Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Joanne Rowling (or JKR, if she insists on the "K").
A/N: It's a try. Let me know if it's worth being continued, would you? :)
I. INITIUM
seven days left
„Good morning, Gryffindor, your jewel's here", Sirius said cheerfully and sat down opposite his best friend. James raised an eyebrow. "It's been here for quite a while", he answered. Sirius looked around. "I can't see Lily anywhere", he mentioned. "So who on earth are you talking about?"
"I might as well ask you just the same", James retorted. "Because surely you wouldn't call yourself the 'jewel of Gryffindor'…hang on, you would do that." The boys smirked at each other. Peter sighed. "Moony, tell me again how long we'll have to deal with them…"
"Eight months, I think", Remus answered.
"That was a rhetorical question!"
"No, technically it was a request. Anyway, you'll live."
"Moony's in his teacher's mode again", James sighed. "Let's talk about something more interesting…Padfoot, I've got another one for you."
Sirius looked up, putting his fork down. "Yeah?"
"Hm. Might be kind of a challenge…"
Sirius grinned. "Go on."
"A sixth-year from Hufflepuff. Her brother and sister are in Gryffindor. From what I've heard, she's only had one or two boyfriends so far." James waggled his eyebrows. Sirius sighed and turned to have a better view at the Hufflepuff table. "Which one?"
"Near the entrance doors, with her face towards us. Next to Emma Levine."
The handsome Gryffindor frowned. Blonde hair, quite short, freckles…fairly pretty. But…He continued to examine her asking James, "What's her name?"
"Leslie Mondegreen." The girl turned around as if she'd heard them, but her gaze seemed unfocused, so she probably hadn't. James went on. "I dare you to become her boyfriend in a week, starting from now on."
"I beg you, James. A Hufflepuff? Seriously, was there no other girl available?"
"Nope. One week, Padfoot. Otherwise you have to be nice to Snivellus for the rest of the month."
The girl – Leslie – frowned and averted her gaze. Remus stifled a laugh. "Oh, Sirius, I'd go for it. That's quite a harsh punishment."
Sirius focused on his plate. "I thought you were against our 'girlfriend' bets?"
"I am", Remus answered but didn't stop grinning.
"Wait a second", Peter murmured. "Her name's Mondegreen, you say?"
"That too", Sirius grumbled.
"Why, what's wrong with it?"
James chuckled. "One of the old pureblood families, Moony, they've got a feud going on with the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Almost every Mondegreen was in Gryffindor."
"So how come she's in Hufflepuff?" Peter asked.
"I don't know. Maybe she's extraordinarily dumb or something."
"Prongs!" Sirius growled. "It's me who has to date her, so don't make it worse than it already is!"
"Aw, come on. Can't be that bad. Maybe she's got special talents no one knows about" James smirked. Remus laughed and patted his friend on the back. "Cheer up, Padfoot. One week, shouldn't be too difficult, huh?"
"Oh, all right. But if I win", he pointed his fork at James, "you'll finally have the balls to ask out Evans before Christmas, or you'll have to be nice to Snivellus all year long."
James gulped.
They happened to leave the Great Hall right after Leslie Mondegreen and her friend, Emma Levine. The girls were chatting animatedly, waving their hands to underline what they were saying. Emma threw back her head, laughing. Apparently, their destination was the Potions classroom. The Marauders stopped – they had to go somewhere completely different. "What now?" Peter asked doubtfully. Sirius sighed. (The day definitely contained too much sighing, he noticed.) "You go and tell McGonagall I forgot my book or something. I can handle that alone."
"The chief has spoken", James said earnestly. "We must not disturb him. He's gone stalking."
"Oh, get lost…the castle's big enough." They went away, laughing. Sirius let out a breath and drew his wand.
"Merde", Leslie hissed when the strap of her schoolbag snapped. "Oh, merde again…that was my last bottle of ink. – I'm fine, Emma, don't worry. Go ahead and tell Professor Slughorn I'll be there in a minute."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. You don't have to wait, really."
"Well, see you in Potions." Emma gave her a sympathetic look and hurried away. Leslie started cleaning away the ink when suddenly someone bent down, picking up some of her books. "May I help you with that?"
With a last flick of her wand, she rose, and found herself face to face (or rather, face to chest) with Sirius Black.
He was, to tell the truth, a little disappointed. The girl in front of him was slightly breathless, but only because she had just cleaned up a small chaos, not because he was there. Her eyes – blue, by the way – showed nothing but reserved irritation. "Thank you, Black", she said and took her books from him. If he didn't hurry, she'd be gone in a blink. He smiled amiably. "Hey… Leslie, isn't it?"
She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and frowned. "Forget it. It's not going to work."
"Excuse me?"
"You know what I mean. I won't throw myself at you just so you win your stupid bet. So, goodbye." Leslie shouldered her bag and went away. Sirius grimaced. That didn't work too well…
"It didn't work too well."
"Muffliato…"
"What happened?"
"She knew what I was up to!" Sirius said through gritted teeth.
"Oh no", Remus whispered, hardly restraining a laugh. "Did I possibly forget to tell you she can read lips?"
"What?"
"Mr Black. As much as I appreciate the fact you seem to have finally found this classroom, sheer presence doesn't guarantee you a good oral mark. At the moment, the only 'outstanding' thing near you is Mr Potter's hair, so the two of you had better follow my explanations." Professor McGonagall returned to the blackboard and started to dictate a short version of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. "What's her problem?" Peter whispered. "She got a cactus stuck beneath her kilt?"
James had to bite his knuckles to hide his improper amusement. Sirius, however, bent over the desk and started to scribble hastily…though Professor McGonagall wouldn't have been too happy if she had known what exactly he was writing.
Something was annoying her. It prodded her constantly, and it was spiky. Finally, it got caught in her fringy hair, which hurt. Unnerved, she lifted her hand and grasped – "A piece of paper?"
"Pardon?" Emma looked at her questioningly.
"Nothing" Leslie mumbled, putting some chopped dandelion root into their kettle. Emma smiled and started to stir the draught. "According to the book, we have to do this for at least five minutes", she complained. "U-huh…" Leslie didn't really react but stared at the little piece of paper on her palm.
Hey, Mondegreen,
You don't want to go out with me. Accepted. But can we just talk?
S.
After some hesitating, she wrote back.
Fine. When? Where?
The answer came via magical air mail right after Emma had finished stirring.
Lake, 4pm?
Leslie pestled some valerian leaves. That was too early, she had quite an amount of homework to do.
Half past four.
No answer came. That was probably a good sign. Emma slapped her arm. "Hey, Dolly Daydream! You're supposed to put the unicorn hair in there, not knot it."
"Sorry." She rubbed her arm and tried to concentrate on the lesson.
Sirius was already there. He stood at the edge of the lake, hands in his pockets, looking over to the Quidditch pitch where James Potter was holding practice. When Leslie came nearer, he turned to smile at her, and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey."
"Hey", she answered hesitatingly and took off her bag. Noticing his stare, she raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"
"I didn't think you'd actually come, that's all", he said and grinned quickly. "So…I would've offered you a chair, but it seemed a bit formal."
Leslie agreed. They kept silent for a few moments before she said, "Lovely weather today, isn't it."
"It is. Pretty unusual for November. But honestly, Monde- er, Leslie, the weather?"
She raised an eyebrow. "What would you like to talk about?"
"James' bet, if you're fine with it."
"Oh, I already know. You need to become my boyfriend within a week, otherwise you have to be nice to some poor chap called Snivellus…" Sirius snorted. "What?"
"His real name's Severus Snape. And you missed the second part." He bent forward. "If I win, James has to ask out Lily before Christmas, or he has to be nice to Sni- Snape, I mean, all year long."
"The boy must be quite horrible if you'd rather date me than say hello to him."
"I beg you! He's a Slytherin, he's a greasy little bootlicker, he's just…Snivellus. – Hang on, what do you mean, so horrible I'd rather date you?"
"Come on, I absolutely don't fit into your predatory pattern, Black. I'm too old, I'm a Hufflepuff, I'm intelligent…" She raised a brow quizzically. He frowned. "Don't be silly. You know it doesn't work like that."
"Well, how does it work, then?" Leslie asked. He shrugged. "Can't explain. It's a boy thing, I guess."
"Either way, I won't play along. Sorry. Now, would you excuse me? My friend needs some female help." She picked up her bag. "Big date tonight." Her blue eyes glinted with amusement. Sirius nodded. "Understood. You cannot let her down in this difficult situation. Who's the lucky one?"
"Amos Diggory." Leslie grinned. "They're absolutely predestined, so…" She walked towards the castle. To her surprise, Sirius stayed next to her. They parted in the Great Hall. Halfway up the stairs, he heard her call: "Black!"
"Yeah?"
She fiddled with her hair. "Under different circumstances, perhaps. But not like this."
He smirked. "I'll keep it in mind, Mondegreen."
