Hello everyone. Louey06, ever the anchor to reality, has many questions about the long-sleeved cloak aspect of the story. I`ve created a poll on my profile where you can vote for me to write an alternate chapter three where I explain the alternative.
(Edit: Results are in- there will be an alternate chapter three coming to you soon)

Disclaimer: I own only the things mentioned here that are not in the Harry Potter books. The rest is J.K. Rowling`s

Chapter Five:

Misunderstandings

"I was seriously freaking out when I woke up and you were missing, since you never get up before breakfast, let alone first, unless you`ve been out scheming all night. So initially I was a bit insulted you hadn`t invited me along, but then I saw Mel was still here, and that was a bit strange, because you always get Mel in on that sort of thing. When you didn`t come to breakfast or any of our first three classes, Mel and I skipped Herbology to check the school for you, but nobody`d seen you all day. Finally, we all went to Dumbledore, and he said you were in St. Mungo's in a coma or something! We almost started a riot when he said we couldn`t visit you, until he let Lil come with him."

Mary took a break from her recounting of the previous days over our morning pumpkin juice and shoveled another waffle in her mouth. Her blonde hair reminded me of Ricky`s mop of bedhead. Ricky… I should send him a letter to let him know I got back alright.

"Hey, do you know who the Macmillan boys are? One`s in our year, Ravenclaw, and there`s a younger Hufflepuff too. Their little brother shared a room with me at St. Mungo`s."

"The Hufflepuff`s named Adrian, right?"

"Aiden."

"Is that the blond mouse-faced one?" Alice wondered aloud.

"No, no that`s Benny Thompson."

"Benny`s got big ears, not a mouse-face."

As Alice and Mary began to argue whether or not Aiden Macmillan was the blond mouse kid or the one with glasses, Lily muttered discreetly, "I need to speak to you. Can we go talk in the hall?"

"Yeah, sure. Mel, watch my hash browns for me, and if Sirius so much as blinks in their direction, don`t be afraid to hex him."

Mel nodded militarily, and I tried to push the golden potatoes goodness out of my mind and focus on Lily`s crinkled forehead as she led me out into the hall.

"What`s up?"

"What really happened that night? I know there`s no rabid foxes in the forest."

I hesitated. She already knew the truth about Remus, so there was no danger in telling her the real story…"After what you said, I decided to follow them. I know about Remus being a werewolf, and how the others are illegal amimungi. But when I was trying to get out of there -after he changed, that is- my disillusion charm wore off, and Remus saw me."

"Yeah, James told me what happened. He says Rem feels terrible about biting you, it took me and the guys to keep him from dropping out on the spot yesterday morning, and he`s still freaked out about getting expelled. And Sirius was devastatingly guilty about the whole thing too, practically as bad as Remus, claimed it was his fault you`d followed them all because he wouldn't tell you about them being amimungi."

"Oh no... Remus shouldn't leave school! I`ll go over and talk to them. It`s my fault anyway." I ducked back in the Great Hall and headed to the end of the Gryffindor table, where the Marauders had chosen to sit for some strange reason. Plopping down between Pete and James, I was greeted with an unexpected amount of staring. This was not the problem after the initial few seconds, when all but James avoided my eyes, choosing to look deep into their food or the table instead.

"Hi, guys! What`s up?"

A fork fell, which Remus used as an excuse to duck under the table, and as he picked it up, I noticed his hands were shaking. Eventually, in a low voice, James asked, "What do you want, Mattie?"

I didn`t dare sit down, not with the bad vibes they were sending my way like dungbomb fumes. When James spoke again, in a tone I`d never heard from him before, and with his defensive, untrusting shoulders far from their normal lax, I could see him as the stag quite clearly, antlers at the ready.

"Have you come to declare our explosion? Because if you`re going to take one of us down, we`re all going with him."

So that`s what all the whispered tension was about. Idiots. Did they honestly think I would blame Remus?

"Come on, is that what you`re all off about? Nobody`s going to get any of you expelled, and Merlin knows I don`t blame you for what happened. I really shouldn`t have followed you guys, that was extremely stupid and intrusive of me, and I totally deserved what happened. I`m incredibly sorry, Remus, I shouldn`t have put you in that situation."

Remus` eyes flicked upwards from his eggs benedict, and softened his gaze upon meeting mine. I wanted to hug him or something, but the other three were still a bit hesitant to back down from their protective barrier. The farthest Marauder from me, Peter, was the first to crack his poker face. "So you won't turn us in either?"

"Of course I won't!" Sirius was the last to look up, and he was the only one not smiling. "I didn`t even tell Dumbledore what really happened. The Ministry of Magic is under the impression there`s some sort of spiteful fox roaming the forest. Anyway, if that`s all, I have some letters to mail, so…"

Before I could leave the Great Hall, though, Sirius caught up with me, grabbing my arm to get my attention. The look on his face after he`d kissed me flashed through my mind, and I figured he must not want me to spread any of that around, to ruin his reputation as someone who dates untouchables and the Hogwarts elite, not some tomboy with a huge curiosity complex. "Mattie, I…" I had to cut this off before it got more emotional, to save him the trouble of telling me no directly.

"Black, it`s okay, I understand. I`m over it, don`t worry. We can just act like it never happened. Hey, I guess I'll see you later for whatever pre-game madness Potter`s got in mind. We are soo going to win against Slytherin tomorrow!" I flashed him a (forced) smile and did not look back until I was halfway to the owlery, my chest feeling as if it were being subjected to a muggle trash compactor.

Sirius absolutely could not believe this. Forget about their kiss, act like it never happened! Sirius was the one who told birds to move on, not the other way around. Merlin`s beard, girls are more confusing than he`d originally thought. Was he losing his touch? Did she actually just forgive him for kissing her? And she`s walking away, not a care in the world, as if he wasn`t the most lusted after guy in Hogwarts.

"The most vain, too." Moony added to Sirius` (not so) inner monologue, making him realized he`d been muttering under his breath, like a common Crazy Potter.

"It`s okay Padfoot, we understand. I was dissed by Lily for years before she ever realized she loved me."

"It's not okay. Birds are practically tripping over each other to get a chance with me, so what`s wrong with this…." He gestured to the direction Mattie had disappeared into. "…girl to make her immune to me? Even Lily –no offense, Prongs- had a little thing for me for a while when I won that little contest of ours, so it can`t be that overexposure has made her insusceptible to my charms. So what in Merlin`s name am I doing wrong?"

"You`re Sirius Orion Black, Marauder, Gryffindor, beater, occasional seer, serial dater, and overall self-centered prick. There`s a lot of things you`re doing wrong." Remus commented. "In this case, you should probably just move on. She`s just another girl, and, as you of all people should know since you are the aforementioned serial dater, Hogwarts is full of them."

Peter shrugged in agreement, but for some reason Sirius just couldn't accept that resolution. As he caught himself running an agitated hand through his hair, he realized he might be more like James than he though. Which was not acceptable. Sirius Black may sometimes pine, but he always had a plan, and always got the girl.

"Anyone got any bright ideas besides that, because where`s the fun in giving up?" Sirius resumed his usual lax position, just with a bit more purpose in the aggressively poor posture. "I`m talking strategy here, mates."

Flicking a bit of toast at Remus, Peter proposed, "Maybe she`s still not quite right in the head from when Moony bit her. I mean, there is probably quite an adjustment to becoming a werewolf and all that`s clouding her judgment about current Padfoot affairs."

"Brilliant! That must be it!" Sirius brightened, glad for any excuse, especially such a plausible and well thought out one such as Wormtail`s. James and Remus exchanged a dubious glance. (A/N Clarification: the Marauders think Mattie is a werewolf because Mattie didn`t tell them about the sleeve thing when she came back, figuring they already knew, but the girls, as previously shown, know the truth.)

"I suppose it`s possible. Hey, maybe Mattie`s your…well, your Lily."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Nah, a Lily sounds like too much trouble. I`m not really the settling down kind of guy, and Merlin knows if she`s even interested in me now, let alone any amount of days or weeks from now. Not everyone`s destined to end up like you, Prongs, in a monogamously complicated relationship with a bird you`ve tormented since you were eleven, and yet will one day be married and blissfully living out the rest of your days in the mansion of your choice."

Shrugging, James suppressed a grin by loading more eggs into his mouth.

"So anyway, what am I supposed to do? She just acted as if our kiss was a mistake, apologizing and everything."

"I don't know, make her jealous or something." Moony suggested, choosing to go back to reading his Herbology notes than to pursue the matter further.

"Mattie gets mad easily." Wormtail warned Sirius, who, instead of taking the statement of caution as what it was, only heard encouragement in those words.

"Okay then. Jealousy it is!"

James knew the girl in question would not approve of this diluted plot, even if she had not been the subject of its mania. "What if she actually doesn`t like him?"

"She`ll REALIZE she does." Peter said, ever the voice of undisputed wisdom and knowledge. Sirius, though knowing this, was too caught up in the chase to care.

I managed to slide into the seat next to Lily just as Professor McGonagall walked into class. Brushing the feathers from my hair, I whispered, "At least one good thing came from this mess."

"What`s that?"

"Sirius kissed me after he brought me back up to the castle."

"He likes you! Merlin, good thing I sided with Mel on that one. Can I tell Alice so she`ll pay up? I`ll give you a cut of the profit, but it`s only in bubble gum."

Smugly, I retorted, "Who`s got a gambling addiction now?"

McGonagall, who had stopped giving her instructions long enough for most of the class to turn and stare, gave us her death ray glare. "Five points from Gryffindor, Ms. Bell, unless you`d like to share what I can only assume was an education remark with the class. I dearly hope you will be more focused during tomorrow`s match."

Nodding, I refrained from replying with any excuse the professor wouldn`t really buy. Lily winked at me as McGonagall went back to teaching. "Still you."