A/N: Sorry for the lateness, hope this chapter makes up for it!

4.

Lily twirled around in front of the mirror as her eyes trailed apprehensively over the dark green, deep-necked dress she was wearing. The v-shaped neckline was lined with shining beads, as was the border. The color matched her eyes perfectly and the trail of the dress ended an inch above her knees. Her red curls had been left open, with only a small pin to pull them up on one side. Selena had taken the privilege of subtly lining Lily's eyes and lashes with a layer of eye-liner and mascara, giving them a slightly smoky look. The pretty dress that clung to her petite five foot frame along with the black heels definitely gave her a defined sexy look.

"What do you think?" she said to Selena, as she nervously bit her lower lip.

Her best friend smirked back. She herself was looking stunning in a short black number and a hint of make up that complimented her flawless, glowing complexion. Her red coated lips pulled back into a smile to reveal a set of perfect white teeth.

"You're going to make all the males at the party fall flat at your feet. I don't settle for anything less than perfection, you know. All you need now is a little more attitude."

Lily smiled back, feeling a little excited. This party was definitely going to be amazing, after all the marauders were hosting it. James had told her that he had invited over seventy people for the main party, but the 'after party' (as he called it) which would be more private, was to be held in the marauders dorm and it was only for the Gryffindor seventh years. Truthfully, she was more excited about the last part. For some reason, she just felt like letting go and having fun for once. This was going to be her last year and she wanted to do more than just study and get good grades. She had always had fun at Hogwarts but always within a certain limit. Agreed, the last term had been a little on the outgoing side but she had a feeling this year was going to be all the more that way, because of their new found friendship with the ultimate pranksters- the marauders.

James let his jaw drop down as he saw Lily walk down the stairs with Selena. He vaguely felt something make a sudden movement in his throat (not to mention somewhere else as well) , before the sexy goddess glided towards him and looked at him expectantly.

"Hey." She said softly, biting down on her lower lip.

"Hey." He managed to croak out.

"Good enough for the marauder's party?" she laughed nervously.

"Beyond that." He replied.

She laughed again, more confident this time.

"Let's go. As head boy and head girl, we should make sure everything runs smoothly."

"Yeah, let's go. We should probably go and check the kitchens to make sure all the food is ready. Everything else has already been taken care of by Sirius."

"By Sirius? James, are you sure Sirius can take care of all that?" Lily asked, looking skeptical.

"Lily, Lily, Lily, he might not be any good at keeping track of homework, but Sirius is the ultimate party animal," he said, grinning down at her.

LILY POV

As they walked across the common room, Lily let her gaze fall nonchalantly on the boy next to her. He was wearing a casual, yet elegant button up shirt (with a lot of buttons undone). It was made of a dark-blue, translucent fabric, which sort of clung to his muscled chest. His hair had been gelled and messed up again (very precisely, though) and he had on some amazing smelling cologne. Of course, considering that she had seen him shirtless, this was a definite improvement. Not that the lack of clothing on his upper body, or any part for that matter, affected her in any way, of course. He could have been stark naked and she wouldn't have blinked an eye. Exactly my point, you wouldn't have taken the time to blink an eye if you started staring at him!... Shut up!

"Umm…. .Lily?

"Huh?" I said, jerking out of my thoughts.

"You've kind of been muttering to yourself for the last few minutes, not that I minded. It was kind of cute actually, but we've come to the kitchens…."

Sirius downed another glass of firewhisky at the free bar, as he looked on at the ongoing party with a satisfied smirk on his face. It was still going in full swing even though it had been over two hours since everybody had hit the dance floor. He had been there with Selena until now, when he decided he wanted to go check on the party from a distance for a while. The room was looking unbelievably amazing. The marauders had cleared away all the furniture and made a dance floor complete with disco lights in the center of the common room. All the lights had been dimmed as the band they had hired (and sneaked in through their many secret passage ways) belted out popular beats. Couples who weren't busy on the dance floor were heatedly snogging on the classy black couches arranged across from the drinks. Countless bottles of butter beer and Firewhisky had been brought in from Hogsmead. Almost everyone invited had showed up. As if they would decline the marauder's invitation, he thought smugly. He could see the Ravenclaw hottie Brittany Parker closely entangled with their roommate Jake. Sasha and Myka seemed to have found some blokes from Hufflepuff. Even Lily seemed to be enjoying herself as she and Selena danced with James and Peter. Looking at his girlfriend suddenly made him want nothing more than all of them to be up in the marauder's dorm. Hmm, time to wrap up this party.

He strutted across to the centre of the dance floor and took the mike from a band member.

"Hi again everybody. I wanted to thank you all for making this party, well…simply amazing really-"

He was greeted by a loud chorus of appreciative catcalls and wolf-whistles.

"I want to propose a toast."

As he said the words, a glass of wine appeared in everybody's hands including his.

"As you all know, this is going to be our last year at Hogwarts. After this year all of us are going to go our separate ways and even if we do meet again, it will never be the same as right now, when we are united students of Hogwarts. I hope that this year will be special and memorable for each one of us here. So here's to an awesome and unforgettable seventh year."

"To seventh year." They all chorused, as they took a sip from their respective glasses.

"And now before we disperse to our dorms, let's have the final surprise that we have in store for you today."

As if on cue, the lights went out, leaving everybody in pitch black darkness. No one realized Sirius and James slipping away towards the door, as murmurs erupted all around.

REMUS POV

It had been almost five minutes since James and Sirius had silently sneaked out. Time to guide their increasingly impatient guests towards the window, to see the magnificent play of lights created by the marauders.

"Sonorus" he muttered, pointing his wand at his throat.

"Attention Everybody! I'd like you to look towards the window please."

The window had been magically enlarged to give a fairly large view of the outside sky. Three, two, one-

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere the sky appeared to burst with red and yellow, as gigantic fireworks erupted into the night sky. Chimaeras and Dragons seemed to twist and dance in the sky alongside a wolf, a dog, a stag and a tiny rat. The explosions were fairly loud, but Remus was sure the staff had already chosen to ignore a lot about the marauder style party. As for the crowd, they seemed ready to all but declare the marauders as the ultimate beings that ever walked the halls of Hogwarts.

Remus saw the distinct outlines of a stag and a huge dog returning from the grounds, as the last of the fireworks sizzled in the air. Slowly, the crowd started to thin out as people began leaving for their common rooms in groups of threes and fours. Finally, when only the marauders, Jake, Lily, Selena, Sasha and Myka were left, Sirius let out a taunting grin.

"You guys ready for the real party now?"

The girls nodded and made their way up the stairs.

LILY'S POV

We weaved up the staircase, finally reaching the Marauders' and Jake's dorm. Sirius turned the door knob and bowed grandly as we walked into the room. Myka and Sasha looked around, feeling a little shy. Me, Sel and Ash had been here before, but it was their first time. Ashley and I looked around and giggled a little. James turned to us, looking a little confused at our sudden giggling, but then just sighed and said, "what are you two laughing about? You better not be planning anything," he warned.

"No, no, we're completely innocent," I said smirking a little at him.

"Oh yeah, when you say it like that, it seems totally believable," he said dryly.

"Well, we aren't planning anything at the moment. It's just; we were waiting for Myka's and Sasha's reaction on seeing your room. We never imagined it to be so neat and tidy all of a sudden. I'm impressed."

James smiled sheepishly at me. "Remus made us clean it up. Trust me, if you had been in here a few hours ago, you would have probably been disgusted. It was looking ten times worse than usual."

Remus looked at me. "No, you wouldn't have been disgusted, Lily. You just wouldn't have come within ten feet of any of us for fear of getting some sort of disease," he said.

"Well, you weren't the cleanest either Moony," said James indignantly.

"Yes James, even I wasn't perfect. But a few stray clothes here and there are nothing compared to having at least five boxers on each of your bed posts and having shoes and socks trailing all over the room. Not to mention the half eaten food lying all around. " said Remus.

"For your information, two of those boxers belonged to Jake!"

"Aha! Which brings us to the more prominent question, what were they doing on your bed?" said Remus, winking.

"Hey!-"

"Alright, alright, let's start with the game now." Said Sirius, breaking up their squabble.

"Alright, so everyone needs to sit around that." Said James, pointing to what appeared to be a fairly large bowl covered by a sheet, in the middle of the dorm.

After they had all taken their places, he proceeded to explain the rules.

EVERYONE'S POV

"Okay, so someone starts the game by saying either a word or a phrase to the next person and basically this sheet acts like a screen and displays the first thought that enters the person's mind when he hears the word or phrase."

A murmur of understanding and appreciation followed. A little apprehension could also be sensed.

"Okay, who's going to go first?" said James, raising his eyes lazily to meet Sirius's.

His twin-like brother grinned back haughtily. "Need you ask?"

"Right. Padfoot, 'melted chocolate' "

An image of a golden, slender leg, covered in dark, creamy chocolate appeared on the screen. The image started near her toes, and slowly moved upwards.

"Stop!" said Sirius horrified.

All at once, everyone (except Selena who looked torn between amusement and the urge to cry out loud) burst out laughing, as they watched the usually calm and unbothered Sirius, go red with embarrassment.

"Ahh Padfoot you naughty naughty boy. Is this what Selena feeds you in the kitchens? " winked James, notoriously.

"You are six feet of pure evil you prat." Said Sirius, as he wacked James on the back of his head.

"Moving on, Myka- 'Green grass' "

An image of a green pasture, with several girls lying down on their backs, heads in a circle, appeared.

James raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"My friends from home. We were like sisters." She smiled softly.

The pattern continued, until it was Selena's turn to ask Lily.

"Hmm….Lily- 'Old White couch' "

Lily's curious face morphed into one of utter disbelief as an image of an older boy she had unfortunately made out with, after a drunken party at Selena's over the summer, came into view. Lily and him were entwined so closely, that it was hard to distinguish her face clearly.

"Holy Shit! Sel you are so dead!" she shrieked as James yelped "Who the hell is that?"

"Did you….?" said Sirius loudly.

"Nooo! Ugh! Never! But like I would tell you!"

"Hmm, good to know little sis." He said a little relieved.

"Though you're one to talk" she added.

"It's okay Prongs, just a snogging session see."

"And why should it affect him?" barked Lily loudly, still pissed about being embarrassed in front of everyone.

"Huh?" said James, a little hurt showing in his eyes for a moment, before he replaced it with the usual mischievous glint and said, "Always interesting to know the dirty details about the perfect head girl's life."

Lily's replying glare could have had the ability to burn a hole right through him.

"Jeez Lils! Just kidding." He said as he let his fingers trace a comforting, single stroke down her back.

Her face heated up as she felt tingles down her spine. No! She would not forgive the arrogant prat so easily. Erm….on the other hand he was just kidding. So whatever lets forget it, she thought, as he slowly tilted his head to the right, attempting to decipher her expressions.

"It's my turn to ask James!" she shouted suddenly, startling everyone in the room.

James chuckled affectionately, muttering "So unpredictable."

"Hmm….James…. 'Fantasies with Minerva'" she said slowly, grinning evilly.

"You little minx." He said horrified, as a picture of his professor in a one piece swimsuit, exposing her bony legs and diving into a pool, appeared.

"Bad boy James!" barked Sirius, as everyone burst out laughing uncontrollably. Remus actually had tears streaming down his face.

"That perfect ensemble. Priceless." He managed to get out before once again clutching his sides, as he rolled on the floor laughing with the rest.

"Do tell us James," said Sirius weakly, "how is...what do you think.." he broke down laughing again.

"What do you think of her cat?" he finished, as all the guys started to howl with laughter.

"Ew! Sirius you absolute perv!" yelled Lily, toppling over with laughter, as they understood Sirius' double meaning.

And so the seventh years could be seen rolling on the floor that night, shaking helplessly with laughter, before Sirius passed on the drinks once again, which resulted in the entire group getting drunk, acting crazy, and finally passing out on the floor, ensnared by a deep slumber. It had been a truly amazing night, a night which all those teenagers, though it would take them time to realize, would forever cherish as a symbol of how true friendship and love, can make life so beautiful.

A/N: So? Am i getting reviews? More reviews=faster updates :p