Thanks so much to everyone who's review this. You are all so awesome! And I think this is the first time I've posted since I've turned 16 on Oct. 31 Yay.

Alanna had talked with Lily, Emily and Sarah throughout the feast, but was sidetracked throughout most of it. She was unable to focus greatly on anything other that her increasing headache and feeling of emptiness after all of these abrupt events.

Alanna stayed up in bed for what seemed to be hours, feeling sorry for herself and wallowing in her self-pity, before finally forcing herself to stop being ridiculous and to go to bed.

When she awoke the next morning, it was to an ungodly loud and obnoxious alarm, which she attempted unsuccessfully to ignore for several minutes before Sarah jumped on her bed exuberantly, jarring her into wakefulness.

"You're going to make us all lateeee," She was decidedly far too cheery for six O'clock AM, Alanna concluded quickly. She opened her eyes groggily and rubbed them until she could see somewhat clearly. Sarah had jumped off of her bed and was grabbing the deep red covers, ready to pull them off of Alanna in another attempt of waking the girl.

"I'm up, I'm up; seriously," Alanna said in a cracking morning voice, she sat up and examined the warping wooden floor as she attempted to get her bearings. She looked up again to see that Sarah and Emily were both dressed, as well as the two other girls in their year, neither of whom did Alanna know the names of.

One was a slightly heavy girl who had a pretty face with dark eyes and wispy auburn hair, she was rather tall and was presently attempting to fit into robes that were at least half a size too small. ("I don't know why these aren't fitting, Abby; they fit me last year just fine...")

The other girl, whom Alanna could only assume was Abby, seemed to be making up for the other girl's chubbines with her own skinnyness. She was skin and bones to the point where Alanna wondered how she didn't break, and in the process of putting on far too much make-up. She finished her eyeliner and admired her reflection in the mirror, which smiled and winked back at her.

"Gosh, Maddie, you really should try this new diet I'm on; it's amazing..." She continued to admire her anorexic body in the mirror. Alanna rolled her eyes and looked back to the girl whom she now knew was Maddie. Sure, she was a tiny bit chubby, but hardly anywhere near heavy, and she was certainly prettier than the anorexically thin Abby.

Meanwhile, Emily was curling her eyelashes with her wand, and Sarah had somehow managed to be completely ready, sans make-up (which Alanna didn't remember her having worn anyway).

Alanna was just gathering the energy to start getting changed when heat and steam came out of the bathroom, shortly followed by a completely awake and ready Lily.

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah, Emily, Lily and Alanna headed down to the Great Hall (Maddie and Abby had left a few minutes before.) They spoke mainly of how Alanna was going to catch up on everything, as well as a number of random things, ranging from OWLs to the cute Ravenclaw who kept looking at Sarah. Emily, however, seemed to be slightly sidetracked the entire time, throwing occasional glances between Abby and Maddie at the other end of the table, and the entrance to the Great Hall.

When the Marauders finally came into breakfast, Emily jumped up, mumbling something about a charms question. She walked right up to them and Alanna was surprised to see them talking in low voices for a few moments.

Lily looked as confused as Alanna felt; She was the Charms whiz, wouldn't Emily ask her a question about that if she needed?

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Emily strutted confidently up to the Marauders. She saw how they were talking to Alanna yesterday. Alanna didn't yet know that the Marauder's were hers. She was sick of goody-goody Lily always accepting the random new and lost students. Couldn't she just leave everyone alone?

"Hey guys," She said in a tone that suggested that she was about to divulge something they would like to hear.

"Hi Emily..." Remus said politely, his greeting was echoed by the others.

"You guys know that new girl Alanna?" She said in an undertone, careful not to look back at the breakfast table. They all nodded slowly. Remus raised his eyebrows slightly and James glanced at the food distractedly-- he was the only one who wasn't incredibly interested in what was being said. He had Lily to obsess over, but Sirius and Peter were both infatuated with the girl. Remus was probably just being polite, as they all knew he had fancied Sarah since they were fourth years.

"Lily and Sarah don't want to tell you guys, I guess they're just too nice... You know, never want to hurt anybody's feelings. But that girl's been seriously bad mouthing you all!" She waited for their shocked expressions before continuing. "Yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it even as she said it. She was pretending to be so nice, too. I suppose you just have to watch out for those sneaky girls like that, eh?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Anwho, I just thought that I'd tell you guys, didn't want that nasty little whore taking advantage of you guys. I'd better go though... See you around!" With that, she made her way back to the table with a small self-satisfied smile, leaving a shocked group of Marauders behind.

"That was odd, I wonder what Alanna could have been saying?" Peter said as they made their way to the table.

Remus didn't look too concerned, "Just catty girl stuff, I'm sure," He sat down across from James and Sirius and next to Peter.

Sirius seemed to be deep in thought, he had really liked Emily since they were first years. But then, who wouldn't? She was gorgeous, from her deep blue eyes and flowing platinum hair to her slim but hour-glass figure, she was one of the most good-looking girls in their year. She and Sirius dated off and on and as she walked back to the table, swaying her hips ever so slightly as she walked, he wondered why they had ended it again. Shaking his head, he looked away from her retreating form.

"I believe her, I don't think I like this Alanna girl very much at all. She seemed to be just the type to try and take advantage of other people by making them believe she was a sweet and shy girl. "What was it that you were saying about her yesterday...?"

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Emily sat back down near Lily, Sarah and Alanna and gave an exaggerated sigh. "They didn't know either."

"Are you surprised?" Lily was suspicious and didn't bother to hide it. "What was it that you wanted to know?"

Emily laughed lightly, as if to brush it off. "It was nothing important, really... so which class do we have first?"

Lily stared at her for a short moment, as if trying to see through to her true motives, before looking back at the table; she wasn't in an argumentative mood. "Potions with Slughorn. Then we've got Transfiguration."

Emily nodded and Sarah groaned. "Slughorn's out to get me! Seriously... I suck at potions. He always knows who the smart people are though, like you Lils." She grinned. Alanna made a face.

"Is potions really that difficult?" She asked, trying not to sound too worried. She ran a hand through her dark hair as she often did when she was nervous about something. This entire Hogwarts Thing was making her nervous. She took a sip of pumpkin juice, hoping it wasn't her hypoglycemia that was causing her anxiety. When her blood sugar became dangerously low, as it often did, she would get very anxious.

Lily shook her head and smiled reassuringly. "No it's not really bad at all. Professor Slughorn's pretty nice and it's almost like... cooking I suppose.. or maybe more like Chemistry class in muggle school." She looked at her watch and cringed. "We should probably leave now, class starts in five minutes and it's all the way in the dungeons." She gathered her things, and Alanna, Sarah and Emily followed her lead before heading off to potions.

I can't even explain everything that's been taking me so long about this... I suppose it was mostly a lack of inspiration to write anything at all, which was just really bad and depressing and ugh. I think I'm in a bit more of a roll though now. I hope so, at least. I hate writer's block. I'm so sorry that it's been taking me ages to get each chapter out! Thanks sooo sooo much for all of your awesome reviews though, they're what keep me going.