Of Dances and Budding Friendships.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. However, since Rowling discarded my favourite characters I picked them up and took them into my care to give them the love and attention they deserve...and occasionally give them reason to need that love and attention no matter how much they deserve it without needing a reason.

Summary: As the Yule Ball approaches and comes, Lily gets to know the Marauders a little better.

Warnings: Strong bromance, can't stomach boys being extremely close without it being sexual, then this is not the story for you and you should hit the return button.

Special thanks to Kitty for beta-ing this story for me and giving me endless support and inspiration for this series. Thank you for your endless patience with my grammar and for all the lessons you've taught me and are still trying to stamp into my brain.

This story is part of a series called A Bond of Family. If you are interested in reading the entire series, then the chronological order can be found on my profile.

I am aware that unless there is a Triwizard Tournament, there is not actually a Yule ball at Hogwarts every year. But these teens deserve something good in a time of war and uncertainty so I gave them a Yule ball.

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It was a cold Tuesday afternoon that Lily made her way into the Library, not entirely willing to believe she was actually looking for her male classmates.

But she had gotten on with them much better since meeting Sirius Black in the Common Room a few days earlier and desperate times asked for desperate actions and thus she was on her way to the library.

It surprised most people how much time the two troublemakers spent in there, but Lily knew that despite their brilliance, they were always researching things for undisclosed reasons so the library was the best bet to find them after classes.

And she was right as she immediately spotted the two dark-haired pranksters sitting at a table and waving her friends off as they waved at her; she made her way to them.

"Are the two of you doing Lupin's homework?" she forgot her manners as her eye fell on the name on the parchment Potter was writing on in his untidy scrawl.

"What?" Potter looked up startled and Lily was almost impressed by how smoothly he tossed the book he'd been looking in onto the parchment and would have been fooled by it if she hadn't seen him jump.

"No, whatever gave you that idea? Your mind must be playing tricks on you," Sirius however, seemed unfazed to see her as he never stopped writing.

"I'm sure it is. You misspelled continuously, Sirius," she pointed out.

"I know, thanks," Sirius nodded distractedly as he tossed his bag from the chair beside him in a clear invitation to sit down before scribbling something down again.

"Thanks. Do you want me to change it for you?" Lily offered when he made no move to change the error and sat down beside him.

"No, that is how Remus always spells it," Sirius gave her a fleeting smile. "But thanks. Are you done?"

"Any time," she blinked surprised when Sirius threw a crumbled piece of parchment at Potter's head, alerting her to the fact that he'd been staring at her oddly.

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Potter blinked before abruptly looking down at his parchment, raking a hand through his hair and Lily had to stifle a laugh.

It still amazed her that Sirius had kept his word as Potter hadn't asked her out even once in the last few days whenever they saw each other.

In turn she had begun to treat him civil as well, making an effort to not immediately turn defensive whenever he did speak to her about class-related things.

And although Sirius had been right and the hair thing remained unchanged, she had paid attention for a change and had noticed that it was indeed a nervous tic the dark-haired boy had and not at all a conscious move to make himself seem more interesting.

"Are you done?" Sirius' repeated question pulled her attention back to the boys on either side of her.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm done," Potter handed his now dry parchment over and Lily watched in silence as Sirius quickly read it over, correcting something here and there.

"He wouldn't use the word pompous, James."

"Doesn't mean the guy isn't," Potter grinned.

"No comment," Sirius chuckled as he glanced over the parchment once more before tapping it with his wand.

"How'd you do that?" Lily blinked surprised as Potter's untidy scrawl became bigger and less curved.

"Just a little spell we invented," Sirius shrugged as he changed his own neat script into Lupin's as well.

"Won't McGonagall notice that you've changed the handwriting?"

"No, she checks for cheating spells and copying ones. She has no reason to believe he didn't write it himself unless someone gives her reason to do so."

"I won't say anything," Lily easily promised. "But why are you writing it for him in the first place?"

"He's been unwell all weekend and hasn't been able to concentrate on his homework at all," Potter explained as he returned his books to his bag.

"He's sick an awful lot, isn't he?" She knew there had been a full moon the day before and like clockwork Lupin had not been seen since classes had been over, cementing it for her once and for all that Lupin was indeed a werewolf.

She still wasn't sure what to make of the revelation, but she'd seen enough movies in her childhood to know that it was rarely something the victims choose and hadn't been able to bring herself to feel even a moment of fear for the quiet boy.

Even if he did change into a bloodthirsty monster once a month, he was still the same guy she'd shared classes with since they started at Hogwarts and through their Prefect duties she had gotten to know him a little better, knowing he was nothing at all like most Wizarding books always portrayed werewolves to be.

"Not as often as me, it is the downside of living with two pigs for most of the year," Sirius shrugged, dismissing her words easily.

Not that she had expected any different from the dark-haired teen, having realised just how protective both were of their friends.

And Lily had to admit that the two usually made brilliant diversions whenever someone noted Lupin's absence a bit more thoughtful than a mere passing mentioning.

"You just both have no immune system whatsoever. Did you know that he hasn't even had the dragon pox yet?"

"Seriously? But you are sixteen!" Lily exclaimed surprised.

"Just lucky, I guess."

"You get the flu twice a year, someone sneezes and you've got a cold. It's not lucky but a miracle," Potter snorted.

"Haven't had a cold yet this year."

Lily was taken aback by the depth of warmth that crossed over Potter's expression, softening his entire face as his and Sirius' eyes met.

"Yeah, let's keep it that way," his voice was equally warm as he deliberately brushed a hand against Sirius' before picking up the other's books as well and putting them into his own bag.

"But was there a specific reason you sought us out? Not that I want you gone, but your friends have been staring at us for almost ten minutes now."

Lily glanced over her shoulder to see Sirius was right and her friends were staring at them in shock, not able to believe she was willingly sitting with the two boys.

"Let them stare," she shot Sirius a wicked grin as the other's eyebrow rose.

"Are you trying to get the gossip wheels turning again?"

"Or maybe I just don't care because you are right and I did seek you out with a reason," she shot back, pleasantly surprised when the other chuckled.

"What can we do for you?" Potter asked.

"I was hoping the two of you might be willing to help me out. You know the Yule ball has been rescheduled to the last day before the holidays start?"

"Because everyone wants their children home after the attack on Diagon Alley and various students have complained about missing the ball because of that," Potter nodded.

"You want to borrow Shadow to send to your parents so they can send you your dress robes?" Sirius suddenly asked and she blinked surprised.

"Yes...how did you know?"

"Because it is what most of the Muggleborn without their own owl used the school owls for, not having expected the ball to be rescheduled. And since so many students used the school owls, there's none left."

"Why wouldn't I have asked my friends if I could borrow one of their owls or have them make a detour?" Lily challenged, interested in hearing how he'd deduced what she was there for.

"Because they already sent their owls off when the news was announced, thinking you'd use your own owl. But they didn't know your Precious Monster hurt a wing and can't make the flight for you."

"How...were you the ones who brought him to Professor Kettleburn?"

"He was on the ground when we went to send a letter to Mum yesterday," Potter said. "Weren't about to leave him when it was clear he was injured."

"Thank you, and you are right, that is indeed why I came to you guys. Would you be willing to borrow me your owl?"

"We were going to send him off to Peter's house once we were done here to pick up his robes as their family owl is getting too old for that sort of packages. If you wouldn't mind that he's taking a few days longer, I don't see an issue with him making a detour."

"I wouldn't mind at all, but isn't he your owl?" Lily turned to Sirius.

"Officially he's my Uncle's, but he's been staying in my care since my Uncle is in the hospital."

"Nothing bad I hope?"

"They don't know yet," Lily wondered why both boys seemed guarded all of a sudden but knew enough about them to know she'd not get an answer from them if she'd ask.

"I hope he'll be well again soon," she finally decided on.

"So do we. Come, let's ask Shadow," Sirius rolled up the parchment and put it into his bag.

"Ask?"

"If he's willing to make the trip. I'm not the one who has to fly extra miles through the cold," Sirius smiled. "But I don't think he'll object. Do you have your letter with you?"

"I...yes?"

"Good, then we can go ask and send him off as we're finished here," he rose to his feet and tapped both his and James' bag with his wand, shrinking them immediately before putting them in his pocket.

"Why do you always do that?" Lily frowned.

"Minimises the chances of our books being damaged outside of classes and it leaves us completely free motion-wise while sparing our backs," Potter explained.

"I hadn't thought of it like that, smart idea," Lily admitted, shrinking her bag after removing her letter and putting it in her pocket.

"We have our moments," Potter grinned, automatically slipping a hand into Sirius' as they left the library, making Lily smile.

It was one thing that she had always admired about the Marauders, they just did what they felt like doing and didn't care at all about what others thought about them or whispered behind their backs.

If anything, the clear display of how comfortable they were with one another made them even more desirable with most girls and even plenty of boys were interested in them as they weren't bad looking either.

As Lily mused over this she suddenly noticed the Black heir was favouring his left leg as he walked with a limp.

"What happened to your leg? Did you hurt it while you were confronting Snape and Black?" Lily silently cheered as she finally managed to call her ex-friend by his surname without slipping.

"I don't think it is much of a confrontation when he cursed them into oblivion," Potter snorted.

"They deserved it," Sirius waved him off. "But I hurt my leg before that."

Lily raised an eyebrow as they approached a couple of Slytherins who all quickly stepped aside to let them pass.

"I don't think they'll bother us any time soon again, not after the display I heard you put forth," Potter snorted.

"I wasn't the only one who thought you were going to kill them," Lily confessed but Sirius snorted.

"I'm not like them."

"Like...what exactly did they do to anger you like that? I heard rumours, but I don't know if those are true."

"I rarely listen to rumours as they are usually rubbish. Snape used a very illegal and dark curse on James and Remus and left them to bleed to death in the cold."

A nasty feeling rose in Lily's stomach at his words, she wasn't naive and knew that several of the Slytherins used dark magic against other students, Snape one of them.

How many times had they been targeted like that, with spells aimed to harm? Probably often enough that Sirius had snapped and retaliated harshly and Lily couldn't truly blame him.

Her friends had immediately judged him when he'd attacked Snape and Black out of the blue, but Lily had seen the anger he was radiating when he stormed into the crowded Great Hall, known that he wasn't acting on a whim.

It had both terrified and amazed her to see him shoot off a string of curses and hexes faster than she'd been able to follow and not even Dumbledore had been able to stop him as the sixteen year old bodily slammed the two beaten Slytherins against the wall, magically pushing the Headmaster aside without batting an eye.

Never before had Lily felt afraid of the other, until that moment right then when cold fear had washed over her at the pure fury radiating off of him, his power strong enough that the Enchanted Ceiling crashed in thunder to match his emotions.

She had watched alongside the others in shock as he had lifted the younger Black up by his throat one-handed, displaying a strength Lily never would have guessed him to possess.

"Share that kind of spells again and I will let you see what they truly do first-hand."

Black gasped for breath as Sirius held him like that for a long moment, staring him in the eye before abruptly letting go of him and Black fell in a tangle of limbs, whimpering pathetically as Sirius turned to Snape.

Snape tensed from his position on the ground as cold grey eyes turned to him.

"You had your warning last time you raised a hand at my family. Touch them, come near any of them again and this will be child's play to what I will do to you then. I will rip you both apart."

His voice, although soft was clear and rang through the shocked Great Hall and Lily knew that he had meant what he said completely as he stared at a trembling Snape, who nodded quickly as he was clearly terrified.

"B-brother..." Black whimpered as he clawed at the ground, blood splattered over his nose and split lip.

"You are no brother of mine," Sirius spat at him before turning to Dumbledore, who'd been staring in shock. "If any of your precious snakes touches my family again, I will make them pay even if you won't. And I can assure you right here and now, I will pay them back tenfold. I won't stand by and watch you hold a hand above their heads regardless of their crimes. They won't get away unpunished any longer."

With that he had stormed off, leaving behind a shocked crowd.

It hadn't taken long for the rumour mill to start gossiping on what could have possibly set Sirius Black off so badly.

But although Lily had already realised something had happened to another Marauder, she wouldn't have expected actual attempted murder. And from the sounds of it, it was exactly that.

"And he wasn't..."

"Punished?" Potter snorted at her. "He's a slimy git and as slick as an eel. He's rarely punished for what he does, attacking from the shadows and behind people's backs so they can't identify their attacker."

"I'm beginning to see that. You are both all right?"

"We're lucky Sirius knew both the curse and the counter-curse and found us in time," Potter smiled at Sirius but Lily blinked confused.

"If Snape was the one who attacked you guys, then what did Black do?"

"He taught the git that spell. It is a curse that the Black family invented and only they know how to use it."

"Meaning that Black taught it to Snape or he wouldn't have been able to use it. What does the curse do?" she asked curiously as they reached the Owlery.

"It slashes the skin and can't be healed by anything but the counter-curse," Potter said as Sirius was immediately greeted by multiple owls upon entering.

"That's horrible!" Lily stepped aside as a large dark shadow soared over her.

"Hey Shadow. I have a letter for you to deliver if you're up to it," Sirius spoke to the owl as the sharp claws carefully settled on his shoulder and a large black owl nipped at the boy's ear affectionately.

"It is a request to send robes so you'll get a package in return. Make them put it into this pouch so it'll be weightless for you," he ordered and bound the pouch to Shadow's claw as it was held out to him. "And Lily here would like to ask if you're willing to deliver a letter and pick up her robes as well."

Lily swallowed as yellow eyes turned her way at his words and not for the first time did she wonder just how much the owl understood Sirius' words.

The owl hooted once, nipping Sirius' finger in response.

"Where's your letter? He's willing to deliver it for you," Potter said.

"Thank you," she wasn't sure if she was saying it to the owl or the dark-haired boy, but handed over her letter to him and watched as it was bound onto the outstretched claw before the owl took flight.

She shifted a little uncomfortable as the two boys watched the owl disappear through the window, not sure if she should just leave them now that their task was done or stay with them, but Potter took the decision out of her hands as he turned to her.

"We should make our way to the Great Hall as it's almost dinnertime."

"Sounds like a plan," she nodded but frowned as Sirius indicated she should descend from the spiral staircase first.

"It's not proper to walk up any stairs behind a girl, but it's also not proper to walk down the stairs before them," Potter explained.

"I never really thought about it because we're all wearing robes," Lily said as she took the lead.

"Don't know about the others, but we always wear trousers underneath our robes," Potter shrugged, making Lily chuckle as she knew they were likely among the only ones wearing trousers underneath their robes.

They walked in a comfortable silence for a while until something occurred to Lily. "You send Shadow to Peter's house, but don't you guys need your robes, too?"

"We already got them. It's what we send Heriot out for yesterday, both to get our robes and get some for Remus," James explained.

"Heriot?" Lily chuckled. "Wizzy, Heriot, you aren't really very imaginative with names, are you?"

"Heriot is the last name of a character from a Muggle show that Remus and his mum always watch. We watched several episodes last summer while we were staying with him."

"His Mum still has several episodes taped from earlier seasons and let us watch them in the evening," Sirius grinned. "They both loved this character named Zoe Heriot so when Dad got a new owl we decided to name him after that character."

"That's rather nice," Lily smiled at the enthusiasm of the two and surprised at the correct use of Muggle words, though she wasn't sure why.

Both followed Muggle Studies, though Potter hadn't started that until this year after he'd dropped Divination like she had. And even if they hadn't, they both had a clear fascination with the Muggle world.

"We thought so too. Have you got a date yet?" Potter asked as he slipped a hand into Sirius' again once they were on solid ground again.

"Why?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Just curious, don't worry I won't ask you," Potter held up his free hand in defence.

"Speaking of that, I'd like to switch partners with you," Sirius spoke up.

"If Pandora doesn't mind then it's fine by me. I think he'll like going with you more anyway," Potter nodded in agreement, either already knowing why Sirius wanted to switch or not caring.

"He?" Lily asked confused.

"Oh, Remus," Sirius waved her off. "And Pan's fine with it, already spoke to her. I'll ask him after dinner if he's interested."

"You're going to the ball with Lupin?" Lily shot him an incredulous look.

She had heard and seen girls swoon at the mere sight of them and more often than she wanted to admit had she been forced to listen to conversations that discussed just how gorgeous, amazing and brilliant the two boys beside her were.

Both boys were incredibly popular and could get any girl they wanted, more than a few boys, too, if Lily thought about it.

Not only could they get whoever they wanted, Sirius also had a certain rumoured reputation that made it difficult to believe he'd willingly go with a mere friend if there was a chance he'd get lucky.

Although she had to admit that since she'd gotten to know him a little better, it had gotten harder to believe those rumours as the boy she'd gotten to know didn't seem the type to sleep around as he was incredibly loyal.

"If he'll say yes," Sirius luckily wasn't able to read her thoughts. "Have to ask him first."

"And you're going with Pandora?" Lily turned to Potter.

"Seems like it. Her boyfriend graduated last year and she didn't feel like going with someone who might get the wrong idea so Sirius asked her while I was going to ask Remus."

Lily nodded at the explanation as they entered the Great Hall and her friends waved at her to join them.

Waving back to them Lily turned to the two as they stopped at their customary spot.

"Thank you for your help."

"Any time. We'll warn you when Shadow returns," Potter promised.

"Thanks," Lily paused as she gauged Potter for a moment as Sirius waved to Lupin and Pettigrew as the two entered the Great Hall.

"You know Potter, I reckon Sirius was right about you and you're not as bad as I thought you were," Lily decided as she moved to her friends, leaving Potter to stare at her flabbergasted while Sirius choked on a laugh.