I am going to keep this one short and sweet. Review. Review. Read my new story I posted, Unstoppable. Review that story. Maybe venture over to She's My Hero if you haven't read that one. Review that. If you haven't picked up on the hints, I would really appreciate some reviews here people. The last chapter didn't get anything and the ones before that only got one or two; mainly from the same people. Please review. That is all I ask.

The student body had just arrived back at Hogwarts. All the older students seemed a little tenser, especially the Ravenclaws. Ursula and Elyse had no idea what was going on since the Potter's had not shown the newspaper that would have announced the death of a Hogwarts alumni that had died under suspicious circumstances two days ago. The former Ravenclaw was first in his class and he was training as an Auror when he died. His offense that determined his death; he was a muggleborn. He was only 21.

The two girls burst into their dorm room after spending some times with the boys, oblivious to the pain the older students were in, remembering the former Head Boy.

"Lily Darling!"

Lily jumped three feet in the air and spun with a terrified look on her face. When she saw that it was just her roommate, she sighed deeply and collapsed on her bed. Alice laughed at her friend's face; it was priceless. Marlene snorted but didn't look up from her fashion magazine.

"What's wrong Lilyflower?" Ursula asked with a smirk on her face. Ursula grabbed an extra quill and changed it into a lily. Ursula spun to Lily's bed and knelt in front of her, "My dearest Lily, please accept this lily as a token of my affection." She bowed her head and head the transfigured quill above her head.

Lily rolled her eyes at Ursula's antics. None the less, she grabbed the flower and placed it on her bed table.

"I take it someone had a good Christmas."

Ursula looked up shook her head, the twinkle in her eyes as bright as ever, "Nope. My Christmas was absolutely horrible. I had to spend it with the Malfoys. The only up side was when my Uncle Alphard went bezerk on my mom. It was epic."

Alice rolled her eyes at her. Lily jumped up, startling the other girls in the room and she dived towards her trunk. She went digging around her trunk and grabbed four small packages.

"I forgot to give everyone their gifts before we left for break! I would've sent them but I don't have an owl." She apologized as she handed them out to their owners.

They all got books. They weren't extremely long but they were about two hundred pages each. Elyse got a book titled, Wizards: Muggleborns and How they Affect the Wizarding World for the Better. Alice was the owner of Wizards: Purebloods Who Defend Their Families Beliefs. Marlene got Wizards: Half-Bloods and Where They Stand in Society and Ursula got Wizards: Purebloods from Dark Families and How They can Escape.

"They were all part of a set I saw when my parents took me to Diagon Alley before we went home. Patrick Bagshot just wrote them and I thought they looked interesting. When I saw all four of them I thought of all of you and I thought you would like it." She finished and looked a little worried, not wanting to offend anyone.

"'his's awesome, Lily," Elyse said as she started to flip through her book already. When the other girls clearly liked their new books, Lily practically sagged with relief.

There was a brief silence in the room as the girls looked at their new gifts. Ursula seemed especially taken by her book and already had her nose stuck in it. Lily was ecstatic when she saw that because Ursula usually only read for classes or if she needed to learn a spell for a prank.

"You know what we need to do?" Marlene asked, putting her book gently down on her side table.

"Woot?" Elyse asked.

Marlene smiled widely, "We need to have a sleepover."

Turning toward her, Ursula looked at her confused, "What? We technically have a 'sleepover' everyday."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Not literally a sleepover," She picked up her magazine, "We need to do girly stuff. We'll do our hair and make-up and gossip about boys."

Ursula looked confused, "Girls normally do those sorts of things?" She asked.

Lily looked at her with sad eyes, "You've never had a sleep over before?"

"I never really had any girl friends before," Ursula said with a small shrug, "The only people I was allowed to be around before Hogwarts were people like Bellatrix and the like."

Marlene twisted so she was reaching underneath her bed. She pulled out a large bag and a mirror. She hopped off the bed and went into the bathroom only to reappear minutes later. She stood with a comb and brush in her hands,

"That's it missy. Tonight will be the first official "Girls of Gryffindor Sleepover Party" and we all shall participate in until we graduate."

She bounded over to Elyse's bed and sat a little bit behind her, "Do you mind if I do your hair? I have been dying to play with it all year."

"Knook yeh's socks oof," Elyse said as she pulled her hair out the bun it was normally held up in. Frizzy red curls fell about halfway down her back.

"Jeez, Elyse? How the heck did you fit all of this into a bun?" Marlene asked as she gently ran her fingers through the thick locks.

Elyse just shrugged and let the other girl play with her hair.

Ursula was sitting awkwardly on her bed while Lily went to take a shower and Alice started to flip through the magazine. Everyone seemed perfectly at ease with this idea while she was extremely uncomfortable.

"So…" She trailed off, "What are we supposed to be talking about?"

"Gossip, boys, stupid girls, boys, drama, boys," Marlene said.

Alice laughed, "You said boys three times."

Marlene spun around on the bed and smiled wickedly at Alice, "I know. You know, I've seen you staring at a certain sixth year Gryffindor." She taunted her.

A pillow went soaring through the room and hit Marlene right across the face and successfully knocked her off the bed. Since her hands were tangled in Elyse's hair, she pulled the muggleborn off the bed. They ended up on a pile on the ground.

"Why deh I always end oop on teh ground," Elyse grounded. Marlene popped up from over the bed and threw two pillows at Alice. She was able to duck the first one but the second on hit its target. Alice retaliated but this time Marlene ducked and the pillow hit Lily just as she walked out of the bathroom.

The room was deathly silent until Ursula burst out laughing. All the girls turned to look at Ursula, then look at each other, and back at Ursula. The Black girl was laughing so hard, that she didn't see the four pillows before they hit her.

She was knocked back so she was laying down on her bed and almost completely covered by pillows. She sat up and laughed at the other girls, who were surprised to see her happy.

"So who does Alice fancy?" Ursula asked with a chuckle still in her voice. Her eyes were extremely bright, looking like freshly polished silver.

Alice turned bright red and muttered something.

"Woot was 'hat?" Elyse asked with a smirk.

The girl crossed her arms defiantly over her chest, "I'll say if you guys say first."

"Fine. I think that that James Potter is pretty cute. Plus, you know that he is going to turn out sexy when he gets older." Marlene said with a smirk.

"What!" Lily asked in a shocked and outraged voice, "How could you like that arrogant prat? He struts around like he owns the school because he is just so cool! His ego is bigger than anyone has the right to have and-"

Lily's rant went on and on and when she finally stopped, Alice leaned over and whispered in Ursula's ear, "Bet you they end up married."

"Not even going to take that bet," She whispered back. Then she said in a louder voice, "Well, who do you like Lily?"

Lily turned bright red so brightly that it matched her hair, "You see…I don't really…he's just…" she stalled and tried to avoid answering.

"She fancies Severus!" Marlene shouted. Lily's eyes widened and she tackled Marlene to the bed and covered her mouth,

"Don't believe her!" Lily shouted desperately and looked at the other girls with pleading eyes. Her silent pleas were met with disbelieving grins. She looked at them desperately, "I swear I'm-"

"Desperately in love with Severus Snape!" Marlene shouted loudly as she took advantage of Lily's temporary distraction. Her further attempts at talking were muffled by Lily when she shoved a pillow on her face.

"Shut up!" Lily shouted at her.

"It's okay Lily, we all know you love those Slytherin boys." Ursula said with a crooked smile.

"Yeah, she wants him to slither-in to her bed." Alice added with a raunchy smile.

Lily looked horrified, "No I don't! Stop guys! Please!" She begged. Marlene managed to wiggle out from underneath her and she went to sit one her own bed, her face red holding in laughter and the pillow being shoved on her face.

"Yeh look mighty embarrassed fer it teh false," Elyse said with a wiggle of her eyebrow.

Lily looked crossly at her fellow muggleborn, "Well, who do you like? You don't seem to be willing to share."

When Elyse turned bright red, everyone turned to look at her.

"Elyse," Ursula began with a large smile, "Who do you fancy?"

"No, 'tis is awkward." Elyse said, shaking her head rapidly back and forth.

The girls swarmed her and got right up to her face,

"Please,"

"Pretty, please,"

"With a cherry on top?"

"Tell us!" They begged.

Elyse looked at their wide eyes, the colors ranging from silver to bright green to midnight blue to chocolate brown. They all gave her the puppy dog look and she could feel her resolve cracking. They looked so sad that she finally broke,

"I fancy Sirius!" She exclaimed before she covered her mouth with her hands, her pale green eyes wide with shock that she actually said that out loud.

Three of the girls squealed while Ursula stared in shock at her best friend. She fancied her brother? Elyse made contact with Ursula and said,

"Ursula…"

The girl stared at her with a serious face for a good ten seconds making Elyse feel really nervous. She didn't know how her friend would respond to her liking her brother; that was why she never told anyone.

"That's wicked! We could be related!" Ursula said with a laugh deciding to take her friend out of her misery.

Elyse sagged with relief, "I thoot yeh's wood be oopset."

Ursula scoffed, "Me get angry at something? Never."

The other girls shared a look before they burst into laughter. Ursula glared at them before getting up to get the magazine. She looked at the cover and saw the girl with bright colored nails on front.

"What spell would do this?" She asked.

Lily calmed herself and her eyes lit up when she saw what Ursula was asking about. She ran over to her trunk and pulled out a small plastic make-up bag. She pulled out some small bottles while she began to explain, "There isn't a spell. It's a muggle thing. You use nail polish on your nails. I could do yours if you want."

Ursula nodded and sat down in the middle of the room while Lily went to get a small towel to put under her hands. They sat in the middle of the floor while Marlene went back to braiding Elyse's hair.

"We never found out who Ursula liked," Marlene commented airily.

Ursula spun around to glare at her. Lily yelled at her and forced her to turn around, scolding her for making her mess up the nails. Alice's face appeared over the edge of her bed,

"That's true. So who makes your heart pound, the reason why you live every single day? The light of your life; the laugh to your joke; the spark to your fire; the butter to your beer?"

Ursula rolled her eyes, "Given this much thought?"

Alice nodded, "Every time I see him," She said in a dreamy voice. She snapped out of it seconds later and she gave Ursula a look,

"Tell us who you fancy." She commanded.

Ursula shrugged, "I don't really fancy anyone. Honest," She added when she saw their disbelieving looks.

"Cut the b.s. and tell us." Lily said, "Everyone like someone."

There was a face that came to mind and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. She prayed that they didn't notice her reaction, but it seemed that luck was not on her side.

"Oooo, she fancies someone and it's going to be good because she's blushing," Marlene said in a sing-song voice.

Her cheeks were burning at this point, "I don't want to say. Okay, maybe some other time. I promise."

Lily gave her a look, "Listen, whatever is said in here is going to stay in here. We won't tell anyone."

She sighed and looked at all the hopeful faces but she had never been one to share her feelings. Her mother had pounded into her head that a true pure blood never shows emotion in front of other people. But then a thought struck her, was she even a true pureblood?

No she wasn't.

"You have to swear on your magic that you won't tell anyone," she said, looking at all the girls seriously.

All the girls jumped off the beds and sat in a semicircle in front of her. They all nodded solemnly until Alice broke into a bright smile and clapped her hands together excitedly, "Oh, this is going to be good!"

Ursula waited until they were silent.

"Ben." She said softly, barely audible to their ears.

The four girls squealed loudly and Marlene even launched herself across the circle and hugged her tightly. Before Ursula could even react Marlene pulled herself back.

"That is so CUTE! He fancies you too! Have you ever seen the way he looks at her; it is so meant to be," she gushed.

Eager to get the attention off of her, Ursula turned to Alice, "You know Alice has yet to tell us who she fancies." She said with a sly smile.

The smile disappeared from Alice's face so quickly, if you blinked you would have missed it.

"Oh yeah, who do you fancy Alice?" Lily asked, nudging her in the shoulder.

Alice was the brightest anyone had ever seen anyone. She was so red, it seemed like she was challenging the curtains that surrounded each of their beds. She was so red, she was winning.

"You guys will make fun of me!" She wailed, hiding her face in her hands.

"We might poke a little fun at you, but we will never be cruel about it," Lily comforted her before she went back to painting Ursula's nails.

"Don't be such a baby," Marlene taunted her.

"Probably noot as bad as meh likin' Sirius," Elyse tried.

Alice sighed and said, "Frank Longbottom," Really fast. She squeezed her eyes shut and seemed to fold into herself to protect herself from the ridicule she was sure she would get from her roommates. She was surprised by the silence. She popped open an eye and saw that they didn't really seem shocked by the confession.

"Why aren't you guys freaking out?" She asked.

Lily looked up and smiled softly, "We already knew. You get this look every time he comes near us."

"I saw you in charms writing Alice Longbottom in your notes." Ursula explained. "Plus I think it is kind of cute."

"You don't think it's impossible?" Alice asked in a soft voice, hope building inside her.

Elyse snorted, "Me mum 'nd Pop's eight years apoot. Yeh 'nd Frank's only five. Yeh's got a chance."

"You guys can have a bunch of dark haired, dorky Gryffindors that look like dweebs for five years and then suddenly look hot. They can be awesome at Herbology and Charms. Oh, and we can't forget that there's a fifty percent chance the kid will be petrified of brooms." Marlene laughed, bringing up the memory of Alice in their first flying class.

Alice stuck out her chin defiantly, "Frank is an excellent flyer so he will make sure our children know how to fly before they come here."

"Already having kids? Have you discussed this with Frank yet?" Ursula asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Alice threw the magazine at her, "Shut up! You know what I meant!"

"Yeh want teh do 'he dirty wit Frank," Elyse supplied from behind Marlene; she was now doing the other girl's hair.

"I never said that!"

"You implied." Marlene said simply.

Alice turned to what might be her only ally, "Lily, please set them straight."

Lily had just finished on Ursula's nail so she scooted back a bit, "I just have one question."

"What?" Alice asked exasperated.

"Can I be godmother?"

Laughter covered up Alice's shout of indignation. It was so loud that the Annabelle heard it all the way up in the seventh year's dorm. She was standing right outside of the door; she couldn't stay in there any longer. Her roommate was the sister of the alumni that died. Josephine Clarrin was inconsolable after she saw the Prophet on one of their roommate's trunk. She thought that she would be okay coming back, but obviously she wasn't.

The girl had just seen her brother the day before and they had had their worst fight in years. She knew he was up to something and she had no idea what he was doing so she tried to talk him out of it. Mathew told her that he would be fine and she didn't need to worry. She called him an idiot that was just trying to be a Gryffindor and he was jealous of her. They went at it and it ended with her screaming that she hated him. He apparated away and was found dead two days later.

The laughter coming from the first year's dorm brought a grim smile to her face. They were so young right now, not a care in the world. They probably didn't even know Voldemort's name yet. The only thing that would be world shattering to them would be if Gryffindor lost the Quidditch Cup. Sadly, Annabelle knew in the bottom of her heart that they would one day be in her exact position; standing outside of their room trying to breath after learning of someone's death. One day is the not so distant future; they are going to lose someone they love. The war wasn't something that was going to end quickly and she was almost positive that it would be worse seven years from now. By the time Ben becomes of age, death will be surrounding everyone. Possibly even him.

Annabelle's throat tightened when she thought of her little brother. Ben was by no means stupid, but he would stand up for what is right until the end. There was no way that he wasn't going to end up sucked into this war, just like she was going to. Their family had too much notoriety; her father is the Head of the Auror's Department right now and possible candidate for Minister of Magic when the current man resigned at the end of this year. They were too outspoken, they could never try to hide in the neutral area because they weren't meant to do that.

She thought back to every single mean thing she had said to her brother. He had never shown any sign that he was affected by them, always forgiving her instantly (once she cooled down that is) and acting like it never happened. He may be an annoying little brother, but the thought of him dying caused her throat to tighten up. She wasn't ready to face the fact that she was going to lose people she loved. Her parents, her brother, Gideon, Fabian, Frank, Benjy; all gone because some pompous wizard wanted to start a war and kill muggles.

So she would fight. She would fight and die so her friends could live a good life. She would fight and die for her old school. She would fight and die for her parents.

She would fight and die for Ben, so he wouldn't have to.

Don't forget to review! Pretty please with a cherry on top? I'll write the next chapter faster if you do.