Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling, except any characters or events unrecognizable as being part of the Harry Potter series.

A/N: hey everyone! Thankyou once again for the reviews! And, as per usual, a huge thankyou, and a big hug to my beta reader, Nat. Well, you all seem to be in love with my Sirius, and even my Remus. Aren't they adorable? I love them so much! Especially Siri. By the way, my infatuation with them is purely platonic- I don't want to have their babies or anything :P. still, they're so cool! Hugs J K Rowling for inventing them

Anyway, back to the chapter. New characters!

Chapter Nine

Meet the Sidekicks

"I'm going in," Sirius announced a few moments later. Remus stared at him.

"What! You can't walk in on them!" he protested, but Sirius was already pushing the door to the hut open.

Remus followed almost anxiously behind him.

"Wow, fancy meeting you two here!" Sirius exclaimed loudly as he walked in to the dim interior of their previous 'River Club'. At the sight of him, James and Lily sprang guiltily apart.

"Uh, Sirius, Remus, there you are," James muttered, going red in the face. "F-fancy you guys being here."

"Yeah. Fancy that," Remus said drily. He tactfully avoided looking either of the culprits in the face.

"Were you looking for us?" Sirius asked, with wide-eyed innocence. "We just went for a walk."

"Oh…r-right," Lily said nervously. She was brushing her hair out of her flushed face, avoiding James' eyes.

"Well, now that we've met up, we can all go back together," Sirius suggested, ignoring the uncomfortable looks passing between his friends. "Come on."

The walk back to the house was awkward to say the least. Sirius, being Sirius, rambled on with conversation, basically talking to himself because no one else had opened their mouths.

As soon as they reached the house, Lily fled to her room, leaving James staring behind her, and Sirius hiding his smirks. Remus sighed again.

"Maybe you should go talk to her," he suggested to James wearily.

"What would I say?" the latter asked, rather stupidly.

"Oh, forget it," Sirius interjected. "Let's go find out what's for dinner."

Remus glared at his friend. Talk about unfeeling. But something told him this was all just another part of Sirius' plan…

"Well, you kids sure are quiet today," Elena remarked at breakfast the next morning.

They were now almost a month into their summer holidays, and seventh year was looming undeniably on the horizon. Lily had already completed almost all of her homework. Sirius hadn't started, James was still struggling with Potions and Remus, being Remus, had finished before the holidays had started.

James had spent the whole morning trying to sneak glances at Lily when she wasn't looking. Sirius would giggle and nudge Remus whenever he noticed this, and poor Moony would simply sigh and shake his head, something he was doing often lately.

"Do you want to go out today," Elena asked, once her comment had been ignored.

Lily cleared her throat and pushed back her chair from the breakfast table.

"Uh, actually, I was meaning to ask…a couple of my friends owled me yesterday and asked if I could meet them in Diagon Alley for lunch. We haven't seen each other in a while," she added, looking from Harold to Elena hopefully.

Elena smiled.

"Well of course you can meet them in fact, why don't you call the over here instead? We can all have dinner together, and they can stay the night if you want," she suggested.

Lily nodded and stammered her thanks, a bit taken aback at Elena's eagerness. It had been years since she had last been able to invite her friends to a place she called her home.

"Wait a minute!" Sirius said suddenly, his eyes lighting up. "Your friends are coming here? Possibly even sleeping over?"

"That's what they just said," Remus pointed out evenly.

"You mean that cute blonde and hot brunette?" Sirius continued, his eyes beginning to glaze over.

"Well, I prefer to call them Chloe and Alyssa, but yeah, I guess you could say that," Lily said jokingly, although she still looked bemused. "Is that a big deal?"

"Is that a big deal? IS THAT A BIG DEAL? It's…it's…awesome…" Sirius trailed off, looking as if Christmas had suddenly come early.

Remus was half smiling, with his face hidden, and James was grinning sheepishly. Lily frowned in puzzlement at both of them, but didn't say anything. Elena was still chatting away to herself as she decided on the menu for that evening.

Lily was beginning to have misgivings about inviting her friends into this crazy household, but then-

How bad could it possibly be?

Alyssa Cladberry and Chloe Danks surveyed the house in front of them skeptically. Their friend, Lily Evans, had express owled them that morning saying that instead of lunch they were invited to the Potter estate for a sleepover. She had also mentioned that three of the four infamous Marauders would be present, which had elicited an instant 'yes, we will come,' from the girls.

Who wouldn't want to spend the night with three utterly gorgeous, charming lads? The interest was purely platonic, of course.

Now that they were actually here though, Alyssa and Chloe were beginning to have slight misgivings.

Chloe's blue eyes were wide with amazement, and she shook her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts, causing her short blonde bob to swing wildly. Alyssa, almost the opposite of her friend, with black hair and soft brown eyes, let out a low whistle.

"That is damn big castle," she uttered, unable to keep the amazement out of her husky voice. "You're telling me that only three people live here?" her accent was almost Australian, as she had grown up in Sydney until her parents had chosen to send her to Hogwarts. Her skin was tanned form the sun, and her language could get quite colorful.

It contrasted strongly with Chloe's 'tea-lady' posh annunciation when she nodded and said, "It's golly gorgeous, isn't it? I wonder where we'll get to sleep!"

"In beds, I hope," Alyssa grinned. Chloe rolled her eyes but smiled, and at that precise moment, the door swung open.

"Guys!" Lily almost shrieked. "You're here! I thought I heard a taxi drive up, have you been shopping? God, look at all the bags!"

She embraced her friends quickly, Alyssa and Chloe obviously just as ecstatic to see their friend, as she was to see them. James, Sirius and Remus were watching he exchange form the doorway.

"Three girls- that means one each," Sirius mused. "James will obviously have Lily. Dibs on the brunette!"

Remus slapped him lightly on the back of his head, causing him to exclaim and glare at him.

"What!"

"Shut up. They're coming."

The boys watched as the three girls approached, all chatting excitedly. Although Alyssa and Chloe weren't really model material, they were still fairly pretty, and Sirius couldn't wait to 'get-to-know' them better.

"'Ello, 'ello," Alyssa greeted them, grinning widely. "The Infamous Marauders! Where's the short dude? Isn't he a Marauder too?"

"Peter's away on holiday," Sirius said in what he hoped was a smooth voice. "But don't worry, you've got the three of us to, uh, entertain you."

Alyssa raised her eyebrows, but the grin didn't leave her face as she followed him inside. Meanwhile, Chloe was introducing herself to everyone.

"Chloe Danks, pleased to meet you," she said automatically, as she shook the boys' hands. She paused in between Remus and James quizzically. "Which one of you wrote that tremendous paper on Astronomy last year? You know, the one that got that award?"

"Uh, he did," James said, pointing at Remus, who nodded.

"Are you interested in Astronomy?" he asked politely.

"Oh, ever so much! I'd love to become an astronomy teacher you know? And teach the kids all about the stars and stuff?"

"Oh?" Remus asked, a slight smile creeping over his face as he surveyed the girl in front of him. She was kind of cute, but so not his type. Still, she seemed nice. "Well, I could show you some of my charts if you'd like?"

"Oh, golly, I would! Thanks!" Chloe said excitedly, as she followed him inside.

James glanced at Lily awkwardly. She was staring pointedly in the other direction. They still hadn't found time to talk about their little escapade the previous night, and at the moment, it was obviously the last thing Lily wanted to discuss anyway. But…now that their friends had paired off, where did that leave them?

Lily, not wanting to spend any more time in his silent company, hurried inside after Remus and Chloe, leaving James looking after her stupidly. So their little game of running away had started again…

A/N: ok, first of all sorry! I know this took absolutely ages, but forgive me, I was away on a long trip for a couple of weeks, and I only just got back and then I had a huge pile of homework and well…you catch my drift. Forgive me with reviews, and I promise the next installment will arrive far more quickly! Luv you all,

Jaizar :P :P :P