The Misadventures of Padfoot and Prongs

"Alright, study through pages 237-245, and we'll pick back up there tomorrow," said Sirius, who was sitting up in bed, his favorite Ravenclaw seated facing him on the edge of it. Lyra just nodded and began placing her copy of Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, parchments, ink and quill in her bag.

"Thanks again, Sirius," she said. "You've been a big help."

Sirius grabbed her arm lightly as she turned, "Is everything alright?"

Lyra just smiled, "Yeah, just a little tired."
As Sirius studied her face, he noticed that there was something off about her expression. She wouldn't quite look him in the eyes, and her smile wasn't the one she usually wore. Her mood was significantly deflated as compared to how it had been. She was definitely hiding something, which he would have been fine with, if it wasn't something that had so obviously upset her in some way.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Sirius. "You don't look it."

"Says the guy with his side punctured," said Lyra, not quite joking. "At least I didn't do anything stupid to get myself in my situation."

"I'm-what?" his grey eyes looked at her confused.

Lyra sighed, "I'm sorry Sirius. I'm not feeling to well and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Night Sirius."

Before he could stop her, Lyra had walked out the doors. Sirius sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, his mind trying to wrap around what had happen, but gave up and turned to talk to a tired Remus.

Meanwhile, James was almost at the Hospital Wing when a smaller body ran into him and a couple books and loose parchment feel to the floor. Immediately, James kneeled down to pick up the persons belongings. When he stood up straight with the books in his arms, he saw that he had bumped into Lyra, presumably on her way out of the Hospital Wing.

"Fancy seeing you here, Lyra," said James.

"Hello, James," she said, taking her books back from him. Unable to forget the image of her slapping her boyfriend at breakfast, James couldn't resist asking about it.

"So, what really happened this morning? I know you, and you don't go about slapping people who don't deserve it,"

Sighing, Lyra looked around the hallway, which still had some first years hanging about, before dragging James into a more private place to talk.

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you now can't be repeated. Understood?" said Lyra, giving him and look that meant if he disobeyed, he'd be in serious trouble with her.

James held up his hands in surrender, "Understood! Wait... how bad is it?"

"It's completely insulting, and I don't want any rumors floating about."

"Won't repeat it, got it," said James. "So what happened?"

"You remember when I went to sit with Octavian, right?"

"Of course I do," said James rolling his eyes, "I mean, it's not like you do it every day or anything, and it's not like you caused the whole Great Hall to be completely silent for about two minutes."

Lyra blushed and looked away, her shoes suddenly becoming very interesting to her. "Was it really that bad?"

James gave her a pointed look, but said, "What did he do?"

"You know how I sometimes sit with Sirius and Remus and watch you practice Quidditch with your team?"

"Yes... what does that have to do with Octavian?"

"Well.. He basically asked me to spy for him. Tell him how you play, what your weaknesses and strengths are, what your strategies and plays will be for the next games."

James hazel eyes might as well have turned red, as that was just about all he saw. He couldn't believe that a Ravenclaw would be so... Slytherin. "What did you tell him?"

"Well you saw what I told him, didn't you? I slapped him right across the face! The nerve of him..."

"So you're not gonna spy," James let out a sigh of relief.

"Of course not! You're my friends! And I want Ravenclaw to beat Gryffindor by playing fairly. I would never sink as low as a Slytherin to get what I want. The team who deserves to win will win, and that's that."

"Well, I'm glad to call you friend," James smiled at the Ravenclaw. "What are you gonna do about Octavian? You aren't going to date him after that are you?"

"I honestly don't know. Part of me, a big part I'll have you know, says to just end it now. But he did profusely apologize, and I know he cares about me. I don't want to break his heart, you know? He may be an ass sometimes, but he's a good person."

"What about you? Do you care for him? Do you care if he breaks your heart?" James questioned. "The two of you don't seem to have a great dynamic. It doesn't seem like you care for him as much as he does you."

"I.. I don't want to get my heart broken, no, and you're right about me not feeling the same way about him as he does for me, but I just.." she left the sentence hanging, unable to think of an actual solid reason for staying with Octavian.

"Maybe you should dump him," said James, acting in thought. "I think I have a friend who would be perfect for you. You know Sirius Black, right? You know, tall, long girly black hair, grey eyes?"

Lyra laughed, nodding her head. "Yeah, I might've met him once or twice."

"What would you say if he were to ask you to Hogsmeade or something?" James smirked.

"That is if you were single."

"Hmm.." Lyra mocked a deeply thinking expression. "You know, I might be inclined to take him up on his offer."

James looked slightly taken back, as he didn't think she would ever admit something like that. However he recovered and said, "Oh, given this some thought, Sumner?"

Cheeks tinted a light pink, Lyra said, "Maybe just a little," holding her index finger and thumb apart a miniscule distance.

James smirked, "I think you should leave Octavian and get with Padfoot."

"Has Sirius given you any reason to believe that he would be interested in that?" Lyra knew that Sirius was indeed interested, but she wanted to hear it from his best friend.

"Has he given you any reason to believe that he wouldn't be interested?" James smiled a knowing smile. "I can guarentee you that if you leave Octavian, Sirius will ask you out."

"I'll be breaking up with Octavian then," said Lyra. "I'm fairly certain Sirius would be the better choice for me anyway. I don't see him asking me to spy for him any time soon."

"He values friendship over most anything," said James. "He would never ask you to spy on your friends."

"That's certainly comforting," said Lyra before bidding James goodbye and going her separate way.

Nearly a fortnight had passed, and with the approach of the Christmas break, also came another trip to Hogsmeade. The majority of the students old enough to go jumped at the chance to roam the snowy streets, also taking it as an opportunity to buy presents for their friends and loved ones.

James, Peter and Sirius walked into the Three Broomsticks for their usual butterbeer. Remus was, as one might guess, with the ever-clinging Janet, who had practically refused to let him out of her sight since she found out he was in the Hospital Wing.

As they sat down around the table with their foaming tankards, Sirius turned to James for the thousandth time and asked, "Are you sure that's what she said?"

"Yes. For the billionth time, Sirius, that's what she said. I told her she should break up with her boyfriend and her exact words were 'I'll be breaking up with Octavian then. I'm fairly certain Sirius would be the better choice for me," said James, exasperation filling his voice.

"But then why-"

"I haven't the faintest," James sighed, looking out the frost-covered window to see the girl in question, walking down the street, hand in hand with her boyfriend. Lyra had said that she would be leaving Octavian, but had still not done so. He couldn't think of why, since all they seemed to do nowadays was fight anyway, you'd think it'd be simpler if she just ended it. All of this left not only him, but also Sirius thoroughly confused.

Leaning his head back, Sirius stared at the ceiling. There was a chandelier above his head, candles flickering golden light down upon them. He stared at one candle in particluar, zoing out completely. He was so out of it that he hadn't noticed James calling his name until, suddenly, his chair jerked backwards with the force of a kick. Sitting upright in shock, Sirius looked around the table and saw James, his trademark smile beaming back at him.

"Good. I got your attention," said James. "Now, just because she hasn't ended it with him yet doesn't mean that you should give up. Why not try buying her a gift for Christmas, to show her that you care?"

"A gift like what?" asked Sirius.

"Oh, um, well.." James looked perplexed, "I hadn't really gotten that far in the plan."

"Wonderful-" but Sirius didn't get to finish it as his eyes caught Remus walking in the pub, alone.

The boy spotted his three friends and hastily made his way over, confusion written on his face.

"You all right, Rem?" asked James as he sat down.

"I broke up with Janet," he said, in a slight daze.

Sirius smiled and patted Remus on the back, "That's brilliant, mate! She was beginning to
irritate us all!"

"Yeah, which is why I'm glad to be away from her."

"Then why don't you look happy?" asked Peter.

Remus sighed, and leaned over the table, motioning them all to do the same, "She was reading the Daily Prophet this morning and found out about recent werewolf attacks. So this entire day, her and her friends-who decided to accompany us- talked about how horrible werewolves are every chance they got. I just couldn't take it any more, pulled her aside and broke up with her. Then I came here."

The three boys all shared similar looks, and James spoke up, "Moony, don't listen to her. You're not like those werewolves, you've never attacked any of us-"

"I am too. It's not like we can exactly control ourselves during the full moon," Remus placed his head in his hands, "And I haven't attack you yet, but that doesn't mean I wont."

Sirius placed a comforting hand on Remus' shoulder, "Stop thinking so negatively. You have us, and we wont let you attack anyone as long as we're around. Janet's a bitch, and you're better than she is. Forget about what she said."

"And how do you suggest I do that?" Remus gave a small smile to his fellow Gryffindor as he spoke.

"Easy," said James. "Help us help Sirius win over Lyra."

Remus raised his eyebrow, so James and Sirius went into a detailed explanation of what was happening in the life of the Ravenclaw.

"You're like a bloody soap opera," said Remus, looking between James and Sirius.

"Oh, well thank you for that comparison," said Sirius, while James started laughing.

"Come on now, we've got women to shop for," said James, drinking the last of his butterbeer and standing up from the table. His three friends followed suit, each of them throwing a few sickles on the table for Madam Rosmerta.

When they left the tavern, Peter spotted a new jewelers down the road called Pandora's Box. The was a large display window with various glittering necklaces and bracelets for sale, all at reasonable prices. Taking this as the perfect place for their needs, the boys went inside.
Unluckily for James and Sirius, just because they found a jeweler didn't mean they knew what to buy. Neither of them had ever bought anything nice for a girl before, so this was all very new and uncomfortable, as the woman behind the register kept giving them strange looks.

"I have absolutely no idea what she'll like," said Sirius, looking at all the items for sale as if they were the bane of his existence.

"Maybe get her something with Ravenclaw colors, but that also has some significance to your friendship?" Remus had been throwing out random ideas since they arrived, but this was the only one that was remotely helpful.

"Padfoot, what about these?" asked James, holding up two charm bracelets; one with bronze rings and sapphire charms, and the other with gold rings and ruby charms. There was also space for other charms to be added at will. Sirius gratefully lifted the one with Ravenclaw colors off his friend and continued looking to see if he could find any other charms to go with it.

There were draws filled with different themed charms, so Sirius decided to take a look inside. The first drawer he opened was labeled Animals. After much sifting, he managed to find a small black dog, and an eagle, both of which were highly appropriate. He also grabbed one of a roaring lion, and one of a stag, for James. Each of the animals were in motion; the lion actually roaring, the dog barking, the eagle flapping it's wings, and the stag shaking it's antlers back and forth

"Hey, Sirius," said Remus.

"Yeah?" Sirius turned away from the drawer and faced his friend.

"I think I'm gonna buy them these, to go with the bracelets you're getting them," Remus held up one charm that was a tiny stack of books, and another that was a tiara with the words Beauty Queen blinking different colors etched across it. "Guess which one's for Lyra," Remus smirked and Sirius laughed at the memory of her makeover, which seemed so long ago now.

The boys paid for their gifts and left the store in significantly higher spirits.