Disclaimer: Nyah.

I don't really have much to say, but thanks for all your review, Lamia, and woot.

Suzie, Sarah and Caroline trudged up the stairs to their dorm after finishing their homework, to hear Lily's voice floating through the door to the bathroom, singing 'All You Need Is Love' to the accompaniment of the running tap.

'Lily?' said Sarah tentatively.

The tap turned off and Lily peered through the doorway, a pink towel wrapped around most of her hair, except for a few wet strands which were plastered to her face. She smiled dreamily, and drifted into the room, a larger pink towel wrapped around her body.

'Hey,' she said softly.

'Wow, I take it you've had a relaxing bath then?' said Sarah, looking at the very image of bliss standing in front of her.

'Uh-huh,' said Lily, who was returning to the bathroom with a pile of clothes.

'We brought your books up,' said Suzie, putting down the rather large pile of Lily's textbooks.

'Oh, did I forget them?' said Lily, dazed, from behind the closed bathroom door. She was occasionally like this after relaxing; confused, forgetful and generally half-asleep.

'Yes, you did,' said Sarah, 'You have to finish your Herbology homework.'

'But I did my homework last week!'

'Yes, you did last week's homework last week. Lily, get a grip on yourself, please.'

There was no response.

'Lily?'

'I nodded!'

Sarah threw up her hands in exasperation and sat down on her bed, kicking her shoes off. Suzie sat down next to her, her hands folded demurely in her lap. Caroline, however, yelled,

'Lily, go out with Black.'

There was silence for a minute, until Lily opened the door. Her good mood seemed to have vanished instantly. Her eyebrows were raised, and she hadn't yet put on her pyjama bottoms.

'What?'

Sarah gritted her teeth, in exasperation about Caroline this time, and Suzie started chewing the end of her braid. Caroline, however, looked Lily straight in the eyes and said,

'You heard me. Go out with Black.'

Lily stared at her for a few seconds, and then, laughing, went back into the bathroom, and, pulling up her pyjama bottoms, said,

'It's not a particularly funny joke, Caroline, but I suppose my reaction if I hadn't realised would have been funny to you.'

'I'm not joking, Lily.'

Lily turned around from the sink and looked at her.

'Well you should be,' she hissed, and she stormed out of the bathroom, slamming the door on her way. She threw herself onto a bed, and, before she could draw the curtains, Caroline did the same.

'Get off my bed!' shrieked Lily.

'No.'

'Get off my bed.'

'I said no.'

'I have every right to be here, seeing as it's my bed,' said Caroline. Lily peered over the end, and, sure enough, C. Hawling was printed.

'OK, then, I'll get off!'

Lily pushed herself up and Caroline yelled, 'Petrificus Totalus!'

Lily fell down to the floor, rigid as a board. Suzie gasped, Sarah merely stared, and Caroline shrugged.

'Had to. Now, Lily, I never wanted to do that, but you were being a bad girl and needed to be punished,' she said, sitting down on the floor next to Lily, 'Now, why are you not going to go out with Black?'

Lily's eyes looked intently at Caroline, who stared back at them until she realised she had to let Lily speak. She muttered the counter-curse, and Lily sat up, seething.

'That was not necessary, Caroline. That was assault.'

'Answer the question.'

'Well, I'm going to say it's because he's Black, maybe?'

'And?'

'And… and… and he – he's Black, Caroline! Surely you, Sarah – or you, Suzie – understand what I mean?'

'I don't care if they understand,' said Caroline, 'I don't understand, and I'm not letting you get away with it until I do.'

Lily eyed her suspiciously.

'Why are you so intent on this? You were never this bad about Potter, and he's persisted… I can't even remember a time when Potter wasn't chasing after me!'

'I think that you should go out with Black because he's fun, and that's what you need right now,' said Caroline calmly. Lily raised her eyebrows.

'Fun? Is your idea of fun sneaking to the kitchen, cramming your face full of chocolate and then running about after dark, to get eaten by werewolves or the like?'

'Werewolves aren't evil, and they only come out on the full moon,' said Sarah quietly.

'Yes, but… Sarah!'

'What?'

'Are you helping her?'

'Yes. I think you do need some fun, Lily. You've been so snappy since your birthday, and we miss you, Lily. We know you're not always fun, no one is, but you've not been fun at all these past few weeks and…' Sarah trailed off, like she always did during at the end of her one-breath speeches.

'Sarah…'

'It's true. Please, consider it, for us.'

'Suzie?'

Suzie looked up from her braids, which she was unravelling, and at Lily.

'Yes?'

'Do you agree with them?'

'I –' She hesitated. Both Caroline and Lily were looking at her with identical expressions, 'I – I agree with Caroline and Sarah.'

Caroline smirked, and Lily sighed, 'I haven't been that bad, have I?'

'After your bath earlier, you were in the only good mood you've been this week, until Caroline ruined it of course,' said Sarah.

'Hey! It was important!'

'Seeing as the point was to get Lily in a good mood, couldn't have let us experience this good mood first?'

'You saw how much her overall mood level dropped when I brought it up. Imagine how low it would be if it started off reasonably low in the first place.'

Lily then interrupted her friends bickering, 'I'll consider one date, but only for you guys. Don't think I'm going to spend my life with him or something.'

'Thank you, Lily!' chorused Sarah and Caroline, with Suzie joining in on the 'Lily'.

'The things I do for you guys…' muttered Lily, going onto her own bed and drawing the curtains.

'That went well,' said Caroline, cheerfully, returning to her bed, 'Good night, Sarah, Suzie.'

'I'm going to bed too,' said Sarah, 'Good night, Suzie.'

Suzie smiled at her as she waved in a friendly way, so she pulled herself up from Sarah's bed. Sarah leant over the edge of her bed and searched in her trunk for a minute, took out her pyjamas, and, with a smile to Suzie, closed the curtains. Suzie sighed.

Now that all her friends had disappeared to bed, Suzie decided she would to. She walked over to her bed, drew the curtains, and put her pyjamas on. After letting her hair out of her braids she sunk down under the duvet and lay there, thinking. She understood Lily's reaction to the Black situation completely. They were not compatible in any way! She didn't really understand why Caroline was so up for it. After all, they could bring fun to Lily, couldn't they? She didn't need a boyfriend.

Suzie sighed. Lily, Caroline and Sarah all seemed perfectly happy without a boyfriend, but lately she'd been thinking about it more and more. She was lonely; she needed someone she could really be with, share everything with, and be close with. Sure, she had her friends, but they seemed closer to each other than she was to them, probably because of her shyness. Why couldn't she be more confident?

That was what really bugged her, she supposed, her lack of confidence. She had been so embarrassed at breakfast when Peter had asked her about her Potions homework! More embarrassed than usual. She'd looked up, startled, and mumbled something brief and gone on about her big writing. Well, maybe she hadn't gone on about it, but she'd mentioned it, and that was bad enough.

Suzie sighed, and ordered her rather jumbled thoughts. She sank further into her bed; she loved its feel. She'd sorely miss it when she left. What was she thinking about now! She wouldn't be leaving for another year and a bit; she had plenty of time to worry about life after Hogwarts, so why start now?

Suzie decided to stop thinking so much and get to sleep. She let herself go numb on the pillow. She could hear the scratch of a quill – probably Lily doing her Herbology homework. She could hear random coughs – that one was Lily, and that one Sarah – and the thrash of duvets. With these comfortable, usual sounds still drifting through her ears, she went to sleep.

'Mouldy apples' is your topic; your rather unpleasant topic, but your topic all the same.

Hepsa