A/N: HI! I would have had this up yesterday, but my sisters were being annoying and I had to get out of the house before I did something I'd regret. Luckily, my aunt lives next door, and I still have her keys since I studied out there during the year … Anyway, read!!

DISCLAIMER: Not mine, JKR owns it all!!!

Chapter 14: Gobbledygook, Toast, Anger and Quaffle

"I can't believe you did that," Sirius said, playing with a strand of Lena's hair. She was lying on a couch in the common room, with her head on Sirius' lap and her copy of 'Conversational Gobbledygook' by J. Jabber perched against her knees.

"Deal with it," she said.

"I thought you promised that you were going to drop it," he pressed. She merely shrugged. "Do you think it will work?" he went on. She shrugged again.

"Lets practice this so Dreyfus doesn't give us detention." She shuddered. "Imagine being alone with him. Urgh." She closed her book.

"Comawnt snadda?" she asked. (How are you?)

"Blink shudda maraw," he answered. (Not bad, how about you?)

"Shaddy waddy deedah wawa," she said pleasantly. (Great, thanks for asking.)

"Dim lao, dim lao. Estah woo woo ban bon?" (Good, good. Did you enjoy the party last night?)

"Sladda dadda magga moo – er, no mao – what's the word for 'fun'; again?" Lena asked, confused. Sirius flicked through his own book.

"Maa," he told her. "Moo means banana." She giggled.

"So I just said, 'Yes, I had lots of banana'?" she asked. She nodded, smiling.

"Let's move too Mermish," he suggested. They proceeded to converse in a shrill, high-pitched screeching for several minutes, much to the annoyance of the others in the common room. They were interrupted by shouts from the girl's dorm, and the sound of a very large explosion. Bits of splintered wood landed on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. The common room stared transfixed at the foot of the staircase to see the source of the destruction. James stormed down, glowering, and stomped straight up the boy's stairs. He re-emerged in his Quidditch robes, holding his broom.

"I'm going to fly," he grunted. "I'll see you lot—" he cast a glance at his fellow teammates "— in half an hour." He left the common room and Lena felt ten eyes boring into her.

"Well done," Remus said. "You've infuriated James right before Quidditch practice, providing him with six people to take his anger out on."

"Sorry," Lena squeaked.

*****

"What am I going to do, Paul?" Lily asked her poster. Paul merely smiled back. "Fat lot of help you are," she said. "John? George? Ringo? Any advice?" She grinned. "Your posters aren't saying much. Will your songs?" She took a record from her collection.

It played for a bit, and she hummed along. It wasn't long before she was grinning; this was always the way. The Beatles never failed her. If she ever needed advice, she would find a song to help her out.

'I'm stepping out of an Old Brown Shoe,

Baby I'm in love with you,

I'm so glad you came,

It won't be the same,

Now I'm telling you.'

Well, unfortunately George knew her a bit too well to help her this time … That was it, Help!, the album that annoyed her so much that morning. She knew just the song, too …

'How can I even try?

I can never win

Hearing them, seeing them,

In the state I'm in.

How could she—'

"Or he," Lily thought.

'—say to me

Love will find a way

Gather 'round, all you clowns,

Let me hear you say

Hey! You've got to hide your love away.'

She'd go with that … much safer …

*****

"That wasn't that bad," Rachel said after Quidditch practice. "Your playing cheered him up, and we all avoided decapitation."

"Yes, I do think some people owe me an apology," she said, but none of the boys were listening.

"Wow ...that was the best practice ever," Remus gushed. "I have a good feeling about this year," he said optimistically.

"I can feel the Cup," James announced.

"I don't think I got enough credit for discovering her," Sirius said.

"Nor me, for being able to play," Lena put in. He turned around, feeling as though he'd love to kiss her. And then he remembered that he was allowed to kiss her.

"You—" he said, kissing her cheek, "—are—" he kissed her other cheek, "—brilliant." He kissed her again. He was still grinning happily. "We're going to win the cup," he whispered excitedly.

"Hopefully," she replied. She kissed him quickly before heading to the girl's showers.

*****

James' feelings of hope after the Quidditch practice were overshadowed every time he saw Lily. She was determinedly refusing to meeting his eye, and resisting all of his attempts at conversation.

He sat at the Gryffindor table on Monday morning, buttering his toast distractedly.

"How was Quidditch?" Frank asked. Sirius swallowed his porridge quickly.

"'Mazing," he said. "It was only their first practice together, but the Chasers look fantastic," he said in an undertone. "They clicked – you know? This could be the year, right James?"

"Huh?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Quidditch," he said, attempting to jog his memory.

"Yeah, it was great," he said.

"What's with you?" Remus wondered. "I thought you'd be on about Quidditch nonstop after Saturday." James was only half listening. He was looking at Lily, who was listening to Lena talk animatedly about something. At first he thought she was caught up in Quidditch-mania aswell, but the look on her face told him that she was complaining about something …

" … cruel, Lily, plain cruel. A double class is bad enough; three hours of Dreyfus! But first thing on a Monday morning …"

Lily turned around to reach the teapot and caught James' eye. She shook her head ever so slightly before turning back to Lena.

"James?" Remus was calling.

"Yeah," he said absent mindedly, dropping his toast (which had an inch-thick layer of butter by now). "I'm going to Runes," he said, grabbing his bag. He walked out of the hall, leaving Sirius and Remus perplexed.

"What's with him?" Remus wondered again.

"Who?" Lena wondered, taking James' seat and giving Sirius a quick peck on the cheek. "Morning," she added as an afterthought.

"James," Sirius said. "He's acting very … weird."

"Not that that's unusual," Remus added. "It's probably a Monday morning thing."

"Are you ready to face Dreyfus?" Lena asked. Sirius nodded, and picked up his bag. As they left the hall, Sirius glanced at his watch.

"Aren't we a bit early?" he wondered.

"I wanted to talk to you," she explained, leading him into an empty classroom. He grinned and stepped closer to her. "No, actually talk," she went on, and he stepped back. "Well … this is our first class with Ritchie since I told you, and I wanted to—"

"I promise I will be on my best behaviour," he vowed. "When it comes to Ritchie, at least," he added, stepping closer to her again…

*****

James walked moodily into the Ancient Runes classroom. He was the first one there, and slumped into his seat.

It was so infuriating! This felt like the one truly smart thing he would do in his life and it wasn't happening … He looked up just as Lily was entering. She caught sight of him and hesitated.

"What? Don't want to be alone in a room with me now?" he asked bitterly.

"You know, I think this is going to get very old, very fast," Lily said, putting down her books.

"What is?"

"You pestering me every time you see me and getting angry 'cos I'm the only girl who's ever refused to jump straight into bed with you at the click of a finger," she said.

"I never asked you to jump into bed with me," he shouted. "I resent that accusation."

"Well, I resent this conversation, this situation, this entire relationship," she yelled.

"What relationship?" James wondered. "As far as I can see there isn't a relationship because you're too scared." Lily looked as if she were about to reply, but stopped when she caught a glimpse of Professor Leach.

"What's all the shouting abou—oh, it's you two," he said, having become accustomed to hearing Lily and James argue. And to sitting at the top of the classroom during stony silences. But he felt that this one was different, somehow …

*****

"Sirius, stop looking at me like that," Lena said, not taking her eyes from her parchment.

"Like what?" he asked. He was lounging on an armchair in the common room while Lena worked on an Arithmancy essay. Ally and Kim were working together at a table across from Lena, Remus and James were playing chess a few feet away. Peter was watching the game avidly, and Lily was in the girl's room, as she needed the Beatles in the background to study (or so she said.).

"Like, impatiently," she said. "Like you can't wait for me to be finished."

"Well, I can't," he said. "It's been a long day and I want to spend some quality time with my gorgeous girlfriend."

"Well, I'd love to be able to drop this but I've got another foot to do," she said.

"Do it tomorrow," he suggested.

"I want to get ahead, we've got Quidditch tomorrow," she said, flicking through a book nearby.

"How about after practice?" he suggested.

"That's when I'm doing Potions and Transfiguration," she said. "Be patient."

"You don't want to spend time with me," he pouted.

"I do, but I can't, not just now," she replied. "Don't blame me, blame Smellywelly, Cooke and McGonagall."

"Please?" he begged, sticking his head between her quill and the essay, and giving her his best puppy-dog eyes.

"Alright, I'll finish this up quickly," she said as some ink dropped onto his nose. He grinned. "I'll still be 15 minutes, mind," she added. He just grinned wider. "And if I fail my NEWTs, I'll blame you. Now, move your head," she instructed. He obliged.

"You won't fail," he said. "I bet you'll get twenty 'O's."

"That'd be some achievement, seeing as how she's only taking seven subjects," Ally put in. Sirius smiled.

"No prank tonight, then, Padfoot?" Remus asked as his king took yet another of James' pawns. Sirius looked at Lena.

"No," he said.

"You're deserting us," Remus accused. "For a girl."

"Well, it's be worse if it were a boy," Sirius replied.

"I feel betrayed," Remus continued. "Don't you, James?" James was staring into the fire, having forgotten all about the game.

"What?" he said, looking up. "Don't I what? And what happened to my pawn?"

"Don't you feel betrayed because Sirius is deserting us to spend time with Lena?" Remus repeated patiently.

"Yeah, whatever," James said.

"Are you all right, James?" Sirius asked. "You've had a bee in your bonnet all weekend." He turned to Lena. "That potion – there's no side effects, is there?" he asked her.

"No," she answered, scribbling away at her essay.

"Are you sure you brewed it properly, then?" he went on. She hot him a dangerous look.

"Do you really want me to leave my homework?" she asked. "Because it isn't going to happen if you carry on asking questions like that."

"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "I'm sorry – I meant to say that James is strange, you're the best in the world at Potions, and you're the most wonderful human being ever created," he professed, and she rolled her eyes.

"You are full if it, Sirius Black," she said, going back to her Arithmancy.

"I'm going for a walk," James announced, picking up his bag.

"Where are you going?" Remus asked.

"The library," he said, already halfway to the portrait hole.

"The library?" Sirius said. "Has he even been near the library in two years?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted. "I doubt it."

And he wasn't going there now. He didn't know where he was going, he was just walking. He climbed countless staircases, walked down what seemed like miles of corridor, and passed millions of portraits. He wracked his brain for a solution.

James loved a challenge ...i9n his first year it had been trying to find a way out of the castle. It had only taken him, Sirius, and (a reluctant) Remus three months, he remembered proudly.

Second year, he divided into who parts: finding a way to be near Remus during full moon, and then working out how to become Animagi.

That had been his favorite challenge ...It took them so long, the research (the amount of hours spent in the library …), collecting the ingredients (apart from raiding Cooke' s stores, a lot needed to be gathered from the wild, meaning many forays into the Forest, and some trips during summer months), brewing the potion (Lena would have been very useful …), and the practice required once the potion had been taken (it didn't take Sirius or himself long, but Peter was a different story …). It had definitely been the most rewarding challenge … even after the first full moon Remus' entire character became more upbeat.

After that came the OWLs, and in sixth year the problem of non-admittance to the girl's dormitories needed to be tackled. The staircase was confounded easily enough … then came the Map, a wonderful idea, and a fairly easy enchantment. Well, compared to becoming Animagi, anything looked simple …

Except this. He knew she liked him … he just knew it. She was just being stubborn. E had to win her over … but nothing he'd tried ever before would work, he knew that. Lily was different, Lily was special … she deserved more … but what?

He looked up, and realized that he was outside the owlery. He grinned. A letter, not the most original of ideas, but Lily couldn't shout at a letter … well, she could, but it wouldn't do any good. He headed in and took out his quill and parchment. He had to work from an angle she'd appreciate … he began to scribble on the parchment, and half an hour later he held it up, proud of his work. He cast an Indestructible Charm on it so that she couldn't rip it up, before sealing it.

"Oi, Quaff!" he called to the near-deserted owlery. He prayed that Quaffle (his owl) hadn't gone hunting yet. "Quaffy! Do I have to use a school owl?" Within seconds she appeared, holding out her claw. He tied the letter on, and patted her gently on the head. "Wait for a reply, will you?" he asked. "I'll be in my room." Quaffle nipped his hand and flew out the window. Smiling, James grabbed his bag and hurried baqck to the Tower.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 A/N: A bit on the short side, but an evil little plot bunny bounced into my head last night, and I just had to write it. It's called 'Blackbird,' and it's a songfic about Sirius … ::sniffle:: Read it, too …

Review, please!!