Girl's Best Friend

Chapter 2

-FOUR YEARS LATER-

Zoe's blonde hair absorbed the water from the lake as her lips tilted upwards.

"Sirius," Remus complained. "Don't you think all six of us will be in trouble for skipping Potions? Professor Slughorn will not be happy with us!"

"Lighten up, Remus! Zoe and I have done this loads of times and we haven't gotten in trouble yet," Sirius replied, his breathing becoming steadier from where he lay next to Zoe on the grass.

Zoe had to resist the urge to grab his hand. Only Lily and Remus knew about Zoe's never-ending crush on Sirius Black. If he knew, he would avoid her entirely because--like he's said on many occasions--Zoe was like a sister to him. She had tried to date a couple of boys to hopefully end her unrealistic crush. She even went out with Remus a couple of times but they both decided to end it when Remus guessed that she liked Sirius.

Zoe glanced up to see Lily and James having a whisper argument. It was obvious what it was about. Once again, James was asking her out and Lily was being very obvious and repeatedly declining, even though James just never took the hint.

Peter was off in the distance, munching on some cheese and reading a book. Lily and Zoe had always wondered about his newfound obsession with cheese but decided not to question it.

"So," Zoe started, speaking up for the first time today. "Who are you guys asking to the Yule Ball?" She tried to sound as if she didn't care, but was pretty sure she was failing.

"I don't know, probably Analyse," Remus replied. Analyse was a girl he had been fancying for a while now. She was a Ravenclaw and they had Muggle Studies together.

"I'm not sure yet, I mean I have someone in mind, but I doubt she'll say yes," Sirius answered, his hand brushing lightly against Zoe's as he brought it up to his face to brush away some hair. "Who's had the guts to ask you, Zo?"

Zoe's heart almost melted at the term of endearment that had sprouted up randomly last year. "Well... Johnny Howell, Lucius Malfoy, and Daniel Walsh. I've said no to all of them, however. There is someone that I want to ask me but he doesn't like me back..." Remus gave her a sympathetic look.

"Who is it?" Sirius asked, turning to her so that his nose was slightly touching her ear. Zoe blushed at the contact.

"I'm not telling you," Zoe replied in a teasing tone, turning her head towards him and sticking her tongue out a tiny bit. Something flashed in Sirius' eyes, too quick for her to detect what it was.

"Well, if he can't see how amazing you are, then he must be blind," Sirius stated. Zoe hurt when she thought about how according to his words, Sirius must be blind.

"Thanks." Zoe stood up and dusted grass off of her robes and grabbed her bag and set off, not looking back. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.

Unfortunately, footsteps were following her down the corridor. "I'm not in the mood, Sirius."

"I thought my name was Lily," a soft, feminine voice said from behind her. Zoe turned around to find her friend standing with one hand on her hip, her red hair trailing down sloppily. "Zoe, he's not worth your tears. If he hasn't manned up and gathered the courage to ask you out yet, then he's not worth it."