p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Since the Yule Ball, Lupin and Julia have hung out with one another frequently. In fact, one of the only nights they didn't hang out somehow since, whether studying together, taking walks, or just relaxing during free periods, was the day Lupin had to transform. He had James tell Julia that Lupin was sick in bed with a highly contagious bug and she didn't think twice about this story to question it, as Remus did look slightly weak when she had seen him. Now, with Lupin's transformation out of the way, everyone was enjoying one last Hogsmeade weekend before the holiday break. Everyone was bustling around the village, purchasing last minute gifts and enjoying time with their friends before they parted ways until the term resumed. James, Sirius, Lupin, and Peter planned on spending their day drinking in the Three Broomsticks. The pub was crowded with students and had been decorated festively for the holidays./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""My parents said anyone who wants to come visit over the holiday can. We should have a New Years Party", James was informing his friends as they sat at the bar of the Three Broomsticks, all enjoying drinks. They were several drinks into their daylong outing and had no plans of leaving the cozy pub to venture out into the shops that lined the snowy streets./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You know I'll be there the whole time so I'm down," said Sirius. Last summer he had not returned home and had moved in with the Potters. He planned to spend the entire holiday with them as well as they were whom he considered his real family./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Right well you guys just ask your parents and come whenever," James told Remus and Peter, "I already looked, the full moon isn't anywhere New Years so Moony'll be good"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ay, Rose can I get another drink?" Sirius signaled the barmaid Rosmerta, a very pretty girl slightly older than them. It wasn't much of a secret that Sirius and Rosmerta had hooked up on several occasions. Sometimes he borrowed James's invisibility cloak to sneek to Hogsmeade and meet up with Rosmerta when it fancied him./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Sure, baby. How are you guys?" Rosmerta turned her attention to the Marauders. As frequent customers of the Three Broomsticks, they were all on friendly terms with her. They all extended their greetings./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You look nice today," Sirius said to Rosmerta with a wink. She was wearing her usual bar uniform that showed quite a bit of cleavage./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks Sirius, no discounts for flattery though," she smirked at him. His friends laughed, teasing him for his failed attempt, "Anyway, where's your girlfriend James?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Shopping, she and her friends are coming when they're done," James replied as he finished his drink and Rosmerta passed him a new one./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's fun. And I heard the Yule Ball was a good time too. I loved the Yule Ball, one of my favorite parts about Hogwarts," Rosemerta reminisced./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It was a good time," Sirius said, "and ole Lupin over here took his new flame"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Remus! You have a girlfriend?" Rosemerta had always known him to be not socially inept but shy and less concerned with girls than his friends./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""She's not my girlfriend. She's a friend," Lupin blushed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Come off it, you two are always together these days!" Sirius retorted./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Who is this lucky lady?" Rosmerta inquired./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Julia Nott you probably don't know her. Fifth year Ravenclaw. She doesn't really come here during Hogsmeade weekends but she said she might come today" Lupin replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey! Hey! Gonna be a party in here!" Sirius replied as Lupin rolled his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Meanwhile, Julia and her friends, also Ravenclaw fifth year girls, were shopping around Hogsmeade's bookstore. Julia had mentioned to her friends that she wanted to meet up with Remus later, but they weren't thrilled at the idea. Her friends thought that Remus and his friends were a bad influence on Julia, as she drank and did drugs with them for the first time. Also, they weren't too fond of the amount of time Julia had been spending with Remus lately. Hanging out with new people was helping Julia come out of her shell, but they say it as her changing and weren't too pleased. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Come on guys, we don't have to stay too long. We can just go to the Three Broomsticks for a few drinks, say hi, and head back to the castle," Julia tried again to convince her friends Meredith and Greta./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not too keen about spending the afternoon in a bar. You know what kind of obnoxious people hang out there," Meredith replied as she looked through a book. Julia had a feeling she was implying that people like Remus and his friends hung out in bars./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It'll just be for a little bit!" Julia tried to push back. She was about to ditch her friends and go alone./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""What's with you and drinking all of the sudden?" Greta asked, "You never used to care about drinking"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't care about drinking! I just want to stop in and say hi. I told Remus I would," Julia replied shortly in frustration./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't really care to spend the rest of my Hogsmeade weekend with James Potter and Sirius Black," said Meredith, uninterested./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I've already told you, they aren't bad at all. They're nice guys!" Julia replied, getting angry./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, real nice when they hex people out of nowhere. They're just a couple of dumb jocks that think the world worships them" Greta rolled her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Please just come with me, you two. I promise if you don't like it we can leave," Julia pleaded./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ugh, alright" Meredith replied. Greta crossed her arms, looking extremely sour./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Back at the Three Broomsticks, Lily and her friends had joined the guys. James had ordered a round of fire whiskey shots for everyone. The group of guys and girls were gathered around the bar talking, laughing, and drinking. Lily sat next to James, his hand draped across her knee. Lupin chatted with Grace and Catherine. Lily's friend Mary, who also had previously hooked up with Sirius, sat watching him flirt with Rosmerta with a hint of jealousy on her face. Peter tried, with no success, to talk to Catherine for the first time after the incident at the Yule Ball. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," James said quietly just to Lily to get her attention./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hi there," Lily giggled back. She had charged several drinks to James's tab./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you have fun today?" James asked. He loved hanging out with everyone but sometimes he just wanted to worry about his girlfriend and none of the other debauchery going on around them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I got myself some new clothes, got my parents some Honeydukes stuff to put in their Christmas stockings, and I got Petunia a plant from the Herbology shop. I hope she doesn't throw this Christmas gift away." Lily answered. James kissed her on the cheek./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Are you going to be able to come to my place at all over break? We were thinking about having a New Year's party. I'd love to have you there" James said to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course, I'll just have to tell my parents. Who all are you having?" she replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know yet. Me, you, Sirius, Remus, Lupin, your friends can come if they want. Maybe some people from the Quidditch team. We haven't really planned it just talked about it"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Is Lupin going to invite Julia?" Lily asked, curious./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Who really knows. I don't know if she'd be allowed to or what. She's actually supposed to come here at some point today," James answered./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, really?" said Lily, surprised, "I don't think I've ever seen her in here before"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yo, look Helena is over there she looks so pissed," Sirius drunkenly butted himself in between James and Lily./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Why's she pissed?" James said, slightly annoyed at his drunk best friend for interrupting them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Because, she sees me over here talking to Rose. She gets jealous no matter how many times I make it clear I'm not tied down to anyone," Sirius replied in a tone that made the situation sound much more important than it actually was./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, you do kind of give her mixed signals," Lily chimed in./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""No I don't I tell her like all the time we aren't dating!" Sirius retorted./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Well you're always taking her out whenever the situation calls for a date, you hang out together all the time. Hell, you even went to some Muggle music festival with her this summer! Actions speak louder than words," Lily replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Whatever, Evans like you know she fucks other guys and I don't get jealous," Sirius said back. Before Lily could (or cared to) say anything else about the matter, the pub door slowly opened and Julia, Meredith, and Greta sheepishly entered. Julia caught sight of Lupin waving enthusiastically at her and they headed towards the group gathered around the bar. Everyone kindly greeted Julia and her friends. Julia took a seat in the stool next to Lupin, who drunkenly kissed her on the cheek, causing Julia to blush and her friends to look at one another, seemingly annoyed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Rose! Another round for everyone!" James called to Rosmerta who, with a flick of her wand, got shots for everyone, including Julia and her friends, up on the bar. Everyone picked up a shot as Julia's friends just stared at the last two./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Alright, shh!" said James, offering a toast "To Christmas and my awesome New Years Eve party that we don't know anything about yet, just that you're all invited!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm planning it too!" Sirius added, drunkenly. Everyone but Meredith and Greta swallowed back their shots./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Do you want those?" Peter asked, pointing to the remaining shots. They shook their heads and got up and left. They were walking out the door when Julia realized what was going on. She tried to get up and go after them, but they were gone./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""My parents said anyone who wants to come visit over the holiday can. We should have a New Years Party", James was informing his friends as they sat at the bar of the Three Broomsticks, all enjoying drinks. They were several drinks into their daylong outing and had no plans of leaving the cozy pub to venture out into the shops that lined the snowy streets./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You know I'll be there the whole time so I'm down," said Sirius. Last summer he had not returned home and had moved in with the Potters. He planned to spend the entire holiday with them as well as they were whom he considered his real family./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Right well you guys just ask your parents and come whenever," James told Remus and Peter, "I already looked, the full moon isn't anywhere New Years so Moony'll be good"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ay, Rose can I get another drink?" Sirius signaled the barmaid Rosmerta, a very pretty girl slightly older than them. It wasn't much of a secret that Sirius and Rosmerta had hooked up on several occasions. Sometimes he borrowed James's invisibility cloak to sneek to Hogsmeade and meet up with Rosmerta when it fancied him./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Sure, baby. How are you guys?" Rosmerta turned her attention to the Marauders. As frequent customers of the Three Broomsticks, they were all on friendly terms with her. They all extended their greetings./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You look nice today," Sirius said to Rosmerta with a wink. She was wearing her usual bar uniform that showed quite a bit of cleavage./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks Sirius, no discounts for flattery though," she smirked at him. His friends laughed, teasing him for his failed attempt, "Anyway, where's your girlfriend James?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Shopping, she and her friends are coming when they're done," James replied as he finished his drink and Rosmerta passed him a new one./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's fun. And I heard the Yule Ball was a good time too. I loved the Yule Ball, one of my favorite parts about Hogwarts," Rosemerta reminisced./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It was a good time," Sirius said, "and ole Lupin over here took his new flame"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Remus! You have a girlfriend?" Rosemerta had always known him to be not socially inept but shy and less concerned with girls than his friends./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""She's not my girlfriend. She's a friend," Lupin blushed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Come off it, you two are always together these days!" Sirius retorted./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Who is this lucky lady?" Rosmerta inquired./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Julia Nott you probably don't know her. Fifth year Ravenclaw. She doesn't really come here during Hogsmeade weekends but she said she might come today" Lupin replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey! Hey! Gonna be a party in here!" Sirius replied as Lupin rolled his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Meanwhile, Julia and her friends, also Ravenclaw fifth year girls, were shopping around Hogsmeade's bookstore. Julia had mentioned to her friends that she wanted to meet up with Remus later, but they weren't thrilled at the idea. Her friends thought that Remus and his friends were a bad influence on Julia, as she drank and did drugs with them for the first time. Also, they weren't too fond of the amount of time Julia had been spending with Remus lately. Hanging out with new people was helping Julia come out of her shell, but they say it as her changing and weren't too pleased. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Come on guys, we don't have to stay too long. We can just go to the Three Broomsticks for a few drinks, say hi, and head back to the castle," Julia tried again to convince her friends Meredith and Greta./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not too keen about spending the afternoon in a bar. You know what kind of obnoxious people hang out there," Meredith replied as she looked through a book. Julia had a feeling she was implying that people like Remus and his friends hung out in bars./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It'll just be for a little bit!" Julia tried to push back. She was about to ditch her friends and go alone./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""What's with you and drinking all of the sudden?" Greta asked, "You never used to care about drinking"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't care about drinking! I just want to stop in and say hi. I told Remus I would," Julia replied shortly in frustration./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't really care to spend the rest of my Hogsmeade weekend with James Potter and Sirius Black," said Meredith, uninterested./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I've already told you, they aren't bad at all. They're nice guys!" Julia replied, getting angry./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah, real nice when they hex people out of nowhere. They're just a couple of dumb jocks that think the world worships them" Greta rolled her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Please just come with me, you two. I promise if you don't like it we can leave," Julia pleaded./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Ugh, alright" Meredith replied. Greta crossed her arms, looking extremely sour./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Back at the Three Broomsticks, Lily and her friends had joined the guys. James had ordered a round of fire whiskey shots for everyone. The group of guys and girls were gathered around the bar talking, laughing, and drinking. Lily sat next to James, his hand draped across her knee. Lupin chatted with Grace and Catherine. Lily's friend Mary, who also had previously hooked up with Sirius, sat watching him flirt with Rosmerta with a hint of jealousy on her face. Peter tried, with no success, to talk to Catherine for the first time after the incident at the Yule Ball. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," James said quietly just to Lily to get her attention./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hi there," Lily giggled back. She had charged several drinks to James's tab./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Did you have fun today?" James asked. He loved hanging out with everyone but sometimes he just wanted to worry about his girlfriend and none of the other debauchery going on around them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I got myself some new clothes, got my parents some Honeydukes stuff to put in their Christmas stockings, and I got Petunia a plant from the Herbology shop. I hope she doesn't throw this Christmas gift away." Lily answered. James kissed her on the cheek./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Are you going to be able to come to my place at all over break? We were thinking about having a New Year's party. I'd love to have you there" James said to her./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course, I'll just have to tell my parents. Who all are you having?" she replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know yet. Me, you, Sirius, Remus, Lupin, your friends can come if they want. Maybe some people from the Quidditch team. We haven't really planned it just talked about it"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Is Lupin going to invite Julia?" Lily asked, curious./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Who really knows. I don't know if she'd be allowed to or what. She's actually supposed to come here at some point today," James answered./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, really?" said Lily, surprised, "I don't think I've ever seen her in here before"./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yo, look Helena is over there she looks so pissed," Sirius drunkenly butted himself in between James and Lily./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Why's she pissed?" James said, slightly annoyed at his drunk best friend for interrupting them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Because, she sees me over here talking to Rose. She gets jealous no matter how many times I make it clear I'm not tied down to anyone," Sirius replied in a tone that made the situation sound much more important than it actually was./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Well, you do kind of give her mixed signals," Lily chimed in./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""No I don't I tell her like all the time we aren't dating!" Sirius retorted./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Well you're always taking her out whenever the situation calls for a date, you hang out together all the time. Hell, you even went to some Muggle music festival with her this summer! Actions speak louder than words," Lily replied./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Whatever, Evans like you know she fucks other guys and I don't get jealous," Sirius said back. Before Lily could (or cared to) say anything else about the matter, the pub door slowly opened and Julia, Meredith, and Greta sheepishly entered. Julia caught sight of Lupin waving enthusiastically at her and they headed towards the group gathered around the bar. Everyone kindly greeted Julia and her friends. Julia took a seat in the stool next to Lupin, who drunkenly kissed her on the cheek, causing Julia to blush and her friends to look at one another, seemingly annoyed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Rose! Another round for everyone!" James called to Rosmerta who, with a flick of her wand, got shots for everyone, including Julia and her friends, up on the bar. Everyone picked up a shot as Julia's friends just stared at the last two./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Alright, shh!" said James, offering a toast "To Christmas and my awesome New Years Eve party that we don't know anything about yet, just that you're all invited!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm planning it too!" Sirius added, drunkenly. Everyone but Meredith and Greta swallowed back their shots./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Do you want those?" Peter asked, pointing to the remaining shots. They shook their heads and got up and left. They were walking out the door when Julia realized what was going on. She tried to get up and go after them, but they were gone./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p