A/N What do you know, inspiration did strike! Thank you to the people who reviewed my last two chapters! It gives me a lot of encouragement. The plot is well and truly moving along now. Hope I can manage to write it well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Lily was very busy. She and her friends were going back to England after a wonderful two weeks at her vacation house in France. The portkey was ready for 6 in the evening and she was currently in the process of getting all her things packed.

Her hands were full of things so she didn't notice Sirius walking from the opposite direction. There was a clattering sound as half the things in her arms fell and Sirius looked slightly bewildered to have a stray sock on his head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Sirius," she said, picking everything up hurriedly. "I just have so many things to do."

"That's alright. I was just coming to you to ask if I could borrow some shampoo? Mine got over a couple of days ago."

"Yeah," she said, opening the door to her room. "Just hold on."

A few seconds later she came back with a small blue bottle. It was half used and Lily thrust it into his hands before rushing back to finish her packing.

While shampooing his hair, Sirius smelt something vaguely familiar. Was it the shampoo? Yes. He had definitely smelt this somewhere before. Where…?

It suddenly hit him and he quickly rinsed his hair and got dressed, rushing back to Lily's room.

"Evans!" he asked, knocking loudly. "Open the door! I need to ask you something."

"What?" asked Lily, annoyed at being disturbed.

"The shampoo you gave me, what was it?" he asked, abruptly.

"Umm, it's not mine. Sia uses it."

"Oh," Sirius' blood ran cold for a moment. "I see. But it's a fairly common shampoo, isn't it? I mean, the smell and color."

"No… Only Sia uses this. Her grandmother is a retired Potioneer. She makes this shampoo specially for her. No one else uses it."

Sirius stood stock still for a moment. Lily frowned at him before her face cleared up and was replaced by a look of surprise.

"Why were you asking about the smell?" she said, looking at him curiously. "Is it because… Oh my god! You smelt this in the Amortentia, didn't you?"

Sirius was completely caught off-guard by this astute observation and just spluttered for a few seconds. This only went on to cement Lily's assumption.

"So you are attracted to Sia," she said, grinning mischievously.

"Do not breathe a word of this to anyone else," warned Sirius, knowing that he had absolutely no leverage.

"And why not? I'm sure Sia would be very interested to know."

Sirius gaped at the redhead in front of him. He had always assumed that she was a bit of a priss but now he realised that she could be just as mischievous as him or James. He racked his brain for something to say and then it hit him.

"Because if you do, I'll show Prongs the album in which you have at least a dozen pictures of him."

That did it. Lily opened and closed her mouth like a fish before sputtering in indignation. "Wha-what! Where did you get that?"

"You dropped it when you bumped into me earlier."

"Give it back!"

"I don't think so. It's a fine bit of leverage," said Sirius, smirking at her.

"I need it back! James can't see it!" said Lily desperately. The idea of James finding out that she had taken a ton of candid pictures of him with her muggle camera was quite mortifying.

"I won't tell him if you don't tell Adams about the Amortentia business," he said, giving her a pointed look.

She seemed to consider that idea for a while before finally sighing in defeat. "It's a deal. You keep your mouth shut and I keep mine."

"Pleasure doing business with you," he said with a smirk.

"She's coming back!" yelled Sia, jumping up and down.

"Who put sugar in her coffee this morning?" teased James.

"Shut up, James," said Sia, grinning like an idiot. "Rowena's coming back! She'll be back in England by the time we return!"

"That's brilliant! I'm sure you'll have a lot to catch up on," said Lily, smiling at her.

"Y-yeah," said Sia, suddenly looking a little worried.

"Anything wrong?" asked Remus, as they headed to the vacant site for the portkey.

"No. I just remembered something. It's not important," she said, grinning at him weakly.

"Don't bother her too much, Moony," said Sirius, with a smirk. "I don't call her Trouble for nothing."

Sia stuck out her tongue at him and continued walking with Remus. James and Sirius were singing obnoxiously out of tune while Lily tried her best to suppress her giggles.

"Are you going to give me antlers as well?" asked Remus, his eyes slightly mischievous.

Sia laughed at him, slightly embarrassed and punched his arm softly. "Not you too, Remus."

"Well, from the little I know of him, which is a lot actually, I'd say James probably deserved it."

"He's a right arse sometimes," said Sia, shaking her head in amusement.

"He is. But a rather perceptive one."

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just nice that you and Padfoot get along now. You too are oddly similar."

"How so?" asked Sia, frowning.

"The tempers, firstly," laughed Remus. "And you're both loyal to a fault."

"That's rather generic, RJ," she said, using her nickname for him.

"There are other things. Small things which people who are friends with you both, will notice."

Sia remained unconvinced.

"You have your differences as well. There's no denying that," he said with a chuckle. "Otherwise you'd be the same person."

"No," he said, after a pause. "The similarities and differences complement each other. Not too similar but not too different. Compatible."

"I question your choice of adjective," said Sia. "It implies something else. Don't you think?"

"It might. But then, that's the beauty of language. Implied meanings can vary greatly. And often, these meanings help us understand ourselves."

"What are you saying?" asked Sia, in a small voice.

"I'm just saying that I'm glad you two are friends. It makes it a lot easier for me."

"Knew it. Such a selfish bloke, Rj," teased Sia, nudging him with her elbow. Remus grinned at her in amusement.

"Oi! Stop lollygagging!" came a shout from ahead.

"Wow, Padfoot. I don't think I've heard that word being used since my great grandmother last spoke about her childhood days," said James, sniggering as his friend looked annoyed.

"Bugger off, Prongs."

"Lils, don't you see a green eyed monster sitting on Padfoot's shoulder?" asked James, still laughing at his friend.

Lily pursed her lips to contain her giggle. Sirius looked royally ticked off at this point. She knew she couldn't tease him outright. He still had her album. "Come on," she said, giving him a small push. "Let's go before we miss the portkey."

"You're back!" shrieked Sia as she tackle-hugged her best friend.

Rowena just laughed at her enthusiasm and returned her hug happily.

"That's right! Things can start functioning normally again," she said with a mischievous grin.

"We have an hour before meeting Beeds and Anna at Diagon Alley."

"Good. I needed to talk to you about something," said Rowena, lowering her voice.

"Finally. Do you know how queasy I felt after reading your letter? I mean, you and Andr-"

"I didn't shag him."

"Huh?"

"I didn't shag Andrew. I didn't shag anybody. There was no shagging involved."

"Then why'd you say so in the letter?" Sia asked with a frown.

"I was doing it to protect Andrew."

"Protect him? From what?"

"Avery."

"I don't get it. Please explain properly."

"Okay," sighed Rowena. "Andrew is, well, he's gay."

"Okay, I did not know that," said Sia, a little surprised.

"Not many people do. And for good reason. We all know that Avery and a lot of the purebloods are into this whole 'blood supremacy' bullshit. In Ilvermorny as well, there were a lot of people who agreed with Avery. He had formed quite a group by the time our first week was over. Unfortunately, blood status is not all that they're prejudiced about. Homosexuality is seen as a huge sin by mostly the same people who want to rid the world of muggleborns. One of the girls over there told me, that the people Avery had befriended had once bullied a boy to such an extent that he had to be admitted to a hospital. And all because there were rumors of him not being straight. Just rumors, mind you."

"So, the night of our welcome, I wasn't lying about the abundance of alcohol. Only, it was Andrew you sort of let slip that he preferred guys. And Avery was there as well. So the only thing I could think of was to start a rumor about us. That we had shagged and whatnot. Andrew was pretty much piss drunk at that point, so it was easy to convince him to go to a different room. We waited there until most of the people had passed out. And once the others were sober, it had started going around that we had shagged. But Avery was more difficult to convince. He knows us, right? He didn't seem inclined to believe that we had shagged. And I could see that he and his friends kept whispering every time Andrew walked into class."

"Then I did another strange thing. I wrote that letter to you in the library when Avery was there as well. I made it look like I didn't want anyone to know about the contents. That immediately alerted him and he set up a diversion, during which he read my letter. It must have convinced him because they all backed off and didn't bother Andrew while we were there."

"So, why didn't you tell me this over the floo?"

"It was too risky. If anyone heard, the truth would be out. I'm sorry I lied to you. I was scared and at that moment this looked like the best option."

"I see," said Sia, digesting all this information. "Well, you did give me a right shock. I feel less nauseous now, but I'm glad that neither of you got hurt."

Rowena looked relieved to hear this.

"Did Andrew know about all this?"

"I had to tell him. He wasn't too pleased. But given the circumstances, he played along."

"Can't imagine that he was too pleased about it all," chuckled Sia. "You are going to tell the others about this right?"

"Yes," said Rowena, blowing out her cheeks. "Let's get some sundaes at Florean Fortescue's while I regale them with my stories of utmost random creativity."

"Can you believe this is the last time?" whispered Anna, feeling slightly odd.

"I don't think it's sunk in," replied Sia.

"Hurry up, you lot! Or we won't get an empty compartment!" yelled Rowena as she hoisted her luggage onto the train.

Sia glanced around the bustling train station once again, still not quite believing that she was off to Hogwarts for her final year. She spotted a very distinct red head and grinned in delight.

"I see you two are finally official."

"Can you believe it?" asked James, looking slightly giddy with joy.

"I'm not sure you do yet, mate," said Sirius, looking at him in amusement. "Hello Trouble, get into any mischief while I wasn't around?"

Sia fought to stop her blush from rising up her cheeks and merely lifted her eyebrow at him. "How could I? All the mischief in my life happens because of you."

Sirius barked out a laugh, his eyes twinkling at her comment. Sia couldn't stop herself from laughing along as well, an odd fluttering feeling taking over inside her stomach.

"Remember to turn up for the Prefects' meeting, Sirius," said Lily, sternly.

"I wouldn't worry too much, Evans. I have two rather diligent veterans looking after me," he said, swinging his arms around Sia and Remus. Remus rolled his eye good-naturedly while Sia gave him a flat look.

"You aren't a child. We won't be dragging you anywhere," she said, with a slight smirk.

"She's right, Padfoot. It's your responsibility to turn up," grinned Remus.

"Betrayal! Ah! It hurts too much!" gasped Sirius, clutching his heart dramatically.

"Drama queen," muttered Sia, before getting on the train.

After the meeting, she, Remus and Sirius walked back to their compartments. Andrew was still inside with James and Lily being briefed about a few things he had missed last term.

"Where's Peter?" asked Sia, curiously. She hadn't seen the blond boy even once during the holidays. Normally, the four were inseparable.

"Pete's mum's been rather ill," said Remus. "He's written a couple of times. Once to apologise for not being able to make it to Lily's and the other to tell us that he'll be arriving at school a day late. His mum's being discharged today."

"I never heard that," frowned Sirius. "Did he put that in his letter to you?"

"He did," said Remus, raising his eyebrows in question.

"Odd. Why wouldn't he say that in his letter to me?"

"I dunno mate. Maybe he wrote it at different times?" offered Remus.

"Yeah, maybe. What about Prongs?"

"What about him?"

"Did he know about Peter's mum being discharged today?"

"Guess you'll have to ask him."

By the time they reached the compartment, Sirius still did not look convinced. Remus went in and sat down beside Dorcas and Marlene. Sia was going ahead to meet Rowena, Bedelia and Anna but stopped when she saw Sirius' expression.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I doubt it's anything significant," she said, softly. "I don't think Peter did it on purpose. Don't feel left out, Sirius."

He lifted his eyes to hers and stared at them for a few moments before nodding his head resignedly.

"I'll see you later. Cheer up. Brooding doesn't suit you quite as much as you'd think."

Sirius grinned at her and moved into his compartment.

"Hello Trouble."

Sia frowned and looked up to see Rowena grinning at her.

"What?" she asked, tiredly.

"Nothing. Just observing some of the changes since I came back," she said, the grin not leaving her face.

"What might they be?"

"I daresay that you and Mr. Black seem to be getting along rather well."

"Please. Just because I don't try and hex him every given opportunity-"

"It's not just me. My good friends Anna and Beeds agree as well."

Sia glared at the other two as well.

"He is rather good looking," said Bedelia, matter-of-factly.

"And you've been spending rather a lot of time with him," added Anna, her grin bringing out her dimples.

"The point, please?" asked Sia in exasperation.

"We were rather hoping you'd tell us, actually," said Rowena, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Sod off," said Sia, collapsing onto the seat and pulling her jacket over her head.

"Alright, alright. No need to get huffy," said Rowena. "We actually do need to talk about something important."

Sia peeked from underneath her jacket. "And what might that be?"

"The diary I found on the last day of the exams," said Anna in a low voice. "I think I might know what it is."

Well, that's another chapter done. Let me know what you think. Is there anything that doesn't make sense? If so, please ask.

Reviews appreciated!

Cheers x