The next Saturday, Bess found herself within a rather large crowd headed towards the Quidditch pitch.

For the past week she'd been chaperoned everywhere she'd gone, and had thus far avoided bumping in to anyone too unsavoury.

She had, however, been called names in the hallway. She'd had to drag Sirius away from a fight after she'd been called a Mudblood by a seventh year, and hadn't told him about Snape and his Slytherin friend calling her it in each of their Potions classes.

She'd also dismissed the incident where her cauldron bubbled over and almost exploded in her face... the time when a Slytherin 'accidentally' spilt juice on her while she was walking to History of Magic... and the time when she'd barely managed to escape running in to a small hoard of angry looking students and had hidden in a broom closet for three hours until Sirius turned up to ask her what she was doing.

They'd grown closer over the past week, even closer than before, and there had been a couple of times when she'd thought he would try to deepen their relationship, but she'd shied away from it.

It wasn't that she didn't want to anymore, not even that she thought she was too old for him at this point, but because after his reaction to her being called a Mudblood, she hadn't the heart to tell him about her scars yet, and she wanted him to know before anything more happened between them.

So, he taught her some spells and helped her with practice instead, so she could begin to learn to defend herself.

The girls, who had taken a keen interest in Bess' relationship status, had even asked what was going on between them. Bess had shrugged and, when Skye had brought up that Scott Rubis liked her, Bess had also shrugged.

Now the end of the first week of October, it was also the first Quidditch match of the season, and Bess, Jo and Solstice were battling their way through the crowd to find their seats.

"Just watch out for Skye! She and Potter are two thirds of the chasers!" She heard Jo yell over the noise.

"Or you can pretend to watch them and just stare at the beaters..." Solstice added.

Bess frowned and yelled, "I thought your boyfriend got jealous!"

"He does! But-"

"But they had a fight yesterday so she doesn't care right now!" Jo yelled over Solstice.

"We have one before every Gryffindor match!" Solstice yelled back.

"Why?" Bess asked, now not yelling - the trio had reached the stands and begun to climb up the stairs towards the open section they'd sat at during try-outs.

"He's a Hufflepuff and believes they'll win the cup every year." Solstice said with a shrug and roll of her eyes.

"He's not wrong though. They won last year and the year before..." Jo trailed off at the look on Solstice's face.

Solstice sighed. "He is wrong. Skye's been my friend longer than I've been with Derek, and I refuse to even let a thought enter my head that she won't win."

"That's quite sweet." Bess said with a smile.

"She's lying! She has a secret crush on Fredricks. Likes to watch him fly." Jo said, rolling her eyes and stopping in the aisle. "Over here."

As the girls began to walk along the row, squeezing past students, Bess felt something twist in her gut. As excited as she was for her first Quidditch match - Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff - she was still unable to stop thinking about the glares she'd been receiving on the way down to the match. She kept looking over her shoulder, just in case.

"There you are! What took you so long?" Lily asked as the trio arrived at the seats Mary and she had been saving for them.

"Lils, I love you, but we have this chat at every game. It is a Saturday. Just because you two like to get up early, doesn't mean we need to."

Bess laughed at Jo's words and pulled out a large box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Bess and Jo had, indeed, woken up late, and had then had to wait for Solstice who was putting on elaborate Gryffindor themed make up.

While waiting for Solstice, Bess had asked Jo to magically enchant some parchment to become a massive sign, and she'd written up a couple of messages of support to raise during the game. She was glad the girls had chosen to sit at the back of the stands, because then she wouldn't impact anyone's view.

As the players walked onto the pitch, the noise surrounding Bess became deafening.

"Is it always like this?" She yelled at Lily, who was sat beside her.

"Always!" Lily replied, equally loudly. For a second, Bess stopped and stared at the redhead, heart beating out of her chest as she realised she'd just heard her say a word that Harry would hear years later. She recovered quickly, shaking her head and forcing a smile back onto her face and joining in the screaming.

She watched as the captains shook hands, before everyone mounted their brooms and rose majestically into the sky. The sick feeling in her stomach began to dissipate as the pure adrenaline took over.

"AND THEY'RE OFF! Hufflepuff's line up, which is relatively unchanged from last year, is sure to trounce Gryffindor's."

The boos from the Gryffindor stands overwhelmed even the speakers, and it was only once McGonagall had managed to get them to calm down that the commentator continued.

"In the past minute, Potter and his team have proved me wrong! One goal and they're back in possession of the quaffle!"

Bess jumped up and down grinning and held up her first sign - 'POTTER FOR PRESIDENT' with a simple pair of glasses drawn above the words.

She felt a tad embarrassed, but could see other people holding up banners, so thought at least she was getting into the spirit of things.

"POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!" Jo started to chant, pumping her fist in the air. Soon enough, the whole stand was yelling his name.

James flew past as part of his formation, and grinned at the girls, pointing to the sign and punching the air.

After a few minutes Bess pulled down her sign, her arms tired.

Half an hour later, the score 50-20 to Gryffindor, Skye was hit by a particularly large looking beater.

"- can't believe Hooch is gonna let that one slide! I mean I'm a Ravenclaw and want Gryffindor to lose and even I know that was underhanded. Potter seems to think so too - he's headed straight for-"

The crowd winced as James barrelled into the player who had injured Skye, repeating the whole exchange exactly as it had happened to her. Bess thought it was quite smart - Hooch couldn't penalise him since she hadn't penalised the other player.

"He's so hot headed!" Lily shouted to Bess.

"No! He's incredibly loyal! Tell me you wouldn't do the same thing?"

Lily just blushed and shook her head. Bess grinned and held up her next sign above Lily's head.

It was even simpler - a giant speech bubble which read 'YOU GOT THIS, POTTER'. James saw the sign a few minutes later and he beamed. Lily, slightly confused, looked around and then up. She immediately whacked Bess in the side.

"You little-"

"Do you want him to lose?"

"Of course not!"

"Do you think he's got this?"

"Well, yes, he's killing it out there."

"Then what's the issue?" Bess asked teasingly.

"I- I- Well..." Lily blushed even more than before and glared at her playfully.

Bess threw her head back and laughed again, dropping her sign and picking up the last of the three - 'LIONS EAT BADGERS FOR BREAKFAST.' Underneath, she'd drawn a large bowl, a carton of milk next to it, and a badger lying in the milk filled bowl with X X over its eyes.

Her least favourite of the three, but she'd lost most of her creativity with the first two, and she'd already told Jo she was making three, so she'd had to quickly make something up.

However, the crowd absolutely loved it. Jo, who had been leading chants all morning, began to point at her sign and roar.

Soon enough, all of the Gryffindors were roaring and yelling as James, Skye, and the other chaser managed to increase their lead to 130-50.

Bess lowered the sign and watched the Gryffindor seeker, who seemed to have seen the snitch. She elbowed Lily and pointed at a speck of gold in the sky. "I think he's seen it!" She yelled.

"- and Rubis has seen the snitch!"

Bess gasped. She hadn't realised Scott was on the team, and had been too busy taking everything in to hear who the team members were.

A moment later, Scott had caught the snitch and Gryffindor officially won the match, 280-50.

As they joined the stream of students exiting the pitch, Bess noticed Grace ahead of her. She indicated to Lily, and then pushed ahead, trying to get to her friend.

As she approached her, she managed to single out Grace's voice above the rest. "-so good! I- ugh! He's just so good! Did you see when he came out of the dive? He was so happy!"

"I still think he's an idiot!" Replied her friend, who Bess didn't know, but was wearing a Ravenclaw scarf.

"No! He's- he's-"

"Grace, you like him, and he's going after your new friend! He's an idiot, whether he plays well or not!"

Bess' eyes widened. She was sure she wasn't meant to be hearing any of this.

"But she's lovely." Grace replied, sounding sad.

"So?"

"So? She's- you didn't see him when we all found out what happened to her. He wanted to go and give her a hug. He didn't want to be in the library with me."

"Grace!" Her friend moaned, wrapping an arm round her shoulders.

Bess didn't want to hear the rest of their conversation - she spotted the girls and ran back over to them, linking arms with Solstice.

She didn't say anything, but her thoughts all the way to the castle weren't filled with the match, they were filled with how to get Grace and Scott together.

As much as Bess thought he was lovely, and might have said yes to a date if he'd asked before she'd grown closer to Sirius, she knew what it was like to feel unrequited love, and wanted to make sure Grace got the man she wanted.

xXx

Drink in hand, Bess looked around the common room, grinning. The music was thumping and she couldn't help but feel ecstatic.

This was her first proper Gryffindor party, and it felt like she was back at university.

Everyone was dancing, drinking rounds of butterbeer (apart from the younger students who were all avoiding the drinks table and were drinking water and juice), and Bess was sipping her fifth butterbeer of the evening. She reasoned that if Harry was allowed to drink one in third year, they must have a very low amount of alcohol in them.

She'd spent the evening so far chatting with, laughing with, and hugging, Sirius, and after her fourth butterbeer, they'd split up so he could run to the loo and she could grab another drink. Bess was, to say the least, having a bloody fantastic time.

It was by the drinks table, waiting for Sirius to get back, that Scott found her.

"Why aren't you dancing?"

She turned to see Scott standing in front of her. "Ah, I don't have a partner."

"What about me?" He said, leaning towards her and putting a hand on her arm. She in turn placed her hand on his forearm.

"Why don't you ask Grace?"

"Grace? Why?" He asked, slightly swaying.

Bess pursed her lips. She wasn't sure what to say or do, and before she knew it, she'd blurted out, "because I think you should ask her to the next Hogsmeade trip." And now that she'd started, she found it incredibly hard to stop. "I think you'd make a great couple!"

Scott frowned. "You do?"

"Yeah! Honestly! I think you'd be great for each other!"

"But we're friends."

"Don't they make the best relationships?"

"Do they?"

"I think so." There was silence between them both for a moment before she asked, "what do you think about first thing in the morning?"

"Uh- merlin... probably wondering what first lesson would be if it's a weekday, and if Grace..."

"And last thing at night?"

"I- probably something Grace said..." he replied, a small smile playing on his lips.

"And who makes you laugh?" She asked, grinning again.

"Grace." He replied, cottoning on to what she was saying.

"And why haven't you tried to ask me out yet?"

"Well... I did try once, but then Grace said... oh."

It was like a lightbulb turned on above his head, and he grinned. He immediately abandoned his drink on the table beside her, grabbed her face, and kissed her roughly on the cheek before running off.

Laughing, she stepped backwards and almost lost her balance. She frowned at the butterbeer in her hand as she realised the warmth up and down her body wasn't just from the non-alcoholic butterbeer - it must have been spiked! She thought over how many she'd drunk - five. Crap.

The room suddenly became a little bit more disorientating, and Bess took a few moments to right herself. After the spinning feeling passed, she squinted at the clock and tried to figure out the time.

12.04am. Sirius had been gone for the best part of 15 minutes, and Bess needed to sit down.

Just as she was wondering where she could sit, she looked up and saw a flash of red and blonde hair on a sofa across the dancefloor. Lily and Solstice. She slowly walked over.

"I just think he should wait and see what she say-" Lily stopped talking as Bess joined them.

"Where's Rubis?" James asked with a frown and narrowed eyes as she sat on the sofa next to him. Lily, Solstice, Skye and Jo were on the sofa across from them and Remus and Peter were sat in armchairs, creating a little circle.

It seemed like the group had set up a little hang out station with drinks and snacks.

As she smiled at them all drunkenly, she thought she noticed Peter and Remus glaring outright at her, and the girls looking pursed lipped and disapproving. She needed to sober up, and quickly. Though she didn't know why they were being like this, since Sirius was the one who introduced her to firewhiskey and hot chocolate. Where is he anyway? she wondered.

Leaning forwards to grab a cauldron cake, Bess answered James's question. "Hopefully he's with Grace. Just call me matchmaker Bess!" As she said the last, she made finger guns and pretended to fire into the air whilst swaying from side to side, beaming and biting her lip. She was oddly proud that she'd managed to do this without dropping her cake or drink.

"What?" Jo asked, a serious look on her face.

Bess, who was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol, stuffed the rest of the chocolate cake into her mouth and took another swig of her butterbeer before looking at the bottle and asking, "what's in this?"

"Whiskey." James replied quickly. "Bess, you need to explain. Right. Now. Where. Is. Rubis?"

Bess, who was still frowning, looked at her hand, and then the platter of cakes. Her eyes widened. Chocolate? No! You idiot! Never drink and eat chocolate! she thought, immediately regretting her snack choice- it was well known in her university circles that she couldn't handle any kind of chocolate mixing with alcohol. If it did, she was sure to throw up that night.

Hearing a small cheer across the room, Bess whipped her head around and, placing a hand on the arm of the sofa, pushed herself up so she was half-standing. She grinned and pointed over to the corner, where Scott and Grace were sharing a kiss.

"There!" She said.

Jo looked thunderous. "He's already moved on to another girl? Weren't you just kissing him by the drinks?"

"WHAT?" Bess whipped round, eyes wide. She laughed and shook her head. "No!" She laughed again. "I was being a good friend and," she raised a hand up as if to say 'just one moment' and smiled with her eyes shut for a second. Opening them, she continued slowly "and setting up two other friends."

"I thought he liked you." Solstice asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said, shaking her head and pursing her lips, "maybe, but we had a chat and I explained that his person was somewhere else... and anyway, he's not who I want to kiss toni-" she stopped herself, putting a hand over her mouth. After a second, she shrugged and she sat back on the sofa with a thump. She looked over at James, who was staring at her weirdly. "What's wrong?" She asked, frowning and tilting her head to the side.

James' jaw tensed and he looked across the room. "Nothing. Excuse me," he said quickly, jumping up and practically running across the room.

"What's up with him?" Bess asked the group, who were now sharing looks. "What?"

"Uhm..." Solstice began, looking over to the place James had disappeared. Bess followed her eyeline and squinted. She could just make out James, who was poking someone on the back repeatedly.

As the other boy turned round to face James, she recognised him immediately. She then noticed a familiar looking fifth year girl leaning against the wall in front of him.

As she watched, the girl moved round between Sirius and James and pulled Sirius back down into a kiss.

James said something to him, and Sirius moved back, pulling away from the girl. His eyes swung over to look at Bess and they made eye contact.

"Bess-" Lily began.

Bess, who was feeling rather sick after the numerous drinks and the cauldron cake, stood up suddenly.

She didn't want to speak and potentially throw up on her friends, so instead she just turned and ran up the steps to the door to the girls' dormitories, ignoring their calls behind her.

The door to the dormitories, which had closed behind her, was wrenched open and she heard Sirius' voice shout up the stairs. He sounded like he'd been drinking the butterbeers as well. "Bess, I'm sorry! Come back, please! I can explain! I was an idiot! I thought you were with Scott!"

Bess, who was taking the steps two at a time, was grateful that he hadn't tried to put his foot on the first step - if he did, the stairs would turn into a slide and she'd surely throw up on him. His shouts and curses were drowned out as she burst into her dorm and slammed the door shut before running into the bathroom.

Once she'd emptied her stomach, she rinsed her mouth and brushed her teeth.

She heard a banging on the bathroom door and Lily's voice calling out to her, "Bess, are you okay? Can I do anything?"

Bess, whose throat felt like sand paper, managed to choke out, "no, I- I'll be fine. Go back to the party! I want to be alone I think."

After a while of standing in front of the mirror, tears from being sick running down her face, she wiped her eyes. Feeling a lot less nauseous, but still very unsteady on her feet, she managed to get changed into her pyjama shorts and the first top she could find - a tight long sleeved t-shirt - and lay in her bed, drawing the curtains closed with a flick of her wand.

She fell asleep to the world spinning uncomfortably.

It wasn't until she woke up that she realised what she'd seen.

Was she upset? Yes. Did she think Sirius and her would share a kiss that night? Yes. Was she expecting him to run off to the loo and find a girl on the way back? No.

However, after a moment of upset, she swallowed her jealousy. Sirius wasn't hers, and could do whatever, or whoever, he wanted. She'd been in her second year at university back in her world, and she'd drunkenly kissed some people she knew when she went out clubbing. How could she say he wasn't allowed to do it too? It wasn't like he'd done it to spite her.

She reasoned that the only time she could feel angry would be if they were dating or in a relationship. Though, as she had a no cheating rule, they wouldn't be in a relationship anymore if he did that. You're getting ahead of yourself, she thought.

I just hope they're not dating now. She didn't think she'd be able to handle seeing him like that all the time. He's too young for you anyway... she tried to reason. Though that failed, as she'd been convincing herself over the past week that it would be fine - he was, after all, 17 in a month's time, and although she had the mind of a 20 year old, she was 16 here.

Drawing back the curtains around her bed, she was surprised to see all of the other beds still empty. Frowning, she put her hand to her head and groaned as she stood up too quickly.

She stumbled to the loo before swiping on some deodorant and spraying some perfume just in case she came into contact with anyone - she didn't want to smell like she had the alcohol sweats - before heading to the common room for a glass of water.

As she descended the stairs she pulled her hair up into a bun and rubbed her neck.

She opened the door leading from the girls dormitories to the common room and heard voices below her, Lily's among them. She stopped in the doorway for a minute to try and stop herself from swaying as she walked, and listened to the conversation below her.

"I still don't understand why-" came Jo's voice, which was cut off by a voice she recognised as Sirius'.

"I told you! I thought she was-"

Lily's voice drifted up next. "That's not an excuse! She sounded terrible when I went up there!"

"She didn't even answer me when I went up, she had her curtains drawn!" Jo added. They both sounded angry.

She heard Sirius let out a frustrated noise before he tried to continue, "I-"

"You hurt her!"

"I know! You think I don't know that?" Sirius cried.

Bess, who had yet to connect the dots and understand that they were talking about her, yawned and rubbed her eyes as she walked into the circular room.

"Bess?" She heard Lily ask.

She just mumbled in reply, still rubbing her eyes and not looking over to that side of the room as she headed to the drinks station.

After pouring herself a glass, she downed it and looked up at the clock above the mantlepiece. It was only 1.31am! She'd only been asleep for an hour. Thank god for that. More sleep, she thought, as she poured another large glass and headed back towards the girls' dormitories.

"Bess..." Sirius whispered as he put a hand on her arm.

Stopping, she turned to look up at him and frowned at the expression on his face. He looked sad. However, all she could think about was her bed - she was exhausted and could barely think.

"Yes?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a bleary eyed look.

"I'm so sorry. I-" Sirius choked out as a worried and sad look came over his face. Well, more worried and sad. "Your eyes are red." He whispered as he lifted a hand and gently touched her cheek.

"I think you've done enough tonight." Lily said as she pulled Bess by the arm away from him. "Come on, let's get you up to bed."

Bess was thoroughly confused, but at the word bed, gave in to Lily and let herself be pushed up the stairs.

"You're such an idiot!" She heard Jo yell.

"For Merlin's sake, Gettling! He feels bad enough alr-" James shouted back. The sound was cut off by the door to the girls' dormitories closing behind Lily.

"Boys are bloody idiots." Bess muttered as she crawled into bed and hugged her pillow.

"Yeah. They really are." Lily replied quietly, before returning to the door.

Bess, who was exhausted again, curled up into the foetal position with her back to the door and let out some sniffling and moaning noises as she tried to settle herself into a position that would make her feel the least nauseous.

She heard the door close quietly and, once she was comfortable, fell straight to sleep. She didn't wake up until it was almost dinnertime.

xXx

Please don't kill me! Sorry to leave it there for now, but honestly? Bess and Sirius were getting too close and fate (me) needed them to back off for a bit. Bess' priorities need to be working on how to duel... But she will be having a proper chat with Sirius about his behaviour soon and maybe they'll get together *shrugs evilly*.

I personally felt that Sirius as a character would feel hurt that Bess was kissing someone else when they'd been getting closer and to him, and would just try and go down the tit for tat route and kiss someone else to potentially hurt her back.

Bess, on the other hand, knows there's more important things for her to do, and would have life experience to understand that what he did was hurtful, but was coming from a place of pain and hurt rather than a place of true malice. We'll see though... I've written the next few chapters and I can't wait for your reactions!

Thank you for reviewing the last chapter, Pewz, CharlotteGryffindor, Niharikaa - (update schedule at the moment is at least every 3 days. I'm aiming for once a day but that can get a bit too much working and parenting full time), Guest - (thank you so much, lovely! Feeling a lot better!)! And thanks to everyone reading, favouriting and following!