A/N: Thank you guys so much for your wonderful notes :) If you're still waiting for that Bottle-Specs surprise...sorry taking longer than expected but this week for sure! Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Fifteen: You're a good mate, Remus

The next day, after an early morning clothing crisis, I found myself hurrying to the Great Hall with only a few minutes left until Breakfast was over. I never made it though, because Mafalda caught me in the Entranceway. I glared over at the double doors leading to the Great Hall and breathed in the delicious scent of bacon and eggs before pouting at my sister. She didn't very seem concerned over my growling stomach.

"Are you coming to Sluggy's party with your fella?" she asked.

Wow, Prefects really didn't gossip, did they? It had been almost a full week since Sirius and I had first argued.

I shook my head. "Er, no – Sirius and I split up, didn't you hear?"

Her eyes widened and an undeniable smile slipped across her lips. She looked like Christmas had come early.

"Don't feel bad for me or anything!" I barked and she immediately switched her look to one of concern. Obviously, it wasn't particularly convincing.

"Oh I am sorry! Are you all right?"

"Yeah – we're just going to be mates," I shrugged.

"Well Kate, I know I haven't really said this before – but I'm really relieved. He was a terrible influence on you. Although, I'm sure he could be kind sometimes," Mafalda said, grabbing my arm and walking down the hall with me. I looked over my shoulder to the Great Hall longingly and sighed. Actually, I had heard this from her about a forty-seven times, but it still annoyed the living hippogriff out of me.

"We're a terrible influence on each other, really!" I snapped. "And it's not over for good – this is just a testing period to see if we'll miss each other if we're apart."

She stopped and pulled her eyebrows together. "Whose idea was this?"

"Mine." Urgh – she was so nosy! If she didn't care for Sirius, then why did she give a toss what our plans were?

"And will you be sticking to it?" she asked, looking down her nose at me. I'm honestly not sure how she managed it – being three inches shorter than me – but that snide look was executed to perfection. How does one look down their nose when they are simultaneously looking up, you ask? Well, the answer is easy – my sister must have been born on Mars.

"Yes Mafalda! Now will you piss off? I lost my shirt this morning and spent ages looking for it – and now I'm late for breakfast!"

"Well, you're very nearly late for lessons – you'll have to skip. Maybe Lily or Dorcas will have thought to bring you something. You really ought to be more responsible – I thought you usually got up early. Hurry off to lessons, I don't want you to get another detention," she said, patting my back.

"Why aren't you at breakfast?" I grumbled.

"I eat in my Common Room sometimes to optimize my study time. Didn't I tell you that?" she said, looking surprised.

"I wouldn't have wanted to know," I sighed, moaning when a crowd of students exited the Great Hall. Brilliant – Breakfast was over and if I were lucky I'd get a scrap of toast at most, because Lily had a Free and it was only Dorcas in History with me. Urgh my sister was the worst.

I inched my way to History with hunger pains stabbing viciously at my gut. It was so absurd – I'd been up for hours, I had no excuse missing breakfast! Dorcas was in Binns' classroom already and she waved at me as I sat down and leaned over the back of my chair, holding my belly. My back cracked and my stomach let out a loud grumble.

"Dorcas, sweet friend of mine, please tell me you brought me sustenance," I begged, looking at her with wide, pleading eyes.

She grimaced. "Oh, sorry! I thought you would have nipped to the Kitchens since you were late."

AGH! The Kitchens! If I had gone that way, I wouldn't have bumped into my evil sister and I'd have been able to grab something to munch on my way to class. Why was I so stupid?

"I'm sorry Kate, maybe I've got an apple in here," Dorcas said, flipping open her crammed full bag. Predictably, there didn't look like there was room in there for an extra quill, let alone an apple. I let out a little whine. I would never make it until Lunch.

And then, an angel placed a perfectly wrapped bacon sandwich on the desk in front of me. When I looked up, my vision hazy around the edges with hunger, I saw that the angel had Remus' green eyes and calming smile.

"Saw you weren't at breakfast," he said. "And I thought you might get hungry since you don't have a Free until after Lunch."

"Remus," I said, grabbing his hand. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?"

He looked alarmed and pulled away from my grip, looking at Dorcas questioningly. "Is she okay?"

"She's exaggerating about how starving she is," Dorcas said as I tucked into the delicious sandwich. Oh Godric, it tasted heavenly – I had never loved food this much before.

"Right – and is everything else all right?" Remus said, nudging my foot with his under the table.

"Mmm?"

He laughed. "Well – Sirius said that you two got back together. I just wanted to check that that's what you wanted."

"Mmm-fogreayy," I nodded.

"I thought you were just going to be friends," Dorcas said, elbowing me and accidentally making me spray the desk with bits of bacon. "Ugh! Disgusting, Kate!"

I swallowed the rest of my bite and shook my head at Remus. "Yeah, she's right. Is he saying we got back together? We agreed to be just friends for now."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, he did say that – but he said that it wouldn't last because you were just testing him."

I shrugged. "We'll see. Early days!"

He frowned, opened his mouth to say something and then shook his head, hurrying off to his desk without another word. He was an odd sort, that Remus. Lovely, though.

"Remus seems concerned," Dorcas remarked and I shrugged.

"He doesn't have to be. Sirius is well aware that he's being tested."

"No," Dorcas said. "I don't think he's concerned about him."

And then Binns began the lecture and because Dorcas loved every subject, including History, she stopped talking and started to diligently take notes.

Dorcas, Peter, Remus and I walked to Transfiguration together and Dorcas and Remus were arguing about the tactics that Grindelwald had utilized during his campaign on Europe, versus the methods that You-Know-Who was showing signs of undertaking. For once, Peter and I didn't drop off to sleep at their post-History conversation, because this one was actually quite interesting. I was about to say that You-Know-Who already seemed to have the leg up on Grindelwald in the fear department, because of the plain fact that we referred to him by a mysterious nickname, when I saw Sirius standing with Lizzy outside McGonagall's classroom. James was behind him talking to Lily and to everyone's general astonishment, they weren't arguing. The Fifth Years had just been dismissed and Friendly Dilys was hovering nearby as Sirius waved his arms around while he chattered to Lizzy. She was laughing and nodding and then, her eyes drifted to the left and she froze when she saw me. Sirius turned distractedly and his face shifted similarly. If we'd been characters in a book, this would have been the climax - the over-the-top confrontation scene. But I was no literary heroine, I was much more reasonable than that. Also, I suppose we'd already had that particular scene. I raised my hand to wave and Sirius broke into a smile.

"All right Kate? Missed you at Breakfast."

"Caught in a Mafalda trap," I nodded before turning my mouth up at Lizzy. "Hey Liz." I'd noticed that Dorcas and Lily always called her this and it sounded quite nice and friendly on my tongue. I tended to sound a bit condescending when I called her Lizzy, so this was a sensible change in attitude for me.

She smiled back tentatively. "Morning Kate."

And then, I patted each of their shoulders with the grace of a queen and headed into the classroom. Remus was right on my heels.

"What was that?"

I shrugged. "Three friends talking."

"Kate!"

"What?" I shrugged. "I told him he should talk to her again, what was I supposed to do – rip him a new one for doing what I asked?"

"But the look on your face – you are not okay with this," he argued.

"Oh hello Remus, you never told me you were a Legilimens," I said, sitting next to Greta with a thump. She narrowed her eyes and muttered as she moved away from me again. Honestly, the girl was going to give me a complex! I sniffed my hair, but it didn't smell bad, so I turned back to Remus who was running a hand through his own hair and looking at me oddly.

"You're going to get back with him, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "No! I mean, I don't know. Anyway, why do you look so sour about it? I thought this is what you wanted us to do."

His face twisted and he looked confused, ducking down to lower his voice when Sirius and James walked in.

"I want you to do what makes you happy. And I want him to realize what he's got."

I broke into a smile and patted his hand. "You're a good mate, Remus. I promise, I know what I'm doing."

He stared at me for a moment longer than what was comfortable, and then he sighed and walked away. I turned around to see him slap Sirius around the head and the four Marauders fell into deep conversation. Remus was so bonkers – and he worried too much. Sirius and I were perfectly capable of handling our own relationship. Suddenly, I snorted at my own hypocrisy and Greta gave a little huff and I fell silent once more.

My final detention was probably the worst because Slughorn was in charge of it and he hadn't yet forgiven me for hexing Sarah outside his classroom. It was also a Friday and I knew all my mates would be having a nice time in the Common Room – playing Snap, having a few butterbeers or firewhiskys left over from the party and listening to music. I felt awful that I wouldn't be there to educate their taste – it was going to be Warbeck and Proctor galore - vomit. Even worse, everyone was so disgustingly excited over Sluggy's party the next day that those students who were attending, couldn't stop discussing it in painfully boring detail. Lily had already run Dorcas and I through her options for jewelry and which eyeshadow to wear with her turquoise robes so many times, she'd only stopped when I fell off my chair pretending to fall asleep in the middle of her sentence.

"I did ask your father if he might be able to attend, but it seems your mother has taken ill, poor dear," Slughorn was saying as he strode in front of me at the head of the classroom. "At least darling Mafalda will be able to represent your family – there's no one else really," he continued and I rolled my eyes.

My mother was ill, my foot! And wasn't it nice of him to forget I existed completely? 'No one else,' my arse.

But I hadn't really expected Horace to invite me anyway; I was only good enough to attend as a guest of one of his treasured Slug Club members – not nearly important enough to receive a summons of my own. Thank Merlin.

"Professor Prewett was telling me that your Patronus is a peacock, Katherine – quite a powerful one at that – if only you'd live up to your potential, you might be as good as your sister or father one day," he continued.

"Yes Sir," I sighed, scratching at my parchment with my quill. I had accidentally diverted from the line 'I will not laugh at my Professor's inability to walk' and wrote 'I will not accidentally set my Professor's mustache on fire,' when the door opened and in walked Sirius. He shot me a grin and I replied with a tired one of my own. Had he come to gloat over the fact that I was being subjected to Slughorn's nonsense? I could almost smell the firewhisky on him from my seat.

"Sirius, my dear boy! I haven't seen you all year!" Slughorn said puffing up to the size of a whale as Sirius entered and he threw an arm around him. Sirius nodded impassively.

"Sorry Sir."

"I was telling Katherine that just because you dropped Potions – it gives you no excuse not to attend my party tomorrow night. I have noticed your attendance has dropped at my little dinners this year – no doubt Miss Hopkirk has been distracting you." Slughorn shot me a withering look and it took all of my willpower not to stick my tongue out at him.

"Not at all, Sir," Sirius said, shaking his head. "I've just been busy. In fact, Kate suggested I clear my timetable this weekend specifically to attend your party!"

I bit back a laugh and his eyes shone at me, throwing me a little wink when Slughorn stared at me in surprise. He turned back to Sirius looking thrilled.

"Oho! That's wonderful news – you know we're having quite a delightful band playing. They haven't quite hit the airwaves yet, but I hear from Artemis Proctor that they are quite good. Unfortunately Artemis himself had another engagement, but he says these Ghouls are perfectly adequate – apparently they are his group's opening act on tour these days."

My mouth hung open and my heart started to pound. The Ghouls were playing at Slughorn's do? Bloody hell why wasn't I more impressive? Why didn't Slughorn fawn over me the way he did with Lily or Mafalda? Oh Merlin, now my only chance to go would be with Sirius and we were trying that pesky friendship thing. Shit shitting SHIT.

Sirius' eyebrows were raised and a slow smirk spread across his face as he looked at me. Don't bloody do this to me Sirius – don't make me beg, I said with my eyes. He bit back a laugh and turned to Slughorn who was still raving on about the party like he hadn't noticed he'd just changed my life.

"Why don't you bring along that charming new Chaser on your team? Miss Cole, I believe – I've seen you two chatting. Good friends are you?"

NO! Noooooooooo.

Sirius shrugged and fiddled with his tie. "Actually sir, I came down here because I wanted to ask Kate."

Phew. I beamed at him and the corner of his mouth turned up at me. Merlin, I didn't care what I'd said the previous day. Right then, all I wanted to do was snog his face off.

Slughorn looked a bit putout as he stared between Sirius and I, now looking like we might run across the room to each other in romantic slow motion. Then he let out a laugh right from his belly and slapped Sirius on the back.

"Ah, who am I to get in the way of young love? Katherine, I think that's enough for today – why don't you go with Sirius? I shall see you two tomorrow night!" he exclaimed, once again grabbing Sirius' arm in glee. Sirius' smile wavered at the gesture, but he nodded.

"Thank you Sir!" I said, hurriedly shoving my things in my bag and rushing to the front so I could leave the room with Sirius.

The air was thick with tension as we walked down the corridor and headed up the dungeon staircases to the main level of the castle. And then he stopped and shrugged at me.

"So, will you go to this thing with me?"

I stared at him, wetting my lips and he ran a hand through his hair.

"It'll be a laugh. And look, I know we're doing the mates thing – so I thought it would be okay to tell you…" He hesitated and I waited, staring into his gorgeous eyes, feeling breathless. "I actually don't hate The Ghouls. That new one about avada-ing his heart isn't bad."

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him for all I was worth and he laughed against my lips before he pulled me closer and deepened the kiss. When we separated, my eyes were hooded and he was breathing hard. I covered my mouth and stared at him before he burst into laughter.

"Was that all it took? Me admitting that The Ghouls aren't total crap?" he smirked.

I smacked his arm, beaming, before I straightened my face. "We're going as friends."

"Oh yeah, of course," he grinned and I couldn't fight off my own smile.

"We'll see how it goes," I said, fanning my hot face and nodding towards the stairs. We made our way to the Common Room and as I tried to cool my face to a normal temperature, Sirius had started whistling.

"Oh yeah, I can't wait to find out what'll happen," he said, still with that offensively gorgeous smile on his face.

He held my hand when we walked into the Common Room and because I was in such a good mood, I saw no reason to pull away. Our mates were all sitting on the sofas listening to some Roaring Horntails – thank Godric I could count on Remus to take care of their musical education in my stead. Only Peter was missing, sitting by the windows with Jenny. Oh good – they looked cosy. Jenny's fringe had gotten worryingly long though – I couldn't understand how she could even see through it, but Peter was simpering at her anyway so Sirius and I looked away and joined the rest of our friends on the sofa. Sirius threw his arm around my shoulders and I curled one knee to my chest, nodding along to the last verse of 'Fly, dragon, fly' before Remus turned off the wireless and looked at us.

"So, you two are back on then?" His voice was dull and resigned and I wanted to make him a cuppa and tell him to calm the hell down. Why couldn't he stop worrying?

"Nah," Sirius shrugged with a smirk that said otherwise. "Just mates."

"Remus! I have the best news in the world," I said happily, throwing Sirius' arm off my shoulders and leaning forward. Remus looked back evenly, but I knew he'd be grinning any moment.

"Guess who's playing at Slughorn's party tomorrow?"

He made a face. "Oh no – it's not Proctor is it? I heard he was part of the Slug Club."

"Hey! You make it sound like an awful thing," Lily protested and Remus and I rolled our eyes at each other.

"No – Proctor is busy so he sent his opening act to play the party instead!"

Remus' expression changed slowly and then his mouth fell open. "Are you telling me that The Ghouls are going to be there tomorrow?"

I nodded vigorously and he broke into a giant grin, falling back against his armchair looking so thrilled, I wished I were closer so we could've done a bit of a jig together. I settled for nudging his leg with my foot and he tilted his head up to beam excitedly at me.

"Wow, Slughorn is really pulling out all the stops, isn't it?" Dorcas said. "I heard Lorcan McLaird is even bringing his Deputy Minister, Millicent Bagnold – she's my idol."

Lily squeezed her hand sympathetically and I frowned.

"You know Dorcas, I never thought about it but why exactly are you not a part of the Slug Club?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I would've thought you'd be one of Sluggy's crown jewels."

James laughed at that and he and Sirius exchanged a perverted look.

Dorcas sighed and oddly, glared at me. "Well, when I was a young girl – only eleven years old – I was much more impressionable than I am now."

Lily frowned. "What?"

"Well, you were off with Snape, so it was only ever Kate and I together that first week. And she convinced me it would be really funny to blow up our cauldron on our first day of Potions. Slughorn didn't think it was as amusing though!"

Our group burst into laughter and I grinned at the memory.

"Merlin! Now I know why you're so angry at me all the time, Dor! You've been burying that one deep, haven't you?"

She sighed and leaned against the sofa looking glum when suddenly James spoke up.

"Hey! I've just realized – it's just going to be me and you not going, Dorcas!"

Her eyes widened a little and darted to Lily and I.

"Oh and what's Peter then?" Remus chuckled.

James laughed. "He'll have Fringy. Dor – you and I should go together. Sirius and Kate are going as mates and so are Remus and Emmeline – why don't we?"

Lily was staring at her Snap cards a little too intently when Dorcas glanced at her, but then upon an encouraging nod from me, she broke into a huge grin.

"That sounds lovely James – thanks."

"No problem – although you'll have to forgive me if I don't dance to The Ghouls," he said elbowing Sirius who chuckled along and shot me a warning look. I smiled back and leaned against him so his arm fell back over my shoulders. I truly couldn't wait for this party.

A/N: Kate and Sirius - how ridiculous. Party next chapter - I know it took forever, but it'll be fun. And then the following chapter is my favourite so far (although it could be because I just finished writing it). Thanks for reading!