A/N: Thanks to all of my luffly reviewers! You all rock for sticking by me through all these chapters. It's been a hard time, I know, but you guys continue to read. –sniffle– Thank you so much! –cries– I'm going to do a recap thing for each chapter so all of the wonderful reviewers know where we are and so I know while I'm typing without going and checking the last chapter again and again.

Disclaimer: If I could write as well as J.K. Rowling, I wouldn't get so choked up that people actually read what I write. :) So clearly I'm not Ms. Rowling.

"Just temporarily!" James reassured him. "Hear me out. The way I see it, if you and Amber start to date, she'll make you sound less like a jerk. She mostly talks to Evans! I mean, Lily! If you sound less like a jerk, maybe Lily will think I'm not so bad!"

"I don't think this'll work," Remus said doubtfully. "Amber would never go out with Padfoot. Besides, what about his sleeping-with-all-his-girlfriends thing? He's slept with half the female population."

"I could get her in bed easy," Sirius said crossly. "Not counting last year, when she rejected me, I'm sure she's dying to sleep with someone. She never has before. I think. Has she?" He looked from Remus to James.

James shrugged but Remus said reluctantly, "She has. Over summer break."

James and Sirius stared at him until James finally managed to say, "How do you know that?"

"Because she slept with me," Remus muttered, looking at the ground and his cheeks turning red.

Sirius and James grinned identical grins and congratulated Remus, who kept turning redder.

"Well, now that we know that Moony has gotten lucky, then I think we might be able to pull off Prongs's plan…" Sirius said.

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The Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop many hours later, long after it was dark. It started to rain as students ran towards the seemingly horseless carriages or to Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper. James and Lily disappeared to help get students off the train without hurting each other.

"Here, Amber," Sirius said, opening an umbrella and walking closely to her.

"Thanks, Sirius," she said.

Sirius casually draped his arm over her shoulders. "I was thinking. Maybe I shouldn't go out with Melinda."

"Okay," she said slowly. She shrugged her shoulders, trying to get him to remove his arm. He did, and instead put his arm around her waist.

"Yeah, it'd just turn into another two week fling and I'll be back to where I am now: dateless." He grinned but the grin disappeared quickly. "I was thinking about getting into a serious relationship. You know, with someone that's more than a pretty face. Someone I actually know." He glanced at her. "Any ideas?"

"If you're even thinking of asking me–" Amber started.

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked, opening the door to a carriage. He followed her inside, and Remus, Patty, and Samantha, who were pretending to be engaged in a conversation about the Eiffel Tower but actually listening, followed him.

"Because we're just friends," she pointed out.

"All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon the sand," Sirius replied in a singsong voice.

"And why me all of a sudden?" she snapped.

"I dunno. Just sort of came to me." He glanced over at Remus and Amber gasped.

"Remus! Did you– I mean– How could you tell him?" she wailed. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone about that!"

Remus looked guilty and sputtered, "I didn't mean– Honestly, Amber– It's not like– Don't give me that look!" He closed his eyes for a moment. "Did you honestly expect to keep that a secret forever? It's not like the whole school knows or anything… Please don't look at me like that!"

"I can't believe you! I didn't tell anyone because I thought you wouldn't tell anyone that we fricking slept together!" she yelled. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Samantha and Patty gasped.

"Well, now that the cat is out of the bag," Sirius said cheerfully, "anything else you'd like to shout to the rest of Hogwarts, Am?"

"Shut up and leave me alone," Amber muttered, sliding down in her seat and crossing her arms.


Lily and James followed their friends into the Great Hall, bickering.

"You have got to shape up and live up to your responsibility, Potter!"

"Well, forgive me, Miss Perfect Head Girl Evans, for not taking away that Dungbomb and depriving a poor boy from a good prank against the Slytherins!"

"It's your fault he thought it was funny in the first place because you went and told him to throw it into the carriage!"

"Well, it was funny…"

Lily threw her hands into the air. "Just forget it. Do whatever you want; but when you get expelled, don't come crying to me."

"I'd like to do whatever I want, but unfortunately there are problems…" James said, looking her up and down.

"You're a pig, you know that?" Lily shoved him, making him fall into a chair next to Sirius. Startled, he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him and she ended up on his lap.

"Now, Evans, is this so bad?" he asked her, grinning.

She found herself thinking, no, it really isn't, but she'd rather swallow broken glass than admit it, so she said, "Yes, it is. Let me go."

James released her wrist, smirking now, and she stalked off to sit next to Amber who was sitting next to Samantha, who was sitting next to Patty, who was sitting next to Remus. He swung around in his chair to find Sirius attempting to get Remus to talk.

"What's up with him?" James asked, nodding towards Remus.

"Amber knows that we know, and Patty and Samantha know what we know, and Remus knows he shouldn't have told us, and we both know that Amber is mad at us," Sirius said matter-of-factly.

As James tried to work out what he said, Remus said sullenly, "She must hate me now."

"Aw, come on, mate. 'Course she doesn't hate you," James said.

Remus looked up at James with dull eyes, his face looking more pale than usual. "I slept with her and told her it meant nothing. She didn't hate me then, but she does now."

"She can't hate-" James was cut off by the arrival of the first years, drenched with rain.

The first years were all shivering and looking around the hall. Some of them were pointing and whispering, while others looked partly bored. All of them, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, looked nervous.

Professor McGonagall brought out a four-legged stool and put the Sorting Hat on top of it. All whispers stopped almost immediatly as the hat opened its mouth and started to sing.

(A/N: Okay, my sister is in another state and has all five of my books so just pretend the song is there, please. I can't write one even if I had my books to help me.)

The students clapped and McGonagall started calling out names.

"Abbot, Maria!"

A small girl walked nervously up and glanced at the Hufflepuff table. A seventh year boy, her brother probably, gave her a thumbs up and a smile. Maria Abbot looked a little calmer and put the Sorting Hat on her head. A few silent moments and-

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat yelled.

The Hufflepuff table started to clap and cheer. Maria Abbot sat next to the boy who had given her a thumbs up and they hugged.

More students got called (including Samantha's sister, Stephanie, who got Sorted into Gryffindor) and James glanced at Remus's watch. They were nearly finished with the Sorting, then Dumbledore usually gave a speech. James's stomach rumbled.

Finally, the last student was Sorted (Slytherin) and Dumbledore stood, smiling at everyone. "Welcome, welcome, everyone! I'm glad to see all of your faces in this hall. Now I understand that you are all hungry, although I'm sure some of you stuffed yourselves with candy on the train." His blue eyes twinkled. "So I will wait until after you've had a proper meal to bore you. Tuck in!" As he sat down, the platters on each table filled with food. The first years who had no older siblings or were Muggle-born gasped.

"I propose a toast," Samantha said after filling her plate. "For us seventh years."

The other seventh year Gryffindors looked at each other, save Remus and Amber.

Samantha continued. "This toast will go to the best year of our Hogwarts years."

"To never having to put up with my cousin again," Amber added, shuddering and thinking about how he had used her as a punching bag last year and over the summer.

"To another year of winning the Quidditch Cup!" Sirius said.

"To new relationships," James piped up, looking directly at Lily. Lily rolled her eyes and said, "To trying not to get expelled."

"To passing N.E.W.T.s," Remus said.

"To remembering all past years together and planning out our futures the best we can," Patty said.

"To us," Samantha concluded. She raised her glass of pumpkin juice and the others did as well.

They clinked their glasses together and said as one, "To us!" before breaking into laughter.

A/N: You might want to remember what Amber said before. No, I will not tell you why. :) Review!