hello, all! i'm sorry for the short chapter, but enjoy!

24. CHALLENGES AND GAMES

"Why can't you see, you belong with me?"

- You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift

"Where are they?" asked James, impatient. Lily sighed. "Just wait for them. They'll be here in a minute."

James pushed his glasses up to his eyes. "You don't think they've bailed, do you?" Lily looked at James. "No," James answered his own question. "No, it's impossible. Sirius would never bail out of a challenge like that."

Lily snorted. "A challenge?"

"Oi, you two!" came Sirius' boisterous voice from the staircase. He was about to open his mouth to say something else, but he was cut off by another. "Oh, hello there, Sirius!" Rebecca taunted, holding Zed's hand.

Sirius' head snapped at Rebecca and he immediately grabbed Idina's hand as well. "Hello," he grinned.

"I see you've brought her along."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "I see you've brought him along."

"I'm sorry," Rebecca addressed the girl, "What did you say your name was?"

Idina opened her mouth to answer but Rebecca said, "Oh, that's right. You didn't."

"Her name is Idina, Becca," Sirius said irritably.

"Don't you 'Becca' me, Sirius Black."

"Ugh," Lily complained loudly, "Let's go!"

The three couples were all in Madam Pudifoot's with their ordered drinks. Lily was in between James and Rebecca. Next to James was Sirius, next to Sirius was Idina, who was next to Zed, who was next to Rebecca. Zed inched a little further a way from Idina. Rebecca and Sirius were seated directly in front of each other. It was a rather awkward group of people who sat on this particular round table. Some students from Hogwarts who happened to either pass by the shop, or were in the shop, gawked at the three couples. There was a lot of awkward silence.

"Soooo," James tried to stir up conversation. "Tell me more about yourself, Idina," he said kindly.

Idina seemed to perk up. She smiled at James. "Well, I was born in Scotland. My mum's a Healer and my dad works for the ministry."

"You're rather good at Potions, I hear," Lily commented.

"Yes," Idina nodded, "but there can only be one Slughorn favourite, and that's you." She smiled at Lily then she turned to Rebecca. "I'm sorry, but I think we got off the wrong foot. My name's Idina."

"So I've heard," Rebecca yawned.

There was a pause. "I heard you were from Beauxbatons."

"Well, you heard right."

"Then are you French? Beauxbatons students are usually French."

The boys seemed eager to hear Rebecca's answer. She noticed. "Yes," she smiled sweetly. "I'm half French. And I'm half English."

Sirius snorted and Rebecca's smile dropped. "You don't sound English or French at all."

"I didn't grow up in England or France, if you must know."

Zed had this knowing little look in his eyes. "Father side?" he whispered. Rebecca turned her head to him. "English," he whispered back. "Ah," Zed nodded.

"Oh, then where did you grow up, Rebecca?" Sirius clasped his hands and asked innocently. "In a forest raised by wolves? Do, pray tell!"

Rebecca's eyes narrowed at Sirius. "I do know that I grew up somewhere better than where you did, Sirius."

"And where might that be? Please, inform me and make me knowledgeable, because the information I have of you is limited."

Rebecca leaned closer to him and said in a softer, yet more taunting voice. "Limited you are, but knowledgeable, you most certainly are not."

"You think so?" Sirius leaned in closer as well. "You're better bred than I am, then? I know for a fact that your family is in league with You-Know-Who—"

"As yours is."

"—but while mine are, I still have a clear mind not to fall for that arrogant, dim-witted little monster of a trap. Unlike the family that you have."

Rebecca stared down at Sirius. Suddenly she said, "At least I still have my family. You, Sirius, would know what I mean. In fact, I seem to have a bit more of your own family than you do yourself."

Sirius looked like he'd been slapped in the face. "You—"

"Sirius." James called out in a warning tone. Sirius looked at James, who glared at him and he seemed to calm down by a tad bit.

"Excuse me for a while," Sirius announced too politely. "I need to get some air."

No one spoke, but Sirius walked out of the door. Once he was out, he took in a deep breath and shouted to his delight out of annoyance.

"That," Sirius said through gritted teeth during dinner, "was—a—disaster."

James stabbed his food with his fork. "Lily will never go out with me again because of you."

"I'm sorry, Prongsie," Sirius grimaced. "I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll talk to Lily—"

"I told you so," Remus said, barely a whisper.

"Whuh?" James and Sirius asked together, in the same tone.

"I told you so," Remus said louder. "I told you not to do that stupid jealously game. I told you it'll end up in chaos. I told you that—"

"You know, for the quiet one, your smartness gets pretty loud, Moony," said James.

"Now you know she can get nasty," Peter stated.

Sirius nodded to Peter, "I know that she can get nasty, Wormy. But now I know how nasty she can get. What do you think, Remus?"

"I absolutely trust her," Remus said in a concluding tone.

"Well, that's a bit of nonsense. I stand by what I said before," Sirius thumped his fist on the table. "She's a pain, honestly, she is."

Remus sipped his pumpkin juice. He replied pointedly, "I absolutely trust her."

Rebecca violently bit a slice of brownie as she glared at Sirius' back across the Great Hall. "I'm going to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous."

Bellatrix grunted, signalling that she was listening. Rebecca continued, "I'm going to date Reg again."

"Are you crazy?" Bellatrix almost shouted. "What about Zed? Aren't you dating him? You can't just dump him."

"We aren't dating. He and I both know that he and I like each other, and that we can go out with one another when we're bored and when we have nothing else to do and when we can't find any kind of entertainment for ourselves—"

Bellatrix snorted.

"—but Zed and I don't love each other."

Bellatrix suppressed a smirk and looked at Rebecca. "And you and Reg love each other?"

"What?" Rebecca frowned, "No. Don't be silly. He's going to be in on the plan with me."

"What plan?"

Rebecca smirked. "The incredibly stupid and dangerous plan."

"Enlighten me."

"Sirius wants to play the jealousy game? Alright then," Rebecca looked sinister, "Let's play."

hello there. :) i found this chapter short. :| anyway, i'm in AUSSIE! :) so, i'm sorry if i sort of disappeared for a while. :)) HAHAH. reviews, lovelies! i promise to make the future chapters longer. anyway, i have a surprise for all of you. ;) but i'm not going to tell you what it is yet. alright. so, i'm not updating till reviews reach 112.