Sirius's Top Ten
Yet another chapter that stays completely on one topic! I'm getting good! Hehehe!
J.K. Rowling owns every character, aside Cass, Abby, Oliver, Catherine, & Charlie.
Thoughts are in italics, Lily's writing is in bolded italics, just for now, so it's easier for people to understand which bits are James's thoughts, and which bits are Lily's writing.
Chapter 12: James's Task
Step OneAim: To get Abby and Cass on speaking terms.
Find Cass alone somewhere, and tell her that you think she's beautiful, and that she's perfect. Do it, James, trust me.
James stared at the parchment in disbelief, readjusting his glasses as if to check if he had actually misread what Lily had wrote. But there it was, his girlfriend, who he loved, wanted him to flirt with her best friend. He would have wrote back saying she was crazy, and he refused to, but the final sentence had a huge effect on him. Trust me. Trust her like she trusts you, even after all this crap.
"Hey, Cassidy." James said with an awkward smile as he took a seat next to her on a couch in the Gryffindor common room later that afternoon. Cass grunted in reply.
"Listen, I know that Lily's your friend and all, but there's something I have to tell you." He paused, mostly for dramatic effect. James was an excellent liar, he had years of experience, having lied to get out of sticky situations with Sirius. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he wasn't sure. "I think you're beautiful… Perfect…"
"Potter!" Cass looked at him in disgust. "You have a girlfriend, who happens to be my best friend! I didn't think you could sink this low!" She stood and turned to him, her eyes lethal, and James was certain he was going to be slapped.
Luckily, as if on cue, Abby came in through the portrait hole with Remus, glancing coldly at Cass, who felt her eyes and swerved around to catch Abby.
"Scott, I need to talk to you."
"I'm not sure I want to talk to you, Flemmings." Abby replied, clinging to Remus's arm.
"It's important. It's about Lily… and this scumbag." Cass persisted, gesturing to James, the 'scumbag.'
Abby's face softened, and the lethal look she had been giving Cass was flipped onto James. "What did you do, Potter?"
"Come upstairs, we'll talk." Cass answered for him. Abby gave Remus an apologetic peck on the cheek, before following Cass up the stairs, and into the sixth year girls' dormitories.
James took Lily's parchment from his pocket, unfolded it, and read the next line.
If you've done everything right, Abby and Cass should be talking about you and me in my dorm. They will both be extremely mad at you. No worries, I'll sort it out when I get back.
James groaned. Damnit, why didn't I see that coming? Remus gave James a questioning look, but it was also obvious that he was quite disappointed that Abby had deserted him. James offered an innocent grin before looking back to Lily's parchment.
Step Two
Aim: Get Sirius and Remus talking again.
Have Sirius just chat with Patricia about anything for a few moments, and have Remus come in while they're chatting.
"Hey, Moony?"
"Yes?" Remus asked, settling down in an armchair next to James, and bringing a book out of his pocket.
"What the hell is that?"
"What? My book?"
"Yeah."
"It's a pocket-sized version of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6."
"Pocket-sized?"
"It's a muggle idea."
"Ah… Moony?"
"Yes, Prongs?" Remus sounded somewhat irritated, as he always did when he was reading and people were interrupting him.
"Why were you like that with Sirius?"
"You mean when I was talking about Patricia?"
"Insulting Patricia would be a more accurate description, but yeah, then."
"I was merely defending my girlfriend, who made the accurate observation that Sirius is doing is snogging her."
"Siri, can we just chat?" Patricia asked as she sat next to him at the Gryffindor table the next morning, pushing herself off him. Her soft brown eyes looked at his lips distrustfully, but Sirius didn't notice, and was confused about why Patricia didn't want to snog.
Little did he know that earlier that morning, James had bewitched Patricia from beneath his invisibility cloak, so that only she saw cold sores all over Sirius's lips, which would obviously stop her from snogging him.
"Chat? Sure, about what?" Sirius asked, still very confused.
"Life in general? Pranks? Anything! Tell me more about yourself." Patricia offered desperately.
"Err… Alright."
James glanced into the Great Hall quickly, checking to make sure his, rather Lily's plan was working. Sirius and Patricia were chatting, and Remus and Abby were only a few steps behind him. Remus paused in front of James who still had his head stuck in the doorway.
"James? You alright?"
"What?" James pulled his head from the Great Hall to face Remus, and smiled sheepishly.
"I'm fine."
"Alright then."
The three entered the Great Hall, and James could see the look of shock on Remus's face when they sat down next to Sirius and Patricia, who were actually having a decent conversation, not snogging each other's brains out.
Breakfast progressed from there, Cass joining the group and sitting with Abby, the two girls chatting amiably (although ignoring James), and Remus being polite and joining in conversation with Sirius and Patricia. Since Sirius was still mad at him, James was left without anyone to talk to, and desperately missed his Lily.
"Well, I've got Divination, so I ought to go. Bye Siri!" Patricia said with a grin, giving Sirius a nice, long kiss before bouncing off with her friends.
Remus took a deep breath, and James could feel it coming.
"Padfoot, I'm sorry." Remus said slowly, and quietly. Abby looked over to her boyfriend, and nodded her head.
"Yeah, me too, Sirius."
"What?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of toast.
"I'm sorry. We're sorry. About what we said about Patricia." Remus clarified with a smile.
"I'm sorry too. You guys were right about our relationship, and I just overreacted. I wanted to have a girlfriend too, since everyone was coupling up, and I felt left out. I didn't really think about Patricia's feelings." Sirius said sombrely, for once.
Abby smiled. "I think that means, we've all forgiven each other."
"Aside from the scumbag." Cass reminded Abby, glaring at James.
"Hey! What has Jamesie done?!?" Sirius asked, both stunned and curious.
"He fancies me! He told me I was beautiful, and perfect, and he has a girlfriend!" Cass said angrily.
"Who happens to be one of her best friends!" Abby added.
"Well, really, you could just take that as a statement of fact." Sirius said with a grin, causing Cass to blush slightly, and James to stare at his friend in disbelief. Had Sirius forgiven him?
"But…" Cass stuttered, she too, surprised that Sirius was defending James.
"Did he actually say he fancied you?" Sirius persisted.
"No…"
"Then, obviously, it was just a statement of fact. Right, Jimbo?" Sirius asked with a mischievous grin.
"Yup. Purely a statement of fact. Besides, I love Lily. I wouldn't do that." James said with a smile, fumbling with his pockets and retrieving Lily's parchment from his pocket.
Remus should have had enough sense to apologize to Sirius, Abby should have too. Sirius should have apologized back.
Step Three
Aim: Get Sirius to talk to you again
Just let him defend you when Cass accuses you of fancying her. He'll be in a good mood and come to your rescue.
She's so right! How does she know us so well? James wondered to himself, now that the table had fallen into a happy, and comfortable silence.
"Whatcha readin' there, Jimbo?" Sirius asked curiously looking up from his food.
"I wrote to Lily… About how we were all fighting, and she gave me instructions to get us all happy again." James said slowly, offering out the parchment to Cass, who took it and read it briefly.
"Wow. How does she know us so well?" Cass asked aloud as she passed the parchment on to Sirius who looked at it curiously.
"I dunno." Sirius replied dumbly, staring at the parchment in disbelief as Abby snatched it from his hand.
"She's got us all completely figured out. And she was right about everything." Remus commented, reading over Abby's shoulder.
"Well, well done James, you did it." Abby said with a smile. "But you forgot to read this last bit."
Being kind and respectful of his privacy, she didn't read the last bit of the note aloud, and passed it to James, despite Sirius grabbing at it and whining playfully.
I'm sure you did it James, I knew you would. It's very non-prattish of you to care so much about everyone else fighting. Which is one of the reasons I'm in love with you.
Love, Lily.
James stared at the parchment in disbelief, his heart doing flips. Lily had never actually said 'I'm in love with you' or 'I love you' and yet, here it was, written on parchment so he could keep it forever. A huge grin plastered itself on his face, and it only grew wider as Lily's owl landed gracefully amid the plates of food littering the table, a note attached to her leg.
Dear James,
I'm sure you've completed your task now, and everyone's happy again. My mum wasn't going to let you come, but Petty wanted you to (I know, strange!). Not just you though, everyone I consider a friend. She says despite the fact that we're all 'freaks of nature' it'll make a good show to have so many people show up for Laurel's funeral. So, the whole gang's invited, including Sirius, as long as he promises to behave and act like a muggle. Dumbledore's agreed with everything, so check and see who wants to come. Petty really needs to know so she can tell and impress Mrs. Dursley, who is here with Vernon and making my life a living hell.
I, personally am not sure how bringing loads of people who didn't know Laurel will impress the stupid woman, but Petty says that it'll show 'what a caring, and non-freakish family' she comes from. Charlie and I are bored out of minds, so it would be great if you could come, any of you. The funeral is on the thirty-first, three days from today. I'm going to be so behind when I come back to school, you better have been taking notes for me, Mr. Potter!
Tell Abby and Cass that I'm very disappointed they were fighting, and write back.
Love, Lily.
James smiled as he read the letter from his girlfriend, before passing the letter to Abby, and adding hopefully: "Anyone have the notes from Lily's classes for the past four days?"
"No…" Sirius said with a frown, leaning across the table to read the letter. "Ha! You're in trouble!"
"Shut it, Padfoot, and help me. I'm going to need your notes from Transfiguration and Charms, Remus; your notes from Arithmancy, History of Magic, and Care of Magical Creatures, Abby."
"What about Herbology? None of us have it with her." Cass asked, looking up from the letter.
"Fuck!"
I really hope you're all enjoying this, but I'm going to put it on hiatus until I get a few more reviews, just to make sure TeenTypist and I aren't the only ones still reading this. So, please, review! Also, review and tell me whether Sirius and Cass should get together. I like the idea, but at the same time, its kinda cheesy if they all end out together. And if you do, you might find out in the next chapter…
- Who goes to Laurel's funeral? What happens there?
- What happens when Abby starts realizing Remus's monthly absences?
- Will Lily ever get back to school?