Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 5

Nora had just finished studying with Bert in the library that same evening, when she was passing through the Gryffindor common room to get to her dorm. James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting around the fireplace playing a game of wizard's chess. As soon as Sirius saw Nora walking by he called out to her, "Eh, woman! What were you doing out so late? Make my bed, iron my clothes, and shine my shoes!"

Nora was close to a couch with cushions on it so she grabbed one and chucked it, aiming at his head. Sirius caught the pillow and said in a grave voice, "That's it. You're sleeping on the couch tonight." Nora, who continued to walk up towards the dorm, just shook her head with a smile she was trying very hard to suppress as the boys started to laugh in hysterics. Sirius had found any opportunity that day to tease her about their Muggle Studies assignment.

Halfway up the stairs, Nora heard James say, "Hey is Moony already there?"

"Yeah, we're gonna meet him in half an hour." Sirius replied. Nora stopped to listen. She had overheard Remus being referred to as "Moony" before by his friends. When she thought about it, they all had strange nicknames for each other.

"So are we going to stick to the forest today?" asked Peter.

"Shh, Wormtail, keep it down." James urged him. Nora couldn't hear anything else that they were saying so she continued walking up the stairs. Hmm. That's odd. I wonder where Remus is. Isn't it a little dangerous for them to be sneaking out into the forest late at night? She thought to herself as she opened her dormitory door.

When Nora entered her dorm room, she could hear Shelby just finish telling the story of what happened in Muggle Studies class, for the tenth time that day. Every time she saw someone new she had to tell them what had happened.

"And James picked me." She concluded triumphantly to a very uninterested looking Lily. As soon as she saw Nora come in she said, "Ooh, Nora, I was just telling Lily about Muggle Studies class today. Do you know how many girls were eyeing us jealously because James and Sirius picked us?" Nora shrugged indifferently as she took out her pyjamas from her closet and walked into the bathroom to wash up for bed. As she was brushing her teeth she couldn't help but wonder what it was the boys were talking about downstairs. Nora had an odd feeling that something wasn't quite right with Remus.


The next morning at breakfast, Nora and Bert were eating together when she told Bert about how she was awakened in the middle of the night by strange howling noises.

"I've heard that before. Those noises come from the Shrieking Shack. It's haunted you know." Bert explained to Nora.

"Yeah I know what the Shrieking Shack is, Bert. I dunno, I just overheard these guys talking last night…something about going to the forest." said Nora, just as Sirius, James and Peter strolled into the Great Hall, all looking very sleepy. Nora noticed that Remus wasn't with them and suddenly felt very alarmed.

"Where's Remus?" Michelle, who was sitting a few seats away from Nora with Shelby, asked the boys.

"Oh, he had to go to the hospital wing." James answered without much concern. "He wasn't feeling so good last night."

"I hope he's okay." Michelle said, looking as anxious as Nora felt.

"Yeah, he's fine. Don't worry. It's nothing serious." Sirius answered and he sat down and started piling food onto his plate.

Nora looked at the boys suspiciously and wondered if they weren't hiding something. Hmm, she started to ponder, I wonder if Remus is really okay. But I guess if he wasn't they wouldn't be acting so unconcerned. Maybe they didn't end up going outside last night after all. Actually...now that I think about it, Remus is away quite often...

"Hey Nora." James said, interrupting her thoughts. "Don't forget there's a practice tonight. Only one more week until our first match against Ravenclaw."

"Oh, yeah, I didn't forget." Nora said as she and Bert got up to head to their classes. "I'll see you guys later."


"So, James," Nora began to say as they were both hovering over the Quidditch pitch during practice later that evening, "Last night when I walked into our dorm, Shelby was telling Lily about how you picked her for our Muggle Studies project."

"I see." James said and flew a little closer to her, eager to hear what gossip she had to say.

"Yeah, she was completely uninterested in the conversation." Nora said.

"Oh." James said, a little dejectedly. With all the time Nora was spending with James on the Quidditch pitch, she had started to really like him. He seemed to be a very sincere and caring person once you got to know him. She felt bad at the fact that Lily still didn't fancy him and tried to give him as much hope as she could.

"Yeah, but she seemed a little too uninterested, if you know what I mean." Nora said with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" James said with interest just as a Bludger shot passed him, missing him by an inch, and hitting Nora smack into her left arm.

"AAH!" Nora yelled, clutching her arm in pain. James came to her side and behind him came Sirius, laughing out loud.

"Ha! Finally got you, Four-eyes." He said, swinging his bat around in triumph.

"Whatever, you jackass. I wasn't even paying attention just then." Nora said, rubbing her arm.

"Well, whose fault is that?" he asked her. Nora ignored him and kept rubbing her arm, trying to numb the stinging pain a little. James gave his friend a slightly disapproving look.

Sirius, who now felt a tinge of guilt, came to the other side of Nora and asked, "Does it really hurt that much?"

"No, it feels so good." Nora said with irritated sarcasm. "Do it again."

James could feel an argument about to erupt so he interjected and asked Nora, "Do you wanna take a break?"

"No," she answered, shaking her arm around, "it's not so bad. I'm fine. Let's just play." James and Sirius flew back into their positions and Nora went back on the lookout for the Snitch. Only two minutes later, Nora spotted it, very close to Sirius. He was too busy hitting Bludgers around with his fellow Beater, Vijay Patil, to notice it buzzing around. Nora quickly flew towards him from behind. As soon as he swung his bat at a Bludger, she circled him and grabbed the Snitch that was right next to his head, catching him off guard. He lost his balance trying to hold his bat while at the same time trying to keep a strong grip on his broomstick, and ended up falling off his broomstick completely. Lucky for him, he wasn't too far from the ground when he landed on it face down.

Nora flew down to the ground next to him and he lifted his head up to face her.

"Does it feel good, Black?" she asked him with a roguish grin.

"It's…not so bad." he replied in a strained voice and rested his head back on the ground with a sigh of pain.


"Oh, you don't even have to bother asking Michelle that question. We all know what the answer is." Lily said as the girls were all lounging around in their dormitory before bed late that night. Nora tucked herself in bed comfortably and sighed internally. Is this all these girls like to talk about? They never get sick of it!

"I can't help it." Michelle said, sounding a little giddy. "Remus is just so nice that it makes him look even nicer on the outside." Nora suddenly felt like stuffing a pillow in Michelle's face.

"Well," Shelby, who had asked the original question of who they thought was the best looking boy in school, started to say, "Sirius is definitely the hottest guy in the school."

"Yeah, for sure." Lily agreed with her. "But he's a little too perfect looking for me to be very attracted to him. Maybe if he wore glasses…"

"Like James?" Nora asked, trying very hard to suppress a wicked grin.

"Oh…er…" Lily stuttered, clearly caught off guard. "Yeah, never mind. Forget I said that. He looks fine just the way he is."

"So what about you, Nora? You never say anything about guys. Is Bert the only one in your life?" Michelle said with a hint of a sneer.

"Uh…everyone knows Bert is just my friend." Nora said, starting to dislike Michelle more and more as the night progressed.

"So who do you think is the best looking guy in the school?" Shelby asked her with interest.

"I dunno." She shrugged on the outside, but inside was sighing Remus's name. "I guess Black is undeniably good looking. But he's such an arrogant flirt; he doesn't really faze me so much. James is good-looking too. And I guess Amos Diggory isn't so bad either."

"What about Remus?" Michelle asked indignantly.

"Oh, yeah," she said trying to sound indifferent. "He's okay too."

"Okay? I think he's a little better than just okay." Michelle said defensively.

"Whatever, fine, he's really cute." Nora said feeling thoroughly agitated by now. She already hated talking about this subject with these girls, and Michelle's tone was making it worse. She didn't want them asking her any more uncomfortable questions so said to them abruptly. "I'm really tired, guys. I'm going to sleep. Good night." She pulled the covers over her head and wished she could just disappear.


"Man, I hate hanging out with girls. All they do is talk about guys." Nora said to Bert the next morning over breakfast, still grumpy from the night before.

"Really?" Bert said with genuine interest.

"Yeah, they were all discussing who they thought was the best looking guy in the school." Nora answered, while buttering her toast.

"Did Lily say anything about me?" he asked hopefully.

"Er…no, sorry Bert. I think that's a dream you're just going to have to give up." Nora said with a smile before biting into her toast.

"Man, if only I was tall, and muscular…" said Bert, looking far away.

"Well, it's not going to happen if you keep stuffing your face with muffins." Nora said sternly.

"Oi, Ernie!" came a cheerful voice from behind them. "Whatcha doin' with my woman?" Sirius, James and Remus, who was looking much better, had entered the Great Hall. Sirius came and sat on the empty seat next to Nora and put his arm around her shoulders. Nora, who otherwise wouldn't care were it not for the fact that Remus was sitting a few seats away, looked at him like he was crazy, but Sirius, oblivious to this fact, continued to talk to her. "So you know how we were supposed to meet up in the library tonight to work on our project?"

"Yeah…" Nora replied, looking at him warily, praying that Remus wasn't watching this. She had no doubt that almost every girl in the hall at that moment was probably looking in their direction.

"Well, I kinda forgot that I promised somebody earlier that I'd meet up with her." he said in a regretful yet hopeful tone.

"Well, we don't have any other time to work on it. It's due tomorrow." Nora said with a frown.

"I know, but see," he said moving even closer to her, and making her even more uncomfortable than she already was, "I read over what we had to do, and it's pretty easy. So I was just thinking that maybe you could do it, and then I'll do the next part of the project by myself."

"But I don't want you to do it by yourself. We're supposed to both do it…it's the whole point of the assignment." Nora tried to reason with him. Sirius looked at her again with hopeful eyes, but her cold expression didn't change.

"Ugh. Fine." he said, resting his forehead on her shoulder in defeat. "Do you realize I'm giving up a very fine piece of ass for this?"

"I'm sure you'll live." Nora replied dryly, wishing he'd get off of her. The smell of his cologne was very strong and his body being so close to her was making her too warm. She glanced quickly in Remus's direction and caught his eye. He gave her a little smirk and she smiled back uncomfortably, her face starting to feel really hot now.

"We're meeting in the common room, right?" he asked her, his head still resting on her.

"No, the library." she said, praying he'd move now.

"What?" he said, finally picking up his head and removing his arm from her shoulder and looking at her. "I hate the library. It's too damn quiet."

"Well the common room is too damn noisy." Nora retorted.

"Well, sorry." he said resolutely. "I refuse to go to the library. If you want to do this assignment, you'll just have to meet me in the common room."

"If I want to do the assignment? It's yours too! I'll be waiting in the library. Don't be late." said Nora, equally resolute.

"And, like I said, I'll be waiting in the common room." He got up from his seat.

"I'm not kidding. I'll be in the library." Nora said very seriously.

"Neither am I. I'll see you in the common room later." He started to walk away when he suddenly stopped and said with a cheeky grin, "Oh, and by the way, I've got my eye on you two. Ernie, you better not be messing around with my missus." Nora nearly choked on the toast she had just taken a bite out of and Bert just looked perplexed.

"So, you looked pretty comfortable with Sirius just now." Shelby said as she sauntered over to Nora's table.

"Oh please. He was trying to charm his way out of doing an assignment." Nora rolled her eyes. "Man that guy is just all jokes. He doesn't take anything seriously. He better be at the library tonight, or I'll be ticked."


"I'm seriously going to kill him." Nora said to herself. It had been twenty minutes and Sirius still hadn't shown up to the library. She didn't want to go to the common room because that would give Sirius the impression that he could always get his way, and Nora didn't want that. Yet, at the same time, she really wanted to finish the assignment. Well, she thought to herself as she got up to leave, he did ditch some girl so he could work on the assignment with me, so I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I just went to the common room.

When Nora entered the common room, she found Sirius sitting very comfortably with some sixth year girl who wouldn't stop giggling. Nora could feel anger starting to bubble up inside. Is this all he does? To make matters worse, Nora spotted Remus and Michelle engaged in what seemed to be a serious conversation on the other side of the room. Nora had the sudden urge to take out her wand and hex everyone in the room, but settled on just clearing her throat to get Sirius's attention.

Sirius turned his head to face her. "Oh, you finally made it." He said to her, and then added. "You're a little late, don't you think?"

Nora, who was grinding her teeth, said, "Is this the ass you were supposed to meet tonight?" The girl looked at Sirius in a very baffled manner and he cleared his throat violently.

"Uh, okay, we gotta get some work done, so I'll talk to you later." He told her quickly and she left the couch. Sirius scowled a little at Nora, but could see that she was very angry, so he decided not to say anything back to her. She reluctantly sat down next to him and took out her assignment materials, in silence. Sirius decided to break the ice.

"Why are you so angry? I told you I was going to be here." he said, looking at her with wonder.

"And I told you that I was going to be in the library." Nora snapped back, taking out her anger on him.

Sirius could tell that this argument was going to get them nowhere so he said, "Okay, never mind. Let's just finish this up." Nora took her quill and parchment and started to write, but she was still so upset that she ended up pressing her quill down too hard and broke the point.

Sirius, who was now a little confused as to why she was so angry, gently took the parchment away from her and said, "Here, why don't I just write." Nora let him take it and just sat there, trying not to glare at Michelle. As Sirius was copying down questions onto the parchment, he kept stealing quick looks at Nora, trying to figure out what was wrong. He noticed that she kept glancing in Remus's direction and wondered if it had something to do with him.

"So," he said, eyeing her suspiciously, "Michelle seems to really like Remus."

"What?" Nora asked, looking at Sirius and then looking over at Michelle and Remus. "Oh, yeah. She doesn't hide her sentiments. It's pretty obvious and she knows it."

"Yeah, he knows it too, but he's too nice to say anything. It's too bad she's just going to end up being disappointed." he said with a slight shake of his head while scribbling down some notes.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, suddenly feeling a little hopeful. But before Sirius could answer her question, James came bursting into the common room, his face looking very panic-stricken.


A/N: I know, I hate cliffhangers too, but this chapter was getting too long so I had to save some action for the next one. Please let me know how you like the story so far by sending me some reviews! hehe. :)