Hello all you people out in cyber space! Here's Chapter 5 for you. I could also use some feedback about what I need to fix and stuff like that. That would be very nice. OK, back to the story.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, who is an amazing author.

Becca POV

As the days dragged past, turning slowly into a week, two weeks, then three weeks, Becca wondered why she was still hanging around Lily. Lily was the epicenter of their group, and since she wasn't talking to Becca, Becca's life quickly grew very boring and uneventful. Her classes became almost unbearable because if she so much as glanced at James, Sirius, or Remus, Lily smacked her. Hard. Becca had a number of bruises up and down her arms to prove it. However, during an exceptionally boring History of Magic lecture by Professor Binns, Lily fell asleep. Seizing her opportunity, Becca turned to the back, watching all four boys having a competition that seemed to involve a lot of little multi-colored puffs of smoke. Please, someone turn around! Suddenly, Remus twisted in his seat to face the front, checking if the coast was still clear. In a second, his eyes found hers. Help me! she mouthed. He gave her a questioning look. Becca jerked her head in Lily's direction. She could almost see the light bulb go off in his head. Remus nodded, then turned back around. He started whispering animatedly, then James wrote something down. He waved his wand, and the note folded itself into a little owl, which weaved its way around various ankles until it came to a stop on Becca's shoe. Picking it up, she opened it and saw a note in James's messy scrawl.

When class ends, have your bag already packed.

We'll walk past, and you just stand up and walk

with us. Lily doesn't stand a chance, unfortunately.

Ickle Prongsiekins

Becca looked back again, grinning. She grabbed a new piece of parchment.

Ickle Prongsiekins? Nice try, Padfoot.

And I never unpack my bag, anyway.

DON'T FORGET. Oh, and you all are

life savers. See you after class.

Becca

P.S. Dog seemed most applicable.

She waved her wand, and the note folded itself into a little dog, which she set on the floor. It ran across the classroom until it stopped at Sirius's feet. Picking it up, he mouthed A dog? For me? at her, then read the note. He grinned, then passed the note around. The rest of class took forever, but as soon as the hour struck, all four boys were there as promised. Before Lily could do anything, Becca was out of the room. Glancing back, she saw that Lily looked furious. Becca smiled. Together, the five of them walked to lunch, and Becca found herself laughing for the first time in weeks. As they walked into the Great Hall, however, she noticed a lot of people staring. Not only Gryffindors, but a fair amount of Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Even a couple Hufflepuffs, who didn't usually gossip, were looking at them!

"Do people usually stare at you when you walk to lunch?"

"Nah, but today Padfoot's hair looks awful, which is so unheard of that people have to see it," James joked. Sirius, his hair looking as perfect as ever, punched him in the gut.

"Can't… Breathe…"

"It's because of you," Remus explained, "When Lily's best friend is hanging around James, it's bound to create rumors." On the other side of Remus, James was messing up Sirius's hair and Sirius was taking James's glasses in retaliation.

"People notice that kind of stuff?"

"Word gets around." By now, they had all sat down and started eating. Sirius looked up.

"So how are you and Lily?"

"We're… Um… Well, you saw how she's acting." Sirius laughed.

"Figures. Ickle Prongsiekins over here was pining away for her again this morning. Can you tell him anything that might make him shut up?" He chuckled, dodging James's half-hearted fist.

"All I can say is good luck being less than ten meters away from her." James sighed, clearly disappointed. Becca wanted to cheer him up, but how?

"Hey, guys?" All four boys looked up, Sirius still holding James's glasses, Remus with his wand out to stop them, and Peter mid-cheer.

"Do you need anyone to help you with, ah, one of your little projects?" Instantly, James had his glasses back, Remus's wand was in his cloak pocket again, and Peter was eating.

"You're the perfect person for this. We need to lock Filch out of his pathetic excuse of an office so that he can't write us down for detention when the real stuff happens. However, we need you to make Filch's story unbelievable because no teacher is going to believe you were with us." Sirius grinned, clearly in his element. Becca smiled back. She couldn't wait.

"When can we go?"

Lily POV

As Lily walked into lunch, she noticed that there was something going on at the end of the Gryffindor lunch table. Looking at the end, she saw Becca with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. What was Becca doing? Suddenly, she realized that one of her other good friends, Emily, was pulling her down to her seat.

"Hey, Lily? Are you alright?" Lily shook her head.

"Since when does Becca, my best friend, ditch me to be with James and his posse?!"

"Maybe she wanted a change? After all, you weren't even talking to her…"

"That doesn't give her the right to hang out with her best friend's worst enemy!" Lily snapped back. She couldn't believe Becca would do something so underhanded and just plain treacherous! Well, OK, maybe she could understand why she would want to be around Sirius, and even Remus, but James? And Peter still acted like a first year. How could Becca do something like this?!

OK, I'm sorry for the short chapter. But the next chapters will be action – packed, I promise!