"Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away.
Haven't changed that much, to say.

Spread the word around-
Guess who's back in town?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bell. Bellllllll."

"Hrnnn..?" Wrenching her eyes open from precious, precious slumber, the girl whose name Lily had just spoken in an amusing tone blinked her way back to consciousness. The first thing she came to realize was that she wasn't laying in bed- that would explain why she felt like she was sitting up, because she was, indeed, doing just that. The second thing to cross her mind was that her arm was rather numb, and damp- she must have drooled on it after falling asleep on it. Lastly, Evangeline Bellamy Roac came to the tertiary realization that she had fallen asleep at her desk for the third night this week, and now the paper she'd been scribbling ideas onto was mussed and stained with ink.

"Shit."

Marlene gave a loud gasp, her shock completely fake, and pretended to swoon, being 'caught' by Lily as she cried to Bell, "What was that I heard? A swear? Goodness, me! How unsophisticated! How uncouth! How uncivilized!" Laughing, Lily nudged Marlene back up to stand and gently helped Bell up out of her chair, the latter's legs too stiff to properly lift her body up.

"Did you steal Remus' dictionary again, Marls?"

"I was bored last night and he was too focused on some other book to notice. There are some really silly words in there, you know- like 'widdershins'. It means to go counter-clockwise, but isn't that a strange way of putting it?"

As Bell shook her body back into functionality, Marlene flopped down on her bed and leaned over the edge to rummage underneath it for some hidden treasure and Lily waved her wand to tidy up the ink-splattered mess on top of Bell's desk as she asked, "Again, Bellamy? Three nights in a row. What's so important about this list you're making?" Feeling a light flush cross her cheeks, the still-woozy girl rubbed her eyes with the hand on her working arm- her right -and replied in a scratchy voice, "It's something Sirius came up with on the carriage ride here, I told you that, and the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can start finishing what's on it."

Receiving no reply, Bell looked back up at her friends from where she'd been searching on the floor for her wand, which was missing from its usual position on the desk's top left corner. "You didn't tell us that, Miss Roac," remarked Marlene, popping back up from hanging off the side of her bed, a stubby mirror clutched in one hand and a little smirk on her face.

"Really?" Marlene shook her head and Lily did the same as she reached into the thin wand pocket inside her always-tidy robes, pulling out Bell's wand.

"It was on the floor by Marlene's bed, so I picked it up so she wouldn't step on it when she got up- and yes, Bell, she's right- the only reason I knew it was a list is because you were muttering about it last night before bed while tapping your quill incessantly on that desk. The same desk at which I found you asleep this morning. Again."

"Thanks about the wand, but come on, Lily, it's only our fourth day back at Hogwarts-"

"And you've slept in your actual bed not once. It's absurd, and I simply won't allow it from now on."

"Alright, 'mum'."

Lily wrinkled her nose and shivered. "Don't call me that, makes me feel kind of... old."

Marlene laughed. "You're only seventeen, Lils!" With a wink, she added, almost as a reflexive afterthought, "But if there's anyone you'll end up having kids with, darling Lily, it would be our very own Seeker, Mister Ja-"

"SO, Bell, tell us all about this list-thing you and Sirius are doing, hmm?"

And so Bell did tell her friends about the lists and how the initial discussion regarding the plan went down. "-and Remus thought it was a good idea, so-" 

"Really?" 

Offering a shrug as she put down her hairbrush, having taken the time to detangle a knot in her curly hair as she spoke, Bell replied, "It seemed like it. He said he liked it just as I'd made up my mind to do it." 

Marlene and Lily shared a glance, but Lily assuaged calmly, "Well, if there's anyone who's judgment I trust, it's his," and Marlene added, "And I'm all for watching a dramatic adventure unfold."

Bell frowned at Marlene, considering her words. "Do you really think there's going to be a lot of drama involved with this whole list thing?" After puckering her lips, having taken a pause to apply a little rosy lipstick in the hand mirror, Marlene replied, her tone not so joking as a moment before, "Honestly, yes, I think there will be some drama this year, but there always is, lists or no lists. I don't expect much to change in that aspect just because you and Sirius made a little challenge for yourselves."

"Oh, about that-" Bell's shoulders, which had just relaxed at Marlene's mostly-reassuring reply, tensed up a little bit as Lily spoke up, her tone causing Bell to expect a worrying word. "-is it going to be just you and Sirius doing this? No one else?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"No reason." Another glance was shared between Lily and Marlene, and Bell tried to narrow her eyes at them both at the same time as she took off her robes (she'd accidentally put them on inside-out), but realized she'd only go cross-eyed and so focused her look on Lily.

"I think there is a reason you asked that specific question, a reason that you're not telling me."

"You'll find out before the year is up, if I know anything about-"

"WELL, would you look at that time? We should hurry down to breakfast."

Bell debated whether or not she should probe her friends about this suspicious behavior, but decided not to question it further and followed Lily out the door of their dorm to breakfast, Marlene calling for them to wait for her by the door to the Common Room because she couldn't find a matching sock. Just by said door coincidentally stood the rest of Bell's friends- Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter -laughing as James warbled his voice and improvised a scolding in a bang-on impression of Professor McGonagall.

"You shouldn't impersonate teachers, Potter- as Head Boy, you've got to set an example."

James' grin widened when he saw it was Lily who'd spoken. "Why, Lilyflower, I hadn't realized you paid enough attention to me to notice my badge!" As Lily protested, blushing slightly, Bell chuckled inside her own head- she hadn't noticed James' badge at all, despite hanging around him quite a lot the past three days. If Lily had, without spending much time with James at all- well, then maybe she didn't consider him just as bothersome as she claimed she did.

"I know solely because I'm Head Girl, and it's only right that I know who the Head Boy is," Lily objected, folding back the inside of her robes to reveal the badge she'd pinned on the inner fabric. James seemed confused as to why she was keeping her position on the low-down, and when he asked, she answered promptly, "Because I don't feel the need to show that I'm better than anyone else, due to the fact that I'm not."

"I would have to disagree, Lilyflower, in that I believe you alone are the prettiest, kindest, sexiest- wait, no, that honor goes to Sirius-"

The aforementioned grinned as he cut in, supplying a theatrical gesture across his body, "You see, Lily, James is a man of taste. You can't get much better than that."

"-and the wittiest, friendliest, did I mention prettiest-"

"Oh, shove it, Potter."

"Anything for you, Lily dearest."

"Finished your list yet, Angel?" Bell leaned against the wall beside Sirius, crossing her arms leisurely as she watched James try to flirt and Lily bicker with him in return.

"Just about. There are a few more things that I'm wondering whether or not I should add, but give me one more night to think on it and I'll be done."

"Not one more night, one more evening, an evening that you will end in your bed this time! Oh, thank goodness, here comes Marlene-"

"Yes, yes, alright, Lily."

Sirius turned to his right, leaning his elbow against the wall and lazily running the same hand through his hair as he smirked at Bell. "Just how late have you been staying up to-"

"Barely eleven o'clock last night, I wouldn't even call it 'late'. Lily's just mollycoddling me again, she says falling asleep in a chair is bad for my spine, but it's only been three-" Realizing she'd just admitted to falling asleep at her desk three times, Bell cut herself off, but from the way Sirius' smirk faded into a smile, she could tell he'd already gathered what she'd done.

"Asleep at your desk, Angel? You're really focused on this, aren't you?"

"So what if I am? You should be glad I'm taking this seriously, Black."

"Ooh, you almost got the spelling right, just drop the -ly."

"Sirius."

"Perfect, you nailed it that time-"

Bell raised a single eyebrow at Sirius, having learned over six years of friendship that this always worked to quell his silliness, but only if it was coming from her. He, as expected, cut himself off and paused for a moment, just watching her, then continued in a sincere tone, nudging her arm with a genuine smile, "I am glad you're taking this seriously, Angel. I'd have it no other way."

"Well, now you've done it, right after telling me to drop the -ly, what a hypocrite-"

And thus it was determined that Sirius Black would carry Evangeline Bellamy Roac in his arms, bridal style, all the way down to breakfast in the Great Hall as she protested weakly, laughing too much at his indignation to be truly annoyed at his harmless retribution.

(That said- it was a good thing Bell had always preferred to wear the school-issued breeches over the alternate option of a skirt...)