Disclaimer: We don't own anything except our original characters and original plot.

Author's Notes: Took long enough, didn't it? Anyways, here it is. Have fun.

Chapter 16

All Your Fault

"Somewhere along the line, I started hurting the people I care most about, and I can't figure out how to stop." – Paul Johansson as Dan Scott on One Tree Hill

Kagumi opened her eyes and immediately shut them again. "Ugh," she growled. "What is that?"

Bridget cracked a smile as she pulled on her shoes. "That is the sun, Gumi. It's after dawn already."

Kagumi rolled over, pulling the red blankets over her head. "Well, it offends me. Turn it off."

"Everything offends you at this hour. Now get up or I'll have the House Elves carry you to the Great Hall in your pajamas."

Kagumi opened one eye, pulling the cover down far enough to peer out from under it. "You wouldn't."

Bridget had barely the time to give her a wry look before the other girl sprang out of bed and hastily began pulling clothes on. Seeing her friend trying to pull a brush through her tangled hair, since she'd fallen asleep before braiding it, while hopping on one foot and trying to pull her sneaker on left Jet snickering as she left the empty Dormitory. She'd reached the Portrait Hole and was climbing very carefully out of it when Kagumi slid down the banister and hit the floor at a run, quickly and efficiently tying a bandanna around her tangle-free braid.

"I'm here, I'm here, no need to threaten me with Elves," Gumi grumbled. "Whoo for breakfast."

Breakfast was strained to say the least. Bridget hadn't been able to keep up the chatter she normally did at breakfasts, the anxiety slowly building up until she felt nauseous just looking at the food and she wanted nothing more than to return to her room and hide, even if she knew she couldn't. She looked up from her half-filled plate and realized that their part of the table was oddly quiet. Frowning, she looked between James and Gumi; they weren't even looking at each other.

"How is it that I always end up between rowing people when I'm with you?" she hissed towards Gumi, who shrugged and blinked owlishly.

"Um, Gumi?" Peter asked hesitantly; the sweet, more-confident Peter of the summer was gone and in his place was the shy, quiet Peter that the girls had first met. Timidity didn't suit him well after they'd seen what he was capable of and both girls had resolved to bring him out of his shell again.

"Yeah, Pete?" she asked, mid-yawn.

"Are... are you aware of how you're dressed?" He nodded towards her eclectic mash of clothing. A green bandanna covered the top of her hair, tied beneath the thick black braid, and the streaks in her hair that had once been blue were now an emerald green to match. Her collar wasn't smoothed, and an understated band at her throat held a little charm that he couldn't see as it dipped briefly into her Oxford shirt.

Wiping sleep from her eyes, she looked wearily at him. "Of course. But I'd rather be seen as the person I am than for what they want to see. Besides, technically I'm not on the wrong side of the regulations, since I'm wearing my entire uniform. I'm just wearing stuff added to it." Bridget rolled her eyes, but Gumi stubbornly ignored it.

Peter shook his head and returned to his porridge while Kagumi stole the hot chocolate pot from Jet and poured herself a cup. Remus came down the stairs, looking immaculately groomed as usual, and stared as he sat down and pulled a plate of bacon towards him. "Is that a-- is that a collar?"

She leveled a tired glare at him, one hand holding her head up. "It is."

He shrugged, wondering why anyone would wear a collar like a dog, and began eating. James distantly noted that the amount on Remus's plate was far more than he normally ate, and realized that since the Anti-Lycanthrope attack, Remus had gained at least a stone. The boy looked healthier than he ever had, and actually had some color in his cheeks. It was barely noticeable, but it was a definite improvement.

"You noticed that too, huh?" Peter asked quietly.

"When did it happen?" James asked.

"Probably around the time Gumi threatened him with a hot spatula."

James snorted lightly, feeling irritated by the mere mention of the girl. Contrary to his looks, he hadn't slept much the night before; he'd spent hours replaying the entire argument through his head. And James had, quite reluctantly, realized something: Kagumi might be right. He didn't know Lily at all. Not that his feelings were any less than he'd put forward, but he could see the contradiction they had with his actions; now he could understand why she might have rejected him quite as often as she had.

"Where's Sirius?" Kagumi asked Remus, nibbling at an egg sandwich.

"Still asleep."

"What?" she looked at her watch. "But it's almost eight fifty!"

"He'll sleep until about nine and then dash down just in the nick of time not to get detention for being late," Remus explained patiently. Sure enough, at eight fifty nine, Sirius came running into the Great Hall, skidding on a spilled goblet of orange juice, and collapsing onto the bench next to Kagumi, who managed to snatch her bulging bag of books out of the way a second before they became a literal pain in Sirius's arse.

"Sirius, you almost missed her," James said, not looking past his friend; just because Kagumi may have been right didn't mean that he had to give her the satisfaction of groveling. James Potter might have threatened, hexed, yelled, and utterly charmed his way through life, but he'd never groveled. And he'd be damned if he'd start now.

"Damn! This always happens." Sirius craned his neck, looking for someone.

"Perhaps it's because you sleep so late, Padfoot," Peter said after nearly choking on his orange juice; he seemed remarkably nervous and jumpy for someone who had successfully arrived at one of the safest places on Earth.

"Who?" Jet asked.

"Minnie!" James's cheerful response seemed far too enthusiastic just to be answering her question, so Jet and Kagumi both turned around. There, clad in a deep red robe with a severe bun and a tight-lipped expression, stood a woman who could only be Minerva McGonagall. "Come to see us again, Minnie darling?"

"That is Professor to you, Mr. Potter," she said sternly, but the corners of her mouth had turned up and the tightness loosened a bit. Not terribly much, but probably more than she might have relaxed for another student.

"Ah, my sweetest Minnie," Sirius began. McGonagall turned to look at him. He was beaming with that infamous Black charm, but she seemed unmoved. "We met a colleague of yours. A Mr. Richard Lionel the Third."

She stiffened again. "If you ever mention that name again, Sirius Black, I will give you detention for a month," she hissed at him. "Bedpan duty." He gaped; McGonagall only gave him that particular punishment when he'd done something really wrong. Pausing, he mentally counted how many things he might have done wrong before deciding that it just wasn't worth the effort on his first day back.

"But, Professor Minnie, he even knew about our unique accomplishments in your classes!" James protested, waving a piece of bacon vaguely; the professor disdained to reply.

One arched eyebrow and a stack of parchment schedules later, McGonagall had walked away to visit the other part of the table and finish handing out schedules. She hadn't even responded to James's claim, or admonished him for not using her title properly. Sirius passed Kagumi hers, and James gave Jet's to her.

"Ooh," both girls said at the same time; Sirius and Remus shared tolerant looks.

"Double Charms this morning, and then a study period. Perfect." Charms by far sounded easier than most other classes did for now, until they got a little better at hiding the fact that they came from a completely different universe. And, the last time Kagumi had practiced any Charms, she hadn't set the curtains on fire; it was a noticeable advancement.

"What material do you think we'll be covering this term?" Bridget asked Kagumi, in full book-worm mode. Merlin's beard, they actually looked excited, although it was nice to see Bridget relax a little. Sirius did wish that it hadn't taken schoolwork to loosen her up, but still. It was an improvement, so he would count his blessings for the day, and leave it at that.

"Maybe we'll get to Protean charms, um, hopefully a Patronus. It's supposed to be very advanced magic, but I can't figure out whether it would be more of a Defense subject, since it works on Dementors as a magical shield, or whether the communication and Charm-like tendencies of the spell itself would qualify it for the Charms lessons."

"Hm, I dunno. Defense?" Jet shook her head, thinking over the possibilities. "I guess we'll find out in a few minutes."

The group stood nearly in unison, and as Kagumi slung her bag over her shoulder, still munching on one last piece of toast, she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Pheonix, do you understand the reason behind a uniform?" McGonagall's voice asked.

Several cheeky answers ran wildly through Kagumi's head-- including but not limited to, "To desexualize us so that forget how to act like teenagers;" "Because you're entirely too OCD for anyone's good;" "Because you don't know how to be comfortable and so insist on making every one else uncomfortable;" and "Do you think I care much whether we all look the same or not"-- but simply nodded, one hand tugging at the knot holding the bandanna on her head. Not trusting herself to leave well enough alone, she darted into the crowd of students leaving the Great Hall en masse as soon as her Head of House let go of her shoulder.

She caught up with the Marauders and Jet outside, the former who were standing and talking casually and the latter, who looked peaky and about to faint. Kagumi loosely took her friend's hand and muttered, "Come on, just breathe."

"If you dare make an in-and-out joke, I'll hit you," Jet muttered right back as the classroom door opened and they took seats at the very front of the room.

"Why would I," Kagumi said, crossing her legs and laying her wand on the table in front of her, "when you just said it yourself?" She tossed a lackadaisical smirk at her friend, who glowered. It seemed like the more time the two girls spent around the Marauders, the more tendencies they seemed to pick up from them; Kagumi had definitely adopted-- or perhaps it was really that his presence had loosened her up a lot-- Sirius's quirky, careless charm.

"Ha bloody ha."

"Students, students," a voice squeaked and an older man climbed up on a large stack of books; with a little cane and a little top hat, Filius Flitwick seated himself and cleared his throat loudly to get the mass of student attention. "We're doing something exciting today, students. Hope you didn't lose everything you learned last year over the summer, but if you did that's quite alright because we'll be reviewing several charms in order to tackle a much more complex charm. It will likely be quite difficult." He smiled brightly at the sea of groans and muttered curses.

Flitwick spread his tiny hands innocently, still beaming. "Welcome to N.E.W.T level Charms. You did sign up for it."

The Charm review had been quite easy for the returning students. Even the two Americans, with their not-so-subtle proficiency testing from Flitwick, did better than expected. And the off-shoot of the Water Charm, Aguamenti, which instead of a jet of water produced a very fine mist, had also gone well.

"Now then, we're going to practice a newer spell. It's one of a family of perception charms. What it's going to do is make the target believe that their personal gravity has been reversed. There's another form of this charm, combined with an actual transportation charm, which really does reverse personal gravity; it's mostly used by old families to allow their servants to properly clean ceilings."

"I remember that charm," Sirius said suddenly. "My mum once used it on Kreacher so that he could scrub the basement ceiling."

"Poor thing," Kagumi said warily; she'd never really cared much for Kreacher, but had a suspicion that he would play an important part in the future worlds for the Potterverse. That is, if she and Jet didn't manage to bollocks everything up.

"Not really. He's always liked Regulus more anyway. Speaking of Regulus," Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Did you know that he was staring awfully hard at you and Jet this morning?"

"Really now?" Bridget asked, a faint blush spreading across her face as she copied the notes from the board; it seemed that as long as she had something to work on, something to occupy her mind, she didn't worry too much about being in such a new place. "From what Peter told me, Gumi gave him quite a show."

"What was up with that, anyway?" Remus asked irritably, uncomfortable remembering how he'd been unable to look away from the spectacle the girl had made of herself; the memory of her hand sliding so smoothly up the younger Black's chest had made his blood boil every time he thought about it. He pushed the oddly pleasing image of punching Regulus Black (which in itself was odd; aside from those few temper outbreaks, and the full moon, Remus Lupin was never violent) out of his mind and settled for opening his textbook with such force that James, Sirius, Peter and Bridget all jumped and turned to look at him.

"What?" he growled, before clearing his throat and trying to get a stranglehold on his temper. "What?" he tried again; it was marginally calmer.

Kagumi shrugged; no matter how hard Remus slammed things, it wouldn't change what she'd done and it wouldn't change the fact that she enjoyed making him squirm even if he didn't know why. "He saw what he wanted to see. He's so eager to believe the very worst of Sirius, and I have half a mind to set him straight once and for all." She grinned widely. "I have a lot of experience with younger brothers."

"That sounds a bit ominous, to tell the truth," Peter admitted nervously, knocking his wand into the floor for the third time; when it hit, it landed on its tip and bounced, striking the ceiling at an odd angle, rebounding, and hitting a pretty blonde girl in Ravenclaw robes in the back of the head.

"Ow!" she said, clutching her head. "That hurt!"

Peter flushed red from the neck up and scurried over to reclaim his wand. He hesitated when he reached her, though, and Kagumi and Jet shared one of their Looks. The girl's neck -- and face presumably -- were quickly following suit, matching Peter's crimson shade nicely. Her hair was still changing colors -- starting from the point where Peter's wand had struck her -- as she held out her free hand. One hand still on the back of her neck, she held out the other towards him.

"Holland Wells Harper. Holly."

"Pettigrew," he squeaked. "Peter. Peter Pettigrew, I mean."

Perfect.

In order to test the magic they'd created, one member of each pair had to actually step into the mist; the room looked as though someone had set off a myriad mixture of Muggle smoke bombs, and the cries of surprise as someone stepped through added a surreal element. James took a breath and stepped through the mist that had sprouted from Bridget's wand, and only barely contained a surprised yelp. A brush of magic, cerulean in color and smelling of fresh ocean breezes and large plumeria flowers wafted by him as he felt his personal gravity reverse.

On the other side of their table, Sirius was taking the plunge with Kagumi's magic, which was a dark emerald green and smelled faintly of rainy forests and damp earth; the texture, for lack of a better word, reminded him of willow branches: strong and flexible at the same time. Squinting, he tried to adjust to the fact that the world was still in the right place, but felt completely upside down. Then there was how unbelievably relieved he was that her charm-- her wandwork had been known to set things on fire, after all-- had been done properly.

"Now, children," Flitwick squeaked over the mumbles of his students, "just pull one of your feet and the charm should reverse itself. No problems. Remember, the ground is still there."

Sirius yanked his foot and overbalanced, landing him on his rump. He blinked up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths, and waited for the world to right itself. James was having similar problems as he lifted one of his feet and collapsed across their shared table, grinning like a fool while his head spun.

"James?" Bridget asked worriedly.

"I'm good," he said, standing up and still grinning. "Good. It definitely worked."

Remus and Peter had paired off, with Peter casting first. Remus hesitated almost unnoticeably before stepping into the bright yellow cloud of mist, and they saw him screw up his face but he didn't yell out; he'd been expecting it, after all. A moment later, Remus stepped forward, took a deep breath and graced Peter with a large smile.

"Well done, Pete," Remus said in a slightly shaky voice. "Really, that was perfectly cast."

Lily Evans was working with Kamal Thomas, and he stepped into her golden mist with no sign of hesitation. Indeed, he practically jumped into it with a big smile on his face, which only stretched wider as the charm took over his mental defenses.

"Kamal?" she asked; the grin worried her. It gave her a feeling of foreboding she couldn't quite place.

"I am fine, Lily."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She saw him move one of his feet and then he opened his eyes. The look on his face was similar to that she'd seen on Black's face as McGonagall scolded them for their latest mischief making, or on Pettigrew's as he harvested something from the greenhouses. And it resembled the look on James's– Potter's – face after he scored a tough goal in a Quidditch game.

At an unspoken indication, the role switched. Sirius raised his wand and spoke the incantation, "Kadiilir'aran haa'it!" A fairly large cloud of deep red mist seeped into existence and Kagumi stepped forth as soon as it had settled. A tang of oranges in the back of her throat and something like the feel of velvet across her skin enveloped her as a feeling both like and unlike Apparition squeezed her. It wasn't so much traveling, as a feeling of being jerked upwards by her belly button, and then dangling above the vaulted classroom ceiling. She laughed, spreading her arms as though flying and tilted her head, looking at Sirius's dumbfounded expression.

"It's fun, if you're expecting it," she said nonchalantly, twirling her head in figure eights to see how it affected her already modified perception.

"You're crazy," he offered in return.

"Yeah, but you knew that already," she said with a grin, pulling her foot and collapsing to her knees gracefully, slumped over with a grin.

"Gumi?" Sirius asked.

"I'm fine." The black-haired girl sprang to her feet enthusiastically, stowing her wand in her robe pocket. "I wanna do it again!"

"No."

James performed the spell with similar confidence, and an almost identical mist as Sirius's emerged, though his was more of a scarlet, whereas Sirius's was a dark wine-colored crimson. Bridget casually strolled into it, stopping abruptly two steps in. She blinked, looking around slowly. It was a strange feeling, but not completely unfamiliar. Bridget blinked, trying to figure out what it was like, but gave up. The odd sensation was making it difficult for her to think. She stepped forward steadily enough, but lost her balance when her foot hit the ground, stumbling into Sirius.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she sprang back.

He grinned at her. "Anytime, love."

Bridget gave him a brief, tentative smile and went back to James, sitting down at their desk. He was grinning in a manner that seemed eerily similar to Sirius's and Bridget tried to ignore the blush creeping up her face. She was still trying to figure out what had felt so familiar. Besides, Flitwick was busy giving the... less successful students practice homework; class was almost over.

"All right there?" he asked, sounding amused.

"It was a bit trippy."

"I'm told Sirius can have that sort of effect on girls."

Pleased with himself, James crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. Bridget glared at him. He was being such a-- such a boy. How frustrating.

"That is not what I was talking ab-- oh!" The glare disappeared off her face as she realized what the sensation was. "It's like wiping out."

"Sirius?" James had heard his best friend described as a lot of things before, but never as a 'wipe-out'. He wasn't even sure what that meant.

"No, this whole upside-down thing. It's like wiping out boarding. Everything's all screwed up and right way up doesn't seem to be the right way up. It's completely unnerving. People have drowned because they panic and swim down instead of up, but that's why it felt familiar." She smiled widely, mystery solved. "Oh, I feel so much better now."

James chuckled. "Because it's like wiping out?"

"Yup. I think I kinda missed it. You know, wiping out. Reminds me of boarding." James was giving her an amused look, and she smiled. "That's a little strange, isn't it?"

"Not a bit. The whole thing wasn't weird or jarring at all." And he said it in such a serious manner that Bridget giggled, drawing attention from Sirius as he turned around to see how he had gotten her to laugh when she'd barely smile at him. James gave him an apologetic shrug and Sirius turned back, sulking. She still wasn't talking to him. It wasn't fair.

"He is such a jerk." Kagumi snarled, petite features wrinkling in pure disgust.

Sirius blinked down at her. "What?" She gave him a Look, and Sirius cringed. Right, he'd forgotten about the previous night.

Their free period was going to be so much fun.

Kagumi sat stonily in Ancient Runes, next to her tutor. She didn't know what she had done to be graced with the presence of no one other than James Potter himself. Jerk. She flipped open her textbook hard enough to elicit stares from many of the students and a tired sigh from Bridget, but at the dark look hanging about her face, they quickly averted their eyes.

"Gumi, just try," Sirius pleaded from the other side of their table. "For me?"

"I don't need a tutor, not for Runes," she persisted stubbornly, crossing her arms. "I read both textbooks over the summer and that, combined with my pagan history, I think I will do just fine without him as my tutor."

"When did you do that?" Remus and Sirius asked together; they'd barely seen the girl crack a book.

She glanced at them peevishly. "I don't sleep much. So I read at night, when everyone else is asleep."

"Textbooks?" Peter asked. He didn't sound judging or incredulous, simply curious.

"Anything," she admitted, still not looking at James.

Lunch hadn't been any better than breakfast that morning. James had gone so far as Summoning food from around Kagumi, instead of asking her to pass it; the insult lay in the fact that he was no more than five feet from her. Of course, that had only lasted until Bridget had gotten fed up with them both, thrown a roll at James's head, and told him to start acting like the big, grown-up boy they all knew he could be. Whispers had been hissing in the background, and Sirius was sure that the Hogwarts Rumor Mill had sunk its claws deep into this.

And it seemed that in the silent, unyielding walk up to the Runes classroom, their moods hadn't improved towards each other in the slightest. Kagumi now took to fingering her wand on occasion, when she was sure James was looking, and James talked to Sirius, Remus, Jet and Peter as though the Irish witch weren't even there.

Sirius was getting desperate. He'd seen this before, and he was not going to let what happened then happen now. He just wasn't sure how to stop it.

Yet.

Sirius was pacing. He was pacing and he was radiating enough anger that the rest of the Gryffindors had left the Common Room to the seventh years so he wouldn't hex them into oblivion for breathing too loudly.

"Sirius, love, you need to calm down," Bridget said reasonably.

"No, I'm not going to calm down. I can't calm down. I'm gonna kill him!" he growled.

"No," Remus said, one hand on Sirius's shoulder, "stop being so melodramatic. You're not going to kill Prongs."

"Watch me," Sirius grumbled, but he desisted in his manic pacing, instead slouching down between Remus and Peter.

Bridget set her Transfiguration research down, giving Sirius a concerned look. This wasn't just Sirius being impatient or whatever; he was really worried. But, Gumi was pissed at James, not Sirius, and even if they were insanely close, there was no way she'd mistake the two. Maybe they just didn't have a lot of fights in their group. The only one she'd ever heard of was after Sirius's stupidity in telling Sn-- oh. That explained it.

"Where's Gumi?" Peter asked, surfacing form his book.

"She's, um," Bridget really didn't want to say this in front of Sirius, "she's probably in the library or something." Well, she'd look in the library for Snape. First, anyway.

"Looking for Snivellus, you mean?" Sirius snarled, resuming his pacing.

"Um." There was no point in lying. Unfortunately. She winced before offering Sirius an apologetic smile. "Yes. Probably.

"See," Sirius declared, spinning around so that he could gesture more effectively for his audience. He stabbed a finger at the Portait Hole. "That's why I want to kill him!"

"Snape?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned at the door he was pointing at. The Slytherin may be a bit of a jerk, but there was no reason why Sirius should want to kill him.

"No," Sirius responded, rolling his eyes. "James!"

Peter scratched the side of his cheek with the tip of his quill. "Why are we killing Prongs, exactly? I got so swept up in this murderous rage that I think we bypassed explanations."

"Because he started all this," Sirius waved his hand violently to encompass the group. "If he hadn't set off her temper, then she'd be here instead of hunting down a slimy slithery snake like Snivellus."

"Nice alliteration, but not necessarily true," Bridget said slowly. "I mean, she does need his help with Potions. He's her tutor."

"But she…" Sirius trailed off despondently, looking more like a lost little boy than his normal confident self. She pulled him down next to her, rubbing circles at his back when he dropped his head into his hands.

"What are you really afraid of, Padfoot?" Remus asked, his golden eyes boring into his best friend's grey ones.

"I don't want…" he mumbled the rest of his gripe.

"What was that?" Bridget asked curiously; she knew what it sounded like, but wanted to be absolutely sure.

"I said," he muttered resignedly, raising his eyes to look at her, "that I don't want to lose both of you because of this little spat with James."

Bridget thought for a moment, and Sirius found his eyes drawn to the slight pout her lips had taken. He could not kiss her; there was no way he was going to be stupid enough to puss her into avoiding him again. If he did that, their chances of ever becoming the same friends they'd been during the summer was gone. James would be more than happy to keep her company while she avoided him and he avoided Kagumi.

"You won't," she said simply after a moment of thought.

She sighed when she realized that Sirius was just staring at her blankly. Bridget didn't exactly know what his family had done to screw him over so thoroughly that he thought it was either all or nothing, but it was enough to make her want to destroy Grimmauld Place plank by plank.

"Hon, I was beyond angry with James last night, but I get over things easily enough. I either forgive quickly or it'll take me forever to even consider it. I may be forced to hurt him if I have to spend too much time with Snape outside of tutoring, though." She brushed the hair out of his eyes, smiling gently. "And Kagumi, well, Gumi won't punish you for his idiocy."

"She'll just punish you for your own," Remus said helpfully.

Sirius gestured rudely at him, settling back into the couch much more relaxed than he'd been since the previous night. He even had Bridget leaning against him with her book leaning against her knees and her sugar quill in her mouth. Hopefully, she wouldn't remember that she was uncomfortable with him.

James Potter was, indeed, out doing what James Potter did best: flying. Up on his broomstick, far above the green, green grass of his beloved Quidditch Pitch, James weaved and dodged, clutching a Quaffle tightly to his chest, maneuvering through memorized drills, and inventing new ones along the way. Up here, in the cool night sky, he could almost forget the argument that had torn him apart since the previous night.

Almost.

Scoring a perfect shot – granted that most shots scored without a Keeper were considered at the very least good – reminded him that his Keeper, a fellow Chaser and his second Beater had all left the previous year. He needed replacements. Desperately. With a reluctance that almost had him flying back out, he landed and went to Madame Hooch's office to get the list of people who'd already applied for tryouts. Scanning the list, he saw one name he did not want to see right then.

"No way," he shook his head, crumpling the note in his fist. "No way in Wizarding Hell!"

Fifteen minutes later, after meticulously smoothing the parchment and reviewing the other names, he found himself standing, sweaty and pride-sore, in front of the table and circle of chairs containing his friends. "Bridget," he said, wiping his hands on his robes before remembering that he had forgotten to take off his Chaser gloves.

"Yes, James?" she asked, without even looking up; her essay – the title was obscured by the two books she was using as references – was already longer than anyone else's.

"?" he mumbled, tying the words together so that they were chaotically unrecognizable.

"What?" she asked, still not looking up. "English, please."

He sighed. "Will you be a Beater for me?"

This time, she did look at him, looked him square in the eyes; though it stung, he wasn't entirely surprised by her reaction.

"You can stop laughing now," he grumbled irritably. He was even more irritated when she wiped the tears streaming from her eyes and, still snickering, asked the question he was afraid she'd ask.

"You're only asking me because the only good prospect you have is Gumi, aren't you?"

"No!" James protested, ignoring his friends' collective eye rolling, before sinking a bit lower in the seat he'd claimed from a first year who had seemed besotted with Bridget (Remus hadn't mentioned anything if only because it was funny to watch Sirius glare at an eleven year old). "Maybe?"

"Oh, you poor thing." Jet patted his head like he was a lost five year-old and produced a cookie from… somewhere. "Here, have a cookie. You do realize that Gumi will rip you apart if you ask her if she's trying out now, right? She signed up before your spat." She grinned then, a mischievously wicked smirk, and turned to Remus, "Remus, usually how busy is Madame Pomfrey this time of year?"

Remus grinned. "She'll probably have enough time to handle a case as serious as James's will be."

"You all hate me," James declared. "Can't you ask her for me, Jet? I'll be your friend forever."

"You're already my friend, love," she replied, smirk not having so much as twitched and she was looking more amused by the second. "I'm afraid this is something you have to do on your own."

"Might as well get it over with, then," he said, tugging on her arm.

"Where are we going?" Remus asked, trying and failing to hide his smile.

"To grovel for a team member."

"And why are you dragging me?" Jet asked; Sirius and Peter had shrugged and were currently keeping pace with the small group. "I didn't screw up."

"Because I don't want to be alone with her," James said; the bad thing was that he looked half serious as they neared the courtyard. "Her temper scares me."

"Severus!" Kagumi said loudly, across the courtyard. The skulking, billowing figure she'd been searching for all day had finally appeared, on the other side of the fountain. "Severus Snape!"

The pale figure finally turned around, ready to tell off whoever was disturbing him, before seeing one of the new Americans. Great, he though sourly. A female and a Gryffindor on top of that. Slowing down, but not stopping, he watched the short, wiry girl shove her way through the mill of students with surprising ease; the girl seemed to have an incredible amount of charisma, and from the way people looked around as though wondering where she'd appeared from, had the rare ability to be as noticeable or inconspicuous as she desired as well.

"Yes?" he asked unpleasantly. He really disliked the vast majority of Gryffindors. Her eyebrows went up imperially, and she slowed, crossing her arms; one scarred hand was clutching a black wand. A bit scruffy looking, probably from a long trek through the castle, the girl was skinny and pale, and as he stared at her further – with that cold, pitiless stare usually reserved for Gryffindors – he was a little surprised that she didn't back down. Against my will, I am intrigued.

"I'm Kagumi Pheonix, your new tutor student. I was hoping to talk to you about—"

"Pheonix!"

"Potter," she sighed, whipping around; the wand immediately came up on the defensive. "I'm busy." Still glaring, it was obvious that she would've preferred to just hex him quite instead of forcing it back down. She crossed her arms tightly against her chest and turning back to Severus. "As I was saying, I was wanting to talk to you about Defense tutoring and how soon we could arrange a—"

"Pheonix!" James's voice sounded much more insistent, but the girl coolly ignored him; Severus mentally retook stock of her. Ignoring Potter when he was in a towering rage was not an easy thing to do.

"… meeting, because I'm afraid that my Defense Against the Dark Arts skills are rather poor, and I have a double period first thing tomorrow. Do you think we could…"

"PHEONIX!"

"…talk in the Library, and maybe get some basics down? I have the rest of the night free, and I'd like to get to work as soon as—" A green jet of light flew by her, carrying with it the scent of burnt hair where it had singed her braid. Luckily, Severus ducked— he'd gotten rather good at dodging spells from Potter and the merry gang after that horrid incident in fifth year— and Kagumi whirled around, her wand pointed directly and unwaveringly in between James's eyes, automatically shielding the still crouching Slytherin with her entire body. "Dammit, Potter! You ruin everything!"

She screeched a spell, and the gathering crowd gasped. That did not happen. One did not just try to hex James Potter. But the new girl did. And, judging from the rapidly growing ringlets of hair sprouting from James Potter's face, did a good job of it. He bellowed angrily, clutching the newly growing hair and dropped his guard.

"I knew it," Jet muttered into her hands. She didn't feel like dealing with what was rapidly turning into a horrible, horrible situation.

"Shite," Sirius muttered, diving to intercept what he recognized as a flying tackle.

"Gumi!" Remus yelled, not really all that shocked.

Kagumi was attempting to break free of Sirius's hold on her upper body, shrieking obscenities at the top of her lungs. "You son of a Huttspawned Bomarr castoff! Siri, let me go, I'm gonna do something violent!"

Sirius whispered in her ear as the girls in the crowd glared on; to them, it looked as if he was whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Of course, that was because no one had thought about the fact that she'd just tried to tackle his best friend.

"It'll never last," one said in a comforting, slightly teary voice to another, who was sobbing into her hand.

"How could he fall into an American's clutches?" a third muttered, horrified.

As soon as she decided that she had no choice but to intervene, Bridget stalked up to James, poking her finger effectively and painfully into his chest. "James, this is all your fault!"

"My fault?" he sputtered through the still-active jinx. "My fault?"

Sirius still speaking lowly into Kagumi's ear, and Remus kept a careful eye on her aim as her wand was slowly lowered. Bridget began trading James about how he'd brought this all on himself, and that it was still his fault, no matter what he said, and what had she told him about Kagumi seeking out his enemies?

Meanwhile, Severus Snape stood still, in a half-crouch, quite unable to believe what was happening: one of Potter's merry little band had finally tuned on him (possibly two if he went by what the Lily replacement was saying in a very loud voice to the idiot). It was when he heard the word Quidditch that he snapped his black eyes back towards the infighting; the brown haired American was still berating Potter, and jabbing her finger to accentuate her point, Lupin and Pettigrew were watching silently, Black had the other American and Potter was still suffering from the well-cast jinx. Perfect. Though it may or may not last, he savored the scene of Potter getting shown up for being a bully, as usual.

"What?" Kagumi— still pinned by Sirius's arms— immediately stopped struggling. "That was all?"

Sirius nodded, and released her; instinctively, she found herself between Sirius and Severus, who was still watching the whole scene unfold with a look of wary astonishment.

"You only came to make sure I was still trying out?" she asked, still not having lowered her wand completely.

"Mm-hmm," came the muffled reply; to her, James now looked like a cheap, dyed knockoff of Cousin It from the Adams Family. Anger beginning to dissipate, she snickered to herself.

"Well then," she said, waving her wand in a lazy circle; the hair, thankfully, stopped growing. "I'll remove the cause. But the symptom, I think I'll leave. Call it a reminder not to use magic when words would work just as well." With that, she turned and linked her arm through the still shell-shocked Slytherin's arm and walked away, chatting animatedly to the shell-shocked boy.

"James," Bridget said in warning, her eyes flashing angrily. "If I have to hang out with Severus Snape, I will not only slaughter you in an extremely embarrassing and painful way, but I will destroy your soul." She surveyed him dispassionately. "I suppose we have to get you fixed up. I think I know the spell, but I'd rather not accidentally kill you." She huffed, rolling her eyes and she went off towards Gryffindor Tower. She turned back around when none of the boys moved. "Come along before I decide to let you wallow. This is still all your fault."

Author's Notes: Look! It wasn't nearly as long a wait as the last chapter. Kagumi's out of commission for a bit, but the next bit is entirely my responsibility, so it'll hopefully get to you lot sooner. Thanks to everyone who reviewed or read the last chapter.

Next time:

"We forgot about it," Sirius muttered accusingly to James.

James and Sirius looked nauseous. They were staring at the paper with something like horror, mouths hanging open and faces frozen in identical shocked expressions. Bridget sat down across from them and buttered a piece of toast for breakfast.

"Something wrong, boys?" she asked, starting to get a little concerned. They hadn't moved so much as an inch.

Sirius gave her a bright smile, quickly mimicked by James, and she frowned suspiciously. She'd known the two Gryffindors long enough to know when they were hiding something. "Nothing," he said.

"Gimme the paper," Bridget demanded, holding out her hand for the Prophet.

"What paper?"

She arched an eyebrow. "The one in your hand, James."

"You don't want to—"

"No." Sirius glared at James and snatched the paper away. He stuffed it in his pocket. "You can see it after class."

Bridget frowned. "Fine," she snapped. She looked down the table. "Kamal? Can I borrow your Prophet for a sec?"

"Sure." The boy gave her his copy and quickly moved back down to his seat near Lily. He seemed a little perturbed by the glares Sirius and James were giving him. Bridget didn't care. She looked down at the paper.

"Oh my."