A/N: Thank you, thank you sooo much everyone! I especially appreciated someone's reference of the Hopping Hippogriff which made me laugh as I wrote it. Thanks for all your other comments as well. Here's a nice bit of drama... :)


Chapter Eleven: Just…who is this 'she'?

The next morning the Marauders were acting a bit strange. I had a mild headache due to my over indulgence in firewhisky, so at first, I barely noticed that they were abnormally quiet during breakfast. Sirius and Remus had been arguing when they walked into The Great Hall so I expected that they'd had a tiff of some sorts. Unfortunately, I was too consumed with my pounding head to really pry. Dorcas was also a little quiet, probably because Rolanda had joined us for breakfast, and she and James were quite sickeningly flirt-arguing over the last breakfast roll. Lily was sitting with Archie at the Ravenclaw table, and Peter and Fringy seemed to have gotten into another fight, so the mood was pretty low at the Gryffindor table.

"All right?" I muttered when Sirius and Remus joined us. Sirius nodded and sat next to me and Remus twisted his mouth as he sat across from us. They glared at each other and didn't say anything in response.

I sighed and reached for the milk jug, knocking my tea over Sirius' lap in the process. I chuckled and Sirius' eye twitched.

"Sorry," I said, using a drying spell to fix the damage and reaching for the jug once more. He hurriedly helped me and shook his head with a small smile.

"That's all right," he said.

It was very odd behaviour indeed. Usually he would have yelled his head off about me ruining his trousers, but he didn't look annoyed in the least. In fact, he was watching me a bit worriedly. Remus scoffed in annoyance and I raised an eyebrow.

"Everything fine Remus?"

He smiled and nodded and I felt more confused than ever. It wasn't usual for everyone to be not angry with me. I watched as Sirius fiddled with his bacon and Remus angrily buttered his toast, and couldn't for the life of me understand what they possibly could have argued about. They had been fine at the end of the party – Remus had kept up his chat with Emmeline and Sirius and I had spent the rest of the night snogging, so I couldn't even fathom when they would have had a chance to get into a row. It must have been something to do with the bathroom or Sirius might have woken Remus up rudely or something like that – they weren't morning people after all, and add a hangover to that equation and there was bound to be friction.

"Dorcas, have some eggs," I said, turning away from them and trying to distract my friend from gaping at James feeding Rolanda bits of fruit off his fork.

Her eyes shot to me and she looked like she might burst into tears. I winced at her and then threw my apple at James.

"Ow! What? Kate!" James said irritably, rolling the apple back in my direction.

"Have you seen Lily?" I asked and Rolanda rolled her eyes, staring down the Gryffindor table with a disinterested expression.

James looked like he wanted to set me on fire but he just scowled. "She's at the Ravenclaw table, the traitorous wench. You knew that!"

"Don't call her a wench!" I retorted and he mimed shooting himself in the skull with his wand.

"I'm only joking, Kate," James muttered; now stabbing at his fruit sulkily. Rolanda opened her mouth to accept another piece, but he ignored her. I bit away a chuckle as she frowned and glanced at someone a few places down the table.

"Well done, Kate," Peter said dully. "Now we're all miserable."

"Shut up Wormtail," Sirius said and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell him to shut up."

They glared at each other again and I puffed my cheeks up trying to whistle. I found that it was really the only way to handle such awkward situations. Eventually, I started to get a bit lightheaded with all of the unproductive exhaling, so I turned to Remus.

"So, how'd it go with Emmeline yesterday?" I asked, deciding that if it was going to be awkward, we might as well go the full mile with it.

His eyes widened and then his brow furrowed and he looked confused.

"Hang on…did you – wait, was she– what?"

"Oh good, I thought I was going to have to pry details out of you," I said, rolling my eyes.

His mouth settled into a firm line before his glare turned to Sirius once more. This was alarmingly odd. Why wasn't Remus yelling at me? I had fully expected to be slapped on the wrist, but maybe Sirius had already pried into his business before breakfast. Finally, Remus turned back to me and shrugged. "It was fun. She's a lovely girl."

"I know she is! She was my choice, after all."

He sighed. "Kate, we're just friends. And we've been over this – I am not continuing with this ridiculous farce anymore."

"But you already have!" I replied.

"Kate, can you take it down a bit?" Sirius said wincing. "I've got a headache."

"So do I!" I retorted. "But if I don't talk, then we're all going to sit here and look off in random directions like a bunch of sad gits with bad eyesight."

His mouth twitched. "You're mad, you know?" He pushed some hair off my face affectionately, and I smiled.

Remus however let out a disgusted snort, pushing his plate away abruptly.

"I'm off," he muttered, glaring at Sirius once more. They were having a conversation with their eyes, but even I couldn't speculate over what it was about. I was thoroughly confused.

Finally, Sirius exhaled and nodded and Remus turned to me.

"I'm going to do homework with Emmeline in the Library – try not to jump to conclusions please?"

I beamed at him and the corner of his mouth turned up before he rolled his eyes and headed away. I watched him with a smile and I turned back to Sirius. He was staring down at his plate looking a bit ill.

"Did you go in too hard yesterday?" I muttered so no one else could hear. He was probably embarrassed over how drunk he'd been – he liked to think he could hold his liquor pretty well. He turned to me with an unreadable expression but just nodded and I squeezed his shoulder.

"You can take a nap in my lap when we get up to the Common Room."

He chuckled softly. "But you've got the boniest knees."

"I'm sorry, did you say bonniest or boniest? I couldn't quite hear you?" I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

Again, he looked a bit ill as he smiled. "I love your knees Kate."

And I blushed. Well, I couldn't really help it – you would've too.

Thankfully, Rolanda had gone off to find her friends, so Dorcas wasn't pouting anymore when we headed up to the Common Room. Lily even joined us and although James looked a little annoyed, he managed a smile when she waved hello. It was only really Peter who was being a massive downer. He started moaning about Jenny as soon as we left the Great Hall and if I hadn't been such a nice and considerate person, I might have pushed him into one of the suits of armour.

"Give it a rest Wormtail," Sirius sighed. "Just go and make up with her."

"This is all Kate's fault. If she hadn't involved Sarah then—"

"Wormtail, I said – shut it," Sirius said dangerously and I was genuinely taken aback. Normally, this would have been Sirius' cue to join in the mockery and tell me what a silly, interfering girl I was.

"Yeah Petey, cool it," James shrugged. "You were the one who suggested Sarah in the first place."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, reaching over to pat James on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes and smirked at me. Dorcas almost fainted I think.

"Don't worry Peter, she'll understand eventually. It's all just quite new, isn't it?" Lily said kindly. "And if she doesn't forgive you, then she's really not worth the trouble, is she?"

"D'you reckon?" Sirius asked suddenly.

Lily looked confused and I nodded. "What do you mean, Sirius?"

He stuck his hands in his pockets. "If Jenny doesn't forgive Peter for making a stupid mistake – does that mean she's not worth the trouble?"

Lily and I exchanged a puzzled look and watched as his normally collected face, contorted slightly.

"Eff off Padfoot – you know it's not the same," James said, strangely looking a little annoyed. It reminded me of the way Remus had looked at breakfast.

"It really depends on the situation," Dorcas said with a shrug. "The whole thing with Sarah was hardly Peter's fault. It wasn't even Kate's fault really – I don't know why Jenny's being so hard on you, Peter."

He let out a small grin and nodded and I patted him on the back.

"You deserve someone with a Fringe of Gold, Pete!"

He gave me an odd look and then chuckled. "Yeah, thanks Kate."

Once I'd settled on the sofa in The Common Room and pulled out my pack of Snap cards, I noticed that Sirius wasn't sitting with the rest of us. He was looking around the Common Room with a strangely shifty look on his face and his hands were fiddling with his pockets.

"All right Sirius? Do you want to take that nap?" I asked, gesturing to my lap as I dealt out the cards to my friends.

"Um…no. Actually, er- Kate, can we talk for a minute?"

I laughed. "Has Lizzy rubbed off on you?"

James let out a quiet hiss of a breath and when I looked up at Sirius, he had frozen a little. That was the last straw. What was bloody wrong with them? Was making a joke about Lizzy's nervousness really that offensive? I had said it to her face before. Anyone with ears and ears could see that she spluttered a lot!

"Blimey, d'you want me to go apologize to her for that?" I grumbled, picking up my cards.

"Kate. Please, can we talk?" Sirius asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah – go on then."

He huffed in annoyance and shook his head. "Somewhere else. Outside, upstairs…just – alone."

I raised an eyebrow. "Upstairs?"

To my surprise, he didn't break into his suggestive grin, but shook his head.

"Outside."

"Merlin Sirius, this all a bit much for a hungover Sunday morning! What have you done?"

I noticed that James, Peter and Sirius were all looking at the floor and when I looked at Lily and Dorcas, they seemed as confused as me.

"Please Kate," Sirius repeated.

I crinkled my brow but dropped my cards. "All right then. Wait for me, will you?"

James nodded and put down his own cards. "Yeah, of course Kate."

That was really uncharacteristically polite of him. Oh Godric – what had Sirius done that was so appalling? I suppose the only good thing was that apparently; I was about to find out.

When we got outside the portrait hole, Sirius stuffed his hands in his pockets again, looking sheepish. So, he had something to apologize about – that much was obvious, but I really couldn't figure out what.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my legs, nodding at him calmly and trying to seem like I knew what in Merlin's hat he was about to talk to me about.

"So…" he started gruffly. "You might not have noticed, but Remus isn't very happy with me. James either, really."

I nodded. "Yeah, I did. What did you do? Switch your shampoo with theirs? I wouldn't look so upset about it, Love. You were doing them a favour."

He shook his head and sighed. "Kate." His voice broke a little and I frowned.

"Merlin Sirius, that was some of my best material. Okay, well maybe it wasn't top tier joshing, but I'm a bit hungover – you've got to lower your expectations. I even complimented you – I never say your hair is nice, which it obviously is – what's wrong?"

He wet his lips and didn't meet my eyes. He took a deep breath and it was surprisingly shaky. "I did something…really shitty to you last night."

I wrinkled my nose in thought and then chuckled. "Oh, the kissing was a bit sloppy, but we were both drunk. Don't worry – I still enjoyed it."

Again he shook his head curtly and finally looked up at me. "No. Before that."

This time, I crinkled my brow. What the hell was he on about?

"The dance? Well I know I complained about the bad music, but I still quite liked dancing with you too," I said uncertainly.

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, beginning to pace in front of me for a moment. I watched feeling very confused and was very aware that my ears were growing warm and my heart was starting to beat erratically. What had he done?

He stopped pacing and I stood up straight as he looked at me, one hand still running through the back of his hair.

"After we danced…when you put The Ghouls on, I went outside the Common Room – here actually – because, well, I hate that crap."

I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth but he was still talking, hurrying clumsily through his words.

"And Rolanda and James and…she… They all came out here with me. And then James and Rolanda got off and I swear, we were just talking and then, there was a moment and we almost…but we didn't. Kate, I promise you – nothing happened. It was an almost – I didn't do anything."

My heart was still pounding hard and I found it hard to breathe. I wet my lips, opened my mouth and then closed it again. It was starting to make sense finally.

"Just…who is this 'she'?"

He looked as though the wind had been knocked from him.

"Lizzy," he breathed.

And it all crashed down on me like some horrible blizzard. Because I finally understood why Sirius had looked so off when he came over to the punch bowl last night and why Lizzy had been stumbling up to the dormitory on the verge of tears.

"I swear Kate – nothing happened. I am so, so sorry," he blabbered.

My face crumpled. Tears stung in my eyes and I hated him. I hated him with the power of all the suns and hated her and them and everyone.

"You absolute arse," I spat as a tear dripped from my eye. He looked alarmed and out of breath, shaking his head, but I roughly wiped my face and turned my back, practically screeching the password at the Fat Lady and scrambling through the portrait hole.

"Kate, please!" he yelled from behind me and I heard a group of Seventh Years sigh to my left. They thought it was another normal and unimportant argument, but they were so wrong.

"Leave me alone!" I croaked, pushing blindly past a First Year. I saw Lily and Dorcas spring to their feet and James and Peter exchange a look, but I didn't care. My eyes spun wildly around the room before they landed on a girl with disheveled hair and wide, expressive eyes.

"You!" I screamed, stomping over to her. I felt Sirius' hand close around my wrist but I twisted it free. Lizzy looked like she might faint, but I would feel no pangs of guilt for her terror or nervousness again.

"K-Kate I-I…um–"

"Stay the bloody hell away from my boyfriend."

"Kate, come on!"

"And you!" I said, whirling to face him. "Don't you dare talk to me, ever again! I've had it! I am done. Go and snog the mumbling little bitch to your heart's content. I don't care anymore."

And then, leaving him gaping, I stormed up to the dormitory with my head on fire.

"How bloody–shitting–DARE he?" I screamed as I flung my pillow across the room and it clattered against our dressing table, knocking a few bottles off.

"I can't believe– He said he'd never cheat! He said he was done!" I continued as I stomped and raged around the room.

This had been going on for ten minutes already and Dorcas and Lily were standing huddled in the corner by the door looking tense. But I didn't care if I was scaring them. How could he do this to me? He had promised! He had said no more flirting – he'd had the nerve to make ME feel guilty over patting his friends' knees or laughing when some lad smiled at me and then he did this?

"ARGHHHH!" I yelled, punching the bedpost and then shrieking. "Ow! Ow, ow, OW!"

Lily and Dorcas hurried over to me as I swore and shook my bruised hand around.

"Kate, stop moving," Lily muttered taking my hand in her soft one. I winced as she ran her wand over the bruise and then I felt relief. I flexed it a little and gave her a short nod of thanks before continuing with my rant.

"He sodding cheats and I end up with an almost broken hand! He should have a broken nose! Just let me go down there and give him one!"

Dorcas let out a funny cough but when I glared at her, she looked instantly abashed.

"Sorry! It's just – you would never hit him."

"Well, I'll hex him then! Give him some nice green boils all over his perfect bloody face. Let her try to kiss him when he's seeping pus all over her!"

My two friends looked like deers in wandlight, and they were biting down hard on their lips, but I just huffed and collapsed on to my bed, staring up at the canopy and breathing hard. And then, I dissolved into tears. I couldn't help it. No matter how angry I was, I just couldn't – how could he do this? We'd been going so well lately – not even arguing over the little things. Why was he so insistent on throwing away a good thing? I wasn't enough, was I? I never had been.

I felt Lily stroking my hair and Dorcas fussing over the pillow under my head as I cried, but they didn't say anything. They just let me sob until finally I was out of breath and my eyes were dry. I blinked up at them and they both looked sad.

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" I breathed.

"He's a prick," Lily said softly, pushing back my hair and drying off my cheeks.

"I think I might have loved him," I muttered for the first time.

I saw them exchange a look and I sighed. "You think I'm a fool."

Lily shushed me and Dorcas shook her head.

"No, I think you're confused and he's confused and it's just a mess really."

"I hate her!" I said, folding my arms, my face crumpling again. "What does he see in her anyway? She can barely get a word out half of the time, and her eyes are too big for her head and she blushes at everything he says! How can he like someone like that?"

Lily sighed. "Maybe he likes that he can make her nervous."

"He makes me nervous sometimes!"

Dorcas chuckled and smiled. "He never makes you nervous. No one does."

"Professor Prewett?" I said, my mouth twitching.

Lily and Dorcas laughed and I smiled before sighing again heavily.

"I don't get it. I try and act easy-going and cool because that's what he wants. That's what he's said he likes – someone who isn't going to harp on or cling to him. I let him have those useless Lad's nights and I never pester him to spend time with me. I don't understand what's wrong with me!"

"Kate! Nothing is wrong with you!" Lily said sharply.

"But I'm loud aren't I? And annoying," I muttered. "And I try too hard."

"Where's this coming from?" Dorcas said, shaking her head.

I sighed and sat up and they adjusted themselves so that they were cuddling me.

"You heard about the Boggart with the Fifth Years?"

They looked at each other and nodded looking a bit nervous.

"We thought you wouldn't want to talk about it," Dorcas muttered. "It was a bit embarrassing."

I groaned. "Humiliating. And now it's gone and come true."

Lily was suddenly looking quite serious. Her eyes flashed to me. "Kate – you know, I completely support you, right?"

I nodded slowly, feeling suspicious. Where was she going with this?

"Well…can I play Devil's advocate for just a moment?" she asked, wincing.

"Lily!" Dorcas cautioned but I shook my head.

"Yeah – go on then."

She looked nervous, picking at the bedspread and sending Dorcas darting looks before she spoke.

"Well, he told you about it, didn't he?"

I inhaled. "That is completely besides the point!"

She looked alarmed and shook her head frantically. "No, I know. I'm not saying he should have done it in the first place. I just mean – at least he told you. He didn't carry on behind your back or pretend it never happened. He said something. It might mean…well, it might mean he's chosen you."

I bit my lip. There was something to that – but…how could I just let it go that easily? Even if he had 'chosen' me, what was to stop him from repeating the offense? What was to stop Lizzy from pouncing while my guard was down.

"And…" Dorcas added carefully. "Nothing actually happened."

I groaned and fell back against my pillow once more. They were right in some ways, but I still wasn't sure. I definitely wasn't going to forgive him for this easily. He deserved to sweat and pine over it.

"And maybe they really are just mates," Dorcas said. "Mates have those kind of moments all the time."

I raised my eyebrow at her and she flushed slightly, looking away from Lily who was just nodding.

"Yeah – Dorcas and Potter have them all the time."

I heard Dorcas' sharp intake of breath and for the first time since getting up to the dormitory, I felt the urge to laugh. The pair of them were as oblivious as each other. Who were they to really give me boy advice in the first place?

"And you and Remus have moments too," Lily nodded and the bubble of laughter stopped abruptly.

"No, we most certainly do not!" I snapped and she giggled.

"How about in the Library that one time? When he called you 'beautiful'."

I felt the same odd flush I'd had in that moment with Remus and cringed. Oh bollocks. Maybe they really were right – you could have oddly romantic instants with mates that didn't really mean anything. But this thing with Sirius and Lizzy had been coming for far too long – there was too much build up. I wasn't sure I could trust it not to explode into a full-blown affair.

"Just…maybe hear him out?" Dorcas suggested carefully.

"But we are behind you two hundred percent," Lily cut in. "If you never want to see him again, I will make it my personal mission to cover your eyes every time he's in the room."

I chuckled and squeezed both of their hands. "Just keep me away from Lizzy. I might hex her tongue out of her mouth so I can never hear her mumble at me again. And she'd never be able to snog Sirius either."

Lily and Dorcas burst into laughter at that, and I grinned.


A/N: Hmm, so do you think this is the end of Sirius/Kate? Thanks for reading! :)