Chapter Eleven
Suddenly, an arm draped around Sirius's neck, and James Potter's head leaned into his best friend's ear, a grin upon his face.
"Good one, Padfoot!"
"Good one - what?" Sirius's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"The Malfoy girl! Her clothes have massive holes in them!" he pressed.
"Why?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Black. You charmed her shirt to split, didn't you?"
"I haven't even had a class with her today."
"You can't be serious?" James looked a bit put out.
"I'm always Sirius, James!" he joked, slapping his friend on the back.
"But... if you didn't..."
Bree was stretching upwards in her seat, head craned in the direction of the Slytherin table. She saw that Denise Malfoy was talking with a girl beside her as if all were well in the world and there wasn't an oblong-shaped hole along the seem that ran below her right arm. Sirius followed her gaze and saw this as well.
"Sirius!" she said.
"I didn't do that!" he said forcefully.
"Are you positive?"
"Yes."
"Only fools are positive."
"Sirius is a fool, Bree." James interjected.
"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. "Who are you to call me a-"
"I mean," James continued, ignoring his best friend, "just look at this hair-" James stood up and ran his hands through Sirius's longer than usual locks. "The four-inch-long hair of a fool!"
Sirius smacked James's hand away, grinning.
"Okay, we have made known the fact that I am, indeed, a fool," he mocked. "So who did that to her shirt?"
"Hm," James considered for a moment. Then the grin of all-knowing evil spread across his face. "Padfoot! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That if that hole gets any bigger, it'll be like a strip tease?" Bree asked.
"Well, that, too," James adimitted. "But - I don't think she realizes that she has a hole, yet. Sirius, if you were the one to break it to her..."
"She'd be embarrased as all hell." Sirius finished, grinning as he caught on. "Now?"
"Forward, march!"
Sirius got up and shook his hair back, making it fall elegantly across his eyes, before strolling, casually, off to Denise's seat. James sat down next to Bree, both of them sniggering.
"This'll be good."
"Damn straight." Bree grinned.
Denise turned around as Sirius approached her. She moved over a bit and patted the seat next to her. Sirius held up a hand, clearly refusing the offer. He shook his head in a flirtacious fashion, rearranging his hair again. Denise looked ready to melt. Sirius's mouth moved, and as it did, Denise's expression changed from dreamy to horrified. She jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall. Sirius turned to look at James and Bree, giving them the thumbs up and a grin.
"Beautiful!" Bree whispered, slightly hysterical.
"That one was a ten, most deffinately!" James cackled.
Sirius walked, leisurely, back to the Gryffindor table, a satisfied look on his face.
"That made my day, that it did." He said jovially.
The sun went down early that night, and an icy breeze chilled the necks of the unprotected students as they ran for their dormitories. James, Remus, and Peter parted with Sirius at the bottom of the first staircase, reminding him that the plan to jinx the benches in the Great Hall would go on without him.
"Don't worry about it, Padfoot," James said. "It's not like we'll never pull anything in the middle of the night again."
"I know, but it feels like we're breaking tradition, somehow," Sirius muttered. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. "I have no doubt that you three are perfectly capable of this bewitchment without me."
Remus smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, then said something that rather surprised him. "If at first you don't succeed, try; try again."
Peter nodded beside him, and James winked. Remus turned to the stairs and began the ascent, waving an arm for the other two to hurry up.
Sirius stood there gaping slightly before he mentally shook himself and started down to the dungeons. How did Remus know what Bree had told him? Then he kicked himself. Well, of course - Bree and Remus were dating. He would obviously know about it. But that was a private conversation between he and his confident! Anger towards Bree came forth. No, she wasn't the one to blame. It was a casual conversation. Maybe Remus had told Bree to interrogate him. Or maybe...
"You should watch where you're walking."
The voice came out of nowhere, as did the wall.
"Christ!" Sirius clutched his forehead and leaned against the wall he had just walked into.
"What? Can't take a warning?" The voice said again.
Sirus's doubled vision slowly shrank back down to singled. He removed his hand from his head and saw Rae standing a little behind him in the hallway. She came up to him and moved his bangs to the side, inspecting the coloring patch on his forehead.
Her hands are so cold.
"You'll live." As quickly as her hand had come, it was gone. She backed up a pace and shoved her hands into her pockets, shyly. "I, uh - I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I didn't mean to be so short with you."
"Don't worry about it. I - I enjoyed it, actually." A bit of a grin began to show itself. "Truth is, anything that can be done to piss that - girl - off, well..."
"You don't like her, do you?"
He shook his head. "Not in the slightest." He paused and thought about what Bree had said. "She gives a bad name to the rest of us."
"The 'rest of us'...?" Rae's brow wrinkled.
"Purebloods," he clarified. "She thinks that they - that we are better than the rest."
"Oh." She grew quiet and checked her watch. "We should get to that detention..."
"Oh, right."
The pair walked down the hall in silence. Sirius began to fret. What if that was the wrong thing to say? What if it made her think that I consider myself a pureblood? Well, I am a pureblood. But you didn't have to put it like that! She probably hates me. If she hates you then why did she check your forehead? It's better than checking my forearm, I guess.
A/N: Okay... Kitsune reminded me to update. Again. Cause I'm a lazy bum and I forget these things. Soooo... you should all review, because you love me! Oh... and while I'm here, SOMEONE needs to update An Impassive Appearance. --cough cough--