Chapter 4

A few days later the Gryffindor Quidditch team was once again outside practicing in the sun. The students had been back at Hogwarts for almost four weeks now, and everyone seemed to have found their own routines again. The first years were still a bit nervous, but not as much as they had been in the beginning of the semester. Since the sun was out, some of the students had decided to study on the grounds instead of in the common rooms or library.

"Great practice everyone!" James yelled and called everyone to the ground. "I have reserved the pitch on Thursday, so you have two days off. I'll see you all at seven o'clock on Thursday then." The Gryffindor Quidditch team started walking towards the castle with their brooms under their arms.

James and Sirius turned as they noticed someone missing. "Hey Joey," Sirius said called back when they realized Joey was still in the middle of the pitch. "Are you coming?"

"No," Joey answered. "I'm gonna stay a while." Before James or Sirius could say anything else, she kicked off of the ground and flew into the air.

James and Sirius looked at each other and shook their heads. None of them knew what to say, and neither of them blamed her for reacting like this. "What time is it?" James suddenly asked as they started walking again.

"About five o'clock I guess," Sirius said with a small shrug.

"Oh no," James said. "I have a Heads meeting with Lily – I'll see you later!" With that he hurried towards the castle.

"You're suddenly on first name basis?" Sirius yelled after him with a laugh. James didn't respond, and Sirius wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't heard it or just chose to ignore it.

James ran down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room. He suddenly saw McGonagall walking in the opposite direction. He quickly slowly down as he passed her, then picked up speed again. "I'm sorry," James said out of breath as he finally made it into the Gryffindor common room. He was standing in front of the table Lily was sitting at.

"Don't worry about it," Lily said. "Take a seat."

James eyed her for a split-second. No complaints? He wondered about it for a while before taking a seat across from her. He nodded a little before saying, "What have we got today?"

"Not much really," Lily said and looked through the pieces of parchment she had in front of her. She started talking about the different headlines on the piece of parchment. They discussed back and forth every now and then, but seemed to reach the same conclusion quickly.

Fifteen minutes later, Lily was reaching the final headlines on the parchments. "Then we have a few feedbacks; it seems that your talk with the Hufflepuff prefects worked. They're working together and we have no more complaints from the Hufflepuff students or any of the professors." James nodded satisfied. "Finally, professor Dumbledore wanted to remind us about the autumn ball. The professors decided to cancel the graduation ball, and instead of a Yule ball, they decided to have it in November instead. We have been chosen to be in charge of it." James nodded again. "I'm waiting for more information on the date, et cetera. Until then, there's not really much we can do."

James nodded yet again with a small smile. "Great work, Lily," he said and looked into her eyes. "Really! You have everything under control."

"Thank you," Lily said with a smile. James noticed she blushed a little. Nevertheless, she didn't comment on him using her first name. Earlier she would have yelled at him and stomped off. He thought about it for a while, then remembered that would usually happen right after he had asked her to go on a date with him. "Are you all right?" Lily asked making his thoughts come back to the present.

"Yes," James said quickly. "Thanks."

"I have been meaning to ask you something," Lily said looking down. James noticed she was playing nervously with the parchment in her hands. "Where exactly were you this summer?"

James looked at her again. Normally they wouldn't talk about anything else than their duties as Headboy and Headgirl. He cleared his throat to get some extra time to think of what to say. "All around really," he answered. "I went to the highlands in Scotland and spend some time in Portsmouth as well."

Lily eyed him in disbelief. He noticed a small smirk form on her lips. "You spend times with muggles, didn't you?"

"Well I needed some muggle money," James admitted. "So I worked on one some of the ships in the port. I visited some wizards as well though - Kennilworthy Whisp for example. He is a -"

"Writer," Lily said, finishing his sentence.

"Yes," James said surprised. "How did you know that? He writes books about Quidditch."

"I know," Lily said and blushed again. James couldn't help but smile once he noticed this. She looked cute when she was embarrassed. He shook his head quickly getting the thought out of his head. He had promised himself to stop thinking like that. "To be honest, I read one of his books a few years ago to understand the game better," Lily continued. She obviously hadn't noticed the sudden shaking of his head. "Everyone seems so interested in the game, so I decided to try to figure out, what was so special about it."

"Did you?"

"Not really," Lily answered honestly. "I mean it sounds like fun – but I guess it is a lot different when you actually play it. I mean a lot more fun."

"I could show you some time," James suggested. "I could teach you the game."

"Oh no," Lily laughed nervously. "Flying is not really… my thing."

"You can't be that bad," James said with a smile. "Meet me on the pitch Friday evening. I won't take no for an answer." Lily smiled in return and something told him she really would show up on Friday.

Joey landed softly on the grass of the Quidditch pitch. She was exhausted from the extra flying. She looked up towards the castle and decided she didn't feel like going back. Instead she sat down on the grass and looked up towards the sky. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. "Hey," she heard someone say behind her. She quickly stood up and spun around to face the person. She opened her mouth to say something but it shut immediately when she saw it was Remus. "I thought practice ended an hour ago."

"It did," Joey said simply.

Remus let out a sigh and took a step towards her. "Look I realize I might not be your favourite person in the world at the moment."

"Not exactly, no."

"I guess we need to talk," Remus spoke again, ignoring her last comment.

"Never mind, Remus," Joey said and let out a sigh. "It's all right." She walked past him to head towards the castle.

Remus grabbed her arm and held her back. She turned and faced him again with a tired look. "It's not all right Joey," he said. She noticed the guilt in his eyes as he continued, "If I were you I would hate me." Joey looked down without saying anything. "It wasn't something I expected to happen, and I certainly didn't wish for you to find out the way you did."

"So sneak around behind my back would be a better idea?" Joey asked angrily looking up again.

"That's hardly fair. I -"

"Hardly fair?!" Joey interrupted him feeling the anger rise to her cheeks. "You know, what's 'hardly fair'? Catching your boyfriend kissing one of your good friends and afterwards being told that they didn't want you to know – that's hardly fair." Remus opened his mouth to say something but Joey came ahead of him. "I'm not looking for an explanation, Remus, because frankly I don't think I will ever understand. One minute she poisons you, the next you're kissing her." She paused to breathe.

"I don't know how to explain it, Joey," Remus said quietly. "Even though Angelica poisoned me I care about her."

Joey bit her lip hard. "Well then I hope you're happy," she said with a much weaker voice. She pulled her arm towards herself, so Remus was forced to let go of it. She turned around again and walked quickly towards the castle. Remus didn't try to stop her this time.

As she walked across the grounds and into the Entrance hall, Joey kept biting her lip to stop the tears that were forming in her eyes. She looked up from the ground as she walked up the stairs. She let out a sigh when she noticed, who were standing at the top of the staircase. Three boys in Slytherin uniforms were looking at her with their arms crossed over their chest. She knew who they were. They were all in her year.

Malachi Conway was standing in the middle. His spiky, blonde hair matched the light grey eyes. To his left was Dermot Reed – a tall and clumsy boy. He was always following Conway around. Joey often wondered if Reed had an opinion of his own. Finally, Severus Snape was standing a step behind Conway. Normally Snape would be alone in the dungeons. He rarely spend any time with other students out of classrooms.

"Look who we have here," Conway grinned as Joey reached the top of the stairs. "Having a hard day, Ms. Potter?"

"It's none of your business," Joey answered coldly and kept walking.

"I asked you politely," Conway said and grabbed her arm. Joey looked at him angrily, which only made him tighten his grab. She was getting tired of people trying to hold her back.

"Let go of me."

"I heard what happened between you and lover boy," Conway continued. Joey tried to get her arm free but Conway kept holding on. "You're better off without him." Joey eyed him not knowing what his point was. Conway leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Joey tried to pull away but he tightened his grab even tighter. Joey closed her eyes as she started to feel the pain shoot through her arm. "You really do deserve better," Conway whispered.

"What would your Slytherin friends say if they knew you were hitting on a Gryffindor student?" Joey asked and raised her eyebrows.

"You made a mistake asking that question, Potter," Conway said angrily. "And now you will never know."

"Fine by me," Joey said and moved her arm again.

"I don't think so," Conway said and kept holding on. "See, I'm not quite done with you." He started twisting her arm around. Joey bit her tongue as more pain hit her.

"Oh I think you are," a familiar voice said behind them. Conway spun around and saw Sirius staring back at him. "Let go of her."

"Sirius Black to the rescue, eh?"

"That's right," Sirius said and walked up to Conway. He hit Conway hard on his wrist, so he was forced to let go of Joey. "Now get lost." For some strange reason Conway did as he was told. He walked away quickly. Snape and Reed followed him without saying a word. They only eyed Sirius, who send them a cold look in return. "Are you all right?" Sirius asked Joey once the Slytherins were gone.

"I'll be fine," Joey answered. The pain in her arm slowly started to disappear again. "Thanks." She send him a smile, which fated quickly.

"You're welcome," Sirius said slowly. "You know, Joey, you have been through a lot lately, so if you ever -"

"Thanks," Joey cut him off. "But I'm fine." She was getting tired of people trying to tell her what to do or offering their help. She did not need any help. She was perfectly capable of handling her own feelings without dumping her problems on others.

"Come on, Joey," Sirius said not letting go of the subject. "You and I both know-"

"You were going to meet Theresa, weren't you?" Joey asked to change the subject.

"Yes, but-"

"Then you shouldn't keep her waiting." Joey looked up and met his eyes. "She's a nice girl, Sirius."

"She is," Sirius said and looked back into Joey's eyes. "But if you need-"

"Like I said I'm good."

"You keep cutting me off."

"That's because I know what you are going to say," Joey said with a sigh. "You're going to say the exact same thing everyone has been telling me. I'm fine. I just need everyone to leave me alone for a while."

This time it was Sirius' turn to let out a sigh. "You shouldn't be alone. You should get the chance to talk about everything that has happened. If you keep going on like this you will get upset about the tiniest things."

"Why can't you just accept that I'm fine?" Joey yelled feeling the anger in her rise again.

"You see what I'm talking about?" Sirius yelled back. "When we broke up, which we agreed to do, you got angry because they served nettle tea instead of pumpkin juice. You didn't stop before you and I sat down and talked about it."

"I am not angry!"

"Then why are you yelling at me in the middle of a corridor?"

"I-" This time Joey cut herself off. She opened her mouth to say something again but no words came out. The lack of words frustrated her and she started biting her lip once again. She felt uncomfortable and felt like running away, but her legs wouldn't move. The palms of her hands started to get sweaty and her heart rate speeded up.

Sirius clearly noticed something was wrong. He took a step closer to her and pulled her into a hug. "It's all right, Jo," he whispered in her ear. Joey felt herself giving in. Her anger wasn't enough to hold back the tears any longer. He had broken the shell, taken the anger away and forced her to go against her believes of not letting anyone see her cry.

She wasn't sure how long he had been hugging her, but it was long enough for her to get his shoulder wet with tears. "Oh look at you," Joey said and pulled away from him while whipping the remaining tears on her cheeks away.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius said with a smile.

Joey returned the smile then suddenly remembered something, "How horrible of me," she said and ran a nervous hand through her hair. "Here you have to comfort me while you were on your way to meet your girlfriend."

"She'll understand," Sirius said positively. "I just needed to make sure you were all right."

"I'm fine," Joey said for the one hundredth time that day, "honestly this time." She smiled. "Now go on Superman, there's another girl waiting to be saved." Sirius laughed and walked away from her.

Joey looked down and realized she was still in her Quidditch uniform. She made her way quickly to the girls' bathroom where she was able to take a shower. She knew her eyes must have been blood red, which was why she was in such a hurry. When she got out of the shower her eyes were still red, but it only looked like she had gotten some soap in her eyes.

She dried herself with a simple spell and took on her school uniform. She felt her stomach rumbling and realized dinner most have started. She left her Quidditch uniform where she her school uniform had been. No one would take it, and she told herself she would be back after dinner to pick it up. This was something she normally did after Quidditch practice.

Joey walked through the door of the Great Hall and suddenly felt a lot better. She didn't feel angry or upset for the first time in days. She smiled to herself and walked over to the Gryffindor table. She took a seat next to Lily, who had already started eating. Joey looked down the table and her eyes caught Sirius' eyes. She send him a grateful smile, which he returned. She guessed everything had gone well with Theresa.

"How was your afternoon?" Joey asked Lily with a smile as she started taking food onto her plate.

"Actually," Lily said and swallowed a piece of bread. "It was quite good."

Later that evening Lily had gone to the library to reassure herself that she had gotten her research correct. She walked straight to the aisle with books about potions. She walked passed a table where she found someone she did not expect to find in a place full of books. "Are you lost?" Lily asked the boy in front of her.

He looked up and his hazel eyes met her emerald green. "Hilarious," he said with a smile. "What bring you here this late?"

"It's eight o'clock, James," Lily said but nevertheless, she smiled. "And I'm here to check up on some research. What about you?"

He shrugged as he answered, "I just came here to do some reading." Lily eyed him. He returned the look, which made her replay the scene in her head again. This was certainly a situation she thought she would never see James Potter in. She sat down and talked to him for a few minutes.

Once Lily walked back out of the library she saw Joey coming from the girls' bathroom. She had her Quidditch uniform under her arm. She smiled when she saw Lily. "Got everything done?" Joey asked her.

Lily suddenly remembered why she had come into the library in the first place. She had completely forgotten about that once she had started talking to James. "Yes," Lily lied. She quickly changed the subject before Joey noticed this. "You won't believe, who I met in there – your brother."

"Was he lost?" Joey asked.

Lily laughed. "No," she answered. "He was there to do some reading."

Joey raised her eyebrows. "I have officially heard it all," she said with a laugh. She suddenly eyed Lily while a smirk formed on her lips. "You and James seem to get along well lately."

"I suppose we are," Lily said. "We have to – there's no point in working with someone you're constantly yelling at."

"True," Joey said. "But when you are doing business as Head Boy and Head Girl you're forced to work together. No one forced you to talk to him in the library. As far as I can tell, you didn't bite his head off like you did when we were younger" Lily rolled her eyes, which only made Joey's smile grow wider.

The two of them gave the password to the fat lady and entered the Gryffindor common room. Inside they noticed Simone and Angelica sitting by the fireplace. Other than that a few first years were the only ones in the common room. Lily wondered where everyone was, but didn't have time to question it further. Both Angelica and Simone walked up to them. Simone smiled nervously to Lily, who could only return it.

"Could I have a word with you?" Angelica asked Joey.

"A word," Joey answered coldly. Her good mood suddenly disappeared. "Here's the word then: Bye."

Angelica let out a sigh. "Come on, Joey are you going to avoid me forever?"

Joey pretended she was thinking about it. "No…" she finally said. "I just don't want to talk to you."

"So that's it? Do we just forget about our friendship? We've been friends since our first year."

"I think you forgot about our friendship when you decided to kiss Remus," Joey said tiredly. Angelica opened her mouth to say something but Joey didn't feel like continuing this conversation. She walked past Angelica and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. She knew Angelica would have to follow her sooner or later, since they shared the same dormitory, but she chose not to think about that at the moment.

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A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up but I've been buried under a pile of homework. Then I got sick, which gave me the time to finish it. So I hope you like it – and reviews are always welcome!