James and Sirius grinned at each other, clearly pleased with themselves. I noticed that Remus was walking toward us from the back of the shop with a slightly concerned, slightly amused look on his face.

"Well Evans, come on," James smirked, nodding his head at Lily. "It's not like you to be shy."

"Shh," Lily silenced him, her eyes closed. She had a pained look on her face as she responded slowly, "I'm trying to think…of how to respond…to such an imbecile remark."

Sirius's laugh boomed through the shop.

"Do you have the scorebook Moony? Because I think Evans here just got another point."

Remus smiled, pulling a little black notebook from his back pocket. James grinned cheekily, not looking the least bit deflated as he messed up his hair.

"What are my standings Moony?" he asked, craning his neck to look over Remus's shoulder.

"Not good. Lily is up by twelve now," Remus remarked, adding a tally.

James winced.

"Guess I'll just have to pick up my game Evans," he winked.

"What game Potter?" Lily innocently asked over her shoulder as we started to make our way to the back of the shop.

"Make that thirteen Prongs," chuckled Remus, drawing another mark in his book.

"What? No! Don't count that! She's leaving! It doesn't count!" James protested, attempting to snatch the notebook away from Remus. Sirius was ignoring them as he lazily leaned against the wall, his gaze intense.

"Oi! Evans! Goldman! Who's your friend?" he broke his silence, not taking his eyes off of me. There was something in his eyes I had never seen before, a look that I couldn't quite place.

"Haha, Black," I rolled my eyes, cutting off Sarah, who, looking confused, was about to respond. "Do me a favor and don't be a git to your teammate and ex-girlfriend, ok?"

I spun on my heel, not waiting to see his reaction, but as I turned my back on him, I heard a gravelly chuckle.

"Alright then Evangeline," his voice carried an appraising, thoughtful, and undeniably sensual quality. "Alright then. See you later…Legs."

I whipped around, but the boys were gone, the bell on the door ringing in their wake.

Sarah stared at me, still looking confused.

"What?" I asked, looking to Lily for an explanation. "What?"

Sarah spoke up.

"Did he seriously not recognize you?"

I snorted.

"Oh no, he did. That's just his idea of humor," I rolled my eyes.

"Honestly, I don't think he did Eva," Lily shook her head in disbelief. Then a giggle escaped her lips. "That's hilarious. He legitimately had no idea who you were."

"No…" I started to disagree. "But do you really think…? I don't look that different."

"Not that different," Lily agreed, "but maybe different enough."

"Definitely," Sarah interjected. "Definitely different enough."

"Well that's awkward," I concluded after a moment.

"For him," laughed Sarah. "Bloody hell, how many girls do you have to sleep with before you forget what your first girlfriend looked like?"

"Too many," I smirked. Sirius and I had dated each other in third year, though I still wasn't sure if it could be called dating. We had been thirteen, and all we had done was hold hands and fight about who was better at Quidditch. The only reasons I still said I had dated him were, for one, I could pull it out every once and while as a weapon, and two, if our relationship did, in fact, count as a relationship, I was the only girl who had ever broken up with the infamous Sirius Orion Black. Like hell was I relinquishing that title.

"Ok, we have to hurry!" Lily said, checking her watch. "We haven't gotten any school supplies yet."

Lily took Sarah and I each by an elbow, ushering us towards the witch waiting to take my measurements. Until we left the shop, however, my mind kept on wandering back to Sirius. He had dated me in third year because I had beaten him for a spot on the Quidditch team. Since then, he had made the team, and we now considered each other competitors, equals, and friends. But what happened today confused and worried me a little. I really hoped he had been joking. Really, really hoped. Otherwise, I had a sneaking suspicion things could get messy.

Thankfully, as we exited the robes shop, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour caught my eye, and Sirius flew from my mind faster than his new Nimbus 90.

"Oh Lils!" I begged. "Can we please stop for ice cream. Please!"

Lily looked at her watch, torn. One glance at Sarah's face, however, and she knew she was outnumbered.

"Oh, fine!" she huffed. "We're going to be late for dinner as it is."

"Yay!" I celebrated, giving Lily a hug. Then Sarah and I dashed off, leaving her in the dust. When we had all received our cones, we went outside to sit in the sun.

"I don't care what anybody says," I said, taking another lick of my ice cream. "Double Dark Chocolate is the best flavor."

"It's ok," shrugged Sarah. "But you never try anything new. Fortescue's has hundreds and hundreds of crazy flavors."

I shook my head.

"Chocolate is chocolate. He can keep his Magic Black Bean Bananza."

"I don't think that's a real flavor," Lily remarked, laughing.

"Sure it is. Bet you a Sickle on Godric's honor," I said, crossing my heart and grinning.

"Well let's just go in and see about that," smirked Lily, eager to prove me wrong. The three of us marched back into the shop.

"Ha! Looks like you owe me a sickle Janey!"

Lily couldn't have looked more smug.

"Alright," she finally sighed, hands on her hips. "Flourish and Blotts. Let's go."

"You're a task-master Lils," Sarah laughed, shaking her head.

"We have a heartless mum," I grinned at Sarah.

"You know what? I can't wait until Vi gets back to put you two in your places."

"Ooh. Mum's pulling the daddy-card Sare."

"The scariest of cards."

"That's right, and don't you forget it," Lily pointed at us. We walked outside and headed to the bookstore, our run-in at Madam Malkin's, forgotten. Almost.