A/N: Apologies for the lateness. Midterms. Ick. 'Nuff said. Hope you enjoy the chapter, though! – J
"Everyone has a secret, oh, but can they keep it? Oh, no they can't." – Maroon 5, Secret
The biggest downside of working with Cherry Clark was working with Cherry Clark. Lily had a few things right about her; she was a rather unsavory character. But I didn't think her hair was so bad, and it actually suited her.
Planning was difficult. It wouldn't do for us to be seen together. After all, we weren't the type to stop for a chat in the corridors. She never went to the library; I couldn't be believed to go out for a lap of the Quidditch pitch. We had one real shot at meeting: semi-regular trips to the toilet at off times, and not often enough to become suspicious.
Talking Marlene out of joining me was tricky the first few times. She was initially rather hurt when I said I wanted to go alone. Girls can be so silly about these things.
Another difficulty was my own guilty conscience. I'm a bad enough liar as is, top secret missions aside. So when Sirius sat down with me at breakfast and asked what was up, my stuttering mess of an attempted casual reply really didn't come as a surprise to me.
"Eloquent as ever, Ali," he said with an amused snort. "Evans, what sort of drugs are you giving my girlfriend?"
It was a joke, we all knew it, but the way Lily turned up her nose with distaste told us all that she didn't find it very funny, as if we had thought she might.
"Go bother someone else, Black," she hissed. "I haven't got the time for your antics today."
I blocked out their bickering and noticed something strange. Not Sirius and Lily fighting – that was a daily occurrence – but the look James was giving Sirius, as if he was upset with him. Try though I might to remember seeing that look directed at Sirius before, I couldn't think of a single instance. Perhaps James was just sick of Sirius picking fights with his Lily-flower.
Yes, that was it.
But I checked Sirius's watch and found that I needed to go to the toilet. I excused myself quietly from the table and rushed off to the meeting point: the third floor girl's toilet.
"You're late, Puff," she snapped as I slipped inside. "I checked, we're alone."
"So have you figured out how you're going to do this?" I panted.
"Don't sweat it, Puff," she said with a smirk. "We've been handed an opportunity on a silver platter."
She was rolling a joint in her fingers as she spoke, lighting it and taking a long, slow drag.
"Want?" she said, blowing the smoke out in my face and offering the joint up to me. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head vigorously.
"That stuff's illegal," I said weakly, knowing nothing I said would make her stop.
"What, are you going to report me, princess? You want my help or not, sunshine?"
This was getting old fast. I pressed Cherry for the details of her plan and she smirked, blowing out a long line of smoke.
"Muggle Studies," she said proudly. "There's a project coming up, should take at least a month. That teacher's in my pocket; we've got a deal: She lets me choose my partner and I don't make her life a living hell. That way, I never have to work with the Ginger Menace. Everybody wins. I'll just have her put me with Black this time and we can work from there."
"Do you know how you'll seduce him?" I breathed, torn between disgust at her lifestyle and awe of her confidence. Cherry simply shrugged.
"I've got a few ideas up my skirt. I mean sleeve. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you updated, and I'll be discrete. I don't want his super-fans catching wind of this any more than you do, sunshine."
And with that, we parted. There were no pleasantries exchanged, no personal discussions, just strict business. Cherry went off to do whatever Cherry does and I went back to my friends at the breakfast table.
"Hey, Ali," said Marlene. "That took quite a while."
I glared at her and nobody pressed the issue, but Remus was frowning at me curiously.
That was a concern. The girls might find out, but I hoped they would ultimately support me standing up for myself. James, Sirius, and Peter would probably never notice a thing if I didn't tell them. I cut my hair the year prior and it took them two months and Remus's constant hinting to notice that I'd lost six centimeters of hair.
Remus, on the other hand, had the potential to notice something and the potential of spoiling it all. I mean, he was such a loyal friend. What if he told Sirius? I would have to be extra careful where he was concerned.
"So, how are your classes going, Sirius?" I asked, a little flustered as I saw Cherry saunter in and take a seat at the end of the table. The way that girl walked… it seemed almost impossible for males to ignore. Was this really a fair test of his fidelity?
"Same as always," he sighed. "I can't wait until Gudgeon's cauldron explodes again today."
Peter began to snigger and James fought a grin, but Remus just frowned. Lily's eyes flashed furiously.
"Since I know you're not a Seer, Black, I'd hope his cauldron doesn't explode today if I were you, or on your head be it. Honestly, I don't know how that boy has survived six years with you trying to kill him for laughs every five minutes."
"Aw, chill, Evans," he replied with a bark of laughter, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my forehead, making me blush furiously. Lily's expression softened, but she continued to glare as he said, "He's never actually died. There are worse things I could do with my spare time."
Maybe it was my now-overactive and paranoid imagination, maybe it was a by-product of the marijuana fumes I had been subjugated to, but I could have sworn I heard Remus mutter, "Indeed there are."
