Later that night found the three students from the future sneaking down the dark stairs down to the common room to meet their new friends. Upon reaching the bottom, they sat down on a large crimson couch and waited for their company to join them.
"Are we allowed to do this?" Ginny whispered nervously, looking around.
"It doesn't say we're not," replied Hermione, "I read it in -"
"- Hogwarts, A History. Yeah, we know, Granger," Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up Malfoy," the two girls said in unison.
"Shut up who?"
The three of them turned around to see the Marauders and Lily standing behind them, carrying blankets and bottles of a red liquid.
Eying the liquid suspiciously, Ginny asked, "Er what's in there?"
"You'll see soon enough," James replied, grinning.
With that, the 7th years headed out common room entranceway with Ginny, Hermione, and Draco on their tails.
As the 8 students walked down the quiet hallways, Sirius told the trio about what his group usually did to pass time. They learned that the Marauders went up to the astronomy tower every Friday to look at the planets and talk about classes, relationships, and professors whom they liked or disliked.
They also found out, surprisingly, that Peter would not be with them that night because he had a girlfriend and they had, according to Sirius, "business to attend to." At the mention of this, Peter turned bright red and quickly changed the topic to the next Hogsmeade trip.
Finally, they reached the very top of the astronomy tower. Peter scurried off, mumbling something about having to meet with his girlfriend, while the rest of them laid out the blankets and set down the bottles.
"So, are you going to tell me what's in the bottle?" Ginny asked James.
"In a bit," he answered, winking at her. Sitting down on a thick white blanket, he patted the ground beside him. "Come sit down with me."
Ginny did so, settling down on the blanket next to James. The night was cold, and he casually put his arm around her. At this motion, Ginny shivered and bravely laid her head on his shoulder.
"So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" James asked, his breath sending puffs of fog into the air in front of him.
"It's wonderful," Ginny replied, "and a lot nicer than my old school. Hermione, Draco, and I used to go to a private wizarding school in Scotland, so it wasn't nearly as extravagant as Hogwarts is."
"Oh. Anything else you'd care to tell me about yourself?" James asked, giving her a questioning look.
"Not really," she answered. "I'm not a very interesting person."
"But you are a mysterious person."
At this, Ginny laughed.
"That's okay though," James added hastily. "I like mysteries."
Meanwhile, Hermione was busy discussing potions with Remus. The two of them sat snuggly on a soft, emerald green blanket, deeply engaged in their conversation. Without noticing, they moved closer to each other, and Remus put his hand on Hermione's arm. The two of them did not notice Sirius, who was sitting a few feet away and staring at the pair with a look of jealousy on his face.
Deciding to act upon this situation, Sirius stood up and walked over to Remus and Hermione.
"Hey, Hermione? Could you come over here for a moment?" he asked softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Hermione looked uncertainly over at Remus, who was looking slightly crestfallen.
"Sure," he replied quietly.
"Okay. Thanks Remus, I'll talk to you about this later," she said, smiling at him. Standing up, she took Sirius' hand and followed him over to his blanket.
Once she was settled down beside him (A little more close than necessary, Remus thought angrily), they immediately began to erupt in quiet laughter.
While this was going on, Lily and Draco were engaging in their own private conversation.
"Where were you from?" Lily asked Draco with a curious look on her face.
"Uh..." he said, looking frantically over at Hermione.
She seemed to sense his eyes on her, and turned around to face him, mouthing the word "Scotland." He gave a nod of understanding, then turned back to Lily.
"Scotland," he said, giving her his most charming smile.
She grinned. "Oh really now? I love Scottish boys..."
Sighing, Remus looked around. James and Ginny were very close (Definitely closer than necessary, he thought, rolling his eyes) underneath their blanket, Draco and Lily were all over each other, and Sirius and Hermione were...well, they were doing their thing. He felt pretty lonely, so he decided to grab a hold of everyone's attention.
"Hey, enough of the cuddling, are we going to get started?"
James looked over at Remus, surprised.
"Oh yeah...yeah, sure, lets get started. No need to waste time."
The three Marauders and Lily began to bustle around the room, picking up the bottles and setting them down in a circular shape in the center of the room. After a few moments, they each sat down behind a bottle, forming a semi-circle. They gestured to the other three students to join them and complete the circle.
Confused, Hermione, Draco, and Ginny sat down behind the remaining bottles.
"What exactly is going on?" Hermione asked.
"Allow me to introduce you to our form of entertainment," Sirius said with a wide grin on his face. "Basically, it's a lot like Muggle truth or dare, if any of you have ever played that. One person dares another person to do something, and if they complete it, they're allowed a drink from the bottle. You can only chicken out 3 times. The first person to get drunk is the winner."
Hermione, Draco, and Ginny gaped at him.
"You like?" Lily said, chuckling. "Lets get this started, boys...first person to go..."
She twirled her wand and sparks came out of it, forming an arrow which pointed towards Remus.
"Take it away, Remus."