Disclaimer: Well, for all you guys know, I could be J.K. Rowling in disguise. But I really doubt she has the time or inclination. Thus, this all belongs to her. Except for the liberties I have taken with Sirius being gay. I do apologise to anyone for making him so, I actually don't like him being gay myself. It's just for the sake of this particular story. And Anna Smirnov is also mine.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it!

Forneverandnever: Sorry, you'll find out next chapter! haha i'm so evil. It is coming soon though, don't worry!

jillybean90: I notice you are an Aussie like me. High five. I felt the conversation (or rather, argument) at the end was necessary, to alleviate the emotional tension.

Mr. Prongs: Haha yeah I couldn't resist! I just love the Marauders. Thanks for the ideas for this chapter, I honestly had little idea of how I was going to go about this, but you'll see I took some of your advice…thank you!

As for any 'conversations' in my story, Padfoot is bold, Moony is italicized, Prongs is normal, and Wormtail is bold and italicized.

Feel free to discontinue reading. I'm gay in this story, you see.

Padfoot, she already discussed this with you. You get through this one, and she'll write another one where you get lots of chick action and lame cliché Sirius moments.

Maybe she'll even throw in some of your lame jokes.

My jokes are not lame.

…

Remus don't raise your eyebrow at me like that. Sirius Black is the master of humour.

Okay, you two, let's get on with the story, shall we, or I'll never get with Lily.

Yeah, cos that's totally what everyone's reading this story for. To see you get the girl. It makes me spew.

Well they're not here for you.

Oh, read the summary, will you? It's all about me.

Do you too always have to argue about who deserves the most attention?

Well, it's not like there's anyone else to really challenge us for it.

I'll bet you ten galleons I get Anna before you get Lily, Prongs.

You're on!

Dances and Dramas Part 1

Lily's P.O.V.

Okay, dance time. This is going to be one interesting night. I'd usually look forward to dances, but this time, I'm going to have to try and go with James without acting like I'm with him, try not to act weird around Sirius so that James doesn't realise anything's going on, apologise to Sirius without letting James see, so that he doesn't, once again, realise anything's going on, try and avoid James without him thinking that I am avoiding him, acting like I'm having fun when I'm really not, trying to look nice for James but at the same time not so nice that he's all over me and makes Sirius jealous –

"LILY! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"

Well, so much for my internal rant. Anna better be on death's row.

Anna's P.O.V.

Oh my god. Oh. My. God. My hair is gone. It was there one minute, gone the next. Okay, so it's not completely gone. Let's just say it's now probably about…hmm…seventy-five per cent gone.

"LILY! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"

I can hear Lily groan but she comes over, peeking her head round the bathroom door. And then she claps a hand to her mouth and bursts out laughing.

"Lily Evans, this is serious! I can't go to the dance with all my hair gone!"

"What did you do?!"

Hands on hips, I glare at her. If this was any other situation, I would laugh, I admit it. But I practically look like a guy! Like a blonde Sirius Black. Imagine that. That is definitely not going to be the way I get Sirius. Although he's so in love with himself I suppose it might work. Lily is still trying her best not to collapse on the floor in hysterics.

"Okay, Lils, it's really not that funny. You just enjoy reveling in my embarrassment. If you really want to know, I used some of that free stuff they gave out in Hogsmeade last weekend, that hair growth formula, whatever it's called."

Lily picks up the now empty can, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow (not the norm, I assure you, she's just trying to impress James), and reads the slogan:

"10 inches in 10 minutes…Ha! I'm assuming they meant lose 10 inches, hmm?"

I glare at her. The deathly Russian glare I reserve for perverts and, well, friends who laugh at me.

"Oh Anna, how many times do I keep telling you to stop using all that free stuff? Don't you remember the time you used that weird face cream made from, what was it…"

"Billywig wings."

"That's right! And you woke up the next morning -"

"- with orange skin, I remember."

"It kinda reminded me of that time Petunia tried to use this stuff called fake tan…"

"Okay Lily." I'd had enough of this. "What do I do?"

Lily just smiled at me.

"What do you think? Go to the dance, Anna, it honestly doesn't look that bad. I know your hair is your thing, but…well, maybe this is a good thing."

"How can this be a good thing, Lily?!" I practically screeched at her, probably a little OTT but I am practically hysterical right now. I hate it how she always looks at the positive side of things. But that's probably what she calls my negative aura.

"Are you telling me, that if you looked like me right now, you would not be worried in the slightest?"

"Well probably not to the degree you are. I mean, I'm not trying to impress anybody…"

Oh, come off it. She practically worships James. She's had her eyebrows done, she's wearing the most makeup she almost looks like a different person, oh, and she spent about three hours straightening her (already straight) hair in my bathroom (she couldn't let James see how long she was taking to 'prepare', you see). But I don't say any of this. The remaining hair I have would probably be ripped out.

I let out an exaggerated sigh. From what I've seen on muggle TV shows, I'd probably make a fantastic lead. Dramatic, self-absorbed, guy-obsessed. How pathetic. Lily's right, it doesn't look that bad. It's probably more the fact that it's so different. But if it's taken me this long to get used to it then imagine what everyone else is going to think.

"Anna, screw it, seriously. You can't not go. You look great, I'm being completely honest with you. You know I wouldn't tell you that you did if you didn't. It's just…very, very…different!"

And all of a sudden, I don't care anymore.

"You're right. Screw it. Screw Sirius Black -"

"- yes you have mentioned your desire to do that many times -"

"- oh not literally, you know what I mean. Although, I suppose I wouldn't mind…"

Lily's POV

I roll my eyes as Anna drifts no doubt into some daydream about making out with Sirius Black. I must admit I've had them myself, although they stopped around fifth year, around about the same time that he told me he was not heterosexually inclined…

Not that Anna knows that, of course. I'd die rather than tell her, let alone tell James. I suppose some might call it torture, keeping this secret between Sirius and myself. But it would be worse for him if anyone found out. I never actually promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. But that's all the more of a reason not to. I know that he trusted me enough not to even ask me.

Well, I've tried to look fairly decent. I'm sure Anna thinks it's for James. I guess it is. It's rather pointless really, as nothing is going to happen. I've pretty much restricted myself to talking to him the entire night.

I really don't like doing this to him. I know he likes me an awful lot. Well, Anna tells me all the time. Every time we're in the Great Hall eating breakfast it's "Lils, he's looking at you…again."

And then there's the asking me out. Which happens numerous times each week. I must admit he has become less…eager…but that's probably due to six years of rejection. I get worried sometimes that being friends with him isn't enough, and that he'll get sick of me if I don't show some sign of returned affection. I don't want to lose him as a friend, but I've been friends with Sirius for a lot longer. Despite arguing with him, there is no way I will risk losing his friendship, we've been through too much together. I just get the feeling that I won't be able to keep them both for much longer.

James' POV

Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. This is it. The big night. Thank God Lily wasn't in the heads common room getting ready, I wouldn't want her to see how long it took me. Remus has just informed me it was two hours, thirty-two minutes and 12 seconds. I pretty much went through every item of clothing I own. Which isn't actually all that much, but I had to get it just right. Peter keeps telling me it's utterly pointless because Lily doesn't like me. As usual, I ignored him.

I've decided not to let on that I overheard Sirius' 'conversation' with Lily. Well, at least not yet. I don't want to cause any trouble before the dance. I'm fairly confident she doesn't like him. At least, from what I heard, it seemed like he was doing all the yelling at her for spending time with me. Why would she go with me if she was with him? Something doesn't make sense here.

Remus interrupts my thoughts.

"Prongs, we should uh, probably go. Where are you meeting Lily?"

Come to think of it, we never decided on that. I guess we just figured we'd meet each other there.

"Let's just go. Oh hey, Remus, who are you going with?"

He flushed.

"I asked Anna last night. We're just…going as friends."

Hmm. Interesting.

Peter rolls his eyes. "Rem, you seriously need to get over her. You've had this crush on her since god knows when. And everyone knows she likes -"

"Wormtail! Who are you taking?" (I figure Sirius does not need his ego further inflated by knowledge that yet another female is obsessed with him. I'm not going to give him that satisfaction right now).

Peter looks embarrassed.

"Oh, I uh, couldn't get anyone."

Sirius claps him on the back.

"Not to worry mate, we can be partners! Believe it or not, but Sirius Black has elected to go alone!"

I raise an eyebrow at this.

"Surely you could have got anyone you wanted?"

"Oh, well I figured I'd have more fun watching you guys make complete idiots of yourselves trying to dance." Great. So he has no one to distract himself with. Well, as far as I know he and Lily haven't made up, so I might be able to get in before he has a chance.

Lily's POV

Well, we finally made it. It took another half an hour of convincing before Anna finally relented and decided she looked decent enough to make an appearance. We managed to put some of my Muggle hair gel to make it look slightly less…shocking. She's still a bit nervous, though, she's scratching her nose. I always tell her how unattractive it is. But the poor thing can't help it. Not that she needs to be nervous. There are a million guys out there who would kill to go out with someone like her. I mean, with hair like hers…ah, well. Maybe that's why she's nervous.

"When do you reckon they're gonna get here?" Anna runs a hand nervously through her hair, which of course now doesn't take her nearly as long.

"Who?" I ask with feigned surprise, as we make our way into the Great Hall, which is displaying the outside night sky, with the exception that the stars are multicoloured and loud music is playing. Oh, and the house tables are gone; replaced by a large expanse of what one can only assume is the dance floor. There are already a good number of people here.

"Oh, Lily, as if we're the only ones awaiting the presence of the fantastic and renowned party-goers the Marauders."

"Mmm."

"Oh god. Lily, hide me. They're here."

I turn around to where she's pointing. At the entrance to the hall, of course. Wow, James looks good. (A/N: Here many people feel it necessary to launch into a wonderfully descriptive paragraph about what James is wearing. I tend not to notice what guys wear that much, other than 'oh he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt'. So let's not go there). Its hard not to notice, really. He can't see us, which is probably a good thing, or he'd find me staring rather approvingly. Sirius does, though. Crap. Look away now, look away. I don't really have to worry though, because Anna is dragging me in the opposite direction…

"What are you doing?!"

"Lily, I'm sorry, but I really can't do this."

"But I have to go over there! I'm supposed to be with James! And you can't let Remus down. Or did you forget that you said you'd go with him?"

"I just can't while…while he's there."

Sirius Black. Why does everything around here have to revolve around him? I was the one who suggested Remus ask Anna to the dance in a desperate hope that she may get over Sirius. Remus likes her, I'm sure of that. But from the way Anna is attempting to get the hell away from the marauders right now, I can't say that the plan is working very well.

I can't say I really mind that we're now engulfed in a crowd of people dancing to the Weird Sisters. I mean, I'd rather put off the awkward meeting for as long as possible.

"Lily, this is fun!" Anna starts dancing, her hair bouncing up and down rather comically, a forced grin on her face. I notice we are now surrounded by a group of giggling girls around half our height.

"Yeah. We're dancing alone with a bunch of first-years. This is thrilling." I roll my eyes.

I'm about to grab Anna's hand and take her to the bathroom for a little pep talk when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Lily?"

…

"And…Smirnov? Is that you?"

I decided to divide this chapter into two, just cos a lot will be happening. And I will be posting part 2 soon!

Please review and tell me what you think, or I'll be forced to get out the marauders once again to convince you!