“Uh-huh,” James replied. “I gave him the potion and he’s going to take it in about an hour.” He walked over to his bed and started searching in his trunk for his moneybag. “Where are we going today?”
Selecting a dark grey T-shirt and pulling it over his head, Sirius snorted. “Well, I’m taking Martha to Madam Puddifoot’s. I don’t know about you because you’re not going anywhere near the place.”
James mock-scowled. “Merlin, ditching your mates for a girl. Not on, Padfoot, not on. What are Wormy and I supposed to do?”
Sirius shrugged. “Get yourself girlfriends and stop chasing after girls that don’t fancy you.” He grinned at them both. “C’mon, there must be some third years that haven’t knocked you back yet.”
Throwing a ball of dirty socks at Sirius’ head, Peter picked up his wash bag and walked out the room.
“What’s wrong with him?” Sirius raised his eyebrows. “It was only a joke.”
“Yeah, he’s a bit touchy about girls at the moment, haven’t you noticed? Doesn’t help that you and Moony are both paired up.”
Sitting on his bed and putting on a clean pair of socks, Sirius pulled a face. “That’s not our fault, is it? You both encouraged Moony to go out with Mary, and I’m not going to ditch Martha just to keep you two sweet.”
“Yeah, I know that,” James said and yawned. “And we don’t seriously expect you to ditch her for us. Just don’t rub his nose in it, that’s all I’m saying.”
Peter walked back in the room and began getting dressed. “I need to go to the Owlery after breakfast and send Mum a letter,” he said casually.
“Sure,” James replied. “Which owl are you using? Some of those school owls are well past their best. We should get our own, really.”
“Lily said I could borrow Snitch,” Peter mumbled, not looking James in the eye. “I asked her last night and she said it was fine.”
“You’re getting on well with her at the moment,” Sirius said slyly, with a sidelong glance at James.
Peter pulled on his trousers and then turned to face both of them. “She’s friendlier to all of us this year, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” mused James. “I’ve noticed that.” There was a pause as he finally pulled out his moneybag and, fishing inside it, pulled out a couple of Galleons, which he chucked at Sirius.
“What’s this for?” Sirius asked, looking bewildered.
“I forgot to tell you, but when you were in the hospital wing, Mum sent me some dosh and told me to share it with you,” James replied, trying to sound casual.
“Why is your mum sending money to me?” Sirius asked quietly.
“She sent it to both of us, Padfoot,” James said vaguely. “It’s probably ‘cause she knows you’re seeing Martha. She liked her; you know that. Yeah, there was definitely something in her letter about treating your girlfriend.”
Sirius studied the money in his hand and then tossed it back to James. “I’ve got money,” he said slowly. “I don’t need a handout.” Then he stood up and walked to the door, adding curtly, “I’m going for breakfast, see you there.”
As the door closed, James sighed. “Why is he so stubborn? Merlin knows what he’s doing for money.”
“He brought some from home,” Peter replied. “But I don’t know what he’ll do when it runs out.” Tying up the laces on his shoes, he turned to James. “You should have known he wouldn’t accept it, and saying it was from your mum was so obviously a lie.”
“It was from her!” declared James, reddening. A sceptical look crossed Peter’s face. “Ah, all right, it wasn’t. But short of hiding it in his robe pocket, I didn’t know what else to do.”
Peter yawned. “He’ll think up a scheme to make money, you know that. Now let’s get breakfast. I’m starving.”
Just as breakfast was drawing to a close, Remus turned up. He looked pale and was limping a little bit, but he grinned broadly at James as he sat between him and Mary.
“Hi,” he began nervously. “Sorry, I’ve not been around. Are we still on for Hogsmeade?”
Mary narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “That rather depends on what you’ve been in the hospital wing for.”
“Didn’t they tell you?” Remus said, injecting a note of confusion in his voice. “I was ill. James and I were doing an essay and eating cakes, and then I was sick everywhere. Merlin, it was awful. I’m much better now though ... don’t feel at all ...” He caught a steely look in her eye. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because I know you weren’t being sick, Remus Lupin. James told me the truth.” She picked up a mug of tea and looked away from him.
“He did?” Remus yelped in alarm.
James grinned at him. “I’ve promised Mary I won’t dare you to climb the Whomping Willow again. I’ll ... er ... make Sirius go instead.”
“It explains the scratches on your face,” she replied. “But honestly, Remus, why lie and say you were being sick?” She put down her mug of tea, and said, “I’m not going to want to go on a date if I think you’re going to spew everywhere, but cuts and bruises ...” She giggled, and James heard her whisper, “I can always kiss them better.”
Remus smiled sheepishly and slipped his hand into hers. Across the table, James noticed Lily watching them closely. Remus smiled at her too, but she didn’t smile back. Instead, she turned her head away and began to talk to Sonia.
“Have you heard from Phyllida recently?” Lily asked.
Sonia shook her head. “Not since Monday; Jacob had a letter from her yesterday, but it didn’t say any more than mine. She’s still at St Mungo’s, and I don’t know when she’ll be back.” She swallowed. “Or even if she’ll come back.”
Peter, sitting opposite, leant across to her. “Why wouldn’t she come back? Is she very badly injured?”
“N-no.” Sonia hesitated. “But I’m not sure she wants to. She’s lost her mum, Peter. She has no one now.”
“She’s got you,” he said and blushed slightly. “And Jacob, and all of us.”
“It’s not the same, though, is it?” Sonia said scathingly. “I mean that’s her mum who’s died. Family’s more important than anything.”
A silence descended on the table, and the light-hearted mood that Remus’ appearance had evoked disappeared. Peter looked downcast and didn’t look at Sonia again.
“Professor McGonagall says Gryffindors are a family,” Lily mused and cast a glance at James. “You, Potter, are certainly as irritating as my sister.”
“And you, Evans, are turning into my great-aunt Edna “ even down to the hairy chin,” he retorted, playing along with the joke.
“Just, for Merlin’s sake, don’t any of you turn into my mum,” declared Sirius. He gave Martha a peck on the cheek and then stood up. “I’m going to make myself even better looking ... if that’s possible.” He ducked as James threw a half-chewed piece of toast at him, and started laughing. “I’ll see you in the common room later.”
Martha lifted her head from the Quidditch magazine she was flicking through and nodded.
“I thought we’d go to the Hog’s Head and get rampagingly drunk on Firewhisky all afternoon,” Sirius added.
“Uh-huh, sounds good,” Martha replied as she read an article. She shook her head. “Sorry, what did you say?”
Sirius looked put out. “Nothing. I’ll meet you in half an hour, yeah?”
“I’ll come with you, Padfoot,” Peter muttered, seemingly anxious to get away from Sonia, who was still brooding. “Prongs?”
“Er, not yet,” James replied. He helped himself to another cup of tea. “I’ll be up in a minute. Martha, can I have my magazine back?”
“Mmm, in a minute. There’s a brilliant article in here about the new Nimbus,” she replied vaguely. “Do you think, Mary, if I beg Dad really, really hard, he’ll get me one for Christmas?”
Mary leant across the table to look at the magazine. “Possibly the next five Christmases and birthdays combined. You’d have better luck finding a rich boyfriend.”
“Don’t look at me.” Sirius was still hovering by the table, trying to pinch James’ last piece of bacon. “James is the rich one.”
Martha looked up and considered them both. “Ah well, I’ll stick to my old broom.” She tossed the magazine back to James and then stood up and hugged Sirius. “Are you really taking me to the Hog’s Head? That sounds cool.”
Sirius stared down at her in amazement. “You really want to go there? It’s ... it’s horrible, Martha. I was thinking Madam Puddifoot’s ...” He trailed off as she looked at him strangely. “Er, what’s wrong with Madam Puddifoot’s?”
“Stunningly unoriginal for a first date, Sirius,” interjected Mary sagely. “Besides, Remus is taking me there.”
“Am I?” Remus questioned.
“Yes, because I like it,” Mary decreed, “and as you haven’t been sick, you can eat as many cakes as you want.”
“Sounds like that’s decided, Moony,” muttered James from behind his magazine. “I wouldn’t argue.” Lifting his head up, he saw Peter by the door waiting for Sirius to finish his talk with Martha. Peter was looking at Sonia and Lily as they finished their drinks. An idea started to form in James’ head. He was sure Peter would be up for it.
Half an hour later, when Sirius and Remus had left with the Macdonald sisters, James and Peter wandered down the staircases and across the Entrance Hall.
“What, so we’re just going to follow them in?” Peter asked a sceptical expression in his voice. He stopped by the front door and stared at James.
James scanned the stairs and the long drive outside. “No, we’ll just happen to walk in with them. We’ll get chatting, lay on the charm “ okay, scrap that “ we’ll talk to them both as friends and then suggest going to the Three Broomsticks for a drink.”
“And when they say no?” Peter was still sceptical. “Sonia’s already made it pretty clear she’s not interested in me, and Lily turned you down last year. Why would she suddenly agree to go on a date now?”
“Because, my little ratty friend, this isn’t a date. Well, it won’t look like a date. It’ll be a chat about Phyllida because we’re concerned about her.” James picked at some mud that was on his wand. “And that’s not a lie, is it? I mean we’re all worried about Phyll, aren’t we?”
“S’pose,” Peter replied. He looked over James’ shoulder and hissed, “Sonia’s coming now; Lily’s just behind.”
“Play it cool, you jerk!” James muttered back and began strolling down the drive. After walking for a minute or so, he turned around and feigning surprise called, “Evans, hello! Peter and I were just talking about you.”
Lily sighed. “What now, Potter?”
James and Peter waited for the two girls to catch them up. “Well, not just you,” James began smoothly. “It was Sonia, really. Peter was thinking about Phyll and wondering what we could do to persuade her to come back. I mean, Hogwarts has to be the best place for her, surely?”
Lily opened her eyes wide. “Um, yes, that’s what I think, actually. She has to be better off with us than with strangers. Sonia and I were thinking about asking Professor McGonagall for permission to visit“”
“We thought,” interrupted Sonia, “that if we took along presents and cards from everyone then she’d see how much we’re missing her.”
James nodded. They’d got to the outskirts of Hogwarts now and were walking briskly down the winding, stony path to Hogsmeade. “Mmm, good idea. You could get Martha to draw a card; she did a great one for me when I was in hospital last year.” He paused, adding for Lily’s benefit because he was sure witches appreciated these things, “The personal touch made it much better than something bought for me.”
Lily nodded. “We’ll go to Honeydukes and buy her some of her favourite sweets, then walk to the Post Office. They sell fancy paper.” She stopped walking as she went over things in her head. “Sonia, shall we get her some books or magazines as well?”
“We’ll help!” Peter butted in. “Why not let us go to Honeydukes, whilst you get the other things and then we’ll meet somewhere.” He glanced at James who smiled encouragingly. “How about the Three Broomsticks? We could have a drink in there and then talk about how we get everything to her.”
James saw Sonia give Lily a meaningful look. With a slight shrug and an inkling of a smile, Lily nodded. “We’ll see you there in an hour,” she said as she linked arms with Sonia.
Yes! James thought as he tried not to grin inanely. Instead, he turned to Peter. “Right, let’s get to Honeydukes, buy all the things that girls like so they think we’re caring, sensitive types, and then run to the Three Broomsticks and get a decent table.”
“What happens then?” Peter asked nervously.
“We talk about Phyll for a while, buy some more drinks, and then very slowly, you start talking more to Sonia and I turn my attention to Lily. Don’t whatever you do, start using any of Sirius’ chat up lines. Just be friendly.” He grinned broadly. “Can’t fail.”
“It’s not really a date though,” Peter complained.
“Not exactly,” James admitted. “But by the end of today, they might just think that we’re two reasonably nice blokes and not jerks.” He paused and started trying to smooth down his hair. “We might even get to walk them back to Hogwarts.”
They took their time in Honeydukes. James decided that they needed to be very selective about the type of sweets Phyllida would enjoy. He seemed to remember that chocolate-dipped cherries were a particular favourite of hers and selected an extravagantly wrapped box complete with a large purple velvet bow.
“Isn’t that a bit ... er ... romantic?” Peter queried. “Phyll might think you want to go out with her again.”
James studied the box carefully. Covered in pink love-hearts, he shuddered at the prospect of Phyllida “ or, even worse, Lily “ misconstruing the gift. “Merlin, thanks for that,” he muttered. He replaced the box and picked up a far more utilitarian one. “Cream and brown packaging “ no one can get the wrong idea about that. Right, what else?”
“Not Cockroach Clusters. She hates them.”
James grinned as he remembered Phyllida’s horror when he bought her those particular sweets on their first date. She’d bitten into it, tried to swallow but had ended up spitting it into a handkerchief. He sighed. “I hope this works, Wormy.”
“Yeah, I hope we get a date out of this as well,” Peter replied as he scooped up some free samples of toffee flies.
James bit into a caramel slug that oozed onto his chin, and said thoughtfully, “Actually, I meant that I hope Phyll does return to Hogwarts. When she wasn’t yelling at me, we got on well.”
Laden with boxes that not only contained Phyllida’s favourite sweets but also some extras that they’d bought for themselves, James and Peter walked slowly to the Three Broomsticks. Stopping in front of Madam Puddifoot’s, they spied Remus and Mary sharing a large slice of strawberry flan. Pressing his nose against the window, James started to pull faces until he caught their attention. Remus dropped Mary’s hand and glared at him, but Mary laughed and waved to them both. Then, picking up Remus’ hand, she poked her tongue out at the pair of them, and turned her attention back to the flan.
With a last gurn at Remus, James snorted and turned away. He started to walk up the cobbled street and towards the Hog’s Head. “Let’s go and annoy Padfoot now?”
“No,” Peter replied firmly. “He’d just get very annoyed and then eat all the chocolate in revenge. Plus he’d then want to join us in the Three Broomsticks.”
James considered and then nodded. “Mmm, if Padfoot turns up, he’ll ruin the whole thing. Just you, me and the two best looking witches in Hogwarts then, eh?”
Peter grinned. “Yeah, just us four.” He began to whistle and broke into a jaunty type of step as they made their way to the pub.
As usual, the Three Broomsticks was packed. James cursed the fact that everywhere he looked there seemed to be annoying third years, who all seemed so incredibly excited to be let out of Hogwarts. He watched the boys nudging each other as Rosmerta walked around the tables, collecting glasses with a sour expression on her face.
“Hey, Rosie,” James called.
Rosmerta grimaced, but her expression lifted slightly. “It’s Rosmerta to you, James. You know I hate that nickname.”
“Aw, I thought it was cute, and suited you, Rosmerta,” he replied, emphasising her full name.
“If you carry on calling me Rosie, or Rose, then I’ll start calling you Jimmy. Do you want that?”
He chuckled. “Nope. Okay, Rosmerta it is.” Weaving his way through the tables until he found a small one against the wall, James put down the Honeydukes boxes and then walked back to her. “No chance of getting served, is there?”
“Wait your turn,” she muttered. “I’m on my own at the moment and it’s hard serving when I’ve run out of clean glasses.”
“Where’s Albert gone?” James asked, referring to the barman who usually collected the glasses and wiped tables.
“Spattergroit!” she exclaimed. Looking at the horrified expression on James’ face, she sighed. “He didn’t get it here so no one’s infectious. Merlin, the number of times I’ve had to reassure everyone, it would be easier to say he was dead!” She walked back to the bar; James followed whilst Peter sat at the table rearranging the boxes to make some space.
“Anyway,” she continued. “I have hired someone to fill in for a while, but as you can see, I’m on my own “ at least for another hour.”
“Is the replacement nice-looking?” James asked, a cheeky grin spreading across his face.
She chuckled. “Very! Now what can I get you, sir?” she asked a young third year standing at the bar.
Holding up a collection of Knuts and Sickles, the young boy asked for four Butterbeers. James watched in amusement as he carried the frothing tankards back to his excited friends.
“Reminds me of you four,” Rosmerta said. “Scraping your money together that first Hogsmeade weekend. Of course, you were all quite polite then, even Sirius. Not like now.”
James grinned. “We were much cooler than that, even at thirteen.”
Rosmerta laughed loudly. “No you weren’t! You dropped your beer in Sirius’ lap.”
“Hello, James,” Sonia called from the doorway. “Are you buying?”
James turned his head, Sonia and Lily stood in the doorway carrying bags, and both looked frozen. He pointed to Peter sitting at the table near the fire. As they walked towards him, he shouted. “Butterbeer okay for you both?”
Lily nodded, but Sonia shook her head. “Strawberry cordial for me.”
James turned back to Rosmerta. “Three Butterbeers and a strawberry cordial, please.” He rummaged through his moneybag, pulling out some coins. Looking up he saw Rosmerta studying him, a curious expression on her face. “What?”
“James Potter, have you finally got a date with Lily?”
James blushed slightly but smiled ruefully. “Not exactly, but ... ah, well, you never know. I might be lucky.”
Purloining a tray so that he didn’t drop any drinks this time, James walked back to the table. Sonia had sat opposite Peter, leaving Lily sitting next to him. Peter shrugged dispiritedly as James caught his eye, but short of forcing the girls to swap seats there was little James could do. He sat in the only vacant chair, between Sonia and Peter and opposite Lily.
“Did you get everything you needed?” he asked, addressing Lily.
She nodded and was about to answer when Sonia leant towards him. “Mmm, such a good idea about the card, James. I think Phyllida will really appreciate the gesture.” She stretched out one had to pick up her glass and accidentally (or was it deliberate?) touched him on the hand. James moved his hand away slightly, but one of her long fingers crept towards his thumb. James glanced across at Lily and Peter. She was smothering a grin, but Peter looked resigned again. Turning away from James, he started to talk to Lily about Snitch.
No! No! No! James thought. This is not the way it’s supposed to be!
He coughed and leant back in his chair. “Lily,” he said loudly. “Did you ever finish that Arithmancy homework? I had a lot of trouble with question three, did you?”
Lily snorted slightly but turned away from Peter. “I didn’t expect you to start talking about homework, James.” She took a sip of her Butterbeer as she considered his question. “You sound almost responsible,” she mocked.
James pulled a face. “I can be responsible at times, can’t I, Peter?”
Peter raised his eyebrows. “Can you?” James glared at him and he began to laugh. “Oh, yeah, there was that one time in Kettleburn’s lesson when you remembered your gloves.”
“You’re Quidditch Captain, aren’t you?” Sonia queried. “That doesn’t seem like a position they’d give someone who wasn’t responsible.”
“Thank you!” exclaimed James. “See, McGonagall thinks I’m up to the job. Anyway, I thought we were here to talk about Phyll?”
Lily stopped smiling and sighed. She leant back in her chair and her shoulders slumped wearily. “It’s awful, isn’t it? I mean we sit here giggling, enjoying life and then something “ or someone “ brings it all back. Poor Phyllida.”
James bit his lip. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought that as...” He stopped, unsure what to say. He felt guilty now for using Phyllida as an excuse just to impress Lily. Pushing his glasses off his nose and onto his forehead, he rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb. “I miss her,” he said at last. “Common room’s not the same without her.”
Pushing his chair back, he scooped up some money and walked to the bar, intending to get another round in. He heard someone following him, and, turning, was surprised to see it was Lily.
“I’ll buy these,” she said quietly.
“Sure,” he replied wearily. “I’ll give you a hand though.”
Lily nodded and then smiled up at him. As they edged into a space at the bar, he was assailed by her nearness, the scent of her hair, and he ached to touch it, to see if it were as soft as it looked.
“L-L-Lily,” he stammered. She looked up at him enquiringly. He took a deep breath. “Er, I wanted to know... er ... wanted to ask you ... if...” He stopped as Rosmerta appeared in front of them. Grimacing, he looked up at the barmaid and then blinked in surprise.
It wasn’t Rosmerta. This was obviously her Albert replacement. But instead of the pretty young girl he’d imagined, this was a man “ a good-looking man. Lily, catching James’ expression, turned to face the barman and then squealed, “Oh, Good Godric!”
“Hi there, Lily-lily,” said the barman who had cropped blonde hair, blue eyes and a dazzling smile. “I told you we’d meet again.”