It was cold and there was snow on the ground but the weather was clear and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was determined to practice. Lily and I (Peter was stuck in his remedial potions study group) waited outside the changing rooms for them to emerge and start training. The door swung open and James had the most awestruck, dazed expression on his face. "Hullo," he said breathlessly as he past us, looking like he was in a trance. Serena-Rose came out next and winked at us with her Mona Lisa smile. I grabbed Sirius as he strode by and dragged him aside.
"Padfoot, what's wrong with Prongs? He looks confunded or something."
"I don't know," he answered. "All Aldebaran said before she pulled him away for a conversation was something about having gone on 'a reconnaissance mission last night'."
"Well, try and find out," I urged emphatically.
"I did Moony, but he said he didn't want to jinx it."
"Since when does he not want to do jinxes?" I asked, confused. Sirius just shrugged and sauntered off to join the team that was impatiently waiting for him.
Lily and I watched them take off and start their warm-up exercises of passing the Quaffle around. We walked up the steps into the stands, quiet for a while, eyes following the players' progress and ignoring the books we'd brought with us to study from.
"She's really good, isn't she?" Lily broke the silence. I knew she was talking about Serena-Rose.
"Yeah," I agreed, hypnotized by her wild hair whipping in the wind as she whizzed faster on her broom. I wondered how it felt and how it compared to Sirius's.
"She puts unbreakable charms on her fingernails so they don't get ruined when she plays." I vaguely heard Lily say through my distracted thoughts.
"Hmm," I mumbled absently. I could see through the blur of motion her trademark jeans and high-heeled cowboy boots under the hem of her robes fluttering at her knees. I supposed that the no underwear thing had something to do with her never wearing the skirt of the Hogwarts girl's uniform. I blushed at the naughty thoughts of the pantiless witch that were writhing around in my brain.
"Her and Black are really good together, aren't they?" I nodded my answer. It was true, they seemed to be of one mind and work effortlessly in tandem. I wished I could reach out, pull them to me and envelop them in my arms. To smell...to taste….
"Do you think he'll make a move on her?" Lily asked.
I turned my head so fast I got a crick in my neck. "What? No! He wouldn't!" I responded so forcefully that it made Lily look at me strangely. I tried to smooth my reaction over, "Er, I mean, I don't think so…."
"Did he agree to let you have a clear shot at it then?" Lily continued, making me squirm uncomfortably. I could feel her scrutinizing me. I shook my head. "She said you two were the only guys she was truly interested in. I didn't believe her when she told me she didn't have a chance with either of you, but now...Why? How come neither one of you wants to try and date her?"
"Because…." I scrambled trying to come up with a reason, a plausible excuse why we weren't pursuing her when every other guy in school would die for the chance to be the one she fancied. "Because…." I was drawing a blank and my silence was damning.
"Because why?" her bright green eyes were boring into the side of my reddened face.
"Because we're both already taken," I whispered to my good friend.
"You are not! I never see you two with anyone else but each other!" she accused loudly then gasped, "Oh!"
I admitted defeat. Lily already knew about my lycanthropy and supported me so I knew she could be trusted. "Sirius and I have been together for almost a year and we're committed, but keeping it quiet." I looked up, my expression pleading for understanding and discretion.
"Ah," she sighed, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," was all she said. She smiled, nodding at me, and didn't seem very surprised by my admission. I gave her a hug of thanks and then we turned to watch the players practice.
"I like her. Some of the other girls in our dorm don't know what to make of her and think she's a bit strange, but I like her. She doesn't worry about anything that people may say about her. She only cares about being herself and says what's on her mind."
"That she does," I chuckled trying to imagine how the more uptight girls in our year would regard her; I was sure they privately envied her personal conviction and candor.
"She's got spunk but brains too," Lily continued, eyes following the flyers. "She really got in close with you four in a hurry."
"Yeah. She's like a mixture of all the Marauders wrapped up in a female form. Well, not so much Pettigrew…."
Lily laughed. "No, he just wants to be in her female form!"
"Why Miss Evans! I do believe our straight-shooting, ribald friend is rubbing off on you!"
She giggled then got an anxious, shy look on her face. "Can I tell you a secret if you promise not to tell a soul?"
"Sure. Of course." I wondered if this had anything to do with James and Serena-Rose's odd behavior earlier. This day had the atmosphere of revealed secrets and confessions.
"Last night, Aldebaran initiated a version of a drinking game to Truth or Dare up in our bedroom." She paused and looked nervous.
"That's not the secret is it?"
"No, silly!" she said, swatting my arm playfully. "No, but some things were said and done and, well, to make a long story short, her questions and dares forced me to admit that I'm in love with James."
"That's great! He'll be ecstatic! You know he's been pining away over you for years."
"I know. But I haven't told him yet. When I started to have romantic feelings for him, I tried to block it out and mask it with a temper at him. I was so scared to lose myself in someone else."
"It can be wonderful though…" I told her, speaking from experience.
"Yeah." Her eyes were alight and beaming.
"Look at you! You're glowing!" I smiled at her and watched her grinning, gazing at James' flawless airborne acrobatics.
"He's really talented, isn't he?" she questioned, searching for confirmation.
"Yes, brilliant." I agreed as I watched Sirius pull off a difficult crack of his bat. He let out a whoop of victory. Serena-Rose zoomed over and flung her arm around his neck. And then I saw something that filled me with foreboding. "Oh no!"
Lily knitted her eyebrows at me. "I thought we established that they're just friends and you have nothing to worry about?"
"No, not that. Look." I pointed to the ground where Snape was skulking about, half hidden by the black and yellow Hufflepuff viewing tower. "This can't be good."
We stared, frozen in horror as he sneered and raised his wand. A jet of blue light streaked from its tip and hit James square in the back. He went rigid and sailed on the last momentum of his broom into the stands at the far end of the pitch. He landed with a spectacular crash.
"Nooooo! You bastard!" Lily screamed, green eyes flashing with fury, red hair flagging out behind her as we sprinted down the steps to the field. I saw Snape's triumphant expression and the team zoom to James' aid-- all but Serena-Rose. In a lightening flash, she'd spotted the culprit and flew directly at him, wand at the ready. She got him with a cold "Expelliarmus" before he could gather his wits and block it. His wand went speeding away. He didn't look at her in loathing, like he did with us. He was terrified. He tried to run for it but she caught him in a well-executed "Levicorpus" that left him dangling in the air upside down.
"You lowdown, sneaking, sniveling little shit-head!" She threw her bat down on the snow as she hovered in mid-air near the ground. "No wonder they call you Snivellus!" He remained flailing helplessly above her.
"You think you're so great, Aldebaran. Playing a stupid game with your stupid friends."
She muttered something I couldn't hear but his shoes shot off. Then, his socks peeled from his feet and shoved themselves into his mouth. I was impressed and highly amused. But she didn't stop there. "Wingardium Leviosa!" and his floating height went up at the direction of her wand. He banged against the edge of the viewing platform, his curses muffled by his socks. "Incarcerous!" and ropes lashed him to the banister. She turned without a second glance and whizzed to where the crowd was gathered around James.
We carried our friend to the hospital wing, followed by Dumbledore refereeing Slughorn and McGonagall's interrogation. Snape received three detentions for an unprovoked attack resulting in serious injury. Serena-Rose got one for her excessive use of restraint on the perpetrator. James was still unconscious and looked pretty bruised up as he was levitated to a bed within the ward. Madam Pomfrey made us finish our shouting match in the hall and then informed us she would 'allow Mr. Potter ONE visitor.'
Sirius, Peter (who had now joined us from his study group, having heard our commotion in the corridors on our way to the infirmary), Serena-Rose, Lily and I all started forward. "No! I said one!" hissed a harassed looking Pomfrey.
Sirius stepped up. "He's my best mate," he stated decisively. But Serena-Rose laid a hand on his arm and nudged him to look at Lily; the usually fiery redhead was uncommonly pale, trembling and had tears in her eyes. Sirius glanced at Serena-Rose questioningly.
Serena-Rose spoke up in a polite, clear tone. "Madam Pomfrey, Miss Evans will go. She's his girlfriend and he needs her right now."
"Very well, come along dear." Pomfrey said kindly, apparently appeased that her orders were finally being followed. She ushered a very grateful looking Lily over the threshold and closed the door on our stunned faces with a firm snap.
Later, when James made it back to the common room, supported by and in the entwined arms of Lily, we all raised a cheer. He grinned like an idiot and looked on top of the world as Lily fussed over him making sure he was comfortable on the couch. From that day on, they were joined at the hip as if they'd been hit with a permanent sticking charm.