Chapter 10: Meet Megan

Kierra poked listlessly at her lunch. She was quite tired from last night's detention, and having to sleep on James' constant taunting about Remus didn't help either. Quite the contrary, she spent a good deal of the night lying awake in her bed, thinking about James. He had been making fun of her about liking Remus all year…but never in front of Remus himself; he always did it when no one was around. Why was he showing her so much consideration?

But what stumped Kierra the most was the fact that she kept denying that she liked him. Why was she doing it? She had told her friends that she liked him… 'because I can trust them…' Kierra thought, as she jabbed her fork into her scrambled eggs, 'but James is my friend too….I should be able to trust him….' And yet she couldn't let herself. He was friends with Remus. But Dominique was friends with Remus and Kierra had no problem with her knowing about her crush.

And then of course, the memory of Remus staring at her was not soon to be forgotten. Kierra always felt a pleasurable squirm in her stomach when she thought of that incident. Was he just looking, or did he actually like her back?

Kierra was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by a pat on the shoulder. It was Lily, followed by Alice and Dominique.

"It's funny how you're always the last one down here for breakfast but the first one here for lunch and dinner." Lily said teasingly as she took a seat next to Kierra, who in return, only smiled and shrugged.

As Dominique took a seat across from her, Kierra was suddenly reminded of her thoughts on Remus.

"Hey guys, I forgot to tell you all…thanks…"

"For what?" asked Dominique.

"For helping me in getting Remus' attention".

"Er…" Lily looked up at Kierra awkwardly, "don't mention it…"

"You got his attention?" asked Dominique; she had abandoned buttering her toast and looked excitedly at Kierra.

"Yea…well, unless I'm mistaken"—

"When?" Lily interrupted.

"Hogsmeade! Well, when we got back from there!"

"And you're telling us now?" Alice exclaimed.

"I forgot to tell you, ok? I just remembered"—

"How could you forget something like"—

"Guys shut up let her talk!" Dominique scolded. Alice and Lily glared at Dominique but Kierra only smiled at he gratefully. It would be so much easier to recount the story without interruptions.

"Well, when we were back, after dinner, you know how I was lying on the couch before bed, and I was really tired? It was just the two of us, and he had said sorry for how he acted, with this kiss and everything ("stop giggling!" Dominique admonished) so I told him it was O.K…and then when he got up to leave…see, he thought my eyes were closed, so he didn't realize that I noticed, but he was staring at me! He was looking me up and down…I'm positive he was…and then, when he saw that I was watching him, he got all nervous and asked if I needed a blanket, and then he left!"

"Are you serious?" squealed Alice.

"Yep!" Kierra said, grinning; She was finally feeling alive for the first time that day. "But I don't know if that signifies much…I mean, it doesn't mean he likes me"—

"But it's a step!" said Dominique.

"Well, I can't believe it! You've liked him all this time and he's finally noticing you…this is great!" Lily said.

"See Kierra, all you needed was a little skirt to boost you up your ladder!" Dominique said, and they all laughed.

"What are all of you giggling about?" came a voice from behind them. It was Sirius.

"Nothing" the four girls said at once, causing Sirius to raise an eyebrow at them.

"Right…if you four aren't gossiping about some boy, I'll take old Snivellus on a date." Sirius said as he took a seat next to Dominique.

"Don't call him that" Lily snapped, as she got back to her lunch.

"Yea ok, whatever Evans" Sirius said, as he turned to Dominique. "Listen, can I borrow your notes from charms, D? I didn't take any and"—

"What about James and"—

"James and Peter weren't taking notes either because they were passing notes…and Remus won't let me because he said I've borrowed his one too many times…so please, please, please can I borrow yours?" Sirius asked, giving her his best puppy face.

"oh…fine…here…" Dominique said, pulling a notebook out of her bag.

"Ahh, D, you're the best!" Sirius exclaimed as he kissed her on the cheek and sprinted back to his friends, notebook in hand.

"D, you shouldn't let him have your notes….he'll get too dependent on you…." Lily said.

"Ah well…boys will be boys…anyway, dependence isn't a bad thing…just gives me more command, doesn't it? I'm sure that'll come in handy sometimes…" Dominique answered, "By the way Kierra," Dominique had dropped her voice slightly, "don't look now, but Remus keeps looking your way…I said don't look now!"

Kierra had craned her neck to see the boys; and indeed, Remus had looked up again at her, only to be caught into Kierra's gaze. Immediately, Kierra turned back to the girls, slightly pink. "We made eye contact!' she stammered, "why are you guys laughing?"

"You're so cute!" Alice said through her giggles.

"You and your little school girl crush…stealing glances at each other from across the room...doesn't get any more classic than that!" Dominique laughed.

"I didn't mean to..." Kierra protested.

"Of course you didn't", Lily said as she got up. "Come on guys, or we'll be late for transfiguration. McGonagall nearly popped a vein when you two came in late last time." Lily said darkly, casting a look at Kierra and Dominique.

"Yea, you're right," Dominique said, as she got up as well, "Hey Kierra, what are you going to do about Kyle?"

"What do you mean?" Kierra asked, knowing perfectly well what Dominique meant.

"You going to keep seeing him or what?"

"Well...I dunno...hey Kyle!" Kierra exclaimed, waving at the boy who was approaching them. Kierra flushed slightly but managed to put up a smile as Kyle took her hand.

"Hey Kierra, we've got quidditch practice tonight, at 7. Want to come watch? I always play better when you're there..." he said as he bent his head slightly to kiss her on the cheek.

"Oh..." Kierra looked over at Dominique, Alice, and Lily, who were giving her disapproving looks. "Well..." Suddenly she remembered that she had a legitimate excuse for turning him down. "I've got detention tonight...and the rest of this week for that matter...sorry..." Kierra said, trying to look regretful; and the fact that she honestly wasn't interested in her boyfriend made it a bit easier to look guilty.

"Oh it's ok...Keifer's such an ass for doing that to you...well, just remember our first match of the year is this Saturday at 9, you'll be there, right? It's against Slytherin!"

"Of course I'll be there!" Kierra answered.

"Alright, well I've got to run, I'll see you!" Kyle said, as he kissed her goodbye and retreated in the opposite direction.

After Kyle had disappeared, Kierra turned her attention to her friends, who were looking at her with amusement.

"What?" She demanded, as she brushed passed them to nudge them on towards McGonagall's classroom.

"You've got two boys"- Dominique had started saying, but then stopped abruptly when she looked passed Kierra.

Kierra turned around, only to see Remus walking alongside with a tall blond girl, whom Kierra remembered to be a sixth year in their house, and whose name was Megan Dorris. One of them must have said something funny, as they were both laughing.

Kierra's mouth had gone dry. Megan had just playfully punched Remus in the arm, and was flashing a smile at him; She had flawless white teeth, and were so perfectly aligned that Kierra wanted to knock a few of those pearls out of her mouth.

"Kierra"- she heard Lily's voice behind her.

"Well, I'm down to one now, eh?" Kierra said as she stalked passed the girls and headed inside McGonagall's classroom.

As Remus made his way out of the great hall by himself, determined not to let James, Sirius and Peter make him late for transfiguration again, his mind kept wandering away to the same thing it had been wandering to for the past few days. Just then, he fell out of his clouds when he ran into someone and sent books flying.

"Shoot..I'm sorry!" he said, quickly kneeling down to help pick up his victim's books.

"Don't worry about it." The girl smiled at him as she got up. "Thanks" she said to him as he handed her books back to her.

"No problem...er, I'm sorry, I don't know your name..."

"Megan Dorris."

"I'm Remus Lupin"

"Yea, I know" The girl smiled and brushed a strand of long blond hair out of her way. Remus couldn't help but smile back at her adulation.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked as they walked down the hall together.

"Um, we're in the same house!"

"Ohhh…." Remus said, feeling a bit embarrassed at not ever noticing her before.

"Yea….I'm in sixth year though, so maybe that's why you never noticed…."

"Yea…I mean….er…" Remus stammered, while Megan laughed.

"What? You didn't know who I was!" Megan said sarcastically, punching him jokily in the arm.

"I'm sorry, I guess I've been in my own world..." Remus said, glad to see that she was lighthearted. He glanced down the hall that they were passing through, and he realized that Kierra and her friends were walking only a few meters ahead of him; Remus quickened his pace slightly, hoping that Megan wouldn't be offended.

"Um, Remus...?" Megan started, quickening her pace as well. "I was wondering…are you into quidditch? I mean, since you seem to have a few friends on the team...and well, we've got a match coming up..."

Remus looked at her, a bit taken aback by her boldness. "Um…."

"Oh I mean…if you don't want to…I understand…." Megan said quickly, turning a little pink.

Remus glanced back over at Kierra, who was now walking hand in hand with Kyle. He had just planted a kiss on her lips. Remus balled his hands into tight fists as he watched, but quickly turned his attention back to Megan. "No…no, I'd love to…" he said with a smile. At this, Megan smiled back excitedly. "Really?"

"Yea…This Saturday, why don't we watch it together?"

"I'd love that!" Megan was beaming.

"Well, I better go, I'll see you around, Megan..." Remus said as he turned to go towards Professor McGonagall's classroom.

"Alright, you too! Bye Remus!" Megan called after him as she headed towards her own class.

Sirius casually looked up towards the front of the class, pretending to look very interested in what Professor McGonagall was saying about animagi. Like he needed to know. He then glanced over to his right side, to see James scribbling a note to him. Moments later, James slid a piece of parchment over to Sirius' side of the table that they sat at. He glanced down at James' messy handwriting.

'Why won't Lily give me a chance? I've tried everything, and she won't even look at me!'

Sirius glanced back at James and gave him a slightly irritated look before he put his quill to the parchment.

'I don't know…maybe you should stop obsessing over her and breathing down her neck…oh and acting a little less egotistical might help you out too…' He slid the note back to James.

'Thanks a million, Padfoot, and FYI, I am not obsessed with Lily Potter.'

'Don't you mean Evans?'

'Oh right…'

'Yea…you're definitely not obsessive…My ink is dripping with sarcasm in case you haven't picked that up…'

'Oh sod off…'

Saturday came very quickly for all but Kierra, who had stayed late every evening to clean up Professor Keifer's classroom, making the week seem like a month for her. As any Quidditch-game-day morning, the great hall was full very early in the morning, as everyone wanted to get out onto the quidditch pitch as soon as possible to get good seats. By 8 o'clock, the tables were packed with students, chattering excitedly about the upcoming match. The only person who wasn't eating or chatting was James Potter.

James paced around nervously by the Gryffindor table, where his teammates had sat together for breakfast, under his orders, though he himself would not eat a bite.

"Really Prongs, it's getting quite annoying! Sit down already and eat some breakfast!" Sirius said with a look of annoyance at James.

"Dominique," James said, ignoring Sirius, "you remember what we went over"--

"Yes James...for the millionth time, I know about their penalty shot moves! I can assure you, I won't let a single quaffle in, ok?" Dominique said, also a bit annoyed. She was feeling nervous as it was, being her first real quidditch match; she had never played for a real team before, and never in front of an entire audience of enthusiastic fans. Not only that, but she had a quidditch-obsessed fanatic for a captain, who had been hissing quidditch tips at her at every waking moment for the past three days. On top of all that, Gryffindor had a winning record, and being the new addition, she didn't want to be the one to ruin it for them.

"Good girl..." James said, still pacing around. "Oh shit" James said, coming to a halt. "I left my wand up in the dormitory...I'll be back guys, I want to have it on me, just in case...you never know with Slytherin!" James shouted as he sprinted out the great hall.

Minutes later, a shout came from the great hall entrance, followed by several other screams. The entire hall turned in the direction of the entrance, to see a battered looking James Potter stagger in, before collapsing to the floor.