I told Lily and Amy the next morning about Kevin. They cried with me, and Amy promised to beat his blond head in for me.

I didn't say anything about Remus's and mine conversation though. It had been painful enough talking about them the first time. I didn't know if I was strong enough to relive them a second time. So I kept quiet, and let them think that my troubled expression was due to Kevin, not the fact that I had just told a guy I didn't even know my deepest secret.

We had sat down in the Great Hall already when I caught sight of Kevin. He was sitting next to the Ravenclaw girl, his arm around her shoulders. I stiffened. Lily caught sight of where my gaze was fixed and she sighed. She moved to block my view and then forced a smile.

"Hey, Tua, what do you want to do today? It's Sunday, and there's no detention..." She tried.

I looked at her.

Amy took a slurp of her milk. Then she choked. "Oh no. Look who's coming."

Though they agreed with me on the matter of Kevin, they couldn't fathom why I had slapped Black instead of him. They figured I should apologize. And, to tell you the truth, I was feeling rather horrible about the whole thing myself.

I am much too nice for my own good.

"Are you going to apologize?" Lily asked me in an undertone.

"I don't know. Why?" I asked, grabbing a pancake as it passed.

"Because he's coming in your direction."

"What?"I turned around in disbelief. But I needn't have bothered. Black had already reached our table. "Good Morning." He said, nodding to Lily and Amy. Then he turned to me. "Morning Autumn."

I started choking on my pancake.

"Hey, you okay?" Black asked me, concernedly, patting me on the back.

I started choking even harder.

"D...don't...touch me!" I managed to gasp out.

"Sorry." He shrugged. Then he leaned over, pulled out a chair and sat next to me.

Amy looked absolutely thunderstruck.

"Black," I started slowly, after downing a glass of orange juice to stop my coughing.

"Yes, Autumn?" He asked me. "Hey, Amy, could you pass that plate of sausage?"

Blushing beet red, Amy did so.

"Thanks." He smiled at her and turned back to my shocked expression. "Autumn?"

"This isn't your table." I continued after a moment. "You sit over there." I pointed towards the remaining Marauders.

"I thought I'd sit with you today." He shrugged, eating a piece of waffle.

"Wait, why aren't your friends wondering why you're sitting with us?" Lily asked shrewdly. I looked over at them. It was true. They certainly seemed happy enough.

"Oh, I'm sure they think I'm here to pull a prank on Autumn." He leaned over and grabbed the maple syrup.

"And you're not?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope! I decided to turn over a new leaf. I figured I should grow up about now. I mean, we're in sixth year already." He grinned at me. Ignoring the weird twitch my chest seemed to have at his smile, I decided to test his new found goodness.

"Tua-"Amy started warningly, catching on to my plan. She was quite the mind reader. And I suppose the all-too familiar evil glint in my eye might have tipped her off as well.

"So, Black." I said, interrupting her. "What's up with your hair today? It looks like someone poured Ugly potion all over it."

"I used a different conditioner yesterday." He told me, pausing between bites. "It doesn't look good? I'll change it."

My jaw dropped open.

I tried again. "Black, when was the last time you took a bath? Last year? You smell like a pig!"

I waited, fully expecting him to say 'And this comes from the girl who smells like dog's droppings.' but instead he said, "Hmmm, I suppose I should go take another bath then." Frowning.

I tried all morning to get him to say something mean to me, but he simply shrugged it off and continued being nice to me.

"Lily." I said, clutching her arm as we made our way out of the Great Hall. "I'm scared. Please tell me I'm dreaming."

"I don't know, Tua." She said with a frown. "It really does look like Black has turned over a new leaf."

"Isn't that so sweet though?" Amy asked with a smile. "I bet a lot more girls will be falling over him now!"

"I can already see one." I told her, rolling my eyes.

"Who?" She asked confused.

"You!" I smirked. I fully expected her to deny it, but she blushed. She blushed.

"You like him!" Lily shrieked. "Oh my god, you like Sirius Black!"

"Shhh!" Amy shushed her, looking nervously around the deserted hallway. "Not so loud!"

"But you-!" Lily started. "How long?"

"Fourth year." Amy blushed.

Our jaws dropped. "Two years?" Lily asked, eyes wide. "You've liked him that long?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly. "He's actually really nice."

"Nice?" I asked her, a disbelieving expression on my face. "Do you not remember the dragon dung?"

"Well, he's nice to everyone but you." She amended.

"Exactly! He's nice to everyone but your best friend!" I practically shouted at her. "Do you not see something wrong with that?" Suddenly I was angry. I knew I shouldn't really care, I mean, it's not like she was going to start dating him anytime soon. "And what happened to Paul?"

She looked abashed. "I told Paul a while ago that I'd prefer it if we were just friends." She told us. We had reached the common room. "And this is why I never told you, Tua! I knew you wouldn't take it well!"

I closed my eyes. She was right. I was overreacting. "I'm sorry, Amy. It's just that...knowing my best friend likes my worst enemy was kind of a shock."

"It's okay." She smiled at me. "Besides, it's not like anything is ever going to happen."

--

I lay in my bed; no one else was in the dorms. I was completely and utterly confused. What was wrong with me? I was seriously overreacting about Amy's little crush. I mean, that she liked him was a shock, yes, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Practically half the female population of the school was in love with Black. I would be an idiot if I thought that my two best friends and I were the only ones immune.

Angrily, I punched my pillow.

But I couldn't squash the strange feeling that I was...well, that I was jealous. I knew the feeling of jealousy, I had felt it plenty times before. But that I was jealous of my best friend for liking the one guy I hated with all my heart?

I was getting some seriously wrong signals.

And then there was Remus.

I had never asked him to keep what I had told him a secret between the both of us, for I really didn't need the story to get to Black's ears. I didn't know how he would feel about the whole incident any longer, though, because he had changed quite a bit since first year.

After he had made a complete fool of me that night, we had never spoken again. For the remainder of the school year, it was if we were strangers. Then, at the beginning of second year, I walked on to the train amid catcalls, and Lily informed me that I had a 'Kiss Me' sign attached to my favorite shirt. He had used a Permanent Sticking Charm, that much was obvious, since I never managed to get it off.

So, of course, I planned revenge. Ever since, we've been fighting.

I doubted that Black even remembered what he had done to me in our first year; his memory was nothing but a sieve.

But then, why, after the night that I had finally spilled my biggest secret to his best friend, did he suddenly start acting nice to me? Was it all part of a cleverly concocted prank? Or was he really sincere?

I had to know.

I lay in bed for a moment longer, and then jumped up and practically ran out of the dorm.

Remus was in the common room, sitting next to the fire, reading a book. I went up behind him and knocked on the cover. "Hey." I smiled at him.

"Hello, Autumn." He smiled once he lowered his book. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

I didn't miss the sudden worry in his eyes. "Actually, yes. I was wondering...did you tell Black about what I told you yesterday?"

He stared at me for a long moment. My heart started to beat faster. "No, I didn't. I never told him." He said. I could read the truth in his voice.

"Thank you." I sighed and slumped back on the floor. "But I just don't know what he's trying to achieve by being so nice to me."

Remus closed his book and placed it on a table. "I think," He started carefully. "that he feels somewhat sorry for everything he's done. I don't think he meant to hurt you."

I stared at him with a narrowed eye. "But you said you hadn't told him what I had said. So why does he suddenly feel bad?"

He sighed. "Who knows? Sirius Black is very much an enigma that I doubt anyone will ever solve."

I couldn't help but laugh with him. Black? An enigma? Please. I didn't notice that he had meant to stray me from the topic at the time. We spent another hour or so chatting, and I learned quite a bit about Remus Lupin. And I found that I rather liked what I had learned.

"Lily's really lucky." I sighed, sitting back on my hands.

"Hmmm? Why?" He asked me with a smile.

"She's got you." I told him, with a laugh.

He turned red. "Oh, um, right." He stumbled.

I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Forget it, Remus. It's fine. Besides, after Kevin, I don't think I'll be ready for any romantic relationships right now." My tone suddenly became darker.

"Yes, I suppose I could see why." Remus agreed.

"You are a really nice guy, Remus." I smiled softly. "Thanks for everything."

"You're leaving?" He seemed surprised.

I grinned at him. "It's time for lunch."

"May I escort you?" He stood up and offered an arm.

"You may." I gave a little curtsy. I took his arm and we walked down to lunch laughing.

--

Lily and I were in the dorms, trying on a few new clothes her mother had sent her. She posed in a floor length lime green skirt and pink tank and I practically fell onto the ground in tears.

"Much too watermelon, Lils!" I laughed.

"Aw." She inspected herself in the mirror. "I rather liked the pink."

I knew perfectly well that she was doing all of this to get my mind off of Kevin and I appreciated the effort. Unfortunately, everywhere I turned I was plagued with memories of him. I had already sent him back all of his presents, but just the thought of him made my stomach twist. I was hurt, definitely, but I knew that I would recover. I hadn't loved him, and I was glad that I hadn't wasted the effort, since he most certainly did not love me.

"Okay, keep the pink, but I think you should send back the skirt." I decided.

"Oka--" She started, but she was quickly cut off when the door opened.

"--Yes, I know." Kimberly Ann's voice carried through. "I'm not surprised at all that he dumped her, after all she's a complete witch--oh, hello Autumn." She smiled at me, showing almost every single whitened tooth she had.

"Afternoon Kimmie." I smiled back. It wasn't a very nice smile, though.

"We were just talking about you." She glanced at her friends gathered behind her.

"Oh really?" I forced the smile to stay on my face. Lily had stopped fiddling with her clothes and was staring at the scene through narrowed eyes.

"Yes, actually. We were saying how sad it was that Kevin dumped you for that other girl, a Ravenclaw wasn't she?" She smiled at me mockingly.

I laughed. "Is that the story he's spreading around?" I asked her with a smile.

She was disconcerted by the smile. "What do you mean, story?" She recovered quickly. "It's the truth."

My face hardened. "No, it's not. He was cheating on me. But, no doubt you already knew that, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" She simpered.

I snorted. "Just forget it. I don't even care anymore." I turned around to face Lily again. "What about the blue skirt? That might be okay,"

"But really, is it much of a surprise?" She asked loudly. "Who on earth would want to date you? You or one of your loser friends?"

I slowly turned back to face her. "How about James Potter? Or Remus Lupin?" I asked her evenly. "Lily is dating Remus, and Potter is head over heels for her. And we both know you would never be able to land a single Marauder, so don't even try to lie to us."

Her face turned ugly. "I think you're forgetting that one of the Marauders hates you." She hissed. "Sirius Black? Ring a bell? He would never date you or any of your friends!"

For the second time that afternoon the door burst open. Amy skidded into the room, hair wild and face aglow. She didn't even notice Kimberly Ann and her friends.

"OH MY GOD!" She shrieked. She ran to me and hugged me hard. "OH MY GOD! Sirius Black just asked me out!" She was so happy that she didn't notice the thunderstruck expressions of Kimberly and her friends or my own.

I was shocked.

And...I was hurt.

I found my eyes filling up for no reason whatsoever. I hid them, though, by turning to the stack of clothes we still had to go through. "Wow, Amy. I'm so happy for you!" I said in a falsely cheery voice. I didn't even bother throwing a snide remark at Kimberly. Out of the corner of my blurry vision I saw Lily throw a worried glance at me before hugging Amy.

"That's amazing Amy! Did you say yes?" She asked.

"Of course I did!" She grinned. "I just don't know what suddenly brought it on." Her smile started to slide.

"What does it matter?" Lily said quickly. "He asked you out! He likes you!"

"Yeah!" Her smile returned full force. "He does! Hey, what're are they doing in here?" She finally noticed Kimberly.

But she needn't have wondered, for, with a sniff, she and her crowd left, banging the door closed.

I had wiped my eyes by then, so I turned back to Amy. "So spill the details!"

We spent another two hours talking about Black and, somehow, I managed to keep a smile on my face the whole while. But I couldn't fool Lily, and I knew she would try to talk to me about it sooner or later.

So when our conversation started to lag, I jumped up, saying I had to go to the library, and left, eyes filled up again.

--

Remus sighed. "Padfoot, I don't think asking out her best friend is quite the way to get Autumn to be friends with you."

"Why?" He asked, bemused. "I'm being nice to her friends. Why shouldn't that appeal to her?"

Remus looked at his friend for a moment. Then he shook his head. "Do you really even like Amy?"

"Well, yeah." Sirius said. "She's a pretty girl."

Remus shot a look of disbelief at him. "You are, as Autumn rightly says, an idiot."

"You wouldn't love me otherwise." Sirius grinned. "Now, I've got to go meet Amy for dinner." He left, the door closing behind him.

Remus stared after his friend, and with a sigh, sat down on his bed. He couldn't tell Sirius what he suspected. He was almost positive that Autumn still liked Sirius, and Sirius was too thick to realize it.

The way she had talked about him yesterday night...it had shocked him more than anything she had said. She had had a caressing tone to her voice as she said his name, his first name, and Remus wasn't one to miss that.

However, it was obvious that she was very much hurt by what he had done. And Remus knew that the hurt overshadowed whatever other feelings she felt for Sirius.

But Sirius asking out her best friend would just make the situation worse, he knew.

Then again, it was Sirius he was talking about. He would never learn anything unless he experienced it fully.

All Remus could do was hope that Autumn would be alright in the end.

--

The drama increases!! See the new couples on the horizon? Remus/Autumn and Amy/Sirius? With Remus/Lily and Lily/James? Plus the whole Autumn/Sirius? Isn't this a right jolly mess now? And then there's poor Peter...I think I'll just pair him off with someone random for the heck of it...what about Kimberly?? (:p)

So I'd love you guys if you'd reveiw!! Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you!

Fanta-Faerie