Chapter 4: Dances and Deals

I'd like to be like you,
With a rep like yours my little hunny,
I'm not sure what I can do,
Just know that I aint no false money.

What does it all mean?
To try so hard to get the right words out,
Oh I wish I could come clean,
I've given my all, but I have my doubts

So what does it all mean? By Shane West, Gould, Fitzgerald (Average Jo)

-

"Hey," James said as he and the other Marauders sat down next to the girls.

"Hey," Sara said and kissed Sirius.

Everything was basically back to normal. Sara and Sirius were going out again, Sirius went back to being an arrogant git, and James kept hitting on Lily.

But the Marauders' new victim was Tiffany Scott. The only problem was they couldn't think of a punishment bad enough for her.

All of the sudden, James let out a scream. Everyone in the common room looked over at him.

"What is it Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Lily's wearing the kissy lipstick!" James squealed.

"What?" Katie and Sara asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily said, her face turning red.

James grinned. "Yeah you do. Ha! I knew you couldn't resist me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lily repeated.

"Remember that day when you guys were chasing after Sirius, and you guys thought you'd attack an innocent man-"

Lily laughed. "You're never innocent, Potter."

James shrugged and continued his story. "Then you guys kissed us on our foreheads?"

"Yeah…"

Well, one of you kissed me on the lips. With light purple lipstick." James grinned.

"That wasn't me." Lily said defensively.

"Lily, you're the only one who wears purple lipstick." Sara pointed out.

Lily walked over to James and gave him a light kiss on the lips, and then she ran up to the girls' dormitory.

Everyone in the common room looked shocked, except for James, who looked as if he were in heaven. Then, he tried to run up the stairs after Lily, but of course, slid down. He was about to hit his head on the floor when-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Prongs! Get up!" Sirius said throwing a pillow at James' head. "And turn that alarm clock off! It's really annoying."

"Lily?" James asked, still half asleep.

"No," Sirius said, appalled. "I'm Sirius."

"But…but…what about Lily? And the kissy lipstick?"

"I dunno." Sirius shrugged. "Nothing."

James' heart sunk. It was just a dream.

"Come on." Sirius said impatiently. "We're going to miss breakfast."

"I'm coming." James said glumly, pulling his shirt over his head.

-

"Hey, Evans!" James called, walking up to Lily in the Great Hall.

"What?" Lily said, annoyed.

"Will you go to the Halloween Dance with me?" James asked.

"NO!"

"Please?"

"I said no!"

Lily stormed away.

She walked over to Remus and Sirius.

"Why don't you just give him a chance?" Remus asked her.

"Because he's a snot-nosed-"

"Most people do have snot in their nose. Have you ever met someone who hasn't?" Sirius asked, curiously.

"I'm serious!" Lily said.

"How can you be Sirius? I'm Sirius!"

Lily and Remus rolled their eyes at the Sirius pun.

"Guess what." Sirius said.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Remus is going to ask Katie to the dance." Sirius told her.

"What?" Remus and Lily asked at the same time.

"Yep. 'Cause James and me are going to make you."

"James and I." Lily corrected him.

"You're going to the ball with James?" Sirius asked, stunned.

"No! You said 'James and me', but it's supposed to be 'James and I'." Lily explained.

"Oh." Sirius said, disappointed. "Wait, I'll make you a deal."

"Okay?" Lily asked, cautiously.

"If I can get Remus to ask Katie to the dance, you will ask James." Sirius said triumphantly.

Lily thought about it for a minute. Remus was really shy, so he probably won't even go through with it. But if he did, then it would make Katie happy, even if Lily was miserable. But Lily didn't think Remus was actually going to ask her.

"Fine." Lily agreed, shaking Sirius' outstretched hand.

Sirius smiled, and Lily walked away, over to Katie and Sara.

"What was that about?" Katie asked.

"Er-nothing." Lily said, and she started filling her plate with food.

-

"Tell me I'm amazing, Jamsie!" Sirius said happily.

"It's James." James said, irritably looking up from the snitch that he was playing with in the common room. "And why are you amazing this time?"

"Well," Sirius said, proudly. "Guess who you're gunna go to the Halloween Dance with?"

"Who?" James asked.

"The lovely Lily Evans." Sirius said and James glared at him.

"Yeah right." James said, looking disappointed.

"No, I'm serious, tell him, Remus."

"No, Sirius. I can't do it!"

"Moony, you have to!"

"What's going on?" James asked.

"Well, Lily agreed that if Remus took Katie to the dance, she'd go with you." Sirius said excited.

"But I can't ask her." Remus said.

"You have to!" James and Sirius said together.

"Moony, this might be the only chance James ever gets with Lily." Sirius explained.

"Ye-Wait. I can get Lily without your little deal." James told him.

"And you've been trying for how long? Four years?" Sirius asked.

James said nothing, but glared at him.

"Anyway, Moony, You gotta do this. For the sake of your fellow Marauder," Sirius said as he and James made puppy dog faces at him (Sirius was better at this than James, seeing as Sirius actually was a dog on some occasions, mostly at the full moon).

"Okay, okay. I'll try." Remus said and Sirius and James high-fived each other. "But I'm not making any promises."

-

"Hey, Lils," Sara said as she sat down next to her in Transfiguration Class.

"Hey," Lily said back and Katie sat down on Lily's other side.

"So, I heard about your little deal with Sirius." Sara whispered to Lily. "Do you like him? James I mean."

Lily blushed and looked away from her friend. When the redness in her face died down, she turned back to Sara and whispered back. "No, I'm doing it for Katie."

"What?" Katie whispered, hearing her name.

"Nothing," Lily said, quickly.

"What about your dating policy?" Sara asked. "You said yourself that you would never go out with a Marauder?"

"Yes, but you also said that, and look at you." Lily said looking at Sara's hand which was currently entwined in the hand of Sirius, who was otherwise occupied at that moment.

"Are you ready, Moony?" Sirius asked his fellow Marauder.

"I can't do it. What if I ask her and she says no. Then it'll be awkward. I don't want us to be awkward."

"'Us'? There will be no 'you' ever unless you ask her to this dance!" Sirius told him. "Would you rather be awkward or lie to her for your whole life?"

"I'm not lying." Remus said.

"Hiding your feelings? That's lying, Moony. That's why I always tell someone if I like them." James said as he winked at Lily.

"Yeah and look how well that's working for you." Remus mumbled and Lily rolled her eyes at James.

"Well, besides him." Sirius said quickly. "It might turn out, it might not. You have to take your chances."

"Easy for you to say, you could have any girl you wanted." Moony said, glumly.

Sirius thought about it for a moment. "…Yeah…"

The bell rang and Remus felt a whole bunch of butterflies in his stomach. He had to do this. If she said yes, then he would get to go with his long time crush to the dance, and so would James. But if she said no, he'd go with some girl that didn't matter to him all that much, and so would James.

"Um, Katie. Could I talk to you for a minute?" Remus said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Sure," she said and she walked with him out the door. "What's up?"

"Um, I was wondering if…um," He stuttered. "Wouldyougotothedancewithme?"

"Sorry, what?" Katie asked, confused.

"Uh," Remus said and he took a deep breath. "Would you go to the dance with me?"

Katie's heart sped up to a million miles per hour. "I'd love to."

Remus smiled, "All right, cool. I'll talk to you later then."

"Kay." Katie said.

Remus got to his Muggle Studies class and, apparently he was smiling because James said, "She said yes!"

Remus smiled even bigger, "Yeah."

"Yes!" James cheered. "I'm gunna go with Lily, you're going with Katie!"

"Potter! Lupin! Pay attention!" The teacher yelled at them.

A/N: Well, I decided that this would be like the 5th Harry Potter book and make it take forever and a half. Not really. I just forgot. But now I'm back!

Coming up Next: The Dance. Need I say more?