A/N: How sorry am I, I'm very, very, very sorry, and I apologise with every sorry I can muster. I'll try to update quicker.

Disclaimer: Do I have to do this every time… fine. I do not own J.K.'s magical world. Hah, now you can't sue!

Chapter 17: A feather load of fun

"SNAP!" Sue squealed with delight, as she sat in her red silk cotton pyjamas, a large bulk of playing cards in her hand that over took her opponents greatly.

"This is too unfair," Robyn cried with defeat, no cards left in her hands as she flopped down like a fish to the warm wooden floor of the girl's dorm room. She was rubbish at card games, always had been, but she might as well loose one more game to Sue before she left. It was quite a sad occasion.

So, they had been playing (and in Robyn's case, loosing) snap for the past half hour, waiting for the other's to arrive back from wherever they had disappeared too for their big girly night in. Robyn had acquired from the boys, a couple of bottles of fire whiskey, and Sue, from the kitchens, plenty of snack foods.

It was going to be memorable, that can be said at least.

Robyn and Sue both looked to their dorm room door as it opened, and the first of their expected guests arrived. Georgie and Lilly both came in with big grins. Georgie proceeded to walk immediately to her bed, where she fell to her mattress lazily and began to whistle a very random song.

"Dirty stop outs. Where have you been? We've been waiting near on half hour for you lot," Robyn teased with a playful scowl at a couple of her closest friends.

"Sorry mother," Georgie replied sarcastically, sticking her tongue out at her friend, rolling over to one side and grabbing her night wear from under her pillow.

Lily laughed, "Actually, we got stopped by Binns in the hallway…" She stopped as she was interrupted by Georgie, rolling her eyes.

"He does and half go on when you get him started. And Miss loud mouth here decided to ask him about our essay on Goblin wars," Georgie interrupted, a pillow stifling a cry of surprise as it was thrown at her head by a certain red haired woman.

Sue smirked, "Typical."

It was also at that point that the final member, Michaela, decided to show, looking slightly flushed, and a sinful smile on her face as she greeted her friends.

The four girls looked at each other, all with raised eyebrows, before looking back to Michaela.

"Do we even want to know where you've been?" Sue asked.

"Depends if you're in the mood to throw up," Georgie laughed, sticking her fingers in her mouth and making gagging noises, earning her another pillow to the head and many stifled giggles.

"Actually, if you must know, I was with Brandon," Michaela stated in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, as if it was an every day occurrence… which it probably was in her case.

"Brandon, eh? Isn't that that Ravenclaw sixth year?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ooo, you scarlet woman. I swear it was Gryffindors roguish Robbie from sixth year the other day?" Robyn asked with a teasing smirk.

Michaela rolled her eyes, tossing her blonde hair to the side, "It was. But I got bored. Anyway, Brandon's a much better kisser." She smirked sinfully as her friends all rolled their eyes.

"We didn't really need to ask did we?" Lily asked absently with a toying smile as she placed her dirty clothes into a washing hamper, her blue cotton pyjamas now hanging from her slim frame.

"Nope," Robyn agreed, shuffling the deck of cards clumsily in her hands, scowling at the coloured pieces of card every time one decided to throw itself on the floor.

"So, what's the meaning of this girly night in? Not that I'm complaining…" Georgie asked with a smirk.

Robyn and Sue took a glance at each other; Robyn noticing that Sue looked rather anxious about 'spilling the beans', so to speak. She couldn't really blame her. Robyn knew how it felt having to say goodbye to those that meant so much to you, as she often missed her group of muggle friends.

"I…I've got something important to tell you guys," Sue stated nervously, Robyn sitting beside her a small comfort.

Even Michaela looked at Sue with a confused expression at the seriousness in her voice as she placed her nightdress over her head, "About what?"

"About me…" Sue replied quietly. "There's never really going to be a good time to tell you this, but…" She breathed in deeply, trying to gather as much courage as she could muster. "I'm moving away. Away away. Australia sort of away…"

"Right, okay," Georgie said calmly, standing from her bed, breathing in deeply and then letting it out again in a practised fashion. "Can you say that again? I thought I just heard you say you were moving to Australia?"

"Same here… tell me that I've gone temporarily hard of hearing," Lily added with a raised eyebrow.

"My parents are set on it, we're leaving at the end of this year, as soon as I've done my OWLs," Sue replied sadly, confirming their worst suspicions.

"Why? You can't just up and leave without a reason!" Georgie cried out frustratedly.

"She has a reason," Robyn said, not looking up from the shuffling of her cards which was a pleasant distraction.

"Wait, you already know?" Michaela asked incredulously.

"I told the boys and Robyn earlier… I needed to tell someone, but it had to be the right time to tell you… because I knew I would miss you girls most of all," Sue said with a tearful eye.

"Aw, sweetie, come here," Lily cooed softly in a motherly fashion, bundling Sue into her arms with a comforting embrace. "It's okay, we understand…"

"No, no, see, why do you have to leave?" Georgie cried out desperately, repeating her earlier unanswered question with earnest.

Sue sniffled sadly, pulling away slightly from the comfort of Lily's arms, "My parent's say it's too dangerous around here now, with Voldemort increasing in power… and the rise in disappearances and all the deaths…they're scared for our safety."

"But…It is safe! We are safe…" Michaela retorted, trying, wanting to believe her own words and failing. Everyone knew it wasn't safe anymore in the wizarding world, and it was going to get worse, even if they were in Hogwarts.

"Everyone knows it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better," Robyn aired all their deepest fears, twiddling her thumbs absently in her lap.

"Yeah, but…" Georgie began, looking to Sue sadly, and falling to her knees with a sigh, hanging her head. "Don't leave Sue."

Sue looked around at her friends solemn features, and smiled faintly, "Hey, just think, it gives you guys an excuse to go to Australia."

Lily chuckled, and the other girls cracked a half smile at their friend's slight optimistic outlook on the whole situation.

"Won't be able to get rid of us," Georgie smirked, looking up with a small twinkle of hope in her eyes.

"Come on people, I feel a group hug being needed," Robyn announced with a small smirk, holding out her arms, one laying around Sues shoulders.

Robyn and Sue were shortly bundled by the whole group, giggling madly as they all fell to the floor of their dorm in a heap.

"Well, I never knew you all felt that way about me," Robyn grinned roguishly, winking at them all slightly, earning small laughs from the group.

"But you're just too irresistible," Georgie grinned back in return.

"I know, but we must control our urges," Robyn replied with a passive face, looked to Georgie, and burst into laughter with her.

Sue laughed faintly, watching her friends in hysterics on the floor, "I'm going to miss you all."

"Hey, best not to dwell too much on the future. Concentrate on the here and now," Lily told her knowingly, a small smile twitching the corner of her lips.

"Yeah… yeah, I think I will," Sue looked to Lily with a warm smile, giving her a small hug in gratitude.

"Well, lets put this girly night into session," Michaela smirked happily, bringing out a box of chocolates and one of the bottles of fire whiskey, pouring it into five glasses and handing them out.

"A toast, I think is in order," Georgie smirked before they began, "To friends!"

"To friends," chorused the group, ringing their own glasses against each others in a warm gesture of an everlasting friendship.

o0o

The boys, meanwhile, were in their own dormitory, just up the opposite set of stairs to the girls. The boys dorm wasn't at all much different to the girls, minus of course girly accessories and the all round tidiness expected in a female dorm.

Tonight was of course, no exception.

They'd all been slightly more rowdy then usual on the discovery that Sue was moving away. It seemed to be how they dealt with these things. So, there were feathers all over the floor, and destroyed pillow cases lying in the far corners of the room, one of which being held up by the fireplace.

The boys themselves were in better condition, though breathing heavily and having stitches from far too much laughter.

"I have a cunning idea," Sirius piped up after a moment or two, looking around at his three best friends with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Sirius, using his brain?" Remus, wide eyed, sat up and stared at the adolescent, whose hair, no matter what happened, still seemed to settle nicely on his head.

"It's the end of the world as we know it!" A small voice cried out dramatically from underneath a large pile of partial pillow cases and feathers.

"Wormtail? Where are you?" The young werewolf raised an eyebrow as he looked around the room.

A small hand popped up out of the pile of destruction like a peach daisy, and waved towards his friend. The hand was soon followed by a head that proceeded to sputter feathers from his mouth.

"I'm serious!" Padfoot pounded his bed melodramatically.

"We know you are," his three friends chorused in reply.

"Ha ha, listen to the funny wizards," Sirius stuck his tongue out at them. "I was thinking we could play twenty-one dares!"

James groaned, "Last time I played with you, I ended up with boils on places I'd rather forget I had them, and a week's detention in which I had to clean the castle!"

His best friend shrugged that minor fact off and smirked devilishly, "Chicken?"

"I would like some yes," Peter squeaked with an agreeing gurgle from his stomach.

"Do you ever think of anything apart from your next meal?" Remus stared at his friend incredulously, who just gave an innocent shrug in reply.

The young Potter narrowed his eyes in a determined fashion towards his impish friend, "All right then, I'm in."

Sirius grinned in triumph, and looked towards the other two hopefully, batting his eyelashes in a playful manner. Remus rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement, whilst Peter sheepishly shrugged a 'yes'.

"Aha, my powers of persuasion win again!" Sirius cackled as he shuffled to the end of his bed, and swung his feet so they hung off the end. "I'll start. One, two, three…"

"Four, five," Remus continued warily.

"Six, seven, eight," Peter sung.

James, still glaring cautiously at Sirius, continued, "Nine, ten, eleven."

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen," Sirius grinned.

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen."

"Eighteen, nineteen."

"Twenty," James grinned maliciously.

"Twenty-one," Sirius scowled dangerously towards his best friend.

"Truth or dare," James drawled happily; it was pay back time.

"Do you know me at all? Dare!" Sirius grinned, leaning back on his bed calmly.

Prongs hushed Remus and Peter towards him, and began the all important task of choosing a dare for Sirius to complete. The whispered voices went on for some time before the three adolescents looked up at their troublesome friend triumphantly.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it," Remus began.

"Which you'd better," Peter added.

"Is to infiltrate the girls dormitory, and take an item of clothing from each one of them, whilst they are in the same room," James said proudly, a smug grin on his face.

"What? That's…" Sirius gaped at them, a grin quirking the corners of his mouth. "I accept, on the one condition that I get the cloak."

His three friends conferred on this for a moment, before agreeing with his terms.

"Good luck, you'll be needing it," Remus chuckled as James threw Sirius his invisibility cloak.

Sirius stood, holding the cloak in one hand as he grinned at his friends. "If I'm not back in half an hour, don't come looking for me," he flashed them a cheeky wink before he swept out of the room, flinging the cloak around himself as he went.

"He is so going to get caught," Remus said when Sirius was fully out of ear shot.

He got a couple of solemn, yet overjoyed nods in reply.

"That's what I'm hoping," James grinned evilly.

o0o

Sirius crept down the stairs that lead to the boy's dorm, and then up the stairs to the girls, the entire time checking if the cloak was fully covering himself. Usually his feet would be the first things to give him away and so glared at them dangerously, daring them to become uncovered.

Tiptoeing to the dormitory door, he laid one hand upon it, and then pressed his ear to the wooden structure, listening into the conversation…

"… I can't believe we're having this conversation," Lily said incredulously, watching her friends with amazement.

"What, we might as well, not like they can hear us," Michaela smirked.

Sirius gave the door a sideways glance, a devilish curiosity filling his eyes. What were they on about?

"So, go on then, out of the four of them, who would you say is most handsome?" Michaela asked her four friends.

The four girls looked thoughtful for a moment, each giving the other curious glances, seeing who would speak up first.

Sirius recognised the first voice to speak up as Robyn, due to the small chuckle that followed her answer.

"Sirius is definitely the most handsome," she stated thoughtfully. "Though if he knew that…which he probably does… explains the ego," she paused, chuckling.

The young marauder grinned from ear to ear, his eyes twinkling with delight as he heard this, and a general murmur of agreement from the others.

"I bet Lily thinks different though," Georgie stated in a sing song voice.

This drew Sirius back from his ego-maniac thoughts, and he listened intently for the voice of James' beloved.

Unknown to Sirius, a large blush formed on Lily's cheeks, but she folded her arms and shot Georgie a death glare, saying nothing. This, to the other girls, was as good as an answer.

"You do think different!" Sue laughed with delight. "It's James isn't it?"

Lily was about to reply when Michaela cut in, "Of course it is, just look at the way they both flirt with each other."

"I do not flirt with him! He's an arrogant, immature slimeball!" Lily snapped irritably, but a small tell tale twinkle in her eye, and a quirk of her lips told the opposite.

"Ooh, come on Lil's! We're not going to tell anyone, especially Potter," Robyn tried to persuade Lily to tell them.

Lily Evans glanced at her friend curiously, then turned to each one in turn, and sighed in defeat, "He is, kind of, handsome." Pausing, she noticed her friends scheming faces, and added hurriedly, "But he's so immature, and up his own arse!"

Georgie and Robyn looked to each other, with a slightly crestfallen look. "Guess it's a no to a set up then?" Georgie wondered aloud.

They received a silent no in the glare that Lily sent them.

Sirius let out a silent, evil giggle at this new information that he could definitely manipulate his friend with.

"Remus is sweet though. Out of the four, he definitely has the nicest personality," Sue stated matter-of-factly.

The four other girls nodded in agreement with a smile.

As he stood outside the door, Sirius imitated Sue's 'Remus is sweet though' under his breath jealously. Sirius could be sweet too! They just didn't seem to see that in him. You are the handsome one though, he condoned himself with an egotistical grin.

"They're the nicest bunch of guys you'll ever meet though," Robyn smirked with a joyful twinkle in her eye.

"Too right to!" Georgie agreed loudly, raising her glass. "To the dudes in the dormitory over the hill!"

The girls laughed and raised their own glasses in honour to the marauders.

Sirius was honestly touched; he never knew that the girls thought that highly of them. He almost felt a twinge of guilt for the dare he now had to complete.

Almost.

Picking up his wand, he looked around for something that would make a loud noise so that one of the girls would have to come out and see what was going on. Spotting a stone statue head, he grinned mischievously, flicking his wand and muttering a hex.

The head fell to the ground with an almighty crash, and rolled towards the stairs straight past an invisible Sirius.

"What in Godrics name was that?" Sirius heard Sue say loudly.

"God only knows. I'll check, hang on," Robyn's voice said from behind the oak door.

Sirius stepped aside, backing up against the adjacent wall and waited for the opportune moment where he would make his move and sneak into their dorm.

The brass door handle turned slowly, and the old oak door opened with a groan. Robyn held the door open with one hand as she stepped out, her bare feet making no noise on the stone floor. Her head twisted from one side to the other as she looked for the source of all the commotion.

The triumphant looking marauder took his chance and launched himself inside, careful not to brush against Robyn as he went. He almost tripped over a cushion, but caught himself, and silently walked to a vacant part of wall.

Spotting the nuisance, Robyn took out her wand and spoke the levitation spell, moving the statue head back to its rightful place. Her levitation spell wasn't the best, and the move was a bit clumsy, but it got the head back. Double checking for any chips in the stone, she nodded in satisfaction before returning to the dorm.

"So? What was it?" Sue asked inquisitively.

"Just the stone statue head, it'd fallen off and rolled down the corridor," Robyn answered, but looked suspiciously back to the door as it closed quietly behind her.

Lily raised an eyebrow, but left it, and took a large sip of her drink instead. Glancing at the second bottle of fire whiskey, she noticed the fact that it was only half-full, and picked it up by its neck. "How many bottles of this do we have?"

"Umm, I think I got three bottles from the boys," Robyn said nonchalantly, looking at the bottle with a raise of her eyebrow. "And that's the second one."

Sirius looked at the five girls with amazement. One and a half bottles and still they looked relatively sober. Still, he had a job to do, and looked around for some clothes…

Georgie burped loudly, and then burst into laughter along with Robyn, Sue and Lily.

"I give you an eight point five," Robyn laughed.

"Thank you, thank you," Georgie stood and bowed to her audience.

"That was gross," Michaela rolled her eyes, lying back on her bed.

In answer to her statement, Robyn burped too.

"Definitely a nine!" Georgie applauded as she laughed, and gave Robyn a high-five.

The young marauder stopped, and stood watching the two girls with a shocked expression on his face. Burping contests? With girls? He couldn't quite grasp the concept, but let out a laugh…

Which he really shouldn't have.

"You hear that?" Michaela said, and sat up sharply looking around.

Robyn raised an eyebrow and stood up, a smirk on her face as she fished her wand out, "Yeah, I did."

"We have an intruder," Georgie laughed happily, bouncing on her bed and looking around. "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"I thought that statue head didn't fall by itself," Lily stated, and watched the room with roaming eyes.

Sirius swallowed hard. He had four out of the five pieces of clothes that he was supposed to collect; Georgie's socks, Robyn's hat, Lily's scarf, and Sue's top. All he needed was something of Michaela's, and he would prefer either some trousers or a skirt; he wanted an outfit. He would be found out now.

"What's the bet that it's one of the boys," Michaela growled dangerously.

"Course it has, they're using the cloak," Sue stated simply, watching for any sign of movement.

"I've got an idea," Lily smirked. "Accio cloak!" Her voice, loud and clear, swept through the room as she waved her wand.

Sirius panicked, and tried to grab onto the cloak, but with the clothes in his hands, he didn't stand a chance. Gulping loudly, he watched the cloak fly from him and into Lily's hands, five pairs of narrowed eyes all trained on him.

"Hi there," Sirius waved with a sheepish smirk. "Nice place you've got here."

"You're dead Black," Michaela snapped.

"What the hell are you doing with my socks?" Georgie cried out.

"And my hat! I like that hat!" Robyn glared dangerously at her friend.

"You've got my scarf!"

"My top!"

The adolescent male dropped the clothes, "I have no idea. They just leapt into my arms! It was amazing. You should've seen it…" He trailed off at the disbelieving eyes that stared at him.

"Get him," Michaela's icy tone rang through Sirius' ears.

He made a run for it, leaping over the bed and to the door. Though, half way through leaping over the bed, he crashed the mattress and realised he couldn't move. Looking down to his body, he noticed a golden rope wrapped around his arms and legs, preventing him from escaping his doom.

Robyn and Georgie giggled evilly as they picked him up by his arms and dragged him to a chair in the middle of the room Sue had gotten. The five teen girls gathered around the young male who awaited his fate.

"What should we do to him?" Lily asked happily, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"I say we give him a full facial make over, eyebrows and everything," Michaela stated simply.

Sirius had never been this worried in his life.

Robyn stepped a little closer, and grinned, "Why stop at the face."

"Oh, come on now, it was only a bit of fun!" Sirius said, struggling against his bonds. Why's it always him.

The marauder looked up, and in Michaela's hands were a pair of tweezers and some waxing strips, in Lily's and Sue's there were boxes of make-up, and in Georgie's there were clothes. One of Robyn's hands held a pair of red stilettos, while the other held an ominous looking camera.

Each girl also had an evil smile stuck on their faces.

While Sirius didn't mind the odd occasional bit of dressing up, this was taking it a bit too far, and he knew he would never hear the end of it, especially if there was a camera involved.

"But, I didn't mean to insult… please, girls. Would you really want to ruin this handsome face?" Sirius smiled up innocently.

He realised too late this was definitely not the best thing to say.

"You were listening into our conversations as well!" Sue squealed angrily.

Lily glared daggers at Sirius, "I'm going to enjoy this."

The young Black whimpered as the girls closed in.

o0o

Remus looked up from his book as there was a knock at the dormitory door. His eyes reached those of James and Peter with a raise of an eyebrow.

Sirius never knocks.

James stood and wandered to the door, putting his hand onto the door nervously and opened it, peering out into the dimly lit corridor.

Immediately he burst into a fit of laughter.

Stood in front of him was his best friend, Sirius Black, his hands tied behind his back, and a very forlorn look on his face. But what a face! He had bright blue eye shadow that went to his eyebrows, and the mascara and eyeliner made his eyes stand out all the more. Blusher added to the redness already alight on his cheeks and his lips were an amazing shade of pink, which went well with the white lacy top and horrid yellow skirt. The ensemble was finished off with a dashing pair of red stilettos.

It was then bought to James' attention that there was no hair on his friend's legs, and his eyebrows seemed to have been tamed along with his usual wind swept hair. His hair now stood in two bunches, tied together with pink ribbon.

Try as he might, James could not stop laughing.

Sirius pushed past his fellow marauder and stormed into the dorm room.

Remus and Peter burst into laughter as well.

"Nice look for you," Remus commented, wiping tears from his eyes.

"The pink compliments your eyes Miss Black," James laughed.

The young male Black glared at his friends dangerously, his lips pouting stubbornly, which just made his friends laugh more.

"I take it you got caught?" Remus stated, choking with laughter.

"No shit genius. Was it the eye shadow or the skirt that gave it away?" Sirius snapped.

"No, the waxed legs," Peter piped in, causing the three male marauders to double up in laughter once more.

"Hey, look, there's a note with the cloak," James said, as he held the invisibility cloak that had come along with Sirius.

Remus took the note, and opened it up, reading it aloud:

"Try it again, and it will be the four of you.

That's a promise.

p.s. Two galleons for a copy of the picture."

o0o

A/N: Hope you liked it! Thank you to everyone who stuck with this thing. You all rule!