When, after what seemed an eternity of silent scrubbing and the voices in my head arguing with each other, Flitwick finally called us down from the ceiling at around eleven o'clock, all you could see of me was a red-headed blur as I zipped out the door. I had never been so thankful to escape from somewhere in my life.

And trust me, I've wanted to escape from a lot of places in my life time.

As my feet pounded the floor, I allowed myself to relive the moment which my brain had been keeping under lock and key throughout the detention. Potter, staring at me, flirting with me as I now realised, and then his lips pressing against mine…

"Eeeurgh!" I squeaked, doing an odd kind of shudder crossed with a violent twitch. Then, unable to contain my disgusted thoughts any longer, I added, "BlehsurwursehekisssedmeBLEUUUUUGGH!"

I cut myself off short, aware that I sounded incredibly stupid. Not that I blamed myself. I glanced around edgily to check no-one had heard. A portrait of some old bloke with a huge ginger beard was smirking at me. Great, now I was a laughing stock among the paintings of the third floor. Could the day get any worse for me?

Another image of Potter leaning in towards me shot randomly into my head without warning. Horror rose like bile in my throat, and I furiously scrubbed at my mouth with my sleeve, not realising in time that there was a certain amount of crusting slug slime still on it.

"This is getting bloody ridiculous," I muttered angrily, pausing to spit into a potted plant on a window ledge. "Sorry," I added to the plant, as it's leaves wilted slightly, "But I'd rather you have it than me."

Several minutes of twitching and spitting into plants later, I glumly approached the Fat Lady, who was snoozing lightly in her frame but woke up with a start when I coughed pointedly.

"Pa-pa-password?" she said through a huge yawn.

"Buttercup Muffins."

She raised her eyebrows severely. "Incorrect."

I stared at her. "What? But that's the password!"

"The password was changed three hours ago."

"Well, I wasn't here three hours ago!" I snapped, "Can't you please just tell me the new one?"

She looked, if it were possible, even stricter. "All Gryffindor students should know the password."

"WELL, THEY OBVIOUSLY DON'T!" I exploded at her, finally coming to the end of my tether. "BECAUSE I'M A GRYFFINDOR STUDENT AND I DON'T KNOW THE FRIGGIN' PASSWORD!"

She sniffed at that, looking scandalised. "Shouting will get you no-where."

"Talking calmly won't get me anywhere, either," I snarled. "If you won't let me in, what will I do?"

"You must wait for another student to let you in."

"And if no-one comes?"

She smoothed down the front of her dress in a very self righteous way. "I suggest you make yourself comfortable out here."

I stared at the hard stone floor and walls, and groaned inwardly. This could not be happening to me.

However, just as I was choosing the softest looking piece of floor to sit on, the portrait swung open.

Joy of joys! Whoever was climbing out of that portrait now, I was so happy I was going to kiss them!

Er – on second thoughts…Moony had just jumped lightly down from the portrait, then straightened up, grinning at me through fronds of tawny coloured hair. My knees trembled automatically, and my heart dissolved into mush. Oh, Merlin, he is gorgeous when he's smiling that devastating smile at me…

"Thought I heard someone out here," he said, all soft and soothing. "The new password is 'Rabbit Foot.'"

"Uh-yuh," I muttered, smiling at him, which in English roughly translates to 'oh yeah.'

We stood there staring at each other. He had this kind of expectant smile on his face. I grinned widely back at him. He coughed slightly, and gestured towards the portrait.

"Aren't you getting in?"

"Oh!" I stuttered, my face going flaming red. "Right – yeah, I mean…'course I am!"

Still grinning inanely, I hoisted myself up and into the Gryffindor common room, sighing with relief as the warmth from the fire washed over me. There was a soft thump from behind me, and turning I watched as Moony walked towards me, the portrait swinging closed behind him.

Stop smiling, you fool! I hissed internally, as I stood there, grinning like an idiot, all thoughts of Potter and crispy slug slime driven out of my mind. Hastily, I rearranged my cheek muscles.

His eyes met with mine, and ping, the grin was back on my face. Aragh, for God's sake, think of something unhappy, just stop grinning at him like he's a clown doing a circus act for you!

But there was nothing unhappy to think about. My mind was filled with him, like a stuck tape running over and over in my mind: Moony, Moony, Moony…

"I'm off to bed," he said suddenly, and it hit me that once again I had been standing there staring stupidly at him, a massive, idiotic smirk pasted onto my face. "Erm…good night."

"Night!" I chirped weakly, watching him go over my shoulder.

It was only when he was half-way across the common room did the most crazy impulse of a life time smack me in the chops.

"Moony!" I cried, whirling around. "Wait a second!"

He froze, and then turned slowly, frowning at me. "What did you just call me?"

Oh. Oh, bugger. "Erm, nothing!" I said hastily, "I said…er, isn't it ROOMY in here?"

He looked as though he was on the verge of laughing. "If you say so. What was it you wanted to say?"

I paused for a moment, screwing up all my self will and courage and what-not. "Er…Hogsmeade tomorrow!" I said, in this incredibly stupid, over-the-top enthusiastic voice.

He smiled gently. "I know it is."

"Well, er…I was wondering…" Oh, God, my face was scarlet. I kid you not. Taking a deep breath, I ploughed on. "Would you – er – I mean, you don't have to, if you're, I don't know, busy…" My pathetic warblings faded away. I sucked in another deep breath.

Just say it!

"Would you – would you like to come to Hogsmeade? With me, that is?" I couldn't look him in the eye. I was terrified. My heart was beating like…I don't know, a big brass band. Or something.

There was silence. Just say something, I begged with him inside my head, even if it's just a 'no', please say something…

"With me?" he said, sounding amazed. "Are you sure?"

"Ye-yeah," I said, my heart-beats choking me. "But if you'd rather not…"

"No!" he said, and, looking up tentatively up at him, I saw the faintest pink colouring his cheeks too. "That's not what I meant – I mean…" He grinned shyly at me. "I'd love to go with you."

I swear I started levitating at that point. This time, there was no stopping the huge, dumb grin spreading across my face. "Really?" I squawked, almost unable to believe it. "Oh my god – great! Er – I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Cool," he smiled, "See you later." And with that, he turned and carried on towards the stairs. I waited for him to disappear. Then I jumped up and down, hugging myself, making stupid noises again and not caring if anyone heard them. I was going on a date with Moony!

The night had certainly turned out to be pretty eventful for me.

0o0

The following morning I woke up to a great deal of noises and what sounded like people throwing things at the wall. Repeatedly.

"OHHHHMIIIIIIGOOOOOOOOOSH!" screamed what sounded like Ashleigh's voice, as I struggled to consciousness.

"'Oh my goosh?' What on earth is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, and I don't care! Sirius Black! Sirius Black! OMIGOOSH!"

"What the hell?" I muttered, rolling over and poking my head out of the gap in the drapes. An odd sight met my bleary, sleep-deprived eyes. Zea was leaning against the wall, looking rather pink, and Ashleigh was doing some kind of…dance, I suppose you would call it, only it more resembled a duck with a large, spiky stick recently thrust up its backside.

"I can't believe it!" she squealed, dancing/duck thrusting her way around the room. "I just can NOT believe it!"

"What?" I croaked, making both of them jump in shock and whip around to look at me. I blinked confusedly at the pair of them. "What's going on?"

Ashleigh stopped doing her 'dance.' She was beaming in excitement. "The most amazing thing has just happened, Lily!" she half-screamed, dashing over to my bedside and kneeling next to my head.

"Honestly, Ash, it's not that exciting," interrupted Zea, though she too had a small smile on her face.

"Not that exciting? Zea, its SIRIUS BLACK!"

"What is it?" I repeated, feeling as though I was going to go crazy with curiosity. "What's Black done?"

Ashleigh turned towards me with shining eyes. "Only asked her out!" she said, all happily, pointing a finger towards Zea.

I vaguely felt my jaw drop, and I pulled back my bed curtain and sat up to look directly at Zea. "He asked you out?" I asked sharply, "And what did you say?"

She rolled her eyes as though she thought me stupid to ask. "No, of course."

I sighed in relief. "Good on you. Black needs his ego taken down…oh, only several thousand notches."

"Well, I still think she should have said yes!" sighed Ashleigh dreamily, "They'd make such a cute couple!"

I stared at her in disbelief. "Ashleigh, Black gets off on making girls feel special for two, wonderful weeks," I said rather crushingly, remembering Marlene, "And then, once they think they're head over heels in love with him, he shatters their hearts by cheating on them or just dumping them once the novelty's worn off. D'you think Zea would honestly want to go out with someone like that? Right, Zea?"

I looked up for Zea's support. She stared blankly at me for a moment, then said quickly: "Right. Yeah."

A little too quickly. I opened my mouth to comment on this, but Ashleigh cut over me. "I was only saying, looks-wise," she muttered, wafting a hand towards Zea, "I mean, they're both so good looking. They would look well together."

She knelt there, looking mildly upset, and suddenly I felt like an incredible bitch. "I'm sorry, Ash," I said guiltily, slipping onto the floor to give her a hug. "But, you know, Black went out with Marlene and I had to put up with her crying for days on end. I don't really want a repeat experience."

"Well, there's no chance of him doing that to me," said Zea briskly, once me and Ashleigh had pulled apart. She turned around and started brushing her long, silky black hair. Our eyes met briefly in the mirror, but she dropped her gaze almost at once, making rather a meal of getting every single tangle out of her black mane.

Walking over to my wardrobe, I smiled mirthlessly, sorting idly through my clothes. As I picked out a black polo necked jumper and flung it on my bed, Ashleigh suddenly said, "Well, seeing as none of us have dates or anything, how about a girls day out at Hogsmeade today? Just the four of us?"

"I can't," me and Zea chimed simultaneously. We stared at each other, then Zea grinned and waved her hand. "You first."

"Alright," I said hesitantly, an image of Moony's shyly smiling face flashing into my mind. "I have…a date."

I stood there, hugging a pair of jeans to my chest, and waited. I didn't have to wait long. Anyone would think I'd said I was going to free the world from James Potter, for God's sake.

Zea and Ashleigh pounced on me with the force of an excited dog that has just spotted a string of sausages outside its front door. And by that, I mean they were excited.

"WHOOOOOOO?" Zea howled into my ear while Ashleigh started doing her duck thrusting again, "Who're you going with? Tell, tell, tell!"

"Alright!" I grinned, spinning around to look at her. "I'm going with Moo – Lupin. Happy?"

For a moment the pair of them just stood there and stared at me.

Then the screaming started again.

0o0

"Ready?" asked the gorgeous, the one-and-only Moony Lupin as I descended the stairs half an hour later, with my knees only trembling slightly.

"Yah!" I said, sprouting a random American accent. Where the hell had that come from?

Never mind. It seemed he hadn't noticed, thank giddygod. "Well…let's go, then, shall we?" he said, all courteously, and smiling at his general all-round niceness, I followed him out the portrait.

He hopped down first, and when I went to jump out as well, he offered me his hand. I took it, feeling a little dazed. Ohmigosh. He just helped me down from the portrait! That is so nice!

Of course, it wasn't like I actually needed help. But even so. It was the principle that counted.

His hands weren't particularly nice either. A bit clammy around the edges.

Hang on…sweaty palms! Is he nervous? Nervous because of me?

That is SO cute.

"Let's go!" he said brightly, and we walked along the corridor together, heading for the main staircase. Weak sunlight streamed in through the windows, running over our faces and making me blink. Other people were also drifting vaguely in the direction of the staircase, chatting happily about the weekend. A rather awkward silence fell between us.

Oh, God. I hate silence. It makes things awkward. Quick, Lily, think of something to say.

"So!" I said, all brightly, as we started descending the stairs, saying the first thing that fell into my head. "D'you like ducks?"

What. The. Hell.

I had been spending WAY too much time with Potter.

"Ducks?" repeated Moony, looking mildly surprised. "Not really. Why? Do you?"

"Me? No!" I gabbled. "I hate them! In fact, last week I shot…" I trailed off, mentally smacking my wrist. No. Going too far now. Get a grip, Lily, get a grip.

"Sorry?" he asked, sounding politely incredulous, "Did you just say you shot a duck?"

"Er…of course not," I said weakly. "Just…got my words mixed up."

He gave a slight smile and nod. I concentrated on getting down the stairs, my face brick red, and let the silence rest between us. Better silence than making a fool of myself, after all.

At the bottom of the stairs, we queued up to be checked off on the list by the caretaker, then we were off, striding down the sloping lane towards the village. I sniffed at the cold, crisp air, and tried to take comfort in the fact that at least it was sunny, although at the same time the wind was freezing.

Maybe if I shivered enough, he would lend his cloak to me…

"So, where d'you want to go?" asked Moony, as we finally reached the bustling, thriving streets of Hogsmeade. I looked around, searching automatically for any familiar faces, and feeling stupidly relieved when I didn't.

"Oh, I don't mind," I said easily, though my eye was caught by the colourful front door of Honeydukes. Mmm, Honeyduke's chocolate…I haven't had any of that for ages…

"What about - " I began, just as Moony suddenly said, "I wouldn't mind - "

We both broke off, laughing at each other. "Go on," said Moony nodding his head. "You first."

"No, no!" I laughed, sounding horribly cheesy. "What did you want to say?"

"Well…" his eyes trailed off in the direction in, to my disappointment, not to Honeydukes, but to Zonkos. I immediately fixed a bright grin on my face.

"You want to go in there?"

"Only if you're okay with it," he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Sure I am!" I lied, and started walking towards it, Moony right next to me. "I love joke shops."

Actually, I hated them. I hate the people who work in them, who go around pressurising the customers into buying stuff. And they smell funny. But hey, who cared? I could pretend for Moony.

The shops interior was totally hidden from the outside world, as the windows were plastered in bright posters and cardboard signs advertising merchandise. With a vague feeling of foreboding, I pushed against the front door and a loud bout of honking broke out directly over my head.

"Jesus!" I cried, falling over a basket right next to the doorway in shock. As I lay there, clutching my chest and trying very hard not to hyperventilate, a girl with bright purple hair offered me her hand. This would have been nice of her, if she hadn't had a huge smirk stretched across her face as she clearly fought back laughter.

"Lily?" Moony was looking quizzically down at me as I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the girls hand. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I said through gritted teeth, shooting the girl a glare out of the corner of my eye. "Such fun!"

He stared at me with a slight frown on his face. "Are you sure you don't want to go somewhere else?"

"I said I'm fine!" I replied, with a bit of a snap in my voice. "Thanks, though," I hastily added in a kinder voice, seeing his taken aback expression.

"Okay…" he said, looking away from me after a final thoughtful sweep of his eyes. "Well, I wanted to have a look at their fireworks in here; Sirius said something about a new brand."

"Cool!" I said, trying to sound enthusiastic as we squeezed our way through the crowds of people jammed between the shelves. "Er – what's so special about them?"

"I'm not too sure myself," he replied over his shoulder, "But Sirius said that they have a new - "

The rest of his answer was cut off by a sudden surge of people between us. Bodies were suddenly pressing me in the opposite direction, and I found myself being carried away, despite how much I tried to shove back.

"Hey!" I cried, struggling against them. "Stop pushing!"

I might as well have been shouting at Marlene on a Sunday morning for all the notice they took of me. I couldn't even see Moony any more. What if he thought I'd run away from him? Desperation made me strong, and with an almighty heave, I suddenly broke free of them.

Moony had disappeared.

Great. Just great. Looking around, I spotted a man with neon green hair and a Zonkos uniform on, stacking things onto a shelf. I hurried over to him.

"Excuse me?" I asked the back of his head anxiously, "Could you tell me where the firework section is, please?"

"I could," droned the reply.

"Where is it?" I asked, feeling mildly offended that he hadn't even bothered turning around to give me eye contact.

"Next aisle, to your left. But you don't want to be going around there."

"What?" I frowned, momentarily distracted in the action of walking away. "Why not?"

"There's vampires round there."

I stared at his stupid green hair in disbelief. "Are you joking?"

"Not at all. Ogres too." He turned his head slightly, and I could just see the profile of his face. He looked to be about eighteen. "And werewolves."

I rolled my eyes. "Is everyone in here paid to be weird, or something?"

He turned all the way around at that, a maniacal grin on his face, eyes bugging and tongue lolling. "Naturally," he lisped through his tongue, and I couldn't help but laugh. He did look really stupid.

"Lily!"

I looked up, and saw Moony with an armful of fireworks, giving me an odd look. Green Hair Man gave me a cheery wink and turned back to stacking things. I smiled brightly as Moony came towards me. He didn't smile back. "I'm getting these," he said stiffly, eyes narrowing at the Green Hair Man's back. "Anything you want?"

"Not really," I muttered, following him to the counter, where a long queue of Hogwarts students stood, baskets full to bursting with prank items.

It was only as I looked up from staring at my shoes (I was bored, ok?) did I realise who was standing in front of us.

"Moony, my old buddy," purred Black, looking as though all his birthdays had come at once, "How's it going?"

"Fine," replied Moony, perhaps a little stiffly.

Black grinned, looking down at me and chewing on a toothpick he had got from…somewhere. "Never thought I'd be seeing you in here, Evans," he said, giving me a lazy smirk and making the toothpick tilt upwards. I couldn't help but watch, fascinated, as he twirled it expertly to the other side of his mouth.

I then realised I was probably meant to say something in return. "Oh. Right. Well, you are seeing me so…get over it," I said, rather weakly. Hey, I was distracted by the toothpick. No-one could give a decent comeback with a bit of wood twiddling around in their opponent's mouth.

His smirk grew wider. "But I bet you never wanted to come in here in the first place, did you, love?" He winked at me. "You just came in here for Remus, didn't you? Don't worry," he added, eyes flickering over to Moony, who was staring at him with his jaw set, "I won't tell him."

Now, I would have probably would have thought of the most ego-flattening comment of a lifetime here, if only I hadn't been so distracted by a) The toothpick, b) The fact I had just found out Moony's real name, and c) Sirius Black was winking at me. I mean, what the hell? Why is it that everyone else can do that and I can't?

I came back to earth with a bump when I realised I had been standing there staring blankly at his toothpick for a good twenty seconds.

"Arrr, bless," sniggered Black, "Too swept away by my good looks to answer, aren't you, sweetheart?"

I snapped back to reality at once. "You - " I began furiously, but at that precise moment the man behind the check out handed Black a plastic carrier bag full of goods, said "Thank you for shopping at Zonko's!" and Black dropped three galleons into his palm before walking away, snickering heartily.

I turned back to Moony as he moved forwards to pay as well, almost too incensed to speak.

"I do NOT think he is good looking!" I burst out eventually, after standing there struggling to contain my anger for a while. Moony raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Don't you?"

"No, I bloody don't!" I snapped hotly, "Not everyone thinks he's God's gift!"

He smiled at that, though he kept his eyes on the man now totalling up the prices of his fireworks. "I was under the impression that the entire female population of Hogwarts is at his feet."

"You've been listening to him for too long," I said scornfully, "Quite a few of us actually think he deserves to inhale his own bloody toothpick and die."

Now, I thought that comment was actually rather funny, as well as being true. Much to my disappointment however, instead of bursting into hysterical laughter, Moony only gave another weak smile and said "Hey, come on. He is my friend – and he's not that bad."

I surveyed him in mild disbelief, but he didn't say anything else as he moved forwards to pick up his bag.

Merlin. Forgive me for being pessimistic, but after that comment, this looked destined to be a long trip.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

That was a nice long chapter, was it not, oh wonderful readers of my story? That's the first part of Lily's date with Moony for you – Part Two should be along in a while, stay tuned!

Anyway, I am REALLY sorry about the long gap between chapters. You wouldn't believe how busy I've been. My teachers are getting over-happy on coursework and handing it out like there's no tomorrow, so I have been bogged down in work. To add to this, the computer broke down (again) and as a consequence everything I looked at on screen was in an interesting turquoise colour for a while. So yeah...it wasn't my fault! Really!

I spent a long time typing up this chapter in the spare moments I could grab inbetween working...copy and paste the lines you liked into your review, I'd really appreciate that. Or give me ideas for improvement...or whatever you like, really.

Peace out xxx