Author's Note: FAST FOWARD! I told you we'd be skipping time. Well, we're skipping now! I may not be warning you every time, but I will do my best to keep everyone caught up on whatever happened during the missed time. We'll be skipping a couple of more days after this and going straight into the first (official) Hogsmeade trip of the year.

Enjoy the randomness of this chapter. I made a few promises that I intend to keep, so I figured I'd start now.

Chapter 23: Sneaking Suspicions
Wednesday, October 19, 1977

I was rolling my head back and forth on the long Gryffindor table at breakfast. I feel like I'm going to go insane.

And with this lot, it wouldn't be a hard thing to accomplish.

Things have become very monotonous since the first Quidditch game. Quidditch practice, classes, Friday and Saturday evening gatherings of our crew in the Head's Common Room, Dueling Club. It's all rinse and repeat. The next Quidditch game, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, isn't until the 29th, which is the week after Hogsmeade.

Which is this Saturday.

Which brings me to why I am currently risking a bruise on my forehead that will last until my Christmas with the Potters.

"Marlene McKinnon, I am not brewing you another Draught of Peace," I said, not lifting my head from the table. "It's just Hogsmeade. You two have been dating long enough so that this wouldn't be an issue."

"Lils! This time it's in public," she whined.

I picked my head up to glare at her. "And being in 'public' in Hogsmeade around the majority of the Hogwarts Student Body is different from being in public here in the Great Hall because...?" I asked, not hiding my annoyance.

Marlene suddenly went silent. As much as I wished it was my doing, I knew it wasn't because that's when the Marauders decided to show up at breakfast, Dorcas and Emmeline in tow.

James sat next to me and kissed my cheek. I noticed Remus do the same with Marlene, and I just gave her my best And yet Hogsmeade is a problem? look. She rolled her eyes at me.

"While I feel like I'm going to regret asking this, where were you guys?" I asked them once they got their food on their plates.

"If I told you, we'd have to kill you," James replied with a smile, shoveling eggs into his mouth.

I felt Dorcas tap my leg from my other side. I glanced down at her hand and saw a small piece of parchment. All it said was the word "Later." I took my wand from it's seat on top of my satchel by my feet and tapped the parchment, so the ink formed a new word, "Okay."

We finished eating quickly in order to make it to Defense on time.

Towards the end of Transfigurations, a piece of parchment settled in my lap.

Remus is going to play decoy.

We'll be meeting in your common room

a hour or so after class.

Be inconspicuous.

-D

So here I was, walking to my common room with James as if there is nothing going on, while everyone else was going on their own way.

When I noticed that everyone was out of earshot, I turned to James, "What in Merlin's name is going on?" I asked him.

"We're planning something for the weekend," he said with a smirk.

"Oh? You going to fill me in or what?"

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Marlene's birthday."

I slapped my forehead. "How could I be so stupid to forget?" I exclaimed. "I knew it was coming, but didn't realize it would be here so fast."

"Did you forget to get her a gift?" he joked.

"Of course not. Bought something over the summer that I thought she'd love. Just snuck up on me, is all."

We arrived at the familiar painting of the woman in the library. "Wronski Feint," I told it, and we entered quickly.

"So everyone else, minus Moony, is going to come by soon to work on all the details?" I asked him. He nodded to confirm, so I continued. "Then what were you guys late to breakfast for?"

"Planning to plan, of course," he said with a smirk and a laugh, as if I should have known that already.

I put my satchel by the study table. "So where do we begin?"

"We begin when the others arrive. Dorcas would murder us if we started ahead of her. In the meantime," he said, coming closer to me wither every word and ending his sentence by placing his lips over mine.

I hummed into his kiss. "This I can do," I said quietly between kisses. The fire was crackling, so it was comfortably warm in the common room, so I wasn't surprised to see James take off his jumper and tie. I followed suit, and it made it so much more comfortable. James led me to the couch, laying down and pulling me on top of him. I sat on his waist and deepened the kiss as I felt him undo the first few buttons to my shirt. I giggled as I felt him sit up to move to my neck. I undid his first few buttons as well, and I felt his hand slide up my skirt a little. "You tease," I whispered in his ear.

"You like the teasing, admit it," he said, returning his attention to my lips.

"I refuse to answer that," I said, wrapping my hands around his neck and weaving my fingers through his hair. Our kisses became more passionate and hungry as the time moved on.

There was no one else in the world besides him and I.

"Oh, Merlin, Prongs. Seriously? If you were going to do this, you could have at least put those charms on the portrait hole again? I'm never going to get this image out of my head, although I have to admit, Evans, you're looking quite dashing this afternoon. And pink isn't usually a color for a ginger, but you wear it quite well," he ended, his look of shock upon entering melting into a smirk.

Okay, there was the reminder of the rest of the world's population, in the form of one Sirius Black.

Then I remembered my current state. My shirt was unbuttoned down far enough that one sleeve fell, exposing my shoulder and pink lace-covered bra. My plait hung loosely over my shoulder, coming undone somewhere around the time James started kissing my neck. I quickly jumped up and started to readjust myself. If Sirius is here, the rest are soon to follow.

James threw a pillow at Sirius. "Thanks for the warning that you were coming, you git. I had my mirror."

"I didn't think it was an issue, Prongs, seeing how you knew I was coming, but instead decided to snog your girlfriend," he said smugly, getting himself comfortable in his spot in front of the fire. He also ditched his jumper, robe, and tie. His top four buttons were undone, revealing his undershirt, but this was a common thing for Sirius. He turned to me. "Your secret is safe with me, but I would like it if you, erm, sweetened the deal, if you catch my drift." He gave me a sly smirk.

James misunderstood his smirk, and threw a pillow in his face.

"That's not what I meant, you wanker!" he exclaimed, throwing the pillow back at James with a laugh. He turned back to me. "You understood me, right?"

I started walking to the stairs, "You're blackmailing me, you know that, right?" I replied with a groan. I retreated to my room to quickly grab his sweet offering and returned to the common room to find Dorcas, Peter, and Emmeline all there and waiting. I placed the tin of pineapple on Sirius's belly (to a very happy "whoop!") and sat on the couch next to James. Dorcas was on the other side of the couch, Peter had an armchair, and Emmeline was on the floor by Sirius's head.

Dorcas had a parchment and quill on a textbook in her lap, looking ready for business. I couldn't help but giggle a little. She glared at me before beginning. "Alright, you lot. We have only about a hour before they get here. Remus said he'd make her ask us through the pendants where we are so we get an idea about when they will arrive so we can stash this parchment."

"We can hide it in my room, if you'd like since I don't share a room with her," I offered.

"That's a great idea! Thanks, Lil!" Dorcas said with a smile.

"Better yet, put it in mine," James said. "She doesn't even go in there."

I nodded at this idea and Dorcas only smiled bigger. "Excellent," she said. "Sirius, you said you'd take care of the cake?"

"With James and Peter so they can get food as well," Emmeline finished. "Lily, can you help Dorcas and me with decorations?"

"Sounds like fun!" I said, clapping my hands. "Where are we having this party?"

"In here," they all chorused.

"Thanks for the warning," I said. "When? I think that would be important to know."

"Sunday, of course," Dorcas said. "After dinner sometime."

"And how are we going to keep her away from here and not get suspicious that we're all everywhere else on her birthday?" I asked.

"That's where things get tricky. Remus is going to do a lot of the distraction, and is going to plan a nice picnic lunch for her on the grounds. That will keep her away for a few hours. She mentioned something about needing help with Transfiguration homework that is due on Monday," Dorcas explained.

"Which is where I come in," James finished. "I told her I'd help her out for a hour on Sunday, either at two or three in the afternoon. That will keep us in the library."

"And that's all we got," Dorcas said with a sigh. "We have to worry about the whole morning until lunch, then the rest of the afternoon."

"When are we suppose to get decorations?" Emmeline asked.

"I remember the way into Hogsmeade," I said quietly. "I can sneak out with Emmeline to get stuff Sunday morning."

Everyone got quiet and stared at me. Peter's mouth was hanging open slightly, Sirius dropped the piece of pineapple that he was in the process of moving to his mouth, and James was staring at me wide-eyed.

"Merlin's beard, Prongs. What did you do to her?" Peter asked.

"I don't know how I should feel about this," Sirius mumbled, picking up the pineapple he dropped on his chest to continue his snacking.

"I know how I feel," James said from behind me on the couch. He wrapped his arms around my waist tighter, pulling me close. "I'm so proud!" he exclaimed. Then he leaned close to my ear, "I think this rebel streak is hot." That comment made me blush.

Dorcas ignored my new resemblance to a lobster and continued. "That would be perfect! I can distract her in the morning with prepping for her lunch with Remus. Outfit, hair, the works. And Lily can attest to that. It takes all morning."

I groaned at the memory of my and James's first date. James laughed. "Was it really that bad before our date?"

"You have no idea," I said flatly.

Dorcas threw a pillow at me. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Dorcas, she had that boy wrapped before you even touched her that morning. She could have shown up in a sack worn by the house elves and the outcome would have been the same," Sirius said from the floor, his eyes never leaving the pineapple pieces he was eating.

"Shut up," she said, throwing a pillow at him, too, that he caught easily. She glared at him before continuing. "That would actually be perfect, Lily. What do you think, Em?"

Emmeline sat there for a moment, fidgeting a little while she thought. She looked down at Sirius next to her, her smiled up at her. She sighed before speaking. "Oh, why the hell not?" she said with a laugh. "Sounds exciting."

"That's my girl!" Sirius said, poking Emmeline in the side. We all just stared at Sirius for a moment at that statement. He just continued eating crystallized pineapple like nothing happened, while Emmeline started stroking his hair haphazardly.

James leaned next to my ear again. "You get information out of her on Sunday, and I'll get some out of him. And I bet you five Sickles he's asleep before this meeting's done, with how she's stroking his hair."

"You're on," I whispered back. "And I plan on asking many questions on Sunday, believe me."

"What's that?" Dorcas asked us.

"Nothing," James and I answered in unison.

She continued. "Okay, so we have the boys on food duty, the girls on decorations. We take turns distracting Marlene in one way, shape, or form throughout the day. We all go to dinner like nothing is going on. Remus will keep in touch through James's mirror, yes?"

"We can do that," James said. "Just make sure you get the mirror from Sirius."

"What do you think, Sirius?" Dorcas asked. No answer.

We looked down at Sirius, who was sleeping soundly next to Emmeline, who was still stroking his hair. She was actively trying not to laugh at the result of her casual sign of affection.

"You owe me five Sickles," James said to me.

I was about to reply to that with some snarky comment when I felt my pendant heat up. Emmeline and Dorcas noticed, too, but I was able to get to mine first, since Dorcas had her hands full and Emmeline's hands were busy.

We're coming up the Grand Staircase.

We're about at the fifth floor, be there soon

-RL

"They're at the fifth floor," I told the group. With that James reached over me and grabbed the parchment out of Dorcas's grip and jumped off the couch. Unfortunately, I was practically sitting in his lap. I ended up on the floor, which in turn woke up Sirius, who knocked Emmeline over, who grabbed Dorcas's leg, pulling her down, too. Peter was the only one left upright and was holding his side due to a stitch that formed from his laughter.

James came back down the stairs and saw us all laying on the floor in a heap. "Was that my fault?" he asked.

I looked up at him and raised my eyebrow. "It was a domino effect, but if you really want to get technical, yes."

This caused him to start laughing. Sirius, Dorcas, Emmeline, and I looked at each other and realized how ridiculous we looked and we started to laugh, too. This is when Remus and Marlene decided to enter the common room.

"Did we miss something?" Marlene asked when she saw the state we were in.

This only caused us all, including Remus, to just start laughing again. Marlene just stood there completely confused.

Author's Note Part 2: Request from istolethecookie: complete. Hope you like it!