Oh my god. What are they doing here? I see Sirius watching me, and I have to look away. Why do I feel like I've done something wrong? I know I haven't.

"Guys, go away!"
I hear the desperation in Remus' voice, and they must to, since they leave without argument. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding.
"Aria, I'm so sorry about them! I didn't know they'd come."

"I feel so embaressed. I've been here a week and a half, and I'm already kissing boys. What does that say about me?"
We decide to go back to the dormitory. As soon as I walk into the room, I am ambushed by Lily, Alice and Marlene.

"How did it go?"
"What happened?"
"Aria, are you ok?"

"I'm fine! Just great! You know, I was actually starting to enjoy myself, but people have to ruin it!"
I reach into my trunk and pull out a pair of bottoms and a top. I just want to go to bed and forget this day ever happened.

I get into bed and lay on my side, pulling the duvet over my head so I don't have to face anyone. I don't know how long I stayed like that, but when Marlene sits on the edge of my bed and pulls the duvet down, it is night time and the others are asleep.

"What happened with Remus? And don't tell me nothing happened, and everythings fine, because I can tell it's not."
So I tell her everything. How we talked, and how wonderful it was. How he watched me draw. The kiss. And finally, when James, Sirius and Peter showed up.

"They are such jerks! I'll talk to them."
"No! Please don't, it'll just make things awkward."
She looks at me with a dead stare. "Aria, things are awkward already. Just trust me."

-x-

The next day, I avoid Remus and his friends like the plague. God, I feel so embaressed. Lily tried to talk to me this morning, but I came up with an excuse that I can't even remember. I feel bad avoiding her, but I'm really not in the mood to talk to anyone today.

I hide in the library for most of the day; right at the back so no one can find me. At one point, a Hufflepuff finds me and hands me a letter from Leah. It only says that we should write to each other since we can't see each other much.

I write my reply, and send it with Shadow to take to Leah.
I decide to take a walk outside since the library was getting a little crowded. I sit by the lake for most of the day, and I watch the sunset. A soft breeze picks up, and it nips at my arm.

I hear leaves crunching behind me, and I turn my head to see Sirius approaching.
"There you are. I've been looking for you."
"Why?"
He sits beside me, and looks out at the lake. "Remus is worried that you're avoiding him. You are, aren't you?"
"I'm avoiding everyone," I whisper. "I just feel so embaressed. I was fine, and then you and your friends had to show up and ruin everything!"

"We didn't mean to. Honestly, Aria, you shouldn't feel like that." He stands. "Just, talk to Remus, if you won't talk to anyone else."
Sirius leaves, and I decide that he is right. I can't avoid everyone forever.
I head back to the common room, and I knock on the boys dormitory door.
Peter opens the door, and his eyes widen as he sees me. "Aria!"

"Is Remus here?"
"Um..no."
The door opens wider and there stands Remus. "It's ok, Peter."
He shuts the door in Peters face and leans against its frame.
"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. I just don't know what to say."

He leans his head back and closes his eyes. After a moment, he re-opens them. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Aria."
"We need to talk this through. Come for a walk with me?"
He agrees, and we walk around the grounds outside, finally settling on a bench in the courtyard.

"Look, Aria, I'll understand if you don't want..if you don't want to.." He sighs. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"
I nod. "What makes you think I don't want to?"
"How you reacted. How you've been avoiding everyone."

I look down at the bench. "I'm sorry about that. I really am. But I was just embarressed."
"So..you want to?"
I try to hide a small smile. "Maybe.."
He interwines our fingers, and he pecks me on the cheek. I shove him in the shoulder. "Idiot."

-x-

We decide not to tell anyone that we're dating.
We've been going out for about two weeks now, and it's hard to keep it a secret. We have to act normal around all our friends.

"You two are dating, aren't you?"
Lily stares accusingly at us from across the table. Remus starts to deny it, but I cut him off. "No, Remus, we might aswell tell people." I turn to Lily. "Yes, we're dating."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lily looks very upset, and I immediately regret not telling her. "We're meant to be friends!"

"Lily, we are friends. We didn't want to tell anyone until we were sure we wanted to be in this relationship."
"Fine. But I'm still mad at you." But she says it with a smile. "Who knows?"
"Just you."

"We have to tell the others!" She leaps up from the table and runs across the room towards the fireplace, where James, Sirius, Peter, Marlene and Alice are sitting.
"Remus and Aria are dating!"
They all look over at us, then back to their game of cards on the table. "We know."

"How did you know? We didn't tell anyone." I turn to look at Remus. "Did you tell them?"
"He didn't tell us," Sirius says. "You two aren't very good at subtlety. Hand-holding under the table."

I hear an underlying tone of disgust in his voice, but no one else seems to notice.
_

Hello! 12 reviews! YAY
Lucy hooves: Thank you for saying my story is brilliant! But I didn't understand this part of your review 'IRS really accurate for it being not that big in the harry potter series' What did you mean?

To the guest who asked if they could give some critiques: Of course! I want to make my story better!