It had been over a month since the beginning of the term. Lily and James were still arguing as much as ever and Tristan and Sirius had started to prank each other again. Lily and James were sitting in the common room in dead silence. They were each sitting at their desks doing work. Well Lily was doing work. James was pretending to do work. Really he was watching Lily.

He loved watching the way her hair would hang into her face and she'd have to brush it back. He loved watching her face furrow slightly in concentration. They had been there for about and hour when randomly James stood up. "I think we should have a ball, Evans." She glanced up from the book she was reading. She raised her eyebrows.

"Are you serious?" she looked at him skeptically.

"No, Sirius is serious," catching the look on her face he started to explain, quickly. "It's just that the students could use something the cheer them up. It could be fifth through seventh years. Since the seventh years get a graduation ball it makes it fair. We could do it for Christmas. We could have it right before we break for holiday. We could also delegate tasks to the pairs of prefects. I really think that it's worth a shot. Besides I know Dumbledore loves balls." He smiled at her. It wasn't his average arrogant smile but a real smile.

She seemed to be thinking this over. She was looking at him with a look of utter surprise. "You know Potter, that's actually an excellent idea. We can discuss it at the prefect meeting tomorrow." He nodded and she gave him a slight smile. He groaned inwardly, now he had to figure out how to get out of the dorm tonight without her noticing. She had gone back to her work. He wanted her to talk to him more. "I'm sorry Lily." That got her attention. Her head shot up instantly and she was staring at him like he'd lost his mind.

"What did you do now, Potter?" he could detect annoyance in her voice. He shook his head. "I didn't do anything, this time. I just want to say that I'm sorry for all the years that I've insulted you and pranked you. I'd like to make a truce." She stared at him. She couldn't tell if what he said was the truth of if this was just another joke. As if he could read her mind he spoke, "It's the truth." She nodded and held out her hand. "All right, truce Potter. But don't think that his lets you off the hook or that I'll go out with you. This is just a truce since we're Heads together." He nodded effusively. He was just glad that there was a chance they could get on a first name basis. "Besides, we need to have some sort of truce, what with Sirius and Tristan hexing each other every five minutes." Lily laughed and nodded.

"Do you think that they'll ever get along?" she asked. James shook his head and sighed.

"I don't think so. Padfoot-I mean Sirius is too stubborn and she appears to be stubborn as well."

Lily looked at him curiously. "I always wondered what's with the strange names you four have for each other?James bit his lip and answered quickly.

"Nothing, they're just sill nicknames we thought up." She nodded. What am I doing, I'm having a civil conversation with Potter! Oh god people are going to think that I like him or something! Nonsense Lily, you made a truce. This is what people do. They talk civilly to each other and occasionally laugh with each other. This normal. All right, I'm calm now.

Meanwhile James couldn't believe his good fortune. She was actually going to be at a truce with him. Moony's advice had paid off. All James had to do was be more relaxed and stop trying to show off for her as much. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Shit, he was going have to be out soon. There was no way she'd let him leave. There was also no way to get her to leave. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in. I need my beauty sleep, as Sirius would say." Lily rolled her eyes. He walked towards his dorm. The moment he made it to his room he grabbed his invisibility cloak and swept it over himself. He slipped back to the common room and stood there waiting. It took another ten minutes for her to stand up and bring her things to her room. The moment she did so he left.

"Where you been Prongs?" James brushed off Sirius. He swept the cloak over Sirius and Peter.

"It was hard to get away without Lily noticing. We came to a truce of sorts." Peter nodded in approval while Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Way to go Prongs. All right let's get out to Moony. " They snuck outside to the whomping Willow where Peter transformed into a rat. "All right wormtail, hurry up." James knew Sirius was anxious to change to his animagus form. "Relax Padfoot, we're not too late." They grinned at each other before transforming to join Remus.

The next morning James awoke in his bed feeling tired beyond words. He groaned as he rolled over and glanced at the clock. It was time to head down for breakfast. The first thing that he noticed as he approached the great hall was loud yelling. It was coming from the direction of Sirius and Tristan. They were both standing up yelling at each other.

"Well maybe if I could get to my spot before being tripped by a toerag like you, I wouldn't be here." Tristan said the last bit a few decibels lower than Sirius' cries of outrage. As James got closer he realized that Sirius was covered in pumpkin juice as well as some eggs. Lily was shaking her head. Cris was looking at Remus and Alia was laughing hysterically. Most of the Great Hall was now listening to the morning exchange.

"What happened?" James asked Remus as he sat down beside him. Remus started to laugh a little. "Well you mean apart from the constant arguing and shouting? Well they were giving their usual exchange of insults. Sirius tripped her and she knocked the juice and an entire plate at him. Now he's complaining because she got it in his hair." He chuckled slightly. James was relieved that it wasn't a real prank. Sirius could get to into the pranks and Tristan could get dangerous.

"What Black, you seem a little tired this morning? Have another one of the vast female population in the astronomy tower? You better conserve because soon you'll run out of girls to date." Sirius grinned now.

"Well at least they want to date this. I don't see any boys knocking on your door." She smiled almost pleasantly. "That's because they understand the meaning of subtlety. " Sirius nodded.

"True, but most likely they haven't gone blind yet." He motioned up and down and started to laugh. "You know I hear that one of your cousin's was quite a looker. Obviously that didn't pass on to you." She smiled at him and grabbed a bowl of steaming hot porridge and dumped it over his head. She stood back and squinted one eye.

"Looks like the girls will need to blind as well, Black." He glared at her and poured the remaining pumpkin juice from the pitcher at her. She blinked and was about to say something. "BLACK! HOLLIS! My office immediately." Sirius grinned and Tristan grimaced as they walked out of the Great Hall to Professor McGonagall's office. James sighed. "Well that was…"

"Interesting," Remus finished. They looked down the table at the girls who hastily were finishing their food. Lily and Cris stood to leave. Alia did as well but stopped by James and Remus. She stopped laughing abruptly. "Tell you're friend Black to control himself."

James instantly sprang to the defense. "Come on, Hollis is as much to fault as Sirius if not more. Tell your friend to control herself. Besides it was just sport, it's what they do." Alia shook her head. She sighed. "Not this year Potter. Something's different about her. Tell Black not to push his luck. You don't want to see her angry." She was about to leave.

"I've seen her angry before. She's not much worse than Lily. Sirius is the one who can really get angry." Alia shook her head and gave a slight laugh.

"Well then this year will be very interesting." With that she left the Great Hall. Presumably to go find out what trouble Hollis had gotten herself into. "That was odd," James commented. Remus nodded slowly. "What she says makes sense though. Hollis seems to be different and Sirius is a bit raw due to family issues. Those two together are like gun powder and fire." James nodded in agreement.

"Oi, Padfoot, how much trouble did you get into?" Sirius laughed and shook his head sadly. I'm afraid I only received one detention. Luckily my detention isn't with Hollis. The girl's mad." James shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Well I'm glad you didn't get into a lot of trouble, try outs are tomorrow and I want you to give me a hand." Sirius nodded in agreement. Luckily they didn't get to Transfiguration late so they could sit together.

Tristan sighed. She had detention tonight. At least it was only for one night and it wasn't with Black. She muttered a quick spell to clean herself up. She knew that the girls would bug her about how she should grow up and how a detention was terrible. At least her and Black had only lost twenty points. She knew that asking Black if he was tired had hit a nerve.

Why do I even bother to think about Black? Not like he thinks about me except how to make my life more difficult. I need to pay more attention to Alia when I have the chance. Something happened this summer. Hell, they probably are all saying the same thing about me. Merlin, I'm so tired.

She took a deep breath and glanced in the mirror of the girl's bathroom. She tugged a band off her wrist and pulled her hair back, leaving her bangs hanging into her eyes. She stood up and left. She was walking to class when she heard someone saying her name.

"Hollis." She whirled around to see Andrew Jacobsen. He was a seventh year Ravenclaw. She had seen him before. "What, I need-" He cut her off. "I know you need to get to class. I just want you to know that those things Black said to you aren't true. You're really pretty and there are guys that drop at your feet. You just don't notice." She tilted her head and smiled gently at him. "Thank you Andrew. Well?" he was still standing there. He started slightly

"Well, um, Alia. She isn't involved with anyone is she?" Tristan thought back to their conversation earlier. "Not that I know of, but you have to ask her for yourself. I'm sure she'll give you a chance." He smiled at her.

"Thanks, sorry to keep you from class." She nodded and started walking to class.

"What happened to you? Did you get into a lot of trouble?" Tristan brushed all of these questions aside as she sat down beside Alia. They all gazed expectantly at her. "Fine. One night's detention and twenty lost points. We would have only lost points but Black called her Minnie and started to hit on her." She couldn't blame McGonagall for giving them detention after that display. It was absolutely sickening. She rubbed her eyes. The rest of the day was seemingly uneventful.

Funny it seems interesting things only happen in the morning. Well then again there was the fact that everyone stared at Tristan and Black at lunch and dinner waiting for them to do something stupid.

Lily found Tristan's behavior childish, but then again Black's behavior was even worse. She sat in the common room doing work when James sat next to her on the couch. He messed his hair up quickly. Ugh, he still hasn't gotten rid of that habit. He took a deep breath. "Hey Lily, This morning was interesting. Think that they might come to a truce someday like us?" She laughed a little and shook her head. "The likeliness of that is as much as me going out with you, Potter." He nodded in agreement. He was a little hurt but had become and expert at hiding it. "What d'you reckon bout Remus and Cris?" Lily asked.

"Well we've always teased him about her. He always says that they're just friends. He's really just too afraid that she'll turn him down or that he isn't good enough. "

"What on earth is he talking about? Of course he's good for her. I don't know how Cris feels; she's like Tristan in that sense. She never talks about her love life. I think she likes him though. She talks about him a lot. " James nodded in agreement. They sat in silence for a moment. Just as Lily was about to continue her work James bolted up instantly. "What! Potter, you all right?" She seemed a little concerned which was a good thing for James. "Sorry Evans, I was just thinking that it would be wonderful if we got the two of them together." Lily shook her head.

"I don't think it's a good idea. They always shoot the messenger and someone's bound to tell." James shook his head. "We'd be subtle about it. Hey don't look at me like that; it's Sirius who doesn't know how to be subtle. Besides there is a ball coming up, we could try to get them to go together." Lily shook her head. "I don't think so Potter, but if I change my mind I'll let you know."

"Alas, I shall not play matchmaker. But if we don't I warn you Sirius might get it in his head to." Lily widened her eyes at him. "Make sure he doesn't. Cris would have a mild heart attack." James nodded in agreement. Lily thought for a moment. "I'll think about it." He grinned at her.

Later that night while everyone else was asleep there was an empty bed in the seventh year Gryffindor girl's dormitory.