A/N: This chapter was a little weird to write because I started it when I was having a bad day and then finished it when I was having a good day. It was odd. THANK YOU so much for your amazing reviews - that was the best response I've had on a chapter in this story.

Chapter Eighteen: Wasn't really the best day

Monday: the day of the devil. In the rankings of all the Mondays I had ever lived, this one probably ranked in the top ten and it didn't even have anything to do with my love life. The Monday after I'd found out about Lizzy and Sirius' dalliance was only marginally worse than this one.

It wasn't even one awful thing – it was more like lots of very annoying things happening one after each other. It started with there being no bacon at breakfast and then as I was reaching for the last piece of toast, a First Year let out an enormous sneeze and covered it in thick green bogies. It had put me off the meal altogether and my stomach was grumbling all through my morning lessons. Break wasn't much better: Filch's idiotic cat ran through my legs in the corridor after Lunch and tripped me over and the foolish caretaker told me off for stepping on the mad cat's tail. He made matters worse when Mafalda passed by and he demanded that she dock points from me. That made Mafalda angry and she gave me a lecture all the way to Transfiguration. And of course, even though I'd been expecting it – we had that bloody test. I was prepared – Lily and Dorcas and I had quizzed each other the previous evening – but as soon as McGonagall sent the list of questions flying at each of us, my mind went blank. I couldn't remember a thing. I couldn't even remember the incantation to make birds fly from your wand even though I'd heard Lily practicing it about seventy times over the weekend. When it came to the essay portion on Mammal Transfigurations, my head was pounding and the best I could come up with was – "You wave your wand, say some words and something happens." I, of course, used longer and more intelligent sounding words, but I think that was the gist of my whole essay. It didn't help matters when Dorcas wanted to go over all of the questions in detail afterwards. I spent my last lesson of the day – History – listening to her fretting over her only slightly incorrect description of the Avis spell as I scratched angrily at my parchment and kicked myself for not remembering such an easy incantation.

And then Binns gave me detention because I'd scratched through my parchment so furiously; I'd accidentally scratched the desk. He shrieked about vandalism and disrespect and even though Dorcas tried to be supportive for once, I snapped at her when she suggested that I use less pressure when I was writing. She got in a strop with me then, and because I couldn't possibly handle listening to her huffing and puffing, I stopped dead in the middle of a crowded corridor to apologize in the over-the-top fashion that she seemed to find fitting. And then, because when it rains, it pours – Peeves dropped a bucket of water over my head and I was quite literally drenched from head to toe. I clenched my fists and took steadying breaths so I wouldn't lose it, when I heard a Third Year pervert yell,

"Look! You can see her boobies!"

Because the stupid school shirt is white, and water and white clothing don't mix – it was completely see-through. I tugged my robes around me tightly until we got to a secluded corner and Dorcas offered to put a drying spell on my shirt. And even though I managed to thank her fairly graciously and ignore the smile twitching on her face, I was still in the foulest of foul moods.

So, I suppose it wasn't really the best day for Lily to insist that Dorcas and I spend an evening with her boyfriend for the first time. Archie was a Seventh Year and in a different house, so we hadn't had a proper chance to get to know him yet. I was surprised to realize that since that first day at Charms Club, I had only had maybe one or two conversations with him. Dorcas knew him a little better because apparently they'd chatted during Slughorn's party while Remus and I were consumed with The Ghouls' performance. Apparently the world hadn't ceased to spin for them, like it had for me. But as it turned out, Dorcas wasn't a huge fan of the dishy Ravenclaw. On our way down to the Entrance Hall, where we were set to meet up with Archie and Lily, she shared her concerns with me.

"It's not that he's a bad lad," she said, biting her lip. "He isn't. It's more the way she is around him. She doesn't seem herself – she lets him talk for her and cut into her sentences and I don't know…"

I frowned. "But Lily doesn't let anyone speak for her. Remember the time she had laryngitis and insisted on holding up those comically large pieces of parchment with her retorts instead of letting us read them out for her?"

"Yeah that's what I mean. I think she likes that he's older and decisive, but I worry that she lets him bully her into things," she said, lowering her voice as we headed down the main staircases and waved to the couple sitting on the stone benches outside The Great Hall.

"Like that ridiculous Medieval Month convention thing he's taking her to in Hogsmeade next week?" I asked.

"Exactly – he even picked out the costume she's going to wear," Dorcas muttered. "But I guess, even if he's a bit domineering, we should give him the benefit of the doubt right? She likes him."

"Right," I agreed but I felt a wave of worry run over me as we greeted Lily and Archie and settled down on some chairs Lily had conjured for us.

"No, no," Archie said, making us stand up again and vanishing the seats. "Lily, do it again – those won't last three hours."

"Oh well, I did that so that they would disappear. Dinner is in a couple of hours and we don't need them for that long," she said, but nodded anyway and made a new set of chairs appear. Dorcas and I exchanged a look as Archie inspected them and then patted Lily on the head.

"Much better."

"Anything's better than sitting on the floor anyway," I shrugged.

The conversation was light for the most part, talking about my horrible morning, NEWTs and the last Quidditch match when Slytherin had embarrassed Hufflepuff with a landslide victory. Archie seemed nice enough and Dorcas seemed to be laughing at his jokes more than I would have expected. It was also clear that he certainly liked Lily very much, but when the conversation turned to what jobs we wanted to do after Hogwarts, I grew warier. Dorcas had been right to be concerned – Lily, who was usually about the most confident, independent and steadfast girl I knew, hardly seemed able to form a thought for herself when Archie was around.

"Why did you bother with Care of Magical Creatures?" he asked as he pulled her to his side.

"I wanted a class where I could have some fun – everything else is so stressful. Arithmancy especially – I wish I hadn't taken it to be honest," Lily shrugged and he laughed and patted her hand.

"Arithmancy is extremely important for sharpening your deductive skills. If you want to be an Auror or Healer or any job of importance – it's absolutely vital," he said.

"I'm going to be an Auror," Dorcas put in. "And I didn't take Arithmancy."

"Me either," I nodded. "Crap - I bet it'll be helpful for when I have to do the finance books at my pub. Too bad I chose History instead. Perhaps I can make it a goblin-revolution themed establishment – you know, so it's not a total waste."

Lily and Dorcas laughed and Archie smiled indulgently.

"You don't need much to open a pub. I'm sure you'll be just fine, Katherine."

"Just Kate is fine, Archibald," I said stiffly and our eyes met evenly before Archie shrugged and hugged Lily again.

"My Lily's going to be something important, aren't you love?"

Lily smiled. "Well, I hope so."

"Just being Lily Evans is a pretty important job, in all fairness," I said and Dorcas laughed again. We exchanged a glance and Lily narrowed her eyes at us. Okay, I guess we weren't really giving him that 'chance' we said we would.

"So what are you going to be?" Dorcas asked Archie.

"Minister for Magic, I suppose," I said and then grimaced at my uncontrollable mouth and looked away.

I heard him give a little huff. "In fact, that is my goal. Of course I intend to work my way up in the Magical Law Enforcement Department first though."

"Prewett's submitting Archie's name for Excellence in Defence Against the Dark Ar–," Lily said.

"Oh it's nothing," he replied, interrupting her and waving a hand.

Modesty – there was one good quality, I suppose.

"My father had his name submitted after OWLs – I was a bit overdue for recognition. He was forced to put in a letter to Dumbledore over it."

Yuck.

Thankfully Dorcas chose to bring up Slughorn's party then, and the three of them broke into laughter and carried on chatting about the various things that had happened while Remus and I were watching The Ghouls .

I was glad to tune out the conversation because I was really beginning to get annoyed at Archie. It wasn't because he cut into Lily's sentences or put words in her mouth. That was forgivable – sometimes we're all a bit impatient to get our own words heard. Like Dorcas had said, the biggest problem with the Ravenclaw was the way Lily acted around him. It was all well and good to change when you had a boyfriend – I was guilty of that myself – but Lily wasn'tlike this. She didn't take anyone's crap and if anyone but her boyfriend said some of the things he said, I swear they wouldn't even know what hex hit them. But I suppose it was because he was nice and charming and said sweet things to her that she was able to look past these gaping misgivings and continue to fancy him anyway. Besides, as used as the phrase was, I really didn't know him like she did.

"There she is!"

I looked up and saw two Fourth Year Hufflepuff girls pointing at me and whispering to each other.

"Can I help you?" I snapped loudly and my friends stopped their laughter.

"That was a bit rude. We were having a conversation!" I heard Archie mutter to Lily.

"They're whispering about her – she's just finding out what it's about," she replied and I smiled a little. It was good to know that even if she did take too much crap from him, she drew the line at crap about me.

"Oi you two," I said to the girls sharply. "Have something to say?"

Their eyes looked wide, but not frightened and they practically skipped over to me, bouncing on the balls of their feet as they looked down at me.

"You're Kate Hopkirk, right?"

"Oh like you needed a bigger head," Dorcas muttered as I felt my chest swell. It had taken a fair few years for me to be known in my own right and not as 'Mafalda Hopkirk's lazy sister', so this was a pretty big moment for me.

"I am," I said gracefully. "How can I help you?"

"You're setting Remus Lupin up on dates, aren't you?" The one with the fluffy brown hair looked so excited, she had to clutch to her friend with the black pixie cut.

"Um, not really," I said, glancing at Lily and Dorcas who shook their heads confusedly at me.

"But Sarah Hobbs in your house said…"

"Oh, well I am…sort of. But he's er – taken for the moment. Emmeline Vance?"

"Ohhh!" The pixie cut said. "Well, if she doesn't work out for Remus – can I go on the list?"

"I want to go out with Remus too!"

At that precise moment, Sirius and James appeared around the corner and heard Fluffy-head's statement and their eyes widened with glee. They quietly walked forward and stood silently behind the two Fourth Years.

I coughed back my first proper laugh of the day. If only Remus wasn't ill and holed up in the Hospital Wing – I would love to see his face overhearing this conversation. James and Sirius' expressions were worth ten thousand galleons, but Remus' would've been priceless.

"Well," I said, managing to hide my smile. "I don't know. The waiting list is pretty long."

"Yeah, you promised I'd be next on the list," Sirius said and the two Hufflepuffs jumped in surprise.

"No, me!" James pouted, crossing his arms dramatically.

The two girls turned around slowly and judging by the backs of their ears, they were blushing furiously as James and Sirius grinned down at them. Dorcas started laughing and then I couldn't help joining in and the girls looked so horrified, they both tried to run away but ran right into each other and their heads bumped together.

"They're just teasing," Lily said, jumping to her feet. "Ignore them."

"Yeah I'm sorry," I said, as another giggle slipped between my lips. "I really will keep you in mind."

They nodded, cheeks still blazing and scurried off and Lily shoved me lightly.

"Do you have to be so mean? They were so embarrassed!" she sighed.

"We were only teasing Evans," James spoke up and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Isn't that what I just said to them?" she asked flatly and his hand went automatically to his hair.

"Right."

Lily gave him and then me, another look before she sat back down beside Archie – who looked wholly unimpressed with our display. He was just chewing on his lip watching James and Sirius warily.

"How's Remus?" I asked Sirius, throwing my arms around his neck to kiss him hello.

Sirius yawned and didn't even hug me back. "Fine, tired. We all are."

"How come whenever I want to visit him in the Hospital Wing, he says it's no big deal and then you lot spend all night huddled around his sickbed?" I asked, twirling a piece of his hair. He shrugged in response.

"You can go see him now. The worst is over."

"Okay grumpy guts," I said poking at the scowl on his mouth. "Did Peeves spill water on you too? Why are you so moody?"

"No sleep, Quidditch practice," Sirius sighed and tilted his head towards James, who despite looking equally tired was tossing his broomstick back and forth between his hands as he talked to Archie about Pitch schedules.

"Nosy girlfriends on top of all of that," he muttered tiredly.

"You're rude," I said, shoving away from him.

"Where are you off to then, James?" Dorcas asked once Archie had stopped complaining that Gryffindor always got the best Practice times.

James looked down at his Quidditch robes and the broomstick in his hand and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Um, the Pitch. Was that not obvious?"

"With you?" I cut in, moving backwards to appraise James. "Honestly, no. I've seen you wear your Quidditch robes in the bath."

Sirius rolled his eyes as Dorcas and Lily gaped at me.

James sighed. "That one time. And you shouldn't have been in there anyway!"

Lily let out a loud giggle and stared at me in disbelief. "You saw Potter in the bath?"

"Jealous, Evans?" James asked, waggling his eyebrows. Everyone except him seemed to glance at Archie, but he looked unperturbed. Lily however, didn't.

"Yes Potter, that's exactly the reason I asked that question! It didn't have anything to do with the fact that it's odd that Kate's seen you in the bath," she snapped, rolling her eyes.

James grimaced and opened his mouth to retort, but I cut in to stop the situation from escalating.

"Isn't the more important question – why does Potter wear his Quidditch things in the bath?"

"Leaving now," James groaned, thankfully looking less annoyed. "Padfoot?"

"Yup," Sirius nodded stonily, picking up his broom once more.

"Oh, d'you mind if I come along and watch?" Dorcas asked, getting to her feet. I gave her a frantic shake of the head because I really didn't want to be alone with Lily and Archie but she only had eyes for James.

He glanced at Sirius who was rolling his neck back and massaging his shoulders and then he looked at me and shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. Kate, you coming?"

"To watch Quidditch?" I said making a face. "No thanks." I would take dull, controlling Archibald over watching Quidditch practice, which was even more unbearably boring than regular matches. Plus, I could always escape and go visit Remus and give Lily a chance to snog Archie - he must've been a good kisser at the very least, given the fact that his personality left much to be desired. If I went to watch Practice with Dorcas, she would inevitably bore me to tears with her explanations of the finer points of the sport.

Even though Dorcas was talking a mile a minute about some move she'd read about, James threw me a look of exasperation. I found that quite surprising because normally he couldn't resist any conversation about Quidditch – but I supposed he was tired and moody as well. Like I've said – The Marauders don't do well on too-little sleep. He cut into whatever Dorcas was saying, and grabbed Sirius' elbow.

"Come on! We've got to play Slytherin before Christmas and there's no way in hell I'm giving up my winning record just because we pulled an all-nighter!"

"Go with Godric, Sirius. You will survive!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth and making an echo.

Sirius finally broke into a grin at that and pretended to hang himself with the hood of his robes. I laughed when he reached dramatically for me as James tugged him back, and the three of them headed away through the castle doors.

When I turned around, ready to bid farewell to Lily and Archie and go up to visit Remus, I was worried to see that the couple was arguing.

"Do you have to let him rile you up so much? There's a way to handle people like Potter and it's simply ignoring them. You don't need to mouth off like that!" Archie scolded.

Lily stared at him and her mouth dropped open and I averted my eyes.

"Potter doesn't respond to indifference, Archie! I've been dealing with him for years. It wasn't like I was rude or anything," She replied and I felt a cheer ring through my chest glad that she was standing up for herself.

He gave her a look and then glanced at me before he said anything. "Your whole group – you handle things too immaturely. Just tell him to leave you alone and he will. In fact, why don't you let me talk to him?"

She stared and then looked at me. "Kate, what do you think?"

I shrugged and my eyes slid coldly to Archie. "I think that Lily is handling James in a perfectly normal way. They have this routine down pat – you don't need to get involved."

Archie looked incredulous and then the two of them shared a look before he huffed and stood up.

"Fine, deal with it however you want! Don't bother listening to reason!" He shoved past me and headed away down the corridor leaving Lily and I looking at each other awkwardly. We were silent for a long while before she sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to drag you into it."

I took Archie's place and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She was stiff and looking down at her lap.

"That's all right."

She bit her lip and looked at me nervously. "Thanks for sticking up for me. He just doesn't understand the whole Potter thing. I should probably explain it to him."

I nodded and before I could stop myself, said, "Yeah. But I don't think you should let him talk to you that way."

She raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"Look, it's fine. You two will work it out – but there's no excuse for him ordering you around like that and making you feel like whatever you do or say is wrong."

"You let Sirius make you feel that way!" she snapped, moving away from me.

"Maybe," I said doubtfully. Sure, sometimes Sirius made me feel like an idiot – but he wasn't really condescending, just blasé more than anything else.

"Godric Kate. You don't have a perfect relationship either – you don't need to spew out hypocritical advice!" she said, standing up and rushing away after Archie.

Honestly, what had I done to deserve a day like this one?

I trudged my way to the Hospital Wing feeling lower than low, wondering if Lily would need an apology or if we could just let our little argument slide. I needed a bloody hug – a really good one. Sirius had been useless – tired and miserable as he was. Maybe I could find Mafalda, but she hated hugging – she always kept her arms at her side instead of around me like she should have done. What a horrid day. I hoped that Remus was feeling better; I couldn't handle another annoyed face.

Pomfrey was in her office, so I headed straight into the Hospital Wing towards Remus, who was lying on his side, facing away from the door with WME open in his hands.

"Hey you! Bunny flu getting you down?" I asked and he turned over and broke into a big smile. His face looked more tired than any of the other Marauders, but he looked more welcoming and friendly than anyone else had all day.

"Hey Kate," he said throatily. "Nice to see you."

"You all right?" I asked, tousling his hair and looking at his drained face in concern. These colds he got really took a lot out of him. Madame Pomfrey ought to do some tests to see if there was something seriously wrong. The world couldn't function if Remus really did have Bunny Flu.

He nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. "Worst is over."

I sighed in relief and threw myself into the chair by his bed and grinned back at him.

"You have no idea how good it is to see someone who's actually happy to see me!"

He chuckled and sat up against his pillows, throwing the magazine on to the bedside table and pulling the covers up over his arms.

"Been on a Katie-spree today, then?"

I laughed and shook my head. "More like the world has conspired against me. I've had the worst day."

"Yeah? I'm sure it was better than lying in a bed all day," he said with a chuckle. "What happened?"

"Well, I failed the Transfiguration test and that was only after Mafalda and Filch yelled at me for tripping over his cat. And there was no bacon and there was bogies on the toast and Peeves dropped a whole lot of water on me and I gave everyone in the corridor a free show–"

He laughed and bit back his smile. "Is that all?"

I pouted. "And Sirius was grouchy because he was up all night, so he was called me nosy. And…" I sighed again, shakily. "Lily and I fought because I think her boyfriend's a controlling twat. And ugh, I just need this day to be over."

His eyebrows pulled together sympathetically and he pulled his arm out from under the covers to reach over and pat my hand.

"Tomorrow will be better."

I nodded. "Will you hug me?"

He laughed and propped his arm behind his head. "I'm in bed."

"So? Please Remus! I need a great big bear hug – I feel awful!"

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Ask Sirius."

I folded my arms in annoyance. "You never hug me. It's like you think he's going to flip out on you for it. In case you forgot – I kissed you and he didn't even care about that!"

He shook his head and his arm slid back down to his side. "I didn't forget."

Suddenly, I noticed a gaping, red scar running from the back of his wrist all the way up to the crook of his arm and it definitely hadn't been there the day before.

"Remus!" I said, lunging forward to grab his arm. "What happened?"

He snatched his arm back and shoved it under the covers.

"Nothing," he said stiffly.

"Did Pomfrey look at that? How could you possibly have done that while you were in bed?"

He shrugged. "Fell over."

"Remus! You fell over and now your arm's mangled?" I asked in despair. And then, very bizarrely – I burst into loud and unstoppable sobs. Through my bleary eyes, I could see that Remus looked shell-shocked.

"Why are you crying?" he asked in alarm.

I shook my head. "I don't know!" I wailed, wiping away the tears. "What happened?"

He started laughing and held his sides and I kept crying and we both couldn't stop and it was quite honestly the weirdest situation you could ever imagine.

"S-Stop laughing!" I hiccupped.

"You're crying – cause – I have a little scar on my arm?" he asked through laughter.

"It was a gash!" I snapped, wiping away my tears and biting my lip to stop it quivering. "And I've had a horrible day."

He chuckled again softly and looked at my teary face with a kind expression.

"You are completely insane," he said exasperatedly. "Come here."

I went eagerly to his impatient arms and he hugged me tightly. Even though it only lasted a few seconds, the tears stopped and I felt finally peaceful. My dramatic sob fest coupled with a lovely, genuine hug was enough to make me feel myself again. Sometimes, you just needed to cry. Remus knocked his forehead against the side of my head lightly before he let go of me and moved all the way to the other side of the bed.

"Tomorrow will be better, Kate."

"Today's better already, Remus. Thanks," I smiled as I sat down again and turned the knob on the wireless to find Gordon Greaves' afternoon show.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed - this chapter was more about setting up small arcs in the other characters' lives and less about Kate, Remus and Sirius, but still a dash of them both to keep it relevant. I've got some big things planned for the Christmas holidays and the time after, so hopefully we'll get to those chapters soon - still only the end of November in the story, if that wasn't clear enough. :) Thanks for reading!