Chapter 4: Sirius Makes a Move
Moony's Story
Most of this Chapter is a scene from my last fic told from Remus's point of view. It's just to let you know most of this fic takes place during the same time period as my last one, and to build on Remus's feelings for Sami. Enjoy!
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I'm really a wimp sometimes. It's been three days since I talked to Mara about Sami, and I still haven't done anything about it- asked her to go out with me, that is. I could say that I've been busy with my studies, since N.E.W.T.S. are coming up and all, but that would be a lie.
I could also say that I'm scared of my friends' reactions. I know Sirius likes Sami too. He's liked her since the middle of last year; he keeps going on about her, just like James is always going on about Lily Evans. Bit annoying, really. But the thing is, none of them know I like her. Sirius, though we're good friends and all, would get really territorial if he knew... is this just another excuse to cover up for my fear?
Rejection is a scary thing for me. Just look at how scared I was that James and Sirius- and even Peter- would drop me once they found out I'm a werewolf...then again, when they did fidn out, it turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Maybe, if I could just get myself to walk up to her and ask...maybe that would turn out really great, too? Maybe I think about these things too much...look at James, he can't even look at Lily without asking her out. He asked her for the 277th time during breakfast. I've kind of kept a running list, if you know what I mean, for blackmail purposes. I'm sure a lot of thought went into each of those 277 attempts.
The thing I keep brooding over is my conversation with Mara. I wanted to talk to a girl, not James, Sirius or Peter- but I had hoped I could get Lily, since she knows Sami better. And yet, when Mara walked through the portrait hole- I really felt like she was the only one who'd understand. And I've missed her these past years. One day she was there, and the next she was gone. She didn't leave an address, and she never wrote. And after talking to her, I was...glad that it was her I met first, and not Lily.
I think Sirius has been slipping me some of that fickle fudge again. Make a mental note to watch what you eat, Moony.
James waved his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Moony," he said impatiently.
"What?" I asked stupidly.
James clicked his tongue in exasperation. "We were discussing where to go next week, during full moon. You didn't forget next week's full moon, did you?"
Yeah. As if.
"You've been daydreaming again."
"Sorry," I muttered.
"So, any ideas?" James said, addressing the whole group.
It was the third Saturday in April, and the third Hogsmeade trip of the year. The winter had been bitterly cold, but now the sun was shining cheerfully and everyone was reveling in the warm weather. There wasn't a single cloak or scarf visible in the whole town. Even the birds were rejoicing.
All four of us Marauders were lounging in a circle in front of the Shrieking Shack. Personally, I'm not very fond of it, but James and Sirius say it helps their creativity. Yet another reason to stay away from it, in my opinion.
"This month we could explore that shack behind the Three Broomsticks," I began thoughtfully. I saw James nod; the sun was glinting off his glasses. It was very distracting. "There's a rumor that somebody has been smuggling Demiguise hides there and selling them illegally on the black market. I'd like to catch him in the act; I doubt he'd try to plead his innocence to a werewolf. Besides, I'd like an Invisibility Cloak of my own, James," I said, grinning slyly at him. "What do you think, Peter?"
Peter started. He obviously hadn't been listening, and he was fiddling with his wand. I saw him glance at the Shrieking Shack fearfully, which was sort of pathetic because it didn't look scary at all with the sun shining on it, before he answered.
"I don't know, Remus. It's not very safe to be wandering off like this every month, what if we get caught?"
James and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. "Aw Pete, c'mon, we won't get caught, it'll be great. Even if we were, it wouldn't exactly be difficult for you to just slip away. . .and what do you need an Invisibility Cloak for, anyway?" James asked, turning towards me.
"It gets just a little cramped with all four of us stuffed under that Cloak."
"Oh yeah . . ."
"Besides, you have so many spells protecting that thing, even I can't nick it if want to sneak off somewhere by myself."
James pretended to look shocked, and put a hand over his heart.
"What's this? Remus J. Lupin, teacher's pet, wanting to sneak off? Actually wanting to break a school rule? I can't believe you, Moony. I thought you were above that."
"Need I remind you that it is you, not me, Prongs, who is Head Boy?"
James scowled. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
I smirked. "Are you kidding? Two years ago I would have taken Divination seriously before believe Dumbledore would make you Head Boy."
There was a pause, in which I imprinted upon my memory the feeling of saying something James had no comeback for. He found, one eventually, about 30 seconds later- again, pathetic.
"But Evans is Head Girl. It's not that bad, you know, spending all that time with her. She thinks I'm a good role model. I reckon I've nearly got her convinced- next time I ask her out, she's going to say yes." James had puffed out his chest, now looking proud of himself.
"Lost cause, Prongs. Lost cause."
James, being the childish prat that he is, stuck his tongue out at me. I laughed.
"Is anybody else hungry?" asked Peter. We both stared at him.
"You just ate a load of Honeydukes sweets, Wormtail!" James said incredulously.
"Not that you needed it," I added, gesturing at Peter's round belly. He grinned sheepishly.
"But it was only a galleon's worth of chocolate," he protested, his face a bright red.
James shook his head in amazement. Then he looked up at Sirius, who was sitting on a fence and had been mysteriously quiet. It was very unlike him.
"Sirius, what's up?" said James curiously. "I haven't seen you this quiet since Filch caught you bewitching that suit of armor to kick Mrs. Norris whenever she passed-" but he stopped in mid-sentence, because he had finally figured out who Sirius was staring at. I didn't need to look to know who it was- I, too, had been having trouble trying not to stare at her: Sami Jackson.
"Oooohhhh . . ." James said in comprehension. Or perhaps it was because Lily, Sami's best friend, was sitting on the grass talking to her.
I gave up trying not to look, and my eyes darted back and forth between the girls and my friends' faces.
Sirius was watching Sami with a dreamy expression on his face. She and Lily were both giggling over who knows what, and, let me tell you, she looked extremely pretty. It was taking a lot of self-control not to fall victim to the same silly grin Sirius was wearing.
James, as usual, was unconsciously running his hand through his hair. Peter was gazing hungrily at the large box of Honeydukes chocolates the girls were sharing.
Sami and Lily had just pulled a Zonko's cracker, and hundreds of tiny white butterflies burst from the end of it. I watched them, mesmerized.
"Still dreaming about that Sami Jackson?" said James smugly, having recovered from his reverie. "She's a looker, all right, but you can have her as long as I get Lily."
Sirius looked as though he had been mortally wounded by this insult. Pathetic once again.
"A looker? Is that all?" he said indignantly. "You don't know the half of it! She's sweet, and she's funny, and she's intelligent--"
When his ranting didn't stop, I began to get annoyed. Inwardly I was screaming, "I know, I know, just shut up! She doesn't belong to you!"
Before I knew what I was doing, I had pulled out my wand.
"We've heard it before, Padfoot," I snapped. "But if you don't mind, we'd like to continue the previous, slightly more important discussion."
I stopped, horrified. James and Peter were staring at me. Fear washed over me, that they might get suspicious I had cut him off- and guilt, from my jealously. Sami didn't belong to me, either. Sirius had opened his mouth to retort.
"Unless, of course, you're finally gonna ask her out?" I added hastily. Sirius closed his mouth, looking embarrassed, and glanced down the street at Sami again.
James spoke up, wearing his trademark 'I-think-I've-got-a-great-idea-that-will-actually-get-all-of-us-into-touble' look. I groaned before the words were even out of his mouth.
"Hey, Sirius, do you know if Sami likes furry black dogs?"
Great. We're doomed.
Sirius Black, being, of course, Sirius Black, didn't stop to think about the consequences. No, half a second later, the idiot was already bounding across the street. Lily noticed him immediately, which made me nervous- had she seen him transform?
"What if she finds out about us?" Peter whispered fearfully. "What if she tells Dumbledore? We could be thrown in jail!" His lip trembled.
"Well, that's kind of obvious," I hissed back. Then I turned to James. "Why did you say that to him?" I asked accusingly. "You're so reckless, Prongs! Anything could happen!"
"Come on, nothing will happen. He's just having some fun, look." He gestured towards Sami, Lily and Sirius just as Lily gestured back at James and scowled.
Sami, on the other hand, was indeed having a great time, romping around with the bear-like black dog that was Sirius and feeding him Bertie Bott's Beans. Soon Lily had turned her back on us and was playing with Sirius too. You could tell that Sirius was giving most of his attention to Sami, though. I felt my jealously begin to surface again. Gulping, I forced it down.
On and on it went. Sami and Lily were having no trouble getting Sirius to do elaborate tricks for the Beans, because he was human...Sami was laughing and laughing, her curly hair swinging back and forth and her bright green eyes crinkling at the corners. For the millionth time, I wished that I wasn't a werewolf and was just a regular animagus like the others.
"What a show-off," James said to us, but he was joking and even I had to grin when Sirius caught a bean in his mouth that Sami had thrown to him. But the grin was half-hearted all the same.
Between them, Sami and Lily ended up feeding Sirius every last bean. Every last one! The sun had started to set, casting eerie shadows on the Shrieking Shack, and a cool breeze had come up before Lily finally checked her watch.
She said something to Sami, who stood up, and they began to walk back down the road towards Hogwarts. Sami turned and waved at Sirius just before she turned the corner. My heart sank somewhere into my stomach.
Sirius bounded back towards us and transformed. His face was flushed, and you could tell he was on Cloud 9.
"Hey guys," he said happily, panting and smiling at the same time. "I'd say that went pretty well."
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I remember back in fifth year, when James, Sirius and Peter finally completed the transformation as animagi for the very first time, we all took an oath. The main basis was to always help out our fellow Marauders in times of need, and stuff like that.
Then we each got to add something slightly more personal to the oath. We went in the order we signed our names on the Marauders' Map, which was really just the order we thought our nicknames sounded best: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. There is a copy of the oath hidden in the Marauders' Map, which you can only see if you know the right passwords. But I'm not going to tell you what they are.
I went first, saying that we should all try not to let any one of us do something that would be sure to get us expelled, because at that point we were very close to crossing the line. I guess that part held true, because, against all odds, James pulled Snape back when Sirius told him how to get past the Whomping Willow last year.
Peter went next, and said that we should remain loyal to each other, and protect one another if one of us was in danger. His and mine were the only two serious, noble requests.
Sirius, going third, said we should always try hard to honorably hold the position of Troublemakers-in-Chief. And to make Snivellus's life as miserable as possible.
James went last, and was a little upset that Sirius had used the Snivellus bit, because that had been what he was going to say. So, thinking fast, he said that none of the Marauders should ever let a girl come between them, because persuading Lily to go out with him had become such a big part of his daily schedule. And because the girls were all over Sirius as well.
Then we all swore to follow these rules, and signed our names at the bottom.
Well, sorry, Prongs, but I think I've broken your Amendment to the oath.
I don't want Sami to come between Sirius and me, I really don't- especially because he doesn't even know I feel the same way about her that he does. If he ever found out, boy, I'd be in for it. But the fact is, if she ends up going out with him, I just might lose it.
These were the thoughts running through my head as I climbed into my four-poster at the top of Gryffindor Tower. After we had dragged Sirius to his feet, my friends and I walked back to the castle, discussing our plans for the full moon again. Sirius was lagging behind us, staring at the sunset. Let's just say he was reveling in his own luck, and not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything going on in the real world. Twice James had to double back because Sirius had wandered off the path, and once he pulled him back just before he walked into a tree.
Pathetic.
With a snort I rolled over and pulled the blankets up to my chin. I looked out the sliver of window I could see from my bed. The moon was suspended, almost full, but not quite. I shivered and close my eyes.
But when I opened them again, I was no longer in Gryffindor Tower.
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What do ya think? This was a pretty long Chapter, and it only took me a week, too!
Snuffles2984: I didn't keep you waiting! Well, seven days, but that's not too bad, right?
BlackNight and Smiley-Freak :D : Sorry, I know it was a little weird, but I didn't want to explain it all. Hopefully it'll keep you in suspense ;)
BlackLupin: Did I actually post a chapter before you?! Weird! I don't think that's ever happened; usually I see you updated and then hurry up and finish the chapter I was working on. Oh well. Update soon! And yes, I did receive your email, it made me happy
alwaysginny and sweetqtpie072689: Sorry there was no review song this chapter, I wanted to get it posted quickly. It seems both of you have doubts about the other member's singing ability...but that's half the fun, isn't it, that we all stink? Barney stinks, after all...grin
(Mutters under breath) Reviews...
-Padfoot-Dreamer-