Up to no Good

f i v e

THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Lily was walking down the newly constructed hall for the Durmstrang students. The carpet was a deep red, and the walls an auburn color. Lily was admiring the embroidery on the crown molding as she bumped right into someone. She looked up right into the eyes of Simon, the boy who landed in her soup the previous morning.

"Ah, just who I was looking for." Lily smiled, and Simon cocked an eyebrow.

"Me?"

"Oh yes." She placed her hands on his shoulders, toying with his collar. Then, she abruptly pushed him against the wall and kissed him, whist yanking a hair out of his blonde head. Getting what she needed, she pushed him away, Simon having a bewildered look on his face. "Thanks." Lily grinned as she walked away. She reached the Head common room, and pushed the door open, stepping inside.

"James, I got a sample-"

"Sit down, Lily Evans." Marlene stood by the door. Lily wondered how she had gotten in. She gestured to the couch. Lily complied, wary.

"Marls, what-"

"I demand to know who that boy was. You cannot hide these things from me! I'm your best friend, you can't just NOT tell me things!"

"You followed me?"

"That's beside the point. Was he the boy from this morning? Why'd you kiss him? Is he a good kisser?"

"Marlene. I do not fancy this boy. I have my reasons, but believe me, I couldn't care less about him."

"Well-"

"You aren't in any place to ask these things either." Lily stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "How's Sirius doing? If you guys even talk. It's mostly just snogging-"

"Fine! I get the point. But don't play with people feelings like that."

"You care about the Durmstrang's boy's feelings? Why?"

"Not his. James's." Then Marlene walked out of the room. Lily shook her head and plopped down on the couch, clutching Simon's hair.

"Lily?" James walked through the portrait hole in the common room. "I got a DNA sample." He walked over and sat down by her on the couch. She turned to him, seeing a long brown hair in his hand. She guessed it was a girl's.

"How?"

"The invisibility cloak. It's fairly easy just to walk behind someone and pluck their hair." The invisibility cloak had been James's for a while, but he had only told Lily he had it last year.

"Perfect. I got my sample." She held up the white blonde hair.

"Great. Also, Cora followed through. She reported she'd heard rumors floating around the house-elves that Dumbledore and Karkaroff are meeting just before the Halloween ball. I guess they figured the students would be too occupied with getting ready to notice them."

"Perfect. So we'll get ready for the ball, leave together, eavesdrop on the meeting. By then the Poly Juice potion will have wore off, so we can attend the party as ourselves, in time for our dance. Of course, we'll have masks on the whole time, so no one will notice a difference." Lily grabbed the hair out of James's hand and put both samples into a vial.

"Are you implying we're going to the ball together?" Lily glared at him.

"I suppose there is no getting out of it."

"You're gonna be stuck with me the whole night, Evans. Anything could happen." He grinned and leaned forward.

"In your wildest dreams, Potter." She stood up from the couch, and walked up to her dorm for the night.