I Can See You

The First Dates II: Progress

"Does Remus really like Strauss?" Lily asked James as soon as they were alone.

"I guess so," he replied slowly, "why do you ask?"

Lily continued to look worried but did not say a word.

"Don't tell me you're one of those who think that a Gryffindor shouldn't date a Slytherin."

"Do I look that narrow-minded?" Lily snapped. "But surely you guys are aware of who her father is?"

"Daniel Strauss?" James shrugged. "Just because her dad is a dark wizard, it doesn't mean Natasha should be ostracized. She seems perfectly alright to me."

"I have this feeling Natasha Strauss is not as simple as she seems, James. Don't you remember who was her best friend at school?"

Now James was more confused than ever. "Kathleen? We've all just met her and she's perfectly normal, isn't she? At least she can hold a decent conversation with the rest of -"

"I don't mean Kathleen, James! I like her. In fact, I've always thought she'll fit in better in Gryffindor than in Slytherin," Lily cut in impatiently. "I was referring to Julia Welch. Strauss and Welch were inseparable, remember?"

"Yeah, but she died -" James stopped suddenly. He finally had an inkling to Lily's worries. "So you've doubts about Natasha because her dad is a dark wizard and her ex-best friend died in the midst of some dark arts ritual?"

She nodded.

He considered for a moment. "Nah, I still think she's fine," he concluded. "What I'm more worried about is whether she'll still feel the same towards Remus after she finds out about what he turns into every full moon."

*

Hannah let out a sigh of relief when she caught sight of her fellow Hufflepuffs some distance away. "Thanks for the butterbeer, Peter. I'll see you around."

Peter cursed under his breath as he watched Hannah hurriedly walked away from him.

*

Sirius rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. He had thought with relief back at the Three Broomsticks that his date did not turn out as bad as he had expected. He had to give Kathleen credit for fitting into the group rather well, being able to participate in the flowing conversation without much effort, laughing at all the right moments, and being able to throw in a few hilarious remarks of her own. Sirius liked girls with a healthy sense of humour.

But all that had changed since they stepped out of the bar. She just clammed up and had not uttered a single word for the past ten minutes. And Sirius was bored. Very bored.

"If we're going to keep walking like this, we'll reach Hogwarts in no time," he finally broke the silence.

Kathleen stopped walking and looked at Sirius apologetically. "I'm sorry," she said with all sincerity.

He raised a brow in amusement at how seriously she took his sarcastic remark. "For making me walk half a mile?"

"No," she replied in a quiet voice. "For the scene just now."

"But you didn't do anything! It wasn't your fault. It was the oh-look-at-me-I'm-so-pure Jason Lindow who spoilt the party!"

Kathleen couldn't resist smiling at Sirius' description of Jason.

"I sure hope he'll manage to scrape through his exams this year," he added wickedly when he noticed that she was lightening up.

She giggled. "So that we'll not have to see him at school next year?"

"I sure won't miss having that fool around!"

Kathleen must be feeling brave as her next question surprised even herself. "You're just hoping that Jason will leave so that the Slytherin team will lose our best Chaser. If I've not miscounted, Jason scored exactly the same number of goals as you did last year."

"I didn't noticed you were keeping track," Sirius teased and the girl promptly flushed hotly.

"Lindow may not be too bad a Chaser," he admitted, "but he's a lousy team-player."

"We noticed that too." She grimaced. "He would hog the Quaffle and even when he's cornered, he'll never think of letting Ted and Charlotte have a go at it." Ted Reeds and Charlotte Radford were Slytherin's other Chasers.

"He obviously wants to keep his title as Slytherin's most precious Chaser."

"Do you know that Ted hardly gets to touch the Quaffle even at practices? How is he going to improve if he hardly gets any hands-on?" Kathleen said exasperatedly, before biting her tongue. "I've said too much."

He seemed to realise at about the same time that they had stepped over the boundaries. For the first time that day, he felt uncomfortable. He was just airing his views about someone whom he disliked, and had no intention of prying for information on the dynamics of his rival team. "Don't worry," he assured her. "You've not told me anything I've not already noticed."

She nodded wordlessly.

Sirius, anxious to break the silence that settled between them again, asked the first question he could think of. "What do you do in your free time?" He berated himself as soon as he uttered those words. Oh darn! Very witty, Sirius Black! What a dumb and boring question!

But she did not seem to think there was anything wrong with his query. "I hang out with Natasha and my other dorm mates a lot. And I also try to practice transfiguration whenever I have little pockets of time."

His interest level shot up. Transfiguration was his favourite subject. "You must be very good with all that practice."

To his surprise, Kathleen shook her head and her cheeks were colouring again. "I suck at that subject. Every other subject is fine, but when it comes to transfiguration, I just can't get it right somehow. I suspect Professor McGonagall hates me for always holding up the class."

She looked so miserable and embarrassed that Sirius almost felt guilty that he never needed to put in special effort in any of his subjects. All came naturally to him. A rash thought came to his mind. "I'll teach you," he said.

Kathleen's face lit up. "You mean it?"

"Sure," he replied, telling himself that he would probably regret his offer five minutes later.

"When and how do we start?" she asked in all eagerness.

"In two days' time. I'll give you a crash course on Monday."

Kathleen beamed, fighting an urge to blow him a kiss.

*

Remus and Natasha left the Honeydukes empty-handed. Both were preoccupied with other thoughts, and sweets were the furthest thing on their minds at that moment.

"How would you have reacted if I had chosen to leave with Jason?" she asked suddenly.

When Remus did not reply, she asked again, "Would you have at least tried to stop me?"

"If you had willingly chosen to leave with him, there's nothing I could have done."

That was certainly not the reply she wanted to hear. "That'll be your response? Do nothing? Am I not worth any effort on your part?"

"I'm glad you did not leave with him."

"That's all?" Natasha was still unsatisfied. "Lupin, I want to know if whatever I feel is just one-sided."

Remus might lack experience when it came to romance, but he was certainly no fool. He knew exactly what she was demanding to know. "I like you, Natasha," he said softly, as she drew in a sharp breath. "I believe I like you more than as an ordinary friend."

"Kiss me."

His jaw fell. "What?"

"You heard me. I want you to kiss me."

"Here? Now?" he asked, shocked. They were not exactly standing at a deserted spot. In fact, it was the most crowded spot in Hogsmeade.

"I want to know how much you like me. Show it to me now."

Remus decided to throw caution to the wind. He lifted her face gently with a finger under her chin, bent down his head and met her lips. Both of them were shaking from the passion that flared between them as the kiss deepened.

Natasha was finally contented. Remus had not only showed her, but also himself. He cared more than he knew he did.

*

News of the kiss shared between Remus and Natasha spread quickly and by dinnertime, there was not a single student in Hogwarts, even the first and second years, who had not heard about it.

Remus and Natasha were too enveloped in their little bubble of happiness to care.

"Nice going, Lupin!" Jed Matthews, the Head Boy told Remus as he passed the Gryffindor table. Remus had received so many pats on his back from his schoolmates over the past two hours that he had lost count. Natasha also had her hands grabbed by well-wishers congratulating her, half of whom she did not even recognise.

In fact, most of the student population were excited to witness a Gryffindor-Slytherin couple. Many said that it was a first in Hogwarts history, till a fifth-year Ravenclaw cited another example decades ago to prove otherwise.

Not all were pleased by the news. Many Slytherins were disturbed that its Beater was dating a Gryffindor, and worse, a non-pure blood. But most of them were too in awe of Natasha's family background to dare to show their displeasure. Many decided to adopt a sceptical view to the relationship and some had even begun placing bets amongst themselves as to how long the romance would last.

Natasha sat with her dorm mates, glad that at least she had friends on her side. Kathleen had managed to convince Tessa and Pamela to give Natasha's new romance their blessings.

Dominic, who was seated next to them, leaned over and asked, "Is what I heard true? About you and Lupin?"

The broad smile on the blonde's face told him the answer.

"What a foolish decision!" a quiet voice was heard saying and everyone at Natasha's end of the table gasped and stared at Severus Snape.

Natasha threw her fork onto the table and stalked to Snape, eyes flashing. "It's a foolish decision to voice your thoughts without being asked, Snape," she hissed. "I'd advise you to keep such comments to yourself unless you want my father to have a word with Lord Voldemort."

The Slytherins seated nearby cringed. Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of their time, was hardly ever addressed by his name. Most in the wizarding community referred to him as 'You-Know-Who'.

No one knew Daniel Strauss' relationship with Voldemort, except that they were on close terms. Many attributed that to a mutually-beneficial relationship. Both dark wizards had similar ambitions and possibly comparable skills, but Daniel Strauss did not go about his dark practices as blatantly as Voldemort did. And many had suspected that Daniel Strauss had been the one financing Voldemort's recruitment of followers, or what he named 'deatheaters'.

Snape paled. He had recently been recruited into Voldemort's fold but all deatheaters were reminded to keep their identities a secret. But she knew. That Natasha Strauss. And she was close to blowing his cover.

"Don't mess with me, Snape." Natasha hissed loud enough for her fellow Slytherins to hear, knowing that would take care of any objections to her newfound relationship with Remus.

*

The mood over at the Gryffindor table was vastly different.

"I'm so proud of you, Moony!" Sirius told his friend.

"Yeah, you really surprised me! Who would have thought our nice prefect Moony would choose to smooch his girl right in front of Honeydukes!" James quipped.

"I've one complaint though," Sirius added.

Remus quickly looked at his friend with concern and wariness, ready to defend his choice and action.

Sirius struggled to keep a straight face. "You should have given us some heads-up. We could have been there to watch."

Remus jabbed an elbow into his friend's ribs good-naturedly. "So how did your dates go?" he asked the other Marauders.

James glanced around the table and noticed that Lily, seated only two seats away from them, was listening to their conversation.

"Perfect!" James grinned at Remus before slyly look at Lily, "Shall we follow Remus' example? You can pick between the entrance hall and the courtyard!"

Lily's glare at James promptly made him shut up, and he decided to change the subject. "So how was Holly, Wormtail?"

"Her name was Hannah," Peter corrected. "It was okay. We just walked around till it was time to assemble," he lied. He did not want his friends to know that he could not even handle the plain-looking Hufflepuff.

"What about you, Padfoot?" James asked. "Did your date bore you to tears like you feared?"

"She wasn't as bad as I thought." Sirius looked slightly uneasy, and added lamely, "at least she's normal."

"She has a healthy sense of humor," James said approvingly.

"You're such a sucker for green eyes, Prongs."

"Maybe we can rope her in to help in our next prank."

A smile curved on Sirius' lips. "Speaking of pranks, perhaps we should let old Snape take a little break."

James read his best friend's mind immediately. "There's someone else who deserves a good spanking."

Remus grinned. "We Marauders always aim to please!"

"So be it," Peter summed up eagerly.

***