A/N: So, to my reviewers, thanks a ton, and to the people who have favorited me in any way, either story or author, gotta love you guys! Oh, and I forgot to mention last time that Sirius and Claire haven't even kissed yet. Make sure you look at the links to the pics I have supplied on my homepage, it took me forever to find dresses that would fit my vision, so please look at them. It would mean a lot, then tell me what you think of my choices.

Lily woke up early the next morning and looked in the bed next to hers. Claire and Tanya were already awake and had already taken showers and gotten dressed. Claire was drying her hair and Tanya was looking out a window. When Claire was finished in the dorm bathroom, Lily took over and had her shower and got dressed. She put on a gray hoodie and a pair of jeans and waited for her hair to dry. Claire offered to help, but Lily didn't really care much about what her hair looked like, so she let it air dry.

About five minutes after they were all ready, there was a knock at their door, and Lily went to open it.

"Hey, you ready, Lily?" asked James.

"James, we can't do that with them coming," she said, referring to the underground passageway into Honeydukes.

"Oh, right."

"You guys ready?" she asked, looking over her shoulder. The two girls nodded and went to join Lily. James grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs where they met Sirius and Remus.

"Good morning, fair ladies," said Sirius jokingly.

"Oh shut it," said Tanya equally joking.

"Just thought I'd be nice," he replied, trying to sound hurt.

"Come on, Sirius," said Claire, grabbing his hand. "I need to talk to you about something." She pulled him over to a secluded corner.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't get a sleeveless dress or costume or whatever, remember the bruises, they'll show up?"

"I have an idea. Roll up your sleeves," he said kindly. She did what he said and he muttered a spell. Each bruise faded a bit until they were the same color as her skin. "It'll last for twenty-four hours, no more, no less, and it won't kill the pain, just make them not show up."

"Thank you so, so, so much, Sirius. You saved me a lot of explaining to Lily and Tanya."

"You're welcome," he said with a grin. "Was that all?"

"Yeah, let's go." Sirius grabbed her by the hand and led her back to the group. Claire noticed Sirius having a silent conversation with James, constantly nodding towards Lily. She was intent on asking about that later.

"Lily, I need to talk to you real quick," said James, leaning down and whispering in her ear. "The next full moon, it's tomorrow night. You're gonna have to make some excuse to them on why we're not at dinner and not in the common room all night, okay." He leaned away, waiting for Lily's answer. She nodded and the atmosphere grew less tense. It was obvious that the four boys in the room were waiting to hear, or in this case see, Lily's response.

"Time to go!" piped in Tanya happily.

"Let's get going, then," said Remus ushering them towards the portrait hole. Everyone went ahead and Claire pulled Sirius aside.

"What was that?" she asked suspiciously.

"What was what?" asked Sirius innocently.

"That thing, the conversation you had with James about Lily. What was it?"

"I…I can't tell you. Claire I'm sorry," he said. She turned away form him angrily.

"I told you my deepest secret that not even my two best friends know. Clearly James and Remus know what's going on, along with Lily. I think you should tell me."

"Later, I promise. If they let me, I'll tell you everything that Lily knows."

"Okay," she said sternly. She was going to make sure that he told her. They caught up with everyone else and Sirius went alongside Remus and they began talking in very hushed whispers. James caught on immediately and told Lily.

"Sirius wants to tell Claire," he said softly.

"Why?" asked Lily.

"Don't know, all I know is that he thinks you three should know, Tanya included."

"It would make tomorrow less of a hassle for all five of us, you Marauders and myself."

"True. You sound suspicious."

"Suspicious of Sirius, mostly. I don't like him and Claire being together, you know that."

"Lils, it's what they want, accept it."

"I trust Sirius with my life, you know that, but I don't trust him with my female friends."

"Sirius is better than you think he is, Lils, don't worry, we keep him in check when we know the girl as a friend."

"Okay, but I still want to hear it for myself, from him, what makes him think that he won't dump Claire like the rest of them."

"Whatever, Lils," muttered James as they entered the Entrance Hall.

"What's going on?" asked Tanya when Sirius had moved back with Claire.

"I'll explain later," he said mysteriously. Sirius had moved to James by now.

"What do you think?" he asked Lily and James at once.

"I'm okay with it. We know she won't tell," said James.

"I'm fine with it, but Sirius, I have a question," said Lily.

"Hmm?" he asked, seemingly puzzled.

"I was wondering, what makes you serious about Claire. How do you know that you won't throw her out like yesterday's dirty socks and just move on?"

"Lily…I…I can't justify what I've done for the past three or so years, but Claire is different. If you haven't noticed, I haven't even kissed her yet. Claire is perfect…perfect for me, perfect for anyone. I don't want to freak her out and so I'm moved especially slow. We've been dating for a month, remember that."

"I want a reason."

"You want a reason? Here, Claire is the most amazing girl I've ever met. Since third year, I've had a crush on her and there's nothing that can change how I feel about her. She is the realization of the perfect girl for me, and it's not me judging a book by the cover. Lily I like her, cover, spine, back, pages, everything. She is so different from the other girls, so deep, so kind, so thoughtful. She's been through unimaginable things. Is that reason enough?" Lily was moved by this stirring speech. Never had she seen Sirius get angry with her for assuming something.

"Sirius…I'm sorry, I believe you."

"Thanks, Lily, and don't worry about it. Considering my history, I understand."

"Go talk to her. We'll tell her and Tanya when we get back tonight."

"Thanks." Sirius waited up for Claire who was in front of Peter. They made it to Hogsmeade and the seven of them spent the day together. When it came time that they had only an hour left, the split up, the girls going in one direction, the boys another. When the girls found a dress robe store that looked promising, they looked around.

"Okay, Claire, I think you should be a Siren. Merlin's beard, look, it's perfect. Go try it on!" Lily grabbed a short dress off a hanger and handed it to Claire. Claire took it into one of the dressing rooms and tried it on. It was a short dress in the front, but the further back it went, it spanned out and became more intricate. It was a vibrant sky blue made with a material that made it glitter. (If you wanna see the dress, click the link in my profile for my homepage and then go to the page for this story called My Marauders' Story and the links for her dress, mask and the dresses and masks and wings of all other characters will be there. After Claire had it on and ready, she stepped out of the dressing room. Lily and Tanya examined the dress closely, making sure it fit the occasion, and decided that it was perfect. Claire even loved it. She was just worried about the bruises being a problem though. She hoped Sirius's spell would work at the ball too. They grabbed a mask that matched the color of the dress and had her put it on to see if it would match, which, to their great joy, it did.

"So, Tanya," began Claire after emerging form the changing room in her normal clothes. "What did you have in mind?"

"Don't know…you said something earthy, maybe a nymph of some kind, but is that really a good idea. Don't they dress a little bit…showy?"

"I think it's a great idea," said Claire, moving through robes racks faster than anything. "Here," she said, handing her a costume. "It's not that showy at all." Claire handed her a dress that was an earth green with an uneven bottom hem. It wasn't too short either. Lily grabbed a mask off the counter and thrust it under the door to the changing room. Tanya emerged from the dressing room, her tan even more vibrant than usual.

"Well?" she asked.

"You look amazing, Tanya, absolutely amazing," said Claire with a smile.

"Yeah, what she said," breathed Lily. Tanya went back into the dressing room and changed back into her clothes.

"Your turn, Lily," said Claire, steering her towards a chair. Lily hated clothes shopping for herself. "I am thinking something along the lines of a phoenix. Here, this mask is perfect." Claire had picked a mask up off the counter and handed it to Lily. Lily strapped it o her face and looked around. It was okay. Tanya handed her a mirror and Lily looked at herself. It did go well with her hair, but there was still the question of a dress. Tanya grabbed a red, full-length dress off of a hanger and handed it to Lily.

"Try this one," she said, ushering her towards a changing room. Lily put on the dress and came out. It was perfect. It fit to her every curve and had the appearance of fire. (I am making a few alterations to this dress from the one in the picture on my homepage). The long, silk ruffles in the front were fading from red to orange to yellow form the outside into the middle of the ruffle (Just the ruffles down the middle, not the dress, okay). Tanya made a move to grab something else off of the shelf, but Lily caught her.

"I like the dress, but what are those?" she asked, indicating something in Tanya's hand.

"Nothing," she lied.

"I am not wearing wings," said Lily sternly.

"Oh yes you are," said Claire. "Tanya may not be stronger than you, but I am. Now put out your arms. Lily reluctantly held out her arms while Claire strapped something to her arms. When she backed away, Lily had on a pair of wings that moved with her arms. They began red and faded from red to orange to yellow and had a feathery design to them. Lily had to admit that they weren't half bad, but she still didn't want to wear them. (The basis for the design of the wings, like how they are attached to the arms comes form a site with a link from my homepage, not myspace - just the idea, not colors or designs. Also, they aren't one piece like the one in the picture, they are two wings.)

"You have to be kidding," she said angrily.

"No. If you don't wear these, you won't look like a phoenix, but some fire spirit or something. You need the wings," said Tanya.

"Fine, but if I have to wear wings, then so do you, Tanya," said Lily, looking around the store for some nymph wings. She grabbed them and handed them to Tanya.

"Fine," agreed Tanya. "We'll both wear wings then. What punishment do we have to give Claire though. Her costume is foolproof."

"I've got it," said Lily. "Blue streaks in her hair." Claire backed away. She prized her hair more than any other part of her body. "Don't worry, they'll only be temporary. Muggles use it all the time. You'll be fine."

Lily walked up to the counter after changing back into her normal clothes.

"Hi, do you have temporary hair coloring. We want to give our friend here some blue streaks in her hair for the Halloween Ball."

"Sure," said the witch at the counter. She reached down and pulled a small bottle out of the cabinet and placed it on the counter. "Anything else dear?" she asked. Lily placed her things on the top of the counter, wings included, and paid for them. Then Claire paid for everything she got, including the highlights, and then Tanya followed. They went to the three Broomsticks, the designated meeting spot, and waited for the boys. They weren't surprised that the boys were only about five minutes later than they were.

"Did you get everything you wanted?" asked Sirius.

"Yes, we did," said Claire happily. "I cannot wait for you to see me."

"I can't wait to see you," said Sirius playfully.

"We had a change of plan when we got to the store and saw how many awesome costumes they had."

"Well, let's hope you guys did as well as we did," said Lily with a grin.

"I think we'll manage. Now let's get something to drink," suggested James.

They had their Butterbeers and then headed off to go with the group back to Hogwarts.

A/N: I bet you hate me now! Ha ha, the boys' costumes are a surprise now! You can yell at me if you want to. So, by now you know the drill…I hope. Bet you can't wait for the ball. I'll see if I can get two more chapters in before I leave. So that we get Tanya and Claire knowing the secret and also the ball, good deal? Make sure you look at those dresses and wings and masks on my homepage!