AN: Hey guys, here's chapter 10, I really wanted to post this last night but as always, College work held me back. I'm probably not going to be able to write again until the end of this week, sorry about that but I am doing the best I can with the time that I have. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and reviews are always welcome!

DISCLAIMER; All characters apart from Simona belong to the almighty J.K Rowling. I am but a lowly fanfiction writer who puts her characters back after writing about them.

CHAPTER TEN; THE VICTORY DANCE

Sleep came to Simona with ease, as did the next few weeks, it was also the weekend of the first Hogsmeade visit. Simona threw on her black and white Led Zeppelin t-shirt with black skinny jeans and let her unruly hair hang about her face. Simona dawdled down the stairs, and saw Romagna, Celestica and Vicky scowling at her.

After Simona and Severus fell out two weeks ago, Simona became more and more withdrawn, she had lost her appetite, and becoming almost obsessive with her studies. So much so that she barely spoke to anyone. However, during Potions lessons, Simona and Lilly had slowly become friends, Lilly would make Simona talk to her, sometimes to Simona's annoyance, and let Simona sit with the Gryffindors at the weekend. Where Simona would listen to Sirius and James relentlessly mock each other. Sirius still blushed whenever he saw Simona, which made the atmosphere quite uncomfortable, but would quickly cover it up by punching James on the arm. Simona fell out with the other Slytherins mainly because they didn't like the fact Simona was associating with Gryffindors, and because the next few weeks made Simona irritable. Vicky's relentless optimism ground on Simona's nerves, and caused her to snap at Vicky, which alienated Simona from the other girls.

Simona walked straight past the scowling girls and joined the large group of third years who were eagerly waiting outside the doors of the Great Hall for Professor McGonagall, who was standing at the front of the group, looking like her strict self. Simona noticed Severus stood by himself, and fought the urge to join him, instead standing with Lilly, Remus, James, Sirius and the mouse-like boy, who had eventually been identified as Peter. Lilly turned around at Simona's arrival and smiled. "Oh hiya Simona, you're right on time, Professor McGonagall was just about to make us hand our letters in to Filch." Lilly said brightly. Simona looked at Remus who was engrossed in yet another novel.

"Hey Simona." Sirius said quietly, trying to avoid Simona's emerald gaze, she could see a blush once again returning to his cheeks.

"Hello Sirius." Simona replied looking confused at Peter, who was staring back intently at Sirius, as if he was worshipping him.

"So are you looking forward to your first trip of the year into Hogsmeade?" Simona asked Lilly politely.

"Yeah, I can't wait to go to J. Pippin's, I need some more Potions supplies, and I want to see what's in there." Lilly said excitedly. Both James and Sirius looked at Lilly incredulously, as if she had just sprouted another head.

"Lill, what about Honeydukes, or Zonkos? Some of the best shops in Hogsmeade!" James replied, waving his hands around for dramatic effect. "They're way better than a stuffy old Potions shop!" Sirius replied, with the same amount of passion, dramatically extending his words. Peter went into hysterics at this, earning a look of confusion from James. Peter noticed this and awkwardly looked at the floor, perhaps wishing the ground would swallow him up. Lilly looked as if both Sirius and James had both stabbed her in the heart, her face dropped, but quickly covered it up with a fake scowl.

"If you guys just want to blow each other up and eat yourselves to death then be my guest." Lilly replied haughtily. Remus looked up from his book in time to see James and Sirius high-five and smirk at each other.

"What have you guys done to upset Lilly now?" He asked neutrally, raising an eyebrow in interest. James and Sirius exchanged knowing looks.

"Mr Black and I were, frankly astounded by the fact Miss Evans would rather spend her day in Hogsmeade perusing 's rather than Zonkos or the world famous, Honeydukes." James said, doing his best impression of a well-spoken man. Sirius snorted, and did his best not to laugh. Simona was also amused by this, but kept a neutral mask. Remus didn't react but noticed Simona's presence.

"Oh, hello Simona. I didn't see you there." Remus said politely. "Hey Remus, you must not have seen me arrive, seeing as though you looked fully absorbed by that book." Simona replied teasingly. 'Merlin, what is it with that boy and his books?' Simona thought. Remus blushed slightly and smiled weakly.

After the Gryffindors and Simona had handed in their forms by a very surly looking Filch, the group made their way down the long winding road to Hogsmeade. It was quite cold outside, and Simona began to wish she had worn something other than her t-shirt and outdoor robe. Sirius and James had taken it upon themselves to give a running commentary at the front of the group, their voices were muffled by the howl of the wind. Peter was eagerly trying to catch up with the two, Lilly was walking with Sirius and James, doing her best not to laugh. It was Simona and Remus who were at the back of the group and were busily discussing muggle literature and music.

"I like your t-shirt, Simona. Where did you get it?" Remus asked politely.

"This? Oh I got it from my father. He was forever going to concerts." Simona replied.

"Well your father certainly has good taste in music, Sirius told me he liked it too, but you can understand why he's being a bit shy." Simona nodded in response, ever since the incident at the Great Hall, Sirius barely spoke to Simona, not out of animosity, but rather out of embarrassment.

It became no secret that Sirius liked Simona, and this became a source of great amusement of James' who would never miss out on an opportunity to rib Sirius for it. "Had... good taste in music, he isn't around anymore." Simona replied with a weak smile. Remus and Simona had gotten pretty close over the past few weeks, she decided it was a good time to tell him about her past, seeing as though no one else was in ear shot of their conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Remus said apologetically, his honey-coloured eyes expressing concern.

"It's okay, I should have told you about him." Simona replied waving her hand, as if it didn't mean anything.

"When did he... die?" Remus asked, trying not to sound awkward.

"He died on August 12th, it's why I didn't start Hogwarts the same year as you."

"That must have been awful, Simona."

"It was at the beginning, but my adopted parents were really supportive. They let me have a chance at going to a muggle school, and when I turned 13 they let me decide between here and staying on in America. I chose here." Simona explained, seeing Remus' face taking in the new information.

"Hey guys, we're here!" James exclaimed as they approached the gates of Hogsmeade, Sirius and James linked arms and skipped around in a circle. Simona, Remus and Lilly all laughed at Sirius and James' childish behaviour as they began sprinting towards Zonkos, pushing each other out of the way as they tried to reach the shop first.

"They're like children aren't they?" Lilly said in exasperation as the group noticed Sirius just beat James to the store, Sirius was doing what he had called in past occurrences, the 'Victory Dance' which included doing the running man, a series of jazz squares and making an 'L' with his hand at James, who looked like he was about to punch Sirius in the face.

"That they are, but they're our children." Remus replied with a smirk. Lilly shrugged her shoulders and the group eventually joined Sirius and James, who were now engaged in some sort of duel, pretending to use their wands as swords.

"Now, now kids. We don't want anyone to have their eyes poked out, wands away. Don't make me turn this village around!" Lilly said with a mock authoritative tone. Both James and Sirius slumped their shoulders and put their wands back in their robes.

"But mum, James started it!" Sirius said with a childish voice. James exclaimed in outrage and crossed his arms. After a few seconds of Lilly's narrowed eyes, James and Sirius burst into laughter and once again high-fived each other. James and Sirius' juvenile pantomime greatly amused Simona, for her it felt great to actually laugh again.

The group entered Zonkos and James and Sirius immediately gasped in awe. The shop was lined wall to wall with different products, of varying sizes, colours and shapes. There were various products such as Frog Spawn Soap, Dungbombs (Which James and Sirius were particularly interested in, stuffing copious amounts into a paper bag) and Sugar Quills.

After almost an hour of Sirius and James methodically combing through the store, desperate to buy as many products as they could, the group eventually left the store.

"Hogwarts won't know what's hit them." James said with a mischievous glint in his eye. It was a few hours later and the group were heading back up to Hogwarts. They had spent the majority of their time in Zonkos and Honeydukes, Simona had bought a few chocolate toads, Sugar Quills and fizzing whizzbees, and struggled to fit them in the pocket of her robes. They had also visited the Hogs Head, where Lilly and Simona each had their first bottle of butterbeer. Simona loved it, and wished they were available in the muggle world.

"Nor will Snivellus." Sirius replied, smirking. Lilly snarled and clipped Sirius around the head. "I mean…Snape." Sirius cowered.

"No." Lilly said sharply, pointing at Sirius as if he was a child. The group continued to walk back to Hogwarts in a companionable silence, Sirius was pretending to pout moodily, James was smirking and Peter was running as fast as his pudgy legs could take him so that he could keep up with the rest of the Gryffindors plus Simona.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Simona and the Gryffindors went straight to the Great Hall, to discuss what they had bought and to have a general conversation. Remus had gotten his book out again and began to read it. Simona remembered she had Herbology homework to do and started on that. Lilly was reading her new Potions book and Sirius, James and Peter were busy gossiping.

"Did you see Snivellus with those Slytherins in Hogsmeade?" James asked, a little too loud, gaining the attention of Simona.

"Yeah, he looked so pleased with himself didn't he?" Sirius sneered.

"Of course he did, he was finally around a group of people that didn't think he was a greasy git." Sirius' rich laughter reverberated around the Hall, a few Ravenclaws looked at the source of the noise. "Did you see the way he looked at Lilly? I don't like it, don't like it one bit." James said shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. "Well it looked like he was in love with her or something. It made me feel sick."

"Ewww, really? I think we should have a few words with him, don't you think James?" Sirius said, with a malevolent tone to his voice. Lilly was too engrossed in her new book to hear Sirius and James' conversation. Simona heard every word.

"Good idea." James agreed. "He was staring at Simona a lot too, it looked as though he was about to burst into tears." He added with a confused expression. Sirius' face darkened. "What's wrong, afraid ol' Snivelly is going to make the moves on your girl?" James said quickly, with a mischievous smirk.

"Shut up, James. You don't know what you're talking about." Sirius snapped, glowering at James.

"Yeah, James." Peter added a few seconds later. Simona rolled her eyes at this, Peter was forever trying to gain the approval of Sirius. 'Pathetic.' She thought, scribbling the last few lines of her homework. She decided to pretend she was still working on it, so that she could remain inconspicuous, and be able to listen on in the conversation.

"Whatever man. Anyway, Quidditch season is coming up. Reed is starting up practices next Wednesday, are you coming?" James asked, trying to change the subject.

"No, I'm not interested. Dad's trying to get me to focus on my studies this year, as much as I hate doing what he says, he's got a point." Sirius said reluctantly, earning a scoff of indignation from James.

"The first match of the season is us against Slytherin. They've got no chance." James said smugly. Simona looked up at this and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry Simona, but you snakes have no chance against the mighty lion." James continued, flexing his biceps.

"Oh really, well catch this!" Simona exclaimed as she threw a balled up piece of parchment, hitting James square in the face before he could react to bat it away. Sirius barked with laughter at this, Simona chuckled too, especially when the bravado which was so evident on James' face had been replaced with a flush of embarrassment. Remus had seemed to notice this and he too was smirking.

"Yeah, yeah. But we have Reiterman, he's a much stronger player than your Irwin." James replied shortly, scowling at Sirius and Remus who were still amused by Simona's impressive aim.

"Hey guys, I'm going back to the common room, anyone coming with me?" Lilly asked, closing her book and looking up at the four boys with varying degrees of amusement on their faces. She seemed to be totally oblivious by the previous events.

"Yeah I am, Sirius, you coming?" James asked, Sirius nodded in response and the two of them got up to leave.

"I'll come with you guys!" Peter said eagerly, so much so he nearly flipped the table over he stood up so fast. Simona snorted at this, but not loud enough for others to hear her.

"Remus, are you coming with?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah sure." Remus replied. "I'll see you later Simona." He said politely, waving her off.

Simona was sat by herself as she re-read her homework, satisfied with her essay she set off back to the Slytherin common room. She couldn't help but think of Sirius and James' conversations. 'Why was Severus looking at me like that?' she thought, secretly wishing she had spotted him, so that she knew whether or not what James said was the truth.

When Simona got back to the common room it was alive with chatter, she could see Romagna, Celestica and Vicky all scowling at her. 'Oh Merlin.' She thought, she had forgotten about their hostility towards her. Simona settled on sitting by herself in the dark corner of the common room, where hopefully she wouldn't be bothered by anyone. Simona got out her Transfiguration textbook and began reading about the transformation of a hedgehog to a pin cushion. The past few weeks saw Simona improve in Transfiguration and she was keen to keep up with her good work. After an hour or so of intense study, and carefully written notes Simona decided it was probably time to go to sleep.

Her mind still swimming with her newly acquired information and her hand cramping from writing so many notes she went to go to her room when she was stopped by a tall, dark figure.

"Simona… We need to talk."

AN: So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Another cliff-hanger eh? You can't say I don't spoil you :') I'll get the next chapter up as soon as, thank you for your continued support! xoxo