Last Chapter –

"You know I do." He said, kissing her on the forehead, "I just don't want to lose you."

"You'll never lose me." She said softly, "Why don't we -"

But she never got to finish her sentence, as a huge fight suddenly erupted between two males, at the end of the room.

Rushing over, Matthew and Jade went to see what was happening. Jade sucked in her breath, and Matthew let out a cry of anger. It was one of the Marauders, and one of his friends…

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Chapter 21 –

As the music stopped, Mel kept dancing. She wanted the night to last forever. As much as she hated to say it, but she still wanted to be in Gideon's arms. Hell, she wanted to be in them forever! As long as possible.

But her fantasy was soon ended when Gideon roughly pulled away.

"Are you leaving?" Mel asked; a little disappointed.

"Yeah, what does it look like?" Gideon replied, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Oh ok." Said Mel, not sure what to say next. "Do you want to dance again later?"

"No," snapped Gideon, "What makes you think that I'd want to dance again with you? I only danced with you because Fabian asked! Or guilt tripped."

"Excuse me?" Mel exclaimed, feeling as though Gideon had just slapped her across the face.

"Nothing," he muttered, disappearing into the crowd that had gathered around, to see what had happened with the two people.

"What…" Mel muttered, lost in the feeling of sadness that had just engulfed her. A tear slid down her cheek as she watched people gather in a circle. But she didn't notice. She just sat in the middle of the dance floor, just the one lone tear coming down her face.

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Jade and Matthew were trying to get past the people, so they could get through to their friends. Sirius was near by, and he too was fighting to get past the crowding people.

"Grab my hand!" Matthew said to Jade, "Otherwise we'll get lost ok?"

"Yeah," Jade said, grabbing his hand feeling a jolt of electricity spread through her body.

She could see Sirius on the other side, trying to get through, however he was succeeding more than them. He pushed past the people with strength, and Jade was watching. She watched a man, a young immature one, but nevertheless a man, fight through to help his friend, whether to save him or fight for him. Matthew saw her watching and gritted his teeth.

No, you will not be one of those overprotective jealous boyfriends! He chided himself.

Jade pushed through, with Matthew following her.

"Excuse me," she muttered, "Excuse me!" Suddenly Lily appeared behind her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, "Why are they fighting?"

"I don't know," Jade said, "But we're going to find out. Come on!"

Finally, the three were in the circle. They were past the wall of people. They were with the two arch enemies. One from Gryffindor, the other from Ravenclaw. One of them had a bloodied lip, and the other had a bruised eye.

"What are you doing!" yelled Lily, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" asked the Gryffindor, "I wouldn't know where to start."

"What's wrong?" Matthew had instantly moved to his friends side, "Why are you fighting?"

"He's jealous because he can't hold a girlfriend." Luke Mason was standing there, with a bruised eye and other bruises and cuts along his body.

"What do you mean!" exclaimed Matthew, "Did you…"

"Yeah, I did." Nodded Luke, "It's not my fault she doesn't like him anymore."

"That's not true!" sobbed Grace, "I do like him, I just – I don't know." Grace Jones was crying, it was because of her that this fight was happening.

"IF YOU LIKED ME, THEN WHY DID YOU SLEEP WITH HIM!" roared Scott Lake, the other male in the fight. "Why did you do this to me?"

"I didn't do anything!" she screamed, "You had no time for me! Too busy with your friends, too busy with your ideas, too busy! You never, not once tried to make time for me!"

"You could have talked to me!" Scott yelled, "Instead of sleeping with that idiot."

"Hey, now that's not necessary," Matthew said, walking up. "You don't have to speak like that."

"Look who it is," Sirius had just stood in front of his friend, defending him. He didn't know where James was. He didn't care. James was probably off thinking of how to get Lily. He knew Remus would come soon, but right now, it was just him and the loser. "It's Matthew Mutimer. Come to defend your friend?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Matthew had gained confidence over the past five years, and he didn't want to let some person who thought he was the best, boss others around.

"Well that's funny, because I have too." Sirius walked closer to Matthew. He saw Jade standing next to Lily. She was frozen, she didn't know what to do. They were going to fight. It sure as hell looked like it.

"Sirius -"

"Stay out of this Evans," spat Sirius, "Why don't you go and break James' heart again. It's not like it was that hard for you the first time."

"Don't talk to her like that!" snapped Jade, "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Jade, it's ok." Matthew said quietly, "Just leave us alone."

The funny thing about boys is that when they're angry, pureblooded or not, is that they don't care about wands. They certainly don't care about spells. They just care about ripping up their opponent with their bare hands.

That one second where Jade looked at Matthew, the one second that Sirius looked at Jade, the same one second that Lily looked and saw James sitting by himself his head hanged low, was the same one second that Scott dove forward and punched Luke in the stomach.

Jade let out a shriek of alarm. Luke was now on the ground wheezing for air. Grace had gone to his side and checked if he was alright.

"Scot!" she cried, "Don't do this!"

"Do what?" he jeered, "Hurt your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" she yelled, "He's my friend."

"A friend with benefits?" sneered Scott. "I can't believe you'd sink so low to go out with that idiot."

"I can't let you talk about my friends like that in front of me." Matthew said firmly, "Luke and Grace are both my friends and I'd appreciate if you didn't talk like that about them."

"Well then if you don't like us talking about your friends in front of you, then we're just going to have to get rid of you."

Sirius smirked, it was finally the time for him to step up and bash up the idiot. "And that's what we'll do if you continue to annoy us."

"Sirius…" warned Jade, "I'm still angry at you for the deceptive trick!"

"Don't turn this back on me!" Sirius said angrily, scrunching his eyebrows.

"What?" asked Jade, "ME? Turn anything against you? Never! How could I, when your s perfect and innocent."

"Don't make me blush."

Now though this sounded like kind banter, the two were head to head. Sirius had forgotten alla bout Matthew, however this was soon to change.

"Why do you always have to pick on people?" Matthew said, "Quite frankly, it's really annoying."

"Quite frankly, I don't really care what you think." mimicked Sirius, "You are such a pansy Mutimer."

"Are you ever going to grow up?" asked Jade, sounding irritated, "Are you ever going to grow up?"

"Probably," Sirius said shrugging, "But not right now. Right now, I have to bash up your boyfriend."

"I don't think so." Jade said, glaring at him. "If you know what's best for you then I'd -"

"No," interrupted Matthew, "If he wants a fight, let him have a fight."

"What!" exclaimed Jade, "Matthew!"

"You heard him, step aside Jade."

"Over my dead body!" snarled Jade, making Sirius step back a step.

"That can be arranged," Muttered Scott, who was still smirking at Luke who was still on the ground and was hungry for more. Grace stood up, she had had enough.

"Look Scott, this is just a huge misunderstanding. Can't we sort this out, privately?"

"No," he said, "I can't believe you did this! I thought we were…I thought we were – Oh, never mind. The point is, you went too far. Did I ever sleep with any other girls!"

"Scott, don't be like this," Grace whispered, "Just one mistake…"

At this, Luke raised his head and looked Scott squarely in the eye. "Actually, maybe ten mistakes? And I can believe why she did it."

"LUKE!" screamed Grace, "You imbecile!"

Scott launched himself on Luke, punching repeatedly, having no idea what the hell he was punching at, but just kept punching. Matthew jumped to pull Scott away, but Sirius pulled him back and punched him straight at the jaw.

"Man, I've wanted to do that for ages," Sirius said triumphantly, "It felt good."

Matthew staggered back a little, trying to clench the pain out, and stop the bleeding. But he managed to come back and punch Sirius right on the nose.

"Ow!" yelled Sirius, "You fucken bastard!"

"BOYS!" yelled Jade, "STOP IT! Why are you fighting anyway! Are you ok?" she asked, running up to Matthew, "You idiot, you could have broken his jaw!"

"Well dats just tewwible," Sirius said sarcastically, "I fink he bwoke bi nose!"

"You started it you moron!" Jade screamed at him, "Look at Matthew!" She conjured up some ice and gave it to him while he smiled thankfully at her. "Sirius! I thought you were starting to mature! Whenever I think that, you go and prove me wrong."

"Bell Sowwy," Sirius said, "But I weally fink by bose is bwoken!"

"Here, let me look at that" Jade said, worry etched in her features suddenly, "You idiot," she reproved, "I really do think it's broken. Lily! I need your help, can you fix him up?"

"Sure," Lily said, muttering a quick spell. It cleared away the blood and they could see that Sirius' nose was on an odd angle. "Ow, that looks bad."

"You pon't bay." Sirius said, "Ban you pix it?" Remus had just arrived at the scene.

"Sirius! What happened?" he asked in alarm, rushing over. He beat Lily to the spell, and fixed up Sirius in a jiffy. "Who hit you?"

"You mean who did he hit," Jade corrected, from the floor, bending over Matthew. Scott had finally finished punching Luke, and Luke looked quite bad.

"BOYS!" Boomed Derek Potter, "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

"Umm…"

"Everyone, clear out. Let me see what's happened." He said, authority evident in his voice. "Oh Merlin, what was this about?" His eyes raked from Sirius rubbing his newly fixed nose, which was still a little off centre, Matthew on the floor with Jade, who had a small amount of blood on the floor near him, Scott with a bruised lip and eye and then Luke who had a bruised lip and eye, plus was bent over in pain.

"He starte -"

"Well you see -"

"The idiots -"

"Scott and Luke -"

"It's all my -"

"HOLD ON!" Derek said loudly, over the psychobabble. "I'll just make my own assumptions." He magically boomed his voice with a quick spell. "Everyone, thank you for coming. Sorry tonight had to end in such a disappointed way. I hope to see you all again. Merry Christmas!"

After waiting twenty minutes, for everyone to pile out, except for the few people involved, Mr Potter started his lecture.

"I am very disappointed, in all of you. Why didn't anyone stop?"

"We tr -"

"That's just not good enough!" he interrupted, looking at Lily who gulped. "This is very immature, why can't you sort this out like adults. You don't normally see me going around chucking punches do you?"

"N -"

"But the point is, I hope you all learnt a valuable lesson! Sirius, I expected better of you. Same to you Scott. You may all go, but I want a word to the boys. All of them."

Jade looked at Matthew uncertainly, but he smiled somewhat to indicate to her that it was alright. Throwing Sirius a dirty look, she went with Lily to find Mel and Kate.

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As Jade and Lily were walking out, they found Grace, Sarah and Amelia sitting down. It looked like they were consoling Grace, however Clarissa wasn't near them. Jade and Lily walked over and found Grace crying.

"Hey Grace," Lily said softly, "Are you ok?"

"No," Grace said, "It's all my fault." She looked at Jade and tried to smile, "I'm sorry about it getting Matthew involved."

Jade smiled kindly to her, "That's not your fault. He got himself involved. I'm not saying it was smart, but don't blame yourself."

"But the fight really was my fault." Grace said distantly, "If it wasn't for me, then that would never have happened. And the worst thing is that Scott probably won't talk to me again."

As much as Lily and Jade wanted to console her, they knew that it was probably true. Scott wouldn't talk to her again. He was very strong in his beliefs that once trust is lost, it's lost forever. He was pretty tough on the outside, but inside he was just mush. Sweet mush.

"Well we better go," Jade said, "We've got to find Mel and Kate."

At the mention of Mel, Milly's eyes widened. "I saw her before the fight. She didn't look really good."

Lily instantly looked worried. "What do you mean? Was she alone, or crying or…?"

"She was crying." Milly said sadly, "I'm not too sure though. She just looked really lonely."

"Oh, well then we better find them." Jade said hurriedly, "We'll see you at school ok?"

"Yeah," Milly said, "See you later."

"Oh by the way, where's Taylor?" Jade asked, "Of with some desperate guy?"

Milly tried not to laugh, "No, I don't know."

"Ok then, bye."

Heading outside through the chilly doors, Jade instinctively shivered. "It's cold Lilykins."

"Yeah, I know." She replied, "Oh! Is that them down there?"

"Lets go see and find out." Jade said, heading in the direction.

Sure enough, when they got there, it was Mel and Kate. However Mel looked like stone.

"Uh oh," Jade whispered, "She looks real bad."

"Shh!" Lily snapped, "That's not very nice."

Mel was sitting there, staring off into the distance. Her skin was pale and clammy, and covered in goosebumps. Kate had wrapped a blanket around her friend's shoulders, but she needn't have. Mel wasn't talking, she wasn't communicating, she was just staring.

"What happened?" Jade asked, "Do you know?"

"Nope," Kate said sadly, "I found her on the floor crying, so I brought her out before she could stampeded on. She won't talk."

"Come on," Lily said softly, "We should bring her back to the house."

On the way out, Jade stayed back. She wanted to talk to Matthew. Something about tonight had irked her. She really did like him, she cared a lot for him, and she knew he cared for her too – but she never thought of him to jump into a fight like that. Jade had forgotten that he was just stepping in to help a friend, he wasn't actually getting into the fight. But her details were fuzzy and she only remembered that he jumped in to punch Scott.

"Do you want us to wait?" Lily asked, looking at Jade.

"Yeah, but why don't you wait around the corner?" Jade offered, "Then Mel won't have to witness all the boys come out."

"Sure, that works," Lily said smiling, "I don't think she's going to talk right now. Maybe later tonight do you want to ask?"

"Yeah, why not?" Jade said offhandedly, "Oh, they're coming. Cya."

She saw the Marauders come out and Sirius gave her a 'look' which she returned. It wasn't full of likeness, it wasn't full of loathing. It was just a cool, non-emotional look. She saw Luke come out, sporting a few bruises with Amos, and Matthew trailing behind, his jaw now back to normal.

"Hey," he said happily, "I didn't know you'd wait for me."

"Yeah, well I did." Jade said coolly, crossing her arms defensively.

"Uh oh," muttered Matthew, "Defensive mode."

"Why did you do that?" Jade asked, "Why did you jump in?"

Matthew gave her a disbelieving look. "He was going to jump on my friend!"

"You didn't have to punch him."

"What was I supposed to do? Let him punch me and get away with it?" Matthew exclaimed, "You've got to be joking."

"I'm not." Jade said, pursing her lips. "Look, I don't think this is going to work. You're obviously different to who I thought you were."

Matthew's eyebrows shot up. "You want to break up?"

"No," Jade said, "I want a break."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Matthew asked. His face how darkened over plus the late night wasn't helping, so Jade couldn't read anything. She could only see his silhouette and hear his voice.

"It's just for a short time so I can clear my head." Jade replied, stubbornness in her voice.

"Don't let me stand in the way." Matthew started to walk off. However, Jade wasn't going to let him have the last word.

"I don't want this." Jade thrust the gift he gave her into his palm, and walked off. She did love the gift, but there was no way she was going to keep the gift from a guy who just punched someone.

Matthew stood there still, unable to realise what happened. "Did she just break up with me?" he muttered, not really sure that it had actually happened.

Out of the shadows, Sirius Black appeared. "She sure did," he smirked, before running over to catch up with Jade.

"OI!" he yelled, running, "OI!"

Jade stopped, turning around. "What?" she snapped annoyed, "What do you want Black?"

"I heard that you were single," he winked, "Too bad we can't go out now."

"Excuse me?" Jade said, "What makes you think I'd want – wait! Why can't we?"

"Because I'm going out with Kuper." Sirius said, smirking to himself before walking away.

"What the hell?" Jade asked, "Who cares?"

She walk around the corner, and found Lily and Kate talking, while Mel propped herself against the brick wall, staring into the distance. She still looked like stone.

"Ok," Jade announced, "We're over."

"Who's over?" Lily asked confused.

"No!" Kate exclaimed, "No way! You're perfect."

"Yeah right," Jade scoffed, "But we're not exactly over. We're just taking a break…"

"Which is over." Lily said, "Jade, why?"

"Because he just got involved in the fight." Jade said simply, "He shouldn't have gotten involved."

"His friend was getting punched up!" Lily exclaimed, "What did you expect him to do?"

"Not get involved," Jade said irritated, "Come on Mel, let's go." She grabbed Mel by her fingers, and walked with her back to Kate's house.

That night, when the girls were getting ready for bed, Jade crept over to Mel.

"Are you ok?" she whispered, "It's ok if you don't want to talk about it."

"I'm ok," Mel said softly, so softly that Jade had to lean closer to hear it. "I'm fine."

"No your not," Jade frowned, "But if you're sure…"

"He doesn't like me," Mel whispered, "He doesn't even like me a little bit. The dance was a lie. A lie-dance." A tear fell from her eye.

"A lie dance?" Jade repeated, confusion in her voice.

"He's a dickhead." Mel repeated back, rolling over.

The three other girls looked at each other.

Lily sighed, "It's probably Gideon."

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It was the next day, so the girls had to get ready to go back to school. Lily had heard Mel crying sometime in the middle of the night, and was scared for her friend. Mel was such a sensitive girl, when she was angry, she was very angry and when she was sad, she was very depressed. Lily also knew that Jade and Matthew had split. She still didn't know exactly why, but that was something she was going to coax out.

It was sometime around midday, and the girls were packing.

"Jade, why did you break up with him?" Lily said, muttering a spell for her socks to fold themselves.

Jade cleaned out Tani's cage. "Break up with who?"

"Don't be stupid." Kate said, "You know who we're talking about."

"Do you really want to know?" Jade asked wearily, "It's because he's not who I thought he was."

Kate nodded in understanding, "Oh. I know what you mean."

Lily's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean he's not who you thought he was!"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Jade snapped, "Matthew isn't the person who I thought he was. The Matthew I knew wouldn't have jumped into a fight."

"Exactly." Lily said, "Matthew wouldn't do that."

"That's what I thought, but he did," snapped Jade, "He did that last night. I saw him!"

"I was there too." Lily snapped back. "And he didn't!"

"Just drop it ok!" Kate said, stopping the argument before it went any further.

"Fine." Lily muttered, "But I'll get to the bottom of this," she vowed.

Mel looked wearily outside. "It's such a cloudy day," she said softly, "A way to match my mood."

The other girls exchanged glances, before Kate changed the subject.

"I heard that you kissed Fabian in front of James." Kate said seriously, while Lily laughed her head off. "It's not funny," she insisted, "You know that James has a fragile ego."

The strange thing was, that Kate forgot that Mel was supposed to be "seeing" Fabian. However, Mel didn't even notice what Kate was saying, and if she did, she couldn't really care less about Lily kissing her supposed boyfriend.

At that point, Lily just lost it. Doubling over in sobs while Jade looked on in amusement and Mel looked on with no emotions, she gasped out. "You've got to be kidding me! James Potter, a fragile ego? Who are you and what have you done to the level headed Kate that I know?"

Kate forced herself not to smile. "Seriously Lily, you know he cares about you."

Lily stopped smiling. "Oh my god! You're being serious."

"Of course I am," snapped Kate, "Why would I make such a big deal out of this if it wasn't serious!"

"How should I know?" asked Lily, "I hardly know the guy. And what I do know of him, I don't like." She looked at Kate squarely. "I mean, come on. He and I start off mutual friends right? I then realise what an immature prat he is and ignore him. Then I suddenly get vulnerable and he takes advantage of me! He also has the nerve to ask me out!"

"That doesn't sound like a great record," Jade said, suppressing a snigger.

"Exactly," Lily said triumphantly, "Can't you see what an idiot he is Kate? Can't you see why I want revenge?"

Kate finally let out her smile. "Ok, ok" she said grudgingly, "But I'm warning you as a friend, if James gets hurt, Sirius will be out for your blood."

At the mention of Sirius's name, Jade's head popped up. "Speaking of Sirius Black, did you know that he ran up to me after I dumped Matthew."

"I still can't believe why -" started Lily

"You were so lucky, but -" Mel wistfully started to say.

"Stop talking about him," snapped Jade, feeling her heart twitch. "I'll let you guys bitch to me later ok?"

"Fine then," Lily huffily said, "I'll keep you to your word."

"Anyway as I was saying, before you two butted in," added Jade, glaring at the two girls. "After we – you know…broke up, Sirius followed me and -"

"No way!" exclaimed Kate, "A stalker? Sirius?"

Jade glared at her irritably, "I haven't finished."

"Oh," Kate said, while Lily sniggered. Mel however, just stared at them, unblinkingly.

"You guys are funny to watch," she said dreamily, "I never knew that."

"Mel, you are like a walking cloud." Jade said, "I swear, you've totally changed. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three," Mel said, sounding bored. "I don't know what you're talking about Jade, but from what you've been telling us, I'd say you were the one that was changed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Jade, "Are you implying something between the lines?"

"No," Mel said, "It's not supposed to mean anything."

"It better not." Jade said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes. "Geez, you guys just keep keeping me off track!"

Lily smirked at Kate who smirked back. Jade didn't see it however.

"What was I saying?" she said distractedly, "Oh yeah! Sirius. He followed me and then he randomly said 'too bad we can't go out now that your single because -"

"Yeah, too bad." Butted in Mel.

Jade cleared her throat, determined to speak louder. "Because I'm going out with Kuper! Now what kind of idiot is he? Thinking I'll go out with him! Come on…"

"He's going out with Kuper?" Mel said interestedly, "Wow I wouldn't have ever thought they would be a couple."

"That's not very nice," reproved Lily, "You can't judge a book by it's cover. I'm sure Meagan is very nice and social…" she saw the three girls' sarcastic looks. "Err…deep deep – deep down."

"Yeah, me too." Kate added, not so assured. "But who cares. Jade, why did you break up with Matthew!"

"Yeah! Tell us." Added Mel, "That's what friends are for."

"First off, I care. Why would Sirius come all the way up to me to tell me that he's going out with Kuper?"

Lily laughed, "Don't tell me you're that thick Jade. He's trying to make you jealous."

At that comment, Jade scoffed. "No way, you're out of your mind."

"Probably," Lily said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Second off," Jade said loudly, "Mel, if that's what friends are for, then why won't you tell us why you're so down."

Mel laughed uncomfortably, "Me? Down? Nah."

"Fine, but until you tell us, I'm keeping my lips shut."

"Noo…" whined Mel, "Jadeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

"Now there's the Mel we all know and love." Kate deadpanned.

"Oh Jade, do tell us." Lily said, "You were so perfect for each other."

"Like you and James?" inquired Jade innocent, staring into Lily's glare.

"You are so stupid." Lily said, narrowing her eyes.

"That's me." Jade giggle high pitched, and tossed her hair.

The girls finally stopped talking, and Kate, Mel and Lily dropped the subject of Matthew, for a little while. It was late in the afternoon, and they were going to go out soon to hang out at the local muggle pub. Sure, they weren't exactly of legal age, but it wasn't like they were going to go to the pub and actually drink, right? Besides, Mel had gotten them fake IDs, but she had refused to tell them how she landed her hands on them.

There suddenly was a tap tap tap on the window. An unfamiliar owl flew through, as Lily opened the window. There was a red gleam in it's eyes, and it glared at Lily to say 'I dare you to touch me'. Jade extracted the letter from the bird, but was bitten.

"OW!" she screamed, "You stupid vermin piece of …"

"That's for me!" exclaimed Kate, walking over and opening the parchment. The owl didn't attack her. It was obvious the letter was for her eyes only.

Kate,

This is a warning. They're coming.

- Me

Ok, I know this has taken me the best of a long time to update. But it's a long chapter. My excuse is that I've been working almost every day at this shop for very L – O – N – G hours. Sorry it's so late. I tried to make it a long one!

softlove