| James Potter sat in front of the common room fire with his hazel eyes aglow. �So this one goes to� Honeydukes?�
�Yes,� said Sirius Black excitedly, his devilish grin lighting his face. He leaned closer to get a look at the roll of parchment in front of his friend. �Bloody hell,� James muttered, a smirk playing on his face. He let his quill scratch on the paper and then zapped the writing away. �This is going to be so wicked!� Sirius took the parchment eagerly from James�s hands. �Wow,� he sighed. The portrait hole to Gryffindor Tower opened at that moment and two familiar faces came through. One, a short stout blonde called Peter Pettigrew and the other a tall, light brown haired boy called Remus Lupin. �Moony! Wormtail!� Sirius greeted eagerly. �Sh!� Remus said, smiling all the while. �You don�t want everyone knowing!� he cast a cautious glance around the room quickly but soon saw that no one was looking. �Have you two been in here the entire time?� Peter asked incredulously, sitting on the floor by the fire. James nodded, flicking the stray black hairs out of his eyes and readjusting his glasses. �Sirius insisted we work on it.� Sirius only nodded enthusiastically in agreement, peering over his friend�s shoulder. �Are you his keeper?� Remus asked, settling next to Peter. �No, his Seeker,� Peter said out of the blue, laughing maniacally at his own quip. �That was dumb,� Sirius commented. The four sat in the common room conversing quietly until all the other Gryffindors had scattered to the dorms. James stretched and yawned dramatically. �You lot, I�m a bit tired.� Peter now had the map in his possession as Sirius stuck greedily next to it. �I think I�ll join you, James,� Remus said, standing up and stretching his legs out. �I�ll see you two later, I suppose.� Waving them off, the remaining friends stayed close to the fire as the portrait hole opened unexpectedly. Hurrying to cover up their project, they jumped to their feet and stared at the people making their way in. Two girls from Gryffindor were obviously in high spirits. Lily Evans, a tall, pretty redhead that James had been dating for the past few months was accompanied by her best friend, Shaia Fletcher. Shaia was shorter than Lily with long, curly dark blonde hair. Lily, still laughing, looked toward Sirius and Peter. �What are you lot still doing awake?� �We were�� Sirius nudged Peter hard in the ribs. �We could ask you two the same thing,� he covered. Shaia rolled her eyes and waved him off. �You could but we might not answer it,� was her sarcastic reply. Walking toward the staircase to the girl�s dorm, Sirius broke away quickly from Peter, dropping the map. �BLACK!� Peter yelled. Sirius didn�t turn acknowledge him. �Hey, Shaia,� he called to her quietly. The girl�s head whipped around so quickly that her hair caught him in the face, but he didn�t mind. �What is it?� she asked, still chuckling. �Uh� uh�� he had lost the words as soon as he�d laid eyes on Shaia�s face. For so long he�d wanted to ask her out, ever since he started talking to her in fourth year. She smiled patiently at him. Shaia was amazing. It was as if she knew. �Uh, do you, uh, want to go to Hogsmeade with me and the guys this weekend?� Her face lit up like a bulb as she smiled pleasantly at him. �I�d love to, Sirius. See you tomorrow at breakfast,� and after pinching his cheek so lightly that it send tingles up and down his spine, she turned around and swept up the stairs. Not moving from his spot, Sirius stood entranced. �Are you about done?� Peter had come up from behind him, map in tow. �You�re so pathetic, Black,� he said, laughing as he went up the stairs to the boy�s dorms. Sirius scowled, then called up, �One day I�m not going to like you very much, Peter.� �You can only hope.� That weekend, the quartet, including dates for two of the boys, journeyed to Hogsmeade. They had been there only two hours when they entered the Three Broomsticks for a warm butterbeer and a chance to relax. They had been so many places in such a short time that they were aching all over. The six of them sat in a cramped booth, laughing and talking about nothing in particular. James and Lily had their hands clasped firmly together on the table, obviously not caring who saw. They were proud to admit they were together after years of dancing around. They were sitting close together and catching occasional glances, but Sirius found all he could do was gaze adoringly at the beautiful girl next to him. He had had a crush on Shaia since his fifth year at Hogwarts, but had never mustered the courage to ask her out. It had always seemed like such a distant dream to be with someone like Shaia. Shaia had always been close with Lily Evans, one of Sirius� favorite girls in the world. It was in fourth year that James had started to notice Lily, but unfortunately for James, she had no desire to be with him until late in their sixth year. It was around this time that Shaia and Sirius began talking, like friends would. He found it easy to talk to her in those early stages, before he fell for her. It had taken him forever to actually ask her out. But now here he was, staring her right in the face, silent. Stupid, stupid, stupid! �Hey, Black! What�s ticking in the old watch tower?� called James. Sirius jumped back to reality and shot his trademark evil grin at his best friend. �Nothing that a young wizard like yourself couldn�t handle.� �I�m frightened,� Shaia commented. Sirius looked up quickly and fought to keep his emotions from showing on his face. Shaia�s big smile was flashing at him and her bright brown eyes were scanning his face. He couldn�t help but grin back. Remus and Peter had kept quietly to themselves. Sirius and James both noted that they were probably planning more adventures for the next full moon and were constructing the map in hushed tones. Peter, the enthusiastic one of the bunch, was overdoing his end of the deal. Remus, the sensible and practical one, was warding off any suspicious comments Peter made loudly. He swept his long tresses out of his eyes and smirked across the table at Sirius, occasionally catching Shaia�s eye. She would only smile shyly back. Remus had not missed the way his friend stared longingly at the girl the short amount of time they�d been on their �date.� He also didn�t miss how Shaia smiled back politely, but didn�t give him the look that Sirius had been giving her. She was being nice and he noticed that it wasn�t just because she was nervous. Shaia was a very attractive girl, no doubt about that. Her curly dark blonde hair looked soft and silky as it flowed over her shoulders and nearly hit the table. Her brown eyes shot over to him once or twice while he surveyed her and her lips turned up into a smile that made Remus feel warm all over. He shook his head. How could it? She was with Sirius, not him. �Are you lot done over there?� James� voice pierced through Remus� preoccupied thoughts. �Huh?� �Yes, he�s done,� Shaia answered for him. Remus looked up quickly and felt himself grow hot under her amazing stare. She winked at him playfully and looked away as quickly as possible. �All right then, shall we?� James announced. He was obviously the only one in control. Peter was fascinated by the plans for the map, Sirius was completely entranced by Shaia, and Remus was too lost in his thoughts to notice much more going on. That was, he was lost in his thoughts about Sirius� date. Stop it! She�s here with Sirius, and he�s been in love with her too long for you to act this way! You could never fall in love in your condition. �LUPIN!� yelled a distant voice behind him. He looked up out of his fog and realized he was still sitting in the booth. He turned around quickly and saw the party had retreated to the front of the pub. Racing out of the booth, he rejoined them and swore to himself he would no longer think about Shaia. However, he found that promise broken in a matter of ten or twenty minutes. Being in the mere presence of the golden laugh and sparkling smile, he couldn�t miss these thoughts pecking angrily at his brain. He also didn�t miss the shy glances and small smiles she shot his way every so often. Peter had been nudging Remus all night, asking him questions about the map. To get his mind off of his troubling thoughts, Remus decided to throw himself into preparations for the map. The party ended up in front of Zonko�s, where the four boys usually went nuts. They all found, however, that they were too engrossed in what they were doing to notice much else. James and Lily had disappeared long before they reached Zonko�s. Remus looked up out of the blue and noticed that the two people were no longer part of the group. �Where�d James and Lily go?� Shaia, looking at her feet uncomfortably, said nothing as Sirius raised his eyebrows and pointed up at the Shrieking Shack. Sure enough, sitting by a tree together, James and Lily were talking, holding hands, and occasionally sneaking a kiss. He didn�t know why, but Remus felt his stomach churn grotesquely. Then he remembered. Hunched over in a fit of pain, he had no idea what was going on around him. Things suddenly became blurry and the next thing Remus knew, he was laying flat on his back, staring up into two of the most amazing brown eyes in the world. Shaia? �What happened?� �You fainted,� came her sugary-sweet voice. She was staring at him with a concerned look on her face and it was obvious she must have cried. Sirius had gone off to fetch James and Lily and Peter was nervously hunched at his side. �I� I what?� �You just� fell over,� she said, and raising a trembling hand, she touched his brow lightly. He felt a sudden warmth shoot right through his cold, clammy body. He must have looked wistful and dreamy, because Peter piped up from behind him. �You look fine now, though.� �O-Oh,� he stammered, closing his eyes, regretfully feeling Shaia pull her hand away from his face. �I must have just gotten sick.� �Just gotten sick?� Shaia repeated in a shrill tone. �You had me scared to death. You started to moan and sweat, and the next thing I knew, you were on the ground.� �Where�s Sirius?� he asked calmly. �He went to get James and Lily. He was worried too, but he didn�t panic nearly as much as I did.� Oh, if you only knew, he thought bitterly. �I�m okay now. I want to get up.� �No,� she stated firmly, pressing her hands on his shoulders. �Wait for Sirius.� It wasn�t too long of a wait. Within a minute, Sirius, James, and Lily were directly behind Shaia. She looked up and James only smiled at her sympathetically. �Don�t worry, it�s just one of his spells. He�ll be okay.� �Just one of his spells?� she exclaimed. �Some compassion for your friend!� James knelt down and offered Remus his hand to stand him up. Shaia stared at them unbelievably. �He just had a spell? I don�t understand what that means,� she said, looking at Sirius for an explanation. He took her hand bravely and she was too sidetracked to notice him pull her close. �We�ll talk about it later,� and with that, they set off back toward Hogwarts. Shaia protested the entire way back. Remus was walking slowly with Peter in tow (�Are you gonna be okay?� �I hope you�re okay!� �You really did scare Shaia! Oh boy!�) and couldn�t believe his ill fortune. Not only had he spent the entire night staring at his best friend�s date, but he had also passed out right in front of her. One of his �spells� as James had called it. Fortunately, Sirius had enough sense not to tell Shaia everything, and just to give her a half-hearted explanation about a �condition� he had in which he occasionally had �dizzy spells.� Getting his mind off of the circumstances of his �condition,� he continued on slowly, walking next to Peter. His friend had calmed down a bit since the incident, but nevertheless was talking at a very rapid rate. Shaking his head at the boy, Remus smiled to himself and let him talk. They reached Hogwarts in record time. James and Lily led the pack with Shaia and Sirius close behind. Still walking together, Sirius was trying to think of things to talk about with her. She seemed to be preoccupied. Sirius was stubbornly trying to break her of her shell. �Out of curiosity, how many O.W.L.s did you get?� he asked nervously. She noticed his tension and answered, �Fourteen. I guess I lucked out somehow.� �I don�t think it was that,� Sirius whispered just loud enough for her to hear. Turning bright red, Shaia looked away and said nothing more. They arrived at Hogwarts not a moment too soon� for Remus anyway. They entered Gryffindor Tower, sat themselves down on the couch after giving the Fat Lady the password and relaxed by the fire. After a while, James and Lily felt it was time they retreated to bed. This left Shaia, Sirius, Peter, and Remus on the couch in the common room. Only minutes later, Peter felt that he had better things to do than sit in the room for much longer. Sirius stood up, expecting Shaia to follow suit. She stayed on the couch. �Shaia, I�m� er� going to bed,� he whispered nervously. �All right,� she whispered back, looking up at him. �I guess I�ll see you tomorrow at breakfast?� he asked, a smile creeping up his handsome face. �Yeah,� she said wistfully, and with that, Sirius quickly kissed her cheek and raced up the stairs to his dorm. Remus laughed, leaning over to collect his papers. �He�s too funny.� �You could say that,� Shaia said, leaning back onto the couch. Remus suddenly looked up, searching around for anyone else, but the common room was deserted. He and Shaia were together, alone. Shaia had noticed as well. She sighed heavily. �What a night.� �I agree.� She looked at him cautiously out of the corner of her eye. �You really scared me tonight, Remus,� she whispered concernedly. He sighed back. �I know.� �I didn�t know what to do, I?I just felt so helpless. You were spinning out of control and all I remember is� I started to panic,� she said, wiping a quiet tear from her eye. Remus gave her a small smile. �Why are you crying? You don�t know me as well as you know James or Sirius�� She looked up at him and shrugged. �There�s just something about you, I� I� feel like I have to take care of you. I know there�s something wrong with you. I�m not going to press you on it.� Yet by this time, Remus� ears had perked up and he was staring at Shaia intently. She had turned bright red. �Don�t ask what it is,� she sputtered, looking around worriedly. �It�s� just something I�ve never felt before� and it kind of scares me.� She hurriedly stood up and Remus did as well. �I�m sorry� have I scared you yet?� Remus laughed and patted her shoulder comfortingly. �Of course not. If anything, you did the exact opposite.� Calming down a bit, she smiled gratefully at him. He had not removed his hand from her shoulder and she didn�t seem to mind at all. �I do know you a bit,� she said coyly. �Remember we shared a table in Potions second year?� How could I forget? he thought wistfully to himself. They had been put together and Remus could never remember being more grateful for Potions. It was never one of his strongest subjects, but he enjoyed it thoroughly all during his second year because of his partner. He distinctly remembered one Friday in the middle of class when he was about to add harpy hairs to his infusion. Shaia had taken her hair out of her ponytail. Not thinking, she had swept it into Remus� face to put it back up. The sweet lilac scent and silky softness of her hair caused him to dump in the entire bottle, creating a chemical imbalance in the potion. It blew up in his face seconds later. He had served detention, scrubbing up the mess that night. He came back to earth and stared at that same girl in front of him. He shrugged. �Vaguely.� She smiled at him, that ever-famous smile that lit up her entire face and at the same time, his heart. �I never much cared for Potions, but that was a fun class.� �Yes, good times,� he said absently. Shaia looked down at her feet and then back up at Remus. �It was nice talking to you.� �Yeah, yeah,� he said, his brown eyes alight. �It was great talking to you, too. We should talk more often.� �Definitely,� Shaia agreed, staring at Remus hungrily. �I�ll see you tomorrow at breakfast,� he sighed almost dramatically. She nodded, staring into his eyes, as if searching and trying to figure out who he really was. �Yes.� �Goodnight, Shaia.� �Goodnight, Remus.� They both turned and walked together silently, and were up in their dorms within seconds, thinking about each other the rest of the night. |
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