Kit wasn't sure how long she'd stayed in the Room of Requirement, just sitting numbly on the destroyed couch once the feeling had left her legs and she'd toppled onto the bare furniture. The things James said just didn't make sense, as if she refused to believe him. She didn't want to believe him at all; Eric could get to know her just fine. But the way he'd said it, something in his voice made her stop. She looked down at her hands as they hung limply between her knees and let out a defeated sigh. What was she supposed to do now? She didn't want to agree with James, that just because he had known her the longest meant that no one else could know her that well. But James did know. He knew just about everything there was to Kit. He'd been with her through the awkward stage of pre-puberty and when he was too young to say otherwise, he sat with her when she was feeling down. With a shock, she realized that until recently, he still sat with her when she wasn't feeling great.

But what made him such an authority on what she wanted or needed? If he felt so strongly about he, why hadn't he told her sooner, instead of waiting until he could ruin her relationship with Eric? She knew that James liked attention, but that was going a bit too far. Whatever excuse he had wasn't enough to condone ruining her relationship with all her friends. Her actions before had obviously upset Rose and she was willing to bet Remus, Peter and Sirius didn't appreciate her behaviour. In one fell swoop, James had managed to muck up everything.

Kit hung her head and tried to push the rare, frustrated tears away. The little voice in her head, the one that always twists the blade, pointed out that if James was here, he'd been holding her. Of course, that revelation only upset Kit more and as she curled on her side, she willed the world to forget about her for an hour.

It would be drastic to say that her whole life had been turned up on its head, but in the small span of just over a month she'd gained a boyfriend, nearly lost him, lost her best friend in place for an unrequited love, watched her cousin try to resist the urge to fall for Sirius's charms and fail, she'd pissed off Remus and couldn't ever apologize enough and she'd befriended a Slytherin. So maybe her life had turned on itself, but hadn't given her enough time to get her bearings. Kit clutched onto the couch and tried to sort out why she felt so disoriented. She never got this upset, most of the time she just yelled or threw things, but something in James' words had cut her try as she might, she couldn't find the energy to truly be angry at James. At least, not at that moment.

So instead of getting up and trying to mend broken bridges or yell at someone else or seek a shoulder to lean on, Kit rolled over on the bare couch and closed her eyes.

Now Kit was missing. Great. Remus rolled his eyes when the clock chimed at six, signalling the beginning of dinner and when everyone was supposed to meet back at the common room. James had been waiting when they'd all arrived, sitting in front of the fire. Sirius had been the first to approach, since Remus had held Rose back. The two had gone off to have a quiet conversation and, thankfully, he hadn't heard anything break from the dorms. Beside him, Rose was growing anxious about Kit's whereabouts. If James knew where she was, he hadn't said anything to Sirius. Remus was just growing tired of the whole ordeal. James and Kit should just put aside their differences and agree to stay friends or try being something more. He didn't want to get in the middle of another fight between the two because if asked to take sides, Remus couldn't make that choice.

James was going about this the wrong way, even Remus, who had little experience with matters of the heart, knew that. He was almost giving Kit and ultimatum, which was a bad idea for anyone you cared for. Kit had every right to be upset about that, but she was acting stranger than she usually would. She was being over dramatic by her own standards. She should have let James know (even the rest of them, too) that she was dating Eric. It had been a shock to the group. One that hadn't been well received by some of them.

But why was Kit obligated to share every detail of her life with them? Weren't they all entitled to some privacy and have the right to say what they wanted, when they wanted to? Then again, she hadn't given him that option when she'd told Rose about him being a werewolf. Groaning, Remus sank to sit on the comfy couch and shook his head. He hated when they fought.

Rose sat beside him and put her head on his shoulder. "This is not good, is it?" she asked and got a weary head shake in return. Rose sighed and fought to urge to go find Kit. She was torn between giving Kit a stern word, hexing her or just begging for the whole thing to be forgotten. She looked down at Peter who was sitting by her legs and gave him a sad smile.

"Do they get back together quickly?" She asked and it took a moment before Peter replied.

"Sometimes. But I've never seen Kit or James this upset." Peter peeked around her to look up the stairs where James and Sirius were. "I hope things work out."

"Me, too," Rose sighed. She looked up the stairs and something occurred to her. "Shouldn't we be looking for Kit?" she asked.

Remus shook his head and Rose looked at him, obviously confused. "Not when there are going to be so many people around. We don't want to make a big deal about it."

"But what if she is out on the grounds? How come James got a search party and Kit does not?" Rose demanded and Remus fought the urge to just say that Kit doesn't deserve a search party, the way she acted. But that was cruel and he felt bad for even thinking it.

"She just needs some time to sort things out." Remus gave Rose a smile before continuing. "As the only one in this group who has any idea what women go on about, I think that's what she needs." Rose wanted to argue, but maybe Kit did need time. Yes, Rosie wasn't pleased about the whole ordeal, but maybe this would all blow over by the next week. Who knows, maybe Kit and James would even be dating then. Rose grinned nervously. Good thing Kit wasn't around.

There was a heavy sigh from behind them and Sirius soon sat beside Rose and put his head on her shoulder.

"Last time James saw her, she was in the Room of Requirement," Sirius said and Remus and Peter nodded with quiet "Oh"s. Rose looked at them all curiously, but Sirius said it was for another day.

"She'll be fine in there. One of us can go tonight to see how she is," Remus said with a sigh. His warm eyes were tired despite the early hour and Sirius looked the same. Rose could feel a tiredness filling her bones, but couldn't figured out why.

"Dinner?" Sirius asked after a moment, and Rose couldn't help the little laugh that came from her lips. Of course he'd be thinking about food. Rose fixed him with a look and tried to stop grinning.

"Two of your friends are going through a crisis and all you can think about is food?" Sirius didn't look abashed in the least.

"Well, there a number of things I'd much rather be doing," the wolfish grin came into place and an arm snaked around her waist, "but I think they might need to sort this out themselves. Why should we all suffer because of it?"

"You are quiet selfish sometimes," Rose pointed out as they stood. "Maybe Kit in is the Great Hall," she said hopefully. Remus shrugged but shared her hope. The four left the common room and entered the calamity of the Great Hall during dinner. The sound of clinking china and loud conversations was comforting and the tension in Rose's shoulder lessened. And as she walked into the Great Hall and scanned the room, searching for the familiar pixie haircut bobbing amongst the other students. And for a moment, Rose was all too excited at seeing her cousin in a head to head conversation with someone. It wasn't until she saw the platinum blond hair that her heart dropped.

"What's she doing?" Rose asked quietly as she walked beside Sirius. Catching her tone, Sirius followed her eyes to where Kit was sitting. Her features were somewhere between sad and frustrated and Malfoy was looking at her intently. Sirius wanted to throttle Kit and at the same time counted his blessings that James wasn't there. But if he ever found out she was hanging around Malfoy, Sirius was certain James would kill him. He gave a huff and pulled Rose to the Gryffindor table. He gave Remus a curt nod and sat down across from him so his back was to the Slytherin table. Remus looked behind him and gave another weary sigh. He looked older suddenly, like the weight of everything was bearing down on him. Rose wondered how long it was until the full moon.

"Things just got ten times worse," Remus muttered, uncharacteristically. He was often tired looking, but he seemed optimistic for the most part and kind. But he just seemed exasperated with the whole mess. Rose, Sirius and Peter were too, so perhaps it wasn't so out of character. It felt like the uphill battle to keep James calm and getting Kit to notice James' feelings for her had been going on forever. Those few weeks felt closer to months, especially as of late. The dinner party Slughorn threw felt like it had been weeks ago, not just the previous night.

"Why?" Rose asked, picking at the food on her plate.

"Where Malfoy is, Snape's never far behind," Sirius said tersely, scanning for the oily boy. Lo and behold, there he was, sitting on the other side of Kit. But Kit wasn't paying him any attention, which was good. Unfortunately, all her efforts were directed at Lucius Malfoy. Sirius knew his family well enough to know his kind looks and consoling words were anything but sincere.

"C'mon, give her some space," Peter said reasonably before tucking into his food. The others followed his suit, albeit with a bit less fervour.

Kit shook her head as she entered the Great Hall. It was a bit after six and she should have gone back to the common room and told the guys where she saw, but she couldn't bring herself to face them. Selfish and weak, she wanted someone to listen and not judge her. She wanted a shoulder to lean on since she'd finished crying already. She scanned the Great Hall and looked for a familiar face. Eric was nowhere to be seen, but she didn't know if he really wanted to hear what she had to say. To her surprise, she looked at the Slytherin table next and found someone looking right at her. It was unnerving to meet his icy eyes then watch them crinkle into a smile. She smiled back reluctantly and walked over, thankful that she wasn't in her uniform. As it was, she felt like ever eye was on her, she didn't need a bright crest to advertise her betrayal. She slipped into the spot Lucius had opened for her and ducked her head.

"I heard Potter was missing," Lucius said as she sat and Kit looked up at him.

"How many times must I tell you, Katherine? Word travels fast." She shrugged and picked at a dinner roll.

"I just, you know, want to talk to someone." Kit admitted quietly.

"You mean your friends aren't there for you?" Kit's eyes darkened and she shook her head. "But they all jumped to find James, I assume?" Kit's brow crumpled and she glared at her plate as if she was willing it to set on fire. "That's hardly fair," Lucius remarked dryly.

"No, it's not. But maybe something came up," Kit said weakly, but she could see from the look in his eyes that it wasn't enough. They just hadn't looked for her.

"You wanted to talk?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know. I just wanted to be around someone who wouldn't bring up James."

"Consider the topic closed." Lucius said and told her she should eat.

"Not hungry," was she quiet response.

"Quidditch tryouts are coming up. Don't you want to be on the team?"

"Not if James is the captain." But it nearly broke her heart to give up something she was so passionate about. She didn't think she could handle a whole year of his antics if she and Eric were still dating.

"He said that no one really knows me like he does." Kit said, looking up at Lucius with wide brown eyes. "But that's not true. Other people know me well."

"James is just using arguments he know will hurt you the most." He leant in and shook his head. "He's being spiteful,"

"No, he's not," Kit said, but the more she thought about it, the clearer it became. He was just finding things that mattered to her to try and get a reaction from her. She had counted him as her best friend and when he needed blackmail, he used that. She cared for Eric, so he used him to get to her. Kit felt like crawling in a hole and not coming out until James and his drama was long gone. How could he have treated her like that? Like she was some little kid that he could manipulate using the things she held most dear. Shaking her head, Kit balled her hands into fists.

"Katherine, Potter is nothing but trouble for you. You need to start being around people who truly care for your well-being." Lucius looked over Kit's shoulder to the boy beside her and rose a brow. "Isn't that right, Severus?"

The pale, oily boy glared at Kit, Potter's right hand, and gave Lucius a look. Kit wasn't too keen on being friends with either of them, but she'd turned to Lucius as a last resort. But he apparently knew much more about what her friends were doing than she did. How had Kit been so blind to it all? She shook her head at her own foolishness and saw Snape grimace from the corner of her eye.

"I don't need your friendship," Kit sneered at Snape and received the same look back.

"Neither do I."

Well, she was glad that was settled. Kit found herself believing Lucius' words more and more. He said that she'd taken a dislike to him simply because his friends had taken a strong dislike to James and Sirius. He said he wasn't like his friends and Kit was inclined to believe that after speaking to Snape, whom she found insufferable. He was snobby and rude to almost everyone he met and was a social outcast. He seemed oily, like you could never trust him with a secret since it was so likely to slip right off his tongue the next day. He was smart, from what Kit could tell, but no one ever noticed because no one could look past his awful personality, sneering demeanour and greasy hair.

And if that weren't enough, she'd found out through Lucius that Severus liked Lily Evans. Any possibility of even acknowledging the Slytherin was long forgotten when she'd learnt that. Who could ever like that red-headed goody-two shoes? Besides having told Kit off a number of times for breaking the rules and hanging around the Marauders when she should have been studying, Lily was the first person who had corrected Kit in Charms.

Kit wasn't great with criticism in the first place, but to have someone like Lily Evans point out that she wasn't doing the arm motion properly and attempt to help her was unbearable. It was like Evans had looked down at Kit and decided that a dunce like her needed help. Kit quickly pointed didn't need help from some girl with a rod rammed up her backside and received a detention that night for giving Lily donkey's ears. That had beginning of a very long rivalry. Evans was probably the only person who could hold her own against Kit in Charms and never missed an opportunity to gloat at how well she did on a Potions assignment. There was nothing more irritating that a person who was smart and wanted the whole world to know. Thankfully, Lily had a less than sparkling personality and was terrible at Quidditch and had no sense of adventure. She was the sort of person that would be married right out of school, have three kids and be a homemaker. It disgusted Kit.

So imagine Kit's intense surprise when the week before Quidditch tryouts, James walked into the Great Hall with Evans on his arm. Kit had managed to mend a few of the bridges she'd burnt during her (on-going) fight with James. She and Rose were talking, but Kit knew she'd hurt her cousin. She'd been trying to make it up to her as often as possible and things were beginning to look up. Despite the fact that the week Kit had given Rose to be on her own was long gone, Kit wasn't as protective, something she struggled with at first. But if she wanted Rose to forgive her, she had to be lenient. Remus and Peter were glad to have her back, Remus more so since it meant there wasn't going to be a fight. Kit and Sirius were still hesitant; he was James' best friend and he'd been hurt by what she'd done, but Sirius was just as much friends with Kit as he was with James. The only person Kit refused to speak with was James. They didn't fight, as a matter of fact they didn't acknowledge each other. It was the one thing that hadn't been put right.

Kit was sitting at breakfast, chatting with Rose about Christmas and what she wanted.

"Katherine! I couldn't," Rose said bashfully, but Kit knew better.

"C'mon, Rosie, you've got to want something." Kit said over her cereal to Rose, who was sitting across from her. To her right, Sirius's ears perked up at the conversation.

Rose chewed on her lips as she thought. "There were some beautiful dresses I saw in London," Kit groaned and looked dejectedly down at her breakfast. She hated shopping for clothes, something Rose hadn't forgotten. "Oh, Kit, maybe a broom then?"

"Plan on playing Quidditch?" Kit asked.

"Not really,"

"Not the best investment then," Kit admitted with a smile.

"I don't know, Kit. And what is the point of asking me? Where is the surprise in that? You are very creative, you'll think of something."

Kit sighed heavily, earning a chuckle from Remus. "Fine." Kit wracked her brain for what Rose would even need, much less want.

"Why are you talking about Christmas, anyway? It's hardly November yet," Sirius said. Rose was the first to answer, which was great because Kit didn't have an idea.

"Because, you need to be prepared. What if the store does not have what you want and it's the night before? Or what if you need to order it? Things do not always come in on time." Sirius looked stunned for a moment, which made Kit laugh so hard she dropped her goblet. It was almost like things were back to normal. Then Remus waved at someone behind Kit. She turned around and saw James with Evans on his arm.

Just like that, any shred of normality was shattered.

"Morning," James greeted the group, smiling at everyone but Kit. He pretended he couldn't feel her glare at them as they sat down. Apparently Lily felt the same way.

"Do we have to sit here?" she asked, looking up at James with her too big green eyes. He started and looked down at her, brow creased then said goodbye to the Marauders to sit further down the table. Sirius, who was closest to Kit, put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kit?" he asked quietly. She nodded at him and tried to exhale slowly. Her breath came out in a huff as she watched Evans flick her stupid red hair over her shoulder and bat her eyes at him.

"I thought they hated each other?" Peter said and got a whithering look from Sirius and Remus in return. Kit stood and tossed her bag over one shoulder.

"I'll see you guys in Potions," Kit beat a quick retreat to the library were Eric had said he'd be. She found him surrounded by a pile of Potions textbooks and half a dozen crumpled parchments.

"Hi," Kit said as she cleared a spot to sit in.

"Hey, hon." Eric smiled up at her and gave her a quick peck before looked down at his work in dismay.

"How's it coming?" Kit pointed to his current parchment, almost filled with his cramped writing.

"Better. Why do I leave these things to the last minute?" He asked with a chuckle. Kit wrapped an arm around him and shrugged.

"If you figure out why, let me know." Kit pressed against him on the bench and put her head on his chest.

"What's the matter?" He asked, picking up on her mood. Kit took a breath and looked up at him.

"James is dating Evans now."

"I thought they hated each other," Eric said and Kit nodded. "Well, it's rather petty, if you ask me." Kit looked up at him for an explanation.

"Well, it seems like he's dating her to make you upset. And it seems to be working," He played with a little lock of her hair as he spoke and Kit shook her head. "But you are upset, hon. And I'm not happy with James. No friend would want you upset on purpose."

"Eric, I know you're trying to help and you are, but I really just want to sit with you." Eric nodded at his girlfriend and drew her up onto his lap. She put her head in the crook between his neck and shoulder and sighed. This was what she wanted; someone to hold her when she needed it. He held her close and ran a comforting hand through her hair. Kit sighed and snuggled closer to him. Why couldn't her friends have just left things as they were instead of ruining everything?

I've got one more chapter to post tonight and then I think I'm caught up. :) It's been tons of fun writing and posting all of this. Now, the only thing is there might be a bit more waiting time between chapters as I have to write it before I post it.

Drop me a line, I'd love to know how you feel about it.

Dahlia