Author's Note: All aspects of the magical kingdom and the characters that dwell within it are the property of J K Rowling.

No Show

The lessons with Severus had been uneventful. He seemed distracted and jumpy. He dropped a couple of thing and swore loudly but apart from that he had said very little. Holly was really struggling to understand what Snape and Lily had in common, apart from a love of the library.

When Holly entered the common room Lily was no where to be seen, realising she had no one to talk to she trudged upstairs to her dormitory. The lights were off. None of the bed curtains were drawn except Lily's. She could hear a sniffling sound coming from behind the drawn bed curtains.

'Lily is that you?' She asked dumbly to the darkness. There was no reply, she turned on her bedside lamp and took a couple of steps closer to Lily's bed.

'You alright Lily…?' she asked again.

'Yeh I'm fine just a cold, gone to bed early,' came the muffled reply from behind the curtains.

'Are you sure?'

'Yes I just felt a bit ill that's all,' came the reply.

'You sound really bad; can't I check and see if you're alright?'

'I just won't to be left alone, okay?'

'Okay,' Holly relented and started undressing for bed. All of a sudden she turned round and rather abruptly she blurted out, 'I know you're not ill Lily, you're crying and I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't try to find out what's wrong or at least tell you that I'm here if you want to talk.'

The sniffling stopped and there was a good minutes silence and then Lily cried out 'I hit him!' and burst into tears again.

'Hit who?' demanded Holly, feel foolish having this conversation with someone she couldn't see.

'Severus!'

'Oh really Lilly I can't talk to you like this any longer!' Holly said tearing open the drapes.

Lily was a sorry state. Her face was pink and ruddy and her eyes puffy. Her red mane was sodden and tangled from where she had sobbed all over it. Holly sat attentively on the corner of the bed.

'Why Lily? What did he do?' she asked earnestly.

'He…he called me a…a… s-slut and then he tried to kiss me!' Lily squealed in between sobs.

'What?' said Holly more confused then ever.

I told him that I had agreed to go to Hogsmead with James and then he said that and I said something nasty back and then he tried to kiss me and then I slapped him, and then he ran away. I think I've lost my best friend. He probably hates me!' she wailed.

'He tried to kiss you?' questioned Holly, desperately trying to regain some sort of clarity.

'Yes, he grabbed my face with his hands. It was horrible.'

'And he called you a slut?'

'Yes.'

'Well Lily what are you so upset about you shouldn't have just slapped him you should have kneed him in the…'

'Oh don't, poor Severus he didn't mean any harm, he just gets worked up so easily. Why did I say yes to James, I don't even like him!'

'Do you fancy Sev?'

'Ewwwww noo he's my friend.'

'Do you think he fancies you?'

'Of course not, were friends!'

Lily's absolute stupidity hit Holly in the face like a ton of bricks. She may be the cleverest girl in their year but her naivety was staggering.

'Don't worry Lily, by the sounds of things he'll be a lot more embarrassed tomorrow then you will be,' reassured Holly.

'But I hit him!' Lily was wailing again, Holly had a good mind to slap her. Her patience with Lily had grown thin recently.

'In my opinion Lily, he got off lightly.' She half listened to Lily for another half hour than made an excuse that she wasn't feeling too good and crawled into her bed, pulling the pillow down over her ears to drown out Lily indulgent sobs.

Breakfast the next morning was a tiring affair; Holly sat and patiently listened to Lily squeal about the whole Severus fiasco. She liked Lily when she was studios and sensible but when the reality of being a teenager hit home Lily was the most annoying girl in the world. Holly looked over toward Moira who was silently reading the Daily Prophet and eating a yogurt- breakfast bliss she thought- staring dubiously at her greasy English breakfast and a side plate of fried bread.

She read the back page of Moira's paper it read 'Voldemort: The Search Continues'.She followed the newspapers religiously; surely this was a big deal. From the little she knew about this Voldemort he sounded like a fucked up guy who needed to be locked up, but here was the article on the last page. Front page was dedicated to the sixth break up this year of the wizard band Hell Katz. Why did she read the paper? It was so depressing, not just what was written but what wasn't.

Lily couldn't study with Holly that evening as she had to go and to put in Lily's own words 'sort this catastrophe out with Sev'. On one level Holly was glad it meant she didn't have to listen to any more of Lily's incessant girl-ness but now she would have to return to the common room alone and probably sit alone for the rest of the evening. She decided to curl up on one of the many comfy armchairs with a cold glass of milk, a cauldron cake and a good book. She knew she should be studying but hell, she needed a break. She had been scouting through the muggle studies section earlier that weekend and she had found a whole section dedicated to Muggle Fiction-Joy! She opened her copy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kingsly. It had been placed in Children's stories to her horror and amusement. It still surprised her how ignorant most wizards were to muggle culture. She knew the book was a modern cult classic, the film version being released the year before; her mother and Gerald had gone to see it – she hadn't. She was a good twenty pages in and already engrossed in the book when she heard her name.

'Hi Holly!' It was Remus.

'Hi' she said, looking up.

'You look comfy,' he said

She smiled, she was all curled up on the sofa, wearing leggings, a huge jumper and toastie socks. Her jumper was littered with cake crumbs.

'The joys of reading a good book' she mused.

'Can I sit with you,' he asked 'I mean if you want to read that's…'

'No, sit. Where are the others?' she asked.

He knew who she meant, 'James and Sirius are practising for Quidditch tryouts, Peters watching. It's a bit too cold for me though' he added as an afterthought. 'You don't usually hang out in the common room, I was surprised to see you.' He commented.

'I study in the library most evenings but I needed a break.'

'What's the book?'

'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.'

'Never heard of it.'

'It's a muggle book, rather famous.'

'Well reading that would be like studying for me, I'd have to keep looking words up.'

'That's how I feel,' she sighed.

'What?'

She smiled, 'Doesn't mater, but really there are so many amazing books written by muggles, and not just books, but paintings, films and music. It's sad it's all worthless here.'

'I've heard of the Beatles' said Remus looking very impressed with himself, 'and Elvis Parsley.'

Holly nearly spat her milk out as she burst into a fit of giggles.

Sirius entered the common room, looking for Remus. He'd fallen off his broom at the start of practice and broken his wrist. He'd been with Madame Pomfry for the last half hour being scolded for reckless flying. He wanted to tell his story to someone. He spotted his friend over in the far corner near the fire place sitting with someone. It was a girl…fuck it was the Banshee. Why hadn't he recognised her? Well all that black hair was pulled tightly off her face in a messy bun. It made her look less scary, made you realise her face wasn't that bad, it was quite nice really, what had changed he couldn't put his finger on it. But the main difference was she was smiling, but not just that pathetic half smile she always did, she was really smiling. She had a large mouth and now it was stretched wide across her face and all because of Remus. He strolled across the common room, dodging a couple of girls that tried to intercept his path.

'Alright Moony!' He said waving his bandaged wrist obviously.

'Fuck, what happened to you?' exclaimed Remus and immediately he looked at Holly apologetically for his slip of the tongue. She quickly stifled another laugh.

'I pissed James off said something about Lily and Snivelus and he pushed me off my broom, the soft bastard.'

'Probably served you right, you know how angry he's been since she broke of their Hogsmead date,' reasoned Remus.

'It was just a joke, he just get so damn protective over his future wife,' Sirius defended himself.

'What did you say?' asked Remus.

'Well they; Evans and Snape I mean were walking across the grounds, past the lake, and I said it looked like Snivulus was having more luck with Evans than he was… see that really isn't that bad.'

'Quite restrained for you' said Remus

'Were they fighting?' interjected Holly

'Who?'

'Lily and Sev.'

He gave her a do I know you look followed by a why r u so interested look then said 'no, why?'

What a wanker, she thought. But she kept her cool, 'Oh good, no reason.'

'Bullshit no reason, you're her friend. Are they really together?' Sirius interrogated her.

'No don't be daft, they just…had a little fight that all' She might have been annoyed with Lily but she would still defend her against malicious rumours.

'Sounds like a relationship to me.' said Sirius.

'Friends fight,' countered Holly.

Sirius ignored her 'Anyway talking of relationships, you two look very happy in this cosy corner.'

Both Remus and Holly went red.

'Holly was enlightening me about muggle music,' Remus stumbled.

'Oh,' said Sirius nonchalantly, 'I listen to quite a lot of that stuff, mostly just to piss my mum off'.'

'Really?' said Holly intrigued.

'Don't sound so surprised' he said.

'What do you listen to?' she asked.

'Well you know The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones stuff like that.'

She didn't want to look too impressed but she was, it was nice to hear these familiar things said in her new world. Lily was muggle born but she liked shit like Donny Osmond.

Sirius sat down and began talking to Remus, she soon lost track of the names she had never heard of and who they had screwed, dumped, hexed ect. So she began to read her book again. But it was more enjoyable this time. She wasn't quite alone anymore, for they were sitting with her. About half an hour later she stood up yawning, 'See you later guys, I'm hitting the hay, I'm cream crackered.'

They looked at her bemused

'Knackered,' they still looked lost. 'Wizards' she mumbled as she stumbled towards the staircase leading to the girls dormitories.

Suddenly there was a pat on her arm, she swung round it was Sirius, he'd followed her.

'Yes' she said startled.

'Hey I meant to say before, but you know Moony was there and I didn't want to embarrass you not that you should be embarrassed…'

'Sirius I know Dumbledore has asked you to tutor me,' she interrupted.

'Oh right'

'Yeh I am embarrassed, but I'm going to have to get over it, at least I'm not taking remedial muggle studies or something. Beside Moony is tutoring me in Charms'.

'Oh and you don't mind?' he asked.

'Well to be honest I'd rather it wasn't you but you're the best in the year and I need help.'

'Thanks,' he said unimpressed, 'what a compliment!'

'Well what do you expect after last time?'

'That was your fault,' he accused.

But she was in too much of a good mood, 'You're an absolute twat Sirius Black, but you like The Doors so I guess you get a second chance,' and with that she left him at the bottom of the stairs his mouth wide open.

When she got up to her dorm she pinched her face a couple of times. She felt it, she felt it in ever muscle and every bone… she felt normal, she felt like a normal teenager.

She sat waiting in the empty classroom, her hands folded neatly on her lap and her wand in front of her on the desk. It was beautiful she thought. 10 inches, willow with a dragons heart string. She checked her watch fifteen minutes, where was he? Wasn't it the student that was supposed to be late not the teacher? After waiting half an hour, Holly decided to leave. She wondered why he hadn't shown, perhaps he was ill or he'd hurt himself in Quidditch again.

She reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, 'fliberty-gibit' she muttered,

'Cheer up honey' cooed the old lady, Holly threw her a nasty look.

She made her way toward the girl's stairway, when she heard a familiar laugh. She turned and who could she see but Sirius Black, he had his arms wrapped round a curly haired fourth year. Damn him she thought, if she had had the nerve she would have walked up to him and given him a piece of her mind. But that would cause a scene and announce to the whole of the common room that she needed help. She swallowed her pride and stalked up stairs to her dorm, she couldn't believe she had trusted him.

'I don't know if we can get anything done, I can't hear myself think!' Remus went over to the window and shut it angrily. 'Damn Quidditch trails!'

'Didn't you fancy trying out?' Holly asked.

'Me? No, I'm not the best flyer. Also it's a big commitment; I don't think I'd have the time.' He wasn't looking at her.

She walked over to join him by the window and stared out. It was really amazing to see them fly like that. She wondered if she would ever get on a broomstick.

'Look, there's Sirius, he's trying out for Beater and he's pretty good.' Said Remus, pointing to a dark spec zooming through the air.

'Hmppfff' muttered Holly, 'you know he's meant to be helping me with Transfiguration, he didn't show for our first two tutorials! He's not even come to find me and explain himself.'

'Perhaps he forgot, he does that,' explained Remus.

'But he told me himself that he was going to tutor me, he's so rude. I don't want to go and sit in an empty classroom for the third time I feel like a right idiot.'

'I'll remind him, when is your lesson?'

'Thursday, thanks Remus' she said genuinely grateful, she didn't want to hunt down Black herself.

'No probs,' he reassured her. 'Now we better get back to work. Have you got your anthology of basic charms with you?'

'Yes.'

'Good, I'm going to find something that will block out that infernal noise.'

A very rude song about the Slytherin Quidditch team could be heard from the pitch below. Remus looked down, embarrassed, bless him Holly thought.

The following Thursday Sirius didn't show again, she couldn't wait to inform Dumbledore that she was right, Sirius Black was not a suitable choice as her tutor. He was a first class twat.

Author's Note: Please do review, I'm just writing this as I go along, so any suggestions or requests will be considered. Many Thanks to the few who are reviewing, it is very much appreciated.