"Guys..." I heard Alice whisper over the sound of the rain beating against the glass. I always loved thunderstorms, when I wasn't in them, that is. I loved how the lighting would appear suddenly, lighting up the room as bright as day and then there would be the tense few seconds where you counted how long it took for the loud crack of thunder. Some people were afraid of it but I always found the repetitive tapping of water against the window pane to be oddly soothing. I loved the feeling of being in calmness when outside there was chaos.

"What?" I whispered back sleepily. I was tired but it was hard to sleep with the storm that was raging on outside. It didn't help that the thick, stone walls of the tower amplified and echoed every sound around.

"Do you think the storm will stop soon?" Alice whispered.

"I don't know, probably not. Try and sleep, Alice." I whispered back.

"I can't... it's freaking me out." Alice replied after a slight pause. I closed my eyes, too sleepy to think up a response, "Lily?"

"Yes?" I said finally, opening my eyes again. I could make out her silhouette propped up by her elbows, staring over at me. Lighting filled up the sky suddenly, illuminating the room enough so that I could her see her large brown eyes were wide with fear. I was tired but I'd feel bad if I let her just sit there in fear, she was one of my best friends after all and she was worth staying up a bit for, "Come over here if it will make you less scared."

She leapt up from her bed quickly and dashed over to mine, slipping in next to me.

"Sorry, I just get scared." She whispered, "I don't like being alone."

"Don't worry, Alice." I said, giving her a comforting hug.

"Don't you feel like you're at a sleepover right now? You know like when you were ten and you'd have all your best friends over and you'd stay up all night gossiping." She whispered.

"I guess so, I didn't have many sleepovers, Tuney would terrorise me and my friends if I had one."

"Petunia really is so mean." Alice said, frowning slightly, "You should do that jinx on her than makes her front teeth grow."

"If it weren't for the trace, I probably would have done. I'd probably do it to her darling Vernon too."

"Don't you mean, Vermin." Alice said giggling.

"Sorry, that's what I meant."

"At least you know that you've got the better boyfriend." Alice said, "I know everyone is great in different ways but James beats the hell out of Vernon... that sounds so mean."

"It's true though." I said turning away from her and onto my back, "It still feels odd to think that I'm dating him."

"Odd? In a bad way?" Alice said, sitting up slightly, her face concerned.

"No, no!" I said quickly, "Just I'm happy with him when two years ago, I would have literally rather kissed a giant squid than him and now I'm dating him. You know what I mean?"

"I get it but I've never felt it, personally." She admitted, "I always quite liked Frank. I thought he was cute since fourth year when he was in the choir with those singing toads but I only got to know him better after we sat together in History of Magic. Shared boredom from Professor Binns does help bring people together."

"Didn't you associate him with boring times though?"

"No, he was the fun part of those boring times. If he could make the boring times actually enjoyable then I thought that he'd be even better in the fun times so I asked him out for a butterbeer and you know the rest." Alice giggled.

"Also he can put up with you when you get a little crazy around the holidays." I teased and even in the dark, I could feel Alice's defensive glare.

"Hey, I don't go crazy, I just want everyone to have a magical time!" Alice said defensively.

"Like the time you decided to spent hours by the lake trying to catch frogs to transfigure into rabbits for Easter?"

"If that had worked, you would have loved it." Alice said which was a good point. The idea of little rabbits had seemed very cute but Alice wasn't the best at transfiguration and the poor frogs had ended up as strange hybrids until Alice went to Professor McGonagall to help change them back.

"Alice, Lily..." A voice by my ear suddenly said which almost made me fall out of bed with fright, "Don't freak out, it's Mary..."

"I didn't even hear you walk here." I whispered.

"Sorry, I was being quiet and you two were talking so you probably didn't notice. I got woken up by the thunder and I can't sleep either." Mary said looking hopeful, "Room for one more?"

"Go on then..." I said squishing up so the three of us were packed in like sardines.

"What were you talking about?" Mary asked.

"Boys. I always feel like a traitor to females when I talk too much about boys, like I'm playing up to a stereotype." I said.

"We talk about other things too," Mary said, "Besides we're allowed to talk about it, there's nothing wrong with it. We are our own girls who also enjoy the company of males from time to time."

"That's very true." Alice said.

"Now that we're on the topic..." I said, my nosiness kicking in. It was one of the few things that me and Petunia shared in common although Petunia enjoyed snooping into other people's business more than me, "How are things going with Remus?"

"Good, quite slow but it's nice. He's very sweet to me although sometimes he can go a bit quiet," Mary bit her lip, pausing as she took a moment to consider something, "Can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure." We replied in time.

"Please be as honest as possible, I'm a blunt girl who appreciates bluntness in return... do you think I like him more than he likes me? Sometimes I feel like he's holding back, he used to like a few people before me and he won't tell me so sometimes I wonder if he's not over them and I feel like a sort of rebound." Mary admitted, "I really like him but I'm worried he's just dating me for the sake of it."

I turned onto my back, looking up into the darkness whilst I decided how honest to be with Mary. Me and Remus had discussed this a few times and I'd discussed it at length on me and James's Head Girl and Head boy patrols. From what I could see Remus definitely did like Mary, he said he was very 'fond' of her but I don't know if he liked her as much as he'd liked Sirius or Alice before. He did seem to be liking her more and more but it was taking him some time.

"I don't know, you two are quite a subtle couple," Alice said, "You two seem happy when you're together but I'd say you know more than me."

"Lily?" Mary prompted which brought me back to reality, "What do you think? Am I a rebound?..."

Lying by omission was definitely an option but Mary had a way of seeing through it.

"I'll be completely honest, I think he's probably still getting over the last person, I think he liked them a lot and those things take time to get over so he might still be a little hesitant to go all out in the relationship but that doesn't make you a rebound, it just means he's working towards being better." I said, silently applauding myself for managing a decent explanation when I was so tired.

"That's kind of what I thought." Mary said flatly, "I guess it's not the worst thing, I just have to be patient. Whoever he likes before must have been awesome."

"I'm sure she's got nothing on you." Alice said comfortingly and for a second, I almost corrected her before remembering that Remus wasn't exactly open about it.

"Yeah, Mary, don't worry about it." I said, "Remus does like you, I'm sure of it."

"Can you guys shut up!" All three of us turned over to the bed next to me where the sleepy, groggy voice had come from, "It's bad enough with the storm, I wouldn't be surprised if you've woken Hestia and Emmeline by now, they'll be so annoyed if you have..." She sat up sleepily, rubbing her eyes, "Wait, are you guys all in the same bed?"

"Yep." I said and Marlene gave us an odd look. Awake Marlene wouldn't have batted an eyelid at this but tired Marlene was clearly not in the mood.

"Why?" She said looking at us with a tired, confused look, "You have your own beds."

"I was scared of the thunder, it's so loud." Alice said.

"It's not going to get you inside, Alice." Marlene said crabbily.

"Well I came here to get away from the thunder but now we're talking which is why I stayed." Alice said a little defensively.

"You guys are unbelievable." Marlene said flopping back down and covering her face with her pillow. The three of us waited a few seconds before deciding it was safe to continue our conversation.

"Do you think I should try and talk to him about it? You know, the person he liked before?" Mary asked.

"I don't know, maybe, it depends if - " Alice begin but she was interrupted by Marlene loudly getting out of bed and walking over to us. She looked half asleep as she staggered towards us and fell back onto my bed dramatically.

"You okay there, Marlene? I thought you wanted to sleep." Mary said.

"I do but I can't sleep until you idiots stop talking." She groaned, "And Mary if you want to talk to him, do it but be careful about it. Don't tell him to move on or anything, be sensitive about it but if it's really bothering you, then do it. Communication is essential in a relationship."

"That's a very true, Marlene."

"I need some advice too, if that's okay." Marlene said rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Go ahead, we're all ears." Alice said, "I wish Dorcas were here too, she's dated quite a few guys so she'd probably give the best advice."

"Stupid Ravenclaw." Mary muttered. The difference in houses as well as Dorcas's constant Quidditch practices meant that we seemed to see less and less of Dorcas, especially now that she'd started dating the Ravenclaw seeker, "I wouldn't count on it though, Dorcas is very chilled, she just does what feels right and her advice is usually quite strange."

"Fair enough, we can consult her in the morning if we need to," Marlene said, "Is it normal to just sort of... start talking less?"

"For you, not really." Mary teased.

"Ha ha, very funny. I don't mean me though, I mean in a relationship. Like it felt like me and Sirius used to talk loads, even in the holidays we sent so many letters that my owl had to take a week off to recover. It feels like we've almost run out of things to say, at least on his side. Also, he never wants to talk about anything too personal, he likes to keep it casual and as we've got to the stage where you usually talk about deeper issues, it feels like we can't talk anymore." Marlene looked up at the three of us, her brown eyes suddenly full of genuine concern, "Is that normal?"

"I don't know... Sirius is quite different from Frank..." Alice said, "I guess it could just be that you guys have moved out of the Honeymoon stage and with Sirius...well, you know how he was before, maybe he's never got this far in a relationship and he's just adjusting."

"He got this letter too." Marlene said distantly, "Right after Christmas and it made him upset as I heard him shouting about it to James but when I asked him he said it was nothing and it didn't matter. I just want him to talk to me."

"He probably will, he's not being cold or off with you, is he?" I asked.

"No... he's probably being fine and I'm just being dramatic as always." Marlene said with a slight laugh, "Alice is probably right about it."

"Hey, the storm's stopped..." Mary said and the four of us paused the conversation to listen. The whole room seemed oddly silent now, the only noises being the quiet snores of the other girls which seemed to fill the room without the constant pattering of rain.

"We should probably go to sleep." Alice whispered, "Thanks for helping me not be afraid of the storm."

"Anytime, Alice." I said as the three of them slowly rose from my beds and walked away to their own.

I rolled over to face Marlene's bed and I could see the moonlight from the window reflecting off her open eyes. She must have seen me or sense me looking somehow as even through the darkness, I saw her face form a smile before she rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes. Although she said she was okay, I couldn't help feeling slightly worried about her.