A/N: To make up for the hideously long wait between chapters one and two, we decided to post this one up pretty quickly. Thanks to people who reviewed our second chapter. Although the last chapter wasn't as funny as we would have wanted it to be, it needed to be written. This chapter is considerably more lighthearted and funny…at least to us. By the way, we feel we should tell you that we we're usually two to three chapters ahead of the ones we post, and that reviews will make us update much faster. So for all the people who mentally come to the end of chapter and wish 'man, I wish they updated soon' (which you should be doing)…all you have to do is ask.

Please enjoy the third chapter of Moments Lost in Time.

CL

It's Dedication!

A loud, piercing whistle could be heard in the background as steam billowed like great clouds from the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express. James struggled to escape his mother's clutches.

"And behave! I don't know how many owls I get every year about you! We don't want to break any records!" admonished Serena Potter, before letting her child escape. She gave Sirius a hug as well, telling him that she expected the two of them home for Christmas.

James nodded once, before hurrying to the slowly moving train. "Bye Mum! Love you!" he yelled before expertly jumping on the train.

"Thanks, Mrs. Potter," added Sirius before following his best friend.

Sirius and James maneuvered their way through the packed corridor, returning the 'hi's and 'how was your summer's that were issued to them from anyone they vaguely knew. Needless to say, it was a while before they arrived at what had long been designated the 'Marauder's compartment'.

"What took you so long?" asked a sandy-haired boy, looking at his friends in bemusement.

"The usual," replied Sirius. "People can't seem to take their eyes off me!" he added, clearly pleased with this fact. Sirius gave a little twirl, as if to impress upon his friend the wonder that he was.

Remus, grinning widely asked, "Would it have anything to do with the pink 'I AM GAY!' sign on your back?" Remus plucked the offensive sign from his friend's back and shoved it into Sirius's face.

Sirius looked at the sign in horror. The sign was a lurid pink, with a dark pink border and daisies in the corners. The words themselves were made up of daisies and outlined in yellow. If the sign had said something as simple as 'kick me', it wouldn't have mattered. But when one had a hot pink sign on one's back declaring one gay, it had a very…different effect.

"James!" cried Sirius, rounding on his rather guilty looking friend.

"Sorry Padfoot – couldn't resist," apologized James, not looking sorry in the slightest.

Sirius held up his hands in mock disappointment. "It's not that you put it there in the first place. It's the fact that it's so juvenile." He put an 'I-am-deeply-hurt' look on his face. "I mean, aren't I worth more thought?"

"No."

"It was a rhetorical question!"

Peter Pettigrew, the fourth, and last, Marauder chose this moment to speak up. "What's a rhetorical question?" he asked plaintively.

Remus, never one to turn down an academic explanation, began. "Well, you see Peter a rhetor-"

Peter cut him off. "It was rhetorical question!" he said in self-satisfied tones before he began giggling at his own joke unaware that his fellow Marauders' gazes were locked on him in horrified amazement.

"What?" he asked, the suspiciously feminine giggle petering out.

The three marauders said nothing, simply gazing at Peter, hoping they had heard wrong. Sirius finally decided to break the ice.

"James, are you sure you stuck this sign on the right person?"

At his words James and Remus smirked, while Peter turned a bright red. "I'm not entirely sure Padfoot; it all depends on Peter here. Tell me Peter, is there something you haven't been telling us?" James asked this question in the tones of a scientist observing his lab rat.

Remus smirked, and took on his role of resident psychiatrist. "It's okay Peter, the truth is always easier once it's out in the open," he said encouragingly.

"N-no!" Peter stuttered, unaware his friends were only teasing.

Remus looked at his friend sadly. He shook his head and made an imaginary mark on the metaphorical clipboard. "It's okay Peter, admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it. C'mon the longer you wait the harder it becomes…"

Sirius looked at his friend in pity. "It might help if you carry this to remind yourself." He held out the 'I AM GAY' sign.

Peter recoiled from the highly feminine sign and assured them that he was quite all right. He really was lucky he had such caring friends. Not many friends would help him through this difficult patch. The fact that there was no 'patch' apparently escaped Peter who was now too busy counting his lucky stars.

"Peter what are you doing?" Remus asked in concern. Peter stopped abruptly, realizing that he was miming 'counting the stars' by moving his fingers across the 'sky' as he muttered numbers under his breath, and quickly looked down.

"Uh, nothing, nothing at all," he forced out; following it up with what he hoped was a manly chuckle.

James rolled his eyes. "Moving on. I think we should go visit Lilykins!"

"You're not one for beating around the bush, are you mate?" Sirius observed, wondering when Lily was far from his friend's mind.

"And anyway, you didn't really think we cared about what you think, did you?" added Remus sniggering.

These comments seemed to have no effect on James as he had already begun to make his way out.

"Hold on, lover boy," cautioned Remus, catching hold of the back of James's belt. "You can't go barging in!" However, Remus's comment lost much of its weight, since, when Remus tugged on the back of James's belt, it promptly gave way. Sirius and Peter were now busy trying not to regard a blushing James's Christmas tree covered boxers.

James quickly pulled his pants back up and resumed his seat, face burning.

"Didn't know you swung that way mate…" Sirius said carefully. At the threatening glare that James shot him: "Well, it's not everyday we get treated to your boxers on the Hogwarts Express. I had to make a comment."

Peter, who had wisely decided to keep quiet after the Rhetorical Episode, spoke up once more. "Is it December already?"

"Shut up," muttered James furiously, making sure that this time his belt was securely fastened. In an effort to get the heat off of him and his boxers (they had been a Christmas present from his mother) he got back to the topic at hand. "Why can't I go visit Lily?!" he whined, clearly not happy.

"So you can go show her your boxers too?"

"Moving away from my boxers Padfoot! Moony, why can't I go see Lily?"

Remus looked at James. "Now James…let's review this. What usually happens when you go visit Lily?"

James winced, remembering the –shall we say, loud? – encounters that occurred whenever he asked the redhead out. James however, was not one to lose hope and made an effort to smile. "You know what they say…three hundred and twenty-seventh time lucky?"

Remus just merely shook his head 'no'.

"Well it's a good thing I don't care what you say," continued James robustly. "I'm going anyway! Coming Padfoot?" When Sirius also shook his head, James responded in a singsong tone, "You'll get to see Car-ee-naaa…"

"And what makes you think I even want to see Carina?" inquired Sirius, speaking of one of Lily's best friends.

James grabbed Sirius's hand and dragged him off of his seat. "You want to see her! You do! You just…don't know it yet," he concluded rather lamely.

Ignoring Remus's words of caution, James and Sirius began their trek to Lily's compartment.

Lily was sitting with her friends in a compartment farthest away from the Marauders (for a specific reason she didn't like to dwell on). Lily could easily say that up till this point the train ride was going extremely well. After a brief Prefect meeting, Lily had gotten to see Sierra and Carina after nearly two months of separation. The fact that she was on a moving train that was leading her further and further away from Petunia and her fiancée was just an added bonus. In addition to this, Potter and Black hadn't come down here with another hare-brained scheme to get Lily to go out with he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned (although she had just mentioned him in her thoughts just moments before – Lily was a big fan of self-delusion). But Lily knew it was only a matter of time. It had become a sort of tradition, one could say. Lily herself considered it to be a rather rare form of torture, but this sentiment was laughed off as being over dramatic.

Lily abruptly came to when she heard Carina's triumphant yells, "Beat you again, Sierra!"

Lily looked in amusement at Sierra's singed eyebrows and melancholy expression. "They're not too bad are they?" she asked fearfully.

"Oh no, not at all," reassured Lily sniggering. Since Sierra's eyebrows were a dark blond, it looked like she had used her eyeliner on her eyebrows.

"Don't worry Sierra, I'll fix them when we get to Hogwarts," offered Carina.

"Thanks, Carina." Sierra subsided in relief, glad that she didn't have to walk into the school looking like this.

"Lily, do you want to play?" offered Carina, gathering up the scattered Exploding Snap cards.

"No thanks. I really don't want to walk in looking like a horror show."

Sierra's dark blue eyes widened in dread, "You said it wasn't that bad!"

Lily smirked. "I'm your best friend! I'm obligated to lie!"

Carina assured the blue eyed girl that it really wasn't as bad as she imagined and that it would be fixed soon enough. Tugging on one of the many black curls that surrounded her heart-shaped face, Carina turned to Lily. "Fine, your choice. But you're missing a chance to get beaten by me!" she countered in response to Lily's reluctance to play Exploding Snap.

Outside James and Sirius were eagerly eavesdropping at the girl's conversation, wondering when the best time to make their grand entrance was.

"What's happening? I can't hear a thing!"

Sirius shushed his friend without taking his eyes off of a certain vivacious, dark-haired girl before him, who was now eagerly passing out Exploding Snap cards, her greenish gray eyes alight with the victory that was sure to come.

James's eyes roamed over the compartment, passing over Sierra's wavy dark blond locks, and Carina's curls before resting on a certain redhead.

"There she is," sighed James. "She looks beautiful even when she's disgruntled!" Lily was indeed looking slightly disgruntled as she looked at the shrinking number of cards in Carina's hands, trying to concentrate before she lost her eyebrows as well.

Sirius shot a smitten James a sickened look before flinging open the compartment door with a bang. The loud sound echoed in the compartment and all three girls jumped, clearly startled, and dropped their cards. A loud crash ensued and when the smoke finally cleared, James and Sirius were facing three very, very angry girls, all of whom were missing a quite noticeable chunk of their eyebrows.

"Potter," Lily spat in a venomous voice.

"Why Lilypoo, it's so good to see you too," James said, making an effort to be charming. His efforts were quickly put to a stop by a threatening glare, at which point Sirius decided to step in.

Sirius slid in front of Carina and smirked suavely. "Why Carina, how simply enchanting to see you! Why words simply fail me on how enchanted this encounter is becoming." He quickly stopped when a scowl met him. "Er…I trust you had a good summer?"

Sierra beat Carina to her reply. "Oh, we all had a good summer Black. We were even having a fun train ride before someone decided to barge in." She gave them all pointed looks.

James, still not ready to admit defeat, tried to go for a compliment. "Trying the singed look this year, Lilykins? It looks rather…nice. Why all the celebrities are trying it. Just last week the Surreal Sock-Puppets – nobody knows why they named themselves that, well actually I have this theory of mine-"

Lily had been growing steadily angrier as Potter blathered on inanely about puppets. She chose this moment to cut him off. "Get. Out."

"Is 'get out' supposed to be slang for 'come ravish me now'?" James asked with a suggestive smirk. "I don't know much muggle slang – but I'm sure I could learn…"

Lily eyes narrowed further. "Get. Out."

"Now, Lily, is this any way to treat someone that you've been pining for all summer long?"

"GET OUT! Oh and by the way 'get out' means 'get out now before you have to taken away in bits and pieces on a stretcher!"

Carina stepped in to diffuse the situation. "Really James, maybe you'd better leave…and take Black as well. He's utterly useless anyway," she added dismissively.

Sirius, looking highly affronted, retorted, "Oh, so he gets 'please leave' while I get 'go, since you're utterly useless anyway'? How's that fair?"

"It's not fair Black – it's life. Now leave!"

"Did I mention that you have an extremely warm and approachable personality, Carr?"

"It's Carina to you. And by the way Black, if you don't leave this instant, your name will be the first in tomorrow's paper. In the obituaries section," she finished rather ominously.

"Actually Carr, it really depends on how many people are killed today before and after me. It usually goes in chronological order, you see." Sirius said all this in highly patronizing tones, looking at Carina like she was a thick-skulled moron not to have figured this out.

Now, outsiders might wonder why Carina was being particularly mean to Sirius, or 'Black', as she preferred to call him, and was leaving James unscathed. Let's just say that she and James went back a long way. She had known James when they were both in the womb, while their mothers chatted away, reminiscing about their Hogwarts days. In fact, Isabella Favreaux had named her best friend, Serena Potter, Carina's godmother, and Carina had spent nearly half her childhood at the Potter manor, while James spent an equally large amount of time at the Favreaux estate. James thought of Carina as the sister he had never had, and, even though they had grown slightly apart upon their entry into Hogwarts, both still maintained a strong friendship. As Carina couldn't help bringing up, she had enough blackmail on James to have potential girlfriends run screaming. James could clearly remember how mischievous Carina had been growing up - mischievousness she still retained to this day. He could vividly recall his third birthday party.

Flashback

A newly turned six year old James was beamingly widely, party hat perched upon an ever messy head of hair. He had just finished blowing out his candles, quite proud that he managed this remarkable feat without assistance.

Serena leaned over her son to reach for a knife, intending to help her son cut the cake and pass it on to the eagerly awaiting neighborhood children. But Carina, seated next to James, decided to beat her to the punch.

Carina took one chubby hand and sunk it deep into the center of poor James's cake, and, smirking widely, smacked the cake into a flabbergasted James's face. Then, calmly licking her fingers and surveying her handiwork, she remarked coolly, "You know Jamie, you might want to think of using a spoon next time. And what about the rest of us? It's only polite to share…"

She turned to an equally shocked Serena, who was trying to hide a smile, and said, "Isn't it polite to share Auntie Serena?"

Serena, unable to scold the goddaughter who was looking at her with such huge, innocently twinkling green-gray eyes, only nodded before taking out a washcloth and mopping a still silent James's cake-covered face.

Although James had gotten Carina back later that evening in the garden by tickling her till she apologized, it was still one of his favorite memories of Carina.

End Flashback

Now, those huge green eyes, a lighter color that Lily's and flecked with grey, were snapping with fire, as she glared at Sirius.

"Why won't you just bloody well leave?!"

"And miss spending time with crotchety old you? Not a chance, babe."

Carina, scowling at being called a 'babe' by Sirius, turned to James. "James, please?" Then she added in sly tones, "Unless you want Lily to hear in vivid detail about the time with the…"

She didn't even need to finish before James was making frantic shushing noises, chocolate brown eyes alight with worry. He didn't need to know what incident she was referring to, she knew way too many of his embarrassing moments for it to matter.

"You know what? Let's leave Lily to think about what she's missing by turning me down, shall we?" James said quickly; still managing to grin at a less than happy Lily.

"What I'm missing Potter? You mean hearing twenty-four seven about wonky dives-"

"Wronksi Fients Lily!" exclaimed Sierra, a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, looking at her friend askance. James and Sirius, seeker and beater respectively, also mirrored their teammate's look of horror.

Lily rolled her eyes before continuing, "-hearing about dung bombs and whoopee cushions-"

"We would never sink to using whoopee cushions!" cried an indignant Sirius, outraged that his status as a prankster was under fire.

"-and how brave, smart, talented, and all around great you think you are Potter?" finished a sardonic Lily, peeved that she had been interrupted so many times.

"You really think I'm that great Lily?" said a clearly pleased James, having clearly missed the fact that Lily's words had been laced with considerable sarcasm. He automatically lifted one hand to his head, running it through his hair, and flashing an award-wining grin.

Lily glared at him – or rather his hand which was still running through a mop of hair that she so wished to set fire to. If there was anything that irked Lily more that Potter's considerable arrogance, it was his infuriating habit of running his hand through his black hair. Did he even shampoo? Lily couldn't understand Potter's odd fixation with his hair, and nor did she want to.

"Just leave," said Carina, giving James a poke in the back to help him move faster out the door.

After telling Carina that he would see her later, informing Sierra of when the first Quidditch meeting was, and asking Lily out one more time for good measure, James decided to leave, Sirius, only too happy to follow.

As the two boys left, Lily couldn't help sighing in relief. It was over. She had survived a train ride with Potter with no causalities. She wasn't worried about herself – she was too concerned about what he could drive her to do. Lily, sitting back down, reveled in the silence, glad that two annoying voices were no longer interrupting it. Too bad a shriek soon did.

"My eyebrows!" yelled an appalled Carina, having pulled out a hand mirror. "I am going to murder James!"

"Really?" Lily asked in an oddly (or maybe it wasn't so odd considering how James had managed to interpret 'get out') hopeful tone.

Carina and Sierra just exchanged an amused look before their grins turned into frowns as Sierra took the mirror from her friend and regarded her badly burned eyebrows.

"You know what? I'm going to go visit Paul's compartment and see if he still has some of that hair regrowth potion that Mum whipped up." At her friends' questioning looks, Carina remarked defensively, "What? He kept losing to me too…"

Paul Calder Favreaux was Carina's brother, also a Gryffindor, although he was two years younger and in fourth year. Leaving her friends chuckling over an image of Paul with no eyebrows, Carina set out to find him.

As Carina wended her way through the hallways, saying 'hi' to the people she knew, she wondered how long it would take for her to find her younger brother's compartment. Deciding to pop in and quickly say hi to her friend Allison, she opened the compartment that Allison and her friends usually occupied. The sight that met her, caused her hands to be brought to her mouth in disgust, and left the compartment door to bang against the wooden frame.

Sirius, who had she had seen only moments before following James, was now furiously snogging with a sixth-year that Carina vaguely recognized from Herbology. When the couple heard the bang of the door they sprang apart, looking slightly guilty.

"Uh, Ca-Carina….We - we were just – we were…" stuttered a surprised Sirius. The girl just looked annoyed at the unexpected interruption.

"Uh, yeah, I know what you were doing…" Carina couldn't help thinking how awkward this was. Then she couldn't help feeling angry at Sirius's flagrant behavior. I mean if he wants to stick his tongue down some tart's throat does he have to do it so publicly? Carina conveniently chose to forget the fact that before her arrival, Sirius had been snogging in a private compartment.

"I'll just be going now," she stated evenly. After shooting Sirius a filthy look, she left the compartment, back ramrod straight.

A flustered Carina resumed her quest to find Paul, but had barely gone two steps when she stopped again at the sound of her name being called. When she turned, she realized that she had just walked past Allison's compartment, which was beside the one that Sirius had been occupying. Feeling like a moron, Carina forced a smile onto her face before doubling back and talking to Allison for a few minutes.

After a while, Carina started to feel better, pushing the image of Sirius wrapped around the tart to the back of her mind, and genuinely started to enjoy herself. Allison was full of funny stories regarding her vacation in Italy with her young cousins. Regretfully, Carina apologized, and said she had to leave, and continued on down to find Paul, her bad mood diminished.

Peeking into all the compartments in an effort to find Paul, Carina continued on, growing increasingly worried that she would have to walk into school looking like a two-year old who had stolen her mother's wand. Absentmindedly, Carina peered into the next compartment and recoiled in shock.

Sirius was sitting in the compartment, shamelessly snogging the living daylights out of some floozy, one Carina barely even knew. Carina felt the oddest sensation pass through her. Too bewildered to identify it, or subconsciously not wanting to, she passed the compartment, seething. She had no intention of marching in there and humiliating herself for the second time in half an hour.

So preoccupied was Carina, she didn't hear her name being called until she had passed the person altogether.

"Carina!"

She quickly turned and saw her brother waving at her. "What are you doing here?" Then, noticing her eyebrows, he remarked in highly amused tones, "What happened to your eyebrows? Don't tell me you lost?"

Carina forced herself to smile. "James, bloody idiot that he is, and Black came in and made us drop our cards," she explained with a rueful smile. "Can I borrow some of that hair regrowth potion?"

"Yea, come in for a sec." Carina followed her brother into his compartment and smiled politely at his friends while he rooted around in his trunk.

"Here it is!" he exclaimed triumphantly, taking out a small bottle filled with a bright colored liquid. Carina thanked him and made to leave.

As she was walking down the hall she heard one of her brother's friends say, "Man, your sister is hot!"

She grinned to herself as Paul made gagging noises and asked incredulously, "My sister is what?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed?"

"God, she's my sister. It's not like I look. I don't want to notice!"

Although Carina was aware that being named hot by fourteen year olds was not the best she could do, she felt oddly light-hearted. Carina traipsed down the hallway, her good mood seeming imperturbable, at least until she happened upon Allison's compartment once more. When she looked into the compartment, she saw that it was empty, except for two frighteningly familiar individuals. Allison's friends had wisely decided to jump ship and leave Allison to snog Sirius senseless.

Sirius. Carina couldn't believe him. Even though she knew that he was a bit of a player, snogging three different girls in the space of half and hour was just too much.

Buoyed by her anger, she unwittingly made her way into the compartment, barely realizing what she was doing. The door banged shut once more in her wake as she stalked in.

Sirius and Allison sprang apart at once, and Sirius turned to Carina. To say that he was annoyed was an understatement "Carina! Have you made it your mission in life to bloody stalk me? I mean I can understand why but, really, it's scary. Even James doesn't walk in on Lily this much."

Carina snapped, "Oh, you're bloody hilarious - you should have your own damn show. It would be a good way for people to sleep without the friggin' sleeping pills." Taking on the persona of an enraged and bored housewife, she quipped, "Where the hell do you get off snogging three slags in the space of one bloody half hour?"

Sirius smirked. "And what does it matter to you anyway? And Carina, what the hell are you doing here? I mean, surely, you have greater purpose in life than to police me?"

Carina fumbled for words. "Sirius!" she cried angrily, before immediately losing her momentum and scrambling to form a coherent sentence. "You're supposed to be-"

"Yes, Carr darling, what is it that I'm supposed to be doing?" he challenged, his eyebrows raised mockingly.

"You're supposed to be…" she cast around for the correct words, hoping they would suddenly hit her in a flash of inspiration. "You're supposed…to be…changing into your school robes! We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon!" she finished triumphantly. Inwardly, she cringed. Changing into his robes. Where had that come from? Bursts of inspiration were supposed to be inspiring, not lame, dammit. Changing into his robes. Why not just tell him to brush his teeth and be done with it?

To preserve her dignity, she turned on Allison.

"And just what did you think you were doing?" Allison, unused to Carina's mood swings, cowered, before making her way out of the door as inconspicuously as possible.

"Ahem…um…er…I think I'll just get er…going now. Yea! See?" Allison mimed hearing someone, bringing her hand up to her ear. "They're calling me! Well, gotta go!"

Sirius admired Allison's retreating backside before turning to Carina, a scowl on his face. Giving her a once over appraisingly, he smirked slightly, before allowing his eyes to return to her face. "Babe, if you haven't noticed, you aren't properly attired in you school robes, either."

Carina flushed as she looked down, realizing that Sirius was, in fact, correct. Attempting to salvage her broken dignity, she spoke. "Good point!" she cried, wincing at the sound of her own voice. "So…let's go change together!" Grabbing hold of his hand, Carina marched out the door, tugging Sirius with her. However she was forced to stop when she rebounded against his chest as Sirius refused to move.

If it were possible, his smirk grew in size, "You want us to change…together?"

Carina scowled. "I never said that!"

"Yes you did."

Carina tugged once more. "Stop being such a bloody prat and let's go. Now."

As the bickering couple walked back towards Carina's compartment, they were bombarded by shrieks, screams, and Sierra's distinctive tones. They had almost made their back to Carina's compartment when they were assaulted by Shawn Goldman, the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain.

"Hey babe," he said, before his eyes fell on Carina's hand which was still holding Sirius's. "Are you two going out?"

"Wha..?" When Shawn glanced pointedly at her hand, she flushed and immediately dropped Sirius's hand like she had been scalded. "Of course we're not going out! Hell no!"

Shawn shrugged. "Well, see ya later babe," he said, making his way back into his compartment.

"Yea sure," called back Carina, smiling. As soon as Shawn was out of sight, her smile slid off her face before she muttered savagely, "Prick."

Sirius, hearing her, grinned slightly. "You know, I've always wanted to beat that guy up…" Sirius remarked as both he and Carina entered her compartment.

"Beat who up?" inquired Sierra curiously. She was sitting where Carina had left her, leafing through the latest edition of Witch Weekly.

"Shawn Goldman," supplied Carina.

"Why does Sirius want to beat him up?" she asked, still confused.

"Because," Sirius explained unsatisfactorily.

"Because…?"

"Because, that git is a…git," Sirius concluded lamely.

Sierra merely raised her eyebrows. "Wonderful where our country's tax money is going isn't it?" she remarked conversationally. "When our youth can barely describe people or justify their actions without resorting to slang."

Carina laughed. It was then that they noticed a purple Lily and a flustered James, sitting with his arms crossed across his chest like a four year old throwing a tantrum.

James was the one they had heard yelling earlier. "It's dedication Lil!"

"You're being a STUBBORN ARSE!"

"I'm not stubborn!" yelled James back stubbornly.

"What's going on?" asked Sirius, looking questioningly at Sierra.

"Well, after you left James decided to come back and show Lily how much he 'loved' her," Sierra pulled a face. "He decided that he would sit by her side for the rest of the ride and not leave. This apparently shows his 'dedication'. Lily however, is completely convinced that this isn't a romantic gesture but a way to ruin her life forever," Sierra finished dryly.

Carina shook her head sadly. "Typical."

It was then that Lily and James noticed the return of Carina and Sirius.

"Did you get the potion?" asked Lily, still pissed off but trying not to show it.

"Yup," replied Carina, proffering the bottle.

James, noticing Sirius, asked, "Where did you go?"

Sirius grinned. "I was with some ladies spreading some joy," he quipped lightly. James, seeming to understand this meant 'I was snogging furiously with three different girls', smirked.

Sirius gave a complacent smile and shrugged. Carina glared at his off-hand tone, and wondered if any of the girls he had kissed realized that Sirius was just using them. She began to grow steadily angrier.

"For God's sake Sirius, can you be any more disgusting?!" she screamed, glaring at him.

James had gone back to bothering Lily who had reached her breaking point. "James! Stop being such a friggin' twit and just leave!"

Both James and Sirius looked taken aback by the girl's outbursts. But the girls weren't even remotely finished.

"I mean do you realize that those girls probably think you're going out with them now?" Carina shrieked.

"God, all guys are such insensitive jerks! James if you think you sitting here is going to make me like you than you are so wrong, it's not even funny!"

"I mean, have some dignity Sirius! Do think this is some kind of goddamn game or something?"

James and Sirius were staring in shock at a red faced Lily and Carina, and began to back away slowly. Sierra, taking a moment to enjoy the fact that Gryffindor's male pride were cowering in a corner while her friends ranted at them, decided the time had come for her to step in.

Sierra tried to grab hold of Lily and Carina's arms and pull them back from the boys. Lily chose that moment to move, however, causing Sierra to go plunging past her, and punching James on the side of his face.

Carina, who had been knocked off balance by Sierra's fall, tottered unsteadily for a few moments before falling onto Sirius and managed to give him a bloody nose.

Sierra scrambled off the ground and helped Carina up as well. Silence descended over the compartment as both James, who was clutching his steadily bruising eye, and Sirius, who was trying to stop the blood spurting from his nose, whimpered in pain.

"I'm so sorry James!" cried Sierra in dismay. "I didn't mean to do that, honest!"

"S'ok," muttered James gruffly, wincing all the while. Lily was also worried and moved closer to James.

"Are you sure you're ok James?"

James, hearing the note of concern in Lily's voice, immediately brightened up. "I'm sure if you kiss me I'll survive…somehow," he said mournfully, before looking up at her hopefully.

Before Lily knew what she was doing, she had lifted her hand and slapped James clear across the face. A red handprint was now on James's right cheek, mixing quite colorfully with his already black eye.

Sirius couldn't help laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his friend's face, but immediately grimaced in pain again. He looked at Carina, who was still glaring down at him, clearly expecting an apology. Instead, he received a stare cold enough to freeze hell over.

"You're not getting an apology Sirius," she stated flatly. "In fact, the sight of you with a bloody nose has brightened up my day considerably."

Sierra helped both James and Sirius up before pushing them roughly out the door. "Bye!" she called cheerfully, watching them shuffle out of sight, before slamming the door and turning back to her friends.

The three girls looked at each other in silence for a moment before they burst out laughing for absolutely no reason. They were still chortling as they changed into their robes.

Back in the Marauder's compartment, James and Sirius were met with completely unsympathetic friends. Remus couldn't help reiterating the fact that they had 'gotten what they deserved' and that he had 'told them not to go in the first place'. Peter just looked at a thoroughly bruised James and Sirius in wonder. When he pointed out, oddly gleeful, that they had gotten beaten up by a bunch of girls, both James and Sirius glowered, blackmailing Peter until he promised never to repeat this fact again.

When the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade, James couldn't help but wonder what sixth year had in store for them. Considering the slightly painful train ride he had just experienced, he wasn't sure he really wanted to find out.

As Sirius jumped from the train yelling war cries (he was weird like that), James grinned, and set off after him. Inside the castle, there was food, a warm bed, and a fiery redhead that he was sure would soon be his; what could go wrong? James had only to find out.

A/N: At this moment we would like to mention that there is little button on the screen that you can click to review. We take effort to churn out these 4000 plus word chapters. The least you can do is leave a 10-12 word reply.

We hope everybody has a good Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/Whatever else you celebrate and a rousing start to 2007. Our resolution will be to update sooner and maybe yours will be to review more? Oh, and be sure to make a resolution to keep your resolution, since, personally, we never manage to keep them. :D

Toodles!