So sorry - as per my new 10 day updating rule, I should have posted this yesterday. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Thanks so much for all the Happy Birthday reviews - I had an incredible day!

"I've learned that no matter how good a friend someone is, they're going to hurt you every once in awhile and you must forgive them for that." - Anon

The next morning, we were all (understandably) exhausted. The party had officially ended at 1 in the morning, when Professor McGonagall came in, but had then carried on unofficially until 3 in the Gryffindor Common Room. At which point we had all admitted defeat, especially with the prospect of a 7am wake-up call for breakfast and a full school day, even if it was the penultimate day of term.

I arose groggily to greet the morning sunlight, gently filtering through the gap in the curtains. My alarm clock, which had just gone off, read 7:45am. Our dorm had unanimously decided to skip breakfast, instead snacking on chocolate frogs and other confectionary which we had in the dorm, in order to have an extra half hour in bed. Lessons began at 8:45, but we would need to leave before half eight, so that we would arrive in the dungeons in time for Potions.

Not that Professor Slughorn would mind if Lily was late, in this case especially because it was her birthday. He was more likely to serenade her with "Happy Birthday" and give her 50 points for Gryffindor than give her a detention. Still, it was probably necessary to start poking everyone awake, as they would take longer to get ready on account of little sleep and alcohol consumption. Though no-one, not even Sirius, had got really drunk last night, which was good, as no-one threw up anywhere, or was too hammered to actually enjoy the occasion.

Groaning, I jerked my protesting body out of my pillowy bed, and made my way over to Lily's.

"Lily!" I whispered. She moaned.

"It's your birthday!"

Her head shot up so fast that it collided with my chin, and I stumbled backwards to land on Katie. Thus it was that Megs and Alice were woken by Katie's scream, as she began pummelling me with her pillow, thinking that I was an intruder. When she had calmed down, and realised I wasn't trying to rape her, we descended into an all-out pillow fight, a duvet fight, and even, at one point, a mattress fight. Megs later apologised for being rather over-zealous.

Having exhausted ourselves with laughter, and burst several pillows, which someone fixed with magic, we all fell in a heap on the floor, and began eating chocolate frogs, watching Lily rip open some of the presents from last night. From James, she had received the most adorable (and expensive) charm bracelet, which had been all his idea. Well, the charm bracelet part had been, but he had asked me what charms to get her. I gave him the idea of things which he associated with her.

Therefore, she had a little book, because as he wrote in the note, she was extremely intelligent; a reflective stone which I later found out to be a diamond, because he said she was radiant; a tiny doe, like her patronus; a Lily and a Rose entwined, because she had marvellous taste in friends; and finally, an eagle, because she never let anything hold her back.

After we had all cooed appreciatively over this present, we realised that it was 8:20. The next ten minutes were spent hastily throwing on clothes, knotting ties, scrunching up hair, eating toothpaste and cramming books into bags. We then all ran down the stairs into the common room, only to run into the Marauders, who looked wide awake and as suave as ever. Stupid people who don't need much sleep. They looked rather incredulous at our appearance, and as I turned to look at us I saw why. Megs was wearing two different shoes, Katie had a huge ladder up the side of her tights, Alice was still sporting panda eyes from last night's make-up, Lily's jumper was inside out, and I had feathers in my hair. We were, needless to say, a very unusual sight.

As predicted, even though we were five minutes late, Professor Slughorn made no reference to our tardiness, or our appearances, and instead gave Lily 25 points for answering a question later on (in actual fact for being born), and another 25 later for "being the first to get all of her ingredients out" for the potion we were making (for living to the age of 18).

The homework load from the rest of the day was very light; although teachers set us work for over the holidays, it being the penultimate day of term, there wasn't much they could ask us to hand in the next day. Which was a good thing, because the Leaving Feast always went on for ages (not that I'm complaining, but there wasn't much opportunity for working), and we also had to find our possessions, pack them, and attempt to close our suitcases. In the end, it took three of us standing on Katie's suitcase, and Lily and Katie yanking the zip, to shut it.

When we had finished, we all went to the Heads' Common Room, where we were shortly joined by the boys for a quiet evening of drinking Champagne (kindly supplied by James) and watching Lily open more of her presents. We then all headed to bed early, still tired from the late night before.

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The next morning we were all unusually quiet as we got up and dressed, realising that this would be our last morning together for a month, and after that only two more terms were left before the end of Hogwarts. The sombre atmosphere pervaded as we hastily grabbed a spot of breakfast, then returned to the dorms to clean our teeth and grab our packed trunks.

I always revelled that I could levitate my trunk from the dorm to the train, something which I could never do in muggle London or at home. Slowly, we all descended the staircase and left the Tower. We then had to register with Professor McGonagall, to show that we had "checked-out". Lily kept looking around anxiously for a sight of James, but as Megs assured her, we could find him and the rest of the Marauders on the train.

I, too, was anxious to find the Marauders. I had not had much of an opportunity to talk to Sirius since our interrupted dance, and was curious as to what he had been about to say. No doubt some insignificant remark about the party, or work or something, which he wouldn't even remember, but if it was something important, I wanted to find out.

It happened as we were walking out of the huge doors that mark the entrance to Hogwarts castle. Gradually, we all became aware of raised voices, and noticed that the attention of those students who were also outside was surreptitiously turned in a direction towards the Lake. Moving closer out of curiosity, I spotted Peter close to the scene, looking anxious. Which wasn't much different from how he normally looked, but I felt that there was something significant taking place nearby. Which there was.

As we neared the scene, I suddenly saw Sirius and Titia, standing close together. James and Remus were standing behind him, looking as if they would like to prevent the argument, but clearly not wanting to intervene in their friend' s affairs. We were still more than 100 metres away, but I could make out that Sirius was berating Titia for something, from his angry expression, and gesticulations.

Apparently aware of the public scrutiny, Sirius then raised his wand and pointed it to his neck. His voice boomed out over the Hogwarts' lawns, in the strangely distorted tones of the sonorous charm.

"YOU'RE AN ABSOLUTE COW, TITIA BENS, AND THAT'S ALL YOU EVER WILL BE! TO THINK THAT I EVER FOUND YOU ATTRACTIVE! YOU'RE SHALLOW, AND INSIPID, AND A DOWNRIGHT BITCH!" He shouted at her.

Lily and I exchanged glances, trying to hold back from smiling at Sirius' accurate summing up of her character. It felt good to be watching Titia being taken down a peg or two, when she had done that and more to so many other people.

Titia then obviously tried to reply, but Sirius cut her off.

"YOU WANT TO GET BACK TOGETHER? NO WAY IN HELL. THERE IS NO WAY I WILL EVER GO OUT WITH YOU AGAIN."

Inwardly, however mean it was, I was dancing inside. And then Sirius pushed it too far.

"YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME. YOU NEVER WILL BE. ALL YOU'LL EVER BE IS PATHETIC, AND STUPID, AND CRUEL."

I stopped inwardly dancing, even as my friends leaned forward in anticipation. If someone as beautiful, as sexy as Titia wasn't good enough for him, then who was? Definitely not me. My eyes began to well up, as if Sirius had just told me that I wasn't good enough for him. Which in effect, he just had. Still he continued.

"PERHAPS EVERYONE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW YOU CHASED AFTER ME."

He did an impression of her voice: "Oh, Sirius, I love you. Please go out with me. I'll do anything if you go out with me. Please go to Hogsmeade with me. It'll be so lovely. We can go to the Three Broomsticks and have butterbeer, and have a romantic walk in the shadow of these gorgeous Scottish mountains. And we could have a romantic broomstick ride under the stars. And afterwards..."

"AS IF I WOULD EVER EVEN WANT TO DO ANY OF THAT STUFF. PARTICULARLY WITH YOU. NOTHING WOULD BORE ME MORE. NOTHING WOULD DISGUST ME MORE. AND STILL YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO THINK THAT YOU ARE WORTHY OF MY AFFECTIONS, WORTHY OF BEING MY GIRLFRIEND? YOU MUST BE DELUDED!"

At this point, it all became too much for me. Before I knew what was happening, my feet were striding forwards, my hands clenched tightly into fists. How could he stand there and be so arrogant. What he was saying was no longer about Titia. It was about me. How often had I dreamed of a date in Hogsmeade with him? How often had I imagined holding hands and walking with him? How often, even though heights scared me to death, had I imagined his strong hands gripping my waist as we soared under the stars?

True, I knew these were wishy-washy girly day-dreams, but in the safety of my own mind I had indulged my fantasies. How dare Sirius tell me that Titia, and so by extension me, wasn't good enough for him, wasn't "worthy of being his girlfriend"! How dare he be so arrogant as to say that to any girl? I saw red.

He hadn't seen me by the time that I was five metres away, and was in the middle of his tirade, but I didn't care. Head first, I butted straight in.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Both he and Titia turned to stare at me in shock. Through my haze of anger I dimly noticed that Titia was crying. I focused my attention back on Sirius.

"HOW DARE YOU TELL ANY GIRL THAT SHE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, THAT SHE ISN'T WORTHY OF BEING YOUR GIRLFRIEND? NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I ENCOUNTERED SUCH ARROGANCE AS YOURS! PERSONALLY, I THINK SHE'S WELL SHOT OF YOU – WHICH GIRL ON THIS PLANET, ON ANY PLANET IN FACT, WOULD WANT TO GO OUT WITH YOU."

His face blenched with shock. His eyes widened, staring at me as if in horror.

"But – "he tried to say.

"NO BUTS." I interjected, the anger causing my blood to burn. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A MISOGYNIST, AND A MALE CHAUVINIST PIG." I spat the last word.

He stared at me, silent, his jaw set.

After a long pause he said: "The only people I look down upon are those pathetic enough to not realise nobody wants them."

If I had been angry before, I was livid with rage now. Pathetic enough to not realise that nobody wanted me, was I. I'd show him pathetic. I started towards him, raising my hand.

In a cold voice devoid of all emotion, he said:

"You're going to slap me, Loganberry? How unoriginal. I've been slapped many times before."

"Try this for unoriginal!" I screamed, and then drew back my fist and socked him in the stomach. He fell to the ground immediately, his legs giving way. With tears blinding my vision, I managed to make my way back to Lily, standing a few feet back.

"Can we just go, please?" I asked her, keeping my gaze fixed on the ground.

I felt her warm arm across my back as she silently led me towards the train.

We had our own carriage on the way back, much as I tried to encourage Lily to go and find James. When we arrived at Kings' Cross, I stalked straight pass the Marauders, up to my waiting parents.

"Alright?" asked my mum. "How were the last four weeks of term?"

"Not too bad," I replied quietly. "Quite a large workload."

"You seem rather subdued," Commented my Dad. "Had another argument with a friend?" he joked.

"No-one important." I muttered, as I pushed my trolley through the barrier, thankful to have four Sirius Black free weeks.

I know that I may not appear to, but I have to tell you that I honestly do want Rose and Sirius to get together as much as you do. There are just all these... complications. Lol EllieBaby xxx