Hello! Second chapter in one week, woo! Thank you so much for those who followed and reviewed! Posting this often probably won't always happen - it'll probably only be once a week - but as I develop the plot, I thought I might as well post. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm really proud of it. As always, please leave a review with any feedback you have! I love reading them. If you like the story, don't forget to favorite/follow so you can stay up to date with new chapters. Okay, enjoy!
Lily ran off to talk to James first thing the next morning. Ebony wasn't even fully out of bed before her strangely wide awake ginger friend had slung her bag over her shoulder and practically sprinted out the door. Ebony knew she was becoming infatuated with James. She tried to pretend it didn't bother her, that Lily was already so close with James after hating his guts for 6 years. Ebony wouldn't stay mad for long though. After all, Lily was her best friend, and Ebony was glad that she was happy. Just as long as Lily didn't try to push her romantic inclinations on her - Ebony didn't do relationships.
Once Ebony managed to drag herself out of Gryffindor tower, she entered the great hall and spotted Lily seated next to James at the Gryffindor table. None of the other marauders were there, which made sense. They weren't exactly morning people, and it was only just approaching 8 am - classes didn't start for another hour at least.
She ploncked herself down across from them, grumbling a good morning before shoveling some fruit and toast on her plate and pouring herself some coffee. They eyed her humorously as she drained it in one go and refilled it.
"Not sleep well?" Lily teased, eyeing Ebony's tired form.
Ebony shrugged, "Had a lot on my mind." She wouldn't tell them she stayed up to late hours thinking about there discussion yesterday. She didn't need to add any more flame to that fire.
"Oh really?" Lily teased, but she didn't get to continue. Remus, Peter, and Sirius had just entered the hall. Ebony felt a body slip onto the bench next to her, and smelt Sirius cologne vaporize in her face as he reached across her to grab an apple from the top of the fruit basket.
"Morning," Sirius sounded chipper. He took a bite into his apple, giving Ebony a teasing look as he licked the juice off his lips. She shook her head at him, trying not to laugh out loud.
"Good morning to you, too," Ebony responded, raising an eyebrow as he re-entered her personal space to grab the juice pitcher. She made sure to rub her leg against his in retaliation as he sat back down, causing him to flinch slightly and give her an amused and slightly surprised look.
Lily shoved her fork down onto the table loudly. Ebony felt Sirius jump slightly next to her, and she snorted. He shot her a glare quickly before turning to Lily.
She was murmuring something to James, who was smiling broadly. Ebony had seen that look on James Potter's face before, and it usually didn't mean anything good.
"Stop plotting," Ebony munched on her toast casually, "Unless you're planning on including me. In that case, continue, but speak louder."
Lily turned back to her, and she was smiling too, "Oh, you're include."
For some reason, this promise didn't reassure Ebony.
"Alright. Spill." She raised an eyebrow at her friend, communicating without words that she didn't like the secretive behavior.
James leaned forward suddenly, eyeing Sirius and Ebony with a devious smirk, "We have a challenge for you two."
Peter and Remus had slowed there eating to tune in. Sirius had leaned forward to match James, and he looked enthralled and definitely interested. "Go ahead," he insisted.
"More so a competition," Lilly clarified, and she looked thrilled as she gave Ebony a piercing look.
There was a pause, before Ebony finally put her toast down and sighed, "Okay, you have my attention. What is it?"
James spoke quickly, "It's simple. Whoever does this one thing first wins - bragging rights, or something, we haven't worked out prizes yet."
Sirius was impatient, "Does what?"
There was a pause wherein James and Lily didn't seem to be sure who was going to say it. Finally Lily turned back to them. It was in this moment that Ebony realised the James Potter was going to be a bad influence on her best friend.
"You have to convince the other to sleep with you."
Silence. Between the 6 of them, no one spoke. Ebony and Lily eyed each other, Sirius and James eyed each other, and Remus and Peter couldn't seem to decide who they were looking at. Remus actually looked like he wanted to laugh, which was rare. He usually looked pained by something.
"You want us to do what?" Sirius seemed shocked, but not mad. Ebony glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and she noticed his eyes were still laughing. She relaxed a little, deciding to be cocky.
"Who says I want to sleep with him," She jerked her head at Sirius, flickering her eyes between Lily and James with a smirk.
And then Lily did something she'd never done before. She betrayed Ebony's confidence, "You did. Last night."
Ebony had to try really hard to not actually gape at her best friend. She felt Sirius shift, and she new he was moving to tease her. She'd just turned to confront him with something sassy, but before Sirius could even open his mouth to poke fun James cut across him.
"So did you, Padfoot. Don't even try." James was smiling, just like Lily. Again, there faces unified. Maybe they were meant for each other, Ebony thought.
Sirius froze, his eyes glued on James with a comical look of shock.
"You both said the exact same thing actually," Lily added, laughter clear in her voice, "Shocking, right? You'd think the odds of both you coming out with 'unspoken rules' gibberish were pretty low." She paused, and she was positively beaming, "Apparently not."
Ebony's mind was racing. They said the same thing? Lily was at least right with one thing, the odds of that had to have been low.
"Ooook," Ebony said slowly, "Okay. So, so what are you suggesting?"
James smiled brightly, "You both seem to think you need to fight to prove you're the better player. That's what we're suggesting. Turn your moves on each other. Try to seduce each other. First person to cave loses."
Ebony went to eye Sirius out of the corner of her eye and was shocked to see he was doing the same thing. He seemed as lost as she was, but upon making eye contact with her, he smirked. She felt his hand slide suddenly against her upper thigh, giving it a quick squeeze before turning back to James.
"Sounds," Sirius paused, smiling, "interesting."
Ebony dropped her hand to her lap, running her smooth skin across the back of Sirius's hand before digging her nails into his skin. She watched him wince slightly, and she smirked. "Interesting is certainly one word for it," She mused.
"You're both smiling," Lily pointed between the two of them, excitedly, "Does that mean your game."
Both Ebony and Sirius opened their mouths to agree, but were interrupted, oddly enough, by Remus, "You should probably iron out technicalities before you jump into this."
He was still smiling softly, looking 100% entertained by this mornings breakfast conversation. Ebony frowned, "What do you mean?"
Remus frowned slightly, thinking quickly, "Well, what's stopping you two from just going straight up to Gryffindor tower now and shagging without a word." Ebony was surprised by his bluntness as he continued, "Who would lose in that situation. Clearly that sounds mutual, not one of you...surrendering." He was teasing with his last word, and Ebony found herself shivering slightly. Something she knew Sirius definitely felt, since his hand was still pressed firmly against her thigh regardless of the nails dug into the back of it. He smiled, confidently.
"It's whoever initiates," Sirius decided calmly.
"And who decides that," Remus questioned.
Sirius paused, then smiled, gesturing towards James and Lily, "We already have our two judges right here."
"With you as the tie breaker," Ebony decided, joining in and nodding towards Remus. She then turned to Sirius, using the momentum to shove his hand of her lap. He raised an eyebrow at her and she just rolled her eyes. "But what about prizes?" She asked him.
Sirius chuckled softly, "Sleeping with me is all the reward you need, love."
She swatted him quite hard in the shoulder, "Hey! Take this seriously!"
"I am serious, darling, as I'm sure you'll find out," he raised an eyebrow at her, but also seemed to lean forward slightly, making sure his look was smoldering. Usually he'd just raise an eyebrow to tease. He was already playing the game, Ebony realised.
She smirked, deciding to blush and avert her gaze on purpose. Two could play at this game. She leaned into him too. "Stop," she murmured, looking up at him from under her lashes. She blinked. He blinked back.
The other 4 gawked, and then James snorted loudly, "You two are ridiculous."
"Maybe," Sirius responded, taking his time breaking there gaze before turning back to their stunned friends, "We'll have to see which one of us is a winner though."
Ebony gave herself a little shake to clear her head, "So are we just playing for bragging rights then?"
"I don't mind that," Sirius stated, taking a sip of orange juice calmly, all evidence of flirting gone. He seemed bored, and she knew this was part of his game too. Draw a girl in and then pretend to be disinterested. Classic fuckboy behavior. She smiled, reaching down to grab her school bag.
"Well," Ebony stated, rising to her feet, "Now that we've settled that, I'm going to head to class." She shook her hair down her back casually, before leaning forward to tossle Sirius's hear playfully and murmuring, "Game on, Black."
Ebony began to walk away before she heard Sirius call after her, "Game on, Winters."
"You're hoping we get together, aren't you?" Ebony accused Lily.
They were in the girls bathroom, and final classes of the day had ended a little over an hour ago. Lily was running her hands through her hair in front of the mirror, making sure it was all in place before going down for dinner. Ebony felt like scowling at her friends behavior. She just had to make sure she looked perfect for James Potter, didn't she.
"Maybe," Lily turned around excitedly, and smiled brightly, before stopping suddenly, "What's wrong? Your frowning."
Ebony checked herself quickly, trying to smile a little, "I'm fine."
"Did I cross the line, Eb?" Lily sounded worried, and she reached out to place her hand on her friends shoulder. "I'm sorry if I did. I can backtrack the whole competition if you want me too."
Ebony shook her head quickly, "No, no. It's not that. I have a feeling that's going to be quite entertaining." Ebony smiled in full, before the feeling faded away quickly.
"Something's bothering you." It wasn't a question, and Lily eyed her curiously, waiting for an explanation.
"You aren't going to stop being my best friend because of James, right?" Ebony asked quickly. She usually found it was easier to say difficult things if you said it as fast as you could.
"Ebony!" Lily looked sad, and she gave her friend a quick hug before pulling back and fixing her with a stern look, "I could never do that. You'll always be my number one. You're," Lily's voice broke a little, and Ebony felt guilty immediately as she whispered, "You're like a sister to me."
Ebony knew Lily's own sister had disowned her. "I'm sorry," Ebony apologized quickly, "I know that. I was just feeling...insecure I guess." She paused to breath, "You told James what I said last night. It just surprised me a little."
Ebony turned away, taking her turn to fix her own hair in the mirror. She did feel significantly better having said something. Lily shifted behind her, and Ebony saw her reflection smile at her kindly.
"He told me what Sirius said first. I'd never had said anything had the two of you not said the exact same thing. Otherwise, I'd have kept it to myself," Lily studied Ebony's face, seeming to decide they were in the all clear before grinning. "Odd isn't it, that you both said the same thing."
Ebony smirked at her own reflection, knowing Lily was watching her. She just shrugged, and she felt Lily give her a light shove against her shoulder, "Don't just shrug at me Ebony Winters!"
Ebony through her hands up in mock surrender, "Okay, okay! No need to get physical!" She turned around, her smirk still in place, and leaned against the sink behind her, "I'll agree with you, it is a bit weird. Guess we were on the same page." Ebony shrugged again, earning a comical glare from her best friend.
"On the same page?" Lily teased, "About wanting to sleep with the other but feeling like they couldn't? Being on the same page doesn't cover that. That's mutual attraction."
"And I suppose that makes us 'power couple material' now, doesn't it," Ebony teased back, laughing as Lily shook her head in annoyance. Ebony paused, thinking. "You think that we'll end up together by the end of this, don't you?"
It was Lily's turn to shrug, "Maybe I do. Maybe I don't." She smiled. "Regardless of the amount of galleons I have on it though, I want to change the subject. What's your plan?"
Ebony scoffed, "Plan? What do you mean plan?"
"How are you going to play him?" Lily asked excitedly.
"Surely telling you, the judge, would be an illegal move," Ebony pointed out. Lily went to retaliate but Ebony stopped her, "Not happening, Lily. I keep my moves to myself."
Lily did not look pleased.
Dinner went by smoothly, with plenty of casual touching and personal space invasion between Sirius and Ebony. Overall though, they'd managed to ignore each other more than they usually would. Ebony knew it was because both of them were playing disinterested. She wondered how long that would last before one of them broke and decided to make some sort of move. She was still trying to decide if it would be wise for her to wait for Sirius to start, or if she should bait him first. She knew he was usually impatient when it came to landing girls - maybe that would work in her favor, she thought.
It was around 9:30 pm, and the common room was nearly empty. Ebony sat on the floor, like the night before, but instead of jumping on top of Sirius Black, she was working on her NEWT level astronomy work. She hadn't realized how important astronomy was to wandlore when she voiced interest in the career, but she was now learning how important the positions of the planets were to working with different types of wood and material. Everything was connected, she'd noticed.
Lily had gone to bed, having finally finished her charms essay, and Remus and Peter were nowhere in sight. James was sat on the couch, reading part of his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, but he looked about ready to pass out. Sirius was sat on another couch not far away, practicing transfiguration spells out of the textbook. Every few minutes he'd swear loudly and lean over the volume, running his finger across the text intently before trying the spell again. It was quite comical.
Ebony sighed loudly, and shoved the charts and text book away. She saw Sirius look up for a moment before catching her eye and looking away. She smirked. He was so impatient, she thought.
James had jumped at the sound, his eyes having drifted closed while reading. "Why don't you just head to bed?" Ebony asked him as he ran his fingers through his always messy hair.
He blinked at Ebony, before darting his eyes over to Sirius and then back to her. Ebony had to resist the urge to laugh.
"You aren't going to miss anything." She stated, "I promise." She was lying. As soon as James Potter left her alone with Black, so was going to do something. What, she didn't know, but something for sure.
He eyed her suspiciously. Ebony knew she was a good liar, but James didn't seem to trust her exactly. Still, he shrugged and pulled himself off the couch, "Guess we can't watch you both all the time."
And with that he grabbed his stuff and shuffled off to the boys dormitory.
Sirius and Ebony watched him go. There was a moment of silence before she turned back around to face him, expecting him to be looking right back.
He wasn't. He was staring at the textbook in front of him, rereading the same section he'd been reading all night. He seemed to sense Ebony staring at him, because he spoke, "You trying to get rid of him to you can make moves on me, Winters?"
He was teasing her, and she saw his lips perce together for a moment as he resisted the urge to smile. It didn't work. The corners of his mouth still twitched, and his eyes would always betray him.
"Potentially," Ebony was chuckling. She just couldn't help herself. This wasn't usually how she flirted with boys. She needed to get her sarcasm under control and make him feel antsy and uncomfortable. Fast. "Is that what you'd like me to do?"
He looked up, confused, glancing up and down her seated form slowly before responding, "There are many things I'd like you to do. To which are you referring?"
It was all Ebony could do to not visibly gulp. A small shiver shot down her spine at his words, and she thought that it was lucky his hand wasn't against her thigh this time or he'd have surely felt it. The thought of his hands on her didn't help, and she had to blink for a moment before attempting to form a response. It was too long for Black. He was already smiling like he'd won a small victory.
"I wasn't aware there was anything you wanted from me, Sirius. You know, you need only ask." She gave him an innocent smile, playing pure. He was shaking his head, not even trying to hide the humor in his eyes anymore as he stared at her hungrily. She wondered, briefly, if the hunger in his eyes was real unchecked lust or if he could make his eyes look like that on command.
He went to respond, but Ebony decided she didn't want to hear it. This wasn't tenis. Who said they had to bounce back and forth. Anyways, she wasn't sure she could handle another statement like the one he just gave without it significantly weakening her resolve. She went to stand, taking a step around the table to grab her stuff. She made sure she bent over at just the right angle so that Sirius got an ample view of her ass. She swore she heard him take a sharp intake of breath, but she wasn't certain. Wiping any grin off her face quickly, she turned around, allowing her skirt to billow out around her legs as she stood facing him.
This time she let her eyes drift down his seated form before speaking. "All you have to do is say the word, Sirius," she spoke barely above a whisper, and she saw Sirius's eyes widen slightly, "Say the word, and I'll give you what you want."
The blood had rushed from his face, leaving a light red stain on his cheeks. Ebony had a feeling she knew where it was headed. She raised an eyebrow at him, questioning, and when he said nothing she went to turn around and make her way up to her dormitory.
He called after her, "There's one thing I want," Sirius paused as Ebony froze but didn't turn around, "One thing, and I'm pretty sure it's legal for me to ask."
Ebony heard Sirius move to stand, and she turned around slowly, flicking her hair over her left shoulder. She sighed, "And what exactly is that?"
He took two steps forward, "If James and Lily are going out next weekend, then I suppose it only makes sense for me to ask you out too. Afterall," and Sirius flashed her a cheeky grin, "if I'm supposed to be seducing you, then it only makes sense for me to bring you on a date."
Ebony was shocked, but she recovered quickly, smiling confidently at him, "I'd be honored, of course."
"Honor's mine," Sirius said quietly, and he quickly took the few remaining steps forward and planted a slow kiss on Ebonys cheek, leaning into her space purposefully. Ebony didn't even have the time to be surprised. She felt his index finger make light contact with her forearm, and she felt herself flush. Sirius leaned back, grinning, but this time kindly.
"I'll see you Saturday then," Ebony murmured, dropping her eyes to Sirius's lips purposefully. She watched him lick them apprehensively, but his close proximity was making it hard for Ebony to think. All she could smell was his cologne. She needed to bail. Now.
Flicking her hair over her shoulder in a way she knew would hit him softly in the face, Ebony strutted out of the room and up to her dorm. Shutting the door quickly, she leaned against it and clamped her eyes shut, trying to calm her beating heart.
Lily looked over from where she sat, under the covers of her bed, book in her hands. "What happened?" She teased, excitedly.
"Sirius Black just asked me out on a date."