All the Young Dudes ( Sirius' Perspective )

Fourth Year : October

Once it became abundantly clear that Lily would not be snogging James before the end of September, he demanded that they extend the bet to last the entire year—which Sirius still thought was far too optimistic a timeline. Still, he agreed, confident in his ability to win and seeing no need to rush the ordeal. In fact, he was so confident that he suggested they double the amount of galleons at stake, which made Peter look as if he might be sick and Remus tut disapprovingly. But James agreed, unswervingly certain that he would be able to win Evans over if only given enough time.

It wasn’t that Sirius needed to extend the bet. He could have gotten a snog in September, if he’d wanted to, and he repeatedly assured James of this fact. Effie Scunthorpe was still bothering Remus, and he’d received notes expressing interest from not one, but two other girls. By any measure, he was well ahead of the other marauders.

The problem was that a man had to have standards. Sirius wasn’t about to go snogging the first bird who batted her lashes at him. And besides, most of the girls batting their lashes at him were—well, they were irritating. He struggled to pin down what, exactly, it was about them that bothered him. Perhaps the simpering, or the all-too-obvious giggling, or the over-the-top blushing. The attention was flattering, but Sirius was quickly learning that once girls decided they fancied you, they began to act very stupid. It wouldn’t have been any fun to kiss them. There wasn’t any challenge to it.

Still, he was never one to turn down attention, and it was quite nice to know that his dashing good looks were appreciated around the castle.

So September dipped into October, which proved to be unseasonably warm; the marauders spent most of their free time outside on the grounds, where the trees were slowly shaking themselves into their fall foliage and the sky was cornflower blue. They tromped about the edges of the forbidden forest, snacked on Honeyduke’s hauls in the courtyard, and lounged next to the lake, where Sirius tried (and quickly gave up on) teaching Remus to skip stones.

The month began and ended with a full moon, which was incredibly disappointing, as it meant Remus would miss out on the Halloween feast and any celebrations planned for that evening. Still, he was a good sport about it, not complaining once. Sirius wished, fervently, that they’d been able to make more progress on their animagi efforts—but though they had managed to collect all the ingredients they’d need over the summer, they hadn’t been able to actually begin brewing the potion.

On the weekends, they spent the bulk of their time on the quidditch pitch—either practicing (James) or watching from the stands (everyone else). Peter was often pulled in as a stand-in keeper, which made him very self-conscious and required a lot of cheering on from the side lines to ensure he didn’t become too much of a nervous wreck.

Unfortunately, without Peter to discuss quidditch, Sirius was often left with little to do in the stands. Remus didn’t make for great company—he always had his nose glued to the pages of a book. Sometimes Mary and Lily would tag along to watch Marlene practice, but they only seemed interested in talking to Remus, which left Sirius pouting and feeling unusually left out. He was forced to keep himself busy, pacing the stands, challenging James to broom races, or scribbling on parchment—sometimes his homework, but more often possibilities for tactics that the Gryffindor team could try in their first game, scheduled for November.

“We’ve got to thrash Slytherin this year,” he insisted, “Got to show ‘em.”

Slytherin had won the quidditch cup the year before, which infuriated Sirius to no end. Both Narcissa and Regulus got to lord it over him, and it was only made worse by the fact that he hadn’t even been able to make the Gryffindor team. Narcissa had graduated, but Reg had replaced her as seeker, and Sirius was counting on James to humble his haughty little brother this year.