Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus, and, for a bit of variety, JAMES!) but most unfortunately, I do not. L

X-X-X-X-X

"Oy! James! Presents!" James blearily glanced up, and was quickly hit in the face with a box.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?"

"It's Christmas, you great bloody prat!" James fumbled for his glasses and shoved them onto his face, glowering at Sirius, who was gleefully hopping on the bed, tossing presents around. "Get up and open your presents!"

James was awake, now. He grabbed the nearest package – From Dad – and ripped it open. It was a book – Defensive Magical Theory, by Wilbert Slinkhard. James's face fell – he'd heard of the book, and heard of how boring it was. "Oh. I was expecting something…"

"…That you wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of?" suggested Sirius, his voice muffled by chocolate. James stared at him. "Oh, you know it's a boring book." He swallowed; James pointed to his mouth. "Oh, the chocolate? From King."

"Ah. I guess she got me chocolate, then, too."

"I'll bet you she got Moony lots of chocolate. She has such an obvious crush on him, and Moony's so bloody oblivious… mooning over Comforts… hey! Moony is mooning over Comforts!" He burst into laughter.

James rolled his eyes. "That's not even funny."

Sirius stopped laughing and shot him a half-annoyed, half-hurt look. "Well, I think it's funny," he retorted indignantly, and stuffed another Chocolate Frog into his mouth.

"Yes, and you're the only one." Sirius was prevented from answering by a full mouth, so he contented himself with flicking James off.

James flipped his new book open, and his father's voice boomed throughout the room. "You great prat! You didn't really think I'd get you a bloody book, now did you?"

Almost at once, things began spouting from the book – Quidditch jumpers, a broomstick servicing kit, and all sorts of things – all having to do with Quidditch. When at last the book finished spouting things, it disappeared with a crack. James stared at his now littered-with-Quidditch-stuff bed. "Well," he said, slowly. "That was some present."

"You're right," said Sirius, looking injured. "I actually got a bloody book!" He held it up, and James fought to keep from grinning – Sirius had gotten a book, but it was a good book – The Beaters' Bible – one of the few autographed editions. "Must've cost your dad a fortune," said Sirius, no longer looking injured. He flipped through the book and whistled. "This is some book!"

James dropped his new servicing kit and climbed off of his bed, going to where Sirius was seated on the floor, surrounded by his own presents. James's friends had often spent Christmases at his house, and it was something of a tradition that they all brought their gifts into James's bedroom and opened them there.

After getting over the initial awe of their first gifts, James and Sirius had set to work, tearing paper and opening their presents eagerly.

James had gotten many, many gifts – from family, friends, and admirers (mostly girls) – as had Sirius. Curious, James looked over to where Sirius was staring a Beater's bat in mint condition, signed by Kevin and Karl Broadmoor. "Whoa!" said James, staring. "They're the most famous Beaters ever! And they don't even play anymore! Who gave you that?"

"Oh, er…" Sirius flushed. "Nobody."

"Nobody my bloody arse! Signed by the Broadmoor brothers! You've got quite an admirer, Padfoot."

"Yeah," said Sirius, still flushing. "I guess so." His expression cleared as he found another small box, under all the wrapping paper. "Hey, I've got one more."

"Who's it from?"

"No idea – doesn't have a signature." He ripped the paper from the box and stared at what was inside – a tiny silver thimble. "What the bloody hell – OUCH!" Sirius howled in pain as the thimble suddenly grew and clamped onto his finger. He waved his hand around, swearing, trying to dislodge it.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter ran in, and several minutes later, Sirius was nursing a very swollen finger while Mr. Potter glowered at the cursed object, which was lying innocently on the floor. He snapped his fingers, and a house-elf appeared, gingerly picking it up. The thimble didn't attack it. "Take the bloody thing away," he snapped, and turned to Sirius. "Who gave that thing to you?"

At that moment, a slip of parchment floated to the ground, with two letters: B.B. "Figures," grumbled Sirius, sucking on his finger. "Only Bella would send me a cursed object. I hate her." He glowered at the parchment, which had suddenly lit on fire and crumpled into ash. "I hate my whole bloody family."

The Potters just exchanged looks.

X-X-X-X-X

"Get anything interesting, Lil?"

Lily glanced up, a half-opened box in her hand. "I haven't finished yet."

"Oh. Want to see what I got?"

"Why not?" Janine eagerly bounced into the guest room, her arms full of opened gifts. Lily saw a number of necklaces, bracelets, and earrings mixed among the junk she had piled in her arms.

They spent the majority of the morning going through their gifts and eagerly gushing over each other's. That is, until a late, quite harassed-looking owl flew in. It landed in front of Lily, hooting softly. "Whose owl is that?" asked Janine, searching through her box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Triumphantly, she held aloft a pink-and-white one. "Hah! Strawberry shortcake!"

Lily opened the card first, which bore the words:

Dear Lily,

Sorry this is a bit late. I hope you like it.

Happy Christmas,

James Potter.

P.S. Go out with me?

Scowling, Lily tossed the card aside, but nonetheless ripped the wrapping paper off of the gift, revealing a tiny wooden box with a golden clasp.

Lily opened it, and gasped softly – it was a tiny music box, with tinkling music. Inside was a golden pendant, shaped like a clover, embedded with diamonds and emeralds, hanging on a thin gold chain. She lifted it from the box, inspecting it.

"Bloody hell," said Janine, dropping the previously-dropped-by-Lily card. "He never gets me anything this nice!" She pouted. "He bought me a bloody Quidditch jumper that's the wrong size." She held it up – it could have easily fitted someone much smaller. "I suppose he must've been going by the size of my old dolls…"

Lily wasn't paying attention to her. She stared at the necklace for a few more moments, and then held it out wordlessly to Janine. Her friend took it, and Lily lifted her hair from her neck, and Janine fastened it. The pendant fell against her pale skin, and Lily examined it more carefully. "It's lovely," she decided at last. "Quite sweet, actually… I never would have thought he'd send me something like this! Every year, he used to get me books. This is so sweet of him! But why would he send me this…?"

"I know why. He probably wants something in return." Lily glanced up; her friend was grinning widely. Immediately, Lily grabbed a pillow and launched it at Janine, just as the other girl opened her mouth to make a (probably raunchy) comment. She missed, and Janine grabbed her own pillow and launched it at Lily.

Within moments, a fully blown pillow fight had broken out.

X-X-X-X-X

"What d'you think of this one?" Janine twirled on the stool, looking down at Lily, who was watching her with a disinterested expression.

"I think that we've been at this bloody-choosing-dresses-thing bloody long enough and that you should have bloody chosen your bloody dress sometime before the bloody afternoon before your bloody Masquerade. That's what I think."

"In that case, never mind." Lily sighed, and Janine gracefully stepped off of the stool evaluating her reflection in the full-length mirror. "Orange is not my color," she decided at last.

"We've been through at least fifteen dresses. How many bloody dresses do you have?"

"A lot."

Sighing, Lily fished a blue and gold dress at random from the pile and tossed it at her friend. Janine had tried it on long ago, but chances were that she wouldn't remember. "How about that one?"

Janine appraised it, rubbing her fingers over the fabric. Then she held it up to herself. "It's perfect," she decided.

"Janine! That was the third one you tried on!" cried Lily, exasperated.

"I'm surprised you can remember that far back," said Janine, holding it up to herself and twirling before the mirror. "You're a genius, Lily."

"I know that." Lily pulled a green and yellow dress from the pile. "I'm wearing this," she informed her friend firmly.

"Good. It'll look lovely with your eyes. Although I'll have to get one of the house-elves to shorten it, seeing as you're shorter than I am…"

Lily scowled at the slant to her height, and said, "You treat them like slaves."

"I do not. I treat them like house-elves."

"What's the difference?"

Janine ignored that, saying, "And don't scowl like that. Just because you're somewhat more than substandard in the height department…"

Lily seized a pillow from Janine's bed and chucked it at her friend. Predictably, she missed. Janine straightened up, grinning wickedly. Lily's hand cast around for another pillow, and then she decided it wouldn't be worth it. I'd probably miss again, anyway…

"Janine?" Damien poked his head around the door. "Remember, guests arrive at eight."

"So?"

"So it's six o'clock."

"What!?" Both Lily and Damien covered their ears as Janine's voice rose several octaves to an unnatural shriek. "It's six o'clock and nobody told me? How the bloody hell am I supposed to make myself beautiful in two hours? I mean, it's not like I need it, or anything – I'm bloody gorgeous as it is – but still, I need more than two hours to-"

"Tell me, is she always this conceited, or is it just around me?"

"It's not just you, don't worry."

"Pay attention to me!" Janine's shrill shriek caused them both to wince.

"We are paying attention to you," insisted Damien earnestly. Janine pouted. "We are!"

"No, you're not. Now, get out. I only have two hours – heavens, I don't know how I'm supposed to – out!" Damien disappeared quickly; the door snapped shut behind him. Janine turned imperiously to Lily. "You might want to use the guest bathroom." She was already making her way towards her own bath. "I'll be in there a while."

X-X-X-X-X

James yanked his shirt collar straight, and then turned to face his three friends, his arms widespread. Peter and Remus had arrived several days ago. "How do I look?"

"I think your first outfit was better," said Sirius without turning around. He was inspecting himself in the mirror. "Blimey," he said, smug. "I look hot."

His friends ignored this, and Remus asked, "What first outfit?"

James pulled on his golden vest and buttoned it. "The one I lost in Diagon Alley," he answered.

"Oh."

"Don't you think I look hot, Moony?"

"Shut up, Padfoot." Sirius grinned around at his friends, fiddling with the cuffs of his deep blue robes.

"Well, I think I look hot."

James ignored him, and looked in the mirror over his shoulder. "Ooh, you look absolutely adorable, Master James!" the mirror squealed. James grimaced. 'Adorable' was not what I was hoping for… Ruggedly handsome would have worked… or sexy… but not adorable…

Nonetheless, he smiled at the mirror. "Thanks. Now let's all hope Evans thinks the same way."

"Oh, she will, Master James. Why, you look so yummy that I'd just eat you up in a spoon if I weren't a mirror!"

"This is creeping me out now," Peter decided loudly, just as Mrs. Potter decided that the boys had been getting ready for long enough.

"Are you ready to go yet?" she demanded, fussing with the lace collar at her throat. James gave her an honest smile.

"You look fantastic, Mum." To his surprise, she flushed a little.

"Thank you. Now, hurry up!" The door snapped shut.

Sirius grinned. "Gee, your mum takes compliments well. 'Thanks and hurry up.' That's nice."

"Shut up," said James, grabbing his wand and sticking it in his trouser pocket. Remus gave him a wary look.

"What're you bringing that along for? We're not allowed to do magic."

"Correction, we're not allowed to do magic in a non-emergency situation. If the Death Eaters are bold enough, this could very like turn into an emergency situation," pointed out Sirius, grabbing his wand. "Besides, first rule we learned in DADA 101 – always take your wand with you, no matter the circumstances."

Remus shrugged, and pocketed his. "Fair enough. All right, we'll take them with us." Remus spread his arms. "How do I look?"

"You'll knock Alyssa off her feet," offered Sirius with a wink. "The girl won't be able to resist you."

Remus turned away. "There are other girls."

"Don't be all sweet and understanding, Moony. She's nice enough, but she's a bit prejudiced against you. Not very fair, if you ask me."

"Janine told me it had something to do with her aunt."

"Which is one of the many questions we can ask Little Miss Prejudiced once we get there. What she has against werewolves."

"Okay." James gave Remus a wary look; it wasn't like his friend to go in without a fight. But there was a determined glint in Remus's eye, and James decided not to ask.

"C'mon, then," said James, casting a last look at his reflection before heading for the door. He took a deep breath. "Time to go."

X-X-X-X-X

"You look lovely, Miss…?"

"That's against the rules," said Lily, with a smile. "You're not allowed to ask my name." The brunet young man bowed. His mask hid most of his face, but Lily could nonetheless spot the dismay in his gray eyes.

"Of course. Would you dance with me?"

Lily swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. Janine and her family had spent agonizing hours trying to teach her to dance, but it hadn't taken very well. At long last, they'd taught her a few simple dances, and Lily had gotten the hang of it (sort of). Nonetheless, she still felt nervous.

But the man was holding out his hand, a question in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, Lily lightly slipped her hand into his, as she'd been told to do, and she curtsied. "I'd love to." And he swept her away.

Lily determinedly looked everywhere but at the man's face as they revolved slowly (he was leading.) She looked at the magical band, at the person she knew was Janine (she recognized the dress), at the food, and out the windows.

Anything not to look into his face.

"I won't bite, you know," he said, his voice amused. She glanced into his eyes, and then quickly averted them. Lily was more nervous that she'd ever been.

Before they'd gone downstairs, Janine had explained the "rules" to her. "Wear your mask all the time," she warned. "The Masquerade is anonymous, so you aren't going to know who you've danced with until the end of the Masquerade. All right?" Lily had nodded.

"And watch out," added Damien quickly. "This is usually an all Pureblooded event – we've had a few Half-bloods here and there, but never a Muggleborn before. Just a warning."

"Be really careful what you say," butted in Jeffrey. "Some of the Purebloods of the Wizarding World are really touchy. And a lot of them can tell what blood you are by the way you act."

"But if you follow what we've told you, you'll be fine," finished Janine, with a reassuring smile. Still, Lily wasn't reassured. They'd spent the entire holidays, giving Lily tidbits of advice. She'd never remember it all – even though the Garnets went over it all an hour before the Masquerade.

"You'll be fine," said Perry, with a grin.

"How d'you know?"

"I just do." He grinned even wider. "Remember, I know everything."

Somehow, this was more reassuring than anything else Lily had heard since arriving at Garnet Manor.

"…Miss?" Lily realized that she'd been ignoring her dance partner, who had long since let go of her hands and was bowing to her. Belatedly, Lily remembered she was supposed to curtsy, and so she did, wobbling a bit. The man seemed to accept it, and he walked off. Lily glanced across the room.

Janine was curtsying to a tall, blond man. Her curtsy didn't wobble an iota. Lily sighed.

"Dance with me?" Lily whirled, and faced another tall man. He was dressed in a resplendent golden vest and crimson trousers. Lily smiled anxiously, and he smiled kindly. "I won't bite. And you needn't worry. Nobody else would be able to tell you're not a Pureblood."

Lily's eyebrows shot up, but he had seized her hands and they were waltzing about the floor.

They stayed silent as they danced, staring at one another. This was the first time she'd managed to keep her eyes on her partner's face without looking away. Something about those hazel eyes was very familiar…

He pulled away and bowed as the song ended. Without waiting for her curtsy, he touched the new pendant at her throat, his fingers flitting over it. "Looks familiar," he remarked. Lily opened her mouth, and he vanished into the crowd.

It took her all of five seconds to realize whom she'd been dancing with.

X-X-X-X-X

James removed his golden and red mask, wiping perspiration off of his upper lip. I think I handled that well, he thought.

He glanced to where the redhead in the green and gold was still looking for him, and a thought unbidden sprung into his mind.

I wonder if she thinks I look adorable and yummy…

Hearing a sound, James turned, and froze. Somebody was behind the curtain. His fingers itched to pull back and see who it was, but a hand gripped his arm. James half-turned, and recognized Remus's elaborate peacock-like mask.

"Don't," he whispered.

"Why?"

"You'll just embarrass them." James grinned.

"That's the point, isn't it?" His hand lunged out and yanked the curtain away. And James froze, again, and his jaw dropped, while Remus smirked knowingly.

Janine and Sirius were snogging in a manner that, in James's opinion, should have been made quite illegal. (He could tell who it was, because both of their masks were hanging from one of Sirius's hands.) "Well," said Remus slowly, "I'd rather expected them to be embarrassed, but apparently not." Janine turned and gave them both an irritable look (Sirius was now busy kissing her neck.)

"Do you mind?" she demanded tartly. Remus grinned, pulled the curtains back to hiding them, and dragged his friend away.

"You knew," accused James, as soon as they were far enough away that they wouldn't be heard. Remus grinned.

"Obviously. How did you not figure it out? They were always disappearing at the same time… and didn't you ever listen to him? He kept dropping hints – we were just too stupid to figure it out."

"What are you talking about?"

"She used to hate me. Weren't you listening to him? Used to. And they're always disappearing off… usually around the same time. Honestly, I'm actually rather surprised that it took us all this long…"

"I thought they hated each other," said James, still feeling shocked. "It never occurred to me that that might have changed."

"Obviously not." Remus picked up a glass filled with a sparkling pink liquid from a nearby table and looked at it. "Champagne," he said, sniffing it. "I wonder if they'll notice if we drink it even though we're underage?"

"Probably not," said James, and Remus finished the glass in one gulp. "Don't have too much," he added slowly. "You might be sick."

"Yes, I don't think the Garnets would appreciate it if I threw up all over their nice ballroom, would they?" Remus set his glass down.

"Probably not," said James again, searching for Lily once more. When he turned back to ask if his friend had seen her, Remus was gone.

X-X-X-X-X

"…No thank you," Lily politely declined. She airily fanned herself. "I'm a bit tired… perhaps another time…" The disappointed young man walked away, but was soon whisked off by another partner.

Lily sighed and half-turned when Janine fell into a seat beside her, flushed and panting. "Have fun?" she asked with a smile.

"You have no idea," she said, grinning. She took a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter and handed one to Lily. "Nobody has to know," she said mischievously.

Feeling bold and rebellious, particularly since she had a mask on, Lily clinked her glass against Janine's. "Cheers," she said, downing hers quickly. Setting it aside, she said, "I thought you hated the waltz."

"What makes you think I was waltzing?"

Lily frowned. "Who were you with?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Yes, I would!"

"No, you wouldn't."

"Would too!"

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

"Would not!"

"Would not!"

"Would t- hey!" Lily grinned. Janine stuck her tongue out at her friend. "That was cheating!"

A hand gripped her arm, and Janine turned. Jeffrey pushed up his mask a bit, so his sister could recognize him. "Yes, I know I'm not supposed to push my mask up," he said irritably, "but Grandmother's here. She wants to see you." He glanced at Lily. "And you."

"What?"

"She wants very much to meet – and I quote – 'Janine's fashionable friend, Lily.'"

"Am I fashionable?"

"She certainly seems to think so. Or at least, she said that Lily sounded like a very fashionable name." Jeffrey clapped her on the arm. "Good luck," he said. "Because you'll need it," he threw over his shoulder as he walked away.

Janine and Lily exchanged looks. Janine gave her a friendly clap on the shoulder, as Jeffrey had done. "Well, it was nice knowing you."

X-X-X-X-X

A/N: Um, right. There's the update. Seems my chapters are getting progressively longer, aren't they? Well, I hope you like it – I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Then again, I've had a lot of fun writing this STORY… sorry it takes so long. I'm doing my best, really, but I'm in the middle of finals. No worries – tomorrow is my last one, and then I'll have a week or two before my parents whisk me away until… like, August. You might get a few updates between end of/mid-June and the beginning of August. We'll see how it plays out.

Some of the stuff for upcoming chapters has been put in: we finally know who Janine's snogging, and for those of you who guesses Sirius… good for you! I didn't think it was that hard, but hey. And for those of you who guessed James… actually, that's a perfectly logical guess, but I wouldn't be that mean. Janine had her chance with him fourth year (remember?). Now I'm saving him for Lily. So. I've put in the first person Janine's snogging (you find out the other one next chapter), Christmas, the start of the Garnet's Masquerade, the flirty mirror, "would-not/would-too" conversation, and a few other things…

For the next couple of chapters: Janine's grandmother – that's going to be FUN to write – a little bit of L/J action, which, unfortunately, is not well-received by our favorite redhead, competition for James, the other person Janine's snogging, and the other-other person she's snogging (No, I'm kidding, she's not THAT much of a flirt), and – hopefully – a bit of insight into my other characters, as I've only been focusing on Lily, James, and Janine (which is unfair, I need to give my other OC's some attention – I'm bad, so sue me). Oh, and more upcoming thing – a nice, fun, cheerful confrontation between Sirius and his wonderful family (right, I was being sarcastic there if you didn't get that), plus things begin to heat up – not romantically, action-ly – we get a very confrontational confrontation between some Gryffindors and Slytherins, and we also get to see - gasp - TONKS! YES! WHOOHOO! (If you're not a Tonks lover, shame on you… I'm writing a fic with Tonks as the main character, but you'll have to wait for it until I'm way ahead in this fic, sorry L).

And I'll try to accelerate things a bit. I'm well aware that this story is going slowly… so I'm really TRYING to develop a plot. Really, I am trying! I swear.

Kudos to my reviewers – Life-size… er… life-size… hmm… what yummy-licious male character dollies do I have left? Let's see… we've done Oliver Wood… Sirius… Remus… Draco… Ron(MINE!)… Have we done Harry or James? Right! Life-size Harry and James dollies to my reviewers! (And if there are guys out there, you can have a Lily dolly, if you want…)

Oh, and just because I absolutely ADORE them to death – life-size dollies of Brad Pitt as Achilles, Orlando Bloom as Paris, and Eric Bana as Hector dollies! WHOOHOO!

Sorry, I was on a bit of a sugar high. I'm calm now. REVIEW, PLEASE! LOTS AND LOTS OF REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY (EVEN IF YOU REVIEW MORE THAN ONCE, I DON'T REALLY CARE, IT MAKES ME HAPPY!)

Wow… just pulled a Harry from OotP there… you know, because he's a very angry sort of person in that book? Right, well I adored him… finally has more of a personality… Okay, my rambles are done. Kudos!

3 Peaches 3