Okay, now I'm working on my NEXT chapter (sticks tongue out at G&WF)

............. . . . . . . . . .

"So may I have the name of the girl who I've now stepped on and bumped heads with?" Sirius asked lightly.

She hesitated a moment

"Bane."

"Bane . . . . it suits you." His voice had dropped to near a whisper and their faces were moving closer together . . .

. . . . . at the last moment, 'Bane' turned her head and Sirius' lips met her cheek. (A/N: I wonder if you saw that coming . . . . . (laughs))

Sirius mentally cursed as a voice rang out, "Oy, Sirius! Are you tormenting the girls again?"

He whirled around. "Go back to your hole and die, Regulus!"

Sirius's younger brother was standing in the entrance to the Great Hall. He had inherited the Black family's good looks as much as Sirius had, but his eyes held none of the kindness that Sirius's did. He was just over a year younger than the Gryffindor and they were as different as night and day, save a few things. Both were proud and determined, and both hated each other with a passion. At this moment, Regulus was obviously drunk, having smuggled fire whiskey into the school earlier that day.

"I'll go back to my 'hole' but only with her!" He pointed to Fynn. And smirked nastily.

Sirius yelled back something nasty, and the two began a verbal spat which neither won, having had much practice with rhetoric. While their attentions were otherwise engaged, Fynn stole away over the side of the balcony. She went back up to Gryffindor Tower, cursing the whole Black family all the way there.

Later, when Lily came back up to their dorm, (After having heard Sirius complain about his arse of a brother and idolize this new girl) she assumed Fynn was asleep. This was not the case, as the tall girl spent most of the night thinking about what could have happened.

The next morning, Lily found that Fynn did NOT want to wake up. It took the petite redhead at least a half hour to get her out of bed, and she only conceded when threatened with Lily bringing Sirius and James up to pry her out of bed.

When Fynn finally did get up and get dressed, Lily smiled at her and said, "Come on! The boys are waiting. So how was the ball?"

The only response Lily got was a grunt and a mutter about how she was 'too damn perky' in the morning.

Lily laughed and pulled the taller girl down the stairs to where Frank and Bill were waiting. (A/N: I'm going to try and show the Lily/James conflict now . . .)

When they arrived at breakfast, They took a seat near the end of the table, but not nearly far enough from James to please Lily. When she said this, Fynn turned to her and said, "You were civil enough to him last night, and I didn't see him bothering you."

Lily made a face, and Bill said, "Well, you did have to double dare her to go with him."

Frank nodded, "And even that didn't work until you suggested that she was afraid of him."

Lily scoffed. "I resent that! In any case, how would YOU have known if I was civil to him or not? I didn't see you the whole night!"

"I was there."

"Sure." Lily continued muttering to herself.

"What did you go as last night Fynn?" Bill asked.

Fynn looked at the young red-head, who made a puppy dog face at her. She sighed. "I just wore a green dress."

Lily seemed to recall someone with a green dress, but she couldn't remember anything more.

"So it WAS you." It was not a question.

Fynn whirled around to see Regulus standing behind her with an interested look on her face. She glared at him.

"A little feisty I see. This will be continued later." He retreated back to the Slytherin table just as James, Sirius, and Remus walked over.

"Hello, my flower." James took Lily's hand and kissed it. Lily pulled her hand away and glared at James.

"Potter, what do you want?"

"I only want to bask in your beauty."

"Why don't you go bask in your ego? It's HOT ENOUGH!"

"Are you calling me hot, my dear Lily?"

"BLOODY HELL NO!"

Fynn sighed and turned to Remus. "Hello Remus. Lovely weather we're having isn't it?"

Remus shook his head, "Absolutely. Say, Fynn, I was wondering if you can help me with my History of Magic Essay this afternoon."

Fynn looked at Remus questioningly. As the top of the class, Remus hardly needed help with his homework. "I would be happy to."

"Oh good. I'll meet you in the common room at one."

Fynn nodded. "Well I'd better go follow Lily." Lily had just gone storming off in the direction of the Common Room. She passed by James on the way out, "Excellent job, James."

"Why do you always have to bother Lily?" Frank asked.

"It was her bothering me!" James said. He crossed his arms and made a face.

"So, do you two know of any girls with long black hair?" Sirius slipped into the seat Fynn had vacated.

"Not any besides Fynn." Bill replied.

"Ah well . . ."

................. . . . . . . . .

(Gryffindor Tower, Day before Christmas Vacation)

Fynn found Lily pacing around the common room. Bade was stretched out on the couch near them. "Come off it Lily, he's not THAT bad."

Lily glared at her. "He infuriates me! He's so ARROGANT! You've seen how he plays with the snitch all the time!"

"Have you ever considered that he's just trying to impress you?"

"NO! He thinks I'm just another one of those bimbo girls who just fall at his feet."

Fynn raised an eyebrow. "Kind of like how you think he's a perverted guy who can't stay in a relationship to save his soul from any of the seven hells?"

"Exact- . . . NO!" Lily glared at Fynn, who grinned back. "Argh!" She threw a pillow at the tall girl.

"Now now, people might begin to suggest you have an anger management problem."

Lily snorted. "Yeah, I'd really chuck a chair across the room if Sirius stole MY History of Magic report like SOMEONE I know did."

"It took me ALL day to write that bloody thing! Anyway, it wasn't across the WHOLE room." Fynn said. "It's not my fault I haven't had anywhere to vent since I came here. It's not like we have regular archery lessons."

"Archery! I've ALWAYS wanted to learn how to use a bow!"

Fynn laughed. They spent a while talking and joking. (And complaining about James) When other people began to filter back into the common room Lily began discussing a book with Allison Miller and Fynn let Bill beat her at chess. (Not that it took much) When no one was really paying much attention, Fynn slipped up to the dorm with Bade. She opened the trunk at the foot of her bed and inhaled deeply. The contents smelled of pine and birch. She pulled out a heavy silver-grey cloak and put it over her shoulders. For a moment it seemed as if she was back in the forest in Wales. She opened the window near her bed and climbed out. She and Bade sat on the small ledge Bade had found. They looked out over the grounds and to the Forbidden forest.

She could see the students down below. There were Sirius, James, Remus and Peter sitting by a tree near the lake. Lily, Frank, Bill, Allison and some other students were sitting on the bank of the lake. Fynn smiled at the thought of her friends. She was fortunate that they were so accepting here, at least in her house. As she became lost in her thoughts, she did not notice Remus get up and head back into the castle. She noticed little after that until a voice called her name.

"Fynn?" Someone was calling for her from the dorm.

"What? Remus? I'm out here."

Remus stuck his head out the window. "What are you doing?" She looked rather odd, sitting on the roof of Hogwarts in a silver cloak with a black wolf curled up at her feet.

"Thinking." Fynn said.

"Sounds delightful. Mind if I join you?" Remus began to climb out of the window. (A/N: Okay, I know it may seem a little unlike Remus to be in the girls' dormitory and climbing on the roof, but it's a fairly large ledge)

Fynn shook her head. "You didn't bring your essay." Remus had used his usual excuse of homework help to come and talk to her. They got on really well and had gotten really close.

Remus flushed a little at this. After he sat down, he said, "Ah, well, I must confess that I may have . . . . exaggerated needing help with that. I suppose you could have guessed though."

Fynn nodded. "I may have had an inclination. Care to tell me the real reason why you wanted to talk to me?"

Remus studied his shoes for a moment and then said, "Well, I was wondering, that is . . . do you KNOW?"

"That depends. Do you mean do I know that you have a horrible crush on Allison, or do I know that you're a werewolf?" Fynn replied.

Remus paled. "That about covers it."

"Then yes, I 'know'." She smiled at him. "However, that does not mean anything to me. Remus, I spend half my time with a wolf, what should it matter that you are a wolf one day out of the month? In addition, Allison is a wonderful girl who ALSO wouldn't care that you are a werewolf."

Remus grinned at her. "Thanks Fynn. It means a lot to me that you know and are still friends with me."

Faye's face became shadowed for a moment. "We all have our secrets that we fear someone will find out."

Remus bowed his head. He knew that if she needed for him to know, she would tell him whatever was on her mind.

She shook out of it, "So what did you think about that Magical Creatures lesson?"

Remus and Fynn began a heated discussion on the relevance of fairy dust to their curriculum.

................... . . . . . . . . . .

In the Common Room downstairs, Sirius was looking for Remus. "Oy, Evans, Have you seen Remus?"

"I think he's upstairs with Fynn. Why do you need to know Black?" Lily replied, looking up from the book she was reading. Sirius did not answer and made his way up the stairs to the girls' dorms. "Black?! Where do you think you're going? Black!?"

Sirius entered the 6th-year's dorms and looked around for Remus and Fynn. He was surprised when he did not see them until he heard voices from outside the window. He was about to stick his head out when something caught his eye. A sleeve of green was sticking out of an open trunk at the foot of one of the beds. It was of the same green that Sirius's mystery girl had been wearing. You would even be right to say that it WAS the sleeve that Sirius's mystery girl had been wearing. Sirius kneeled in front of the trunk and picked up the sleeve. He looked at the top of the trunk where it's owner's name was carved. 'Tynan Fynnea Faye, Vrein Delaime ud Vaelth' Sirius's mouth dropped. That had been FAYE??????

"Yes, I do believe I would enjoy some dinner. Let's go." Remus said as he climbed back into the window. He stood up inside and then looked over at Sirius in surprise.

"Sirius, what are you . . .?"

"Sirius?" Fynn said as she climbed back through, followed by Bade. "Where? What?" She looked over at Sirius and realized what he was holding and what he must have realized.

Sirius looked from Remus to Fynn in confusion. "I- . . . . uh . . . . I was looking for Remus."

"Then why are you in Fynn's trunk?" Remus was thoroughly confused and slightly irritated by his friend's behavior. He knew that Sirius was a 17-year old boy and was a flirt, but going through someone's clothes was a little over the top, even for Sirius or James.

Fynn wished that she could disappear. At her side, Bade began to growl at Sirius. Sirius stood up and backed away.

"Calm down Bade. Good boy. That's it. I just-"Bade nearly bit Sirius's hand off.

"Sirius." Remus said warningly. "We need to leave."

Sirius nodded and walked out the door with a backwards glance at Fynn. Remus followed him with an apologetic look at Fynn. Fynn was suddenly not at all happy that she was staying for the holidays. Her cousin and Dumbledore had decided that it was not safe for her to go back with all of the recent activity of the wizard calling himself Voldemort. Lily was not staying, and neither was Bill. She remembered vaguely that James had said he was going home, but she knew Remus and Sirius were not. She sighed and put her head in her hands; she had NO idea about how she was going to deal with this new complication in her life.

.................... . . . . . . . .

Well that seems like a good place to stop. And it's not REALLY a cliff hanger . . .

Please review and tell me what you think.