Quick update this time! I haven't much to say except that the last scene of this was incredibly fun to write ^^ Enjoy~

The Problem with Gossip

The door creaked open at around two in the morning, ignored by all the sleeping seventh-years within except for the one who was already sitting awake, making holographic sheep prance around in a circle at the tip of her wand. Lily stuffed the wand under her bedsheets automatically as she looked up to see the intruder - an automatic reaction after spending Christmas at home with Petunia and her annoying fiancé – but freed it again reasonably quickly.

"You look rather dishevelled," she said lightly as Jennifer threw herself down onto the adjacent bed.

"Bugger off, Lily," she muttered, stuffing her head under pillow over her face. "I'm going to sleep."

Lily laughed, getting up and padding over to sit on the edge of her best friends' bed. "Busy night?" she asked, unable to keep the teasing tone out of her voice. "Must you always get so, ahem, passionate to solve your worst arguments with Black?"

"What made you think that?" Jennifer demanded, indignant, peeping out from under the pillow, her voice loud enough to make Mary groan and turn over in her sleep a few beds over. Lily just stared at her until Jennifer hid her face again, saying it was none of her business, anyway.

Silence for a moment, and then; "So...Jen, can I ask you something?"

"What."

"Are you, um...in love with Sirius?"

Lily received a pillow in her face as an answer. "In love? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. I don;t care. Why do you care? I want to sleep."

More silence.

"It's just that you can't seem to stop seeing each other eventually, no matter how many other-"

"Lily!" Jennifer sat up now, looking decidedly grumpy. "Me and Sirius just have fun, alright? There's no need to think about it more. Why are you asking? Why do you suddenly want to talk now? You've all-but avoided me for the last week."

"I haven't meant to-"

"And I suppose you still want me to go to that stupid dinner in a couple of weeks with you and your priggish sister and her ball of lard, too," Jennifer groaned, reaching for her pillow again and lying back down. "Let me sleep."

"No, actually," Lily said after a few seconds.

"Oh for...what are you talking about?"

"I don't need you to go anymore, since you never really wanted to anyway."

"Good. Go to bed."

"I'm going to take my boyfriend instead. I think it would be much better for us all, actually; everyone getting to know one another in the family. Besides, Tuney doesn't exactly like you, and I really think this way is safer for everyone," Lily explained, heading back to her own bed and lying down.

"Good. I hate her too," Jennifer mumbled.

Lily lay staring at the top of her four-poster bed, counting in her head as she did so. One...two...

"Boyfriend?" A scuffling sound, and suddenly Jennifer was beside her on her bed, wand lit, demanding answers. "Please, please tell me you are not dating that Phillips. I mean, I know he's gorgeous and everything, but..."

"I am not going out with Rhys," Lily interrupted, voice raised slightly.

Jennifer blinked. "Then who? Joshua Greene? I know he's had his eye on you, but he didn't really seem your type, and..."

"No!"

"Wright?"

"No, don't be silly, it's..."

"Shit, did you get with Finley? I saw the two of you bantering after the match, but I never thought...!"

"Jennifer! I'm going out with James!"

The whole world seemed to skip a beat at those words. "James? James...McCarthy?" Jennifer asked slowly.

Why in the world Jennifer was even mentioning the fifth year Gobstones champion, Lily didn't know. "No you dolt!" she laughed, "James Potter."

Lily here paused, watching her friends' face, waiting for the reaction, hoping against hope that she wasn't about to be called a complete idiot.

What she didn't expect was the huge grin. "I knew you wanted him! I told you so!"

"Yes, yes," Lily said, trying to not get irritated at Jennifer's utter look of triumph.

"Oh, Lilypop, this is the best thing you have ever done for me!" Jennifer continued.

"For you?"

"Yes! Remus and I just won forty galleons each!"

Lily couldn't, at this point, resist the urge to slap her friend. She felt fairly justified, too.

"You guys," James cried out, barging into the dormitory early the next morning and ripping open the curtains of the three occupied beds. "You guuuuuuuuys, wake up. Wake up wake up wake up. Wake uuuuuuuup."

Remus, who was already sitting reading in his bed, and did therefore not need to 'wake up', cast a critical eye over his friend. "You look exhausted, Prongs," he said, taking in the skewed glasses and the rumpled, dirty clothing. "Have you slept?"

"Yeah, I think so," James answered distractedly, "Must've dozed off next to the Lake. Woke up at Hagrid's, got a telling off. Apparently I was going to scare the animals or something. Anyway, listen!"

Peter, who had been curled up in the foetal position in his bed, slowly untangled himself from his quilt. "I was having a good dream," he said resentfully, "And I have to go see Professor McGonagall about my grade again today, so I hope there's a good reason for waking us up this early."

"There is! Shut up, Wormtail, and listen. I...Padfoot, wake the hell up!"

A bang, and a boxer-clad Sirius was tossed out of his bed onto the floor. He scrambled to his feet, groaning and wiping the hair out of his face, ready to attack whoever had taken him out of that lovely cat-chasing dream, when he paused, taking one look at James, and groaned more loudly and disappointedly. "You total wanker," he muttered.

"Nice to see you with clothes on, Sirius," Remus said dryly, "If you can call it that."

"That wasn't what you were saying last night," Sirius replied, momentarily distracted by the opportunity to make such a flippant remark and earning an eyeroll from his friend.

James raised an eyebrow, looking both curious and impatient, and was rewarded by Peter explaining how Sirius had decided to escort his ladyfriend to the dormitory door last night without having the decency to clothe himself first. Sirius loudly pointed out that the four of them should have no secrets from one another, and therefore he didn't see the problem.

"Speaking of which," he added darkly, looking back at James. "Congratulations, I guess."

Remus smiled to himself. So he wasn't the only one who had noticed the change then. "Yes, I do agree, although much more enthusiastically so. Congratulations, Prongs."

"What?" Peter asked.

James looked, and sounded, confused. "How did you guys...?"

"It's written all over you, mate," Sirius replied in a dull tone. "And I need to borrow forty galleons, because I owe this prat and Jennifer twenty each."

Peter's confusion cleared, replaced with excitement. "You mean! You and Lily! This is great!" His expression sank suddenly. "I, eh...need to borrow forty too, Prongs..."

If James was bothered by the denial of his friends allowing him to make a grand announcement that his life's goal had come to pass, it wouldn't matter for very long. The minute he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, he was congratulated by about twenty different people, about three of whom he could put a name to. At the Gryffindor table, he could just about make out his red-headed angel being accosted by many more.

"How do they even all know?" he asked, exasperated, as five minutes later he was still accepting "good-on-you-mate"s from people he barely knew.

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, then burst out laughing. "Your little soap-opera romance has kind of been the talk of the school for about, what, two years now?" Sirius pointed out as the Marauders finally reached the table and were greeted by Lily and a beaming Jennifer.

"And you know how news travels in this school," Remus added. Jennifer grinned, bobbing her head at a gaggle of Gryffindor girls who kept whispering to each other, glancing over, and giggling.

"Those midget gems are getting the gossip now," she told them, "The oldest one is Rhiannon's cousin; Rhi must have heard us chatting last night, Lily, love. I am still allowed to call her that, right?"

James grinned and nodded, taking it into his stride quickly and slipping an arm around his girlfriend's (oh, ecstasy, that he could use that word!) waist. Some of the younger Gryffindors and those from other houses and years were craning their necks towards the table, trying to figure out what was going on. Jennifer met eyes with Sirius, grinned, and got to her feet. "A toast!" she cried out, loud enough that she was heard by a good percentage of the hall, causing quiet to fall in a wave "To Lily Evans and James Potter!"

Sirius, determined to go one better, glanced at his friends and then stepped up onto the table, raising his orange juice glass with him and avoiding the food skillfully, and the few that were still talking fell silent and stared at him. "Let us be the first to say, finally!" he continued, amused by the mortified expression on Lily's face as she hid her head in James' shoulder. The latter, of course, looked delighted. Sirius pointed his glass at the pair. "May all your children be bespectacled!"

"With James' Quidditch skills!" Peter added, scrambling to his feet on the bench.

"And Lily's intelligence," Remus added, grinning and taking his place on his feet beside Peter.

For a couple of minutes, James was certain he could have heard a pin drop, and wondered how much trouble his friends were about to be in. Then something wonderful happened.

"To Lily and James," said a cheerful, quiet-but-powerful voice from the top of the room, and every eye turned to the teachers' table, where the Headmaster was on his feet, glass held out in toast.

"Lily and James!" came a hearty cry as Horace Slughorn, chortling, followed suit. The cry was echoed across the room, loudest, of course, at the Gryffindor table, and non-existent at the Slytherin table – though James would not let Lily look over there; he could feel the slimy eyes burning into his back as they sat. Sirius took his seat, followed by the rest, and held out a hand to Lily, "Truce?" he asked, grinning.

Lily smirked. "I can't believe you did that," she answered, shaking his hand. "You too, Peter, Remus. Jen. You're all awful."

"Wonderful, you mean," James corrected her, beaming.

"Quite," said Remus. "Now, if I'm not mistaken...ah, there it is."

"What?" asked Lily.

"The chanting. Welcome to the life of a celebrity couple for the next week or so, you two," he explained, grinning, as the "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" got louder.

James, of course, with a glance around at his adoring fans, was happy to oblige.

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