Sirius Black wasn't in a good mood. Amy still wasn't giving him the time of day, and he had sufficient reason to believe she fancied Remus instead of him. Why didn't she fancy him? He was good-looking, funny, charming…at least that's what all the other girls said about him. He was even on the Quidditch team. A Beater. How come the one girl he actually wanted to notice him, wouldn't?
Amy was so mysterious all the time. She never talked about herself more than the trivial. He understood not wanting to talk about family; his was terrible. But she didn't even talk about herself. Most of the time, she just sat back and listened to the rest of them talk, occasionally making a seemingly insignificant comment or two. Why was her silence slowly driving him insane?
He'd always thought she was a bit mental the way she was so intent on remaining unseen and alone. Honestly, she was friends with some of the most popular people in the school. With her looks and personality, she could be just as popular. But she didn't seem to want it.
"Where's Amy?" he asked, frustration coloring his tone. It was fifteen minutes into lunch and she hadn't shown up yet.
Remus looked up from his plate with a half-smile. "Try over there, mate."
Sure enough, Amy was practically gliding towards them, a look of excitement on her face. "Sorry I'm late. I discovered a new secret passage on my way out of the dungeons. I'll have to show you later."
"Sweet," James grinned. "Once you show us, we can add it to the Map." The five of them-with Amy's expert knowledge of the castle-had begun to create a magical map of Hogwarts. It still had some work to be done on it, as they kept finding new secret passageways and such.
Amy returned his smile with a satisfied one of her own, making Sirius' stomach squirm. She and James were so close. Granted, he was pretty sure that she was just a surrogate for his dead cousin.
James had told Sirius of his best friend from before Hogwarts, his cousin Eva Potter, who had disappeared just before he began his first year. Her body was never recovered. The day after James introduced Amy to the rest of them, he admitted he originally went up to her because she looked startlingly like Eva had.
Sometimes Sirius wondered if maybe James thought Amy WAS Eva. He'd been worrying about that more and more lately. James seemed very overprotective of Amy, but when she wasn't around, sometimes he had the strangest expression on his face that made Sirius wonder what was eating him.
"Hey Evans!" James called cheerfully, snapping Sirius out of his reverie.
Lily Evans-his best friend's crush since first year-turned and glared at him, rolling her green eyes. "What do you want, Potter?"
He shrugged and put on a flirty grin. "Who said I needed an excuse to talk to you?"
She rolled her eyes again before they settled on Amy. "Who's this?"
Amy suddenly went very still and looked like she wanted to melt into the floor.
"I'm sure I've seen her with you before," Evans continued, oblivious to Amy's discomfort.
Amy shot a pleading glance in James' direction and he gave her a confused look in return, as if to say "what do you want me to do?" She then turned her pleading gaze on Remus, who purposely dropped his quill, giving Amy any excuse to get out of sight. She smiled at him before slithering out on the other side of the table to make her escape.
"None of your business, Evans," I said brusquely, annoyed that Amy had turned to Remus in her time of need. I could have distracted Evans just as well.
She raised an eyebrow at me. "Is that so?"
"She's shy," Remus explained. "Doesn't like people to notice her."
Peter looked like he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut as Evans persisted. "If she doesn't want to be noticed, why on earth does she hang about with you lot?"
James' smile that was almost always plastered on his face when Lily Evans was around fell. "Sirius is right. It's really not your business, Evans." At this, she looked truly shocked, as James was usually privy to do anything she wanted.
"Can I at least know her name?" she asked.
"Amy Havens," Peter piped up. Remus, James, and I all glared at him and he instantly shrunk in his seat, regretting his slip.
"Good to know," Evans said, turning on her heel and going to meet up with Snivellus Snape. What she sees in him over James I'll never know.
James scowled at the table. "Stupid Snivellus…" He was thinking along the same lines I was, it seems. Guess neither of us gets the girl we want. Depressing.