Disclaimer: Alas, I still do not own Harry Potter. JKR just doesn't seem to find my offer of five chocolate frog cards acceptable…sigh.
Chapter 32 Guys Night Again
"Come on, James, we're going to be late," Lily hollered up the boys' staircase seconds before James came running down them.
"Sorry," he paused to give Lily a quick kiss.
"Quidditch practice ran a bit over," James said trying to make his hair lay flat as they walked.
Lily laughed at his futile attempt to make his hair cooperate.
"I don't know why you even bother, it's never going to lay flat," Lily said grinning.
"This from the girl who used to complain about my hair at least once a week," James said grinning.
"Yeah, well, I got over it," Lily quipped ruffling his hair to make it look messier.
'Oh, the irony,' she thought.
"Oh, before I forget. I promised the guys we'd do something on Friday night," James said.
"Okay," Lily replied. "What are you planning?"
"Super-secret, Marauder's stuff," James replied grinning.
"I don't want to know," Lily said seeing the devious look on his face.
"It's probably better that way," James agreed still grinning.
"You ready for this meeting?" Lily asked.
"Of course," James replied. "I'm not afraid of McGonagall."
Lily laughed. "Please, I've seen you and Sirius when she talks to you two with that I'm mad as hell and I'm going to take it out on you, because it's all your fault look. You turn into a bunch of cowering babies."
"Us, never," James replied. "We just want her to think that we're intimidated, so she'll go easy on us."
"Right," Lily said skeptically.
James knocked on McGonagall's office door when they reached their destination.
Their meeting with McGonagall went well and thankfully wasn't too long.
They left and headed off to dinner.
It was Friday night and Lily was sitting at a table in a corner of the common room.
"Hey, Lily. What are you up to?" Marlene asked entering the common room and flopping down in a chair next to Lily.
"Homework," Lily replied with a sigh.
"Where's James?" Katie asked.
"Off with the guys somewhere," Lily said with a shrug.
"You let him go off somewhere with them without telling you what he was up to?" Katie asked feigning shock.
"I'm his girlfriend, not his mother," Lily replied rolling her eyes. "Besides it's probably better that I don't know."
Katie and Marlene both laughed.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Katie agreed. "James will probably have to put them all, including himself, in detention when they're done."
All three girls laughed in agreement at this.
"So since we have you all to ourselves tonight what shall we do?" Katie asked with a grin.
"Nothing too crazy," Lily said. "I've got way too much work to do."
"Oh, come on. We have to be a little bit crazy, it is the full moon after all," Katie said with fiendish glee.
"That's just a myth," Lily said rolling her eyes. "The full moon doesn't actually make people crazy."
"Makes werewolves crazy," Katie pointed out.
"True," Marlene agreed. "But you aren't a werewolf, so it doesn't apply to you."
"Spoil my fun," Katie grumbled.
"Well," Lily said thoughtfully. "We could sneak down to the kitchens. I could go for something sweet."
"You know how to get into the kitchens?" Katie asked incredulously.
"I'm dating James Potter. Of course I know how to get in the kitchen. How do you think I got all that stuff for our last girls' night," Lily said as if it should be obvious.
"Good point," Katie replied.
"Is it easy to nick food from the kitchen?" Marlene asked.
Instead of answering Lily burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Katie asked.
"Come on," Lily said grinning and packing up her things. "Let me put my stuff up in the dorm and then I'll show you the secret to nicking stuff from the kitchen. It's an art form really."
"Okay," Katie and Marlene agreed.
Lily led Marlene and Katie to the portrait of the bowl of fruit and stopped.
"Here we are," Lily said.
"So, now what?" Marlene asked.
Lily grinned deviously and tickled the pair in the painting, which giggled and turned into a doorknob.
"Ready?" Lily asked.
"Of course," Katie replied.
"All right," Lily said pushing the door open and leading the girls through. "Welcome to the kitchen!"
"Hello, Miss Lily," a squeaky voice said.
"Hello," Lily replied smiling.
"Where is Mr. James?" the elf asked.
"He's off somewhere," Lily replied.
"What can we be getting you Miss?" the elf asked.
"Um, could we just get an assortment of pastries and some cocoa?" Lily asked smiling.
"Of course, Miss Lily. Are you sure that's all you need, Miss?" the elf asked.
"Anything else you girls want?" Lily asked Katie and Marlene.
"And to think I was always so impressed with those guys for getting stuff from the kitchens," Marlene said with a laugh. "It's not exactly a difficult feat is it?"
"Definitely not," Lily agreed with a laugh.
Several elves appeared suddenly at the girl's side with a basket of pastries ranging from cake, to cookies, to scones and a couple thermoses of cocoa.
"Here you are Miss, is there anything else you be wanting, Miss?" the elf asked.
"No, thank you so much," Lily said with a smile.
"Anytime, Miss," the elf replied bowing.
"I still can't believe how easy that was," Katie said half an hour later as they sat up in their dorm enjoying the pastries and cocoa.
"Yeah, the whole, 'sneaking food from the kitchen,' thing kind of loses its prestige once you've actually done it," Lily agreed. "Seeing as the only time any sort of sneaking is involved is if it's passed curfew and who hasn't sneaked out after curfew once or twice?"
"No one I know," Katie replied making the girls laugh.
"So, Lily," Katie said grinning. "Speaking of sneaking into the school kitchens…"
"Yes?" Lily asked.
"How are things going with you and James? It's been what, three months now, and you're both still alive."
"Just over two months," Lily corrected. "And it's…" Lily picked up a brownie and took a bite giving herself a second to pause and think.
"Well?" Marlene asked.
Lily rolled her eyes again and grinned. "Amazing."
"Amazing? How insightful," Marlene said sarcastically.
"He is by far the best boyfriend I have ever had," Lily added.
"Some elaboration please," Katie demanded.
"He's sweet and thoughtful and he works hard and he's definitely the best snog I've ever had," she smirked at her friends as she said the last part.
"Better than Mark?" Marlene asked.
"Oh, way better," Lily said. "Makes Mark look like an amateur."
"Really?" Katie asked suggestively, raising one eyebrow.
"Definitely," Lily grinned. "The other night after patrol, we had the common room all to ourselves…" Lily sighed in a slightly overly dramatic fashion.
"Okay, now you're just baiting us," Katie grumbled.
Lily laughed. "Yeah, well, you started it. Seriously though, ignoring the overly dramatic gestures we really did have the best snog I've ever experience in the common room the other night after patrol."
"Really?" Katie asked grinning.
"Mm, it was fabulous. It's amazing how comfortable that couch in front of the fire is."
"Okay, well, guess I won't be sitting there anymore," Marlene quipped.
"Oh, please," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "Nothing happened. We were fully clothed the whole time."
"So what happened then?" Katie asked.
"I'm not giving you details!" Lily exclaimed torn between exasperation and amusement.
"You're no fun," Katie said pretending to pout. "How're we supposed to live vicariously through you if you won't share?"
"Get your own boyfriend?" Lily suggested.
"Oh, come on. You're no fun," Katie said grinning.
"Give the girl a break Katie," Marlene said laughing. "Besides maybe she just doesn't want us to know how terrible she is at snogging," Marlene grinned deviously at Lily.
Lily picked up her pillow and threw it at Marlene who wasn't quick enough and caught it with her face.
"Ha!" Lily said.
"You know Marlene, I think you may be right," Katie said with a grin.
"We'll just have to ask James about it later," Marlene said. "Poor boy's probably just too nice to say anything. Perhaps he can tell us what she's doing wrong and we can be the bearers of bad news."
"You two are completely ridiculous," Lily said exasperated. The fact that she knew her friends were just giving her a hard time didn't make them any less annoying. "Besides James would tell you you're wrong."
"Only because he's too nice not to," Katie said sweetly.
Lily just rolled her eyes.
"So, I wonder what those boys are up to?" Marlene wondered aloud.
"Didn't we establish earlier that it's better that we don't know what they're up to?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, but it doesn't make me any less curious," Marlene replied. "I'm surprised they chose to hang out with Remus gone."
"Remus is gone?" Lily asked curiously.
"Yeah, I saw him leaving shortly after dinner," Marlene answered. "Poor guy. His mother has been ill for a long time."
"Yeah, I can't imagine," Lily said quietly thinking of her own mother. "But I've already told you, I have no idea what they are up to," Lily said. "And I really don't want to."
"Probably running around like fools under the full moon," Katie joked
"So, Lily, do you know when the next Hogsmeade weekend is?" Katie asked changing the subject again.
"There's one next month, but I'm not sure what day it is," Lily said. "Though I'm sure it will end up being close to Valentine's Day," she added with a roll of her eyes.
"I hate Valentine's Day," Katie moaned.
"That's what all single people say," Marlene reminded her.
"I had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day in fifth year," Katie reminded her. "We had as romantic a date as you can have on a non-Hogsmeade day and it was still a stupid holiday."
As Marlene and Katie continued to argue about the validity of Valentine's Day Lily found herself suddenly focused on what Katie had said just before that. It was the full moon and it had just occurred to her that the last time James had told her he was going to spend time with his friends had been at the full moon too. 'It must just be a coincidence,' Lily thought returning her focus to Katie and Marlene.