Doesn't Ring a Bell

"Come on, James, please talk to me?" Sirius begged his best friend.

James kept up the same stony silence he'd been maintaining since two days previously, when he and his friends had discovered Sirius and Katrina in a closet together. James wasn't mad at who Sirius had picked - by no means was she the worst girl in Hogwarts - he was just really pissed off at the fact that he hadn't told him. They were supposed to be best friends, after all.

"Look, Prongs-"

"Don't call me that; only my real friends get to call me that, and real friends wouldn't keep something this big from each other." He then stormed over to sit with Frank Longbottom, who looked very surprised, though not ungrateful, that one of the popular boys was coming to sit with him, even if James was a year below him. He immediately started talking to James about how he'd got an O in his last Herbology test. James, who usually wouldn't care less about stuff like this, turned around and appeared interested in the conversation. Sirius looked on in disbelief. He couldn't believe James was still mad at him; usually they forgave each other within two hours of a fight, but two days had gone by and James still refused to even look at him.

Emma and Remus wouldn't talk to Katrina; they blamed her for the whole thing, James wouldn't talk to any of them except Katrina; he didn't blame her - in his opinion it was all Sirius's fault for not telling him - so she had consequently become the one he was spending a lot of his time with. She kept trying to appeal to him about Sirius, but he just wouldn't listen, and became moody and sullen whenever she tried.

At lunch that day when James walked into the Great Hall, Sirius looked up hopefully, but James went and sat with Lockhart, as Katrina was with his other 'friends'. Sirius didn't know what he was holding against Emma, Remus and Peter, but he thought it might simply be the fact that they had been there on that fateful day. Lockhart started asking James whether he thought his hair looked alright today, then pulled out a mirror and started examining himself, which saved James the trouble of having to answer. Lockhart acted very feminine sometimes.

Just then a third-year Ravenclaw boy came up and gave James a scroll. "I've been told to give you this," he informed James, and then walked off to hand similar scrolls to Remus, Sirius and Peter. James opened the scroll to find that his detention for trying to jinx Snape's hair clean was that night; he was supposed to go to McGonagall's office at seven o'clock.

As Sirius read his scroll, he decided that detention would be an excellent chance to try to reason with James.

Just then, Peter decided that he would attempt to steal Sirius's corned beef sandwich. Sirius, being a very suspicious person, had already placed a jinx on it so nobody would take it; he looked up to see Peter being force fed a plate of pasta salad by some invisible hand. Peter was highly allergic to pasta salad. Sirius hastily removed the jinx, and looked sheepishly at Peter, who had already begun breaking out in red blotches.

* * * * *

"Okay, boys, I want you to empty your pockets of anything that could be used to pull a prank whilst in detention - it will be returned upon the end of your detentions." McGonagall had learned that trick from her last detention with the Marauders, but she couldn't very well keep their property afterwards.

They all began emptying their pockets. When James had finished he left Remus and Peter to wait for Sirius, who was still pulling things out of all his hidden pockets. After about five minutes he looked at them sheepishly.

"Uh...I'll meet you guys in there, okay?"

They nodded, and went to join James.

After about ten more minutes of waiting, Sirius finally came in and sat down next to Peter, as James had purposefully taken the end seat and made Remus sit next to him so Sirius couldn't.

"Okay, for this detention you will simply be writing lines, because I have a...meeting...with Albus and won't be here to supervise anything more dangerous than that - Horace actually wanted me to make you scrub the roof of the Astronomy Tower without safety lines; honestly, boys, why did you put those leeches in his soup?" McGonagall finished, shaking her head, then went off to her 'meeting' with Dumbledore, locking and barring the door behind her.

"What lines are we meant to be writing?" asked Sirius, pointing at the board. In her haste to make sure they didn't cause trouble, McGonagall had forgotten to tell them what they were meant to be writing.

Well, I may as well make use of the spare time I now have... thought Sirius, looking hopefully at James, who was staring determinedly out the window.

He pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill from his bag and started writing a note to James.

James, I know I should have told you about Katrina, but I thought you'd take the micky out of me if you knew I actually fancied a girl, rather than just being interested in getting in her pants. I know what you're thinking. 'Why should I tease you, I fancy Evans, remember?' But well, I've fancied Kat since 2^nd year, and well, that's just not normal for me, I'm a lady-killer, right? But please, please forgive me, you're my best friend, and like a brother to me. I miss you, Prongs.

Sirius looked over this note, and decided to himself that if he could make James laugh, they would be friends again.

He folded the note into a neat little airplane, and flew it over to James, anxious to see if it worked.

The note landed in front of James, startling him; he had been thinking of ways he could murder Sirius. He glanced at Sirius, strongly considering just screwing the plane up and setting it on fire, but rule 143, section 2, paragraph 6 of the Marauders' code of conduct clearly said that all notes passed must be read, so he unfolded it grudgingly.

Sirius saw his eyes getting narrower and narrower as he read, but then he looked up and smiled at Sirius, who took that as a promising sign, and grinned back. The school's two chief pranksters were back.

* * * * *

The next day at breakfast the doors were slammed open. Everybody looked up to see what all the noise was about, and their gazes fell upon the four Marauders, reunited once more, walking to the table as though they owned the place. James and Sirius were at the front, grinning evilly - they would have to make up for the pranking time lost during this little fight - and Remus and Peter were a little way behind them, on either side. Remus smiled when he saw Emma; she looked pleased that all this was over. As soon as they got to the Gryffindor table people moved out of their spots. (They hadn't sat there since the fight started.) Sirius looked around imperiously at the other Gryffindors, as though he were a king looking down upon his subjects.

"So, Sirius, now that we've all discovered your secret, are you going to ask her out?" James asked his friend, who choked on his kippers in surprise that James would ask such a thing.

"Well..." he started, still recovering from the kippers' brutal attack on his airway. " Yeah, I might do that...actually having a steady girlfriend for once might do me some good..." Sirius stopped. He could not believe he had just said that. "I'll ask her after Charms...or during..." he mused.

And that's what he did. During Charms he chucked a piece of paper at her head; she looked around angrily to see who had thrown it, and he threw another one. This one she caught, and read.

Hey Kat, I know this isn't as fancy as what Remus did, but will you go out with me? 'Siriusly?' haha...

She scribbled a return note on a fragment of her parchment.

Alright then, but do I have to 'do' anything? Haha, lol I'm just kidding. Sure, I'll go out with you.

She was careful to aim this right between his eyes. When he read it his eyes lit up and he grinned at her, whilst thinking about all the things they'd get up to together.