Making Plans
Sirius covered his eyes with the back of his hand, shielding them from the sun. "Where on earth is Prongs?" he growled.
Peter was too, shifting restlessly. "He should have been here twenty minutes ago."
"Relax, you two." Remus looked up from his book. "He probably met Lily along the way."
Sirius grinned. "That's highly possible. It sounds just like him to forget about his friends whenever he sees that redhead."
"You're kidding, right?" Peter looked a little horrified.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm kidding, Wormtail! Prongs would never do that to us! Look, here he comes!" His smile faded momentarily. "And he has brought us company."
Remus looked up again and was pleasantly surprised to see both James and Natasha making their way together to the oak tree. He quickly marked the page, put away his book, and smiled broadly at the two newcomers.
Natasha cheerfully greeted Sirius and Peter before settling down beside Remus. She leaned over to whisper something into his ear and he chuckled.
"What kept you?" Peter asked James, who was now sprawled on the grass.
"Bastaro," James replied with a groan. "He suspected that I was the one who turned Todd Walkins' fingers into claws at Potions, and threatened me with a detention."
Sirius frowned. "He has no proof! I'm sure we covered all our tracks."
"Does Bastaro care?" James snorted. "He has been trying to nail us Gryffindors for the longest time."
Peter grew worried. He knew that the Slytherin Head Of House detested all Gryffindors - especially the Marauders - after Slytherin lost the House Cup five times in a row. "So when's your detention?"
"No detention," James replied smugly. "Natasha managed to talk Bastaro out of it. Yo, you lovebirds!" he waved his hands in front of Remus and Natasha who were now sharing a private conversation, oblivious to the rest.
"What?" Remus asked. He had a silly grin on his face.
Peter looked at Natasha in awe. "How did you do it?"
"You're asking me?" she responded, puzzled. "How did I do what?"
"Talk Bastaro out of giving James a detention."
"Oh that." She seemed faintly embarrassed. "I told him that I believe James is innocent. Okay, it's a lie and Bastaro must have seen right through it. But he agreed that he might have made a mistake and let James off with a warning."
"That's neat," Sirius said and the rest all stared at him in surprise. Remus was the first to recover and he gave Sirius a friendly slap on the back. "Don't fuss, Moony," Sirius muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Remus to hear. Now that he was dating Kathleen, Sirius was ready to be civil to her friends too. And he had to admit he liked the fact that Natasha had just helped his best friend out.
"The guys are coming over to my place the day after Christmas. Want to join us?" James asked Natasha.
She looked wistfully at him, stole a gaze at Remus and then returned her attention to James. "I'd loved to. But I can't."
"Her Dad has made some plans for her during the break," Remus quickly explained on her behalf while keeping a firm stare at Sirius, as though daring him to make a nasty remark about the Slytherin again. Sirius got the message, shrugged and looked away. He was indeed tempted to verbalise his usual retort that Gryffindors must be too lowly for Natasha, but he kept himself in check.
"That's too bad then." James shrugged and turned to Sirius. "We're almost late for Quidditch."
Sirius nodded, gracefully got on his feet and walked away with James. Peter stared awkwardly at the remaining couple before mumbling something about watching the Gryffindor team's Quidditch practice and dashed off.
Left alone at last, Remus took Natasha's hands in his. "There's no way you can join us for a little while? Perhaps if you tell your Dad –"
"He doesn't know about us yet." Natasha interjected. She saw the hurt look on Remus' face and reasoned, "We've only been together for less than three months. I bet your parents don't know about me either."
"You're right," he admitted. "I did not tell them outright that I have a girlfriend. But they might have guessed anyway. I mentioned your name a couple of times in my letters."
Her eyes widened. "You mentioned me? What did you say about me?"
"I was…well…I slipped in your name sometimes. Like I mentioned that you showed me an article on the merpeople. And then I told them about the time when I was at the lake with you and the giant octopus decided to come closer and almost knocked us into the water with one of its tentacles. They must have realised that I've been spending a lot of time with a girl named Natasha. I bet they'll soon ask about you and I was sort of hoping I can introduce you to them during the break."
"That's sweet," she said lamely. "I'm sorry, Lupin. I'd loved to tell my father about us but he'll not understand."
He withdrew his hands. "That's because I'm not a pureblood?"
"Maybe," she said softly. "But I think even if you're a pureblood, that may not make any difference. He'll not approve of any choice I make."
"What are you talking about? Your father –"
"I was never Daddy's girl and I never will be," she said bitterly.
"But it's a well-known fact that your father dotes on you and will –"
"Let's not talk about this anymore, okay? Please just trust me. You know I want us to be together too and…I'll find the right time to break the news to him."
"Sure," he shrugged. "I don't mean to pressurise you in any way. You're right – we only got together recently and everything's still so new. We have plenty of time ahead of us."
Natasha broke into a smile. "We do have time. Just remember you have a girlfriend who's crazy about you and that you're not supposed to give any other girl a second look."
"The self-assured Natasha Strauss is not so confident of herself after all?" he teased.
"I just don't like to take unnecessary chances." She reached into her bag and whipped out a photograph. "Keep this with you at all times as a little reminder."
Remus stared at the picture of Natasha that was probably taken a year or so ago. "As if I can ever forget about you," he said in a quiet voice, a smile on his lips.
The corners of her mouth curled upwards once again. "I want a picture of you too! In case I forget what my handsome boyfriend looks like."
"So you intend to compare it to the handsome guys you'll be meeting and ditch the less attractive ones?"
"How did you guess?" She giggled. "Since you've figured out my real motive, you'd better give me your best picture."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Your wish is my command, my lady."
She burst out laughing before turning sombre again. "The next two weeks are going to be like hell. Write me longer letters, will you? I'm going to memorise every word to keep me going."
"You make going home seem like torture," he jested.
She sighed as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Someday I'll tell you more about it. But not now."
*
Sirius was having problems tearing his eyes away from Kathleen at Care of Magical Creatures. He stole a few seemingly careless glances in her direction and each time, she was laughing and chatting with her girlfriends. As the lesson wore on, his patience grew thin and he decided to attempt a few words with her at the first opportunity. However, at Professor Kettleburn's dismissal, Briana and a few other girls grouped around him and were asking his opinion of a topic he did not register. The only thing on his mind was that Kathleen had noticed the attention he was getting from his Housemates and did not look particularly pleased. Before he could catch up with her, she was already out of sight.
The next time they met was at lunch. Mealtimes had become more precious to Sirius now, and he had been making his fellow Marauders turn up earlier than they usually would, citing hunger pangs. Mealtimes, other than the Care of Magical Creatures and the rare times when their paths crossed along the corridors, were the only occasions where he could see her.
Stealing another glance at the Slytherin, Sirius realised with a bang that he had allowed a girl to dominate his thoughts to such an extent. He had a bittersweet feeling towards this – bitter that he seemed to have lost some control of himself and had to bid his days of fun-flirting goodbye, and sweet because thoughts of this new relationship never failed to bring a smile to his face.
But it was not long before his smile became a frown. Sirius narrowed his eyes as he watched the Hogwarts Head Boy make his way to the Slytherin table and not surprisingly, towards Kathleen.
*
"Kate," Jed whispered close to Kathleen's ear and she almost jumped from her seat in surprise. She had not noticed his approach.
"Hi Jed," she answered awkwardly.
"Are you feeling unwell or something?" he asked.
She felt increasingly uneasy. Had she been so obvious that he could tell that she was uncomfortable around him? "No, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
He smiled. "That's good to hear. I'm glad you're all right. It's just that you didn't turn up last evening so I thought –"
"Jed, I'll not be meeting you in the evenings! I've already told you I don't want to continue those lessons anymore."
"You did. But we've not had the chance to talk about that yet."
"That's because you always seem so occupied whenever I tried to talk to you. One may even think that you're deliberately avoiding the topic," she blurted out before she could hold herself in check.
"So I was. You've caught me red-handed," he smiled sheepishly.
Kathleen was suddenly aware that her fellow Slytherins were listening to their conversation with much interest and began to blush hotly. "Do you have a break at four today?"
"Sure," Jed answered regretfully.
"Great. We'll meet in the library then."
"Library?" He frowned. "That's hardly the place to –"
"The library at four o'clock," she repeated firmly.
"Okay. Anything you say." He threw her a bright smile before departing.
"What's that all about?" Tessa asked as soon as Jed left.
"You're not dumping Jed Matthews, are you?" Pamela quipped.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Kate," Natasha told her friend solemnly.
"Don't worry about me, girls. I know what I'm doing," Kathleen said as she stared at the food and felt her stomach churn. She dreaded her little talk with Jed, but she had to do it. For Sirius, everything was worth it.
*
James cleared his throat. "Lily?"
The redhead seated next to him at the Gryffindor table looked up expectantly.
"Would you like to visit my home during the coming break?"
Surprise was evident on her face.
"I mean…the guys are coming over the day after Christmas. It'll be swell if you can join us."
"All three of them will be there?"
He nodded.
"It'll be weird if I'm there. It sounds like a brother-bonding time or something like that to me."
"That's not –"
"Sorry, James. I think I'll give it a miss."
He looked so disappointed that Lily felt bad. An idea struck her as she took another bite of her pie. "Do you know about the new pet shop at Diagon Alley?"
He shook his head without looking at her. It's bad enough that she doesn't want to meet me. Why on Merlin is she talking about some stupid pet shop now?
She kept her gaze on him. "I love that shop. The owner is a friend of my Mum's and I think I'll be spending most of my time there over the next two weeks."
"Really? You'll be there?" His face lit up and he stared at her hopefully. "I have to stock up new food supplies for my owl. And heck, I'll need a new cage for it as well. And maybe the guys will need some supplies too. And they'll probably need me to go with them. And my –"
"I'll be there." She cut in, grinned at him meaningfully. "It sure looks like you'll be there a lot over the holidays too."
"You bet I will!" James quipped happily. He could hardly believe his luck.
***
Hannio: I'll make sure that there're more readers rooting for Remus/Nat than Sirius/Kate. :)
Ms. Padfoot: I loved your long review!
love-that-dog: Please don't be afraid to leave me a LONG review! In fact, the longer, the better! As you can tell (yes, I'm VERY obvious!), I love creating girls for Sirius and Remus. Both of them are so lonely in JKR's books that I want them to enjoy some romance in my fics. You're really lucky to meet a Harry Potter lookalike! If you ever see him again, please give him my email address ;)
lulu: There'll definitely be more of Sirius & Kate, but give Remus & Nat a chance too ok? :)
Becky4: Thanks for introducing me to FA. I'm having fun over there! I must say that you understand me well – this is indeed the calm before the storm!
Summerkins: WOW!!! Sounds like you're having a very busy & fruitful month! Have fun with Dan's visit & the ball and good luck on the casting.
rodebudlife: Gimme a longer review so that I can write a longer reply?! Hee…just kidding. I LOVE every one of my reviewers just the same!
uNoeWho: I'm trying to update as soon as I can, but work and real life sometimes get into the way.
badalien9: Yes, it's true that I update sooner when there are more reviews! Sirius is my fav too.
LuvAsInfinity: I'm so happy to know that you prefer the Remus/Nat pairing! Are you liking Kate less cuz she's not as nice as she used to be? By the way, you're my 300th reviewer!
padfoot-dreamer: Sami is very compatible with Sirius too! ;)
katotato: Welcome to my world of HP and thanks for adding this to your list of favourite stories!
fra: How do you think I can ruin it for Sirius & Kate? Hmm…introduce a third party? Create some misunderstanding and cause them to break up? Kill off one or both of them? (Yes, I'm a sadist!)
peachgirl1608: Kate wants to break the news to Nat and Jed first.
SilverBlue Shifter: Yes, Nat can make herself invisible to the naked eye. As for Nat's reaction, you'll find out a few chapters later. I don't want to break Lupin's heart either, but life doesn't always have happy endings…
Sunshine: I've nothing against slash, but I like to think that JKR did not mean Sirius and Remus not to like women.
Tanglise: Will Nat kill them??!! *evil laughter*
Rotae: Clever girl – you've uncovered the secret hiding place of 'I Can See You'! Did you see this fic by chance or did you do a search for it at this site?
LILRKCHK: There'll be Remus in almost every chapter of this fic, so there'll be lots about Remus for you to read. :)
Titou Moony:-p: There'll be much more on Remus & Nat after their Christmas break!
Jove: Yay! A new reviewer!!! Have you read up to Chap 20? Here's one more chapter for u!
***
Want to influence this fic? Let me know your preferences in your review:
- Should Jed give up Kate without a fight or should he give Sirius a hard time?
- Do you want more of James/Lily or are Remus/Nat & Sirius/Kate sufficient?
- Do you feel that Wormtail is too left out & should hook up with someone?
*
