Chapter 2: Phase One
James and Sirius set out to work immediately the next day. They shoveled down a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and orange juice and ducked into a corner of the Great Hall to discuss their strategy.
"So what's our plan?" James said, being very serious about this. Remus had never been fond of a girl before (don't take that the wrong way).
Sirius tossed him a carefree grin, dark green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Be subtle."
"That's it?" James asked incredulously, but Sirius was already heading towards the Ravenclaw table confidently. James shook his head and hurried after him.
Helena was sitting with her friends, talking quietly. She had lengthy, dark brown hair that cascaded to the middle of her back. It shone blonde in the sun from the enchanted sky of the Great Hall. Remus was right; she was rather pretty, with large, light blue eyes and long lashes. She looked boring to Sirius, but if Remus liked her, so be it. He gathered that Helena was rather shy from the way she laughed softly and only occasionally contributed to the conversation.
The Ravenclaw looked up and her pale cheeks colored as Sirius passed. He gave her his famous heartthrob smile and a wink, while James gave her a close-lipped smile and a nod, as he had no clue what Sirius was doing. Helena looked down, her ears turning red as well. All her friends started giggling and waving at the two boys as they left.
"I don't get it. What were you doing?" James asked, as they returned to their own table.
"First, we get her to know that we know that she exists," Sirius said, lowering his voice. He didn't want Remus to hear. Throughout today, phase one, we will continuously and SUBTLY acknowledge her existence, as in asking for quills or nodding or whatever. Tomorrow, we will have small conversations, perhaps two or three of them, with her. The day after, you or I will be her partner in Potions-we always have partners in Potions-and mention how Remus bravely did something. Throughout the day, we will flaunt Moony and his accomplishments. The day after that, we'll leave them alone somewhere and he'll ask her out."
James stared at him. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
"I made it up as I went along," Sirius said with a shrug. Remus looked up from The Daily Prophet.
"Made what up?"
"My homework in Divination yesterday," Sirius said casually. Remus took Muggle Studies, so he wouldn't know that they had no homework yesterday. He accepted the explanation and returned to the Prophet.
Meanwhile, Helena's friends were still giggling madly.
"I can't believe he actually noticed you!" Cheryl gushed. She gave a small gasp. "Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! It's just that he and James the most popular guys in school, and it's not that you're not popular, it's just that, no offense, but you're kind of shy, and I mean, he doesn't even know MY name, and-"
"I understand," Helena said in her small voice, smiling. Cheryl, her ditzy American best friend, tended to ramble. People always wondered how a girl so withdrawn and a girl so…loud…could be best friends, but you know what they say-opposites attract.
"Ooh, Lena, you're so lucky!" Cheryl giggled, twirling her blonde ponytail around her pink painted fingernails. "You've liked him for like, years, and now he noticed you! Like, that's so cool!"
"And James nodded to you, too," Kylie sighed. Kylie was a bit overweight and not too popular, often regarded as a nerd. She had been crushing on James for years, as were many other girls, but they all knew they had no chance because of Lily Evans.
Helena just smiled. Inside, her heart felt so full of happiness she thought it would burst. She had liked Sirius since third year. He was extremely handsome, intelligent, athletic, popular, and just overall perfect. Lena had never even dreamed that he would ever notice her, a shy Ravenclaw girl, even if she were attractive, as everyone told her she was. Helena simply thought she was too shy to ever get noticed by the great Sirius Black. Sometimes, she liked to watch him joke with his friends, James, that short fat one (Pedro? Pete?), and…who was the last one? Robert? She didn't really care; she wasn't interested in any of them besides Sirius, though the last one (whatever his name was) was sort of cute. Helena hadn't really seen him close up.
Later that day, Helena was shocked when Sirius asked to borrow a quill. Kylie nearly fainted when James's arm brushed hers when he was walking by to ask Helena what homework assignments were due for Potions that week. Cheryl almost exploded from excitement because…because Cheryl was Cheryl.
CW
"And Gryffindor pummels Slytherin in the first match of the year, 220 to 0!" Announcer Leonard Jordan screamed.
All the girls screamed as James flew around the stands, the Snitch not even bothering to try and escape his hand, because it knew that was a hopeless dream. As he passed the Ravenclaw girls, he hurled the Snitch into the stands as he always did. It was rumored that the next person who caught the Snitch from James would get a date with someone on the Quidditch team. Helena gasped as the Snitch flew right at her and she caught it! Her sky blue eyes followed Sirius, who was walking with James to the changing rooms, twirling his Beaters bat. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked down at the fluttering Snitch in her hands. It gleamed gold in the sun.
In the changing rooms, Sirius commented, "You know, when you threw that Snitch, I saw Evans's face…."
"Yeah?" James pulled his school robes over his head.
"She…"
"She what?" James said impatiently, heading back to the castle.
Sirius followed him and said slowly, tauntingly, "She looked…"
"Just tell me, Padfoot!"
"She looked jealous!"
"Don't joke around like that. It's not funny," James said, climbing up a moving staircase.
"No, I'm serious!"
"I know what your name is."
"James! She thinks your flirting with other girls!"
"So?"
"She'll think you're not interested," Sirius said, wondering why James wasn't getting it.
James smirked. "So she's jealous."
That stopped Sirius and he realized what James was doing. "Oh."
Five minutes later, Sirius said, "Wow. I feel like an idiot, not realizing that."
"Now you know what it feels like to be Peter," James said the password and entered the common room.
"Merlin, he needs help."
