A/N: Hello again, everyone one! I hope you all like this chapter… But first, a reply to my reviewers!
checkmarks: Glad you like it…Danielle is stupid isn't she? Unfortunately, she's only going to get worse…
Lara: I'm glad you liked it.
0mrsprongs0: You can definitely punch Danielle.
Keiko: I'm glad you like the fic so far, although I disagree with you about McGonagall. She may not have been as harsh as I had her be, but I don't think I made her out of character…at least, not much. I could be wrong, I guess.
Nina: Thanks for saying my story is interesting.
lizbennett: Thanks so much for the – what did you say before? Kick-ass review? Anyway, your reviews always crack me up.
rkom117: I'm not offended at all – I wasn't going to make Sirius bisexual (personally, I didn't think he came across as interested in girls at all in the books), but for plot reasons, I decided to do it. I hope you'll keep reading.
thequeeneb: This is definitely going to be an interesting charity event – hopefully I will continue to surprise people – assuming that's a good thing.
chaeli.meep.: I'm so glad you like this.
AkiretheGoddess: Thanks for reading this…and I agree. As much as I like Tonks, I just don't think she and Remus should be together.
A Remus/Tonks Shipper: I am neither thick, nor am I blind…like I said a second ago, I just don't think Remus and Tonks should be together. I apologize if I somehow offended you in my author's notes, and while you are certainly welcome to voice your opinion of my story, there's no need to be insulting.
Actually omniscient: I'm actually not planning on having Danielle's hatred of werewolves being very important to the story…I know it is kind of cliché, but oh well…Anyway, I'm glad you think the idea is so funny. I was inspired by a bit of fan art I saw a while back and just had to write this. Hopefully it'll work out the way I want it to.
And now, on with the story!
Chapter Two
Let's have an auction!
Later that night, the sixth and seventh year Gryffindor students gathered together in the common room, intending to decide what they should do for their charity event. Danielle was still in a bit of a snit over being told off by McGonagall – her detention wasn't for another hour, so she was still able to attend the meeting. She sat, sulking in an armchair as far away from the others as she could be and still hear what they were saying. Lily and Alice were sitting on the couch, talking to the four seventh year girls about classes, while the seventh year boys stood near them, discussing Quidditch tactics. The Marauders had yet to arrive.
Lily and Alice were just about to go looking for them, (not that Lily actually wanted to find them, mind. She just wanted to get the meeting over with.) when the portrait opened to reveal James Potter, followed by Peter Pettigrew, who was hastily stuffing what looked like a piece of parchment inside his robes. James smiled, running his hand through his hair and said, "Hello, Evans!"
Lily rolled her eyes at Alice and dully said, "Hello Potter. Where are Black and Lupin? We've got a lot to decide, you know."
"Oh, they'll be here," James said, ignoring Lily's scowl and taking a seat in a chair next to her. Peter sat on the floor near him. "Remus had something, er, come up during dinner that he and Sirius had to take care of. They should be coming any minute now."
Peter snorted at James' choice of words.
"What could they have possibly needed to take care of?" Lily asked, eying the two of them skeptically.
Peter began laughing outright when James said, "Well, you see, Sirius was – shall we say – behaving 'badly' at the table tonight, and Remus had to, er, punish him."
"Punish him?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion. She didn't get what Potter was trying to say, and was becoming annoying by the amused expressions on his and Pettigrew's faces. "If Black was doing something wrong, why didn't Lupin just take points off or give him a detention?"
Even Alice, who'd been listening in, had to laugh at that. "Lily, are you dense? What Black probably did most likely wasn't something Lupin would want to punish with a detention, considering the nature of their relationship. If anything, he'd want to-"
But before Alice could properly explain just what Sirius and Remus had been doing, the last two Marauders came through the portrait whole. They strolled over to where their friends were sitting, arms wrapped around each others' waists, both of them wearing silly grins. Sirius slid into the last overstuffed chair beside James, and directly across from Lily, Alice, and the seventh year girls, all of whom were giggling at the two lovers. Remus looked around for a chair and seeing none, situated himself in Sirius' lap, trying to hide his blush. Sirius, however, grinned from ear to ear as he wrapped his arms possessively around Remus and pulled him close. No one saw Danielle scowling at the couple from across the room.
"So," Sirius said, "what are we talking about?"
"Well," Alice began, fighting down her chuckles. "We were discussing your behavior at dinner, Black. Lily here was hoping you'd give her some pointers-"
At that, everyone laughed. Lily, who'd finally understood what James had been saying, blushed and hit Alice on the arm, exclaiming, "Oh, shut up, Alice! I did not!"
"Are you sure, Lily?" Sirius asked slyly. "You never know when you might need certain 'skills', you know. I'm sure James would enjoy-"
"Do be quiet Black," Lily said, trying to hide her blush. "I don't want to know anything you could teach me, and I certainly don't want to know anything about what Potter might 'enjoy'."
"Yeah, Padfoot, leave Evans alone," James said, hoping to impress Lily by standing up for her – as if that ever worked.
"Quiet, Potter," Lily snapped irritably, rolling her eyes as he ran his hand through his hair again. Lily had to admit, though, that as annoying as he was, Potter could be quite endearing when he wasn't trying to impress her – which, unfortunately for him, was almost never.
"Yes dear," James said, smiling winningly. Alice chuckled at the two of them, thinking that Lily really ought to come to her senses and admit how she felt about the bloke.
"So," Alice said loudly, getting everyone else's attention. "Now that Black and Lupin have finally graced us with their presence, can we get this meeting over with?"
"Sure thing, Longbottom- I mean Prewett," joked Gabriel Matthews, a tall seventh year boy with short blonde hair, pail skin, and dark green eyes. He nudged the boy next to him, Alice's boyfriend Frank, who was also a seventh year. Frank had dark brown hair (is that what color hair he has? I can't remember.), blue eyes, and an annoyed expression on his face as he and his friends pulled chairs up and joined the circle. Danielle moved a little closer, but continued to glare at Sirius and Remus – or, more specifically, at Remus.
"Right then," Alice said, ignoring Gabriel. "Any ideas?"
"Whatever we do, it should be big," James said. "Something that everyone will want to come to. Maybe a talent contest or something?"
"This has to be something that we can all do, James, and not all of us have much talent," Remus said. Not to mention the fact that he didn't really like the idea of having to perform something in front of the entire school.
"Besides," Peter said, surprising everyone by speaking up – and disagreeing with James. "That sort of thing would take more than a few days to put together. People would need to practice, and how would we raise money for it?"
"But it's still a good idea," Sirius said, thinking. "If we can't do a talent show, it should definitely be something fun and entertaining."
"We could have an auction," Melissa Compton, one of the seventh year girls, suggested.
"That's an interesting idea," Frank said. "But we'd still have the same problem, wouldn't we? How would we get enough things to auction in time? We have to hold the event by Sunday night, and there aren't enough shops in Hogsmeade that we could ask for donations."
"Well," Lily began, running a hand through her hair in an unconscious imitation of James, "instead of auctioning off merchandise, we could put ourselves up for sale."
"What do you mean?" asked Danielle, speaking for the first time since she'd set foot in the common room. This sounded interesting.
"Muggles do it sometimes for charity," Lily said, explaining. "We could auction off free dates in Hogsmeade with ourselves."
"You mean you want people to bid on dates with us instead of prizes and things?" Remus asked frowning. He wasn't sure he liked that idea. "I suppose that would be easier. We'd just have to get the restaurants in Hogsmeade to give out gift certificates or something so the couples could eat free."
"Would we be able to bid on each other?" Sirius asked, tightening his grip on Remus. He didn't like the idea of his Remus going on a date with someone else, even if it was for charity.
"I don't see why not," Gabriel said, shrugging. "I mean, it's for charity, so why shouldn't we be able to participate in our own event?"
"Well, if you haven't already been auctioned off, you wouldn't be able to bid on a date with someone before you," Lily said. "But I'm sure the two of you will be able to deal with one night with someone else."
Remus kept Sirius from responding by squeezing his arm warningly and saying, "So are we definitely doing an auction?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Frank said, "I guess so."
Lily looked at her watch and said, "Guys, it's getting kind of late, why don't we get the details worked out tomorrow night? McGonagall just said we had to figure out what we were going to do tonight, right?"
The others nodded, and everyone agreed to meet at the same time the next night. While everyone else went up to their dormitories, Danielle left the common room, going to meet Filch for her detention. She walked slowly, thinking.
Ever since Sirius had dumped her the year before to go out with Lupin of all people, Danielle had tried everything she could think of to get him back. She'd even sunk as low as putting love potions in his drink at breakfast, but they'd never been quite strong enough to last more than an hour or so. Even the Polyjuice Potion she'd brewed the month before to make her look like that blasted prefect while kissing another guy hadn't worked. She still didn't know how her Sirius had figured it out.
But that was in the past. Danielle smirked as she realized that this auction could be her chance to get him back. All she had to do was make sure that she won a date with him…