hey, sorry for the long wait. I have no excuse, but here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy, I'm hoping better things will come soon ). thanks if you are reading this. Reviews are always greatly appreciated.

"It's Friday!" Marlene exclaimed as she and Mary sat down for lunch at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Too bad we have homework to do, it's so nice out." Mary sighed, picking out food to eat, "I say we get it done tomorrow and Sunday we rest."

"I'm doing mine tonight." Lily declared, joining them.

"You guys are ruining the excitement." complained Marlene.

"Well, our last Flying Lesson is today, that's exciting." Mary said, rolling her eyes.

"It's not my fault that you can't ride on a stick." Marlene mumbled.

Mary smiled and nudged Marlene, "Hey, look who it is."

It was the boy named Samson, the one Marlene worked with in potions. Since that day Marlene mentioned him at least once every few hours.

Mary suggested asking him out.

Marlene just smiled to her suggestion and picked at her food the rest of lunch, as Mary and Lily chattered about muggle things, given they're both from muggle worlds.

xoxoxox

"You finally mastered the art of riding!" Marlene grinned as they put their brooms away and headed to herbology.

"Yeah, as much as I ever will, at least." Maryjo responded, then after a moment, "And you mastered the art of flirting to make a boy you like jealous."

"That I have." Marlene smiled, then looked over her shoulder and caught the eye of Samson walking with his friend Albert, who was an all right looking boy, resembling what muggles would call a skater-boy.

When they got to the greenhouses, Marlene stopped outside to tie her shoe (her shoe was perfectly laced) so that she could let the boys go in first, and after they sat down she sat across from them.

"Are you sure you're not getting into this stuff too fast? I mean, it's only been a week into school." Mary whispered to Marlene.

"Why wait?" was all Marlene could get to say before their herbology teacher, Mrs. Randolph started giving them instructions.

Throughout the hour any chance she got, Marlene flirted with Samson. Both Maryjo and Albert were ignored, though Albert didn't seem to mind much at all.

A few people to Mary's left James and Sirius were goofing off, taking the long grass they had to pick and touching people with it so they'd think a bug was on them or something.

Remus was working next to Lily and Peter, who was vigilantly picking out the grass while Remus cut it and Lily planted the seeds in the emptied pots.

Since that first night Maryjo hadn't got much closer with Remus, and the only contact they've had was when they passed in the halls. For all Mary knew Remus was down by the fire every night, but she hadn't the need to go down there, and she wasn't going to force destiny.

xoxoxox

By the time class was over Marlene and Samson had made plans to meet each other tomorrow afternoon, which surprised Mary in the least.

At dinner Marlene would either stare off at Samson or talk about how cute he was. Mary saw that Remus and Lily were sitting next to each other, where Sirius and James were sitting on the other side of him, talking excitedly about their plans for the weekend

When they went back to the common room Maryjo and Marlene sat at a table and played some cards, muggle-style. It was Lily's suggestion, she thought it might make Marlene concentrate on something more than just boys.

She was right, of course, but in the wrong sense.

"So, what's up with you? I see you eyeing Remus a lot, you like him? Or what about Sirius, I know you think he's cute, you told me on the first day here." Marlene quarried, after she got the hang of the card game War. "How about that long-haired Ravenclaw Albert that was sitting across from you in herbology? He seemed nice."

"Marlene, there isn't anything going on with me, especially in the boy department." Maryjo responded in an even tone.

"But there's always something, and what about the boys I mentioned?"

Mary paused playing the game, and looked at Marlene, "Number one: just because someone is cute doesn't mean I like them. Number two: do you ever see me talking to Remus or Albert? No. Anyway, Albert doesn't seem to be my type."

"And Remus?" Marlene smiled.

Maryjo took a few minutes to consider her question. Was Remus her type? Did she even have a type?

Those were questions yet to be answered, and they weren't high on Maryjo's priority list at the moment. Having a boyfriend didn't sound too appealing to Mary, she just felt too young - or better yet, the boys she knew just too immature for her to consider them.

"I don't know." Maryjo responded truthfully, in a quiet thinking voice that held the cue that the subject was not to be talked about anymore.

Marlene didn't mention Remus for the rest of the game, but she did ask about Mary's friends back home.

Maryjo decided to tell her about Jack, in her mind she was thinking about how much Marlene would love him, and in the end she ended up telling her that.

"Aw, I have to meet him some time! He seems like a great guy."

Maryjo smiled and stated simply, "He is a great guy, I would trust him with my life."

Then it was Marlene's turn to smile, her 'aw, how cute' smile.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Maryjo asked, recognizing the smile.

"You seem to -" Marlene started, then stopped and shook her head, still with that smile plastered there on her face.

Maryjo laughed, "What is it? Tell me!"

Marlene was quiet for a while longer, just looking into Maryjo's eyes, examining them. Maryjo just stared back at her. "I could be wrong, but it looks to me like you're in love." she finally got out, in a voice just above a whisper.

"What?" Maryjo started, "No, I - he's like my brother." she stammered, now avoiding Marlene's eyes. "He's - I - I love him like a brother, maybe, but I'm not in love - I . . . " she rambled, her words fading into the air before them.

The card game had ended a few minutes before this conversation, but neither of them knew who had won the war, and neither cared. They were lost in their own minds, and for now were stranded from real rationality.

Somehow it was getting to belate and they didn't have anything else to do but go up to their room to get ready for bed. Before they went to sleep, they talked some more.

"I'm sorry." Marlene said, glancing at Maryjo as they sat on the floor space between their four-posters.

Mary just looked at her hands and shrugged. Then asked, "What about you? You must've had plenty of friends back where you grew up, there's no way you didn't."

Marlene's expression changed into one that was completely unreadable, then responded, "Yeah . . . about that." she hesitated.

Maryjo gave her a quizzical look, "You had friends, didn't you?" she only half-jokingly said.

Marlene's face was still unreadable, but her eyes told a different story. "Of course, but let's save the story for another day."

Maryjo gave an accepting smile, then Marlene bade her goodnight and went to bed, closing her hangings. Maryjo sat for a good ten minutes longer, then just laid in bed. She couldn't help but see Marlene's eyes when she closed her own, in fact, that's all she could see. She realized there was no sleep in her near future, but expected the circumstance.

She opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around the room to see who was still up. It looked like they were alone, but it made sense. Daisy was probably downstairs reading, Kim most likely found some boys, and Lily was undoubtedly downstairs doing her homework, like she said she was going to do.

She lay back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling, now thinking about Jack. She got out a notebook and a pen, closed her hangings, then started writing, which was one of her favorite night time hobbies.

Who knew how much time passed before she fell asleep, but she thought she heard Daisy and Lily come to bed before dreams had overcome her conscious.