Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm glad you liked the 1st chapter:) I just edited this a little because I found some typos. Sorry if I missed any, I know they are annoying.
Plans for Interrogation
It was the next day and the first Hogsmeade weekend of their 6th year. Celia, Lily and Marlene were getting ready in their dorm room. They all had dressed similarly in jumpers and jeans, which was terribly exciting for Marlene.
"I love those on you Marlene. I'm glad you were able to talk your mum into letting you buy pants" Lily said.
Marlene was a pureblood witch and her mother thought pants were the weirdest thing her daughter could have asked for. Muggle men's clothes?
"I'm glad too, so much more freedom than with robes." Marlene agreed looking down at the dark bell bottom jeans and swinging her legs.
Celia grinned playfully "You'll be fighting off Lupin with a stick"
Marlene grew red at the mention of her current crush's name.
"Come on girl, you already admitted you like him." Lily teased and Marlene rolled her eyes.
"Well unlike Potter who asks you out every 5 minutes" she said pointing at Lily "And you and Black's strange relationship" She pointed to Celia "Remus does not even notice me." She said glumly.
Celia was perplexed by her comment. What did she mean 'her and Sirius' strange relationship? They didn't really have a relationship. They were friends, and potions partners, that was it. Okay so maybe she held a slight attraction to him, but hell, who wasn't attracted to him? Well besides Lily and Marlene who were more concerned with other marauders.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts to comfort Marlene. "Lupin notices you, he's just shy. Maybe you should make the first move?' Celia suggested.
Marlene scoffed at this and shook her dark hair "As if either of you two would make the first move."
Lily and Celia laughed. "You're absolutely right, I would be way too terrified to do that" Lily admitted "but if you really like him, I think it's worth a chance."
"Hey if you're going to like shy nice boys this is the way it goes." Celia shrugged. "Come on let's go to Hogsmeade, I'm hungry and I have to meet Fabian at 1." She groaned.
She had a date and she was not exactly looking forward to it. He was a really nice guy but she had been feeling less than content with him lately. They had been dating for two years and all the excitement and newness of their relationship was long gone. He was becoming more and more like an overprotective friend that she occasionally shagged rather than a lover.
The girls left their room and headed towards the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade.
"So what's with you and Fabian lately?" Lily asked her when they were safely tucked into the carriage and away from prying ears.
"What do you mean?" Celia asked feigning ignorance and Marlene cocked her head in suspicion
"You know exactly what we're talking about Celia. You act like you're not interested in him anymore."
She wasn't sure if she was interested in him anymore. She had been with him a long time though and she wasn't sure what she thought about the situation just yet, so she kept her true thoughts to herself. She should have been more than content with Fabian, he was attractive and funny, there was no good reason not to be happy with him.
"Oh, I don't know. It's just a phase I think. Don't worry about it." Celia reassured them though they didn't look exactly convinced.
"Well I know Sirius Black likes you, maybe you should start going out with him instead." Marlene teased and Celia felt her cheeks grow warm.
"It didn't seem like it last night when he had Timmons thrown over a desk." she responded sarcastically.
Celia entertained the idea of her and Sirius for a moment; truthfully she had always harbored a secret crush on him. She wondered what it would be like to kiss him, or have him touch her. She needed some fire in her life and being taken in an abandoned classroom would probably do the trick.
"Just because he's porking Michelle doesn't mean he doesn't like you. He was probably just horny and she was willing." Marlene had been convinced that Sirius had liked Celia since the beginning of last year, but he had yet to do anything about those feelings if indeed he had them.
"Marlene!" Lily shouted, while Marlene shrugged "What?"
Celia thought Lily was going to defend Michelle but she just huffed "Celia is not breaking up with Fabian, especially not for Black, he's Potter's best friend. If you date Lupin and she's with Black I'll be forced to sit with Potter and converse with him. And I am just not willing to do that."
Celia giggled at Lily's rant. She and Marlene both suspected that the seeds of love had been planted between James and Lily. Not that Lily herself would admit that.
"Now we just have to find someone for Peter." Celia said dryly. Marlene was less than amused. "Come on, he likes you Celia, and if you break up with Fabian who better to date than the only man in the school more attractive than your ex?"
The girl had a point, but she wasn't quite ready to voice that out loud. "If he's that attractive why don't you date him?" Celia replied in defense.
Okay, so she had hoped he might like her, but then he was a flirt so she couldn't really tell. There were little signs though, hand brushes and sly smiles, inside jokes. But they had known each other for the last 6 years, maybe that's just how people acted.
"No I like Remus, but no one can deny Black's good looks." Marlene responded truthfully. Lily's mouth dropped open wide and she looked horrified by the entire idea of hanging out with the marauders. "Oh relax Lils" Marlene told her "Remus won't have me, and I doubt Celia will leave Fabian. You'll be Potter free for a while longer."
Celia felt bad for Marlene and torn about her own situation. She knew Marlene really liked Remus, but she wasn't sure he would date her. Remus never dated anyone, at first she had thought he might have been gay, but then things started to fit together. Remus was a werewolf, the girls were positive of it. He was always testy during the full moon and then he would be sick and not show up for class. Lily had caught the other marauders sneaking in the morning of the full moon countless times. They were all cut up and bruised; that was the weird part though, Celia was not sure how they could be so roughed up without becoming werewolves themselves.
Remus was very secretive about this obviously, so she was not sure he'd be willing to let anyone in, girlfriend-wise anyway. But it was more than obvious that he fancied Marlene. Celia had seen him staring at her during ancient runes: he sat next to her during class, they worked on homework in the library together, all the signs of the start to a lovely relationship.
"If Remus is as smart as he seems, he'll have you. And if he doesn't you know why, it's not because he doesn't like you because I know he does." Celia reassured Marlene.
"Lily find out for me?" Marlene begged the red head sitting across from her. Lily was awesome at getting her nose into other's business. She could find out anything when she set her mind to it. Celia suggested she be an interrogator or detective for the wizarding police after Hogwarts.
"Why me?" Lily whined "Celia's the one that talks to his friend."
"Lily, Lily, Lily. Sirius won't tell me anything but you have Potter whipped; he'll do anything you ask. It's rather romantic; you didn't even have to shag him." Celia commented as she bit her nails, thoroughly impressed by Lily's skills of seduction. It was truly a talent to have a guy wrapped around your little finger the way she had Potter.
Marlene looked much too hopeful for Lily to refuse so she grudgingly agreed. "Fine, I'll find him today and talk to him. But you owe me big."
"I'll name Remus' and my first born after you, even if it's a boy." Marlene promised happily.
When they finally reached Hogsmeade and piled out of the carriage they were smacked by a large gust of biting wind. They hurried to the Three Broomsticks; luckily it was still early enough to find a table near the warm and glowing fire. They had ordered the Butterbeer and were waiting for Rosemerta to bring the bottles, when the door swung open and four boys crashed loudly into the pub.
The Marauders.
Everyone turned to see what all the commotion was about, but finding only the regular troublemakers went back to their drinks.
Sirius stood out among them as the tallest and most attractive, and Celia noticed more than a few sets of eyes on him. He had an cocky charm that came off of him in waves, plus something slightly dangerous lurking just beneath the surface. She watched Sirius pull off his pea coat and Gryffindor scarf to reveal a fitted black sweater. Quidditch had certainly done the boy well.
He was pushing up the sleeves and scanning the room when he caught her staring. It would be extremely awkward if she pretended nothing had happened, so she smiled and waved at him, hoping he hadn't noticed her gawking. Then again after catching him mid-shag last night no matter what it was going to be awkward.
He began to walk over, his grinning friends Potter and Lupin trailing behind and Peter meekly behind them. Lily groaned and Marlene beamed as they made their way to the table and pulled up chairs.
"Hi guys" Celia said casually although her heart was beating fast for some strange reason.
"Hello Ladies" Sirius greeted the table. "Enjoy the show last night?" he asked them cockily as he sat down. The other Marauders looked confused but ignored him.
"It was magical" Celia told him sardonically while Lily and Marlene both flushed pink and avoided eye contact with him.
"What did you do padfoot?" Potter asked Sirius accusingly.
They had these weird nicknames for each other, it seemed to be an inside thing; no one really knew how they came about.
"I didn't do anything, they" he said pointing to the three girls "caught me on my date last night." Both Lupin and Potter groaned.
"So why is everyone so…oh" Peter said catching on to what a "date" meant for Sirius.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that" Lupin said to Marlene who just smiled sheepishly.
Potter Stood up and looked rather angry, which was rare for him. "I can't believe Lily saw you naked before she saw me" He shouted at his best friend.
Lily whipped her head around so fast Celia was surprised she didn't break her neck. The entire population of the pub was now staring at them. Lily was about to tell Potter off but a pleading look from Marlene stopped her and she bit her tongue. She just reached up grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back into his seat. "Forget about it James, it wasn't a big deal." Lily said as sweetly as she could. She James looked quite pleased with himself, never good.
Sirius decided to move away from the topic after seeing the tension it was causing "I'm surprised you aren't with Prewitt." He said to Celia, with distaste at Fabian's surname.
"I'm meeting him for lunch at 1." Celia replied to which Sirius rolled his eyes "Of course you are."
"What about you, why aren't you with Michelle?" Celia asked him, wondering if they were dating or just sleeping together. She didn't think Michelle was the type to sleep around but then you never know. "We're not together." He said plainly and offered no explanation so Celia decided not to press the matter.
Just then the barmaid came with the girls' drinks. "Hi boys" She smiled seductively and rubbed both Potter and Sirius' shoulder after she set down the butterbeers. James' eyes darted to Lily checking to see if she was jealous at all. She wasn't. Sirius winked at the older woman, "How is the most beautiful woman in the world today?" he asked her with a charming smile.
Celia felt a pain of jealousy in her chest at his comment which was just ludicrous. For one thing he didn't really mean it, Rosemerta was pretty, she had big tits, but she was not the most beautiful woman in the world. There was a rumor going around that she had shagged Sirius in the pub after hours last year, but he neither confirmed nor denied, so Celia generally considered it a fallacy.
Okay and for another thing why the hell was she jealous of Sirius complimenting women in her presence, it's not as if he and Celia were together and the number one reason not to feel jealous was she had a boyfriend. Her jealous feeling was replaced with a guilty one. She loved Fabian and didn't want to hurt him and she assumed having a crush on Sirius would hurt him.
"Oh, you are such a flirt! That's gonna get you into trouble one day" Rosemerta said tossing her hair and laughing as she walked off to serve the other customers.
"You're terrible Sirius." Remus said shaking his head at his friend.
"What? It'll get us cheaper drinks or firewhiskey" Sirius said quietly shrugging, as he sneakily pulled out a silver flask and took a swig out of it. Clearly he had no real need of any additional alcohol. "You want?" He asked Celia when he saw her eyeing up the flask. "It's rum, courtesy of the house elves."
Celia considered saying no for a moment, but then figured what the hell, she was a teenager; she was supposed to be rebellious. "Sure" she told Sirius taking the container from him and after looking around to make sure no one saw, took a quick drink. Her face scrunched up from the taste and the liquor threatened to come up again, but she chased it with a butterbeer and the terrible taste was soon gone. The familiar warm tingly feeling from the first shot was running through her veins when Madam Rosmerta came back to the table.
"Here boys" she said seductively and handed Sirius, Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew each a glass filled with dark liquor. "If anyone asks it's iced tea." She told them before sauntering away.
Celia gave the woman a disgusted look, which Sirius caught. "You're not jealous are you?" he asked raising a dark eyebrow to Celia and throwing an arm around her. "Cause you know your my number one girl, Kennedy." Her stomach fluttered a little when he made contact and she mentally scolded herself.
"I think my heart will mend." She assured him and clutched her chest sarcastically "Especially if you give me that flask."
Marlene gave her an 'I told you he liked you' look.
"They need to hire male bartenders" Lily grumbled looking rather annoyed "then maybe we could get underage service too." Potter's mouth dropped open in surprise, as if Lily wanting to drink was the craziest thing he ever heard.
"Here Lily we can share." He offered, sliding his glass towards her.
Potter was not dumb, when he saw an opening he went for it. "Thanks, James" Lily replied though Celia and Marlene were surprised she agreed to drink off of him. They both assumed the drinking and use of his first name was just to butter him up for the interrogation later, or to get herself wasted enough to actually be nice to him.
The conversation was light, everyone was slightly tipsy. Potter was trying to be on his best behavior and Lily was trying to be nice so she could to get the info about Remus out of him. Remus and Marlene were making googly eyes at each other, even if they didn't realize it. Sirius was talking to Celia about the upcoming party the Marauders were throwing in the room of requirement after the Halloween feast, and Peter was listening in.
"it's going to be epic." Sirius told her excitedly.
Somehow the Marauders had procured a couple bottles of Firewhiskey, and rum from the kitchens, so she was sure the party would be epic. Nothing like a bunch of drunk Gryffindors.
"You and Lily should bring your records." He insisted. Lily and Celia had one of the most expansive record collections in Hogwarts; the girl's love of music made them fast friends. They both loved all types of music, Muggle and Magical, if it rocked one of them owned it.
"I don't know if I'm going to make it Sirius." She told him sadly. Although she desperately wanted to attend, she knew Fabian wouldn't be invited and she felt bad for leaving him on Halloween. Sirius looked horrified at her statement. "What do you mean you can't make it? Of course you can." He argued.
"Can Fabian come?" she asked delicately. Sirius sighed heavily; he clearly did not want his arch nemesis at his 'epic' party. "Please? I don't want to go if he's not been invited" she asked again.
"fine, your prat boyfriend can come." He agreed to her delight.
Maybe Sirius did like her after all, he obviously wanted her at his party, enough even to let Fabian come. She doubted Fabian would actually attend, but she felt better going if he had at least been invited. "Thanks Sirius."
Speaking of Fabian made her remember the time, it was almost one and she had to meet him at Madam Puddifoot's but she found herself wanting to stay at the Three Broomstick's with her friends. "Crap, guys I have to go meet Fabian" She said glumly as she stood up and put on her coat "I'll see you back at the castle okay?"
The group all said their goodbye's to her and she swore she heard Sirius mutter "I hate Prewitt" under his breath.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Thanks for reading and Please review.
