Frank and Ally here people! Awesome, isn't it? They're so cute!

"I forgot to tell you," Alice said excitedly at dinner. "This summer, Frank and I started— well, going out."

Hermione and Ginny exchanged a knowing glance.

"Really?" Lynn said interestedly, momentarily forgetting the piece of chicken dangling from her fork. "How long?"

"Frank would say, 'It just—happened.'" She smiled. "You know boys. I can tell you, for a fact, that it—happened­—one month, three weeks, four days, ten hours, and—" she checked her watch, "twenty-six minutes ago."

"Wow, Alice, a little too much information," Amelia giggled.

"Oh, shut up, 'Melia," Alice grumbled mutinously. "Just because you've never had a crush in your entire life on anyone besides Filch—" Ginny giggled.

"I resent that comment," she exclaimed.

"Well, that's nice to know," Alice said mock-condescendingly.

"Alice," she whined.

"Come on now, Amelia, act your age," Lynn teased.

"And you should talk, Lynn," she retorted sharply.

"Much better," the brunette smiled. Amelia sighed huffily and turned back to her food. Lynn chuckled. "You know, it's shamefully easy to push your buttons. If you really want a job in Magical Law Enforcement, you're going to have to become less sensitive."

"Thank you, Lynn, for another exciting and enlightening lecture!" Lily interceded for Amelia, who was looking a little murderous. "Though she's really mostly right, Amelia. You have to keep that stiff upper lip, girl."

"I'm working on it!" she exclaimed. "Don't you think I know I'm too sensitive? My mother tells me all the time!"

"That's okay, dear," Lily said, falsely cheerful. "You're a rules person, they'll want you for the DMLE!"

"Lily, what do you want to be?" Hermione asked interestedly.

"Me? A Healer," she said sheepishly. "When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor, but Healers can do so much more, I thought it'd be good." She smiled shyly.

"That's what I want to be," Ginny commented. "It sounds like such a great job." She smiled at Lily, who nodded.

"I've always favored teaching," Lynn said lightly. "To show a group of people how to do something completely new—that's magic," she finished rapturously.

"Definitely teacher material," Hermione said wryly. "I've always favored that as well."

"Remus? What do you want to do?" Ginny asked of the young man sitting next to her.

"Teach," the werewolf said shyly. "I've always wanted to." He shared a smile with Ginny. She kicked Hermione under the table: she looked ready to blurt out.

"Hermione?" Remus asked innocently, when Hermione screeched, "Ow! Ginny!"

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," Amelia said abruptly. "I know Weasleys —Arthur Weasley married Molly Prewett (she's my mother's second cousin once removed, very nice woman) five years ago." Ginny dropped her napkin into a bowl of gravy, her eyes widened to epic proportions, and she nearly snorted pumpkin juice in Amelia's face.

"You didn't know? I thought you must be related."

"Da—Arthur and I are—fourth cousins, you know, so we don't see each other much," Ginny lied. "Plus I've lived in Siberia for the past six years—I haven't been back in ages."

"Do you speak Russian?" Lynn asked interestedly.

"No…our private school didn't speak Russian, so I didn't learn it," Ginny kept lying. "We spoke English, because it was an all-Western European school."

"That's why you don't have an accent," Lynn confirmed.

"Yep," she smiled.

"Harry, what were you doing in Siberia? I mean, since Jamesie boy's here?" Michael (Mike) Thomas asked. James punched him in the shoulder, not liking the nickname. The "James's brother" story had been laid on thick since Dumbledore's speech, and Harry had answered this question many times before.

"Because my ever-strange parents, John and Elizabeth, decided to send me away at birth—and don't ask why," Harry said wearily. "I still don't have the answer to that question." He looked pointedly at James, who just shrugged and turned back to his food.

"Didn't you learn to write in the Cyrillic alphabet?" Lynn said desperately. "Anything out of the ordinary that would make Siberian schooling exciting, just in case I ever want to wheedle Mum into it? Not that I do, but just so I know?"

"Well, no, not really," Ginny said lamely. "We're boring old fourth cousins of a wizarding family here."

"Oh," Lynn said. "Well, I think you're interesting people."

"Well, we like this school better than the Siberian one," Ginny commented, for some reason looking straight at Remus.

"The food there was terrible," Ron put in between huge mouthfuls.

"Ron, that's disgusting. You know I hate it when you do that," Ginny said conversationally. Ron shrugged and turned back to his supper.

"You know he's not going to stop. He hasn't stopped before, it's not like he's going to now." Hermione wrinkled her nose as she watched Ron shovel chicken into his mouth at an alarming speed. She looked a little further down and saw Sirius doing the same thing. "Boys!" she huffed with a frown on her face.

"You hit it right on the Sickle, Hermione," Alice said dryly. "Boys are the root of all this school's problems, especially the Marauders."

"Ahem," James said officiously. "Miss McKinnon, you appear to have forgotten the fact that we are also the roots of all this school's laughter—well, at least, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff's laughter—Slytherin is the object of the laughter," he amended. Sirius cackled gleefully toward the Slytherin table.

"James!" Lily scolded. "You really shouldn't! You're Head Boy!"

"Sorry, Lily, it's too late," he fake-lamented, pointing toward the Slytherin table. All of a sudden, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle Sr. turned into familiar fluffy canaries. Sirius couldn't resist a loud laugh.

"James Potter!" Lily screeched. However, Hermione took a different approach, having seemingly expected this eventuality.

"Ronald Weasley!" Sirius, James, and Ron started laughing, rather uncontrollably. Harry sighed and let his head drop into his hands. Ginny was laughing as well.

"Ron, you really shouldn't have told them about the Canary Creams—that's Fred and George's!"

"They patented it," Harry said wisely. "I should know, I'm their financial backer." Hermione huffed at him.

"I still don't think you ought to have done that, Ronald, even if it is Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle."

"See, even you admit Ratboy—Malfoy—Crabbe and Goyle deserve it," Sirius said victoriously. "You admitted it might even be worth it!"

"POTTER!" Lucius Malfoy screeched at the top of his lungs. In an exceedingly comical gesture, both James and Harry whirled around to face the newly transformed blonde.

So nice to see that pureblooded looks don't change much, Harry thought wryly. Draco Ratboy—Malfoy (A/N: I love that, by the way)—is the spitting image of his father.

The Marauders, time travelers, and the rest of the Gryffindor seventh-years were laughing uncontrollably at this point.

"I meant Potter, not his little twin," the blonde said irritably. Harry raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. Ginny stifled another giggle.

"That's the look Harry gets when he's about to kill someone like Malfoy," she whispered to Alice. The girl stopped laughing and started laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny, McKinnon?" Lucius snarled. His seventh-year girlfriend, Narcissa Black, appeared behind him. "What's going on, Lucius?" she asked innocently.

"Potter, that's what's going on," Lucius ground out. Bellatrix, seeing the startled look on her younger sister's face (she had just failed to graduate the year before) stormed over to the Gryffindor table.

"BLACK!" she howled. "I swear, if you hurt Cissy it'll be the last thing you ever do—" Unfortunately, she had chosen the wrong words. It may have had something to do with the 'last thing you'll ever do' part, but Harry's eyes narrowed dramatically and he stared straight at Bellatrix murderously. Suddenly, in a burst of yellow-green light, she shot from her standing place and zoomed back to her seat, followed abruptly by Narcissa and Lucius, all three with startled and enraged expressions on their faces. Wandless magic, Ginny thought wonderingly. He's got talent for it, it seems.

"Evil, murdering, power-hungry woman—what she did to him," Harry muttered. Ginny clapped a hand over his mouth. "A little Slytherin-hungry today, Harry?" she asked innocently, whispering out of the corner of her mouth, "To them she's just an annoying Slytherin girl. Leave it alone, she hasn't killed anyone."

"Yet," Harry murmured.

"Harry," she warned.

"Fine, fine," he placated. Ginny smiled warily at him. Remus shot her a questioning look. She shrugged.

"Were there people like that at your old school?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, trust me, there were," Ginny muttered. "M—Draco for one, don't even want to name the rest of them." She kicked Ron under the table when he opened his mouth.

"Oh, yes," Hermione muttered. "Stupid idiots, the lot of them."

"Aren't you glad you beat them in exams," Ginny said cheerily.

"I should hope I did. Harry and Ron even beat them," she chided Ginny.

"Hey!" the boys in question exclaimed. "What do you mean by even?" Harry asked with a straight face.

"Just that," Hermione smiled. "Ron's no great shakes at academics, and you're the best at practical, not theory."

"And you're the queen of both," Harry muttered. Ron called out, "HEY!" at her 'no great shakes' comment.

"Well, mate, you know it's true," Harry said ruefully. "She beats us in just about everything except Quidditch."

"And you know it doesn't sting as much for you because you beat her out in Defense Against the Dark Arts in OWLs and in third year exams," Ron retorted sharply. "It is true, and that's what sucks about it—for me, anyway."

"Aww, come on, Ron," Sirius comforted him. "Not many boys can remember the exact formula for the weird sweets one's brothers come up with, can they?"

"Aww, stop it, Sirius, you're embarrassing him," Hermione teased. Ron's ears were rapidly flushing red. "He can't take much attention—you see, unlike you and James, it doesn't go straight to his head." She smiled at the spluttering teen.

"You know, she has a point there," Lily mused. "Ron, I'm starting to think you're the more sensible of—Siberia's Golden Trio."

"That was what they called you?" Alice asked interestedly.

"Yes, we're considered the equivalent of the Marauders in our ti—school," Hermione hurried to correct her near slip.

"Ginny? Where are you in all this?" Lynn asked politely.

"I'm, as you know, Ron's little sister—I tag around a lot. Occasionally they'll permit me to join them in their death-defying missions—but I survive."

"Good thing, too," Alice said happily. "Then you won't mind explaining what these missions are…will you, Ginny dear? Because defying death seems to be all in a day's work for you four, from where I see it." The expectant smile on her face made Ginny smile back. It was just like sitting with Neville—in female form.

"Maybe some other time," Hermione intervened. "We've got a lot of homework, don't we, Ginny?" she half-lied pointedly.

"Homework—oh, yes! In every subject, practically."

"That's NEWT classes for you. Hate them, myself," Sirius commented. Hermione's hand connected very forcefully with the back of his raven-haired head. "Oww! What was that for, 'Mione?" She didn't question his nickname.

"You dare insult school, the very glue of my existence?" she said, mock-scandalized. "You dare call it the bane of life? You dare to make unjust accusations against it?"

"Hermione!" James exclaimed. "All he said was that he hates classes and homework is a big part of NEWT class work!"

"Ever heard of humor, Prongs?" she said with mock-superiority. "It is something us higher-order humans have. Obviously you aren't up to that level yet, but with a few lessons—"

"I resent that comment!" James shouted, effectively halting Hermione's speech.

"Well, she may or may not have a point," Lily thought aloud. "James has on occasion proved that he can act like an egotistical idiot. But on the other hand, he's shown that he has immense mental capability. As much as I hate to admit it, some of those pranks take a high level of concentration and intelligence to be sufficiently performed."

"This is Lily Anne Evans, I suppose?" Ginny said dryly. "As in prefect-turned-Head-Girl Lily Anne Evans, never had a detention in her life Lily Anne Evans, Marauders' ever-sworn enemy Lily Anne Evans?"

"Well, I can't be their sworn enemy—they're Gryffindors," Lily said logically. "House pride and all that codswallop, I suppose."

"What about inter-House unity?" Hermione asked.

"If that means getting chummy with the Slytherins," Harry, Ron, Sirius, and James chorused, "you wish."

"Well, as I said," Hermione continued as if she hadn't heard the boys, "Ginny and I have a lot of homework, so if you don't mind, we'll just excuse ourselves."

"See you, Hermione, Ginny. Upstairs?" Alice asked. Hermione answered in the negative and Ginny in the positive. "Well, I'll see Ginny, then," she recovered. "Bye."

"Later, Alice."

"Don't get too hung up on Sn—Slughorn's essay," Ron teased.

"There wasn't one," Ginny retorted. "Just because you have a weapon against me doesn't mean you can make fake homework up."

"Go get him, Gin," Amelia cheered.

"Later," she said disdainfully. "He's not worth a brawl in the Great Hall. Really not worth a detention either—he's only my brother."

"Well, bye then," Lynn said, pulling up her bookbag and opening her huge Ancient Runes text on the table. "I'm going to work on homework—with food nearby."

"You are a seventh-year—you can conjure food to some extent," Ginny reminded her gently. Lynn flapped a hand at her.

"Right," Lynn said absently, already chalking down three translations on her parchment. "See you later, Hermione, Ginny. Don't get hung up on an essay or anything." She flipped her free hand at them. "Especially not from Lily's friend the old bat. As soon as he knows you're friends with Lily, he automatically assumes you're the toast of the earth. So watch what you're doing—the Ancient Runes shouldn't be too hard."

"Of course, Lynn dear. Why don't we put a frog in your bed while we're at it," Ginny joked.

"Sure, sure whatever, just go please," the girl said quickly, making shooing motions with her free hand, her mind on her sheaf of parchment and nowhere near Hermione, Ginny, the now-rising Lily, and the other people at the table.

"So what about that frog?" Ginny asked mischievously as they left the table. Hermione elbowed her in the stomach. "Oof! What? Was it something I said?"

"Ginny may have been on to something," Sirius mused. "Hey, Andersen, you wouldn't mind if we pranked your little sister—right?"

"Sure, do whatever you have to, Black, just leave me and my Ancient Runes alone." She scribbled something on the parchment in front of her, completely ignoring Sirius.

"You know, Sirius, you forgot that Andersen doesn't have a little sister," James commented. Sirius smacked himself on the forehead.

"Oh, right," the boy said at once.

Canary Creams! Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's such a Marauder-type prank, you know. Besides, we can't leave Ron feeling like nobody likes him. Luv, LysPotter