Edited 3/2/2022

Chapter Seven, Shopping

The weeks had seemed to fly by and before the Marauders knew it, it was the end of September and the first Hogsmeade weekend. During the last few weeks they had finally completed the Marauders Map with Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Miss Starfall sitting pride of place on top of the map. Also during her last few sessions with Madam Pomfrey, Josie had made an amazing improvement which helped greatly with her health. This of course, made her friends and her parents incredibly happy as they could see Josie becoming happier and healthier. As for today Josie was going dress shopping with Dora and Marlene who had both been asked to the Ball by James and Remus respectively.

"Now, you three better get your robes or suits today too." Josie told her brother, Sirius and Remus sternly as they travelled down to Hogsmeade in one of the carriages.
"Don't worry I won't let them stay in Zonkos all day, and we'll meet you three in The Three Broomsticks at two?" Remus asked.
"Good." Marlene said, as she pecked Remus' lips sweetly.
"We'll see you there." Pandora agreed, as she pecked James's lips sweetly, smiling Josie snuggled under Sirius' arm just like the other two couples were doing.
"I'm glad you're feeling better babe." Sirius whispered into Josie's ear kissing her temple lovingly.

"Me too. I'm sorry I haven't been myself." Josie apologised.
"Hey," Sirius said, sternly as he gently lifted her chin so he could look her in the eye. "All of us understand, Josie. What you saw would take a toll on anyone, but you are so strong and so brave to keep fighting through it all." Sirius said passionately.
"Padfoot is right Josie, which is not something I like to admit." James teased, making everyone laugh as Sirius huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "But you are amazing and I love you. I'm glad we got our relationship back and I'm sorry."
"I love you too Jamie." Josie said, leaning across to hug her big brother.
"I promise I'll never ever do that again." James swore holding his sister tightly, when a bump in the road sent the siblings tumbling to the floor of the carriage in a pile of tangled limbs.

It was silent for all of two seconds before they all descended into raucous laughter, tears running down their faces as they clutched at their sides which felt like they were about to split in two.
"Only you two." Marlene teased in between her laughter. Josie turned and stuck her tongue out at her new friend. She was so happy for her brother and for Remus, Dora and Marlene were good for them. Much better than what Lily would've been for James, and their futures have already changed which helped Josie's recovery immensely after seeing her brother and Remus dead during the summer. To now see the happy lives they would lead had helped more than she could express. Not too long after their tumble to the floor the carriage stopped just besides the gate into Hogsmeade.

Still laughing a little James stood from the floor and helped his sister up and climbed out with Sirius and Remus following him. All three of them held out their hands to the girls, helping them from the carriage only to be rewarded with a kiss to the cheek.
"Let's go before all the good dresses are gone." Marlene insisted.
"Okay. Oh, I need to stop in at the Owl Post Office, maybe afterwards, to send my gift to my mother." Pandora added.
"Have fun in Zonkos, and get me some more Dungbombs please, Jamie." Josie said. "And if you see Severus just ignore him or you'll be on the receiving end of those Dungbombs." Josie warmed glaring at the three boys.

"Yes please ignore him." Marlene begged. "Alice, Josie and I can't take more of Lily's complaining." She groaned.
"We didn't even Hex him." James complained. "Fabian and Gideon did when they heard what he was saying. I think we controlled ourselves rather well."
"We're not saying otherwise James but for their peace of mind just walk away." Pandora asked.
"Okay, but we will defend ourselves but won't start anything." Sirius agreed.
"That's all we ask." Josie said with a happy smile as she kissed his cheek. "We'll see you later." She said as she linked arms with Pandora and Marlene as they headed towards Gladrags WizardWear.

"Good morning girls, what can I do for you three today?" A slender blonde woman who was in her late thirties, early forties with kind brown eyes asked.
"Good morning, Madam Chanelle." The three girls chorused.
"We're looking for some outfits for the Halloween Masquerade Ball, auntie." Marlene replied as Madam Chanelle was her mother's sister.
"Ah yes. I got an Owl from Albus about that, how exciting. Come, I have some wonderful dresses in the back." She said, leading them to the back of the shop where there were hundreds of dresses in all different fabrics, colours and styles on the back wall. To the right  in between floor length mirrors were three large changing rooms, on the left wall on either side of the window were racks of accessories and masquerade masks.

Behind them on either side of the door were racks upon racks of shoes, in the middle was a silver cushioned large round chair which matched the silver accents and cream coloured walls, and the laminate flooring. And also dotted strategically were some racks of makeup. 
"Here we go girls. Have fun. Just shout if you need anything." Madam Chanelle said just as the bell above the door rang signalling a customer.
"Thank you Madam Chanelle." The girls said together.
"Ladies, let's get to work." Marlene cheered, causing all three of them to laugh and giggle. The three female Marauders (Pandora and Marlene had been dubbed thus during the last few weeks even if they weren't on the map), started looking amongst the vast amounts of dresses hanging on the back wall.

The three girls were having so much fun as they messed about and tried on dresses with funny accessories and took pictures, laughing as they made silly poses. For once Josie wasn't worrying about the future, the war or the visions she'd seen, she was just a regular teenage witch shopping with her best friend and her friend.
"What about this one?" Marlene asked, acting serious now as she came out in a pink strapless, a-Line dress that had small ruffles on the bottom.
"It's nice but what about a darker colour?" Pandora asked. Josie looked at her friend contemplating before she headed back towards the dresses and searched through them.
"Josie?" Marlene asked.
"One minute. Uh-ha." Josie exclaimed, when she found the dress she was looking for.

"Try this." She said, handing Marlene a green silk, one shouldered mermaid style dress. "Dora, the blue suits you but maybe....this." She said handing her best friend a dress that was a similar colour to the blue halter neck dress she had on, but the one Josie held out to her Pandora loved it already without even trying it on.
"Thanks Josie." Dora said trusting her best friend as she took the blue a-line dress with a high neckline, and that had silver on the top that dripped on to the royal blue almost like ice. A few moments later the two blondes came out of the changing rooms and gasped when they looked in the mirror.
"I love it." They cried together.
"You both look beautiful." Josie declared hugging her friends.
"Now, we need to find you a dress instead of that black one." Dora said, as she headed over to the dresses.

Pandora was halfway down the long rack when she found the perfect dress for Josie. It was a red off-the-shoulder princess style dress with a tulle skirt.
"That's beautiful." Marlene gushed. "Josie, you have to try it on."
"Okay, okay." Josie laughed, taking the dress from Pandora and headed into the changing room. She stripped out of the black dress and into the red one, luckily Madam Chanelle had imbued all her dresses with magic so they would either lace up or zip up by themselves. All you would have to do was say 'stop' when the dress was tight enough.
"Josie, you look beautiful. Red is definitely your colour." Marlene said. "You picked good, Dora."
"I think the boys should match us in some way." Josie said, the other girls agreeing with her as they picked out their shoes, masks and accessories. 

"Oh shoot." Marlene gasped when she saw the time on her watch. "We need to change and pay for these if we want to hit the other shops if we want to make it to The Three Broomsticks by two." Laughing at having over run the girls quickly changed into their clothes, hung the other dresses back up and paid for their items and quickly headed to the Post Office. Only to bump into Lily and Snape on the way to the pub.
"Will you watch where you're going!" Snape exclaimed.
"We didn't even touch you, Snape!" Marlene exclaimed.
"No you didn't. But I don't want her anywhere near Lily." Snape spat, as he pointed at Josie. Josie rolled her eyes. She had been expecting something like this to happen for awhile now, ever since the first night back when Lily made a fool of herself in front of all of Gryffindor house.

"Josie hasn't done anything to Lily." Pandora said nonplussed. "Oh, wait. Or are you blaming her for James's actions again? Because that's just childish for one, and two; James didn't do anything to her Lily was the one who made a fool of herself."
"What do you know about it, Greengrass you're not in Gryffindor no matter how much time you spend there." Lily spat.
"You and Potter with your creatures running all over the castle as if you own it. You're an embarrassment to your family!" Snape sneered.
"Now I know you're just sprouting Death Eater rubbish, Snape. Dora's family are thrilled she's in Ravenclaw, even if she's the first one and they don't care that she loves creatures. So why don't you both mind your own damn business and leave us alone. Perhaps, then you won't get pranked as much." Josie said coldly. "Let's go."

As they were about to leave Snape started to pull his wand out on them the three girls copying when Lily suddenly stopped him when she saw Professor McGonagall heading this way just behind the girls, and tugged Snape away from them. Though not without sending the three a nasty look.
"She really needs to sort out her attitude." Marlene scoffed, shaking her head as they headed towards the pub.

***

The boys knew straight away something was wrong even though the girls tried to hide it.
"Josie, what's wrong?" James asked, concerned. He and Sirius could practically feel the anger radiating off of her.
"Urgh!" She cried as she slumped down on the bench. Sirius and James sitting on either side of her. While Dora sat opposite James, Remus opposite Josie and Marlene opposite Sirius. "We ran into Lily and Snape. I have never known such rude and ignorant people in all my life! You know she still blames me for what happened between you two, Jamie. So does Snape. And they were so rude to Dora and he went to curse us as we were about to leave but Evans stopped him cause she saw Minnie." Josie ranted.

"You should've seen their faces when Josie told them if they mind their business then they wouldn't get pranked so much. It was like they were trying to catch Billywigs with their mouths." Marlene laughed, trying to ease the tension as the three boys sat there with locked jaws and clenched fists.
"Siri, Jamie, Remy we're fine. Calm down." Josie said as Madam Rosmerta came over with six Butterbeers and six bowls of leek and potato soup.
"Thank you Madam Rosmerta." Dora said.
"We ordered. I hope that's okay." Sirius said hesitantly.
"Thank you Siri." Josie said, kissing his cheek and taking a nice long sip of her Butterbeer.

"You boys need to get something to match our dresses." Pandora says after a lull in conversation as they ate their lunch and calmed down a little. "James, you need to get something blue or silver, Sirius you need something red and Remus you need something green."
"Thanks Dora." James said, as he leaned across the table and kissed her cheek. "Josie I got you some more Dungbombs, we'll get our suits after lunch what're you going to do?" James asked his sister.
"Thank you Jamie." Josie said gratefully. "We need to get some more ink and quills and look at the other shops. I'm sure between Sirius and Madam Chanelle you'll find the perfect suits or robes. Just ask her if you need help, she's Marlene's aunt."

The rest of the day in Hogsmeade was perfect and just what they all needed after the stress caused by Josie's visions and it truly helped her relax. Marlene was slowly being brought into the fold and told some of their secrets but there were some that were kept hidden, for now. If all things worked out between her and Remus they would happily tell her everything but until then it was kept hidden. For now, Josie was concentrating on her recovery, helping find the Horcruxes and helping Dora become an Animagus. They just needed to get the book from the bookshop and they would be all set (she left hers at home). Now that they had their dresses for the Ball it seemed more real and loomed ever closer, they had a bubble of excitement starting to brew inside them. They couldn't wait to go with each other and their boyfriends and have an amazing time, but they also couldn't wait to see the boys' faces when they saw the dresses.

Things were going really well with Sirius for Josie. Even just thinking about him brought a smile to her face, especially when he surprised her with roses and took her on surprise trips to the forest or the island on the lake to visit the Magical Creatures that lived there. She could admit, at least to herself, that she was falling in love with the grey eyed boy more and more every day. She knew he had a temper and could be childish but she loved him for his faults too. She had a feeling that Snape and Lily would be pranked tonight courtesy of the boys, and she couldn't bring herself to care all that much. If the boys had started the confrontation, it would be a different story, but they both give as much as they get. Although she was happy with her brother, Sirius and her friends she couldn't help but wonder how this change would affect their future. It all seemed okay so far and she prayed to Merlin and Morgana it would stay that way.

So far Peter has stayed away after the first two weeks, and she just hoped it would remain that way. She would not be responsible for her actions if he so much as pointed his wand in her brother's direction. Josie couldn't help but wonder if their overprotectiveness of their little group was to do with their feelings or their Animagi forms. However, one thing she knew for certain was she would get Sirius and Regulus to speak again. She didn't want him to have regrets later on in the future. If Regulus didn't listen then at least Sirius would know he tried. Josephine Potter will do anything and everything for those she loves and Merlin helps those who stood in her way.