The Woos and Woes of Love
Ch. 5- Suffocating Silence and a Shocked Sirius
A/N: Yay! Thanks bundles for all the awesome reviews, I love em love em love em : )
Lili (And any other readers concerned with any or all character development)- Oh my! That was an incredible review, and due to the fact that I don't want to bore the readers with too much babbling up here, I have written a novel length response to your review at the bottom. : )
mitchu- Wow! Thanks so much for the review, and I'm soo glad you mentioned the Remus/Charlotte episode.. the whole thing was a bit iffy to me, I wasn't sure if I wanted it in there or not. But, thanks to you, I'm glad I did!
I'm Happy and I know It- I'm happy, and I know it! Yay, I'll dance with you, because you gave me such a super review! Thaaanks, mucho!
Miss Effie- Oh wow, that's got to be one of my fav. reviews EVER! It was muy fabulous, and you make me feel so good, thanks! (cute name by the way : ) )
Suji- Hey! I'm glad you liked the chappies, and, as to why James is such an idiot... the world may never know. : ) Thanks bundles for reviewing!
Shrk-bait- Yes, I agree the thing w/ Charlotte was a bit depressing... the whole chap was kind of, actually : ( But no need to fear! Remus will (at least attempt to) make up for it, if not in this chap. then the next! (Thanks for the review!)
Er- there was a person that left the sign-in blank, but whoever you are, thanks!
Magical Muggle- Yay, I'm glad I made your day : ) you made mine too!
Black Mistress- Oooh, fiesty : ) i hope this is fast enough for you, i really don't want to meet your flamer side lol, thanks for the review!
"And then he..."
Kat sighed. She had had to endure Lily carrying on about 'Potter' for nearly
twenty minutes straight, and she didn't think she could take much more.
"Lily.." She ventured weakly.
"But, it's just the way he does that stupid hair thing, and then..."
Kat put a pillow over her face and exhaled deeply. Charlotte had gone off to get
Defense Against the Dark Arts help, leaving Kat alone with the raging girl. Once Lily
began ranting about James Potter, there was nothing they could do to stop her. Nothing except...
Kat ducked out of Lily's view and crept towards the exit. She'd bet anything Lily
wouldn't have notice if she'd of paraded across the room playing a tuba, but nonetheless she preferred not to take the chance. As she slid discreetly out the door, she could still hear Lily commenting endlessly on his atrocious table manners and awful lack of responsibility.
"Mmm?" Sirius asked absently, as he stood before their bathroom mirror.
"I was saying," James continued exasperatedly, "I need to know what to do-"
"Oh that's right," Sirius ran a hand through his smooth black locks and grinned to check for fragments of food his toothbrush had forgotten. Satisfied, he walked across the room and grabbed his cloak. "You need help in the Evans department, right?"
"Yeah-," he trailed off as Sirius stood before the mirror, straightening his collar. "You dumping Kat tonight?"
"Wh- oh, yeah," he said, turning to look at James. "How'd you know?"
"You're wearing your break-up shirt." James replied simply.
"Ah, yes," Sirius conceded, looking down at his jade green polo. "The green drops the tone of my eyes a little, making girls less mesmerized by my enchanting pools of blue, and therefore easier to detach."
James shook his head. "Whatever you say, Padfoot. Anyway, what do I do about-"
"Sorry, I've got to go," Sirius interrupted, tapping his watch pointedly. "See ya later."
"Wait," James called, as Sirius darted towards the door. "I need to know what to do!"
"Er-" Sirius lingered at the doorway, and paused slightly to ponder the situation. "Aren't you two on patrol tonight? I had a glimpse at the schedule- I think it started about half and hour ago. Maybe you should start by showing up."
James's eyes widened and he should his head in disbelief. "Damn it!"
"And maybe if he wasn't so gosh darn.."
Kat groaned in disbelief as she re-entered the Head Common Room. Lily was still at it.
Picking up one of the cartons she had retrieved from the kitchens, Kat scooped out a large amount of Charlie's Chunky Chocolate Chip ice cream, and shoved it into Lily's mouth.
Charlie's Chunky Chocolate Chip ice cream was the only remedy for anything Potter related.
"Amd den he thwoo..." Lily mumbled, through a mouthful of the frosty delight. She looked at Kat in surprise. "Wah arw oo ouin?"
Kat only smirked in response and Lily returned it with a smile dribbling with brown beads of chocolate. Lily gulped down the over-sized amount of the cold treat. She reached up to her chin and felt it was a bit sticky, and for some odd reason this set her off laughing hysterically. Kat joined in, mostly glad she had forgotten about her endless rant on James.
"Thanks," Lily said gratefully, after she had sobered up a bit. She reached for another scoop and raised the spoon to her mouth, but stopped half-way. "When did you leave?"
Before Kat had time to respond to this indolent question, James came bursting into the room.
"Did I miss it?" he asked, panting. "Have you already patrolled?"
Lily wiped her mouth and reluctantly set down the carton. "No, if you would've
checked the schedule you would've seen we don't start for another 15 minutes."
James glowered. He was going to kill Sirius.
"Oh, yeah, I know." James responded in what he hoped a nonchalant fashion. "Just, er- wanted to be early."
"Right," she said, rolling her eyes. She was in too good a mood to have him ruin her fun- just yet, anyways. She picked up the carton once more and dug in.
Kat grabbed the spoon out of her hands and took a large bite. Her mouth still full, she looked up at James incredulously. "Woo mede uwr goween oo?"
James raised an eyebrow. He was not familiar with this strange teenage girl lingo.
"You mean you're going too?" Lily interpreted. Then she added, raising a suspicious brow at James, "You're actually performing your Head Duties?"
"Yup," he grinned, stuffing his hands in his robe pockets. "Have I ever let you down?" Lily opened her mouth to retort, but James quickly held up his hands. "Er- don't answer that."
"So," James began, as they wandered through their designated corridors. "Quidditch is going good..."
"Great.." Lily replied flatly, staring straight ahead.
"Yeah, you know I was made captain, and that'll help the team loads-"
"If you don't mind," she cut in, annoyed as usual by James's gloating antics. "I'd prefer not to hear you go on about yourself all night."
"Er..." he looked around, in hopes that an interesting topic would spark in his mind. Running a hand through his already unruly hair, with another glare from Lily, he spoke up again. "I think I've found a new play that will increase..."
He trailed off as Lily huffed in annoyance and stomped down the hall in front of him.
James knew full well Lily did not want to talk about Quidditch. He didn't know quite what else to talk about, though; all of the other girls had fallen smitten with him as soon as he even referred to that particular area of expertise, and adored when he even mentioned it. But, Lily was not like any other girl.
Up ahead, he saw Lily scolding a couple of fourth years for snogging behind a particularly large statue, and docking house points.
No, Lily was not like any other girl.
The two Heads wandered the halls for another hour or so, amidst several exasperated squabbles between the two, and a very large amount of scolding and point deductions.
"So..." James began weakly, desperately searching for a topic of conversation that wouldn't make Lily fume. "What do you think about that new chapter in Charms?"
Lily visibly brightened at the mention of her favorite subject. "Loved it. It's so interesting the way the selection of Laurence Spells can be cast at so many different angles."
James was a bit startled at this comment. For one, Lily had never actually smiled in his presence, and one was definitely venturing to peak, and for another, he had actually commenced a topic that didn't result in her biting his head off.
"Er.. yeah, contrasting with the Uealie Incantations, right?"
James waited for her response, hoping desperately his brief skimming of the chapter had given him enough knowledge to respond intelligently.
"Right," Lily nodded, as James let out a sigh of relief.
Yes! he thought, smiling. It's our first decent conversation ever, in which there is
absolutely no glaring and scoffing. Things are looking pretty good.
At least, they were. Now there was silence. Awful, terrible, stabbing silence, seeping through the dark corridors and suffocating him.
What do I do? James wondered frantically. Now it's all awkward and quiet and
oh, I can't stand it...
He glanced over at Lily to see if he was in the same frantic predicament as he. She didn't appear to be... but, you never know with Lily.
The silence is deafening! His mind screamed, It's eating me away, consuming me, devouring my surroundings... I've got to do something! Say something! Anything...
"So, do you wanna go out with me?"
Good-bye decent conversation, hello glaring and scoffing.
"You're unbelievable," Lily huffed, as she took several long strides to distance herself from him.
Perhaps silence wasn't all that bad.
"Do you hear that?" Lily whispered sharply, nodding in the direction of the trophy room.
James paused and listened. Rustling and a numerous amount of other noises sounded from the room shielded by a heavy wooden door. Glancing at Lily, he shrugged. "Perhaps its a Snippet?"
Lily ignored his ignorant comment and stepped up to the room. Not bothering to warn the past curfew delinquent, Lily swung open the door.
"Sirius," she scolded sharply, as he stepped out of the room.
"Hello," he greeted pleasantly, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "What's new?"
Lily put her hand on her hip and tapped her foot impatiently. "What's new is you've just lost twenty house points."
"What!?" Sirius exclaimed. He looked over at James for support. "That's insane, dear Lily. Besides, Prongs here would never let you reprimand me."
Lily laughed. "Do you think I need permission? I don't think so, in fact, that's another..."
Lily trailed off as another person stepped out of the room. "Hey Lils!" Kat grinned, shutting the door to the trophy room and standing beside Sirius. "How's your patrolling going?"
"Um... fine," Lily responded, failing to hide the her surprised expression. She looked from Kat to Sirius, shaking her head but not initiating any punishments.
Sirius grinned, and stepped over to James. "So how's it going?" he asked under his breath.
James scoffed. "How do you think? It didn't help that I came running in there like an idiot- thanks, by the way."
Sirius snickered. "Sorry mate, but you should've seen the way you scrambled down the stairs."
"Shut it," James replied. He looked over to where Lily and Kat stood talking. "So, when are you going to break up with her?"
"Right now," Sirius responded, and then he raised his voice to a normal volume. "Ready, Kat?"
"Sure," she nodded, and said a quick good bye to Lily.
The two sauntered off towards the common room, taking their time as they wandered through the dim halls.
As they reached their destination, Sirius turned to Kat. "This was great, doll," he said, flashing Kat a flirtatious half grin.
"Yeah, it was," she agreed, unlacing her fingers from her and Sirius's comfortable hold, as she stepped through the portrait hole.
"Before you go," said Sirius, as he followed her into the common room, "we
need to talk."
"You're right," she agreed. "We do."
Oh, this was going to be difficult, Sirius thought, almost pitying the girl. The poor thing probably thinks we're 'advancing' in our relationship. It's really quite sad- and migraine inducing- when they get attached.
Sirius opened his mouth to inform her that their dating time was up, when she cut him off. "I think we should see other people."
"Kat, you see-," Sirius cut off abruptly, as he registered her words and did a quick double-take. "What?"
"Well you know, we've been going out for quite a while now," she explained slowly, tucking a fallen lock of hair behind her ear, "and I really don't like to get too-"
"Wait," Sirius held up a hand, laughing disbelievingly. "What are you saying?"
Surely this was a mistake. He had to be hearing things… after all, nobody breaks it off with such a gorgeous stud like Sirius Black.
"We're done, Sirius," Kat broke it to him bluntly. This was going to be much more difficult than she'd hoped for. "I thought you knew I didn't date guys for long periods of time."
"But..." Sirius sputtered. "You- You're dumping me?"
"I know," she consoled, her eyes darting to the side as if she were a bit bored.
"Wait, let me get this straight," Sirius proclaimed, looking at the girl with amused hysteria. "You're dumping me?"
"Uh huh.." she replied in an offhand voice.
"You're..." Sirius exaggerated his words, as he pointed to her, and then thrust his
thumb into his chest, "dumping me?"
"Right," Kat sighed. "Listen, I've got to go.." She sent him one more pitying glance before flipping her hair over her shoulder and taking dignified strides toward her staircase, the clopping of her high heels like mockery against Sirius's dumbfounded face.
"You're dumping me!?"
A/N: Ohh, poor poor Sirius. But not really, he deserved a bit of a reality slap, didn't he? Nevertheless, I still love him. Forever and ever.. Ok, sorry. Anyway, thanks for all your spiffy reviews (oh, spiffy- word compliments of Miss Effie) Oh yeah, and next chap. I promise will include the whole Remus and Charlotte situation : ) Hm. If you can't tell I'm feeling a bit hyper right now.. I wonder if anybody actual reads the A/N.. okie doke, goodbye, please don't forget to review! For some odd reason it seems as though the more reviews I get.. the faster I type. Hmm... (Hint Hint)
-By the way, I've just posted another little ficlet/one shot (probably) about Ron/Hermione, but no worries, I won't neglect poor Woos. If you have time, check it out.. (As Suji already fabulously has- thanks!) . The Over Sized Ego Returns : ) ta ta
Oh, but we're not done yet! I still have my extended response to Lili, and all who care about the current character development:
Lili- Wow! so much to comment on! alrite, here goes..
Remus- Yes, I agree with all of your depictions of him, and once the story gets rolling you should see some of those traits stand out a bit more.
Peter- Yeah, I tend to leave him out in this particular story, but I did add him in when the Marauders were just sitting around at the end of ch. 3, even if it was only slight. I know I should put him in more, and I'll try.. but it's just so hard to be kind to such an incredible git. : )
Ah, Lily- Let me just say, I COMPLETELY agree that she is a bit weird right now, but really we've only seen the encounters w/ James. I also COMPLETELY agree that the crying thing was a bit sudden, and that she would be tough, but at the moment she was just overwhelmed/frustrated at the prospect of carrying out all Head Duties by herself, as the 'old' James would have made her. Also, once she hangs out with her friends you'll see the more fun, laughable Lily that we all know and love. Potter just brings out the spite in her.
Let me just say, THANK YOU! it's incredibly flattering to have someone go into so much detail when reviewing, and your critisism was very constructive. It helped me realize some flaws, and some good things, so I thank you thank you thank you.