Back to School

When Christmas Vacation was over, Jessica and Jared drove them all back to Kings Cross. Ashley went back much more relieved then when she came. Sirius too felt a great deal of relief, and even joy. Going back to school meant that there were only six months left and then after another six months, he and Ashley could be married. If they lived that long, that is. No, they both believed that they could change the future, and that's what they were going to do.

James, Remus, and Lily had made several visits during the holidays and they were all glad to hear that Ashley's parents had been okay with the engagement. Sirius had taken off randomly a couple of times, and Ashley just thought he was being moody, because he could be quite moody at times. But then again, she could be at times too.

They arrived back to Hogwarts on a Friday night, which was great because they had the weekend to reflect on their vacations before they had to go back to school. That night as they were going to bed, Sirius held Ashley back.

"What's the matter?" she asked him quietly as she watched Lily going to their dorm, and James going to his.

"Do you think we can be really quiet?" Sirius whispered.

Ashley laughed. "We can try."

Ashley and Sirius quickly went up the stairs. The only person still awake was James.

"Ugh - Can you guys have the courtesy to wait until I fall asleep?" James asked as he pulled down the covers to his bed.

"Can you hurry?" Sirius said with a grin.

"Horny little pig," James muttered.

"What was that?" Sirius asked, knowing very well what he said.

"Nothing," James replied, shaking his head and climbing into bed. "'Night."

"Night, James," Ashley said with a grin. James made a gagging motion and covered his head with the blanket.

About an hour later, Ashley shivered. It was freezing outside and she wasn't wearing much.

"Cold?" Sirius asked.

"No, that's what I do when I'm hot," Ashley said sarcastically with a smile.

He smiled back. "So much sarcasm," he said as he handed her a long t-shirt.

"Thanks," she said pulling it on.

"If you're still cold, there's a pair of sweatpants on the floor by you," Sirius said.

"Thanks. I think this is okay," Ashley replied gratefully, and they fell asleep. The next morning when they woke up, Remus and James were already awake. Ashley jumped out of bed.

"Ah, Moony, she's actually wearing something this time," James joked.

"Very funny, you prat," Ashley said, trying to not smile.

"Er-How many times has this happened while I was asleep? I must be a heavy sleeper," Remus said to James.

"As far as I know, it's happened twice, but who knows? I may have slept right through other times," James replied with a shrug.

"It's been only twice," Ashley said honestly.

"Only twice in this room, that is," Sirius added with a yawn.

"Sirius!" Ashley scolded.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"So how many times all together?" James asked with a smirk.

"Shut up, Prongs!" Ashley said, looking back at James, and rolling her eyes. James looked over at Sirius and he held up six fingers. James raised his eyebrows, and the three guys laughed, especially at the fact that Ashley had no clue what they were laughing about. "Whatever, I'm going to change." She picked up her jeans and t-shirt and headed to the bathroom. When she finished changing, she left the dormitory, and went to her own.

Classes dragged on, boring as usual. Everyone was studying as hard as possible, preparing for their N.E.W.T.S. Lily and Remus practically lived in the library these days, and Ashley only came out a little bit more often then them. Ashley and Lily scolded James and Sirius for not studying harder.

"You don't even need to be studying that hard, Ashley! I hardly see you anymore! It's not like you're going to work at the Ministry where people need to look at your Hogwarts record to see how qualified you are. You're opening a business for yourself, where you're the boss, so you don't even need to live in the library," Sirius told her one evening while she was getting an attitude with him for trying to distract her from her work.

"No, but the people that I'm going to have to meet with to set up my business will look at my scores to see if I'm good enough for certain things! It wouldn't kill you to study, Sirius!" Ashley shot back, hardly looking up from her books.

"I'm studying plenty. Just because I still leave the library, doesn't mean that I'm not studying. There's a such thing as over studying, ya know!" Sirius replied nastily.

"Sirius, can you please not make a scene? You're distracting me and everyone else here from their studies," Ashley said, looking around at the other students who seemed to be losing concentration.

"Whatever," he said, getting up and leaving.

Within five minutes, Ashley had forgotten that they had an argument. She didn't see him again until the next day at breakfast. Then she had remembered their fight. She walked over to him, and said "Sorry."

"It's okay, I've just been being a jerk lately. It's good that you study," Sirius said with a wave of his hand.

"Thanks. I'll see you in class," she said and departed for class.

A month later and it was already the beginning of March. Ashley was walking around the second floor, when she bumped into Remus.

"Hi, Ashley," he said with a small wave.

"Hello, Remus. What's wrong?" Ashley asked. Just then, Filch came down the hall. Ashley grabbed Remus and they dove into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Oh, Hi Ashley!" Myrtle said brightly. Ashley was one of the few people that Myrtle liked in Hogwarts.

"Hey, Myrtle. How are you doing?" Ashley asked politely.

"Eh, I've been better. Glad to have you visiting," Myrtle said, happy to have some company.

"Thanks, Myrtle. Do you mind if Remus and I stay for a few minutes to hide from Filch?" Ashley asked hopefully.

"Not at all, make yourselves comfortable," Myrtle said, and she dove into the S-Bend.

"So, like I was asking, what's wrong?" Ashley asked, looking at Remus.

"Ugh, it's Alaina. She's so complicated lately. She's picking fights all the time, I can't take it much longer!" Remus said with a sigh.

"Sh - She's going through a lot of stuff right now," Ashley told him with a small frown.

"What kind of stuff?" Sirius asked nervously.

"Well, she doesn't really want anyone to know, but I suppose she'll have to tell you sooner or later. Her mum walked out on her family on Christmas. You know Alaina, she doesn't like when people make a big fuss over her, so she didn't tell anyone. I managed to force it out of her though. I was worried about her. She was doing much better until about two weeks ago when her parents filed for divorce. Her mum handed custody over without a fight or anything. She didn't seem to care in the least," Ashley replied sadly.

"Oh no. I feel so bad for snapping at her now," Remus said, frowning.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know," Ashley said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but still..."

"Come on. Let's go upstairs, or they'll all start to worry."