Disclaimer: Even if I were to dress up as JK Rowling for Halloween, I still wouldn't own any of this.

XxXxX

Aly made her way down to the Great Hall for dinner. Normally, she went directly to the kitchen and ate whatever sweets appealed to her. Tonight, however, her father had directly requested that she join him in the Hall. It had been a week since Logan left and she had hardly left the Gryffindor tower.

Aly was surprised to see Prof McGonagall, Prof Sprout, and Hagrid sitting a small table in the middle of the Hall as she entered it. Her father came forward and greeted her with an awkward hug and a "Good evening, Alyson."

"Hi," she responded roughly, tugging on the bottom of her cut-off shorts. She wished she had known she would be dining with others so that she could've put more time and energy into what she was wearing. She pulled her ponytail holder out of her hair hoping that her natural curls, that always fell perfectly, would make up for the torn shorts and tank top.

All the adults smiled at her as she took her seat. All the food laid out before them was muggle food. There was pizza still in its box, tacos still wrapped in their paper, and french fries from just about every fast food chain.

"I collaborated with Lily to get these for you," Dumbledore said proudly.

Aly merely nodded.

"Let us eat!" he announced and the other three looked cautiously at the foreign food.

Aly was picking at the pepperoni on her pizza when her father asked, "Why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not really hungry," she mumbled, and it wasn't a lie. She had been living mostly off pastries in the kitchen and the Skittles Lily kept her supplied with.

Dumbledore let out an impatient sigh, but McGonagall was the one to speak, "Enough is enough!" She continued, apparently having snapped, "For weeks now, we've watched you moping around."

"Minerva," Dumbledore tried to calm her.

She continued anyways. "No. Look here, I am not your mother, but I feel the need to tell you, he's just a boy! You need to move on."

Aly was shocked. "Eeeeii, ii, I---" When she found her tongue she snapped, "I am NOT moping around because of a boy." She crossed her arms like an irritated child.

"Yes you have been," McGonagall shot back, "Since that boy left, you just wonder aimlessly around the castle."

That was only partially true. She had been wondering around, but not aimlessly. She had wanted to see the castle and learn everything she could about it. She could usually be found in random hallways, book in hand, a look of determination on her face.

Aly didn't say anything and McGonagall began to mumble so fast and angrily that Aly only caught part of what she was saying, "...this over a Black...stand to do better...every girl and her mother...catch his eye...the things they have done...to be mixed up…"

Aly finally cut her off, getting the gist of what she was saying, "You think this about Sirius?"

All eyes turned towards her. "I am not moping around because of him. Frankly, I'm glad to have a break from him." That was true. "If it looks like I'm moping, it's because I'm here and not with Lily." Again true. "I would never mope around because of a boy." Ok, not true.

Her father seemed please. McGonagall looked happy as well. "Good," she said, "There are much better families to associate yourself with than that riff raff anyways."

"With all due respect, Professor," Aly said through gritted teeth, "You don't have any right to judge Sirius based on his family."

Hagrid chimed in, "Sirius is good people. Not at all like tha' family of his."

Aly continued, "And if I wanted to mope over him, I would have every right to do so." She stood up and announced, "I think I'll go to bed, now."

"It's only 6:30," her father told her, trying to get her to stay.

"I know," Aly said, stingers still attached to every word, "But I haven't been sleeping well and now I have a headache." With that she left, noting that angry look on McGonagall's face and the worry on her father's.

XxXxX

The rest of the summer passed quietly. Aly kept to the Gryffindor tower and went against her normal stance on the process and asked to have her meals brought to her there.

She got her books for the new school year and had them read by week's end. August 31 was a day spent gathering her things and preparing the tower for the return of her fellow Gryffindors.

On September 1, she had planned on meeting Lily at the train station, but her father had conveniently stopped her to ask her her opinion on his robes. He held her up long enough that Aly had to settle on waiting near the Great Hall for Lily to find her. She took a seat on the bottom most step of the Grand Staircase and waited.

Lily's red hair came into view and she flew towards Aly. They hugged and jumped up and down, squealing. "I've missed you," Aly told her.

"Me too!" Lily promised loudly.

They found their way towards their table. Lily was talking frantically, as if she worried that Aly would disappear before she could finish. "My mom is doing great. She refused to stay off her feet though. So my dad chased her around the house whenever he was home. Petunia was completely unbearable. She's got this boyfriend so she took to talking about him 24/7. Apparently, he's the greatest thing ever. Psssh. So I got a part time job to get away from her. At Dairy Queen, actually. And yes, I had to wear a hat."

As Lily rambled on, Aly's eyes took to watching the Hufflepuff table. Finally, as Lily's topic changed to the movie's she saw and the tv shows she watched, Aly spotted him. He must've spent a lot more time out in the sun because his skin was bronzer. He had gotten a hair cut, probably for the new school year.

He turned and Aly watched him scan the table she sat at. She held her breathe in anticipation as his eyes moved towards her. The smile on his face widened as their eyes met. So did Aly's. He mouthed something to her, but she had to shrug to let him know that she hadn't been able to understand what he said. He waved his hand to dismiss it and, with a wink, turned back to the friend he was with.

Aly didn't hear anything else Lily told her as she sat happily. The feast started and ended without much of Aly's notice. Lily, luckily, had enough to talk about that Aly merely had to nod at the right moment.

As they entered the common room, Aly saw all of the students wondering around and she felt so much better. She nearly squealed as Remus came up to them.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully.

"Welcome back!" Aly said hugging him tightly.

As Remus tried to regain himself, James sprung up next to him, "Hey!" he said overly cheerful. He ran his fingers through his hair trying to mess it up more than it naturally fell. "How was your summer?" he asked Lily.

"Fine," she said coldly, "You didn't show up." She pushed past him.

"Go out with me?" he called after her.

"Subtle, dude," Sirius told him, suddenly appearing.

"How was your summer?" Sirius asked Aly.

"Long," she said simply, not looking at him, afraid of the feelings that might resurface. "I'm going to bed. Good to see you all back." She smiled and squeezed Remus' elbow before going.

Lily was more calm that Aly expect when she got up to their room.

"Potter is such an idiot," she mumbled.

"Yep," Aly agreed, but her mind was really off somewhere else. She was wondering if she'd see Logan tomorrow. She certainly hoped so.

XxXxX

Breakfast held no sign of Logan, but as Aly started up the stairs, towards Transfiguration, someone grabbed her arm. Sure enough, he had found her.

Her heart jumped as he asked, "Can I talk to you a minute?"

"Sure," she said breathless. "Go ahead," she told Lily, who was studying Logan closely.

He pulled her down and around the stairs into the shadows. Aly's face showed the confusion she felt.

"What?" he asked.

"Why are we hiding?" she asked.

He smiled and told her, "Not hiding. I just need to tell you something rather personal and private."

"Oh," her eyebrows went up. "Go on."

He took her hand and proceeded to talk to it. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

"Good," he said roughly. He hesitated before blurting out, "More than I'd like to admit. It's been driving me crazy." He paused again, and Aly leaned forward as a way of telling him to continue. When he finally spoke again, he informed her, "I've never been very good at this, so--" and with that he kissed her.

Aly was surprised and instinctively stiffened. He pulled away quickly.

"I'm sorry," he said in a rush, "I just---"

"Why'd you stop?" Aly asked in disappointment.

"You weren't kissing back." He was obviously not used to this. "I'm sorry. I'm not good at this at all. I'm used to the girls doing all this." His eyes went wide as he added quickly, "Not that there's been a lot of girls. Just two. Only two."

Aly laughed and asked, "You like me?"

"Yeah," he hung his head as he said this.

"Good," she said, "Cause I like you."

His smile returned, and she leaned in and kissed him gently. "I'll see you at lunch," she told him and went to leave. He stopped her though.

"I've never done this. Out of house dating, I mean. What table do we eat at?"

Aly smiled at his look of concern. "I'll sit with you. And I'll bring Lily. Less noticeable if it's the both of us."

His smile returned and she said a quick, "See ya," before going up the stairs in what she hoped was a collected manner. As soon as she reached the top, however, she broke into a run.

She slide into her seat just minutes later. "10 points, Miss Dumbledore," McGonagall said without turning from the board.

Aly quickly caught up on notes, noticing Lily send glances at her occasionally. She ignored her but felt her cheeks spread even further.

McGonagall finally finished her instructions for the days lessons and turned to address the class. She paused for but a second on Aly's face, and Aly saw her eyes narrow and dart to Sirius. Aly's smile faded and she tried to keep her anger down.

So this is how it was going to be. Here she was all a twitter over a boy and everyone around her was going to hold on to this prejudice against the boy she used to get twittery about, who now she was just friends with. She'd have to fix that and quick. Sirius didn't deserve any more ill will directed towards him. His family was doing a good enough job creating that for themselves.

Aly got through class before really talking to Lily. "Will you eat lunch with me?"

"Of course?" a shocked Lily replied.

"I mean at the Hufflepuff table."

Lily stopped in her tracks, and Aly turned to face her.

"Why?" Lily asked with narrowed eyes.

"Logan wants us to sit with him." She added the "us" hoping to help her case.

"Is he that boy?"

"Lily," Aly didn't feel like hearing this, from Lily of all people. "I like him."

"You do?" her whole demeanor changed.

"Yeah," Aly managed to say before Peeves appeared above them.

"Late for class! Late for class!" he sang at the top of his lungs as he threw chalk bits at them.

They ran out to the greenhouses arriving out of breathe and late.

"10 points each," Professor Sprout told them.

"Wow, you're on a role," Sirius whispered to Aly as she walked past.

"When you're good, you're good," she laughed. Her laughter came to a stuttering stop as she froze in complete shock.

The plants, her plants, were sitting on all of the tables everyone stood suited up around. She found only one open spot, across from Remus, and eyed the professor suspiciously. She remembered the cuts of these plants only too well. What was Sprout doing having them mess with these things?

The class was instructed to simply add more dirt and fertilizer to the plants that had just been replanted and then to water them.

"That's it?" James asked after they were instructed to begin.

Remus shrugged and started on his plant.

James continued to whine, "Why are we all suited up?"

"Protection," Aly said adding dirt to hers.

"From what?" he snapped poking his unseen plants dirt.

"Don't--" Aly started, but James glared at her. "Fine. Stick your head in the pot for all I care."

Sirius cut James off before he could respond. "Dude, just do your work."

He frowned, but James did as told.

Aly finished quickly, and she helped Lily with her plant which kept wiggling out of it's dirt.

They cleaned up and made their way to lunch. Aly felt butterflies fill her stomach. They went crazy when she saw Logan stand up as she entered the hall. Lily stood close, protectively close. Logan motioned for her to take the seat across from her. When they sat, Lily sat so close to Aly that Aly had to elbow her over.

"Hey," Logan greeted her with his usual smile.

"Hey," Aly said sounding breathless. She cleared her throat to try and fix her voice.

Lily sat glowering at Logan. "This is my friend, Amos," Logan said introducing the boy next to him. He was shorter then Logan and had mousy brown hair and glasses. Amos smiled at Lily, who either didn't see him or choose to ignore him. Logan sent Lily a worried glance and leaned in to whisper to Aly, "Is she okay?"

"No," Aly said with a small laugh.

Logan smiled and leaned back to eat. Aly thoroughly enjoyed lunch with Logan and Amos. They all discussed Quidditch (Amos was an enthusiast but was too much of a klutz to play) and the ministry.

Aly couldn't help but notice that many of the Hufflepuffs, boys and girls alike, kept sending her and Lily dirty looks. A few girls were even bold enough to come up and lean over Logan's shoulder to borrow their butter or steal their salt and pepper. One girl just leaned into him to say "hi." Logan was very polite to each of them but didn't seem to notice the attention given to him. He kept himself focused on Aly. He seemed to be watching her every move, but Aly didn't feel the least bit self conscious. It was a comfortable feeling to have someone watching her.

Logan and Amos walked her and Lily, who didn't eat much and who was still glaring at Logan, to the foot of the main stairs.

"I'll see you around?" Logan asked hopefully.

Aly nodded, not able to find her tongue.

"Dinner," Lily said, speaking for the first time since lunch began. All three looked at her in surprise. "Gryffindor table."

With that she started up the stairs without a look back. Aly shrugged at Logan's unasked question and asked meekly, "See you then?"

Logan hadn't regained himself completely, but replied, "Yeah."

Aly took off after Lily. "What is your problem?!"

Lily seemed to ignore Aly's tone and asked innocently, "What do you mean?"

Aly let out a loud huff, but didn't press any further. They were on their way to double Potions with the Slytherins, and she knew there'd be trouble. There always was. She needed all of her focus.

Sure enough, they walked in on a situation. James stood at the ready, wand pointed at Snape. Snape's wand was pointed right back at him. Remus was buried in a book sitting next to Peter who was beaming, looking too overexcited.

Lily let out a heavy sigh, stopping in the doorway. The tension in the room was thick. Snape refused to take his eyes off of James, and vice versa. The tension hit a high point and James and Snape yelled out their spells, but they both went off in different directions, neither hitting their target.

They had both taken their focus off one another as Sirius came charging into the room, knocking Lily, who still stood in the doorway, to the floor. Snape and James both looked on concerned. Sirius pulled Lily up off of the her hands and knees.

"Are you okay?" he asked holding her up.

"Yeah," she said gruffly, shrugging his hands off of her.

"I'm really sorry," he said as she walked away.

She took her seat and Aly whispered, "She's lost her mind today," to Sirius as he looked after Lily, eyes filled with hurt.

Slughorn made class drag on longer than possible, and Aly was terrified that Logan wouldn't wait for them. He commented about Lily's lack of usual enthusiasm, and again a shrug was all Aly had to provide as an explanation.

She broke into a grin as she saw Logan waiting for them at dinner. Just the sight of him made everything that happened in the cold dungeon beforehand slip away. She greeted him and, as they made their way into the hall, Lily was somehow right behind them.

This is gonna get old, Aly thought.

XxXxX

please please please review. with a cheery on top. and sprinkles. =]