December 31st, 1976

Remus J. Lupin was terribly awkward at times. Although he was often considered the cool and composed Marauder, there were times the young Gryffindor prefect was more anxious than his constantly worried-sick mother. Right now was one of those times. He was completely on edge, tapping his foot rapidly against the beat of the music within the incredible McKinnon castle with his hands stuffed into his pocket trousers. The full moon was coming in just a few days, and he's been feeling the onslaught approaching ever since he left Hogwarts for the break. Waiting for the full moon was long and dreadful. He felt like clawing his own eyes out sometimes, and his temper was shorter than Peter. Tonight made no exception.

Remus stood by the food table in the McKinnon's version of the Great Hall. There were chairs and small circular tables on the side, allowing for an ample amount of dancing space. There were mountains and range of exotic foods and what seemed like a limitless collection of champagne and liquor. Floating silver trays roamed through the Hall and would stop at empty handed guests. It seemed like the McKinnons did not really care about drinking laws, which Remus did not mind at all. Speaking of guests, there must have been at least two to three hundred people in the castle. Although he had attended last year, it was still extremely surprising to see witches and wizards from all parts of the world. However, where were the friends from his world?

Remus took a flute of champagne from the floating tray and watched it whisk off. The tray landed by a few girls around his age. One girl with olive skin, long dark hair, and a pink, rather tight dress caught his eye. She smiled at him and waved politely.

Out of sheer cordiality, Remus raised his glass and waited for the girl to do the same. They both sipped together, and Remus felt a small ache in his bones. The restlessness that the full moon created was creeping in. Like a shacked up dog, Remus felt the need to run, rip things a part, or howl.

Or maybe fuck the shit out of that fit girl.

Remus immediately shook his head and finished the champagne. He wanted to smack himself in the face. He hated the control of the full moon, and how it turned him into a literal monster sometimes. He took a deep breath and looked up to ceiling, praying that James and Sirius would appear soon to distract him from himself.

James could have killed his cousin. He thought of doing it with his own hands this time, placing them around Marlene's neck and wringing it tightly. Why was she so rudy difficult?

"She didn't tell you where the portkey was?" hissed Lily Evans, holding her trench coat over her body tightly. It wasn't so cold for a New Year's Eve, but her dress was not made of the thickest material. She had remembered the way James had looked at her when she came down the stairs from her bedroom, ready for the McKinnon party. She wore a long v-neck black dress with silver sequence outlining her chest and waist. Her red hair was tucked into a neat knot at the top of her head, and she wore a string of small pearls around her neck. To say that Lily was not a little amused by James' audible gulp would be an outright lie. She knew she should not have been pleased by this fact because poor Connor would loose his mind at the thought of James Potter picking her up, but what was a girl to do. James also looked quite… well-put together for once in his life. He sleeked his hair, wore a clean and pressed suit, and the air of arrogance usually surrounding the Quidditch Captain shifted itself to seem more like charisma. She tried not too look to hard into it. However, she was now thoroughly unamused with the useless prick.

James let out an irritated groan as he stood up from the bush he was inspecting. "No," he said shortly, "Marlene told me that it was a photograph in Cokeworth's Pickle Square, all right? That's all I got."

Lily crossed her arms. "What kind of picture?" she asked.

"Bloody hell if I know," he said. "Apparently, it's a picture of she and I when we were young."

Lily let out a long sigh as they stood in the empty square. She tapped her finger against her lips. Marlene always had an agenda, and of course would try to make his a scavenger hunt and bonding session between her and James Potter. Lily was nowhere near interested in bonding with Potter, but it seemed like Marlene would give them no choice. The least she could do was help to speed up the process of being alone with him. "I'll look over there," Lily said as she pointed to the opposite bench.

"Sure, sure," James grumbled. He must have not been too happy to be in this predicament either.

Lily bent down and looked underneath the bench, behind the bench, and through the cracks of the bench. She inspected the bushes behind it, and even looked inside the sewer to see if it had fallen in. No luck.

Would she be stuck only with James Potter on New Year's Eve? No, Marlene was a trickster, but not a bitch. She wouldn't do that to her. Or maybe she would if Marlene's lifelong fantasy of arranging the marriage between the two would finally be fulfilled. If it was the latter, Lily thought of a brutal vomiting potion that she had learned on her own last summer.

"I'll murder her."

Lily's head snapped out of her own plan of attack as she looked back at James. He was standing underneath the wooden arch that lead into the park and stared at its top. Lily moved hesitantly to stand next to him and looked up. At first, she wondered what the idiot was glaring at, but she soon saw a moving photograph of a young James falling off of his broomstick after being hit by Marlene's quaffle. It was rather silly, but Lily couldn't help but chuckle.

"So, flying wasn't always your forte?" she teased.

James scoffed. "Evans, I was made to fly. Marlene had always been jealous that I was better at her than that."

That was true. Lily had been to a few, not all the Quidditch games, and the one thing she did give James Potter was that he was the most fluid flyer she had ever seen. He would duck in and out and past other flyers with ease, like he was frolicking in a flower field even. He could even jump off his broom and land on it again while in the air. The thought of that made Lily's fear of heights spike.

Another thing made Lily's fear spike. She was considerably shorter than James and was much farther away from being able to grasp the picture. This would make the co-magical transportation impossible. Oh, how should we strangle Marlene McKinnon.

"Well," he said coolly, breaking from her stream of conscious that only James Potter could, "we best be off. This has been too much of a trek anyway." He offered his hand out and looked to Lily.

She gave him a skeptical look, despite thinking about the same thing.

"Oh come off it, Evans," James scoffed, "we're not in grade school anymore. I don't have cooties."

"Just a lingering STD perhaps," Lily teased.

"I cast my daily charm for my crabs," James countered greasily, "Now, come on. I'm not nearly inebriated enough."

Lily looked down at James' hand and sighed. She reluctantly put her hand on his and almost gasped at the rough skin. Callouses from Quidditch, she deducted. They were coarse under her soft skin; it felt nice.

With his other hand, James reached up to grasp the picture. But right before he did, he looked down at Lily Evans with serious eyes and asked, "Have you ever actually travelled via portkey, Evans?"

Lily hesitated. "No."

"You're going to have to hold on much tighter than that, Love, unless you want to end up in someone's house along the way," he said solemnly as he grasped her hand tightly. "I won't break you," he added with a charming smile.

"You're a dog, Potter," Lily grumbled as she looked away, feeling like a petulant child. She hated that she was genuinely surprised the warmth and strength of the boy's hands.

James chuckled. "Nah, that's Sirius, Love. I'm the stag."

Lily let out a guffaw and really wanted to know what that meant, but before she could question the strange comparison, she felt a tight spiraling sensation as she was lifted away from Cokeworth.

Remus wanted to be lifted away as of right now, and the alcohol was just not cutting it. It had been thirty minutes, and still no sign of Sirius or James. Remus had temporarily distracted himself with his two fellow housemates: Hestia Jones and Camilla Henley. Hestia had a baby face with plump cheeks, copper hair, and big blue eyes. Camilla had a more mature air to here with shoulder-length brown hair, warm sun-kissed skin, and light brown eyes. They were both nice enough girls, but could not nearly distract Remus long enough to keep him from his own self-loathing.

Once he had encouraged the two girls to talk to some musicians from Morocco, Remus left the main party hall and went outside for a spliff. He was not partial to cigarettes like James and Sirius because the nicotine rush never felt as great as they made it out to be, but sprinkle a little tobacco with some weed was the perfect solution to pre-lunar angst. He pulled out his pack of spliffs and set one to his lips. He reached around for his lighter in his coat pocket and let it burn.

Remus immediately felt a calming sensation in his body. Luckily, there was an endless supply of marijuana at his place with his sick mother and her werewolf son. The Ministry did allow the medical usage of marijuana for him, thank Merlin. He sat against the window ledge on the patio and when he leaned his back against it, he nearly fell. He lost his balance at the sight of Dorcas Meadowes.

Of all the random people that he expected to meet at the wild McKinnon party (supremacist purebloods, foreign muggle borns, dwarves, and even a centaur maybe), Remus did not expect to see the young Slytherin girl to be approaching him. His mouth immediately became dry, and it wasn't because of the spliff.

Dorcas looked… stunning. Remus always considered her to be naturally striking, but tonight just enhanced everything about her. She wore a white loose v-neck blouse, showing off ample amounts of cleavage. On her bottom, she wore high-waisted black slacks and tall pumps. Her long raven black hair was tucked to her right side, letting her sharp jawline show. She looked like sin, and Remus had to remind himself not to be a messy friend to Sirius.

"Mind if I join you for a smoke?" She asked casually as she placed her flute of champagne down on an empty tray beside them.

In his most casual voice, Remus scooted over and said, "Please." Remus had never really had a conversation with Dorcas until today. They've previously had several classes together, but a conversation never occurred until now. He had always thought she was easy on the eyes, but never did anything about it because she looked colder than ice itself. He felt like almost as nervous as a twelve year old speaking to his first crush.

Dorcas sat beside him and crossed her legs. She pulled out a cig and looked for her lighter. When she stopped patting down her body, realizing that she did not have one, Remus provided one. He leaned forward and cupped his hands to make sure the wind wouldn't take out the flame. Both peered up at each other when they noticed how close they were to one another.

Remus pulled back and took another drag of his spliff. He smiled at her as she puffed away. "Honestly, I did not expect to be sitting next to you at this party, Meadowes. I didn't know you would be attending."

"You and me both," Dorcas agreed as she let out a large puff of smoke. "I see what people mean about the McKinnon's throwing wild parties."

"Yes, it's rather shocking the first time. Marlene invited you I take it?"

Dorcas nodded. "She and Evans felt rather sorry for me after I escorted Parkinson, Avery, and Mulciber out of the Astronomy Tower party. So, they invited me. Very nice of them."

"They're both kind people," he added. "And you definitely deserve the extra party time out of everyone." He had never seen Dorcas smile until now; it was actually rather pretty.

"No one else could have done what you did," Remus went on, almost rambling at this point. This caused Dorcas to raise an eyebrow, but she said nothing else. Remus kept going. Maybe it was his own curiosity; maybe it was the lack of filter caused by the full moon; maybe it was the powerful feeling of knowing someone else's secret; or maybe it was the fact that he was sitting next to one of the most beautiful people he had ever laid eyes on. Either way, he went on. "How does it work?" He asked casually.

Dorcas froze, not due to the cold air, but by his words. They literally sent a shiver down her spine. "What're you talking about?" She asked, trying to remain neutral.

"Your legilimens skill," Remus said in a low voice. He expected some sort of reaction, but received only a long sigh in response.

"That's quite an accusation, Lupin," Dorcas said in a clipped voice. "Legilimency is not taught at Hogwarts."

"And you and I both know that there are wizards and witches born with the skill," he added confidently as he threw the roach of spliff into the distance.

"That's a very rare gift to be born with."

"So, will you share the secret of the rarity?"

Dorcas scoffed as she took one of her last drags. As she blew the rest into the night sky, she gave Remus an intense look. Her eyes narrowed at him, but didn't look intimidating. "It's like reading someone's entire life story through a picture book. There are flashes of memories, and the most immediate thoughts are the most clear," she revealed.

"How do you concentrate in class?" Remus asked, now just genuinely curious.

Dorcas threw the butt of her cig and crossed her arms. "You just learn to. It becomes necessary unless you want to go insane or be more of social outcast than I already am," she said solemnly. "Dumbledore helped too, especially in first and second years."

"Thank Merlin for Dumbledore." Remus resonated with that, putting up with it and learning how to cope to seem relatively normal. "What am I thinking?" Remus teased, imagining the number four.

The brunette laughed and said, "I prefer not to now that I've learned how to stay out of people's heads. It's… rude."

"I'm giving you permission," Remus countered.

"I've learned that even when people think they want to be read, it's not quite true," explained Dorcas, as she ran a hand through her lush hair. "No one wants their mind violated by another."

Remus nodded slowly when he heard that. He respected that and said, "I won't tell anyone."

"I know," Dorcas said surely as she reached for her drink.

Remus' brow furrowed. He appreciated that she took him for his word, but was also interested in why she was sure of him.

Dorcas finished her champagne in one quick swig and wiped the excess from her red lips. She stood up and said, "If anyone here knows how to keep secret, Lupin, I know it's you."

Remus' breath hitched and nearly choked on air when he heard Dorcas say those words. He watched her walk away with a clenched jaw. Before she turned the corner to go back inside the castle, Dorcas gave him a wink. "Don't worry, I can keep secrets too."

Remus suddenly felt an incredible urge to vomit.

When the whooshing feeling finally came to an end, Lily felt an undeniable urge to vomit. Her legs were wobbly, and she felt like they were about to fall right out from under her. The only thing keeping her upright was James Potter, holding her one hand and his other hand steadying the small of her back.

"Evans, your balance is equivalent to that of a toddler," the speckled one said.

Once Lily made sure she was not going to hurl, she stood up straight and narrowed her eyes at him. "Not everyone enjoys pushing their body to the limit, Quidditch Captain."

James snickered as he released her. "And not everyone is afraid of a little fun and adrenaline, Miss Prefect."

"Oh, you'll see fun," Lily threatened determinedly as she straightened out her dress.

"I doubt you can do fun if it smacked you in the face."

"I can do fun! And don't get me started about smacks in the face."

"And I also doubt that you could reach all the way up here."

Lily and James gad a tendency to bicker about anything and everything. When they did so, they lost track of time, space, and all surrounding personnel. So, it took Lily a minute to realize that they were standing under a large oak tree with a wooden swing hanging from one of the sturdiest branches. Where was the castle, and where was the party?

"Where are we?" asked Lily.

James sighed, "The McKinnon land."

"Where's the party?" Lily asked. She could hear the loud jazz music in the distance, sort of north, but could definitely not see any signs of it.

He took off his glasses and rubbed them with the fabric of his shirt. "About a thirty minute walk from here," he said dully.

Lily, who was starring at the stars and trying to identify their exact location utilizing her astronomy skills, snapped her head at James and asked in an outraged voice, "What?!"

James picked up a small piece of parchment that lay on the swing and passed it to his traveling companion. "You know as well as I do that Marlene always has an agenda."

Lily took the parchment cautiously and read her best friend's note.

Now, maybe you two will be able to spend some quality time together. You can learn how to play nicely so that when midnight and 1977 come around everything will be smashing. Cheers to the new year.

- Marls ;-]

"Bitch," Lily spat as she crumpled the note.

James nodded in agreement as he started heading the direction of th music. "Better start moving then?" He suggested as she put a cigarette to his lips. "We're already fashionably late as is."

"You know where you're going?" Lily asked, confused and impressed all at once. She lifted the ends of her dress and trotted after James.

James' breath, combined with the cold and the cig, was foggy. He let out a mirthless laugh and said, "I grew up on this land. Marlene and I used to play on that swing all the time; we'd play out here for hours and hours."

Lily looked back at the swing and impinged two small children running around the tree together, chasing and tackling each other. Lily suddenly felt a pang go guilt hit her in the chest, because this is what Marlene must've meant. Lily had bad mouthed James Potter since the beginning of her time at Hogwarts because of his bullying and teasing ways, but Marlene must've grown up with a totally different side. It seemed to finally come together when Lily saw their play space together.

"You and Marlene must've had a lot of fun together growing up," Lily noted as she caught up to him. She caught a big wiff of his nicotine and let out a loud cough. "Jeez, were you the ones who got her onto cigs too?" She asked curt; the guilt had left as quickly as it came. It was so easy to pick a fight with James Potter, and he wold agree. She almost missed it since they had barely spoken a word since the beginning of their sixth year.

"Other way around," James informed. "It de-stresses you too, which is what I enjoy."

"It also kills your lungs."

To Lily's surprise, James didn't joke or laugh it off. He just took another drag and said, "I'm going to die anyway, Evans. Might as well enjoy it."

She thought about that for a moment. He had a point - a dismal one, but one nonetheless that of course James Potter would believe in. She let out a giggle.

James looked at her surprised. "Dark, Evans," he murmured. "Didn't think you'd find death to be a comical topic."

"No, it's definitely not," Lily laughed. She looked up at him, making his heart almost right then and there. "It's just very Gryffindor of you."

"Gryffindor of me?" He repeated.

"Yes, very much so."

"Oh, do share."

"You don't want to stop your own death, you just want to control it. Take charge of it," Lily explained casually. "And if that's not Gryffindor of you, I don't know what is."

James raised an eyebrow and tried his hardest not to smirk.

"It's still a nasty habit," she added at the end.

"I'm definitely not stopping now, Evans," he chuckled.

"And stubbornness is another nasty habit."

"Which you would know all about."

"Pfft," Lily snorted. "What's your astrological sign? Taurus-"

"Evans, you believe in astrological signs? Are you kidding me?!"

"So what? I'm clearly an aquarius."

They fought like this, as they always did up until their sixth year. They fell into their old routine of name-calling, teasing, and bringing up painful first-year memories that both should've clearly forgotten by now. And a half hour passed much faster than either one had thought could ever be.

Much happened at the McKinnon castle in the thirty minutes while Lily and James meandered through the open fields of the McKinnon land. Firstly, Dorcas drank multiple flutes of champagne in order to stop herself thinking about how Remus Lupin figured that she was a ligilmens. She tried to distract herself with the guests and finally found solace in a quiet young man. Secondly, the McKinnon twins (Merna and McKinley) sang with a wonderful duo group from Hong Kong. And lastly, Sirius Black finally arrived.

"Well, well," Sirius smiled brightly as he entered the McKinnon castle. He clapped his hands together as a herd of pretty girls rushed past him. "Oh, thank Merlin for the McKinnon's reproduction rates."

Sirius caught the eye of a pretty Indian girl wearing long magenta saris. She blinked her long eyelashes at him, but before he could even take one step to win her heart, he was almost swung to the floor. "Bloody hell," he cried as he tried to stand up. "Mr. Moony, it seems that you've been catching up for me."

"Yessss," Remus smiled, baring all of his teeth. "It's my newest therapy for my agoraphobia." He shoved a flute of champagne into his friend's hand.

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh, I've missed you drunk. Cheers!" He clinked glasses with Remus, and they both downed their drinks.

Remus hiccuped and gave his friend an awkward look. "You have no idea what I've been through," he whined.

The more-sober of the two presented the way in for his friend. Remus walked unsteadily back into the great hall. "I've been soooo good all night. Firstly, there were so many good-looking birds; where to begin? See, that one in the hot-pink dress?" Remus pointed.

"The one that looks like Elizabeth Taylor?"

"Yeah, it took me all the sobriety and all my supposed dullness - as you call it - to not go over there and fuck the shite out of her against the table with the cakes."

Sirius almost spat out his drink. He forgot how blunt his friend could get when the full moon was so near. "That's my boy."

"And then, Jones and Henley were talking to me about the Moroccan musical blokes over there. The dullness of that conversation had me pulling out my hair nearly."

"Henley is looking rather smashing if you ask me."

"Yeah, but then guess who talked to me-"

"Elizabeth Taylor's other set of lips?"

Remus punched his friend's arm dramatically. "Where is your gentlemanly upbringing?!"

"Left when I left my parents' house. Now, who did you speak to? It better be someone juicy."

"Meadowes… who is now dancing with the eldest McKinnon."

Sirius's jaw jumped as he turned to see a drunk (and smiling) Dorcas Meadowes was dancing with blond, tall, handsome twenty-three year old Maxwell McKinnon. They were twirling around to some delicate waltz and chatting each other up. If Sirius' ego had a radar, it would have dropped two notches.

"Huh, she moves on rather quick," Sirius murmured rather sourly. Poor boy wasn't used to being the center of female attention.

"She thinks rather quick too," added Remus as he swiped another flute off a floating tray.

"What'd you mean by that?"

Remus realized that he had spoken too soon. He thought about sharing the fact that Meadowes may (or may not) be aware of his lycanthropy, because by consequent his besotted state may reveal her legilimency. And if Meadowes found that out, then who knows what the girl may do or say. Thank Merlin he had a somewhat decent filter.

Remus shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't know, Mate," he said before he tipped back his drink.

Sirius smirked and clapped his hand on his friend's back. "Busy looking elsewhere then, ay?"

Remus nodded quickly in agreement. "Sure, sure, great lips."

"Where's James?"

Remus was about to openly acknowledge his own ignorance concerning his friend's whereabouts, but then in the distance, he saw a long lanky-looking fellow with wind-swiped hair, round glasses, and a crooked smile on his face that must be James. "There's James… and Lily?" Remus noted, pointing in their direction.

He snapped his head around. Next to James was in fact Lily Evans wearing a long black dress, light yet charming make-up, and was that a smile on her face too? Sirius smirked, "1977 shows promise. Let's not ruin their moment."

"Never that," Remus agreed as they wandered through the crowd.

"You really did mean Gatsbyian," Lily noted as she observed the hoards of nicely-dressed people, pounding live music, and the plethora of booze. "This is…"

"Incredible, right?" James answered, taking her jacket off her arm without even thinking about it. He would've been surprised by the familiarity of the gesture, but he was more surprised that they managed to have a conversation (and relatively few bursts of taunting) while arriving here. He wasn't going to push his luck by reminding her. "See where Marlene gets her party-animal side?"

"Yes," Lily agreed. "Now I know why Marlene is never satisfied with the parties at Hogwarts. Oh!" She nearly squeaked when a floating tray appeared before. It moved closer to here when she did not take a flute of champagne, like a puppy would when not getting enough pets. "Thank you," she said with a polite smile. "Good party treatment."

"We know how to take care of our guests," James smirked.

"Which makes up for your extreme lack of tact," Lily countered playfully.

"Evans! Potter!"

Lily and James turned around and saw Hestia Jones and Camilla Henley walking towards them.

"We've been looking for you two!" Hestia exclaimed. "It's weird seeing you without your cohorts, Potter."

"Have you seen them per chance?" James asked.

"Lupin was drinking over there. Looked rather grumpy if you ask me," Camilla Henley explained. James finally got a decent look at her and actually looked quite beautiful. Henley always was pretty, but she never stood out to James. Until tonight apparently. She looked like a Roman goddess in her robes. She gave James a mischievous smile.

Lily noticed this smile and decided to take a nice swig of her champagne before thinking too much into the fact that she felt a pang of jealousy… no, envy, no… who cares? Drink, Evans, her mind insisted.

"He sometimes gets like that when he wants to speak with women," James explained charmingly.

Hestia and Camilla giggled while Lily snorted. Before she could make a playful comment, she saw her curly-haired best friend had come up on the band stand. "Look, it's Marlene!"

James, Hestia, and Camilla turned to view inside the Great Hall. Marlene was in a dark blue dress with sheer long sleeves and a satin slip underneath. Her curly was full and framed her angular face gently. "Oh, she looks terrific," Camilla noted in an astonished voice.

"Runs in the family," winked James.

Camilla turned to James and gave him an appraising look. "Guess it does," she said softly as she turned back around to walk further inside the Hall.

On stage, Marlene cleared her throat. Her sister Merna - nineteen and slightly stockier than her sister - held a wand to her throat gently.

"HELLO, EVERYONE!" Marlene's voice boomed through the hall. "I HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING A SMASHING TIME! HOW GOES IT?!"

The crowd let out a loud roar. Lily laughed because of how rambunctious the crowd was.

"WELL, WELL, I WON'T STOP YOU. I PROMISE. I JUST WANT TO FIRST OF ALL PROPOSE A TOAST TO MY WONDERFUL ALCOHOLIC PARENTS, MALCOLM AND MCKENNA!"

Marlene pointed to a tall pair of blonds, who had large glasses of wine in their hands. Most parents would chastise their children, but they just laughed and clinked their glasses, soaking in the cheers for them. Lily noted that they stood next to a similar-aged couple: the man had glasses and the woman was lanky as well. She thought that they must be the elder generation of Potters.

"NOW, WE WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR JOINING IN OUR CELEBRATION OF THE NEW YEAR! SO, US MCKINNON CHILDREN, PREPARED A SONG FOR YOU LOT!"

"Evans!"

Lily turned to see Dorcas Meadowes trotting towards her. Lily sucked in her breath and was astonished at how relaxed and gorgeous she looked. "Hi, Meadowes. You look stunning."

"You too," Dorcas nodded appreciatively.

It took Lily a minute before she realized that she was holding onto Maxwell McKinnon's hand. How interesting. "Hi, Max," she said coyishly with a small wave.

Max winked back at her. "Looking good, Lily."

"LET ME INTRODUCE OUR BLOODY CLAN! ON THE DRUMS IS MY COUSIN, FIONA! ON THE BASS IS MY BROTHER, MCKINLEY! AND ON…"

"Thank you for inviting me to this party," Dorcas smiled. "Honestly, I'm having a brilliant time."

"I can see that," Lily teased. "But it wasn't me, it was Marlene."

Dorcas gave Lily an oddly knowing look and said in a much more insistent tone, "Thank you, Evans."

Lily took a sip and noted Dorcas' genuine gratitude for her. "You're welcome, Meadowes." Lily, curious as ever, decided to agree with her, wondering why she was so passionate.

"AND I'LL BE ON VOCALS! ENJOY!" Marlene finished.

"Let's get closer," James called pushing everyone forward. He gave a hug to his cousin Max as they moved further inside along with the rush of people.

Merna McKinnon ran over to the piano while Marlene grabbed for the mic. She tapped her foot to get a beat, and Fiona McKinnon set off the song. The talented McKinnon family started the song off with a 1920's Big Band feel as they started performing Nina Simone's "Feeling Good." When Marlene began singing, her voice melted the listener's ears like honey. It was low and raspy, surprising from the high-pitched Quidditch chaser.

"She can really sing," Dorcas noted in awe.

"Her voice was apparently too powerful to be in the frog choir," Lily informed her.

Dorcas snorted. "The prats."

They laughed together before Max McKinnon pulled her in for another dance. Lily smirked at their intimacy, never having seen Meadowes quite as fun-loving as before. She was about to turn to make a quip to James about Max and Meadowes, but he was busy too. He was holding Camilla Henley tightly with her back to his front. She snapped her head away, feeling embarrassed to see such a scene. She finished her drink quickly, trying to chase away the second pang of jealousy. She took another floating flute when she hated herself for not wanting to be with Connor too.

Hi Friends! I hope you got your Jily fill in for this chapter since there has been a major lack in the previous ones. Bless up to Marlene McKinnon. I also personally love Dorcas, and I hope you like her more and more too. Hehe.

The next chapter will be up soon!

Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Those mean more to me than you'd think.

Enjoy,

Rose