Chapter 40: The Double Date

January 19, 1994

Charity had no idea how she had managed to get Severus in her room for a chat. However it had happened, he was now standing stiffly in her classroom, which was decked in Muggle band posters and all sorts of bright ornaments, which she knew from one look didn't vibe with him.

She had found that, for some reason, she wanted to get to know him better. He was a very interesting guy, and she thought that there was a subtle niceness to him. It was fascinating.

Or that's what she would say, anyway. In reality, Aurora Sinistra and Septima Vector were nosy, and they had decided that she had to be the one to 'get to know' Severus.

"You wanted to speak?" Severus asked stiffly.

"Oh, yeah," Charity replied casually. "I know for a fact you don't have anything to do this afternoon." Good thing Aurora and Septima had checked his schedule beforehand. "So, you know, just a chat."

"I see," he replied coldly. "What did you want to speak about?"

She laughed. "You don't know how to chat, do you?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Chat means you talk about whatever. You know, what's happening in your life. Music you like. Movies you've seen recently. That kind of stuff. You don't have a specific topic," she explained.

"I see," he repeated. "Go ahead and speak, then."

"Spoilsport," she muttered, but she smiled at him. "Okay. So, what was Hogwarts like when you went to school?"

"You want me to answer this question?" Snape asked incredulously.

"That's right," she replied brightly.

"It was the same," he answered. "Practically the same."

"Good," she encouraged. "And?"

"And? I answered your question, Burbage."

She scoffed. "Yeah, but you gotta talk more. It's not just answering questions. You talk to me, I talk back. Engage me in conversation, Severus."

He rolled his eyes. "I have better things to do."

"No, you don't," she urged sweetly, smiling at him. "Come on, talk to me."

He sighed. "I attended Hogwarts from 1971 to 1978. I was made a Prefect in my fifth year. I was sorted into Slytherin House, obviously. Received O's and E's in all of my O.W.L.s. Professor Dumbledore was the headmaster at the time."

"Who were your friends?" she probed.

"Avery. Mulciber."

"Those guys? But… Severus, aren't they like… bad guys?"

He glared at her. "You asked, didn't you? Yes. They are, as you so elegantly put it, bad guys."

She shuddered. "That's okay. You probably didn't know they were bad guys when you became friends with them. Any other friends?"

"No."

"Seriously? I feel like everyone would've flocked over you. And all the girls, definitely."

He choked.

"Careful, there." She patted his back. "But, seriously."

"Are you insinuating…"

"No, no," she defended quickly, grinning. "It's not like I like you, or something. Nah. That's just an objective opinion."

"Subjective, Burbage. Opinions are always subjective."

"Whatever, Severus. I'm trying to use big words here. That doesn't mean I know what they mean."

He smirked. "Clearly."

"Hey, stop making fun of me! I'm being so nice to you. I'm teaching you how to talk."

He rolled his eyes. "You're so sensitive, Burbage."

"Stop calling me Burbage," she said. "My name is Charity. Do you call the Deputy Headmistress Minerva or McGonagall?"

His lips pursed. "Minerva."

"Then? There's no difference! I'm, like, even more informal than she is. No need to call me Burbage, or Miss Burbage, or any of that stuff. Bleh. Boring. Okay?"

"Whatever."

She smirked. It was so fun to irritate him.

Candice looked up at the poster that was tacked to the wall.

Interested in Magical Dance?

Join the Hogwarts Magical Dance Club, where you'll learn how to dance with magical effects on stage! Learn how to express yourself, and to become the dancer you've always wanted to be!

Interested in both boys and girls who want to perform their hearts out. Tryouts will be held next Saturday, January 22! Sign up below! (Your name will be hidden to protect your privacy.)

DANCE YOUR HEART OUT.

Hope to see you there!

-Aliya Mehra, Founder

"Interested?" asked a voice from behind her.

It was Liana.

"No, I just…" Candice broke off.

"You want to join the Magical Dance Club?" asked Kylie incredulously. "Seriously?"

"No, I don't!" Candice bluffed. "I was just reading the poster, that's all."

"Yeah, but you looked at that one, and the one down the other corridor too," Liana replied, pointing to the other poster down the hallway.

"Oh. They're interesting," Candice offered feebly.

Kylie burst out laughing. "Are you going to do ballet onstage?"

"No!" Candice insisted, turning red. "I just read the poster!"

"Candice the ballerina," Liana remarked, smirking, and making a fake pirouette. "All hail Candice the ballerina."

"All hail!" shouted Kylie.

Candice groaned.

The water gushed down the stream, lulling happily. The mud on the shore was soft and squishy, and the air was moist, having rained recently. The big, black dog cautiously stuck a paw into the shallow water, revelling at how cool the water was, splashing some onto his face refreshingly.

The stream flowed with grace, with tranquility, with peace. With a sense of calm, and refreshment, on top of anything else. At times like this, Sirius wished nothing more than the fact that he wanted to go home.

That was when he heard a whimper from nearby.

He turned around to see a small girl there, no more than six or seven years old. She was clutching a rag doll in one hand, her hair blonde with muddy streaks of brown mixed in.

Sirius woofed apprehensively, approaching her slowly.

A tear flowed down the girl's cheek, and he realized that she was probably going through a hard time.

So was he. Azkaban certainly had thrown him into a grind machine; ripped him apart, then pieced him back together, only to rip him back apart.

So he paddled up to where she was standing on the shore, nuzzling his head on her shoulder, woofing happily.

He felt her small arms wrap around him in a tender embrace, just like she was the girl, and he was her dog. He rubbed against her enthusiastically, trying to make her smile.

She did.

"I love you," she whispered to the dog.

Hearing those words from an innocent child, those words that were pure, and real, and not tainted by the ugly picture of humanity, was the only thing that kept him going for months to come.

He woofed cheerfully, licking her face.

She laughed, a childlike giggle, and patted his head affectionately.

"Good doggy," she giggled.

"Hey. You're Cho, right?"

It was Aliya Mehra, that girl that was really close to Cedric.

"Yeah," Cho replied. "You're Aliya."

"Yep, that's right," Aliya replied casually. "So, I had a question for you. You have a friend named Marietta, right?"

"Yeah," Cho said, somewhat stiffly. "What about her?"

"Well, she does dance, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"My friend used to go to her dance academy," Aliya replied. "So, do you think she'd be interested in Magical Dance?"

"I can check," Cho said.

"Okay, that'd be great." Aliya smiled. "Also, would you be interested?"

"I don't dance," Cho told her grumpily.

"You don't have to dance," Aliya assured her, smiling. "We need effects too. Magical effects go with the dancing. We gotta make people fly and sparkle and stuff."

Cho snorted despite herself. "Sounds interesting. I'll let you know if I'm interested."

"Cool. See you around." Aliya flashed another smile at her and headed away.

If Aliya wasn't so close to Cedric, then Cho would've liked her. Honestly, Cho did think she was cool. She was funny, and friendly, and charming. Her personality was attractive, and there was no denying that she looked good too. And she was in Cedric's year, which meant that she would be more relatable to him. It was just a good thing that Aliya didn't play Quidditch. That was one of the only connections Cho had to Cedric.

Aliya was better for Cedric in almost every way. There was no way that Cho could fill in those tiny gaps. And she wasn't going to settle for scraps.

Maybe she would just have to settle for being Cedric's friend. It wasn't practical. She couldn't believe she had developed such a girly crush on him.

Cho wasn't girly. Far from it.

But reflecting back on her feelings for Cedric, that was exactly how she felt.

Lily and Remus were in her room, grading papers.

Well, at least she was. She was grading the most recent batch of tests she had given out. Remus was working alongside her, his quill scratching on the parchment, the two of them working in comfortable silence.

Sometimes, they would do just this. It was nice to meet up with a friend and do your own work while you knew he was doing his. It was just one of those things. Not a planned schedule, not a certain coordination. Just a "hey, do you mind?" and a "no, not at all" was all it took, and there they were.

She wrote an Acceptable on the paper, smiling. Jonathan had passed a test, for the first time all year. He wasn't completely clicking, but suddenly, he wasn't struggling in her class. It just took that extra effort, that little extra push, and that was what made the difference between a pass and a fail.

She knew she had been unfair to him, but she couldn't help but be proud.

Just then, James burst into the room, wearing a suit and tie. She stared at him in awe.

"You look amazing," she managed, when she finally found her voice. "What are you all dressed up for?"

"Wait, wait, wait." James held up a hand to stop her. "Cue Tonks!"

Tonks walked into the room, rolling her eyes. "James, I told you we didn't need a sequence for this." She, too, was dressed up; she was wearing a vivid blue bell-sleeve dress, and her hair was a vivid shade of bubblegum pink, wavy, and barely touching her shoulders.

"Holy…" Lily heard Remus whisper from beside her.

"We even practiced!" announced James. "Come on, you guys, let's get this show on the road!"

"Where are we going?" Lily inquired.

"It's a surprise," James said evasively. "Hurry up and get dressed and let's go."

"Wait, James, what's a surprise?" Lily asked, puzzled. "Why are we doing this? Remus, do you know what's…"

Remus shook his head, still staring at Tonks in awe.

"Drum roll, please!" James said, while Tonks laughed beside him.

"James, really…" began Lily.

"DO THE DRUM ROLL!"

"Fine," Lily sighed, drumming her fingers on the tabletop quickly. "Now, what's going on?"

"Double date!" declared James. "Tonks and I came up with it at the Potter Party!"

"Our Christmas party, you mean…"

"We're going on a double date!" James announced. "Both of you hurry up and get dressed," he instructed, pointing at Remus and Lily. "Come on."

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Remus, raising an eyebrow.

"The Three Broomsticks, right?" asked Tonks, looking at James.

"Yeah. Come on, you two!"

"We… Okay," Lily replied. "Give me a sec, I'll get dressed."

"Cool," James said. "Remus, get out of here while she changes. You go change, too, and Tonks, go with him."

Tonks blushed as pink as her hair. "Yeah, okay. Come on, Remus?"

"Y-Yeah." Still looking dazed, Remus got up and walked over to Tonks, who offered him a smile and took his hand. Lily watched the two of them leave the room and then turned to James.

"Okay, darling, what's going on?"

"Get dressed, we're going on a double date!"

"We are? Oh, I thought that was just a distraction technique."

James snorted. "Nope, it's for real this time. So come on, get on something nice!"

"Okay, which dress?"

James walked over to her wardrobe and rummaged through her dresses. "I like this one." He picked out a dark blue, long-sleeved dress for her and held it out to her. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, of course." She accepted it from him, and quickly swapped it out for her robes.

"Cool," James said, grinning. "Let's go. I promise it'll be fun."

"Yeah." She smoothed out her hair. "Look okay?"

He kissed her cheek. "Great. Do I even need to say it?"

She blushed. "Thanks. Let's go, then?"

"I've been saying that for hours now." He grinned. "Let's go."

James told her that they were going to meet directly at the Three Broomsticks, so she pulled on a thick coat and the two of them headed to Hogsmeade.

Remus and Tonks were approaching just as they were, and they entered the pub quickly, the cold January wind roaring around them in a whirlwind of snow. James got them a table and Butterbeers, and they seated themselves at the table together.

"So, Tonks," Lily began, "I heard you got accepted into the Auror program! Congratulations!"

Tonks beamed. "Thank you."

"So what are you going to be doing now?" asked Lily. "Like, until September?"

Tonks shrugged. "Well, I'll be doing some interning at the Auror Office, but it's not going to be 100% of the time. So I'm going to have a lot of free time, and I have to think about what I'm going to do."

"Take my advice," James offered, "and get a Muggle job. Work somewhere for half a year and then leave. There's money conversions, so you don't have to worry about being paid in a different currency, but you also get more money for doing the same job in the Muggle world than the magical world."

Remus's lips pursed. "Yeah. Didn't Sirius give you that advice?"

James frowned. "Yeah. He took Muggle Studies up until 7th year. This was something he told me."

Lily patted his arm gently at the reminder of Sirius. "It's okay."

"I'll consider that, James, thank you," said Tonks. "I'd have to find a job in Muggle London, but that's not a problem since I live there, and I know a bunch of Muggles there."

"Yeah, that's right," James said, taking a sip of his Butterbeer. "I worked at some Muggle club for a while, but then I got bored. And I switched to another one."

"Sirius would always hang out there," Remus added, rolling his eyes. "He loved anything Muggle. His room was full of posters of Muggle girls."

Lily laughed. "I remember that. His mother never found out."

"Regulus knew, but he didn't blabber," James said. "I think he secretly liked them."

They all laughed.

"Sirius named those girls, too, didn't he?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, he did," affirmed Remus. "There was an Olivia, and there was a Rachel. And there were two Holly's, for whatever reason."

"If you could name anyone anything, why would you give two of them the same name?" muttered Tonks.

James shrugged. "He was crazy. A good friend, while it lasted." He scowled. "And then things went sour."

"It's okay, James, let's not talk about that," said Lily softly. "Let's talk about something more cheerful."

"Or let's do something more fun!" James said. "What about truth or dare?"

"Oh, no," moaned Lily. "You two are the worst people to play truth or dare with."

"Is that an insult?" Remus asked relaxedly, his eyes twinkling.

"I think that's a challenge," James said. "You're on. Does everyone consent?"

"Definitely," Remus said, leaning back in his chair. "Dora?"

Lily laughed. "You call her Dora now?"

"Shut up," Tonks grumbled. "Yeah, I'll play."

"Lily, just waiting on you." James looked at her expectantly.

"Okay," she relented. "But… go easy on us. And it's Tonks's first time."

"But it's not your first time," Remus pointed out. "We can't go easy on you if you've played it before."

"You're just saying that because Tonks will beat you up if we don't go easy on her," James pointed out. "We're going to go easy on Lily too."

"And me?" asked Tonks, laughing.

"Yes," said Remus instantly. "She hasn't played it before."

"Okay, fine," James gave in. "Go easy on the ladies."

"But not because they're ladies," Lily added.

"But not because they're ladies," Remus agreed.

"Okay, then." James rubbed his palms together. "Who wants to start?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Lily interrupted. "Some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" protested James and Remus in unison.

"Yeah, I agree," Tonks said. "Nothing life-threatening."

"Nothing unhygienic," Lily suggested.

"Nothing involving alcohol," added James. "Remus doesn't drink."

"It really isn't good for you," Remus muttered.

"He's right," agreed Lily. "No alcohol."

"I mean, Butterbeer isn't alcoholic, not to people," James remarked. "Only to, like, house-elves it is."

"Butterbeer's okay, no alcohol," clarified Tonks.

"Yeah, that's good," said Remus.

"Any more boring rules?" James asked.

Tonks and Lily shook their heads.

"Well then, I'll start," James said. "We'll start with, erm... Remus. Truth or dare?"

"Dare, obviously."

"Right. I dare you to jinx that guy over there…" He pointed to a man in a nearby booth. "... so that he smells like garlic for the rest of the day."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Let me think of a spell for that." He slipped his wand out from his pocket, gave it a neat flick, directing it towards the man.

"That should have done it," he said easily. "Lily, truth or dare?"

"I don't want to… dare."

"You don't want to dare, or you don't want to dare but you choose it anyway?"

"Yeah, dare," she said meekly, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"Well, only one way to find out if that spell worked. Go up to that guy and sniff him."

Tonks burst out into laughter. Lily was mortified. "No… Seriously, Remus."

He tilted his head to the side. "You can opt out, if you'd like."

"No, I… fine." She apprehensively approached the man in question. Once she had reached his back, she took a quick sniff and practically ran back to their table, gagging. The man scowled, turning around and shooting her an angry look. "Remus, that smells horrible."

"Thank you. Your turn."

"Tonks, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Taking it easy, huh?" asked James. "Okay, go ahead."

"Let's see." Lily thought hard. "Have you ever been caught in a broom closet by a teacher?"

"Yeah, three times." Lily saw Remus's eyes widen, though he tried to hide it.

"Elaborate," James pressed.

"Er, let me see," Tonks recalled. "The first was in my fifth year, with Charlie Weasley. And we weren't actually doing anything, except for actually putting away brooms, but Snape was convinced that something else was going on." She rolled her eyes. "Number two, sixth year, same broom closet, same guy. Except this time we weren't putting away brooms." She turned pink. "Number three was sixth year too, but a different broom closet, and this guy named Spencer, who was really cool."

Remus was looking at her like he'd never seen her before.

"Okay, Tonks, now you ask me." James cracked his knuckles.

"James, truth or…"

"Dare."

"I knew it," she muttered. "Okay, go splash the rest of your Butterbeer over Rosmerta."

"But I'm drinking it!" he protested. "Let me have one more sip." He took a long swig from his mug and then walked over to where Madame Rosmerta was serving another table and dunked the remaining contents of his Butterbeer right over her head. The three of them at the table burst into laughter as Rosmerta shouted at James and turned cherry red, but James sauntered back to the table like he was a hero.

The rest of the night passed with a lot of fun; Lily threw an apple at Garlic Man, who somehow didn't notice, Remus revealed his celebrity crush (a magical news reporter named Jacinda Rose, who apparently had a "beautiful ponytail"), Tonks morphed into an old lady and spooked one of the men who had just walked in by demanding her money back, and James sang A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love standing up on his table so the entire pub could hear.

It was fantastic.

A/N: Coming up: Some Valentines plans!

Amber Harrins: More on Sirius is coming soon! He's going to arrive at Hogwarts in a few chapters (hehe, shouldn't have said that) and get some interesting news. As for the Potters knowing about the secret-keeper, we kind of just threw this into an AU. Up to interpretation, I guess? Maybe Peter Obliviated their memories so that they didn't know about the switch of Secret-Keepers. :)

re vi ew!