I Can See You

Prefects' Bathroom

Sirius kicked at the grass in frustration.

Where is she?

After what took place at the Quidditch match, he had no doubt she would turn up. She obviously still cared for him.

So where is she? he asked himself again. It was not supposed to be this way. She was supposed to turn up, listen to his simple explanation, and everything would be all right again. But there he was, waiting under the oak tree for over an hour.

Like a fool.

Disappointment and frustration soon gave way to anger. What gave her the right to stand me up? To make a fool out of me? Sirius pushed back the little voice in his head that reminded him that she had not agreed to meet him. Who cares about Kathleen Curtis anyway? I can have any girl I want. I'm Sirius Black. I'm not about to grovel at some girl's feet. It's her loss, not mine.

"Sirius!"

He turned sharply towards the group of fifth-year Gryffindors approaching him.

"Oh Sirius, we know that you're upset with the outcome of the match," Linda Dawson cooed.

"Don't take it to heart!"

Elizabeth Hins, the most attractive of the three girls, batted her long eyelashes at him. "We were the better team. You were absolutely fantastic! It was just plain rotten luck that Brutus caught the Snitch."

"If anyone was to blame, it was Simon!" Maggie Barnes, the last member of the group added, "Simon should have beaten Dominic Brutus to it."

"Or it was Jason Lindow fault. He played dirty!" Elizabeth reinforced, and the other two girls nodded their heads enthusiastically.

"I don't want to talk about the match," Sirius told the girls with a little frown.

"Not another word," Linda quickly agreed, slipping her arm through Sirius'. "Let's go back to the Gryffindor Tower."

Sirius forced a grin and allowed the girls to lead him away.

*

Kathleen was in the Slytherin common room, clutching a book tightly in front of her when Tessa entered through the stone door.

"Hi Kate," Tessa greeted before flinging herself onto one of the carved chairs. "Kathleen Curtis!" she yelled when she did not get a response from the dark-haired girl.

"Yes?" Kathleen answered distractedly.

"Your book is upside down."

"Huh?"

"You're holding your book upside down!" Tessa repeated in a louder voice. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. Just a little tired, I guess," Kathleen fibbed.

"You're sure?"

"Certainly."

Tessa leaned back into the chair. "I would have thought you have more energy these days since you don't have to take those extra lessons anymore."

Hurt flickered in Kathleen's green eyes. "No more lessons. Ever."

Tessa nodded her approval. "I guessed as much. In fact, I just saw your personal tutor a minute ago. Oh...your ex-tutor, I mean."

"You did? You saw him?" Kathleen put away the book and leaned forward eagerly. "Was he under the oak tree at the courtyard?"

Tessa gave her a look that betrayed her suspicion that her friend had lost her mind. "I saw Black along the corridors. He had his arms around two Gryffindor girls. And a third girl was hovering around him like a little fly."

Kathleen's face fell. So he was trying to pull another trick on her. She had decided not to meet him because of the words in his last letter: I promise never to bother you again. Now she was infinitely glad that she did not go. If she had foolishly turned up, it would no doubt make her the subject of ridicule again, and add another notch to Sirius' long list of victories and conquests. Kathleen Curtis will never be humiliated or made fun of by anyone again, she vowed.

"Are you alright?" Tessa peered into Kathleen's face, puzzled.

Instead of replying, Kathleen dashed up the stairs as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Nat! Nat!" she yelled as she burst into her dormitory.

Natasha, who was casting spells to get rid of creases on her clothes, put down her wand and gave Kathleen her undivided attention.

"I've changed my mind," Kathleen panted. "I want a new guy and I want him soon."

*

Natasha was beginning to regret coming up with this plan. It seemed like a perfect idea an hour ago. Now, she was almost ready to give up.

Why did she come up with the stupid idea of searching for a potential guy for Kathleen...in the prefects' bathroom? Natasha had been adamant that her friend should date someone of a higher standing in the school than Sirius Black. A prefect would be the obvious chance. And the only place to see them all at once was...where else but here?

The air was humid and steam from the large bath was bothering her. And then she had to make a conscious effort to keep her gaze at her eye level and nowhere lower.

Natasha was glad for some reason that Remus was not there. She would have died of embarrassment even though she knew he could not see her.

Five more minutes. If nothing happens within the next five minutes, I'll leave and think of something else, she promised herself.

She kept her eyes glued to the thirteen photographs she had deliberately left in a corner of the huge bathroom, next to a large pile of fluffy white towels. They were pictures of different girls, all students at Hogwarts, stolen by Natasha from the various dormitories. She had a narrow escape while stealing the picture of a final-year Ravenclaw.

Over the past hour, many of the prefects had picked up the stack out of curiosity, and glanced through all the pictures before returning them to the original spot.

"Prefects are such fools!" Natasha thought before correcting herself mentally with a harsh reminder that Remus was a prefect too.

Just as she decided to call it a day, another young man stopped in front of the pictures and stooped down to pick them. She watched his face closely as he studied them, lingering at a particular one of Kathleen taken last Christmas.

Natasha stopped herself just in time from shouting out loud in triumph and relief when he threw the pictures aside and slipped the moving picture of her grinning friend into his robes.

*

Natasha ran all the way back to her dormitory.

"Kate! Kate!" she shouted as she entered the room, stopping abruptly when she noticed that only Pamela and Tessa were there. "Where's Kate?" she asked impatiently, feeling as though she would explode if she couldn't share the news with her best friend soon.

"At the owlery, I think," Pamela replied, giving her a strange look.

Natasha ran out again, intending to make her way to the owlery. She was rushing so badly that she almost collided with a fellow Slytherin at the top of the staircase.

"Kate! I'm glad I found you!" Natasha cried as soon as she regained her balance.

"What's up?"

Natasha looked around, before lowering her voice to a whisper. "I know someone who's interested in you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down. Do you want someone else to know about this?"

"Alright. Care to enlighten me as to what's going on?"

"The Head Boy! Jed Matthews! He has a crush on you!"

"No way!"

"Shhh!" Natasha shot her a crossed look.

"Sorry," Kathleen mumbled apologetically.

"As I was saying, Matthews is interested in you. A Head Boy no less!" Natasha exclaimed smugly.

"Whatever gave you this crazy idea?"

"Believe me, it's true! Just follow my instructions and he'll be hooked in no time."

"I'm not doing anything, Nat. You can stop imagining things and dreaming up schemes."

"You're the one who asked me to get you a guy," Natasha reminded. "Tell you what. We'll do a simple test tomorrow. If you're still unconvinced that I'm right about Jed Matthews, we'll drop this."

Kathleen froze. Another test. The last test left her with results she wished she never knew.

"You're crazy," she said glumly.

"What do you have to lose? Oh please! Just humour me this time, will you? Just this time?"

Kathleen decided to give in to Natasha's plea. She knew the blonde would not let the matter rest till she got her way.

*

Remus was seated by the lake, with Natasha resting her head on his lap. The couple remained silent for several minutes, enjoying each other's company. She gave a little contented sigh as he stroked her hair.

"I heard what you did to Sirius." He broke the silence.

His choice of topic immediately put her on the defensive and her body stiffened.

Remus drew his hand away. "How did you find out about the bet?"

She tensed some more. This was a question she could not answer.

"I have my sources," she mumbled.

It did not take Natasha long to decide that the only way out of this fix was to turn from the accused to the accuser. "You knew about it all along! You should have put a stop to it or at least told me!" she pointed out in mock anger.

Of course, she knew that he had tried to discourage Sirius from the very beginning, but there was no need to let on her knowledge. She would have a tougher job explaining how she knew about his efforts.

Her ploy worked and he immediately reddened. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

He looked so genuinely apologetic that she wanted to kiss him. Instead, she chose to reach up to give him a quick hug. "It's not your fault. It was all Black's doing. I'm just glad Kate knows the truth now."

"You know, Natasha, you may be a little too hard on Sirius. He may be genuinely being helpful when he was coaching her."

Natasha rolled her eyes, but bit her tongue and refrained from a sarcastic comment. The last thing she wanted was to argue with Remus again. Deciding to steer to a safer topic, she asked,

"Why don't you call me Nat, like the rest of my friends? 'Natasha' sounds too formal."

He smiled. "If I'm not mistaken, you address me as 'Lupin'. That's even more formal!"

"I like the sound of 'Lupin'. Everyone else is calling you Remus and I want to be different!" she countered.

"You can call 'darling' if you want," he teased.

She suddenly remembered something. "Wait a sec. Not everyone calls you Remus. I meant to ask you earlier, but kept forgetting. Why do James and the rest call you 'Moony'?"

He looked away quickly, blood fast draining away from his face. He had deliberately pushed his secret to the back of his mind, avoiding the inevitability of his confession to her.

Fortunately, Natasha did not notice the change in his mood. She was lost in her own thoughts. "I think 'Loony' sounds better!" she laughed at her own joke. "At least it's a word that makes more sense than 'Moony'!"

His eyes clouded over. "Let's go back now," he said abruptly, and rose to his feet.

Natasha sat up in bewilderment and watched Remus walk towards the castle. She quickened her pace and caught up with him at the entrance hall, grabbing his arm with both hands.

"Is something wrong?" she asked tentatively. "You don't like me calling you 'Loony'? That was just a lame joke! I'll not say that again, okay?"

Before he could respond, there was a loud shriek of laughter above them. The couple looked up sharply to see Peeves, one of the resident ghosts at Hogwarts, dancing in the air in a celebratory manner. "Lupin is loony! Loony!" he shouted with much gusto. "Loony! Loopy! Loony loopy Lupin!"

Natasha took out her wand and pointed it at Peeves angrily. "Stop! Keep quiet this moment or I'll hex you!"

Peeves feigned a frightened scream. He then floated away hastily as he shouted over and over again, "a student is threatening a ghost!"

Natasha reluctantly turned to face Remus, bracing herself to be reprimanded. To her surprise and relief, there was only amusement in his brown eyes.

"I'm sorry." Regret was written all over her face. "I think I just gave Peeves a new nickname for you."

"Don't worry about it," he replied easily, slinging an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.

He had much more to worry about than a silly nickname.

***