"Come on already!" Sirius cried from the other side of the changing room door.
Damn him, damn him to the fiery pits of hell and back again so I can push him off a bloody cliff.
"We're
waiting!" James sang loudly.
"As if I don't already know that." I mumbled, pulling at one of the plethora of dresses Sirius had picked out; it was much to small, barely covering my bum. Pervert.
Luckily, however, he didn't chose too many of that sort. I shed the dress and tossed it over the door like I had for the past other three articles of clothing I tried on, which including that damn dress that started this whole thing. Let's just say that I didn't have large enough parts of my anatomy to fill the thing (which is pure evil, just for the record) out.
Yeah, that'd be fun to explain. Good thing I ignored Sirius when he swore loudly at me and threw it back over the stall-like door. It is now resting at the bottom of the pile, where it shall remain until I can burn it.
"Bloody hell Connor, I swear, if you don't get some clothes on and get out here I'm going to knock down that door and-"
During his speech I took a deep breath, pulled a dress that I knew I'd like over my head and open the small wooden door that separate myself from them.
I kept my eyes on Sirius and the devilish grin that flashed across his face, not being able to look at any of the others. I put on a half smile and did an awkward little spin, it flowed out a bit around my legs. It was a old fashion sort of thing; plain white with puffy sort of sleeves that covered just my shoulders. It had a pink ribbon tied around the waist, a somewhat large bow sitting neatly against my back. There wasn't a low neckline, thank Merlin, but it rested a few inches bellow my collar bone. From there it flowed nicely along my body, coming to a stop a bit past my knees. The dress was modest and seemed to fit me quite nicely, I'm starting to forgive myself for allowing Sirius to pick out the clothes for me to try on.
I was silent for a moment before James let out a whistle. "Look at
you!"
I instantly felt a warm flush taking over my body. Ugh, compliments equal shudder.
"Love, you look like something straight out of those girly, 50's romance books Moony reads!" Sirius hooted, standing up and quickly running over to the hat stand with a look of pure glee.
"I do
not read girly romance books!" Remus said indignantly.
"Oh
please," James said, smirking widely. He suddenly adopted what I could only assume was a dramatic stance; He had a mockingly torn expression on his face, as though he had to chose between a life without sweets or a life without feasts. A very hard decision if you ask me, because I enjoy both very much. I shook my head and heard James talking. "...
and I just don't know what to do!" he cried in a horribly high voice. "
He's the only man I've ever loved, but Jack is just oh so very handsome."
I rose my eyebrows; What on earth was I listening to?
"
With his strong hands and tanned skin he's all I can think about." Sirius continued as he reappeared, his voice also unusually high pitched. However, before I could question anything, he quickly bounded over and put a large, rimmed hat on my head. It looked to be a sun hat, and it was the same color pink as the ribbon on my dress. He smirked at my expression, which must have been a weird sort of mixture between awe, shock, and insanity. "You'll get used to this, don't you worry, love." he informed me in a sort of gallant tone, before turning back to his mates. "
But I'm betrothed to Michael! Dear, sweet, simple Michael." He gave a dreamy sort of sigh.
Wait, I know that dreamy sort of sigh... where have I heard a sigh like that before?"
Then it hit me; they were attempting to sound like girls! I get it now! I do happen to feel a bit slow though. Oh well, suppose it isn't a new feeling.
Without thinking I start laughing before stating, "You two sound like
girls!"
They all looked at me, blinking, before there was a burst of laughter.
"That's kind of the point, love." Sirius said, smiling at me fondly. He'd taken to calling me 'love' a lot, hadn't he?
"We're just proving a point that Remus reads gooey romance garbage." James said, throwing a cheeky grin in Remus' direction. The latter stopped laughing instantly and glared.
"
You read romance novels?" I asked, forgetting who I was talking to momentarily. That was unbelievably sensitive- for a boy to read romance novels! They had to have alot of patience and- However, his identity came flooding back to me when he looked over at me and my thought process stuttered to a stop.
He flushed, quickly jumping in to answer my question. "No! Of course I don't, those two are just being-"
"Devilishly handsome and clever?" Sirius suggested innocently.
I blinked, then snorted. James and Sirius looked at me, obviously offended. I quickly realized my mistake. "Oh, you were being serious..."
Remus groaned, and I quickly glanced at him, only to look back and see Sirius grinning and James rolling his eyes.
"Connor, love, I'm
always Sirius." he said smirking triumphantly.
I stared at him for a second before glancing at James, and I quickly whispered, "That was lame." I mean honestly, shouldn't he have stopped with that in like- the 2nd year?
However, despite the lack of humor I attempted, I mean I said it with all honesty, James started laughing.
I felt my eyebrows rising slightly before furrowing in confusion. I looked over at Sirius to find him glaring at me.
"What?"
"You made fun on the Sirius/serious pun!" he shouted accusingly, there was a finger pointing drastically at me and everything. "That is against rule 17 of The Code! This calls for immediate and excruciating punishment!" he boomed, attracting stares. Cringe. "You are sentenced to-!"
However, what the punishment was, I didn't find out because I heard a sudden shriek that made my insides recoil. For it was a girlish shriek of, "Remmy!"
Gag reflex. This was worse than anything he could have possibly come up with to torture me.
I saw her blonde curls bouncing through the racks of clothing as she made her way over to us. I would really like to disappear into the floor right about now.
"'Lo, Emma." Remus said, smiling as she appeared. She placed herself at his side and his arm snaked around her waist. I can't feel my feet.
... That last bit was just an, you know, observation...
She grinned flirtatiously at the other three boys. "Hi guys."
There was a murmur of greetings from James and Peter, while Sirius seemed to be forcing a rather large grin that seemed more like a grimace than anything.
She turned toward Remus, smiling at him sweetly. "I was thinking we could go see the Shrieking Shack, maybe?"
I saw Remus pale slightly. "Er, why not get something to eat instead?" he asked brightly.
I'm almost positive that the organs in my body are shutting down as I watched the scene in front of me. You know, that feeling where you feel like your body is
slowly, ever so slowly, preparing you for your death.
No? Oh, just me then.
"Oooh!" she said, sounding delighted. "We can go to Madam Puddifoot's!"
There was an obvious shudder around the room. This, my friend, is very understandable. 'Cause, from what I've heard, (because I've never stepped foot in the place) it is a particularly...
girly place. You know, lots of frilly things and ribbons and bows and loads of pink. Erin's told me horror stories about it in the middle of night when we get the dorm to ourselves during the holidays that we spend at the school.
Remus seemed to be trying not to blanch further at the idea. "I- I was thinking more along the lines of the Three Broomsticks, you know?"
"Oh." she said, frowning. Sweet Circe, I'd be
ecstatic if Remus Lupin asked me to go to bleeding Zonko's, (which is a place I
honestly can't stand to be in. Every bleeding time I've gone in there I knock over a shelf and something has exploded- on, to, and/or at me.) let alone him asking me to the Three Broomsticks!
I'm a pathetic little soul, I really am.
However, I watched as Emma's frowning-pout... thingy... turned into a large grin and she turned quickly to look at the other boys again. "Would you guys like to join us?" she asked, in my insignificant opinion, a bit too eagerly. But, what do I know, she hasn't even realized I'm standing here.
"Actually, we're going to hang around here for a bit more." James said, seemingly putting great effort into keeping his voice polite. Not that she noticed. Bloody bimbo-
"Er, why?" she questioned, looking around. "This is a
girl's clothing shop, isn't it?"
How the
hell did she make it into Ravenclaw? Dammit,
that's what
I'd like to know!
"Yes, but you see," Sirius interjected, placing an arm around my waist. I felt my stomach churn unpleasantly. I'd really wish he'd stop doing that in public... even though, you know, that was the whole point of this deal. "We happen to be strolling about with one of our
favorite Ravenclaws."
I felt a flush flooding my features. Figuring I better just face my doom now, I looked over at Emma.
Her face was the picture of shock. However, she quickly slapped a sickly sweet smile across her damn overly glossed lips.
"
Casey?" she asked, grinning steadily. I saw her look me over, and I could tell that she didn't like what I was wearing. "My, Casey, don't you look... quaint."
Quaint? What the sodding hell was that? That's the best she can come up with? Well you know what, sweetheart? You're a sneaky, conniving, cowardly, bi-
"Hi, Emma, you look nice too." I forced myself to say instead, hoping my smile didn't come off as a grisly grimace.
"Thanks." she said, brushing a hand across her cream colored sweater.
It cost 30 Galleon by itself. Her voice replayed mockingly in my head when she had been picking her outfit out the previous night. "It's new."
I nodded, the smile on my face was growing to be almost painful...
There was silence for a moment, the two of us smiling manically at each other. Remus cleared his throat soon, however, claiming that they should probably head over to the Three Broomsticks now.
"Of course." Emma agreed, eyes still on me for another moment before tearing her gaze to look at the three Marauders. "See you boys later." she said with a giggle.
More mumbled responses. She turned to me again. "I'll see you back at the dorm, Casey, hope you have fun." I nodded, smiling, but I wasn't dumb- I knew what that meant.
I'll see you at the dorm translate to
Expect my interrogation tonight in the dormitory... and don't attempt to avoid it, because I will get you... mwuahahaa! (Okay, so maybe that last part was a
wee bit of an exaggeration...) while
Hope you have fun was followed by an unspoken ...
while you can.
Two can play that game, I thought viciously. "Yep, see you then, Emma." I returned.
Hit me with your best shot, you bloody tart. "Oh, and Remus, we have to continue that conversation on those novels." I told him, making myself smile despite the butterflies that were raging in my stomach as his eyes met mine.
He grinned with a slight flush and I felt the colorful and violent demons with wings double in their speeding aerobics. "Sure, but I'm standing my ground."
"Denial." I said pointedly, smiling innocently.
His grin widened slightly and his flush grew, but he chose not to say anything.
And with that, they left.
I couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction; I managed to have a decent, sort of- kind of- almost conversation with Remus Lupin. I, personally, think I deserve some ice cream. I turned to tell Sirius, but he was studying me intensely. I rose an eyebrow and he broke out into a prideful grin. He lunged at me, taking my hands and pulling me around in some sort of ridiculous tribal-like dance.
I couldn't help but laugh. "What on
earth are you doing?"
We stopped dancing, but the goofy grin remained. "You, my love, are improving greatly."
"That was scary, back there." James said, shaking quickly with a shudder. "I hate it when girls do that. One of the scariest things in the world, that is. It's like someone giving you a big bar of Honeydukes chocolate- only it's poisoned." Another shudder made its way down James' spine.
I laughed quietly. "Was it that bad?"
Peter nodded, speaking for what seemed to be the first time. "You were both just smiling at each other, but she looked ready to murder you after you made that comment to Moony-"
"Oh, that was amazing!" Sirius cackled. Sweet Merlin, he was
skipping about the bloody store. "That was like- like the cherry on top!"
I blinked, remembering my sudden craving. "Can we get ice cream?"
They all looked at me as though I was mentally insane. Er... more mentally insane then what they previously thought at least.
"It's got to be like 30 degrees out there!" James said, eyes wide.
I frowned, biting my lip thoughtfully. "Huh... suppose it is."
"Besides, you've still got loads of clothes to try on, love!" Sirius said happily. "Now, that dress is obviously a keeper, so put that in a pile.
And so it went. I spent the next hour or so trying on different outfits, then going out to see the boys' reactions. For some reason, I felt more at ease- more relaxed. I didn't have a problem with wearing even the stupidest outfits that I knew Sirius only picked out for a good laugh.
I was having
fun.
And I liked the sound of that.
***
"Well my dear, here is where we must go out separate ways." Sirius said dramatically, earning a snicker from myself. "I have to say though, in all of the dates I've taken to Hogsmeade, this has certainly been my favorite."
I tapped my chin in mock thought. "And to think, there wasn't even any snogging involved!"
"We could always change that, you know." He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. He shrugged, as if to say
Hey, I can't help it.
"This has been great though, Sirius." I told him earnestly. "Honestly, thank you for everything."
His smile was cocky, "Anything for the power of love."
I laughed, shaking my head again. "I'll see you later. Tomorrow?"
"You bet." he said before a wicked grin made its way onto his lips. "I've got another wicked surprise up my sleeve for you, m'dear."
"Well, that doesn't sound inviting." I told him, watching him wearily.
He shrugged, still grinning as he began walking away from me, backwards. "Just be prepared tomorrow morning when you come to breakfast."
And with that, he disappeared around the corner.
A/N:
'Ello, loves. xD Well, that was Chapter 5! I had a bit of fun writing this. I'm currently still chipping away at Chapter 6. And darlings, if you thought our lovely little Casey was confident in this chapie- wait til the next one! We've got some major girl-on-girl brawls. ^.^
*snickers* Hope I've peeked your interests. xD
( V V V ) Leave a nice little review in that handy-dandy box down there ( V V V )!
Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!
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