Disclaimer- Do I need to spell it out for you? IT-IS-NOT-MINE.

Authoress's Note- Whoo hoo! Who updated twice in one day? Me! I'm on a happy kick from finally getting done with finals! Yay! I really hope you all read my new story "Clawing My Way to the Top" about Rita Skeeter! I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but it's relatively necessary to the plot so... hope you like it! E.D.J.

Thanks for the gorgeous reviews!

ThelovelyladyLily- I'm glad you liked "Two Idiots Fight Over a Sickle: Bigger Idiots Wins"! And of course Sirius's lovely insinuating!

magiclover53- Yay I like balloons and confetti! Yes I love Em and Remus they are really fun to write together!

MagicFairyDuster- I'll try to keep writing great!

brooklyngirl- Ooh superhyperhappyfun-ness! Cool word. You know what word I hate though that is similar to that? Perky. -shudders- It sounds like some pepped up cheerleader (not that I really have anything against cheerleaders, but I would NEVER be one)! If someone EVER calls me "perky", they've gone the right way for a fist in the face. He he. Did you see the Recommended Reading list I added to my personal profile? If not, and if you still need a book for your book project or simply a book to read, look on there! Ah yes, Ella Enchanted ranting... -grins evilly- Where do I start? I actually rented it to see if it was as bad as everyone said and it WAS! -shudder- The Prince was NOT Char, he was ugly as heck. And I really have a loathing for Anne Hathaway for getting cast in so many rolesin good books turned to horrible movies (coughThe Princess Diaries cough) Anyway they tried to make the movie too COMEDIC. Mandy (Minnie Driver, ack) couldn't do magic to save her life and everyone (especially the fairies) were wearing like cheap Halloween costumes for the love of pie! And did the book ever once mention Prince Char having a fan club, Ella hating Char went she first meets him, or elves and ogres being enslaved and forced to entertain people? -shudder x 10- And Char had an evil uncle with a stupid computer-generated snake who wants to steal the throne? -shakes head- How dare they. I pity Gail Carson Levine I really do. They only thing that stood out that I thought was remotely funny was when someone in Prince Char's fan club asked "Prince Char, are you a fast runner?" He answered, "No not particularly. Why?" Then they chased after him. Semi-funny but I would have gladly given that scene up for an accurate movie. -sighs-

Tash- Merlin, read it all in one go? You have patience, Tash! Ah the ever center question, will Em find out if Remus is a werewolf? The answer is yes of course. But the question is how she will react?

skippy- I'm glad you think some of my other fic ideas are good! I'm glad you like the Weasleys idea! I greatly enjoyed writing the bit that I have so far. Yes there are no Remus fics that don't consist of slash or cross-generation. -vomits- Perhaps if I get inspired I'll write a short little ficlet about him or something. I'm not up for a long project until Seven Years of Marauding which is going to be a long LONG time. Of yes and I'm a complete and utter American! Thank you so much for the compliment on my being able to write British points of view well! I give all credit to my obsessive rereading of Harry Potter (meaning all credit to J.K. Rowling) and spending a lot of time on websites devoted to British words and their English translations. I'm not obsessive enough to change spellings of words to the British spellings; I don't have the time. Glad you love the quotes on my page too!

Ch. 21- 'Breakup' is Such a Strong Word

Sirius Black was on a mission: to win Monica Longbottom's heart. He'd stripped himself of everything in his dating arsenal. No charm, no lewd jokes, no 'flings on the side' as Emmeline had so eloquently put it, and now, what was left? Only a handsome (of course you still had to give him that) little schoolboy with a massive crush. Sirius had been taken down a few pegs from his former 'I-don't-really-give-a-fuck-I'm-roguishly-handsome' attitude to something a bit more average.

A bit more pathetic would be more appropriate, thought Sirius sullenly, trudging across the sand. If this doesn't work, I'm going to be forced to beg, he grumbled. Not that that's much of a problem. My Animagus form is a dog after all. It's just so…

Pathetic? suggested a voice in his mind. The rather chatty one who tended to sound a lot like Remus.

"Moony'd be proud to know he comes with me wherever I go," Sirius grumbled aloud, carelessly punching the doorbell of Ambre's house.

Her home wasn't nearly as nice as James or Hestia's, but still, it was her family's summer home, which meant something in the kinds of circles rich wizards tended to run in. Ambre had proudly gushed about her home in the French countryside and the penthouse flat in Paris, it was quite apparent that her family, the Devereuxes, was relatively well off.

Sirius jumped out of his thoughts as the door was flung open. "Sirius!" squealed Ambre, flying out the door and throwing her arms around him. "Zis is unexpected!"

He staggered backward for she was nearly as tall as he was. Uncomfortably, he patted her back awkwardly. "Hello, Ambre."

She looked up at him searchingly, a question in her eyes. "What is ze matter? You look 'orrible."

"Do I?" said Sirius faintly, running a hand through his hair nervously. "Ambre, I can't do this anymore."

"Ah," said Ambre meaningfully, pulling him down onto the swing on the house's front porch. "I knew zat zis would 'appen eventually. Frankly, I am surprised you've 'ung on zis long."

"What?" asked Sirius, confused.

"You are 'ere to break up wiz me because you fancy zat Monica girl," replied Ambre, smiling knowingly at him.

"What? How did you-"

"It was in your eyes when we saw 'er saw Monica and 'er boyfriend in ze restaurant," she said, moving her long legs so the swing moved gently back and forth. "It is quite alright, Sirius. I am actually starting to miss my old boyfriend, Gustave. You are wonderful, but it is not ze same when our 'earts are elsewhere."

"Thank you, Ambre," he said, standing up and kissing her on the cheek. "I really mean it. I hope Gustave is really the bloke of your dreams."

"And I 'ope Monica is the girl of yours," she said with a wink. "Now you must go get 'er!"

"But she's still dating Gavin!" moaned Sirius. "And she still hates me!"

"She does not 'ate you," said Ambre quietly. "She is afraid."

"Of what?"

"What is zer not to be afraid of in zis world?" sighed Ambre philosophically. "She is afraid of being 'urt, being rejected. If you looked closely, as I did when I met her, you would be able to see."

"Why does it have to be so complicated?" he grumbled. "Why can't it be easy?"

"Nothing in love is easy," Ambre quipped, twisting a strand of blonde hair around her finger. "What would be ze point if it was?"

"You're right," Sirius grinned. "Hopefully it will all work out in the end."

"Be good to 'er," she warned. "Monica does not come off as a girl who will let you order 'er around."

"Merlin, I hope not!" laughed Sirius. "What's a relationship without some healthy arguments? And if it works out, we're bound to have plenty."

"Monica! I haven't seen you in ages! I missed you! My heart was dying!" yelled Gavin as he opened the door to find her on his doorstep. He picked her up, twirling her around and kissing her cheek.

"It's nice to see you too!" said Monica, her voice bright with false cheer. "I came here because I have to talk to you about something."

"All right, take a seat on the most comfortable stairs in the world!" said Gavin brightly, motioning to the steps up to his front door.

Monica sat and he put his arm around her, commenting on how 'perfectly' she fit in his arms. She stiffened and pulled away from him.

"What's the matter?" breathed Gavin, looking at her questioningly.

"Gavin, I-" began Monica, "-need to be alone for awhile. My thoughts are horribly cluttered and I just need to be by myself. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so," he said, his bottom lip trembling slightly. "Yes, I understand."

"Thank you, Gavin," said Monica, hugging him. "That means a lot that this doesn't have to be something really messy. It leaves me one less thing to worry about."

She stood up and was walking back across the beach when Gavin shouted, "If Sirius isn't the luckiest bloke in the world, I don't know who is."

"What?" asked Monica incredulously, hurrying back over to him. "What did you just say?"

"You know what I said, Monica," Gavin said, grinning slightly. "You two are nearly as obvious about it as James and Lily. The little hate/hate acts can be rather convincing at times, but it's not real, is it?"

"Not usually," she confessed. "But it's just so complicated."

"Why?" asked Gavin. "To me, it seems like the easiest thing in the world."

"Well, you're not in the middle of it!" snapped Monica. She instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry. I've been on edge for a week over this."

"What is it your so afraid of?"

"I won't be one of his trophy girls," she said stubbornly. "I promised myself I'd never be reduced to a… notch on his bedpost."

"Has he ever said that? Has he ever said that he wants you as a trophy?"

"Well, no, but-"

"But nothing. I'm sure there's a good many rumors floating around Hogwarts about Sirius, right?" asked Gavin. Monica nodded. "Well, you just have to remember not every rumor is true and that at one point or another you're going to have to take a chance on something. Maybe not on Sirius, but on something or someone else."

"Thanks, you're so great," said Monica, hugging him again. "I just need to think this through."

"Sometimes overanalyzing can make you fear something even more," said Gavin wisely.

Monica nodded and headed back to Hestia's house.

As both Sirius and Monica trudged home, slightly less heavy-hearted, Lily, Hestia, Emmeline, Remus, James, and Peter were contemplating the situation between their two friends. Even though Emmeline hadn't mentioned to the Marauders that Monica had confessedthat she fanciedSirius, it seemed to be common knowledge among them. ("Only Sirius is thick enough not to see it," Remus had quipped. "It's not really our place to tell him anyway. He has to figure it out himself.")

"Five Galleons says one of them chickens out," James said, taking a handful of coins out of his pocket and flinging them on the table.

"You're on," challenged Emmeline. "I have a little faith in my friends."

"A Galleon says Monica breaks first and tells him," said Lily, forgetting her inhibitions about underage gambling and tossing a Galleon on the table.

"Dropping a lot of gold there, aren't you, Evans?" smirked James. "Honestly, a Galleon?"

"Forgive me! I'm sorry I don't have a nice pile of money on me at all times," snapped Lily. "We shouldn't even be gambling! It's-"

Hestia had forced a hand over Lily's mouth and had dropped three Galleons on Sirius being the first to confess.

Peter was too tight-fisted to bet at all and Emmeline and Remus were now more interested in paying attention to each other than to the pile of coins in front of them.

"Well, aren't you two just besotted with each other?" said Lily, pretending to be disgusted but actually thinking Em and Remus were rather cute. "I blame you, Remus," she added.

"I gladly take all the blame and then some," said Remus dryly and Emmeline turned red and giggled.

"Hey! What are we betting on?" asked a voice from the doorway.

Everyone whirled around to see Sirius. Everyone quickly scooped their money off the table and shoved it into their pockets.

"We weren't betting on anything, Padfoot," said James, his voice slightly high-pitched. "We were just seeing who had the most gold in their pockets."

"Fine, don't tell me," sighed Sirius, pretending to look forlorn, but everyone could tell that he looked much happier than he had in days. "I'll just tell you that Ambre is gone and I am completely and utterly single now."

"I never thought I'd see the day," said Remus, pretending to wipe away a tear. "Now you'll know how I feel every day. Used to feellike," he corrected, grinning at Emmeline.

"Last time I insinuate anything ever!" shouted Sirius, covering his eyes. "I leave for an hour and come back to find you two like this? Never again!"

"It's not time for the melodramatics, Black," said Lily, in a bored tone, motioning for Sirius to sit down. "You may as well sit down while we wait to see if your object of affection really broke it off with Gavin."

"What?!" he breathed, putting a hand to his forehead. "What did you just say?!"

"After you went to go break it off with Ambre, Monica went to go get rid of Gavin," Hestia repeated since Lily had rolled her eyes and refused to speak to the idiot any longer.

"But why?" asked Sirius.

"Are you really that daft, Padfoot?" asked James incredulously. "You seem to being doing a very good job of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Merlin, do you need us to spell it out for you?" snapped Emmeline. "Think about what Hestia just said. After you told her you were getting rid of Ambre, she immediately takes off to break up with Gavin."

Sirius paused for a moment and let it sink in. Slowly, his face turned a bright shade of red. Everyone stared at him. Sirius never blushed. "Oh dear Merlin! I…I think I need to lie down," said Sirius, slightly dazed.

Everyone switched seats so he could lie on the sofa. After a few moments, the first thing that came out of Sirius's mouth was: "Dammit! What am I supposed to do now?"

Sowhat'd ya'll think? Care to send me a little review? (nudge, nudge) Butfirst I have question for you all: Anyone horribly against a cliched Truth or Dare game coming up in this fic? I swear no Marauders will be playing, just the girls with most likely Lily and Em teaching Hestia and Monica the rules. Any opinions? -grins evilly- You never know what's bound to happen when Truth or Dare enters the mix. Ican't promise I won'twrite it even if you all hate the idea! It's my fic! Butplease tell me your opinion!E.D.J.