A/N: Hullo:)

So, clearly this story is not all peaches and cream. When I first started writing this I wanted to take it slower, and I was a bit surprised coming back to how soon this all happens, but in real life I don't think that's it's always gradual, just as it isn't always sudden. Let me know if I am completely wrong, but I'm not as disappointed at how quickly this whole thing developed as I was before. Of course, what I originally had for this chapter jumped about a month in the span of a week, so I've got to learn to slow down apparently.

I have so many ideas for this story and I want to fit them all in and I have absolutely no idea how, but I'm going to try. Sneakpeak: I would like to avoid some canon things, so I'm going to bring this story all the way through the Battle of Hogwarts, but not through every single thing that happens. I'll probably just jump around to key moments. Maybe do a montage of sorts in writing.

Let me know what you think.

Please review, if you don't mind. *hugs*

Harry Potter and the characters from that universe do not belong to me, they belong to Ms. JK Rowling

Music recommendation: I'm No Superman by Lazlo Bane

XOXORose

-DdLM-

Two weeks later

"Dia! Hey! DIA!" A fourth year boy came skidding around the corner. I had seen him snogging his boyfriend earlier so I didn't feel the need to cross my arms over my chest. It was nice. There are way too many perverted fourteen year olds in the world! I don't think I was supposed to know about his boyfriend, Michael. No one was. Being gay wasn't exactly the most welcomed thing. But I was okay with it, so he was okay with me knowing. Just so long as nobody cruel or important found out.

"What?"

"There's going to be a party after the match today and Sirius and James want you to pick up some drinks. They got the snacks but the house elves refuse to give them anything since they found out they spiked everything last time."

"Why me?"

"I don't know. I think they said something about the house elves wanting to see you anyway or something."

"Some help you are."

"Look, they grabbed me on the way to Michael's dorm. I wasn't about to pay attention."

He ran off and Remus appeared out of nowhere behind me.

"You seemed comfortable with him. Usually you hide behind a defiant posture to scare guys off."

"He's gay, Remus. How are you feeling? I know the full moon is coming."

"How did you know?"

"I became an illegal animagi summer after fourth year. My parents were being especially unbearable and it was a good way to escape. They made it so I couldn't apparate on the grounds and disconnected our floo so I would be stuck with them. I was hiding out in the Forbidden Forest one day and there you all were. I followed you. I was curious."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Lily. She figured it out soon after I did. She's the one that slips chocolate into your bad right around your time of the month."

"Sounds like Lily, even if we do infuriate her sometimes."

"She likes you. I do too. I might not like the Marauders, Peter may creep me out, James may be a prick, and I may hate the living daylights out Sirius, but I like you. You aren't cruel. If it weren't for them you wouldn't prank anyone. Of course, it weren't for you, life would be a lot worse."

"If it weren't for them, life would be a lot worse for me, too. I'd be alone every month. If you don't mind me asking, what is your animagus?"

"A greyhound."

He smiled.

"Suits you."

-DdLM-

"Arrington! Hurry up! Fifteen minutes 'til the game starts!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, you berk!"

James gave his typical pregame speech while I changed. Afterwards he gave the personalised part.

"Alright team, we're going against Slytherin today. They have the same team as last year while half you are new. We've been training extra hard and we better hope that's enough."

I rolled my eyes.

"Truly inspiring, Captain. Encore."

"Bugger off, Arrington, or I'll bench you."

"No you won't. Lily would be mad at you."

"Evans has nothing to do with my Quidditch team!"

"And yet, you still won't bench me."

James made a swipe at me with his broom, and when he missed, Sirius swatted my arse while I wasn't looking.

"You're a true friend, Padfoot."

-DdLM-

"Potter, watch out! Oh, for Merlin's sake."

Yet another bludger narrowly missed James' head as he made a fool's grab for the quaffle.

"Sirius, could you be any worse at aiming those things? You're going to kill someone!"

"Oi! Says the airhead that nearly flew into the - oh, well hello there, bunny! - goal post!"

"I was trying to keep a bludger away from Jones! You know, our seeker! He's just a bit important, in case you forgot. We need him!"

"Then why would you hit a bludger at him?"

"You did that, you bloody idiot!"

"Look out!"

I managed to swerve out of the way just in time, no thanks to Sirius, who was in the path of the bludger and holding a beater's bat.

I had to fly away before I smacked him in the middle of the stadium.

"And it's Potter with the quaffle, making his way towards Harrison, the Slytherin Keeper, it's a nearly impossible shot, is he actually going for it? He is! Oh! And the quaffle falls short, caught by Slytherin Chaser Beckett, and there goes Jones, the Gryffindor Seeker, he's seen the snitch, and he's caught it! Gryffindor has won the game!"

The roar from the Gryffindor stands is deafening and the Slytherins are already half way back to their Common Room.

-DdLM-

"Hey Arrington! Don't forget, we need you to get those drinks. Don't care if you stay or not, but bring pumpkin juice!"

Sirius turned part way around while tugging off his shirt to ell at me as well.

"I almost forgot! House elf by the name of Pipsy wants to see you. She saw my tie and figured as a Gryffindor I'd be able to find you somewhere. Lucky for her, she was right. She wants to talk to you. Said something about not seeing you for a while. D'you spend loads of time with the house elves? Because that would explain a lot."

"Piss off, Black."

"Pumpkin juice, Arrington!"

"You can piss off as well, Potter."

-DdLM-

"Mistress Arrington!"

"Oh! Pipsy!"

"What can Pipsy do for Mistress Arrington?"

"Just some pumpkin juice, if you please. We beat Slytherin in the Quidditch match today and the boys feel like celebrating."

She bobbed her head a few times before scurrying off to find a couple of carafes of pumpkin juice and some extra goblets. I put everything into a bag with an undetectable extensions charm, making sure to stopper the juice.

"Mistress Arrington, are you feeling alright? You used to come down for extra your 'comfort food' and you haven't lately. Oh, and you're so much thinner! Pipsy will send you with some biscuits, just wait here a moment."

"Pipsy, that is really very kind of you, but just the pumpkin juice is enough."

"Pipsy must insist!"

"Alright, Pipsy."

-DdLM-

"Wibblesprout." The Fat Lady swung forward and by the time I had gotten back, the party was already in full swing.

"Hey! Dia! You've brought drinks!" The Marauders were all standing arm in arm on top of a table.

"By the looks of it, you lot don't need any." James, Sirius, and Peter were all roaring drunk, and even Remus was well on his way.

"It's not fair to keep them all to yourself, love!" Sirius swung towards me to make sure I could hear him over the music.

"It seems I have to. You didn't save any firewhiskey for me, by the smell."

"Aha, but I did!"

"Trying to get me drunk?"

"Thought it would be a challenge. You're one of the only ones I haven't yet." He put his arm around me, and I shivered in spite of myself. I can say whatever I want, but he was making his way to my neck, and if he made it, I was gone. He knew as well as I did where the special little spot that gave me chills was, although he usually abused that knowledge in a different way.

"Dia!"

"Lily!"

"Come up to our dorm, I have dress robes I want you to try on!"

"Lily, I just want to go to bed. It was a long day, the game tired me out."

"You promised to go to any party I went to."

"I didn't think you would hold me to it!"

I tugged off my clothes while she rummaged around in her trunk.

"Got it!"

It was short. That was the first thing I noticed. It was very short. It was a simple black dress with sheer silver sleeves. Not too tight, but not too high up on my neck or low on my legs, either.

"Lily, why in Merlin's name would I want to wear that?"

"Because there's a boy that likes you, and he totally doesn't deserve you, but I think we should tease him anyway."

"Who?"

"You don't want to know. Just put the dress on. And here! Wear these, too."

She held out a pair of silver pumps.

-DdLM-

I must look really different because Sirius came up and started to dance with me. Lily handed me a goblet of firewhiskey and I downed it. He didn't talk to me at all while we danced and didn't say anything when we went and got new drinks. By the time we made it over there, I was getting fairly tipsy.

"Congratulations." Usually I would have to shout but I stood close to his ear. He shuddered.

"Congratulations to you too." He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in."I can't hear you, you'll have to come closer."

"You know, you should give a speech. I'm sure the girls would love it."

"Why not James? He's Captain." I turned his head towards the corner where James had pinned a slender brunette against the wall.

"That's why." I was so close by that point that my lips brushed his ear and I dipped my head to rest in the crook of his neck. It was so loud that he didn't notice the jinx I whispered. Lily would be doing to the same to James right about now, of course he was already distracted, and Jay should be jinxing Peter, as well. Poor Remus was sick upstairs.

As soon as one of them started speaking, they wouldn't be able to stop, and it wouldn't be about Quidditch. I kept urging him to give a speech and talk to people. Some of Sirius' past and future flings were starting to glare at me. I excused myself as soon as I got him to go up. The girls would have to finish this without me.

I felt bloated. Fat. I made it to the bathroom and into a stall before I threw up everything I had just eaten. I'm shaking and pale. Not at all the girl that had just been dancing with Sirius. I flushed the toilet, wiped my mouth, and washed my hands. Behind me in the mirror I could see three girls walk in.

"I thought we told you to stay away from Sirius. He's mine. Everyone else knows that. They're all putting in good word for me when he dumps them, but you won't do that, slut. You just want his body, but I would get him to be faithful. He would love me. Not you. You don't know anything!" And with that she slapped me. Hard. Her nails sliced my cheek and it started to swell. "Stay away from him."

They left and I slumped down and started to cry. I deserve this, though. If I wasn't so fat I would fit in. Maybe they would even like me.

Oh, why would they ever like me? Even if I was skinny they wouldn't like me. I'm just disgusting. I deserve everything. I deserve what they do to me, and they're only telling me the truth. I am fat, and maybe I'm a slut, too. I mean, I look like one. Stupid boobs, stupid arse. They don't leave anything to the imagination. I deserve all those pranks, too. Lily, Marlene, Jay, and Tracey don't, but I do.

I pulled myself up off the ground and stumbled around the castle until I found myself in the Room of Requirement. There's a bed in the middle of the room and a cotton nightgown. It looks so much more comfortable than the dress I'm wearing and the bed looks like it's made of clouds. kick off my heels and put it on. I'm already getting thinner and it's too big. I smile to myself. So pretty and thin. Thin and pretty. So pretty. Thin, thin. So pretty and thin, thin, thin. I fall onto the bed on top of the covers and fall asleep.

-DdLM-

"Remus. Remus! Wake up, Remus!"

"What? Lily? Lily, what time is it?" I glance at the clock. "Merlin's beard, Lily Evans it is only seven-thirty in the morning, it's Saturday, and I am seriously hung over! This had better be bloody important!" James and Sirius are stirring. Peter had fallen asleep on the couch in the Common Room last night and he's still down there.

"It is. Dia's missing. We can't find her and her bed's still made. She didn't come back last night and she isn't in the common room. She left the party right before Sirius made his, erm, speech,and now she's gone. Remus, I don't know what to do and you know her the best out of the four of you and if none of the girls know where she is, I had to come to you, and I'm so worried!" Lily burst into tears and the other boys woke up immediately. Sirius' heart nearly stopped. He had seen the looks the other girls were giving her and now… She's so sweet and beautiful and funny, and just… Dia. And Dia is perfect. He's had a crush on her for the past year. That's why they had stopped pranking her and her friends for so long. That's why he's never flirted with her or asked her out. She'd just say no and he knew he'd be bad for her anyway.

"It'll be okay, Lily. We'll find her." James looked bewildered.

"What's wrong with Evans?" Remus pulled him aside and clued James in. It's too early for this, but it's also Dia. Dia.

He and James kept whispering for a little while, looking at the Marauder's Map, and whispering some more. Lily started hiccuping.

"The Room of Requirement. She's got to be there. There's no where else she could be."

"Well, let's go get her and put poor Evans to rest, then!" James was obviously going to go out of his mind if Lily kept crying like this. She flung herself at him, sobbing into his chest. It looked like he couldn't decide if he should be happy that she was in his arms or devastated that she was crying like this. It ended up being a mixture of both.

James was only wearing pajama pants but couldn't manage to get a shirt on with Lily out of her mind and sobbing her pretty little heart out on his chest, so he brings one with him while the rest of them pull on their dressing gowns. They all pile out of the portrait hole leaving Wormtail snoring on the couch as Sirius chugs a hangover potion. Surprisingly, none of the other boys drank as much, although none of them spilled as many of their dirty secrets.

Remus led them down the corridors, twisting and turning until they got to the Room of Requirement. Sure enough, there was the big wooden door, but it was locked. Probably because it knew she needed privacy.

"Alohamora!" Remus sounded a little uneasy.

"Moony, what's wrong?" James was still awkwardly patting Lily's back and making quiet shushing sounds. The other boys had never seen him act like this before.

"It's not supposed to be locked. She must have been really mentally overpowering to get it to lock. Why she needed privacy so badly… it can't be good, I can tell you that." My heart leapt into my throat as I thought about what could have possibly happened to her. The door creaked open slowly to a dark room. I could vaguely make out some candles.

I managed to croak out "Incendio" and the candles all flickered to life.

I let out a slight gasp.

Dia lay on a black bed in a white night-gown, her hair fanned out around her, gold woven into her darkly shining hair. The nightgown really isn't that big, but nearly swallows her whole.

"She's so… pale. And thin. Looks like she really needed this sleep." Sirius walked over and shook her slightly by the shoulder. She stirred and turned over to reveal a huge black and purple bruise on her cheek and her eye swollen shut. There were five thin, curved cuts rimming it that looked like fingernails. Her eyes flutter open and widen in shock at seeing him. The others haven't seen her face yet. He isn't sure he wants to show them. Partly because he doesn't want Lily to pass out from distress, but partly because he wants to help her. He wants to make her better. He wants her to be his.

"Sirius? What are you doing in here? Why is Lily crying? Is the party over?"

"Dia, it's been over for four and a half hours. It's seven thirty the next morning. What happened to your face?" She grimaced when he brushed her hair back from her cheek.

"It's nothing. I fell. It just hurts."

"You're lying." She turned away. "Dia, I want you to tell me what happened – what really happened. That mark on your cheek is in the shape of a handprint."

"My fault. It's all my fault. If I hadn't… But I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to, but it's all my fault. If only I –" She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth, then groaned because she hit the bruise. She muttered a healing spell and touched the tip of her wand to right underneath her eye and the swelling went down, her eye-opening. She murmured another spell to put a glamour over it.

"Why did you…?"

"Lily. I'm okay." Lily ran over and tackled her. Dia winced as something hit her cheek but didn't let Lily notice.

"You weren't there and your bed was made and no one else was awake so I got Remus because he always knows what to do and he didn't know either but he figured out that you're in here and then the door was locked and it's not supposed to be and Remus said that you must have been really mentally overwhelming to do that and oh Merlin's beard I've been crying hysterically in James Potter's chest while he wasn't wearing a shirt for the last half hour!" Dia giggled and Lily glared at her. After a while of just staring each other down, Lily broke and they both started giggling, and then full on laughing.

Sirius stared at them, nonplussed.

"You know, as many girls as I 'go out' with, I still just don't understand them at all." Moony and Prongs just shrugged.

After a few more minutes their giggles petered out and after Dia gathered up her clothes and shoes from the floor they all walked out. Most of them were walking back to Gryffindor Tower, James finally pulling on his shirt. Sirius pulled Dia aside.

"Sirius, I just want to get dressed."

"Why would you want to do that? That nightgown does wonders for your figure." He smirked and she hit his arm.

"Sirius!"

"Right! Fine. Dia, if you're not going to tell me what happened at least promise me that you'll have Pomfrey fix you up. Whoever carved out your cheek like that must have been wearing steel instead of nail polish. It didn't look too good." He traced around where he knew it was. Her breath caught and the glamour flickered. He cringed at the little bit that he could see.

"Sirius –"

"Dia Arrington, promise me."

"Okay. Just let me get dressed first."