Hey guys. Im so sorry for not updating sooner but we have been moving house and everything is packed and Ive been busy unpacking stuff. Ya know? It might take me a while to update again but I promise I wont abandon this. Thanks again for the reviews! It makes me so happy! Keep reviewing guys and heres the next chapter!

Chapter 3 – The special dinner

Rachel's holidays got steadily better. The marauders gave Rachel plenty to laugh at she was never bored, they had appeared to forgotten the event at breakfast 2 weeks ago and had acted as if it never happened. Her dieting plan was going well also. Though it was still hard, she didn't realise how much she would have to give up, no chocolate frogs and any chocolate whatsoever, no butterbeer, and nothing deep-fried. She was exercising everyday with walks, swimming and Quidditch. Rachel had also decided to keep a record of what she is doing everyday and how much she is losing. She could almost swear Remus had got whiff or Rachel's plan. If he did know he was keeping quiet. Offcourse, it must look suspicious that Rachel doesn't go near the deep fried stuff and sugary stuff.

She had received numerous amounts of letters from Lily, Ashley and Riley. Rachel had stated in the replies she had something big to tell them, leaving them clueless to what it could be, agreeing to tell them at Hogwarts.

It was the last night before Rachel and the marauders would return to Hogwarts. David and Kate had prepared a special dinner for everyone, also in celebration of James getting headboy. Rachel had to laugh at his face when he received it. It was pure shock mixed with smugness, as usual. Rachel also knew Lily had made headgirl though she didn't want to be the one to tell her she had to share a common room with James all year, so she decided to leave it. James was anxious to know who the headgirl was also. Rachel had let slip one night that she knew and James hadn't stopped bugging her ever since, Rachel now knew how annoying it was for James to follow you around everywhere you go. Poor Lily was all she could think.

It was a warm summers night, perfect for the arranged dinner outside. Kate had requested that we all wear formal clothes for tonight, so Rachel was now flicking through her wardrobe to find something suitable. Her wardrobe was neatly arranged. She walked down the right hand side and looked at her dress robes and dresses she possessed. She loved dressing up for special occasions, so made the most out of this. She ended with a light blue halter dress she didn't feel completely comfortable in this dress, thank god it was full length, not revealing much, if it made her mother happy she may as well shall wear it. She straightened her hair and slipped on some floppy shoes.

Rachel observed herself in the mirror. She wasn't too happy with the end result. She felt she didn't deserve the dress it was a beautiful dress, made for a beautiful girl. She didn't feel or look gorgeous, although she loved her hair. Ever since starting her diet she had explored her hair more and come up with new ideas to make it look enhanced.

Kate had told Rachel dinner would be served at 6pm so she decided to not be late and get there in time. She walked down the faint lighted halls and stopped at the marauders door. The door was open they were still getting ready. All four of them, were near a mirror and had decided to dress in identical black muggle suits instead of dress robes.

Rachel's stomach did a huge flip as she saw Sirius fixing his hair. He looked so handsome, all of them did. Rachel's insides never went squirmy or uneasy at the sight of any other guy she liked or she had never been nervous and sometimes speechless around any other guy before, but rather confident. With Sirius she felt different it must be deeper feelings. Rachel thought.

After realising she had been steering at him for a while she took her eyes off Sirius and walked into the room, stating her company.

"How long do a pack of guys take to get ready? Although your not as bad as me" Rachel laughed as she took a seat on the nearest bed.

James turned around and steered at her, with a smug grin, "no one could be worse than you. When did you start getting ready, 3 hours ago? You look great by the way. I like the dress." James commented, turning back to fix his tie.

Sure, he liked the dress, but he didn't say he liked me in the dress. Trying to forget that she smiled. "Actually, Potter, it didn't take me very long at all. Only 1 hour, which comes close to my shortest record. Besides, what's the point of getting jazzed up when were only dining with mum and dad?" she laughed again. "You guys look great as well." Rachel finished, standing up to help James with his hair, as usual.

Finally all four marauders were ready, after Sirius had to check 3 times hat his hair was in place.

"So, are we finally ready?" Rachel asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Gosh, you lot are like a pack of girls."

Remus laughed. "Don't you mean Sirius is like a girl? He's the one we've been waiting for."

Rachel hi 5ed Remus. "Couldn't have said it better myself!" she said smiling her usual happy smile.

"So, are we going or not?" Peter asked. "I can smell the food from here, and it smells good." He moaned.

"Your right Pete. Come on marauders, Blondie, lets go and eat." Sirius said motioning then ahead.

Rachel laughed before kicking Sirius playfully in the shin. "Don't diss the blondes." She laughed jokingly before catching up to James who, typically had left, being as impatient as he was.

"Have you had any letters from my lily flower lately?" he asked.

Rachel sighed and looked up at James, he was about 2 foot taller than her. "Sure have jamesie. And unless you stop calling her yours, and you quit being such an arrogant prat when you're around her, you might stand a chance."

James sighed also. "Why does she say no? No one has ever said no to me before. Im the James Potter, girls never say no to me." he sounded confused, which made Rachel laugh.

She linked arms with him. "Yes, how could we forget who you are? Lets talk about this later. But, lover boy, you have a lot to learn about how to treat a girl." She said patting his arm. "Come on, lets make mum happy and take this dinner seriously." She finished before picking up the pace, the marauders right behind.

The 5 teenagers walked outside to find Kate and David already seated at a circle shaped table. Dim lights were scattered around the garden making a perfect surrounding. The marauders and Rachel took a seat around the table, Rachel ended up next to Peter and to her pleasure Sirius while being opposite James who was next to Remus.

Kate smiled as they all took seats, looking very proud. "So as you all know, James has made Head Boy this year, so as a special celebration we are having this dinner." Came the conceited voice of Kate, she was smiling at James like there was no tomorrow.

James blushed and watched as Rachel sent him facial expressions of disgust.

"You all look lovely tonight as well, it's nice to see you dressing up Rachel." Kate said smiling at the Marauders and Rachel.

Now it was Rachel's turn to blush and watch James give her queer glances from across the table.

Rachel sighed and looked at her mother. "Mum, I always dress up, its just unfortunate you don't see it." Rachel said bluntly. Gosh, she didn't have to give me an embarrassing personal comment like that, its just typical her though. Why couldn't she tell peter for once he looked nice?

"Yeah, she's right there. It took her 4 hours to get ready for the end of year party last year." Sirius laughed.

Kate sighed. "Yes, too bad im not there to see it. So anyway, James, do you know who the new headgirl is." The tone in her voice made clear she was very eager to get off the subject of Rachel's appearance.

James groaned. "No, I don't but she does." He said pointing the finger at Rachel.

Rachel laughed heartily while giving James a sweet smile. "Yeah, I sure do. And there's no way im saying. You can find out tomorrow like everyone else."

Before James could answer a pack of house elves came through the big doors with plates, beyond plates of food. Everything from salads to full roast dinners. It looked great. Too bad, Rachel thought. Im going to have to stick with the salads.

Everyone had started eating so Rachel thought she had better make a start. She grabbed the closest salad and began picking through the lettuce. She watched was Sirius pulled a huge bit of chicken from the roast and started to eat with no knife or fork. Typical, she thought.

"So Sirius, this must be the first holiday that you haven't bought any girls home!" she laughed. It was easy to tease Sirius and get him wound up. "Are you sure there a no more Shannon's, jesses or Becky's hidden in your closet?"

The marauders, minus Sirius all had smug looks on their faces. Kate and David had chosen to ignore this argument that was about to boil.

Rachel looked over at James who was laughing at Sirius. "I don't know what your laughing at James, your just as bad. No, Sirius is worst."

"Jealous are we?" Sirius asked.

Rachel blushed. "Course not. Lily and James will get together before I even think about liking you." Rachel lied, she loved teasing Sirius and he didn't seem to mind. He just teased her back, plus, while they were arguing like this it was a good cover up, not giving away Rachel really does like Sirius.

"So, if you don't like me, or any of the marauders who do you like?" Sirius enquired as if there was no other decent man on the planet.

Rachel looked at Sirius, trying her hardest not to blush. "Black, as if I would tell you, the whole school would know, although the school seems find out anyway… no, I refuse!" she said stubbornly, she sighed as she stuffed more salad into her mouth, hating every mouthful.

"Um, Rach, why all the salad?" Remus asked.

Rachel looked down at her plate, which was indeed full with salad.

"Yeah, what's with all the Rabbit food potter? Aren't Quidditch players supposed to eat meat?" Sirius said adding in his 2 cents to the conversation.

Rachel scowled. " Black, you always have to be part of the conversation, don't you." She turned her head, ignoring Sirius completely, which wasn't easy to do considering. She looked at Remus and smiled. "Well, im just starting. I'll have something else later."

God that must have been the lamest excuse ever. She thought as she stuffed the last of her salad in her mouth. Its only going to get worse, people are going to notice that all of a sudden ive switched chocolate and sweets with fruit and vegetables and Cakes and biscuits to Crackers and low fat muesli bars, but it was going to be worth it.

The rest of the dinner was very enjoyable for Rachel. She had a few more things to pack up, ready for school tomorrow so she politely excused herself from the dinner table and happily packed the remands of her things for Hogwarts.

It was going to be so great seeing her friends again, she couldn't wait to tell them her exciting news. She wanted to make the most of her last year at Hogwarts. If that was meaning studying more or getting into less trouble, so be it.

Rachel's room looked incredibly bare and empty. She decided to get some decent sleep; she was going to have to get up early the next day. She climbed into bed, barely sleeping; she was so excited about returning for her 7th and final year. Gosh, she thought. The marauders are going to get absolutely no sleep tonight; they haven't even begun to pack. She laughed cheerfully to herself.