[Edited June 14, 2015]
Two Days Later: August 30th, 1976
"Oi! Sirius! Over here!"
Sirius turned to find his friends, three handsome boys his age, waving him over. With a last glare at his younger brother, Regulus (the little git), Sirius ran off to greet them.
"Nice to see you lot too." The most handsome of the four friends grinned, receiving a couple of slaps to the back.
"Had a good summer, Remus? Peter? I know about James. Doesn't know how to shut up, that one," Sirius joked, as usual. He was referring to the letters they'd been writing all but constantly over the summer. It was maybe an hour or two between each response, with the comparatively short distance between the Black and Potter residencies. Sirius might have gone mad in that house-not his home, just a bloody house that happened to contain his things- without someone decent to talk with about normal wizard things.
To be fair, 'normal' included everything not pureblood related, as he got enough of that every waking moment spent with the rest of his family. James knew this better than any of the others. He, too, came from a family of purebloods, but entirely by chance. He'd never really dealt with fanatics in his own family, it was the least he could do as a marauder to relieve Sirius.
A kind faced boy with sandy hair smiled in amusement at his two darker-haired friends. Remus knew the pair would always be the closest within their group, but they needed him just as well. He kept the others grounded, being the sensible one. At least, that was how they'd described it to Professor McGonagall, effectively releasing both James and Sirius from yet another potential detention.
"Somehow," Remus interjected, "I don't believe that he was the one who kept talking."
"Unless it was about Evans!" The most muscled albeit shortest, Peter, jumped in. "Still madly in love, James?"
Finally, James, the tallest and youngest of the group, fixed his glasses and whined back. "Why are you ganging up on me? It's hardly my fault she's the most gorgeous bird at Hogwarts! And the smartest, and th-"
The other three cut him off with groans and shouts of his disgusting sappiness.
"You asked!" James defended, shoving Peter.
"Right, well, you go on messing about. I want to go see what's new in Zonko's! Need to stock up before we make our… our move on…"
Sirius' voice tapered off, his eyes seemingly glued to a mystery object across the way. Whatever had caught his attention attracted his friends' shortly thereafter. There were only so many things that could stop Sirius talking, after all, and they couldn't go without knowing.
Not much farther up Diagon Alley, a girl sporting a caramel blonde head of hair bounded up the street. A pair of platformed wedge shoes and a little blue jean skirt did little to stop her from racing toward Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, accompanied by at least 10 shopping bags.
"Now that's new," Sirius finally remarked, a glint in his eyes. Three things were known to capture his interest: food, wreaking havoc, and pretty girls. Much of the same applied to Peter and James, while Remus focused more on books than the teenage female population.
"Here, here," Peter agreed almost breathlessly, eyeing her up and down.
All at the highly excitable age of 16, each boy stole a long look as she accepted her cone—it appeared to be some sort of vanilla—before being shaken out of their stupor.
"Er—Right! We… uh... Books! School books before Zonko's!" Even Remus, the eternal voice of reason, stumbled through his point.
His three companions all agreed, a first for the quartet. Had they not been so distracted, James and Sirius would have put on their most convincing smiles. Peter would have followed with a happy vote in their favor, leading them into Zonko's for an hour before ever making it to school shopping. It was their pattern, their yearly tradition, broken by a mystery girl in a short skirt.
And so they made their way to Flourish and Blott's. On the way, each of the boys managed a last glance at the girl, who had passed some of her bags to another woman with the same shining shade of hair, and hoped they would meet again; perhaps they'd be more closely acquainted in the next round of their personal favorite game:
Meet That Girl.