No One Does It Better

Chapter 21

You talk a good game, but girl, you've been played.

Look at this face you chose to play.

I watched the quidditch match emptily. What Adaline had said to me was whirling around my head like a tornado, demolishing any rational thoughts caught up in the destruction. Was she seeing something that I was completely blind to? Was there something more between Sirius and I other than a friendship mixed in with harmless flirting? No, it just wasn't possible. It was her drunk mind talking.

But were drunk words not always sober thoughts?

Stop thinking about this, Nova.

I heard a cheer erupt and clapped aimlessly, watching Sirius fly around when I realised that he wasn't celebrating in the slightest. I jumped back to reality and looked around me. Lily, Remus and Peter looked like they wanted to bind my hands together.

'Hufflepuff just scored,' Peter said scornfully.

'Sorry,' I said and placed my hands firmly by my side. I heard Adaline giggling away beside me. I dug my elbow into her side. 'Shut up.'

The score was now 170-150 to Gryffindor but it was far too close for comfort and it was showing on James' face. I watched as he screamed at the Gryffindor keeper – a fourth year, I think – and then made his way to Sirius pointing to Hufflepuff players he wanted to be thrown off their brooms. Sirius' face was deadly serious – no pun intended but it was really really sexy, especially with his hair pulled back into a mini bun. We would look good together…

I wanted to curse the hell out of Adaline right now for putting this in my head.

'Remus, I need a hipflask.' I said. He hesitated and looked around us cautiously.

'What do you want?' he asked.

'Anything strong.'

Remus handed me the flask and I opened it up. I knocked it back, my face screwing up after the first gulp. It tasted like something you would clean with - Rum.

Another cheer went up as I witnessed James bolting for the Gryffindor keeper, yet again. 170-160 Gryffindor.

'Give me that,' Lily said and took a swig of my drink like it was pumpkin juice. 'This is diabolical, how have they let this happen? COME ON, GRYFFINDOR!'

I looked at Remus and Peter, wide eyed, silently asking if Lily was always this way at quidditch matches. They both looked as shocked and terrified as me.

Neither Seeker seemed to have any idea where the snitch was, and it was causing the atmosphere to tense slowly as time went by. The way Sirius and the other Gryffindor Beater were hitting bludgers, if I were a Hufflepuff, I'd be fearing for my life. They were becoming ruthless and James had his other Chasers helping the Seeker look for the snitch while he took on the role of trying to tackle, score and captain for Gryffindor.

To my surprise, his tactics worked as he scored to take it up to 180-160. The full stand around me erupted and I clapped enthusiastically.

'Thank Godric,' Remus muttered behind me and I laughed.

Not long after, I heard the commentator announce the Gryffindor Seeker had seen the snitch. I decided to down the rest of the rum in the flask if the match was going to be over soon. No doubt, there would be some kind of victory party and I would need to be around Sirius for a long time. I needed some form of Dutch courage to stop me from blushing every twenty seconds.

The second I finished and screwed the cap back on, it was announced that Gryffindor had won the match and Lily had engulfed Adaline and I in a hug.

'We're having a party in the common room,' she told us. 'Come back with me to get in, okay?'

Adaline nodded and finished her hipflask too. I knew she was going to need more drink if she was going to spend her Saturday night surrounded by Gryffindors.

The five of us walked up to the castle with the crowds, deciding James and Sirius would catch up with us eventually when they finally stopped celebrating with the team. Remus had topped up mine and Adaline's hipflasks and handed one over to Lily, too.

'Nova!'

I stopped and turned to see Cian jogging up over to me. Everyone else kept walking as I hung back.

'Hi,' I smiled.

'I noticed you were supporting Gryffindor today,' he beamed and we began to walk up to the castle together.

'I wouldn't go that far,' I told him. Merlin, he was quite good looking, wasn't he? But up against Sirius…

'Do you like quidditch, then?'

'Love it,' I smiled, thinking of all the matches I used go to with my father. We didn't go so much now.

'Me too, my team is the Chudley Cannons.'

I snorted and then laughed. 'Sorry.'

The Cannons were nose diving every year. I couldn't remember a game they have won since I began taking an interest in quidditch.

'What's so funny?' he asked, a smile etched upon his face. 'Who do you support, then?'

'Wigtown Warriors,' I answered proudly and Cian rolled his eyes. 'Hey!'

He shook his head with a laugh. 'It's not often girls like quidditch.'

'I'm a woman who likes her sport – I even like football.'

'Really?' he raised an eyebrow. 'How does that work being a pure pureblood?'

'I got bored one Christmas and went walking around Glasgow. I came across this massive stadium and I didn't know what was going on, but I saw people in scarves and hats – they were green too so naturally, I was interested. I found out where I could buy a ticket and the rest is history.'

'Impressive.'

'No one actually knows that,' I thought aloud.

'Well, I am glad I was the first to know.'

'Bruce!'

I stopped, again, at the familiar sound of James' voice. I looked between the Gryffindors and when I landed on Cian, he shrugged with a defeated smile. It was almost as if he knew who I was going to choose in this moment. I just wish he hadn't been right.

'I'll see you at the party,' I said to him as he walked away. He raised a hand to say goodbye.

Before I had the chance to turn around, I was tackled to the ground by a hard force.

'WE WON!'

With the weight piling on me, I guessed that I had two male bodies on me - not one - and all I could see was a mass of black hair.

'And-I-can't-breathe!' I managed to shout out through my laughter.

Chuckling, Sirius and James jumped off me and grabbed an arm each and hauled me back to my feet.

'I reckon you're our good luck charm,' Sirius nudged me with his elbow.

'You wish,' I scoffed. 'You were all playing terrible – you're lucky you seen the snitch first!'

'Hey, that hurts,' James but a hand to his chest.

'Would you rather I lied?'

'Yes, it would make me feel a lot better,' James pouted, and I rolled my eyes.

'You played some top-notch quidditch, Potter. I'm sure you'll win the house cup.'

'I'm going to ignore your sarcastic tones and assume that came from your heart.'

'What was McLaggen saying?' Sirius asked, clearly bored of the conversation James and I were having.

'Nothing,' I smiled innocently.

He furrowed his brows but only for a moment and I felt a hint of success. We walked in silence after that until Sirius spoke up again.

'Prongs, who was the Ravenclaw that asked if she could come to the party?'

'Chasity Vane, I think,' James replied, screwing up his face trying to think. 'Or is it Christie?'

'Think I'll head up to Ravenclaw tower and extend the invite to her and her friends,' Sirius stated. 'See you both soon!'

I stood dumbfounded. How did we just go from me being a good luck charm to him looking for another girl's attention? James noticed I was no longer beside him and chuckled, grabbing my arm and pulling me along with him.

'You know, I've never known Padfoot to purposely try and make a girl jealous.'

'Who is he trying to make jealous?' I asked. I really did want to know, it might explain a lot.

'You.'

'Oh, piss off,' I shook my head. 'Why would he want to do that?'

'You're both just as oblivious as each other, aren't you?'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'So why didn't you just tell him what you and McLaggen were talking about?'

I folded my arms across my chest and pouted. 'I don't know.'

'Exactly.'

The party was well under way by the time James and I made it to the Gryffindor common room. I knew all too well that the Fat Lady was eyeing me up when entering with a completely different Gryffindor boy for the third time in the past two months – I avoided any kind of eye contact with her.

When we entered, James got a hero's welcome and I was thankful it was Lily at the forefront of that celebration, so I found Adaline and the boys quite quickly. By the looks of it, Sirius and his Ravenclaw friends were still to show up. Adaline thrust a cup into my hand immediately.

'You look a little too sober,' she told me, and she was right. The walk back to the castle and its events had brought too much of a sobering reality too me.

'Thanks,' I grumbled and gulped it down. Firewhisky. I turned to Adaline who was smirking at me. If she wasn't my best friend and we weren't the only two Slytherin's here, I would have slapped her.

'Where's Padfoot?' I heard Peter whisper to Remus.

'Away acquiring some Ravenclaw's,' I answered, trying to hide the resentment in my voice. Remus looked at me sympathetically, but I turned away. I was not in the mood for a third person to tell me Sirius and I fancied each other and we just didn't know it.

How wrong could they all be? We were just both playing a game with each other, there were no real feelings behind it. Right?

Yes, that was it. It was the only explanation – we flirted for pure fun and to see who was better at it. Everyone was just seeing it all wrong because they weren't apart of the game.

I'm losing it, aren't I?

Sirius came bustling in, his arm around a blonde Ravenclaw who I assumed was Chasity or Christie Vane - she must have been at least a 6th year because I didn't recognise her at all. Three of her giggling friends followed behind, looking around the common room in awe and I rolled my eyes.

'Shock,' Adaline muttered beside me. We had managed to steal the seats sitting around the fire. Adaline and I sat on the couch with Lily and James. Peter and Remus occupied the armchairs.

'He's ridiculous, honestly,' Lily huffed and then looked at James who shrugged it off. 'What's the need to have that many girls following you around?'

'Blonde ones of that,' I mumbled to myself. I wasn't sure why, but it really irritated me how he went for blondes – maybe it was because I always prided myself on my hair and being a blonde bombshell. It was a part of my appeal factor to boys. It was a bizarre thing to be jealous of, I know.

'What's that, Nova?' Lily asked.

'Nothing, I need another drink,' I stood up and walked to the corner of the room to pick my next poison.

'Ah, Nova,' I felt myself tense at the sound of his voice as I continued to pour my drink. 'Have you met Christie?'

I knocked back my drink and quickly poured another one before turning around to face Sirius and his Ravenclaw.

'No,' I smiled as sweetly as I could. 'Can I get you a drink?'

'Oh, yes, please,' Christie Vane beamed at me. In contrast, Sirius looked stunned at my friendliness towards her. Did he expect me to be mean to the girl just because she was with him? I handed the glass I had just made for myself to her.

'Firewhisky to get you started.'

'Thank you,' she said. 'So, how did you end up at a Gryffindor party?'

Oh, Christie, the bitch side of me said. Why did you have to ask?

'Well, I'm the teams good luck charm, apparently. That's what you said to me just after the game, Sirius. Am I right?'

Now Christie was the one looking shocked. Sirius looked angrier than he did when I cursed him yesterday, if that was even possible. If I didn't know better, I reckon he would have jinxed the life out of me if he could.

I smiled again and excused myself when I saw Cian hovering near the stairs, leaving knowing I had won this round, but knowing the game was now far from over.

Take Off Your Colours by You Me At Six

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