Cats and Dogs

Chapter 17

James and Lily were walking a small ways a head of me as we made our way to our first class, a few days after the incident with Severus. They seemed to be in a deep conversation, Lily seemed to still be a bit upset about Severus, but I could tell James was doing all he could to make her smile. I smiled lightly when I saw James reach and take her hand. Lily blushed and looked away and I could see a smile on her face.

“Well, James seems to be helping her get over what happened with Snivilly.” Sirius said as he came up next to me.

“You were there?” I asked. James, Lily, and I didn’t say anything about that night to anyone else, not wanting to make anything blow out of proportion.

“Yeah. Under Prongs’s Invisibility Cloak. We were racing back to the common room when we ran into you guys.”

Racing back to the common room? How far ahead did he get?
“Uh, w-who won?” I asked, afraid he would say he did and he saw Regulus and I together.

He scowled, “James. Bugger tripped me.”

I sighed and smiled in relief, and looked over to see Frank Longbottom fumbling with his words as he talked to Alice. “Bloody hell, reckon he’ll actually ask her?” Sirius whispered into my ear, slightly astonished.

“Well, he’s sweating profusely, his knees are shaking, and he keeps stammering… I say he’s going in for the kill.” I nodded, feeling confident.

“I’ll bet you one sickle.” Sirius stated.

“You’re on.”

We stopped walking and peered over at them. Frank was still fumbling and using a lot of hand motion, and then, after a short while, Alice threw her arms around his neck.

I grinned and turned to Sirius with a smirk and my arms crossed. He was scowling a mumbling curse words under his breath and shoved his hand in his pocket and then produced a sickle. I held out my hand and he dropped the sickle into my palm and trudged off.

~~~

“We’re playing Hufflepuff tomorrow, just to remind you. So, we’re going to be practicing quite a lot today.” James said, just before stuffing his face with his lunch. His eyebrows knitted together, “Oi! Sirius! Did you even hear me?”

I looked over at Sirius who was staring at a particular 7th year Ravenclaw girl named Lena Holmes. Not only was she a descendant of Sherlock Holmes, but she was also a quarter Veela. She actually hated the fact that there was Veela blood in her because she wanted guys to like her for her brains and wit rather than her looks. She would actually tie her long brown hair up in special braids that would make her hair look like a mohawk just to try and bay off men. But, of course, they all still think she is beautiful and still fawn over her - much to her dismay. She had green eyes, a beautiful olive complexion, and full, luscious lips.

“Oi! Padfoot!” James waved his hand in Sirius’s face.

Sirius shook his head and then looked annoyingly at James, “What?”

“Practice, after classes. Just to remind you, Jeeze. No need to get snippy.” James scoffed and went back to his food.

“I’m thinking of asking her out.” Sirius stated clearly, with a confident and determined look on his face as he looked back over at Lena.

Remus choked on his pumpkin juice, James snickered, Peter let out a tiny laugh, while Lily and I just scoffed in disbelief. Sirius glared at us all, “What? What’s so funny?”

“It’s just…” Remus began and then looked over at James, “James, help me out here.”

“Well, Padfoot, look at her - she’s gorgeous - but not as gorgeous as you, Lily!” he said quickly.

“Nice save.” she mumbled before rolling her eyes.

“I’m not going to risk saying anything else. Mooney, explain.” James ordered.

Remus sighed, “Alright, here it is. You don’t have a chance.”

Sirius scoffed, “What? You’re joking right? Come on! Look at me!”

I looked at him like he was an idiot -which he was.

“She’s gorgeous - I’m gorgeous. We’d be perfect together!” Sirius continued to argue.

“Sirius, if Amilia wouldn’t go out with you, what in the bloody hell would make you think Lena would?” Remus stated, making an excellent point.

Sirius rolled his eyes, “But that’s Amilia. She likes guys like that prat, Regulus. She’s obviously loopy.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed and Sirius only smirked and shrugged.

“Look, mate, I’m sorry, but she specifically likes guys who don’t like her because of her looks, and you specifically like her because of her looks. “ James stated.

“Or, maybe she just needs a guy who is just as good looking as her.” Sirius stated triumphantly, obviously talking about himself.

“Yeah, but, where are you gonna find one of those?” I asked quizzically, a small smirk on my face. The group gave out some laughter and Sirius leaned over to glare at me.

“Well, you seem to not want me to go out with her. You wouldn’t be coming to your senses now, and wanna go out with me, would you?” Sirius smirked.

“Ha!” I actually wasn’t jealous at all that he was interested in Lena. Maybe it was the fact that I knew there was no way they would actually go out - no. It was the fact that I didn’t like Sirius. Not one bit. “Oh, yes, Sirius. Please, don’t go out with Lena! Go out with me instead!” I exclaimed sarcastically, jokingly fawning over her.

He just glared at me, “Well, I’m going for it.” Sirius stood up and stood there for a moment, inhaling deeply before walking towards Lena and her group of friends.

They all stopped there conversation and looked over and watched as Sirius walked over to them. Lena had a scowl on her face, knowing full well what Sirius was going to do. Once he reached their group he leaned over, but quickly turned his back to Lena and began talking to another Ravenclaw girl. The blond Ravenclaw girl that has seemed to have had a crush on Sirius since the beginning of the year.

“What is he doing?” James mumbled.

I watched, also confused, but then looked at Lena who was watching Sirius deeply - with intrigue. He must have been the first boy who went over there and didn’t ask Lena out on a date, and that made Lena interested in Sirius. His strategy was to make Lena want him.

“Clever, Padfoot.” I mumbled, impressed.

He then winked at the blonde - I think her name was Clair Lewis - and gave her a charming smile and stood up and began to walk over to us. Behind him, Lena leaned over and quickly began talking to Clair, and after a few moments her face became angry and they began to argue. Clair was shaking her head furiously and their words fused together as the group began to get into a heated debate.

Sirius sat back down with a triumphant smile, “Gee, I wonder what they could be talking about.” he said innocently.

“Sirius, you dog!” James said, clearly admiring Sirius’s skill. “That was brilliant!”

“Brilliant?” Lily said, looking slightly disgusted. “Look at what Sirius did to their friendship!”

We looked over to see Lena was standing up towering over Clair and talking down at her with a furious glare.

We all looked back at Sirius who just shrugged. “I guess they weren’t that good of friends if their going to fight like that over a boy.” he smirked once more and began to eat his food again.

There was something different about Sirius now that was making me smile lightly. He was different. Usually he was cocky, but now he seemed just confident. And he didn’t have that weird look in his eye when he looked at me now - that look that clearly stated that he fancied me. And that’s when I realized - Sirius Black was over me.

My heart dropped.