someone was kind enough to point out to me that what was titled 'chapter one' actually consisted of both chapter one AND chapter two. it's been so long since I've been writing fanfiction or reading my old stuff that I wouldn't have known this, so thanks for the tip. :
this is, I would hope, the better-formatted-and-better-edited version.
"Will you go out with me?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Begging will not help your case."
"Come on. I'll shower you."
"WHAT?"
"With gifts! What did you think?"
There was a delightful pause. Only delightful because it was the first silence in quite a while.
"I swear, I will sock you a hard one, Black."
Remus Lupin looked up. "Black?" he said. "Did Lily just call James 'Black?' She's losing it."
"Thanks a lot, Remus," said Lily as she walked over to him.
"Yeah, and Remus," said James, "I'm over here, mate."
Remus looked puzzled as he watched James, who was about fifteen feet away from him, skip stones into the lake.
"Then who—?"
"Please, Hopeful?"
"My name is not HOPEFUL! IT'S HOPE! I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU SIRIUS BLACK! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
There was a silence.
"Did that clear it up for you?" asked Peter next to him.
"Yep, that pretty much did it."
There was a loud cry of anguish from Hope Duncan, and she stomped away into the distance. "HUT!" was all the managed to blurt out as she walked the direction of Hagrid's Hut, making her sound much like she was playing American Football.
"Later," Lily replied to her friend. "Poor Hope," she said, pulling at the grass and staring off into the distance.
Sirius walked over. "I was sure I had her that time," he said as he sat down, but he certainly didn't seem upset like James after facing another rather ungracious rejection from Lily.
"And to think that I though this would all be over when Lily and James started going out," Remus said.
"Yeah, speaking of that, why did you assume it was James and me fighting if we're dating?" asked Lily.
Remus smiled. "The sound of you two fighting has been imprinted in my brain," he stated.
Lily bit her lip and beamed. "I didn't mean to fall for him," she said. "It was an accident."
"Obviously," replied Remus as he watched Lily cuddle into James, who had just returned from playing fetch with the giant squid.
"Anyway," Lily said, turning to Sirius. "You don't even fancy her. You just want to add her to your collection."
Sirius looked up. "Who?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Hope!"
"Yes?"
Lily turned to see her 5'5'' friend with her medium length mahogany brown hair tied up in a hasty ponytail. She brushed her side-bangs out of her brown eyes. "Well?"
"Oh," said Lily. "Hagrid not there?"
"No," Hope replied. "Look, Lil, I'm going to go inside, ok?"
"Sure thing," said Lily. "I'll come with."
"No, it's ok. I just want to change. I'll see you later. Love ya."
"Love you too," Lily said.
0o0o0
Hope walked down the corridor. She wanted to change into something less figure-flattering. Hope was always very self conscious about herself, especially after an encounter like that with Sirius.
Hope was not what you would call skinny or thin. Lily was thin. Lily, with her lean legs, flat abs, and straight hair, was thin. Hope was far from that. Her hips were quite wide, her waist was narrow ( but not quite as narrow as Lily's), but he blessing and curse of Hope's figure was he bust. She was naturally big, but she was never left alone for it by Sirius. She was very touchy on the subject. Sirius had once asked if she'd used a spell or if it was an illusion, and she promptly punched him in the jaw. So for reasons similar to the one mentioned, she ended up buying a lot of baggy t-shirts.
When Hope made it to the dorm, she looked at herself in the mirror. She took off her tank top and put on a big boxy t-shirt instead. Damn that Sirius. Sure, he was absolutely gorgeous, but his dream was to date every good-looking girl in or around his age. If Hope ever dated him, he'd probably use her and dump her in a week.
Sure, Hope had had a soft spot for Sirius in the past… but after numerous remarks about her figure, she had taken to disliking him greatly.
0o0o0
"Padfoot, why do you keep asking her out?" question James a week later.
"To be fair, mate, look at your own life. You never did stop asking Lily, did you?" replied Sirius as they walked down the corridor. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Anyway, I've officially given up on her."
"You have?" James asked.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "No girl is worth that much."
"Well," said James, "I'm afraid we'll have to disagree there."
A fair distance behind them, walking with her head to the floor, was Hope Duncan. Now she definitely knew that she needed to move on from Sirius. The boys went outside, and hope went to the common room, where she found Lily.
"Hey, Hope," said Lily. "I'm going swimming I the lake. Want to come?"
Hope though about it. "Yeah, I think I will," she said. She ran upstairs and put on her swimsuit, a one-piece, and put a sun-dress over it. She hopped back down the stairs and joined Lily. "Ready," she said.
When they reached the lake, Lily ran in immediately. Hope followed. They soon had an audience, however. Hope's head burst above the surface of the water as she came up for breath. She saw the four marauders sitting at the shore, watching rather amusedly. Lily stuck her tongue out at them.
James slapped a hand to his chest. "I'm hurt," he said in mock grief.
"Hey, the swimsuit suits you, Eartha," Sirius called to Hope.
Hope nearly choked herself and sank. She disappeared for a few moments and reappeared a few feet from the shore. "Who the HELL told you my middle name!" she sputtered. The gorgeous look of a smile and a laugh on Sirius's face made Hope melt. But she would remain angry.
Sirius smirked. "I do have my sources, you know. Friends in high places."
"That's because your head's in the clouds half the time, you brute," she said, and tackled him.
"What— is—wrong with you?" she asked, banging her fists into his chest.
Sirius grabbed her arms to hold her still. Hope was briefly aware that she was in a position that many girls would like to be in right now. She was also aware of how warm he was… and his hands…. She snapped herself out of it.
"I don't know if this is a bad time, since you're on top of me and everything, but we're throwing a party in the room of requirement and I was wondering if you would not like to attend?"
"No," Hope spat.
"Great! I'll see you there, then!"
"Wait—" said Hope, confused. "What?"
"You know, I like the position you're taking on me."
Hope jumped off of him.
Sirius grinned and propped himself on his elbows. "Oh, and by the way, I have moved on from asking you out. So… See you at the party?"
Hope stuck out her tongue at him and jumped back into the water
0o0o0
Lily and hope were lying in the sun, drying off. Lily had told the boys to bugger off for a while.
"So," said Lily. "Will you go to the party with me, then?"
"You approve of this?" asked Hope, laughing. "You are, you know, Head Girl."
Lily smiled. "You know, I've kept most Gryffindor parties under control all year. But come one. It's the end of the year! Will you come?"
"Sirius will be there," Hope commented.
"Yes," Lily agreed.
Hope looked down. "Well… fine. But I'm not talking to him."
They went to their room after dinner to get ready. Lily wore dark denim capris and a t-shirt. Hope wore a blouse and jeans.
Lily stared at her. "You look like a nun."
"Nun's don't wear jeans," Hope argued.
"At least let your hair down," said Lily. "And put on cooler jeans. Dark ones. Tight."
"Fine."
"And let me fix your hair a bit…" said Lily, walking over to her with a thoughtful look on her face. "we can still make you hot without you looking like a slut."
Fifteen minutes later, they walked down the corridor together, after they had gotten dressed. Hope's long shaggy bangs were straitened and hanging in her eyes, and the rest of her hair was straitened , too/. Lily had also put on black eye-makeup onto Hope, giving her eyes a 'mysterious' look, as Lily had called it.
"Where is it at?" asked Hope.
"The Room of Requirement," Lily replied. "Walk past it three times and think, 'a place for a party that no one can find unless they were invited.'"
"Wow. That's quite a mouthful."
"Sure is," Lily said. "But we need to be precautious."
The two girls did just that. When they entered, despite it being early, the people were already deep into the party.
"Oh, look. Drunks," said Hope. "Fun fun."
In the crowd of people, Hope was separated from Lily. She bumped into Sirius.
"Hello, Hopeful," he said.
"My name is Hope," she said.
"Want a drink?" he asked ignoring the comment.
"No thanks," Hope replied. "I don't drink anything at parties. Nothing. I brought a water bottle."
Sirius stared. "You drink water at parties," he stated.
"I do believe that's what I said," replied Hope.
Sirius smiled that Sirius smile. "Whatever. Afraid of being spiked?"
"I guess," said Hope, smiling and looking down. Hope began to walk around the room. Sirius followed her. Hope was mildly aware of this. "Wow. Doors everywhere. I'm assuming it's for those very friendly couples?"
"More or less," said Sirius. He took a swig of beer. Hope cringed. Gross.
Hope sat down on a couch. Sirius followed suite.
"So," he said.
"Sirius, are you really going to attempt to make friendly conversation with me?"
"Yes," he said.
Hope smiled— actually smiled— at Sirius. "Can I ask you something personal?" she said.
"Sure," replied Sirius, taking another swig of beer.
"Are you drunk?"
He paused and smiled. "Maybe mildly intoxicated, but nothing more."
"Oh," said Hope. "Well, as unnattractive as you smell because of it, I like you better this way."
He scoffed mockingly. "You weirdo. And to think I actually had a crush on you."
Hope felt her self heat up at this comment.
"Let's dance," Said Sirius suddenly, pulling Hope up and over to the middle of the dance floor and very close to himself.
"Sirius, don't ruin it," Hope whined. They had had such a nice conversation.
He pulled her even closer to him. "I'm going to kiss you," he said in a sing-song voice.
"No, Sirius, don't," said Hope. Her face heated up.
"Yes I am. Are you going to try and stop me?"
Hope looked to the floor.
The grin left Sirius's face. He had only just been messing with her. But he had expected her to fight back, like she always did. She didn't. He looked closer at her. Her face was all red.
"Hope, I was only messing. I'm always only messing with you. You know that, right?" he said, freaking out. Feelings sort of sacred him. The reason he had asked her out all those years, unlike James asking Lily out, was just to bug her.
Hope gulped. "Y-yeah. Of course. I mean, heaven forbid you were actually being serious for once." She tried to pull herself away, but Sirius had a good grip on her.
Sirius was making Hope Duncan— the Hope Duncan, who never took any crap from Sirius— nervous. He looked at her chest. It was rising and falling rapidly. She gulped. She was breathing heavily.
Oh my gosh, though Sirius. She actually likes me. As in… feelings!
"My eyes are up here, Sirius," she whispered.
He looked up. "Oh, Hope, that's not what I—"
"That's all you ever care about, isn't it, Sirius?" she asked, and pulled herself away from his grip.
Sirius ran after her and cornered her by a door.
"Hope," he said, his mouth was dry. "I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."
She looked up at him, her bangs nearly covering her eyes.
"I mean, I didn't know… that you… That…"
"That I liked you?" said Hope miserably. "And hated you?" And you were killing me every time you asked me out and I knew you didn't mean it?
"You're messing my brain up," he whispered, his breath ruffling her bangs.
"Please don't take advantage of me," said Hope. "I don't want you to—"
He kissed her. She kissed him back. Sirius pressed her body against the door and she put her arms around his neck. Hope Duncan was kissing Sirius Black.
