The next day at breakfast, the whole school was buzzing. Rumor had it that there was a new student coming! When most of the students were sitting at their respective tables, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. Silence fell immediately.

"There is a new student arriving at Hogwarts today. He will be joining our seventh years. I expect you all to be especially nice to him. Students, this is Ubel Mesopo."

Professor McGonagall walked in, leading Ubel by the arm in one hand, and holding the Sorting Hat and stool in the other. A moment later, the hat screamed—

"SLYTHERIN!"

Ubel stumbled off in the screaming table's direction. He was of medium height and somewhat gangly, with pale skin and short dark hair.

"Uh oh," Sierra muttered to Lily. "Just what we need. Another polite, kind Slytherin."

"You don't know that he's mean," said Lily, looking reprovingly at Sierra. "He just got sorted into Slytherin. Maybe he didn't know it was the bad House."

Sierra muttered something indistinguishable and turned back to her food.

At every House table except Slytherin, similar conversations were going on. Everyone was looking suspiciously at Ubel.

Soon breakfast ended and the school branched off to their different classes. Charms was first for Gryffindor seventh years. The Marauders were deep in thought, and the girls frowning.

No one paid attention in Charms that day; even Lily wasn't listening. Suddenly Anna gasped.

"Ubel means evil," she whispered. She read aloud from the book she was poring over. "''Ubel' is a name of German origin meaning, 'evil one.'"

"Hang on," said Lily, her brow furrowed, "wasn't that evil wizard dictator of the magical community of Ghana named Ubel?"

Anna nodded, her turquoise eyes wide.

Then the bell rang, but the usual noise that filled the air at break was noticeably quieter.

Lunch went the same way as breakfast. Everyone was looking at Ubel. If Lily wasn't scared that he might be evil, she would've felt sorry for him. The boy was staring at his food, trying to ignore the hushed whispers and furtive glances at him.

Suddenly Bailey clapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh my gosh! I forgot! I haven't finished that Potions essay! Lily, can I borrow yours, please?" She gave Lily a puppy face with her big brown eyes.

"You know very well that I am not going to lend you my essay, Bailey."

Bailey moaned and left the table. She ran upstairs to get her half-finished, due-in-twenty-minutes essay. Grabbing it, she hurried to the library.

She plopped next to one of the tables and began writing furiously, occasionally checking the book next to her for some fact. A couple minutes later, Sirius stumbled in, looking in the same condition as her.

"You know, Sirius, I'd love to talk, but I've got that Potions essay due in ten minutes and I'm not finished."

"Well, guinea pig, it seems serendipity has struck again. I haven't finished mine either."

The two worked steadily side-by-side up until the bell rang, when Bailey stood up and looked at her work.

"Well, I hope he doesn't mind my absolutely horrendous handwriting, but I think I got all the information in."

Sirius stood up too.

"That's as much as I have time for. I think I'll get an Acceptable, anyway."

The two tried to go to the door at the same time and bumped into each other. Bailey laughed and tried to hide her blush. Sirius grinned, and they walked to the dungeons together.

The next couple of weeks were uneventful. Halloween was fast approaching, and soon there were colossal pumpkins growing outside of the gamekeeper hut. Bardo, the gamekeeper, was a squat little Scandinavian man who spoke little to anyone and mostly kept to himself and his pet tiger, Koshisigre. They were an odd pair and most people avoided them.

A fortnight before the greatly anticipated feast, Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he called, "I have the great pleasure to inform you that this October 31st, a ball will take place."

Girls squealed, and boys looked bored.

"It will be for fourth years and above," he continued, "but younger students may attend if they are invited by an older student.

"I'm sure that all of you will do your best to prepare and that no one—" he looked meaningfully at the Marauders, "—will ruin it for anyone with a prank."

The next few days were all the same. The girls all were in groups together, either complaining about how Dumbledore had given them no preparation time or discussing what they were going to wear. The boys were either looking around for a possible date or else trying to get the courage to ask someone out.

None of the Marauders had dates yet. This was surprising as girls were constantly asking out the Marauders. Apparently, they all had people already picked out in their mind. They just hadn't asked them yet.

Lily was hurrying towards the Gryffindor common room when she bumped heads with James.

"Ouch! Sorry, James," she said apologetically. She tried to run off again, but James caught her arm.

"Lily," he said seriously, "I need to ask you something."

Here we go, she thought. He's going to ask me out. She looked up expectantly. She wasn't sure what she was going to say yet.

"Lily," he said again. "I'm not going to ask you out. I just want to ask you—since we obviously can't be boyfriend and girlfriend since you think I'm arrogant and mean—could we be friends? Can we go to the ball together—as friends?"

Lily looked at him, a small smile playing on her face. Maybe James had grown up. In any case, she was not going to go with him as his girlfriend. But going as friends was different.

"Yes, I'll go with you," she said. Seeing James's triumphant expression, she added quickly, "As friends."

The next weekend, there was a Hogsmeade trip planned. The girls were happy because they could shop for dress robes and such, and the boys were happy because, well, it was Hogsmeade and Hogsmeade meant Zonkos. The Marauders and the girls trudged down the stairs and left the castle.

The girls headed to Madam Musselman's Robe Shop (an outlet of Madam Malkin's) and quickly found the section labeled "Dress Robes for Women."

The girls were quick to find a set. Lily chose an emerald-green one; Anna picked a light, pastel teal one; Bailey selected a dark red one, and Sierra, much to the others' dismay, chose a black one.

"What are you, a Goth?" Bailey asked incredulously. "That set looks just like your school robes. Why even waste the money on this set when you could just wear your other robes?"

"Fine, fine," Sierra said. She flicked her wand over the robes and it turned dark midnight blue with glittering stars dancing across it.

The group bought the robes and walked out of the store. They saw the Marauders in the distance, looking like they were talking in low, secretive voices.

"Alright, we promised, remember, that we all have to ask out our girl," Remus said. "We promised."

"I've already got a date," James said proudly. "Lily."

The others gaped at him. "What?!" they said in unison.

"I promised her we'd go as friends," James said.

"You've got her, mate," Sirius said, clapping James on the shoulder. "A couple months ago she wouldn't have let you finish your sentence."

"Let's hope so," said James.

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