A/N: Thank you all so, so, so much for the encouraging reviews! It all really cheered me up! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my amazing readers!
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Hogsmeade
"Thanks for, you know, inviting me to Hogsmeade," giggled Leona as she sat at a table in Madam Puddifoot's teashop. Sirius sat directly across from her, marveling at the horrendous job Madam Puddifoot did to hide the damage of her shop made months ago by him and the Marauders. Doilies were everywhere, plastered over the walls like ripped up wallpaper and frilly hearts cluttered around. Just five minutes ago, Sirius had found red and pink confetti in his hair from a trumpet-blowing Cupid portrait on the wall. Most irritating, indeed.
"Oh, it's no big deal," said Sirius carelessly, glancing at his teacup. "It's not even Valentine's Day. It's only the twelfth."
Two tables to the left of him, four people simultaneously smacked their foreheads in exasperation.
"Brilliant move, Padfoot," muttered Remus. "She's definitely feeling special now."
"Honestly, look at her face for once!" said Peter, groaning.
"How on earth does he charm the ladies with this kind of attitude?" asked Malia, shaking her head.
"It must be his hair," Natalia said decidedly. "Just let me shave it off and see his luck then..."
"We can't be seen!" Remus protested, snatching her wand from out of her hands. "Low profile, remember?"
"I never knew you were so sneaky, Remus," grinned Natalia. "Have you decided to take on this role since Potter and Lily are out doing some Valentine's fun of their own?"
Remus rolled his eyes as a trumpet sounded. Peter grimaced at his confetti-filled tea.
"Anyway..." Leona leaned forward, batting her eyelashes. "Why don't we take a walk around Hogsmeade now?" She smiled slightly, a few strands of dark hair falling into her face.
"Look at the signs! This is classic from Teen Witches!" whispered Malia. "The batting eyes, making eye contact..." She gasped when Leona let out a small laugh and began prodding Sirius lightly with her foot. "The classic footsie maneuver! She is so flirting with him, right there." Malia crossed her arms triumphantly.
Natalia stared at her.
"Sometimes I think that hanging around with Shara has got you barmy to the brain," she said frankly, causing Malia to blush and shrug.
"Actually, I read those on my own," she admitted. "It's... interesting."
Natalia laughed. "That's alright, Beauregard," she grinned, "I've got nothing against the secrets of seducing men, except for the fact that I don't know any," she added, looking thoughtful.
"Merlin! He's kicking back!" said Peter, pointing. The four of them stared as Sirius raised his eyebrows teasingly and gently kicked back, sprouting a giggle from Leona.
"Pictures, Malia," said Natalia, grinning mischievously, "We've got to get good dirt on him."
"Why?" Malia asked as she took out the small, magical camera necklace Remus had given her. She held it in her hands as the camera pendant quickly grew to the size of a normal camera.
Natalia groaned with disbelief.
"Don't you remember why we're spying in the first place? It was his damn idea that he took our panties and flagged them to the entire school! And what are you looking at?" Natalia snapped when she attracted the attention of a nearby couple. "Haven't you seen four people blackmailing a snogging couple?"
"It's fascinating how you can announce that and not feel the least embarrassed," Remus remarked as Malia began snapping images. The couple had quickly shrunk away from her glare and returned to their tea, scowling.
"Embarrassed about what?" asked Natalia, snorting. "As if I care what other people think."
"Lucky you," Malia muttered, wincing as she thought of her light pink underwear falling from the ceiling of the Great Hall two days ago.
"How many pictures have you taken?" Natalia asked when Malia sealed away her camera.
"Enough to give me nightmares."
Natalia seemed pleased at this response, and rose from her seat. "Come on, Malia, let's walk around Hogsmeade," she said. "I don't want to waste this trip spying on a couple of prats." She grabbed Malia's arm and snuck out of the teashop to avoid being seen.
Peter and Remus had identical annoyed looks as the girls disappeared. "Oh well," Remus shrugged, returning to his tea. "I guess it's just you and me, Peter."
Almost immediately, the couple that Natalia had snapped at earlier snickered. They stared at both Remus and Peter with amused looks on their faces.
"What?" said Remus, dubious of their expressions.
"You two must be very happy together," said the girl plainly. "It's so nice to find such romance during Valentine's Day."
"What?" Peter and Remus both shouted at the top of their lungs, staring at each other with horrified faces, "We're not - we're not -"
"Oi, Moony, Wormtail!" Sirius said, looking at them surprised, "What're you lot doing here on Valentine's? I never knew you went out together!" He seemed unaware of the embarrassing wording of his last sentence.
"Oh, brilliant, Padfoot," Remus muttered as the couple tittered louder. "Remind me to shove a toad down your throat when we get back."
"So... Sirius," said Leona as she walked beside Sirius, "We've been going out for weeks now, haven't we?"
"I guess," Sirius shrugged, scratching his head. "But they're more like casual outings... we're not really going out, as in going steady." He grinned at Leona, who looked like she had been hit on the head with a club.
"Oh," she said, "really." Her voice was cold and distant.
"Are you all right?" asked Sirius, looking at her, concerned.
"Oi, Sirius!" Sirius turned around to the noise.
"I'm - I'm fine," Leona replied rigidly as Sirius ran over to the bouncy dark-haired girl who was waving at them. Leona narrowed her eyes and scowled before slowly walking over.
"Having a nice Valentine's?" grinned Natalia as Malia laughed, adjusting her hood as wet snow landed on her hair.
"What do you want, Lynx?" demanded Sirius, also grinning in good humor. Natalia smiled mischievously as she fanned what seemed to be developed photographs into his face.
"We're going to get you back for our panties ordeal," she said triumphantly. "We've got evidence of your filthy drunk monkeyness right here in our hands! Admit defeat, Black, and maybe we won't post them around the school!" Sirius caught a glance of them, and recognized that they were taken earlier that day at Madam Puddifoot's.
He gave Natalia a pitiful look.
"Honestly, Lynx, is that all you've got? As if I care," he snorted, folding his arms. "I think you're slipping. Perhaps it's time to retire while you can still get a pension."
Natalia looked indignant as she turned to Malia, who looked equally frustrated.
"He doesn't care?" Malia cried. "These are brilliant, rumor-mill sprouting pictures! This is sick stuff!" Coming from a girl who had known Shara Robertson since they were in diapers, Sirius' indifference to the pictures was quite a setback.
"He's obviously tricking us," said Natalia, side-glancing Sirius. "Reverse-psychology, I know it well. Countless times have I been fooled by this technique, and I do not intend to fall for it this time."
Sirius could only grin and shake his head as the girls plotted openly in front of his face. To be honest, there was no reverse psychology involved because he really couldn't care less. He glanced at the pictures that Natalia had given him and frowned at her pathetic attempt at revenge.
Maybe she's the only who's doing the tricking, he thought, before rolling his eyes and snorting at the idea.
"What are those?" Leona suddenly poked her head over his shoulder. Sirius could feel her leaning her head in as she tried to make sense of the photographs. A gasp from his left shoulder told Sirius what she had seen. He turned around, only to see Leona with tears in her eyes.
"How - how could you?" she said quietly, staring at the pair of girls. They weren't listening.
"- Maybe we could pants him in the Great Hall and have leeches poured over him..."
"We don't want to kill him, Nat!"
"What? It's not as though leeches suck blood or anything..."
"How could you!" Leona screamed, snapping the girls back to the situation in front of them. Natalia and Malia looked at each other, looking slightly ashamed. Leona glared at them through her tears, before sprinting away. Sirius watched her run.
"... Well..." said Malia. Natalia nodded in agreement, as if Malia had worded it perfectly.
Sirius suddenly turned around to face them. His face was dark and black with anger. "See what you've done?" he barked at them. "You've made her cry! Are you happy now? God, I didn't think you two could sink so low!"
Natalia seemed stunned for a moment, as if she were trying to figure out Sirius' sudden mood swing.
"Low? Low? We wouldn't have taken these pictures if you weren't snogging the knickers off her!" Natalia retorted when she had regained her wits.
"It's Valentine's Day, for Merlin's sake! I can do whatever I damn well please! Now do something useful for a change, and get out of here! Leona!" Sirius ran after the fleeing girl.
Malia stood there, shocked, looking as though on the verge to cry. "Did we - did we do something wrong?" she asked in a small voice. The hate-filled look on Sirius' face reminded her of Shara when she had stood up to her.
"No, no we didn't, Malia," said Natalia assuredly. "Sirius is just a git. He'll be over it by dinnertime."
"Will you?"
"Of course I will," grinned Natalia cheerfully. "I'm not one to hold grudges, especially for something as daft as this. Come on, let's go to Honeydukes!"
Malia nodded slowly, not completely convinced.
"Don't bottle things up, okay, Nat?" said Malia as they walked. "It's not healthy."
Natalia smiled distantly. "Don't worry, Malia, I won't."
"So how was your date with Louise?" said Lily playfully as she grinned at Sirius.
"It was fine," said Sirius nonchalantly. "I found Remus and Peter having a date, which was mildly disturbing," he added with a chuckle.
"For the last bloody time, we weren't going out!" protested Remus. "We were just two friends enjoying a cup of tea together!"
"In Madam Puddifoot's?" James snorted. "Very convincing."
"Oh please," Natalia cut in, "Remus and Peter were spying with Malia and I to dig up dirt that we could use against Sirius. However, Leona caught sight of the photos we took and ran off sobbing. Then Sirius screamed at us and took off after her."
"Well, you shouldn't have hurt her feelings," Sirius snapped, his good mood gone. "It's all your fault."
"Oh, stop being such a goddamn hypocrite!" Natalia glared, "You weren't so considerate about our feelings when you let me and Malia's panties rain in the Great Hall."
"So... nice weather we're having, eh?" said Malia pleasantly as she lifted her gaze to the ceiling. The sky was clear with no clouds to be seen, despite the wet snowfall they had earlier that day.
Lily frowned.
"What happened today, exactly?" she asked.
Natalia abruptly stood up.
"I'm going to go to the common room," she said brightly.
"To do homework?" asked Lily expectantly.
"Of course not," Natalia grinned, "What kind of silly idea is that? Come on, Sirius, let's go see if we can't hex some Slytherins on our way there."
Sirius gave her a surly look, but James nudged him, and he reluctantly got up. "Fine," he said, shrugging as he rolled his eyes.
"Nat! N.E. exams are coming up in only a matter of months!" Lily scolded. "If you don't do your homework now - Where do you think you're going? Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you -" Lily got up from her seat and followed Natalia and Sirius.
James shook his head. "Women..."
"Did she lecture you during Hogsmeade as well?" Remus laughed.
"No," James grinned. "But I tell you, I had a romantic setting for our Hogsmeade date. I surprised her with a trip to the Shrieking Shack, where we had a romantic picnic and -"
"The Shrieking Shack?" gasped Malia. "You took your girlfriend to a haunted house? James, no offense or anything, but you don't know the first thing about being romantic," she laughed. She stopped laughing when she saw that James, Remus and Peter had amused looks on their faces.
"What?" she asked.
James shrugged.
"Nothing," he replied, deciding not to tell her that the only reason why the Shrieking Shack was haunted was because Remus was there every month in his werewolf form, shrieking at the top of his lungs.
"And then, if you don't get enough N.E.W.T.s, you won't get a good job and - Nat, are you paying attention to me?" Lily asked, looking irritated. While she had been talking, Natalia's attention had turned from her to something behind her. Natalia sniffed the air, while Lily looked at her, annoyed. Sirius raised his eyebrow at the girl.
"Nat, what are you doing?" he asked, snorting slightly, despite him vowing to stay mad at the girl until she apologized.
"Does anyone smell..." Natalia said quietly, eagerly smelling the air. "Pumpkin pies... and strawberries?"
Everyone looked at her dumbly.
"No," said Lily, giving Natalia a strange look. "Why would we? We're on the third floor. We're nowhere near the kitchens or the Great Hall."
"But," Natalia protested. "I swear I smell something like pumpkin pies..."
"Nat, if this is some sort of cheap trick to change the conversation or something..." Lily began, somewhat irritated at the fact that Natalia always managed to avoid her lecturing, "it's not going to work! Oh, hello Leona," she said pleasantly when a dark-haired girl walked by. She nodded in acknowledgement before giving Sirius a light kiss on the cheek.
"Hello, Sirius," she said cheerfully. Sirius grinned at her. Natalia frowned.
'I swear!" Natalia said, desperately. "I smell pumpkin pies and strawberries! Pumpkin pies and strawberries! Doesn't anyone else smell it?" Leona gave her a scornful look, obviously having not forgotten that afternoon's events.
"I'll... see you around," she said, shooting Natalia hard look. But before she walked away, she walked up and whispered something into Sirius' ear. He smiled and nodded, and Leona winked and walked off. Sirius turned back around and focused his attention onto Natalia again.
"I don't smell any pumpkins," he said, "You're a complete idiot." His comment wasn't even sarcastic, bumping into Leona had caused his irritation with Natalia to skyrocket again. He himself had smelled the scent of hazelnut and vanilla, but he wasn't about to admit that.
"But -' Natalia was starting to get hysterical. "I do! I smell them - or rather, did," she added, sniffing the air again. Lily put her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly riled up.
"Nat, stop it! If you didn't get the grades you should have been getting, I wouldn't give you this lecture!" she said, her emerald eyes flashing. "Just because you're faking about this pumpkin pie business -"
"I'm not faking!" cried Natalia. "I did smell it!"
"What's the big deal, anyway?" snorted Sirius, "it's just a smell." He realized at once how hypocritical his words were, but ignored himself.
"Can we get to the common room now, please?" he continued. "Before Lynx has another hallucination and has to get her nose checked."
Natalia gave him a stunned look. Sirius saw that it was the exact same look she had given him at Hogsmeade, when he had first unexpectedly snapped at her. He felt his stomach churn uncomfortably, and dismissed the feeling as being hungry, seeing as Natalia dragged him off before dinner ended.
She's selfish, that's what, he thought angrily. She's nothing like Leona at all.
Lily caught him glaring angrily at Natalia's backside, and she frowned to herself. She had a bad feeling about all this.