Disclaimer: I don't not own Harry Potter or anything associated with that name. I do own Amaya, her parents, and her ties to Remus Lupin. Oh, and I own her grandparents as well.

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Chapter Five:

"Prongs? What are you doing here? I thought you would be patrolling with Evans." Sirius said as he and Remus walked back into the common room with Amaya later that evening.

James just continued to stare straight ahead into the fireplace. They went over and sat beside him on the couch. "What's wrong?" Remus asked his friend. James continued to ignore him. "Fine then. Have it your way. We're going to bed." Remus said, upset that his friend was ignoring him. He stormed up the steps, turning back at the top and looking at Sirius. "You coming?"

Sirius looked at Amaya. "Sorry. See you tomorrow?" he asked her. She nodded.

"Of course you will, Sirius." Amaya said. "You are my cousins best friend."

Sirius blushed. "Right. Good night then." He said, standing up. He was disappointed that she didn't understand what he had meant.

"Sirius?" She said as he approached the foot of the steps.

"Yeah?" he said, turning around.

"Maybe tomorrow you could show me how to fly? On a broom, I mean. I've always wanted to fly." She said.

He smiled. "Sure. But Remus hates to fly, you know." he said. Maybe she had known what he meant, after all.

She smiled again. "I'm sure you and I can manage by ourselves, right?" She was shocked with herself. Normally she wasn't this forward with guys. There was just something about this one. Maybe it was the accent. Or the irresistible shaggy black hair. Either way, she had just made a date with him, whether she knew what attracted her to him or not.

"We sure can. See you then." Sirius said, smiling at her before running up the steps.

"Now, James. No that they are gone, do you mind telling me what is the matter with you?" She said, turning to the black haired boy that had been remarkably silent throughout her whole exchange with Sirius.

James blinked. He looked as though he wanted to say something. Instead he just looked at her, and then turned back to the fire.

"Come on. I know you don't know me that well, but I promise to keep it between us. You have my word." She said, putting her hand over her heart.

Turning to face her again, he looked into her eyes. She looked sincere enough. "Fine. You won't even tell Sirius?" He asked. Apparently he had been listening to the conversation going on around him. He just hadn't participated.

"I promise I won't." Amaya said. She was surprised that he actually decided to talk to her. She was just going to try for the heck of it. She knew that it sometimes was easier for a person to talk to a stranger rather than those who they were closest to.

"Well, Evans said…some things to me that really hit me hard." He started, pausing to wait for her to comment.

"Care to repeat it?" She asked.

"No, I'd rather not. Let's just say that she made it crystal clear that there was no chance for her and I. Ever." he said, looking at his hands.

For a split second, Amaya thought she saw tears in his eyes. Remembering how happy James had been the day before that Lily had even talked to him, she felt very sorry for him. "I'm so sorry, James." She said, putting her hand on his arm for comfort. "Is there anything I can do?"

He shook his head. Then he turned to her. "Well, you can tell me something."

She nodded for him to continue.

"From what you've seen of me, do I seem at all…conceited…to you?"

Amaya didn't answer right away. James did seem a little conceited to her. As did Sirius. But some people were just like that. They couldn't help it, nor did they know they were doing it, either. The night before, when they were in the Heads room with James and Lily, she had noticed that he seemed to try a little too much to impress Lily. She could understand that this might be a little annoying to someone if it were a constant thing. "Well," She said finally. "You do seem to try too hard. I don't think you mean to seem conceited, it's just how you act. How others see you is different than how you see yourself."

James face fell even more, if that were possible. "I just want her to see how good I can be for her. I want her to see the best of me." he said. "But she's made it clear that there's no hope."

"Maybe there is." Amaya said, causing James to jerk his head up.

"You think? How?" He asked.

She smiled. "Maybe if you show her who you really are, she'll realize that she likes you."

James looked puzzled. "How do I do that?" He asked.

"For starters, call her by her first name. Not 'Evans'." James smiled. "Then, quit showing off so much. Just act normal. The way you do when you're with Sirius and Remus. The way you are now. She'll come around. She'd be crazy not to." Amaya finished.

James pondered over this for a minute. "I think I can do that. Thanks, Amaya." He said, hugging her briefly.

"Your welcome. Now, I think that both of us need to get to bed. It's late." James looked a his watch.

"Oh no! I've got to go! I've got patrolling to do. Thank You, again, Amaya." He said, rushing towards the portrait hole.

"Be yourself!" She commanded before he exited. Smiling, she walked up the steps leading to the girls dorms to find her bed.

---

As James approached, Lily was just leaving the Heads room and entering the hallway.

"Your late? Where have you been?" Lily demanded, hands on her hips.

James stared at her coolly. "What does it matter, Lily? So I had things to do. You said before that you could handle this job without me."

She just stood there, floored. James had never spoken to her this way before. As if she were just some normal acquaintance and nothing special. "I suppose it doesn't." She said.

"Alright. You take the right side of the school and the astronomy tower, and I'll take the left side and the dungeons." He said, walking in the opposite direction as her.

"Fine." She said, shocked that he wanted to split up from her. When they had been prefects, he had insisted on patrolling with her. She had assumed that he would do the same thing as Head Boy. Feeling an odd sense of loss that she had never experienced before, she went the way he had directed her, completely lost in her thoughts.

Apparently, she was so lost that she didn't see James turn to look back at her as he rounded the corner.

"Ok. Let's start out with the way they taught us during our first year. Stick your right hand , or whichever is your dominant hand, over your broom and say 'up' in a firm voice. Make the broom understand that you control it, not the other way around." Sirius said to Amaya as they were standing in the middle of the quidditch pitch after their classes the next day. Amaya had adjusted really well and was learning faster than expected. She just seemed to have a knack for it all. They had decided that they would go out for a while before dinner, leaving James to apologize to Remus (which he had been putting off all day) and then meet them in the Great Hall at suppertime.

As Amaya stuck her hand out over the broom, it vibrated a bit. She looked at Sirius with an accomplished expression on her face.

"Don't get too cocky. You haven't gotten it yet." He said teasingly. She smiled and furrowed her brow in concentration.

'Alright, you broomstick. I am in control, not you. So come on, get up here!' She thought to herself. To her surprise, the broom leaped into her outstretched hand.

"Good! Good. Now, try and mount it. Put one leg over it, like this," he said, taking his broom from her and demonstrating. Drooling heavily at the way his pants fit him when he stretched his leg over the broom, she tried her best to pay attention. They had shed their robes when they had first entered the pitch, as they were too restricting for bodily movement. Now Amaya was beginning to wonder if that had been a mistake. How could she concentrate on the broom with a sight like that presenting itself!

"Here, you try." Sirius said, handing her the broom and snapping her out of her thoughts.

She took the broom and did what he had instructed. Now, however ,it was Sirius turn to drool as he noticed that she was wearing a pair of oh-so- tight pants. He was forced to snap his head up quickly when she mounted and look her in the face. "Ok. That seems simple enough for you. You've got the basics, so let's go for a spin, shall we? You in front, and I'll take control if you get scared or anything should happen." he said, hopping on the broom behind her.

Her skin tingled where he gripped her slightly around the waist, causing her to lose focus for a minute.

"Kick off, gently." He said. He felt a slight jerk as she pushed off, then everything got smooth as they made their ascent into the air.

The feeling made her giddy. It was a wonderful, weightless sensation that she couldn't remember ever feeling before in her life. It seemed as though the broom obeyed her thoughts rather than her movements. It was as though she had a second nature in the air. As if she had been flying all of her life.

"You're really good at this." Sirius said. He had just realized that they were close to each other. Closer than they had ever been. And that they were touching. He felt butterflies enter his stomach. "Um, go wherever you like." He said as his hands began tingling in their position around her waist. Her incredibly thin waist…He thought that if he could just move it a little further up, as if by accident…But no. He would not allow himself to do that . Not with her. There was any other girl for that. She seemed, somehow, to be different than anyone he had ever met. He didn't want to act like his old self. He wanted to impress her. To make her like him. He suddenly understood how James felt. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and concentrated on the flight.

The whole time she was flying, Amaya couldn't take her thoughts off of him. He was so close to her. She could smell his cologne, feel him breathing, not to mention that he was touching her. She felt that even if they were on the ground, her head would be spinning as if it had never come down out of the clouds.

Once they landed, Sirius hopped off the broom quickly, afraid that if he were close to her any longer, he would be forced to do something…stupid.

"Well, I would say that that was a good enough flight for one day, don't you?" He asked.

She nodded. "It was wonderful. Thank you for teaching me, Sirius. I know you didn't have to, and that you probably have a girlfriend or something better to do today." She shifted guiltily on her feet. She had overlooked the fact that he might have a girlfriend. He probably couldn't wait to ditch her.

He shook his head. "Nope. I didn't have anything better to do. And I don't have girlfriend, believe me." He said, smiling. "Although none can resist the Black charm, I find that I can't see my self settling down with anyone here. All the girls are, well, stuck up."

She snorted. "According to some of the girls, it's you and James that are stuck up."

He smirked mischievously. "Oh? And what do you think?" he asked.

She smiled, prepared to run, and said, "Well, you have your moments." and took off for the school.

He was faster than her, and caught up with her about halfway to her destination. Before she knew what was going on, he had her pinned to the ground and was tickling her unmercifully.

"Ok…Ok!" She gasped, out of breath and sore from laughing so much. "You win. I surrender."

He stopped tickling her and smiled. "I always do." He said. Summoning all her strength, she reversed the situation and rolled over on him.

"Oh, do you? Well, time to change that!" She said, and he suffered the same fated as she had a moment ago.

By the time he was done laughing, he was out of breath too. Rolling off of him, Amaya lay on her back staring at the blue sky above. They each lay their for a minute in silence, before Sirius rolled onto side, head on his elbow, and looked at her.

"That was…fun. I don't know how long it's been since I've been tickled. Thank you for showing me what I was missing." He said. She rolled over into the same position facing him.

"Your welcome." She said simply, distracted by the look in his eyes. Before she could stop herself, it was already too late. She leaned up and kissed him right on the lips. Realizing what she was doing, she quickly pulled back. "Sirius…I'm sorr…," She was cut off by him pulling her close and pressing his lips to hers. She kissed him back and found that she liked it. He kissed far better than any other guy she had kissed.

After a minute, they pulled back for a breath.

"Wow." Sirius said. "That was…quite a kiss. I'm surprised some American guy hasn't laid claims on you. You don't have a boyfriend, do you?" He asked in horror.

She laughed and shook her head. "No."

"Whew. That's good. Well, I' m starving, I don't know about you." He said, getting up and offering her his hand.

She accepted it and walked with him into the castle. She didn't even know that they were still holding hand until they approached the Gryffindor table and were spotted by Remus and James.

"Well. From now on when they say, 'learning to fly' we know they really mean something else, eh' Moony?" James said.

Sirius looked down at their clasped hands. His face grew red. "Remus…I….It….We…" He began.

Remus stuck up his hand. "It was inevitable, my friend. Calm down. I'm glad it was you, though. I would have killed anybody else." Sirius smiled, and sat down beside
Amaya, who was already digging into the food.

"In that case.." He said, filling his plate with food. "I think I want to challenge my new…" He stopped. "Wait, are we…I mean, are you my…?"

"Girlfriend? Lover?" James supplied.

"Girlfriend, yes that's it. Are you my girlfriend?" He asked.

Amaya smiled. "That depends. Do you want a girlfriend? I mean, I wouldn't want to hurt your reputation as a ladies man."

Sirius smiled. "For you, there is no reputation. I would love to have a girlfriend."

"Ok then. What were you challenging your new girlfriend to?"

Sirius looked puzzled. "Oh, yeah." He said, finally. "A eating contest. To see who can hold the record. Currently, I hold it, followed close by James and Remus, who seem to keep tying. But if you can beat me, you would be the first female to win, not to mention the fun of beating them both and leaving them in shame. What do you say?"

Amaya gave him a determined look. "Your on. First one to clear 4 plates wins. Remus, say go."

Remus smiled. Sirius couldn't have found a better match. "Go!" He said, watching in amusement as his cousin and his best friend both dived into a pile of mashed potatoes.

About an hour later, there was a new champion at Gryffindor table. Amaya had beaten Sirius by a mere millisecond, but she had beaten him all the same.

"Whew! I'm stuffed!" Amaya said, pushing her plate away from her.

"Me too." Sirius said, somewhat grumpily.

"What's the matter, Padfoot? Upset that your girlfriend beat you at your own game?" Remus quipped.

Sirius just glared at him.

"Aww. Sirius, I didn't meant to embarrass you!" Amaya said in a mock-sympathetic voice. "Come on. Let's go back to the common room and find something you can beat me at." She said, getting up from the table with Sirius in tow. "Coming Remus?" She asked before her mouth was captured by a kiss from Sirius.

"You two go on ahead. I'll give you a head start." Remus said. All the mushiness was making him nauseous.

Amaya chuckled. "Whatever you say, cuz."

Remus looked in horror as her cousin was lead out of the Great Hall by the infamous Sirius Black. Something in the way she had said that worried him.

"Are you actually going to let them go somewhere…alone?" James asked.

Remus immediately stood up. "On second thought, no. See you later?" He said.

James nodded. "After patrol." He said. Remus nodded and headed out of the Great Hall to catch up with Amaya and Sirius.

"Potter?" He heard a voice say somewhere down the table. He turned.

"Yeah, Lily?" He asked.

She stared at him, still not used to his use of her first name. "Um, it's time to patrol." She said, pointing to her watch.

"Ok. Same as last night?" He asked.

She stared at him strangely before nodding.