Disclaimer: I don't own anything that's in the books. Not even remotely. I reckon a copy of each book doesn't count.

Chapter 26: Something To Look Forward To

Previously: 'How many hands have you won now, Caroline?'

'Nine. I was going to go for ten, but I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.'

'But you're more than a head,' put in Sirius, 'You're a neck, a torso, arms, legs…'

'Sirius Black, King of Awful Puns, strikes again,' said Peter, as Caroline grimaced and slapped Sirius on the arm, perhaps a little harder than necessary. 'Let's have some lunch.'

The exam week was quickly upon them, and the tension in the tower could not have been higher. Lily's glares were gaining even more notoriety among the younger years, who quickly learned that silence was the best policy, and she finished every day in a blazing temper. The other seven knew by now to keep out of her way, and so revised desperately together on the other side of the common room, not looking forward to the next week, which would be filled with cramming, taking exams, avoiding Lily's even worse mood, and occasionally sleeping.

It was Sunday night, the last night before their NEWTs. Dumbledore had sent a message to all the students that he had an important announcement to make. This reminder about exciting events to come, coupled with her friends' insistence that she couldn't take in any more information no matter how hard she tried, calmed Lily down somewhat, and so the Gryffindor seventh-years arrived in the Great Hall at seven together, and all joking and laughing, trying to take their mind off their upcoming exams for a few minutes. They were just settling down, and the noise level in the hall was subsiding, when Dumbledore stood up.

'Well, we have decided that, this year, in two weeks time, we are going to hold a leaving disco. It is not a regular occurrence, and, as such, has involved a lot of hard work on the part of your Head Boy and Girl…' but no-one was listening. Lily doubted whether anyone had even heard anything after the word 'disco', but she was pleased with the buzz that filled the hall at the announcement. Dumbledore did not ask for quiet, but merely held his hands up in a gesture of submission, and sat down again, as food appeared on the tables. Squealing and excited conversation erupted, even louder, all around the room, not least from Sarah and Suzie.

'A disco!' exclaimed Sarah. 'What a brilliant idea!'

'A disco!' agreed Suzie, and they started squealing at each other, much to the amusement of their friends.

'Hawling!' said Sirius.

'Yes, Black?' replied Caroline, instantly joining in whatever pretence he was going to do that involved him calling her Hawling.

'Now, I know we don't know each other very well,' Remus snorted, and Sirius shot him a nasty look, 'but I have admired you from afar for a long time. Will you give me the pleasure of accompanying me to the disco?'

'Well, Black, I don't know,' said Caroline. 'I think I should like to get to know you a little better first.' At this she leaned forward, grabbed him roughly, and planted a sound kiss on him. After a few seconds, she leant back, wiped her lips dramatically and said, 'Decent kisser. Quite attractive, too. I'll go with you, Black, unless of course I get a better offer.'

'And you won't regret it, Hawling my darling, you won't regret it!' said Sirius happily, sitting down and tucking in to dinner. Caroline grinned at him and joined him in what seemed to the others to be an Eat-Your-Food-Very-Messily-And-Very-Fast contest.

'So, well, will you go with me, Suzie?' asked Peter, blushing, despite the fact that they were going out, and had been for over a year, so there was no question of him being rejected.

'Of course!' giggled Suzie, and then they kissed lightly and, awkwardly trying to hold hands as they did so, began to eat.

'Aren't you going to ask Lily, James?' commented Sarah, seeing Lily and James not doing anything about the disco, and merely eating.

'We've known about the disco a bit longer than you have, so we've already made arrangements to go together,' explained Lily.

This remark was instantly met by a barrage of questions.

'How come?'

'And you didn't tell us!'

'How long have you known?'

'Well, as Dumbledore said, we planned it, but McGonagall swore us to secrecy,' said James. 'So we've known since… what was it, Lily? April, March?'

'April,' said Lily. 'That's why we had to keep disappearing on Hogsmeade trips, because we had to buy things for it.'

'Like on the last one we went to buy a disco ball!'

'Oh, yes, now you know about the disco, I can finally tell you about me knocking out Lord Voldemort!'

'What?'

'That's right, our dear Lilikins is all big and strong now,' commented James, kissing her on the cheek, and making her giggle, a sound the rest of the group welcomed, as they hadn't heard it for several weeks. He proceeded to tell the others about the battle, with Lily chipping in as well. Their friends were suitably awed.

Monday morning dawned sunny and hot, and when Sarah shook Lily awake, she muttered a formula and then sat bolt upright. Sarah retreated to safe distance, in a small, protective huddle with Caroline and Suzie, and got dressed. At breakfast, there was a tense silence as the fifth- and seventh- years read through their Transfiguration notes, not noticing that they were pouring the milk onto the floor or spreading the butter on the tablecloth.

The younger years, and sixth-years, soon went to lessons, leaving the OWL and NEWT students awaiting their doom. Both years had their Transfiguration exams first, and, by the end, the seventh-years were glad of the length of time spent on the Tri-Polar Walcott Reverse-Dismutation Effect, which carried a large portion of the marks.

After that, exam week passed surprisingly quickly. Lily was convinced that she'd failed everything, but from what others had seen of her during the tests, they sincerely doubted she had lost even a single mark. The others were largely satisfied with their tests, apart from History of Magic, which was a disaster for everyone, except for Peter and Lily. After a week of relaxation, and excitement about the end of term disco, the last day of the school year came upon them. The eight Gryffindor seventh-years were sitting in the Common Room, happily chatting about the event of the evening.

'Suzie – green or black?'

'Green, Lily, green. Black would just look boring.'

'And, at the risk of sounding cheesy, the green matches your eyes,' contributed James. Lily rolled her eyes and snuggled deeper into his arm, her head leaning back on his shoulder so that she could tilt it back and look straight up at him. She did so and he kissed her until Lily caught sight of Sarah's face.

'What's wrong, Sarah?'

'Nothing,' said Sarah.

'No, obviously there's something,' insisted Suzie.

'Well, you lot are all couples, but no one's asked me to the disco,' mumbled Sarah despondently.

'Sarah, why don't you go with Remus?' suggested James, a little too innocently. 'No one's asked him, either.'

'Are you sure that's OK?' said Sarah, her voice an octave higher than normal, and then said very quickly, 'It's not a big deal… it's just to have partners… it's just as friends, you know!'

'Yeah, yeah, it's fine! That'd be nice, nice and… fun,' said Remus, his voice also rising to surprising levels. The other six all exchanged exasperated looks, and then the topic moved on to whether or not Suzie should do something different with her hair.

Hepsa and Larka wrote this chapter. So a big thank you to Hepsa, and thanks to Lamia for Gamma-ing.

Review replies:

Pyrotechnic – Here. Posted, by February 13th as ordered. Geez, two chapters in four days! Money, please? Except…can it be in pounds? Thanks. We are on a roll. You owe us money. Woohoo!

Moony066 – I'm glad you liked the chapter, especially the battle scene. We're better at fluffy stuff, like the disco, but, well, there was a war on. How d'you play black jack? The only card game I know how to play is cheat, so, eh. Puns are the curse of the earth. Siriusly. (Couldn't help it, sorry, sorry.) Please join C.A.P.W.P.P. (Children Against Parents With Painful Puns), and soon, we shall stamp them out!

Review topic: Cramming for exams, and how it can either save your skin, or confuse you so much that you break down in tears during the exam and fail. Luckily we don't have big exams for a while yet, and so can concentrate on writing this!

Larka :)