"Did you get any of that?" asked James, blinking.

Sirius shrugged back. The both turned to look at Remus.

"Moony?" they chorused, obviously expecting an explanation.

Instead, he shrugged and began to walk up to their dormitory. Surprised by his sudden strange behaviour, the other two followed him upstairs without another thought.

"Tell me who do you think you see
You're standing in your corner
Looking out on me
You think I'm so predictable

Tell me who do you think I am
Looks can be deceiving
Better guess again
Tell me what you see…
When you look at me"

Cherry's voice, strong and clear, echoed throughout the empty common room at one in the morning. Having tended her friends and taken a shower, ridding herself of her ridiculous attire, she lay on the couch singing muggle songs, unable to go to sleep. She knew she should sleep. It was too close to the full moon for her to be sleep deprived, but she couldn't help it.

A sudden cry that gave her a fright, Cherry began to run up the stairs to tend to her friends instinctively. It took her until she almost reached the stairs for her to realise that it came from the male dormitory. At this, she hesitated slightly. Whoever it was, had friends surrounding them and wouldn't be in any trouble… but at the same time, she wasn't sure whether they were deep sleepers or not. Or maybe that was just an excuse. Cautiously, she walked up the stairs that lead to the male dormitories.

Placing a hand on the doorknob, she faltered again before turning it slowly. Inside, she blinked in surprise. Sirius was the one who had cried out; she could tell because he was still fighting off whatever was in his nightmare. Concerned, she attempted to kneel by his bedside, almost getting kicked in the stomach in return.

"Sirius," she murmured, "Sirius, snap out of it!"

She attempted to nudge him lightly with an elbow, wanting the least contact with him as possible.

A hand lashed out at her and she jumped back lightly, landing without a noise.

"Sirius!" she hissed, this time grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

She forced herself to ignore the fact that he was shirtless and that he was pulling back so sharply she was about to fall on top of him. No doubt it would wake him, but it would also seen very disturbing.

"Damn it Sirius!" she snapped, "Wake up!"

Another tug backwards and she fell onto the bed with a muffled cry of surprise. A loud groan emitted from the now-awake Sirius.

"Wha…?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Blinking down at the figure sprawled over his bed, he blinked in surprise.

"What the… What are you doing here Ying?" he asked, more out of habit than to be nasty.

She stiffened at the sound of her hated nickname. Calmly getting up, she glared at him.

"You were crying out in your sleep, Black," she said in a tone that suggested she couldn't care less.

"And you're here because…? As far as I know, sound doesn't travel all the way to the female dormitory," he said, folding his arms and smirking.

Not wanting to tell him she'd been in the common room, Cherry remained silent. It produced another smirk.

"Always knew you wanted me. I'm sorry, I don't go for Asians."

She gave him a venomous glare.

"If you thought for one minute I came up here for… for… that," she spat out, "Then guess again. I don't know why I bothered to help."

Throwing her arms in the air, she made as if to walk out, but gave a startled cry instead when she almost collided with Remus and James. Both of the grabbed her arm to prevent her from falling backwards onto Sirius. James had a cynical smile on his face, similar to Sirius's. Remus, however, seemed almost disappointed.

"So why are you here?" asked James, after pulling up a seat for Cherry.

She sighed, exasperated. It was the tenth time they'd asked.

"I told you. I heard Sirius cry out in his sleep. I came up to check up on him," she said through gritted teeth.

She ignored the fact that none of them wore shirts to sleep, or had the decency to put one on after they knew she was there.

"Check up or check out?" commented Sirius with a smirk.

She threw him a disgusted look.

"Don't think so highly of yourself, Black."

He shrugged and let his fellow Marauders continue with the inquiry.

"Why'd you do something like that?" put in Remus, slightly baffled.

She was on the verge of killing him one moment, coming to his aid in the middle of the night the next. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess it was a force of habit. I can't help it. As far as I can remember I've always looked after my friends. It's second nature," she replied.

"But he's not your friend," remarked James.

"I realised," was her reply.

Her tone of voice was flat.

"Do you mind?" she finally demanded, after half an hour of interrogation, "It's two in the morning, we've all had a rough day and Transfiguration is first up. You might be able to live without sleep, but I have two friends to take care of as well."

The Marauders looked at each other.

Finally, James said, "One last question. What were you doing in the common room?"

She gave him a look of disbelief. The final question, and he took half an hour to ask?

"I was singing, alright? Can I go now?" she bit out.

The Marauders gave each other a final look and waved her out of their dormitory.

"So she's the mysterious angel thing that came out when we escorted Moony to the Whomping Willow in third year?" stated Sirius in incredulity.

Remus shrugged, "I thought so," was the reply.

"What do you mean 'you thought so'? You knew all this time and you didn't tell us?" exclaimed James.

Remus shrugged.

"Was I supposed to? Besides, what about you? You said you saw a glimmer of red hair. Who else but Lily?" he reciprocated logically.

James bit back a reply.

"Ok, we're all just dreaming. So let's get back to sleep and wake up in the morning," advised Sirius with a yawn, cut short when they heard a scream from the girls dormitory, sounding suspiciously like Lily, and Cherry's footsteps as she ran up the stairs.

Lily twisted and turned underneath her covers.

"No," she mumbled, "No!"

She saw the familiar white bedspread with the purple lilies. Her thrashing became more constant.

"No, stay away from me. No, no! Go away!" she murmured, fending an imaginary creature away with her hands.

Her scream pierced through the girls' dormitory and she heard footsteps running up the stairs as she sat up, sweat sticking her crimson curls to her head. When Cherry came to calm her down, Lily buried her head into her friend's shoulder and started to cry.

"Was it the same one?" she asked, referring to the dream.

A slight shake of the head mildly surprised Cherry.

"Who was it?" she continued softly.

Lily moved away from her friend, her whole body trembling.

"It was… James," she whispered shakily.

Cherry frowned and looked towards Rose, who had woken in time to hear her friend's words. A solemn look settled onto their faces and Rose moved to hug Lily gently.

"Everything will be alright in the end; you'll see," she mumbled.

The next day, it was as if nothing had happened. Lily was bent over a few books, copying out what the Marauders supposed were notes. In all actual fact, they were quotes she intended to use in her own writing if the need arose. Cherry was sipping her tea and reading the newspaper. It seemed that they'd finally decided 'Lord Voldemort' was actually dangerous. Beside her, Rose was drawing idly in her notebook.

"Hey, what's this?" asked Cherry, looking at her friend's drawing.

Rose blushed and tried to hide it.

"N… no… nothing!" she stuttered in reply.

"Hey!" she cried out when Cherry yanked the book from her.

"Catch Lilz!" she called out with a laugh, throwing it to Lily.

Rose made a fruitless attempt to catch it, but it was too late, Lily flicked to the page she had been drawing, as well as a few others, and whistled.

"Whoa Cherry, looks like we've got us a Marauder fan," she commented with a laugh.

"Really? Let me see," she said, looking at the page it had been open to.

She shook her head in mock disappointment.

"Dearie me, Rosie, I never knew you would ever become one of those people," she tutted.

Rose blushed and attempted to grab the book again, but Cherry was a step ahead of her every time. She flicked through a few pages, starting from the beginning. The notebook was almost empty, meaning she'd only started it a few days or so ago. Otherwise, it would've been filled with rough, but beautiful, sketches of her friends.

The notebook started out with her name written decoratively with butterflies surrounding it. In a corner were three flowers; a rose, a lily and a cherry blossom. It was the exact same title page she'd been using all her years at Hogwarts. The sketches started out as landscapes, her friends, and a few costumes. Then came the interesting ones. There was Sirius. All the Marauders, but with Sirius in the middle. Then James and Sirius, but Sirius was drawn in a slightly darker outline and James was shaded into the background. The next one was Lily, James and Sirius. Although he was in the background, his picture was drawn darker so that it stood out. Again. There were others as well.

The latest one, the one she'd been working on, was another picture of the Marauders, but only three this time. Remus, James, and Sirius. Compared to Sirius, James and Remus seemed like just a background, almost not there at all, while Sirius stood out, as did his vibrant personality. Before Cherry had stolen her notebook, she'd been halfway through shading James and Remus even deeper into the background.

Cherry clasped a hand to her chest and brought the other to her forehead.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed in an overly dramatic way, "Our dear little blossom's all grown up and falling for boys. Dear me, what ever will come next?"

Lily choked with laughter as Rose turned even redder and looked away, just to see Sirius starting his path towards the Gryffindor table. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Lily called out to him.

"Hey Black! Over here!"

She waved her hands around like a lunatic and Cherry laughed lightly, only to bring about a small fit of coughing. There were the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes, and her movements, usually graceful, seemed slightly staggered.

"You okay?" asked Lily, voicing her concern.

Cherry gave a serene smile and nodded.

Sirius blinked in surprise at Lily's enthusiasm to meet him. Usually, she hid at the sight of him. Happy but weary, he made his way towards them. The reactions were automatic. Rose mumbled something about having a history assignment to do and attempted to walk off, tripping over the bench as she did so. "Steady," he said with a smile as he caught her easily from where he stood. Rose looked up, then down again, before hurrying off. Lily burst into peals of laughter, and Cherry's shoulders shook as she struggled not to giggle aloud.

"You needed something?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

Lily's laughter finally died down and she shook her head.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry for troubling you," she said, putting on her sweetest smile.

Sirius shrugged and turned, Rose's unattended notebook catching his eye.

"Hey, what's this?" he asked, picking it up to flick through the pages.

Cherry's eyes went wide when she saw him pick it up and grabbed it off him, a few moments too late. He'd seen the pictures. Without a word, she hurried out of the hall, clutching the book tightly in her hands.

"I'm serious!" he cried out, frustrated.

"We know. We've been your friends for how many years? We were on a first name basis since 1st year," joked James.

Remus groaned at his friend's lameness.

"Ha ha, very funny," replied Sirius sarcastically.

"Come on! I mean it! I really think Cherry's fallen for me!" he exclaimed.

"Because she went upstairs to assist you when you cried out in your sleep? Because you woke up and found her sprawled across your bed? Because she revealed her past to you? Because she has a book of sketches with you on every page which she ran out of the hall with? Is that really enough evidence?" asked Remus doubtfully.

"Yes," prompted both boys at the same time.

Remus shrugged, hesitatingly admitting to himself it sounded very likely.

"Suit yourself," he replied, going back to reading the newspaper.

Since when had Cherry learnt to draw? She sang, Rose drew, and Lily wrote. Had he missed something?

"Here," she said, thrusting it into Rose's lap.

Her friend's eyes opened.

"What… how… why… how'd you find me?" she uttered in amazement.

Cherry just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Excuse me, I've been your friend for how long?" she asked sarcastically.

Rose couldn't bite back her smile in time.

"Good point," she muttered.

Cherry just laughed.

"Come on, we have to go back to Lily. Without you, Potter would be reduced to ashes by now," she said with a smile, offering her friend a hand.

Rose accepted gladly and they walked out of Hogwart's third tower, down the winding stairs, to meet up with Lily.