Hola everyone! I hope that everyone has had a good week. Before we get started with this chapter, I thought I would quickly mention a few things from some reviews from the last chapter.

As to the questions about Neville (from the books) actually being related to the Creevey's, I'm actually not 100% sure. I was originally planning on having it just be her cousin or something, but there would still be that love of magic that is in their blood. I don't know. I could change that if I do decide to write something for the actual series. It's still up in the air at this point.

Now, Remus getting a girlfriend has been kind of a fickle thing for me. I realize that they are all teenagers and are going to date. That's half the reason why Ursula and James have this weird thing going on (which will be addressed a fair bit in this chapter) and why Elyse still has Pat, and Peter now has his girl. Remus just always struck me as the type of person who wouldn't have a girlfriend. I mean, look at what Tonks had to go through with him. He's not just going to find someone who will accept him. That's the thing that could happen though. Maybe a girl who doesn't accept him...that could be a good mini plot line. Who knows, I still have three more school years to write. This could change before then.

And for the readers who have mixed feeling about Ursula and James together, know that I feel the same way. It's just one of those things. It's not going to really make a difference in the long run. James still gets Lily and Ursula and James just remain extremely close friends (like brother and sister) their entire lives.

My favorite part of last chapter, and possibly the entire series, was the sorting hat song. I just love writing them. The inspiration for this one actually came from me thinking that if the sorting hat actually existed, it would be almost impossible to sort some people because they have qualities from all the houses. Hence, the song was created! It was so fun to write. It's possibly the funnest thing to do in this series. I love that you all love them because they are like my babies. I actually start writing them chapters before they are used because I want them to be as perfect as possible.

Last but not least, I would like to say a special thank you to Ariana-Peachy. When I read your review, I honestly couldn't believe it. Maybe it's that I always think I could write better or I second guess myself too much, but I could never even fathom someone feeling that way about what I write. That is what made it so special and overall wonderful. So once again, thank you so much.

Sorry about the length of this author's note. Please continue with the story! Oh, just to cover my bases. I don't own anything that you might recognize. I only own my characters and my own personal plot lines.

It was very obvious from the get go that this year would not be like other years. McGonagall gave them a stern speech about the seriousness of OWLs and how they could determine the rest of your life. James slept through the entire lecture. Professor Sprout spoke about how many people underestimated the importance of herbology. Sirius and Peter played a game of cards under the desk. Slughorn, ever the jolly soul he was, reassured them that they would all be able to get a passing grade as long as they paid attention. The only people who paid attention to that were Lily and Snape.

That was all on the first day. The second day of school was the most interesting without question.

Elyse was awoken by a surprised scream from across the room. She jumped out of bed, grabbing her wand off her night stand and tried to jump out of bed, only to fall cocooned in her blankets.

"What's wrong!" Marlene shouted as she too was abruptly woken up.

Ursula was sitting on her bed with her hand over her heart, hyperventilating. "That bloody bird was on my pillow!" She shouted in defense, gesturing at the all black owl, now safely at the top of her canopy, holding onto a single red rose and a note.

"Whose owl is that?" Lily questioned, walking over to look at the slightly familiar bird. "I've seen it before."

Ursula grabbed her glasses and stared at the creature, shock and recognition revealed that she definitely knew the bird and the owner. Elyse was about to ask, for it seemed familiar to her too, when Ursula jumped up and grabbed the note and rose from the bird. The bird affectionately pecked her on the cheek and instantly, Elyse knew who the bird was. Puffy, James's personal owl was dyed completely black.

As Ursula read the note (turning slightly pink) Lily moved closer to inspect the bird. Elyse tried to hold her back but she couldn't without drawing attention to herself. Lily looked up and cocked her head to the side as she observed the owl. It spun around on the banister and hooted at her before jumping down to her shoulder. She shrieked slightly and was startled when the owl started snuggling his head into the crook of her neck.

"Whose owl is this?" Lily repeated her question.

"No one's." Ursula said with finality. She folded up the paper and shoved it to the bottom of her trunk before stretching her arm and acting like nothing was wrong. "So, what's the first class of the year?" She asked casually.

"Aw, hell no," Marlene said with a smirk. "You don't just get a rose from a bird that is colored black at seven in the morning and not expect to tell us who went through all that trouble."

"It's no one," Ursula answered defiantly.

"Come on, Ursula. Whoever it is, I hope you say yes. This is so romantic," Lily, unnoticed by them all, had gone over to Ursula's trunk and pulled out the poem written on the note.

Ursula's face drained of color, "Lily, please…"

"My Dearest," Lily began in her best guy voice, "Throughout my highest highs, and my lowest lows, the one constant in my life has been you. I know we're meant to be nothing but friends, but allow us this until the very end. We've both been through pain and heartache, but together we can make the world shake. Let the chase be over and the victory won, for this has only just begun."

"Awww, who signed it," Alice asked as she skipped over towards Lily to look at the letter herself. "The Chaser? That's a bit odd."

Ursula nodded, "Yeah, odd. Don't know who sent it though so we might as well get ready for our first class." Ursula quickly said, annoyance starting to get the best of her.

"But this is so romantic!" Alice swooned. "Marlene doesn't date, I don't fancy anyone, and Lily and Elyse already have boyfriends. We get to live vicariously through you!"

"My life is difficult enough without my roommate sticking their noses in my business!" Ursula growled. "Leave it alone." She spit out.

But Marlene kept on pushing, "Holy Hell, Ursula! We sat by and pretended to not know about your relationship with Ben and you saw how that one turned out! Let us know about this one!"

"IT WAS JAMES!" Ursula shouted out of frustration. "James Potter wrote that, alright!? Happy now?" She demanded of the three.

All of their mouths hung open agape.

"James? James Potter? Ultimate prat extraordinaire? The same one that has chased Lily for the last three years?" Marlene asked in shock.

Ursula nodded, her face flushed from anger and embarrassment. "It started this summer. I've been saying no but as you know and can see, he is a persistent bloke."

Lily couldn't seem to wrap her mind around it. "James Potter wrote this letter?"

Ursula nodded and was about to respond when Alice cut in. "Wait a minute, how did it start this summer? I thought you were trapped in Grimmauld Place. At least, that is what we all heard from Elyse."

While they got ready for class Ursula explained the basics of running away to James's house that summer. That thankfully distracted the girls from James writing her a love note. They were leaving the room for breakfast when Ursula noticed the face Lily was making at the note still in her hand. She looked disappointed? Jealous?

"Lily, can I talk to you for a second?" Ursula asked, a thought sticking out in her mind.

Lily jumped slightly and looked up with a just noticeably forced smile, "Of course."

Elyse, seemingly knowing what was going happen, herded the other two girls to the Great Hall.

Ursula took the note from Lily and reread the note. "You know, if you don't want me to, I'll tell James to stop."

"Why would I want you to stop?" Lily asked, lying terribly. "It's not like I fancy him or have some claim on him."

Ursula raised an eyebrow, "I just want to make sure you're comfortable with me possibly dating the bloke that's been chasing you for the last few years."

Lily nodded slowly, "I don't have a problem with it being you and Potter. I'm just worried about you. You've just had a properly messy breakup. He's not your rebound, is he?"

"We're each other's rebound," Ursula answered steadily, finding it amusing that Lily was expressing concern for James without even realizing it. "We've both know that this is temporary and not destined for forever. Prongs'll kill me if you ever mention this to him, but both our hearts belong to other people. The only problem is that they don't care for us anymore."

"You'll be careful, right? I don't want you hurt," Lily asked imploringly.

"I swear, Marauder's honor." Ursula held her hand up as if she was taking an oath.

Lily raised her eyebrows, "Marauder's honor?" She asked they both started walking down the stairs.

Ursula just shook her head, "It's nothing to worry about, Lils. You'll probably understand one day."

When they walked into the Great Hall, Alice and Marlene were sitting in their usual spot and Lily left the join them. Ursula's friends were sitting a little farther down. There were two seats empty although the rest of them were there. One was open next to Peter and on the other side, a seat next to James. He looked up at her and Ursula instantly knew what was going on. It was an answer.

With a great deal of hesitation, Ursula walked over and sat down next to James. "So when're Quidditch try-outs, Captain?" Ursula asked trying to avoid the almost certainly awkward conversation that James would start.

James's lopsided smile was endearing. He grabbed Ursula's hand under the table and answered her, "I already cleared it with McGonagall. We can have tryouts next Saturday. We're only looking for a keeper and two beaters."

"I thought you have to have tryouts for the entire team?" Peter asked.

James rolled his eyes, "I'm captain and I can do what I want. There's no way I'm going to mess with the chasers; the three of us work phenomenally together. There's no way in hell I am getting rid of Elyse."

Elyse smiled, "I'm back on teh team?"

"That was never even up for debate. What I want you to do during try outs is practice. Ursula's going to oversee the beaters as my co while Moira and I go check out the keepers."

"Your co?" Ursula questioned doubtfully.

James nodded and gave her a quick kiss on the temple, "Of course you're my co-captain. I have to make sure my co actually knows what she's doing."

Sirius gagged from across the table. "This is already bloody weird. Don't make it worse by doing that in front of us."

"Alright," James said with a smirk, "We'll just find a broom closet later."

Ursula smacked James across the chest, "You pig." She joked but in reality the suggestion terrified her because this was James they were talking about. It was just strange.

James just laughed ad high fived Peter from across the table. Ursula's eyes widened, "Et tu Peter?" She asked dramatically as she fell against Elyse, fake dying. The rest of them rolled their eyes at her theatrics. James stood up and pulled her up.

"Come on, Muse. Class starts in five minutes."

They all gathered their bags and books before leaving the hall. Sirius shoved Remus forward, "Check which house it is."

Remus sighed at Sirius's childish request but went to the door and looked in. His shoulders became less tense as he turned towards. "It's Hufflepuff."

They all breathed a sigh of relief and followed Remus into the Defense room, all of their eyes on the figure in the front of the room.

Professor Podobinski stood at the front of the room and regarded them with an air of intrigue and curiosity. His eyes met James's and a flash of recognition flashed in his vibrant eyes. "You're James Potter, yes?"

James smirked arrogantly, "Of course I am."

"I checked the grades and you have one of the highest in this class. Impress me." Without anymore warning than that, Professor Podobinski raised his wand and silently shot a spell at James. James jumped back and instantly put up his own shield.

"What the hell!" James shouted as he scrambled to get away from the limited space behind the desk.

"This is the real world Potter! They're not going to give you warning!"

Hex after hex after hex, James was barely able to put up his own protection spells, let alone go on the offensive. Sirius shot from his seat and quickly began to defend his friend. Podobinski was clearly able to handle both of them.

Soon, Remus was the next one up but was quickly petrified by one of the Professor's curses. Elyse caught him before he knocked his head into a desk but she wasn't able to support his weight and fell to the ground with her frozen friend. Peter tried to fight the professor but he was trembling so badly that his spell accidently hit Sirius in the back, knocking him out of the fight.

"You're giving it away with verbal spells!" Podobinski taunted as he dueled them like it was nothing. "You have to surprise your opponent like this!"

Ursula didn't know what spell hit her specifically. All she knew was that it sent her flying higher than she did on a broom. Her back exploded in pain when she crashed against the stone wall.

Suddenly, a bright light blinded the room and Podobinski himself went soaring back and crashed painfully into his desk. The entire class (minus Remus) turned to look at Ben standing calmly behind his desk, his wand in his hand. He didn't have any emotion on his face as stared down at the professor now trying to climb out of the wood splinters of what used to be his desk. The room was so silent that a pin could have dropped and it would have deafened them all.

To the class's complete and utter surprise and shock, Podobinski emerged from the rubbish laughing. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He exclaimed joyfully. "That's how you fight someone! What's your name son?"

"Benjamin White." Ben responded before slowly sitting back down.

Professor Podobinski nodded his head respectively towards Ben. "That was a nice blasting hex. Unrestrained and raw. Twenty points to Gryffindor. Now class, after that introductory lesson—"

"Introductory lesson!" James screeched indignantly as he helped Ursula to her feet. "You just bloody attacked me, my friends, and my girlfriend and you're saying it's just a bloody lesson!? What sort of Professor are you?!"

Podobinski's eyebrows were right underneath his hairline at this point, "First thing, just call me Pod. You will butcher my full name and I'm not much of a traditional professor. Secondly, you treated me as such. You didn't fight back as hard as you could have. That was your first mistake."

"What do you mean?" Claire DuBois asked, shirking away from the attention as everyone turned to look at her.

"Good question, Miss…"

"Claire DuBois."

"Good question, Claire. Does anyone have the answer?"

Alice tentatively raised her hand. He nodded at her. "Because we might know the person we have to fight?"

"Exactly!" He exclaimed dramatically. "You are probably going to school right now with future Death Eaters who will one day be at the other end of the Killing Curse. My class is not merely to teach you for the OWLs. I could honestly not care at all what you receive. What I care about is that if something happens to you or a loved one and you have to defend yourself or even attack for the sake of other's lives, then you know how to."

Pod, staring out at the class, smirked and quickly reformed his desk. "Now that we're done with the introduction, let's get to the real lesson. Today, you're going to duel. Put everything in your bags and take out your wands. You're partners are Lily Evans with Elyse O'Brian, Claire DuBois and Ryan Riberdean…" He continued to pair up the students. In the end Ursula had to duel with Marlene while James and Sirius were paired together (much to their pleasant surprise) and Peter was paired up with a Gabe Abbot. Remus was paired with Ben, the two formerly close friends barely spoke a word to each other the entire class period.

It was undoubtedly one of the most fun classes of their entire tenure at Hogwarts. James and Sirius were acting like fools and Pod only seemed to encourage it by laughing and giving a few points for creativity.

Sirius and James walked out of the class practically skipping. They were excitedly talking about the brilliant class they were just in. Elyse and Peter were walking a little bit behind him while James was yanking Ursula along with him.

Remus was still in the class room. He shouldered his bag and was about to walk out when he saw Ben standing across the room, looking sadly outside the door, his eyes zeroed in on Ursula. Remus was about to say something when Ben quickly grabbed his things and left to go the other direction. He sighed sadly. Remus honestly missed having Ben around. It would take a while but it seemed that Ben was finally getting better. But that wasn't even the whole challenge. He could deal with all his issues but that would mean nothing if the rest of them couldn't forgive him.

Next Saturday morning, Ursula was at the pitch before the sun rose. She wanted to fly around a little bit before the rest of the returning team and possible members showed up. After changing, with her broom in her hand, she walked out to the center of the pitch and watched the sun rise just over the edge of far away mountain. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before running forward and jumping onto her broom and soaring into the air.

There was no sense of time as she flew through the air. Her hair flew behind her, her loose shirt rippled in the wind, and her face burned from the brisk morning breeze hitting her cheeks. She did tricks for a while before a shrill whistle caught her attention.

A dark haired figure was standing in the middle of the pitch. Ursula smirked and changed directions, racing towards James. Without slowing down, she landed mid run, stumbling the tiniest bit when she slipped on the dewy grass.

James wrapped his arms around her waist and crushed her against him in a passionate kiss. Ursula felt James's hands get tangled in her hair while hers found their way around his narrow waist. After a second, she seemed to come to her senses and she immediately froze up. She put her hands against James's chest and she forcefully shoved him back.

He stumbled and looked at her in mild shock. She wiped her lips vigorously with her forearm. "What the hell James!"

"I just wanted to say good morning," he said with a happy smile on his face. His hands were in his pockets and he was rocking back and forth on his heels.

"By shoving your tongue down my throat?!" She screeched.

James just shrugged, "Just a little good morning kiss."

She shook her head, "I'm sorry James but this is too much too fast. It's just weird."

"I'm trying here Ursula. I know this is odd at best but I'm trying. I honestly am. Just give me a shot."

"Why should I?!" She challenged, a little bit of guilt building up in her chest when she saw the crestfallen look in his eyes. "You're in love with Lily. I don't have feelings for you like this."

"One chance," he bargained, taking her hands to hold, "One Hogsmeade date. That's all I'm asking for."

Ursula looked straight into his honest hazel eyes she tried to turn him down but it was impossible. She tore her gaze away and asked, "Where are Moira and Elyse? I thought they were supposed to be here right now."

"Elyse and Moira are in the changing rooms. I saw you flying and I wanted to see you." He reached up and gently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered gently caressed her cheek.

"Aw, isn't 'at precious," Elyse cooed as she joined the pair with Moira beside her.

"Just adorable," Moira added.

Ursula rolled her eyes and stepped away from James to shove Elyse in the shoulder, "Thanks, Lucky. " She really was thankfully for the interruption.

For the next half hour, James gave them instructions on what he wanted each of them to do during try outs before the potential players showed up. When they did, Ursula nearly fell off her broom when two familiar faces appeared on the field. Her brother was standing there with his broom while towards the back of the crowd, Ben stood there in perfect silence looking at the goal post.

James was instantly at her side, "Tell me to make him leave and he's gone," he muttered under his breath.

Ursula just shook her head and changed the subject, "Sirius is trying out for beater. I can't be the judge. Moira can do that. You and I can split up the keepers. It will go faster that way."

He nodded, completely in his serious 'Quidditch Zone', "I'll let the others know of the change and then we'll get started."

James flew off and spoke to Elyse and Moira before he landed and motioned towards Ursula to land next to him. He walked towards the crowd of chatting and nervous hopefuls. "Alright listen up!" He said in his 'captain's voice'. Almost instantly everyone was silent. The side of James's mouth quirked up at the power he had. "I'm James Potter, this year's Quidditch Captain and this is Ursula Black who is the unofficial co-captain of the team. Up in the air is Moira McGonagall who is going to be testing out the potential beaters with some assistance later from Black. So beaters, get lost!"

All of the beaters got onto their broom and zoomed off towards Moira. Ursula shouted up to her brother good luck and in return he shouted back that he didn't need it. Both of them laughed at his arrogance and confidence but Ursula sobered up when she saw Ben just staring at her. She took an unconscious step closer to James, who reached out of discreetly took her hand.

"Keepers, split into two groups. Ursula will take the first group and I'll take the second."

It was like the parting of the Red Sea. James saw which group Ben was in and took that group. Ursula looked at the scrawny third year name Thomas McDonaldson, a slow seventh year named Christopher Morgan, and a small, petite second year named Rachel Ulrich. Mentally, Ursula groaned at the torture she was undoubtedly about to receive.

Needless to say, they did not disappoint. Fifteen minutes into the try out and she knew none of them would work. Thomas was jumpy and kept on flying to the wring hoop, Christopher couldn't even get to the right hoop on time, and Rachel was knocked off twice trying to catch easy tosses.

She caught James's attention for a minute and shook her head. He nodded subtly before zooming forward and throwing a Quaffle as hard as he could at a certain red haired Gryffindor. Ursula dismissed the keepers she was auditioning and was about to go help Moira when she saw Remus and Peter sitting in the stands. She flew over towards them.

"Oi, what are you lot doing here? It's seven o'clock on a Saturday," she said incredulously. She couldn't imagine getting up this early voluntarily. The only reason she dealt with it was because she loved Quidditch that much.

Remus closed the book he was reading. "James woke us up with all the noise he made. Besides, it's nice to be outside every once in a while when you aren't about to turn into a horrible monster."

"Speaking about that," Ursula began, "When will you allow me to start joining you during the full moons? I can already make a full transformation—"

"Ursula." Remus said in his most stern and exasperated voice. "One person cannot fight off a werewolf. I would maul you before you could even try to fight back. There has to be at least one other person for it to be safe for any of you. And Elyse and Peter don't count since their forms are so small. You have to be with Sirius or James."

"That's no fun Moony," Ursula jokingly whined. "Live on the wild side a little bit like Peter here." She tapped Peter on the shoulder, startling the poor boy.

Remus just rolled his eyes and picked his book back up. "You might want to get back to the pitch. You're being summoned."

She turned around and saw James waving her over. She hopped onto her broom and quickly went over to James.

"What's up?"

James shook his head, "There's only one choice for Keeper. Ben's the only one that could actually guard all the hoops. I need to know that you can still be on the team with him and not have it affect your playing."

"You make me sound like some weak girl who has the emotional range the size of the Black Lake. I can handle playing with him on the pitch." She said semi-sarcastically.

James nodded once. "Then it's decided. White's the new keeper. Moira said that it was a tough choice but Sirius and some 'Reginald Jackson Hiram King'. He's a third year who used to be home school up until this year. He has some mad Beating skills though."

"Merlin, his name is a mouthful." Ursula complained. "Is it possible for someone to have that many names."

"Have you ever heard Dumbledore's full name? Now that's one hell of a mouthful."

With that, he walked away to go inform the new team members of their new positions on the team. Before he got too far, Ursula reached out impulsively and grabbed his hand, "James, see you at Hogsmeade."

He froze for a second before he smiled widely, "It's a date." He winked at her, squeezing her hand, before he walked over to Sirius.

Ursula sighed and muttered angrily to herself. What had she just get herself into?

As her 'date' to Hogsmeade approached, Ursula found herself swamped with school work and Quidditch. The professors were leaving them with no free time, overwhelming them with homework. It still gave them enough time to work on pranks so then they had detention to deal with on top of that. Of course, Quidditch practices were tense and sometimes extremely awkward. Ursula could feel Ben's gaze on her almost the entire practice. It was more distracting than she would ever admit.

Elyse was having just as difficult a week. Letters between her and Pat hadn't exactly been like they used to be. They seemed tense. The morning before their Friday lesson the afternoon before the first Hogsmeade weekend, Elyse was sitting in class when she was yanked into a vision.

"Seamus!" An older Pat shouted through the house. "Yeh's got a letter!" He looked at the letter and trace the emblem on it as if he was remembering dream. A young boy came running from the upstairs. He looked just like his father.

As Seamus quickly grabbed his letter and read through it, a woman walked out of the kitchen, brushing off her hands on her apron. "What is it, Pat?".

Pat just shook his head, "I don't know. Yeh eva' git a feelin' yeh forgot somethin' important?" he asked wistfully as he looked at the owl sitting on the window ledge and the envelope in his hands.

The woman's eyes softened, making her already pale eyes look gentler, "It's alright. It'll be alright."

Elyse jolted out of her vision. She tried to look like she hadn't just missed an unknown amount of time because she was seeing the future.

"Woot're we doin'?" Elyse whisper asked Ursula as she copied the other students and got her wand out.

"Every last Friday is going to be Patronus day. He wants everyone to be able to make a full corporal patronus by the end of the year. Sounds so difficult, doesn't it Lucky?"

Elyse chuckled. She had been able to do this particular spell for the last two years. All around the room, chants of "Expecto Patronum" were spoken with different degrees of inflection. She just picked up her wand when there was a startled shriek from just to the right of the girls.

A large stag was now prancing around the room. Pod laughed loudly, clapping proudly, "Wonderful Potter. I'd say fifty points to Gryffindor for this feat!"

James smirked arrogantly. Sirius, always one to follow James, said the incantation and his Grimm looking dog started frantically running around the room. Soon, it was chasing Elyse's rabbit. Pod was over the moon. He awarded Gryffindor another hundred points for the amazing show of magic. The stag walked over to Lily and started nuzzling its head against her hand. Lily blushed but gently touched the patronus. The stag danced on its hind legs before running a victory lap above the students' heads.

Elyse watched the four (Peter had managed to finally add his) patronuses run around the room. She realized that they were missing someone's besides Ben's; Ursula's. At Elyse's goading, Ursula raised her wand and quickly said the familiar incantation. Fully expecting to see the Siberian Husky emerge in blueish/silvery wisps of smoke, Ursula almost dropped her wand when that didn't happen. She looked at the new form of her patronus, shock and disbelief the only emotions readable on her face. When Elyse saw what it was, she gasped and she realized that Ursula hadn't cast that spell since she could make her transformation so there was no way for her to know of the change.

She remembered hearing James explain that the form could change if the castor went through an emotional upheaval, like losing a loved one or falling in love. There was no question as to which one caused Ursula's change.

Her patronus was a lioness.

So can anyone guess what the four P's are? Think of four word that being with P that would fit the main 'sections' of this chapter. I didn't realize until I was almost done with it that I managed to make all of my points start with the same letter.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed reading this. Please let me know what you think of it! A lot of my inspiration comes from you guys. You are all already wonderful readers, reviewers, alerters, and favoriters. I would just love to hear what you think of the chapter!