A/N- Ok… just a quick note to say I got like, one review for the last chappie, and I'm sorry to all the peeps reading this, but I cant carry on the story unless it's reviewed. Otherwise, I just don't see the point. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and please, please review.

The Fat Lady Plays Shrink.

Anya tossed and turned that night, furious with herself. Why should she be losing sleep over that arrogant, self- centred git, who evidently didn't give a shit about her. Why was she still in a state of shock? Did she really expect to stay with someone who didn't love her? Because he didn't love her, most definitely. How could such a stupid thing cause them to split up if he loved her? He obviously didn't care that much, or he wouldn't let his arrogance cause such problems. All that crap everyone had told her, about them being great together, she thought bitterly. That was just what it was… crap. Anya turned over and let a single tear slide down her cheek, wiping it away furiously. No, she wasn't going to cry, no they were angry tears. She wasn't upset. Not over him.

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Sirius ignored the low voices coming from the bed next to him. He knew James and Remus were talking about him. But quite frankly, he didn't care. He didn't care about much at the moment. Except for making sure nobody, absolutely nobody knew how he was feeling. He had to keep up his façade; he hadn't built up his reputation for five years to lose it because he had broken up with a girl. He was Sirius Black for crying out loud; he didn't beg to be taken back. Even if that was what he wanted to do. He was furious with himself because of it, but it was true. He had gone through months of mental torture, desperately trying to hide the fact he was madly in love with his best friend. Then he had finally managed to work out she felt the same. So they had been together for a little under six months... And now… he had just… let it go. And not for some major reason. No, just because he was him. He gave a defeated sigh, before allowing his mind to float off elsewhere, as he remembered the beginning of his third year.

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"James, can we just get on the train??" demanded Sirius, tugging at his friend's sleeve.

"Yeah, hang on." Said James, still entranced by the sight of Lily Evans, talking with her friends, oblivious to her spectator.

"James!"

"Ok, Ok!" snapped James, looking slightly annoyed at having his latest trance interrupted. He sighed, before following Sirius, Remus and Peter into the train. They made their way to their usual carriage, which had become a total no- go area for the other students. It was their carriage, just how they liked it.

As they entered the fifth or sixth carriage, Katarina Detoit and Selma Patil smiled at them. Sirius grinned back, and James winked, while Remus just nodded politely. Peter didn't even bother to acknowledge the girls, as he knew they weren't interested in him. As they left the carriage, Sirius turned to James-

"Selma looks alright, doesn't she?" he said grinning. James sighed.

"Your next project Padfoot?" he asked grinning.

"Who knows?" replied Sirius, half- laughing. He turned to the door of the next compartment. "Nearly there guys!"

He slid the door open, but instead of bundling into carriage as usual, he froze. James, who was panting from lugging his trunk trough the train, immediately began complaining.

"What's going on Padfoot?"

Remus tried to look over his shoulder. "Sirius, come on!" James pushed forwards, and shoved Sirius out of the way, wondering why his friend's eyes looked as though they were about to pop out. He grinned. Typical of Sirius.

A petite, dark- haired girl was trying, without much success, to pull her trunk onto the train, and was getting more and more agitated with it. Before James had a chance to speak, Sirius shoved past him.

"Need a hand?" he said, causing the girl to jump. Evidently, she had been completely oblivious of her spectators. The second she spotted them, her face broke into an embarrassed, but nevertheless, extremely cute grin.

"That would be nice." She said. Sirius looked as though all his birthdays had come at once. He stepped forward, and placed a hand on her shoulders, pulling her back gently. "Excuse me ma'am." Ha said smirking slightly. James rolled his eyes, and was extremely amused when the girl did the same. Sirius pulled the trunk onto the train with relative ease, before turning back, and facing her. He stuck his hand out.

"Sirius Black." She placed her hand in his, an odd, secretive smile on her face. "Anya Williamson." She replied. Sirius kissed her hand, and James felt the overpowering urge to vomit. However, Anya's reaction was interesting, to say the least. She looked like she was about to burst out laughing.

"Do you practise, or does cheesiness come to you naturally?"

James and Remus both let out guffaws, which they quickly smothered. Anya turned to them, her eyes dancing.

"I know you guys!" she said suddenly. "Some girl mentioned you."

"Oh?" said James, now very interested.

"Hmm. You're the… the Marauders or something right?"

"Yes we are." Said James, before he began to introduce himself, and the others. Sirius stood watching, and taking in the general appearance of Anya.

She definitely wasn't a first- year. He thought. He could tell that by her figure, despite the fact she was tiny. A few dark strands of hair, which had fallen from her messily scooped up bun, framed extremely dark, almost black, eyes. She was dressed in muggle clothes, a cream v- neck sweater, and some jeans, and somehow, the casual clothes accentuated her glamorous air. She turned around to face him, and he grinned.

You're new right?"

She nodded. "Third Year." She said, sounding ever so slightly nervous.

"…Wanna sit with us?"

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Sirius grinned into the dark, unable to stop himself. He had fancied the pants off her the second he had met her. Maybe it had been a mistake, befriending her. After all, it had made things awkward when he really started to fall for her. But that didn't really matter any more, he thought bitterly. It wasn't important.

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Anya made an angry noise into her pillow, and swung out of her bed. She sighed, before seizing a jumper hanging from her bed, and pulling it on. She pulled on her jeans, which had been lying on the floor, and slipped out of the dormitory silently. She was going for a walk.

It wasn't the first time Anya had gone for a midnight walk around the school. She found it cleared her head, and she had never been caught. She went to clamber out of the portrait hole, shaking away thoughts of a certain raven- haired friend of hers. As she stepped out, the Fat Lady woke up with a jump.

"And where are you going miss?"

Anya turned around, smiling weakly. "Erm… I … Well." She fell silent, her mind desperately searching for an excuse, while the Fat Lady watched her shrewdly.

"It's the Black boy isn't it?" she said. Anya nodded. The Fat Lady motioned to the floor. "Sit down girl, sit."

Anya sank to the floor, after scooting a look to see if Filch was nearby.

"Might I have a word?" asked the Fat Lady.

"Have a sentence even."

"He was your boyfriend wasn't he?"

Anya nodded miserably. "Was."

 She turned to face the Fat Lady, and for the first time since she had arrived at Hogwarts, she actually looked at the painting. And she noticed something rather odd. Looking closely at the portrait, she could see, that through the chair the fat lady was sitting on, she could just make out the faint lines of what looked like a tree. Almost as though the artist had drawn a tree in pencil, then changed his or her mind, and painted over it with the portrait. She mentioned it to the Fat Lady, who smiled knowingly.

"Old paint on canvas – as it ages – sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens, it's possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a kneazle, a large boat is no longer on open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter 'repented, changed his mind' "

At this point, she stopped talking, and looked down at Anya, who was listening intently. She had never really taken time to talk to the Fat Lady, it was merely a password, and that was it. It was interesting to hear her talk.

"Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again."

At this, Anya stared at her blankly. She smiled at her bewildered look.

"Sometimes you think you've seen all you need to see the first time, but as time goes by, you realize that in fact you missed an entire layer in the process. You've not seen everything, understood everything, you just think you have. In reality, there are a million things left to find."

Anya remained silent, but the Fat Lady knew it wasn't because she hadn't understood. They sat for some time in comfortable silence, the Fat Lady musing lightly, Anya deep in thought. Eventually, she broke the silence.

"All men are pigs." She said fiercely.

"Ah, pigs." Said the Fat Lady. "An omnivorous, domesticated, cloven hoof vertebrate that defecates the same place it consumes."

Anya stared at her for a while, slightly thrown, before replying. "Exactly!" There was another pause. "You're really very clever aren't you?" she said. The Fat Lady smiled.

"I like to think I've picked up some knowledge in my years at this school." She said.  She looked at the young girl sitting beside her. "If you find someone who loves you Miss, you shouldn't ever let it get away."

"He doesn't love me." Said Anya shortly.

"Well it certainly doesn't seem that way to me dear."

Anya sighed. "No, he doesn't. No way. I thought he did, you know? I really thought he did, I honestly thought so." She sighed. "Maybe… maybe after this blows over, we'll go back to being friends, you know, how it was before?" she added hopefully. "I don't know. I've got this feeling. In my head you know? I think so. Maybe this'll sort itself out. I just think so." The Fat Lady gave her a pitying look, before replying.

"You're not friends at the moment, are you darling? You'll never be friends. I don't want to say it to you, but… you'll be in love until it kills you both. You'll fight and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains child- it's blood. Blood screaming inside of you to work its will. And until it does… you wont … be."

Anya rested her head on her knees. "No." she said quietly. "No, we'll… we'll be ok."

The Fat Lady chuckled dryly. "Oh dear. Why don't you tell him how you are?" she said. Anya gave a mirthless laugh, indicating this wasn't going to happen.

"What? So he can gloat about what a little heartbreaker he is? Sirius Black, ladies man. I mean, I've known him long enough, watch him work his way through the girls. I know every one of Sirius' girlfriends has an expiration mark on them I'm not stupid. I just wanted mine to be a long time from now… like a cheeto... Why did I think it'd be any different for me?"

"Because he loves you."  

Anya snorted. "Yeah." She said dryly. "He's besotted."

"So show him what he's missing." Said the Fat Lady. "You act like you aren't affected, he'll be apologizing in no time."

"You think?"

"Of course." She said wisely. "People don't fall in love with what's right in front of them. People want the dream -- what they can't have. The more unattainable, the more attractive. Why do you think he fell in love with you? That boy could have his pick of the girls in this school, and you know that as well as I do. But he wanted you. And you know why? Because he didn't think he could have you. But he can. Trust me on this."

"I'm not going to try and make him jealous. That's pathetic."

"You'd be surprised at the clarity that comes with psychotic male jealousy."

Anya snorted.

"I think you'll find if you don't try, he will."

Anya stared in disbelief. "What? He'd try to make me jealous?"

"Yes."

The following morning, Sirius was engaged in a heated discussion with Anya.

"I don't understand what I have to apologize for Sirius?" said Anya furiously.

"Oh my god, I'm not going into this again!" he yelled back.

"Yeah, because you don't have an answer! You just jumped to conclusions!"

"I did not jump to conclusions! I took a small step, and conclusions there were!"

Anya looked at him bewildered, angry, and a thousand other things. "Fuck you Sirius." She walked out of the common room to breakfast, leaving behind a very angry Sirius. He turned to James.

"What…?"

"You know… you suck at apologizing." Said James seriously.

"I wasn't apologizing." He replied furiously.

"Right." Said James. "I'm gonna go talk to Evans k?"

"Yeah whatever."

James walked over to Lily, who was sitting with Katarina, Selma and Sybil. Selma was currently discussing the row, saying how 'totally unreasonable Anya was being', and how Sirius 'soooo deserved better.' Lily was trying not to listen too much. She didn't know why Anya and Sirius had split up, no- one had mentioned the ins and outs, and Anya had been so down, she hadn't want to make it worse. Especially after what she had done for her. She sighed as she spotted James walking over, she was too tired for this,

"Hey Evans, where were you recently?" said James, flashing a quick grin at the other girls, who all smiled back. Lily sighed.

"I was in the hospital wing Potter. I wasn't well." She said, not looking up.

"Are you alright now?"

"Yes thanks." She said unconcernedly.

"Good, good." Said James searching for something to say. "So… what you up to this weekend?"

"I don't know."

"Wanna go out?" Lily sighed again, and looked up at him. The other girls watched with interest.

"James Potter, you are just interested in any girl that can walk and talk." She said sharply. This didn't seem to faze James at all; rather, he just flashed a killer smile before replying.

"She doesn't have to talk."

Lily made a furious noise, before sweeping out of the room. James stood, not too sure how to make a recovery from it. "Well…"

"I'm not doing anything this weekend." Said Selma quickly. Kat looked at her in shock. Sybil looked mildly interested. James looked slightly thrown.

"Erm… well."

"So why don't we do anything?" she pressed on. "How about Hogsmeade?"

James was looking more and more lost by the second. How had he gone from trying to chat up Evans to having Selma throw herself at him? What had happened?

"Erm… ok." He walked away quickly wondering how he got into these messes.

"How'd it go?" asked Sirius, not really caring.

"I'm going out with Selma on Saturday." Said James vaguely. Sirius looked up in surprise.

"Why?"

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Quotes- Buffy.

Xander: People don't fall in love with what's right in front of them. People want the dream -- what they can't have. The more unattainable, the more attractive.

Buffy: I didn't jump to conclusions. I took a small step, and conclusions there were.

Giles: Might I have a word?
Buffy: Have a sentence even.

Oz: You're just impressed by any pretty girl who can walk and talk.
Devon: She doesn't have to talk.

"You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love 'til it kills you both. You'll fight and you'll hate each other 'til it makes you quiver but you'll never be friends. Love isn't brains children, It's blood. Blood screamin' inside of you to work it's will. I may be love's bitch but at least I'm man enough to admit it."- Someone from Buffy, not too sure who. It might've been Spike.

And from films…

Coneheads
Neighbour: All men are pigs!
Prymaat: Ah, pigs: an omnivorous, domesticated, cloven hoof vertebrate that defecates the same place it consumes.
Neighbour: Exactly!

Julia
Old paint on canvas – as it ages – sometimes becomes transparent. When that happens, it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on open sea. That is called pentimento because the painter 'repented,' changed his mind. Perhaps it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing and then seeing again.

My Best Friend's Wedding
It's amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy.

Ok, thanks for actually reading it, could you please, please review for me?