I Can See You

Back In The Three Broomsticks

Natasha sighed for the third time in the last ten minutes.

"My dear, will you stop acting like a lovesick girl?" Tessa chided.

Natasha glared at her. "Just drink your butterbeer and stop mocking at me."

"I don't understand why the three of us are here when we can be at Hog's Head sipping firewhiskey," Tessa continued hotly.

Kathleen threw the blonde a sympathetic look. "I like this place," she said, and Natasha nodded fervently.

"That's just because of the dates you two had with those Gryffindors in here."

"Oh shut up, Tess."

Tessa threw Natasha a dirty look before brightening when she spotted Pamela entering the Three Broomsticks. Pamela joined the girls at their table, grinning as wide as her mouth would allow her.

"What's up, Pam? New discoveries again?" Kathleen peered into the bag her friend was holding.

Pamela happily whipped out one of the many bottles from the bag. "Hair colour at your whim and fancy! This is fantastic! Let's try it tonight!"

Natasha looked at her skeptically. "And why would we want to try that?"

"Don't you ever wonder what you'll look like if you're a brunette? I can also make you a redhead like Tess!"

"Speaking of redheads," Tessa said dryly. "Here's another one coming our way."

Natasha jerked her head towards the entrance and saw James and Lily. Remembering her promise to Remus, she gave them a friendly wave.

James grinned and led Lily to the Slytherins' table. "Hi Natasha, Kathleen. How're you girls doing? Enjoying yourselves so far?"

"She'll be happier if Lupin is here," Kathleen teased before remembering her manners. "Have you two met Pamela and Tessa?" She quickly made the introductions and the Gryffindors left to find their own table after some small talk.

Tessa's frown deepened. "Since when are you two so familiar with James Potter and Lily Evans?"

Natasha and Kathleen laughed off her comment and made a show of asking Pamela to tell them more about her latest buys.

Just as they had emptied Pamela's bag and were finishing their drinks, Simon Colson and his group of seventh-year friends sauntered into the Three Broomsticks. Natasha rolled her eyes and waited for the inevitable. True enough, Simon walked over.

"Why are four lovely ladies sitting here without dates? We can play your bodyguards if you want," he smirked. "So Nat, have you broken off with that Gryffindor prefect of yours?"

Natasha mastered her sweetest smile but let her voice drip with sarcasm. "Lupin and I are so in love that we can barely stay away from each other."

"So why isn't he anywhere in sight?" he challenged.

"Lupin is helping the professors back at school." She kept the fake smile on her face. "I miss him so much that these girls are already calling me lovesick."

That's when Simon narrowed his eyes and glowered.

*

James and Lily were watching the Slytherins. At last, James could not take it any longer and stood up. When Lily grabbed his arm in surprise, he stared at the Slytherins one last time before returning his gaze to the girl. "I can't sit back and pretend nothing's happening when my buddy's girl is in trouble. Moony will never forgive me if I leave her in the lurch."

Lily smiled with approval and gestured for James to go ahead.

James crossed the room quickly in big strides. "Is he bothering you girls?"

Natasha looked pleasantly surprised to see James. "I'm just telling Simon how much I miss Lupin. He's about to leave anyway," she glared pointedly at Simon who did not look as though he would give up.

"Getting thick with Gryffindors, aren't we?" the Slytherin Quidditch captain sneered.

The typically good-tempered Kathleen was losing her patience. "What's wrong with a little inter-house harmony?"

"Nothing at all!" It was a new voice belonging to Jed Matthews. "I'm sure you have nothing against non-Slytherins, do you Colson? And I'm sure you don't want any points removed from your House."

Simon cursed under his breath and led his little group to the furthest corner of the Three Broomsticks.

Natasha clapped her hands in glee. "Thanks, guys. Can we buy you a drink?"

"No thanks. I'm with Lily." James replied with a wink before returning to the redhead.

"And you, Jed?"

Jed shrugged, summoned a chair and settled down between Natasha and Kathleen.

"When did you come in? We didn't notice you." Tessa asked. Usually, she would not speak to a Ravenclaw, but Jed was not only a pureblood but also the Head Boy.

"When Potter was crossing the room," he replied. "Is Colson always bothering you girls?"

"Just her," Pamela pointed to Natasha and got a glare from her friend in return. "Can we get you a drink, Jed?"

"No, thanks. I'm not staying long. Actually, I just popped by to have a word with Kate."

Kathleen looked uncomfortable while the other girls exchanged knowing glances.

"I saw a book you'd like. Thought you might want to check it out," he told Kathleen, who nodded and waved to her friends as she left with him.

*

"I didn't know the girls know Jed Matthews that well," Lily said as she watched the group.

"Perhaps they have a thing for prefects. First Remus and now Jed," James quipped, as he made a mental note to tell Sirius what he saw.

*

"You owe us one, Prongs," Sirius whispered as Lily walked away with Briana and her other dorm mates. James had asked him and Peter to lure the other girls away so that he could spend some time alone with Lily.

"How did your date go?" Peter asked.

"Great," James beamed. "Lily will sit with us at breakfast tomorrow."

"Aww!" Sirius teased.

"We'd better hurry back. The moon will be out soon." Peter reminded them.

They began to hasten their steps, and quickly overtook some of their schoolmates. But it was not long before they had to stop again.

"Hey, James!" Natasha wove through the crowd towards them. "Here!" she handed a big bag of Honeydukes candies to him. "Give this to Lupin, will ya?"

James looked at her quizzically. "Don't you want to give this to Remus yourself?"

"I want to, but he said he may be up till late tonight. Can you leave it on his bed or something?"

When James did not say a word, she looked a little embarrassed, "I don't know if Lupin has a sweet tooth, but I figure that if he doesn't like sweet stuff, you guys will help him finish the candies."

James grinned. "Don't worry, girl. Remus does take sweets once in a while. And I bet since these are from you, he'll finish the whole bag all by himself."

"Thanks," she blushed happily and slipped her way back to her friends.

"Looks like Strauss has won you over," Sirius commented wryly.

"Give her a break, Padfoot. She really cares for Moony. We all want Moony to be happy, don't we?"

Sirius couldn't argue with that. But then again, he could. "She'll dump him like hotcakes once she knows what he'll be up to tonight. I'm just protecting my friend."

"You're just sore about how she tricked you into talking about the bet. She was trying to protect a friend too. Get over it, will you?"

"I'm over it," Sirius said stubbornly.

"I'll be a fool to believe you," James retorted. "And you can stop looking in that direction. Kathleen is nowhere near Natasha right now."

Sirius did not like getting caught. "I'm not looking for her."

"In that case, you'll not be interested to know what happened at the Three Broomsticks today?"

Peter scratched his head, puzzled. "You had a drink with Lily?"

James rolled his eyes. "That's important, Wormtail, but something else took place. Something that Padfoot will be more interested in. Colson was giving the girls some problems at the Three Broomsticks."

Sirius snorted. "So? That guy is always following Strauss around. Why would I be interested to know - wait a minute - did they make out or something? Now, that's interesting! We've to tell Moony to break up with her."

James rolled his eyes again, this time at Sirius. "You wish! The significant part was, guess who came to their rescue? Jed Matthews!"

"He's the Head Boy. That's not surprising," Peter reasoned, and Sirius promptly agreed.

James was undeterred. "But they seemed to know him, especially Natasha and Kathleen," he paused to ensure that he had their undivided attention, before adding, "and Matthews left the Three Broomsticks with Kathleen."

There was a short pause.

"So Natasha Strauss was telling Moony the truth about Matthews and Curtis?" Peter asked.

"I think so," James replied, looking at Sirius. "You okay there, Padfoot?"

Sirius gave him a smile. "Of course! Why would I not be?"

"I thought you might want to know, in case you're not over her yet."

"I was never with her. What's there to get over?" Sirius growled. "I just played the Good Samaritan and gave her a few transfiguration pointers. It's no big deal."

"That's true. It's not as though they ever dated," quipped Peter. "Er, I mean other than the date that was part of the bet."

"Right on the dot, Wormtail," Sirius said approvingly. "Now help me get that into Prongs' thick skull."

"I know you better than that, Padfoot," James said slyly and deftly dodged a punch from his friend.

*

Kathleen finally gave up looking for her roommates and walked the rest of the way back to Hogwarts with Jed. She felt increasingly uneasy as she caught several students staring curiously in their direction. I know what they're thinking. They must think that Jed and I are dating, Kathleen thought as she glanced sideways at Jed and found him looking fondly at her. This is so wrong. I have to put a stop to this.

She cleared her throat. "Jed?"

He gave her his full attention.

"I don't want to continue those lessons anymore."

He stopped walking. "Why? You're doing fine!"

"I've improved and McGonagall doesn't pick on me in class anymore."

"That's a good thing, right? Why would you want to stop now?"

"I know I still have much room for improvement, but I just don't want to spend every week night -"

"Hang on," Jed interrupted abruptly, eyes looking past her.

She followed his gaze and saw Professor Flitwick gesturing for him to go over.

"Sorry, duty calls again. Can we talk about this some other time?" He waited for her nod of consent before making his way towards the professor.

I'll not be swayed again, she promised herself.

*

Natasha dragged her friends to the Great Hall for an early breakfast on Sunday. Her face fell as soon as she realised that Remus was not there.

"Where's Lupin? He's usually one of the earliest," Kathleen echoed her thoughts.

Natasha shrugged and kept her eyes eagerly on the entrance, waiting for the first trace of her boyfriend.

Tessa was tempted to make a remark when the food magically appeared in front of her and she decided to concentrate on her meal instead.

Kathleen too decided to tuck in, and was breaking a roll of bread when she heard her name.

"Jed!" she spun around, surprised to see the Head Boy standing behind her at the Slytherin table.

He flashed her a smile. "Sorry for rushing off yesterday. Do you want to tell me more about what you said yesterday?"

Typical Ravenclaw. Too smart for his own good, Kathleen thought darkly. He knows that I'll not say anything here. Not in front of everyone. "Perhaps after breakfast?" she asked hopefully.

"I've to meet Professor Flitwick to discuss my career plans," he told her a little too happily. "Maybe I'll catch you later?"

She nodded helplessly as he gave her shoulder a little squeeze before making his way to the Ravenclaw table.

Returning her attention to her friends, Kathleen realised that Natasha was gone. It was not hard to guess where the latter had disappeared to. True enough, she only had to turn and look into the direction of the Gryffindor table, to see her friend chatting animatedly with Remus. At least one of us is happy. Kathleen gave a little sigh and tuned in to the conversation between Tessa and Pamela.

*

Over at the Gryffindor table, Sirius was not too pleased with the sight that met his eyes when he entered the hall. He saw Jed Matthews' tall frame leaning over Kathleen at the Slytherin end of the room and felt a pang of anger. She was sitting with her back to him, and he could not see her expression. But Sirius noticed the way Jed was looking at her and the hand he had laid on her shoulder.

Sirius felt a strong urge to march over and punch the Head Boy in his face.

That's it. I've dug my own grave, he thought grimly. You're certainly a sly one, Kathleen Curtis. You stole my heart and I did not even realise it.

***