Disclaimer: Don't own a thing apart from Raisa
Phew! For about half an hour there I thought my computer had eaten document, but I am sooo glad it that it was just down to my horrible illiteracy when it comes to computers P
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Getting Through To You: Chapter 2
"Right," James began briskly as he barged into the Gryffindor Common Room, entourage in tow, knocking over several frightened First Years in the process. "Raisa – go sit by the fireplace, and Sirius go stand by the window. I want you at opposite ends of the room."
Sirius scowled. "It's freaking freezing. How come she gets to sit by the fire?"
"Sirius. Window. Now." James glared at Sirius, just willing him to even attempt to argue any more.
"Congratulations Evans," Sirius turned round to face a frazzled Lily and clapped his hands wryly. "You've actually managed to suck all the fun out of James."
Raisa, to her credit, obeyed the Fun Vacuum's instructions the letter - mostly because she was quite cold and did indeed want to sit near the roaring fire, but also due an inherent embarrassment that she had managed to land herself in this situation.
"Sweetie, are you sure you're okay?" Lily asked her boyfriend hesitantly. Evidently none of this was her fault, but James had still been acting really strangely ever since she had
A James Potter who was rapidly turning very red in the face in the manner of an overheating car engine squeaked in reply.
"OWWW!" Raisa squealed on feeling Lily's hand connect sharply with the back of her head.
"Jesus Lily, what's up with you? I know that you're Head Girl now but there's no need to hit me," Raisa moaned, rubbing her now sore head.
"Look what you did to James," Lily snapped. "You broke my boyfriend, Rai."
"Then you should be hitting Sirius too," Raisa countered smartly, fixing Sirius with a sharp glare as he shivered by the window.
"Oh don't you worry," Lily replied ominously. "Black is next on my list."
On hearing this, Sirius promptly ducked behind one of the window drapes. Lily Evans had a legendary temper, and in James and Raisa he had managed to harm two of her favourite people in the world.
"I haven't done anything wrong," Raisa continued, addressing Lily, James, Remus, Alice and anyone in general who might possibly get her off the hook ... "Sirius stalked me, trapped me in a cabin and then pretended to fainted, -"
Sirius rolled his eyes. Raisa rolled hers back.
"...and after that you stuck your tongue down his throat," prompted Peter matter-of-factly, oblivious to the latent eye rolling. For once he had actually been slap bang in the centre of all the drama, and so was now revelling in the fact that for once he knew exactly what was going on.
"WHAT?" Lily and Alice yelped in surprise.
Raisa pulled a face. "Don't you look so self righteous, Alice – where were you while Black was trying to seduce me?"
Alice immediately turned a most violent shade of red and muttered something about running late and Frank.
Raisa shook her head. "And besides, I certainly did not kiss him. He did attempt to kiss me though."
Sirius scoffed and took the opportunity to jump in:
"Who do you think you are? Bridgette Bardot? It is possible for me to be in the same room as you without wanting to jump your bones."
"What kind of guy pretends to faint to avoid conflict? You looked like a big fat swan."
"I saved you from getting blown to bits by Lucifer and his henchmen."
"I would have been fine. You know from experience that I can defend myself."
"Hey, I have not sucked anything out of James, let alone his fun."
"Dirty."
"This is what happens when the two of you leave me to fend for myself. "
"QUUUIIIIIIIIIET!!"
The warring Gryffindors looked up all of a sudden, stunned to silence by the booming voice of Hogwarts' resident Head Boy who seemed to have now recovered the use of his voice and was using it to very good effect in yelling loudly.
"I want to know WHY I found the two of you fornicating on the carriage floor, and I want to know RIGHT NOW!" James continued.
...Several seconds later he began to regret somewhat the exact volume of his words on realising that the entire Common Room had stopped what they were doing and were now listening intently to the latest slice of drama from the Gryffindor Seventh Year.
...
The dormitory door slammed shut and three pairs of beady eyes rounded on Sirius Black.
"We found the two of you on the floor on top of each other. Do you want her dead or something?" James ran hand through his hair and sighed. He was now beginning to understand somewhat the problems that came with being a figure of authority. Alarmingly he was even beginning to feel a small amount of sympathy for Professor McGonagall.
"I love how this entire thing is automatically all my fault," Sirius glowered. Strictly speaking it was probably somewhere between eighty and ninety percent his fault, but as a supportive friend James should have been prepared to overlook that small fact.
"We're simply concerned about you, Sirius," Remus interjected softly.
"I know that you are, Moony," affirmed Sirius with a pointed look in James' direction. "But you don't need to be. I'm fine."
"Rai won't be though," James piped up, ducking quickly when Sirius threw one of Peter's shoes at him.
There was a fractured silence in which James and Sirius glared threateningly at each other and Peter mourned the loss of his shoe.
"Padfoot, I'm trying to understand here," James continued, massaging his temples, already exhausted by the effort of keeping up with Sirius' logic.
"I didn't kiss her," Sirius stated plainly.
"I promised Lily on the train that the two of you were apart, and then I walk into that compartment and find that you're...you're the opposite of apart."
"I didn't kiss her," Sirius again, this time with a faint tinge of regret in his voice.
"So what happened? You pretended to faint and she was about to give you mouth to mouth?"James inquired, as if it was the most ludicrous thing on the planet.
Sirius inclined his head, pleased that James seemed to have finally grasped the point.
"Oh," James cringed. "So I really shouldn't have yelled what I yelled down there?"
"No."
"Oh."
"If you don't mind me asking Padfoot..." Remus began, with a sense of dread in his voice. "Why, exactly, did you pretend to faint in the first place?"
Sirius winced. Stupid Regalus – the one thing he wanted to keep private and his brother
"You won't like it," Sirius continued, picturing Raisa's face on finding out he had stolen the Black Book. He imagined that James and Remus might not be too thrilled either.
"So there's actually something we will like less than what you already did?" James retorted sarcastically.
Sirius let out a slow, unsteady breath. "I don't really want to tell you."
There. He'd said it.
James looked aghast. "What do you mean you don't want to tell us? We're your best friend, which means that we have a right to know."
"With all due respect, mate," spat Sirius. "This is something I would actually like to keep private."
"...and we have to respect that," prompted Remus.
"Can't we just beat it out of him?" questioned James hopefully.
On seeing Remus shake his head in the negative James nodded resignedly. "Okay, well as Head Boy I propose we put in place a banning order."
Peter rubbed his hands gleefully. This sounded like fun.
Sirius, however, snorted derisively.
"Remus, are you in agreement?" James asked rhetorically.
Remus winced, and nodded. "Sorry Sirius, but I think this is for the best."
"Pete?" James asked.
The smallest Marauder nodded avidly.
"You're actively banning me from Raisa?" Sirius questioned, unimpressed. "I'm not a kid."
"Yet your behaviour seems to suggest otherwise," deadpanned James.
"Well thanks a lot, best friend. I feel really, really supported by you," retorted Sirius acidly. "Considering how much we had to listen to you whinging last year about Evans, I think you've really let me down here.
"Sirius-"attempted Remus.
Sirius cut him off by raising his hand. "Goodnight Remus, goodnight Peter – I'm sleeping in the bath tonight."
The dormitory crackled with the promise of gossip.
"Come on, what did Sirius do to you?
"Did he slip you some kind of potion?
"Sirius did nothing to me bar being an annoyance, and I did NOT kiss him," Raisa protested once more. "However, by tomorrow the entire school will think that we DID." She sank back into her pillows with a sigh. Things were definitely not going to plan at the moment.
Lily looked up from rummaging in her trunk for some nightclothes. "How come James is so adamant that the two of you kissed then?"
Raisa bit her lip. "Do you think Alice is too mad at me for teasing her about Frank?" she inquired, attempting to subtly change the subject.
"Don't change the subject," admonished Lily, shaking her head affectionately.
"He fainted...I had to check that he was okay...and maybe my head might have been in the vicinity of his lips," she replied, sounding feebler by the minute. "Although I now think he was only pretending to faint, because no one looks that graceful falling unless they're faking it."
"And he pretended to faint, why?" asked Alice on her way out of the bathroom, too interested in the story to be angry at Raisa any longer.
Raisa hesitated. The Black Book. She couldn't explain why, but it suddenly felt very disloyal for even thinking of ratting out Sirius.
Maybe a small part of her was quite interested to know why, exactly, he wanted the book...
"I guess he was angling to kiss me?" she said hesitantly, figuring that in the circumstances it might stand as a viable excuse.
Lily nodded sympathetically, in the tone of someone who understood the hell it was to have people eternally wanting to lock lips with her. She then beckoned to Alice and the two of them proceeded to huddle together by Lily's bed, whispering softly.
Raisa was beginning to feel quite left out when the pair disbanded and stood up...
"We can't let you come into contact with him anymore," announced Lily.
"What-? "spluttered Raisa, her expression slowly morphing into a wide grin as though it were the best news she had had all day. "I love you guys! Thank you so much! I agree completely."
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