A/N: Oh, I forgot to thank What's A Kammel-Monkey for her help and ideas on this and the last chapter, so, thanks kid! :)
Also, to all of you who helped me decide what I wanted to do, hey, you're voices were heard, and I'm pleased with your choices! Enjoy!
Chapter Ten
~Sirius~
AH, HOGSMEADE…IT WAS GOOD to be back. Prongs, Moony, Wormtail, and I couldn't wait to hit Zonko's Joke Shop to stock up on prank supplies, but I'd promised What's-Her-Name that I'd take her to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Sadly, if I wanted to keep her for the night, I couldn't back out; it didn't help matters that she was already pissed that my fellow Marauders were tagging along…
"I'm going to do it!" Prongs was saying, head held high. "And today's going to be the day she says yes!" Moony and I groaned while Wormtail's eyes widened. Here we go with the "Lily-flower-pep-talk".
"She is? How do you know?" Wormtail squeaked, fascinated.
"Wormtail…do you not recall Prongs saying this every single day for the past five years?" Moony asked dryly.
"But I really mean it this time, guys!" Prongs protested, glaring at us when we snickered.
"How many times has he said that?" I asked, pretending to think hard.
"One trillion, three hundred fifty million, seven hundred ninety-eight thousand, six hundred thirty-two times," Moony said airily.
"Shut-up," Prongs snapped. "You'll understand when you fall for a girl." Moony snorted while I said,
"Eh, been there, done that. Trust me; it's nothing special."
"I mean when you're serious, Sirius."
"Aren't I always?"
"That's corny, man."
"And that's my middle name."
"Bullshit! You— Merlin, who the hell is that?" Prongs said, eyes widening. The rest of us followed his eyes, and saw…
"Whoa," I said, my jaw dropping. "Holy hell weasel! Pinch me, I think I've died and gone to heaven." Moony, without taking his eyes away, reached over and pinched me. "Ow, you bastard! I was kidding."
"Oops. I couldn't tell," he said in a distracted voice, and really, I couldn't blame him, because there, not more than five feet in front of us, was the strangest creature I'd ever seen, standing in front of Honeydukes.
It was a girl, but she'd looked unlike any I'd ever seen in my life. She had on boots, jean shorts that showed dark, curvy legs, a low cut-shirt that revealed cleavage and her tanned, flat stomach fit with a belly-button ring. She had wavy, long dark hair that was held away from her face by this weird blue-colored fabric-type thing, and her stormy blue eyes were set off by black lines painted under them. A teal duffle bag that was written all over it with the word Nike on the side was slung over her shoulder, and, when she turned around, there beheld another surprise.
"Is that…a house-elf?" I asked incredulously, and I dimly noticed Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail nodding. The little thing was dressed like the girl, only it was scarier looking at it because it could almost pass for a little kid. And it was talking to the girl, freely, and she was laughing, like she was actually enjoying the conversation with it.
Adding up the clues, I knew this girl wasn't from around here.
"Who is she?" Wormtail managed to get out, mouth hanging open.
"I don't know," Moony said. "I've never seen her before."
"Are you sure?"
"Wormtail, I think we'd remember if we'd ever seen her before," I said, rolling my eyes at him, trying to get my mouth to shut before I looked like a fish out of water.
"No! I'm done looking at her," Prongs said in a pained voice. "I…I can't. You three look for me." And with that, he turned around slowly, dragging his eyes with him grudgingly.
"Suit yourself, mate; you're missing out." I shrugged.
"Don't rub it in, you prat," he growled.
I clapped my hands together before saying, "Okay! Who calls dibs?"
"Dibs?" Wormtail asked.
"C'mon Padfoot," Moony said. "That's not right."
"Why not?" I demanded. "We saw her first, therefore we get dibs!" I just couldn't understand why he didn't see the logics in that. He was the smart one, after all. "So, I'm going to ask again, who wants to take their shot before I show you how it's done?"
Prongs snorted while Moony raised an eyebrow at me. "What about Alex?"
"Oh, is that her name?" I asked. "Eh, it doesn't matter. I was going to be done with her after tonight anyways."
"Too much information, man," Prongs groaned.
"So…that's it? You're done with her? You've only been together for a day!" Moony said.
"Your point is? Guys! How many girls have you seen that look like that? I'm not going to miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity for a girl with a boy's name."
"Go for it," Prongs said, turning around so he could watch. They all looked at me expectantly, to which I saluted them and straightened to my full height, ready to turn on the charm. But when I looked over to where she was standing, the girl was gone.
"Ha! Guess you don't get dibs after all!" Prongs said, cackling like a madman.
"Some other playboy's going to lay hands on her first," Moony agreed, smirking.
"Uh-uh," I said, rolling my shoulder. "That just means the chase has begun. I'm reputed for my tracking skills."
"Oh. Really?" Moony said, raising any eyebrow. "Tell me, my dear Padfoot, do you even know what 'reputed' means?"
"Er…no. But I'll let you know when I care to hear it." I started walking down the street, keeping my eyes peeled for the girl, ignoring all the others who were vying for my attention. Seconds later I heard the other three behind me.
"Where are you going to start?" Wormtail asked eagerly. I chuckled at the poor guy's attempts to learn the best's secrets.
"Mmm…not sure. I'm not familiar with her type. She seems…oh, I don't know, different, obviously. So, with that in mind, what is the one thing that the girls here aren't known for?"
Prongs and Moony grinned. "Does that mean what I think it means?" Prongs asked keenly, jumping up and down like a spaz.
"Yup! We're going' to Zonko's," I agreed, grinning devilishly. Okay, so no, I wasn't necessarily going there to look for the girl, but she could wait, I supposed. I had more important business to take care of, like, say, prank supplies.
"Race you there!" Moony said. "First one there doesn't have to pay for any of the supplies."
"You're on," Prongs and I said while Wormtail moaned and said,
"But I'll lose!"
"You have motivation, Wormy," I said, patting his shoulder. "That should help you out a little bit, right?"
"No," he disagreed, shaking his head sadly.
"Ah well, on your go, then."
Sighing, he said, "On your mark… Get set… GO!" And with that Moony, Prongs, and I took off sprinting, leaving Wormtail to walk in our wake, muttering curses under his breath. Moony, naturally, since he had the longest legs, was in the lead, starting off. Prongs and I looked at each other, then pushed ourselves farther; there was no way our furry friend was going to beat us again. Even if the other didn't, we knew it was our duty to take the crown away from him.
Slowly but surely, I was catching up to him, and in no time I was on his heels, and Prongs right on mine. Faster and faster we ran, and farther and farther we went. I could see Zonko's right ahead, probably ten feet away. I either needed to give it my all now, or accept defeat again.
"Ha! Prepare to lose!" Moony yelled, and, if possible, he picked up the pace. Merlin! How could someone so skinny be so fast? And, as every other time, the monster beat us. For the however-many-times-this-is in a row.
Once I hit the steps, I stopped running and bent over, putting my hands on my knees as I breathed in and out. Prongs collapsed on the steps and glared up at Moony, who was breathing almost normally.
"I hate you," Prongs snarled.
"Don't be a sore loser," Moony said with a big grin.
"I'm not a sore loser," Prongs retorted, "I'm just not used to losing, are we Padfoot?"
"No, and I don't like the feeling," I said, finally getting my breathing under control.
"Eh, you'll get used to it," Moony said dismissively, he walked into the store. I stood up straight and glared after him.
"Are we ever going to win?"
"No," Prongs said as I helped him to his feet. "He's superhuman, remember?"
"We are too!"
"Not really. We're just different."
"Same thing," I said as we followed Moony, knowing Wormtail would be here within five minutes.
The joke-shop was still the same, wonderful, heaven-on-earth, number one aid to the Maruaders that it'd always been. It smelled of mischievousness, looked mysterious, and sounded like home. All in all, it was our favorite place on this planet.
"Wotcher, boys," the shopkeeper said, grinning over at us. What can I say? We were their favorite customers.
"'lo to you, too!" I replied cheerily as we stalked Moony down. We found him near the Ever-Bashing Boomerangs.
"Reckon Filchy won't like these," he muttered, hearing us coming behind him.
"What do they do?" Prongs asked, peeking over his shoulder to look at what looked like a normal boomerang.
"Er…I imagine they're boomerangs that bash things and don't stop, from the name."
"No kidding, smart-ass," Prongs snarled.
"You asked," he said, shrugging. "So, yay or nay?"
"Yay, definitely," I said, thinking of how much trouble we could cause with this thing.
"Alright then, boys. Add this to your shopping list," he said, smirking as he thrust it in Prong's hands.
"Rub salt in the wound, why don't you?"
"On it."
"I was kidding."
"Well, I wasn't. Now shut-up and let's keep looking."
"What about a Fanged Frisbee?" I asked, spotting a black Frisbee packaged in a box. "That could be fun. Get some girls out there and toss it to them and watch them scream when it snarls and shows its teeth to them."
"Sure. Why not? Oooo! What if you purposely got it taken away, and then watch when Filch craps his—" Prongs fell silent when a voice yelled,
"Evelyn? Is that you?"
"Oh no. Here we go…" Moony said at the sound of Evans' voice.
"What's she doing here?" Prongs asked no one in particular.
"No. More importantly, who's Evelyn?" I asked, not recognizing the name.
"One of Lily's friends?" Moony guessed.
"No, she's not," Prongs said dazedly. "I know who all of Lily's friends are, and I haven't seen or heard of one called Evelyn."
"Well let's take a look, shall we?" I asked. We all stood on our tiptoes and peeked over the shelves, where we saw fiery Evans walking towards us with a smile on her face.
"What are you doing here? Dumbledore let you come?" Evans was saying, walking past us. Our eyes followed her to…
"Holy shit," I exclaimed, startled. "Evans knows the foreign-girl? Damn; I did not see that coming!"
"Eh, not necessarily," the foreign-girl, Evelyn, I guess, said in the strangest voice I'd ever heard. "We sorta snuck out."
"Where the hell is she from?" I asked Moony and Prongs, but they both shrugged, just as lost as I was.
"Well you certainly aren't blending," Evans said, laughing as she looked at Evelyn. "I hate to break it to you, but we don't dress like that over here."
"Yeah, well that's sorta the point. Ya see, Wattie an' I got bored so we, okay, I, wanted ta see what it's like 'round he-uh, but I didn't wanna look normal, ya know?"
"Well, you've certainly got abnormal covered," Evans giggled. She then looked down at the house-elf. "How are you today, Wattie?"
"Wattie is having fun," the elf hiccupped. Evelyn laughed at this.
"Ya wanna know what I found out?" Evans nodded, so she smiled and whispered, "They don't take too well ta lots'a sugar. It's like us drinkin' beer."
Evans' eyebrows shot up. "Really?"
"I ain't kiddin'! He's carryin' 'round bottles of lemonade in my bag he-uh," she said, lifting the duffle bag up. "It's crazy!"
Evan laughed again, then said, "So, now that you're here anyways, you want me to show you around?"
"That's it!" Prongs said. "I can't take it anymore. I have to talk to her!"
"I'm coming with you," I said. "I want to get a closer look at foreign-girl."
"Her name is Evelyn," Moony said.
"So? She's foreign." Moony rolled his eyes at me, but we followed Prongs around the shelves, ending up in front of Evans and the foreign-girl and her house-elf.
"Lily-flower!" Prongs said in a loving voice, holding his arms out. "I haven't seen you in ages."
Evans cursed while the other girl looked confused. "You haven't seen me because I've been hiding, Potter. Obviously I haven't hidden well enough."
"I'll always find you, my dear," Prongs said, smiling sweetly at her. Moony shook his head, probably thinking that sounded creepy. I know I thought that sounded creepy.
"You're in our domain, Evans," I said, trying to give Prongs time to come up with something else to say. Here I was, saving his butt again.
"It's a store, Black. One you don't happen to own," Evans snapped, huffing. I felt eyes on me, and when I looked over, the foreign-girl was looking at me. When my eyes met her stormy blue ones, a jolt went through me, and I almost thought I'd recognized the look in her eyes. It was like the look the mystery girl from the first day of school, the one who'd stood up to Bellatrix, had given me. But she wasn't her; the mystery girl wasn't foreign, and she looked different than this one.
Try as hard as I might, I couldn't look away from her eyes; I was captivated. I couldn't even look at her body, which was something I really wanted to do, now that I was closer. It was like she had entranced me, but only with her eyes and the look she was giving me. Never before had this happened to me, and I wasn't sure if I hated it or if I loved it, as it sent an unfamiliar feeling through me.
She looked away, glancing at Evans than at Prongs, who were both still arguing. Well, Evans was arguing with Prongs while Prongs was just trying to win her over, so could that still be considered an argument if only one was arguing? Ah, who cares.
Moony coughed, then said to Evans, "Hello Lily. Are you going to introduce us to your friend?"
Evans stopped mid-sentence, then smiled over at Remus. "It's always good to see you, Remus. But…" she trailed off, looking at the girl.
The girl seemed to hesitate, then, completely surprising me, looked down at the house-elf, like she was asking permission. The house-elf shrugged, taking a sip from a bottle he held. Something was tugging at the edge of my memory, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It had to do with a strange incident with a house-elf…
The girl smiled timidly and held out her hand towards Moony, looking up at him through her long, dark eyelashes. "Howdy. The name's Evelyn."
Moony, I could tell, was taken aback, but he wasn't going to let an opportunity like this pass, even if he was shy. He took her hand and shook it, saying, "Pleasure to meet you, Evelyn. I'm Remus Lupin."
She glanced at Prongs, then said, "An' I'm guessin' ya gotta be a Potter or somethin'. Ya seem kinda obsessed and creepy, by the way, so I'd back off a wee bit, man." She held out her hand as Evans said,
"Remus is okay, but these two, you want to stay away from. Far away."
Prongs shook her hand and said, "No, really! I'm not creepy, I swear! It's just—" Moony elbowed him. "Right. Sorry. I'm James Potter, chaser and Quidditch captain for Gryffindor," he said proudly.
The girl didn't seemed impressed. "Eh, okay, cool…" She turned towards me, hand outstretched. "An' you are…?"
"Sirius Black," I said, shaking her hand, wanting to say something to win her over but coming up with nothing. I couldn't even give her my award-winning smile, and I had no idea why. I was so confused by it all; she wasn't even close to being one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen, but she was definitely the strangest. Was that it?
"Nice ta meet ya'll," she said, then she gestured at the house-elf. "An' this is my friend, Wattie."
This girl honestly couldn't get any weirder. "You have a house-elf for a friend?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," she said. "You're point is…what, exactly?"
"Oh, nothing, except that's strange company for a girl like you."
She straightened, a different look coming over her. She flashed me a smile, saying in a sweet voice, "Sorry, darlin', but you ain't my type, either." And with that, the girl walked past me, leaving us to watch her and Evans leave.
Moony and Prongs burst out laughing. "How's it feel to be rejected, mate?" Prongs asked.
"I wasn't rejected," I protested, watching her walk down the steps.
"Really? Then what do you think 'Sorry, darlin', but you ain't my type, either', meant?" Moony asked, trying his best to imitate her voice but failing miserably.
I raised my chin and straightened my shoulders. Now I had to have this girl, if it was the last thing I'd do. She was going to be mine.
"I think it meant 'Show me what you've got, hot-stuff, because I like what I see'."
A/N: Well, here's the chapter that will (hopefully) boost this story up a notch in your books! I actually liked this one; it came together much easier than all the other ones, despite it being kinda hard for me to write in a guy's (especially Sirius'!) POV, but I tried to keep it simple and basic as to what I knew guy's would think. So, if any of you readers are guys and something is out-of-place are wrong, I'm sorry. I tried!
Anyways, my thank-you's:
Guest: Well I hope this bein' in Sirius' POV made it more interesting! I'm glad you like it and (hopefully!) like this one as well!
MsTonksLupin: Heehee marry Wattie! Go ahead! Haha, nah, it only sounded slightly creepy. ;) I'm glad you like him so much! I was worried about creating a new house-elf, let alone getting his character right. I want to thank you for ALL of your reviews! They made me smile, laugh, and just feel overall REALLY good about this story and my writing. It is hard to write Dumbledore at times, but I think it's because he's just so wise and so unpredictable, you never know what is going to come from his mouth or actions. Yes, Evelyn is a muggle (sadly, but I'll have a surprise, I think!). But, despite her having a sense of humor, she's really shy when it comes to people (even though so far it doesn't seem like it), and we'll see that later on when the Marauders come into play more. Again, thank you SOOO much for your WONDERFUL reviews and making me feel GREAT, and I'm glad you're back!
What's A Kammel-Monkey: Well, hope this is what you hoped it would be! Yes, I have a feeling Sirius and Ev will have some conflicting personality traits, but I'm afraid they won't be completely alike, because they are kind of two opposites, you know? And, yes, in no time Wattie will be corrupted and Dumbledore will lose his mind! Ahh! Haha, we can't wait for that, huh? Thanks for the review!
xXallegedangelXx: Let me tell you, you're review made me laugh SOOO hard! Your thoughts were running along the EXACT same page as mine! I hope this is what you were hoping for, and, worry not!, there will be more chappys in Sirius' POV, just because I enjoyed it. And about the gun…well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we? Oh, and don't worry. There'll be some more run-ins with Bellatrix where Ev's gonna have to give her another good, old-fashioned ass-whipping all over again. I can't wait! Thanks for the wonderful review! Hope you liked it!
Alrighty, then! So, if you liked or hated it, have any advice or anythin' you just wanna say, let me know! R&R guys!
Nike