"I'm coming Mom! Just give me one more minute!" screamed Beatrice Grace Partoy from her bedroom at the top of the stairs. Beatrice – Bea – had long dark hair, the most beautiful hazel eyes and was a little bit on the chubby side. She had two of the best friends in the world; Lily Evans and Michelle Potter.

Ever since she could understand English, Bea had always hated her name. Who else do you know that has a name like Beatrice? But she thought it also made her more unique, you don't hear that name every day. Around her friends, she was very loud and outgoing, but around new people or boys, she was one of the most self-conscious young ladies you could come across.

It was June 18th and Bea was getting ready to head over to the Potter's house – no, mansion, house is an understatement – to spend the last two months of the summer break before her 7th and last year at Hogwarts, with her two best friends.

Unfortunately, Michelle's brother and his group of friends – the Mauraders as they called themselves – were going to be there also. They involved James Potter (Michelle's twin brother), Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. For some reason, Peter wasn't going to make it to the Potter's for the summer.

Bea didn't mind James, Remus or Sirius, but she seriously disliked Peter. Something about him had always creeped her out, so she had decided that it was a relief that Peter wouldn't be there. Michelle didn't mind any of the Mauraders either, but Lily was a different story. Lily was madly in love with James Potter. Okay, well, Lily didn't know that yet but Bea and Michelle sure did. Lily "hated" James and said she couldn't stand to be around him. James, however was completely infatuated with his Lily Flower.

"Hurry up Bea!" yelled her mother.

She hadn't even realized that she had been standing at the top of the stares, reminiscing for almost ten minutes. "I'll be just a minute!"

"Beatrice Grace Partoy! You get down here this instant!" She hurriedly grabbed the rest of her things and shoved them unceremoniously into her suitcase. She walked down the last few steps and over to the fireplace.

"I love you Mom! I'll see you after the school year's over!"

"I love you too, Darling. Now get going, you're going to be late!"

She threw some powder into the fireplace and made sure she had a secure hold on her suitcases and yelled "Potter Mansion!" and stepped inside. She immediately closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was in the Potter living room.

Five people came running at her from all different directions. Lily and Michelle reached Bea first and started to hug her so tight that she was sure she would have to visit the hospital in a matter of five minutes. They finally let go and Bea looked across the room to see James and Sirius running at her. 'Oh bloody hell,' she thought.

Next thing she knew, Sirius was somehow on her back like a little kid and James was standing in front of her looking very amused. During this whole time, Bea was trying – and failing – to shake Sirius off of her. He finally gave in and got off while everyone in the room burst out laughing. Sirius and Bea had always been somewhat friends. But just that, friends. Bea had always wanted more than that with Sirius but she knew that he wouldn't feel the same, so she kept it to herself. She didn't even tell Lily or Michelle. As far as they knew, she didn't fancy anyone at the moment.

After everyone said their hellos and Michelle had explained that their parents were away on an emergency call for two months, the girls headed up to Michelle's room to put their stuff away. By that time, it was getting pretty late, so they decided to go to sleep.

At about 3am, Bea woke up feeling very, very thirsty. She knew her way around the mansion pretty well so she decided not to wake Michelle or Lily and go by herself. She got half way down the hall before she heard a noise from up ahead. She quickly walked down the rest of the hall and into the kitchen to see what it was. Sitting, alone, at the kitchen island, was none other than Sirius Black himself.

He turned around and looked her up and down. Bea blushed – she was still in her pajamas. A white tank top and blue plaid bottoms, they weren't too flattering on her so she was rather embarrassed. Sirius didn't seem to mind too much though, he just waved and motioned for her to sit.

She walked over and sat on the stool next to him. She grabbed the glass of orange juice in front of him and chugged it.

"Hey! I was drinking that!"

"It's okay. I'll just get more."

She walked over to the fridge and pulled out the jug of orange juice. She poured him a glass and handed it to him. He drank it gratefully and then they just sat there for a while. Eventually Bea decided that she had had enough of the silence and bid Sirius good night. She walked back up to Michelle's room, into her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day, Sirius, James, Michelle, Remus, Lily and Bea all decided to head to the beach in behind the mansion. Sirius, James and Remus were wearing matching swimming trunks with the words "You know I'm hot" printed in random places all over them.

Lily and Michelle were wearing multicoloured bikinis and Bea was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. She had never been comfortable enough with her body to wear a bathing suit.

They had a biggest splash contest which James won and – with much objection from Bea – chicken fights. This is where one person sits on another person's shoulders and tries to push the opposing team's top person off. Lily was with James, Michelle was with Remus and Bea was with Sirius. Bea was really self-conscious about her weight so she really didn't want to sit on Sirius' shoulders but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Are you okay?! Are you absolutely positive that I'm not going to break you?!"

"Calm down Bea! I'm fine! You're not even heavy!"

'Yeah right.' She thought.

The fights started with Lily and Bea battling it out. Bea won and watched as Michelle threw Lily backwards. Now it was time for the final battle, Bea and Michelle.

After about ten minutes of trying to shove each other backwards, Bea gave one final push and Michelle went tumbling off of Remus. Sirius fell backwards making Bea go under. When she came back up Sirius grabbed her around the waist and swung her around, the whole time shouting "WE WON!"

Bea had a huge grin on her face as they finally left the water. She was really happy. She had won the chicken fights and Sirius had actually been flirting with her. They went back inside and ordered a pizza. At some point, Remus, James and Sirius disappeared so the girls ate the pizza alone and then went into Michelle's room.

About an hour later, the girls got thirsty so they sent Bea down to get the drinks. She was half way to the kitchen and then she heard voices. 'The boys must be back,' she thought. She approached the door and abruptly stopped when she could hear what they were saying.

"You like Bea don't you, man?" That was definitely James' voice.

"No. She's just a friend." That was Sirius. 'Wonderful, he doesn't like me.' She thought. She was just about to abandon the plans to retrieve beverages when Remus started talking.

"No, Sirius. I agree with James. I think you like her. Just admit it."

"You guys are on something. I don't, nor will I ever, like Bea. Not in that way. She's just too…well this is mean but she's fat."

'Ouch. That was harsh.' She felt her self-esteem drop another ten degrees with just that. She decided that she had heard enough and completely abandoned the drinks. She walked into Michelle's room and told Lily and Michelle that the Mauraders were in the kitchen and she didn't really feel like going in there right now. She told them that she was going to go for a walk in the woods behind the mansion. They just said okay and she left, making sure to take the long way around the kitchen.

She walked around for about two hours and her face was completely tear stained. It was red and puffy. It was also getting really dark outside. She assumed it had to be around 10 o'clock.

'Good. The girls are probably asleep and I can just sneak in.' she thought.

So much for that plan. She walked in the front door and into the living room. She was about to walk right through and out the other door when someone in the room cleared their throat. She spun around so fast she was sure she would have whiplash. There, sitting on the couch, were Lily and Michelle.

"Where have you been? When you said you were going for a walk, we expected to see you back in an hour. Not four!"

'Oh. Guess I was out longer than I thought then.'

"Umm, I'm sorry. I just needed time to think."

"Think about what, exactly?"

'Damn Lily. She was always so curious. Oh well, they're going to find out eventually.'

"Let's go up to our room. I'll tell you there."

The girls walked up to their room and Bea told them to sit down. They did as they were asked and Bea explained everything to them. She told them about how she had loved Sirius as more than a friend for a while now, and she told them about what she heard in the kitchen.

"Oh! Are you okay honey?" Asked Lily, running over to hug Bea.

"I'm fine. It's not like it's something I've never heard before."

"WHAT?! When have you ever heard that before?! It's not true, don't you believe it! Who said that? I'm going to hunt them down and shove rubber duckies down their throats until they suffocate!!" 'Wow. I didn't know Michelle was that violent.'

"Don't worry about it. I'm over it, it's in the past, I've put it behind me, all that jazz."

Lily was being oddly quiet and Bea was starting to feel bad for the poor innocent stuffed moose in her hands. She was strangling it and twisting it's neck back and forth.

"Lily! The moose didn't do anything!" Bea jokingly yelled.

"You're right. But I have a feeling you don't want me to kill Black just yet, so this moose will have to do."

"I love you guys!"

"We love you too, Bea!" They replied together. Unison, creepy.

"Guys please, please, please, PLEASE don't do anything to Sirius. I'll handle this myself. I have a plan already."

"What? What's the plan?!" Again with the unison! Someone needs to disconnect their brains.

"I'm not telling!" She stuck her tongue out at them and rolled over onto her bed. They did the same and they all fell asleep.