Yay! I got 100 reviews! Ha, thanks for all the reviews! They keep my inbox very happy! So keep them coming! I'm happy to hear you guysloved the last chapter! It was defiantly my favorite so far!

Yes, I said arranged marriage! But I'm not saying who's! It should be interesting!

Oh, and yes, I meant 20 pounds!

So here's the next chappie! I nearly have the next one written up so I might post it this weekend!

Chapter 16 A first time for everything

Christmas was only three weeks away. Everyone in the castle already was getting into the Christmas cheer. Everything for Rachel had been going well. It was exactly a week after her and Sirius's get together. She didn't know if she was just being paranoid but she thought Sirius had become more distant. As each day pasted he only got more distant. Rachel had her suspicions it was about a girl, she didn't know which girl though. Rachel decided not to push the matter and let Sirius tell her in his own time, after all they were friends, and Rachel was quite happy with that for the time being.

But no one seemed to care about Sirius's remote behavior. The only thing that basically every student, and Rachel was sure some of the teachers were talking about was James's new girlfriend, Leah Samuels.

It had been confirmed, James Potter was over Lily Evans, completely. He had just fully proved that by finally taking his new girlfriend seriously. He took her on proper dates, he didn't take things too fast or too slow and he was a gentlemen. Leah, Rachel didn't even know how to explain her.

Rachel and Riley would never admit it but James and Leah did suit each other. She was pretty, no wait, that was an understatement, she was gorgeous with perfectly toned, tanned legs, vibrant brown eyes and soft dark brown hair. She was like a female version of James. She played quidditch for her house, Ravenclaw; most boys at Hogwarts liked her, she was a bit of a social reject, she did things her way, Rachel supposed James liked that. She was charming, brave, smart, clever and witty but also a tad arrogant, extremely stubborn and sarcastic and behind her sweet, innocent face had a wild side.

James had asked her out 5 days ago and they had been taking things seriously ever since. Leah, who you would expect to be a twin of Suzy, in fact wasn't anything like her. She was nice, almost too nice. She never had anything bad to say about anyone. That's what made Rachel and Riley hate her so much; they couldn't see how someone could be so close perfect. Rachel put on a happy face for James, she was happy he was happy. But deep down she knew that he was with the wrong girl and he was stupid.

Ashley and Lily didn't have much to say on the matter. Ashley typically thought it was sweet. Lily had said nothing whatsoever about Leah and James. Whenever Riley would ask her opinion all Lily would say is that she was happy for James. And she truthfully was, she just didn't care that much. James has his own life, Lily would tell herself, and it's none of my business.

So it wasn't just Sirius and Rachel, who had drifted apart, but also Lily and James. The pair weren't seen with each other much anymore and Lily had less and less to say about James.

It was last period of the day, Potions. It was even more dreadful than normal. Rachel and Riley had screwed up their potion already, the yells of Professor Clark still fresh in their head.

"How could you two be so careless?" he yelled at both of the girls as there potion came bubbling out of the cauldron. Both Riley and Rachel had found this incredibly funny and had burst into giggles. They now were made copying notes from a large textbook for the rest of the lesson.

The reason for their careless mistake was simple, Riley not once had her eye on the potion, she had been flirting with a boy called Sam Chadwick across the classroom, he was a nice enough guy, Rachel thought.

Riley who had soon gotten bored from writing decided to 'help' Sam at his table. Rachel watched as Riley leaned right next to Sam, showing very clearly that she was interested. Sam was giving all the right signals back. Rachel wished she could just walk up to Sirius and begin hard out flirting, but the horrid look on his face if she did would haunt her at night.

Instead she turned her eye from Riley and Sam and glanced at the marauders who were mucking around with their potions. Thick steam was coming from Sirius's potion; he had obviously been playing around with his ingredients. Typical, Rachel thought. Sirius had his white sleeves rolled up and his bottom button undone and his two top buttons undone. Rachel wished she had all his buttons undone, but quickly forgot that thought. He was lightly sweating, obviously the potion heat getting to him. His hair was untidily swept away from his eyes, overall making him look irresistible. Rachel didn't take her eyes off him, unable to restrain herself. This was nearly always the case in classes; Rachel's eyes would wonder over to Sirius, it didn't help if she was sitting next to him, which was rare. Only in transfiguration did she sit next to Sirius.

Rachel dropped her gaze from Sirius and turned to Lily and Ashley. Ashley was managing the potion by herself, from the looks of it, Lily was having trouble, and since when did she have troubles in class?

"What's the matter Lils?" Rachel asked turning around to face her friend fully.

"I have to do patrol by myself tonight because James is going out with his new love." Lily said bitterly.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Is that it?" Rachel asked not believing that Lily was bothered about James making her do patrol by herself she had done it before.

"I just don't think it's good enough." Lily snapped.

"Ok, calm down!" Rachel said putting her hands out jokingly. "I take it you don't approve of Leah then?"

Lily looked up from her hands. "I don't care who Potter spends his time with, I just don't want him mucking me around!"

"If you're sure that's all." Rachel said unsure of what Lily was telling her.

"Dead straight," Lily said firmly. "Infact, im going to tell him he cant go out tonight!" Lily said. And before Rachel could get another word in, Lily had marched to the other end of the potions lab, where the marauders were sitting and began what looked like bossing James around.

"Potter, you are coming on patrol with me tonight," Lily said firmly placing both her hands down in front of James, lowering her head down to his level. "Whether you like it or not!"

James looked shocked, which entertained Rachel. "Lily, I told you, I had arranged to meet Leah tonight, don't ruin it for Leah." James said quietly, not wanting to draw attention.

"I don't care if im ruining it for Leah or the queen of England." Lily yelled catching the attention of most students. "You've got a responsibility!"

"Lily, I thought you would be happy for me! We are supposed to be friends!"

Lily sighed. "How am I supposed to get through to you?" Lily yelled. Professor Clark was now heading over to the table, obviously he didn't want yelling in his precious potions lab.

"Potter, Evans!" He barked. "What's going on?"

Lily was caught off guard. "Uh nothing professor."

"Doesn't look like nothing to me," Clark snarled. "Detention, both of you, tonight!"

James sighed. "Looks like no one is patrolling tonight" He said bitterly.

Lily ignored him and marched back to her table where Ashley, Rachel and now Riley stood.

"Lils, you actually got a detention!" Riley screamed half shocked, half impressed.

"Shut up Riley." Lily said looking over at James who was looking at Lily with a look of disgust.

If Lily thought her day would get better, she was very mistaken. Lily returned from her detention with James just in time for dinner. She and James had been cleaning trophies in the trophy room. They had been arguing the entire time about nothing in particular. From the looks of it, both had given up on the friendship act and now loathed each other.

The Christmas decorations slightly lifted Lily's spirits. As she walked down the middle of the great hall she admired the many decorated Christmas tress, missile toe and other assorted decorations that had been put up. It was the same every year, Dumbledore always liked to show off the castle at it's best. It was always the same, and Lily should have almost expected what was coming next.

As she sat down next to her friends and to her horror the marauders and James who had returned slightly earlier than Lily, Dumbledore stood up.

He coughed a couple of times and instantly the hall went silent. Dumbledore began talking

"As you all know Christmas is approaching. I would like to thank Hagrid and the teachers for decorating the tress ever so magnificently," He beamed at the teachers. "And now I would like to remind you all that it has come to announce our Christmas ball we have every year organized by our own head boy and girl!"

The neutral expression Lily once wore had vanquished. She now wore the most shocked looking face Rachel had seen in a long time. It was priceless. James's face was much the same. Both Lily and James looked at each other and glared, making it clear neither wanted to cooperate.

Sirius thought the whole matter was horrendously funny. He laughed silently to himself and turned back to Dumbledore who began talking again.

"I'm sure both our heads are up to the challenge," He said beaming at Lily and James, ignoring their unenthusiastic expressions. "The ball will be on Christmas eve, a reminder that only third years and up allowed." Dumbledore said sitting back down, letting everyone finish their dinner.

"No, no, NO!" Lily said once Dumbledore had sat down and everyone had begun talking excitingly about the ball. "There is not way I am planning a ball with him!"

James, who was sitting opposite Lily glared. "There's no way im working with you either!" he said defiantly.

"Haha," Sirius laughed, still finding it a crack up. "The look on your faces!"

"Not funny padfoot!" James snapped.

"You're both going to have cooperate," Remus said fairly. "You can't let Dumbledore down."

Lily sighed. "Fine, I'll agree to cooperate if he does." She said not dropping her glare from James.

James huffed. "Fine, we've got three weeks. We will start planning this weekend."

Rachel stayed silent and listened as everyone began talking about the ball. Everyone seemed so excited, all the girls were giggling about what they were going to wear and who they wanted to ask them. Rachel hated balls, she always had. Ever since she was a little girl and her parents would make her dress up and go to parties and balls, she always had hated it. James would dance with pretty girls in dresses and no guy had asked Rachel to a dance before, ever. She couldn't stand the embarrassment of being the only girl not having a partner. It's not that she didn't want to go. She would love to go if someone would ask her and she could fit into a nice dress. But no, that wasn't the case.

Instead of talking about what dress she was going to wear, she listened to Riley who was telling anyone who would listen about the dress she wanted. Rachel was doubted if she was even going to go or not.

The ball was the only thing on everyone's mind. Girls would gossip about it every spare chance they got and boys would be boasting about how they had got this particular girl to go to the dance with them.

The actual planning for the ball wasn't going so well. It was the weekend and Lily and James decided it was best they begin to organize the ball.

"I think we should have a theme." James said excitingly.

"No!" Lily said defiantly. "It's a formal ball, no one is going to want a particular theme. We should keep it simple and effective."

But simple and effective did not go down well with James. He wanted anything but simple, live music, fancy decorations, posh food and a warm atmosphere. Finally James had used the last straw.

"Fine!" Lily said standing up. "You want to be difficult, then you can do it on your own!" Lily shouted, walking out on James, leaving him with lists of ideas and the weight on his shoulders of putting this ball together.

"Shit!" James swore as the portrait closed behind Lily.

James had been locked away in his commonroom all weekend. He came walking into breakfast the next day looking like one of those men who work 24/7 and get no sleep. Lily had absolutely not sympathy for him.

"It's your fault Potter." She would repeat every minute.

It had been only the first weekend and already half the school had dates. James had managed to find time on Sunday night to ask Leah. He was now sitting with her at breakfast.

Remus had already asked Ashley and Sam had taken the liberty of asking Riley, disappointing many guys who had planned to ask Riley. She was flattered but didn't take it to heart. Lily, like Rachel highly doubted if she was actually going to go, but her plans of not going were smashed that very day in transfiguration.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, May I see you both now." Mcgonagall said casually once the end of lesson bell went.

Lily and James walked up to Mcgonagall's desk, wondering what on earth she wanted with them.

Mcgonagall cut to the chase. "It is tradition that head boy and girl share the spot light together."

"No!" Both of them yelled at once.

"It's tradition!" Mcgonagall barked.

"Well I'm up for being a bit unauthentic." James yelled.

Lily nodded quickly in agreement. "Professor, I can't dance with him!" She hadn't even planned to go.

"You will dance together!" Mcgonagall yelled getting up and walking out of the classroom.

James glared at Lily before storming out of the classroom behind Mcgonagall.

Things for Lily had gone just as bad as with James. Now she was forced to go to the ball and dance with James as well as find a date to go with for the rest of the night. She had ditched her responsibility of organizing the ball and felt bad if James put on a poor performance, she didn't want to disappoint Dumbledore.

While Lily was searching the castle for a decent date, James and Rachel were in the commonroom planning the ball; Rachel had taken pity on James.

"So that's the decorations covered!" James said throwing sheets of parchment on the ground and crossing his legs on his huge leather sofa. "Now all we need to do is the food and music!"

Rachel smiled, relieved that they had gotten somewhere the morning. "We can talk to the houselves about the food and now just for the music."

James thought, he couldn't think straight. "Have you got a date to the actual thing?"

Rachel didn't want to answer that, how embarrassing. "Na," She replied.

"Aw," was all James said. He changed the subject. "So what about the music?"

Rachel shook her head. "I dunno what we could -." She said.

But before she could even finish her sentence, James jumped up and pointed at her with a huge grin. "You're a singer and musician!" He said overexcited.

Rachel's eyes widened. "No! No James! I am not playing my flute or singing for a ball with everyone watching!"

James's smile vanished. "But you've performed in front of an audience before, heaps of times!"

Rachel shook her head. "NO!"

James dropped to his hands and knees before Rachel and literally begged. "Please, im begging you! I'm desperate!" James pleaded.

Rachel sighed. "Fine, but im not great! People will laugh."

James sighed. "Oh give over! I've heard you play! You're awesome!"

Rachel had finally run out of excuses. She walked out of the commonroom, instructed by James to find a tune to play on the flute and a song to sing.

Not exactly thrilled about the arrangement, Rachel decided to pick out some tunes that might work out. All her books were up in her dorm, she decided to hide out and avoid girls who were obsessed with the ball. Unlucky for Rachel, her best friend happened to be obsessed with the ball and everything about it.

"Rach!" Riley screamed as soon as Rachel walked into the door. "I can't decide how to do my hair for the ball, can you help?"

Rachel sighed. "The ball is in two and a half weeks! You've got ages! I've got more important things to think about."

Riley dropped her hair magazine and looked at her friend. "Like what?"

"Like deciding what song and tune to play in front of only everyone for this stupid ball!"

Riley's jaw dropped. "How did you get into that situation?"

"James," Rachel replied. "He was desperate!"

"So you're not going to have a date to the ball?" Riley asked as if that wasn't possible.

Rachel nodded not ashamed to admit that to her best friend. "As if anyone would ask me anyway!"

Riley smiled. "What if Sirius was planning to ask you?"

Rachel glared at her. "He's not planning to ask me!" She said surely. "Have you seen how distant he's been around me lately?"

Riley smiled. "He was looking for you just before. I'd go and find him if I was you!"

Rachel shook her head. "And look like a complete dick?"

Riley giggled. "Out!" she said pushing Rachel towards the door. "Go find him!"

"So much for avoiding everyone." Rachel yelled as Riley slammed the door on her face.

Rachel sighed; she would have to find music some other time. Deciding to make the most of it, she decided to find Sirius.

It didn't take her long to find him. He was sitting with Peter, laughing about something probably ridiculous.

"Hay," Rachel said causally. "Where's Remus?" Rachel asked already knowing where James was.

"With Ashley." Peter replied not bothering to look up from whatever it was he was reading.

"Hay Rach," Sirius said actually bothering to look up. "What you been up to?"

Rachel frowned. "I got kicked out of my own dorm by Riley, I have to find music and she insisted I come down here instead."

Sirius laughed. "Riley's in hot pursuit, she loves balls."

Rachel and Peter laughed. "Uh if you would excuse me," Peter said suddenly looking at the portrait hole. A girl by the name of Monica Luxton had just walked in. "My time has come." He said stupidly, his voice all of a sudden getting deeper. He walked over to Monica and began talking to her. She was pretty, and one of Suzy's friends. Rachel didn't really know Monica, so she couldn't tell if she was like a twin of Suzy or not.

"Got a date for the ball?" Rachel asked Sirius casually. She knew girls were queuing up to go with him.

"Na," Sirius said quickly. "What about you?"

Rachel shook her head.

Sirius coughed. "Uh would you like to go with me?" He asked his voice kind of shaky, the kind of shaky Rachel found cute. "I mean as friends, because I cant be bothered asking some fan girl of mine."

Rachel felt like one million shock waves had traveled through her. She wasn't planning on going at all. She agreed with Sirius, she couldn't be bothered going with some guy who didn't really want to go with her. "Uh, ok, as friends. But uh James has made me play the flute and sing."

Sirius laughed. "I've never heard you play your instrument thingy."

"It's called a flute Sirius!" Rachel said laughing. "And no one in hogwarts, apart James has heard me play! I'm only doing it because James was desperate."

Sirius laughed. "Well that's nice of you, I can't wait to hear you!" he said truthfully. "Uh Rach, do you remember Megan Richmond?"

Rachel thought back to her past years at Hogwarts, she shivered when she realized whom Sirius was talking about. Megan Richmond left Hogwarts at the beginning of her 6th year and went on an exchange program in France. No one had heard anything from her since. Megan decided to go to France for extra learning. Before she left she had been really behind in her work, even more behind than Riley and Rachel. Apart from her intelligence problem, Megan was your typical good-looking girl. Rachel couldn't see anything special about her. However, Sirius had found something special about her. They had started going out near the end of 5th year; they agreed that if she ever would return they would get back together. Megan was the type of girl that if you were friend with, she would treat you right, but if you didn't meet up to her standards or was stood up to her in any way she would treat you horribly. Unlike Suzy who just teased Rachel about her weight, Megan actually told Rachel to do something about it. She would advertise Rachel like she was for sale and tell everyone that she would make Rachel loose weight. Rachel hated her for it, however most people thought she was sweet. She could get away with anything.

"Yes." Rachel said bitterly.

"Well I've been writing to her and she's returning!" Sirius said happily.

That was exactly what Rachel feared. She didn't need a girl from Sirius's past coming back! She didn't see any point in lying to Sirius. "Shit," Rachel muttered. "Wont Riley be pleased!" Rachel said sarcastically, Megan and Riley never had gotten along.

"I thought you liked Megan." Sirius said confused.

True, Rachel didn't really mind her, apart from the fact she gave her hell about her weight but Rachel also didn't want her messing with her relationship with Sirius. "Didn't you and her agree to get back together again?" Rachel asked ignoring Sirius's question.

Sirius nodded. "She was different from every other girl. I've missed her so much!"

Rachel wanted to hit him over the head; somehow she managed to restrain herself. "When's she coming?" Rachel asked trying to hide her bitterness.

"Dunno exactly." Sirius said. "Sometime soon, Christmas I think."

"Great," Rachel said sarcastically. "Just what I need."

Sirius didn't catch onto Rachel's fowl behavior. Rachel couldn't blame him. His long lost love was returning.

"So how should I act when she comes?" Sirius said getting excited.

"Be yourself," Rachel said simply knowing the answer to that question. "Now if you don't mind, I've got to plan my music." Rachel said getting up before Sirius could call her back down to talk more about the 'oh so perfect Megan.'

Rachel walked back up to her dorm, forgetting about Megan for a second. Sirius had just asked her to the ball! They could go as friends and have a good time. That's what Rachel wanted, for now. As Rachel opened her dorm door, Riley had her head buried in a hair magazine. Rachel decided to tell her to good and not so good news.

"Back already!" Riley asked.

"He asked me to the ball." Rachel said, even the thought of it sounded great.

"Ahh!" Riley screamed jumping up from her bed so fast Rachel jumped back.

Rachel smiled. "Oh and I think you better know that your dear old friend, Megan is returning."

Like Rachel, it took a few moments for Riley to register who the hell Megan was. Finally it clicked. "You are fucken kidding!" Riley yelled.

Rachel shook her head. "Sirius has been owling her."

Riley's eyes widened. "Wait a minute," she said thinking quickly. "Didn't Sirius and Megan go out?"

Rachel nodded with a sarcastic smile on her face. "Just what I need."

Riley sighed. "But you're going to the ball with Sirius! That will piss Megan off when she finds out! She never liked the bond between you and Sirius."

Rachel laughed. "She never liked you full stop!"

Riley giggled. "Do you think her and Sirius will go out once she gets back?"

Rachel looked at Riley. "Sirius was practically in love with her. If she hadn't of gone, they still would be together. What do you think?"

"That would explain his weird behavior." Riley said suddenly.

"First Suzy and now this!" Rachel yelled helplessly. "I can't cope with this!"

Riley sighed and grabbed Rachel's hand. "True love always finds a way."

Haha, so what you think about this ex GF of Sirius's? Well you will find out more about her next chappie!

Next chapter – Rachel's ball plans don't work out how she expected them to and that's all I can really say without ruining it! But there is lots of Drama!