I Can See You

Making the Moves

The Gryffindors were already at the Care Of Magical Creatures class when the Slytherins began sauntering to the open space near the Forbidden Forest.

Remus walked over to Natasha when he saw her.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hi back." Those were the only words she managed to utter.

"Look, I'll understand if you would rather partner James for the next few lessons."

Guilt was written all over Natasha's face. "I would like to work with you instead," she replied without a trace of doubt. "Unless you would rather pair up with Evans?"

"No," he said quickly, giving her a tentative smile. "I think the two of us work rather well together."

"Great!" she let out a breath and beamed at him. "Let's go get the third member of our team."

"Third...oh, you mean the Malaclaw?"

Natasha feigned annoyance. "Thought for a moment that I've got you there. Are you always so smart, Lupin?"

"No, there're many things I wished I've known sooner." Remus looked at her meaningfully and she caught herself wondering how much James had told him.

"I wonder if we can choose a tamer Malaclaw today. The one we had last week was a little wild," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"He was," she agreed, chuckling. "Perhaps we can feed it some potion to make it drowsy."

"Professor Kettleburn will see through that right away."

"Then perhaps we can feed him some too," Natasha quipped, only half-joking.

*

Natasha was trying to coax their Malaclaw to eat the shrimps, but it would not even go near its feed. Instead, it seemed more interested in Natasha's fingers which were dangling dangerously over the edge of the box it was trapped in.

"If you dare to bite my finger, I'll hex you with an unforgivable curse," Natasha mumbled under her breath.

"Natasha?"

"Yes?" she replied immediately, suddenly fearful that Remus had overheard her threat to the creature.

Remus kept his eyes on the tiny box of woodlice he was holding. "Will you be going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Natasha relaxed. "I will be, of course."

She waited for Remus to continue, but he suddenly seemed very occupied with watching what Sirius and Briana Lilian were doing next to them. Briana was doing most of the work, while Sirius idly poked his wand at the shrimps.

Natasha decided then and there that patience was not one of her virtues. "Do you want to meet me somewhere at Hogsmeade?"

Remus looked both relieved and surprised at the same time. "Yes. Would you like that? We can meet at the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer."

"I'd like that." She smiled at him as she discreetly pinched her arm to make sure she was not dreaming.

*

"Lily!" James cried, exasperated.

Lily totally refused to speak to him.

"Let me explain!"

Lily continued to ignore him.

James decided to take the last resort. Surely a little white lie would not hurt? "I did that on purpose," he said aloud.

Lily looked up sharply. Her eyes were cold.

"I'm not interested in Natasha Strauss. It has always been only you all these years. I was just trying to make you jealous, to find out how you really feel about me."

The ice in Lily's green eyes slowly melted.

"Look, I had no idea if I matter to you. But now at least I have a clue." James tried his most charming smile. He ran his fingers through his hair, but only succeeded in making it messier than ever.

Lily could not hide the smile that kept creeping into her lips.

James cleared his throat. "How about having a drink at Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Her expression betrayed her surprise and delight. She almost thought he would never ask.

*

"I can't wait for the Hogsmeade visit. I'm running out of sweets," Peter exclaimed, anticipation written all over his face.

Remus shifted uncomfortably. "You guys have to go ahead without me. I'm meeting someone."

"Is that someone Natasha Strauss by any chance?" James teased.

Remus coloured slightly but maintained his composure nonetheless. "You don't mind right, Prongs?"

"Why should I?" James did not doubt that Natasha was attractive in her own way, but wondered how he was blind enough to even think for a moment that she was more charming than Lily. To James, Lily was perfect and every member of the fairer sex paled in comparison.

Sirius shot his friend a look of amusement. "Because just a few days ago, you went ga-ga over the same girl?"

James shrugged. "She's all right. But my Lily's way better. It must be the headache that clouded my judgement that day."

Sirius gave a loud playful snort before returning his attention to Remus. "So Moony, you've finally asked her for a date? Good for you!"

Remus smiled and did not reply. He would not tell Sirius that his guess was only half-right. Remus had intended to ask Natasha, but she beat him to it.

"So what will the two of you be doing?" Peter asked curiously.

"We'll just be meeting at the Three Broomsticks for a drink."

"The Three Broomsticks?" James mused thoughtfully. "Alright. We'll be there."

"You'll what?" Remus sputtered. "I don't remember inviting you!"

Sirius grinned mischievously at Remus. "We'll be there to play babysitter. If you need our help, we'll get things going in the right direction between you and Strauss."

Remus was aghast. "I'm not a kid. Thank you very much, but I'd rather you guys not be there."

"Ouch! That hurts!" James pretended to be wounded. "We feel so needed!"

Sirius laughed out loud till he caught sight of the crossed look on Remus' face. "Oh alright. We're just pulling your leg. Prongs and I will be there but that's only because we are double-dating."

Sirius leaned over and told Remus in a mock whisper, "Prongs is scared of being alone with Lily and I've graciously agreed to babysit him."

"Hey, I heard that! You're lying, old dog. You're the one who's afraid that Kathleen Curtis will bore you to tears and begged to tag along with us!"

Remus frowned. He remembered that Kathleen was Natasha's closest friend at Hogwarts. "Why don't you just forget about the bet?"

"Very funny." James brushed off Remus' suggestion before asking Sirius, "Have you asked her yet?"

Sirius shrugged casually. "Not yet, but I'll get that over and done with in thirty minutes."

James nodded, satisfied with Sirius' reply.

"What about me?" Peter asked in a small voice. "It seems that all of you have made plans for the Hogsmeade trip."

"We thought you can hang around with Moony." James looked guilty for a moment but quickly recovered. "Don't worry, Wormtail. You can join us as long as you can find a date."

"Yeah, you're welcome to join us as long as your date is not that filthy Severus Snape," Sirius quipped, stifling a laugh.

Peter kept silent. Severus Snape, a sixth-year Slytherin, was presently Peter's partner for the Care of Magical Creatures. They were the only ones who could not find a partner and was ordered by Professor Kettleburn to work together. Peter was not happy at all with this arrangement as Snape was an odd slime ball whom James and Sirius often picked on whenever they felt like it. Peter felt he was a league above Snape. Though his friends had been making an obvious effort not to mock him for the pair-up, Peter was sure that they were all laughing at him behind his back. And Peter was feeling increasingly resentful that they did not look out for him as he thought they should.

*

In the meantime, the Slytherin girls were also excitedly discussing the Hogsmeade trip, in their Herbology class.

"I've heard about some new perfume that changes its scent according to the wearer's moods. I'll certainly make that my first stop," Pamela told her friends.

"I'm looking forward to my Firewhiskey at The Hog's Head," Tessa said.

"And I'll be contented with my butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks," Natasha quipped happily.

Her friends stopped whatever they were doing and stared at Natasha.

Tessa was the first to speak. "Are you crazy, Nat? Why would you want to go to the Three Broomsticks when you can enjoy Firewhiskey at Hog's Head? At least we can be sure that we'll not meet any silly students from the other Houses."

"Not all Gryffindors are silly, you know." Natasha continued her mysterious grin.

"Are you going out with that Gryffindor prefect?" Kathleen guessed.

"Smart girl!" Natasha beamed at the dark-haired girl.

"That's great, Nat! Congrats and well...good luck!" Kathleen would have given the blonde a hug if her hands were not covered with soil.

Pamela snorted. "You're out of your mind, Nat. How can you even think of dating a Gryffindor?"

"Wait till Jason hears about this!" Tessa added with equal disapproval.

Natasha's smile faltered. "Hey, you girls are my friends and you ought to support me! Anyway, who cares about Jason's reaction? He's only my Quidditch captain."

"I still don't think you're doing the right thing." Pamela shook her head firmly.

Kathleen decided to defend her friend. "Girls, quit bothering Nat. She knows what she's doing."

Tessa frowned and told Kathleen, "You're only supporting her because you would like to date a Gryffindor too. But I think you can forget about Sirius Black. He may be cute, but it's a well-known fact that he doesn't date Slytherins."

Kathleen bit her lower lip and did not utter another word for the rest of the lesson.

*

Kathleen's spirits lifted as soon as she caught sight of Sirius Black standing outside the greenhouse when her Herbology lesson ended. She was about to attribute that to a stroke of luck when Sirius called out her name. She stopped dead in her tracks and waited, unable to believe her ears till she heard him utter her name again.

As Kathleen numbly began to make her way towards Sirius, Natasha caught her arm and hissed, "Kate, ignore him!"

"Now I think you're crazy, Nat. I've waited more than five years for Sirius Black to notice me! I'm not giving up this chance!"

Kathleen brushed off Natasha's hand and approached Sirius uncertainly. "You called me?" She found her voice a little more high-pitched than usual.

"You've heard right." Sirius turned on his charm. "James and Lily are meeting at the Three Broomsticks this Saturday. I think the two of us can doubledate with them."

Kathleen's mouth fell open as she stared wide-eyed at Sirius. Is it possible to dream while you're still awake?

Sirius was becoming a little impatient. "So you want to doubledate with them?"

"You're asking me for a date?"

"Yes, I am. So is this a yes or a no?"

Kathleen could only nod.

"Great!" Sirius flashed her a smile again. "I'll see you at the Three Broomsticks then. Two o'clock."

As Sirius turned and walked away, Kathleen's knees almost buckled.

I have a date with Sirius Black! She wanted to shout to the world. If this is a dream, I'll never want to wake up from it.

***