Chapter 7

The following morning, the marauders sat at the Gryffindor table in the great hall, hastily trying to finish their potions homework while downing their breakfast. Remus, who was the only one who had finished all his homework the night before, carefully glanced down towards the door every few seconds while enjoying his leisure breakfast.

"Wonder what happened with Dominique last night" Sirius said, as he scribbled words across his parchment, "oh damn," he muttered, as he scratched out what he had just written, "wrote Dominique's name instead of dorchet affect..."

"Maybe we shouldn't bother her about it" Remus said, resting his teacup on his saucer. "She doesn't like it when people try to get her to talk...she likes to keep things to herself"—

"if whatever happened to her was bad enough to make her cry, she's got to talk...damn, I did it again..." Sirius said as he once again began to scratch out what he just wrote.

"I'm sure she'll come around, but we just shouldn't pester her about it, that's all..." Remus said, glancing over at the great hall entrance again. Just then, Dominique, Alice and Lily entered the hall, and took seats at the Gryffindor table not far from where the boys sat.

Sirius looked up from his homework just in time to see Dominique taking a seat. As he shut his book and got up, Remus took hold of his arm and pulled him back down. "Sirius"--

"But I wanna know!"

"He's right, Sirius. Leave her alone for now..." James said, not looking up from his homework. "Oi, what the hell is the dorchet affect?" He asked, glancing up at his friends. Upon seeing Sirius glare at him, he dropped his head down, and reached for his book. "Nevermind I'll look it up myself."

At the other end of the table, Alice and Lily stared squarely at Dominique.

"Ok, tell us now would you? Before Kierra wakes up and comes down here.." Alice said.

"I don't get why you don't want her to know..." Lily added.

"Because it has to do with her! Well, indirectly anyway...ok," Dominique said, glancing back at the door to make sure Kierra hadn't arrived yet, "so yesterday afternoon, when I was studying with Remus, we had a little talk"--

"Wait he's involved with this?" Lily asked. Dominique nodded. "He was acting as if he had nothing to do with this! Said you must've been sick, that's why you didn't turn up for dinner"--

Dominique shook her head. "Understandable that he lied, don't blame him much either...but yes, he's involved with this.." and Dominique proceeded to tell the girls of the conversation between Remus and herself.

"...and then I just realized, oh my gosh, he shouldn't like me, aside from the fact that I'm going out with his best friend, he should be going out with my best friend...well, one of my best friends," Dominique added with a smile. "I just thought of Kierra knowing about this, and it made me sick. She's liked him for ages, and here I go, making him fall in love with me, when I'm supposed to be helping her get him, you know? I felt like such a traitor!"

"But you didn't mean to, D!" Lily said, "You never sought his affections, had you done so, then you might be in the wrong, but you haven't done anything treacherous.."

"She's right," Alice spoke up, "you're just in one of those sticky situations where it's nobody's fault...really. Can't blame yourself...Remus could hardly help himself. You said he wasn't happy about all of this...Nor can blame be on Kierra for liking him, or for Sirius for liking you."

"So did you go to Dumbledore to talk to him about it?" Lily asked. Dominique nodded at the girls as they stared at her incredulously.

"What? He's my uncle!"

"I know! But...it's Dumbledore..." Alice said.

"What'd he say?" Lily asked.

"Oh...nothing of consequence..." Dominique answered as she thought about how Dumbledore seemed to know everything. "I just wanted someone to talk to, vent out on, that's it. Well, whenever Kierra comes around, I'm gonna make up some story...I don't think I can tell her that Remus likes me..." Alice and Lily nodded in agreement, and turned to their breakfast.

"Er, what's this?" Lily asked, pointing at a plate of small sandwiches, that seemed to be stuffed with red-orange cheese.

"Pain perdu...it's French..." Dominique answered, turning to look at the head table where the staff sat. She cast a look at Dumbledore, who was watching her with interest. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, his eyes twinkling through his half moon shaped glasses.

"Shoot, Kierra's coming!" Alice said, nudging Dominique. She turned her head back in the direction of the great hall entrance, and saw none other than Kierra, looking very groggy. She sleepily took a seat across from Dominique, her eyes half open. "Morning" she mumbled, not looking up at anyone. No one spoke for about two minutes. Finally, Lily stood up and grabbed her books. "Well, I'm heading to potions, I'll see you guys there! Come on Alice!" Lily said, throwing her a sharp look.

"But I haven't finished—oh wait," she interrupted herself when she saw Lily's look, "I have…ok, see you guys in potions then" Alice said, following Lily out of the great hall.

It wasn't until the girls had left when Kierra looked up and actually noticed that Dominique sat in front of her.

"D! Hey! What happened last night? Are you o.k?"

Dominique smiled slightly as she helped herself to some pain perdu. "Yea, I'm O.K…I…um…." 'Think, Dominique, think!' She wracked her brains trying to come up with an excuse. "well, I just….thinking…of…."

"What…thinking of what?" Kierra stared at her with wide awake eyes.

"France…" Dominique blurted out. "I was thinking of home…I was feeling homesick…I miss Paris…I kind of miss Beauxbatons…and the people there…" Well, it wasn't a complete lie…she did miss Paris, and she did miss some people from Beauxbatons….just some of her professors, not so much any of the students. She hadn't any real friends there, she had pretty much been a loner those six years she had spent there.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Kierra said sympathetically. "I understand…you've spent so much time there…" Dominique nodded. She felt terrible for lying, but she'd feel even worse if she told Kierra the truth.

"So then you went to see Dumbledore?" Kierra asked.

"Er…yea…well, I was just feeling all depressed about it…and I wanted to talk to someone, family…but I don't have any except Dumbledore…so that's why I went to him." Dominique looked straight a Kierra, to see if she was buying it. Kierra had opened her mouth to say something, but then she looked more closely at Dominique and then closed her mouth, pursing her lips together. Dominique fidgeted nervously with her fork and knife. She did not look convinced. However, Kierra simply nodded, and started on her breakfast.

Just then, the two girls were joined by Peter, James, Remus, and Sirius, whom all took seats with them.

"Morning" Sirius said to Dominique, "How's it going?"

Dominique shrugged, determined not to look at any of the boys, especially at Remus.

"So are you gonna tell us what happened yesterday, or what?" James blurted out, immediately getting dirty looks from Remus and Sirius that said he was being insensitive.

Dominique looked up, staring straight at James, who was sitting across from her, watching her intently. She immediately looked back down. "Oh, right…well"—

"She was just homesick," Kierra answered for her.

"Homesick?" Sirius asked.

"Yea, she's been going to Beauxbatons for six years, of course she would be"—

"Hey, why don't you let her talk?" Sirius interjected, with an air of impatience.

"I am," Dominique answered. "I just miss everything about Paris, and Beauxbatons."

"Well why didn't you say anything?" Peter asked.

"I just wanted to be with family. And seeing as Dumbledore…hey wait a minute, no one ever told me how you guys knew that I was talking to him!" Dominique looked around the table, demanding for one of them to give her an explanation. Finally, Sirius let out a sigh, and opened up his school bag and pulled out a piece of battered up parchment.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He said, tapping the parchment with his wand. Suddenly, a map of Hogwarts appeared on the parchment.

Dominique stared at it. "The Marauders"—

"Yes, see here," Sirius interrupted her. "Look at the names. I'm Padfoot, Remus is Moony, Peter is Wormtail, and James is Prongs. We made this map. Anyway, it shows you everyone's movements throughout the school. Comes in handy sometimes" he said, casting a look at Dominique. But she was not staring at the map. She was staring at the names above the map. "Moony…" she said more to herself than out loud, "of course…but…" she broke off and looked at the boys, as if trying to piece a puzzle together.

"Well, mischief managed" Sirius said, tapping the map with his wand before rolling it up. "So you're ok then?" he asked, looking into Dominique's eyes. Dominique however, did not look back at him, but preferred to look at the floor when she answered "yea, I'm fine".

Just then Kierra stood up and grabbed her bag. "We're gonna be late for potions, come on." With that, the boys and Dominique followed suite, and made their way to potions.

As they made their way down the crowded corridors, Sirius and James walked close together, discussing something in low tones. Kierra had only heard Sirius say 'Snivellus' at some point, so she figured they were planning a prank of Severus Snape. She in turn, was being tailed by Peter, who kept asking her questions about the potions essay they were to turn in today.

Dominique, who was walking along side with Kierra, had noticed that Remus had lagged behind, and walked a few feet behind them. She glanced at Kierra, who was conversing with Peter, and looked back at Sirius and James, who were deep in conversation, before she slowed her pace down to let Remus catch up with her.

"Hey" she said quietly.

"You ever consider going into acting, D?" he replied just as softly.

She smiled slightly. "I don't think any of them bought it. Well, I know Kierra didn't"—

"What do you mean?"

"I could just tell, the way she looked at me. I don't think she believed me. But I don't think she'll inquire further. James and Sirius looked a bit suspicious though…"

"You didn't have to lie, you know"

"Yes I did" Dominique said, glancing at Remus. "How do you think Sirius would have reacted if I told him the truth?"

Remus looked thoroughly depressed. "I'm sorry. I never should've said anything…making you lie to all your friends like this…" Dominique said nothing to this, so Remus continued, "I should've kept my feelings to myself. And," he hesitated for a moment, "I…think I'm…getting over…well, you…"

Dominique looked up at him, but again remained silent.

"This morning, this one girl, Elaine…I don't know if you know her…well, she's in ravenclaw, our year"—

"She that part-veela girl?" Dominique interrupted.

"yea…well, I ran into her on my way to breakfast, and she asked me out, to the Hogsmead trip this Saturday."

Dominique gave him a funny look. He couldn't tell if she was upset with him for going out with Elaine, or just surprised. After a moment's stare at him, Dominique finally smiled and said "good for you" though Remus had the distinct feeling that she didn't really mean it.

James glanced back at Dominique and Remus, who were now trailing behind them several feet, before turning to Kierra and Peter.

"Oy, Kierra," she and Peter walked closer to him and Sirius to hear him, "hey about Dominique, was she really upset because of being homesick?"

Kierra glanced back at Dominique, who was talking quietly to Remus. "That's what she said to me. But I honestly don't believe that. Why would she have run off to the bathroom and cried in there for an hour, just over being homesick?"

"That's true," agreed James, "I wasn't even thinking about that. It's just that whenever she spoke, she never looked at any of us in the eye"—

"Something had to have happened to her." Kierra said. James, Kierra, and Peter all turned to Sirius to see what he thought.

He looked up thoughtfully at them. "Yea I don't think she was being honest either. She's hiding something…but we can't force her to say anything, can we? I suppose we're better off leaving her alone. Like Remus was saying, she'll come around. If she does, she'll probably tell him first."

The others nodded in agreement, as Remus and Dominique had finally caught up to them. Finally, they reached their potions class in the dungeons, a few minutes late.

Several hours later, Kierra, Lily, Alice and Dominique, sat in the Gryffindor common room, trying to get some homework done before dinner. It was quite a task to really get anything done, considering how James and Sirius were playing wizards chess nearby and were making quite a racket as they did so.

"Come on, you stupid knight! Slam that bloody pawn!" James had been shouting at one of his chess pieces.

Lily rolled her eyes as she heard a crashing noise coming from the chess board. "How are we ever going to get our homework done with those morons around here?" she said.

"You do know we've got another essay due tomorrow for Ancient Runes, don't you?" Kierra called over to James and Sirius. "Did you boys even start it?"

"Check mate!" Sirius shouted, and jumping up, pointing at James. "HAH!"

James glared at Sirius and got up as well, picking up the chessboard. "No, we didn't start it. Actually, that reminds me Kierra, can I borrow your notes for that class? I'm a bit lost and"—

"Why can't you ever take your own notes, Potter?" Kierra said, searching through her bag.

"Because Kiki, you're so much cleverer than me in that class."

"Don't give me that bull, Potter, and don't call me Kiki" Kierra muttered, "Foundem" she pulled out a notebook, and James, who looked thrilled marched right up to her. "You know," he said, turning to his friends, "Kierra is my favorite girl in the whole world!" he beamed.

"Suck up…" Remus muttered under his breath.

"Didn't I say, Nakofsky, that he was only glad you were in his class because he could borrow your notes?" Sirius said, as he plopped onto the couch next to Dominique, putting and arm around her.

"That's not true!" James said, "I love having Kierra in our class! Borrowing her notes is just a side benefit"—

"Oh that's right, I forgot, the main reason you like having her around is to get the inside scoop about Evans"—

"Black!" came the voice of not only James, but Lily. They looked at each other, both slightly embarrassed, but before James could open his mouth, Lily had stormed out of the common room.

"Sorry mate…" he said, not really looking at James, but focusing most of his attention on Dominique.

"You're really desperate, aren't you Potter? Resolving to be friendly with me, just so you could get Lily?" Kierra teased, holding out her notebook.

"Thanks" James said gruffly, as he made to take her notebook, but Kierra had snatched it out of his reach.

"What's the magic word?" she smiled at him.

"Please?" she shook her head.

"Pretty please?"

"Now, say it with the right position…" James sighed and got on his knees in front of Kierra and frowned heavily, sticking his lower lip out as far as he could. "Pretty pleeeease…?"

Kierra and the others laughed at him, as she handed the notebook back to him, she pat him on the head, ruffling his hair up. "Good boy!" she said.

"Urghh…" James got up, "Thanks a million" he said, turning to Sirius, Remus and Peter. "Wanna head down for dinner now?" he asked.

"Yea, I'm starving!" Peter said, getting up rather quickly. Just as the boys made their way to the portrait hole, James turned around and ran back to the couch where Kierra sat, and gave her a hard pull by her ponytail, causing her to yell, before he ran back to join his friends. He gave her a big, mischievous grin before the fat lady portrait swung shut.

"What an idiot" she muttered, as Dominique and Alice laughed with her while they put their books away too.

"Well, let's go find Lily. Bet she's still fuming" Alice said, as they made their way out of the common room.

Around 10 o'clock, the girls hustled around the dormitory, getting their things ready for the following school day.

"Hey D," Kierra said, as she folded up her uniform and placed it neatly on the chair by her bed.

"mmm?" Dominique looked up from the book she was reading, 'A History of the Animagus'.

"You remember what you were saying about Remus and me…getting together?"

"Uh huh?" Dominique answered without looking up from her book.

"Well….I….uh…"—

"Would you like us to work our magic for you?" she finally peered at Kierra from around her book, smiling.

Kierra sighed. "Yes…"

"We'll get to it first thing in the morning."

"But"—

"You just make sure you get up when we wake you up. Leave the rest to me."

Kierra nodded. "Well," Dominique began pulling the curtains around her bed, "Night".

The next morning, Lily was the first to get up, as usual. As she rolled out of bed, she saw Alice stirring underneath her covers.

'Better hit the bathroom before she gets to it' Lily thought, as she made her way to the loo. Alice could take forever in there.

Twenty minutes later, Lily emerged from the bathroom, adjusting her towel, and searching for her hairbrush. Just then, Alice had gotten up.

"Morning" she said, blinking her eyes a few times as she sat up in bed.

"Good morning….ah, here it is" Lily said, walking over to her nightstand.

"Hey, think we should get Kierra up? Dominique wants to start working on her today."

"Yea I think we should" came the voice of Dominique, who had just woken up. Just then, she and Alice glanced at each other, and at the same time, they rolled out of bed and raced to the bathroom. They squeezed in at the same time, but from the friction between each other, they both had pushed each other to the ground.

"owwww…" Alice groaned, holding her elbow.

"You guys are a riot sometimes…" Lily said, smiling.

"You always get the bathroom first!" Dominique whined as she pulled Alice up.

"Yea, well, it's not my fault I'm faster than you!" Alice retorted.

"No you're not"—

"Yes I am!"

"Not"—

"CHILDREN!" Lily stepped into the bathroom. "Calm down, would ya? I swear, you guys can act so immature…you remind me of myself and Petunia…when we were about this tall"—Lily said, sticking her hand out about three feet from the ground. "Alice, go shower, in the meantime Dominique, you take care of your other business."

"But"—

"No buts! Don't make me give you two detentions!" Lily scolded. As she turned away to get dressed, she could hear them both muttering to themselves.

"Wow, you whipped them into their places" came the voice of Kierra, who had just gotten up.

Lily dropped the folded skirt she was holding. "Oh my….Kierra…you're awake…"

"Of course I am…"

"You woke up by yourself…oh my gosh…" and Lily ran over to Kierra's side and threw her arms around her. "Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

"AAH cut it out Lily, it's not that spectacular!"

"Yes it is! You know that myself and Alice have been waking you up about every school day since our first year! Aw, my lil girl's all grown up"—

"yea, yea…don't push it Lily…" Kierra said, pulling herself away from Lily and getting out of bed. "Anyway, I guess it was because I'm anticipating Dominique's little plan."

"Ah yes, I wonder what she's got in store for you…ah well, we'll have to wait til she's out of the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Alice emerged from the bathroom, followed by Dominique shortly after.

"Ok, here's the thing" Dominique said, pacing around the room as the other girls got ready, "Remus told me last night that Elaine...oh what's her last name…you know that girl in Ravenclaw, she's part veela?"

"Oooh yea, I know who you're talking about! Oh shit, what about her?" Kierra asked, her face dropping slightly.

"Well, she asked him out…for the next Hogsmead trip…"

"Oh great…" Kierra muttered.

"No…no…I don't think we should give up just like that…I mean, it's only a date…it probably won't work out too well anyway…they don't go together very well…"

"Well then, should we just wait until after they break up?"

"No…we need to get started now…" Alice and Lily nodded in agreement. "Now," Dominique was still pacing around like a military general, "We're kinda limited in what we can do for your clothes during the school day…unless…" a light bulb seemed to go off in Dominique's head. She suddenly smiled and pulled her wand out. "Perhaps we could make some alterations."

"Oh, no, don't do anything to my uniform!" Kierra said, backing away.

"Oh come off it! I've got the perfect spell"—

"Nooo, D!" But too late. Dominique had waved her wand, and slashed Kierra's skirt shorter by several inches, exposing her knees, and a few inches of her thighs.

"DOMINIQUE WHAT DID YOU DO?" Kierra bellowed.

"Very sexy…" Dominique smirked.

"Oh my gosh…oh my gosh…oh shut up you two!" turning to Alice and Lily, who were on the floor laughing. "What if Professor McGonagall notices! Or Dumbledore? HUH! I CAN GET INTO TROUBLE!"

"Just say that you uh…lost your skirt, and the only extra skirt you had was from your 4th year….and you outgrew it a little…" Dominique said coolly, sending Alice and Lily into a harder fit of giggles.

"Ugh, I'm gonna look like such an idiot!" Kierra groaned. "All by myself too! I'm the only one who's gonna be walking around with a teeny weeny skirt on! I'm gonna look so stupid!"

"Oh geez…" Dominique rolled her eyes. "If that's the problem…" she turned and waved her wand at Alice and Lily, shortening their skirts as well, in the same manner as she had done to Kierra.

"HEYY!" Lily stood up quickly, and looked down at herself. "OH MY GOD! DOMINIQUE, I AM HEAD GIRL"—

"Hey, this looks kinda cute!" Alice said, examining herself in the mirror.

"Thank you!" Dominique said, throwing her hands into the air, exasperated.

"What about you, D?" Kierra said turning to her.

"Well, if you insist…" and with that, Dominique shortened her skirt as well. "Oooh, this is kinda cool! It'll be like our signature look!" Alice said excitedly as they all examined themselves in the mirror, making the other girls laugh.

"Well?" Dominique turned to Kierra.

"Yea, ok…it does look nice…I guess I don't mind if you all are wearing it too" she smiled. "I just hope we don't get in trouble."

"Excellent! I'm glad you finally approve! Now, on to makeup"—

"But I already wear makeup! I'm not wearing more"—

"Kierra, chapstick does not count as makeup!" Lily giggled.

"Ok, sit still, let's try some stuff" Dominique said, pulling out her makeup box. As she pulled out her eyelash curler, Kierra cringed back.

"Oh my gosh, what's that?"

"An eyelash curler! It doesn't hurt!"—

"Keep that away from me! I've already got curly lashes, see?" Kierra said, pulling on her eyelids.

"Ok, ok! Yea you do…fine….stop that, you're gonna pop one of your eyes out!" Dominique exclaimed. "Ok, we'll move onto other things then…I'm not gonna make you like a hooker, don't worry!" Dominique said as she pulled out some eyeshadow. "All we're gonna do is accent your features a little, bring out your eyes a bit…" she said as she swept a light layer of shadow on. "You've got full lips too…they do not deserve chapstick"—she said as she pulled out lipgloss, making Lily and Alice giggle again.

A few minutes later, the girls made their way down to the Gryffindor common room. Kierra, who was incredibly self conscious and nervous, forced Dominique, Alice and Lily to stand around her so no one would notice her.

"Well what's the whole point of this then if you're not going to be seen?" Lily asked, trying to pull her skirt down as they reached the bottom of the steps. Just then, a whistle came from a corner of the common room, where a group of boys sat by the fireplace. All the boys who sat there were staring wide eyed at the girls, mouths open, with the exception of one; Sirius was smirking. "Morning ladies" he said, getting up and walking over to them.

"It's rude to whistle at people, you know" Dominique said in a fake, cold tone.

"Well, what am I supposed to do if I'm provoked?" he asked as he looked her up and down.

"There's something called self-control" she answered, walking away from him, leading the girls out the common room and to the great hall.

"I've got plenty of self-control" Sirius stammered as he turned back to join his friends, only to see James hanging over the back of his chair. "Lily…short skirt…"

"Prongs, mate, I think you're drooling…geez, and she says I don't have self control…" Sirius muttered as he grabbed his bag. "Come on, I'm hungry, let's get some breakfast."

Halfway through the day, Dominique's plan had not gone as they had all hoped, though it did not turn out too bad. Remus had not even looked at any of the girls, let alone Kierra, but she did manage to draw the attention of several other boys, though most of them she didn't care for.

"Ugh" Kierra shuddered after Transfiguration, as she walked out of the classroom with the girls, "Peter was looking at my ass again…sick…sick…sick…"—

"Hey, Kierra!" came a voice from behind them. All four girls turned around to see who it was. It was Kyle Williams, one of the beaters for the Gryffindor quidditch team.

"Erm…you dropped your quill on your way out, here" he said, holding out a black quill.

"Oh…thanks…" Kierra said, taking the quill and blushing.

"Well, um…see you then…" and he turned on his heel and walked away.

"What are you blushing about?" Lily asked, "He just gave you back your quill…"

"Yea…well, I never dropped my quill, see?" Kierra answered, pulling her own quill out of her bag.

"Ooooh…." Lily, Alice and Dominique said at once, before bursting into giggles.

"Oh shut up guys…" Kierra said, blushing even more.

"You know, he's pretty good looking. Aw Kierra, go with Kyle…screw Remus!" Alice said.

"Yea I bet she'd love to screw Remus" said Dominique, who yelped in pain as Kierra pinched her in the arm.

"Say it a bit louder, I think there were a few people a mile away who didn't hear you!" hissed Kierra.

"Sorry…" said Dominique, trying to suppress a laugh.

Throughout the week, the girls managed to avoid getting in trouble with authorities, though the only person they were really worried about was Professor McGonagall, who was the head of their house, and was probably the only person who had the authority to punish them for their dress, with the exception of Dumbledore, who rarely made an appearance in the Hogwarts corridors. The girls had simply decided that while in transfiguration, they'd put a sticking charms on the openings of their cloaks when they did their practical lessons and had to stand up, so their uniforms would not be revealed underneath, which worked perfectly, and Professor McGonagall never took notice of them.

By Friday afternoon, they had completely broken into their new looks and it seemed accepted by everyone. However, Kierra seemed a bit disheartened that Remus still had not taken any notice of her.

"Well, don't worry, guys are a bit thick" Dominique said kindly, "sometimes they take a while…"

"And," Lily added, "there's that Hogsmead visit tomorrow"—

"But he's going out with Elaine"—

"So?" Alice replied, "No uniform! We'll just doll you up a bit"—

"Oh damn, Alice", Dominique interrupted, "we're gonna be late for quidditch practice! James is gonna bite our heads off"—

"ALICE! DOMINIQUE! GET YOUR BUNS DOWN HERE!" came James' voice from all the way in the common room.

"Geez, his voice carries far…" Dominique said, reaching for her shorts and t-shirt and heading to the bathroom.

Alice opened the door to their dorm and stepped out in the hall. "We're coming James!" she shouted back. When she came back in, Dominique had already changed and was now digging under her bed to get her broom.

"Hey Lily, Kierra, you guys wanna come watch our practice?" Alice asked as she grabbed her own sweats to change into.

"Er…yea, ok" Lily said a bit hesitantly. Alice turned to Kierra. "yea, sure" she said.

Kierra and Lily sat lazily on the soft grass on the quidditch pitch, watching their fellow Gryffindors practice. They had been practicing for about half an hour, mostly doing warm ups, when Remus came out.

"Hey guys!" he waved to James and Sirius who were about twenty feet in the air. He looked down on the grass and saw Lily and Kierra looking at him. "Oh hey guys," he smiled. "Wanted some fresh air, mind if I sit?" he asked, pointing to the empty space by the girls.

"Not at all" Lily answered, and so he took a seat next to her.

"Ahh shit, Sirius you lout!" came Dominique's voice. Lily, Kierra, and Remus turned in the direction of the large hoops that she had been guarding. She had just pulled a grey, sweat stained t-shirt off her head. "You wanna knock me off my broomstick! This is gross!" she continued to shout at him. They shifted their gaze towards Sirius, who was now shirtless. "Why, is the sight of me too overpowering for you?" he laughed, as he flexed his muscles.

"You wish…" Dominique said, hitting his shirt back at him; she got him right in the face.

"Well, if you did fall, you know I'd catch you!" he shouted at her, though he himself was struggling not to fall off his broom from his laughing.

"I'm sure you would…" she said as she took her proper position in front of the hoops.

"What an idiot…" Lily muttered, as Sirius threw his dirty t-shirt onto the ground. Remus smiled slightly at her comment. "Yes, he's a bit..."

"full of himself?" Kierra asked.

"Yea, that's about right." Remus said.

Full of himself as he was, Sirius now had the other boys following in his lead. Frank and Kyle had both thrown their shirts off, protesting that it was too hot and humid.

James did eventually, though he was too shy at first.

"Aw look Lily, James has got some humility after all!" Kierra said, pointing at James, who was being chased around by Frank and Sirius on their brooms, trying to coax him to take it off.

"Aren't they supposed to be practicing?" Lily said, watching them critically.

"Ah well, we haven't lost a game in what…like two years?" Remus said. "I think they can afford to fool around a little…"

"Water break!" James had called out about an hour and a half into practice. They had all flown back to the ground to join Lily, Kierra and Remus and began drinking fervently from their bottles of water.

"Kierra…hey!" Dominique took a seat across from Kierra. "How do you like watching practice?"

"Good…it was good…Sirius and James are…characters…I suppose…but you guys look like you're well on your way to secure the Quidditch cup…again"

"Yea, James told me that they've had it the past four years…but that's putting quite a bit of pressure on us to keep it"

"You guys will to fine" Kierra said, giving Dominique an assuring smile.

"Thanks…" Dominique answered, watching Remus, who had just gotten up to go join his guy friends. "Ok listen" she said, turning back to Kierra. "Kyle was totally checking you out during practice"—

"He was?"

"um, yea!" Alice had just gotten away from Frank and had just sat down with the girls. "He kept looking at you every time he did a good move!"

"Really?"

"yea! And uh, when he took his shirt off," Dominique whispered, "he was checking to see if you were watching!"

"wow…I"—

"Shut up, he's coming!" hissed Lily. At once, she, Dominique and Alice moved away from Kierra, and suddenly became interested in the grass.

"Er, hey Kierra…" Kyle started.

"Hey!" why do I always turn red? Kierra yelled at herself. "You were playing really well!" she said.

"Oh, thanks…well, James is a good captain…um…I was wondering…" he looked over at the other girls who sat nearby; though none of them were watching, they all smiled. "Er, can we just take a little walk?"

"Sure" she answered. With that, Kyle pulled her up and they began to walk down the quidditch pitch.

"Hey! Nakofsky! Where the hell do you think you're taking my beater?" James called out at them. "Break's over in a minute!"

"We'll be back in a second!" Kyle yelled back, as they continued down the pitch.

"Ooh, our lil Kierra's all grown up!" Sirius said, though he only glanced at her and Kyle, and had returned to watching Dominique. At hearing this, James turned to Remus, and saw that he was watching after Kierra and Kyle.

"Oy, Moony…?" Remus snapped his head towards James, who wore a large grin.

"What?"

"You like her!"

"Who?"

"Kiki!"

"What? No I don't!"

James snorted. "What? I don't! I'm going out with Elaine, remember?" Remus said.

"Oh, right...well…"

"Prongs, he was just checking her out! Come on, I mean, with a little skirt like that…how could one not? But that doesn't mean he likes her though…" Sirius said.

"Thanks Padfoot" Remus said, though not sounding too grateful for his intervention.

"Well, what'd he say?" Lily asked eagerly when Kierra had returned with Kyle, and the others had gone off to resume practice. Kierra looked slightly startled and glanced at Remus, who was watching the practice intently.

"He asked me out". Kierra noticed in the corner of her eye that Remus had turned to look at her and Lily, only shortly, before returning his attentions to the practice.

"And…?" Lily asked.

"I said yes…so we're going to Hogsmead together"—

"Aww, that's great! But…" Lily stopped herself in midsentence when she remembered who was sitting with them. Instead, she nudged her head in Remus' direction, who didn't seem to notice.

"Oh…well…I dunno…whatever" Kierra answered. "Hey you guys were the ones who told me…" she said.

"Kierra's going out with Kyle!" Lily announced, as they got inside the castle after practice.

"Oooh, so that's why he took you aside during water break?" Alice asked, giggling.

"But what about Remus?" Dominique asked.

"Well, that's obviously not working out too well" Kierra said as they made their way to the great hall for dinner. "Maybe I should just give up on that…I mean Kyle's really nice…"

"Not to mention gorgeous" Alice interjected.

"Yea that too" Kierra laughed. "Well, we'll see how tomorrow's date goes. Maybe it won't work out".

"Yea, who knows" Lily said.

Later that night, James sat alone in the Gryffindor common room. His friends had gone off to bed, because unlike him, they had finished their homework. 'Ok, all I've got left his ancient runes…' he thought as he pulled out Kierra's notebook that he borrowed earlier from her. He pulled out a blank roll of parchment and began leafing through her notes for information to stick in his essay. All had gone well for the next half hour. Kierra's notes were very neat and organized, and she had easy to read, large handwriting. 'Very girly' he thought, as he looked at her bubbly letters, very unlike his own, 'chicken scratch' handwriting, as Sirius would call it.

Just as he was writing his concluding remarks for his essay, James quickly turned to one of her earlier notes; he needed to know the spelling for eihwaz (A/N: from OotP…I know, I'm so original…hehe…) He quickly found it, it was in the lecture notes from the previous week. Just as he was about to shut Kierra's notebook and call it a night, something in the corner of her book caught his eyes. All along the margins of almost every page, Kierra had doodles and scribbles everywhere of mostly abstract designs. However, on this particular page, in the upper right hand corner, he saw her bubbly handwriting, that was circumscribed by a heart. James pulled the notebook closer to make sure he read right; 'Remus Lupin' it was written plain as day. James broke into a large grin as he saw this. 'So she does like him' he thought, as he shut the notebook and stuck it in his school bag. But why would she go out with Kyle then? Remus had been checking her out during quidditch practice…but as Remus and Sirius both stated, checking someone out doesn't mean you like the person. 'Well, either way,' he thought, as he headed up to his dormitory, 'this makes great blackmail material!'