Disclaimer: Not mine. Or yours, probably. Unless you're JKR. I doubt she reads much, if any, fan fiction, but if she's reading this one and she made it all the way to chapter nine…then she owns it. And that's really wicked cool, you know, that she's reading it.

Dear Diary,

Today is December 1st, the day of the next Hogsmeade trip. Everyone is going Christmas shopping today, but I bought all my gifts during the last Hogsmeade trip, so I'm staying in Gryffindor Tower today. It's the last trip before Christmas Holiday, and Mum and Dad are going to Paris, so I'm staying here. Also, there's this really cute guy in our year in Ravenclaw. I can't believe I've never noticed him before. His name's Jeremy Howes. He has the most adorable smile ever, maybe even nicer than Pot—

I think I'm coming down with something. Like insanity.

(Insanely) Yours,

Lily

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"Wait, Prongs, why aren't you coming to Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked as they sat in the common room that morning.

"I already told you, I got my gifts for people, and I have no intentions of following you around and watching you and Agie snog all day while you buy yours!" James said, annoyed.

"Yeah, that might pose some issues, then…" Sirius mused.

"If you guys are going together, how are you going to buy gifts for each other?" Peter asked.

"She already got him something," James blurted out, and then clamped his jaw shut.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked him. James shook his head.

Just then, the four girls came down the stairs and sat down on the couch next to theirs.

"Hey, guys!" Alice said cheerfully, sitting next to Frank and grabbing his hand. She, Amber, and Adriyana all looked ready to go to Hogsmeade, but Lily was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Not exactly winter attire.

"Lily, are you staying here?" Remus asked. James looked up.

"Yeah, I already got everything. Why?" she asked.

"Oh…nothing…" Remus said, as James grinned madly. "So, are all six of us going together, or are we splitting up, Padfoot…Padfoot?"

"Sorry, what?" Sirius said, tearing his eyes away from Adriyana. She was putting on her shoes, and her head kept brushing his leg as she bent down.

"Yeah, come to think of it, I don't want to be around you two all day. Let's split up. How about we meet for lunch, though?" Amber said, making a face.

Adriyana opened her mouth, then seemed to think the better of what she was about to say. Instead, she pulled out her piece of parchment and tapped it with her wand. Sirius managed to see what she had written, and he laughed at the violet script.

You're one to talk. Going to spend today in the One-Eyed Witch passage? ;)

Adriyana held the paper so that Sirius could (conveniently) see Amber's response.

Maybe…

Remus, who was reading over Amber's shoulder, jumped up and pulled her up with him. "Come on, guys, lets go!" he said, and Alice, Frank, Sirius, Adriyana, and Peter stood up.

"Have fun, you two!" Sirius called as he pulled Adriyana out of the portrait hole.

"What are you talking about?" Lily called after him, and then turned around. The common room was empty except for her and Potter. He gave her a nervous smile and a wave.

"Potter? What are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"I'm staying, too. I bought all my gifts last Hogsmeade weekend when all my friends were out. That reminds me…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "This is yours. You dropped it last trip, and I've been trying to give it to you ever since I saw it fall out of your pocket, but you never let me talk for long enough to tell you that I have it." He held up her gold locket.

Lily felt a twinge of guilt. All those times she had thought he just wanted to ask her on a date, and he had been trying to give her back the locket that she had torn up the girls' dormitory looking for. That would explain the "gift" he was trying to give her in Hogsmeade last time. She smiled at him, and his eyes bulged in shock.

"Thanks, James…Can you put it on me?" she asked. Did I just call him James?

She turned around and picked her hair up off her neck. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She felt his trembling hands on her neck as he closed the locket's clasp. It seemed like he let them linger just a little too long, but for once, she resisted chewing him out. It was the least she could do, right? He had found her favourite necklace.

"Beautiful…" James whispered.

"Isn't it, though? It was my grandmother's," Lily said, turning to face him again. He stared into her eyes for a while before he responded.

"That's not what I…anyway, since it's just us, what do you want to do?" James asked, hopefully.

"Well, since I have no choice, why don't we meet the rest of them for lunch later? If we can get to Hogsmeade, that is," Lily said.

"I can do that," James said with a grin.

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Sirius and Adriyana were in a cluttered little book shop towards the end of the town, paying for Adriyana's gift for Amber, an extremely pretty blue diary with all kinds of privacy spells on it, along with a soft white quill.

"She'll love it," Sirius told Adriyana as they left the shop, walking to the little park that separated the town and the houses. Since it was winter, the whole park was deserted. They sat down on a bench under a tree.

"You think so? She keeps writing stuff in mine," Adriyana said.

"What does she write about?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't read them. She asks me not to," she responded, smiling at him.

"Well, do you write good stuff about me?" he asked.

"Nope. It's mostly about what a prat you are, actually," Adriyana said.

"Really? You think I'm a prat?" he asked. "You wound me, Agie."

She laughed. "If I did, would I do this?" she said, as she smiled warmly and then put her lips on his. He returned the kiss, and she ran her hand through his soft hair and he tangled his fingers in hers. The kiss got deeper and deeper, and Sirius' mouth travelled to her neck. Adriyana squirmed uncomfortably, and he jumped away.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Sorry, Siri…it's…Lily," Adriyana said.

"Lily?" he said, confused. Then he noticed the paper in her hand. More specifically, the emerald-green sentence written on it. On the bright side, at least they'd gotten somewhere before Lily could interrupt this time.

What time are you guys meeting for lunch?

What the hell, Lily! I'm busy…

Sirius grinned at that last part. About a second later, Lily's response appeared on the paper.

Sorry to disturb you…not that I want to know what you're doing.

You should be sorry. Why do you want to know about lunch?

Oh, James and I might be coming down and meeting you guys.

"What? Since when does she call him James?" Sirius asked.

"She doesn't. What have they been doing since we left?"

"Apparently the same thing we're doing…" Sirius mused.

"Or were doing…" Adriyana said.

"Well, we can fix that. Hurry up and tell them to meet us in an hour." Sirius whispered in her ear. She did. "Now…where were we?" he asked with a smile.

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Remus, who was walking down the snowy path of Hogsmeade hand in hand with Amber, saw Alice and Frank as they walked to The Three Broomsticks for lunch. Frank and Alice saw them, and the four of them walked in together and sat at a big table. Amber and Alice knew Lily was coming because of the interesting conversation they had seen on their papers. Adriyana and Sirius walked in next. Frank and Alice started cracking up when they saw Adriyana. Her neck had quite a few dark red marks on it.

Amber's inky midnight eyes widened in shock. "Do we tell her?" she whispered to Alice.

Alice shook her head. "Nope. We just give her discreet hints," she said. Amber nodded in agreement.

Adriyana sat down and began to start up a normal conversation, as if she wasn't covered in love bites. Suddenly she looked up, towards the door of the pub. "Um, you guys? Am I hallucinating or did Lily and James just walk in together? Look, Lily isn't slapping him or anything. Something is very wrong."

They sat down, on opposite sides of the table. James plopped a big bag of Honeydukes sweets down on the table and Lily stared at Adriyana's neck. Alice nudged her and Remus picked up a piece of chocolate from the pile and tasted it.

"Yum, this is delicious. Would you like a BITE, LOVE?" he said loudly, his gaze shifting from Amber to Adriyana at the last two words.

James caught on. "Guys, guess what. There was this vampire in Slughorn's office when we walked past it, he looked like he wanted to attack someone's neck, or something…" He looked at Adriyana, too.

"Serious…ly?" Frank said, grinning.

"Yeah…he really looked like he had an urge to bite someone!" Lily added, hardly believing she was teaming up with James to tease Adriyana.

"Wow…I wonder what someone would look like if they were covered in bites…" Alice said, faking deep thought.

Adriyana finally caught on. She ran to the bathroom. Amber, once she was done laughing of course, followed her.

"That was fantastic, guys! Great job being discreet!" Alice said enthusiastically, giving the table a thumbs-up.

"Sorry, Padfoot, mate," Remus added, because Sirius was seething in anger, clenching his drink so tightly it was shaking.

"Oh, look, she's written something," James said, because Alice's walkie-talkie paper was sitting on the table, and they could all see Adriyana's violet scribble.

You idiots! Why do you need to be discreet when all of you already know!

Alice tapped her paper.

Because it's fun.

Fair enough. I'd kill you all if I didn't know a spell to fix this.

Lily and Alice laughed.

"So…is Agie mad at me, or what?" Sirius said anxiously.

"Nope…but I don't see why she would be…did you do something?" Lily asked. "Look, here she comes. She doesn't look mad."

Sure enough, Adriyana walked over to the table and took her spot next to Sirius, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So…are we only having sweets for lunch, or what?" Alice asked, picking up a Chocolate Frog and twirling it between her fingers.

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Lily and James' friends had deserted them again. Not that this was a bad thing. Not for James, at least, because now it was just the two of them walking the path back to Hogwarts. Lily shivered as an icy gust of

"Hey, Evans?" he asked nervously. "Do you want my cloak? You look cold."

"You? Doing something gentlemanly?" she said, though she did let him put the cloak on her. They walked for a few minutes in silence. Then Lily spoke again. "And…"

"Yes?" he said hopefully.

"Thanks. For not being such a prat today, I mean."

"Oh. I thought you were about to declare your undying love for me," he said, kicking a rock with his foot.

"Well, for most of today, anyways," she sighed. "And thanks so much for finding my locket. I really owe…never mind. Forget I said anything," she added quickly, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I will never figure you out, Evans."

"And I will never declare my undying love for you, Potter," she said with a grin as they entered the huge stone doors of Hogwarts.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Evans. Everyone knows you secretly lust for me…" He put his hand over his heart.

"In your dreams," she said, rolling her eyes. Or maybe in mine. Oh, crap, did I just think that? I did NOT just think that! Get a hold of yourself, Lils, he's a prat, remember?

Looks like someone's still in denial…

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James couldn't believe he'd been able to have such a normal conversation with Lily, for what may be the first time in his life. He watched her emerald eyes glow with an emotion he didn't recognize. He watched her hair shine in the torchlight of the corridor they were in, and he watched the way she smiled. Her beauty, along with the fact that she was actually talking to him, made him deliriously happy. She either hadn't noticed how he was looking at her or she just didn't mind anymore, and that fact made James even happier.

"Well, anyway, Potter, much as I hate to admit it, I didn't have too bad a time today, and I have to go now," she said, motioning towards Alice, who was waiting in the corner of the Great Hall.

"All right, then," he said, sad to see the back of her. He had just had a real talk with Lily, spent most of the day with her, and none of it being shouted at by her. He could hardly believe it. He was really getting mature. Yeah. That had to be it.

And with that, he whooped triumphantly and ran back to the common room to devise a brilliant plan for how to torture Snivellus. Something to do with women's clothing, possibly.

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A/N- I like this chapter, even though it's shorter than most. I don't know why I always have Lily interrupt the kissing scenes, though. And Lily needed something to do until seventh year (when she and James get together), hence Jeremy Howes (so don't kill me…then Lily and James will never get together, then Harry will never be born…and look…you just messed up the Wizarding World. Oh, snap).

Push the sexy "GO!" button! you know you want to...