Only here a sec! Ta for the reviews, and please do it again, and whatnot. LoL.

Lily's POV

Ah. So if James invited Lorredana, he obviously likes Lorredana.

Which means he doesn't like Tess.

I sighed and glanced over towards Tess, who was talking to some Hufflepuffs.

Well, I've got to go with the Marauders, of course. I wanna check out the Shrieking Shack! But. . . oh, I'll just have to tell Tess later.

I agreed to go, then left to join my friends.

"What did he say, what did he say?" Tess asked, as soon as I walked up to her.

I bit my lip. "Erm. . . he sorta asked Lorredana out," I replied.

"Lorredana?" Tess shook her head. Helen said the password once we reached the Portrait Hole, and we walked into the Common Room. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. Sorry," I sighed, looking at her sympathetically.

She sighed too, looking thoughtful. Then after a few minutes she shrugged. "Never mind!" she said cheerfully, walking towards some other of our friends, looking quite happy.

I laughed. Honestly, the saying 'Young hearts heal fast' was based on her.

Still, even this was a little weird. A few hours ago she couldn't stop talking about him and now she didn't care at all?

I didn't dwell on it though. I had other things to think about.

I mean, the Shrieking Shack is haunted by evil, evil ghosts. It's just something people know. Even Dumbledore believes it.

And I'd agreed to go there for a 'visit'.

I must be off my head.

But. I was going. I'd already said I would. Besides, it might be fun. And it'll be a good story to tell anyway.

I told Helen I'd see her later and ran up to my dorm. What were you supposed to wear to go to a haunted house?

I had no idea. But I'm sure I'll live.

Well, I'm sure I'll live until I get into the shack. From then onwards, I don't know what'll happen.

It was weird the boys were so sure it wasn't haunted though. Of course it's haunted. Everyone knows that.

A few hours later, we were in the Shrieking Shack.

Sirius and James had flat out refused to let me and Lorredana know how we got in there, so we were magically blindfolded.

Nice, huh?

Remus and Peter were apparently in detention. And they said something about, "Some secrets just have to be kept."

Whatever. It was still a bit of a surprise when the blindfolds came off. I don't know what room we were in but. . . it looked as if someone had let some wild animal loose in there just before us.

I knew it was haunted! Only those evil spirits would be able to do that.

"So this is the Shrieking Shack, huh?" Lorredana asked, looking around slowly. A smile was creeping onto her lips. "Interesting."

"Interesting?" Sirius laughed.

"Yeah. Interesting. It's a bit of a mess but. . ." Lorredana trailed off and shrugged.

I understood what she meant.

We were in the one place students were banned from going. Were too afraid to go. And that's what makes it exciting, right? It's just one of those things.

"Yeah," I agreed. It was a mess. I'd just walked back into a table, and now the back on my black pants were covered in dust.

Ugh.

I'd decided just to dress down. I still looked good (What? I did! And it still took me forever to get ready, so I should HOPE I did) with what I was wearing though. I'd put on these slightly baggy black pants that were really nice fitting around my bum though, and this black tank top.

I'm not usually one for black, but it worked. I'm sort of glad now as well since this place is such a dump.

The others are dressed the same as well. No robes, just casual stuff.

"So why'd you ever come in this place?" I asked, looking around at the battered room again.

Sirius glanced side-long ways at James. "We-ell. . . We come here quite often, don't we James?"

"Hmm, I'd say," James replied, smirking. "About. . . hmm. . . once a month, I'd say?"

"I'd say that's about right," Sirius nodded.

I looked at them strangely. I don't get why they were humouring us, but they were.

"Uh-huh. . ." Lorredana replied, looking at them sceptically. "I'll just agree with you there. What do you do here then?"

"Oh, I don't know. Run wild?" James said.

Well from the look of this place, they certainly did.

Anyway, whatever the state of the Shrieking Shack was, we hadn't come here to stand around.

I hope.

"And so they were trapped. . . All four of them, no food, no water, no way out. Martin didn't come back. They were stuck there, miles under ground. Not fun anymore. Rats. . . in-"

"Ugh, no! James, stop it," Lorredana said firmly, shuddering.

I felt like shuddering myself. We'd found this room upstairs, and half of the floor had fallen through. Seriously scary.

But Sirius and James had decided it was safe enough, so we all sat around it, our legs dangling down into the room below us.

Okay, so not the smartest thing to do.

But when Sirius blew out the candles (they were magically lighted. But who had put the candles there? Ghosts, that's who. Evil ghosts) and James threw us some blankets and lit his wand underneath his chin, it created the perfect place to freak each other out with stories.

Come on, haunted house and all that?

The thing was, James and Sirius' stories all seemed to include four people - two girls and two boys - who went somewhere for a joke, a night out. And then were trapped, and slowly died. Or something like that. Sometimes they threw in a ghost or some horrible creature.

"So they just sat there. ." James continued in his spooky voice, the light from his wand giving him a halo and making horrible shadows on his face. "They were hungry, they had no energy. So they just sat there, the four of them, waiting. . But nobody knew they were there. . Who would have gone into the woods and checked that underground shaft when the teenagers went missing? Nobody ever went there. ."

I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. I know they were doing it on purpose, but. . . Geez, they were hitting close to home.

"But then there were the footsteps. Not Martin's footsteps. They were light. No, these footsteps. . . these were heavy, and shuffling. And it wasn't coming from above. It was in there. The person who the footsteps belonged to. . was in there with them."

Why'd he have to make his voice so creepy? Stupid James Potter.

I could see Sirius about to burst out laughing, but then something else caught my attention. It caught Lorredana's as well.

"What's that sound?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Ooh! It's the scary footstep person from James' wonderful story," Sirius teased, swinging his legs.

"No, seriously," Lorredana insisted.

I strained my ears, trying to hear whatever she could.

Oh yeah. Footsteps.

"If you two have planned this-" I started to say heatedly, but James cut me off.

"We've not done anything," he said, looking confused. He'd pulled his wand out from under his chin, so the shadows were now playing all over the wall.

Lorredana jumped up, shrugging her blanket off her. "Then what is it?" she demanded. "Sirius. Lights on. Now!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. With a flick of his wand, the candles were re-lit.

"Happy now, Miss Carlalalada?" he asked, looking at her pointedly.

"Someone's in here!" she cried.

She was right. The footsteps were definitely getting louder.

James glanced at Sirius. "Well. . ."

"Well what? D'you know who it is?" I demanded.

I sorta hope they do, actually. If it's a teacher. . . whoa. Big trouble.

"No. I swear, I don't. I was just gonna say. ." Sirius shrugged. "You got your cloak?"

Cloak? What cl-oh, he was looking at James.

James nodded slowly, and pulled something out from a corner. A. . wow! James has an invisibility cloak.

Well. I'm impressed.

"It won't fit four," he warned.

"I know, I know. Throw it over you and Lorredana. Lils, c'mon." Sirius grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards a huge, scratched wardrobe, but Lorredana hesitated.

"Erm. . but-"

"Look, you can worry about your hair or whatever later," James sighed, throwing the silvery material over her and himself.

"I wasn't worried about my hair," Lorredana snapped, even though I couldn't see her or James anymore. "I was just about to say, you let me fall down that hole and you're a dead m-"

"I won't let you fall down the damn hole," James hissed, before Sirius pulled me into the wardrobe.

Hmm. I think that James doesn't really like Lorredana that much.

I would have been happy to tell Tess that, but apparently she doesn't care. Honestly that girl is weird.

"So who do you think it is?" I whispered to Sirius, when he'd pulled the door shut.

In the darkness, a vague outline of Sirius shrugged. "No idea. I just hope it's not - o-o-o-ouch!" he suddenly exclaimed as there was a dull thud, trying to keep from shouting.

"Shhh!" I whispered, trying not to laugh.

He'd obviously kicked the wall of the wardrobe or something, since now he was sort of bouncing on the spot and trying to keep quiet.

"I can't," he murmured. "Is this thing made of steel?"

I smiled, shaking my head. "Then why the hell did you kick it, you idiot? Never mind, we have to shut up."

"Okay," he replied.

And then he kissed me.

I love it when he kisses me. I love him.

But I nearly died when the door of the wardrobe was pulled open.

"You know, if I were a teacher or someone, it wouldn't be hard to find you," Remus grinned.

I smiled in relief. Was he trying to give me a heart attack?

I stepped out of the wardrobe and saw James appear from thin air, looking quite annoyed. Lorredana appeared a second later.

"Jesus Moony," Sirius laughed. "When did you turn up?"

"A few minutes ago. Peter's downstairs somewhere," Remus replied.

"So I take it detentions over?" Lorredana said, eyeing the hole in the floor again.

"Yep. Had to sort out the potions ingredients."

"That doesn't sound too bad," James said.

Remus shook his head slowly. "It was. I'm just gonna say it was disgusting and leave at that. I don't need the memories, thanks."

James' POV

Okay. Deep breath. I refuse to scream.

Why on earth did I invite Lorredana? What in the world possessed me to do that?

Well maybe it's not all her fault.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's Evans' fault.

Why?

Just. . because. Because she's so annoying. Because she's stuck up. Because she's selfish. Because she's way too into the way she looks. Because. . .

Because she's so bloody perfect. Because she's so sweet and beautiful and smart. Because she's the one person who's off limits.

Because she chose Sirius.

Urgh! I don't need to scream anymore. I need to kick something.

And Lorredana's the closest thing, since we're both under this stupid cloak.

No, that's not fair. I've not ever had to resort to violence before. Not even with Snape, surprisingly enough.

Snape. Yeah, blame it on Snape. That's why you do with everything else.

But if that's Snape walking around, I will hurt him. A lot.

And it's not as if he'd have much trouble finding us. I think Sirius might have just kicked the wardrobe. Or punched it. There was just a dull thump.

I glanced towards the doorway as a shadow cast across it. Lorredana noticed it too. "Oh my-"

"Shh," I whispered. "Don't say anything."

But it turned out to be Remus. He didn't see us, since we were under the cloak, but I think he guessed we were there because he glanced around a lot.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, beginning to pull the cloak off me.

Remus grinned. "I knew you were someone around." Then he pulled the door of the wardrobe open to reveal Sirius and Lily snogging each other as I yanked the cloak off my head. "You know, if I were a teacher or someone, it wouldn't be hard to find you," he said.

I don't remember much of what happened after that.

Call me a moody sod all you want, but I just wanted to go.

"Damn it James!" Sirius exclaimed, the minute we'd reached our dorm and he'd slammed the door shut.

I saw Peter flinch slightly and Remus roll his eyes.

"What?" I snapped, falling back onto my bed and glaring at the ceiling.

"What? You, that's what! What's happened? You're fine one minute and then the next you're not talking to anyone and demanding to leave!"

"I wanted to go," I said simply.

So I knew I was being annoying. And it wasn't his fault, I was just taking it on him. But. . .

"Well couldn't you have just said that? Did you have to shun everyone?" he muttered. "And what's you problem with Lily, can I just ask?"

I frowned slightly, propping myself up on my elbows and staring at him.

Where was I supposed to start with that one?

"I don't have a problem with Lily. ." I said slowly, hearing myself how unconvincing that sounded.

"Oh please. You've not liked her since day one."

"That's not-"

"You could at least just try Prongs. I've not liked some of your girlfriends, but did I show them? No. Why? Because you're my best friend," he retorted.

He had to say that, didn't he?

I shot him a dark look and flung myself back onto the bed.

"So go on Jamie boy, you tell me. C'mon, I'm listening," Sirius continued.

"Sirius, just leave it," I said quietly.

"No. You tell me why you dislike her so much you-"

"Okay. Okay!" I shot right up in my bed again, glaring at him.

"I don't dislike her! No. No, I like her. I like her a lot. In fact, I like her so much that whenever I'm around her I can't believe that she's with you! That you got her. And no matter how much I try to convince myself that I hate her, it doesn't come true! Yeah, that's my problem! That what you wanna hear, huh?"