Disclaimer: These characters (minus Adriyana and Amber) belong to JKR and I make no money off of them. Wouldn't that be wicked awesome if I did, though?
This chapter is dedicated to Mina, my beta, and NIKE Godess of Victory, my most faithful reviewer, who thinks this story is "tricked out and super cool."
Dear Diary,
There is NO WAY I like James Potter. Agie seems to think I do. I guess she hasn't been listening to me for the last five years, and seems to think I still have that little girly crush I had on Potter during our first year, before I realized what a prat he was. How could I possibly have liked someone so arrogant and self-centered? I mean, guys are afraid to date me. I have what Agie calls the "James Potter Factor." Guys think that if they ask me on a date, they'll end up being the victim of the Marauders' latest prank, such as getting glued to the ceiling. Fine, so I was wrong about Sirius, he's actually not so bad, but what could anyone possibly see in James Potter? Okay, so he's brave, good at Quidditch, and rather fit looking. Big deal. Wait, did I just write that?
Going to wash my mouth out with soap,
Lily
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Dear Diary,
I still can't believe he's finally mine. All mine! I would have never thought Sirius Black would be the first guy like me for ME…In fact, I think I'm the first girl he's ever done that for. If only you could see the stupid grin on my face right now, but once again we run into the issue of you being and inanimate object. Oh, and Lily has been acting rather strangely lately, like she's distracted. She clearly had a thing for someone. I suspect this someone to be James; otherwise she'd tell me her crush's identity. I don't even think she sees it yet, though (either that or she's drowning in The Nile…I'm good). For the smartest girl in our year (and possibly the whole school), there sure are a lot of things she doesn't realize.
Love,
Adriyana
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Lily sat on her bed that morning, already fully dressed. She was checking her Potions essay for errors before class. She had finished the essay the day it was assigned, but hadn't gotten to looking it over yet because Adriyana had "borrowed" it. Seeing no errors, Lily tucked the essay back into her school bag and looked around the room. Amber was still asleep, and Lily had no inclination to wake her up. She was rather fond of all of her body parts being in their right places, thank-you-very-much. Amber was NOT a morning person, to put it lightly.
As Lily stared at Amber, Adriyana walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, hair dripping wet from the shower. The grin she was wearing seemed to be permanently stuck on her face ever since the Quidditch game. She grabbed her Hogwarts uniform and closed herself in the curtains around her bed (people tended to barge into their room, mostly younger girls in need of advice). And, of course, as Adriyana changed, Alice came back into the dormitory, swinging the door wide open enthusiastically. She had just come back from meeting Frank in the common room. He was excellent at Charms and was helping her with the assignment that was due that day. It was no surprise to any of them that Alice had put it off until a few hours before it was due, procrastinator that she was.
"Morning, all!" she said cheerfully, looking at the schedule of classes the girls had posted on the wall. She let out a squeal of delight. "Only double Charms and DADA today. Oh, and History of Magic. Bugger."
"Well, at least I can get some sleep there, I'm so tired," Adriyana said, jumping out from behind the curtains of her bed, wearing her uniform and trying to properly knot her red and gold tie. She picked up the Quick-Quotes Quill she always brought to History of Magic and threw it in her bag.
"Er…do you guys reckon we should wake Amber?" Lily asked, jerking her thumb toward the sleeping figure in the fourth bed.
"Yeah… I'll do it," Alice said, and Adriyana tossed her an aerosol can with a little plastic horn on top of it. "I can't believe this is the only way to wake her up," she said. She hopped onto Amber's bed, brought the horn somewhat close to her face, and pushed down on the button. A loud honking noise resonated throughout the room. One of the vases of roses on the dresser fell, and luckily Lily caught it. Amber scrunched up her face and tumbled out of bed, pillow pulled around her ears. She let out a piercing scream before tumbling out of bed and swearing loudly at all of them.
Remus heard the scream all the way from the boys' dorm. "Amber?" he called, jumping about a foot in the air. After all, werewolf ears are sensitive, especially when it comes to love.
"Chill out, mate, the girls use an air horn to wake her up. They showed me last summer, when my parents were out on an Auror mission, and I stayed at Agie's with them. Nothing else does it. She like…hibernates," James told him, unsuccessfully trying to comb his black hair. Remus seemed to calm down and he smiled dreamily at the thought of his Amber sleeping peacefully, eyelashes fluttering, her golden hair fanned over her pillow.
Sirius was tying his Gryffindor tie with a huge smile on his face. He looked in the mirror. His black hair was tousled and his grey eyes shone brightly, like they had been ever since Adriyana had kissed him.
"Thinking about her, mate?" James asked.
"She's an amazing kisser," Sirius responded, as if this was the answer he was looking for. "Don't you guys think we make a great couple? I do."
"I bet Lily's a great kisser, too," James said. He didn't really want to think about Adriyana that way; she was like a sister to him, and she had been his best friend until he met Sirius and the other Marauders.
Peter walked into the room to see his three friends zoned out, with stupid and delirious grins on their faces. "Oh, bugger. I REALLY need a girlfriend," he said.
James snapped out of it. "Wormtail, if you ever get a girlfriend, I'll eat ten Galleons worth of Cockroach Clusters." There was a specific reason girls didn't like Peter. He was reasonably good-looking, and wasn't always as daft as he looked…the rest of the Marauders just overshadowed him most of the time. No. the reason girls avoided Peter was because he smelled like moldy cheese. Gross. Though, james resolved, Peter was his friend, and now that the other three Marauders were taken (he counted himself because he wouldn't date anyone but Lily) he had a fair shot.
Now if only they could get him to use some cologne or something.
"Siri! Where are you?" Adriyana's voice sounded from the foot of the stairs, and Sirius bolted for the door.
James shook his head. "Oh, Padfoot."
He started laughing and finished getting dressed. Ten minutes later, the other three boys went down the stairs to find Adriyana and Sirius snogging on the couch. "Not fond of privacy, those two," Remus said to James. Adriyana's eyes opened in shock at the voice, she jumped up, and the red rose tucked behind her ear fell to the floor. Sirius took the time while she bent down to pick it up to glare at Remus, who started whistling innocently.
"Chill, Siri, we have to go to class, anyway," she said, as she fixed the rose back into her hair. Lily motioned to her from the door. Usually the girls and the Marauders walked to class with their own gender groups. "Catch you guys on the flip side," Adriyana said as she gave Sirius a quick kiss and ran after them.
After lunch, Adriyana was walking to History of Magic when she felt a set of arms wrap around her from behind. They felt strangely unfamiliar, definitely not Sirius' arms. She realized who it was when she saw the person's blue and grey tie dangling in front of her face. She saw Sirius run up to them, looking disgusted.
"What's shakin', baby?" came a husky voice in her ear.
"Thomas, get the hell off me! Can't you take a hint? They haven't been very discreet or anything!" she yelled, wriggling around in his arms and trying to break free, but he did not relent. Her hand traveled to her pocket and wrapped tightly around her wand, but he was too thick to notice. Sirius pulled out his wand, too, though he wasn't so sure what to do. Adriyana was moving around so fast while trying to escape Thomas' grip that he could easily hit her with any spell he tried to throw at him.
Adriyana finally broke out of his arms and ran back to Sirius, who put his arms around her. A tingling sensation went up her spine at the touch, but she was also relived to feel his warm and familiar embrace and she pulled him tighter for a second.
"So…you have a boyfriend now," Broderick said, glaring at Sirius. Adriyana looked up at Broderick.
"That's right," Adriyana said, feeling a swooping sensation in her stomach. Boyfriend. She smiled.
"Do you mess around?" he asked her.
"What!...No!" she said incredulously. Sirius lifted his wand again.
"Well, would you--" but he was cut off when a blast of light shot from Sirius' wand and hit him in the face. His dark brown hair turned into what looked like really enlarged worms. Broderick, who was a total coward, started running around, screaming, and trying to pull them out of his head. It was quite a sight.
"Leave her the bloody hell alone!" Sirius yelled over Broderick's girly screams.
Adriyana had had enough of this. She wanted so badly for Broderick to just leave her alone. She pulled out a weird-looking marker from her bag and motioned Thomas over to her with her finger seductively. He gave Sirius a victorious grin and walked over. He didn't see her wink at Sirius and was thoroughly shocked when she pushed him up against the wall because he really was that naive.
"Close your eyes," she whispered, and he did. She put the marker to his forehead and managed to write some rather rude phrases in her bubbly letters before he noticed what was happening and pulled away.
She and Sirius took off down the hall. She turned back to him as she ran and yelled, "It's permanent marker, dude!"
They walked into History of Magic together, which they had with the Ravenclaws, and took their usual seats next to Lily and James, respectively. Adriyana took out her Quick-Quotes Quill and put her head down on her desk.
Class was very boring today. What a surprise. Adriyana's Quill was scribbling away and she seemed to be asleep. Sirius was staring at her, the way her hair fell over her face, the way her lips were pulled into a smile, even when she slept. Suddenly, one of her vibrant eyes popped open and her smile grew wider. She winked at him and mouthed, "Busted!" He jumped back, surprised that she had caught him staring.
He ripped off a piece of his parchment (which he wasn't using to take notes anyway) and wrote her a message. He balled it up and threw it. She caught it easily and opened it.
Maybe I was just staring at you because you have a huge bogey hanging out of your nose!
Really she didn't, but it was a laugh to see her hand reach up and brush her nose with her sleeve. When she realized there was nothing there, Sirius started laughing. She scowled at him, and then smiled. She dipped her regular, manual quill into the pot of violet ink next to her and wrote:
You were still staring at me!
She pointed to the note, and then to him and Sirius aimed his wand at it.
"Accio Parchment!" The note came zooming over as he said the charm. He read it and smiled at her use of purple ink. He put his own quill to the page and wrote a response underneath hers.
Do you want to go to the kitchens tonight?
But when Adriyana got the note, that wasn't what it said. The piece of paper she opened had no remnants of their previous conversation, just a single message in a handwriting that looked a lot like Sirius', but she didn't think it was. First of all, he had spelled her name wrong. Also, she highly doubted he would say what was on this note:
Adriana, you're so obnoxious. This really isn't working out for me.
Sirius couldn't have written this, he just couldn't. Sirius would never write that...or even spell her name wrong. Still, it was enough to make her stomach drop. She looked up at him, her eyes apparently showing her fear, because he looked confused. she passed the note back to him. As he read the note, his expression changed from confusion to disgust. He mouthed, "I didn't write this!" and Adriyana's face spread into a relieved smile. If Sirius hadn't written it though, who had?
Sirius had a hunch. There was only one person in the school who was enough of a prat that they would learn how to copy his handwriting and switch the notes in midair without anyone noticing. He turned to the table Annie Moon was sitting at, where she was looking down and focusing a bit too hard on her work. He ripped off another piece of parchment.
Moon, you prat, leave my girlfriend and me alone. She's too smart to fall for your childish tricks. It's not like I would EVER pick you over her, so just give it up, and stop following me around.
He lobbed the note over to her table. Hard. It hit her in the cheek and she let out a whimper. Annie's friends squealed delightedly because she had gotten a note from Sirius. They all had a bit of an obsession with him. As Annie read the note, her brown eyes grew wider. She turned the paper over and began to write.
Sirius and Adriyana were continuing their old conversation on a new piece of paper. No doubt their original note was in Annie's possession and was going to be passed around at the next Sirius Black Fan Club meeting because he had written on it. When Annie's note landed next to him, he just brushed it aside. But Annie wasn't going to give up that easy. Just as Sirius was writing Adriyana about what their next date should be, Annie's note began attacking him. Adriyana was looking at the note, motioning for him to open it. Finally, he relented and picked it up. It said:
I can't leave you alone, Sirius. I think I love you. Siriusly.
Sirius couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. i Loves /i him? She's got to be kidding! The thing that really got him laughing was the pun, though. He looked up and saw that everyone in the class was staring at him, most likely because he had fallen to the floor from laughing so hard. Annie looked terrified, almost in tears.
'Bit overdramatic, that one…' Sirius thought as he got back onto his chair.
James was looking at the note with a confused expression on his face. Sirius passed him the note. Annie pointed her wand at it, attempting to get it back, but James had already turned around. It only took a few seconds before he burst out laughing as well. Adriyana and Lily motioned for the note, and they passed it over. Annie looked absolutely horrified.
After class, Sirius noticed Annie tailing him as he exited the room, so he and James started walking next to Adriyana and Lily on their way to lunch. Annie was still behind them.
James saw her, too. "Hey, Sirius. I have a serious question to ask you."
"Seriously? What is it?" Lily asked.
"Seriously, Evans. The serious question is for Sirius."
"You have a serious problem, all of you," Adriyana said.
"Yes, let's all be serious so I can seriously ask Sirius this serious question," James said.
"Yes, let's all be serious," Lily said.
"I'm always Sirius!" Sirius said.
"Sirius! This question is serious!"
"Okay, I'm seriously listening. What's up?"
"Do you like my shoes?" James asked. Annie just scowled at them and walked over to the Ravenclaw table.
Sirius was surprised to see Lily laugh along with Adriyana. Normally she despised all of James' jokes. She was probably just doing it for Adriyana or something. Still, he would never hear the end of it from James. Sure enough, he was right. All day, it was, "Padfoot, did you see the way her eyes glow when she laughs?" and, "Do you guys think this means she likes me?" and even, "Do you reckon I should ask her out again? Will she say yes this time?"
"She won't, Prongs. Shut up now," Sirius finally said.
"Maybe you should just give up on her, Prongs. There are plenty of other girls who will take you," Remus added.
"But I don't want any of those other girls! They're not Lily! She's so sweet and beautiful and…"
The rest of them knew to tune out at that point. James would ramble on about Lily for a while, and they had heard it all. Sirius wanted to be there for his best friend, because he clearly felt the same way about Lily as he did about Adriyana. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be for him if Adriyana didn't feel the same way.
"Snickerdoodle," Sirius called as they reached the portrait hole, which swung open. The Marauders headed up to their room. Sirius flopped down on his bed and lazily pulled out a chocolate frog and bit into it. James sat on his bed, deep in thought, Peter was attempting to do his homework, and Remus was reading a book. Finally, James opened his mouth to speak.
"Moony…what's it like to be in love?" he asked quietly. Sirius looked up interestedly from the chocolate frog card he was reading.
Remus looked shocked at the question, but, being a good friend, he answered willingly. He seemed to be thinking very hard. "Well, I guess it's like…" He searched his mind a for a while, then came up with an answer. "When you love someone the way I love Amber, you have an unexplainable attraction to them, but I'll try. You love every bit of that person, even their flaws. You notice little things about them that nobody else does. You get this weird feeling whenever you see them, like your stomach does a flip-flop, and you look at them and are like 'Wow, that's the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with.' You can't be happy unless they are. They mean everything to you."
"Wow…that was deep, Moony. Thanks," James said.
"Anytime, Prongs…why, do you think you feel that way about Lily?" Remus asked.
"I don't know…I really don't. That's basically the way I feel about her, but she doesn't feel the same way about me. Is it possible to love someone if the feeling isn't mutual? I'm also sort of afraid to love her, because she doesn't love me back," James said sadly.
Around this time, Sirius would usually make a snide comment about how little Prongsie was growing up, but he was currently lost in thought. Was it just him, or did love as Moony had described it sound a lot like the way he felt about Adriyana? Did he love her? He immediately began to get scared. Did he even know what love was? He wasn't sure, because he didn't know if he had ever loved anyone before. He had nobody to compare how he felt about her to. Not his family, that's for sure. During that summer, he had left his family forever because he couldn't stand them anymore. He hadn't loved any of the other girls he had dated, either. There was just nothing there. Then it hit him. The Marauders. Yeah, he could say that he loved them. They were like his brothers, the closest thing he had ever had to a real family, especially James and his parents.
His feelings for Adriyana, however, were different. He wasn't even sure if he was in love with her…at least not yet. If he wasn't, he would be soon, but if there's one thing he had already learned about his relationship with her, it was to take it slow. What he felt for her was so different from what he felt for his friends, and yet just as strong. He cared about her, he was absolutely positive about that. He had fallen for her like he never had for any other girl. But was it love?
No way. Sirius Black couldn't fall in love. Could he?
A/N- Well, there's chapter eight! Okay, it may seem fast, but don't forget Sirius has liked Adriyana for months, and he's a very impulsive person. This turned out so differently from the way I had originally intended; I moved all the stuff that was going to be here to a later chapter.
