A/N:badaboom another update. Thank you guys for being so cool and encouraging - it just makes me want to write more and more for you like a big cheesy ball of...cheese. Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Something no girl should ever think

"Lily, look – I of all people know that Dorcas is probably the least reasonable person in this castle, but don't you think you're being a teensy bit unfair here?" I asked her the next evening as we made our way up to the Common Room after dinner. Dorcas had decided to subject both of us to the silent treatment and had gone off to the Library, so I was left to deal with Lily who pretended not to be bothered by the silence, but kept up a stream of complaints all the way through the halls.

"I'm looking out for her! Potter is the last person that anyone should fancy – did you see how badly he treated Rolanda this morning?"

I picked at a loose thread on my sleeve and glanced up. "Oh, you mean when he broke up with her?"

"Yes! They were hardly together three days – you'd think he'd be a bit more sensitive."

I shrugged. "She seemed to take it well – I don't think they really fancied each other to start with. I think she was using him to make Krish Kumar jealous."

Lily huffed. "Well what about him? If he knew that, then why did he snog her in the first place?"

"They were sloshed. And you know James uses any opportunity to try to make you jealous as well," I said as we entered the Common Room and took the seats by the fire. The Marauders were nowhere to be seen, thank Merlin. Sirius had been less in my face about it, but he was still trying to get me to talk to him. It was all very bothersome and unlike him – it must have been taking every shred of his being not to explode with the effort. On the other hand, I was actually quite proud of myself – I hadn't even made a fuss of it. With the distraction of Lily and Dorcas' argument, everyone seemed to have forgotten that I was sad and alone.

"Anyway Lily – I don't see why this should worry you so much. You don't have feelings for James, do you?"

She scoffed and folded her arms – obviously deeming my question unworthy of a response. "So – when's your second detention?"

I sighed. "Fifteen minutes. My hand's cramping up from yesterday already. I can't believe they gave me three nights worth of detention over one measly bunk."

Lily shrugged. "Maybe they're setting an example – so people don't think it's okay to just skip lessons and get away with it. Probably don't want the younger kids to see you doing it and following your example."

"Yes but, I repeat, what is le point?"

The Portrait hole opened and in walked Dorcas, followed by Sirius. He was pushing her forward and although she was pushing back against him – he made it look easy. Dorcas was, after all, incredibly light. Eventually she came to a stop in front of Lily and I, and Sirius elbowed her. She just crossed her arms and looked at Lily evenly and Lily stared back just as unwaveringly. Even though I was trying to ignore the prat, I was still curious as to what he thought he was doing. He stared at Dorcas and then Lily and eventually gave me an exasperated look, as if I was supposed to share his feelings. I blinked back and he sighed at Dorcas.

"Look – I don't know what you two are arguing about, but you're upsetting Kate by putting her in the middle – so just sort it out."

All three of us blinked at Sirius who was looking quite pleased with himself. I suppose the last Quidditch match must have knocked a few things loose inside his head, because I was sure, under ordinary circumstances, he would know that I didn't give a toss either way. I mean, yes – I didn't like having to spend my time drifting between the two of them, because it meant that I ended up doing twice the amount of studying…but this was pushing it. Ah, Remus must have tried to give him advice.

"Kate doesn't care!" Dorcas snapped.

"Yeah – this has nothing to do with her!" Lily added.

"You see – you two are agreeing already. Why don't Kate and I leave you to it and I'll walk her to detention," Sirius said, grabbing my forearm and pulling me up.

"This is a new low, Sirius," I said rolling my eyes at my friends. They missed it however, because they were now considering each other a bit abashedly and looked like they might dissolve into reconciliatory tears any second. They weren't the sort to argue longer than a day – it was only when I was involved that they suddenly seemed able to hold a grudge.

"You're lucky," I muttered as Sirius and I left the portrait hole in sync with the bursts of 'I am so sorry!' and 'No, I was a complete prat!'

"Yeah, I thought I ought to go the extra mile if I wanted you to talk to me again," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"You know, this makes no difference – their problems have nothing to do with the way I feel about you right now," I sighed and he nodded stiffly.

"Kate, I just want to make it up to you – I don't want to fight with you. I miss you," he said, grabbing my hand and linking our fingers together.

I said nothing because I thought I might burst into tears and even though I knew I ought to – I didn't unlink our fingers.

"Can't you forgive me? I haven't said a word to her since the Quidditch. Even at practice, I just look off in the opposite direction."

I pulled my hand free and glared at him. "What good is that doing anyone? And why are you acting like this? You don't usually spend more than five minutes being upset over something."

He shrugged. "Kate, I know we're going out but you're also one of my mates – I don't like not having you around."

"We are not going out," I replied as we headed down the staircases and arrived in the History of Magic corridor. Thankfully, McGonagall had been busy tonight, so Binns was overseeing my detention instead. And since he frequently bored himself to tears, there was the off chance that he might fall asleep while I was writing lines and then I could faff for the rest of the time.

"Okay, but we were going out," Sirius said. "And I want us to keep going out."

I let out a huff of irritation as we came to a stop outside Binns' classroom.

"Why?"

He looked confused and slightly alarmed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You see," I said, poking his arm. "There's no reason good enough for us to try to keep up this charade." I opened the door and headed inside and felt my heart drop when I saw who else was in the classroom with Binns. Oh Godric, I'd forgotten the Mumbler had detention with me tonight. She didn't look surprised, but she did look nervous, and her eyes flickered to Sirius as he followed me in. He seemed to freeze when he saw her too but snapped his head towards me immediately.

"Kate, please–"

"Ah! Miss Hopcoddle," Binns said. "Take your seat beside Miss Collinsworth. Mr Bowtruckle – what are you doing here?"

I shrugged at Sirius and headed over to the desk beside Lizzy, moving it as far away as I could without drawing too much attention to myself. Sirius stood in the doorway, his eyes still locked on me while Lizzy watched him from beside me. Finally, he sighed, shoved his hands in his pockets and left. He did look uncharacteristically sad – and I felt a dull pang of regret. I really didn't like making people miserable, even if they deserved it.

Binns had us get on with our lines immediately and soon, he was fast asleep, snoring lightly and floating about a foot above his desk. I wrote a few more lines and eventually threw my quill down and stretched. I flexed my fingers a bit – they really smarted – I ought to put in a complaint about the dangers detentions like this one could bring. I noticed that Lizzy had stopped writing too and she was twisting her hands over her parchment, scratching at her cuticles. Turning away, I pulled the Remus chart out of my bag and was interested to see that Emmeline's details had begun to fill in of their own accord. Sadly, the spell told me nothing new about their relationship, so I decided to add my own observations from my time spent in the library with them the previous day. As I was noting down the precise shade of Remus' blush, Lizzy cleared her throat.

"Er-um, K-Kate?"

I sighed and ignored her.

"Can I um, talk to you?"

I dropped my quill and turned to her coolly.

"What could you possibly have to say to me?"

She flushed and leaned away from me, but bit her lip and carried on. "I…please don't be angry."

I laughed bitterly. "Angry? Why would I be angry? Because you think it's okay to steal my boyfriend? Just because I don't blush and mumble, it doesn't mean I don't get upset. Look, I know what people say about me – that I'm a horrid witch with a b and I bet you probably think I deserve to be hurt because I never noticed you existed before this year, but just because I'm oblivious it doesn't mean I'm devoid of feelings," I hissed and she shrunk back looking miserable. I felt the usual stab of guilt. I was being so horrible to her. But I knew what she was thinking – what her friend probably told her behind my back – that I was a stupid, insensitive cow who didn't deserve a bit of sympathy just because no one in Hogwarts had ever not noticed my existence.

"I don't think you're horrid," she mumbled and I shrugged. Yeah, right.

"Really! I…I don't think I know much about you at all."

I scoffed and narrowed my eyes at my desk.

"But, I don't think you know much about me either."

"And is that any reason for you to hate me?" I snapped and she shook her head, for once not blushing at my words.

"I don't! I…well, you seem to hate me."

"Oh, that obvious, am I?"

She let out a short laugh and covered her mouth and I couldn't help but let out a wry grin of my own.

"Kate, Sirius doesn't fancy me. We're – we're just mates."

I rolled my eyes but continued to pay attention. It was the only fair thing to do now that I'd snapped and told her my side of our saga. This was her chance to yell and have a strop with me if she really felt like it – there was no one around and I'd never let her have another chance to get to me.

"He likes you! You're almost all he talks about when we're chatting. How you're the funniest girl in the school, and the hottest, and how he's never met anyone who was more like him in his life."

I felt my neck grow warm. Sirius would never say that kind of thing – it sounded like a pile of bollocks – but her expression was so earnest, I couldn't help but want to believe her.

"And he tells me about the funny things you do, like how you've been trying to get Remus Lupin a girlfriend." Lizzy looked relieved now and I noticed that she hadn't stuttered in ages. She still looked shy and unsure, but bolstered by my lack of retorts or cutting remarks.

"I don't even like him like that! We're really – just mates," she said quietly and her face twisted a little. I laughed at that and shook my head.

"Try looking at yourself say that and you'll see how ridiculous it seems," I commented, lightly.

"No! I mean, okay – I used to fancy him. But now – now I've got to know him, he's a bit too loud and brash and I can never completely understand what he's thinking. And…" she shrugged and I raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Well, why would he look at me beside you?" she said in a small voice.

I felt a horrible rush of sadness. Here I'd been – bitching about this girl, complaining about how she'd stolen my boyfriend, and at the same time, she didn't even think she was worth a second look. It wasn't fair. Nothing about this situation was – I didn't even know what to do. All I knew in that moment was I couldn't let her go on thinking that she had nothing to offer, or that she was less than me in any way. I was worried that I'd never be enough for Sirius, but Lizzy seemed to believe that she was nothing. And that, is something no girl should ever think.

"Well – your big blue eyes for one," I replied casually. "Or your gorgeous, haphazard hair – your Quidditch skills, for another."

She blushed and shook her head frantically, but I went on.

"And from what it sounds like – you two actually have proper conversations. All Sirius and I do is take the mick out of each other and snog. It's not a very complex relationship."

"He hasn't spoken to me in days," she said looking at the floor.

"Yeah, well – somehow he seems to think that'll make me happy," I sighed, leaning back and rubbing my face. "I don't really know what to do here, Lizzy."

"Can't you forgive him?" she suggested.

"Dunno."

"We really are just friends. That thing that happened at the Quidditch party – he was so drunk. It was like a two second brush of lips before he pulled away."

I nodded, although this was news to me - I'd never even bothered to actually find out the details. I hadn't wanted to.

"Yeah, true"

"He'd never cheat on you. He's said that to me before."

My eyebrows jumped up my forehead – surprised that they'd had that sort of conversation – but I didn't look at her. "Yeah, me too."

"He's miserable," she practically crooned. She sounded like she felt for him so much, and I couldn't understand why - especially after he'd spent the last few days ignoring her.

"Blimey, you like him don't you?" I said, turning to watch her face predictably flush.

"No-n-I-er–"

I laughed. "I didn't mean like that. I just mean…you care that he's upset."

She still blushed but nodded shortly.

I sighed heavily. "I'm sorry about how I've treated you. I was just lashing out because I thought I'd lost him. Honest – I don't normally talk behind girls' backs. Or at least, I try not to."

"You said more than what you'd already said to my face?" she looked shocked. "Worse than 'mumbling bitch'?"

I laughed pretty hard at that and threw her a grin. "Oh yeah – I went heavily into a theory about you being part veela."

She chuckled at that and I shrugged again. "I'm going to tell Sirius to talk to you again. None of this is really about you – it's about me not trusting him."

Her face lit up, but she bit back a smile and nodded solemnly. "Thanks. You're…decent, Kate."

"That's what they call me – Decent Kate," I said, folding up a scrap piece of parchment into a paper airplane. "So, I've been toying with an idea for a game. Ten points if you get a plane to fly through Binns' chest. Twenty if you get it through his mouth."

By the time I got back to the Common Room, I was feeling remarkably zen. Lizzy wasn't all that bad. When she wasn't stuttering, she sometimes said some funny things and since she was a Chaser, she had pretty good aim – she'd gotten at least five planes to soar right through Binns' open mouth. Once we neared the Common Room, however, she began to withdraw into herself again and I didn't much blame her. Even I had a weird fluttering nervousness darting around in my belly. I wasn't about to let him off the hook completely, but I did think that maybe Sirius deserved to be heard. He'd put so much effort into following me around; maybe he actually had something good to say to properly explain his behaviour. Maybe he had a good enough reason for us to get back together.

I said goodbye to Lizzy at the door and she gave me a brief look of terror before scurrying off to her friendly mate, whose name I had just learned was Dilys.

When I turned to look at the sofas we usually occupied, I noticed that Dorcas and Lily were nowhere to be seen and James was thumping an embarrassed Remus on the back. Peter was watching with a grin, and only Sirius had a slightly surly look on his face. The space between his eyebrows had the tiniest crease, but quite apart from that – he seemed pretty uncaring seeing Lizzy and I chatting civilly. He looked away as I made my way over and I felt another ache in my gut. Of course – he chose to go back to being an indifferent ponce as soon as I decided to hear him out. When I got to the sofas, I perched on the sofa's armrest and the group fell quiet. James and Remus looked up at me expectantly – though traces of their smiles remained. Sirius continued to stare off into space as if I wasn't even there.

"Where are Dorcas and Lily?" I asked, fiddling with the rip in the armrest.

"Oh, they said something about girl-bonding?" James said with a laugh, ruffling his hair. "Apparently they had some argument."

I nodded and hid my smile. If James only knew the reason!

"They told us to tell you to come up," Peter said. "Also – I have some news for you."

"Oh?" I asked distractedly. Remus still had that odd smile on his face and Sirius was still staring at the wall as if it fascinated him and Peter's news didn't seem very pressing.

"Jenny has decided to completely forgive me, if you apologize to Sarah," he said proudly. I tore my eyes from Sirius and looked at him in alarm.

"She hasn't already forgiven you? Merlin, Fringy is stubborn."

Sirius let out a funny cough and Remus and James exchanged a look.

"Well!" I said loudly, even though Sirius hadn't turned to look my way. "Sometimes people are allowed to be stubborn. And okay Pete, if this is the only solution, I will suck it up and apologize to the girl. It's ridiculous though. Surely, they've seen that Remus has moved on already!"

Peter shot me a glare and I shrugged. "Yeah, yeah – I said I'd deal with it Peter, no need to give me your devil stare."

"Speaking of Remus moving on," James said elbowing a very pink Remus in the ribs. "Don't you have something you want to tell Kate? You know she's going to be over the moon."

Merlin! All these distractions – I had come in there with the full intention of talking to Sirius and somehow everyone else decided they had important things to tell me. Next, James would be saying that he'd decided to give up on Lily and was actually in love with Dorcas.

"Well Remus?" I prompted. "Don't make me beg."

He shrugged. "It's nothing. It's – you'll blow it out of proportion."

"Try me!"

James sighed in frustration. "Emmeline asked him to Sluggy's do this weekend!"

"What!" I said, jumping to my feet. "She didn't tell me! You didn't tell me!"

Remus chuckled wearily. "Because we both knew that you'd make it into something it isn't. We're just going as mates."

I rolled my eyes and did a bit of a jig. "I told you my plan would work – didn't I?"

"Yeah, this was completely your doing," James laughed. "Still good though – I might go too, I reckon, if I can find a date."

I thought of Dorcas. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of offers, James."

He looked surprised. "Er- thanks Kate."

I nodded and took a deep breath. Zero hour.

"Sirius, can I have a word?"

It was like I'd just told him he was hideous or something. All four Marauders snapped their heads to look at me in shock and I chuckled anxiously. Surely, this was overreacting. I'd only been ignoring Sirius for a couple of days.

"Me?" he said stupidly.

"No, the other boy in the room that goes by the unusual name Sirius."

His mouth was still open slightly, but he nodded and we went off to the Portrait Hole and out into the corridor to talk. The Fat Lady had her friend Violet visiting her portrait, and both of them leaned forward to listen nosily.

"Well?" I asked, nodding and gesturing in front of me.

"You wanted to talk to me," Sirius replied dully.

Merlin, he was dim.

"You have been trying to talk to me for three days – what exactly did you have to say for yourself?" I asked calmly, folding my arms over my waist.

He scratched his head. "Um."

"Oh why didn't I hear you out before? This changes everything!"

He scowled and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I really am – I should've never let it get to that point."

I nodded. "Yeah, you've said that."

"Well Kate, what do you want me to say?" he burst out.

"It would be nice to know why you think we should get back together after all of this."

I raised my eyebrows and his jaw flexed. His brow crinkled and finally, he sighed.

"I'll never do it again. I'll never even talk to her again, promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Sirius. And that's not necessary. I think I believe that the two of you are mates – I'm not going to pretend to like it, but I've decided I can forgive your almost kiss."

His eyes widened and he took a couple of steps forward. "So…we're back on?"

I shook my head. "I need to know why. Why should we bother? What's stopping you from letting this 'almost' happen again?"

He shook his head. "It won't. Look – I don't fancy her like that. I like talking to her but that's it. She listens – it's sort of like you and Remus. There's nothing romantic between us, we're too different anyway."

I nodded. I didn't completely agree but at least it wasn't an outlandish statement.

"And you and me Kate – we make sense. If I can't make it work with you…who can I make it work with?"

I bit my lip and nodded. Oddly, quite apart from the fact that it wasn't a very romantic notion, I sort of felt the same way. "Yeah. Okay."

"You forgive me?" He held my hands, but I pulled them free instantly.

"I forgive you, but I think we should be friends for now. I want to see what happens when you're friends with me and Lizzy – whether you'll still want to be with me anyway."

"So…you're testing me?"

"Problem?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Guess not."

"Don't look so glum, Sirius. If we're really supposed to be together then this won't even be an issue, right?" I said, poking him lightly in the ribs.

His grey eyes looked a little uncertain, but he nodded. "Right."

A/N: Okay, I gather that a lot of people are thinking - seriously he barely even cheated - a little kiss? Why are Kate and Remus making such a big deal of it? Well - while I think the biggest part for Kate is the embarrassment/betrayal,also - I don't know, when I was sixteen and someone in a 'relationship' kissed/almost kissed someone else, it was always a ridiculously big deal. Maybe it's not like that anymore - maybe I'm showing my age. Yuck. Anyway - I think those of you who think that it's been blown out of proportion are right, but I also hope this lame attempt at an explanation will work for you.

Also for hungryhippo and anyone else wondering - Alas, no Prewett/Kate/inappropriate teacher-student relationship will be featured in this tale. Thanks for reading!