A/N: Ok, I know this chapter is not my best, it is a bit lousy. However, I promise, promise that the next chapter is so much better! Quick facts: I know that Alice Longbottom's maiden name was thought to be Prewitt in J.K Rowling's notebooks. However, I personally believe that is much too similar to Prewett, another pureblood Wizarding family name, so I figure it'd flow with the story much better and make more sense if Alice's last name is Prewett. Also, I just want to say that all of these characters are canon, and I went to some pretty lengthy research to make sure of it. The only name made up so far is Mulciber's first name, because I couldn't find a first name for him. Anyways, disclaimer, J.K Rowling owns all of these characters. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 5: The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor Girls

Mid-October, 1971

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The Herbology Greenhouse was quaint and misty, the air sticky with moisture as pots of little green plants sat serenely along the tables. There was a bustling as class ended, and the first-year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students all packed and collected their bags, darting out of the greenhouse into the weekend.

Outside, the October air sent a chill through the robes of Hogwarts students as they walked towards the Great Hall for dinner, chatting animatedly as they went.

One rather large cluster of students included a group of bright girls, maroon and canary yellow robes swishing as they walked down the corridors. The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first-year girls were eagerly making plans for the weekend. The two houses had found out that they were quite compatible during Herbology classes, and Alice Prewett had come up with the exciting idea of a gathering between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first-year girls that weekend.

"What activities were you thinking of doing, Alice?" Lily asked interestingly when they reached the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, I dunno, really. Perhaps a few get to know each other games, or just gossip!"

"OooOoo, maybe they could tell me about any cute Hufflepuff gentlemen," Marlene giggled.

"What? Gryffindor boys not cute enough for you?" Sirius asked, sitting down at the table. He winked at the girls, and they all laughed. Even Lily was in such a good mood that she giggled.

"Whoa! James! You won't believe what just happened!" Sirius grinned. "Evans laughed at my joke!"

Lily's smile immediately slackened. "I'm just trying to enter this weekend with positivity," Lily said promptly.

"Oh, come on, Evans! It's all right to admit to having fun!" James teased.

"I certainly don't have fun whenever you're around, Potter."

"Attacking me, again, Evans?"

"Attacking? Attacking? Me, attacking? Who's the one always humiliating Sev in the halls for no absolute reason? It certainly isn't me! The only one attacking people here is you, Potter! You and Black!" Lily cried in an outburst.

"I don't humiliate Snivellus, he asks for it!"

"Are you kidding me? He does not ask for it! He's never done anything to you that makes him deserve the way you torture him!"

"I do not torture him."

"You do, you do and you either completely know it or you have no idea! Either way, it makes you the world's biggest prat!"

"I am not a prat!"

"Oh. My. God. Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Marlene screamed.

Heads from the other tables turned around and stared at the Gryffindors, and the Professors looked up at the silence.

It was quiet for a second, and then everybody turned around and resumed talking.

Marlene glared at Lily and James. "What is it with you two? Why do you two always act like this?"

"It's not my fault. If Potter would just act mature for a second, I would give him all the respect he deserves."

"Oh, please, Evans! If you would just stop being so stuck-up about everything –"

"Do not turn this around on me!"

"OH, my god!" Marlene shrieked. "Just get along! Please! I don't want to deal with this" she waved her finger in a circle at the two, "for another six years. We're Gryffindors, and we're stuck with each other whether you like it or not."

"I agree with Marlene," Sirius grinned cheekily.

"Shut up, Black!"

"Of course. Will do," Sirius immediately responded.

The rest of dinner was awkward, and silent. As soon as they finished, the girls rushed up to Gryffindor Tower, where they chose to finish their homework in their dormitory rather than in the common room in order to avoid an awkward encounter with the boys

When they finished with their homework, the girls all changed out of their robes, showered, and got ready to sleep.

Lily climbed onto her bed, shut the bed hangings, and then lay down, staring up at the ceiling of her bed. She could hear the other girls shuffling around the room, but as of now, she just wanted to feel closed off to have some room to think.

Six years. I'm stuck with Potter for another six years, and I didn't even realise it until Marlene lost it at dinner, Lily thought.

Perhaps I should just go home and attend muggle school again. No, no, that's silly. Potter doesn't have that much control over me. Am I over exaggerating this all? No, no. Of course not, Potter is a stupid, annoying, horrible, bullying toerag and none of that is over exaggerated, Lily thought firmly.

With that, she rolled onto her side, heaved a deep sigh, and drifted off to sleep. At that point, Lily would never know that she was going to be around Potter for more than another six years.

"Gooooooood MORNING!" Marlene shouted.

Whoosh. She pulled open Gwenog's bed hangings eagerly, a wide grin on her face. Gwenog lifted her head off her pillow, grunted, and collapsed back on the bed, muttering "leave me alone."

"Morning, morning, morning, good, good, morning!" Marlene chanted, running around the dormitory and pushing open the bed hangings of all her friends.

"What's wrong with you?" Gwenog groaned.

"What time is it?" Mary asked groggily.

"IT...IS…"

The girls covered their ears from Marlene's shouting as Marlene did a drumroll on her desk.

"SEVEN O'CLOCK SHARP!"

"Ughhh," the girls all groaned.

"Are you kidding me?" Gwenog asked. "I could've slept for at least another two hours!"

"Whatever, lazy-brain," Marlene grinned. "Today is going to be a wonderful day." She twirled around the room, leaping like a ballerina.

The other girls were all propped up on their elbows in their beds, staring in utter confusion as Marlene whirled around the dormitory.

"Are you okay, Marly?" Alice asked sweetly.

"Oh, I am more than okay, Alice!"

"Isn't it rather funny how she was yelling at you and James just last night?" Mary whispered to Lily.

Lily groaned. "Don't remind me about that."

"All right, Gryffindor girls! Up! Up!" Marlene yelled.

"Sounds as if she's trying to summon a broom," Gwenog murmured.

"Time to get ready girls!" Marlene continued to usher.

Begrudgingly, the girls scooted out of bed, dressing into crisp, white blouses with gray sweaters that had hems lined in maroon and gold stripes, complete with a maroon and gold tie tucked underneath their sweaters. Lily, Alice, and Mary were wearing black skirts that went slightly above their knees, while Marlene and Gwenog wore the same skirt, but in a gray and maroon plaid pattern. All girls finished their weekend outfit with a pair of tall, gray socks, and a maroon and gold striped headband.

When they all finished dressing, they headed down to breakfast.

The first thing Lily searched for in the Great Hall was a group of four, gangly boys. Much too early for those prats, Lily smirked as she settled into a seat at the Gryffindor table and helped herself to breakfast.

"Where did Emmeline say we should meet them?" Mary asked.

"Clocktower Courtyard," Alice responded cheerily as she spread some jam over her toast. "It feels so nice to be making friends with other Houses."

"Yeah, great for inter-house unity" Marlene agreed. "Although, I am certainly not making friends with anybody in Slytherin."

Marlene's eyes popped as she suddenly realised what she just said in front of Lily and the other girls also suddenly took an interest to the gold lining of their plates.

"Whatever you think," Lily said calmly, although there was a certain edge to her voice. "Sev is a good person, so I'm sure the other Slytherins are as well. If you want to stick with stereotypes, however, feel free to."

"Well, of course, not all Slytherins are bad…" Alice started, but Marlene gagged loudly on her eggs.

Lily shot a look at Marlene.

"Whatever," Mary said. "It doesn't matter. Nothing worth fighting about."

Marlene looked like she wanted to argue, but she dropped the subject.

After breakfast, the girls headed to the Clocktower Courtyard for their day with the Hufflepuffs.

"Well, it appears we are a bit early," Marlene said promptly.

"A bit? We're one hour early, if I remember correctly," Gwenog said.

"Exactly! So...a bit!" Marlene chirped.

The girls all gave her a questioning look, but didn't say anything under her firm stare.

"I'm chilly, let's wait inside," Lily suggested.

The other girls except Marlene all nodded in agreement: "Oh, come on, girls! Let's enjoy this beautiful, lovely weather!" Marlene said in a singsong voice.

The girls all looked up at the murky, gray sky, where the sun was struggling to break through the clouds.

"Yeah...I'm going in," Gwenog said matter-of-factly, and the rest of the girls followed her.

"Okay, well, you do that! I'm staying here!" Marlene shouted as they left the courtyard.

The girls sat down in a corridor, and Gwenog watched out the window at Marlene, who was standing grumpily under a tree, clearly not enjoying the "beautiful" weather. Her hands were wrapped close around her, and her jaw was braced with a slight chatter of the teeth as her blonde hair flew crazily around her face.

Gwenog turned back around and giggled. "Looks like Marly is regretting her decision."

Lily, Mary, and Alice all peered out the window after Gwenog and laughed.

"Oh, Marly...so stubborn…" Alice chuckled fondly.

When it was time to actually meet the Hufflepuffs, Lily, Gwenog, Mary, and Alice went back outside to the Clocktower Courtyard.

"Where's Marly?" Lily asked.

Gwenog smirked, "Looks like she's not too in love with the weather after all."

"Oh! There they are!"

The girls turned around to see five girls dressed in the same outfits as them except with gold and black highlights instead of maroon and gold.

Lily had only really talked to three of them: Emmeline Vance and Dorcas Meadowes, whom she had met on the Hogwarts Express, and Doris Purkiss, whom she had partnered up with in Herbology once.

"Hello!" Dorcas smiled brightly as she reached them. "It's more chilly outside than I imagined it would be."

"Oh, yes. In fact, Marlene's run off because of it," Gwenog teased.

Dorcas raised her eyebrow.

"It's a bit of a story," Alice quickly finished. "Anyways, would you rather we go inside then?"

"Oh, yes," said a girl in the back. She was rather square-jawed, and serious looking, but at the same time had a kindhearted look to her face. "I'm Amelia Bones," she shook hands with Lily and Gwenog. "I don't believe I've really talked to you two, have I?"

Lily smiled warmly. "No, I'm Lily Evans, pleasure to meet you!"

"Gwenog Jones, nice to meet you as well!"

"Well, let's head on inside, shall we?" Emmeline Vance said, shivering.

The girls settled in the corridor once again, and began gossiping, to Lily's dismay, about James and Sirius.

"Sirius Black is very handsome," Doris Purkiss said dreamily, as she gripped a copy of the Quibbler.

Gwenog leaned over and whispered in Lily's ear: "I hear Purkiss is a bit loopy in the head."

Lily smiled, not wanting to make any judgements too soon.

"That Potter boy is rather handsome too," Greta Catchlove, a honey-blonde girl said.

"More like scrawny, if you ask me," Lily muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," Lily said quickly.

"Lily holds a bit of a grudge against Potter and Black," Mary explained.

"Oh, right, I knew that," Greta said cheerily.

Lily raised any eyebrow.

"Every first-year in the school knows you have a problem with Potter," Dorcas explained.

Lily's face went blank. "What?" She asked in a sweetly venomous tone.

Dorcas cowered back a bit.

"Well, er...you see, Lils...you put on a bit of a show when you yell at Potter...it attracts quite a bit of attention…" Alice stammered.

Lily's eyes bulged. "I do not ask for attention. If I ever did, I might as well get married to Potter." She mouthed "blah" as soon as she said this.

"I didn't say you ask for attention...it just comes...to you," Alice awkwardly tried to word it.

"Are there any handsome boys in Hufflepuff?" Gwenog quickly asked, knowing that anytime Potter came into a conversation with Lily, Lily was bound to start yelling at some point.

"Oh, yes!" Purkiss giggled. "There are lots of cute boys in Hufflepuff. The cutest in our year are Amos Diggory, Davey Gudgeon, and Caradoc Dearborn!"

"Oh, Diggory is very blessed!" Emmeline laughed. "I'll bet you once people start dating, girls are going to be swarming around him!"

"Tsk tsk...Potter's got competition," Lily muttered.

Gwenog gave her a look.

"I wonder if Marlene's ever gonna show," Mary wondered aloud. "You don't think she went back outside to the courtyard and is waiting for us, do you?"

"Nah, she was bound to pass by us if she went back out to the courtyard."

"Where is she?"

"Dunno, should we go look for her?"

"It's been a while, I saw we should," Lily said. "Sorry, perhaps we can meet up again sometime later? Next time we'll make sure Marlene doesn't dissappear."

The Hufflepuffs laughed. "Sure, and don't worry about it!"

"Shall we stop by the Great Hall first?"

The girls checked the Great Hall, but couldn't find Marlene. They searched classrooms and asked nearby students.

"Oh, I think I saw her with Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew a while ago," one student said.

"Impossible," Lily said.

But sure enough, when they checked the Gryffindor Common Room, Marlene was sitting with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter on the couch, playing wizards chess with Sirius.

"Marlene?" Lily asked incredulously as she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey Lils!" Marlene said dismissively as she turned back to her game of wizards chess.

"Uh..Marly..what are you doing?"

"Wizard's chess!"

"Er...right. I mean, what are you doing with uh...ahem, you know?"

"Sorry?"

"Ah...well, uh, nevermind."

"What're you talking about, Evans?" Black said.

Lily threw him a glare. "Nothing that concerns you, Black."

"Actually, I think it does concern Black," Marlene sighed.

Lily stared at her. "Wanna tell me something, Marly?"

"Sure…" Marlene stood up off the couch. "Your move, Black, I'll be right back."

Lily pulled her into a corner of the common room. "Where've you been all this time? In case you weren't aware, you missed our gathering with the Hufflepuffs!"

"Right, I was with the boys."

Lily inched her head forward a bit, still waiting for an explanation.

"Look, Lils, I know you think they're horrible, but they're actually a really good group of boys. James is actually really sincere, Sirius is still annoying, Remus is just like you as a boy, and Peter is really, very sweet."

Lily stared at her. "Are you serious?"

"No reason not to be."

Lily gaped. "Right, well, if you think you like them…"

"I do, I think they make very good friends!" Marlene smiled. "You should try making friends with them, too! They're much better than that Severus boy...and if you ask me, it seems Potter has a bit of a crush on you."

Lily looked appalled. "Absolutely not! And stop badgering me about Sev, if you tried to just talk to Sev you would see how kind he really is."

Marlene bit her lip. "Right, yeah...there's just a small problem with that...he doesn't want to talk to me."

Lily sighed. "You know what, forget it."

"Yeah, it's okay, I'll still be friends with you Lils! You're like, my best friend at Hogwarts, and nothing will change that!"

"Aw, Marly…"

Lily hugged Marlene, and then left Marlene to finish her game of wizard's chess with Sirius.

As she climbed up the stairs, she saw Marlene laughing with the boys. Lily smiled gently, and sighed. Well, if Marlene really liked them, so be it. Maybe someday, I could learn to tolerate them as well, Lily thought.