Chapter 9: Girl's Night, Boy's Night

"Hey, Lily, I think I found them!" James said, peering in a Three Broomsticks window. Lily looked in, squinting, and said, "Well, thee's anya and Sirius. Oh, wait, Alanna just came out of the bathroom." James walked in the door with Lilynot far behind.

Lily sat down next to Anya, with Alanna on the other side. James sat between Alanna and Sirius. There was an empty seat next to Alanna, though.

"Hey, Sirius, where's Remus?" James asked. Sirius pointed to the bar, and James saw Remus getting drinks. He seemed to be struggling to carry them all, and James stood up and rushed to his aid, before 8 galleons worth of butterbeer spilled onto the floor.

"So, Lily... I see you didn't jinx, hex, or otherwise harm James? Or did you do something that's under his clothes?" Anya whispered. Lily laughed.

"No, Anya, dispite popular belief, I do not hate James... completely." Lily said quiestly back. Anya laughed, too, and turned to James who handed her a butterbeer.

"Lily, do you want one too?" he asked. Lily nodded, and shoved a hand into her pocket.

She frowned. "I left my money up in my dorm. Kind of stupid of me, isn't it?" James smiled, and said, "Well, it's on me then, okay?"

"Er, thanks." Lily said awkwardly, fully aware of the stares her friends were giving her.

"What?" Lily said, looked at her friends on either side of her. Alanna shook her head, muttering "clueless."

"We're gonna have a talk with you, Lily." Anya said. Alanna nodded, and Lily groaned, and sunk into her seat. This went on unnoticed by Sirius and Remus, who were talking about something like Quidditch.

As James headed back to the table with two butterbeers, he saw Lily being dragged out by her friends. He sat down next to Remus, and asked, "do you guys ahve any idea what that was about?"

Remus replied, "I don't know. Anya said something like, 'We have to talk to you' and then they pull Lily outside."
James shrugged, and started to drink his butterbeer.

Meanwhile, outside...

"Nothing going on! Yes, Alanna, I would tell you if there was!" Lily said, protesting against Alanna and Anya's allegations.

"Lily, you go to Hogsmeade with him, he buys you a drink, and niether of you are harmed severely... You guys HAVE to have something going on!" Anya said loudly.

Alanna rolled ehr eyes. "Anya, if Lily says there's nothing, there's nothing. C'mon, it's cold out here. Let's get inside."

The three girls sit down with the boys, and Lily picked up her butterbeer.

Alanna, Lily, and Remus had a discussion about the NEWTs while Anya, Sirius, and James talked about the next Quidditch match.

When Lily finihed her butterbeer, she said, "Hey, girls, do you want to head over to Honeydukes before we go?" Alanna drank the last dregs of ehr butter beer, and Anya nodded.

All three stood up, and the boys waved good bye, while tlaking about some strange... thing. (Actually, Lily had no idea what they were talking about.)

"So, Alanna, you and Remus dating yet?" Lily asked as the three girls walked up to the castle, eating big bars of Honeydukes chocolate.

"No." Alanna said, going bright red. Anya giggled.

"Oh, and you, Ms. Cruthe! I've seen you giving a one Mr. Black looks... and he's giving them right back!" Lily said, laughing.

"Regulus? No way!" Anya said, horrified. Lily gave her a shove on the shoulder, and Anya laughed.

"No, you airhead. Sirius!" Lily said loudly. Anya rolled her eyes.

"Like hell I'm going out with him. chances are he'd use me and lose me." Anya sighed. Alanna took a big bight of chocolate, and shook her head slightly at her melodramatic friend. Lily put a hand on Anya's shoulder, and they walked all the way up to the 7th year girl dorms in silence.

Lily felt like spending the night with her best friends, so she slept in the spare bed up in the dorm.

They stayed up really late, doing things that other girls did at slumber parties. (Except with magic, of course.)

LIly introduced muggle hair curlers (the none electric kind) to her friends, and she proceeded to show them how to use them

"But, Lily, this is a waste of time! We could just courl our hair with our wands!" Anya said, complaining.

"Plus, when have we ever seen Anya with curled hair?" Alanna said, laguhing. Lily rolled ehr eyes as Anya lunged at Alanna, and Lily tugged her back into place.

"Hold still! I'm not done with the left side of your head yet." Lily turned to grab a curler, when she noticed she only had a few left. She muttered a duplicating charm, and grab one of the many she now had.

"So, Lils, back on the suject of the month... Are you and James friends? Or more than friends? Or, even dating?" anya asked, laughing the whole time.

Lily sighed. "No, Anya, well, actually, we're just friends. And I'd like it to stay that way. He can be a pretty cool guy, when he wants to be."

Alanna smiled. "The slut population of Hogwarts seems to think that he's cool (and hot) all of the time." Anya scoffed.

"Well, that's the slut population, isn't it? James Potter is eternally a god to them."

anya tried to keep a straight face, but Lily broke first. She started laughing, and the other two followed.

When Alanna calmed down, she asked, "What's so funny, any way?"

Anya scratched her head, and Lily mumbled, "I don't know."

Alanna smiled, and they continued with the hair curling and so forth. And that was pretty much how they spent their evening.

Jame sand Sirius kept quite a stash of candy and butterbeer hidden in their boy's dorm. Now that it wasn't James's dorm, mostly the chocolate was Sirius's.

As they ate th candy and talked about their latest prank on Snape (involves underpants and the Great Hall... you don't want to know), Remus smiled evilly and turned to James.

"So, has Lily broken yet under your charm?" James groaned, and Sirius laughed.

"No, Remus, we're NOT dating. Yes, I know that's where this conversation is going." Remus shrugged, and Peter plowed on through boxes and boxes of chocolate. Sirius snatch the last box of chocolate frogs away from him, and turned back to James.

"So, she doesn't love you yet?" Sirius asked. James glared at him.

"I take it that's a no, mate." Sirius said, laughing.

"You had to have made some progress, I mean she let you buy her a butterbeer." Remus pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, that's big progress, Moony. I buy you guys butterbeers and that doesn't mean we're dating."

"I certainly hope not!" Sirius said, aghast at the prospect of dating his best mate.

James sighed. "And, we were just walking down to Hogsmeade together. We didn't make it a date, or anything, I was just helping her find her friends so she could ditch me for them."

"But, luck of all luck, her friends are next to your friends!" Sirius said, laughing. James groaned.

"It's hopeless." he muttered.

"No it's not. hat happened to the endless optimism you had in 5th year? Lately you seem so... down to earth."

"Wow, you're saying it's bad I've got a head on my shoulders?" James said, loudly. Remus shook his head.

And the arguments and talks pasted well into the night until all four boys (I bet you forgot Peter was there!) fell asleep on their beds.

pandas rule the world: um, he stole their underwear (EW! Snape's undies! Run away!)

Emma Barrows: Thanks again, I'm glad you like it!

cylobaby: Thanks, I'm glad for a new reviewer!

the-power-of-love: Thanks tons!

Hello to all my reviewers! Thanks for the great support it took to make this chapter! (Yes, I'm getting all cliche and cheesy, but...)