A/N: Sarah's POV, this chapter is dedicated to new reader, Slytherin's Strumpet. I hope you enjoy!

-C

Vanessa and I sat in the common room in silence, not even enjoying the fact that no one else was in the room.

When Amy came through the portrait hole Vanessa let loose, leaving absolutely no question on what we had been waiting for.

"How dare you!"

I raised my eyebrows at Amy, awaiting instruction. Were we sticking by Vanessa as long as we could, or were we siding with the Marauders?

Vanessa made my life a bit better by being her friend. She would loan me clothes, buy me expensive presents, and give me wonderful make-up and hair tips.

But there was no replacing Amy where friendship was concerned. If there was going to be a break - and there was no longer a doubt in my mind that a break would come sooner or later - I would be following Amy out. Besides, she was still my ticket to Remus.

"How dare I what?" Amy said softly, looking at me quickly before bravely turning back to a fuming Vanessa.

"How dare you side with those...those...cretins!"

Amy put her things down at her feet, raising an eyebrow.

"If you're talking about my friends, the boys whose antics you always admired and especially the boy whose face you seemed to rather enjoy sucking, I'm not sure I know what you mean."

Vanessa's face was a rather unattractive shade of purple, and she got right in Amy's face, which was saying something, considering she was about six inches taller than Amy.

"They humiliated me! They humiliated me in front of everyone! And you went with them!"

"Did you expect me to stay with you?" Amy responded with surprising coolness. "You smelled of dog pee."

I giggled, and that was a big mistake, because then Vanessa turned her attention to the two of us instead of just Amy.

"Oh, very funny," she snarled. "And how did Sirius find out about my showering abnormalities, huh? Which of you decided to gossip to the Marauders about me?"

"Neither of us," Amy said softly. "I wouldn't put it past Lily, though. She's close to Remus, and let's not forget, she doesn't like you. She's not your friend."

"It seems I don't have any friends," Vanessa cried. "Not here, not in this House. You two let me fend for myself out there!"

"Oh, did we?" I muttered coldly, catching on that we were making the break now, not trying to wait for later. "Because that sounds oddly familiar to me. How about all the times Lily attacked Amy, or every time Amy attacked Lily, and Amy needed your help and you just watched, too worried to get your hands dirty or, Merlin for bid, break a nail! I'm happy to support Amy because I know that if it came down to it she would do the same for me, but why should either of us support you, Vanessa? You've never been there for us!"

Vanessa frowned, confused.

"That - that was different!"

We shook our heads at each other incredulously.

"The fact of the matter," Amy said with a heavy sigh, "is that you don't support us, Vanessa. Sarah has always been there for me, and the Marauders have made plain very regularly that they would do anything for me, Sirius especially. If you ask me to choose between you, I would choose them every time. But I don't want to choose. I really wish you wouldn't make me."

I gripped my Charms textbook, which was sitting on the table in front of me, and I saw Vanessa's face contort into the most unattractive configuration imaginable.

"Do you honestly think that you can have them and me after what they just did?" she shrieked.

No, I really didn't think it was possible, but Amy seemed determined to at least make Vanessa think we were giving it a chance.

"It's not about what I think," Amy whispered. "It's about what you think."

"Well, I think you two are mad!" Vanessa screamed. "I think that it's a miracle I've put up with you all these years, and if you're going to let anyone treat me like that then I know how things really are with us! We're done!"

Vanessa stormed up to their dormitory and left Amy and me staring after her, frowning. With a sigh, Amy sat down across from me at the table, rubbing her temples as she sank into the chair.

"How are you feeling?" I asked gently.

"I'm feeling tired," she admitted. "I mean, I sort of knew that mess with Vanessa was going to turn out something like this, but being mentally prepared for it happening is nothing like being mentally prepared for the emotional toll dealing with it takes."

"I know," I sighed, pushing my Charms book open lazily. "I feel a bit like I need a really good nap. Unfortunately, I'm a bit afraid to go upstairs at the moment."

"Me too," Amy groaned, still rubbing her temples. "Nobody ever says that losing friends is going to be more exhausting than losing a week of sleep, but it seems very accurate."

I nodded absently, flipping through the pages, trying to find the notes on the workings of a Fidelus Charm. I hadn't even started my essay, and it was due in two days.

"You know, I wish just once that being friends with those boys would not cost me something."

I knew what she was talking about, about the issues with Lily and the lack of dating, and now of course losing Vanessa. But I also knew that for all the negatives there was really no part of Amy that would have sacrificed Sirius for any of it, or even all of it together. I knew I had a crush on Remus, but it was nothing to the absolute devotion Amy had for Sirius, and had had for years.

"I'm sure things will all work themselves out in the end," I said weakly, but Amy's attention had been diverted by the opening of the portrait hole and the entrance of Sirius and Remus.

"Hello, ladies," Sirius said smoothly, sitting down across from me, next to Amy. Remus sat down beside me, pulling out his Transfiguration textbook and glancing over my shoulder to see what I was reading. "What's going on up here?"

"Shut up," Amy snapped, not looking up at Sirius, whose face instantly flashed with hurt.

"Right," he said slowly, biting the inside of his cheek. "Right, well, Kelly, would you care to explain to me why Amy's behaving like I've killed her owl or something?"

"Maybe because we are no longer friends with Vanessa due to our lack of supporting her during your very public and intense dumping of her," I said as calmly as possible. "Congratulations, by the way. You've outdone yourself this time."

"Thanks," he said with a proud grin before he'd processed all of what I said, and all three of us were surprised when Amy actually smacked Sirius hard across the upper arm. "Woah, what was that for?"

"I told you," she said tearfully. "I told you not to get involved with her, not to get me involved in the break-up, but you never listen, do you!"

"Amy, I-"

"No, Sirius, for once you're going to listen to me!" she sobbed, and Remus and I exchanged nervous looks, raising our books up over our faces and pretending to read our textbooks as the fight dragged on, on the other side of the books. Remus gave me an apologetic look and my heart fluttered.

Maybe losing Vanessa was the best thing that could have happened after all.

"What?"

"I'm glad you're rid of her. Truly. But I've sacrificed so much to be your friend and you take it for granted and I'm sick of it!"

Remus winced behind his book and I stifled a giggle, trying not to be anything but a sympathetic and silent entity in Amy's current emotional battle with herself.

And that's really who Amy was at war with. Not Vanessa, not Sirius, no matter how easy it was to pick fights with the both of them. She was trying to sort out her clashing priorities and loyalties and it was a painful task. But it was frustrating for me to watch because I already knew which choices she was going to make and the pain she was currently experiencing seemed so needless when the end result seemed so obvious.

"I don't take you for granted, Amy."

"Sirius, Lily Evans has made me her personal punching bag! And with James's antics, she's got a lot of anger and aggression to work out."

"She's not going to pick on you with McGonagall keeping an eye on things, Amy. She rather likes being Head Girl."

"But that's beside the point! It took you seven years to notice-"

"You hid it well."

"Sirius, you believed that the split lip in fourth year was chapped lips."

There was a bit of a stunned silence and I recalled the incident in question.

Amy and Lily had gotten into a tussle in the middle of our dormitory, as usually happened when the insults started to fly. Somehow in the midst of everything, Amy hit a post on Marlene's bed face-first, and if she'd been just a fraction to the left she would have broken her nose instead of merely splitting her lip.

That injury alone had been enough to stop the fight in those early years, Lily terrified of getting in trouble for obviously assaulting another student. Not so terrified that she'd helped me clean up the blood and clean the wound, but it was better than she'd been lately.

"Amy, I wish you would have told me," Sirius sighed. "I was young and stupid, and I didn't actually believe you, I just thought you were embarrassed to tell me you'd slipped in the shower or something."

"And now Vanessa is furious at us and we're a bit nervous to go upstairs until we're sure she's gone to sleep," Amy said softly, obviously content that he understood her predicament. "It was already war in that dormitory, Sirius, but now it's even worse. And I have no one to help me but Sarah, because even though you care and support me, you're not there and you can't be."

"You could stay in my dorm-"

"No, I couldn't," Amy insisted. "I couldn't leave Sarah alone, and I couldn't do it very often. Lily would turn me in in a heartbeat."

Remus and I exchanged a brief look.

Oh, if not for Lily and her sure rule-enforcing, turning us in, I would have gladly joined her in the boys' dormitory.

"I guess I don't really understand what you want from me, Amy. If you don't let me fix things-"

"That's the point, Sirius," Amy sighed. "When I ask you for help, I'm really glad to have it and it's wonderful. When I don't ask for your help, nine times out of ten I don't want it."

"And with Lily?" he demanded. "Wasn't it good that I finally stepped in?"

"Yes, and I'm not perfect," Amy admitted. "Sometimes I don't ask for help when I need it, and Sarah knows about that. But I would think that if you were concerned you should be able to talk to Sarah, talk to Remus, figure out whether or not you're merited."

"Fair enough," Sirius sighed. "I just worry about you, Amy. You can't ask me to stop that."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Amy said, and very boldly leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I'm going to the library to finish studying before curfew."

As soon as she left the common room Sirius glanced over at Remus and me, saw that our books were up, and said, "I think I'm going to take a shower. See ya."

When he'd retreated up the stairs Remus and I dropped our books and looked at each other, sighing.

"Wow," I said, grinning. "Where did you get that dog?"

"Marauder secret," he replied in a cheeky, self-pleased way that I'd come to associate with Sirius and James. "How's Charms?"

I groaned and he laughed. Heartened by the banter, I tried throwing it back at him.

"How's Transfiguration?"

"I'm not sure," he said with an amused frown, glancing down at the page. "Ah, we covered this chapter a few weeks ago. So I guess, quite well."

We laughed together, pushing our books aside and smiling at each other.

I was so close to his amber eyes that I could almost lean forward and kiss him. The thought was very enticing.

"So, I saw you got a letter from home this morning," Remus said, smiling slightly. "Everything okay? Good news, I hope."

"Oh, everything's fine," I assured him, touched that he would notice the letter, remember it, and even think to ask me that it was all okay at home. I knew that for so many people letters from home brought tales of death, destruction, and devastation. "My mum was just writing that Maria and Cole wanted letters and that they were already trying to decide which sweets to send in the care packages."

"Maria and Cole are how old?" he asked, curious.

"Oh, well, Maria's ten and Cole's nine. They're the youngest."

"Right," Remus said with a smile. "It must be nice, having siblings."

"Sometimes," I admitted, sheepishly. "There's a lot of pressure being the oldest, and a lot of work. Plus there's really no chance of privacy ever. But George is great for helping me with dueling practice, which is sort of important, and Nicole is wonderful at Healing charms."

"Is she?" he asked, grinning. "Isn't she friends with MacKenzie?"

"Amy's little sister? Yeah," I said with a smile. "They're inseparable. But even more important, I think George is smitten with MacKenzie. He's working up the nerve to ask her to Hogsmeade, but don't tell anyone I said so."

"Not a soul," he said very seriously, then grinning. "So how many others are there?"

"Well, Katelyn's a second year," I recited. "Ravenclaw, like Nicole. And Easton's in first year, in Hufflepuff. He was very upset, as there's not been a Hufflepuff in our family until him, but I think he's very happy there now, especially after the encouraging letter Mum wrote him. Maria's hoping for Gryffindor, I think. She adores George, wants to be just like him, and she's always rather idolized Natalie..."

"Amy's sister?"

"Yeah."

He shook his head, grinning.

"Family of nine," he sighed. "I'll never understand it. Even bigger than Amy's family!"

"Yes, and I don't know of a pureblood family as big as hers apart from the Weasleys," I said thoughtfully. "You've met the Weasleys?"

"I've heard of them," he said with a shrug. "Didn't the Prewetts' older sister marry one?"

"Right, Arthur," I recalled. "Merlin help him. From what Gideon said, she's a bit domineering."

"I don't think I could handle a girl like that," Remus said solemnly. "I don't like being pushed around."

"So you don't like Lily?" I asked without thinking, and I could feel myself blushing when I realized that the words had actually left my mouth.

Remus blinked at me for a moment, and then he laughed.

"Merlin, no!" he laughed. "I mean, I think of her as a friend, but even if James didn't think he was madly in love with her I don't think we could ever make something work between us. She's very pretty, yes, but not my type."

Relieved, I managed to just nod, smiling a little to myself as I glanced down at my book.

"Right," I finally said. "I thought you might be secretly dating her, or something. Crazy, right?"

"A bit misguided, yeah," Remus chuckled. "I assure you, the very idea of dating Lily is enough to make me anxious. She can be a very nice girl, but her particular flaws are not ones I feel I could overlook, like the way she treats Amy, for example."

I nodded, frowning.

Everything with Remus always came back to Amy, and now that we were talking about it we would surely not be able to break back to me or him.

"So, do you have big plans with your family for Christmas?" he asked, surprising me. "Or are you staying here?"

"We actually haven't worked it out," I said, confused, "but I think I might stay here. Amy's going home with her family, but I kind of want to spend my last year at Hogwarts actually here at Hogwarts. I can go home whenever I want, but I'll never get to come back to Hogwarts, you know?"

"I know what you mean," he replied with a nod and a wistful smile. "Have you decided what you want to do when you graduate?"

"Not really," I admitted sheepishly. "I mean, I've thought about something in Herbology and Professor McGonagall agrees I should keep my options open, since I'm not drawn to any of the obvious fields and it's tough to be a research Herbologist or a field Herbologist. I might end up working as an apothecary supplier or something like that. We'll see what I can get when I graduate." He nodded. "And you?" I asked. "What do you want to do?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure either," he said with a laugh. "I'm very good a Defense, but I don't think they'll take me in the Auror department."

"Why not?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He hesitated, obviously wondering whether or not to tell me something. Finally, he smiled and said, "My health for one, and the fact that I'd be competing with James and Sirius and others for those very coveted spots." He shook his head. "Even I can't compete with that, no matter how good I am with Defensive spells. They could beat almost anyone in a duel."

"It certainly seems so," I admitted. "Although Amy's always been able to give them a run for their money."

"With James, yes, although I don't know with Sirius," Remus said thoughtfully. "I've always suspected he holds back a bit, not wanting to hurt her. But I could be wrong." He then closed his book. "Well, I hate to say it, but it's been a long day. I hope things get better for you and Amy, and I wish you a very good night."

"Night," I replied softly, watching Remus retreat up the stairs to his dormitory.

Oh, I was smitten all over again, and grinning like an idiot.