Lily

November 17th

Dear Diary,

Quidditch is the game of the barbarians.

I'm not even kidding – it's not a true game of Quidditch unless the players take an attempt at each other's lives and at Hogwarts, a 'real' game involves taking a minimum of three tries to kill someone.

Today, it was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw, and everyone obviously went out to support the appropriate team. Kyleigh left Leila and me at breakfast to go change (she is the Keeper for the Gryffindor team, in case I haven't yet mentioned that), reminding us to watch her at eleven later that morning while she played. We promised we would, but I considered bringing a helmet with me.

Indeed, I did need one when I got out there, though I didn't bring it; Bludgers frequently flew near the spectators, and James liked to fly near me as well, and wink at me every so often. It was despicable, and I longed to hit him with something, but I couldn't, regrettable though it was. But Kyleigh played very well; she only let in a couple of goals over the course of the game. Leila follows Quidditch a lot better than I do, so she had more reason to cheer than I did – I preferred cowering below the seat in front of me and hoping nothing hit me.

I discovered later that the match only went on for an hour, but while I had been there, it had felt endless. Leila had managed to shout until she lost her voice, but then resolved to help raise a massive Gryffindor banner. I didn't do that; like I said, I was a bit of a coward, but with a very good reason – I had gotten hit with a Bludger while watching a game in first year, and had been terrified ever since because I had broken my nose. The match ended with bloody James Potter scoring his sixteenth goal just as the Snitch was caught, and having his fans cheer endlessly for him – surprise, surprise. Nobody even cared about the poor Seeker; it was James that they all cared about. I rolled my eyes as I realized this, and refused to scream my support like Leila was, and left the stadium quickly – I had homework I had to do, and it had to get done quickly so that I could work on my O. W. L. practice papers. As I was leaving, however, I bumped into Snape.

"Oh, sorry," I muttered, not even noticing who it was at first as I tried hurry myself away.

"Hi Lily," an oily voice said to me. I looked up to see Severus blushing very slightly in front of me.

"Hello," I said, trying to be pleasant; everyone loved to pick on him, and though I tried my hardest not to be one of them, I didn't want to chat with him one-on-one.

"It was a good match, wasn't it," he said, obviously trying to make conversation with me.

"Yes, it was," I agreed. "Quidditch frightens me though, so I didn't watch all of it."

"Really?" Snape asked. "It's kind of startling with the flying balls that can kill you, but I enjoy it. I wanted Ravenclaw to win though – not Gryffindor."

"I'm in Gryffindor, so I kind of wanted them to win," I said, smiling awkwardly.

"Your hair looks really nice today," Snape said suddenly, looking very sheepish and embarrassed.

"Does it?" I fingered my hair curiously; it was very greasy since I'd forgotten to wash it the night before, and was left in a mess all around my shoulders. "Thanks, I guess," I said.

"No, it's very casual, and it looks good on you," Snape insisted, going crimson.

"I forgot to wash it the other night, so that's why it's looking so hideous," I said with revulsion, touching a lock of my hair again and hating the feel of it.

"You look really pretty all the time," he said nearly inaudibly, his face even redder, if it was possible.

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but I was spared the trouble of answering as the rest of the school began walking in. I located Leila and Kyleigh at once, and made my way to them before Snape could really say anything else.

"Where were you, Lil?" Kyleigh asked, beaming. "We were just celebrating; why don't you join us?"

"I wanted to go upstairs and finish my work," I answered honestly. "I wasn't in the mood to applaud nearly dying out on the Quidditch field anyway."

"Aren't you glad we won?" Kyleigh inquired, hurt.

"Of course I am!" I said. "I just didn't want to stick around for the Neanderthal Festival."

"Oh yeah, because you didn't want to see James," Leila said wisely, nodding. "I understand."

"That was an added bonus, but I had to do some O. W. L. practice papers," I explained. "And I want to finish that essay for McGonagall."

"That essay is due next week, and the exams are ages away," Kyleigh dismissed. "Look, we are in the running for the Quidditch Cup and we want to have a bit of fun; we're going to the prefect's bathroom to have a pool party. You and Remus are prefects – you could get us in!"

"So that's why you needed me," I said crossly. "Well, I'm not interested."

"James is squeezing the password out of Remus as we speak; we just want to bring you so we can all have a good time!" Leila said. "Sirius is working on getting us some firewhiskey for the party as well!"

"Still not interested," I said. "I have work to do."

"Lils, you are absolutely boring! Come have some fun!" Kyleigh insisted, tugging at my arm. "You did bring your bikini, didn't you?"

"You packed my suitcase for me, so I daresay I did bring it," I said through clenched teeth.

"Oh yeah! I packed that cute purple one I gave you for your birthday that you never wear," Kyleigh recalled. "Great; you have an opportunity to use it now! It'll look so hot on you; James will be stalking you all night."

"James will be there – oh yes," I realized. "That's an even bigger incentive for me not to go."

"Don't be difficult, Lily," Leila tried to soothe me. "Now come on – this party is in a couple of hours, and we need to get you ready."

"Oh yes, I should definitely let you guys prepare me for this party, because it worked so well last time you did it," I said sarcastically.

"Chris Daniels and James Potter were fighting over you all night," Leila said. "That's fantastic! That's why we should be your personal party stylists."

"You are going to look ridiculously sexy tonight," Kyleigh promised. "Just let us take care of everything, and you will be the target of every boy who can see after tonight."

With this ominous sounding threat, I was hauled up to the bathroom in our dormitory against my will to be dressed up – or, really, dressed down. After many tantrums and complaints on my part and much coaxing and patience on their part though, I was wearing that purple bikini I had sworn not to wear the moment I received it; I had very mean friends.

Kyleigh was in a white swimsuit with multi-colored polka dots and Leila was in a plain navy one – they had to wear robes over the suits obviously, so that they wouldn't get caught by teachers, and they lent me one of their spare ones to wear. I still have no idea how they managed to convince me that this was a good idea, but before I knew it, all three of us girls were entering the prefect's bathroom.

Being a prefect was great just because you were permitted to use that special bathroom; the tub was like a swimming pool, and you could choose from a wide variety of bubbles in literally hundred of taps. All of the Gryffindor fifth years were already in their swimsuits doing the usual pool party crap – splashing, flirting, and showing off – and I felt like a victim trapped in a horror movie.

"I was here, so can I please leave?" I moaned, hugging my robe closer to me. "This is like one of those nightmares that you keep a teddy bear for."

"Come on, Lily, it's going to be fun," Leila encouraged me. "Take off the robe, have a swim, and drink some butterbeer. Try some firewhiskey later too."

"No," I repeated. "Never."

Kyleigh rolled her eyes, told Leila to deal with me, took off her robe, and ran off to flirt with Sirius. Leila considered me for a moment before ripping my robe off me. My eyes bugged open as I instinctively covered most of myself with my arms, but of course, people had already seen me.

"Evans, you look good," a blonde guy I vaguely recognized from the Quidditch team called out to me. He had well-defined muscles on his body, and I could feel the arrogance radiating off of him. He thought he was better than me despite his comment, and so he mocked me; I could have cursed him right then and there.

He wasn't the only one though; every boy in the room shouted something out to me, and they all said something along the lines of what that first idiot had said. The worst part of my ordeal was that Leila kept my robe – she said I could have it back when it was time to leave. So I was stuck standing there in nothing more than waterproof underwear, with boys there to look at me or possibly drag me to the side to shag me. I felt awful, and quite cold. Eventually, James saw me, petrified, and came over to talk to me.

"I am quite impressed, Evans," he commented, looking me over with a grin. "I should probably arrange more pool parties."

If he had told me that now, as I write this entry, I would have probably let out a stream of curse words, but at that point, I was too horrified to say anything. Finally though, I found some common sense and jumped into the pool, trying my hardest to cover myself. The party guests forgot about me then, but I was still terrified; not only was I mostly exposed, people around me began to get really drunk – Kyleigh included.

Thankfully, Leila stayed sober, but she still flirted with guys as though she was drunk anyway. I favored taking refuge in the pool bubbles, trying to disregard the drunkards around me – some of them did talk to me, but I scooted away, and they didn't really bother me again. Kyleigh came up to me once, completely intoxicated, and told me to have a whiskey. I refused, and she stumbled away – I didn't see her again throughout the party.

By midnight, people began to get very drowsy, thanks to all the poisons recently added to their bloodstream, and they started tottering towards the dormitories. Leila finally gave me the robe back, and I put it on at once, thankful that I could now go upstairs as well. Kyleigh was escorted by Leila and a few others since she was half-asleep, so I was able to go at my own pace, reflecting on the torture I had to be put through.

I was, in all honesty, utterly dejected after everything; I had been half-naked in the middle of a large crowd, and it was because of my friends – I had not wanted any of it. Numerous boys I hadn't spoken to in my life had started to talk about me like I was some museum artifact to be stared at all the time, and my best friends had started to come like them. I was cold, wet, and miserable – that was not how I had wanted to spend my evening.

On the way up, I bumped into Chris. He was, thankfully, sober and rather surprised to see me. I knew I probably looked a fright; my hair was grungy and reeked of chlorine and soap, and I hadn't been a sight to see before that either. I tried to side-step him but he stopped me.

"I'm sorry, I really just want to get cleaned up," I said. "I look nasty at the moment, and I know that."

"No, you look a hell of a lot better than most of the girls that I saw tonight," he said, smiling at me. "The wet look works on you."

I blushed, but he brushed some of my hair out of my face. "You know, Lily, I've been seeing a lot of you lately."

"You have," I agreed.

"And I think I want to get to know you better," he continued.

"You do?" This was the last thing I had expected him to say; normally when boys told me that they'd seen a lot of me, they wanted to tell me to leave them alone because I wasn't their type. Never had a boy told me that they wanted to know me better; this was completely screwed up.

"Yes, I do," Chris confirmed, giving me his favorite lopsided grin. "What do you say to Monday night, two nights from now; we can go to Hogsmeade and get a butterbeer or something."

My mouth was left hanging open; had I just been asked out? Yes, I had been. I tried to find my voice, and said, "Erm, sure. I'd…I think I'd like that."

His smile turned brilliant, the shape of his mouth reminiscent to half a watermelon. "Lovely. I can't wait." He took my hand in his and kissed it formally, as though he was a formal Frenchman. It was with a lot of self-restraint that I didn't squeal shrilly as he walked away and let me walk back to my dormitory. Once I was safely upstairs and alone, I began to dance around the room; I had just been asked out by Chris Daniels and accepted!!!

I waltzed into the bathroom, still in la-la land, and took a long, hot shower (during which I did wash my hair) and settled into bed with my textbooks and O. W. L. prep. Leila came in, pulling Kyleigh along with her, by one in the morning, when I was in the middle of my fourth practice.

"There you are," I said cheerfully as I watched Leila throw a sleeping Kyleigh on her bed. "I've been waiting for you."

"Yeah, here I am," Leila said, disgruntled, as she climbed into her own bed. "Don't even ask me what I was doing – you don't really want to know. By the way, what are you working on?"

"An O. W. L. practice," I said. "I was doing it while I was waiting for you and Leigh to come back in."

"Lily," she moaned. "Why do you do these weird things?"

"It's not weird, it's important," I objected. "This is my future, Leila; I have to prepare to the best of my abilities."

"Well, I have a little gossip that may or may not interest you," Leila said triumphantly. "Chris was asking me about you."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He said you looked, and I quote, really hot today," she cried, looking thrilled. "He kept staring at you! He couldn't take those gorgeous brown eyes away from you all evening, even when you were standing in the pool looking like a lost puppy."

Ignoring the remark on looking like a puppy, I shrieked, "He thinks I'm hot? The boy is blind! I am the farthest thing from it! He should have stuck with Kyleigh if he wanted pretty."

"Aww, Lily, don't say that," Leila said comfortingly. "You don't give yourself enough credit – you are a very pretty girl."

"My hair is a knot-ball, my skin is perpetually dry, and I'm told that I always look sad," I counted off on my fingers. "Those are not traits of a 'very pretty girl.'"

Leila laughed bitterly, in a way, and said, "Please Lil – save it; you're being an attention-seeker again."

"Fine," I said huffily. "Then I won't tell you what happened with me and Chris a few minutes ago."

"All right, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm tired and cranky right now, and your pessimism is not exactly what I want to deal with at the moment."

I shrugged. "Well, Chris asked me out."

"No way!" Her attention was caught; in fact, Leila looked about ready to go into convulsions of excitement for me. "When?"

"Monday, at six," I said proudly. "Butterbeer. I couldn't believe it!"

"I can't either! This is so awesome!" Leila leaped to me and hugged me tightly. "Finally, Lils! A guy that you said yes to!"

I smirked. "Don't be mean, Leila. We'll tell Kyleigh tomorrow and make her super jealous. Good night."

"Good night," she said back, turning out her light and snuggling into her covers. She didn't say anything more, and after five minutes, her breathing was slow and rhythmic, and I knew that she was asleep. I smiled at her sleeping form, kept my light on, and took out my papers again, intending to work.

When I was done, I thought a great deal about Chris. Was it a mistake saying yes to him? I'm somewhat hideous, so any guy I can halfway stand that asks me out should probably be something of a blessing. But, at the same time, I didn't want to agree with him, because I don't want to date until I am at least sixteen; going on this date would kind of violate that decision.

As of now though, I have decided that I'll give Chris a chance – I mean, how bad could it be?

James

November 17th

Dear Diary,

Today was definitely a day worth writing about in this stupid book, but since I'm too restless to write every single thing down, I'll tell the story the best I can.

First of all, we had a Quidditch match, which we, of course won. It was exhilarating; I scored all of the points for Gryffindor, with a little bit of assistance, and got countless opportunities to wink at Lily. Ha; I liked that last bit the most. She threw me a bunch of filthy looks, which kind of discouraged me, but I still flirted nonstop, even though I was in the middle of an intense match.

After the Snitch was finally caught, we all began to run around the field like maniacs. We were in the running for the Quidditch Cup! It was definitely something to celebrate. Remus, being the boring arse that he was, didn't want to have a party, but Sirius did; that meant that Peter did as well, and I was always in the mood for a party.

"Let's do something in the pool," Sirius suggested. "I want to see girls in bikinis. Maybe I'll shag one. I'm in the mood."

"You're always in the mood to shag a girl," Remus pointed out.

"That's true," Sirius agreed. "It's fun; you should try it sometime."

"No," Remus said, wrinkling his nose.

"Start flirting, Moony," Sirius advised. "Get a girl to like you, get in bed with her, and then you'll know why I like it so much."

"There's only one girl I'd ever get in bed with, and you know who that is," I announced.

Peter laughed. "Lily Evans."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious," said Sirius, chortling. "But really, Prongs and Moony; try getting in bed with a girl. Prongs, don't worry about Lily; drag her into bed with you, and she'll behave after a few kisses – I've dealt with her type so many times before."

"You are sick," Remus said, revolted. "Truly sick and perverted in every way."

"What can I say?" Sirius said, stretching out his arms and grinning. "I like girls."

"And you said I pointed out the obvious," Peter said with a roll of his eyes.

"Can you please stop talking about having sex?" Remus requested, his nose wrinkled again. "You shouldn't do it until you're married."

"Don't be boring," Sirius said. "Where's the fun in life if you don't shag a girl at least once before you're married?"

Remus chose not to answer this, and Sirius changed the subject back to the party. "So I want a pool party. Ooh! Let's do it in the prefect's bathroom! I hear that their bathtub is like a swimming pool."

"How would you know that?" Remus inquired. "I doubt you've ever been in it, seeing as you're a juvenile delinquent."

Sirius made a face. "Shut up, Moony. I heard rumors about it, that's all. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are, actually," said Remus. "But you can't get in without the password."

"Which you know, since you're a prefect," I pointed out. "Come on, Moony; tell us?"

"No," Remus refused sternly. "Nothing you say or do will make me tell you the password."

Sirius thought for a moment, and then jumped on Remus's foot. Peter hopped forward and stepped on the other while I watched in amusement; after a few minutes of this, Remus, howling with pain, told us the password, which was 'banana-nut muffin.' Sirius beamed, high-fived Peter, and dashed back out to give people the invitations to the party we were apparently going to throw in a couple of hours.

Eventually, we all got into our swimming trunks and ran into the prefect's bathroom. Remus did not join us, since he was, like I said, a boring arse. But, fortunately, Sirius, Peter and I went, and welcomed the first few guests by the portrait hole, seeing as they didn't know the password. Once a few wild guys came in, the party really started, because they put on all the taps and made hundreds of bubbles come out and fly all across the room. We had bubble fights, which were immature, according to Moony when we told him about it, but it was a good idea at the time – we killed about a half an hour that way.

After the bubble fight, we had nearly everyone there; we were all over the bathroom, swimming, drinking firewhiskey that Sirius had managed to filch, or flirting, often all three at the same time. Sirius got quite drunk and took an interest in nearly every girl wearing a bikini, to which Peter laughed, and by the end of the party, had gone through half of the bottles we had stolen for the party. Peter preferred to hang back and watch the girls walk around and talk to one another, but he obviously couldn't flirt with them; after Sirius's first-class talents, no one would have him, and everyone knew that. I, on the other hand, did a dangerous amount of flirting, though it was Lily who was on my mind the whole time.

I don't know exactly what time Kyleigh, Leila, and Lily walked in to the prefect's bathroom, but all I can recall is that the entire room went silent, which was a miracle in itself, seeing as it was so loud moments before. Kyleigh went straight for Sirius, Leila went straight into the water, but Lily was standing there still, wearing a purple bikini. I dropped my bottle of butterbeer on the ground; she was looking fantastic, but very embarrassed for some reason. People were wolf-whistling at her and trying to shout flirtatious remarks from across the bathroom, but she looked like a frightened little mouse cowering before my very eyes.

"Damn, look at her in that bikini!" I whispered to Peter, gesturing to Lily.

"You really know how to pick them, Prongs," Peter complimented me.

I grinned. "Yeah. But damn! She looks sexier and sexier this year."

"She should be a model," Peter said, his beady eyes falling on her legs, which were admittedly quite sexy as well.

"She should," I agreed. "She's the best looking girl in our year, hands down."

"Remember in first year when she had that mop of carrot-colored hair?" Peter asked reminiscently, laughing. "You used to tease her about it all the time."

"Oh yeah." I began to laugh with him. "That was one of the reasons why she hated me so much."

We watched Lily become the target for all the sober boys in the room for a little while before Peter's attention was to Leila at that point; he even tried to flirt with her, but she slapped him. He swore at her, came back to where I was standing (in peals of laughter), and spent the rest of the party staring mutinously at her, uttering a curse word under his breath every few minutes. I, however, walked over to her, promising myself that I would comfort her and give her a butterbeer instead of flirting.

When I actually approached her though, the usual uncontrollable impulse took over me; I grinned at her and said, "I'm impressed, Evans; maybe I should arrange more pool parties."

She glared at me, all meekness forgotten, and I wanted to smack myself; why had I said that?! It was the dumbest thing I could tell her, but it had tumbled out of my mouth anyway. Lily ran from me, and jumped into the pool to hide in the bubbles. I wanted to laugh, but at the same time, I didn't want to humiliate her more than she already was; I decided just to leave her alone and enjoy the party, which was in full swing around me.

At midnight, the clock chimed twelve times, and that registered into the minds of the drunken people in the pool to go upstairs and hit the sack. Leila was forced to lug Kyleigh out of the pool and out of the portrait to take her upstairs because she was that high. Lily took her robe from Leila and fled the party before I could say anything more to her, so I had to assist Leila; Kyleigh was no feather, and could not be taken up the stairs to the seventh floor by just one person. Sirius had tottered away before I could grab him and try to sober him up, so I enlisted the help of Peter. Leila looked eternally grateful, but I didn't speak to her; I didn't want her to develop a bigger crush on me.

On our way up, I saw Chris Daniels wearing a smug expression on his face as he walked in the same direction we were. He glanced at me as though I'd lost a Quidditch match and let him win it, though I couldn't imagine why; what had he done that caused him to look at me that way? I dismissed it at that time, but it's bothering me quite a lot as I write about it; I'm not saying that the superiority in his bloody face is out of character, but it's just…different.

That's really about all that's worth telling about; I didn't do much else except throw Kyleigh into the girl's dormitory for Leila and think about Lily. I'm supposed to be asleep in bed right now, but I'm not; I'm worried. I saw Chris give her looks in the prefect's bathroom that scared me. They weren't looks of a crush; they were the looks of a wolf that found its prey. The very last thing I wanted was for Lily to get hurt by him, so I knew that I had to take action. I'm thinking about it as I write this actually; I could warn her, murder Chris, date her myself so that she was taken…right now, I'm favoring murder, but I'm not sure yet.

Hopefully something will come to me soon.