A/N: Hello pickles!

So I was lying on my bed after a Naming Ceremony (which is basically a Christening only not... Christian), a little bit drunk, and I decided that I should really start writing this chapter, because it's been, what? Three days since my last update? And for me that's pretty awful. Especially considering how I left the last chapter... this is really more of a filler chapter, but it's pretty important, and it gives you a load of background stuff with is pretty 'YAY!', I guess.

Be happy guys, and ignore the worse-than-usual typos, please :)

And how about last chappy, eh?? I know it's not my usual style, but it had to be there. It's pretty obvious why, I mean, WOW.

Poor Alex :(

Sooo, I've decided to give her a bit of a break in this chapter, and hopefully change your perception of a few characters slightly... *giggles uncontrollably*

Be prepared to go 'WOAH, she's awesome!!"

Hehehehehehehehehe.

mrsgrabeel192: I know! But it's about to get a whole lot better, don't you worry :)

So rate, REVIEW, (PLEASE?), and all that crap, and remember: reviews make me type faster!

Honest :)

Piles of lovelyness,

TheGreenEyedIdiot xx

* * *

Lily and Alice were sitting eating breakfast at the Gryffindor table. Maggie and Remus had just left, and Alex had just appeared. Sirius was sitting with James and Peter a little way away.

"Hey Ally, I saved you a-" Lily began, but Alex merely shot her a pained look and went to sit alone, a couple of seats away from the boys. "Huh. Alrighty then..."

Alice watched her best friend worriedly. "Something's up with that girl. She doesn't eat, doesn't sleep... she can barely even flirt these days!"

Lily nodded, "I was watching her with Diggory yesterday. She didn't even have to shake him off, he just got bored and left after a few minutes!"

Alice stared at her disbelievingly. Lily nodded sadly.

"Right. Right."

Alice got up and marched over to where her friend sat, slowly shredding a slice of bread. She removed the bread from the girl's hands, and sat down next to her.

"Alex, what's going on? Lily told me about Diggory."

Alex looked at her, tears welling in her eyes. "He liked me all along, Al. He liked me. And I wanted to hurt him... and Sirius... and the duel... and Oxwell's classroom... and dating blondes... and Remus, he, he.... and Maggie..." her eyes focused slightly, and then narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me about Remus and Maggie?" she asked in a ferocious whisper, "Why didn't you tell me Remus liked me?"

Alice was stunned. She'd been expecting something... well, she didn't know what she had been expecting. But it hadn't been this.

"Ally, Ally," Alice began desperately, soothingly, "You know why I couldn't tell you! I'm so sorry, but I just couldn't. I didn't even think it was relevant... oh God, Alex. You like him don't you?"

During Alice's speech the tears in Alex's eyes had welled up and spilled out. Glaring at her through tear-stained eyes, Alex snarled, "Liked. Liked him. No, not liked; Loved. I loved him. I loved him, and I gave up on him, because I didn't believe he could ever love me back. And now..." She took a deep breath. "Now he's gone back to Maggie and everyone's happy and he doesn't know and he'll never know because it would kill him - emotionally, of course. Remus is far too perfect to be that melodramatic. - and Sirius just comes out and tells me just like that and I've only just found out about Remus and I'm crying for Sirius and I'm crying for Remus even though I tell myself I'm not because I promised I wouldn't and... Oh, Ali!"

Alex threw herself onto Alice and buried her head in her shoulder. Alice wrapped her arms around her in a knee-jerk reaction - she was still too stunned to be able to think clearly. She'd known about Remus, but Sirius as well? And by the looks of things the arse had just come out and told her everything in one massive chunk, and one of those things on their own would be enough to shock someone, but both together?

Oh, he was going to pay for that.

Alex was sniffing and wiping her eyes. "Oh Ali, I'm sorry. That was weird for you. And i probably shouldn't have told you about Sirius but I had to tell someone and..." She bit her lip. "We've drifted apart over the years, haven't we, Alice darling?" She gave a watery smile. "I've missed calling you my best friend and meaning it."

Alice smiled glowingly. "Not as much as I have." She stood up. "Come on, beautiful, lets bunk. I feel a spot of mischief coming on."

Alex, still grinning at the sound of Alice's old name for her, clambered to her feet and wrapped her arm around Alice's waist.

"Certainly, my dear. I'm sure I can come down with a severe and extremely contagious illness in the next few minutes. Let's go."

And, smiling broadly, the duo exited the hall, watched by the entire population of Hogwarts school.

"This... isn't necessarily going to be a good thing for us, is it?" James queried nonchalantly of his best friend.

"Probably not, Prongsie. Probably not." Sirius replied, his tone, well... serious.

* * *

Alex, even now, couldn't place the moment when her and Alex had begun to drift apart.

Precisely because that's what had happened. They had drifted. One month they spent every second together, then next Alice met Frank and of course, quality time between the girls had suffered slightly, the next Alex would have a major Quidditch game and every spare moment would be spent practising... neither had ever made a conscious desision to stop being alone together so often, it had just... happened.

The moment that divided them as best friends though, was still clear in her memory. How could it not be?

They had still called each other 'my best friend', still thought of each other as 'my best friend', but they both knew it wasn't true. Alice had Frank, and Alex... well, Alex was Alex.

It was fifth year, and it had been a hot day. One of the hottest they'd had, marred only by their final OWL examination - Defence Against the Dark Arts. Her, Alice, Lily, Maggie, Rowena (before she decided that she hated Alex), and two other Ravenclaw fifth year girls named Mia Hatheric and Lulu Boswotti, were dipping their feet in the lake and laughing as Mia and Alex tried to see who could get closest to the Giant Squid without falling in. All of them taking full advantage of the fact that Alice was with them and Frank wasn't - a rare occurance even then.

She remembered how, after a particuarly daring stretch on Mia's part, she had been preparing to lean in herself but was distracted by a loud yell and a flash of light, and by Severus Snape hanging upside down with his underwear on show.

Lily had narrowed her eyes and muttered venomously, "Potter."

She had pulled back just as Lily stood up and began marching towards the Marauders, muttering about 'immature idiots' and various torture methods as she went.

"Potter!" Lily had yelled, and then the fight had commenced. Well, less of a fight than Lily insulting James and James attempting - badly - to defend himself. She had just begun to tunr the whole thing out when;

"...Don't need the help of that mudblood...!"

"He did not just say that." She had sprung to her feet faster even than Maggie, who's reaction speed was well renowned.

A split second later Maggie was on her feet and glaring in Potter's direction with narrowed eyes.

"I'm going to kill the bastard."

Alice had given Alex a quick once-over and shrugged. "Ok. I'm gonna go look after Lily."

She and Alex had locked eyes, and in that split second something changed. Both acknowledging this, they nodded stiffly to each other and walked swiftly in their separate directions, Maggie right by Alex's side, a murderous expression in her eyes.

"Snape!" Maggie spat the moment they reached him.

Potter seemed to be in the process of removing Snape's underwear, but with a flick of her wand Alex released him, and then muttered to Potter, "She's our mate. It's our show."

Potter had shrugged and retreated a short distance to stand next to Black and Lupin.

Alex moved up close to Snape and hissed at him, "What the hell," she kicked him over so he was facing up at her, "was that for?"

Maggie moved so she was standing next to Alex. "She's our best friend. She was nice to you and you don't even deserve it. I'm not going to pretend I know why she did it because, frankly, I have no idea why anyone would bother."

Alex flicked her wand again, and he was standing up.

"No use pretending, girlies," Snape began sneeringly, "She is a mu-" Maggie was in front of him almost immediately, her face inches from his and her wand sticking into his throat. "Say that again, you bastard, and every time you so much as think the name 'Lily Evans', you'll be in absolute agony."

Alex could tell that this had somehow got through to Snape much more than any of their other words, and something Alice had told her came to the forefront of her mind; "...He's obviously besotted with her... She hates potter, but Sev can't seem to get it into his thick head..."

Looking him dead in the eyes, she said cruelly; "So this is how we treat the woman you love, eh? No wonder she's more interested in this prat-" she nodded her head at James, "-than you."

Snape's eyes bulged slightly and he started towards Alex, "You fucking bitch! I'll kill you! I'll-" His bulging eyes went vacant, and he wobbled slightly before crashing to the ground.

Alex looked at Maggie in amazement.

Maggie rubbing her knuckes gingerly as though they hurt.

Which wouldn't surprisingly really, seeing as she had just punched Snape in the face.

Noticing Alex's look, she shrugged. "I don't like it when people threaten my friends. Especially when the people are Snape."

There was a few moments of silence, before Sirius burst into laughter. Wiping pretend tears of joy away from his eyes, he slung an arm around each of their waists and shook his head incredulously.

"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. The mouse that bloody punches, eh? That was a good one as well. Knocked him clean away. Slightly disappointed in you though, Sugarplum," he continued, turning to Alex, "was hoping you'd sling a few punches. That would have been the turn-on to end all turn-ons, lets me tell you that."

Alex batted her lashes at his playfully and raised her fist, "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to hit you now, or later?"

Luckily at that point James decided he had been ignored for too long, and slipped in between Sirius and Alex. "Come on, girls, let us go tell Lily-kins of our success! And, Maggie, I was wondering, since we're such good buddies now, and you're such good mateys with Evans..."

Suffice to say, not one single person had dared mess with either of the girls ever again since that incident. Especially Maggie.

The only other thing that changed that day was that suddenly Potter and his friends were hanging around with them in the common room now. No one seemed completely sure why, but by the end of the year they had become good friends.

And well... here they were.

Yes. Here we are. Brilliant, isn't it?

A/N: Not much to comment on here, I s'pose, but at least Ally-pally has her bestiest matey back!

And there's a LOT of awesomeness on Maggie's part here, which is good. I love Maggie lots and lots, but I get the impression that she's coming off as a bit of a boring bitch?

So that was a little something to help get her back in your good books :)

Maggie is based on one of my actual real friends, (yes, I have them.) so MASSIVE love to Harriet cos she's just so damn awesome, and also because she actually did knock someone out.

If you knew Harriet you'd understand why that is just so amazing.

Literally, the girl is made of sticks.

Anyhoo, comment on the little that is here, maybe tell me your overall view of Maggie? Or any character really. I know how difficult it is to please you Sirius-lovers (In a non-hypocritical way), so if you like my version please tell me. And if you don't then... just tell me anyway.

Love x 10000000000000,

TheGreenEyedIdiot xx