AN: The atrocious grammar mistakes from before have been cleaned up, and a few lines of dialogue have been altered. But if you really don't give a damn, you don't have to reread. :)

Chapter 10

Remus and Peter stared at James with strange expressions, curious as to why he would suddenly burst out laughing. Remus set down the textbook he had been leafing through, and asked, "What, pre tell, is so funny?"

James pointed over to Sirius, who was sprawled out on his bed, a notebook in front of. "Padfoot is reading Nolan's diary," James said between laughs.

All three boys glanced at Sirius, who only rolled his eyes. "What?" he snapped.

"First of all," Remus began in a resigned sort of stupor, "Why, why do you have her diary? Secondly, why are you even reading it?"

"I'm bored," was his simple explanation. "It's not like I'm really reading it. I'm only skimming it."

"I hope she finds out and hexes the blazes out of you," mumbled Remus bitterly. "Reading a girl's private thoughts is not right, no matter how much you despise her."

Sirius ignored Remus's rant, flipping open to the first entry. It was dated December 9, 1975:

Erm. A proper introduction could be... My name is Kate Edith Nolan; I was born on December 7, 1960, and I am currently attending my fifth year at Hogwarts. And I've bored you to death.

Sirius snorted, silently agreeing.

In regards to why the hell I'm writing in this journal - I'm being forced to. Alice insisted that I write my feelings down, because apparently I'm so uptight that my mental health is teetering on the edge of despair. Her words, not mine... Alice just peaked over my shoulder and said, "Thats exactly what I mean," then went on to explain that I mask my insecurities through sarcasm. Uh huh.

My background is fairly normal. I'm a half-blood witch, born to Emma and Edward Nolan. Ah, my parents, so lovely. And hell-bent on me becoming little perfect versions of themselves.

I live in England, where rain is mandatory. Then I spend most of my time at Hogwarts, with my good ol' friends. First there's Alice Scott, whose absolutely adorable. She's Hufflepuff, and literally epitomizes that House - sweet, loyal, supporting, not at all critical. Except this morning, when she implied that I have unresolved issues by handing me this notebook. She's fair-looking, blondish hair, brown eyes, chubby face. Like a teddy bear who I want to squeeze.

Then there's Merle Lucas, or as I like to call her, Mad Merle. She's a bit chubby with dark brown hair and pale eyes. In fact, she looks a tad evil (the flesh reflects the madness within). Merle says everything thats on her mind, which is a lethal combination when you have the maturity of a nine-year-old.

Last and foremost, Lily Evans. I am currently at a tug of war for her Best-Friend-Ship with Severus Snape. I really don't understand either, because I should be the clear winner up against that ugly git.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh. James gave him a suspicious look.

Words to describe Lily... Well, she's mind-numbingly perfect beyond believability. So perfect it makes me want to vomit (then again, I want to vomit at a lot of things). She's beautiful (brilliant green eyes, flawless skin, and fiery red hair - yes, hair can be fiery). Then she gets top marks in all of our classes. And she's clever.

Perfect. Barf. But it's truly impossible to hate Lily. Believe me, I tried in first year and she killed me with kindness. I'm still dead from it, see? Anyway, I'm no longer envious, as Lily has the worst sort of admirers. James Potter, Eric Stebbins, Severus Snape. Ew.

As for me... I like listening to music, both Muggle and magical (The Beatles and the Doxies, anyone?). I read quite a bit, but not to an obsessive degree. I also pride myself in carrying the prefect badge, which is in fact a badge of "I'm NOT an immature git".

Sirius rolled his eyes. Of course.

I honestly believed that Lily would get the badge. But she doesn't follow the rules as closely as I do. As for personality... I'm sarcastic? So there, me in a nutshell. Oh, before I forget - I am madly in love with Remus Lupin. That is all.

Sirius cracked up laughing, bewildering his friends around him.

"Guys," said James mock seriously. "Padfoot has finally fallen into the realm of insanity."

When Sirius finished laughing, he glanced at Remus and mirthfully said, "By the way, Moony - she's madly in love with you!" He fell into another fit of laughter.

"No, she isn't," said Remus, who was so determined to prove Sirius wrong that he stood up and took the journal to skim. Occasionally, Remus wile smile appreciatively at Kate's sense of humor, but near the end of the entry, he frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh," he said quietly.

"Really?" smirked James, just as surprised. "That's... interesting."

"She had a terrible way of showing her fancy!" piped up Peter, also surprised. "Really, she lectured you all the time about not punishing us." Peter did a strikingly similar imitation of Kate's voice. "Lupin, Potter just flooded the girl's loo, what are you going to do about it?"

James joined in the fun, also doing Kate's voice, though not as accurate as Peter. "Lupin, Black just made that first year cry - go scold him, you spineless twit!"

Unable to help himself, Sirius had the worst voice impression due to his low voice. "Lupin, I secretly love you and want you to shag me senseless every night!"

"Will you shut up?" said Remus as James and Peter joined Sirius in laughing. "I really do home she curses you senseless someday." Defeated, Remus handed the journal back to Sirius.

"I'd like to see her try," challenged Sirius.

Sirius stood near the bank of Hogwarts lake, admiring the beautiful Scotland scenary. He began skipping rocks across the lake, sending small ripples through its still blue hue.

To accent the peaceful morning, a screeching, "BLACK!" cut through the morning air.

"What a pleasant sound," said Sirius sardonically. He stopped skipping rocks to turn toward Kate, who had just marched up to him, looking tense as ever. "You look like you're in need of a good snog."

"You stole my journal and I want it back!" she said with such ferocity that it made Sirius take a step backward.

"I prefer the term borrowed, Nolan, it makes it sound less juvenile."

"You're unbelievable. There are literally no words in the English language to express my disgust with you!"

"Come on, Nolan," sighed Sirius. "What do you expect from the 'Spawn of Satan' a.k.a. me? That was my favorite entry, by the way."

Kate glared at Sirius, momentarily too angered to speak. Then she finally said, "You're despicable. Really, just when I thought you couldn't possibly lower yourself anymore - congratulations, Black, you've succeeded in completely depleting any moral ground. You must sleep like a baby."

"What a surprise, more sarcasm from Nolan! You know, I think your friend Alice had a point about you masking your vulnerability through that charming wit of yours. Because honestly, I can't think why else every single word out of your mouth, even in the utmost privacy of a diary, has to come with just a hint of sarcasm."

Kate didn't say anything for a moment, feeling helpless. She hated this feeling, the feeling of a fish flopping outside of water. She felt exposed.

Sirius wondered what was with the odd break of silence, and felt relieved once Kate finally said something.

"Give me my journal back."

"Sorry, no."

"What do you mean, no? It belongs to me, I want it back!"

He chewed on his tongue for a moment, before coming up with a believable lie. "By no, I mean I can't."

"Why not?"

"Er, I sold it." Sirius didn't even understand why he was lying in the first place, he just knew he didn't want to give up the journal so soon. At the outraged look Kate was sending him, Sirius nodded, "Yep, I sold it. You didn't think I'd be interested in reading something so pathetically mundane as Kate Nolan's diary, did you? Some poor, misguided fourth year paid me and James 50 sickles to take it for him."

"Who?"

"Forgot his name."

"Why?"

"Obvious, isn't it? The kid fancies you."

"Oh please, nobody fancies me!"

"Hey, that's not true," said Sirius in a feigned admiring voice. "I fancy you."

"How cute," she snapped, rolling her eyes. "I hate your friends, by the way."

"I know," said Sirius in the same feigned voice. "We should snog now."

To further the joke, Sirius leaned in as though about to kiss Kate. She responded quickly, shoved his face away while rolling her eyes.

"I'm tired of your games," she said, annoyed. "I don't care how or why. You're the one who stole my book and then gave it away - you're the one whose going to give it back." As Sirius opened his mouth to dispute her, she pressed on, "If you don't, then I'll be reporting to Professor McGonagall how you and Potter are in possession of a very special cloak, which I'll remind you now is apart of a long list of banned items at Hogwarts. Your move."

Sirius growled in annoyance, and said, "Bloody - fine! I'll get your stupid book back." As Kate began walking away, Sirius shouted after her. "You owe me one, Nolan!"

"The hell I do!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Lily returned to the Entrance Hall where Merle and Leah were waiting. Lily had just came from the Great Hall, where she had gave Sirius the bottled Amortentia in the form of butterbeer.

"Operation Make Sirius Black Cry Like a Poncy is commenced," said Lily, satisfied.

"You don't think he was suspicious of you just randomly walking up to him to give him butterbeer?" asked Leah.

"Nope," said Lily. "He was too busy laughing at Peter Pettigrew's new haircut, which apparently he and Potter had been working on last night. James did seem a bit jealous though."

"Of the haircut?" asked Merle.

"No, of me giving Sirius butterbeer."

"Has he drank out of it yet?" Leah asked, peaking between the oak doors to see if Sirius was affected by the love potion yet.

"Not that I'm aware of," said Lily. "Listen, we can't tell Kate about the love potion until after it's in his system. Otherwise she might put a stop to the plan. She wouldn't stand for her friends breaking the rules by feeding some bloke love potion, even if he is her mortal nemesis, not to mention the bloody deflowerer of her virginity."

"Speaking of Kate," added Merle under her breath. "Hi!"

Kate had just entered the Entrance Hall.

"Have you guys ate already?" she asked them. They nodded simultaneously. "Well, my appetite's not too keen right now anyway."

"So..." said Lily awkwardly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," said Kate, wondering why they were all staring at her in such an odd way. "Of course, it would be much better if Black just returned my - "

"Kate, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Lily said sympathetically.

Before Kate could ask, Merle nodded, "Right, we understand. And anyway, we're getting him back for you."

Lily looked as though she wanted to slap Merle, but instead turned toward Kate for a reaction.

"Well, good!" said Kate. "That's nice to know. Really, I'd just like to know how he got his grubby hands on it in the first place."

Merle said, "That's something we were wondering ourselves."

Lily forcefully elbowed Merle in the ribcage. "Merle!"

"What? I was just being honest."

"I think he may have taken it during Potions," said Kate pensively. "Or..."

"Huh?" said Leah, feeling as though she were missing out on something. Lily and Merle also stared at Kate in wonder.

"The library!" said Kate, as though an epiphany had just hit her. "Of course. I lost in the library!"

"Oh good gracious!" said Lily, looking faint. "You - lost it - in - the LIBRARY?!" Kate stared at Lily, not sure why Lily was overreacting so. "I mean, honestly, Kate! I've been TRYING to be supportive and understanding about this whole fiasco, but knowing that you - and Black - the LIBRARY! That's just dirty!"

"Am I missing something?" Kate asked Merle and Leah. "Is she under some sort of wonky spell - ?"

"I'M under the wonky spell?" said Lily, astounded. "What kind of decent, moral being shags their virginity off in some murky, old library?!"

"I think it's a bit funny," said Leah under her breath. "I mean, if your going to shag someplace inappropriate, she went about it the right way." Merle nodded in agreement.

"Shag - what? Excuse me?" Kate was completely confused.

"You're becoming someone who I don't even recognize! What's next, are you going to snog You-Know-Who the next chance you get?"

"Lily, calm the frak down. I didn't shag anyone."

"You - what? But yesterday, you admitted... You said you lost it."

"Yeah," said Kate slowly. "I lost my journal."

No one had expected that. Everyone stared at Kate, feeling idiotic about the huge misunderstanding.

Merle, always the first to break the silence, said, "Oh bugger."

"Your journal..." Lily trailed off quietly. "That's... Oh."

"So are you still a virgin?" asked Merle.

"That's none of your damn business!" snapped Kate. "Frankly, I am astounded that you all somehow managed to mistake my diary for my virginity loss! You honestly think that I would loss it to-to Sirius Black of all people! That's just silly!"

"Well, it's not all our fault," defended Leah. "Black led Merle on to think that you and him had shagged."

"Oh bugger!" said Merle, sounding sorry. "Well, the thing is, I wasn't very specific in asking him... I mean, I just asked whether he stole Kate's 'you-know-what' and he nodded yeah."

"Great! Bloody fantastic!" said Kate, now frantic. "So exactly how many people think I lost my virginity to him?"

"You can always take advantage of the situation," said Leah, trying to cheer her up. "I mean, get him back for that bad snogger comment he made some months ago, and tell people that he was, you know... really bad in the sack."

"Okay, is anybody else loving how evil she is?" smirked Merle, pointing at Leah.

"We couldn't do that!" said Lily, who was now flushing in her own guilt. "We're already putting him through enough punishment with... " Her green eyes suddenly widened as she remembered. "The potion!"

Lily suddenly dashed passed her friends, into the Great Hall to prevent Sirius from drinking from the butterbeer. In the nick of time, Lily ran forward just as Sirius had opened the butterbeer and was putting the bottle to his lips.

Without a second thought, Lily dove forward, pushing the bottle off Sirius's lips so that it landed with a splatter on the Gryffindor table, spilling all over the food. James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and a few others around her stared at Lily in total shock.

"Did you just dive to stop me from drinking butterbeer?" asked Sirius, who now wore a shirt of spilt butterbeer on him.

Remus, who had the most drink spilt on him, squeezed some of the butterbeer from his smock by twisting it.

"Er," said Lily, feeling her face heat up as she struggled for an explanation. She lamely concluded with, "No! Psht. I tripped."

She walked away, leaving the four Marauders staring after her in wonderment.

"I don't know about you guys," said James, still staring after her, "but I find her even more attractive when she pulls crazy stunts like that. Keeps me on my toes."

His friends groaned at James.

The only person who hadn't groaned was Remus. He had a strange expression on his face. Remus suddenly stood up from the table and abruptly asked his friends, "Where's Kate?"

"Probably nearby, since Lily was just here," said James. "Why?"

"Because... I have to see her..." he trailed off distantly, then began exiting the Great Hall.

James, Sirius and Peter exchanged confused looks, then all simultaneously got up to follow Remus. Sirius performed a cleaning spell on all four of them while they were walking.

"Er, where you going, Moony?" asked Peter.

"Didn't I just say?" snapped Remus irately. "To find Kate."

"But why?"

"Erm, prefect stuff."

James and Sirius immediately knew he was lying.

"Something's up," Sirius muttered to James. "I think we should follow him."

"Will do."

Remus stopped short when they had reached the Entrance Hall. His amber eyes landed on the four Gryffindor girls who were standing some distance away, near the House points system.

"Well, the Entrance Hall!" said James mock excitedly. "So far so good."

Ignoring them, Remus walked up to the girls to tap Kate on the shoulder; and when she turned around, Remus suddenly grabbed her and gave her an unexpected, passionate kiss full on the lips. Everyone else gaped - that was not something you would expect from Remus Lupin.

Even a few passerby slowed down in their steps to watch.

Once James had recovered from the initial shock, he said, "Except that. You know, Pads, I've always doubted Moony's ability to cause complete mayhem, but this act of indecency clearly proves me wrong... Pads?"

Sirius was glaring at Remus, who was just pulling away from Kate. He watched as Kate tried to recover from her dazed state of mind.

"Uh oh, someone's jealous," sung James so only Sirius could hear.

Ignoring James, he marched up between Remus and Kate and pulled Remus away by the shoulder. "Have you gone stupid? You don't just walk up and snog Nolan!

"And why not?" said Remus, trying to break free of Sirius's grasp.

"Because it's bloody unreasonable, that's why!"

Meanwhile, Lily was smacking herself on her head. "Oh gods," she mumbled. "Remus must've gotten a whiff of the love potion."

Kate finally snapped out of her shock, asking Lily, "The WHAT potion?""

"Shush!" said Lily, covering Kate by the mouth. She laughed at James and Peter, who were staring at her with questioning gazes. "We're gonna go now!" She tried to steer Kate away, but Remus butted in.

"Wait, Kate - where are you going?"

"Away from you, you nutter!" snapped Kate.

"Nutter? But I thought the feeling was mutual! You fancy me, right?"

Kate halted in her steps, and slowly revolved on the spot. Sirius swore loudly, knowing the situation would soon turn around on him. Kate flushed, staring at Remus with wide blue eyes.

"I... Lupin... No!" was all she could come up. "It was only for a few weeks last year." Her eyes flashed angrily toward Sirius, knowing he was responsible for Remus knowing her little secret. "Black!"

"Hey!" Leah suddenly said, feigning an epiphany. "Someone needs to take Lupin to Madam Pomfrey until the potion wears off. Who's with me?"

"Me!" said Peter and Merle simultaneously. The three grabbed Remus and tried to drag him away, but he struggled against their bonds.

"Let me go! I want to stay with Kate!"

Whipping out her wand, Leah said, "You'll thank me later. Stupefy!" Remus fell, Stunned from the hex. Leah, Merle and Peter proceeded to drag Remus out of the hallway.

"You read my journal aloud?" Kate asked Sirius acidly.

"No," denied Sirius heatedly. "I only, very casually, mentioned to Remus that you might've fancied him."

"Do you know how close I am to murdering you right now?" panted Kate.

"Very?" guessed Sirius. "Look, Nolan, it wasn't even my idea to take the journal - James was the one who stole it!"

"Rat," muttered James under his breath.

Kate turned her glare toward James and, surprisingly, Lily.

"James and Lily..." she said in the same acid voice. "Why is it that every time some sort of conflict arises between me and Black, it always comes back to you two?"

While James tried to feign innocence, Lily stammered, "Come on - you're not really going to turn the tables on us, are you?"

"You know, I agree," said Sirius, glad the pressure was off himself. "A lot of the time it's your guys' fault. Who let us go gallivanting off during Slughorn's party?"

"Or," added Kate, "who heavily magnified that nasty lie about Sirius fancying me?"

"Or who started the lie," said Sirius, glaring at James.

"Since our two brilliant friends still haven't taken the hint yet," said Kate, ready to launch the long-prepared speech she has had in her head for some time. "Lets try to clear the air here, once and for all. It is nightmarishly frustrating for both of you to add insult to injury day after day. Honestly, Potter, that had to be some stretch of the imagination - just to think up such a demented idea of Black fancying me.

"And even if in some bizarre twist he did fancy me, there is no way in hell that I'd ever recuperate such feelings. It's just wrong to think about, because Black and I are clearly not... good together. He is the most foul and arrogant being I've encountered, I mean someone who actually delights in tormenting those he thinks are beneath him; someone who gets ego boosts from being popular, and the sad thing is, he thinks being popular will equate to being loved, when thats far from reality!"

Kate took a long breath, and waited for someone to respond. To her surprise, everyone stayed quiet for an entire minute, staring at Kate in astonishment. With the exception of Sirius, who had a weird expression on his face which Kate had never seen before. Was it... hurt?

Kate inwardly shook the notion off. She'd never be able to bruise the ego of Sirius Black, she had long ago accepted that fact.

Still, the silence unnerved her. Why were they being so quiet?

"Er," added Kate, "and, and he definitely doesn't find me desirable. So that's that. No one here fancies anybody. Except for Potter, who obviously wants Lily."

Sirius suddenly reached into his robes and shoved Kate's journal into arms, before stalking off. Kate stared after Sirius, wondering if she really had went too far. She tried to shake that feeling of guilt which was slowly creeping up her chest. Sirius had to hear the truth.

"Wow," said James slowly. "Ouch."

"That was pretty harsh," Lily nodded in agreement.

"That was worse than anything Lily's said to me."

"Yeah, and I've compared him to the giant squid."

"Ah, thanks for reminding me, Evans."

"He's not," Kate began uncertainly, "I mean, I know he might be a bit offended, but he's not hurt, is he? I mean, he's Sirius Black, he'll bounce back quickly, right?"

Kate couldn't understand why she was even asking. She shouldn't be feeling sympathy for Sirius! Yet she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach.

"I dunno," admitted James. "He's definitely been insulted before, but he's never reacted by just storming off like that. I think you pretty much nailed everything on the head, Nolan. Congrats."

Kate sighed.

"Well, this has been an interesting morning," remarked Lily wryly. She then turned toward James. "Want to go check on Remus?"

"Alright."

Kate didn't have time to linger on why James and Lily were acting so nice toward each other. As the two walked away together in stride, Kate bit her lip, then glanced down at the journal. She couldn't even muster up the anger at Sirius for lying to her about selling the journal. Which was odd, since she always found a reason to be angry with Sirius.

AN: Remus snogged Kate! Lol, come on people, it was bound to happen. Writing that scene was SO fun. And Sirius's reaction, priceless. Then it kind of ended on a down note, didn't it? Poor Siri.