Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JKR does.

Chapter 10

September passed fairly quickly and soon faded in to October.

Lena was still having the odd dreams about the faceless male - the dreams came very few days , and varied in length and content, but she loved them, loved the way it gave her hope for her future.

Of course, she never told the marauders about the dreams - not James, who she usually told everything, not Sirius who she also told almost everything to, and not even Remus, who was far more sensible and wouldn't have scoffed like the others. And not Peter because, well, he ws Peter, and he wasn't one for much of a conversation.

After a while, she stopped telling Molly and Alice too, because they didn't believe. Sure, they listened and pretended to be interested, but they were humouring her, they didn't really believe.

As she lay on the grass under the beech tree by the lake, the same part of the grounds that she and the marauders always seemed to occupy, on the first saturday of October, she noted that she seemed to be spending less and less time with Molly and Alice.

After all, Molly had Arthur, and Alice was spending more time with Frank and his circle of friends - Alice determined that she did not have any more-than-friendly feelings for Frank, but it was only a matter of time.

So Lena was spending all of her time with her brother and the others boys - although she maintained good relations with Molly and Alice when they were in the dorm.

She's always loved spending time with the four marauders, but as she looked around at them now - Remus reading under the tree, Sirius dipping his feet in the edge of the lake, Peter looked on at James in clear admiration, and James messing about with the snitch - she realised that all she needed were them.

Not to mention the added bonus of being able to stare at the object of her affections - even if she hadn't realised yet that she liked him.

With a smile, Lena stopped watching the clouds go by and rolled over to lay on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows.

She watched James let go of the snitch, let it fly a few metres out and lean over to catch it again.

James noticed that she was watching him and frowned at her, ' What? ' he asked.

' Nothing,' she smirked.

James gave her the trademark grin,' You just like watching me, don't you? '

She rolled her eyes, but also grinned, ' You wish.'

' Selena? ' Remus cut in, and she knew that he was going to mention school work by the tone of voice that he used.

She was right as he carried on, ' Have you done that potions essay yet? '

' Um..no, but I was going to do it tomorrow,' she replied unconvincingly.

' You do know it has to fill a four foot long piece of parchment? And it's going to take you an awful long time? ' he challenged.

After a conversation during which Remus suceeded in convincing Lena to make a start on the essay, but failed with James and Sirius, Lena went back up to the castle.

She had the intention of gathering her parchment and quill, checking a book out of the library and rejoining her friends down at the lake.

However, she only got as far as checking a book out, and collecting her writing aids from the little desk besides her bed.

She was walking back through the common room when the portrait hole flung open and James hurried in, his shirt stained with blood.

' James! ' she cried out in suprise, ' what in Dumbledore's name happened to you? '

' Got in to a bit of a fight - ' he began sheepishly, before his friend cut him off.

' Don't tell, I think I can guess - with Snape? ' she said, her voice mocking, as if she were speaking to a child.

' It was his fault! ' James insisted.

' I don't care whose fault it was. What are you doing here, you're bleeding, you should be at the hospital wing! ' she told him, in concern.

' Yeah, but the thing is - since I was in there after the match last week, Madam Pomfrey got mad with me and told me she didn't want to see me every week.'

' She didn't mean it - if you're hurt, she'll sort you out, ' Lena sighed exasperatedley - boys! They just didn't ever seem to think straight, did they?

' Sirius said I should have you patch it up for me - he said you'd sorted him out enough times after him and Regulus have gotten into fights. '

' I suppose I'll take a look, come on, ' she muttered, leading him up to his own dormitory. Of course, they could not go in to hers, because, as a male, James wouldn't be allowed up the staircase to the female rooms.

' You'll have to take your shirt off,' she told him, once they were in there with the door closed behind them.

' You just want me to strip for you don't you? ' he asked with a cocky grin.

Lena allowed herself to play along, ' Obviously. '

As he pulled off his shirt and stood before her in only his trousers, she couldn't resist an admiring glance at his bare chest - though currently, his body was marred by a gash on his stomach that was bleeding - not heavily, but enough blood to make some one who was squemish run away in horror.

She told James to sit down on one of the beds, because it was easier that way, as he was too tall.

Then she knelt beside him and smiled up encouragingly at him, ' Ok,' she said, ' this is going to be fine - it's not too deep, so I'll just stitch it up. '

' Stitch? Isn't that a muggle thing ?' he asked in mild suprise, recalling something from muggle studies class.

' Yeah, it is. '

' Then how do you know about it ?' he wondered.

She smiled as she thought back to it,' When we were younger - Sirius and I - he was always getting in to scrapes and needed something or over fixing. Course we couldn't use magic because we were too young, and our parents weren't too bothered about it, so a house elf taught me. '

' A house elf? ' he asked in disbelief.

' Yes,' she laughed, beginning to work on his wound, and keeping the conversation going to distract him from the slight pain, ' Not our house elf, though. Our's - well, my mother's I should say - is an evil old thing. Devoted to my mother, and father, and Regulus, but not to me or Sirius. My cousin Narcissa's house elf, on the other hand, is not so bad.'

' Narcissa has her own house now ?' James asked.

Selena's cousin, Narcissa Black - well, not any more - was just three years older than Sirius and Selena, and had left Hogwarts just a few years ago.

' Oh yes. She's married. ' Selena replied, ' She got married. We were at the wedding..um..I guess it must have been not this summer just gone - obviously, because I was with you - but the summer before. She married Lucius Malfoy, of all people, and went off to live in his manor, with their house elf Dobby - who was kind enough to teach me this when he stopped by to give my parents a message. '

' Well, aren't you a girl of mystery? ' he laughed.

Soon after, and with an idle bit of laughter and chatter passing between them, Selena was done.

' There, ' she announced triumphantly, ' you're perfect now .'

James smiled at her gratefully and watched as she slowly traced the bandaging with her fingers, her fingertips reaching the end of the bandaging and brushing the bare skin of his chest.

He kissed her cheek suddenly and spontaniously, causing her to flush an odd shade of scarlet, which he noticed matched the curtains of his bed.

' Hey ,' he said softly, after he had pulled his shirt back on carefully and stood up to face her properly, ' I was thinking that...um..we never get enough time to spend together, like just the two of us...we should spend more time just the two of us...to talk and stuff, because it's fun. '

' Yeah, it is, ' she agreed.

' So, um, do you want to go to Hogsmede tonight? '

' What? ' she laughed, ' just randomly go to Hogsmede? '

' Why not? We can wait until it's late, and then we'll meet in the common room, and I'll have the cloak and the map, and we can go down the secret passageway, and we'll be back before anyone wakes up and realises that we're not there. '

' And how do you intend to get away from Peter, Remus and Sirius? ' she challenged.

' I'll wait until we're all down here talking, then I'll say I don't feel well, and go up to bed, and then I'll get sorted and come back down to the common room with the cloak to meet you. '

' And how do I get away? '

' Same sort of thing, You tell them all that you're tired...going to bed...you go up to your room and get sorted out, so by the time you come back down the stairs, I'll be waiting for you and I'll fling the cloak over you too, so no one will see you. '

Selena grinned...time to spend wth James, alone - why not? He was one of her best friends, he was fun to be with and they'd have some harmless fun, come back and no one would be any the wiser.

' Sure, ' she grinned looking up at him, ' you're on.'