Dear Diary,
I'm so excited, my first Prefect meeting as Head Girl is tonight! The only thing we did so far was on the train, where James and I picked out the passwords for the House common rooms. He was, believe it or not, pretty mature about the whole thing, at least until we had to pick the Slytherin common room's password. He didn't get past suggesting 'Slytherins are all ugly gits,' as theirs before I made it up myself. It strikes me as odd that he (for the most part) doesn't take this Head Boy thing as a joke, or a way to sneak around without getting in trouble. He hasn't done any of that though. At least not yet. Strange, huh?
-Lily
James tried his hardest not to yawn as he and Lily tried to organize the patrol schedule for the prefects this year. He held an unfocused gaze, unintentionally staring at the pearl earring in Lily's left ear while she asked him whether the Hufflepuffs or the Slytherins should take the second floor classrooms on Tuesdays.
"James…does that sound good? James?" Neatly-filed fingernails snapped loudly in front of his face. "Potter! Stay with me, here! Just a little longer and we're done with this."
James nodded. "Uh. The Hufflepuffs? Yeah, them…"
Lily scribbled something on her clipboard, and quickly filled in the last few boxes on her own. She got off of her chair, tapping the schedule with her wand and making copies of it, handing them around until every prefect there had one. James finally gave in and yawned as he scanned the faces of the people in the room, looking for anyone he recognized. Just three (because Snivellus didn't count). Remus, Jeremy (who he mentally kicked a couple of times), and an ex-girlfriend of his, Gemma…Something-or-other.
Gemma looked over at him and smiled, twirling a strand of pale yellow hair around her finger. James noted, with a roll of his eyes, that she looked pretty much exactly the same as she had two years ago. She was even wearing the same pink hairclips, the ones Peter saw and laughed because he said his six-year-old cousin wore the same ones. She giggled at him, and he raised his eyebrows and gave her a dry smile.
He sighed heavily. He would've been perfectly happy to never speak to Gemma again, but judging by the way he was looking at him, that wasn't going to happen.
Someone jostled James' chair and he realized everyone around him was getting up and walking out the door.
He turned to Lily. "We're finished?"
But Lily wasn't there. His eyes flickered to the door, where he could see Lily walking down the corridor, hand-in-hand with…Jeremy.
"Prongs, what are you doing? You'll need that." Remus grabbed James' hands, which he hadn't noticed were furiously tearing the patrol schedule Lily had given him into little pieces.
"Oh. Er, thanks, Moony," James said, tapping the shredded chart with his wand to put the ripped bits together.
"No problem." He pointed to his own schedule. "I've got patrol now, actually. See you later, okay?" he said, when the corridor they were in split into two. James followed the one that led back to Gryffindor Tower, and Remus took the other.
James nodded and set off by himself, muttering darkly about…certain people. When he was about halfway there, he heard the sound of shoes clacking on the stone floor and turned around. "Hello?" he asked the darkness. Something pink winked back at him.
"Hi, Jamie!" Gemma stepped out of the shadows, her barrettes catching the light from the torch above his head. James cringed.
"Oh, er…hi," James smiled feebly. "What're you doing here?"
"I was wondering if I could walk back with you."
James was confused. "Isn't the Hufflepuff common room that way?" He pointed down a flight of stairs they had just passed.
"I know a shortcut," she said evasively, waving her hand. "By the way, congratulations on getting Head Boy!"
"Er…thank you?" James said, raising one eyebrow. He wondered if it was rude to tell someone to go away if he said 'please' first.
"You got really tall," she said.
James was a little surprised by this random comment, and he looked down a good foot so his eyes met Gemma's. "You haven't," he replied dully, as he looked intently at the patrol schedule, where one of the boxes was glowing red, which meant somebody wasn't on duty. He looked at the box. Jeremy Howes. of course.
His comment struck Gemma as extremely funny, for some reason, and her high-pitched giggle startled half the portraits in the hallway. "Jamie, you're so funny!"
James rolled his eyes, wondering what the fastest possible way to get away from Gemma's annoying comments and Flitwick-like voice was. "So, Gemma…it's close to curfew. You should probably go back to your common room now." He pointed back the way they came. "That way."
She giggled again. "No, no, Jamie. I'm a prefect now; I can't get in trouble for staying out late." She rolled her eyes, as if this should be obvious. James went to correct her, but she kept talking: "Besides, I'd so much rather stay with you for longer." She batted her eyelashes. Oh, please go away, please. He repeated the words over and over in his head.
Behind them, someone made a noise like an angry cat. "Excuse me," someone pushed past them in an angry huff.
"Hi, Lily!" Gemma waved to the redhead as if they were close friends.
Lily didn't answer, just kept walking, pulling Jeremy's arm so he had to stumble to catch up with her. "Lil! Slow down!" echoed through the hall in their wake.
James decided to stop trying to get Gemma off his back, because that didn't really seem to be working, and instead he began to just ignore her completely. It had struck him as a little odd that she suddenly wanted to talk to him, but then he realized this was basically the first time he'd seen her since they'd broken up. He still wanted her to leave just as much (i.e., pretty damn much), but at least now it made sense…kind of.
James had hoped Gemma would leave as soon as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, but no such luck. She just turned to face him and kept talking. James noted the sincere, slightly nervous expression on her face but still couldn't bring himself to listen to her, especially not when a much more important conversation was going on right behind them.
"I have to go back to my dormitory now…see you soon, Lil."
A second voice responded brusquely, "Okay…bye now."
James tilted his head slightly, just enough to see Lily kiss Jeremy goodbye without making it too obvious that he was staring. He kept looking at Lily in the same discreet way long after Jeremy had left, the expression on her face becoming noticeably more unsettled. She probably should have reached the common room by now, until he realized it was Gemma's constant stream of words that were keeping her rooted to the spot, and they were also probably the reason for the expression on her face. It was kind of strange, since the last time he'd seen that expression was on Adriyana's face yesterday at breakfast, but it couldn't possibly mean the same thing…
Adriyana was sitting across from James at the Gryffindor table, eating toast and reading Witch Weekly. Her eyes kept glancing up at the door to the Great Hall. "Where's Sirius?" she asked him.
James shrugged. "Sleeping?"
Peter pointed towards the door. "There he is."
James turned and saw Sirius walking towards them, before he was stopped halfway by a tall, dark-haired Hufflepuff girl.
The expression on Adriyana's face changed from a curious one to a snarling, envious one as the girl ran a finger down Sirius arm.
"Agie?" James called, waving his hand in front of her face. "Are you all right?"
But that meant Lily was…
Jealous?
That didn't really make sense, though. Why would Lily be jealous of him…or Gemma?
Maybe he should listen to what she was saying. He looked down at her, but she wasn't talking to her, just smiling up at him expectantly, giggling and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
"Er…could you repeat that?" He asked.
A blush spread across Gemma's face. "I wanted to know if you'd go to go on a date with me…to Hogsmeade?"
If James could pick one thing in the world he wanted to do least at that moment, it would be to spend more time with Gemma, followed closely by being locked in a cage with a live Acromantula. He looked up at Lily, who was still standing the same spot with that same expression on her face. James remembered the way Adriyana had acted when Sirius had finally shook off the dark-haired girl and made it over to them, not angry but wanting to prove to every other girl in the hall that Sirius was spoken for. Maybe Lily was thinking along those lines? The thought alone made James grin, and Gemma must've thought it was directed at her, because she smiled back.
"So, you'll go, then?" she asked hopefully.
"I'd be happy to," he said, forcing the smile to stay on his face.
Somehow (probably through Lily), Remus had found out about the date, and had told Sirius and Peter by the next afternoon. The only thing they didn't know, however, was that James wasn't exactly happy about it. They had all detested Gemma just as much as James had, and the fact that he actually wanted to give her another shot made them positively livid.
It was Sirius who took it the worst, though. After all, he had loathed Gemma even when James still liked her. To him, she was nothing more than a air-headed, best-friend's-time-user-upping idiot. In fact, he was one of the biggest reasons for their break-up in the first place.
By the end of that day, Sirius had yet to even see James. Convinced he was avoiding confrontation, he was taking his ager out on the rocks by the lake, accompanied by a very fed up Adriyana.
"I just can't understand it!" Sirius skipped a rock across the Lake. "Last I checked, she was about as unbearable to him as she was to me…it makes no sense!"
He turned his head to look at Adriyana, who was slouched against a gigantic rock, doodling on her shoes, which she'd pulled off. She looked up. "Have you talked to James about it?"
Sirius tossed another rock, which skipped three times before sinking under the water. "No. I haven't seen him at all! I don't think he wants to talk to me, he knows I'm going to be angry." He tossed one last rock and lay down next to Adriyana, propping his head up on the rock.
"Well I think that, as much as she bothers you, you should be more concerned with whether or not James is happy. You did want him to stop pining over Lily…maybe this is his way of finally getting over her." Adriyana looked somehow disconcerted with what she'd just said. "Hmm," she murmured thoughtfully.
"Agie, you don't understand. This girl is, hands down, the stupidest person I've ever met. It's seriously painful to be in the same room as her because her presence alone makes you dumber. I thought he'd gotten rid of her for good but now…" he rolled his eyes.
Adriyana laughed. "I'm sure she's not THAT bad, Sirius."
"You haven't met her…I can assure you, she is far worse than 'that bad'."
She put her hand on his knee. "If she really is like that, James has to have some other explanation. He wouldn't go for someone just because it's easy. The years he's spent chasing after Lily are enough evidence for that."
"Yeah maybe." He looked at Adriyana. "But she is just the worst, Agie. When she was going out with Prongs, she was always trying to set me and Moony and Wormtail up with her friends, and she thought that just because she was Prongs' girlfriend we all really liked her, and she'd walk up to me in the halls and talk to me! Almost like she thought I actually wanted to talk to her. It was so…ugh!" He ripped two fistfuls of grass out of the ground.
"Calm down, Sirius." Adriyana rolled over twice so her head was resting on Sirius' chest and traced small circles over his shirt with her fingers.
"This is fun…" he mused.
She hit him playfully, rolling her eyes. "Is it helping?" He nodded. "Good. Anyway, you don't need to worry about James; he can take care of himself."
Sirius couldn't help but relax into the touch and start believing Adriyana's words. He closed his eyes and smiled. "Agie, you're—"
"Er, is this a bad time?" A squeaky voice asked. Sirius knew that voice, and he squeezed his eyelids shut tighter.
"Yes it bloody is," He said, loudly.
Finally, he opened his eyes and saw Gemma reaching out to shake hands with Adriyana, who still had her head against his chest. "Hi, I'm Gemma!" She said brightly.
"Kill me!" Sirius whispered in the same shrill voice.
"Did you want something?" Adriyana asked wearily, closing her eyes.
"I kind of…I think James is avoiding me," she said.
"Yes. He is. Can you go now?" Sirius grumbled.
"Oh, Sirius! You're funny!" Gemma laughed.
"Why are you asking our advice?" Adriyana sounded very tired, and her eyes were still closed. Sirius put his hands on her back and slowly rubbed his palms up and down; hoping Gemma would get the message. ('the message' being: leave us the hell alone.)
"Well…you're both friends with my boyfriend. That makes us friends, right?"
"James isn't your boyfriend." Adriyana opened one eye. "He agreed to go on one date with you…it's not like he has to spend all his time with you, now. Besides, I've never met you before."
"I think he was looking for you, though," Sirius said. Adriyana looked up at him. "In the tower."
Gemma brightened. "Which tower?" she asked eagerly.
"Which one is farthest away from here?"
"North Tower," Adriyana whispered, smiling against his shirt.
"North Tower!" he said cheerfully. Gemma ran off.
"See? Normal people don't DO that!" Sirius whispered fiercely, once she was out of earshot.
"That was pretty damn annoying," Adriyana agreed, nodding slowly.
"Told you."
"So go bother James about it."
"I will." He went to move, but instantly felt cold when Adriyana's hands stilled. "Later," he decided, and yawned widely, closing his eyes and forgetting all about Gemma for the moment.
Everything Sirius had let leave his mind when he was by the lake with Adriyana came rushing back as soon as he entered the dormitory and Peter ran up to him, complaining about how Gemma had accosted him in the hallway saying something about North Tower. Sirius had smirked, but then remembered that that 'pile of stupid' (as Peter had so fondly dubbed her) was going on a date with his best friend, and his expression darkened.
Sirius and Peter were talking about doing something to Gemma while James was at his prefect meeting, where he wouldn't notice, but then they remembered she was there too. It was really a shame, because Peter had hatched a rather brilliant idea involving a Severing Charm and Gemma's pillow. ("It'll cut her hair off while she's asleep, Padfoot!")
Instead, Sirius and Peter had taken to glowering at the dormitory door, waiting for James to walk back through it.
After about fifteen minutes of staring at it, the doorknob turned and someone pushed the door open. Tired of waiting so long for something to happen, Peter yelled incoherently at the figure in the doorway.
Remus jumped about a foot in the air. "AAH! WHA--what is it!?"
Peter shrugged. "Never mind. Sorry, Moony."
"Never mind? If you decide to scream in my ear as I walk through the door, I'd rather like to know why!"
"Well, it's a long story, actually," Sirius began.
"What is?" James asked, walking in through the doorway.
Sirius held up one finger. "It'll have to wait. Prongs, I need to talk to you." He pushed James into the wardrobe, closing the door behind both of them.
"Why are we in here? Something's poking me in the—"
Sirius cut him off. "Gemma Roberts?" he asked.
"Padfoot, I—"
"I thought you couldn't stand her!"
"But it's not—"
"Don't you remember that huge party we threw for you when you finally got rid of her? That was because we were happy about it!"
"The date is a setup," James deadpanned.
"Oh," Sirius said calmly. "Wanna go on a kitchen raid?"
James laughed. "She makes Lily jealous," he explained. "I think."
Sirius looked incredulous for a moment (though it really wasn't noticeable in the dark). "All right, Prongs! Didn't I tell you she'd come around eventually?"
"No. You told me to give it up, because no girl's worth that."
Sirius shrugged the comment off. "Details. So, how about that kitchen raid?"
"Sure."
Sirius pushed against the door to the wardrobe door, but it didn't budge. "What the—Moony, Wormtail! Knock it off!"
"Sorry, we can't hear you!" Peter yelled.
"What is it?" James asked.
"They've Charmed the door closed." Sirius pushed against it for emphasis. "Too bad we don't have a wand…it's been a while since I've needed to use the Reductor Curse for anything useful."
"Padfoot! Blowing anything up is useful for its entertainment value alone. Hmm. Maybe if we both ran into the door at the same time?" James asked. Sirius nodded and they backed up against the opposite side of the wardrobe. "Ready?" Sirius nodded again. "Okay. One...two…three!" They both threw themselves forward and hit the other wall.
THUNK.
"Prongs?"
"Yeah, Padfoot?"
"We knocked the wardrobe over, didn't we?"
"I think so."
"Well. This makes things exponentially worse," Sirius remarked casually. He pushed a set of Peter's dress robes out of his face.
"You both almost killed me!" Peter yelled.
"Good!" Sirius retorted. "Just…get us out of here!"
"We…er…can't," said Remus, tentatively. "Unless you can think of a way to get to the door."
Eventually, after a lot of failed Charms and pushing, they righted the wardrobe again and Sirius and James managed to get out.
Sirius blinked in the light when he stepped out, then turned to James and winced. "Prongs…please tell me that is not your wand in your pocket."
A/N: Okay, so this last scene is kind of excessively long, but I couldn't find a good place to end it. I still think it's pretty funny, though. I hope you did, too.
I have the next few chapters planned out, but I don't know when I'll finally get around to writing them. Definitely no slower than I've been going, but not faster (like I said I might do). Sorry about that. I'm at the beach now, and it's really easy to get sidetracked. There's so much to do.
Can you believe it's been a whole year since I started writing?
…That's it for now, I guess. See you all next chapter!