Chapter 4 / Thinking of You...And Thinking of Her

Ash hoisted herself awkwardly into the tree out by the lake. Normally the task was not a very difficult one, but considering she was tired (it had to be way past midnight by now, it was a miracle she was even able to exit the castle without getting caught) and her vision was currently blurred by the occaisional onslaught of tears, she figured she was doing pretty well for herself.

She had been staring out at the lake for a good fifteen or so minutes when she heard the big oak doors creak open again. Worried that it was McGonagall or Filch inspecting the grounds, she climbed up a bit higher in the tree and hid behind its rather large trunk.

She sat there, crouched behind the trunk for a couple of minutes, before recognizing the person who had intruded upon her thoughts.

Damn. He just doesn't give up, does he?

She angrily pulled herself back down onto the lower branch and continued to glare out at the lake.

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Jace smiled. Her mind finally caught up with her emotions, and she chided herself for what she had even been considering five minutes ago. Mainly she blamed it on the atmosphere, everyone was going crazy at this party. She also remembered the three butterbeers she had, and although they weren't anything to get her drunk, they did make her feel pretty darn good about herself.

"Thanks Remus." she said, breaking away from him. "You're a great friend, I hope you know that." she finished.

Remus felt a burst of warmth on the inside of him, but he hoped it wasn't showing as much on the outside.

"'Night." Jace said, turning around to walk up the staircase.

"'Night." Remus muttered, and he headed back over to James and Lily. He was happy that she felt better--or at least seemed to. He was sad that she wanted to go so soon.

Don't blame yourself. She was headed there anyways, what else did you expect?

To be honest, Remus didn't know what to expect. Half of him was hoping she'd give him a sign or something. The other half liked where they were now, just as really good friends.

He stood behind Lily's couch for about six or seven more minutes, the same thoughts tossing through his head as he looked out the window behind James. Neither James nor Lily had even noticed Remus' reappearance, which in itself was a double-edged sword. Having had enough of those for the day, Remus turned around and went over to the staircase that led to the dorms, without another word edgewise.

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"Ash, quit acting childish and come down already."

Sirius sighed, leaning against the trunk and staring up at the branch above his head. He knew that she knew he was there. She was just ignoring him, which was usual when she didn't get her way.

"Honestly. You have to learn you can't always get what you want. You don't always have to get your knickers in a bunch about it." He called up to her, wondering why he, of all people, was saying this.

Speaking of knickers...Sirius thought, suddenly getting an idea.

"Speaking of knickers, Ash, I can see yours right now. I thought you'd have learned in over five years of being here that you can't sit in this tree with a skirt on."

Hearing a soft giggle from above, he knew his plan worked. And, within seconds, she was leaning backwards over the branch, hanging by her knees.

"You can't see my knickers. I'm not wearing a skirt. If I was, I wouldn't be able to do this."

"Sure you could." Sirius said, shrugging. He climbed up onto the branch next to her, and followed suit, leaning backwards and hanging by his knees. "You'd just be giving everyone a good view. I myself would enjoy it..." he said, chuckling at her expression and feeling her punch his arm playfully. "Now, are we bats all of a sudden? Or do you want to climb down and tell me why you all of a sudden stormed out of the common room like everyone in there was diseased?"

Ash sighed, and pulled herself back up into an upright position on the tree. "Looks like you're the only bat here." she said with a little less enthusiasm, and jumped out of the tree. She leaned up against the trunk and slid down onto the ground.

Sirius let out a huff of air angrily. Damnit. She always has to go and ruin every bloody thing. He climbed out of the tree and stood in front of her, blocking her view of the lake. "Ashton Michelle Fitch," he said in an annoyed tone. "Listen to me."

Ash crossed her arms and cast Sirius a dark look, although she knew he meant business. Anybody who used her full name meant business.

"Look--" he started, sitting down next to her. "I don't know what your problem is, but I have a feeling it has to do with Emmaline."

"No, it doesn't." Ash retorted immediately, looking away from him.

"The bloody hell it doesn't!" Sirius yelled. "You can't lie to me. That'd be like, lying to your brother. I know you too well. You saw Emmaline and I on that table and you ran."

Ash continued her fixed stare on one of Hogwarts' highest turrets, before turning back to him.

"Fine. I ran. What the hell do you care? It doesn't bother you."

"If it didn't bother me I wouldn't be out here."

Ash thought about this for a minute, before giving up, realizing she had nothing to argue him with.

"Then why are you out here?" she decided to ask.

"I'm out here because..." Sirius started, but trailed off, thinking. Is this a trick question? Is she nuts? He looked up at the sky, as if the answer would be magically written in the stars. How am I supposed to answer that, anyways? "Oh, I'm out here because I think I may like you. But I know I really fancy this other girl, who you don't get along too well with. And seeing as how I didn't want to hurt either of your feelings, I decided to go get a third girl and snog her on a table in front of both of you and the whole House." Yeah. Real bloody brilliant.

"Because why?" Ash asked him again.

Sirius turned back to her. Might as well give her a version of the truth. "Because I care about you. You're one of my friends, and I don't like seeing my friends upset."

This seemed to satisfy Ash, because she smiled and gave Sirius a hug.

"So why did you pick Emmaline, out of all of us?" she asked, sounding alot happier. "I mean, no offense, she's a nice girl, but I know you never really fancied her. I always thought you'd pick somebody that was, well, a little bit prettier. She's so dull."

"Oh, so now you're insulting my taste in girls, is that it?" Sirius said, laughing. He pushed her playfully before continuing. "So, let's see...how about Mark? What did you see in him? Because rumor has it he's a bit weird."

Ash looked at him increduously. "I cannot believe you are doing this."

"Believe it." Sirius said, laughing. He jumped up and ran into the castle, Ash trailing him threateningly.

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A/N: Okay. So this chapter sucks. It's like, your typical fanfiction, all cheesy and chock-full of troubled relationships. This is probably the worst chapter. And I wrote the first part of it in the wee hours in the morning. And I was fighting block the whole time. Because, you see, I'm cursed when it comes to fanfiction. I get to chapter four, I get block. I dunno why -prods notebook with twelve fanfictions, none of which has more than four chapters-. But enough of my lame excuses. I shall keep writing! -imitates Dory- Just keep writing, writing, writing...xD And the reviews have inspired me, so keep them coming :D They're what keeps me going at this point. That, and my lovely assistant and beta-er, Loofah. She has been a great help with ideas xD And forcing me to write with her so I don't get bogged down with -MORE- block. Btw, her Neo screename got messed up when I uploaded this. It's padfo0t, but there's an underscore at the beginning.

Disclaimer: Same as third chapter, anything you recognize, I don't own (JKR is a genius). Ash/Emmalinemine, CaiMaxie Fonseca's, StephTuttleturtle's, JaceLoofah's. Oh, and I suppose I can't fully take credit for even the title of this one...I based it off of a Degrassi commercial, where a girl says "Send someone special a Degrassi greeting card..." and then it goes through all the stuff going on in the new season, and the girl says "Thinking of you...and thinking of him." and then it shows Dylan and Marco and the guy Dylan's cheating on Marco with.

Anyways...

Sarah Shima: Yeah, quick update :D I already had the first three chapters on DA, so I didn't need to wait to get them up xD And yes, I have to agree, Sirius is very much so a doofus, but a awesomely funny doofus :D

x-woman1: I'm glad you like the story :D Thanks for letting me know, it's great to know I'm not such a crappy writer afterall.

Alice Dodgson: Thank you so much dear for the constructive criticism. It's nice to hear people say they like my story, but to get advice is even better :D That's the whole point of this, isn't it? Lol. Yeah, I thought that was cute, having the daydream and reality intertwine. There'll be much more cute moments like that, hopefully. And thanks for pointing out my grammar errors...I'm trying to change them. I'm not the best at grammar and stuff lol, but I try. And I'll have to keep that in mind about Remus. He is acting a bit too goody-goody. It even said in HBP he got detention (I wish we could've seen more of those cards, it would've been interesting to see what kind of trouble they got into).

NumbahZero: I take it you like Codename: Kids Next Door? Anyways...no, James didn't get it. Only Sirius stole and drank the potion. And as for the girls...well, I can only defend Ash lol. I just used that name because I've always thought that name was a good name for a girl (damn you, Ashton Kutcher. You're hot, but still.), I dunno, maybe it's 'cause I know more girl Ashtons than guys. That, and it's a fairly British name, so it worked for me xD Glad you like though, and thanks for reviewing :D