"Lily… I need to talk to you" Emmeline cut her best friend off in mid rant. She blushed slightly as Dorcas raised eyebrow eyebrow. Only for something really important would Emmeline Vance risk interrupting Lily Evans in the middle of a "James bloody Potter" tirade. Lily was a redhead. With a redhead's temper.

"I… kind of need your advice." Lily's eyes narrowed as she noticed Emmeline fiddling with a piece of parchment in her hands. A parchment with the Marauder's emblem on it.

Grabbing the parchment from the blushing Emmeline, Dorcas squealed and enveloped her friend in a bear hug, holding the parchment up for Lily to read.

Princess Emmeline,

A very charming prince would like to request for your company at the upcoming royal ball. I count the minutes until I receive your reply.

Sincerely,

Prince Padfoot.

Lily could feel the blood draining from her face as she read the short note. Black was not taking her best friend to the dance. He was a Marauder. He had a reputation. He was a player. He was a prankster. Besides, she'd spent the last prefects meeting talking up Emmeline to Amos Diggory. And she could tell Amos had been looking over at their table during dinner. He would be heartbroken. Again.

'Em… what did you tell him?'

"Nothing… yet." Lily visibly relaxed as Emmeline's cheeks reddened. Dorcas was going on about double dates and double weddings while Lily frowned. She was supposed to get the double dates! Besides, this was Black. He wasn't even worthy of being called Sirius bloody Black.

'Well… of course you should let him down gently.'

"Let him down? Why the HELL should she let him down, Lils?" Dorcas was now upset. Sirius was a good friend of Remus, and it was clear that Emmeline liked him. And hadn't Lily been the one who had been on about getting Em a date? Now that she had one (one of the most popular boys in school, no less), Lily wanted her to turn him down? Sometimes she wondered if her friend was on anything…. mind altering.

"I… was going to say yes." Emmeline confessed softly. She had spent quite a lot of time with Sirius over the summer when she was at the Potters – and had thought of him as a nice guy. He and James could always make her laugh… and they had even had a few heart to heart conversations about their families, the war and life after Hogwarts. She did like him.

'He's a Marauder, Em. Why would you want to associate yourself with a prankster, anyway?'

"James is a marauder, and you hang around him all the time" Emmeline's voice was soft, but firm. Lily squirmed slightly. Her friends didn't need to know about the strange double dating ideas that had been popping into her head recently. For all they knew, she and James were just friends. Which they were.

'It's one thing to be best mates with a marauder, and it's another thing to date them'

"I'm dating a marauder"

Crap. Lily looked up at Dorcas' hurt face and, for once, didn't know what to say.

'Remus is different. He's got principles. So does James for that matter'

"Sirius has principles!" Emmeline's cheeks were red, and her tone was beginning to sound angry.

'Em… do you know how Amos and Hestia broke up?'

"Yes…"

'It was because Hestia cheated on him with Sirius.' Lily's tone was quiet as her friends looked at her in shock.

"Lils… are you sure? Sirius may be a bit of a prat but he would never fool around with someone else's girlfriend. And Hestia was crazy about Amos all last year- at the end of the year she was even going on about looking for engagement rings."

'It happened over the summer. Amos walked in on them…together on their anniversary. Do you think Amos would make up a story like that? You know blokes and their pride.'

"But Sirius was with James all summer… and he was flirting with me when I was there."

'He could easily slip out for a few hours every night- it's not like he'd be with James 24/7. Besides, doesn't that prove my point. He was flirting with you and meeting Hestia the entire time. '

The look of disappointment on her friends' face was heartbreaking. Lily just had to say something to cheer her up, even if it was something she wasn't strictly supposed to say.

'Anyway… Amos wants to ask you to the dance'

Emmeline looked up. She had never really fancied Amos – he'd always been Hestia's boyfriend and thus Unavailable. But he was good looking – and she did need a date to the dance. Besides, it would be a good way for both of them to get over Sirius and Hestia's little treachery.

"He-does?"

'He told me so himself today. And he always asks about you at prefects meetings. I think he really likes you!' OK so that was stretching the truth a little. Amos had only asked her once how her friend was. But he had asked if her group of friends were planning on going to the dance together. So putting the two together, Lily was almost telling the truth. Besides, it was so obvious that Amos liked Emmeline. Why else would he bother to suck up to Lily like he did at every prefects meeting? All Lily needed to do was drop a few subtle hints in his direction, and he'd be twirling Em around the dance floor while Black sat alone in a corner, watching. That would be a funny image. Black sulking in a corner, dateless, when even Peter Pettigrew had a date. Haha. Bwahahahaha.

Dorcas and Emmeline exchanged concerned glances as Lily began to cackle evilly. Should they try to find out what was so funny? Did they even want to know?

"Oi, Evans. Get your Head Girl bum down here. We've got patrol." James Potter's voice caused Lily to pause in mid cackle, widen her eyes in panic and run to the bathroom to brush her hair and touch up her lip gloss.

AN: I'm having a productive day, fics wise Please r/r… your reviews are what keep me on track with writing this! And don't worry – there's going to be a lot more L/J in the next chap.