A/N: Well, I’m relatively proud of myself for getting this chapter out so fast… not many reviews (or reads for that matter), but once my story gets more interesting I think I might get some more. This is quite a long chapter, so hopefully it can keep you occupied while I’m writing the next chapter. Pleeeaaasseee R&R
“What’s wrong, Prongs? You’ve barely talked at all this summer,” Sirius said, flopping down on the couch next to me. I had been sitting in peace, thinking quietly to myself about Eve and the conversation we’d had. Well, actually I was thinking about how weird it was that I was still thinking about it after over a month, but that was basically the same thing. At least I thought so.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“You’re thinking about Eve, Aren’t you?” Sirius asked.
Sometimes Sirius could read people’s minds, I swear. “Of course not!” I answered irritably. Then I turned away from him and continued thinking.
Well, she is quite pretty, I thought to myself. But she won’t stop bugging me.
“I think the only reason you’re denying that there might even be a possibility you would like her is because you think she’s an easy catch,” Sirius told me.
“I never said there was no possibility I would go out with her!” I exclaimed, becoming slightly exasperated.
“You like her then?” Sirius inquired.
“I never said that!” I responded indignantly. “Stop twisting my words!”
“It seems like it to me.” Remus said, startling me. I jumped and turned to see Remus sitting down next to Sirius.
“It’s not going to happen,” I replied firmly.
“I think it is,” Sirius whispered loudly to Remus behind his hand. I turned around again and glared at him.
He grinned at me and shrugged. I rolled my eyes, deciding that saying anything else would just make it worse.
A few days later we received the lists of supplies we would need for our next year at Hogwarts and the day after we went to Diagon Alley to get what we needed. I found out that I was the Quidditch team captain this year, which I was excited about. Last year’s captain had been a total idiot.
And I was Head Boy, something that my parents were definitely proud of. I, however, was shocked. Everyone thought Remus would get it, and he seemed slightly disappointed. But, as usual, he got over it fast, stating “I never would’ve been able to do it, since I’m a werewolf and all.”
Mum, who was a bit of a worrywart, was nervous about the three of us going by ourselves.
“We’re seventeen, Mum,” I told her. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“Yes, but with Voldemort running around with al of his allies, who knows what you’ll find?” she argued worriedly, her eyebrows furrowed.
“I doubt he’d try anything. There are too many people at Diagon Alley,” I reasoned.
The discussion continued. Sirius and I argued that we could take care of ourselves, since my mum was more like his mum than she would ever be, but that didn’t work. Even Dad’s persuasion didn’t sway her very much. I was amazed that she had actually let us go to Diagon Alley by ourselves, but I guess she just thought that since it was so busy Voldemort wouldn’t attempt anything.
“We will,” I shouted as we walked out the front door, swinging it shut after us. Then we concentrated on Diagon Alley and Apparated there. I almost enjoyed it; after all, it meant we could actually get out of the house.
Gringotts was our first stop. Once we were out, I turned to Remus and Sirius and asked, “Where should we go first?”
“I think we should go to Flourish and Botts,” Remus answered quietly. Sirius just shrugged, so we set off.
I was expecting a lot of people to be there, but all of the stores were literally packed. We had to stand in line for half an hour or more at some stores and it was almost impossible to move around a lot of places. We went as fast as we could, but it was well past noon by the time we finished. As we walked out of the last store, our arms weighed down with bags, Sirius said, “I’m hungry. Let’s get ice cream.”
We headed off to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor and ordered sundaes. Remus and I were done long before Sirius on account of the fact that he ordered three. He kept staring at the gap between Remus and I, and the two of us were trying hard to figure out what it was.
“What do you think it is?” Remus said under his breath.
I shrugged and whispered, “It’s probably a girl.”
“Should we turn around and look?” he asked.
“No,” I muttered, “if it’s girl, we’ll know soon enough.”
Just as I’d suspected, a girl appeared between me and Sirius a couple minutes later. She had pretty blond hair, big blue eyes, and a big chest, but she wasn’t really my type. She was definitely Sirius’s, though. I recognized her from school; I think she was the year behind us.
“Hey, Sirius,” she said flirtatiously, grinning at him.
“Hi,” he said, stalling. I could tell he was trying to remember her name.
“Sirius,” Remus leaned over and whispered just loud enough for me to hear it, “You won’t ever remember your name if you don’t look at her face.” I snorted.
He glared at Remus and asked, “How are you, Alma?” He stood up and put an arm around her waist.
“It’s Allison,” she giggled as he led her across the street to a park bench. It took them less than a minute to start making out.
Remus shook his head. “How the hell does he do that?” I could hear a bit of jealousy in his voice. But he did it to himself, at least to a certain extent. It was his theory that he had to distance himself from girls because he thought they would dump him when they found out the truth about his mysterious disappearances.
“You could do it, too,” I told him while trying my best to sound encouraging. I had never had to tell anyone that before. “It’s your own decision not to have a girlfriend.”
‘But how would I tell them without them breaking up with me?” he inquired exasperatedly. He was practically yelling by now. “They would probably break up with me on the spot and tell everyone they knew. That’s how girls are!”
“Well, we didn’t leave you,” I reasoned.
“You’re not my girlfriends,” he said. I was practically falling out of my chair laughing, and once he realized how stupid it was, he was laughing, too.
“Remus, that’s not the point. The point is that if she really loves you she won’t leave,” I explained. “So just make sure that you go out with the right girl. Or girls.”
“How will I know?” he asked.
“You just will,” I replied. “It’s something that hits you as soon as you see them.”
“Really?” he said skeptically.
“Well, it’s not always the first time you see them,” I admitted. “Maybe the first time you go out with them. Or the first couple times.”
“Do you really think I could get a girl to go out with me?” he asked sincerely.
“Yes, Remus, you could. I think you should ask Scarlett out.”
He just stared doubtfully at me.
“Come on,” I tried to persuade him. “She likes you, you like her… and she’s a great girl. She would never tell anyone, even if you did break up.”
“You think so?” It sounded like it was starting to work.
“Yeah, I do.” In my mind, I thought that Scarlett was the girl for him, kind of like Lily was the girl for me. The two of them just seemed so… perfect for each other.
“Well, if you say so…” he started.
It couldn’t have been stranger timing; at that exact moment, I spotted Lily walking down the street with Scarlett. My stomach dropped slightly as I noticed once again how pretty she was. . But it almost wasn’t the same; it was probably the millionth time I’d noticed that, and it wasn’t as profound as it had been the first few times. But she always looked the best with her friends. She was always so casual and unguarded around them. That was the girl I had fallen in love with”the Lily that laughed and told jokes with her friends. I hadn’t fallen in love with her telling me to go away.
Then Cassara and Robyn walked out of a nearby store and joined the group. I saw Lily look over and see us, a look of disgust passing over her face. She covered her hand and whispered to Scarlett, who smiled at Remus and stood, wading through the crowd in our direction.
“What do I do?.” Remus demanded in a strangled whisper, his face turning slightly red, then greenish.
“Just talk to her. Ask her about her summer,” I replied in a low voice. “And just… do what feels right. With luck, you’ll be exactly like him in five minutes.” I pointed toward Sirius, who was sprawled out on the bench with the blond girl Alma on top of him. Remus laughed slightly, then his face fell and her turned green once again as he saw her drawing closer.
“And don’t look so sick! Smile!” I reminded him. He nodded and tried to smile, but it was basically a grimace. “Oh, never mind. You’ll smile once she’s over here. Like an idiot. But try not to look like too much of an idiot.” She was almost at our table, and Remus still looked like he was about to throw up.
“Hey,” Scarlett greeted us, trying her best to sound calm. I could tell that she was nervous, though.
“Heyhowwasyoursummer?” Remus asked, so flustered all his words ran into each other.
` It took all of my strength not to grimace, and Remus gave me a frantic and apologetic look as if to say, “I’m so sorry! Now what do I do?”
But to my surprise, Scarlett giggled. “I think you just asked me how my summer was, but I’m not sure.
He nodded sheepishly.
“Well, it’s been wonderful. Howwasyoursummer?” she asked, imitating him
.
Even he had to laugh at that. “Great.”
Remus seemed to have calmed down, so I stood up. “Well, I hate to intrude, so I’m going to go off on my own for a while. I’ll meet you back here in an hour and a half, okay Remus?”
I walked past them and patted Remus on the back, “You’ll do fine,” I whispered in his ear.
“Bye, you guys,” I said.
“Bye,” Scarlett replied.
“See you later,” Remus added.
I walked down the street for a while before I realized something”there was nothing for me to do. I looked back to find Remus and Scarlett, but they were no longer there. Backtracking a bit, I made my way back to the bench next to the one Sirius was occupying through the crowd. It seemed to have gotten busier here since I had left the table, but at least it was entertaining. Many people yelled thing to Sirius such as, “Get a room!” He was, however, oblivious, which didn’t surprise me much.
For a second I wondered whether I should tell him that Remus had finally gotten Scarlett, but I decided he’d be way too mad at me for disturbing his snogging session to be happy for Remus. But then I remembered that Scarlett had been with Lily, Cassara and Robyn on a bench very close to Sirius, and looked over to see if they were still there. They were.
I was surprised to find Lily staring back at me. She gave me a slight frown, then turned back to Cassara and Robyn, who were both standing up and laughing hysterically. Robyn said something and Cassara nodded vigorously, then they each grabbed one of her arms and pulled her to her feet, leading her over in my direction.
It still feels like they’re missing someone, I thought. Then I remembered that Scarlett and Remus were together. But that still didn’t seem like it.
It dawned on me that they were probably coming over to see me. Cassara and Robyn were sort of my friends, what with all of the Quidditch we’d played together, and I knew that they were doing their best to get Lily to give me a chance. It hadn’t worked so far, but there was still another year. Well, that is, if you only counted the time we had left in Hogwarts.
Lily was still being half-dragged in my direction when I looked at them again. When they finally arrived here, Lily stood there awkwardly for a second. I saw Cassara look over at Sirius briefly, and a cloud passed over her face. Robyn and I both knew that she liked him, but we had sworn not to tell, so we were the only two. In most cases, I think I probably would’ve told. But I guess I felt obligated, partially because she was my friend and partially because I knew Lily would only hate me more if I did. She got over it quickly though”she was obviously used to things like this happening. She elbowed Lily and smiled slightly at me. “Hey, Potter,” she greeted me in a clipped tone.
“Hey, Evans.” I replied. “You’re hot.”
She glared at me and warned, “Don’t start.”
Robyn, sensing the tension, asked, “So, James, you’re the captain, right?” I didn’t have time to say anything else, which might’ve been lucky. Who knows what Lily would’ve done to me.
“Yeah,” I answered. “Our team’s basically the same, which is good because it was really strong last year.”
“But you have to replace Dexter and Carl, which might not be easy,” Cassara said. Dexter had been one of our Beaters (Robyn was the other), but he had graduated the year before. He’d been a decent player, but I had seen better. Since he was the captain, though, he still got to play on. I have to say, he had the leadership thing down; he was bossy as hell. But that still didn’t make him a good player. Carl had been the seeker last year, and he’d been pretty good, but not really anything to write home about.
“He wasn’t all that great,” I reminded them.
“I know, but you may not be able to find anyone better,” said Robyn.
“I still don’t understand what you see in Quidditch,” Lily complained. “It’s just a weird sport where you throw things at each other and attack each other with bats.”
“But that’s the fun of it!” Robyn exclaimed.
“Well, nothing’s fun for you unless you can hit something with a bat or kick something,” Lily retorted. As usual, her mood was bad now that she was around us.
I heard footsteps behind us. At first I didn’t think much of it, but they kept coming closer and started slowing down as they neared us. “Hey guys,” A familiar voice said.
My stomach dropped. It was Eve. No wonder I felt like I was forgetting someone, I thought, turning around slowly
.
My stomach fluttered slightly as I saw again how beautiful she was. She was slightly paler and thinner, but that was understandable. I mean, she’d lost her brother and dad! “Hey Eve,” I said.
I’d thought a lot about her brother over the summer. He’d been our Quidditch team captain my first and second years playing (in my second and third years), and he’d been really good. Our team had a lot of new players, and he’d never gotten annoyed with any of us for missing a pass or throwing it off. It amazed me that anyone could be so patient and genuinely nice all the time. It also amazed me that someone like that could’ve died so suddenly. I guess if there was something I should take from it, it was that anything could happen. And that it was always the best people who died.
“Hi, James.” She grinned slightly. “How was your summer?”
“It was good,” I replied. “How are you?” I decided to ask that instead of how her summer was, because it probably wasn’t all that great. Aside from losing her brother and dad, she now had only her mother, a muggle who Cassara and Robyn had said wasn’t comfortable with the thought of magic, despite the fact that her husband (or her former husband, I suppose) and her children were all wizards. Unlike Robyn’s mother, though, at least it seemed she cared for them and tried her best to understand what was going on.
“I’m okay,” she answered, sighing.
“Glad to hear it,” I said.
“Did you get the present for Juli?” Lily wanted to know. She was acting strangely, even for when she was around me.
I wonder what’s going on? I thought. I guess she might be jealous about me talking to Eve, but why? She doesn’t like me. Or at least she didn’t last time I checked.
“Yeah,” said Eve. “I got the frog.”
“Frog?” I asked.
“Juli’s wanted a frog for a while, so I decided I should finally just get it for her, since her birthday’s tomorrow,” she replied.
“I still don’t understand what she sees in frogs,” Cassara declared, wrinkling her nose. “They’re all warty and gross.”
“How are you going to keep it from her until her birthday?” asked Robyn.
Eve’s eyebrows furrowed. “I hadn’t thought about that,” she admitted. “I guess I’ll just have to give it to her early. I’m not going to take care of it until her birthday. I don’t get why she likes them so much, either.”
“So, James, are you the Quidditch team captain?” Eve asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Cool. I’m thinking about trying out,” she told me.
“For seeker?” Robyn inquired incredulously.
“Yeah, why?” Eve asked defensively. “I mean, I can’t imagine there’d be anyone much better, now that Carl’s gone.”
“Good for you, Evie,” Cassara congratulated her, but I could hear the uncertainty in her voice. They didn’t want her getting hurt again after something so tragic had just happened.
We talked for a while longer. Lily seemed to be avoiding talking to me, but at least she hadn’t run away yet. I caught her glancing at me and then Eve several times. It seemed weird, but I decided it was best not to comment on it so that Lily didn’t strangle me.
It seemed strange to me that Lily hadn’t mentioned being Head Girl. I decided not to bring it up, though, because I figured that if she wasn’t it, she wouldn’t be too happy, and even if she was, she still wouldn’t be too happy because I was Head Boy.
After about an hour, Remus and Scarlett came over to the bench. Scarlett’s fair skin was flushed and she was grinning widely.
“What happened?” I asked Remus under my breath.
He looked at me innocently and replied, “Nothing.” But I could tell he was keeping something from me. Hopefully I’d be able to get it out later.
Scarlett was smiling widely and seemed to be staring off into space. She’s in love, I thought. I was really happy for her and Remus. They totally deserved each other.
“Scarlett, are you alive?” Lily asked sarcastically.
She smiled dreamily. “Yes,” she sighed languorously.
“Nothing my ass,” I muttered in Remus’s ear. He smiled and shrugged secretively.
Lily glanced at her watch and told Scarlett, “I think we should leave, your mum was expecting us ten minutes ago.”
That snapped Scarlett out of her euphoria. She sighed and pouted. “Do we have to?” she whined, sounding like a three-year-old.
Well, love does crazy things to you, I thought.
“You know how worried your um was just letting us come her by ourselves,” Lily reminded her.
“Yeah, and with You-Know-Who running loose, your mum’ll probably expect the worst. Hell, she probably already does,” Robyn added. Calling Volemort You-Know-Who was becoming a trend; people were starting to fear him so much that they refused to say his name. I said it, but just so that the people around me didn’t get angry when I called him Voldemort.
“We should probably be getting back, too,” Remus said, looking up at the darkening sky. “Your mum wanted us home before dark.”
Scarlett giggled coyly. “Good luck getting Sirius away from that girl.” Then she pecked him on the cheek and Disapparated.
Lily, Robyn, Eve, Cassara and I gaped at Remus, whose face was bright red.
Lily, as usual, was the first to regain her composure. “Are you going out?” she asked.
He nodded slowly.
Cassara squealed and ran at him, almost knocking him down with her force while she hugged him. “Oh, my God! I’m so happy for you!” she shrieked. “I’ve got to go congratulate Scarlett!” And with that, she took a few steps back and Disapparated.
Robyn, Eve, and Lily congratulated him in a more civil manner, then Disapparated as well. Remus and I were left alone. It was quiet; almost everyone was gone from the streets.
“Congratulations, Moony,” I said. “You must’ve done well.”
He smiled. “I don’t know if I ever could’ve done it without your advice. And to be honest, I’m still in shock.”
“I can tell,” I replied. “Now we have to retrieve Sirius.”
Remus patted me on the back. “Since you’re such a good friend, you can do it.”
I rolled my eyes at him but decided it wasn’t worth an argument. I rolled up my sleeves and turned around. It was almost surprising to see them still going at it; I mean, they’d been making out for hours.
I walked over cautiously and tentatively tapped him on the shoulder. As I’d expected, he didn’t move.
I tried again, poking him and yelling, “Sirius!”
“Go away,” he said, his lips never leaving hers. I looked back at Remus, who had a slightly surprised look on his face.
“Sirius, we have to go. It’s getting late,” I said, hoping the third time was the charm.
He slowed up a little, then pulled himself off of her. “Fine.” He turned to the girl. “Alma, I’ll see you later.”
“It’s Allison,” she reminded him.
“Right. I’ll see you later Allison.”
“Bye, Sirius,” she replied.
He stood up reluctantly, then the three of us Apparated home. I still hated that sucking feeling, but I decided it was more convenient than riding a broom around or walking for the rest of my life.
Once we were back, we told Sirius all that he had missed, and he said he was almost sad he had missed it, which was a new thing for him. Normally snogging sessions were his life.
“Good job, Remus,” Sirius said. “Between you and Scarlett and James and Eve, this should be one of the most interesting years yet.”
And he was right.
A/N: Well,. I hope you liked it… as you can imagine, it took me a while to write. As I said, please review, because I’m getting a bit discouraged at how few I’ve been getting. I’ll try my best to get the next chapter out soon, though. I bet it’ll be shorter though. A lot shorter.