Chapter 7 - Plans
"Hello, Jessie!" a voice said as a pair of warm arms wrapped themselves around her slim waist.
She turned around to look at the smirking face of Sirius Black. "Dear Merline, what could you possible want with me?" she asked, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "Don't you have some Slytherins to prank or some other bimbos to bother?"
Sirius flashed a winning smile, "None nearly as bimbo-ish as you!" He grabbed his head with his hands, "No! Must... not... be... distracted... cannot... flirt..."
Jess raised an eyebrow and watched him with interest. "Are you quite finished yet?"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I need you to help me with something..."
"Something?"
"Yes, something having to do with one James Potter and one Lily Evans. You see, they had quite a row this morning and all I want is for them to be at least on neutral terms with each other."
Jess looked unimpressed and crossed her arms. "And what exactly do I have anything to do with this?"
Throwing an arm around her shoulders, Sirius tried not to look at her. "WEll... you see... Jess... um..."
"Would you stop stammering and get to the bloody point before I castrate you for touching me," she threatened.
His arm immediately left her shoulders. "I want you to help me lock them together... alone... in a room... without wants. Just force them to at least talk it all out. Of course," he added, winking, "You and I will be standing nearby in case a war breaks out. Either that or Lily tries to rape James or something."
Jess' mouth dropped open, "You have got to be nuts! First of all, if they've had a row already, they'll be at each other's throats before you even lock them in. Second of all, I don't think I could torture my best friend like that."
Sirius was taken aback, "Wait a fucking minute... torturing your best friend! Do you have any idea what kind of hell James is going through? He didn't sleep last night, keeping all of us awake. That's why we were early for breakfast this morning. After their row outside of the Hall, James left without eating looking like a little dejected puppy with its tail between its legs! ...and you don't want to torture your friend, what about mine?"
Jess was stunned. "I didn't know she had that kind of effect on him."
"Normally only we, his best friends, the Marauders, only see it, but the kid just skipped breakfast... and we never miss a chance to eat. He walked off with his head down... and you know James. He's usually flashing smiles at all with two legs and a pair of..." he trailed off quickly. "ANyway, he's trying to get his mind off of her. I just want her to see a different side of him."
"And you're going to accomplish this by locking them in a room together?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, I just want them to sit and tlak about what happened. They both need to see the whole picture, rather than part of it. Catch my drift? They both enter conversations at the wrong time and hear the wrong things."
She finally caved in. "Fine. I'll help you, but let me tell you one thing: Lily is my best friend. I will be standing with my ear on that door ready to let her out if he so much as comes close to hurting her. And another thing, we can't do it during the week, they might not be out of that room for days."
"Right," he nodded. "We'll plan for this Friday after classes... we need to get this done before Quidditch tryouts next week. Which, by the by," he winked at her again, "are you trying out this year?"
Attempting to be mysterious, Jess replied, "Perhaps... I haven't decided yet." She swayed her hips as she walked away from him.
"What!" he exclaimed. "How can you not tryout? You're the best beather, next to me of course," his face gleamed as he chased her down the hall.
Professor Flitwick had not yet arrived, but still James sat in the classroom with his head on the desk. A bell sounded, bringing him out of his trance, signaling for the students to get to class.
Remus and Peter walked in and took the seats on either side of James, while Sirius entered, chatting excitedly with Jess, and took a seat with her on the other side of the room.
James looked at Remus, "What is he up to?"
"Who, Padfoot?"
"No, the other Marauder that's not sitting with us," James snapped.
Remus held up his hand, "Hey, just because you attacked Lily and she fought back doesn't mean you can take it out on us." He looked at Sirius. "But on another note, I have no idea what he's doing."
"But what about..." Peter trailed off when Remus shot him a dirty look.
James had been too distracted to press the issue. "Where's Lily?" he asked as Professor Flitwick closed the door and called role.
When he called Lily's name, Jess piped up, "She's not feeling well, Professor. I don't think she'll be down."
"Where is she?" James hissed, writing a not to Sirius on their charmed parchment.
- Why are you asking me, Sirius wrote back
Because you're sitting next to her best friend, he scribbled.
He watched as Sirius elbowed Jess and whispered to her.
- She doesn't know, the words appeared on the parchment in front of James.
How can she not know? James wrote.
Because she wasn't there when you chased off Lily! She only knows what I told her and from that, she deduced that Lily won't be showing up for classes today, Sirius wrote angrily. Now stop bothering me, I'm actually trying to pay attention
James looked up to see Sirius writing notes down frantically on another piece of paper. He noticed that Jess would grab it and scribble something down and slide it back to Sirius.
He dropped his head back to the desk.
"Mr Potter!" Professor Flitwick callsed, "this is an important year for you so you might want to pay attention, even on the first day of classes."
"Sorry, Professor," James replied, picking his head up off the desk and forcing himself to listen. This is going to be a very long day.'
At lunchtime, Sirius and Jess were still sitting together at the table, trying to work out all the kinds. They had finally decided to lock them in the Quidditch locker room because practices and tryouts did not start until the week after and they would be undisturbed until Monday, if necessary. The trick was getting them both in there without them noticing each other.
"Jess?" someone asked, poking her lightly on the shoulder.
She turned her head to see Lucius Malfoy, "How can I help you?"
"Lily asked me if you could come up later. I think she really needs you because something bothered her this morning," he replied.
Jess grabbed a plate of food and slid off the bench.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked grabbing the arm with the plate and eyeing the food on it.
"I'm going to up talk to Lily and I probably won't be at class this afternoon, so I'll talk to you later and we can finish that," she pointed towards the parchment on the table.
Jess left the Hall with Lucius, who held the door for her, sending a sly look back at Sirius.