A/N: New chapter because I adore you guys and because I'm feeling pretty good about the direction of the next few chapters! Thanks for your response friends.

Chapter Ten: I have quite a dishy fella

Saturday brought the morning of the highly anticipated Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Normally, it wouldn't have been highly anticipated, because Ravenclaw hadn't been a threat in years and nobody in the whole school took Quidditch as seriously as James Potter, but it was different this time. Since Archie Davies had become Quidditch captain, the other houses weren't looking at the Ravenclaws like the team who had fallen to Gryffindor by over 500 points last year – they were seeing them as the team who'd thrashed Gryffindor in our First Year before any of my friends had been allowed to join the team.

It was all very yawn-worthy, to be honest.

I always found it so funny how no one on the team seemed able to eat on Quidditch mornings. James was just moving the eggs around on his plate and even Sirius only drank coffee.

"Won't you feel light-headed, flying on an empty stomach?" I asked him.

"Shut up Kate," was his response.

I huffed and looked further down the table. Henry Spindle – a Seventh Year Chaser was staring at his uneaten toast and the Second Year Keeper – a little girl that James called Clumsy Caroline, looked like she might burst into tears. I told James off for calling her clumsy – maybe she was clumsy because she was given that nickname. Besides, why would he want to pick on his own Keeper like that? She was only little! Sirius' fellow Beater – Krish Kumar was biting his nails rather than eating his porridge and Lizzy, oh dear Lizzy, looked positively green. Only Rolanda Thicknesse, the Fifth Year Seeker looked unworried. But then, according to Sirius, she was sort of her namesake – thick.

It was absolutely absurd. It was just Quidditch for Merlin's sake. Everyone would still be alive when it was over!

"Are you okay Potter?" Lily asked to everyone's surprise. They hadn't said anything to each other since Halloween. James looked up, momentarily forgot he wasn't eating, and stuffed some eggs in his mouth. He started choking and Remus smacked him on the back until he could swallow.

"Um, yeah – thanks Evans."

I met Remus' eyes and we both swallowed before turning away from each other, taking giant swigs of our tea.

Then, as if Hogwarts needed more source of entertainment, a snowy owl with the tips of its wings dyed pink, landed abruptly on top of my head. It fluffed up its feathers and I waved my hands over my head to try and get it to come down. It just hooted down at me cheerfully and pecked the lurking pimple on my forehead.

"Really Morag? Is it necessary to land on my head?" I said, untying the letters addressed to me and shooing the bird away. My mother's stupid owl flew off towards Mafalda, landing politely on her shoulder, and I scowled.

"Why's she got pink wings, Kate?" Dorcas asked interestedly.

"My mother likes to experiment," I said, running my fingers over my forehead and looking down at my stack of post. Of course! I hadn't even noticed it between the latest copy of WME and a thick envelope from my Aunt Mildred, who was slightly senile and occasionally sent me love letters, but there it was: A Howler. A-bloody-gain.

I let out a little whine as it began smoking in front of me, debating whether I should make a run for it or just laugh it off after it exploded in my face. I didn't even have time to make a choice however, because suddenly, the deep and usually kind, but sometimes terrifying, voice of my father filled the room.

"KATHERINE ANN HOPKIRK. HOW MUCH OF THIS MUST WE DEAL WITH? DETENTION AGAIN – FOR HEXING AN INNOCENT STUDENT WITH BOILS? PROFESSOR SLUGHORN WAS BESIDE HIMSELF – MAFALDA'S UTTERLY EMBARRASSED – I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE DISAPPOINTED IN YOU IN MY LIFE! I DID NOT RAISE YOU TO RESORT TO VIOLENCE. YOU GO AND APOLOGIZE TO THAT GIRL THIS INSTANT, OR YOU WILL NOT BE GOING BACK TO HOGWARTS AFTER CHRISTMAS!"

And then, it exploded, shot out another envelope (a normal, white one) from its mouth and the Hall was still. I let out a wry grin as several people burst into laughter – Sirius and James were the loudest – and sighed.

"Well, if it makes you feel better – Sarah Hobbs isn't at breakfast. She had to have her bandages removed – you won't need to apologize right away," Lily said patting my hand comfortingly.

"Ah, yes – again with the little victories," I groaned, tearing open the second letter. It was from my Mum this time.

"Kate,

I tried to stop your father – honestly. The amount of Howlers he's sent you already this year is getting a bit out of hand. I told him we could just send a regular letter berating you, but he was having none of it. So here it is from my end – berate, berate, berate.

But it all seriousness, let me ask you one thing – did she deserve it? If she did – then I'll just say 'Use your words, dear' and if she didn't – well… your father seems to have taken care of the actual scolding, so I don't think I need to pile on. Just try and be a bit more sensible, won't you?

I will also say, please try not to get in trouble with Professor Slughorn again. Your dad's invited him for dinner now, and you know how much I hate cooking.

I hope you're working hard: Professor Prewett sent us a letter saying that you're excelling at DADA. Have you thought any more about becoming an Auror, dear? Then you'll have an excuse for hexing people left and right.

I love you – be nice to Maffie! Say hello to Sirius and the girls.

- Mum"

"Your mum is such a laugh. I love her," Sirius said as he read over my shoulder and chuckled.

"And now you know where I get it from," I grinned.

"Not sure where your incredible modesty came from though," Remus remarked.

Godric. Quidditch was so dull. It had been going on for three hours already and the teams were still completely level. The only remotely interesting thing that had happened so far was Clumsy Caroline living up to her nickname when she slipped off her broom through a hoop, and had to hang on to one of the goalposts until Sirius and Krish came to help. I suppose that's what James meant by Clumsy – it was whenever the Quaffle wasn't nearby – probably the only reason James allowed her to be Keeper.

To make matters worse, the rest of my stupid mates seemed to think that the sun shone out of every player's orifice. They cheered wildly whenever anything happened and Lily even let out a couple of gasps every time Archie did something good. The others had given her slightly cold stares when that happened, but I reassured her that it didn't matter – no one would remember a thing from the game by the end of the day.

"Have you lot at least sorted out details for the party?" I whined when Remus and Peter sat down after screaming abuse at the Ravenclaw Seeker for elbowing Rolanda.

"Oh…what? Well, yeah," Remus said distractedly. "James and Sirius have been stock-piling butterbeer and firewhisky."

"And have you sorted out the tunes? I absolutely cannot handle it if we have to listen to Celestina or Artemis Proctor tonight," I said, fiddling with my scarf.

Remus shrugged. "I've got all of the Ghouls records obviously, and some Roaring Horntails, but the lads made me promise to spin a variety that everyone will like. Sadly that includes Celestina and – you know Proctor is Sirius' favourite."

"Ugh," I groaned. "I try to forget."

Suddenly everyone around me was roaring with glee and I stood up boredly.

"Yay, go team, go," I said flatly as we watched James fling the quaffle through a hoop and fly a victory lap, his arm raised in a fist above his head.

"What's the score?" Dorcas asked, biting her nails.

"Gryffindor's up by ten," Peter answered.

Lily let out a tiny yelp as Archie Davies scored a goal for Ravenclaw and flew by us, throwing her a winning grin. When she blushed, Dorcas elbowed her so hard that she fell against me.

"Sorry!" Lily apologized. "I didn't cheer out loud!"

"I would have cheered at that smile too – Merlin, he's quite dishy Lily," I said.

Remus raised his eyebrows and suddenly, Sirius was right in front of us hitting a bludger hard into the game. He looked over his shoulder and winked at me and I grinned to myself.

"Then again," I smiled. "I have quite a dishy fella myself."

"Yuck," Remus said before he and Peter jumped to their feet.

"Go Rolanda, go!" they chanted and to my alarm, everyone around us started to join in. It was so peculiar. I looked to the Pitch and saw that Rolanda was flying very fast towards the ground with the Ravenclaw Seeker on her tail. Archie was shrieking after him and I frowned, thinking that I'd perhaps spoken too soon about him being dishy. At least James had a manly bellow. And then, Rolanda caught the Snitch and everyone around me was shouting and screaming, and Dorcas had very shockingly thrown her arms around me, and Lily was next to her, and we were all jumping in an extremely impractical circle. When I wrenched myself free, the two of my mad friends started singing along with some ludicrous Quidditch song, so I turned to Remus. He was grinning like the rest of the loons, but thankfully didn't seem to feel the need to hug me.

"Well Kate, at least you get your party!"

I smiled to myself. And we'd get to move into the era of Girl Number Two.

Remus and Peter hurried ahead to the Common Room to set up for the party, but Dorcas wanted to wait to congratulate James and Sirius, so we hung back near the Changing Rooms. The distant sounds of the desperately irritating Quidditch song was still being heard through the grounds. I actually felt like I could empathize with the Ravenclaws – they seemed equally annoyed with the anthem. I only perked up when a pouting Mafalda passed near me with her mate, Edgar Bones, and gave me a defeated sigh.

"Well…at least we didn't place bets on it," she shrugged.

"Mum and Dad might have though – I should write to them so Mum can rub it in his face!" I said excitedly.

"Yeah, I'm sure Dad will love that letter considering the Howler you got this morning," my sister said, rolling her eyes at Edgar. "Have you apologized to that Fourth Year yet?"

"At the Quidditch party, I promise," I said, crossing my fingers behind my back.

She studied my face intently. "I should ask Marlene to check for me."

My face fell but then she laughed and she and Edgar headed off back towards the school.

"Here they come!" Dorcas said as the Quidditch team rowdily emerged from the Changing Rooms. James was at the lead, patting Clumsy Caroline on the back and saying, "I'll never call you clumsy again, Caroline".

"Congrats!" Dorcas said, very strangely throwing her arms around James' neck. He looked a bit surprised and adjusted his glasses on his face before he laughed and hugged her back.

"Thanks Dor – it was a bloody close finish! I've got to hand it to Davies, he's put together a pretty decent team this year."

Lily was fidgeting beside me, trying to squeeze my hand but her pinch hurt, so I shoved her away from me.

"Yes, yes – well done, James. But I've got something really important to discuss with you," I said urgently.

He was still grinning and yelling things to his teammates. Dorcas still, very strangely, had her arm around his shoulders and his was around her waist, but eventually he looked back at me in confusion.

"Really? What?"

"The party – Remus said you and Sirius are insisting on Artemis Proctor, but I won't be able to stay if that rubbish goes on!"

James laughed and he and Dorcas finally let go of each other. He looked over his shoulder and called to Sirius.

"Oi Padfoot! Kate is threatening to stay away from the party because of your musical preferences!"

How very rude of him not to take my concerns seriously. He and Dorcas were exactly alike – no wonder they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Sirius was in sight now and to my extreme annoyance, he was chatting animatedly to Lizzy. She was blushing and laughing along but they weren't touching, so I held my tongue. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Well, I tried to tell Remus not to play any of The Ghouls' stuff, but he insisted, so I would count my blessings really, Kate," Sirius said grinning.

I stuck my tongue out and turned to Lizzy, who was standing there looking like she felt very awkward to be included in our group. As usual, she'd barely stepped into the circle. Funny, since she'd looked perfectly comfortable with my boyfriend a moment ago.

"Well done Liz!" Lily and Dorcas said.

"Wasn't she amazing?" James cried, throwing his arm around her and pulling her to his chest. She turned bright red but laughed.

"Get off me James!"

What?

Who was this girl?

The Lizzy I knew wouldn't manage to get a full sentence out, let alone talk back to James Potter!

"I thought for sure when Milton banged into you, you were done for," Sirius said, patting her on the back. "But you held on and managed to score – it was…a thing of beauty."

Lizzy laughed and rolled her eyes and now, I was truly shocked. She was rolling her eyes at Sirius Black? When did she gather up all this nerve?

"Well, I'm off to, um, find Dilys. I'll see you all later," she said, finally mumbling. I let out a sigh of relief – at least the Imperius Curse was out of the question. She looked at me through her windswept hair before she hurried off.

"Merlin Kate, can't you be a bit nice?" Sirius said, throwing his arm around my shoulders as we headed towards the castle.

"What?" I exclaimed. "I smiled, didn't I?"

"No, you were wrinkling your nose like she smelled bad," Dorcas said, charmingly. Trust Dorcas to always take my side.

"Oh…well, I was just wondering when she got so eloquent!"

Sirius and James exchanged a look and burst in to laughter and I couldn't quite figure out why. I mean, I know I'm quite funny – but that wasn't really my best work.

"Um," Lily looked a bit fiddly. "I'll see you lot in the Common Room in a bit."

"How come?" Dorcas asked and I wanted to slap her around the head. Archie Davies was in clear sight and the poor bloke looked miserable. Lily was almost going out with him – obviously she was going to go comfort him a bit.

James and Sirius glanced in the same direction as Lily had, and James' face darkened. Sirius' eyes flickered to his friend's face and then to stare at Lily coldly, his mouth set in a hard line. It was all dreadfully dramatic.

"Yeah Evans, go console Dodo, I bet he needs it," James said off-handedly, turning away.

"Oh, go snog your broomstick, Potter!" Lily retorted, stomping away.

"Such a nice, pleasant girl," Sirius remarked and I elbowed him.

"I'm surprised at her, really," Dorcas muttered as we reached the castle doors. "She doesn't understand how serious Quidditch is."

James looked shocked.

"I know!" he exclaimed, grabbing Dorcas into a one-armed hug. "I knew there was a reason I loved you, Meadowes."

And Dorcas' face was the colour of her favourite sweater – if you need reminding, pink.

By ten o'clock, I was sulking. Everyone was dancing around the party acting like tosspots, but I was being forced to listen to the warbling nonsense that was Celestina Warbeck. Someone had even had the nerve to ask us to play the same awful song twice. Remus sat beside me on the sofa, looking equally disenchanted and fiddling with his pile of records.

"Just two more of these rubbish tunes and everyone will be drunk enough not to notice when The Ghouls come on," he assured me and I hmphed.

"Do you promise?" I asked and he nodded.

"Promise."

We clinked together our glasses of firewhisky and downed them in one. When Peter walked by with two glasses, I summoned them out of his hands, passing one to Remus and taking a sip from the other.

"Those were for Jenny and me!" Peter complained.

"Aw Pete, I'm so comfortable here though," I said, pouting.

He glared at me, and then a chuckling Remus before he grumbled and went off to the refreshments table to get a new round of drinks.

I sighed and sipped at my firewhisky, my eyes fixed steadily on a chortling group a few feet away.

There was another reason I was sulking of course – well two more reasons. The first was the fact that Sirius and James had decided to sit in a circle with the team and play some mad drinking game. Lizzy was bright red, and I knew it wasn't just the alcohol; Sirius had somehow ended up putting his arm around her shoulders.

"You know," Remus said, nudging me. "It sometimes is, just a friendly gesture."

I gave him a look. "Then why, exactly, are you not sitting here with your arm wrapped around me?"

He shrugged, sipped his drink and we both turned back to the party. Dorcas and Lily were doing a pretty funny choreographed dance routine in the middle of the dance floor and several people were watching and clapping along – but I could not understand for the life of me how anyone could dance to Celestina bloody Warbeck.

The second other reason I was sulking, was Emmeline. My supposed Girl Number Two was nowhere to be seen. Actually, let me rephrase that. She was everywhere to be seen, except beside Remus like she said she'd be! Right then, she'd joined my friends on the dance floor and was twirling them both around and making the watching group laugh.

Remus chuckled beside me. "Emmeline looks sloshed."

"No, only about as bad as us. That's just her natural high," I explained.

"Where's yours? Don't you usually spend parties dancing with the others?" he asked.

"I'd rather spend it with you," I shrugged.

He didn't reply and just switched the record to put on the irritating voice of Artemis Proctor's lead singer. Sirius and James looked up like a pair of dogs and Sirius shouted, "Oi turn it up Moony, I love this tune!"

And so Remus sighed and turned it up, and we both winced.

"Come and dance, gorgeous," Sirius said, reaching his hand out to me.

"To this rubbish? No way," I said, shaking my head.

He groaned. "Don't be such a snob! Come dance with me."

I watched him, with his eyes slightly glazed over with alcohol, and sighed. He'd never called me gorgeous before – it was just enough to sway my decision. I downed the remainder of my drink and put it on the table beside Remus' empty glass.

"Remus, don't hold this against me," I said, as I got up and took Sirius' hand.

"I'll buy you their next record for Christmas," Remus laughed as Sirius dragged me off to the dance floor. He held one of my hands in his and then with the other, drew my waist in, and we started swaying along with the disastrously unoriginal mid-tempo song.

"Enjoying the party?" he said, leaning down to peck my lips.

"I'd like it more if the music was better," I said, smiling despite myself and patting his cheek affectionately. Ah, it was just a little arm around shoulder action – nothing to get my knickers in a twist about.

"Hey! Emmeline is chatting up Remus," he exclaimed in a low voice, spinning us so that I was facing the sofas and could see Remus over Sirius' shoulder.

Success! Emmeline had finally stopped running around like a loon and she was chatting vivaciously to Remus now, who was grinning back.

"Was that your doing?" Sirius asked as we spun back around and I could no longer spy.

"Well, I may have suggested it. I hope Remus doesn't see through it – he was a bit mad when I suggested moving on to Girl Number Two."

Sirius sighed, nuzzling his neck into my shoulder. "How come you keep at it?"

"Because, I want him to find a nice girl who'll make him happy," I murmured, pecking his neck lightly.

He exhaled heavily and said nothing else. When the song ended, we broke apart and he grinned at me. "Okay, go on and put your Ghouls on – everyone's drunk enough already."

I beamed at him, planted a big, fat kiss on his mouth and hurried off to the record player.

"Remus! We get to put The Ghouls on!" I said when I reached him. He looked up from Emmeline and grinned.

"Merlin, finally!"

"The Ghouls?" Emmeline said, cocking her head to the side. "I've never heard of them before."

"I'll forgive you," I laughed as Remus passed me the record and I put it on.

"Just listen, it's brilliant," Remus promised and Emmeline smiled.

"So," she said as the first, gorgeous bars of 'You Still Love Him Even Though He Gave You Amortentia' started up. "What d'you reckon Remus?"

"About what?" I asked and Emmeline wrinkled her brow and gave me a look. Oops – maybe this was a hardcore flirt moment and I had interrupted.

"Oh never mind – I see Dorcas drowning in the punch bowl, I'll see you later."

And then I dashed off, wishing desperately that I could have heard the rest of the conversation.

From over near the punch bowl (which Dorcas was sadly not drowning in,) I could see that Remus looked flustered and Emmeline looked a little amused. She nudged him and they both chuckled as they sipped on their drinks and eyed each other over the rims.

"Oh why haven't we learned the eavesdropping spell yet?" I groaned.

"Have you seen James anywhere?" Dorcas asked as her eyes swept the room frantically. I glanced at her, sufficiently distracted from watching Remus.

"Dor…um, you know he fancies Lily right?"

She went as white as a sheet and I felt bad for bringing it up. I knew it wasn't really fair – Dorcas had every right to fancy James if she really wanted to. But I didn't want her to get hurt despite all my joking over it. James had been mad for Lily since the beginning of Fifth Year – and he showed no signs of letting up.

"But she's going out with Archie," Dorcas mumbled.

"True."

"I know I'm being an idiot," she said taking a sip of the punch. "But I just can't help it."

I patted her on the back. "It's okay – you'll get over it."

"Why d'you say that? Don't you think he might change his mind if someone else showed him interest? No one seems to count him because of his obsession with her…but if…"

I shook my head. "Dorcas, I'm really sorry. But it's a lost cause."

She bit her lip and shrugged. "I wonder what Emmeline and Remus are talking about. They look pretty cosy."

Feeling a twinge of irritation at the fact that she was able to watch, while I had to look at her in concern; I turned around to see that Remus now had his arm over the back of the sofa behind Emmeline and she was curled up, with her knees tucked under herself, facing him. She was still talking spiritedly about something – her hands moving in front of her face wildly. Remus had kind of a dopey expression as he looked at her.

"Well that seems to be working out," Dorcas said. "I'm going to find Lily and apologize for giving her a hard time about the Quidditch. I feel a bit guilty."

I tore my eyes away from Emmeline and shrugged. "I'm sure she forgives you – you were doing the Hopping Hippogriff together just half an hour ago."

Dorcas just shook her head and hurried away and I leaned against the table to continue to watch Remus and Emmeline. His arm slipped a little and was now resting on her shoulders. Ha-ha Remus, arm around the shoulder was never a friendly gesture. The good thing was that they were chatting and not snogging – I didn't want to have to go through another McDanger debacle.

"All right?" Sirius was suddenly beside me. His hands were stuck in his pockets and he looked a little strange. "James just got off with Rolanda."

"Uh-oh. He's got the Quidditch goggles on," I said. Emmeline was twirling her hair, nodding fervently as Remus talked about something. She laughed and put a hand on his knee and I felt a stab of alarm. Don't rush things Em – ease him in to it gently – he's fragile. They both suddenly looked up in surprise when Lizzy bumped in to the sofa and rushed up the dormitory stairs. She looked a bit ill – maybe she needed to throw up. Emmeline said something and she and Remus laughed.

"Why are you staring? I thought you'd be pleased," Sirius slurred a little.

"I am pleased!" I retorted, turning to him. "I'm just watching in case I need to do damage control."

He still had that frown on his face and I smiled at him.

"Aw come on, Sirius – James will be back with you tomorrow morning."

He chuckled and pulled me to him. "Let's not talk for the rest of the night."

"That, Sir, is extremely presumptuous!"

He sighed. "Just kiss me, Kate."

A/N: Couple of miniscule hints about the content in the next chapter and also a very subtle nod to Bottle-Specs - any ideas about what might happen? ;) Thanks for reading!