Scars

Chapter Sixteen-Spring Fling

A couple of months pass and spring slowly creeps over the landscape. Snow melts and sweaters vanish in exchange for light layers and those with skirts lose their tights. Flowers bloom and trees leaf as everything turns into shades of green. With the arrival of spring, we get to see how our trees did in Care of Magical Creatures class and consequently our bowtruckles. Sirius, Garrett, and I get top marks and win the prize which is not having to write an essay on everything we did right and wrong. Since we thought the prize was more likely to be dragon dung, we were pretty happy.

Sirius has been acting a little aloof since that moment in the hall and I've no clue what's wrong. James won't give me an answer either despite my sneaking suspicion that he knows far more than he lets on. Not even Remus or Peter tell me. Meanwhile, Dumbledore assures me that the wizard Grubblyplank wrote will be coming after the spring holidays. I think that perhaps the mystery wizard was feigning interest so Grubblyplank would leave him alone. I wouldn't blame them.

I'm back playing quidditch and we've beat back Ravenclaw and are in the finals with Slytherin, of course. The game is this weekend before spring break which is also the weekend of Slughorn's party. A party where I'm supposed to bring a date and still don't have one. Lily is taking a muggle-born Ravenclaw boy we came across in the library. They had a heated debate about wand woods versus possible wand cores that lasted about an hour and that was that. They'd settled on going to the party together making my fail-safe, asking Lily, fall through.

"How do guys do it?" I ask Lily as she and the other girls from the dorm as we soak in the sun and heat on a particularly warm spring day. It's Friday and the party is tomorrow, then the quidditch final on Sunday. Stress is mounting.

"Frank says you just have to have like, reckless courage for ten seconds when you ask the person. Like ripping off a band-aid." Alice says while flicking sand from under her fingernails. My eyes wander over to the boys a little further up the shore under a tree where James is idly playing with a snitch. He would seem aloof if I didn't know he was just showing off for Lily who is doing a much better job at pretending she doesn't see him. Sirius, Remus, and Peter are there too. Peter is staring after James incredulously, Remus has his nose in a book, while Sirius is nursing a cigarette in the leather jacket I gave him. He looks heartbreakingly good.

"Just ask." Lily hisses softly as she catches my eye. I glance at her and find a playfully knowing look on her face. Her hair is free from its ponytail today and falls like a waterfall made of fire over her shoulders. "He wants to go with you too, but both of you are too stubborn to say so!" She continues as we look back to Sirius only to find him looking at us as well. If I'm not mistaken, he winks at me before looking away. I sigh and slump back on the ground. Lily's right. I know she's right, but that doesn't make it any easier.

"He said he was still deciding. What if he says no?"

"Then he says no and you know so you can move on. Just rip it off, as Alice said." Marlene says and I squint over to the left where she was clearly eavesdropping. She shrugs. "You want me to call him over? Hey-" I jump on her as she turns to the boys and she giggles.

"I'll do it in my own time, thank you very much." I huff and shake my head at the mischievous girl, but I'm smiling too. After dinner when we're all in the common room, however, the nerves surge back full force. My body is almost vibrating with nerves as I clutch the note in my hand that I plan on handing to Sirius telling him to meet me at the lake.

"Alright, you lot. I'm out." Sirius pats his mates on the shoulders and Lily kicks me to get me to hurry over to intercept him at the stairs.

"Sirius." I murmur with my voice barely above a whisper. Still, he hears me and turns those piercing eyes on me. My mouth goes dry. My hand shoves the paper into his hand and as he looks down with furrowed brows, I all but sprint up the stairs. Laid out on the bed is a black tank-top that I slip on with my red leather jacket and jeans before grabbing my broom.