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Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me.
Warnings for slight language.
Chapter Two – Tricky Meetings
The café was small and cozy looking. Its sign, 'the Wanderers Café', was slightly dirty but this only served to make the place look even more like it was out of an old fashion film. Taking a deep breath, Remus walked up to the door and pushed it open, a small bell tinkling as he stepped inside. He clutched his bag tighter, nerves getting the better of him as his eyes swept over the many tables and chairs present. Finally, after what felt like an age of looking, he saw her sitting towards the back, almost hidden by a small wall and shrubs. He cautiously approached her booth, hoping that this hadn't all been some kind of awful trick of hers just to make fun of him.
However, when he reached her all he found was the Hogwarts social outcast sitting calmly in her seat, a glass of ice-tea before her and a bored look on her face.
"I was wondering when one of you would turn up," Lily Evans said as her green eyes glanced up to him, met his honey brown ones for a moment, before looking away again.
"No one else is here?" he asked in his usual quiet tone of voice as he took a seat across from her. She opened her mouth to send a smart ass comment back to him about stating the obvious, when she paused to reconsider and sigh.
"No, you're the first here." She said and attempted a small half smile at him.
The bell tinkled again and the two glanced over to see James Potter looking around with a frown on his face, clearly this place wasn't up to his usual standards. Recognition passed over his face at the sight of the two already seated and he made his way over to them and plopped down beside Lily who frowned at him.
"So, are we ready? I have things to actually do this afternoon so could we make this quick?" he asked in a manner which clearly said he wasn't asking them, he was telling them.
"We're not all here yet, in case you hadn't noticed. Is your ego so big you can't see over it anymore?" Lily snapped, dislike clear in her voice.
"What, you don't expect us to wait for Black, do you? Like he'll even turn up," James snorted with laughter and easily ignored her jab at him. A sudden banging of a drink on their table caused all three of them to jump and look up to see Sirius Black standing there, a blank look on his face. Moving, he seated himself beside Remus and a small smirk pulled at the corner of his lips.
"You weren't talking about me, were you Potter?" He asked in a casual drawl, but there was an underlying threat heard by all.
"Course not," James blatantly lied with a slight, dismissive wave of his hand.
Sirius just snorted and took a swing from the bottle before him, then lounged back as if this was all completely normal.
"So, now everyone's here," Lily glanced at James out of the corner of her eye, a slight smile of vindictive amusement flickering to life as the teen rolled his eyes and looked away from the three of them. "Let's work out some things. When do you all want to meet up each week?" Lily continued as if nothing had just passed between her and the boy beside her.
"Easy; each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoon from 3 – 6pm." Remus said from where he was seated beside Hogwarts' criminal. At the three blank looks he received from the others he felt a brilliant blush staining his cheeks and hurriedly amended his words.
"I mean, if that's ok with you guys…" He trailed off, shifting uncomfortably and training his eyes on the wooden table.
"Well that settles it then; can I go now?" Sirius asked, clearly bored.
"Wait a minute! What if I don't agree to those times?" James argued irritably.
"Then you fail, simple as that." Lily shrugged uncaringly. Clearly she wasn't going to argue with the times if James didn't like them, she got too much satisfaction from James not getting his own way.
Looking clearly annoyed, James rose from his seat.
"Fine, whatever. The less time I have to spend with you social outcasts the better." He went to turn away but Lily, not able to resist the jab, snapped at him.
"Like any of us actually wants to spend time with a dada's boy who only knows how to flaunt his wealth."
"At least I'm not the social reject of the entire school." He hissed back at her.
"Oh, because being the 'prince' of our school is SO much better." Lily snorted. James glared at her angrily for a moment.
"Whatever; I'll leave you with these other pathetic excuses for students." With that he swept out of the café in a huff, beaten at his own game.
"This is going to be an interesting year," Sirius smirked, surprising Remus with the amusement in his voice. He took one last swing of his bottle, put it back onto the table and stood up.
"Clearly we're finished. Lupin, Evans," he nodded slightly to each before turning and casually leaving himself. Lily huffed as she grabbed her bag which had been hidden at her feet and stood as well.
"I'm leaving; I'll see you on Wednesday." With that last pleasantry she too swept away with a flash of red hair.
Remus sat there quietly before sighing and slumping in his seat. Allowing himself to relax finally.
***
Wednesday came all too quickly for the four unwilling group members. They found tempers running high as three of the four waited impatiently for their fourth member to turn up.
"Where the hell is he?" James grumbled for the fifth time in the last half an hour. The time was now 3:30 and one Sirius Black had yet to make an appearance at their designated café.
"Not here obviously," Lily growled back in irritation with a roll of her eyes, a glass of ice-tea once again resting before her.
"Can we please just start?" Remus finally asked, tired of sitting in uncomfortable silence and listening to the duo bickering.
"Lupin's right, let's start. Clearly he's not here so let's get going. He won't get the marks anyway so who cares?" Lily agreed, pulling out some parchment and something to write with. Rolling his eyes and heaving a loud sigh James turned his attention away from the door and over to his two reluctant companions.
"Fine, whatever." Was his only response as they began working on the assignment.
The three had managed to actually work together with minor arguments for an hour when their missing member decided to turn up. He walked up casually to them and it was, unfortunately, James who noticed his presence first.
An arrogant look settled into place and he deliberately relaxed his shoulders as his irritated dark brown eyes settled on the object of his ire's grey ones.
"Well, look who decided to turn up." He drawled. Before Sirius could even send James an answering glare, Lily pounced.
"Where the HELL have you been?!?" She growled furiously.
"Yeah, let's hear your excuse this time." James snorted humorlessly. It was a pity that the first thing they had agreed on was at the expense of another person in their group.
Sirius's grey eyes suddenly flashed with anger and defensiveness.
"Where I go and what I do is none of your bloody business." He growled warningly.
"Yeah, well we'll never get this done if you don't bother turning up, you lazy asshole!" Lily fumed, purposely ignoring his tone.
"Guys-" Remus tried to interject and stop the oncoming argument, but Sirius was too angry to pay him any mind while Lily and James were just plain pissed off.
"Well you know what? You can take this assignment and shove it up your ass Evans, for all I care. As for you Potter, no one really likes you and your arrogance anyway; if it wasn't for your parents you'd just be another number so shove that in your pie-hole and suck it. Screw you lot, I don't give a shit about this assignment anyway." With his piece said and done, Sirius turned and swept out of the café; leaving two furious teens in his wake.
"What a jerk – a prick! Screw him, I hope he fails and gets expelled so I never have to see that ugly-ass face again!" Lily seethed as she shoved their notes into her bag with more force then was strictly necessary.
"I'm leaving. I'll see you both on Friday and make sure you're on time." James stormed off.
"Later," was all Lily offered to Remus who sat quietly in thought, his mind going over what Lily had just said. He knew that things weren't about to get any easier…
***
It was three in the morning when Sirius Black finally managed to drag his slightly drunken ass home to his one room flat in muggle North London. Heaving an irritated sigh he fumbled with his keys for a few minutes before finally getting the door to co-operate with him and open. Closing the said door behind him he carelessly chucked his keys onto a small table near the door and stumbled slightly, headed for the couch.
He was, however, distracted from his goal by a low hooting sound. Looking over into the joint kitchen he saw a tawny owl sitting innocently on the back of the chair, a piece of parchment tied to its leg.
Curiosity gripped him and for a moment he found himself able to think clearly as he carefully removed the burden from the owl. The creature ruffled its feathers, happy at having delivered its message, before giving another low hoot and disappearing out the small kitchen window. Turning his attention back to the letter Sirius opened it and read.
'Sirius Black,
First of all, how are you? As you've not been to any of our meetings for the assignment this past week I'm reduced to asking you such a question in a letter.
As you might have already guessed, if you've bothered to even read this far; this letter is in regards to our assignment. While I do understand you were probably busy and thus late last Wednesday, it would have been greatly appreciated if you had of sent us word ahead of time so that we didn't worry. That being said, I don't agree that James Potter and Lily Evans should have reacted in such a manner.
This leads me to my main reason for writing to you. I'm asking you quite plainly if you would please come back. This has nothing to do with me complaining of having to do more work or anything of that nature. I'm purely asking so as you don't fail this assignment. I'm very serious when I sincerely ask you to come back.
So – please come back.
Sincerely,
Remus Lupin.'
Sirius sat in silence as he read and then re-read the other boys letter, double checking that this really was a letter asking him to go back to that group. Finally, with a world-weary sigh, he leaned back into the couch where he had seated himself while reading. He would admit he was quite surprised by Remus' thoughtfulness and his 'olive branch' as it were. Not that he'd ever tell anyone that.
Closing his eyes it only took a few moments before his sleep heavy mind closed down for the night and he fell into the black abyss of sleep, the letter still held loosely in his hand.
***
It took until the following Saturday before Sirius was able to swallow his pride enough to return to 'the Wonderers Café'. He prepared himself for the backlash and smirks he knew would come from at least Lily Evans and James Potter – something told him Remus Lupin wouldn't sink that low – but what he got was a surprise.
James had opened his mouth to comment when Sirius had stopped before their slightly hidden table, but Lily stomped on his foot and his mouth had slammed shut before he could utter a sound. James Potter listening to Lily Evans when she told him to shut up – it seemed miracles did happen after all. Remus offered him a shy, happy smile and moved his bag off the seat beside him so Sirius could sit down.
Once seated Lily had flashed him what could have been called an approving smile before she'd continued talking about the assignment like nothing had happened.
It was then, as they continued working and including him, that Sirius wondered briefly if this is what it felt like to belong somewhere.
***
After that Saturday things seemed to fall into a pattern of sorts. Lily always got there first and ordered her ice-tea which would last her the whole three hours of their sessions. Remus would get there next and spend the time writing out further notes and ideas for their assignment. James and Sirius seemed to arrive at almost the same time as one had a sports car and the other a motorcycle respectably. They had now progressed to civilized conversation with only the occasional insult thrown in.
All in all they were making good progress with their assignment. In fact they were so focused on it that they didn't notice when the beginnings of familiarity started forming among them.
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