Sorry this took so long to get up! I've been fighting for some free time for a while now, and I finally got it, so here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Changes

"You know, that means James really does love you, right?" Katrina said to Lily with a grin, "It was proved tonight."

"It was not," Lily rolled her emerald-coloured almond-shaped eyes at Katrina, "First of all, when he was asked that question, it doesn't automatically mean it's me that he was in love with. He may have loved someone else at some point. And secondly, nobody called James on his answer, so for all we know, if it had been about me, he could have lied and gotten away with it. So keep your little theories to yourself."

"Relax, Lily. My gosh," Katrina shook her head, "Try removing that pole from your arse, will you? It might make it easier to enjoy life." Katrina looked away from Lily and repositioned herself on the bed as she tied up her long dark hair in a pony-tail.

"I can't believe he had sex with her," Ashley said, still reeling.

"You can't believe that Sirius Black had sex with a slutty girl? Ashley, where have you been through the years?" Mischa asked sarcastically.

"But her? I'm supposed to be his best friend. How could he do that to me? And she knows we're best friends. She probably did it so she could show me that she could have all the guys in my life if she wants them. She's a coniving manipulative evil little bitch and - "

"Woah, Ashley, calm down," Shiloh told her, "Take a deep breath. This happened a really long time ago. I'm sure Sirius has felt bad about it the entire time."

"Hmph! I'm sure he has. I bet he didn't think twice about it a single time. All he cares about is himself, you know. He doesn't give a damn who he hurts as long as he gets his way. He's a bloody inconsiderate bastard."

"He's also your best friend," Mischa reminded her, "You'll work things out with him."

"Will not," Ashley told her stubbornly, "I'm never speaking to that pig again as long as I live."

"I give it two days at most," Lily said quietly to Shiloh.

"I find it utterly disturbing that Brody wants to have sex with you," Katrina said after a moment or two of silence.

"I had completely forgotten about that!" Lily exclaimed with a grin.

"Ouch, Katrina. Am I that unattractive?" Ashley questioned.

Katrina rolled her eyes, "You know it isn't that."

Ashley smirked, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, I was pretty shocked myself. There are 133 girls in this school, and he picks me?"

"133 girls? You counted?" Mischa asked, her jaw lowering.

"I got bored waiting for Dumbledore to finish his speech at the sorting," Ashley shrugged, "There are also 123 boys."

"You're sick in the head," Lily told her.

Sirius collapsed onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling. He had a lot of thoughts circulating in his head. Ashley hadn't been mad at him like this since the time he hexed warts all over her face and couldn't find the counter-jinx. He had slept with the girl that Ashley completely despised. The girl that broke her up with Adrian. His thoughts then switched to an image of Ashley and James kissing passionately. How could the two of them keep that from him for this long? It had been about three years. Two of his best friends were each others first kiss. She kissed me more, Sirius thought to himself, then shook his head. Why would that even matter?

Sirius knew he would have to face Ashley's wrath as soon as possible, so things could go back to normal. But Sirius never dealt with things quickly. He was a known procrastinator. He looked over to the other side of the room, where James was snoozing, and Sirius could nearly make out the drool that was most certainly escaping from his mouth. James was known far and wide for snoring and drooling. Not wanting to be near him for reasons other than the drooling, Sirius stood up and began walking out of the dormitory and downstairs to the common room.

When he finally got down there, he sighed. So much for procrastination, Sirius thought to himself. Ashley had just turned around. Apparently, she had been sitting, gazing into the fire.

"What are you doing here?" Ashley questioned in an extremely low voice. It was partly angry, partly upset, and partly deleriously tired.

"Couldn't sleep," Sirius shrugged, "You?"

"Same," Ashley replied, quiet still, "How could you do that to me, Sirius? After what she did to me? She hurt me, she had sex with my boyfriend, she humiliated me and turned me into a joke. And she enjoyed every single moment of it. Was she worth it, Sirius?" he remained silent for a minute or so. He hated the fact that he hurt her. She was his best friend, after all. And she'd never betray him like that. Admittedly, Ashley had her flaws, but when it came to friendship, she was fiercely loyal, "Well, was she?"

"Of course not," Sirius said quietly, keeping his eyes on the carpet.

"So, are you going to say anything?" Ashley questioned, folding her arms.

"Just that I'm sorry," Sirius replied. He dared to lift his head up to look at her, and took a step foward, "and that I wish I could take it back. It was a huge mistake to ever even think about doing anything to hurt you. You've always been a great friend to me. You've always been there to listen to me, to talk to me, to make me feel better. You don't judge me or make me feel bad. Well, unless you're joking around. But I know you hate me right now, and I don't blame you, you have every right to be. I'd probably hate me too if I were you. But you've got to believe me...I'd do anything to fix this. I mean, you're my best friend. You know I love you. I'm so sorry."

Sirius took a deep breath and looked at her for a minute, "I'll just let you be alone now. Good night." He turned around and began walking toward the stairs.

As he was about to take the first step, in an almost inaudible whisper, Ashley said, "I don't hate you." But somehow, she could tell he heard her.

"Oh, Ashley. Would you quit that?" Lily shook her head, refering to the way Ashley was gnawing on her hair.

"No, I will not," Ashley answered stubbornly, "Lily, you bite your nails. Mischa bites the skin on the back of her hand. Shiloh tugs on her ears. Katrina knocks her fists on tables relentlessly. So leave me alone."

"I was talking about you shaking your legs as well. You're shaking the table."

Ashley shot her a death glare, "I've caught you sucking on your thumb in the middle of night."

"That only happens when I have night mares!" Lily shot back.

Ashley shrugged, "Well, you still do it."

"What happened with you and Sirius anyway?" Shiloh questioned.

Ashley opened her mouth, and then closed it, as she saw Sirius walking toward them. He half-smiled and sat next to Remus, across from James and Peter. They were far enough out of ear-shot, so Ashley opened her mouth again, "We sort of talked last night."

"Did you forgive him?" Katrina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Close," Ashley answered, "I told him I didn't hate him. Baby steps, Katrina. Baby steps."

"What did he have to say for himself?" Mischa questioned.

"He gave this little speech," Ashley replied, "It was touching, really."

"Don't be sarcastic about it," Lily said reproachfully, "You know it must have been if you two are taking steps at a reconciliation."

"Leave her be," Shiloh told Lily, "You know sarcasm is her defense mechanism."

"Excuse me? I happen to be sitting right here," Ashley pointed downward at where she was sitting to indicate this, "What's this rubbish about a defense mechanism?"

"Oh, don't even pretend," Mischa rolled her blue-green eyes.

"Who's pretending?" Ashley said, her eyes wide as she looked back and forth between her four friends.

"Well, it's just...You tend to use sarcasm and jokes to avoid your problems," Lily informed her, "You can't tell me you've never realized. You've been doing it since the day I met you."

"To avoid my problems?" Ashley repeated.

"Yeah," Katrina continued, "Whenever something serious is happening, you bitch about it in a sarcastic manner and make jokes. I think it's so you don't have to actually deal with it if you imagine it as a joke."

"That's ridiculous. You guys need to stop reading too much into my sarcasm. It's here for the amusement of all! My sarcasm does not appreciate being analyzed in this manner."

"So, what happened? I heard you sneak out last night," Remus looked at Sirius suspiciously.

"Nothing," Sirius answered, taking a bite of toast, "I went down to the common room and talked to Ashley."

"What happened?" James asked curiously.

"We talked for a little while," Sirius answered. He found that it was difficult to look at James, "I think we're going to be okay. It'll take some time, though."

"Yeah, you did mess up pretty bad," James agreed.

"Shut the hell up," Sirius snarled in such an angry voice, James nearly fell backward.

"What's gotten into you?" James questioned after recovering from the shock, "We always laugh when you mess up and now you're acting all defensive."

"Well at least I didn't lie to my best mates for three years," Sirius countered.

"Lie? First of all, I never lied to any of you. You never asked me who my first kiss was. You never asked me if I ever kissed Ashley. And why do you even care? Why is it such a big deal to you? It doesn't seem to bother Remus or Peter," James retorted.

"I don't care," Sirius mumbled, folding his arms.

"That looks really mature, Sirius," James said sarcastically, "For Merlin's sake, do you have a thing for her or something?"

"Of course not," Sirius replied loudly, making everyone at the table, including Ashley, look at him, "Of course I didn't do my Potions homework. What a silly thing to ask, James." Everyone seemed to accept this, seeing as it was Sirius Black, and returned to what they had been doing.

"Nice save," Remus chuckled.

Sirius shot him a dirty look, which made the laughter stop at once.

After breakfast, Ashley walked with James, but parted to go to their seperate changing rooms. The game against Slytherin was today. "I can't wait to crush Slytherin."

"Me neither," Ashley grinned.

"I'm really hoping we have an undefeated season," Ryland confessed, "I mean, I know everyone is, obviously. But I really want to land a position on the Holyhead Harpies, and an undefeated season would look great for me."

"I never knew you wanted to do this professionally," Ashley said, impressed.

"Oh, it's been a dream since I was eight," Ryland admitted.

"You definitely have the talent for it," Ashley told her encouragingly.

"Thanks," Ryland said with a smile, "Let's get out there and put Slytherin to shame, eh?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ashley replied, grabbing her broom and leaving the changing room.

The second she got out there, Ashley looked up into the stands. Lily, Katrina, Shiloh, Mischa, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Faith, Joy, Hope, Grace, Saoirse, Samantha, Megan, Taylor, Summer, Kayce, Sienna, and Amanda were in their usual place with the Gryffindors. They were all waving and cheering.

Ashley mounted her broom and went up into the air. Madam Hooch then threw the quaffle upward. "James Potter has caught the quaffle, and off he goes! Murdock Dolley aims a bludger at him and misses. Potter is now being tailed by Saffron van Buskirk. Potter throws to Nathan Oxford, but Quinn Strickland intercepts, catches, shoots, and scores! Ten points to Slytherin!"

"Shit," Ashley said angrily, looking over at Roman Vapshore, a Ravenclaw in her year who held the position of announcer. James was now in possession of the quaffle again and passed it to Ashley. Ashley flew off at top speed, but Sylvia Bulstrode and Quinn Strickland were on either side of her, so she threw the ball straight ahead to Nathan, so they both pursued him. After a moment, he threw it back to her, and she took off as fast as she could, and threw the ball. "Oxford throws back to White, White shoots... Ten points to Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors in the stands roared with happiness. The teams were now even. The game went on like that, with Gryffindor and Slytherin neck-and-neck scoring back and forth. It was anyone's game, and the snitch had yet to be caught. James and Ashley had each scored four goals, and Nathan had scored three. Just a splitsecond after Ashley scored her fifth, there was a scream of, "Ryland Bryce has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins!"

The Gryffindors cheered, the Slytherins booed. It was exactly the way Ashley liked it. Ashley landed and congratulated the rest of her team. James lifted her up and spun around. Then, did the same with Ryland. It was quite a wonderful way to begin the season.

Later on, everyone was in the common room celebrating Gryffindor's victory. "Would you mind not scoring more points than me?" James asked Ashley, "It makes my male ego deflate a bit."

"There are ways of deflating that?" Lily asked surprisedly, "And all these years I believed there was no off-switch."

James made a face as if he had been sucking on a lemon, "Very funny."

Lily shrugged, "I thought it was a tad bit."

"I thought it was a little, too," Remus replied, and James narrowed his eyes at his friend, "Er - But what do I know?" Remus joked.

"The look on Bulstrode's face when you took the quaffle from her. Oh, it was priceless!" Katrina giggled.

"Yeah, that was amazing," Sirius agreed.

"Thanks," Ashley said quietly.

"Hey, everyone," said the voice of Brody Colebrooke as he sat down on the floor next to his sister, "Nice job out there today."

"Thanks, you too," said Ashley.

"Did you just get back from seeing Annabelle?" Katrina asked suggestively.

"Yeah. She was pleased with the game," Brody said proudly.

"Annabelle? Annabelle Hunter?" Sirius questioned.

Brody rolled his eyes, "Oh no. I'm guessing you know her?"

"Yeah. She's in my year and all..." Sirius trailed off.

"We all know what it means when Sirius knows a girl," Mischa said with a smirk.

"How long did you know her, Sirius?" Katrina asked.

"Not long. It had to be a maximum of ten days."

"So basically, she wouldn't have sex with you?" James guessed with a laugh.

Sirius shrugged, "Pretty much, yeah. She's a nice girl, though."

"I can't picture Annabelle with you. She's a goody-two shoes. She never does anything like that," Brody said contemplatively.

"It's my charm," Sirius said with a wink, "If I remember right, I was her first kiss, and the girl was nearly fifteen. I have my ways."

"You're sick," Brody stated, shaking his head, but he cracked a slight smile as he did so.

The following weekend, Ashley spent the day hanging out with Remus. He was finally uncovering all of the secrets about his last relationship. It was three months long, from January to April, with Natasha Beckwith, a Hufflepuff who was a year younger than them. Natasha was extremely quiet, and in the three months Remus was with her, Ashley had only had about four conversations with her. She was pretty, though. Her skin was a milky brown, she had big dark eyes, long brown hair, and full lips.

"...She was a bit on the boring side. Oh, and she was overly paranoid about every little thing," Remus concluded.

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?" Ashley had this question burning inside her for months now, but had never summoned the courage to ask it.

"Sure," Remus shrugged.

"And you swear you'll tell me the truth?" Ashley continued, twiddling her thumbs nervously.

"I swear," Remus saud seriously, "What's on your mind?"

"Okay, I'm just going to come right out with it," Ashley told him, "But remember, you swore. Are...Are you a werewolf?"

Remus' face drained of color, and before he even opened his mouth to speak, Ashley knew the answer, "How did you know?"

"Well, you go off once a month to visit your mother who you claim is ill, and that's been going on as long as I've known you. Then last year, during the last four or five months of school, I noticed you were always gone when the moon was full. So, I went out one night in May extremely late, and I heard a howling, and the first thing I thought of was you."

"Did you talk to anyone about this?" Remus asked.

"No, of course not. It's not their business," Ashley answered, "Were you ever going to tell us?"

"I wanted to," Remus sighed heavily, "but I was afraid. I hated lying to you guys so much over the years."

"It's okay," Ashley told him kindly, "I understand why you did. C'mere." Ashley edged closer to him, and drew him into a tight hug.

"So, you're not like, afraid of me or anything?"

Ashley stared at him, not believing what she had just heard, "What? Oh, Remus. And I always thought of you as smart. Of course I'm not afraid of you! You're still the same person you've been all these years. The only difference is I know something I didn't know before about you. But that doesn't lower my opinion of you or make me afraid of you. You're my best friend. Werewolf or not. That's how it's always been, that's how it'll always be, okay?"

"Okay," Remus nodded, "Thanks. You're the best."

Ashley was sitting with Katrina, Shiloh, Mischa, and Lily in their dormitory on a rainy afternoon. On days like this, the girls would talk about their lives and boys and such. "So, after the Quidditch game the other day, I told Roman Vapshore he did a good job with the announcing. We talked for a while, and then he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him on Friday," Katrina informed the group.

"Wow, that's great!" Mischa said excitedly.

"Yeah, I can't wait. I think he's so adorable," Katrina said dreamily.

"So, you and Landon are really done?" Shiloh questioned.

Katrina nodded, "It looks that way. I mean, he's with Mylene Cox now, isn't he? And I've got a date with Roman."

Landon Brisk was Katrina's previous boyfriend. He was a gorgeous seventh year hufflepuff, who Katrina was with for seven months. She broke up with him after they begun fighting so much that they didn't even want to look at each other anymore.

"So, you're over him?" Lily asked.

"Well, he may have a piece of me for a while, you know? Not forever, but for a while. I did love him, after all," Katrina replied.

"More than you loved Cody?" Ashley asked curiously. Cody Fuller was Katrina's first boyfriend, and her first love. They, too, went out for 7 months. Though, it was close to being eight.

"I don't know," Katrina said contemplatively, "They were so different. With Cody I always felt secure, I knew he would always be there no matter what, and I didn't have to worry. With Landon it was a risk. I never never what was going to happen next. Cody was more boyfriend-material, but there was always something about Landon."

"So, it was equal?" Shiloh asked.

"I think so," Katrina nodded, "What about you, Shiloh?"

"What about me?" Shiloh raised an eyebrow.

"Damon or Raphael?" Katrina asked. Damon Glass and Raphael Crescent were Shiloh's exes. Shiloh had had a crush on Damon since second year, and the two finally began dating in fourth year, but it only lasted about four months, because Damon wasn't ready for anything too serious at the time. Since then, he had become a notorious womanizer, up there with Sirius. Then, Shiloh dated Raphael for three months, but that came to an end after Raphael's family threatened to disown him for dating a blood-traitor.

"Definitely Damon," Shiloh said, barely giving it any thought at all, "I wasn't in love with Raphael. But I know I was in love with Damon. And he was my first and only."

"That was obvious," Katrina sniggered, "You were like a love-struck puppy."

Shiloh made a face, "Shut up. How about you, Meesch? Elick or Keith?"

Mischa thought for a moment and a smile crept upon her face, "Keith. He was a sweetheart, wasn't he?"

"Then why aren't you with him?" Lily questioned.

Mischa shrugged, "I wasn't really falling for him, you know? Same with Elick. But at least Keith was always wonderful. Elick could be an arse sometimes."

"I've never been in love," Ashley sighed, "You're so lucky to have had that twice, Katrina."

"Not really, because when it ends, it just hurts so much worse."

what did you think? reviews are greatly appreciated