Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell belongs to J.K Rowling
Chapter 23: Boyfriends and Girlfriends
Thirteen games.
James had played in thirteen official school games. The better half which he captained… yet never before did he experience nerves such as this.
Thirteen games… he was practically a veteran… this should be like second nature to him…
Then why did he look as if he was about to throw up?
He slammed the door on his locker mirror and exited the boys' changing rooms, pacing to the window of the central room.
This is where they held their pre-match pep talks which led to the boys and girls changing rooms on either side.
It was empty as it was a good hour before any of his teammates would arrive. He stared out at the endless green mass of grass with the familiar castle on the horizon, silent from the outside but surely bustling with the lives of hundreds of teenagers on the inside.
He wished he could slam the view from the window shut like he did his locker mirror, settling for the milder option of turning his back on the scene and paced the breadth of the small room, jumping on one of the many benches on a whim and nearly losing his footing and hastily jumping back down before he injured himself.
The nerves were turning his head to porridge… porridge… his stomach grumbled… he hadn't eaten since last night.
He snapped his head up at the click of the opening door as a sliver of light snuck in and he bristled in confusion, he was really hoping for some privacy and another nervous teammate wouldn't help him in the least bit.
"Jude!" His voice was choked with relief as he rushed forward and engulfed the girl in a hug.
She didn't even bristle when he pulled her into the embrace, rubbing his back in a way she must have seen his mother do. It made him think of bedtimes narrated by a gentle voice, and restless nights of colds that kept sleep at bay, and random mornings when his eyes would flutter open just to see his mother petting his hair, glancing down at him as if he were something of wonder.
Of course, it had been years since he needed bedtime stories, or needed to be pandered to when ill and his mother would never dare come into his bedroom unannounced these mornings… yet here it was.
That nice, comforting feeling.
Jude stopped rubbing his back and James frowned, getting drunk on the maternal affection, and watched as she took a step back and turned to the bench behind her and lifted a tray she must have placed down before he pulled her into the hug.
Porridge.
He smiled and took the larger bowl she offered and hopped onto the bench, one leg on either side and she mirrored him, but rather her jean clad legs folding across each other as if she were about to start meditating.
She smiled and dipped her spoon into her smaller bowl of porridge and James followed suit, remembering how hungry he had been.
For a few moments all they did was eat, Jude's eyes taking in the different elements of the room with wonder and James pondered just what was going on in that head of hers.
He'd started practicing legilimency, and while he was far from proficient, he did manage to sneak into Peter's brain once, with his permission of course. He couldn't decipher the thoughts but there was a static sound in his ears and blurry images but at least he managed to break through the mental boundaries. He needed a lot more practice to even hope to get into Jude's mind. Especially considering that the best legilimens in the world tried and failed.
He just had to be better than them then.
He had to find out her past, in order to protect her future.
James jerked out of his worries when he heard a noise and hastened to his feet, hurrying to the window which was the source of the sound, Jude close on his heels.
His arm became a barrier, preventing her from getting into view of the window, nobody could know that they knew each other after all, and James squinted out at the lawn as Jude watched him for an answer.
His eyes danced about, the grounds were empty, students hadn't even started making their way to the pitch, probably still eating breakfast and then he saw it.
He narrowed his eyes and stood on the bench, craning his neck for a better angle, and watched as the distinct figure of Garrick Mulciber exited the Slytherin changing rooms.
That wouldn't have been odd as Mulciber was captain of the Snakes team, but what was odd was the timing. There definitely was no practice scheduled for this morning…
James watched as the boy glanced left and right, before exiting the building and hastily walking towards the pitch…
That was definitely odd… he looked oilier than usual, which was definitely unsettling.
"Wait here." James made up his mind quickly and crossed to the door, deciding he was going to find just what Mulciber was up to, whether he had to confront the boy or break into the Snake changing room and investigate, but his exit was halted by another familiar face.
"Padfoot!" James exclaimed, glancing behind him as Sirius shouldered his way in and James' mind raced in search of an excuse for Jude's presence and his heartbeat quickened and then stilled completely.
The room was empty... Jude truly was an exceptional escape artist.
"Don't Padfoot me!" Sirius fell onto the bench, right where Jude sat two minutes ago and pulled out a small tray from his pocket which he tapped once with his wand and enlarged and with a second tap it filled up with sandwiches, "You missed breakfast!"
James was so fill from the porridge he didn't think he could stomach another bite let alone the many slices that was on the tray, but he took a slice all the same.
"Where were you heading off to?" Sirius bit into a bacon and egg sandwich and glanced about the room disinterestedly, which was such a contrast to Jude's of wonder it was almost humorous.
"Break into the Snake changing rooms." James shrugged, "I just saw Mulciber leave there looking mighty suspicious."
Padfoot stopped chewing momentarily and frowned, but then shrugged offhandedly, "When isn't he looking suspicious though? And what would you hope to find in their changing rooms?"
"Who knows with the Snakes, and you know that they prefer Ravenclaw to win today so that they don't have to aim high against the match with the Puffs… what are you not telling me?" James knew Sirius better than anybody, and he definitely noticed a flicker of surprise cross his face a moment ago.
Sirius opened his mouth and then stilled, and sighed and placed his food down. "I thought I saw Shafiq… heading towards the castle from the changing rooms on my way down here but she didn't turn when I shouted… it probably wasn't her though, it could have been anyone, her back was facing me by the time I spotted her."
James bit into his sandwich, knowing just like Sirius did, that it hardly could be anybody else. Aiza was an easy spot at Hogwarts, what with her height and long thick dark hair, and then there was the past affiliation with Mulciber…
"You know… last week when I handed over my part of the astronomy assignment to White, Aiza was there, and she disappeared once Mulciber entered the library." James had completely forgotten about it considering the fight he had with Lily afterwards.
"You don't think that she's…" Sirius' brows furrowed and James mirrored him… it was unsettling to think that Aiza was cheating on their friend… Remus and she were the epitome of happiness and it had taken such a long time for Remus to even ask her out.
And now Remus wrestled with the idea of telling her the truth about his lycanthropy… but James knew that his friend would do anything than have that conversation with Aiza.
It felt like he'd sooner break up with her than tell her the truth.
And they rather not tempt fate with giving him any reasons, especially considering they had no facts.
"We should keep this to ourselves." They echoed in unison and James smiled at his best friend who smirked back.
"Great minds." Sirius smirked.
"Ugh, is there any moment safe from narcissism with you two." The door opened and Remus and Peter walked in, "What pray tell, is so great about your mind?"
"The easier question, Moony my friend, is what isn't. Oooh, pancakes." Padfoot jumped up and crossed to Remus who had a plate of pancakes in his hands, Peter was carrying two large jugs of orange juice.
"You missed breakfast, James." Remus smiled at the plate of sandwiches, "I suppose Sirius had the same idea."
Their dark-haired friend smirked, "Great minds Moony, great minds. Pour me some of that juice Wormy."
Peter poured them all some juice and James couldn't help smiling at the lot of them.
He bit into a pancake, all uneasiness at the game completely dispelled by the surge of affection he felt from his friends and Jude.
His brothers and sister.
-x-x-x-
Sirius manoeuvred his way through the throng of avid supporters, the game had been on for two and half hours and love Prongs he did, but he needed to stretch his legs a bit and if his friend's team won whilst he took a quick walk to the owlery and back…
Well, he would never let Prongs know that he had missed a second of the game anyway.
Plus, he hadn't managed to send Cece a letter this morning as they had breakfast in the changing rooms, and they'd surely be partying till late in the night tonight and he couldn't possibly make her wait two whole days for a reply.
Cece… Cecilia Devereaux… had been a happy distraction to Sirius. Their correspondence started off shaky, but they quickly fell into a daily pattern of converse, the day didn't feel complete without her fancy writing greeting him in the morning.
Sirius spent many nights reliving that first kiss of theirs, sometimes it turned into more than a kiss… and other times it was confusing, delirious sort of dreams where he tried to pry off her mask, but it was glued tight and when he got it off her lips peeled off as well and all she had were those beautiful gold eyes but no lips to kiss or speak with.
He definitely preferred the former dreams.
He spotted Mary waving at him enthusiastically, his empty seat separating her and Peter, Shafiq and Moony behind with Evans who looked higher strung than usual.
"Come on, mate!" Frank gestured to Sirius to move, surely blocking him from watching his girlfriend who was the Gryffindor keeper. Alice was having a decent game as the Gryffindor chaser trio was way better than the Ravenclaws, but Bell was worlds ahead of Alice as a keeper which kept things in a frustrating balance.
Sirius raised his hand apologetically to Longbottom and shuffled up, turning left instead of right towards Mary and his friends, knowing it was going to be a terrible hassle to push pass the throng of attentive fans and settled into the closest empty seat,
"Hey!"
He had settled into a seat two spots from Judalia Devon, who gave him a small distracted wave and then shot up from her seat, jumping up and clapping along with the rest of the crowd and Sirius shielded his eyes and glanced up to watch the little spot that was his best friend being clapped on the back by his teammates. Prongs must have snuck one past Bell and Sirius clapped along with everyone.
He glanced at his left and couldn't help smiling at the beam on Devon's face, well what do you know… the girl liked quidditch.
She sat back down, and Sirius followed suit, this time sliding into the seat next to her. Her eyes never once left the sky and Sirius leaned back and glanced up.
He bit back a smile as he watched James manoeuvre out of the way of a bludger, he wouldn't tell anybody how proud he was of his best friend's flying skills. It wasn't exactly very manly of him, and he didn't want to fawn over James like Peter, the last thing his friend needed was a bigger head… but Sirius really did enjoy watching him fly.
It was a mixture of profound pride and profound jealousy.
Sirius wasn't jealous of his friend's flying skills, no, he never much cared for flying. But what he was jealous of was the way James looked up there… so happy, almost as happy as Devon looked down here watching the game…
Sirius wanted someone to look at him with that much admiration…
He wasn't blind, he knew he was attractive and received his fair share of attention from the female student body… but there was something so much more sincere at the way Judalia looked at James up in the sky.
Something so innocent and devoted and pure.
Something so soft… about her skin… as if he wouldn't dare touch it because surely he'd destroy it but at the same time something about it that yearned to be caressed…
Devon with her long brunette strands in a messy ponytail, her big red Gryffindor sweater and her blue jeans that were a little too baggy on her slim legs…
He wished he had a camera so he could take a picture of her just like this, the sun and the smile and the slight frown of concentration on her forehead.
She was up on her feet again and Sirius' ears were startled with the thunderous sound as everyone around him jumped to their feet and embraced each other and he looked up at his best friend doing a victory lap and he clapped along with everyone else. He stood as the mass of scarlet supporters charged down the steps to embrace their team.
"Careful." Sirius pulled Devon towards him as a group of boys thundered their way towards them, almost trampling her in the process. He navigated his way down the stairs, keeping Devon safely in front of him and he breathed a sigh of relief once he was down on solid ground again.
Devon quickly made her way towards the castle.
"Hey, aren't you going to congratulate the team?" Sirius called over to her as she walked briskly over the soft grass. She stopped, glanced wistfully at the entrance to the pitch, smiled and then shook her head in the negative.
Sirius frowned, and followed her, "I'll walk you back. I have to sort out party arrangements anyway."
She didn't respond, smiling to herself and walking towards the castle.
Just then Sirius spotted Bellatrix and her gang a little away. Bellatrix never passed up an opportunity to start a fight with Sirius, he never minded before… but dragging Devon into the crossfire was the last thing he wanted.
"Come on, I know a short cut." He didn't wait to see if Devon followed and took a sharp right towards the Greenhouses and climbed a short hill and headed towards Greenhouse three. He glanced behind to see the girl glancing about the greenhouses in wonder.
Sirius recalled that she didn't take Herbology, and since she was new, she wouldn't be familiar with the greenhouses. She stopped to smell a distractingly bright blue flower and Sirius stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, "Don't. It's an unspoken rule never to smell, touch, or taste anything Sprout grows, especially something that bright and beautiful. It might knock you unconscious, poison you or…"
His words fell away as he remembered carrying her limp body from the bathroom, pale and sweaty and so very tiny…
They still had not found out who had done that to her…
Sirius had barely tried recently… he was so caught up with Cece…
Cece…
He let go of her shoulder, an unusual guilty twist in his stomach and turned away from her…
Cece was just a friend that he kissed once and flirted with occasionally in writing and Devon was… well… just Devon.
"Don't you dare take that tone with me!" He snapped around at Devon, was that her?
However, she was was looking at him in confusion as if a mirror reflection of his own face.
"Well, I'm not the daring one in this relationship!" Sirius could have slapped himself for being so silly and quickly motioned for her to crouch behind the large bright blue flower bush, just as Evans and Bell strode through the path in front of them. Seemed they too wished to take the quieter walk back to school.
Bell was still wearing his kit, his broom gripped in his hand as Evans halted, her arms crossed, a posture Sirius knew too well to prelude war, "What was so daring about congratulating my house mates?"
"Oh, is that what you call that! I thought I might have to come and pry you off his skin if you held on any tighter."
"It was just a hug, Phillip!"
"And since when do you hug James Potter!"
Evans straightened her back, "I'll hug whomever I damn well please."
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry darling, it is I who should be excused." Sirius frowned at the sarcastic remark which Evans conveyed as if it had a lot of meaning. Bell looked as if he might strike her, and Sirius slipped his wand out of his pocket.
"Are you mocking me?"
"Well, you should know, shouldn't you? After all, we ladies only have minds for minor details!"
"You're no lady. For one thing a lady would carry herself with much more respect, I requested you not to wear that sweater-"
"You requested! You commanded that I not wear my house sweater! It was like asking me not to support my house!"
"You're supposed to support your boyfriend!"
"Boyfriend? A boyfriend doesn't make demands on their girlfriend!"
"Girlfriend! Raving Rowena if you're one tenth of what a girlfriend is supposed to be like, I'd commit myself to celibacy rather than continue dating spoiled, ungrateful, rude little bitc-"
His rant was cut off as he clutched his cheek in pain just as he was also flung feet in the air and fell to the ground with a thud.
Evan snapped around, wand still raised, "Black!"
Sirius trampled through the bush, uncaring if the blue flower was dangerous and advanced on Bell, his wand still raised in anger, but found him knocked unconscious with a long scar on his right cheek.
"That's going to leave a mark." He muttered, lowering his wand and turning to the redhead whose face was stained with angry tears, but her emerald orbs were anything but broken. "That's like the key rule in an illegal duel, never leave marks if you want to get away with it."
"I don't care if he tells the whole school!" Evans wiped at her face angrily and pocketed her wand and Sirius did the same.
"Well, he won't. Blokes like Bell won't want anybody knowing that a girl beat him. Tosser." Sirius muttered as he looked down at the boy.
"You can say that again." Evans sighed, "Look, you can go. I'll take him up to the Hospital Wing. I only meant to scare him a bit, I didn't think you'd go and stun him. Don't worry, I'll take the blame…"
"What! You're not taking him to the Wing!" Sirius smiled, "I have a better idea."
"Black-"
"Oh, come on Evans. You wasted three months of your life on the sod. I know you have a sense of humour… somewhere."
She rolled her eyes but didn't stop him as he took out his wand and waved it and Bell hovered, he directed the body toward greenhouse three and hurried forward and opened the door, floating him up into a patch he knew to be in the right corner. Spotting the yellow plant, he let the boy drop in the middle of the patch.
"I don't see how dumping him in a patch of sucker pods is going to be amusing?"
"Hmmm…" Sirius pondered, "I do see the dilemma of understatement. Ah, I got it." He flicked his wand and Bells trousers pulled down, and he lay in his boxers.
"Black!" Evans gasped, "What on Earth-"
"Do you remember in third year when we had to grow this sorry lot of plants and Peter had to be rushed off to the Wing for calming draught?"
"Yes, one of the pods latched onto his hand and almost swallowed it. It was silly of him to panic like that because they're very harmless, all they do is suck you in and they eventually let go when you stop wriggling, kind of like devil sna… oh Godric."
Evans blushed a furious red and Sirius smirked, "It'll be all over the school before he can even come to. I can hear footsteps right now… a few stragglers wanting a quiet walk up to the castle finding Bell with his trousers down in the Sucker Pod patch…"
"And why is he unconscious?"
"He could have tripped and hit his head on that there stone in his desperate need for relief after the disappointing game. Oh, who knows, who cares about such details, the rumour mill will churn out the story nevertheless. Now come, we have to get out of here; we being here will spoil the story of the lonely boy and his sucker pod affliction."
Evans glanced back at the distant sound of voices, "I don't know Black… this seems cruel. And nonsensical, I mean how did-"
"Oh, stop sweating the details Evans. You ladiesdohave a head for such minor details, don't you!"
Evans narrowed her eyes and jutted her chin up at that, "Come on. Let's be off before someone sees us. And leave the door open, that way he is sure to be found out."
Sirius smiled as Lily Evans led him out of the greenhouse, seemed his last nerve -striking sentence was all the convincing she needed. He glanced behind the blue flower bush and found that Devon had disappeared. He narrowed his eyes, she better not have sniffed those flowers or touched them whilst he was busy.
"Hey Evans, these flowers aren't poisonous, are they?"
"Haliwinkles? No, they're completely harmless, we use them in antidotes. Oh Godric, Black, you're worried you harmed your precious self when you bounded through that bush!"
Sirius was surprised that the thought hadn't crossed his mind. He was actually worried that Devon had sniffed the damn plant and was lying unconscious somewhere.
"Bounded through that bush to save you!" Sirius retorted as they walked up to the castle.
"Save me! I hardly needed saving!" Evans halted, and took a deep breath, "Though… Black… thank you." She closed her eyes momentarily as if it were painful to utter the words, "I didn't need your help but… it was good of you all the same."
Sirius sighed, "Oh Godric." He shrugged, "Well this sucks."
"What?"
"I don't know how I'm going to tell James."
"Tell Potter what?" She murmured.
"That you've fallen in love with me."
"Black-" She spat but he spun around and ran towards the castle, "I DO NOT LOVE YOU! BLACK!"
Sirius galloped up to the small rolling hills, dashing to his best friend as Evans pelting after him.
He couldn't wait to tell him that Lily Evans was finally single.
Sirius laughed as he scared a group of first year girls into hysterics as he bounded towards them in the Entrance Hall and pounded up the stairs, glancing back at Evans still running after him.
He barked out a laugh and continued to the common room, it was highly exhilarating having a girl physically chase after him, much better than the figurative meaning.
It was silly and immature and highly unlike Evans, but there she was hastening after him on the seventh floor.
"Hold the portrait!" Sirius shouted to Marlene, who shook her head good humouredly but remained within the frame so the portrait wouldn't close just as Lily shouted from behind.
"Don't let him through!" Marlene frowned in confusion. "Traitor!" Evans spat just as she followed Sirius into the common room.
Sirius searched quickly for James, this was mad but entirely too much fun, he spotted Remus and dashed to him.
"Where's Prongs?"
"Sirius Black I'll-" Evans shouted as she tried to manoeuvre through the crowd but she wasn't as slick and fast as he was.
"He's upstairs." Remus frowned at the door to the boys' dorms in front of him, why was he even hovering at the door? Sirius shrugged and made to enter, "Wait Sirius you can't-"
"Got you!" Evans squealed and grabbed him about the arms, preventing him from opening the door, "Ha! Everybody knows you can't outsmart me, and now they'll know you can't even outrun me!"
She laughed and Sirius was about to retort just as the door flew open. He smirked as James walked out, "Prongs, Evans is in love with me. She just told me so and then tried to make out with me."
Everybody began furiously whispering and Sirius smirked at the look on Evans face.
Her eyes….
Her eyes were completely broken…
His smirk fell… well she knew it was all for fun, what on earth was the matter?
"Excellent. Looks like love really is in the air today, isn't it Jamie." Sirius turned to the voice and took a shocked step back as Azura Carmichael emerged from the door behind James, her long taloned fingers clasped with his as she leaned forward and kissed his best friend.
And his best friend kissed her back.
A/N: Thanks for following the story. I hope it's entertaining you so far! Let me know what you think of this chapter!
Kalina