Please read and review! xD
Disclaimer: Do I have to say this again? Well, let's put a spin on things.
If I owned the HP characters included in this story, then I would be the one living in a castle. Just to clear some things up xD
And I'm sooooo sorry for this taking forever!
And a quick reminder... the - - - - stands for a break... time, place, whatever... yeah xD
-------------------------------
James sat very comfortably in the Head's Common Room. His feet propped up on the coffee table, mug of Butterbeer on a coaster, for Lily had a fit the last time she saw a watermark on the mahogany table, no matter how many times James insisted that magic could repair it in no time; the only problem in his life was the fact that he was trying to avoid the hordes of girls trying to get him to be their date for the Valentine's Day Ball.
Oh, and that pesky little problem called Voldemort. And the fact that Lily most likely blamed herself for her parent's deaths. He would really have to talk to Cai about that one.
But yes, at the moment, James' only problem was surviving until he could get Lily to go with him to the ball.
Of course, he only had a week to accomplish this task, but hey, anything's possible.
But then thinking about going to the Ball with Lily prompted him to think of his responsibilities for this ball.
Oh yeah, they include that pesky little detail of finding a band to play.
"Oh damn…"
------------
A very frantic James Potter ran through the hallways, dodging students in his mad dash to get to the Gryffindor Common Room and his friends.
His friends, who could find a way to help him get out of his predicament. For Lily, in a stroke of genius, had informed him that he must get a band at least three weeks before the ball, else wise they would be booked up solid.
Damn.
In his hurry, he almost knocked down a group of second years, but managed to right himself and continue on his way, looking for Sirius, Remus, Peter, or anyone of his other friends.
"Stephie!" He yelled, and the girl stopped walking and turned around slowly.
"What now, James?" She asked hesitantly. "Did Lily hex you again? Because I got in trouble for helping you last time. And you know I hate that nickname."
He shook his head. "No, no. I just…need… to find… Remus or Sirius," He nearly panted. "Or Peter," He added as an afterthought, trying to catch his breath. Running through a castle, up and down floors, can really knock the wind out of a person.
Stephanie looked at him quizzically. "Did you forget something for the ball?"
"No…" He said hesitantly, and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, that was a stupid question to ask when one already knows the answer," She said, referring to both his previous question as well as her own. "They're probably up in the dorm, or at the kitchens."
"Thanks Stephie!" He said hurriedly ignoring her glare, before barreling up the stairs, knocking little children out of the way.
-----------------------
James was still continuing his search an hour later when he ran into Lily.
"James!" She said excitedly. "I've been looking for you for forever!"
"You have?" He asked skeptically, forgetting the reason for his search in lieu of the fact that Lily was actually searching him out.
Lily nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. You see…" She trailed off as someone wandered around the corner, and hid behind James with a squeak. "Don't move…" She muttered, but it was too late. The damage was done.
"Oh dearest Lillian!" The boy shouted, and Lily sighed.
"Isn't your name Lily?" James asked quizzically, and Lily nodded before burying her head in James' shoulder.
"Don't come over here. Don't come over here. Don't-"
"Lillian!" Gilderoy shouted again. "Don't run away from me like that again. Because I'll find you!" He finished this sentence in what he thought to be a flirtatious tone, but was really just giving everyone within hearing range the shivers.
"Lily?" James asked, but was interrupted by the hand that was shoved into his face.
"Gilderoy Lockheart," He said, "Pleased to meet you. If you could unhand my girlfriend…" To say James' face merely resembled a goldfish would be a great understatement.
"Girl- girlfriend?" He stuttered, and Gilderoy nodded while Lily shook her head empathetically.
"Excuse me, Gilderoy, but James and I were having a conversation." When he didn't leave, just nodded, she continued. "We were trying to speak privately. Alone." All the while Gilderoy just nodded.
"Without you," James added, and Gilderoy finally got the message.
"Oh, well then," He said slowly. "I guess I'll just… just wait over here in the corner. Don't be too long, fairest Lillian." With a wave, he sauntered off to the corner, fixing his hair in the reflection of a suit of armor.
James took one more look at the boy before dissolving into laughter. Lily just mock-glared at him, before sighing and burying her face in his shoulder again. Amidst his chortling, James could hear Lily say,
"I know, I know. He's a stupid prat."
"A stupid prat? No, he's not just a stupid prat," He informed her quietly. "He just doesn't have common sense. I mean, honestly, no guy ever thinks to even try and date you because he knows that he'll have to deal with me and…" James trailed off, fearful about what Lily would say to this, but he needn't have worried.
"James," She said thoughtfully, an evil glint in her eyes, "What exactly do you do to my potential date material?"
James gulped. "Er… well, it was all Sirius' idea really… involves bright lights, a pink tutu, and Le Freak… but don't worry, we haven't well, attacked any of your dates for awhile now." Lily grinned.
"What could I do to persuade you to… dissuade Gilderoy from ever coming near me again?" James pondered it for a few moments, causing Lily to be afraid of a date proposal, but all he said was,
"Kiss me."
She looked at him, a bit shocked that he wouldn't ask for a date, but shrugged.
"All right, I guess," Lily said, and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. However, James shook his head.
"Nuh uh, Miss Evans. A kiss right here," He informed her quietly, and tapped his lips. She rolled her eyes, and hesitantly leaned forward.
I'm only doing this to get rid of Lockheart, she told herself. Only to get rid of Lockheart. Only to-
Oh, shut up and kiss him already, the voice in her head said. You know you want to.
Lily stopped in her tracks, her lips pretty darn close to James', and murmured, "You do know I'm only doing this to get rid of him," jerking her head slightly in Gilderoy's direction, moving herself away from James a bit.
"Of course," James replied, and leaned in once more.
I'm finally going to kiss her! He thought.
Yeah right, a voice in his head told him. She's only kissing you so she can get rid of her psychotic stalker boyfriend. What would you do in a situation like that?
Shut up.
He leaned in again, getting closer and closer towards Lily, thinking very happy thoughts. In his mind's eye, little children with black hair and green eyes, as well as children with red hair and brown eyes, were skipping through a field of flowers on their way to the Quidditch World Cup. Very happy thou-
"Hey, Lily!" Mary Thomas interrupted.
"Hi Mary," Lily replied, albeit a bit weakly. She sent a smile in James' direction, before turning to her friend.
"So Lily," Mary said, "It seems like you've been really busy lately." She raised her eyebrows and gave a slight nod in James' direction, making him wonder if Mary was wondering why Lily was spending so much time with her former enemy, his glorious self, or if she wanted to just have a girl talk.
His question was answered when Mary continued.
"I mean, ever since the holidays you've been actually nice to Potter."
James smiled. "Thanks for the support," He said sarcastically. Throughout it all, Mary was the one person who hated James, Slytherins withstanding.
Come to think of it, she seemed to despise Cai, Ash, and Stephanie as well, along with the rest of the Marauders.
Could have been due to that prank they played on her in last year. Who knew?
"You're welcome," She replied, and made James wonder why Lily became friends with her in the first place, or at least stayed friends with her over the years.
Coincidentally, Lily was thinking the same thing.
"Anyway, I was wondering if we could have a chat."
So it was the girl talk option, as well.
"Er…" Lily said slowly, "Well, can I just finished up my conversation with James first?"
Mary pushed back her reddish-brown hair. "See Lily, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You're calling him James."
"So, what's wrong with that? We're friends."
"Friends? Friends! Two months ago, you couldn't stand the guy, and now you're hanging around him all the time. Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with you."
"I am right here, you know," James huffed. Lily turned to him, giving a pleading look to stay silent, but Mary barreled on.
"And you're always hanging around with them," She hissed, "When you know I can't possibly abide them, and furthermore I know Potter was in our dormitory and you didn't bother to think that none of us want him there, and-"
James cut her off by saying quietly, "Well, I can see that this doesn't totally involve me, so I'm just gonna go…" He trailed off as Lily grasped his arm, nearly cutting off the circulation to his hand.
"No, James, you are going to stay here."
Mary glared at her. "No, I think he should go."
"Stay."
"Go."
"Stay."
"Go."
They continued the bickering, reminding James of a pair of chickens that used to inhabit his home, and as Lily slowly relaxed her grip on his arm James slunk away until he was leaning against the wall, ready to interfere if it turned ugly.
Which it did a few minutes later.
"Well, I can see that this talk did us no good," Mary said matter-of-factly. Lily grimaced.
"Well, if you just hadn't kept putting me in the middle of your fight-"
"The middle of our fight?" Mary shrieked. "The middle of our fight! You agreed with me, Lily Evans. And don't forget it! You thought that he was being a prick, and-"
"And you didn't let me get a word in edgewise, and because of that you've been mad at people who had been your friends for years."
"Excuse me, but not my friends. They were always your friends and yours only. Bloody waste of time, if you ask me. They're not civilized. They're horrible, mean, destructive-"
"Why thank you, thank you very much!" A new voice broke in, that James recognized as Cai. "I just love to get amazing compliments!" The crowd that had gathered around them tittered nervously, for this could lead to various end results.
Mary narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so you like being insulted? Well, just like a Brown. They wouldn't know the difference between a sheep and a cow."
Cai smirked. "Oh, no really… I think I can tell the difference. You see," here she pointed her wand at Gilderoy, "There's a sheep," after a small pop a sheep appeared where Gilderoy had been, "And you're a cow." She finished her sentence by transfiguring Mary. This caused the entire group located in the hallway to burst out into laughter, including Lily, who was trying to hold back giggles. The cow Mary mooed angrily at the students and this act heralded the arrival of a teacher.
"What's going on?" Professor McGonagall asked imperiously, looking at James first.
"Hey, for once in my life," He told her, "This wasn't my doing!"
She looked at him suspiciously, but then turned to Lily, who was snickering quietly.
"Miss Evans?" She implored, and Lily just shook for a second before managing to say,
"You should probably ask Cai about this one."
Professor McGonagall looked at Cai in what could be deemed shock. While Cai showed ineptness at Potions, she was all right at Transfiguration, but hadn't previously been able to sustain a human to animal transfiguration for more than a few seconds.
"Miss Brown?" She asked hesitantly, and Cai grinned.
"Cheers, Professor!" Cai said loudly. "Managed to finally hold the transfiguration, very beautifully if I do say so myself."
"Miss Brown-"
"And would you look! They match their personalities perfectly!"
"Miss Brown-"
"You see, Gil here is baaaaahd," She chuckled at her own pun. "And Mary is a-"
"Miss Brown!" Professor McGonagall interrupted. "Thirty points from Gryffindor, and come with me to the Headmaster's office." She ignored the collective,
"Oooh, Cai's in trouble!" From the crowd, and propelled Cai, who was waving cheerfully, in the direction of Dumbledore's office.
"Miss Evans," She said as an afterthought, "Would you please sort out Mister Lockheart and Miss Thomas. And then would you please help them to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey can calm them down."
"Of course," Lily replied to McGonagall's back, and turned to Gilderoy and Mary to change them back. After they were transfigured back into their human forms, she instructed the two fifth year Hufflepuff prefects in attendance to escort them to the Hospital Wing, and walked with James to the Gryffindor Common Room to wait for Cai's return.
- - - -
"I cannot believe you did this, Miss Brown," McGonagall admonished. "Transfiguring students in the hallways… I would leave that to Misters Potter or Black, but never you. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Maybe I should have transfigured Linda into a parrot," Cai said, dissolving into giggles as she referred to a seventh year Hufflepuff.
Professor McGonagall huffed with anger and propelled Cai up the revolving staircase, double-time, into Dumbledore's office.
"Why Miss Brown!" He said cheerfully, "What brings you here?"
"Hullo Professor!" She replied, but Professor McGonagall answered for her.
"Miss Brown was caught transfiguring two students in the fourth floor corridor, Albus," She said solemly. "Mister Lockheart and Miss Thomas are completely shaken from this event-"
"Bullocks," Cai admonished. "Pardon my French, but you didn't see their reactions at all. I rather do say they were enjoying it." To say McGonagall looked shocked would have been an understatement, but Dumbledore was trying to refrain from laughing.
"Ah, I see. Minerva, if you would excuse us?" He grasped Cai's elbow and walked with her out the door, and McGonagall could hear him say,
"Lovely bit of Transfiguration Miss Brown, but lets refrain from testing our abilities out on the students. Ah, I say, I just had a lovely letter sent to me from your Grandmother. She seems fine, and inquires as to if you will be at home for the Easter holiday break…"
- - - -
A cheerful Cai tripped over the portrait hole as she entered the Gryffindor Common Room, to find the entire gang waiting for her. As Lily turned her attention on the blonde, she paled slightly.
"Why, hullo Lils!" She said, edging towards her dormitory. "Fancy seeing you here…" Nodding to James, she ran for the staircase to the girls dormitories, but Lily slipped out of James' grasp and tackled her.
"Not so fast Cai! It was hillarious-"
"Glad to hear you think so!"
"But it was against the rules!"
"Well of course it was. Wouldn't have been much fun, otherwise, donchya know."
Sirius snickered, and as Lily turned her glare on him, Cai fruitlessly tried to escape again.
"Come on, Cai," Lily said, "We're going to go to my room, and have a nice chat on why you should follow the rules."
"Brill, Lils!" Cai said cheerfully. "I think we should bring the rest of the gang. They break the rules more than I do, anyway."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Ash and Steph can come, but I'm not going to give a rules discussion with Sirius in the room."
He grinned, and waved bashfully at the girls, ignoring their glares as they were dragged out.
"So, Jim-bob, you said you needed to talk to us?"
- - - -
A weary Cai trudged through the Gryffindor Common Room a few hours later. The room itself was dark, with the only light being from the crackling fire, and she decided to spend a bit of time down here instead of going all the way up to the dormitory. She vaulted over the sofa back, and jumped down onto-
"Remmy?" She shrieked as she landed on top of him, noses only inches apart.
"Hullo Cai," He replied quietly, and started to laugh as someone else's head appeared over Cai's shoulder.
"Why hullo Cai and Rem-rem," Sirius said, "Having a bit of alone time?" He started to laugh, and ended up collapsing on both of them.
"Help me!" Cai yelled, and James woke up from his position in an armchair by the fireplace, and Peter nearly fell off of the coffee table.
"Wha…" Peter said sleepily, and rolled over before muttering, "Five more minutes, mum. I'll go feed the cat later."
James on the other hand, started laughing as he saw Cai squished between Remus and Sirius. Or more like Remus being suffocated as Cai and Sirius squished him. Either way the situation was funny.
He rolled Sirius off of them, and then helped Cai up with a grin. He was about to speak, when something hit the window.
Turning around, he noticed a dark shape hovering outside of the now closed window.
"Okay," He said, somewhat annoyed. "Which one of you gits closed the window? Especially when you all knew I was expecting an owl." He looked around at the other three boys, and decided it must have been Peter. Silly boy. But instead of waking him up, James just went over to the window and opened it carefully, quickly grabbing the owl that was flying around dizzily. Opening the piece of parchment that was tied to its leg, James scanned it as the owl flew off, quite disgruntled.
With a huff, James threw the letter on the coffee table, effectively waking up Peter as it hit him in the head, and then threw himself onto the sofa, crushing Remus in the process. Again.
"What is with you people and sitting on me?" Remus groaned, pushing James off of him and sitting up. "Honestly."
Cai and Sirius grinned, but James remained stoically quiet.
"Aw, Jim-bob-" Sirius said.
"What's the matter?" Cai continued. They looked at each other, and started laughing. "Is it a problem with Lily?"
"Yes," James answered slowly.
"Oooh, interesting!" Cai said loudly, and James motioned for her to keep her voice down.
"Well, not necessarily with Lily herself…"
"Honestly," Remus said again. "Cai, he was expecting an owl from his neighbor about the… music." He finished, looking at her.
"Hah," She said, "You just remembered about the music? Smooth James, smooth." He grimaced, and then turned to Sirius, Remus, and the now-awake Peter.
"Marc says that he can play for the second half of the ball, but we're on our own for the first half. He has to go out to dinner with his girlfriend." Remus groaned while Sirius laughed, and then poked Peter in order for him to stay awake.
"Tough luck, man," Remus told him. "But if you had just remembered earlier-" He broke off as Cai started chuckling.
"What's so funny?" James asked coolly.
Cai smirked. "Honestly James, for being Head Boy, you don't know anything about your fellow students. Even your fellow housemates."
"What, does Peter have an innate talent for playing the guitar or singing?"
"No," She said slowly, "But I know someone who does."
"Well, who?" James said loudly, ignoring his previous advice for Cai to quiet down. "I need to talk to them, and see if they'll be ready in a week."
"Well, Gil can play a pretty mean jazz flute, but he's in Hufflepuff…" At James' glare, she chuckled again. "Just wanted to see your reaction, Jimmy. And I might not have some innate talent at playing the guitar, but I can sing all right, and I know a spell to use for the rest."
"You mean that there's a spell to create instruments out of thin air that play themselves?" Peter asked excitedly.
Cai looked at him strangely. "Well, maybe," She told him, "But I know one that can make us play it."
"Us?" James asked. "What do you mean by us?"
"Us," Cai replied simply. "I'm playing with you guys, duh. I want at least some of the credit for saving the Valentine's Day Ball from utter destruction. Oh, and for saving your life from complete and utter destruction a la Lily," She added as an afterthought.
- - - -
"Why are we here, Cai?" James asked slowly. She grinned.
"Look, I might be stupid enough to transfigure people in the middle of the hallways, and in the middle of the school day, and I might be stupid enough volunteer my services in this venture, but I'm not stupid enough to have you lot try out the spell and play in the middle of the common room, when everyone has gone to bed." The boys shrugged at this, for it made sense, and sat down in a circle.
The boys each went, each getting a different instrument created by the room. Remus, a keyboard, Sirius, a set of drums (Which he immediately started playing, cause the rest of the group to perform a silencing charm around him), James, an electric guitar, and Peter…
"Honestly Pete," Sirius said once the silencing charm around him had been removed, "We've figured out you can't sing, play guitar, or anything to that extent."
Cai seemed to think for a few minutes, before brightening up. "Hah! I know how to get you involved!"
Peter Pettigrew stood quietly a few minutes later, practicing with the 'band'.
"And so then James strums the guitar now, and Sirius, do a drumroll, and then Remmy'll strike a chord, and Petey-"
Peter solemnly hit the triangle.
"Brilliant!"
- - - -
James grinned as he dug into his breakfast the next morning. He'd managed to take care of everything he was supposed to, without screwing up.
Well, without screwing up majorly. He did screw up. But at least he fixed the problem. With the help of the guys and Cai. Well, we'll just forget that tidbit of information.
"Hey James," Lily said as she settled herself next to him, and grabbed two pieces of toast.
"Good morning, Lillers!" He crowed, and she looked at him suspiciously as she started to put the toast back.
"You didn't prank the breakfast, or anything, did you?"
"Nope!" He said cheerfully, and she seemed to change her mind about the toast, grabbing another piece as well before putting the three on her plate.
"Then why are you so happy?"
"Aren't I allowed to be happy?" He asked around a mouthful of bacon. "But I'll tell you why, anyway. I got a response back from a band, and they'll definitely play at the ball for us," He carefully omitted the part that they would only be available for the second half.
"Brilliant!" Lily said, nearly jumping up and down before she remembered that she was eating breakfast, and just grinned instead. "That's great! We'll have to arrange a time for them to come and get checked out by Professor Dumbledore… if the ball starts at seven, then they'll need time to set up and warm up, so maybe around four or five…" She trailed off in thought, and James grimaced.
"How 'bout I handle that part, Lils. All right?" She smiled.
"You're just making this ball completely easy for me."
Yeah, completely easy, James thought to himself.
"Now, just one thing remains." She looked around the Great Hall, and then whispered, "I have to get rid of Gilderoy."
James grinned cheekily. "Of course, but I need payment for the job, as you must remember…"
"James!" Lily whined, "Not here!"
"Fine," He huffed, but was still grinning. "I'll take my payment, in full, when I complete the job. Kepeesh?"
She smiled shyly. "All right, James," Lily told him, and went back to eating. James got up, shoved a piece of toast in his mouth before ruffling her hair and going off to find Sirius and then Gilderoy.
- - - -
"So, Gilly," Sirius said conversationally, "Do you know why we have invited you to this meeting?"
Gilderoy looked hesitantly around the very small broom closet.
"No…" He replied slowly.
"Well, we'll tell you," Sirius informed him. He stopped there, as if waiting for James to continue, but when James didn't he elbowed the slightly shorter, messy-haired boy.
"What?" James asked, knocked out of his day dream.
"I said," Sirius repeated, "We're going to tell Gilly about why we invited him here."
"All right," James said, "Go ahead." Sirius rolled his eyes, before continuing.
"We brought you here to…"
- - - -
"Ask you to come with me to the Ball," He said slowly. Lily blushed.
He is nice, She thought.
But what about James? The voice in her head asked.
Maybe this way I'll get over him, She argued.
Pfft. You're just in denial. Go ahead, agree to go with him, but you'll be miserable. And you'll break James' heart, just to inform you.
No I won't, Lily argued.
"All right, I'll go with you," She replied out loud, smiling shyly.
"Oh, that's excellent! So… I'll see you later?" He smiled back, and with a kiss on the cheek he walked away.
Lily smiled, but that facial expression turned into a frown as she realized that even a kiss on a cheek from one of the most handsome guys in school didn't compare to having James standing next to her. James…
- - - -
"… are you even listening to me?" Sirius asked.
"Of course I am, Sirius," He replied. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Of course I am, Sirius," He mimicked. "Honestly, pull yourself together man! We're committing acts of… well, not necessarily treason…" After thinking for a few minutes, he shouted out, "We're saving Lily! The damsel in distress!"
"And what do I keep telling you chaps?" The long forgotten Gilderoy asked. "Her name is Lillian!"
The boys looked at him quizzically, before breaking out into laughter.
"Man, where did Lily get this one?" Sirius asked.
"How should I know?" James replied, "I think it was when she had 'grounded me' and restricted me and Cai to the Common Room…"
"Uh, excuse me?" Gilderoy said loudly. "But I demand that you let me go."
"Oh, you demand, now don't you?" Sirius said, his short attention span once again returned to Gilderoy.
"Well that's peachy," James added, "But I don't think so. You see-"
Here, Sirius tried to menacingly crack his knuckles, but all that seemed to happen was that he nearly broke his finger.
"-Nice job, Sirius. As I was saying… we're going to dissuade you from ever again pursuing Lily Evans…"
About thirty minutes later, an extremely frightened Gilderoy Lockheart ran out of the broom closet, wearing a pink tutu.
Sirius started cackling maniacally as he danced around the room to the music, which was still playing.
"I just don't understand why everyone hates this song!" He yelled, singing along to the music. "Ahhh, Freak Out! Le Freak, C'est Chic, Freak Out!"
James just looked at him cautiously. "All right, Sirius, you can finish up in here… I'll make sure to go tell Ash about your obsession with this song… actually, I'll go tell the whole school…"
With a quick wave of his wand, the music had shut off and Sirius was out the door.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" He said, motioning for James to follow him. "I've been ready for ages!"
- - - -
Stephanie chuckled as she looked through her 'book' again in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Ah, classic Python," She murmured, but shut the 'book' and put in back in her bag. She needed to save some of the episodes for History of Magic, or else she might resort to amusing herself by poking Sirius and pretending it was Peter who did it.
"Why, Lils?" She heard James ask, and sunk lower into the armchair. Not to overhear their conversation, oh no… well, maybe just a little bit. It was more to avoid a classic argument that could arise if she was found to be there. Stephanie remembered one time, when…
"I'm really sorry, James," She heard Lily reply, and cut off her previous thoughts.
What does Lily have to be sorry about? And why are they talking in the common room, when they're both going to have to turn about and go to their rooms? She wondered.
"Never mind, Lils, it's all right. It's your decision. It's just…"
"Just what?"
"Just that while I was helping you get rid of one boyfriend, you get another."
"He's not my boyfriend, James, he's just my date to the dance."
"And I presume for the Hogsmeade visit this weekend, too?"
"Maybe," Lily replied quietly, "I'll see how things go."
Stephanie heard James sigh.
"I'm sorry I got a bit upset," He replied after a few minutes.
"And I'm sorry that it seems like I'm going out with any guy who asks me," Lily told him. "But in my defense, the idea was just sort of sprung on me."
Both she and James chuckled quietly, and Lily added, teasingly,
"And it's not like I've had much practice turning guys down, what with you and Sirius chasing them all away."
Stephanie could sense James' sheepish grin.
"Have I ever told you I'm sorry about not letting you have a boyfriend?"
Peeking over the edge of the chair, she saw Lily wave off the comment.
"Nah, it's all right. Well, not really, but you and Sirius saved me from a lot of heartbreak." She stifled a yawn, and murmured, "I'd better go to sleep now." Stephanie watched as she hugged James, and then started to move up the girl's dormitories staircase.
"Uh, Flower, hate to tell you this, but your room is in the opposite direction." Lily turned to look at him and blanked for a few seconds, before forcing a smile onto her face.
"Of course it is…" She murmured. "I must be more tired than I though. G'nite, Jimmy," She added wickedly, and ignoring his protests that his name was James and not any of the various nicknames bestowed on him, left the room.
Stephanie expected James to shake his head, and leave right after Lily. However, what she was not expecting was James coming right up to her and saying,
"You can come out now, Steph."
She grinned sheepishly, and knelt on the chair.
"What's up, James?" She asked.
Without responding to her question, he asked, "You noticed that, right? The pause. I mean, I've noticed, and if one of her friends hasn't-"
"I've noticed too, James," Stephanie told him. "So has Ash. And I bet Cai as well, although she hasn't made mention of it." Looking at him more closely, she asked, "You know why, don't you?" He shrugged.
"I know what happened… but I'm not sure if it's my place to say. And I don't want to bother Lily about it, especially now, right before the ball. " Stephanie grimaced. That meant it was bad.
"After the ball, then," She told him. "We'll give it a few days, and then we'll go talk to her. All of us together." James smiled.
"Sounds like a plan. She needs to get everything out into the open, but she probably blames- Whoops." He smiled, ruffled Stephanie's hair, and went to leave the common room. "I've said too much, Stephie. I'll see you tomorrow, all right?" She smiled, and went up to her dormitory, while James opened the portrait of the Fat Lady, and, looking about carefully, made his way to his room.
- - - -
"Good morning, Gryffindor tower!" Sirius shouted excitedly at six A.M., Friday morning (Otherwise known as Valentine's Day).
Hearing him, most of the tower groaned. However, Cai bounced excitedly down the stairs, tripping over quite a few and falling down the last fifteen, blonde ponytail bouncing all the way.
"Sirius-birius!" She shouted in response, "It's the best day in the whole entire world! Better than Christmas! Better than Birthdays! Better than… well, nothing's better than Halloween. But it's better than Easter!"
He grabbed her hands and they danced in a circle, jumping up and down.
"Snog-day!" They bellowed together, and kept jumping, waiting for their first victim… I mean, student to come down from their dormitory to complain about the noise.
Sure enough, a shy little second year boy came down the staircase from his dormitory, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"I say, what's go-" He was cut off as Cai picked him up and kissed him.
"Hah!" She and Sirius shouted exuberantly. "You've been snogged!" They kept dancing as the second year made his way back to his dorm, presumably to either tell his dorm mates that he was kissed by a seventh year, or to tell them to avoid the school for the day for there was crazy students running about; however, he did not notice the pale pink glow about his head.
p At lunch, nearly everyone in the school had a pink glow around their heads, from Albus Dumbledore to little Martin Shore, first year Hufflepuff. Of course, Cai and Sirius had altered their rules a few years back to just include any kiss in their odd game.
Sirius, of course, had actually tried to kiss Professor McGonagall full on the mouth, but she had dodged at the last second and he had just caught her chin.
Cai had kissed Professor Dumbledore on the cheek, and then promptly kissed both Remus and Peter. Sirius had enjoyed kissing Stephanie, Ash (who, by the nearly magenta flush on her cheeks, was enjoying this holiday a lot), and then Lily, all while right in front of James.
Cai had then taken the chance to kiss James, and winked at Lily, who had glared at her.
"Honestly, Cai," The Head Girl said, "Now everyone is going to have a pink glow around their head during the ball."
Sirius waved her off. "Nah, we set the spell so it'll fade out before the ball." Looking at everyone, he added, "Well, it should." James started to laugh, but stopped when Cai, Ash, Stephanie, and Lily all got a similar look on their faces, and bolted from the room.
"What did I do now?" He nearly wailed. Remus grinned.
"Nah, you didn't do anything, James. Its just two." When he still seemed to be confused, Remus added, "The ball is in a few hours, James. The girls are getting ready."
Sirius scratched his head. "It is beyond me why girls need to get ready five hours in advance." James and Peter nodded their agreement, and Remus grinned.
"So, who wants to study?" He asked pretending to be completely serious. He laughed as his friends all groaned, and said, "Hah, just kidding. How 'bout a game of exploding snap, or chess?" They all settled down, oblivious to the time counting down.
- - - - - -
All right, I'm sooooooo sorry that this took FOREVER to come out! Please don't hate me!
And I'll try and get the next chapter out quicker… it should, because I have it basically all planned out. Just need to add dialogue xD
So, please review! Thanks!