomfortably as he felt a sudden rush of blood below his belt.

Victoria smiled at him sadly, turned and walked back up to the castle. Later, Remus would never be able to tell how long he stayed out in the rain, staring after the brunette.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* James smirked, he had gotten Lily so worked up, her face had turned a bright red, the match her hair. Her five-foot seven figure was shaking with anger.

"You know what James?" Lily growled, her tone was dangerously low. "At least I don't use people for sex." The smirk dropped right off his face.

"No, you don't. You're too scared to even get involved with people. And even if you had any of that Gryffindor bravery, no one would want to date you. You're not attractive at all."

James had obviously hit a nerve, because Lily's lower lip trembled slightly. She walked over and slapped him square across the face and fled up the stairs to her dorm. Victoria had entered in time to see the slap and watch her sister run away.

"What the hell did you do?!" She yelled. James looked over at her, there was water running down her hair and robes, pooling on the floor around her feet. "Did you hear me, you prick?"

" I told her she's too scared to even get involved with people. And even if she had any of that Gryffindor bravery, no one would want to date her, since she's not attractive at all." He answered with a shrug. Victoria's face went stark white. Lily's older sister, Petunia, constantly bullied Lily at home, telling her she was unattractive and such.

"That was low, James, very low," Victoria growled at him. She turned and ran up the stairs to her dorm.

"Vikki?" Lily looked up from her bed; her eyes were already red and swollen. She jumped up and cried onto her sister's shoulder.

"It's not true, you know?" Victoria whispered. "You're beautiful, he just used that against you because you scare him. You're one of the only girls in the school who doesn't follow his around drooling, that different for him." Lily looked up at her, she had stopped crying. "Lord knows you have enough guys who want to date you. Now, go wash your face quick, so I can shower and get out of these wet clothes."

"Why are you soaked?"

"Tell ya later." Lily made a face, but decided it was best not to push the matter. She washed her face quickly and let her sister get into her shower.

Lily sat on her window seat, watching the rain come down in torrents.

'I'll show you, James Potter.' She thought. 'I'll get a boyfriend, I'll prove you wrong. Lily got up and pulled a box from under her bed. She got many cards from guys and she kept them, some of them were always good for a laugh. Lily began leafing though, looking for a suitable boyfriend.

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Hey Yo! I'm home, and burnt. Thanks to my three reviewers. I'll try and right the next chapter soon; I've already started. But I want b reviews /b! Mostly on who the boyfriend is gonna be. A Marauder is not a choice. I need to know: original character or an existing character.

Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to fast with the Remus/Victoria action. You can see Remus' emotions in the next chapter, and I'll need to know if I'm going to fast. I'm hoping to reveal a secret about Victoria soon. And I am also hoping to involve Lily and James more.

I know some people don't like Mandy Moore, but this song gave me the idea for the Remus/Victoria interlude. And it works, read the song, it works.

Mandy Moore - Cry I'll always remember

It was late afternoon

It lasted forever c/enter

And ended so soon

You were all by yourself

Staring up at a dark gray sky

I was changed

In places no one would find

All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)

Was there that I realized

That forever was in your eyes

The moment I saw you cry

The moment that I saw you cry

It was late in September

And I've seen you before (and you were)

You were always the cold one

But I was never that sure

You were all by yourself

Staring at a dark gray sky

I was changed

In places no one would find

All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)

Was then that I realized

That forever was in your eyes

The moment I saw you cry

Cause I wanted to hold you

I wanted to make it go away

And I wanted to know you

I wanted to make your everything, all right....

I'll always remember...

It was late afternoon...

In places no one would find...

In places no one would find

All your feelings so deep inside (deep inside)

Was then that I realized

That forever was in your eyes

The moment I saw you cry

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"So, Ron," said Seamus, leaning on his broomstick, "who's the girl? I don't quite recognize the teeth marks." Ron was still scarlet. "There's no girl," he said, looking at the floor. "A boy, then?" Seamus was grinning. "I'd no idea!" "No! It's just - I walked into a door," said Ron, rather desperately. "With your neck?" Harry demanded, his eyebrows rising. - DV 05 (?)

- Lady Starlight