Hi everyone! I've had this story planned out for so long now so I'm so chuffed to finally publish the first chapter. I'm proud of it, but constructive criticism (or praise...) is always appreciated! Enjoy, xx

There are some things in life that are not surprising at all. For example, no one is noticeably astonished when the sun rises. It is also not surprising that a child attends school. In fact, it is more surprising if these things are not the case. This works the same way with people, however there isn't a consistent rule. You may be surprised that your uncle hadn't had any alcohol for over a year. On the contrary, it may be a shock that your aunt had a glass of wine. In a similar fashion, it did not surprise any of Poppy Coogan's friends and family at all that she had spent most of the summer holiday in bed with a book. It did surprise Sirius Black's friends and his (unofficial) family that he had read four books in the same amount of weeks.

This was not to say that Poppy was intelligent and hard working whilst Sirius was not - Sirius was very intelligent and could be hard working. Poppy was very hard working and could be intelligent.

The only person who was not surprised at Sirius' newfound interest in literature was his closest friend, James Potter. James had been fully prepared for this as he had been the one who had suggested (admittedly whilst somewhat intoxicated) that Sirius should read more for one simple reason:

'Pads... Pads. Girls move len... I mean love men... who read.'

At first, Sirius was a tad unsure.

'No one hot reads, Prongs.'

James Potter disagreed.

'That's not false - whoops, true. Evans r-reads. So does Freya Richardson and Gillian P-Palmer.'

'Gillian's n-not as nice as Poppy Coogan.'

'Poppy reads too, Pads.'

'I know! She has a nice accent.'

'She hates me... no, not me. You!'

Sirius gasped. 'Does she?'

James laughed for a longer time than necessary. 'No, 'course not. She just isn't obsessed with you.'

'That's offensive...!'

Sirius didn't even remember the conversation he had had with his best friend. He remembered mentioning Gillian Palmer, but he did not remember that it was essentially James Potter pointing out that Poppy wasn't infatuated with him that provoked him reading. Poppy confused him a bit - she was in Gryffindor, like him, and she'd never shown romantic interest in him. All the other girls in her dormitory had at some point, but not her (or Evans, come to think of it). Then again, she hadn't ever been interested in anyone much beyond Remus. She seemed to have a soft spot for him (that both she and him denied whenever it was mentioned). That also confused Sirius; of course, Remus was lovely and not bad looking and kind and reliable, but he was Sirius Black and he must have had some form of romantic attachment with over a third of the female population of Hogwarts. Maybe if he asked Poppy what her favourite book was (or got Remus to do it) and then read it to make a conversation starter.

Sirius had no romantic intentions with Poppy. She was bookish, hard working and loyal. He knew that she was fun as well (although apparently only under the influence of post Quidditch house pride and a few glasses of firewhisky), but not enough for him. He simply saw her as a challenge that he was yet to attempt - one of the few seventh years who had not had a boyfriend (even when given the opportunity) would be a real prize for his cabinet. He'd probably snog her and then end it off but that would be enough. Prongs would think it great, and it might wake Poppy up to the fact that a pretty girl like her not having had a boyfriend by seventh year was just sad. He was fully aware that this was completely immoral, but sometimes immoral things were fun. In some cases, they were wrong - Sirius knew this more than most.

As Sirius realised what he'd been thinking, he let out a sharp laugh. Really? Poppy? Poppy Coogan? Goody Two Shoes Coogan? Sure, she was attractive enough but even he had some interest in a girl's personality, and Poppy was downright dull. He'd said as much to James just a few days ago, when James had tried to reason that Poppy was actually a great lass. He would of course, what with Poppy being close with Lily sodding Evans. If Lily took interest in a dungbeetle, James would suddenly realise how enthralling it was. Sirius shook his head; Poppy bloody Coogan. Why would he waste his time on attempting to snog her when he could go after someone else? Now, Rachel Euston... she was someone that Sirius wouldn't mind getting shoved in a broom cupboard with...

It was early August and it was a gloriously sunny day in Liverpool. For this reason, Poppy was in her garden reading, accompanied by her cat, Cuthbert. Lost in the world of Scout Finch, it took Poppy a couple of minutes to notice a tawny owl (belonging to James Potter) had landed on her lawn. The owl, clearly a bit tired of being ignored, gave a pointed hoot.

'Bloody he- Zeus! You gave me the fright of my life!' Poppy exclaimed, jumping up of the lawn, dislodging a disgruntled Cuthbert from her lap in the process. She brushed some grass of her legs and went to take the letter from Zeus' beak. Zeus, she thought, was not a very fitting name for the owl. He was elderly and lazy, and very frightened of most things. She sat back down and opened the letter.

Poops,

First of all, hello. I must say that I am disappointed with you having only written me three letters (This was not true - Poppy had written four) yet I will let this go as I am sure you had a valid reason.

Secondly, I must insist that we meet up very soon, as I have some literary matters that I wish to discuss with you, such as GEORGE ORWELL'S WRITING, BY MERLIN.

That man has changed my way of thinking, honestly. Now I understand why you read a lot; you have fantastic taste in books, Poops. I lent your copy of 1984 to Sirius, so I am also going to apologise prematurely if isn't returned.

Anyway, returning to the afore mentioned meet up, where would you fancy (In case you haven't realised, it is happening. You have no say in the matter)? It is your turn for activities, so I'm all for seeing a muggle sport, apparating to London and spending a day in Camden afterwards?

Merlin, I am bored. Of course, I haven't bombarded Evans with letters this summer as I am truly beyond that so I haven't had much to amuse me beyond Sirius, who's been visiting his cousin, Andromeda, a fair bit. Remus and Peter have been over a few times but I am certainly lacking a female presence in my life (Sirius doesn't count).

Hoping to hear my favourite little Scouse accent within a week or two!

Write back soon, wench, or I may have to knock you off the Quidditch team next year.

James

Poppy grinned and dashed inside to fetch a quill and some parchment from her room, eager to write back.

James,

Dear, dear Potter... you may be fantastic at Transfiguration and all that but you definitely need to revise the basic, muggle primary school things. I suggest starting with counting - I sent you four letters, bellend.

You read them! Merlin, aren't they fantastic? How do you feel about the ending of 1984? That book is astounding. I must say I am a tad anxious about it being in the hands of Black, however I assume you've warned him I will hex him if he breaks or harms it in anyway.

Is Snape a greasy slimeball? Of course that sounds great! Mum and Dad would be ecstatic if you stayed the night? I'm sure Dermot could stay at a friend's for the night and you could have his room? I'm thinking I'll take you to the Liverpool vs Newcastle match (is this Saturday aka the day after tomorrow alright?) and then we'll stay at mine, then apparate to London for the next day. Mum's given me money for a new broom, so we can stop off at Diagon Alley too. That alright?

Owl me soon!

(Can't wait to hear my favourite oh-wait-you-don't-really-have-a-distinguishable-accent-because-you're-a-proper-little-posh-twat soon!)

Poops

Poppy closed the letter and gave it to Zeus along with a treat. He hooted and flew off on his way back to the Potter's home and Poppy collapsed onto her bed. The Coogan household was in a suburban area of Kirkdale, Liverpool and was usually, given the four teenagers occupying it, a mad house. There was Sam - the youngest, at fourteen, who was in Ravenclaw, like her mother. Sam was three years younger than her older sister, and in the words of Lily Evans, 'devastatingly popular'. It was true - Sam was bright, popular, funny, pretty and good at Quidditch. Poppy often wondered how one child got all the good genes. Next was Dermot, a muscular sixth year in Hufflepuff who was fairly average at most things apart from Transfiguration, which was by far his forte. He maintained slightly above average grades and behaviour and his parents were very proud of him. The eldest, Zara, was in Slytherin, and very proud of it. Despite the reputation of the house, it seemed to Poppy that Zara had not got involved with anything to do with the dark arts, aside from being the girlfriend of Gregory Mulciber, whose youngest brother was in Poppy's year. Gregory was obviously infatuated with the dark arts, but Zara wasn't and could look after herself.

Lastly, there was Poppy. Poppy Elisabeth Coogan was in Gryffindor, meaning that there had been a Coogan sibling in each of the four Hogwarts houses. Poppy, in her own opinion, was nothing spectacular. She was an average height with a slim build, she had dark brown eyes and long, wavy blonde hair - a trait envied by her dormmates, but Poppy often said they looked like rats's tails. She wore glasses for about half of her waking life, as she needed them for reading. Her grades were above average, but only because she worked hard for them. Poppy was Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team and supported the Appleby Arrows. Her nicknames ranged from Pops (affectionate) and Poops (immature). She had a few close friends, the closest of those being Lily Evans. All in all, nothing spectacular.

Most important of all were Poppy's flaws, of which she had many. We'll get onto those a bit later.

'Poops!'

Poppy's head whipped up from her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird to face her younger sister, Sam, and Poppy felt the small surge of envy she was used to now. Sam was so bloody perfect. She had shoulder length hair the colour of dark chocolate and bright blue eyes. Her lips were a gorgeous shade of pinky red and her angled cheeks were always pleasantly flushed. Poppy rolled her eyes mentally, knowing that her mild jealously was pathetic, pushed her glasses up and smiled.

'Alrigh'?'

Sam grinned. 'Yeah. Have you seen my broom?'

'Well,' Poppy began, frowning, 'Since we live in a muggle populated area within a settlement that also happens to be the eighth largest city by population, I would assume it's in the attic along with mine. Why?'

'Gobshite. Mum's apparating me to Martha's house where I'm spending a couple of nights. She lives in Ottery St Catchpole, we can play Quidditch there. So, is it in the attic?'

Sam persisted.

'Yeah, if you want you can take mine.'

'Really?!' Sam squealed excitedly, before composing herself slightly and asking, 'Why?'

Poppy shrugged. 'Mum's said I can have a new one and I'll be going to London with James in a couple of days, so it's not like I'll be needing it.'

Sam dashed over to hug me. 'Thanks, Pops, you're the best!' She bounded off excitedly and Poppy smiled, returning once more to her book.

James Potter was getting very restless.

His best mate, Sirius, was staying with his only friendly cousin, Andromeda for a week due to her having just had a child.

Peter Pettigrew and his parents were visiting family friends in Ireland for a week.

Christopher Macdonald, the only member of their dormitory who was not a Marauder, was trekking the Alps with his parents, who were Muggles.

James had very little to do, but it wasn't for this reason that he wrote to Poppy.

He genuinely liked Poppy and wanted to see her before school. They got each other. She hadn't admitted it to him, but he knew of something they had in common: a romantic interest in someone who wasn't interested. It was no secret that James Potter had been in love with Lily Evans. The true secret is that he still was, despite the Hogwarts rumour mill stating otherwise. Lily even seemed to believe he no longer cared for her in that sense, but without mentioning it to her, James knew that Poppy knew. Poppy, on the other hand, had not made her affections blunt. But James knew. Poppy did not know that James knew.

They had first spoken on the third day of school, when the Gryffindor Prefects had asked the new first years their birthdays so they could put them up on 'The Birthday Board'.

'March the 27th.' James Potter had said.

'March the 28th.' Poppy Coogan had said.

As eleven year olds with few friends, this was enough to spark a bond. James had said that he liked her accent and she had said that she liked his hair. They were officially the first co-ed friendship pairing of the Gryffindor first years.

James sighed. Friday had dragged on, but at least he was seeing Poppy today. He had many things he wanted to discuss with her, ranging from Lily Evans (almost always an inevitable topic) and the books she had recommended he read. It was one o'clock. He was meant to be getting to the Coogans's house at two. He sighed again.

They wouldn't mind having him early, would they?

'DAD!' James called down the stairs, getting up to get his bag from the top of his wardrobe, 'GOING TO POPPY'S EARLY!'

'Alright, see you tomorrow. Be safe, James.'

'Will be, will be.' James said quietly, shoving his wand into his bag and running down the stairs two at a time, 'Say bye to Mum for me.'

'Will do. Are you alright to apparate by yourself.'

James nodded. 'I've got my licence, haven't I? See you, Dad.'

And James Potter left.

The street outside was quiet, however there were a few straggling Muggles, perhaps off on a lunch break. Shropshire was never particularly busy - convenient when apparating. He walked down the end of and into a snicket where he liked to apparate from. He thought very clearly of the Coogans's back garden and felt himself twisting and turning uncomfortably as he approached Liverpool. About three seconds passed and he was behind a large shed. James grinned and strode up to the back door.

'Poops!'

James could hear footsteps thundering down the stairs and peeked through the door and smiled as he saw two figures approaching. The first was Dermot, about six feet tall and broad shouldered, a giant in comparison to Poppy, who's hair was flying out behind her. It was just about possible to make out the voices coming from behind the door.

'Derm, have you done Sam's room up for him yet?'

'Not yet...'

'Derm!'

'I'll do it later! Let the poor lad in, he'll want a cuppa or something if he's just apparated!'

'Twat.'

The door swung open and the two siblings greeted their visitor with wide grins.

'James, mate.' Dermot said, giving James a hug which James returned. Considering the two had a year between them and were in different houses, they were relatively friendly.

Poppy hovered behind her younger brother, waiting for the embrace to end excitedly. She had a lot to talk to James about and she felt that the hug lasted a good few minutes longer than the actual two seconds.

'James!' She squealed, wrapping her arms around the bespectacled wizard, who once again returned it fondly. He grinned and the blonde's arms untangled themselves from his middle.

'I'll leave you two to your gossiping. See you tomorrow, Poops. James.' Dermot said, retreating back upstairs.

'Tea?'

'Yes please.'

'Have you got your letter yet?' asked Poppy, straightening out her Bruce Springsteen shirt. James shook his head.

'You?'

Poppy nodded. 'I've been made a prefect!'

'Congrats, bloody swot. Don't let it distract you from Quidditch!' James grinned. Suddenly, he acknowledged a pointed look from Poppy and caught on to a hidden implication. 'Hang on, if you're the seventh year girl prefect, that means...'

'Unless Lily has done something to seriously discredit herself that Dumbledore was made aware of, she's Head Girl.' Poppy finished, beginning to move into the living room.

'Who do you reckon's got Head Boy?' James asked, following Poppy. 'Me and Sirius have got a bet. Three galleons say Moony.'

'Who does he think?'

'Snivellus.'

Poppy snorted. 'Fat chance.'

'That's exactly what I said.' James grinned. 'I meant to ask, there's been a bit of a change of plans. Is it alright if Remus meets us in Camden? He needs a new cauldron and there's a book he wants too.'

'Oh, well yeah, that's fine. More than fine. Remus is great.' She nodded, answering just a tad too quickly. Her slightly speedy answer amused her friend, as it provided yet more evidence for his theory about where Poppy's affections (which she routinely claimed were non-existant) laid.

'He's great, is he?'

'Well, not great. I mean, he's lovely, but perhaps great is a tad extravagant. Well, I don't know. What do you think? You're his best friend though, of course you think he's great.' The witch rambled, not noticing that her slightly rushed responses greatly amused her companion.

You see, Ms. Coogan had rather a soft spot for Mr. Lupin. And despite his dismissal of petty teenage romances, Mr. Potter found it very easy to deduce the interest she had been showing for the past few months. It amused him on a few accounts: Firstly, he remembered distinctly a drunk Poppy approaching him at the end of fifth year, when Gryffindor had just beaten Ravenclaw to win the Quidditch Cup and began on a firewhisky induced rant about how illogical and downright stupid love is. Poppy was most certainly a cynic. Secondly, never would Remus Lupin believe nor accept that anyone felt any feelings towards him aside from friendship, fondness, mild dislike or hate. The thought of one of his close friends fancying him would confuse him and, in a loose sense of the word, shock him. This was not because no girls paid attention to him - it was because he was friends with James and Sirius, who overshadowed him slightly when it came to romance. Lastly, it amused him because he now had something to tease Remus about - not that he'd mention by name who it was who fancied him, of course.

'I think you need to shut your mouth and look at the clock.'

Poppy closed her mouth and looked at the clock.

'Shite!' She exclaimed, frantically returning to the kitchen and leaving James in the living room, 'It's 2:30!'

'Yes, that was certainly what I was getting at.'

'The match starts at 3:00!'

'An accurate statement.'

'Shut your gob you smarmy southern twat.' Poppy grumbled loud enough for James to hear, clattering around the kitchen in the process. 'Sort yourself out for the match, Potter.'

'I have made the conscious decision to take offence at your previous retort, in particular the phrase 'bloody southern twat'.'

You could almost hear Poppy roll her eyes in Australia. 'And why's that?' She called.

'I am literally from about 70 miles south of you, I'm not from pigging Brighton.'

'Sod that! Shrewsbury's southern.'

Finally, Poppy returned from the kitchen (the only difference was her attire, as she now wore a Liverpool shirt and jeans) with virtually no difference.

'Apparate?'

'Apparate.'

'We are now approaching Wolverhampton. Please mind the doors. Thank you for travelling with London Midland.'

'God, it's not like we had any pigging choice, is it?' James snarled (quietly) at the annoyingly calm train announcer. At the last minute, he had decided after the excitement that was his first proper football match, he wanted to continue with muggle ways of life and travel by train. This had turned out to be a bad idea.

'Well, we did. You were the one who wanted to take the train - '

'That's completely irrelevant. Besides, the woman was assuming we had no other means of transport and if we did, this train would have been our only choice. So we had no choice.'

'I spend most of my time trying to unscrambled what you say, Potter.'

'That's because you're thick as pig shit. Think how I feel, trying to decode your bloody Scouse accent...'

'Thank god we're the only people for a few metres or you'd have middle class mothers saying you're corrupting Miles' young mind.'

'Who's Miles?'

'Hypothetical child.'

'Nice name. God, I can't believe we're only in Wolver-bloody-hampton.'

'James, we could always just get out here and apparate.' Poppy said, holding back laughter at James' exasperation.

'For Merlin's sake, let's do that.' He responded impatiently, standing up abruptly to get his bag off the luggage rack. Poppy smirked and did the same.

When they got on to the platform, James seemed immediately more relaxed. 'I haven't got a clue how muggles can put up with that.'

'Some do it on a regular basis - daily even. They commute to work. My uncle works in London, but he lives just out of Stoke. He has to take the train every day. It's alright for us, though. Dad always made sure we were equipped to deal with things like muggles do, and Mum was always more keen on magic.' Poppy explained cheerfully, fishing for a bottle of water in our bag.

'Your uncle must be a bloody decent man. Do you know any places where we can apparate from?' James asked.

'Mum's from Wolverhampton. There's this pub in the town centre and the back room leads to a smaller pub for the wizarding population. It's only about a five minute walk.'

Those five minutes were spent making general small talk, topics ranging from Quidditch - James and Poppy supported rival teams, (Wimbourne Wasps and Appleby Arrows respectively) and were both certain theirs stood the best chance of finishing highest in the league - to the football match they'd seen the night before.

But they had now moved on to an alternate topic - Lily Evans.

Lily and Poppy had become friends shortly after James and Poppy and had remained firmly close all their time at Hogwarts, apart from a brief fight in their third year. One thing that Lily did not seem to approve about Poppy was her friendship with James. Lily had felt nothing more than indifference towards James for all of her schooling career, whereas James had had a thing for her since their second year, going through a phase in third year through to the start of their fourth year where he routinely asked Lily out every day.

She always said no.

Things were no longer as hostile as they had been three years ago, however James and Lily's relationship could not be described as a calm, easy going one. This was all down to one thing - James had finally gotten over Lily.

At least, that was the impression that Lily was under. And in a similar way to James noticing Poppy's discreet affections for Remus, Poppy could tell that James' getting over Lily was complete and utter bullshit.

'So I'm a tad confused. Is pretending not to fancy Lily part of a master plan to get her to fall in love with you?'

'I honestly haven't a clue.' James said bluntly, following Poppy into a derelict pub with boarded up windows. 'Pops, I don't even think it's open...'

'It is. Stop changing the subject.' Poppy said dismissively, opening a door that creaked slightly more than it should when opened. 'Do they know?'

'Do who know?'

'Peter. Sirius. Remus.'

'Naturally.'

Despite the run down appearance of the pub outside and the muggle section that the two friends had to pass through to get to where they could apparate from, the wizard section of the pub was lively and reeked of butterbeer. Poppy choked.

'Lightweight.' James teased.

'Bellend.'

'As ever.'

'Let's go separately, meet at - '

'Camden Lock Bridge. That's where Remus is.'

'Right. See you in - '

'Approximately ten seconds.'

'The thing is, right, that Poops here didn't explain to me that goalkeepers can hold the ball, only that everyone shouts 'handball!' when a player touches the ball. So the Newcastle keeper picks up the ball and, of course, I shout 'handball!'.' James paused for a second to glance at Poppy, who's face was recreating the embarrassment it had shown when the incident originally happened, 'And this man, obviously a bit jolly, shouts 'That's the point of a goalkeeper, son!''

From here, Poppy continued the reenactment of 'James Potter goes to Anfield'. 'And you could tell James was about to say something stupid - ' some protests came from the afore mentioned boy's being, 'surprise surprise. So I kick him and he says something along the lines of 'More of a rugby fan myself, mate.' To redeem himself in some way.'

Remus groaned. 'Prongs, I've been to one football match in my entire laugh and couldn't tell you more than three teams but even I know that that's a stupid move. Rugby and football fans are pretty opinionated on which one is the best.'

'Never bloody mentioned that in Muggle Studies, did they? I just thought all Muggles loved sports equally.' grumbled James, clearly annoyed at being shown up on his lack of knowledge of football.

'Anyway,' Poppy continued, 'At least 50 people booed him and he sulked until I got him a beer and a pork pie.'

'Such cupboard love.' tutted Remus, grinning.

'So, Moony,' James said, kicking a large stone into the gutter, 'What have you been getting up to since I saw you last?'

Remus rolled his eyes. 'Not much. I saw Peter a week or so ago, and Marlene and I went to Diagon Alley a few days ago. But not much. Mum's poorly.'

James threw a discreet glance at Poppy to see if she had reacted at all to Remus' meeting up with Marlene, but her face remained unchanged. She did, however, notice the glance and gave a stern look, causing James to smirk back at her. She rolled her eyes and terminated the exchanging of body language.

'Oh bloody hell, it's Dominic Davies. I best go and say hello - be back in a minute.'

Remus dashed off to a short, bony boy who, if Poppy remembered correctly, was a Hufflepuff in their year. She smiled. Remus seemed to get along with everyone.

'Jealous.'

Poppy's thoughts about Remus' kindness were interrupted by the teasing comment from her remaining companion. She once again rolled her eyes and turned to face him.

'I'm not.'

'You really are.'

'I'm really not.'

'You're so jealous you don't even know it.'

'I'm no - wait, no. I'm fairly sure that you don't reach a level of jealousness and suddenly become completely unaware of it and chose not to acknowledge it.' countered Poppy, slightly aggravated.

'Well, flower,' James responded, 'I wouldn't know, would I? I've never quite reached that level of jealousy.'

Poppy snorted. 'That's goblin shite. There was the time you saw Lily snogging Archie and I had to take the hex so you wouldn't interrupt them.'

'Yet I was aware I was jealous, therefore I was not as jealous as you are now.'

'That's ridiculous.' Poppy scoffed, 'I have no reason to be jealous of Marlene. She's one of my best friends, and it's not like they shagged or anything.'

'Doesn't mean you aren't jealous.' James said in an irritating sing songy voice.

'Shut it, Potter. You're meant to be one of my best friends, don't be mean to me.' sulked Poppy.

James gave an ostentatious gasp. 'One of your best friends? Poppy, you have never referred to me as that. I can't believe it - Miss I Hate Everyone And Refuse To Even Attempt To Make Friends has cracked. Honestly, I feel overwhelmingly flattered...'

Inwardly, Poppy stung slightly. James' words were teasing and not meant badly, however they were truthful. Perhaps not her hating everyone, but it was not unacknowledged that Poppy did not go out of her way to meet new people or make friends. She knew she should, but she was cynical. To Poppy, all friendships end eventually. In a typical Poppy manner of hiding as much emotion as possible, she brushed off the comment as quickly as it had come and responded.

'Bloody hell, James, where has all this boyish teasing come from?'

He smiled. 'I've not been at school and have had no way to output my mischief and cheek, and seeing as you are clearly soaking it all up - ' Poppy gave a disgruntled snort, 'I've found it's been most pleasing to output it all on to you.'

At this point, Remus rejoined the duo, somewhat confused as to why Poppy looked slightly miffed and James looked like he'd just whacked a particularly noisy bluebottle fly with a newspaper. When Remus spoke, his confusion came through clearly and distinctly.

'Have I missed something?'

'Not at all,' Poppy responded coolly, 'I was just commenting on your friend's alarming level of immaturity. We may want to have it looked into.' This time it was James' turn to give a responsive snort.

'Actually, I'd argue that our main topic of conversation was our Poppy. You see, Remus, I have found that Poops here is a terribly jealous human being - truly a negative trait, wouldn't you say?' He countered, smirking across at Poppy, who was trying to convey a look of 'honestly-James-if-you-breath-another-word'.

'Truly, however I'm going to assume that you're twisting the truth and side with Pops.' Remus said briskly. 'Right. Drink?'

'Drink.' Poppy and James agreed, glancing at each other and following Remus into a nearby pub.

Thank you so much if you've read this far! Also, apologies for any mistakes as it is currently 1:15 in the morning so my attempts to proof read may have been completely diabolical. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll get the second chapter out soon.

Love Martha x