O0o0O

When Lorraine woke up, it was seven o'clock and she was on the common room. Many people were still in the common room and some had left. After looking around, she saw that Sirius, Remus and Peter had left. She sat up slowly.

Everything seemed fake for some strange reason. She had a strange feeling that she was still dreaming, but after pinching her arm, she realized that she wasn't.

So she crawled off of the couch and slowly walked up to her dormitory, where she was tackled to the ground the second she got in.

"You're friends with Sirius Black?" It was Matilda and her other dorm mate Tara.

"Yes, yes I am." Lorraine pushed them off of her. Was it really that much of a big deal? Or… maybe it was. It was hard to admit that she had trouble staying relaxed and calm around Sirius anyway.

"And it's no big deal if he kisses you?" Tara asked loudly.

"No, not really."

"So he's just a friend."

"Yes."

"And Lupin and Potter too."

"Yes." She stood up.

"Oh MERLIN! You gotta introduce us to them!" Matilda shrieked.

"No. Introduce yourself to him." Lorraine pushed her way back out of her dormitory.

She knew what was going to happen next. They were going to act nice to her so she would introduce them to Sirius.

But no matter how un-stubborn she was, she wouldn't, because Sirius wouldn't like her if she seemed like a fan girl. If she was going to kill him, she had to be as close as a friend as possible.

Lorraine then realized that that would mean saying yes if he asked her out.

But she hoped he wouldn't.

O0o0O

Six days later, on October Eighth, on a Saturday, Lorraine once again slept late. This time though, she brushed her blonde hair for ten minutes before going into the common room and sitting down next to Sirius. Lily wasn't there. James was. Remus wasn't.

"I don't like your name, Lorraine." Sirius said to her as he played around with her hair.

"I don't like yours either. You're not serious at all. You never are, actually."

"Well I don't count. I have horrible parents. I'm allowed to have a horrible name. You are not. I should change it… to Raine."

"Rain?"

"No, Raine. With an 'E' at the end." Sirius grinned.

"Raine… I don't like it."

"Too bad, cause that's all I'm gonna call you."

"Damn."

Sirius laughed. "You look funny when you're mad."

"That's because…" She cut herself off mid-sentence when the tattoo started burning, then stopped three seconds later. How strange…

O0o0O

"So how many ex-girlfriends do you have?" Lorraine asked Sirius when they were sitting in the Great Hall for lunch.

"Seventy-two." Sirius said after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Seventy-two?" Lorraine asked, in awe.

"Yup."

"But…" Lorraine closed her eyes to do some math. "If there's about 500 girls in Hogwarts, and 375 of them aren't in Slytherin. And out of those 375, 300 aren't ugly or something like that… And about 150 aren't too young for you. And about 100 aren't taken already… And about 85 would actually want to date you… That means that you only have about 13 girls left!"

"You're the first person to actually do the math." James said.

Remus nodded. "Not even me or Wormtail did the math."

"Yup." Sirius said.

"And, actually, knowing Sirius, I think that by June, he'll have dated those 13 girls." James pointed out.

"Wow." Lorraine said quietly. She couldn't help but wonder… Was she one of those thirteen girls?

Lily laughed quietly. "Black, I honestly don't know how you do it."

"Easy. Like this." He stood up and walked over to a Ravenclaw girl in their year who was walking by. "Hey."

"Hey Sirius." The girl smiled.

"So, Rachel, wanna go out some time?"

"Sure." Her eyes lighted up with joy.

"So, I'll meet you at the Entrance Hall at six tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Great. See you then, babe." Sirius walked back to the table and grinned.

"Amazing." Lily laughed.

"Wow." Lorraine said again, even quieter this time. "Now it's twelve…"

"Hey, Padfoot. Is Raine one of those twelve?" James asked.

"Depends."

"On what?" Remus asked.

"If she wants to be."

There was an awkward silence, which was something uncommon when around the Marauders. But, of course, soon they would face many new experiences. Some would be good, like Lily and James dating, and some would be bad, for example, being killed.

O0o0O

"Pass me the gold." Lorraine said to Lily.

They were sitting on Lorraine's bed that night and painting their nails Gryffindor colors to see if it looked good.

Lily passed Lorraine the gold nail polish. "You've really been spending a lot of time with Sirius lately."

"And Remus and Peter too." Lorraine said as she painted her left thumb nail gold.

"But mostly Sirius." Lily smiled widely.

"Yeah, but…"

"I think he likes you, Raine." After saying Raine, Lily burst out laughing. Between laughs she said "Ask… him… out…"

"No way, Lily. He doesn't like me. He's Sirius Black." Of course, Lorraine didn't like Sirius at all, but she could admit that Sirius was popular and he didn't usually like girls.

"So? Just because he's Sirius doesn't mean that he's a guy. He still usually has one girl that he likes more than anybody else. In this case, that girl is you. I mean… He might be all popular and date almost any girl, but he still can like one girl in particular."

"But why me?"

"Well… You're different. Different than all the other girls he's dated. You're more… innocent or…. Just different."

"But I-"

"So, did you like the pudding they had during dinner today?" Lily had changed the topic and Lorraine knew that she wouldn't be able to change it back successfully. Lily was more stubborn than she was.

He was popular and hot.
She was invisible and not.
He was fighting against him.
She was fighting for him.
He was planning to date her.
Not then, but maybe later.
She was planning to kill him.
But then she wasn't so sure that she was willing.

O0o0O

Okay, I have great news for you all! drum roll I'm getting married!

Okay, just kidding. I'm not getting married, but I'd like to say thanks to all those who've reviewed (Not more than 3 people, I know. Sometimes I wonder how many people really read this) and… I promise the next one's coming in a week, and that's about all! walks away, swinging hips like a model