A/N: Hey I got reviews! That's sweet...
Sadiler: Thank you for the review. Is Serena really that tricky? I'm glad that I made her a good OC though, I was worried when you had her stacked up against long standing characters...
Linac438: You were my first reviewer for this story so thank you so much. Glad to have people enjoying what I wrote. No worries about my updating, the story is finished. :)
Chapter 5
"Seriously Padfoot. I can't believe you did that." James shook his head in disgust, even Peter was following suit. "I knew you liked having girls fall over you, but I didn't think you'd try to steal the one who liked Remus."
"I didn't..." Sirius growled out, sitting in the common room and regretting already that he had told the two what had happened. "I'm telling you it's not like that. I didn't try anything like stealing her. I just... I like her is all!"
"You like all women." Peter snorted, and ducked, but Sirius hadn't moved at all.
"This time is different." Sirius said softly. His two friends exchanged surprised looks. That was true. It was normal for their friend to have many different girls falling over him, but he never actually went out of his way for any of them. In the past he never said no to a woman, but he never tried to attract any of them. With his face and attitude it always just happened.
"You know... in the last month you haven't flirted with any girls. You turned down every one I saw you near. I just thought you were angry about something. If you really liked her you should have told Remus."
"I was going to!" Sirius said, getting angry again. "I was going to! But not before today. I had thought she liked him. But she told me today that she had meant as a friend." Sirius shook his head. " I didn't mean to kiss her. But I did. I didn't mean for Moony to find out that way either."
Peter shook his head. "'Rena should have told him already that she didn't like him that way. Instead of leading him along." Peter jumped at Sirius' sudden growl.
"That would have been hard with Remus' running in the opposite direction each time she tried." Lily dropped onto the couch beside her boyfriend.
"She's not coming down is she?" Sirius said, a note of dejection in his voice.
"She feels horrible. She doesn't want to see you or Remus." Lily shook her head.
"This year keeps getting worse..." Sirius groaned.
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Serena was at that moment, crying herself silly in her bed. Partly because she felt terrible having hurt Remus, partly because her plans were falling apart. She was singlehandedly tearing apart the Marauder's. It wasn't even in the way she had wanted. Making them distrust Peter was the plan, not drive a wedge between Sirius and Remus... She was mainly crying though because her heart was having too much control over her. She was falling for Sirius Black, even though this was ultimately the worst thing she could do. By the end of this year she was going to be back in her own time, and he wouldn't see her again for a very long time. That was if he even lived...
This caused her to start crying afresh.
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The next day, completely cried out, and with a fresh determination to get her plans finished sooner then later, Serena marched down into the common room. She felt a small jolt when she saw Sirius lounging in an armchair, an even bigger jolt at his pleased smile to see her, but she blocked those feelings out.
"Where's Remus?" She asked, not looking at Sirius directly.
Like a puppy who had been told off, Sirius looked depressed at the lack of attention he was getting, but he answered the question. "He's in the astronomy tower..."
Keeping her eyes off him, Serena swept past him, ignoring the butterflies that had flown in to her stomach at the mere sight of the man, or the memories the sight caused her. She still had the phantom taste of mint in her mouth.
Climbing to the Astronomy tower, Serena found Remus concentrating too carefully on an astrolabe, his clothes were even messier then was normal for him.
"Remus..." Serena called softly from the doorway, looking at him sadly as he jumped in fright of her appearance. "I need to talk to you."
"It's okay really." He started to gather his things to make a quick exit.
"It's not okay. There is something I should have told you a month ago..." She shook her ahead. "You all heard a part of a conversation, and took assumptions from it. Remus, I really like you, really. But when you heard me say that, I meant I preferred you to Sirius at that time, but not that I had a crush on you. I'm sorry."
Remus looked so dejected that Serena immediately went over to him and hugged him. "You're my friend. I'm always going to be fond of you." She smiled, telling him the truth, since even twenty years later she would be fond of him.
"But you LIKE Sirius now? Did you back then?" Remus asked, finding his usual courage to talk again.
"I..." Lines appeared on Serena's forehead from the frown there. "If I said yes are you going to hate us both?"
Remus regarded her quietly, far too long for her taste. "No..." He finally said. "He's my friend, I can't hate him just because a girl likes him. And I can't hate you just because I misinterpreted something."
"Oh I'm so glad!" Serena hugged Remus again. "I want us to be friends Remus." She frowned slightly. "Oh that does sound a bit rude of me... I mean that must sound horrible from a girl who you had liked."
"It's fine." Remus laughed quietly. "It's true that I liked you... I'm sure given more time I might have fallen in love with you. I don't think I'm that weak though. Sirius is too good a friend for me to stand in his way when he likes a girl, when he falls in love with one."
"He is not in love with me." Serena immediately scoffed, much to Remus' surprise.
"You can't possibly..." He shook his head. "You've managed to make Sirius calm down, I haven't even seen him with a girl this year. Now that I think about it I should have realized a while back that he liked you. I just thought it was his normal thing for pretty girls. But to manage to stay away from women for this long... That's never happened before. Did you think that would have happened if he hadn't fallen in love with you? "
"As you said he has a thing for pretty girls. So he can't like me." She waved the problem off, but Remus was looking at her strangely.
"You're pretty. Did you think you weren't? Sirius wouldn't be interested for this long if you weren't..."
"Well I would hope he would like a girl for something on the inside. Her brains or heart maybe?" Serena muttered.
"Well for him to stay interested past a week, yeah." Remus snickered. "That's never happened, though."
"And it's not happening now." Serena said firmly. "I am not going to go out with Sirius Black. As you just proved, he would be terrible to get involved with." Serena pushed back the disappointed feelings that immediately popped up. She knew she was right, not only would a relationship with Sirius cause problems with her plan, it would break her heart in the end.
"I thought you said you liked him...?" The sandy haired youth looked confused.
"That important is it? Every other girl he dumped liked him as well. Unlike all of them though I am not stupid enough to get myself involved with someone I know will get tired in a week."
Remus regarded Serena carefully. "I don't know... As I said since this little feud with you began, he hasn't had any relationships. Normally he'd have gone through a good third of the female students. I'm sure even the mighty Sirius Black has to really fall in love once..."
Serena stared at him, shock on her features before laughing. "I told you he doesn't love me. A month of glaring at me and one kiss does not mean he's in love with me."
Remus sighed, giving up on trying to change her mind.
"Now tell me... How is your report coming on the water kestral for DADA? I can't seem to word mine properly"
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Once everything with Remus had been settled, things started to take an upwards turn for Serena. She considered Remus and Lily at least to be her good friends, and James seemed fond enough of her. Peter still looked at her with an amount of respect, as he did for the rest of the group. Anyone who was more attractive or smarter then he was got that automatically. Then of course there was Sirius...
It had been two months since the incident, and true to her word Serena was not going out with Sirius, nor did she have plans to. They hadn't reverted to angry glares and silence again, the two spoke to each other normally. But Serena at least made a conscious effort not to be alone with Sirius, because despite her firm determination not to like him anymore... her heart still did flips when she so much as looked at him. But the feelings she felt were just gave her more determination to avoid him. After all how can you have a relationship with a dead man? To Lily's ever growing worry, Serena found herself crying at night to that very thought. But in the morning everything was fine. She just hoped that Lily didn't tell James about it. Since what James knew...
Sirius on the other hand was shocking everyone, especially his teachers. He had avoided any relationships so far that year, and due to that his grades had even improved. Of course he and James were still plotting and experimenting with pranks on varying levels, but other then the detentions he received for that, his teachers were almost... pleased.
Remus and Lily kept pointing this out to Serena, nudging her and telling her. 'See. It's different'. They were trying very hard to prove to their new friend, that their old friend was amending his ways for her, so she couldn't possibly have any excuses now. Of course they didn't know. They couldn't know the real reasons for her distance from Sirius.
They were the only two though that seemed to be trying, Sirius himself seemed okay enough with how things were. He stopped trying to talk to her after the first week when she had made it plain she wasn't going to go out with him, he now didn't try to talk to her except the occasional comment when they were in group settings, or to ask her about homework. Care for Magical Creatures was an improvement from the first month, but only barely. They spoke occasionally in class, but right after they left separately.
Truth be known it was all very, very annoying to Serena. And every once in awhile she found herself having the urge to drag him back into the forbidden forest like last time. It was a bad idea, but her brain still thought of it after every class with him. Her heart was in complete agreement as well, probably tired of the horrible pain it was going through each time she had to watch Sirius walk away.
But that was all stamped down. She just had to keep reminding herself that she was here to help Harry and the others in the future. It was also a good reminder that Sirius was Harry's godfather, and therefore not a suitable love interest. And of course when she went back he would be twenty years older then her. Not to mention he might still end up dying in the future... This last thought made her stop walking, immediate tears coming to her eyes, and once again the urge to go find Sirius flared up.
"I might change things though..." Serena said quietly.
"Talking to ourselves are we? Gryffindor lunacy sets in..."
Serena turned around and stared wide eyed at Lucius Malfoy, Snape and a few other Slytherins standing behind him, laughing at his joke.
"Malfoy..."Serena sighed, looking annoyed at the group.
"It's amazing how you've learned to disregard my presence so much. Strange since when you first came I remember you staring at me..." Malfoy smirked and came up closer to her, bringing his hand up to brush her cheek.
"I stared at you only because you looked like someone else I knew. Now, I don't like people touching me, so be careful or I'll have to break your hand" Serena pushed his hand off, taking a step back, and smiling calmly.
"Strong words from a girl all alone out here." Behind Malfoy, Snape was laughing quietly, and Serena realized that he was right. "You've managed to fall in with that idiotic crowd of baboons, but even they can't be everywhere. Can they?" Malfoy moved closer again, and grabbed a lock of her hair, leaning in closer to sniff it.
"I don't need any of them to help me with people like you." Serena brought her knee up sharply, causing Malfoy to drop to his knees in pain. Immediately her wand was out and pointing at the rest of the Slytherins. "I told you I don't like people touching me." She sighed, and bent down to help Malfoy up, but he snarled at her and smacked her hand away.
"Well it certainly looks like you've got this handled."
Serena straightened and looked wide eyed at Sirius who was walking casually back down the hill. "I was a little worried when I saw the bunch of snakes sliming down here." She looked at him closely noticing what he was trying to hide, that he seemed a little out of breath, and that in all likelihood that casual walk had been forced. The thought that he had hurried to her rescue, however unneeded it was, warmed her.
"I don't need your help. Thank you." Serena flipped her hair over her shoulder, and grabbed her bag walking up the hill and past her would be saviour, trying to remember that she didn't like him.
"You don't need me at all..." Serena paused for a moment, hearing his soft words on the wind. Her mouth opened to say something, but before she could ruin herself she ran the rest of the way up the hill.
Sirius walked rather dejectedly into the Gryffindor common room, and dropped immediately into an armchair by the fire.
"What happened to Serena?" Lily asked, her eyes accusing him from across the room. "She came running in here, completely in tears. She tore up the stairs, and she refuses to come down or tell me what happened."
Blinking, rather confused at the red haired girl, Sirius shrugged, stretching his long body, trying to get heat back into it after standing in the cold.
"I didn't do anything to her."
"Yes but when she runs in here crying, and you walk in soon after looking like a little boy who's lost his toy... well some things are obvious."
"She had a run in with the Slytherins. I don't know why she's crying though, she took care of them by the time I came down."
"And you didn't say anything to her...?" Lily narrowed her eyes.
Frowning, Sirius shook his head. "I just told her she didn't need me."
A contemplative look appeared on the girl's face, like pieces had finally fit into a puzzle.
Before anything else could be said though, James walked through the doorway. He dropped down next to his girlfriend, giving her a quick kiss before grinning at Sirius.
"So Padfoot... The parents would like to know if you're coming to stay for the holidays. I told them I assumed you were."
"Actually... I think I'll stay in the castle this year." Sirius said quietly.
Lily smiled slightly. "The rest of us are going home. You'll be all on your own." She paused, almost for dramatic effect. "Well except Serena, she says she has too much homework to do, so she's staying here..."
He stood up suddenly, ignoring the smug looks from his two friends. "That's interesting. Not like I care. I just have some planning to do. It's our last year, I need to get a prank ready. The biggest one yet."
They both just nodded, accepting his reasoning.