A/N: Important chapter! Conflict, mystery, flirting! What more could you want?

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Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

Lily gently rubbed her fingers together and watched the dust fly into the air. She stared at the dust motes and then turned and ran to Alice's bed.

"Alice! Alice, wake up!" she shook her violently.

Alice started flailing wildly in her covers. She quickly became tangled up and started to yell for help.

"Hold still and I'll get you out of this," Lily gently unwound the covers and pulled them to the foot of the bed.

Alice sat up, "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Why did you wake me up?" Alice rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Lily started to pull her out of bed, "Come here! You have to see this! You know the other girl who sleeps in here?"

Alice nodded as she stumbled after her.

"Well, I noticed yesterday that she wasn't in any of our classes with us. Isn't that a little strange?"

"I dunno. Me and Molly always figured that she was either really stupid or really smart and had to take special classes," Alice shrugged, "I don't think it's a big deal, Lily."

"Yeah, but she doesn't sleep!"

"What?"

"Well, I mean, I looked at her bed this morning and it's covered with dust! Look!" she pointed down at the bed.

Alice reached down slowly and wiped her fingers across the blanket. When she picked them up they had a fine dust covering.

"See? She can't have slept in her bed for a while!"

Alice shook her head slowly, "Dust doesn't settle the same on cloth as it does on furniture. This has to have been untouched for a long time."

"So what's with this girl?"

"I think we should ask Professor Dumbledore about that."

Lily nodded, "Ok, let's get dressed and go see him."

Alice groaned, "Now? It's not even 6 o'clock yet!"

"This is important! C'mon!"

"Ok, ok. Give me five minutes."

Lily pulled on some clothes and waited impatiently for Alice to do the same. When they were both ready, they hurried out and down the hallway.

"Wait," Lily slowed down, "I have no idea where Dumbledore's office is."

"I do. I'm a prefect." Alice walked down the twisting passageways and stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle.

"Oh. I don't know what the password is."

Lily stared at the statue, willing it to let them through. To her surprise, it jumped aside and revealed a staircase leading upwards. She looked at Alice, who shrugged.

"Maybe he's expecting us."

They stepped onto the staircase and were carried upwards to a large door. Lily knocked.

"Come in"

They stepped inside and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk, watching them carefully.

"Please, sit down," he gestured towards some chairs in front of him. They sat.

"Sir, I have a question about the other girl who dorms with me, Alice, and Molly. You see, she isn't in any of our classes, and I don't think she sleeps in her bed at night. It's dusty."

"Hmm," Dumbledore placed his fingers together carefully and looked at them, "That is easily explainable."

"It is?" Lily glanced at Alice.

"Yes, you see, there is no other girl in the room with you."

"What? Sir?"

"There hasn't been a fourth girl staying in that room for over twenty years."

"But, sir," said Alice, "That's impossible!"

"How so?"

"Well, you see, she... uh, I-"

"Because I saw her," Lily broke in, "The first night I was here. I woke up and saw her come in. She was tall, with very long, dark hair. I saw her!"

A thoughtful expression came over Dumbledore's face for a second, but then, "I'm sorry girls, but there is no other girl in that room. You were probably just dreaming the other night. It happens to me all the time! Why, just the other morning I woke up convinced that I had sprouted wings during the night! Quite understandable, but nothing to worry about."

Lily started to protest, but Alice interrupted her.

"Yes, sir, we understand. Sorry to have bothered you."

"Oh, it was no problem. Come back anytime you need to talk."

Alice dragged Lily out of the room and down the stairs back to the hallway.

"Lily, there's nothing else we could have talked to him about. He's convinced that we were just tired."

"But I wasn't! I know that I saw a real girl! You've seen her too, haven't you?" said Lily desperately.

Alice looked uncomfortable, "Well, no. Molly said she met her during first year. Maybe she really doesn't exist."

"I know she does!"

Alice shrugged.

"You know what, Lily? I don't really care. If she does exist, she hasn't affected our life at all. It doesn't matter if she's real or not. Besides, Dumbledore said she isn't, and that's good enough for me."

Lily stared at her and shook her head, "Aren't you curious?"

"Not at all. Now let's go eat breakfast, I'm hungry," she walked off towards the Great Hall.

Lily followed her, and decided to put the girl out of her mind for a little. She'd have plenty of time to investigate later.

When they got to the Great Hall, they found everyone sitting at the table already.

James looked over as they walked up, "Hey, where have you guys been?"

"We had an errand to run," Lily said as she walked over and sat next to him.

"And it's none of your business," said Alice as she sat down next to Lily.

"Fine, don't tell me."

"We won't."

Sirius leaned across James and poked Lily in the arm.

"Do you know what we have next?"

Lily swallowed her bite of roll hastily, "No."

"Divination. The class from hell," Sirius grimaced.

"It can't be that bad."

"It is," said James, "I sweat like mad in that room."

"Besides," said Sirius, "The teacher hates us."

Alice snorted, "I would hate you too! You guys don't even pretend to behave in that class!"

James looked highly affronted, "We do too behave! Just not exactly the way she wants us to!"

Peter cackled from across the table.

Sirius looked at him, "Peter, that was a very girly laugh. Please don't do that again, it scares me."

Lily grinned behind her hand. She felt a little bad for Peter. No one paid him any attention except for Remus, James, and Sirius, and they mostly just poked fun at him.

Molly, who had been pointedly ignoring Lily this whole time, said, "Yeah, Sirius, and you don't ever act girly."

He pouted at her. James chortled.

Lily tugged on Sirius's sleeve, "So, what's so bad about Divination, besides the teacher? I think it sounds pretty cool."

"Well, it might be, if you could actually could See something."

"James and Sirius are most definitely not Seers," Alice said in Lily's ear.

"That's not our fault!" protested James, "The teacher's insane!"

"But she is a Seer. Not even you can deny that, James. She's famous for it."

James muttered something under his breath.

Lily laughed and stood up, "Ok, let's go. I don't want to be late to this class. Sounds like fun. Who do we have it with?"

"No one," sighed Sirius, "Just us Gryffindors."

"Is that so bad?"

"He's just upset that there won't be anyone else in that class that he can blame stuff on," Alice said slyly.

"That's not true!" protested Sirius, "I miss all the girls!"

James started laughing.

"Well, I guess that could be part of it too," smiled Alice.

"Seriously, though, let's go," Lily started walking slowly towards the entrance.

"Wait up!" James grabbed his stuff and ran after her.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he skidded to a stop next to her and rearranged his stuff. He really was good looking, with his ruffled hair and cute hazel eyes.

"Too bad he's not my type," she thought and sighed.

"What?" said James.

"What what?"

"You sighed."

Lily blushed, "Oh, I was just thinking."

"You gotta watch out for that. Do too much and your brain will turn to mush. Then it will start to leak out of your ears, and, you know, girls don't like gushy stuff on their clothes," he said seriously.

"You are so weird."

"Thank you. May I take that as a complement?"

"In your dreams, Potter."

Lily looked up and saw Severus walking by with Bellatrix.

James stiffened and started to hiss. Lily gave him a startled look.

"Lily's too nice of a person to complement you in good faith. It just wouldn't be nice to lie to you like that."

Lily was a little confused by this. Severus had just complemented her and insulted James in the same sentence.

"Bugger off."

James pushed past them. Lily followed, giving Severus a look as she went by. Did he have to go out of his way to antagonize her friends?

She caught up with James and touched his shoulder. He rounded on her, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Sorry."

"Don't be! I think you handled yourself very well!"

He shrugged, "That was nothing. I think they were holding back because you were there."

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything.

They walked for a little in silence, but then James spoke up again.

"I just don't get what you see in them. Especially Snape."

"They're really nice when you and Sirius aren't around."

"Well, that's encouraging. I'll just have to get to know them without actually spending any time with them."

Lily laughed, "I guess that'd be kind of hard."

"Since the school year's just started, I'm hoping that you'll realize exactly who you're hanging out with and come to your senses."

"And who exactly am I hanging out with?" said Lily frostily.

"Don't get pissed! Its just that... some of the things Slytherins do in their spare time..."

"You mean some of the things that you've heard they do in their spare time? I spent two hours of spare time with them yesterday, James. Do you know what we did? Play cards."

"They wouldn't want to scare you off too quickly."

"You know what? I am already tired of hearing you gripe all the time about people you barely know!"

"Thank goodness for that," he muttered.

Lily stopped walking, "If you're trying to get me to stop hanging out with you, you're doing a very good job."

"No, I'm just trying to get you to stop hanging out with them. You've got me, what more could you want?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, I'm handsome, funny, smart, athletic... what more could you want? We're perfect for each other."

Lily stared at him incredulously, "In the words of Severus, 'In your dreams, Potter'!"

Fuming. she turned and walked away.