BACK FROM HAWAII... as of like... really early yesterday.

Okay... so one thing you guys...!!!!!

Does this seem like another transition chapter? Cause that's what I'm afraid of. I don't want the same boring, formatted... thing over and over. So... if you guys could tell me how I'm doing on that, I'd really appreciate it...

Oh, and, of course, none of this belongs to me.

Except Charlotte.

Even if, at breakfast, the two schools that would be competing against Hogwarts in the Tri-Wizard tournament hadn't finally arrived, after the freak snow storm had kept them back for so long... even if the names of the competitors weren't to be pulled in the next 24 hours... even if she'd had classes that day... She would regret ever mentioning how bored she was to Charlotte.

Lily Evans was going to have an extremely eventful day.

This was not a good thing.

Hard as it was to believe, Sirius had merely been sitting in the common room, minding his own business. He was even doing his homework. Lily had to do a double take, but when she realized that he was, in fact, not doing anything wrong, she decided this behavior was extremely suspicious. He must be covering up for something!... like... maybe whatever it is they have planned!

She decided, after what Peter had told James and herself that morning, that Charlotte and Sirius definitely had something up their sleeves. She'd also decided that she was going to approach them and hope they slipped when she asked them strategic questions...

"I know what you're doing!" She snapped, slamming her book on the table in front of him. Okay, so maybe strategy wasn't her thing, but Sirius never could resist the chance to brag about whatever idiocy he had planned.

"Charms?" He offered. "Wow, Evans. You should be a detective."

"Don't play innocent with me! I know you and Charlotte are up to something."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is news to me. Pray tell, what are we up to?" He leaned on his elbows, looking up at her intently. She realized just how stupid she sounded, and sat down.

"Well," she hissed, "I don't know-"

"I thought you said you knew." He smirked. He was laughing at her!

"I do know," she began impatiently, "that it has something to do with me and James."

"Is that right?"

"And Charlotte getting sick and switching with me-" He was grinning broader than ever. She took the bait... "What are you grinning about?"

He hadn't realized he'd been smiling, but recovered easily enough. "Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? Firstly, your bestest buddy hates my guts, Lils. She'd sooner try to give McGonagall a lap dance than agree with me. Secondly, she'd choose your side over anybody's anyway, and thirdly... if we were, don't you think she'd be smart enough to hide it from you?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Unless... you know... she wanted you to be suspicious..."

She gaped at him. "What are you up to?" She growled.

"Frank!" He called to a boy emerging from the dorms behind her. "Just the chap I was looking for. I need your help with... things. Apparently, they're on to us," he hissed to Frank just loudly enough for Lily to hear. Upon seeing her look of horror, he winked at her. She scowled and grabbed her books.

"You're not getting to me, Sirius Black," she insisted. "Not at all!" She stood up, very eager to escape his company.

"Evans, running away doesn't suit you."

"I'm not! I'm... going to lunch."

"You alright, Lily?" Frank asked when he'd caught up with her. She was debating on whether or not to ignore him. Really, now was as good a time as any... Crossing her fingers that it would go better than it had with Sirius, she took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the worst anyway.

"About this whole plan thing," she began.

"What 'plan thing'?"

"Frank, cut the crap," she laughed. "I know you guys are up to something."

He frowned. "Who?"

"You, Charlotte, Sirius-"

"If you're talking about what Sirius said back there, I didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about either when he'd said it- but he told me once you were out of earshot that it was just to scare you."

"Right."

"If he'd been telling me about some master plan, how would I have caught up to you so fast?"

"I don't-"

"And why would Charlotte be planning something with Sirius against you? Of all people, she'd be the last one, really. She'd much rather do something mean to him with your help. Really, Lils, you've got to stop being so paranoid-"

"But- but-" she spluttered. "I know you guys are up to something! Even Peter-"

"Peter?" Frank raised an eyebrow. "Pettigrew? As in... the Marauder? Sirius probably has him messing with you too-"

"But he told James and I-"

"Since when have you trusted James?"

"I-"

"I'm heading down to lunch- do you want to come?"

Frustrated and at a loss for what else to say, she hissed, "No, I don't! Frank Longbottom, you are a liar and a traitor, and you should be ashamed of yourself!"

"... Erm... okay?" He shot her a confused look and she stormed off. And Charlotte thought he'd have a hard time hiding it from her... Psh.

When Lily walked into the Great Hall, she found Charlotte standing with Bellatrix.

"I could do it-"

"Here!" Bellatrix thrust a piece of paper at her. "What do you need it for anyway?" Charlotte had seen Lily out of the corner of her eye, and stealthily pointed her out to Bellatrix before whispering something Lily didn't quite catch.

"Oh, that ought to be entertaining. Are you really?"

"Yeah-"

"Okay, she's coming... I'm going to go- don't though! If you do-"

"I've got more on you than that," Charlotte retorted, turning quickly to face her friend. "Lily!" She smiled. Pants. "Let's sit- eat- shall we?" Lily rolled her eyes but nodded. For the next few minutes, they were quiet. After all, covering your entire plate with food took a lot of concentration. Especially when one of the people occupied with such a task was dead set on not talking...

"I know what you're up to!" Lily hissed as soon as they were situated.

"I told Sirius he shouldn't have left it in the closet," Charlotte groaned. It was all Lily could do not to gape. She'd expected Charlotte to deny it or ignore her... not to admit to it. Especially since she'd given such little evidence of truly knowing... And even Frank had given her a hard time... unless he wasn't involved? But her instinct told her he was. And it was also telling her to play along.

"The closet?"

"Yeah..." Charlotte replied, taking a sip of water.

"Right... Yeah, I found it."

"Fyi, James still doesn't think we're up to anything." Sirius whispered to Charlotte as he passed where she sat. So as not to look suspicious, Charlotte glared at him and he smirked. His newest girlfriend, Penelope, burst into tears.

"What's that about?" Lily frowned.

"Penelope is Ravenclaw's very own special ed s-"

"Charlotte!" Lily bit back a laugh.

"She is!"

"Why would you say that?"

"Look who she's dating... and look how upset she is because he whispered-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"It's not as if she's caught us in a broom closet or something..." Lily's ears perked up. She'd almost forgot.

"Oh, right," she muttered, no longer listening. "I'm going to go... start Potions."

"Wait a minute," Charlotte said hastily. "I'm almost done and I have to start to-"

"I've been having a hard time with it," Lily replied nervously. "I'll help you when I'm done."

"Okay." Charlotte isn't fighting me on this... why isn't she fighting this?

"Bye!" She was practically sprinting out of the Great Hall.

"Toodles."

The table was silent for a minute, until James got up to leave. "C'mon Remus," he grinned.

"Remus!" Charlotte and Sirius yelled at the same time.

"Yeah?" He looked rather puzzled.

"We... need to speak with you," Charlotte started.

"Uh..."

"For a long time," Sirius added.

"I offered to help James with his Potions, guys-"

"Lily can help him!" Charlotte said, waving the comment aside.

"What do you need-"

"Paint," Sirius said quite seriously. Paint? Charlotte mouthed, making a face.

"Paint...?" Apparently Remus was not especially convinced either.

"Oh yeah! Yup! Remember? You said... you'd help us paint... that one thing?"

"Yeah! The... the... that... one thing," Sirius echoed.

"Have you two been sniffing paint, perhaps? Because-"

"I remember too," Frank chimed in nervously.

"Maybe... drinking it? And then given Frank a sip?"

"Remus, you're so funny- isn't he hilarious?" Sirius asked a passing Slytherin. The Slytherin scowled and kept walking. "YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, KEEP WALKING-"

"Shut up, Sirius," Charlotte hissed. "But yes- let's go! Sorry James- maybe you should ask Lily though- She's working on it too."

"I thought she didn't get it either-"

"Always the kidder, aren't you Remus?" Sirius growled, shooting him a look. Shut up, Moony! He mouthed. Lupin had picked up the message before he'd seen this, but still didn't trust the pair.

Even still, he sighed and nodded. "Right. The paint- sorry, James. I forgot." He shot Charlotte a look that quite plainly said you better explain and followed them reluctantly.

"I'll tell you in a sec," Frank whispered, ushering him away from James and glancing back nervously every few moments. Charlotte, on the other hand, looked somewhat harassed and was clearly trying to get the attention of someone on the other side of the room.

"Just go!" Charlotte hissed to nobody (or at least that James could see), and the group of them fled the Great Hall, leaving a slightly annoyed, and very confused James behind. Before he could follow them, however, an owl landed in front of him, a red envelope tied to its leg. James paled. What'd I do now?

"JAMES POTTER!" His mother's voice was already echoing through the Great Hall. Stupid Howler... "THE NEXT TIME I HEAR ABOUT YOU SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED AS THAT POOR HEAD GIRL-"

Charlotte turned to Sirius in mid run. "YOU PUT THAT IN THERE?" She snapped, slapping his forearm.

"Ouch," he whined. "And yes, I did, Charlotte. You said you needed to keep him in the Great Hall for a few minutes- so I just figured if anything could keep him from making a run for it, it would be Evans." He looked rather proud of himself.

"Fine... but just so you know... that's really creepy... how you can imitate Mrs. Potter that way."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"THIS IS JUST... JUST... BLOODY EXCELLENT!" She bellowed, kicking the door in frustration. She just HAD to go into the closet. 'I told Sirius...' Of course Charlotte wouldn't have told her...

And now she was trapped inside with nothing to do but bang on the door and yell until someone heard her. But, of course, the chances were slim. Clearly, Charlotte had made sure of that. She was, after all, in the head dorms. And nobody had reason to come in there...

Why does she want me out of the way?

"Lily?" She heard James' familiar voice from behind the door.

"In here!" She shouted. Why does she want me out of the way?... this isn't a very well thought out plan though- I mean, she should've known, James would find me. He'd come right after lunch... Realization had just slapped her across the face. "JAMES! NO, DON'T-" But it was too late. He'd already touched the doorknob and had just been sucked into the door.

"If you wanted to be alone with me, all you had to do was ask," he smirked.

"I didn't do this!" She shouted indignantly.

"Yeah? Then who?" He bit his lip, trying to think of who would want to lock them up together. Surprisingly, that didn't narrow it down very much (or at least not in his opinion)...

"I'll give you one guess." I am stuck in a closet for god knows how long... She glanced at him to see if he'd actually caught on. Lily had thought it would be obvious, and was somewhat hopeful when he'd opened his mouth to speak. But, rather than yell 'CHARLOTTE!' as she had less than ten minutes ago, he'd muttered something about painters and groaned. She slapped her head.

...with an idiot.

"Have you seen James?" Peter asked one of the Gryffindors in the halls. But he merely shook his head.

Usually, Peter would've offered a "thanks anyway" and asked the nearest non-Slytherin student, but instead, fled from the room, thoroughly creeped out. He could've sworn he'd heard the high pitched cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Well I'll be damned. The mudblood's really going to give it a shot." She paused, chewing her lip. This could get good... "Cissy!"

Here it is.

Like I said, I'd totally appreciate it if you told me whether or not it even sounds like thes story is going somewhere. I'm worried it'll read like I'm just trying to make it look like I update all the time (which, as I'm sure you're all well aware of by now, I don't... I just don't have time- even though it's summer!).

I'm posting this now, simply because I can't find anything wrong with it at the moment... but then again it's 6:30 in the morning and I haven't slept all night. So if you spot any mistakes, point 'em out please, and I'll change it. I've checked it like 8 times, so I'm probably not going to catch it if there is one.

Mkay. Goodnight...

Erm... morning.

REVIEW PLEASE! I'll return the favor... for some reason I've taken up doing that...

Oh... mkay... and... by the way!!!!!! if you're bored, I beg of you, go read Mudblood, Actually. :) And then if you actually review, I'll love you forever. Haha.

Like I said, hope this was okay. (I'm pretty sure I always say that, really...)

Toodles.