A/N: No reviews for my last chapter. Oh well. Here's my next chappie.
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Something Unexpected
Sirius's POV
I can't lie and say I wasn't surprised when Lily, Ellen, and their friend, I think her name hassomething to do with a lion, came over to us in the Common Room and sat down on the couch right across from us. James is looking like Christmas has come early and that he got extra presents. He immediately ruffles his hair, looking at the girls (well, Lilyto be specific). I have to admit, James has a point about Lily. Not that I would ever do anything about it, but I'm just saying. Whatever, I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. Remus is looking awkward and a little nervous; I don't blame him, he probably thinks Lily is going to start telling him off again. Peter? Well, he's just looking shell-shocked at the fact that there are girls sitting this close to him. As for me, well, I'm not really fussed either way, although this does mean that now I will have to put up with James's rants about how 'Lily came over and sat by him all on her own accord!' Hey, she sat near me too, for that matter.
"Hello, boys," Ellen says, crossing her legs as she sat on the couch. "What's up with you all tonight?"
Lily looks like it's taking all of her self control to not start yelling at James. I wonder what they're doing over here anyway. It's not like our groups hang out together regularly.
"Just chilling and thinking of new ways to cause mayhem," I drawl, propping my feet up on the coffee table in between our couches. Lily opens her mouth, probably to remind us of school rules, but then she looks quickly at Ellen and the Lion Girl and closes it hurriedly. This really must be important if Lily is going to refrain from trying to put us in line.
"So what brings you ladies over here?" I ask, mildly interested. About as interested as I get in anything that doesn't involve pulling pranks with my best mates.
Ellen smiles brightly. A lot of the boys – most of the boys, really – think that Ellen is all that. I won't lie; she is a cute bird, but just not quite what I like, not much smarts with that one. Lily on the other hand is pretty and brilliant. But it's not like I think of her like that.
"I just thought that we should get to know each other better." She says lightly.
"And why would you want to get to know us better?" I ask suspiciously. James had better snap out of it, I don't want to be the only one carrying on this conversation. And why isn't Lily saying anything? I suppose that it's taking all of her concentration to keep from railing on James. I glance at him, but he still needs to put his eyes back in. I elbow him. Hard.
"Ouch!" He exclaims. "Padfoot, what was that for?" He demands.
"Just getting your attention," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "So," I ask, turning my attention back to the girls, "why would you want to get to know us better?"
I definitely notice the girls exchanging significant looks. Merlin. Girls and their 'looks'. They can communicate an entire book's worth of information just by looking at each other. And unfortunately for us blokes, they expect us to be able to do the same. Damn girls.
Maybe Lily is finally falling for our James. My stomach feels funny as I think that. I suppose it's because I'm so used to their bickering that I'd miss it. I wouldn't miss a Lily and James argument for anything. They definitely keep me amused. I have to admit, I've made James go talk to her several times when I was bored. Hey, don't blame me, it's great entertainment!
Anyway, when are they ever going to answer my bloody question? I raise my eyebrows at them, hoping to get them to hurry up.
"Well, you know," Ellen says hurriedly. Why is she the one giving all the answers? Usually Lily is so outspoken that you can't get her to shut up. I notice that she's watching me closely. I smile at her, and she smiles vaguely back. Maybe she's a little out of it.
"You're our fellow Gryffindors, so we should get to know you," Ellen continues. I'd forgotten she was talking.
"Right," I say sarcastically. If that is true, I'll eat James's socks. And James's socks are disgusting. "What do you really want?" I ask. Surely there is some obscure reason that they're doing this. Lily would never willingly come within a ten foot radius of James unless there was a very good reason to.
"Sirius, would you stop trying to drive away anybody who tries to talk to us?" Remus says. Oh, right. I forgot. He's got a thing for Lion Girl. You know, I should probably find out what her names really is. Ah, well, I don't think it really matters. As if he's got a chance with her.
"Oh, alright. For you, mate," I say, leaning back into the cushions and making myself comfortable. There is a bit of an awkward silence as we all sit there, nobody knowing what exactly to say.
"Well, as entirely captivating as this is…" I say, stretching and yawning. "I think I'm off to bed if this is as exciting as this is going to get." I'm about to get up when I see Remus shoot me a pleading look.
"On the other hand," I say lightly, "how 'bout a game of chess, Lily?" She's the only one I even remotely know out of these girls, even though that's only because she's been the object of James's affection for about a year or so now. She looks at me and smiles brilliantly. I can't help but smile back. What? Her smile is catching!
"Sure," Lily says quickly, "let me go get my pieces." She stands up to head up to her Dormitory.
"Same," I say, meandering up the stairs to my own.
I flip open the lid of my trunk and rummage through it for a bit before pulling out my chess set. It's made of ebony and ivory. All down to my family's fortune. It does look nice, I suppose. But I'd rather distance myself from everything related to them, really I would. Them and their pureblood shit.
When I come back down, they had rearranged themselves. Lily is sitting across from my spot with Ellen on her right side. James is sitting on Ellen's other side and on my side of the couch Remus is sitting with Lion Girl and Peter. I wonder how Remus got her to sit there. Probably his charm. Oh, right, what charm? I don't mean to be that way, but really, Remus hasn't got much of a way with the ladies.
I don't say anything about the switch of seats, but sit down and dump out my chess set. Lily's eyes widen.
"That's a really nice set," she says, picking up an ivory Rook.
"It was my uncle's," I say lightly. "Do you want black or white?"
"Um, black," came her reply.
I raise an eyebrow at her. "You don't want to go first?" I ask.
"Going first isn't necessarily an advantage," she responds, picking up her black King and setting him down in his spot.
"Good point," I agree with her as I too begin to set up my pieces. I told you this girl is smart.
Pretty soon I find myself engaged in a much more interesting and difficult game than I had anticipated that I was getting myself into. I'm not a master at chess, but I am fairly decent, I can beat James, anyway. Remus, now, that's another story; but he's a chess wiz. Lily however, is just as much a challenge as Remus is, if not more so. I wouldn't have guessed that she had it in her. I'm not saying I thought she was stupid, I already said I think she's brilliant, it's just she's a book-smart kind of girl and playing chess doesn't involve book smarts.
Damn, I wasn't paying attention and she just captured my Knight! I watch as her Castle drags my Knight off the board. I really need to pay more attention to the game.
"You talked to Snivilus lately?" I ask. Lily stiffens and looks at me shocked. They are all looking at me shocked. Hell, I'm shocked. I don't know what made me say that. I swear, sometimes I say the stupidest things.
"No," Lily says, purposefully avoiding everybody's eyes and staring at the chess board. "I haven't talked to him since…since…" Her voice trails off.
"Since the end of fifth year when he called you…" Ellen supplies but she trails off too.
"A mudblood," I say bluntly.
"Yeah," Lily whispers. Shit. Now I feel bad.
"Er…" I'm not the best one when it comes to situations like this. I don't know what to say. With the guys I just laugh and they get what I'm talking about, or at least let it slide, but I don't know how to communicate with girls unless it's blatant flirting.
"It's OK," Lily says, but I can tell that it's not. I guess, after all, he had been her friend.
"Black, that was way out of line," Ellen frowns at me.
"Padfoot, you prat!" James exclaims. Good, I was beginning to think he would never defend his girl. His girl. Since when is she his girl? "Don't talk to Evans about that."
"Really, Sirius, you know better than that," Remus says sternly, looking at me with a hard look in his eye.
"Jeeze!" I say overdramatically and throwing my hands theatrically up in the air. "Don't everybody jump on me at once!"
"It's OK," Lily says again. "Let's just drop it, alright?" She looks at me and the next thing I know she has a smirk lighting up her face.
"What, Evans?" I ask, completely bewildered.
Her hand lifts her Bishop up into the air and moves it across the board. "Check, mate," she says calmly. I look down at the board. She's right. I lost.
"Oh. Um, good game, Evans," I say, trying not to sound too particularly upset about losing. I really am a sore loser, but I hate to admit that. I retake my position of leaning back in the couch and feet propped up on the table.
Remus takes the lead in the conversation. That is rare, let me tell you. Maybe he's trying to get Lion Girl's attention.
"So, are you girls looking forward to the next Hogsmead trip?" He asks all of them, but he's looking at Lion Girl. I notice that a faint blush is creeping up her cheeks. Hey, maybe Moony has a chance after all.
"Yeah," Ellen says. She looks at the other girls and then asks, "Do you boys have any plans for that weekend?"
"Yeah, actually," I say sarcastically, "our plans are to go to Hogsmead." I know what she was really asking, but it's fun to play the dumb idiot and watch it frustrate people. And I'm not disappointed – Ellen frowns slightly and rolls her eyes at me before turning away and looking at James, who is sitting next to her.
"So do you have anything planned?" She asks.
"Well," James grins cheekily. He gets up and sits on the coffee table right in front of Lily, almost blocking her from my view. "Evans," he begins, "how about it? You and me – together at Hogsmead?" For some reason Lily glances at me before rounding her whole attention on James. Poor guy.
"Well, Potter, haven't you listened to a word I've ever said? If you think we'll be going together, you've got another thing coming for you," she says scathingly.
James reaches out and takes her hand and kisses it. I feel like telling James to drop it, but I don't say it. Lily rips her hand back from his grip. "But Evans, how can you refuse me?" He asks with the great puppy eyes. He shouldn't have done that. He's not as good at the innocent puppy eyes as I am.
"Looks like she just did, mate," I say, patting him on the shoulder.
"Evans, Evans, Evans." James says, shaking his head. "When are you going to realize that you're head over heels in love with me? You can't keep fighting it, love." He winks at her. Lily stands up, knocking the chess board flying.
"Potter, Potter, Potter," she sneers. "When are you going to realize that you really need to shrink your overly large head and grow up?" She demands, and then turns on her heel and storms towards the staircase that leads up to the girls' dormitories. When she reaches the first step, she turns around and says,
"Black, if you ever fancy another chess game, you know where to find me. Without Potter," she stresses, and then flurries up the stairs. Ellen and Lion Girl get up rather reluctantly and follow her.
"Smooth one, Prongs," I say grinning. "Real smooth. That went over very well, I think."
"Oh, shut your face, Padfoot," he says. "What exactly is it about me that makes her so mad?"
"Well, reading in between the lines, mate, I'd say she thinks you're a tad big headed and immature," I say, and I can't help from grinning.
"I said, shut your face, Padfoot."
"Yes, but then you asked a question. Did you want me to ignore your question?" I ask. I really know how to get on people's nerves.
James shoves me. "Shut your face," he repeats and moves from the coffee table back to the couch, sitting in what had been Lily's place. "I don't have a chance with her, do I?" He says dejectedly. I yawn pointedly and tune out. I'm seriously quite bored with this "why doesn't Lily like me" conversation.
" – you can if you want to," I hear James says and I see him looking at me.
"Can if I want to what?" I ask, still bored, so bored in fact, I almost didn't notice Remus's amazed look on his face. Almost. So James had finally said something brilliant!
James looks extremely put out. "Do I really have to repeat myself?" He asks weakly.
"Well, you do if you ever want me to know what you said," I say, giving him a look that says "stupid idiot".
James looks like he can't repeat what he said. He opens his mouth a couple times but no noise comes out. Finally he sighs. "I can't say it again. Remus, you tell him."
Remus looks nervously at James and I really begin to gain curiosity to find out whatever it was that James said that is so important.
"James, um. James said that – youcouhafagowiLily," he says very quickly. I raise a quizzical eyebrow.
"Sorry, Remus," I say, "I don't speak babble."
Remus avoids James's eyes. "He said you could have a go with Lily, if you want." He says very quietly. Almost so quietly I don't hear him. But I do. And I can't believe what I heard. Why does my stomach feel light all of a sudden?
"James, you fool," I say, completely dumb struck. "You've had your eyes on her for more than a year now."
James looks at his knees rather than me. "Yeah, well, she obviously can't stand me, but she said she'd like to spend more time with you."
"She never said that," I say quickly.
"She as good as did," James insists. "She said 'if you fancy another chess game, you know where to find me'. She obviously can stand you."
I let out a bark of a laugh. "Would I seriously do that to you, Prongs?" I ask, still laughing. I realize I sound a bit manic and stop.
To my surprise, James doesn't reply to me, he doesn't even laugh. He simply stands up, mumbles something about going to bed and climbs the stairs to the boys' dormitories in a very crestfallen manner. I stare after him.
"He wasn't serious, was he?" I ask Remus incredulously.
Remus just shrugs at me. "Beats me, mate. But he did look a little serious, yeah."
I'm still staring after James.
"You're not thinking about it, are you?" Remus asks me softly.
I let out another bark of laughter. "Na, of course not," I say. Once again I realize I sound manic laughing like this and I wonder since when do I have a manic laugh. I'm still staring after James. Whatever it was that I thought he had said, it certainly wasn't that.
"I don't get it," says Peter. "What are you guys talking about?" I look at him and shake my head.
"Things way above your comprehension level," I sigh.
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A/N: There ya go! You know what to do…click that little review button!
