AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Fanfiction is SOOOO Awesome!!! Dude!!! Omigod!!! They
ACTUALLY updated the character list so that there are SOOOO many more
characters to choose from on their little 'search' thingie-ma-bobber!!!! I
started screaming and freaking out!!! I've been waiting for them to do that
for ages!!! YES!!! Now I can actually look up stories on Oliver Wood!!!
Hallelujah!!! Praise the Lord! Fanfiction is that much better now!!! Woo
Hoo!!! Okay . . . sorry about that . . . I'm done now . . . really . . .
onto the real stuff:
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Phew!!!! You guys rock my world!!! I love you all soooooooo much! Goodness . . . thirty freakin' reviews since the last time I updated and nine of you were new!!! All I can say is: Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! . . . so I'm gonna take the time out of my crazy schedule to send my love to each and everyone of you!!!
Jenstarz- lol! Yes, yes . . . deeper side to Weald!!! Hehehe! That's what I was shooting for . . .but I couldn't make him *too* nice, right?! LOL! His character is after all, selfish, cocky, and way too arrogant . . . and I couldn't have possibly taken all of those lovely characteristics away!!! Hehehe! As for Catrina . . . let's just say I took your advice w/ the whole 'and Joey should be the one to do it' thing . . . Hope you enjoy this chapter!!!
Sugarcoatedcandy- LOL! your review was so sweet! And I'm definitely glad you don't care about my grammatical errors and what not . . .hehehe! Lord knows they're there! Hope you like this next one much!!!
Singingvalentine- Hehehe! So many blush-worthy compliments!!! Goodness! Hehehe! Thank you SO freakin' much for the support! You rock! LOL! And no . . . I haven't considered writing a book. lol! I think I love fanfiction too much! Hehehe! But I hope you keep R&R!!! much luv!
Abarraine- Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!!! Your words mean so much and I hope you continue to R&R!!!
Headmaster Cromwell- I'm gonna need some more info! LOL! The site you gave me doesn't work, and I'm kind of confused about the whole thing! I'm extremely busy at this moment in time, so I doubt I would really have much time to join the game anywayz between school, sports, and, of course, writing fanfiction. . . thanks for the offer, though! I totally appreciate it!
Kiwi- Yes, yes! Included mush just like everybody was begging for!!! LOL! I'm so happy you've continued to read and review my story after all this time!!! And thanks for the e-mails and all of that! It's great hearing from you and I hope you continue to e-mail me just to tell me what's up in the world of Kansas!!! As for me . . . school's finally come like I always knew it inevitably would . . . but I'm still not ready!!! *falls to knees sobbing* Thank GOD I have fanfiction to come home to everyday!!! LOL! And I hope you like this next chapter too!!!
Sakura- Hehehe! Hope highschool continues to be as awesome as it has been so far for you!!! I'm just starting school now, and I'm totally depressed about it!!! I swear . . . school would be sooooo much more likable if there was some way to attend it and still be able to get up later than six in the morning! LOL!!! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you find time to review as well! *grin*
Starry dreamer- Thanks you SO MUCH for taking the time to review!!! I'm really pleased that you took even a few moments to hit that review button to tell me what you think!!! It means so much for me to come home to some reviews as sweet as that! I truly hope you like this next installment as well! LOL!
Matthea- ALRIGHT!!! LOL! HERE'S MORE MORE MORE!!! Hehehe! Thanx for reviewing! Your 4 words of encouragement mean more than I can tell you right now in this response! Please keep R&R and I'll keep writing!!!
Lady dragons- LOL! End? Did that sound like an ending? Uh oh . . . LOL! After 24 chapters . . . that would have been one pathetic ending! LOL! I can guarantee that you will *definitely* know when this story is over! Hehehe! And I definitely wouldn't end it with a letter from Joey's mom! But anywayz . . . Hope you keep reading . . . even though now I'm paranoid that you might not check in anymore sense you think that this story is over . . . BUT HEY!!! Thanx for the review anywayz! Lol! Hope to hear from you again! *wink*
Casco- Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Thanx sis . . . though I wish you didn't point that out in a review!!! Gosh! Now everyone will know what a brain-dead author I am!!! . . . but at least no one caught on to the 'Professor Weald' blunder I made when trying to write 'Professor McShailty'!!! Hehehe! I caught *that* one on my own . . . and changed it before anyone had enough time to get confused by it! Lol!!! Please keep reviewing! [I know I don't have to ask you to keep *reading* . . . but sometimes you slack off when it comes to the reviewing part . . .and HEY! What can I say? I work *Really* hard to write these chapters, and the *least* you could do would be to take 15 seconds out of your day and tell me what you think! Huh, Suga?! Lol!] much luv!
Marauder-luver-forever- Hey gurl!!! LOL! thanx for the review!!! And I'll manage to shove some more fluff into this chapter too!!! Lol! I know that's what you guys are dying for!!! Hehehe! But there is some other stuff in this chapter that I think people might find pretty interesting too . . . specially since you guys are all talking about how much you hate Cat!!! . . . but I dunno! Guess we'll just have to see! Please R&R! Much luv!
Padfootluvr88- Cool cool! Thanx so much for reading and reviewing! Hope you like this next one too!!!
Greenfairie- AHAHAHAHA! Yes, yes . . . I thought we've already established the fact that I'm evil?! LOL! Well . . . there's PLENTY of Remus in this chapter . . . so eat your heart out!!! LOL! Just don't yell at me!!! *cowers in corner* Things will all be well in the end! I promise!!! Please continue to R&R! much luv!
Lj- ROTFL!!! Yes! Hear hear!!! Gotta luv those moms . . . what is their job good for if they don't have the option of constantly embarrassing us? Hehehe! I can't wait for you to meet Joey's mom at winter break! It's going to be so much fun writing her entire family! Please continue to R&R! Thanx so much for the review!
Boy Crazy Magician Chick- hehehe! Thanx so much for reviewing! You don't have to apologize for not reviewing sooner! I'll take your reviews any time! I'm just so appreciative to receive them! Anywayz, glad you've liked it so much, and I hope this next chapter is to your liking as well!!!
Anonymous (kaveloz@yahoo.com)- LOL! 'Anonymous' . . . hmmmm . . . haven't we met somewhere before? Your name sounds so familiar! LOL! JK! Hope you like this next chapter! Thanx for reviewing!
Aminmelanaur- Awwwwww man!!! You totally ROCK, girl!!! Damn! Your review was so awesomely inspiring!!! LOL! And you had me laughing like crazy!!! Sorry about keeping you from the "za and fage" . . . lol! but I'm totally happy that you like my story!!! Thanks SO MUCH!!! I really hope you continue to R&R my work . . . it's totally entertaining reading what you have to say about it! I just can't even put into words how much that review meant to me . . . LOL! "I've been needin to piss for like, two hours, and I can't get away from my puter, dude. It's like fucking coke!" LOL!!! You totally had me in pieces!!! Much luv!!!
Audriana- Thanx so much!!! And I'm totally sorry if you've had to wait a while . . . school's just started along w/ volleyball . . . and my times being swallowed up!!! I got this chapter out as fast as I could w/out making it sound totally rushed! Hope you like it much!!!
Me- Hehehe . . . WOW!!! Thanx for the compliment. . . *Me*!!! hehehe! Please keep R&R!!! and I hope you like this next one!!!
Glitter kitty- WOW!!! Serious compliment! Your favorite story? Am I worthy of such a compliment?! Thank you so much! I hope you like this next chapter as well! Please continue to R&R and I'll definitely continue to write!!! Much luv!!!
Abby- AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHEN YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS IT SEEMS THAT MUCH MORE INTENSE, HUH?! LOL!!! THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT . . . AND THE COMMAND!!! LOL! HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO R&R!!! I'LL GET MY UPDATES OUT ASAP!!! JUST RELAX BEFORE THAT TIME!!! MUCH LUV!
BlackDragonFly- LOL! Confusing . . . well, yes . . . but I'm glad you *adore* it anywayz!!! Thanks so much! As for what's gonna happen in America . . . I'm excited too!!! Hehehe! I think that will be a lot of fun to write, and I hope you stay tuned in because I think I'll start winter break next chapter!!! LOL! And I know I'm going to have a ball introducing Joey's parents and her entire family for that matter into the story as well! Thanks for R&R!!!
Snap- LOL! I love Flam too!!! It's good to hear that other people are appreciating the little things in my story that I'm having so much fun writing!!! I hope you continue to R&R and I hope you enjoy this next chapter as much as the others!!!
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And to all of you:
OMIGOD!!! I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out!!! It took me like three sittings just to pack it all into a chapter!!! But it's a *majorly* long one, so I hope you all appreciate this!!! . . . this is Chapter 25?! Whoa! LOL! That's a lot, huh?! Hehehe! And you guys totally have yourselves to thank for that! Would I still be here writing if I didn't have all of your support? Of course not! You guys keep me motivated to write and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for just taking a few moments out of your busy lives and telling me what you think about this fic.!!! This chapter was really written for each and every one of you!!! Cheers! = ]
-Sara
If I know what love is, it is because of you.
-Herman Hesse
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When the two of them had finished reading the letter, Joey recklessly folded it up and crammed it back into the envelope. She turned eagerly to face her boyfriend, whose lap she was still sitting on.
"Omigod, Sirius! This winter break is going to be so much fun!!! I just can't wait!" Joey was so wound up, that she began bouncing up and down on Sirius lap in excitement like a four year old would do on Christmas. Sirius, who [don't get me wrong] was excited too, was not even *close* to being prepared to have a fully grown person hysterically jumping up and down on his lap. To say the least, he was now in distress as he let out a pathetic whimper.
"WHOA! Joey! Let's keep the bouncing to a minimum!" he laughed with a noticeable pitch of tenderness.
"Oh! Sorry, Sirius!" Joey smiled sheepishly and hopped onto the cushion next to him. "I didn't damage *anything,* did I?" she asked, trying in vain to hide her obvious tone of laughter. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her in a playful manner.
"Hardy-Har-Har . . ." he drawled out slowly in mock laughter.
"I'll try to be more gentle next time," she joked. "Sometimes I forget how *fragile* my boyfriend is . . ."
"Fragile?! This coming from the girl who practically just treated my crotch like a freakin' trampoline?! I'd say if *that* is considered being fragile . . . then the entire male species is a rather large bunch of pansies!" Joey was cracking up by now. This, of course, was Sirius' intension, and he joined in laughing with her.
"But we really *are* going to have a ton of fun in Tahoe . . ." Joey said confidently after their laughter had finally settled down. "My family and I haven't been up to the Tahoe house in such a long while! It's going to be so much fun with all of the snow!"
"Yeah . . ." Sirius said a bit hesitantly. "But what's with this skee-ee- ing thing?" he asked awkwardly. Joey gave a laugh.
"Skiing?" She questioned. She laughed as Sirius shrugged and nodded. She could only picture how funny it would be to see Sirius try to ski for the first time. "Don't worry! We'll have a ball! I haven't skied in a while either, so we can stick together on the bunny slope."
"*Bunny* slope . . . huh? What kind of sport is this?"
"Well . . . you strap long, skinny board-like things to each foot and then you kinda slide down a mountain like that!" she said with false confidence. Sirius was giving her a pitifully uneasy look. "It's really easy once you get the hang of it! *Really*!!!" Sirius still didn't look convinced.
"Muggles do really weird things for fun," he said. "I can't believe that you expect me to fall down a mountain with gi-normous *sleds* attached to my feet . . . around a bunch of muggles, no less!" he ranted. Joey smiled sympathetically.
"First of all, they're called *skis*, not *sleds* . . . and second of all, you will be *gliding* down the mountain . . . not falling!"
"Well, by the sounds of it . . . I think I will be falling!" he laughed. "I just pity the poor muggle children that accidentally get in my path on the way down . . ." he trailed off shaking his head in a mock tone of grief. Joey punched his arm playfully.
"You better NOT be falling down the mountain . . . because knowing you, you'll probably drag *me* down along with you!"
"Of course I would!" he laughed. Joey just shook her head, not bothering to suppress the smile on her face.
"Oh you would?" she said, leaning in towards his face.
"Mhmm . . ." he mumbled as she pressed her lips up to his. It was a sweet, yet very brief kiss, and Joey pulled away before resting her head on his shoulder the moment afterwards. Sirius smiled at her loveliness and kissed her lightly on the top of the head before resting his head on hers.
Joey let out a lengthy sigh of contentment and stared into the common room's blazing fire. They sat for a while in silence before Sirius spoke.
"So did you see the job I did on Remus?" he asked with a tone of triumph in his voice.
"Yup!" she laughed as she picked her head off his shoulder and looked up into his face. "His hair and clothes looked *really* nice . . . and they totally reminded me of somebody else . . ." she trailed off with a definite tone of amusement.
"Really? Who?" he asked curiously. Joey rolled her eyes before speaking.
"I can't imagine . . ." she said sarcastically as she ran a hand through Sirius' silky locks. "Couldn't have *possibly* been the guy who made him up that way . . ." Sirius started laughing.
"So you're saying that *my* hair and clothes look *really* nice, then?" he questioned with interest, leaning in slightly towards her and causing her to lean slightly backwards.
"No . . ." she drawled out slowly and teasingly as she leaned further back away from Sirius' body that was now practically leaning over her. "I said it looked good on *Remus* . . . I simply commented on the fact that it *reminded* me of you . . . not that it looked *good* on you . . ." Sirius was now leaning so far forward that Joey was now leaning away enough to be practically on her back. She had to conceal the grin that was pulling at the edge of her lips when she even began scooting away on her elbows as Sirius propped himself over her with his hands on either side of her. They were practically stretched out over the entire couch. "See the difference?" she managed to choke out without laughing.
"Not really . . ." he practically hummed into her lips as he lowered his mouth to hers. Joey could feel her heart fluttering in her chest as the kiss deepened. The fire crackled on and continued to heat the room as the couple continued to entwine themselves on the couch.
Within a matter of moments, Joey and Sirius were practically scared shitless when the portrait door flew open and a single person stormed in and stopped in the entry way with a loud gasp. Joey practically drop- kicked Sirius off of her, and it took the two of them a moment to regain themselves and comprehend the situation. Flam, who was severely jostled awake after Joey forcefully shoved Sirius to the other side of the couch, was now hooting in alarm at the present situation. Joey reached back and clamped the bird's mouth shut with her hand as her eyes focused on the figure who was still in the common room's entryway.
"Jeeze! What the hell is going on in here?" Remus asked a bit callously. "You guys are lucky I'm not McGonagall . . . or I think we'd be in for a whole lot of lost house points right about now!"
"God, Remus . . . you scared us half to death!" Sirius said with a tone of relief.
"Apparently!" he laughed. "You guys didn't exactly look. . . *prepared* for company. . ."
"Well what the hell were you doing flinging the portrait door open like that, anyways?" Joey snapped, sounding a bit exasperated.
"I was . . . letting off some steam, I guess . . ." Remus muttered with a tone of resentment leaving a bitter taste in the air.
"Oh no, Remus . . . What happened?" Joey asked sounding dreadfully worried. Remus' shoulders slumped even further forward as he shook his expressionless face.
"She's pure evil," he said rather calmly.
"Oh, God . . . what did Catrina do?" Joey asked apprehensively.
"But . . . how did you . . . how did you know *she* had detention too?" he asked confusedly.
"It's a long story. How about you just tell us what happened with Laura first," she suggested.
"Don't you mean what *didn't* happen?" he asked sadly as he plopped down onto the softly cushioned red chair next to the couch Joey and Sirius were occupying. Sirius leaned over and patted Remus on the shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting way.
"What about the hair and clothes? Did they do nothing to get her attention?" he asked, sounding a bit shocked at the *preposterous* idea that his apparel could have gone unnoticed. Remus smiled slightly at Sirius' blatancy.
"No, no . . ." Remus said quietly with a tone of amusement. "She couldn't take her eyes off of me for most of the night. We were exchanging secretive looks around McShailty's back nearly the entire time . . . but then . . ." he trailed off as his eyes got depressed again.
"Moony! For Gods sake!!! Just tell us what happened!!" Sirius finally bit out. Joey elbowed him in the ribs at his uncouthness, but then turned her head to Remus expectantly. The blue-eyed boy gave a slight wince at his best friend's command, but then conceded and began filling them in on what had happened.
"Well, the moment I got to McShailty's room, Laura was waiting outside of it. I was a bit surprised to see her, considering I was a bit early and figured that I was probably the only person in the school who goes early to a detention with McShailty. So we started talking for the few minutes before the detention started, and she said I looked nice and that it was good to see me again . . ." Remus paused for a moment as a slight hint of blushed tinted his cheeks.
"Yeah . . . and then what happened?" Joey asked eagerly.
"Well, she leaned in a kissed me lightly on the cheek, turned around and headed into the potions classroom along with a few other students who were there for detention too," Remus said matter-of-factly. When they heard this, Joey squealed and Sirius gave Remus another encouraging pat on the arm. But Remus was clearly not finished with his story, considering he barely even cracked a smile at his friends' excitement.
"Then what happened, mate?" Sirius asked hesitantly. Remus shrugged impassively and his manner immediately drained the excitement from his friends' faces.
"Well . . . the beginning half of detention went fine. We were exchanging glances and smiles from across the room like I told you earlier that we were, and everything was going exactly how I wanted it to. I thought I would have had a date by the end of the detention . . . had the following event not occurred." Remus exchanged glances with Joey, and he could see the upset in her eyes.
"Catrina walked in the door?" Joey made the wild guess. Remus nodded.
"She ruined everything, Joey!" Remus said in frustration. "You guys don't even know . . ." he sighed noisily and leaned his head up against the back of his chair and pinched his eyes closed. "Laura will *never* even look at me the same again!" he groaned up at the ceiling.
"Remus," Joey said seriously, "what happened once Catrina joined your detention?" the dirty blond-haired boy pulled his head up from the back of the chair and grudgingly opened his eyes to meet the gaze of his friends.
"Guess who our lovely little Malibu Barbie went and sat by!" Remus said with a falsely cheerful tone that left his friends uneasy.
"Oh, no," Joey said more to herself than aloud. "That bitch," she mouthed. Sirius was doing his best to give Remus a supportive expression, but the pathetic sulk that his werewolf friend was bearing was too pitiful to really look at.
"What did she do?" Sirius asked, trying his best to not seem meddlesome.
"Well . . . when I realized that she went over and sat next to Laura, I tried my best to keep our gazes and smiles to a minimum to not draw attention to an obvious target for Catrina's blackmail." Remus took a wavering breath before continuing. "But I didn't want to push Laura away, so when she would smile at me, I would try to discretely return it. . . Only it was to no prevail . . . Catrina finally figured out what was going on . . ." before he could trail off into one of his mournful pouts again, Joey pushed him on in his narrative.
"Yeah? . . . what did she *do* Remus? Did she say anything? . . . to Laura, I mean," Joey asked anxiously. Remus' shoulders drooped, if at all possible, even *further* forward. He gave a nod and slightly grimaced as he continued on with the disheartening story.
"Laura was smiling sweetly at me with her beautiful white teeth and bright green eyes . . ." he sighed at the memory. Sirius and Joey were practically at the edge of their seats as Remus stared on into the blazing fire for a moment longer. "But then . . . Catrina caught my eye as she leaned over and said something to Laura. Laura broke her eye contact with me for a moment and began talking to that sneaky, little Slytherin-wannabe. They began whispering and nodding quietly to each other, completely to the ignorance of McShailty."
"Oh, no . . . Do you even know what they were talking about?" Sirius questioned. Remus shrugged.
"At first I didn't think it was anything serious . . . though I knew in the back of my mind that Catrina had some shocking secret of mine to tell Laura, I think I was secretly hoping that she was just bluffing and wouldn't actually tell my dream girl about it . . . you know?" Sirius and Joey just nodded sympathetically. They didn't know what else to do in the situation.
"I'm guessing, then, that she wasn't just bluffing?" Joey inferred. Remus shook his head.
"I wish she had been. Like I said, at *first* it seemed like an innocent conversation. But then they both started making random glances and nods in my direction and I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was the center of their little convo."
"But what about Moony? Did she let on about Moony at all?" Sirius pressed on, worriedly.
"*That,* my friend, was the climax of the evening." Remus said flatly. "In one swift movement, Catrina leaned in, whispered something into Laura's ear . . ."
" . . . and WHAT?!" Sirius and Joey chorused together.
"A 'gasp' . . . that's what. One ear splitting gasp that left the whole class looking over at the girl of my dreams." Remus ran a hand through his disheveled hair and heaved a sigh. "McShailty looked over at her and she made some random excuse about thinking she had seen a spider or something . . . but I knew better. Especially when Catrina looked over and flashed me a sickingly sweet smile that basically told me the exact reason why Laura had gasped."
"And you're certain?" Sirius asked with a false sense of hope.
"I'm more than certain she now knows . . . considering the fact that Laura refused to even look over at me the entire rest of detention. It was utterly pathetic. I even found myself trying to make a racquet just so she might look over in my general direction. All I got was this triumphant smirk from that bitch, Catrina!!!" Remus groaned out as he held his head in his hands. Both Sirius and Joey felt terribly sorry for their werewolf friend, and they weren't even sure how to comfort him at this point. Joey was the one who spoke first.
"Oh, Remus . . ." she cooed out comfortingly. "It'll be alright. I'll talk to Laura the next time I see her and I'll figure out what's up."
"Joey!" Remus cried out in protest. "I don't even think it's any use anymore! I mean . . . she didn't even spare me a glance after detention! At the time I was planning on talking to her after class . . . but when the class was over, she practically sprinted out of there! I didn't even have a chance to catch up to her. So instead, I came back here and found you guys in such a compromising situation . . . and needless to say, I wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with it." Sirius suddenly started going off in a fit of coughing that Joey was almost certain was in an effort to keep from laughing. She shot him a knowing look and brought her gaze back to Remus.
"Remus, I'm still going to talk to her. Laura is a smart girl, and I'm sure I'll be able to figure out just exactly what it was that Catrina said to her. It'll be alright . . . maybe I'll give her a few days to think about it before I talk to her . . . just so she doesn't run away from me or something," Joey patted his hand in a reassuring manner.
"But what about Catrina? Those Chesire cat smiles she was flashing me all through the rest of detention were not exactly 'comforting.'" Remus pointed out. Sirius finally stopped coughing and took the time to comment on this.
"I say we take her down. That bitch seriously needs to get the shit beaten out of her. We could so corner her and then Joey could hold her down while we-"
"Sirius! No!" Joey said sounding with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "We can't do anything rash . . . we have to first figure out just what it was that Catrina told Laura, and then we have to decide just what we are going to do about it. We can't just lynch Catrina in the hallway and expect that to fix everything." Sirius nodded sheepishly as Remus tried to hide the smile that was beginning to play across his lips. It was just too funny to watch Sirius get scolded by Joey when he started getting ahead of himself.
"So where is Catrina right now?" Sirius asked trying desperately to try and get himself out of the hot seat.
"Well, her detention started later than the rest of ours. She had to stay a little after class to talk to McShailty about the tutoring or something . . . I'm not completely sure . . . but it did give me enough time to haul my ass over here and tell you guys what happened."
"So she should be here any minute now?" Joey questioned. Remus nodded. "Well, then you guys better make sure to keep your composure and not provoke her to do anything else that could cause a problem. Just promise me you won't let her get under your skin-" Joey's words were swallowed up by the noise of the portrait door swinging open. Just in time.
Catrina sauntered into the room and stopped in the entry way of the common room when she noticed who was sitting on the furniture in front of the fire. With an extremely arrogant smirk, she strolled over towards the trio and stopped just in front of them. Her eyes lingered on Sirius for a moment long enough to cause Joey to clench her hands into fists. Sirius glared at Catrina as she continued to check him out. After a few seconds of this, Catrina finally peeled her eyes away from Sirius, allowed them to cast a triumphant smirk over at Joey, and finally rested on Remus.
"Hello, Lupin . . ." she drawled out over her cat like tongue. "It appears as though we'll be in the library tomorrow for our tutoring session . . . all *alone,*" she said slowly, making sure to enunciate the 'alone.' Her eyes blatantly flickered over at Sirius for a moment before continuing on. "I'll look forward to seeing you there . . . and I hope you'll look as sexy as you do tonight." She smiled mischievously as she turned to leave and allowed her gaze to wander over to Sirius again. ". . . love the hair," she purred out more towards Sirius than anybody else.
"Keep walking . . ." Joey growled out sounding extremely threateningly. Catrina shrugged slightly and began walking over towards the stairs of the girls' dormitories, swaying her hips as she did so. Joey looked over at the two boys who were now fuming with anger, and she silently mouthed the words 'keep your composure' over at them. Both boys remained silent as the three waited for Catrina to finally make it over to the stair case and relieve them of her presence. But before she did, she stopped in her tracks and turned around to look over at Remus again.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Lupin . . ." she scoffed out dreamily. "Your Ravenclaw *girlfriend* wasn't too thrilled to hear about you little monthly 'transformations'" she practically sang out in an extremely counterfeit tone of voice. "I wonder who else would find that bit of information as terrifying as she did . . ." Catrina began laughing to herself and shrugged before turning back around to head up the stairs.
Both Sirius and Remus were thinking the same thing: 'she is so going to pay for that' . . . Only, while they were expecting Joey to butt in and tell them to 'keep their composure,' both of them were beyond surprised when she was the one to jump out of her seat first. Both boys were so shocked in fact, that they weren't even thinking clearly enough to stand up as well.
Joey, who was now paying absolutely no attention to her lack of backup, heaved an enormous sigh and called across the room. "Strumpet!" Catrina stopped in her motion to mount the first step of the staircase. She turned around haughtily and shot Joey a look to kill.
"What do *you* want?" Catrina spat out. "I thought I told you t-"
"Don't EVER threaten my friends again . . ." Joey bit out angrily. "Do you hear me?"
"Why? What are you going to do about it? You think you're all great because you're smarter than me? Or is it because you can smack a bludger better than me? You don't *scare* me, Joe . . . I'd seriously like to see you take your best shot."
"I think you already saw me take a shot at you last night, Strumpet . . . and you didn't seem so eager then to eat my fist a second time." Joey shot back. "What's with the invitation now? Didn't get enough?" Catrina was seriously glaring daggers at Joey from across the room, and this was exactly what she wanted . . . the more she got Catrina to provoke her, the easier it would be to pull off what she was about to do.
"You think you're pretty big to talk to me like that, Joe?" Catrina spat back as Joey held a very blasé appearance. "If you think you're so great, then why don't you prove it? Go ahead! Take your best shot at me!" Catrina was clearly egging Joey on now, and it made her feel a bit uneasy. What the hell was she thinking? But then Joey stopped. Wait a minute. This was *Catrina* we're talking about here . . . the girl was too *stupid* to think, anyways! Joey smirked, whipped out her wand, and hollered the word she had been waiting to holler since the moment she had found out that Catrina was threatening one of her best friends.
"OBLIVIATE!!!" Joey roared through the common room. There was a pausing moment as an explosion erupted from the end of Joey's wand and shot across the room at Catrina. When the blast hit her, she stumbled backwards a few paces into the wall behind her. Sirius and Remus, who were now shocked beyond words, simply gaped at Joey who was standing there, out of breath and still seething with anger.
Joey strode across the room so that she was right in front of Catrina. Catrina, who now had on an extremely dazed expression was gazing straight ahead at Joey's face, that was now a few feet away from hers.
Catrina just stared at her, almost like in a powerful trance. Joey furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to figure out what to do next. She hesitantly waved a hand in front of Catrina's eyes to see if she was at all with it, and when the girl continued to stare straight at her completely expressionless, Joey decided it was safe to experiment.
"Remus is not a werewolf," Joey said flatly. "You have absolutely nothing on him and you never saw him out on the grounds that night. You don't know anybody from Ravenclaw named Laura, and you have absolutely NO interest in getting in the way of Remus' relationship with anyone of said qualities."
Joey stared at Catrina for a moment in silence as she thought about what she had said. She paused for a moment thinking about how to get Catrina back to normal, when an idea struck her. She lifted her right hand up so that it was right in front of Catrina's face, then snapped her fingers together really loudly, causing the dazed girl in front of her to jump about a foot in the air.
It took a split second for Catrina to suddenly shake off the confused feeling in her head, and she looked around the room when her eyes met with Joey's which were right in front of her.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded. Joey was a bit taken aback by the question, but she felt relieved none the less that Catrina didn't seem to be permanently damaged by the spell. However, the good feeling didn't last, because before she knew it, Catrina had shoved past her and was making her way up towards the girls dormitories for what was the second time that evening.
"Wait!" Joey exclaimed. She winced at her own voice when it came out sounding so desperate. But she couldn't let Catrina get away that easy! "Have you talked to Laura lately? You know . . . that girl from Ravenclaw?" Joey tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible. It was a pathetic way to test the effects of her memory charm, but it was still a way, and that was good enough for her!
"Laura? Who?" Catrina snapped back, sounding as bitchy as ever. "I'm sorry to inform you, *Joe,* that I might not be as *popular* as you, hence not knowing every single person at this school. Afterall, I did just move here not too long ago." She continued to talk in her mock tone of friendliness. "I *do*, however, know that it is not worth my time to be fraternizing with some brain-dead Ravenclaw." She drawled out frigidly. Expecting Joey to flip out or something, Catrina was shocked to say the least when her enemy simply smiled back at her.
"Good night, Catrina," Joey said as sweetly as possible. "And I trust you don't have anything to say to Remus?" she asked, trying desperately to make it sound like an innocent little afterthought.
"Uhhhh . . . why would I want to talk with your freaky little friends?" she snapped. "Tell him he better be in the library at seven o'clock sharp tomorrow. I swear, if I have to wait for him for even a second . . . I'm going to-"
"You're going to what?" Joey cut her off.
". . . He'll be in so much trouble with McShailty, he won't even be able to see straight." She snapped awkwardly back. Joey rolled her eyes. The threat was so pathetic that she wasn't even going to comment on it.
"Whatever, Strumpet. Just go to bed." Joey finally said, sounding completely exhausted. Catrina gave her a death glare, turned around and stomped noisily up the stairs. Joey stood in her spot and listened long enough to hear the stomping make its way all the way up to the six year girls' door, hear the door get wrenched open, and, of course, hear the door get slammed shut. Catrina was finally out of her hair.
Joey exhaustedly turned around and made her way back over towards her two friends. Both boys were now standing up, and when she finally made her way across the room, she stopped just short in front of them. Remus stared at her for a moment before throwing his arms around her in an enthusiastic hug.
"That was the sweetest, most . . . *hypocritical* thing anyone has ever done for me," he laughed.
"Hypocritical?!" Joey spat out.
"Yes, hypocritical!" Remus laughed. "'no, boys . . .keep your composure . . . we need to keep our heads about this, boys,'" Remus squeaked out in his best impression of Joey that he could muster. Joey and Sirius just laughed.
"What?" she asked defensively. "She *told* me to take my best shot . . . and that was it!!!"
"Alright, Joey . . ." Sirius laughed. "But we'll just hope that you'll keep your head a bit better the next time she pisses you off!" he teased.
"Well I'm not doing *that* spell again!" she said wryly. "I'm absolutely drained after all of that!"
"Yeah . . . and to think," Remus chimed in, "you've got to go talk to Laura tomorrow, too!" he joked. Joey socked him playfully in the arm.
"Now I think that's going to be your job," she said confidently. "I've gotten Cat out of your hair . . . now you've got to go patch things up with Laura."
"Alright, alright," he conceded. "And you *really* think that Catrina is out of my hair for good now?" he asked uneasily.
"Well, Dr. Jekyll . . . as long as you are a *little* more careful about frolicking around Hogwarts as Mr. Hyde . . . I'm pretty sure that she'll be out of your way."
"Dr.- Who? Mr.- Who?" Remus asked with an extremely confused expression. Sirius was giving her an equally bizarre stare. Joey couldn't help but laugh.
"Honestly! Are you guys *that* sheltered from Muggle life?!" she asked sounding a bit annoyed. The boys exchanged looks and Joey just shook her head. "Just keep your little lycanthropy issues to yourself, okay?" she said slowly, hoping that her words would register this time around. Remus nodded knowingly.
"Yes, yes . . . of course! After all of that trouble . . . there's no way I would *not* be careful about checking for any mysterious cats out on the grounds!" Sirius nodded in agreement, and Joey was satisfied.
"And as for Laura . . . I'm thinking you're just going to have to try and get her to accept you for the way you are," Joey said quietly. "There would be no use in putting a memory charm on her and having a relationship based on lies and deceit. She's a smart girl . . .I'm sure she can find a way to accept you for you."
Remus nodded sadly and was grateful for the comforting pat on the back he received from Sirius. "I'll talk to her in a few days, I think. Maybe by then she'll stop avoiding me and be okay with just allowing me to explain myself."
"I think that's a good idea," Joey said. "She's probably just a little freaked out right now." Both boys just nodded. "Well!" Joey said with a much lighter spirit. "Now that this has all been sorted out . . . I'm going to bed because I'm absolutely worn out!"
"Alright, sweetie . . . I guess we should head off to bed as well, then," Sirius said as he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. Both parties headed in opposite directions to the staircases of their respected dormitories. Sirius called over his shoulder one more time before Joey was out of sight. "Oh, Joey! . . . Good luck trying to go to sleep with James and Lily in there together! Have fun trying to pry them apart long enough to kick James out!" Joey narrowed her eyes at him from across the common room as she mounted the first step to the stairs. She could hear both boys across the room snickering under their breath. She simply smiled to herself and called back.
"Oh, don't worry, boys . . . you can expect to see James over at your dormitory in a few minutes. If he isn't, then you can expect to see a boot shoved up his ass in the morning when he comes down to breakfast!" she laughed. The noise of the boys' laughter increased, and both parties walked up to their dormitories in better moods than they had originally expected to be in.
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A week passed by, and then the next one came and went too. Remus had yet to talk to Laura, as he felt that she was completely avoiding him. The usual places that he had always looked forward to passing by her in the hallways suddenly seemed so very devoid of her face. She was obviously going out of her way to avoid him, and it was only too depressing for him to even think about what he could have had with her if Catrina hadn't messed everything up so horribly.
But everyone was still trekking on, and if you couldn't keep up, you got left behind. All the days just seemed to smoosh into one big blur and people began loosing track of the time as school started to become more challenging and sports teams began practicing harder and more often.
Joey's quidditch equipment had finally come in the mail, and since she and Weald were finally on a friendly basis, practices were much more efficient and much more enjoyable. The only stitch along the way to the team's success was the fact that Catrina just decided to come to practice whenever she felt like it, often times making up lame excuses to avoid attending.
Other than that though, the Gryffindor quidditch team was really beginning to click together as possibly the best lineup at Hogwarts, and everyone on the squad besides Catrina, was coming to each practice with a new fire to try harder and work more diligently than the practice before. At this rate, the six players [not including Cat] were certainly feeling ready for their first quidditch match against Hufflepuff when the Saturday of the game rolled around.
The entire Gryffindor quidditch team, except for one certain Catrina Strumpet, was hovered around the breakfast table, doing anything but eating. Weald was the only one standing up, spouting off any last minute play ideas, James and Robert were making random suggestions to Weald about the plays, Nick was intently surveying the scrambled eggs on his plate, and Joseph seemed to be doing some weird chanting to himself as he sat there, spacing out towards nothing. They were all *way* too nervous to try and stomach any food, and Joey didn't think she would be able to eat anything either, considering she felt like her stomach was already full of psychotic butterflies.
"Why aren't you guys eating?!" Weald practically bellowed at his team in a mixture of frustration and desperation. "You need to eat!!! I won't have *my* quidditch team out on the pitch with empty stomachs and slow reflexes! You need your strength!" When the team just stared up at him blankly, he started to get personal. "Come on Nick . . . those eggs won't eat themselves! Joey . . . come on, have some toast or something . . . James-"
"Weald! How about YOU stuff *your* mouth with some food and leave us to decide for ourselves what we will and will not eat!" Robert finally spat out. Weald threw him one resentful glower and then sat down huffily.
"I'm not hungry," he mumbled stubbornly as he crossed his arms over his chest and continued to pout. The rest of the team smirked to themselves and continued to go about their business. When the great hall's clock struck ten thirty, Weald stood up from his seat and looked down at the team in front of him.
"Alright, team!" he said energetically. "Gather your things . . . I'll expect to meet you all down in the locker rooms in ten minutes! Don't be late!" he called over his shoulder as he walked away from the table, out towards the great hall's exit.
The team wasted no time in getting out of their chairs and heading over to the locker rooms. It was a matter of moments before the Gryffindor quidditch team, fully clad in their scarlet robes, were gathered together in the locker room for one last pre-game pep talk.
"Where the hell is Strumpet?!" Weald hollered out at the rather tense looking bunch of players in front of him. They all looked around and shrugged ignorantly.
"She wasn't at breakfast, Weald," Nick said matter-of-factly. Weald nodded knowingly.
"Yes . . . but I figured she wouldn't have the nerve to skip the first game of our season!!!" he growled.
"It's alright, Captain," James said, "we've worked out all of our plays so that they work with only two chasers anyways!!! You honestly didn't expect her to actually *play* even if she did show up, do you?" Weald shrugged.
"Good point, Potter . . ." he snarled out. "But I still think we'll be at a disadvantage with minus a body out on the field . . . even if the body seemed more like dead weight than anything else."
"Well we can't worry about that right now, can we?!" Robert barked out. "We've got a match in five frickin' minutes, and we *are* going to play whether Catrina is here or not! Let's just go out there and show those Hufflepuff losers a thing or two about Gryffindor authority!!!" The entire team nodded and gave a few 'yeah!'s in support. Weald took that as a good sign to stick his hand out in the middle of their little cluster, and the rest of the team soon followed suit.
"'Team' on three, guys . . ." Weald called out. "one . . . two . . . three- "
"TEAM!!!" everyone chorused together.
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There was a cool crisp feeling in the air that morning, and everyone could sense the apprehension in the atmosphere as they took their positions around the center of the quidditch pitch along with the Hufflepuff team. It was easy to spot Amos Diggory out of the crowd of Hufflepuffs because, while he was dressed in the common yellowy-gold robes just like the rest of his team, no one even compared to how good he looked in them. His eyes flickered briefly over to Joey and then focused back onto Madam Hooch who was now standing in the middle of the ring of players.
As madam Hooch scanned over the crowd of players surrounding her, she seemed to be making a few mental notes as to who was on the pitch and to the number of players.
"We're missing one . . ." she said aloud to the cluster of competitors. "Captain Weald . . . explain to me why you are missing a chaser," she said as more of a command than as a question.
"Uhhh . . . well, one of my players has failed to show up today," he said awkwardly. Madam Hooch looked at him incredulously.
"Because of sickness? Why didn't you get a stand-by team to play? Do you realize that you forfeit this game if you don't get that extra player here before we start this game? I *suggest* that you send one of your players to go find your missing chaser, or this game will be over as of now. Do you understand me?" she forced out all of the questions so quickly, that it looked like Weald's head was spinning.
"Alright . . ." was all he said before he turned to Joey and asked in a pleading voice, "Joe . . . could you *please* go check for Cat in the girls dormitories and anywhere else you can think of? I trust you could run up there faster than anyone else could . . ." Joey didn't need him to ask her twice. She threw him a quick nod and kicked off the ground on her broom stick as fast as she could, heading back up towards Hogwarts castle. Madam Hooch took the opportunity to throw Weald a disapproving glare as she told the teams to split apart and that Gryffindor was taking a penalty time-out.
Joey found herself sprinting up the stone steps in the entrance hall in no time flat, and she skidded around a corner and up a few more flights of stairs up towards Gryffindor tower. Though the base of Gryffindor tower was on the seventh floor, Joey found herself skidding to a halt before she had even reached the fourth floor. Down the hall to her right, in a little nook in the wall, stood two figures that were unmistakably Catrina and some other random guy that Joey had presumed to be from Slytherin. Joey stormed over to them, and without even bothering to mutter a word to the couple, gripped the back of Catrina's shirt and hauled her off towards the staircase.
The two stumbled along awkwardly, as it was difficult for Joey to continue dragging Catrina around while she continued to scream and yell all the cuss words known to man.
"Would you shut up already?!" Joey shouted as she roughly let go of the back of Catrina's collar and pointed her wand in her face. Catrina stood very still, looking rather frightened at the long wand tip that was practically touching her nose. In one swift motion, Joey pointed her wand down at Catrina's stomach, muttered a few words under her breath, and watched the slut's skimpy clothing turn to the rich scarlet fabric of the Gryffindor quidditch robes. Catrina simply glared at Joey.
"I *was* coming . . ." she mumbled defensively.
"*You* almost made us forfeit the game . . . I suggest you save any of your little excuses for Weald *after* the game when he decides to skin you alive," Joey bit out caustically.
"Whatever," Catrina grumbled as she followed Joey out the door onto the Hogwarts grounds. Joey shoved Catrina onto her broom and jumped on afterwards, speeding past the grounds towards the large stadium of the quidditch pitch.
When they landed, Weald appeared so relieved to see them, he looked like he was about to kiss Joey. She smiled triumphantly at the crowd and shoved Catrina forward to get the broom Weald had collected for her from the locker room.
"You guys ready to kick some Hufflepuff butt?" she laughed as the team hurried over back towards the center of the field.
"Thanks, Joey," Weald said to her under his breath so that only she could hear. She smiled and nodded in response.
"Let's play *our* game, then!" she said confidently as Madam Hooch called out her usual demand for a 'nice clean game.' Then the bludgers were released, the snitch, and then the quaffle was thrown high into the air to signify the start of the game.
The beginning of the game started out pretty uneventful. The quaffle had been stolen about ten times and passed around the pitch for a while, when *finally* Nick stole it right in front of Amos [who was the Hufflepuff keeper] and chucked it swiftly around his left arm through the far goal ring. All of the people in the Gryffindor stands cheered wildly as the score was now 10-nill.
It seemed like Nick and Joseph were working tirelessly to keep the quaffle from being stolen, but while Catrina seemed to just float around on her duff looking pretty the entire game, it was quite difficult for them with only two chasers against three. With this disadvantage, by the time they were a ways into the game, the score was tied at 40-40. Joey and Weald were doing an awesome job controlling the bludgers around any of their own teammates, and Joey had even successfully knocked the wind out of one of the Hufflepuff chasers as he passed her during a hit.
The game seemed to be close, but still pretty clean as no one seemed to pull any cheap tricks or anything . . . but in one swift movement, that all changed. Nick had just passed the quaffle to Joseph, when Joseph was taking a break away to the Hufflepuff hoops. It took a split second for Joey to realize that Joseph was completely wide open except for the bludger that was barreling down towards him, right for his head. So she swooped down expertly, made a tight cut past Amos, knocked the bludger out of the way, and allowed Joseph to take his shot in the same instant. It all happened so quickly, that Joey didn't have enough time to react once Amos had side-swiped her after he caght the quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.
Lucky for her, she had a tight grip on the handle of her broom, so when she flung forward, her body dangling downwards to the ground, she was still hanging on by her right hand. While all of the spectators gasped in horror, she still managed to keep her cool and sling her right leg over the seat, regaining her seat on the broom. She threw a nasty glare at Amos' challenging glower, and continued on towards the other side of the field while the game rolled on.
It seemed like a century later, the score was at 50-70 hufflepuff's lead, when everyone suddenly became very aware of James Potter's scarlet figure barreling by on his Silverbullet 680. While no one could see the shiny gold snitch that the boy was clearly racing after, it was unmistakably the real thing when the Hufflepuff seeker started barreling after him in the same direction.
It took a matter of seconds for everyone, including both teams and all of the spectators, to realize that both seekers were headed directly at none other than the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Amos Diggory was wearing a look of pure dismay as he just gaped at the two boys coming at ground breaking speeds right at him. In the heat of the moment, a sudden movement from a little distance away caught the corner of Joey's eye, and she quickly used her quidditch reflexes to take advantage of the situation.
In one fluid motion, Joey sped over to the zooming bludger, caught the end of it with her bat, and sent it shooting through the sky towards Amos just as the snitch was nearing him. The bludger made one swift attack to the side of Diggory's unsuspecting body, and caused him to go rolling off into nowhere just as James' fingers closed around the snitch in the spot that Amos had occupied just moments before. The champion seeker then made a quick follow-through on his broom and swooped through and around the goal hoops back to his teammates' congratulatory arms on the ground.
"Gryffindor's done it!!! They've won the match!" a voice rang out on the overhead speakers. The Gryffindor players were in a rather large clump on the ground in the center of the quidditch pitch. They were a giant mass of hugging and cheering, and they were too busy congratulating each other to pay any attention to the disappointed and rather sore Hufflepuffs [in Amos' case anyways] who were now heading into their locker rooms. James pulled Joey aside and wrapped her in a giant hug.
"Nice hit, there, Joey!" he beamed down at her. "Wouldn't have had that snitch if you hadn't pulled off that quick-thinking move there at the end!"
"Well, thanks, James!!! But you had an AWESOME catch right at the last minute there . . . what were you going? . . . like a hundred miles an hour or something on that broom?! That's some serious skill you've got there!" she admired.
"HEY HEY!!!" Boomed out a voice behind them. "Let's hear it for the star athletes of this game's win!!!" Weald was glowing as he walked over and put his muscular arms around James' and Joey's shoulders. The entire team and the group of Gryffindors that was gathering around them all started cheering. "Awesome job today, guys . . . and EVERYONE!" he bellowed out ecstatically. "You all played fabulously . . ." everyone drew a bit silent as Catrina just stood off to the side, a scowl still plastered across her snotty features. She had done absolutely nothing but sit side-saddle on her broom the entire game. The awkward silence was beginning to get to the group, and Robert was smart enough to break it.
"WELL LET'S GO PAR-TAY THEN!!!" he bellowed out, causing the entire mob of people to cheer loudly and head up to Hogwarts castle and, eventually, the Gryffindor tower. The entire Gryffindor quidditch team didn't even bother to change out of their quidditch robes as they headed up to the celebration that was sure to last all day.
Joey was shoved along with the flow of the crowd as they all began marching off in the direction towards the castle. She almost let out a slight scream as someone came up behind her and put their arms around her waist in a huge bear hug.
"Oh, Sirius!" she laughed. "You scared me for a minute there!"
"Little jumpy, huh?!" he joked. She thumped him playfully on the stomach, and he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and brought her close to kiss her lightly on the forehead. "Awesome game, Joey!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm not sure what James would have done if you hadn't been there to slap Amos out of the way for him!" he said loudly and pointedly at a person to Joey's right. She soon realized that this person was James, and he laughed along with the couple as the recalled the look on Diggory's face as the bludger made contact with his rib cage.
"Yeah, actually . . . I think that hit must have sent Diggory off to the Hospital wing for sure!" James laughed.
"Well it's not like he didn't deserve it!" Joey said defensively. "After practically knocking me off my broom like that . . . he's lucky I didn't have an even better shot at that bludger!" All three of them laughed.
When they had finally made their way up to the Gryffindor tower, and someone had miraculously conjured up enough food and butterbeer to feed the entire school twice over, Joey and Sirius caught up with James again and now found him standing with Lily and Peter. The two said their congratulations to Joey and everyone soon got off into their own little conversations about what their favorite parts of the match were.
As Sirius got into a detailed description of Amos' face as the bludger hit him, impressions and all, both Joey and him were a bit surprised to see Remus tapping them on the shoulder with a gigantic smile on his face.
"Tremendous performance out there Joey!" Remus praised. But Joey was in too much of a thrilled astonishment to respond. Remus had his arm wrapped around a very familiar-looking Ravenclaw girl.
"Laura!!!" Joey practically screamed out. "It's so good to see you!!! Omigod! Are you- . . . what's going- . . . HOW ARE YOU?!" she said all in such a fast whirl of words that barely anyone could make out anything but the last question. Laura gave a slight laugh as she answered.
"I'm doing great!" she said happily. "And it seems you are too! Judging by that show out there . . . Congratulations!!!" she raved as she gave Joey a hug. As Joey was hugging Laura, she gave Remus a gleeful smile and a thumbs up. Remus blushed slightly and just beamed back at her.
"So what's up with you guys?" Sirius asked trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. Joey had to hide her laughter. The question was so obvious that it was pathetic. Remus shot Sirius a look before smiling cheerfully at Laura who was now looking at him. Laura was the one to answer, though.
"Oh! . . . well we've been talking . . . and we've . . . *discussed* a few issues that ummm . . . we . . . errr . . ." she hesitated long enough for Remus to give her a comforting squeeze on the arm.
"It's alright, Laura," he laughed. "They know about me," he said reassuringly.
"Oh, I see," she said understandingly. Joey and Sirius just nodded at her. "So I guess I'm inside your guys' little 'circle' now, then?" she asked with a slight tone of amusement.
"Yes . . . I'd say you are definitely inside the circle!" Joey laughed.
"And don't worry!" Sirius chimed in. "Inside the circle is a good place to be!" Joey just rolled her eyes and laughed. Sirius looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow. "What? The circle *is* a good place to be!" Joey teasingly mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'weirdo,' then waved bye to Remus and Laura and headed back over towards the table of food; Sirius in close pursuit.
Joey grabbed some food with Sirius, and they both walked over to sit on the couch away from the gigantic group of partying Gryffindors. Joey snuggled into Sirius' comfortable chest after taking a sip of her butterbeer.
"Well today was a good day . . ." she said with a sigh.
"Oh yeah?" Sirius asked thoughtfully as he began to rub Joey's back.
"Yeah!" she said with a mild tone of enthusiasm. "First we find Catrina in the nick of time so we don't have to forfeit the quidditch match . . . then we *win* game . . . with Amos getting beaten up a bit . . . then everybody's happy and celebrating . . . and now I couldn't be happier as I'm curled up on a comfortable couch with my absolutely favorite person," she said happily. "What more could a girl ask for?"
"Not much!" he said with a laugh. " . . . not much" Joey just smiled sweetly as she leaned back and kissed him heavily on his adorable lips.
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ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! So sweet . . . *sigh* I just LOVE Sirius!!! Hehehe! Hope you guys liked this chapter . . . took me like three freakin' days to write it since school started . . . and volleyball's been crazy!!! But Please Review!!! I love each and every one of you who take the few seconds to type me up a little blurb about what you're feelin' when you finish reading this update. AND STAY TUNED!!! This chapter may seem like it ended in a sweet little spot . . . BUT THERE'S STILL MORE!!!! Bring on the winter break!!! YAY!!! WOO HOO! That's next chapter, and we're gonna meet all of Joey's *oh so lovable* family . . . so give me some time on that one!!! I'm in school now and I've got a volleyball tournament this weekend so I won't have like ANY time to write! *ARGGG* But please leave me a review . . . and maybe I'll feel extra motivated and try to write whenever I find a spare moment! LOL!
THANX SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!! = ]
-Sara (your one and only Sportzjunkie)
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Phew!!!! You guys rock my world!!! I love you all soooooooo much! Goodness . . . thirty freakin' reviews since the last time I updated and nine of you were new!!! All I can say is: Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! . . . so I'm gonna take the time out of my crazy schedule to send my love to each and everyone of you!!!
Jenstarz- lol! Yes, yes . . . deeper side to Weald!!! Hehehe! That's what I was shooting for . . .but I couldn't make him *too* nice, right?! LOL! His character is after all, selfish, cocky, and way too arrogant . . . and I couldn't have possibly taken all of those lovely characteristics away!!! Hehehe! As for Catrina . . . let's just say I took your advice w/ the whole 'and Joey should be the one to do it' thing . . . Hope you enjoy this chapter!!!
Sugarcoatedcandy- LOL! your review was so sweet! And I'm definitely glad you don't care about my grammatical errors and what not . . .hehehe! Lord knows they're there! Hope you like this next one much!!!
Singingvalentine- Hehehe! So many blush-worthy compliments!!! Goodness! Hehehe! Thank you SO freakin' much for the support! You rock! LOL! And no . . . I haven't considered writing a book. lol! I think I love fanfiction too much! Hehehe! But I hope you keep R&R!!! much luv!
Abarraine- Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!!! Your words mean so much and I hope you continue to R&R!!!
Headmaster Cromwell- I'm gonna need some more info! LOL! The site you gave me doesn't work, and I'm kind of confused about the whole thing! I'm extremely busy at this moment in time, so I doubt I would really have much time to join the game anywayz between school, sports, and, of course, writing fanfiction. . . thanks for the offer, though! I totally appreciate it!
Kiwi- Yes, yes! Included mush just like everybody was begging for!!! LOL! I'm so happy you've continued to read and review my story after all this time!!! And thanks for the e-mails and all of that! It's great hearing from you and I hope you continue to e-mail me just to tell me what's up in the world of Kansas!!! As for me . . . school's finally come like I always knew it inevitably would . . . but I'm still not ready!!! *falls to knees sobbing* Thank GOD I have fanfiction to come home to everyday!!! LOL! And I hope you like this next chapter too!!!
Sakura- Hehehe! Hope highschool continues to be as awesome as it has been so far for you!!! I'm just starting school now, and I'm totally depressed about it!!! I swear . . . school would be sooooo much more likable if there was some way to attend it and still be able to get up later than six in the morning! LOL!!! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you find time to review as well! *grin*
Starry dreamer- Thanks you SO MUCH for taking the time to review!!! I'm really pleased that you took even a few moments to hit that review button to tell me what you think!!! It means so much for me to come home to some reviews as sweet as that! I truly hope you like this next installment as well! LOL!
Matthea- ALRIGHT!!! LOL! HERE'S MORE MORE MORE!!! Hehehe! Thanx for reviewing! Your 4 words of encouragement mean more than I can tell you right now in this response! Please keep R&R and I'll keep writing!!!
Lady dragons- LOL! End? Did that sound like an ending? Uh oh . . . LOL! After 24 chapters . . . that would have been one pathetic ending! LOL! I can guarantee that you will *definitely* know when this story is over! Hehehe! And I definitely wouldn't end it with a letter from Joey's mom! But anywayz . . . Hope you keep reading . . . even though now I'm paranoid that you might not check in anymore sense you think that this story is over . . . BUT HEY!!! Thanx for the review anywayz! Lol! Hope to hear from you again! *wink*
Casco- Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Thanx sis . . . though I wish you didn't point that out in a review!!! Gosh! Now everyone will know what a brain-dead author I am!!! . . . but at least no one caught on to the 'Professor Weald' blunder I made when trying to write 'Professor McShailty'!!! Hehehe! I caught *that* one on my own . . . and changed it before anyone had enough time to get confused by it! Lol!!! Please keep reviewing! [I know I don't have to ask you to keep *reading* . . . but sometimes you slack off when it comes to the reviewing part . . .and HEY! What can I say? I work *Really* hard to write these chapters, and the *least* you could do would be to take 15 seconds out of your day and tell me what you think! Huh, Suga?! Lol!] much luv!
Marauder-luver-forever- Hey gurl!!! LOL! thanx for the review!!! And I'll manage to shove some more fluff into this chapter too!!! Lol! I know that's what you guys are dying for!!! Hehehe! But there is some other stuff in this chapter that I think people might find pretty interesting too . . . specially since you guys are all talking about how much you hate Cat!!! . . . but I dunno! Guess we'll just have to see! Please R&R! Much luv!
Padfootluvr88- Cool cool! Thanx so much for reading and reviewing! Hope you like this next one too!!!
Greenfairie- AHAHAHAHA! Yes, yes . . . I thought we've already established the fact that I'm evil?! LOL! Well . . . there's PLENTY of Remus in this chapter . . . so eat your heart out!!! LOL! Just don't yell at me!!! *cowers in corner* Things will all be well in the end! I promise!!! Please continue to R&R! much luv!
Lj- ROTFL!!! Yes! Hear hear!!! Gotta luv those moms . . . what is their job good for if they don't have the option of constantly embarrassing us? Hehehe! I can't wait for you to meet Joey's mom at winter break! It's going to be so much fun writing her entire family! Please continue to R&R! Thanx so much for the review!
Boy Crazy Magician Chick- hehehe! Thanx so much for reviewing! You don't have to apologize for not reviewing sooner! I'll take your reviews any time! I'm just so appreciative to receive them! Anywayz, glad you've liked it so much, and I hope this next chapter is to your liking as well!!!
Anonymous (kaveloz@yahoo.com)- LOL! 'Anonymous' . . . hmmmm . . . haven't we met somewhere before? Your name sounds so familiar! LOL! JK! Hope you like this next chapter! Thanx for reviewing!
Aminmelanaur- Awwwwww man!!! You totally ROCK, girl!!! Damn! Your review was so awesomely inspiring!!! LOL! And you had me laughing like crazy!!! Sorry about keeping you from the "za and fage" . . . lol! but I'm totally happy that you like my story!!! Thanks SO MUCH!!! I really hope you continue to R&R my work . . . it's totally entertaining reading what you have to say about it! I just can't even put into words how much that review meant to me . . . LOL! "I've been needin to piss for like, two hours, and I can't get away from my puter, dude. It's like fucking coke!" LOL!!! You totally had me in pieces!!! Much luv!!!
Audriana- Thanx so much!!! And I'm totally sorry if you've had to wait a while . . . school's just started along w/ volleyball . . . and my times being swallowed up!!! I got this chapter out as fast as I could w/out making it sound totally rushed! Hope you like it much!!!
Me- Hehehe . . . WOW!!! Thanx for the compliment. . . *Me*!!! hehehe! Please keep R&R!!! and I hope you like this next one!!!
Glitter kitty- WOW!!! Serious compliment! Your favorite story? Am I worthy of such a compliment?! Thank you so much! I hope you like this next chapter as well! Please continue to R&R and I'll definitely continue to write!!! Much luv!!!
Abby- AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHEN YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS IT SEEMS THAT MUCH MORE INTENSE, HUH?! LOL!!! THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENT . . . AND THE COMMAND!!! LOL! HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO R&R!!! I'LL GET MY UPDATES OUT ASAP!!! JUST RELAX BEFORE THAT TIME!!! MUCH LUV!
BlackDragonFly- LOL! Confusing . . . well, yes . . . but I'm glad you *adore* it anywayz!!! Thanks so much! As for what's gonna happen in America . . . I'm excited too!!! Hehehe! I think that will be a lot of fun to write, and I hope you stay tuned in because I think I'll start winter break next chapter!!! LOL! And I know I'm going to have a ball introducing Joey's parents and her entire family for that matter into the story as well! Thanks for R&R!!!
Snap- LOL! I love Flam too!!! It's good to hear that other people are appreciating the little things in my story that I'm having so much fun writing!!! I hope you continue to R&R and I hope you enjoy this next chapter as much as the others!!!
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And to all of you:
OMIGOD!!! I'm so sorry it took so long to get this chapter out!!! It took me like three sittings just to pack it all into a chapter!!! But it's a *majorly* long one, so I hope you all appreciate this!!! . . . this is Chapter 25?! Whoa! LOL! That's a lot, huh?! Hehehe! And you guys totally have yourselves to thank for that! Would I still be here writing if I didn't have all of your support? Of course not! You guys keep me motivated to write and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for just taking a few moments out of your busy lives and telling me what you think about this fic.!!! This chapter was really written for each and every one of you!!! Cheers! = ]
-Sara
If I know what love is, it is because of you.
-Herman Hesse
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When the two of them had finished reading the letter, Joey recklessly folded it up and crammed it back into the envelope. She turned eagerly to face her boyfriend, whose lap she was still sitting on.
"Omigod, Sirius! This winter break is going to be so much fun!!! I just can't wait!" Joey was so wound up, that she began bouncing up and down on Sirius lap in excitement like a four year old would do on Christmas. Sirius, who [don't get me wrong] was excited too, was not even *close* to being prepared to have a fully grown person hysterically jumping up and down on his lap. To say the least, he was now in distress as he let out a pathetic whimper.
"WHOA! Joey! Let's keep the bouncing to a minimum!" he laughed with a noticeable pitch of tenderness.
"Oh! Sorry, Sirius!" Joey smiled sheepishly and hopped onto the cushion next to him. "I didn't damage *anything,* did I?" she asked, trying in vain to hide her obvious tone of laughter. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her in a playful manner.
"Hardy-Har-Har . . ." he drawled out slowly in mock laughter.
"I'll try to be more gentle next time," she joked. "Sometimes I forget how *fragile* my boyfriend is . . ."
"Fragile?! This coming from the girl who practically just treated my crotch like a freakin' trampoline?! I'd say if *that* is considered being fragile . . . then the entire male species is a rather large bunch of pansies!" Joey was cracking up by now. This, of course, was Sirius' intension, and he joined in laughing with her.
"But we really *are* going to have a ton of fun in Tahoe . . ." Joey said confidently after their laughter had finally settled down. "My family and I haven't been up to the Tahoe house in such a long while! It's going to be so much fun with all of the snow!"
"Yeah . . ." Sirius said a bit hesitantly. "But what's with this skee-ee- ing thing?" he asked awkwardly. Joey gave a laugh.
"Skiing?" She questioned. She laughed as Sirius shrugged and nodded. She could only picture how funny it would be to see Sirius try to ski for the first time. "Don't worry! We'll have a ball! I haven't skied in a while either, so we can stick together on the bunny slope."
"*Bunny* slope . . . huh? What kind of sport is this?"
"Well . . . you strap long, skinny board-like things to each foot and then you kinda slide down a mountain like that!" she said with false confidence. Sirius was giving her a pitifully uneasy look. "It's really easy once you get the hang of it! *Really*!!!" Sirius still didn't look convinced.
"Muggles do really weird things for fun," he said. "I can't believe that you expect me to fall down a mountain with gi-normous *sleds* attached to my feet . . . around a bunch of muggles, no less!" he ranted. Joey smiled sympathetically.
"First of all, they're called *skis*, not *sleds* . . . and second of all, you will be *gliding* down the mountain . . . not falling!"
"Well, by the sounds of it . . . I think I will be falling!" he laughed. "I just pity the poor muggle children that accidentally get in my path on the way down . . ." he trailed off shaking his head in a mock tone of grief. Joey punched his arm playfully.
"You better NOT be falling down the mountain . . . because knowing you, you'll probably drag *me* down along with you!"
"Of course I would!" he laughed. Joey just shook her head, not bothering to suppress the smile on her face.
"Oh you would?" she said, leaning in towards his face.
"Mhmm . . ." he mumbled as she pressed her lips up to his. It was a sweet, yet very brief kiss, and Joey pulled away before resting her head on his shoulder the moment afterwards. Sirius smiled at her loveliness and kissed her lightly on the top of the head before resting his head on hers.
Joey let out a lengthy sigh of contentment and stared into the common room's blazing fire. They sat for a while in silence before Sirius spoke.
"So did you see the job I did on Remus?" he asked with a tone of triumph in his voice.
"Yup!" she laughed as she picked her head off his shoulder and looked up into his face. "His hair and clothes looked *really* nice . . . and they totally reminded me of somebody else . . ." she trailed off with a definite tone of amusement.
"Really? Who?" he asked curiously. Joey rolled her eyes before speaking.
"I can't imagine . . ." she said sarcastically as she ran a hand through Sirius' silky locks. "Couldn't have *possibly* been the guy who made him up that way . . ." Sirius started laughing.
"So you're saying that *my* hair and clothes look *really* nice, then?" he questioned with interest, leaning in slightly towards her and causing her to lean slightly backwards.
"No . . ." she drawled out slowly and teasingly as she leaned further back away from Sirius' body that was now practically leaning over her. "I said it looked good on *Remus* . . . I simply commented on the fact that it *reminded* me of you . . . not that it looked *good* on you . . ." Sirius was now leaning so far forward that Joey was now leaning away enough to be practically on her back. She had to conceal the grin that was pulling at the edge of her lips when she even began scooting away on her elbows as Sirius propped himself over her with his hands on either side of her. They were practically stretched out over the entire couch. "See the difference?" she managed to choke out without laughing.
"Not really . . ." he practically hummed into her lips as he lowered his mouth to hers. Joey could feel her heart fluttering in her chest as the kiss deepened. The fire crackled on and continued to heat the room as the couple continued to entwine themselves on the couch.
Within a matter of moments, Joey and Sirius were practically scared shitless when the portrait door flew open and a single person stormed in and stopped in the entry way with a loud gasp. Joey practically drop- kicked Sirius off of her, and it took the two of them a moment to regain themselves and comprehend the situation. Flam, who was severely jostled awake after Joey forcefully shoved Sirius to the other side of the couch, was now hooting in alarm at the present situation. Joey reached back and clamped the bird's mouth shut with her hand as her eyes focused on the figure who was still in the common room's entryway.
"Jeeze! What the hell is going on in here?" Remus asked a bit callously. "You guys are lucky I'm not McGonagall . . . or I think we'd be in for a whole lot of lost house points right about now!"
"God, Remus . . . you scared us half to death!" Sirius said with a tone of relief.
"Apparently!" he laughed. "You guys didn't exactly look. . . *prepared* for company. . ."
"Well what the hell were you doing flinging the portrait door open like that, anyways?" Joey snapped, sounding a bit exasperated.
"I was . . . letting off some steam, I guess . . ." Remus muttered with a tone of resentment leaving a bitter taste in the air.
"Oh no, Remus . . . What happened?" Joey asked sounding dreadfully worried. Remus' shoulders slumped even further forward as he shook his expressionless face.
"She's pure evil," he said rather calmly.
"Oh, God . . . what did Catrina do?" Joey asked apprehensively.
"But . . . how did you . . . how did you know *she* had detention too?" he asked confusedly.
"It's a long story. How about you just tell us what happened with Laura first," she suggested.
"Don't you mean what *didn't* happen?" he asked sadly as he plopped down onto the softly cushioned red chair next to the couch Joey and Sirius were occupying. Sirius leaned over and patted Remus on the shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting way.
"What about the hair and clothes? Did they do nothing to get her attention?" he asked, sounding a bit shocked at the *preposterous* idea that his apparel could have gone unnoticed. Remus smiled slightly at Sirius' blatancy.
"No, no . . ." Remus said quietly with a tone of amusement. "She couldn't take her eyes off of me for most of the night. We were exchanging secretive looks around McShailty's back nearly the entire time . . . but then . . ." he trailed off as his eyes got depressed again.
"Moony! For Gods sake!!! Just tell us what happened!!" Sirius finally bit out. Joey elbowed him in the ribs at his uncouthness, but then turned her head to Remus expectantly. The blue-eyed boy gave a slight wince at his best friend's command, but then conceded and began filling them in on what had happened.
"Well, the moment I got to McShailty's room, Laura was waiting outside of it. I was a bit surprised to see her, considering I was a bit early and figured that I was probably the only person in the school who goes early to a detention with McShailty. So we started talking for the few minutes before the detention started, and she said I looked nice and that it was good to see me again . . ." Remus paused for a moment as a slight hint of blushed tinted his cheeks.
"Yeah . . . and then what happened?" Joey asked eagerly.
"Well, she leaned in a kissed me lightly on the cheek, turned around and headed into the potions classroom along with a few other students who were there for detention too," Remus said matter-of-factly. When they heard this, Joey squealed and Sirius gave Remus another encouraging pat on the arm. But Remus was clearly not finished with his story, considering he barely even cracked a smile at his friends' excitement.
"Then what happened, mate?" Sirius asked hesitantly. Remus shrugged impassively and his manner immediately drained the excitement from his friends' faces.
"Well . . . the beginning half of detention went fine. We were exchanging glances and smiles from across the room like I told you earlier that we were, and everything was going exactly how I wanted it to. I thought I would have had a date by the end of the detention . . . had the following event not occurred." Remus exchanged glances with Joey, and he could see the upset in her eyes.
"Catrina walked in the door?" Joey made the wild guess. Remus nodded.
"She ruined everything, Joey!" Remus said in frustration. "You guys don't even know . . ." he sighed noisily and leaned his head up against the back of his chair and pinched his eyes closed. "Laura will *never* even look at me the same again!" he groaned up at the ceiling.
"Remus," Joey said seriously, "what happened once Catrina joined your detention?" the dirty blond-haired boy pulled his head up from the back of the chair and grudgingly opened his eyes to meet the gaze of his friends.
"Guess who our lovely little Malibu Barbie went and sat by!" Remus said with a falsely cheerful tone that left his friends uneasy.
"Oh, no," Joey said more to herself than aloud. "That bitch," she mouthed. Sirius was doing his best to give Remus a supportive expression, but the pathetic sulk that his werewolf friend was bearing was too pitiful to really look at.
"What did she do?" Sirius asked, trying his best to not seem meddlesome.
"Well . . . when I realized that she went over and sat next to Laura, I tried my best to keep our gazes and smiles to a minimum to not draw attention to an obvious target for Catrina's blackmail." Remus took a wavering breath before continuing. "But I didn't want to push Laura away, so when she would smile at me, I would try to discretely return it. . . Only it was to no prevail . . . Catrina finally figured out what was going on . . ." before he could trail off into one of his mournful pouts again, Joey pushed him on in his narrative.
"Yeah? . . . what did she *do* Remus? Did she say anything? . . . to Laura, I mean," Joey asked anxiously. Remus' shoulders drooped, if at all possible, even *further* forward. He gave a nod and slightly grimaced as he continued on with the disheartening story.
"Laura was smiling sweetly at me with her beautiful white teeth and bright green eyes . . ." he sighed at the memory. Sirius and Joey were practically at the edge of their seats as Remus stared on into the blazing fire for a moment longer. "But then . . . Catrina caught my eye as she leaned over and said something to Laura. Laura broke her eye contact with me for a moment and began talking to that sneaky, little Slytherin-wannabe. They began whispering and nodding quietly to each other, completely to the ignorance of McShailty."
"Oh, no . . . Do you even know what they were talking about?" Sirius questioned. Remus shrugged.
"At first I didn't think it was anything serious . . . though I knew in the back of my mind that Catrina had some shocking secret of mine to tell Laura, I think I was secretly hoping that she was just bluffing and wouldn't actually tell my dream girl about it . . . you know?" Sirius and Joey just nodded sympathetically. They didn't know what else to do in the situation.
"I'm guessing, then, that she wasn't just bluffing?" Joey inferred. Remus shook his head.
"I wish she had been. Like I said, at *first* it seemed like an innocent conversation. But then they both started making random glances and nods in my direction and I suddenly became very aware of the fact that I was the center of their little convo."
"But what about Moony? Did she let on about Moony at all?" Sirius pressed on, worriedly.
"*That,* my friend, was the climax of the evening." Remus said flatly. "In one swift movement, Catrina leaned in, whispered something into Laura's ear . . ."
" . . . and WHAT?!" Sirius and Joey chorused together.
"A 'gasp' . . . that's what. One ear splitting gasp that left the whole class looking over at the girl of my dreams." Remus ran a hand through his disheveled hair and heaved a sigh. "McShailty looked over at her and she made some random excuse about thinking she had seen a spider or something . . . but I knew better. Especially when Catrina looked over and flashed me a sickingly sweet smile that basically told me the exact reason why Laura had gasped."
"And you're certain?" Sirius asked with a false sense of hope.
"I'm more than certain she now knows . . . considering the fact that Laura refused to even look over at me the entire rest of detention. It was utterly pathetic. I even found myself trying to make a racquet just so she might look over in my general direction. All I got was this triumphant smirk from that bitch, Catrina!!!" Remus groaned out as he held his head in his hands. Both Sirius and Joey felt terribly sorry for their werewolf friend, and they weren't even sure how to comfort him at this point. Joey was the one who spoke first.
"Oh, Remus . . ." she cooed out comfortingly. "It'll be alright. I'll talk to Laura the next time I see her and I'll figure out what's up."
"Joey!" Remus cried out in protest. "I don't even think it's any use anymore! I mean . . . she didn't even spare me a glance after detention! At the time I was planning on talking to her after class . . . but when the class was over, she practically sprinted out of there! I didn't even have a chance to catch up to her. So instead, I came back here and found you guys in such a compromising situation . . . and needless to say, I wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with it." Sirius suddenly started going off in a fit of coughing that Joey was almost certain was in an effort to keep from laughing. She shot him a knowing look and brought her gaze back to Remus.
"Remus, I'm still going to talk to her. Laura is a smart girl, and I'm sure I'll be able to figure out just exactly what it was that Catrina said to her. It'll be alright . . . maybe I'll give her a few days to think about it before I talk to her . . . just so she doesn't run away from me or something," Joey patted his hand in a reassuring manner.
"But what about Catrina? Those Chesire cat smiles she was flashing me all through the rest of detention were not exactly 'comforting.'" Remus pointed out. Sirius finally stopped coughing and took the time to comment on this.
"I say we take her down. That bitch seriously needs to get the shit beaten out of her. We could so corner her and then Joey could hold her down while we-"
"Sirius! No!" Joey said sounding with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "We can't do anything rash . . . we have to first figure out just what it was that Catrina told Laura, and then we have to decide just what we are going to do about it. We can't just lynch Catrina in the hallway and expect that to fix everything." Sirius nodded sheepishly as Remus tried to hide the smile that was beginning to play across his lips. It was just too funny to watch Sirius get scolded by Joey when he started getting ahead of himself.
"So where is Catrina right now?" Sirius asked trying desperately to try and get himself out of the hot seat.
"Well, her detention started later than the rest of ours. She had to stay a little after class to talk to McShailty about the tutoring or something . . . I'm not completely sure . . . but it did give me enough time to haul my ass over here and tell you guys what happened."
"So she should be here any minute now?" Joey questioned. Remus nodded. "Well, then you guys better make sure to keep your composure and not provoke her to do anything else that could cause a problem. Just promise me you won't let her get under your skin-" Joey's words were swallowed up by the noise of the portrait door swinging open. Just in time.
Catrina sauntered into the room and stopped in the entry way of the common room when she noticed who was sitting on the furniture in front of the fire. With an extremely arrogant smirk, she strolled over towards the trio and stopped just in front of them. Her eyes lingered on Sirius for a moment long enough to cause Joey to clench her hands into fists. Sirius glared at Catrina as she continued to check him out. After a few seconds of this, Catrina finally peeled her eyes away from Sirius, allowed them to cast a triumphant smirk over at Joey, and finally rested on Remus.
"Hello, Lupin . . ." she drawled out over her cat like tongue. "It appears as though we'll be in the library tomorrow for our tutoring session . . . all *alone,*" she said slowly, making sure to enunciate the 'alone.' Her eyes blatantly flickered over at Sirius for a moment before continuing on. "I'll look forward to seeing you there . . . and I hope you'll look as sexy as you do tonight." She smiled mischievously as she turned to leave and allowed her gaze to wander over to Sirius again. ". . . love the hair," she purred out more towards Sirius than anybody else.
"Keep walking . . ." Joey growled out sounding extremely threateningly. Catrina shrugged slightly and began walking over towards the stairs of the girls' dormitories, swaying her hips as she did so. Joey looked over at the two boys who were now fuming with anger, and she silently mouthed the words 'keep your composure' over at them. Both boys remained silent as the three waited for Catrina to finally make it over to the stair case and relieve them of her presence. But before she did, she stopped in her tracks and turned around to look over at Remus again.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Lupin . . ." she scoffed out dreamily. "Your Ravenclaw *girlfriend* wasn't too thrilled to hear about you little monthly 'transformations'" she practically sang out in an extremely counterfeit tone of voice. "I wonder who else would find that bit of information as terrifying as she did . . ." Catrina began laughing to herself and shrugged before turning back around to head up the stairs.
Both Sirius and Remus were thinking the same thing: 'she is so going to pay for that' . . . Only, while they were expecting Joey to butt in and tell them to 'keep their composure,' both of them were beyond surprised when she was the one to jump out of her seat first. Both boys were so shocked in fact, that they weren't even thinking clearly enough to stand up as well.
Joey, who was now paying absolutely no attention to her lack of backup, heaved an enormous sigh and called across the room. "Strumpet!" Catrina stopped in her motion to mount the first step of the staircase. She turned around haughtily and shot Joey a look to kill.
"What do *you* want?" Catrina spat out. "I thought I told you t-"
"Don't EVER threaten my friends again . . ." Joey bit out angrily. "Do you hear me?"
"Why? What are you going to do about it? You think you're all great because you're smarter than me? Or is it because you can smack a bludger better than me? You don't *scare* me, Joe . . . I'd seriously like to see you take your best shot."
"I think you already saw me take a shot at you last night, Strumpet . . . and you didn't seem so eager then to eat my fist a second time." Joey shot back. "What's with the invitation now? Didn't get enough?" Catrina was seriously glaring daggers at Joey from across the room, and this was exactly what she wanted . . . the more she got Catrina to provoke her, the easier it would be to pull off what she was about to do.
"You think you're pretty big to talk to me like that, Joe?" Catrina spat back as Joey held a very blasé appearance. "If you think you're so great, then why don't you prove it? Go ahead! Take your best shot at me!" Catrina was clearly egging Joey on now, and it made her feel a bit uneasy. What the hell was she thinking? But then Joey stopped. Wait a minute. This was *Catrina* we're talking about here . . . the girl was too *stupid* to think, anyways! Joey smirked, whipped out her wand, and hollered the word she had been waiting to holler since the moment she had found out that Catrina was threatening one of her best friends.
"OBLIVIATE!!!" Joey roared through the common room. There was a pausing moment as an explosion erupted from the end of Joey's wand and shot across the room at Catrina. When the blast hit her, she stumbled backwards a few paces into the wall behind her. Sirius and Remus, who were now shocked beyond words, simply gaped at Joey who was standing there, out of breath and still seething with anger.
Joey strode across the room so that she was right in front of Catrina. Catrina, who now had on an extremely dazed expression was gazing straight ahead at Joey's face, that was now a few feet away from hers.
Catrina just stared at her, almost like in a powerful trance. Joey furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to figure out what to do next. She hesitantly waved a hand in front of Catrina's eyes to see if she was at all with it, and when the girl continued to stare straight at her completely expressionless, Joey decided it was safe to experiment.
"Remus is not a werewolf," Joey said flatly. "You have absolutely nothing on him and you never saw him out on the grounds that night. You don't know anybody from Ravenclaw named Laura, and you have absolutely NO interest in getting in the way of Remus' relationship with anyone of said qualities."
Joey stared at Catrina for a moment in silence as she thought about what she had said. She paused for a moment thinking about how to get Catrina back to normal, when an idea struck her. She lifted her right hand up so that it was right in front of Catrina's face, then snapped her fingers together really loudly, causing the dazed girl in front of her to jump about a foot in the air.
It took a split second for Catrina to suddenly shake off the confused feeling in her head, and she looked around the room when her eyes met with Joey's which were right in front of her.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded. Joey was a bit taken aback by the question, but she felt relieved none the less that Catrina didn't seem to be permanently damaged by the spell. However, the good feeling didn't last, because before she knew it, Catrina had shoved past her and was making her way up towards the girls dormitories for what was the second time that evening.
"Wait!" Joey exclaimed. She winced at her own voice when it came out sounding so desperate. But she couldn't let Catrina get away that easy! "Have you talked to Laura lately? You know . . . that girl from Ravenclaw?" Joey tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible. It was a pathetic way to test the effects of her memory charm, but it was still a way, and that was good enough for her!
"Laura? Who?" Catrina snapped back, sounding as bitchy as ever. "I'm sorry to inform you, *Joe,* that I might not be as *popular* as you, hence not knowing every single person at this school. Afterall, I did just move here not too long ago." She continued to talk in her mock tone of friendliness. "I *do*, however, know that it is not worth my time to be fraternizing with some brain-dead Ravenclaw." She drawled out frigidly. Expecting Joey to flip out or something, Catrina was shocked to say the least when her enemy simply smiled back at her.
"Good night, Catrina," Joey said as sweetly as possible. "And I trust you don't have anything to say to Remus?" she asked, trying desperately to make it sound like an innocent little afterthought.
"Uhhhh . . . why would I want to talk with your freaky little friends?" she snapped. "Tell him he better be in the library at seven o'clock sharp tomorrow. I swear, if I have to wait for him for even a second . . . I'm going to-"
"You're going to what?" Joey cut her off.
". . . He'll be in so much trouble with McShailty, he won't even be able to see straight." She snapped awkwardly back. Joey rolled her eyes. The threat was so pathetic that she wasn't even going to comment on it.
"Whatever, Strumpet. Just go to bed." Joey finally said, sounding completely exhausted. Catrina gave her a death glare, turned around and stomped noisily up the stairs. Joey stood in her spot and listened long enough to hear the stomping make its way all the way up to the six year girls' door, hear the door get wrenched open, and, of course, hear the door get slammed shut. Catrina was finally out of her hair.
Joey exhaustedly turned around and made her way back over towards her two friends. Both boys were now standing up, and when she finally made her way across the room, she stopped just short in front of them. Remus stared at her for a moment before throwing his arms around her in an enthusiastic hug.
"That was the sweetest, most . . . *hypocritical* thing anyone has ever done for me," he laughed.
"Hypocritical?!" Joey spat out.
"Yes, hypocritical!" Remus laughed. "'no, boys . . .keep your composure . . . we need to keep our heads about this, boys,'" Remus squeaked out in his best impression of Joey that he could muster. Joey and Sirius just laughed.
"What?" she asked defensively. "She *told* me to take my best shot . . . and that was it!!!"
"Alright, Joey . . ." Sirius laughed. "But we'll just hope that you'll keep your head a bit better the next time she pisses you off!" he teased.
"Well I'm not doing *that* spell again!" she said wryly. "I'm absolutely drained after all of that!"
"Yeah . . . and to think," Remus chimed in, "you've got to go talk to Laura tomorrow, too!" he joked. Joey socked him playfully in the arm.
"Now I think that's going to be your job," she said confidently. "I've gotten Cat out of your hair . . . now you've got to go patch things up with Laura."
"Alright, alright," he conceded. "And you *really* think that Catrina is out of my hair for good now?" he asked uneasily.
"Well, Dr. Jekyll . . . as long as you are a *little* more careful about frolicking around Hogwarts as Mr. Hyde . . . I'm pretty sure that she'll be out of your way."
"Dr.- Who? Mr.- Who?" Remus asked with an extremely confused expression. Sirius was giving her an equally bizarre stare. Joey couldn't help but laugh.
"Honestly! Are you guys *that* sheltered from Muggle life?!" she asked sounding a bit annoyed. The boys exchanged looks and Joey just shook her head. "Just keep your little lycanthropy issues to yourself, okay?" she said slowly, hoping that her words would register this time around. Remus nodded knowingly.
"Yes, yes . . . of course! After all of that trouble . . . there's no way I would *not* be careful about checking for any mysterious cats out on the grounds!" Sirius nodded in agreement, and Joey was satisfied.
"And as for Laura . . . I'm thinking you're just going to have to try and get her to accept you for the way you are," Joey said quietly. "There would be no use in putting a memory charm on her and having a relationship based on lies and deceit. She's a smart girl . . .I'm sure she can find a way to accept you for you."
Remus nodded sadly and was grateful for the comforting pat on the back he received from Sirius. "I'll talk to her in a few days, I think. Maybe by then she'll stop avoiding me and be okay with just allowing me to explain myself."
"I think that's a good idea," Joey said. "She's probably just a little freaked out right now." Both boys just nodded. "Well!" Joey said with a much lighter spirit. "Now that this has all been sorted out . . . I'm going to bed because I'm absolutely worn out!"
"Alright, sweetie . . . I guess we should head off to bed as well, then," Sirius said as he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. Both parties headed in opposite directions to the staircases of their respected dormitories. Sirius called over his shoulder one more time before Joey was out of sight. "Oh, Joey! . . . Good luck trying to go to sleep with James and Lily in there together! Have fun trying to pry them apart long enough to kick James out!" Joey narrowed her eyes at him from across the common room as she mounted the first step to the stairs. She could hear both boys across the room snickering under their breath. She simply smiled to herself and called back.
"Oh, don't worry, boys . . . you can expect to see James over at your dormitory in a few minutes. If he isn't, then you can expect to see a boot shoved up his ass in the morning when he comes down to breakfast!" she laughed. The noise of the boys' laughter increased, and both parties walked up to their dormitories in better moods than they had originally expected to be in.
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A week passed by, and then the next one came and went too. Remus had yet to talk to Laura, as he felt that she was completely avoiding him. The usual places that he had always looked forward to passing by her in the hallways suddenly seemed so very devoid of her face. She was obviously going out of her way to avoid him, and it was only too depressing for him to even think about what he could have had with her if Catrina hadn't messed everything up so horribly.
But everyone was still trekking on, and if you couldn't keep up, you got left behind. All the days just seemed to smoosh into one big blur and people began loosing track of the time as school started to become more challenging and sports teams began practicing harder and more often.
Joey's quidditch equipment had finally come in the mail, and since she and Weald were finally on a friendly basis, practices were much more efficient and much more enjoyable. The only stitch along the way to the team's success was the fact that Catrina just decided to come to practice whenever she felt like it, often times making up lame excuses to avoid attending.
Other than that though, the Gryffindor quidditch team was really beginning to click together as possibly the best lineup at Hogwarts, and everyone on the squad besides Catrina, was coming to each practice with a new fire to try harder and work more diligently than the practice before. At this rate, the six players [not including Cat] were certainly feeling ready for their first quidditch match against Hufflepuff when the Saturday of the game rolled around.
The entire Gryffindor quidditch team, except for one certain Catrina Strumpet, was hovered around the breakfast table, doing anything but eating. Weald was the only one standing up, spouting off any last minute play ideas, James and Robert were making random suggestions to Weald about the plays, Nick was intently surveying the scrambled eggs on his plate, and Joseph seemed to be doing some weird chanting to himself as he sat there, spacing out towards nothing. They were all *way* too nervous to try and stomach any food, and Joey didn't think she would be able to eat anything either, considering she felt like her stomach was already full of psychotic butterflies.
"Why aren't you guys eating?!" Weald practically bellowed at his team in a mixture of frustration and desperation. "You need to eat!!! I won't have *my* quidditch team out on the pitch with empty stomachs and slow reflexes! You need your strength!" When the team just stared up at him blankly, he started to get personal. "Come on Nick . . . those eggs won't eat themselves! Joey . . . come on, have some toast or something . . . James-"
"Weald! How about YOU stuff *your* mouth with some food and leave us to decide for ourselves what we will and will not eat!" Robert finally spat out. Weald threw him one resentful glower and then sat down huffily.
"I'm not hungry," he mumbled stubbornly as he crossed his arms over his chest and continued to pout. The rest of the team smirked to themselves and continued to go about their business. When the great hall's clock struck ten thirty, Weald stood up from his seat and looked down at the team in front of him.
"Alright, team!" he said energetically. "Gather your things . . . I'll expect to meet you all down in the locker rooms in ten minutes! Don't be late!" he called over his shoulder as he walked away from the table, out towards the great hall's exit.
The team wasted no time in getting out of their chairs and heading over to the locker rooms. It was a matter of moments before the Gryffindor quidditch team, fully clad in their scarlet robes, were gathered together in the locker room for one last pre-game pep talk.
"Where the hell is Strumpet?!" Weald hollered out at the rather tense looking bunch of players in front of him. They all looked around and shrugged ignorantly.
"She wasn't at breakfast, Weald," Nick said matter-of-factly. Weald nodded knowingly.
"Yes . . . but I figured she wouldn't have the nerve to skip the first game of our season!!!" he growled.
"It's alright, Captain," James said, "we've worked out all of our plays so that they work with only two chasers anyways!!! You honestly didn't expect her to actually *play* even if she did show up, do you?" Weald shrugged.
"Good point, Potter . . ." he snarled out. "But I still think we'll be at a disadvantage with minus a body out on the field . . . even if the body seemed more like dead weight than anything else."
"Well we can't worry about that right now, can we?!" Robert barked out. "We've got a match in five frickin' minutes, and we *are* going to play whether Catrina is here or not! Let's just go out there and show those Hufflepuff losers a thing or two about Gryffindor authority!!!" The entire team nodded and gave a few 'yeah!'s in support. Weald took that as a good sign to stick his hand out in the middle of their little cluster, and the rest of the team soon followed suit.
"'Team' on three, guys . . ." Weald called out. "one . . . two . . . three- "
"TEAM!!!" everyone chorused together.
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There was a cool crisp feeling in the air that morning, and everyone could sense the apprehension in the atmosphere as they took their positions around the center of the quidditch pitch along with the Hufflepuff team. It was easy to spot Amos Diggory out of the crowd of Hufflepuffs because, while he was dressed in the common yellowy-gold robes just like the rest of his team, no one even compared to how good he looked in them. His eyes flickered briefly over to Joey and then focused back onto Madam Hooch who was now standing in the middle of the ring of players.
As madam Hooch scanned over the crowd of players surrounding her, she seemed to be making a few mental notes as to who was on the pitch and to the number of players.
"We're missing one . . ." she said aloud to the cluster of competitors. "Captain Weald . . . explain to me why you are missing a chaser," she said as more of a command than as a question.
"Uhhh . . . well, one of my players has failed to show up today," he said awkwardly. Madam Hooch looked at him incredulously.
"Because of sickness? Why didn't you get a stand-by team to play? Do you realize that you forfeit this game if you don't get that extra player here before we start this game? I *suggest* that you send one of your players to go find your missing chaser, or this game will be over as of now. Do you understand me?" she forced out all of the questions so quickly, that it looked like Weald's head was spinning.
"Alright . . ." was all he said before he turned to Joey and asked in a pleading voice, "Joe . . . could you *please* go check for Cat in the girls dormitories and anywhere else you can think of? I trust you could run up there faster than anyone else could . . ." Joey didn't need him to ask her twice. She threw him a quick nod and kicked off the ground on her broom stick as fast as she could, heading back up towards Hogwarts castle. Madam Hooch took the opportunity to throw Weald a disapproving glare as she told the teams to split apart and that Gryffindor was taking a penalty time-out.
Joey found herself sprinting up the stone steps in the entrance hall in no time flat, and she skidded around a corner and up a few more flights of stairs up towards Gryffindor tower. Though the base of Gryffindor tower was on the seventh floor, Joey found herself skidding to a halt before she had even reached the fourth floor. Down the hall to her right, in a little nook in the wall, stood two figures that were unmistakably Catrina and some other random guy that Joey had presumed to be from Slytherin. Joey stormed over to them, and without even bothering to mutter a word to the couple, gripped the back of Catrina's shirt and hauled her off towards the staircase.
The two stumbled along awkwardly, as it was difficult for Joey to continue dragging Catrina around while she continued to scream and yell all the cuss words known to man.
"Would you shut up already?!" Joey shouted as she roughly let go of the back of Catrina's collar and pointed her wand in her face. Catrina stood very still, looking rather frightened at the long wand tip that was practically touching her nose. In one swift motion, Joey pointed her wand down at Catrina's stomach, muttered a few words under her breath, and watched the slut's skimpy clothing turn to the rich scarlet fabric of the Gryffindor quidditch robes. Catrina simply glared at Joey.
"I *was* coming . . ." she mumbled defensively.
"*You* almost made us forfeit the game . . . I suggest you save any of your little excuses for Weald *after* the game when he decides to skin you alive," Joey bit out caustically.
"Whatever," Catrina grumbled as she followed Joey out the door onto the Hogwarts grounds. Joey shoved Catrina onto her broom and jumped on afterwards, speeding past the grounds towards the large stadium of the quidditch pitch.
When they landed, Weald appeared so relieved to see them, he looked like he was about to kiss Joey. She smiled triumphantly at the crowd and shoved Catrina forward to get the broom Weald had collected for her from the locker room.
"You guys ready to kick some Hufflepuff butt?" she laughed as the team hurried over back towards the center of the field.
"Thanks, Joey," Weald said to her under his breath so that only she could hear. She smiled and nodded in response.
"Let's play *our* game, then!" she said confidently as Madam Hooch called out her usual demand for a 'nice clean game.' Then the bludgers were released, the snitch, and then the quaffle was thrown high into the air to signify the start of the game.
The beginning of the game started out pretty uneventful. The quaffle had been stolen about ten times and passed around the pitch for a while, when *finally* Nick stole it right in front of Amos [who was the Hufflepuff keeper] and chucked it swiftly around his left arm through the far goal ring. All of the people in the Gryffindor stands cheered wildly as the score was now 10-nill.
It seemed like Nick and Joseph were working tirelessly to keep the quaffle from being stolen, but while Catrina seemed to just float around on her duff looking pretty the entire game, it was quite difficult for them with only two chasers against three. With this disadvantage, by the time they were a ways into the game, the score was tied at 40-40. Joey and Weald were doing an awesome job controlling the bludgers around any of their own teammates, and Joey had even successfully knocked the wind out of one of the Hufflepuff chasers as he passed her during a hit.
The game seemed to be close, but still pretty clean as no one seemed to pull any cheap tricks or anything . . . but in one swift movement, that all changed. Nick had just passed the quaffle to Joseph, when Joseph was taking a break away to the Hufflepuff hoops. It took a split second for Joey to realize that Joseph was completely wide open except for the bludger that was barreling down towards him, right for his head. So she swooped down expertly, made a tight cut past Amos, knocked the bludger out of the way, and allowed Joseph to take his shot in the same instant. It all happened so quickly, that Joey didn't have enough time to react once Amos had side-swiped her after he caght the quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.
Lucky for her, she had a tight grip on the handle of her broom, so when she flung forward, her body dangling downwards to the ground, she was still hanging on by her right hand. While all of the spectators gasped in horror, she still managed to keep her cool and sling her right leg over the seat, regaining her seat on the broom. She threw a nasty glare at Amos' challenging glower, and continued on towards the other side of the field while the game rolled on.
It seemed like a century later, the score was at 50-70 hufflepuff's lead, when everyone suddenly became very aware of James Potter's scarlet figure barreling by on his Silverbullet 680. While no one could see the shiny gold snitch that the boy was clearly racing after, it was unmistakably the real thing when the Hufflepuff seeker started barreling after him in the same direction.
It took a matter of seconds for everyone, including both teams and all of the spectators, to realize that both seekers were headed directly at none other than the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Amos Diggory was wearing a look of pure dismay as he just gaped at the two boys coming at ground breaking speeds right at him. In the heat of the moment, a sudden movement from a little distance away caught the corner of Joey's eye, and she quickly used her quidditch reflexes to take advantage of the situation.
In one fluid motion, Joey sped over to the zooming bludger, caught the end of it with her bat, and sent it shooting through the sky towards Amos just as the snitch was nearing him. The bludger made one swift attack to the side of Diggory's unsuspecting body, and caused him to go rolling off into nowhere just as James' fingers closed around the snitch in the spot that Amos had occupied just moments before. The champion seeker then made a quick follow-through on his broom and swooped through and around the goal hoops back to his teammates' congratulatory arms on the ground.
"Gryffindor's done it!!! They've won the match!" a voice rang out on the overhead speakers. The Gryffindor players were in a rather large clump on the ground in the center of the quidditch pitch. They were a giant mass of hugging and cheering, and they were too busy congratulating each other to pay any attention to the disappointed and rather sore Hufflepuffs [in Amos' case anyways] who were now heading into their locker rooms. James pulled Joey aside and wrapped her in a giant hug.
"Nice hit, there, Joey!" he beamed down at her. "Wouldn't have had that snitch if you hadn't pulled off that quick-thinking move there at the end!"
"Well, thanks, James!!! But you had an AWESOME catch right at the last minute there . . . what were you going? . . . like a hundred miles an hour or something on that broom?! That's some serious skill you've got there!" she admired.
"HEY HEY!!!" Boomed out a voice behind them. "Let's hear it for the star athletes of this game's win!!!" Weald was glowing as he walked over and put his muscular arms around James' and Joey's shoulders. The entire team and the group of Gryffindors that was gathering around them all started cheering. "Awesome job today, guys . . . and EVERYONE!" he bellowed out ecstatically. "You all played fabulously . . ." everyone drew a bit silent as Catrina just stood off to the side, a scowl still plastered across her snotty features. She had done absolutely nothing but sit side-saddle on her broom the entire game. The awkward silence was beginning to get to the group, and Robert was smart enough to break it.
"WELL LET'S GO PAR-TAY THEN!!!" he bellowed out, causing the entire mob of people to cheer loudly and head up to Hogwarts castle and, eventually, the Gryffindor tower. The entire Gryffindor quidditch team didn't even bother to change out of their quidditch robes as they headed up to the celebration that was sure to last all day.
Joey was shoved along with the flow of the crowd as they all began marching off in the direction towards the castle. She almost let out a slight scream as someone came up behind her and put their arms around her waist in a huge bear hug.
"Oh, Sirius!" she laughed. "You scared me for a minute there!"
"Little jumpy, huh?!" he joked. She thumped him playfully on the stomach, and he wrapped and arm around her shoulders and brought her close to kiss her lightly on the forehead. "Awesome game, Joey!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm not sure what James would have done if you hadn't been there to slap Amos out of the way for him!" he said loudly and pointedly at a person to Joey's right. She soon realized that this person was James, and he laughed along with the couple as the recalled the look on Diggory's face as the bludger made contact with his rib cage.
"Yeah, actually . . . I think that hit must have sent Diggory off to the Hospital wing for sure!" James laughed.
"Well it's not like he didn't deserve it!" Joey said defensively. "After practically knocking me off my broom like that . . . he's lucky I didn't have an even better shot at that bludger!" All three of them laughed.
When they had finally made their way up to the Gryffindor tower, and someone had miraculously conjured up enough food and butterbeer to feed the entire school twice over, Joey and Sirius caught up with James again and now found him standing with Lily and Peter. The two said their congratulations to Joey and everyone soon got off into their own little conversations about what their favorite parts of the match were.
As Sirius got into a detailed description of Amos' face as the bludger hit him, impressions and all, both Joey and him were a bit surprised to see Remus tapping them on the shoulder with a gigantic smile on his face.
"Tremendous performance out there Joey!" Remus praised. But Joey was in too much of a thrilled astonishment to respond. Remus had his arm wrapped around a very familiar-looking Ravenclaw girl.
"Laura!!!" Joey practically screamed out. "It's so good to see you!!! Omigod! Are you- . . . what's going- . . . HOW ARE YOU?!" she said all in such a fast whirl of words that barely anyone could make out anything but the last question. Laura gave a slight laugh as she answered.
"I'm doing great!" she said happily. "And it seems you are too! Judging by that show out there . . . Congratulations!!!" she raved as she gave Joey a hug. As Joey was hugging Laura, she gave Remus a gleeful smile and a thumbs up. Remus blushed slightly and just beamed back at her.
"So what's up with you guys?" Sirius asked trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. Joey had to hide her laughter. The question was so obvious that it was pathetic. Remus shot Sirius a look before smiling cheerfully at Laura who was now looking at him. Laura was the one to answer, though.
"Oh! . . . well we've been talking . . . and we've . . . *discussed* a few issues that ummm . . . we . . . errr . . ." she hesitated long enough for Remus to give her a comforting squeeze on the arm.
"It's alright, Laura," he laughed. "They know about me," he said reassuringly.
"Oh, I see," she said understandingly. Joey and Sirius just nodded at her. "So I guess I'm inside your guys' little 'circle' now, then?" she asked with a slight tone of amusement.
"Yes . . . I'd say you are definitely inside the circle!" Joey laughed.
"And don't worry!" Sirius chimed in. "Inside the circle is a good place to be!" Joey just rolled her eyes and laughed. Sirius looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow. "What? The circle *is* a good place to be!" Joey teasingly mumbled something that sounded a lot like 'weirdo,' then waved bye to Remus and Laura and headed back over towards the table of food; Sirius in close pursuit.
Joey grabbed some food with Sirius, and they both walked over to sit on the couch away from the gigantic group of partying Gryffindors. Joey snuggled into Sirius' comfortable chest after taking a sip of her butterbeer.
"Well today was a good day . . ." she said with a sigh.
"Oh yeah?" Sirius asked thoughtfully as he began to rub Joey's back.
"Yeah!" she said with a mild tone of enthusiasm. "First we find Catrina in the nick of time so we don't have to forfeit the quidditch match . . . then we *win* game . . . with Amos getting beaten up a bit . . . then everybody's happy and celebrating . . . and now I couldn't be happier as I'm curled up on a comfortable couch with my absolutely favorite person," she said happily. "What more could a girl ask for?"
"Not much!" he said with a laugh. " . . . not much" Joey just smiled sweetly as she leaned back and kissed him heavily on his adorable lips.
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ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! So sweet . . . *sigh* I just LOVE Sirius!!! Hehehe! Hope you guys liked this chapter . . . took me like three freakin' days to write it since school started . . . and volleyball's been crazy!!! But Please Review!!! I love each and every one of you who take the few seconds to type me up a little blurb about what you're feelin' when you finish reading this update. AND STAY TUNED!!! This chapter may seem like it ended in a sweet little spot . . . BUT THERE'S STILL MORE!!!! Bring on the winter break!!! YAY!!! WOO HOO! That's next chapter, and we're gonna meet all of Joey's *oh so lovable* family . . . so give me some time on that one!!! I'm in school now and I've got a volleyball tournament this weekend so I won't have like ANY time to write! *ARGGG* But please leave me a review . . . and maybe I'll feel extra motivated and try to write whenever I find a spare moment! LOL!
THANX SO MUCH AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!! = ]
-Sara (your one and only Sportzjunkie)