just a note, i still have a few more chapters to go. i just felt like putting the end. no, for all you hopeless romantics out there, there is more. i wouldnt leave you all hanging like that. anyway, on with the show.

Chapter Thirty Two

In Which Lainie is a Mess and Lily and LIvvy attempt damage control.

Lainie was a complete mess. James wasn't speaking to her, Sirius, it seemed couldn't be in the same room as her and her friends didn't know what to say to her. And so she went through life, not really talking to anyone and reading and doing homework. She didn't talk to anyone in classes and felt constantly on the verge of tears. By Wednesday, she had managed to start talking with Lily and Livvy, when they caught her crying at her desk one night and comforted her, thankfully, as she was feeling so awful. She felt constantly on edge and as if her legs would collapse under her.

One day, the week after the 'incident', Professor Flitwick decided that they were going to work with pensieves for a change. They arrived in class to find him placing them out on the desks, one between two. They all sat down and waited for class to begin. Everything was slightly improved, Lainie didn't seem to be on the edge of a mental breakdown and was acting semi-normally. Trust, James still wasn't really talking to her and Sirius avoided her like the plague.

"Good morning, class. Now you will notice that there are pensieves on your desks. We will spend a lesson using these, as I feel that they will become very useful in the future. Now, I have put you into pairs, which I feel would benefit both of you. Now, once I have read your names, please choose a pensieve, and read the sheet of information on your desk. Then feel free to start. Now, the pairs, Clarke and McLaren, ......" Professor Flitwick chirped, from his piled of books.

Lainie stared out the window, even after a week, she still felt numb. It would go, after a while, she hoped. She wouldn't remain miserable forever, would she? And James would speak to her again, wouldn't he? And Sirius couldn't remain angry, forever, could he? She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her name.

"Robinson and Black, Stevens and Jordan.........."

"What." She said, stunned.

"Is there a problem, Miss Robinson." Professor Flitwick said, peering at her over his thick glasses.

"Um, no, sir." Lainie said, sighing.

"Good, feel free to start then. Now, where was I...." he continued.

Shit, Lainie thought, gathering up her stuff and moving over to the desk near where he was sitting. She slumped down into the chair next to him. He was sitting in the chair, staring straight ahead, as though she wasn't there. His hair flopped into his eyes and his uniform was scruffy, with his tie very loose. She thought he looked really hot, yeah, good one Lainie, she later thought, he hates you. She sat down next to him, and after looking at him anxiously once, she stared straight ahead, just like him. Although, everyone in class could see that both of them were hurting.

Just then Professor Flitwick came over, and asked them, very politely, if they would mind starting their work. They both muttered a reply. Lainie grabbed the piece of paper and began to read.

"Um, right, well, it says here, we look into it. And our thoughts will appear in the liquidy stuff." She said, nervously.

"Okay," he replied curtly.

There was a long silence, as he continued to stare sullenly at the blackboard.

"Um, well," Lainie said, after a while,

"What." He snapped.

"Do you want to go?" she said, coldly.

"You go."

"NO, you can."

"Please," he said, colder still.

"Fine," she snapped and prepared to look into the grey bowl. He watched her doing this, he black hair, falling over her shoulders, framing her face, with its brilliant light blue eyes, which glowed like some stone which he couldn't remember the name of. He knew he was supposed to be watching the pensieve but he couldn't take his eyes off her. He couldn't deny it, he did think she was gorgeous. When this thought crossed his mind, he clenched his teeth, that was over. Well, it was for her, obviously, it might take longer for him.

He couldn't deny it, as hard as he might try, she had hurt him. He was started out of his thoughts as Lainie said, curtly "Shouldn't you be watching." he mumbled something and he began to look into her pensieve.

The grey mass began to swirl and change colour. For a while, it was a swirl of grey and black but slowly an image was slowly appearing. It looked like a person, he frowned and stared at it. Hang on, was that him?

He never found out for sure, because at that moment, Lainie stood up and tipped the pensieve onto the ground. Then she ran out of the classroom, her black hair, swishing by him as she ran by him. She disappeared out of the class and all that could be heard of her was her running footsteps on the stone floor.

Everyone looked around at Sirius, who was just staring straight ahead with an unreadable expression on his face. They pensieve was lying in pieces on the floor. Everyone was silent, shocked, even James was looking worried, though he tried not to. Lily and Livvy got up and began to pick up the pieces of the pensieve. Everyone had began to whisper and shoot sneaky glances at Sirius, who glared back.

"Right, class, um please continue." Professor Flitwick said, then he bended down and whispered to Lily and Livvy, "I think you should go find your friend. Leave this to me."

They nodded and scurried out the door.

"What happened?" Lily said, as they hurried down the corridors.

"I reckon she saw something in the pensieve that she didn't want to see. And Sirius didn't seem too happy about it either." Livvy said, frowning.

"Have we lost her?" Lily said, forlornly.

"I don't know. But she needs us, now, more than ever. And we can't let her go." Livvy said, grimly.

They found her sitting on the bridge, looking out on the horizon. They approached her quietly and just stood beside her. she turned around to face the two of them, her eyes were slightly red and looked watery. She had obviously been crying, she seemed to be doing that a lot more lately. They both put an arm round her shoulders and led her to sit down on a bench.

They sat in silence and after a while, Lainie spoke, her voice shaky.

"I can't believe I did that. What did Professor say?" she said, sniffing.'

"What did you see, Lainie. In the pensieve." Livvy persisted.

"Was it that obvious?" Lainie said with a thin smile.

"Kinda, you ran out of the room, and Sirius just stayed glaring at the blackboard." Lily said, patting her friends arm. Lainie had flinched when she heard the name.

"Yeah, well, I just didn't want to see it. The only thought in my mind, well, that's was the pensieve said, was him." Lainie finished, sighing.

"Oh," Livvy and Lily said together.

"Yeah, well, I suppose it was only proving what I knew already." Lainie said.

The other two were shocked. But didn't have time to say anything, as Remus and James were walking towards them. After having a few awkward exchanges of words, they walked off, Lily and James, Livvy and Remus, and her, at the back, alone.

When that week finally finished, everyone was relieved. James had kind of started talking to her again. Kind of, and though she thought it would make it better it didn't. She was still feeling unhappy. And she was beginning to wonder whether it would stop at all. She was confused. Was she sure she didn't love him. And why did she always have to leave the room, if he tried to flirt with some other girl. Well, at least she knew he wasn't finding it easy to move on. He just didn't look interested.

Downstairs, James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were sitting talking. Though no one was very chatty, least of all Sirius.

"You know, mate. Your going to have to move on soon." James said.

"Yeah, I know." Sirius admitted.

"You still have girls hanging off you. It shouldn't be a problem." Peter said, almost jealously.

"Yeah. Um,what did she see in that pensieve, you know that made her run." Remus asked.

"Me," Sirius said, sadly.

"What, so you were the only thought on her mind." James said, in disbelief.

"Seems so," Sirius said, trying to act unconcerned.

"Oh," James said.

"Yeah,"

"Right," This was followed by a long silence.

"Um, shall we go get some food." Remus suggested, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah." Everyone agreed and they all trooped off to the kitchen.

Later that night Lily and James were sitting on James's bed. James was playing with Lily's hair, twirling a strand around his fingers. Lily turned round and looked into James's hazel eyes. She reached over and grabbed his hand, "James" she said, messing up his hair further, "You allright?"

James looked back into her eyes, which were full of concern and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, I will be fine."

"You need to give Lainie a break, James. Can't you see it's messing her up? She needs you."

"But, I'm sure she loves him."

"Okay James, but let her make her own decision and just be her friend. Step out, James. Sorry, but we all think that you try and dictate her life a bit too much. Just support her in her decisions." Lily said.

"Fine, but it may take a while to get back to normal."

"That's fine. Just don't ignore her."

"Okay." James said, leaning over and kissing Lily.

"Night, James." Lily said, getting up and walking out of his room. James got over and went to see his friends who were getting ready for bed.

"Night guys, quidditch tomorrow." He said, smiling.

"Yip. We better win, it secures us a place in the finals." Sirius said, pulling up his duvet.

"See you in the morning." Remus said, also getting into bed.

"Night all." James said, rolling over and settling down to sleep.

and there it is. not the end, no still about ten more chapters. but the next one should be interesting. review, and thank you for all those people who reviewed. i love you all. and my fabulous beta reader for helping me out.