Well, it's been a little while but here's Chapter 4. I actually start to move the plot forward in this chapter. (gasp!) Thanks for the wonderful reviews, and I hope you like it!

"You girls're gonna lose this, Meadowes."

I was searching for a Lily-like retort to this when I realized that the speaker was none other than - drumroll please - Sirius Black, spontaneously starting a conversation (or taunting session) with me.

"Uh..." I replied intelligently. "No, I don't think so, really." I swallowed and continued staring at the mounds of homework on my table. I didn't even try to sneakily glance at Sirius' chest, exposed by his half-buttoned oxford. (I'm such a good girl!)

Then my resolve broke. Sirius actually sat down in the chair across from me, leaned across the table, and said in a deep, growly tone, "I need to talk with you."

I pulled myself out of the million and one fantasies that were running through my head and said (in a slightly squeaky voice), "About what?"

"Marlene." The fantasies disappeared. I think I may have actually deflated.

"Oh?" I pressed, a twinge of annoyance entering my voice. He had interrupted my (admittedly futile) studies and raised my heart rate for Marlene?

"Yeah. This stupid Quidditch thing has not been good for our, er, relationship." (There's a word for it, I thought.) "She's mad at me, and we never do anything anymore."

This could not be more weird. I was tempted to ask, "what do you mean, do anything?" but decided to be nice.

Sort of.

"Look, I don't know what you want me to do. Lily's not going to back down, and I'm not stupid enough to ask her." I slammed Advanced Transfiguration shut as punctuation.

"Whatever. It's only another few days anyway." He got up and walked back across the common room. I may have watched his butt on the way.

"And Alice is pretty good!" I yelled, causing several people to give me frightened "crazy girl" looks.

Lily walked over. "You tell 'em," she said in a halfhearted way, and plunked down in Sirius' vacated chair.

It was looking like I wasn't going to be doing much studying.

"What's wrong, Lily?" I really knew the answer, and wasn't surprised when she burst out -

"James! He's so arrogant and cocky and you know what I don't even care anymore he can have his precious Quidditch and his Seeker and he stopped asking me out!"

She said this alarmingly fast.

"Er, yeah, that's right," I muttered. "What was that about asking you out?"

Lily looked surprised at herself. "Oh, that. It's weird, you know?" (I didn't.) "Just, he usually does it all the time, practically every week" - she giggled and flushed slightly - "and now he's stopped. I mean, it's a tradition, you know?" (Still didn't.) " He asks me out, I turn him down and call him a dumbarse...it's normal."

I found this frankly rather abnormal, but smiled reassuringly anyway. "He's just upset about this whole thing. I mean, you're on his turf now. He probably wants to impress you, as well." Wow, surprisingly insightful!

Lily looked dubious, though. "That's totally mad."

I shrugged. "Men." We left it at that, and Lily grabbed my Transfiguration essay.

"Rae, this is awful," she said conversationally. Gee, thanks.

Just then, Alice and Marlene entered the common room, looking distinctly ruffled. They made their way over to my table, Marlene turning her nose up at Sirius' grin and eyebrow-raising.

"Okay, there are couches in this common room!" I said grumpily as Marlene shoved my things aside and plopped down on the table.

Lily ignored me and asked, "How was practice?" The So-Help-Me-I-Will-Beat-James-If-It's-The-Last-Thing-I-Do gleam was back in her eyes.

Alice smiled. (She had at least had the decency to pull up a chair.) "Not bad. I caught it twice!"

Wow, that really wasn't bad. I was genuinely impressed. "Ready for tryouts?" I asked.

The smile slid off Alice's face. "Getting there," she replied.

"Well, I have good news for you all!" Lily said brightly, trying to change the subject. "James and I decided...well, actually I told him and said I'd hex him if he disagreed..." She smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, we're going to have the Halloween ball again this year!"

I groaned, but everyone else looked excited. This stupid tradition had been cancelled for the last two years, thanks to Heads who weren't insane. Now I would have to get a date, an outfit, and probably endure an hour-long "makeover" from Marlene.

"Brilliant, Lily!" Marlene exclaimed, glancing at me. "I can give Rae a -"

"Makeover," I finished glumly. "Lily, why?"

"Please pass up your essays," Professor McGonagall said as our NEWT class settled into the familiar chairs.

I yawned. Last night had been torture - after the girls finally went to bed, I was left up finishing the homework I'd neglected for a week. Fortunately, Lily had fixed my essay that morning.

I rummaged through my overflowing bag in search of the homework. I couldn't find it! Panicking, I knocked over my ink bottle and plunged another hand in the bag. Still nothing.

Suddenly, a memory from that morning hit me: "Here, I checked through your essay, Rae." "Thanks a bunch! Just leave it on the table for me, I'm finishing up some Charms still." I could practically see the essay now, sitting innocently on the table.

I cursed, furious with myself. I was always forgetting things! This assignment was huge, as McGonagall had pointed out repeatedly. There was no way she'd let me go get it. I could hear her voice now: "Homework you forget is homework I forget...to grade, that is. Zero marks, Ms. Meadowes." She'd certainly said it before, probably thinking she was especially clever.

I looked around wildly for some means of escape, ignoring my ink-stained robes and parchment. Suddenly, miraculously, I got one.

"REARGH!" A hideous retching noise came from directly behind me, followed by a splattering of some warm liquid on the back of my robes, neck, and hair. I turned around, horrified, to see Sirius Black winking with a mouth that looked in need of a Scourgify or two.

I'm not going to lie. Being covered in Sirius' vomit was probably the most disgusting thing that had ever happened to me, but also (sadly enough) one of the luckiest. We were both sent out of the room, myself for a change of clothes and Sirius for the nurse.

Once we were out of earshot, Sirius turned to me with a wide grin on his face.

"What do you think, eh? Projectile vomiting charm. Invented it myself, and I even had to practice to get the aim right!" He looked absurdly proud.

I was dripping and smelly, but pleased all the same. Don't ask me why - I should have been plenty upset that he had decided to unload his porridge on me. I think it had something to do with my tendency to be tingly and euphoric when he was within a 10-meter radius..

"Brilliant. How did you know I forgot my homework?" I said. It was odd to be talking to him like a normal person, even a friend.

"Doesn't take a genius," Sirius answered. "You were panicked and digging through your bag." Without changing his tone of voice, he continued, "You have ink on your face," grabbed my chin, jerked it upward, and rubbed my cheek roughly with his thumb.

Upon release, I was practically panting. I knew the gesture hadn't been romantic or anything, but the feel of his rough hand on my cheek and the sight of his face, tongue out in concentration, was enough to get me, er, excited. Pathetic, I know. I cursed myself inwardly and tried to hide my reaction, but I needn't have bothered. Sirius was now prattling on about how he'd developed his rather disturbing charm.

I stopped him. "Hang on. First of all, why would you even want to invent a vomiting charm? And why would you...empty your stomach...if you didn't have to? And oh yeah, you mind cleaning me off?" I said the last part rather hysterically, but remember the state I was in! Homework forgotten, puked on, and then assailed with full-on Sirius-ness (no pun intended).

My new buddy stopped walking and grinned. He turned me around by my shoulder (I tried to suppress my sharp intake of breath) and muttered "Scourgify". I felt the welcome absence of barf.

"Well, as for the charm, why not?" He was totally serious. "I mean, what a great prank! I've already done it on Sniv- uh, Severus Snape. It was hilarious! He hurled too, all over Evan Rosier!" Sirius grinned at the memory. I was honestly sorry I'd missed it. "And about using it on you," he grinned sheepishly, "I forgot my homework too."

Well, then. We had something in common. Marlene never forgot things! Absurd, yes, but oddly comforting. I smiled back at Sirius like we were co-conspirators or something - two disorganized, absent-minded, and occasionally lazy students against the world. Heh.

The rest of the "brilliant scheme" went easily enough. I changed my robes, stuffed the essay under them, looked slightly idiotic trying to get the assignment out without anyone noticing, and handed it in. Sirius never came back. I've heard it said that Madame Pomfrey, who was youngish and pretty, had a crush on him and fed him chocolate.

I don't doubt it.

The next day was Saturday, Tryout Day. (Finally!) Alice woke up alarmingly green, excused herself politely, made horrible noises in the bathroom, and emerged looking a little better.

"Don't ask." she said. I wasn't going to.

The Marauders made their final statement that morning at breakfast (the tryouts were at ten). We were innocently enjoying our meal - well, Marlene, Alice, and I were. Lily was rifling through the Seeker book, whispering feverishly. I would have bet money that she was the one trying out.

Anyway, little Peter Pettigrew got up from the table (the boys, Sirius included, had vacated their usual seats and were at the other end of the bench) and waddled over, his face bright red.

"James said you're w-wasting your time. He said Alice will never make the team so you might as well give up now. He also said" - here Peter swallowed and wiped sweat from his forehead - "that it's obvious you're just d-doing this to get his attention, Evans. He said he would gladly make you happy and wants to know if you're going to Hogsmeade weekend after next. And Sirius said he wants Marlene to get on a broom so he can see up her robes." Peter looked aghast at this - Marlene looked absurdly pleased. "And Remus said he's sorry his friends are such gits."

Exhausted by this speech, he turned abruptly to leave. Lily caught him, however - "Hey Pettigrew!"

Peter turned around with the air of someone expecting to be hit. "Yes?"

Lily looked remarkably calm (she'd even closed the Seeker book). "You can tell your coward friend James that I said he's got a lot of nerve to ask me out after insulting me. And tell him to grow up and talk to me himself, because sending you is really pathetic."

Peter nodded, relieved, and waddled back to his friends. He whispered something in James' ear, something that wiped the confident grin right off the black-haired boy's face.

Lily was eating composedly, immune to James' attempts to catch her eye. The rest of us were gaping at her, openmouthed. Lily was a smart person, but when it came to dealing with James Potter, she always lost her temper and ended up sounding - well, rather stupid. (Recall the "ego-head" business?) She didn't seem upset. The only thing that betrayed her feelings was a pair of bright pink spots high on her cheeks.

"What?" she said, noticing our shocked looks. We decided (wisely, I'm sure) not to ask, considering her already frazzled state.

After breakfast, we tramped down to the field for the tryouts. It was only about nine o' clock, so we spent an hour warming up. Or rather, Lily spent an hour getting Alice to fly around while doing unnatural-looking "stretches" while Marlene and I looked on in amusement.

Finally, we took a seat in the stands - there was also a vacated Keeper spot, and Seeker tryouts were second - and watched the proceedings. After what seemed like hours, all the Keepers had flown, and James was announcing Seekers alphabetically.

"Showtime," Lily said with a slightly manic grin.

After just one other tryout (in which the second-year hopeful had broken into tears after five minutes), "Budger, Alice," was called down. She was visibly shaking and I felt very sorry for her, though I couldn't suppress the question of why she was doing this.

As Alice made her way onto the pitch, Sirius walked toward us, having been replaced by the other Gryffindor Beater. According to Lily, this was a good thing, since Sirius had better aim. When Lily told us this, Marlene had said with a wink, "You'd better believe it," which was faintly depressing. Even more so when I considered that when it came to me, Sirius could aim his vomit very well indeed.

"What do you think? Will she make it off the ground?" Sirius raised an arm over his face (to fend off the expected attack from Lily, I guess). But she disappointed him - her eyes were trained on Alice, who had mounted her broom and was waiting for James to release the Snitch.

Sirius sat down next to Marlene, but had the decency to shut up while Alice flew. And flew she did - surprisingly well, in fact. She caught the Snitch both times James released it, and dodged Herman Kauler's Bludgers very well.

After she was finished, we watched around six others fly. Correction - Lily and I watched. Sirius and Marlene were busy "making up", which bore a striking resemblance to "making out". (This was also faintly depressing.)

Anyway, as we watched the candidates, it became obvious that Alice was by far the best. She wasn't spectacular or anything, but the other hopefuls ran the gamut from horrendous to passable. There was no question in my mind that Alice would get the spot, and we were already exchanging triumphant grins. Even Sirius conceded that she had done well, although he first had to emerge from the floor of the bleachers where he and Marlene had been "busy". I was savagely happy that there was a was of chewing gum stuck to Marlene's back.

Finally, James was ready to announce his picks. He cleared his throat importantly and read off a piece of parchment. ("As if he couldn't remember two names," said Lily contemptuously.)

"I would like to thank everyone for trying out today," James began. "After seeing you all fly I had a very tough decision to make, and blah blah blah." Well, he didn't actually say that, but the little speech was too boring to remember. James Potter liked to listen to himself talk.

Finally, he got to the point. "Our new Keeper will be...Marcus Smith!" After a few cheers, James cleared his throat. He looked nervous for the first time that day, and Lily gave me a worried look. "And our Seeker will be Catharine Pickett."

What? I wasn't sure I had heard right, and judging from the surprised murmurs around me, I wasn't the only surprised one. Predictably, Lily looked about ready to explode.

"When I get through with him..."

Wow, a semi-cliffhanger. I hope you liked it! Of course, feedback is mucho-appreciated. Thanks to everyone who's already reviewed!