DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or settings, JK owns them. Or Moptops or Beatles songs (Michael Jackson owns publishing rights to most of them. Bleh), etc ...

Chapter 21:  Mischievous Hufflepuffs, Revelations, Ginger Newts and Moptops.

Over the next few days, the news about Linda worked its way around the school. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as James could 'go to Hogsmeade' to meet her several times a week, and spend more time with Lily, who pretended to be in the library.

One Saturday near the end of November, Lily did actually spend the day studying in the library with Lena. Sirius was bored, and was lounging near the girls' table along with James, looking over at Lena every ten seconds.

"Hello," a sweet voice called from behid them. They looked up to see a very attractive Hufflepuff, Anita Something-Or-Other, flashing them a smile.

"Hi," Sirius grunted, and glanced over at Lena again.

"'Lo," James muttered, under the pretence of looking at Sirius looking at Lena, while his eyes were actually on Lily.

"Can I sit down?" Anita asked.

"Well, actually, we're rather busy," James said, indicating the stack of closed books on the table in front of them. Anita gave a loud, false laugh.

"Don't be silly!" she trilled. "I won't be much of a distraction. That is, unless you want me to be," she added, staring at James from beneath her magically elongated lashes. Sirius wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her; Lena had just gone behind a bookshelf to search for a book.

"Excuse me," he said cheerfully, darting after her. James cursed him silently as Anita moved closer to him. He shuffled away from her, knowing that his friend would not return for some time … he picked up one of the books and opened it, peering over at Lily as he did so. She couldn't see past her own large tome, and James was slightly relieved. How was he going to get rid of Anita?

"So, just you and me, then," Anita was saying.

"Oh, I forgot I needed 100 Relevant Runic Passages," he said, making to stand up, but Anita grabbed his arm.

"You mean this?" she asked, lifting the book from the table.

"Erm…," was all James managed. His eyes darted over to Lily again; she was still buried behind her book.

"You know, I think older women are rather … overrated," Anita said, moving closer again. James attempted to move away again, but she had too strong a grip on his arm. "Where are you going?" Anita went on. "There's no need to run away James, it's only a bit of fun," she whispered, and James struggled valiantly to escape, but she lunged forward and kissed him.

Lily looked up at that precise second and her jaw dropped. She stumbled out of her chair and ran as fast as she could from the library.

James sprang away from Anita as if he had been stung.

"What the hell are you doing?" he exploded, wiping his mouth.

"What does it look like?" she retorted. "Linda'll never know." James spun around quickly, and saw Lily's books still scattered on the deserted table.

"Shit!" he exclaimed, jumping up and running out the door as fast as he could. He spotted her hair whipping around a corner up ahead, and quickened his pace.

"Lily!" he shouted. "Lily! Its not – Lily please stop!" But Lily kept on running, reaching the Fat Lady and giving the password breathlessly (Semolina Pilchard). The picture was just swinging back into place when James rounded the corner, shouting: "Don't close! Semolina Pilchard!" The portrait looked quite offended.

"Where are your manners, young man?" she demanded. James didn't care, flinging himself through the hole and pulling out his wand.

"Colloportus!" he shouted, sealing the door to the girls' staircase.

"Open it, James," Lily said in a very strained voice.

"Lily, I didn't – she just—" he said, gasping for breath.

"I saw it James," she said. "Don't try to make excuses. I should have known that something like this would happen eventually. Nundus never change their spots."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a Nundu," he said. "And I did not want that, Lily."

"Sure," she said bitterly, still facing the door.

"How can you think that I did?" he asked. "After the last few weeks? After all that we said?"

"I saw you—"

"You saw her kiss me, and if you'd waited, you'd have seen me pushing her away," he cut in. "Why would I want to kiss her, when I've got you?" Lily turned around.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that," she said quietly.

"Lily, I told you before, it's always been you," he said, stepping closer. "She just sat down, grabbed hold of me and kissed me."

"Why would she do that?" Lily asked.  James shrugged.

"Why do you?" he asked. Lily smiled, and James sighed in relief. A loud bang suddenly erupted from the corner, making both of them jump. They had quite forgotten where they were, and hadn't realized that they had told the entire common room (and it was pretty full, it being a Saturday afternoon) their secret. The rest of the room, having fell silent the minute Lily came hurtling into the room, averted their eyes and pretended to be getting along with their work. (The bang, incidentally, had come from a group of third years that had clean forgotten their game of Exploding Snap.) Lily looked at James, biting her lip.

"Oops," she said. James shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "Do you really mind?" Lily shook her head. "John was wrong," James mused.

"What?" Lily asked indignantly.

"You don't have to hide your love away," he went on. "Am I forgiven, then?"

"For the kiss – yes," Lily said, taking his hand. "But that John remark is going to take longer for me to forget," she went on, as he opened the door and they headed up to her dormitory.

*****

 "This is a library!" Madame Pince screeched. Lena and Sirius jumped apart quickly. They scurried back to their tables, to find them deserted.

"Where'd Lily go?" Lena wondered. "She left all her stuff here."

"So'd James …," Sirius said, puzzled.

"Go on!" Madame Pince said, swooping down on them. "Clear off! And take all of that with you!" They gathered it up quickly, hovering some of the books in front of them, and left, grinning sheepishly.

They decided that they'd drop everything in the Tower and go for a walk before Quidditch practice. On their way to the Tower, they ran into Adele, who was grinning broadly.

"Did Lily and James forget their bags?" she asked.

"No, we've stolen them," Sirius muttered sarcastically, while Lena nodded.

"They did seem … distracted earlier," Adele said smugly.

"Not another argument?" Lena asked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, yeah, but don't worry, everything's ok now, they've kissed and made up," Adele informed her, grinning still.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Didn't you know?" Adele asked. "They've been going out for ages!"

"What?!?" Sirius and Lena exclaimed in unison, forgetting completely about the books hovering in midair, which dropped to the floor as they stopped dead in their tracks.

"He's been two-timing Linda," Adele went on, "well, three-timing, obviously, as he kissed Anita Thingamabob from Hufflepuff, but he's managed to worm his way out of that. With Lily, anyway." Lena exchanged a look with Sirius. They knew only too well how Adele's sources were often dodgy, and were wondering whether or not to believe this story.

"What d'you reckon?" she asked.

"That Anita Thingy was lurking around earlier, so that could be true … but he didn't seem that interested," Sirius said. "He could've been looking at Lily actually!" he said, remembering James' earlier behaviour. "He talked as if Linda was semi-serious, though," he added. Lena's eyes narrowed.

"Did he mention her surname?" she asked. Sirius thought.

"Eastman," he replied. Lena grinned. "What?"

"That's Linda McCartney's maiden name," she said.

"Linda who?" Sirius asked. Lena rolled her eyes.

"Paul McCartney's wife," she explained.

"You think it's a cover?" he asked.

"I think it'd make sense – if he is covering up about seeing Lily, then he'd know all about Linda," Lena reasoned.

"I goaded all that out of him," Sirius went on. "He could've just been giving us a red herring." Adele was still standing beside them, as if she was waiting for some confirmation.

"Adele, don't take this personally or anything, but bugger off," he said as they raised the books again. They headed back to the Tower, and up to the girls' room first.

"You know, it could be true," Sirius said on the way.

"Yeah … she has been acting strange," Lena mused, nearing the top of the staircase. She heard music, and smiled. "Well, we've found Lily," she said, rearranging the books in her arms. "The album is A Hard Day's Night," she said, turning the handle, "and the track is And I Love Her… am I right, Lil—" she started, but lost her voice halfway through. Sirius entered and what he saw made him drop the books again.

Lily and James were sitting on Lily's bed, and though they had jumped back, Lena and Sirius had caught a glimpse of what had been going on.

"Hello," Lena said, barely suppressing a grin. James began to speak, but Lena beat him to it. "James, the Beatles were a big band. Wings are fairly well known, aswell. There are a lot of people in this school that grew up in the Muggle world and return to it every summer. How long did you expect to get away with Linda Eastman?" she asked. James grinned.

"It worked for a couple of weeks," he said.

"So are you going to explain?" Sirius asked, setting down the book and flopping onto Lena's bed.

"It's true," Lily said. "We're going out."

"How long have you been running around in secret?" Lena asked. Lily started to explain, from the very beginning.

"So where have you been sneaking to?" Sirius wondered when she'd finished, but James shook his head.

"That's going to remain a secret," he said, winking at Lily.

"Aw!" Lena protested. "Tell us!" Lily shook her head.

"Don't worry," Sirius said. "We'll spy on them with the map." James stuck his tongue out at him.

"Have you seen that map?" Lily asked. Lena nodded.

"Cool, isn't it?" she replied. Sirius grinned proudly.

"You've both got incredibly talented boyfriends," he said. The girls exchanged a look and burst out laughing.

"We've both got incredibly bigheaded boyfriends, more like," Lena joked.

"Did Remus not help?" Lily asked. "Or Peter?"

"Well … yeah, but we did more," Sirius joked.

"Bigheaded twat," Lena repeated, ruffling Sirius' hair.

"Why do you do that?" Sirius wondered. Lena shrugged.

"Lily's always trying to flatten mine," James said. "We should swap," he suggested.

"Ok," Lena said, standing up. Lily joined her, grinning, and they swapped places.

"This is great," Lily said. "She's always talking about Puddlemere, and so is he."

"Yeah, and he can call you 'Lil' and won't be annoying me with that Lee stuff," Lena agreed. The door opened and Ally stuck her head into the room. Before anyone had the chance to say hello, she had disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later, accompanied by Remus, Kim and Peter.

"What's going on here?" Remus asked.

"We're swapping boyfriends," Lena said.

"Who?" Remus asked.

"Me and Lily," Lena went on. "Come on, you must've heard by now."

"What?" he asked, irritated. "Can someone please tell us what's going on?"

"Ok … well, Linda doesn't exist, or she's Lily, depending how you look at it. Lily and I have been together for a while, but we kept quiet about it," James said.

"You two?" Ally asked.

"For how long exactly?" Kim wondered.

"A month, I'd say," Lily said. "But I'm not sure."

"A month?" Remus asked incredulously. " And how would I have heard this?"

"Oh, Anita whatever from Hufflepuff kissed me, and we had a row in the common room," James said. "But everything's ok now, or at least it was until she left me for Sirius."

"It's ok," Lily said quickly. "Lena's left Sirius for James, too."

"I'm lost," Peter declared, and for once Remus had to agree with him. So James started from the beginning and explained everything in a less confusing manner.

Once everyone knew what was going on, they started to do more things as a group of eight – they sat as a group at meals and in the common room, and as much as was possible at other times. Before long, it felt as if they'd been doing it for years.

"Can anyone but Lena do that potions essay?" Lily asked one day, sitting down to breakfast.

"No, I'm still trying to master that Inanimatus Conjurus Thingy for McGonagall," Kim said.

"That's not bad," James said.

"For you, King of Transfiguration," Peter muttered.

"I'll show you, if you'd like," James offered.

"Yeah," Lily said. "Look what he taught me to do," she went on, demonstrating the book-to-record-player trick.

"You're on to something there," Lena said.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"Well, James is excellent at Transfiguration, he could help us," she said. "I'll help anyone who has a potions question. Lily is the best Charms teacher in the school, and we're all good at something. We should start studying together, so we can help each other out."

"Yeah," Sirius said, just joining them. "Brilliant idea!" he went on, kissing her on the cheek. "What was it?" Lena explained her idea quickly.

"But where?" Kim wondered. "The common room's too noisy, and Madame Pince doesn't like big groups in the library." They all turned to the boys.

"What?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of cereal.

"Well, you know the castle inside out," Ally said. "Do you know anywhere?"

"Not at the drop of a hat," James said.

"Yeah, give us a chance," Sirius said. "It'll have to be big," he mused. "It'll be tough to find a room that has everything we need…"

"I know a place," Remus said calmly.

"Where?" Sirius asked as all seven whipped around to look at him.

"A room that will always have everything we need," Remus went on in a low voice.

"Of course!" James exclaimed.

"Where is it?" Lily asked, but they had to wait until after dinner that night to find out. The boys led them to the seventh floor, stopping in front of a dingy tapestry. Ally flinched as she saw the trolls deal a particularly heavy blow to the head of a man in a very large tutu. Remus paced up and down several times, thinking: We need a place to study…

The girls looked at each other warily, convinced that their friend had temporarily misplaced his marbles, that is, until a door appeared in the wall opposite the now screaming tapestry. Remus grinned at the astonished expressions on their faces.

"Ye of little faith may enter first," he said, opening the door. The girls stepped inside.

"Wow," Lena said, taking in the bookshelves in the far corner, the side table with teapots and plates of biscuits, the fireplace with just enough chairs and couches to seat them all, and the large circular table with eight comfy-looking chairs.

"Not bad," added Kim. "What is it?"

"Room of Requirement," Sirius replied, heading straight to the biscuits. "It is whatever you want it to be."

"Like a storage room?" Lena asked, her brown eyes twinkling.

"What?" James asked quickly. "Why'd you say that?"

"Something Sirius said once," she replied. "Relax, we're not going to tell anyone."

"Ooh!" Lily squealed. "James! Lena! Look!" She had discovered another small table with a record player and assorted Beatles albums.

"This room is perfect," Lena said, putting on Abbey Road. Sirius sighed.

"How did you get used to it?" he asked James.

"What?" James asked.

"Sharing your girlfriend with four other men," Sirius went on.

"Well, be fair, they were a part of her life long before I was," James said, taking a cup of tea and sitting at the large table. "So I'm not sharing her with them, so much as they're sharing her with me."

"Yeah, but I was here first," Sirius said, taking a handful of Ginger Newts and joining him. "And now, all of a sudden, there are four other men in her life." Lena grinned and stole one of his biscuits to dip in her coffee.

"You're still my favorite," she said. "And you could always grow a moptop, if you're that worried," she went on, brushing his fringe forward á la early Beatles haircuts.

"And start talking like me," Ally added.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"I'm from Liverpool," she explained, "and so are the Beatles."

"What's with this band, anyway?" Remus wondered. Lily grinned.

"You play guitar, don't you?" she asked him. He nodded. Lily changed the record to A Hard Day's Night and played him the crashing chord. She grinned at the impressed expression on his face.

She had snared another …

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Hello!! Sorry about the delay, we're having an unprecedented heatwave here, and I haven't felt much like writing. Plus I've been busy with a lot of other things, like going to see my sister (one came home early) and we had a family barbeque on Monday. That was fun; there were about twenty people there, all my mum's family and their kids and dogs and everyone. We had a massive water fight, everyone had to drive home sopping. But it was fun.

Anyway, thanks to the reviewers:

WaNdA: I'm so glad you're back!! Ok, you've been back for a few chapters, but I forgot to do this about three times. I cried too, no shame in that. Thank you!!

kevin luver: Yes, Lily's excited … if you think she's bad wait 'till you see Lena and Sirius when the really naughty things start to happen … which won't be for a few chapters yet!! Thanks!!