Sirius's Top Ten
Firstly, for my own pleasure, I've decided to answer a few questions found in reviews for this story. It's not that I don't read them, but when I write new chapters I honestly forget to answer questions, so here we go!
Amythestpony – Nope, I am not British. I'm actually Canadian, but I went on an exchange to England last year and lived there for a month, so I picked up some British slang. I do have the WB on cable, and I watch Charmed, it is quite good, though I'm more of a Gilmore Girls person.
TeenTypist – I just have one other request. By any chance, could there be less hardcore cussing? I'm trying! I have to apologize for some chapters, when I'm in a bad mood there tends to be more swearing… Anywho, you can see I tried not to use as many swear words in Chapter 14, but sometimes they will be necessary.
Thanks again to all my reviewers, you really made me feel special, and you should now too, since I'm writing this a few hours before an English exam!
Everything is J.K. Rowling's except the plotline, Abby, Cass, Oliver (who might be coming back gasp) and Charlie.
Chapter 15: Lily's Chaser
"Why are you keeping secrets from me, Remus?!?" Abby screamed angrily, standing at the foot of the stairs in the Evans household, her face flushed with anger.
The rest of the group remained silent, Sirius, James, and Lily quite aware of what he was keeping a secret, while Cass was oblivious.
"They don't concern you!" Remus yelled back, though he knew it was a weak reply, and a total lie. [A/N: hey, it rhymes!]
"How does it not concern me, Remus? You're my boyfriend, and important things need to be set out in the open at the very beginning!" Abby replied, her voice dropping slightly, her face still contorted with anger. Doesn't Remus trust me? Does he think I'm too stupid to understand his problems?
Remus was silent, his face expressionless. If I tell her, she might hate me forever. If I don't, she'll hate me forever.
"Did you know that if you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb?" Sirius asked, breaking the awkward silence but not Abby's gaze. She was looking directly at Remus, hoping he would say something, and he was doing his best to avoid her eyes.
"Fascinating, Sirius. I didn't know that, and apparently, there are a lot of things I don't know. Excuse me, I think I'll go to bed." Abby said as pleasantly as possible, though her words stung Remus. She nodded to her friends, and ignoring Remus, walked into Lily's room, slamming the door behind her promptly.
"That didn't go over well, Moony." Sirius commented, with a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sure she'll be… more approachable in the morning." Cass offered hesitantly, choosing her words carefully. "She probably just – "
"No, I think I'll go back to school early." Remus interjected with a weak smile. "Lily, do you think your dad would drive me to the Leaky Cauldron?"
"I'm not sure, I'll go – "
"Sure, I will, Remus." Mr. Evans offered as he opened his bedroom door, having been awoken by Abby's yelling. "I know how Scott women can be."
Remus left within ten minutes, and the group reconvened in the parlour, sipping hot chocolate and discussing the day's events. Lily and James shared a couch, Cass took an armchair, and Sirius was sitting cross-legged on the floor, begging Cass to let him sit with her.
"Please?" he whined, looking up at her eagerly with puppy eyes.
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No. Sirius, we kinda have to discuss something important here." Cass replied firmly, with a great deal of annoyance.
"What's more important than me?!?"
"Abby and Remus?" Cass suggested sarcastically, before kicking at him randomly with one leg.
"Oh. Right. What happened with them anyways?"
"Well, during the funeral, they were talking…" Lily began, only to be interrupted by Sirius.
"When?"
"During the boring homily-bit." James explained, ignoring a look from Lily.
"Anyways, Abby asked if Remus that if there was something important, if he'd tell her, and he said it depended on how important." Lily continued.
"Strike one against Moony!" Sirius interrupted again, with a mischievous grin.
"Abby, of course, was pretty miffed, so she ignored him the whole way home and just blew up at him now." Lily finished, ignoring Sirius.
"I can understand why he didn't tell her though – it could totally ruin their relationship." James commented reasonably as he put his arm around Lily and pulled her close.
"It'll ruin their relationship if he doesn't." Sirius said wisely, surprising Lily and James.
"Did you just say something intelligent, Padfoot?" James asked, looking shocked.
Sirius put on a face similar to James's and gasped, covering his mouth for a moment. "I did, didn't I?"
"What hasn't he told her?" Cass asked, breaking the conversation with a confused frown.
"You mean you didn't tell her, Lily-kins?" Sirius asked, loosing his fake shocked look for a real one.
"Well, no, you guys told me not tell anyone…" Lily muttered, looking very embarrassed and ashamed.
"Told me what?!?" Cass asked angrily, wanting to understand.
"Well…" James began, wondering whether he should explain or wait for Remus to. "Remus… When he was young… He was bitten by a werewolf…"
"So he is one? A werewolf, I mean?" Cass asked, her face unreadable.
"Err… Yes." James offered slowly.
"I thought so."
"What?!?" Lily, James, and Sirius all looked quite surprised.
"Well, I mean, he's been disappearing every month for the past six years, I'm surprised Abby didn't notice."
"She did." Lily muttered quietly. "That's why she asked Remus if there was anything important. I think she suspects him."
"Poor Abs." Cass said solemnly, staring at the floor, lost in thought.
The group went to be shortly after that, James kissing Lily's forehead at the foot of the stairs.
"Do you have anything important to tell me, Lils?" James asked looking serious though his tone gave him away.
"James, don't joke about that sort of thing!" Lily whispered, pushing herself away from him to hit him playfully on the arm. "But I do want to tell you something. When I was playing tennis the other afternoon – "
"PRONGSIE! Get in here! I want my bestest buddy!" Sirius whined loudly from downstairs in the boys' room.
"I'd better go before he wakes up everyone else. Sweet dreams!" James said with a wink, before jogging down the stairs to shut Sirius up.
The front door opened, and Mr. Evans came in, looking tired but content. Lily smiled as she saw him, and hugged him.
"Thanks for taking Remus, Daddy."
"It wasn't a problem. He was a gentleman, m'dear." Mr. Evans replied with a smile, hugging his daughter close.
"Daddy, I think we need to talk about James." Lily said softly, breaking them embrace and looking into her father's expressionless blue eyes.
"What about him?" he asked gruffly, moving to the kitchen to have something to drink before bed.
"Well… Do you think you could be more friendly toward him?" Lily asked hopefully, following her father and purposely keeping her voice low.
"I'm trying, Munchkin." Mr. Evans said softly, turning to face Lily and watching her silently. She was still his little girl, and it seemed like only yesterday he was teaching her how to ride a bike, how to tie her shoes… And suddenly, here she was, his little 'Munchkin', sixteen years old with a wizard boyfriend and attending a boarding school he'd never even visited! "But I still liked that Mario chap better."
"Daddy!" she grinned, whining playfully, before hugging him again tightly. "Night, Daddy." She said softly, turning and leaving the kitchen and joining Cass and Abby upstairs.
"Night, Munchkin." Mr. Evans murmured to her retreating back, looking thoughtful.
"Wake up!" Lily whispered softly in James's ear the next morning, leaning over him as he slept. She was quite cheerful and still her in flannel pyjamas, with her hair into braids.
James moaned softly and rolled over, knocking Lily's arm and causing her to fall on top of him. This, of course, woke James up with a start, and Sirius laughed, returning from the bathroom, his toothbrush stuck in his mouth.
"Couldn't you have locked the door?" he asked playfully, as Lily pushed herself off James, who looked very frazzled, his hair sticking up in random places.
"We weren't doing anything like that, Sirius." She replied coolly, adjusting her pyjama shirt, which had ridden up slightly when she fell.
"Uh uh." Sirius replied with a sly grin, walking over to his trunk to get out clothes for the day. "Whatever you say, Lily-kins, but I have to change. So get out."
"Fine. I s'ppose I won't ask you if you'd like to stay a day longer then." Lily said teasingly, walking for the door, which was quickly blocked by Sirius.
"What do you mean, stay a day longer? You mean, not go back to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked anxiously, keen on anything that would keep him away from classes more, even if it only was another day.
"Well, there's a party at the church my mum goes to. There's going to be a band, dancing, food…"
Sirius's eyes glazed over at the mention of food. Lily's mum could really cook, but he was sure that there were muggles out there who could do better.
"Anyways, Mum wants you two to come, if you'd like to, of course." Lily said finished, ignoring the fact that Sirius had stopped listening a while ago.
"I'll come!" Sirius volunteered eagerly.
"Me too, I guess." James said with a smile, before Lily left the two so they could change.
Later that night, the full moon in the sky and Remus safely at Hogwarts (they had received an owl from him earlier in the afternoon), Mrs. Evans led the five out to her car, laden down with food for the party. With a total of eight people, including Mr. Evans and Petunia, and enough food to feed an army of one hundred, there wasn't much space, and much to Sirius's delight, Cass sat on his lap, while Lily sat on James's.
"Watch your hands, Black." Cass muttered grumpily.
"What?" Sirius asked innocently, raising his two hands.
Cass just glared at him, wishing that it was Abby who was sitting on Sirius's lap. Sirius definitely wouldn't have tried to feel Abby up – Remus would kill him. Catching her friend's unhappy look, Abby gave a weak smile, the first smile her friends had seen all day.
"Don't worry, Cass, I'll sit on him on the way back."
Cass smiled thankfully, but that left a damper on conversation. Sirius was pretending to be hurt, therefore refusing to talk to Cass or Abby, and Abby was once more silent in thought. Lily and James were muttering to each other softly, which was angering Mr. Evans, who was too busy watching Lily and James to return Mrs. Evans's conversation. Cass wasn't a fan of Petunia, and therefore refused to talk to her.
Everyone was quite relieved when they arrived at the Evans's church, although they were immediately given food to carry in, and were treated similarly to packhorses by Mrs. Evans. James was last in tow, carrying several platters with assortments of fruit, and was surprised at how homey the old church could be. The main hall was relatively small, but well lit, with wooden floors and off-white walls. Circular tables were set up on the edges of the room, leaving plenty of space for the dance floor and the band in the centre. Lining one of the walls was a long table covered in food, which Sirius was already visiting.
After dropping off his platters at the food table, he joined Lily in watching some of the older couples dance. Lily had a smile plastered across her face as she watched, probably because she actually knew some of them.
"Wanna dance, milady?" James asked with a grin.
Lily smiled. "Maybe in a minute or two."
"Alright, but there are plenty of pretty birds out here, the offer might not last long." James said cockily, looking about the room. His statement was quite true, there were several girls around, and one of them was running at their table like she was insane.
"LILY!" The girl screamed, the rest of the people in the room ignoring her, as if they were used to it. Lily looked at the girl, completely bewildered, before a happy smile spread across her face and she stood, embracing the girl who was bouncing up and down happily.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me that you were home from boarding school!" The girl gushed, clinging to Lily, who was now looking flustered and embarrassed.
"And suddenly, Mario comes home from playing tennis with you, and I was like, why didn't she ask me?!?"
James frowned at the mention of a 'Mario' and looked to Cass, who mouthed something he couldn't quite decipher.
"It's very nice to see you, Maria. I've missed you!" Lily said with a bright smile, finally pulling herself out of Maria's grasp and facing the table. Abby, Cass, and James were staring at her expressionlessly, and even Sirius had stopped eating to watch too.
"Oh, Maria, these are some of my friends from school." Lily said, gesturing to the quiet table. "This is Abigail Scott – "
"Hullo." Abby offered sombrely with a weak smile, standing to shake Maria's hand softly.
"Cassidy Flemmings – "
"Nice to meet you." Cass said with a fake smile, not bothering to stand. The girl was easily a bit too bouncy and hyper for Cass's taste.
"Sirius Black – "
Sirius took Cass's example and nodded with an I'm-so-cool smile, before beginning to stuff his face again.
"And my boyfriend, James Potter."
James stood at his introduction, giving Maria the same smile Cass had. "Nice to meet you, Maria."
"A boyfriend, Lily?!?" Maria shrieked with excitement, taking James's hand and looking at it almost as if it weren't a hand, and something foreign.
"Err… yes…" Lily said with a very confused smile, beginning to share the same opinion of Maria that her friends did.
"Mario will be so jealous! When he came back from playing tennis with you, he was almost certain that you two would get back together!" Maria gushed, oblivious to the frown that had spread across James's face.
"Yes, well, I do have a boy – "
Lily was interrupted as a single red rose was shoved in front of her face, and she turned to see a tall Latino boy, with dark tanned skin, shaggy black hair, and deep brown eyes. Both Abby and Cass looked shocked, the boy was gorgeous! If this was the Mario that Lily had told them about, she had left out an important bit of information.
"He's so fit!" Cass whispered to Abby, her eyes glued to the boy who was staring at Lily lovingly. Abby grunted in agreement.
"Hola, mi amor. ¿Desee bailar?" (Hello, my love. Want to dance?) He asked softly, gazing into Lily's eyes. James stood there, looking very angry, and fighting his instinct to punch this guy in the face. He didn't know much Spanish, but having vacationed there once or twice, he knew what the words 'Hola' and 'amor' meant.
"Actually, no, Mario, thank you." Lily said quickly, flustered by Mario's actions. At the tennis courts he had just been chummy and fun to hang out with, and suddenly he was back to trying to get her to date him again?
She had met Mario when she was eight, long before Hogwarts. Maria, his twin sister, had been her best friend, and so, the two grew up together, both secretly liking one another. When she left for Hogwarts, they grew apart, but each summer they would grow close again. In the summer after fourth year, he asked Lily to be his girlfriend, and they attempted a long distance relationship while she was at Hogwarts. It didn't really work out, because when she came home after fifth year, Mario had a new girlfriend. Of course, once he realized she was back, he had dumped his new girlfriend and chased after Lily again. This holiday had been different. He had seen her in the street and offered to have a game of tennis, Lily's favourite sport.
"¿Por favor, hermoso?" (Please, beautiful?) Mario asked, flashing a smile.
"Err… Mario, this is my boyfriend, James." Lily said with a hesitant smile.
Mario's face dropped as he looked at the boy who stood behind Lily. James was several inches taller, and towering over both him and Lily. He didn't look very pleased, and had an arm around Lily's waist.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, James." Mario offered a hand, clearing his blank look.
James nodded slightly and shook Mario's hand forcefully. Lily, sensing James's anger, found his hand and squeezed it gently.
"You don't mind if I dance with your beautiful girlfriend, do you?" Mario asked, dragging Lily from James and onto the dance floor before James could reply.
James watched silently as Mario forced Lily about the dance floor, Lily looking very annoyed and talking to him loudly, while he muttered things softly in Spanish.
"Don't worry, Jimbo." Sirius said with a grin, winning James's attention. "She's in LURVE with YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sirius sang, as James slumped into his chair.
"Yeah, don't worry about Mario, he's been chasing after Lily since they broke up right after fifth-year." Cass said with an encouraging smile.
Abby was watching Lily and Mario silently as Mario forced Lily across the dance floor, his hand riding down her back. Bad move Mario. James was turning to watch his girlfriend too, just in time to watch Lily push herself from him, looking absolutely disgusted, and Mr. Evans approaching them on the dance floor.
"Get off me, you pig!" Lily said angrily as she pushed off him. Bad comeback, Lils. She could hear James's voice in her head, and it was right. And after all the practice she had gotten with James and Sirius over the years! But Mario had been running his hands all over her.
"What? Lily, my love, we are just dancing!" Mario protested, looking shocked.
"We're dancing like we're dating, and we're NOT dating. Besides that, I don't remember you asking me to dance in the first place." She retorted, more pleased with this comeback than her last one.
"Excuse me, Lily, are you alright?" Mr. Evans interrupted, looking very distastefully at Mario, stepping between them slightly.
"We're fine, Mr. Evans." Mario said with an innocent smile that could rival Sirius's.
"I don't think so. Let's go have a chat with your mother." Mr. Evans said, looking quite mad, and leading Mario over to a large Spanish woman who looked equally displeased.
"Not one of your best comebacks, Lils. You 'pig'?" Said a playful voice.
Lily swerved around to see James, and immediately threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close.
"I'm sorry. I was going to mention playing tennis with Mario… He was so friendly and just that when we went, and…"
"Shut up, Lils, you're ruining the mood." James interrupted, allowing Lily to realize that they were now swaying slowly to a fast song, while everyone else danced fast two-steps or bounced around wildly. "Besides, that, I know."
Lily smiled up at James lovingly, and hugged herself tightly to him again.
"It's not bloody fair." Cass commented from their table, to no one in particular. "How come Lily has two guys, both wonderful in my books, and I have none?"
"You have Amos." Abby suggested, though she too was pretty jealous. Plus, she missed Remus, despite the fact she was still very mad at him.
"And you'll always have me, sweetheart!" Sirius added playfully, finishing off his fourth plate of food.
Cass snorted, so Abby took charge.
"Dance with me, Sirius?" Abby asked politely, standing up as Sirius nodded, before being yanked onto the dance floor by a muggle boy who had been admiring her all night.
"That would be my dance partner!" Sirius complained, watching as the boy swept Abby across the floor, having introduced himself and now making her laugh.
"Don't think Remus'll be too pleased about this." Cass commented loftily from her chair.
"Well, technically the two are on 'off-time', but you're right. So I'm enlisting you as my helper, to make sure they don't…" Sirius trailed off, at a loss for words, but yanking Cass onto the dance floor with him and twirling her around.
Surprisingly, Sirius was very light on his feet, and Cass enjoyed being swirled around the room, laughing. During the slower songs, Cass and Sirius would try hard to remain serious as they stared at Abby and 'the boy', making sure nothing that would upset Remus happened.
Abby would catch their looks and glare at them, knowing what they were doing, but at the moment, the last thing she wanted to think about was Remus. She didn't plan on there being a Remus-and-Abby coupling when they returned to Hogwarts, especially since Remus couldn't trust her. Besides, Tom is nice. A voice in her head pointed out. Abby was looking at Tom quietly. He was tall, sturdy, with dark brown hair and soft blue eyes, and smile on his face as their eyes met. Tom is nice. But he's not Remus.
- What will happen between Remus and Abby when Abby and the group return to Hogwarts?
- How will Amos try to win Cass back? Will he succeed?
Now I am actually serious about no more chapters until exams are over (this time next week). As addicted as I am to writing this story and getting reviews, I really need to study. So, until next Thursday at this time, TOODLES!!