I coughed as the green smoke swirled around me until it was impossible for me to see. This was definitely the worse part about traveling by Floo powder. Thankfully, it only lasted for a few seconds, and I slid out of the fireplace onto the floor and almost hit my head on Dumbeldore's desk. Thankfully, Sirius was there to catch me before I did any real damage to myself.

"Evans, how many years has it been since you started this?" he scoffed.

I frowned at him, and walked out of the office. James must have just come out of the fireplace moments after I left, because not even a minute later, they were both chasing me down the hallways of the fourth floor. Suddenly, I turned around and faced them.

"Lily-flower," James called.

I stared at the two boys. "Listen to me, carefully. Whatever happened at Potter Manor, stays at Potter Manor. Now leave me alone. I have a ton of makeup work to be done." OK, so maybe that was a bit harsh, but I couldn't have people thinking that I was nice to the boys.

James stared at me in disgust. "I thought you were going to be different this term, Evans." He walked away, shaking his head.

Sirius laughed at me. "Nice going, Evans, now you're going to have to share a dorm with Sir Sobs-A-Lot. You couldn't have put that any nicer?" He ran to catch up with his friend, and I continued on the way to the Gryffindor common room.

When I reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, she yelled at me, "I saw what happened back there with Mr. Potter, Ms. Evans! That was completely out of line."

I sighed, "That's great, and I really don't care right now. Patronus utilis." The Fat Lady didn't reply, yet swung open to reveal Alice and Marlene standing at the door. Alice gave me a huge hug.

"Oh my goodness, what happened? I mean, Dumbledore came in and explained to us what happened, but what happened?" That was Alice. She and Marlene had a standing bet on when James and I would get together. The two things I protest more than anything else- gambling, and James Potter dating me, ew.

I laughed. "Nothing happened at all. I mean, we went to the funeral, we drank a bit that night, and that was it."

Marlene looked scandalized. "You, Lily Evans, drank?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Potter brought us some firewhiskey and let us have at it. She even drank with us!" Mrs. Potter drunk certainly was a funny sight to imagine, and we all cracked up.

Marlene stopped giggling. "What about you and James, how's that going?"

I laughed even harder. "That's a moot point, because we really have no relationship to begin with. The closest we ever got to swapping spit was the one bottle of firewhiskey we all shared." She looked almost sad about it.

I sobered up a bit. "Listen, guys. I needed to be there for him, because if I didn't then he would be miserable all year, and I couldn't work with him. That's it."

Alice laughed. "Sure, Lils. Now, tell us all about your summer."

Sirius told me, "Look, mate, she's just being stupid. You know how she gets."

I sighed. "Yeah, but this is the last chance I have. After seventh year, we're done. If I screw this up, I can't make it better."

Remus and Peter saw us walking, and came up to us. Remus nodded at me, while Peter gave me a hug. For a rat, he sure has a bear grip.

"So, where are we going?" Peter asked. I contemplated for a second, then replied, "My room."

Sirius gave a huge cheer, and led the way to my new dorm. I said the password, and we entered.

My room was the neatest place in the world. It was all red and green, which made it look like Christmas. The wallpaper had famous Quidditch teams on it, flying. On my bed was a spell that would allow me to enter the game for an hour a day.

Sirius immediately took the spell and entered the game. Peter snuck into the mini fridge, which would be filled with any sort of food I wanted. Remus sat on my bed and chuckled to himself.

"What are you smirking at?" I asked him.

Remus grinned. "Oh, nothing in particular."

I held up my wand. "Remus, I swear to Godric, if you don't tell me-"

Remus held up his hands in protest. "All right, all right! It's just, the password."

I laughed. "Yeah, I know. It's great, isn't it?"

Peter looked up imploringly.

Sirius screamed from inside my wallpaper, "CORAZON MEANS HEART IN SPANISH, WORMTAIL!"

Peter laughed. "Oh, as in you and Lily!"

I rolled my eyes. "No, as in me and Cierra Dragonsmead.

Peter appeared shocked, but I knew he was joking. "Cierra, as in the one dating Vincent Bulstrode?"

Remus laughed. "Yes, Peter, James and Cierra became engaged last summer, didn't he tell you?"

Peter screamed. "HIDE ME! HIDE ME! DON'T MAKE ME COME, PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME COME!"

I smiled. "Didn't I tell you, Wormy? Padfoot couldn't make it to the wedding, so you and Moony are my best men!"

Peter fell onto my bed, yelling, "SAY IT AIN'T SO, PRONGS! SAY IT AIN'T SO!"

Remus and I stared at each other for a second, but all pretenses were dropped and we fell onto the floor, laughing as hard as was possible. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I called.

Lily's voice yelled back at me. "Will you three be quiet? I have a lot of work to do, and you should be catching up,too! And Remus, did you tell him about the dance? How did you and Alice do?"

I stared at Remus. He rolled his eyes. We had a lot of catching up to do.