“Adhara!” he exclaimed the moment she had stepped through the doorway. “All right?”
“Er “ hello,” said Jocelyn awkwardly.
“Freemonte,” Sirius nodded coldly.
“Black,” acknowledged Hector, sounding rather stiff.
“So, er “ did you have a good Christmas?” asked Jocelyn after an awkward pause.
“All right,” Hector shrugged. “Yours?”
“All right,” agreed Jocelyn. “Thank you for your present, by the way.”
Sirius gave an angry start.
“It was nothing,” mumbled Hector, reddening.
Jocelyn noticed the look on Sirius’s face and smiled slightly.
“No, really, it’s lovely, and it was so thoughtful of you,” she said sweetly, giving Hector a dazzling smile.
“Er “ well, you’re welcome,” muttered Hector, whose face color was now strikingly similar to the scarlet of the steam engine that pulled the Hogwarts Express, but he looked marginally more pleased with himself.
Sirius glowered at him, then gave a jaunty smile.
“Well, if you two are going to chat, there’s really no reason for me to stay,” he said in a falsely cheerful voice. “As a matter of fact, I promised I’d meet “ er “ Amanda Jennings in the “ er “ Charms corridor.”
Jocelyn grinned.
“That sounds really lovely, Sirius,” she said in a falsely sweet voice, “but you don’t know anyone named Amanda Jennings.”
Sirius glared at her.
“That’s why I’m going to meet her!” he snapped, and stormed away down the corridor.
Jocelyn gave a tinkling laugh.
“Sorry about him,” she said to Hector, who looked more uncomfortable than ever.
“Er “ don’t you want to go after him?” he questioned.
“Not particularly, no,” said Jocelyn, shrugging. “Now what were you saying before he interrupted us?”
“I “ wasn’t,” answered Hector awkwardly.
“All the better,” said Jocelyn, beaming at him. She glared at the spot Sirius had where disappeared. “I hate men who say too much.”
Sirius burst angrily into the common room, which was really quite an accomplishment, as it was nearly impossible to climb through the portrait hole in a bursting manner. James and Lily, who were sitting together in front of the fire, looked up at him.
“Ah, hello, Padfoot,” said James, grinning. “Had a good Christmas?”
“You know perfectly well how my Christmas was, as I spent it with you!” Sirius snapped.
“I take it the rest of your holidays weren’t wonderful, then,” observed Lily.
“My holidays were fine,” Sirius conceded sourly, throwing himself into the chair next to Lily. “It was what was waiting for me at the end of them!”
“I know what you mean, mate,” said James sympathetically. “School is always so much harder after the holidays. But we’ll be finished with it in June.”
“It wasn’t bloody school!” snapped Sirius.
“What then?” questioned Lily.
“Hector Freemonte!” said Sirius angrily.
“Oh,” interjected Lilac Brown, a very pretty sixth year, who was sitting nearby. She gave Sirius a brilliant smile. “Well I don’t know why that would be so horrible. Isn’t he that good-looking Hufflepuff pre “”
Sirius silenced her with a look.
“Lilac, maybe this isn’t the best time,” said Lily gently.
Lilac saw the look on Sirius’s face, nodded in agreement, and quickly retreated.
“So you ran into Hector?” Lily questioned, turning back to Sirius.
“Yes,” he told her with mock cheerfulness, “and he and Jocelyn are now having a lovely little chat in the Transfiguration corridor.”
Comprehension dawned across Lily’s face.
“Ah,” she said in understanding.
James buried his face in his hands.
“You bloody idiot,” he muttered, his voice muffled through his fingers. “I told you “!”
“You think I don’t feel stupid enough!” Sirius snapped. He stood. “I’m going up to the dormitory to “”
“No!” said James sharply, looking up. “You’re not using that to get back at her! Don’t look at me like that, you know perfectly well what I’m talking about, and I told you no! I absolutely forbid it!”
“And I suppose you’re going to stop me!” challenged Sirius.
“Yeah, I am,” snarled James.
“My own mother couldn’t keep me in my house, you’re certainly not going to stop me from hunting down Bell “” Sirius stopped abruptly, looking at Lily, who was frowning at him.
“Hunting down who, Sirius?” she asked him quietly.
“No one,” he said quickly.
“Does Jocelyn know you’re hunting down Bell No One Lestrange?” asked Lily sarcastically.
“Of course she doesn’t know!” James answered for Sirius. “That’s why I’m forbidding him to do it! Sirius, I won’t let you do it until you tell her the truth!”
“Tell who the truth?” said a very sweet voice from behind Sirius, and they all jumped. Jocelyn had just entered the portrait hole.
James leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. For a moment he and Sirius glared at each other.
“Well, go on Padfoot,” James said finally, gesturing to him.
Sirius turned slowly toward Jocelyn.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said roughly, without looking at her.
She didn’t answer, simply turned around and went right back through the portrait hole again. Sirius followed her. James and Lily looked at each other.
“I suppose that was a bit harsh,” said Lily quietly. “We really should have let him do it his way.”
“And let Jocelyn find out by herself?” James snapped, and then buried his face in his hands again.
Lily rose and sat down on the armrest of James’s chair, put her arms around him, and rested her cheek on the top of his head.
“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she said quietly.
“What?” he muttered.
“Girls,” she said simply, “complicating your friendship.”
James looked up in some surprise.
“I’ve never thought of you as a complication, Lily,” he told frankly.
She leaned down and kissed him.
“I know,” she smiled. “But that doesn’t stop me from being one. After all, it’s different going from playing pranks to pursuing girls, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know, I’ve been doing both for years,” said James, grinning slightly, and Lily giggled.
“Maybe that’s the problem then,” she said after a moment, more soberly. “You’ve spent so long trying to win me that you don’t know what to do now that you have.”
James frowned at her.
“I’d rather figure it out than never have had the challenge,” he reminded her and she smiled.
“I know,” she said quietly. “But is it enough?”
“Is what enough?” he asked sharply.
“Is it enough of a challenge? Are you sure you don’t need something else to try to win now? Another cause to devote your time to?”
“Not everyone is like Sirius, Lily,” James reminded her sternly.
Lily looked at him contemplatingly.
“No, I don’t think they are,” she agreed. “But even people like you and me don’t like sitting around waiting for things to happen. It’s not natural.”
“There’s a difference between ‘waiting around’, as you call it, and going out and looking for death,” James pointed out.
Lily gave him a hard look.
“Sirius is your best mate,” she reminded him. “Don’t you think he’s being even a little brave?”
“Stupidity is often mistaken as bravery,” said James harshly.
Lily smiled sadly at him.
“You’re scared for him, aren’t you?” she asked quietly.
James stared at the fire.
“More than I can say,” he whispered.
A/N: Hey guys! Wasn’t this chapter great? More Hector time! *grins evilly* *prepares for onslaught of angry reviews* *puts Hector into hiding in case any angry readers decide to attempt murdering him*