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-Love from Kassie

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Chapter 10: Jealousy Amongst Friends

Isadora and Sirius didn't speak more than casual words to each other over the next few days. He knew he wanted to be with her, but he also knew that she wouldn't just give in so easily. If he just kissed her like he did the last few times he knew that she would just push him away. Romantic thoughts of Izzy however, were pushed aside a few days later when Remus came back. Remus was so tired when he got back from the hospital wing that he crashed into bed without even saying good night to his friends.

The following morning, Isadora got up early and got ready while her roommates were still looking groggy. After she got dressed, she looked in the mirror. She smoothed the pleats in her skirt and double checked her makeup. She never went heavy on the makeup, just eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. In reality, she was very beautiful and didn't need any makeup, but it was a habit she had gotten into. She was a pureblooded Angelline and she had to look the part. If she was going to be honest with herself though, she would have to admit that ever since she and Sirius kissed that afternoon at the lake, she had been taking a little bit more care than usual with her appearance.

When she was satisfied, Isadora went downstairs. Instead of going towards the portrait however, she went to the left and up to the boy's dormitories. As she walked up the stairwell, she looked at the doors she passed until she found the right one. Instead of being labeled with the year number like all the other doors were, this door had a handwritten sign that said "Marauders."

Isadora knocked lightly on the door and heard shuffling inside. A second later, Sirius answered, clad only in his black boxers. Her eyes widened a second at the breathtaking sight, but other than that, she showed no response. "Aww, Pixie. If you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask."

Isadora rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not here for you, Sirius. I'm here to talk to Remus. Remember, I said I would?" He stepped aside to let her in. As she did, she took a cursory glance around the room. It was a mess. Clothes were everywhere. She tread carefully to avoid spare quills and textbooks. She saw Peter in bed, thankfully under the covers, still asleep. James was sitting on his bed, also in his boxers, looking like her presence had woken him up.

"Padfoot, if you're gonna bring your girlfriends in here—"

"I am NOT his girlfriend."

James squinted at her a little. "Oh. Hey, Isadora. I didn't realize it was you. What are you doing here so early anyways?"

"I came to speak to Remus."

"What do you want to talk to me for?" asked Remus as he exited the bathroom, having just showered. Thankfully, unlike his roommates, he was clothed.

"You know…about the map and everything."

Remus dropped the towel he was carrying. James fell out of bed and looked up at Isadora before saying, "It was you that had the map."

She whipped around to look at Sirius, "You didn't tell them?"

"You're the one who stole it. I figured you should be the one to tell them."

"Wait," said James. "Do you still have our map?"

"No," said Sirius. "I got it back from her a few days ago." Sirius reached under his bed and pulled out the map, brandishing it in his friends face.

"And you've just been letting Wormtail and I freak out about the fact that it was gone?"

"Yup. It was pretty funny," he responded plopping on his bed.

Isadora saw Remus walk carefully over to his bed and sit down slowly. He looked like he had been hit over the head with a rogue bludger. Isadora went over and sat down next to him on the bed. "Yes, Remus. I figured everything out. About them being animagi and about your…problem."

He wouldn't look her in the eye. "I know you probably think that—"

"I don't think anything about it, Remus. I mean, this doesn't change who you are. You're still the same great person you were before. And this problem is nobody's business but yours. I won't tell anyone about it. I promise. And I won't pester you with questions. I'm really sorry I took that map. I wouldn't have if I had known it would hurt you so much. I was just trying to cause trouble for Sirius and James, really."

"Why would you want to do that to us?" asked Sirius.

"Because you're a prat," Isadora continued smoothly. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Remus looked up at her and smiled.

"It's okay, Isadora. You don't have to apologize. We just weren't being careful enough with the map. I would have been curious if I had found something like that lying around." He stopped for a second to glare at Peter's sleeping form, before turning to Isadora. "And thanks for not saying anything to anyone. That really means a lot to me." He leaned over and gave her a hug. She hugged him back, but a little awkwardly. She wasn't usually this close to people.

"Can I walk you down to breakfast?" she asked.

"Sure, I can tell you all about how I ended up a monster."

"You're not a monster, Remus."

He just gave her a wry smile and stood up to go. She followed him out the door and down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"See you down there," she said to James and Sirius as they left.

"Well, those two looked cozy," said James as the door closed. "Looks like you might have some competition there, Padfoot."

Sirius frowned at his friend and threw a pillow at him. "Stuff it, Prongs. There's no way Izzy would go for Remus. They're just friends."

"Whatever you say," he responded getting up. "I'm gonna grab a shower." And with that, he left Sirius to his thoughts.

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The truth was that Remus and Isadora were just friends. Over the next couple of weeks though, they spent a lot more time together. Remus enjoyed talking to someone and not feeling like he had to lie about who he was. The two of them also had similar interests and they genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Remus became a kind of study buddy to both Isadora and Lily.

They all focused greatly on school and it helped to have each other to work with, especially for Isadora. She was very smart for her age but she still had to work hard to get good grades in some very difficult fifth and sixth year classes.

They were practicing a particularly trying spell in the library one day which involved transfiguring a fly into parakeet.

"This is getting ridiculous," said Lily. "My parakeet keeps making buzzing noises."

Remus and Isadora chuckled a little. "I think you're just flicking your wand a little too much, Lily," he said, having already completed the task himself.

She just glared at him then looked to Isadora. "What are you giggling at? You haven't even tried the spell yet. You're still just reading about it." Lily didn't mean to be short with them. She just got really frustrated when she had so much difficulty with a spell that someone else had already mastered.

"All right, then. Let's see what I can do." Isadora closed her book and took out her wand. She then delicately opened the jar in the middle of the table and let out one fly. Concentrating hard, she pointed her wand at the fly, clearly said the incantation, and watched as the fly transfigured into a perfect parakeet. Remus whistled appreciatively.

Lily just blanched. "How did you do that? You didn't even do the wand movement correctly."

"She makes a fair point, Isadora," said Remus with a wolfish grin. "You barely flicked your wand."

"My parents always brought me up believing the school of thought that said intent was the most important element of spell casting," replied Isadora loftily.

"A very pureblooded idea."

"Are you insulting my heritage, Remus?" she said icily.

"No, no, not at all. I promise. I am simply commenting on the different styles there are of performing magic amongst a wide range of witches and wizards."

"Well, this seems to work for me."

"We can see that," muttered Lily darkly. "Oh, forget this. Let's call it a day. We only have one class left before we go home for Christmas holidays."

"Thank Merlin for that," said Remus. As one, they gathered their things and left the library to return to the common room.

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A few days later, Sirius, James, and Peter were sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"Finally," said James. "Christmas."

"Agreed," said Sirius. "What are we doing anyways, Prongs? Your parent's throwing another Christmas party this year?"

"No. They said we're just gonna have a small family thing at home. How about you, Pete? What are you up to?"

"Nothing special. Just hanging out with my parents."

The door to their compartment opened just then to admit the fourth Marauder. "Have a good ride home, Isadora. See you later," Remus said to the hallway as he entered. Sirius frowned at him as he came in. "Let's start our holiday, shall we boys?" He sat down and pulled out a wizard's chess set. "Up for a game, Prongs?"

"No thanks, Moony. Don't feel like getting slaughtered today."

"I'll have a go," challenged Sirius, reaching into his trunk to pull out his own chess set.

Three games later, Sirius had yet to beat his friend and ended up throwing the chess board to the ground in frustration.

"It's just a game, Padfoot," said Remus. "What pixie crawled up your ass anyways?"

"I believe that certain pixie's name is Isadora," drawled James from where he was sitting, playing a game of exploding snap with Peter.

"Mind your own business, Prongs," snapped Sirius.

"What are you getting all worked up over Isadora for?" asked Remus. "This is you we're talking about, Sirius. I mean, she's just another girl to you, right?"

"Why so protective of her, Moony? Maybe you think of her as more than just another girl, huh?"

"What are you talking about, Padfoot?"

"I see the way you and Izzy look at each other. You think that I'm too old for her, but that you're just the right age? Why is that? You think you're smarter than I am, a better person than me? Maybe it's just that you treat girls better? Why are you worthy of Izzy and I'm not?"

"All right, just calm down," said James trying to diffuse what was rapidly becoming a very heated argument.

"Sirius, do you really think I like Isadora?" asked Remus.

"Well, you and her have certainly become very chummy these past few weeks."

"We share common interests. You boys certainly won't come to the library with me to study, so I go with Isadora and Lily."

"You're always talking to her—"

"I don't talk to Isadora any more than I talk to you, Sirius. You're just exaggerating. I swear to you that Isadora and I are just friends and that I am not interested in her romantically, not in the slightest. I just enjoy talking to someone besides you three that knows what I am and doesn't hate me for it." An uncomfortable silence descended over the compartment. After a minute, Remus spoke again, "It wouldn't matter even if I did, Padfoot. I'm pretty sure she has a thing for you too."

Sirius looked like he wanted to stay mad at Remus, but apparently his curiosity won out. "Well, did she say anything about me?"

Remus gave him a grin. "Not a word. But I think it's her overall refusal to speak about you when your name comes up that is a better indicator of how she feels."

"Oh, I know she likes me. She is just completely unwilling to do anything about it."

"She probably just doesn't trust you mate. Let me say this about Isadora. I'd like to say we've become good friends over the past few weeks, but the truth of the matter is, I don't know the first thing about her. She doesn't talk about her parents, where she lives,

nothing, not a word. Lily is probably her closest friend here and I don't think that she even knows anything about her. I am not saying I definitely approve of you going after Isadora, but if you really like her, you're going to need to get her to trust you. And that could take awhile."

A calm and thoughtful look crossed Sirius's face. Then, in one of his less tactful moments, James piped up, "Hey, Moony. Does Lily ever talk about me?"

All the boys burst out laughing. "Only to say that you're the biggest prat she ever met, Prongs."

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When they arrived at Kings Cross, there was the usual hustle and bustle of students pushing to say hello to missed parents. Sirius and James sought out the Potters who had both come to greet the boys. As they were preparing to leave, Sirius saw Isadora across the platform saying goodbye to Lily. "Can you hang on for a second?" he asked the Potters. "There's someone I just want to say goodbye to."

He made his way over to Isadora and Lily. "Hey, Izzy," he said as he approached. "Hi, Lily."

"Black," nodded Lily.

"Hi, Sirius," said Isadora. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you to have a nice vacation."

"Thanks. You too."

"So, if I um, wanted to send you an owl, where would I send it to? I doubt that a letter addressed to an Angelline would get sent to you directly."

"No, you're right. We have someone that takes care of all the owls so that business letters get filtered out. I have my own personal address."

"Well, could I get it?"

"You'll see me in a few weeks, Sirius. You don't need to write."
"I don't want to write you. I want to send you a Christmas present."

She looked at him quizzically. "I'm not going to get you a present. You don't need to get me one."

"I don't care if you get me one. I'm still going to get you one. Where should I send it?"

Isadora looked to Lily for help, but she just shrugged. "All right. Just send it to Bluerose the house elf at Angelline Manor. I'll get it."

"Great, thanks." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before she could protest. She blushed a little, mumbled a good bye and walked off. Lily and Sirius watched as she walked over to a very tall man standing stoically off to the side of the platform, wearing dark black robes. Isadora handed her bag to him without a word and started walking towards the barrier. He followed behind her silently.

"That's a little strange," said Sirius to Lily. "Who do you think he is, a guard or a chaperone?"

"He reminds me of the American Secret Service or something."

"Huh?"

"It's a muggle thing. Never mind. See you around, Black." And with that, she left to find her parents. Sirius just shook his head and went back to the Potters to begin what would probably be his first pleasant Christmas holiday in his life.

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