One
"It's going to happen one day," I heard from beside me. My stomach twisted. I chose to ignore it and instead looked up from my food and snorted sarcastically.
I heard a sigh. "Okay, Prongs, whatever you say," Sirius said from across the table.
"I honestly don't know what you see in her," I muttered almost inaudibly. Apparently, however, it was loud enough for James to hear.
"Here he goes," Sirius mumbled, still smiling nonetheless. "Nice job, Kate, now he'll go on for hours."
"Haven't I already explained this a million times?" Then he went on to rant about how perfect she was.
I held up my hand to silence him, "Save your breath, Prongs, you'll need it to blow up your date to the ball." My joke was met with appreciative laughter around the table.
"Ha-ha, very funny," he said, hazel eyes met my own. James then looked away to gaze at Lily. "But I'm serious."
"No, James," Sirius said, "I'm Sirius." Then, to me, he said, "Poor bloke's so confused he doesn't even know his own name."
I broke out into a fit of laughter, which regained James's attention. "Again, Padfoot, that joke isn't funny. You must've used it a thousand times." He frowned, resting his elbows on the table.
"Someone's in a bad mood," I said, poking him in the stomach. He tried not to smile. "We need to fix that."
Padfoot grinned at me, dark eyes shining. "I completely agree," he said, looking back and forth between James and me.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked him although I already knew his answer.
"Stripes, what else could I be thinking?" he asked back. "I believe it's time we welcome Snivellus back to school with a little practical joke."
Remus sighed and broke into our conversation for the first time, "Please, nothing too extreme. If I get detention because of you guys one more time I'll lose my prefect title."
"Well, Prefect Moony," Sirius started, "we'll be sure to abide by all your strict rules and principles." He could barely hold back his grin.
Peter laughed nervously, also speaking for the first time, "Yeah, right. Like that'd ever happen."
Apparently, Prongs hadn't been paying attention to us because he said, "I think I'll try again now…to see if she changed her mind." He started standing.
I pulled him back down into his seat. "Look, Sirius and I have been meaning to talk to you for a while…"
"You're in way over your head, here," Padfoot said, getting straight to the point. "You have to give up on her."
He shook his head, "No. No way am I giving up. I'm closer than ever! Can't you see?"
"No, we can't see, James," I said, sighing. "You've asked her out four times already this year and we haven't even been here twenty four hours."
Prongs didn't say anything. Instead, Remus said, "I have to agree. This is insane, even for you."
"Plus, she's kind of a prude," I said. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Not your kind of girl."
"Yeah, but—" I cut him off.
"You don't have to say anything right now," I said. "Just think about what we're saying, okay?"
"Fine," he paused. Then a smirked made its way onto his handsome features. Brushing some messy black hair out of his eyes, he said, "Now what were you saying about pranking Snivellus?"
"He's back," Sirius said, grinning at me. "Now let's go mess with Snape."