[A/N: Allow me to add once again...I won't change the future, I promise. Lily and James WILL end up together, and Harry will continue to exist :P]
Meanwhile, James and Ginny had just arrived at Bronko's Books and were looking around uninterestedly. "There's not much here," Ginny said as she strolled by the tall shelves containing old and falling-apart books. She took one off and blew the dust off the cover to read the title - A History of Basilisk Breeding. Cringing, she put it back up.
"Yeah," said James from a few feet down. "Oh, here's something." Reaching up, he pulled down a thick leather-bound book called Magical Diseases and Their Cures. "Hey, maybe it has something about your disease in it," he added with a hopeful look on his face.
Shrugging, Ginny walked over to him and the two sat down on a nearby couch. She scooted over next to her date, and the two read the introduction in silence.
"This sounds pretty good to me," said Ginny. "Shall we go buy it?"
"Good idea," James replied, nodding in agreement. The two walked over to the counter where the cashier rang up the book for them.
"14 galleons and 8 sickles," she said in a bored voice, holding out a hand. James gave her the money, and he and Ginny walked out of the store.
"Oh look," said James, glancing down at his watch as he and Ginny strolled down the bustling streets of the wizarding village, "we should be meeting the rest of them in the Three Broomsticks now. Let's go." Turning around, they began to walk to the pub.
When they reached it, James found them a small table in the back of the pub. There, they sat and talked about the places they had gone in the village as they waited for their friends to arrive. A few minutes later, Sirius, Dierdre, Draco, and Lily walked in. Looking around, the two couples spotted James and Ginny sitting in the corner, and hurried over to them.
"Wow it's really cold out there!" exclaimed Lily as she sat herself down across from Ginny. Nodding in agreement, the three students behind her also settled themselves down around the round table.
"Where are Remus and Hermione?" asked Dierdre in curiosity as she unwrapped her scarf.
"Umm," said Sirius slowly, "I think they're...discussing some things."
Raising an eyebrow, Dierdre looked back at her date and said, "I see."
A tall red-headed waitress soon arrived at their table with 6 mugs of warm butterbeer. "Mmm," mumbled Ginny over her cup. "I needed that."
"Hey guys," said a voice from behind her. Turning around, she smiled widely when she saw Hermione and Remus there.
"Hey Hermione and Remus," she replied.
Remus stood behind his date with a slight frown on his face. He seemed to be avoiding Hermione, who gave Ginny a meaningful look then faintly cocked her head at Remus to show that something was wrong.
"Tell me later," mouthed Ginny silently. Out loud, she said, "Sit down, you guys."
Once the newcomers had settled themselves down (on opposite sides of the table, Ginny noted), the waitress brought two more mugs of butterbeer. Remus thanked her and gave her 6 sickles.
The 8 Hogwarts students remained in the pub for another two hours as they talked about classes and planned their next move. At around 12:55PM, they began to stand up and grab their cloaks, preparing to leave the warmth of the pub to go wander around some more. As Hermione shrugged her cloak around her shoulders, Sirius walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Leaning down he whispered something in her ear.
Remus watched this exchange with narrowed eyes. Just as he was about to walk up and ask Hermione if she was ready, his mouth dropped open when he saw Sirius brush his lips against hers. Looking across Sirius, he saw Dierdre's eyes widen and her hands fly to her mouth.
Not being able to restrain himself, Remus quickly moved over to the two in 3 long strides. Without thinking, he pushed Hermione behind him roughly and stood in front of Sirius with his arms crossed. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he half-yelled.
By then, the buzz of conversation in The Three Broomsticks had died down as every curious eye turned to the group of students. "Umm...Moony..." James said in a low voice, trying to avoid everyone's gazes. "This probably isn't the best time..."
"Shove off, James. I'm sick of taking this crap from Sirius. Get your dirty hands off my date," growled Remus.
Taken by surprise, Sirius had stumbled back and twisted his ankle. Wincing in pain, he replied, "What are you talking about, Moony?"
"You know bloody well what I'm talking about! Hermione came here with me and I don't appreciate you kissing her when your date and I are a three feet away."
"Well did you ever think she liked kissing me? Because I'm definitely sure there was some kissing back on her part," replied Sirius with a smirk.
Although a glimmer of hurt appeared in Remus' eyes, he quickly masked it by (to everyone's utter shock) punching Sirius in the jaw. Cheers erupted in the crowd at this, Hermione uttered a dismayed "Remus!"
Sirius, who had by now recovered himself, grabbed Remus by the front of his robes and muttered, "Like to do that again, Remus?"
"Sure thing." Wrenching himself out of friend's grip, he grabbed Sirius' arm and punched him squarely in the face. Sirius, whose nose had started bleeding, growled and lunged at Remus, knocking him to the ground. Fists flew everywhere, and whistling and screams came from the onlookers.
"Draco DO something!" Lily squealed.
Draco looked over at James with an unsure look on his face; the Marauder responded with a nod, and the two of them promptly ran to the fighting pair and pulled them apart. This was not done easily, seeing as Remus looked like he wanted to tear Sirius to pieces, but they managed to force their two friends into chairs a good 10 feet away from each other.
"You can all uh...go back to your activities now," Lily said meekly to everyone watching.
"That was brilliant!" came a voice from the crowd.
"Hear, hear!" chorused another 5 or 6 voices.
Hermione, who at the present moment was being comforted by Ginny, looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. Her eyes were twice as wide as usual, and she had a hand over her heart. "Ginny...please tell me that just didn't happen."
"How does it feel to have two guys fight over you?" Ginny joked weakly. She was answered with a glare, and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry...just trying to help."
Not too far away, Sirius and Remus were shooting death glares at each other. James still restrained Sirius by holding his arms behind the back of the chair, and Draco continued to hold Remus back from doing any more damage. Dierdre had mysteriously vanished. Probably gone off to cry, the poor thing, thought Lily as she began cleaning up the mess the brawl had created.
Once Lily had finished reorganizing the scattered and broken items, she gathered the group and pushed them out the door. "C'mon guys...it's time to head back to the carriages," was all she said.
With Lily leading the way, they marched down the winding streets to where the carriages waited. As the now-seven students walked, passerbys gave them curious looks and whispered to each other - obviously, word of the fist fight had travelled fast.
When they reached the meeting place for Hogwarts students, the headmistress McGonagall walked up to meet them. Her mouth set in a thin line, she said in a low voice as she looked each of the students in the eye, "We will discuss your little 'incident' when we return to the castle. For now, get into the carriages and do not make a big fuss about it with the other students."
Nodding meekly, they clambered into their rides without looking at each other. We're in big trouble now... thought Ginny as she climbed into a carriage behind Draco and slid the door behind her with a thunk.