Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

23 ~ Up the Ante

Damn a double update, aren't y'all special?

The large group ventured into The Three Broomsticks, they had to get one of the largest tables, considering that there were 10 of them; Eloise decided to invite the girls and if Alice came, Frank was bound to follow. Lily wasn't overly impressed with having to spend the day with James but Eloise could be very persuasive when she wanted to. James, Sirius and Frank had just returned with the Butterbeers when Eloise looked around the pub from her seat in between Remus and Lily to see a girl looking - or more like staring, at her tall, werewolf friend
"Don't look now Moony, but a pretty girl's staring at you" she said quietly, however still managing to let the whole table hear. James and Sirius grinned, looking around the pub obviously, Remus only shook his head,

"I don't think so Puff" he mumbled, not looking up from his tankard. Eloise frowned,

"Rem, you haven't even looked" she pointed at the girl a few tables to their left, who's dark skin flushed once she'd seen Remus noticing her. She turned her head quickly and her long black hair fell over her face,

"Hey, I know her!" Alice said, "That's Priya Patil, her older brother's just got married, he left when we were in Second Year" After Alice had said her name, Eloise had recognised too, she was a Ravenclaw in Sixth Year. The table turned to Remus who's cheeks had turned slightly pink,

"Well she's not looking at me" he insisted and Eloise scoffed,

"Remus, she's had her eyes trained on you since you walked in. Why don't you believe me?"

"Because why would she be looking at me?" he asked, finally looking up at Eloise, a sad look on his scarred face.

"Why wouldn't she be looking at you?" Eloise tone had become confused,

"Because I'm ug-"

"Finish that sentence and you will be washing that drink out of your hair for weeks" Eloise interrupted, pointing at his Butterbeer, "She's looking at you because you're hot" she said simply. Remus' cheeks turned a deep red and Sirius choked on his drink,

"Elle, I'm not hot" Remus said, his eyes wide,

"Yes you are! You're tall but still muscular, you have cute floppy hair and your scars add to your rebel look" she said shrugging, "Not to mention your little dimples" she smiled, poking his cheeks. Remus laughed, shaking his head and a blush still residing on his face,

"You think so?" he asked and Eloise nodded,

"I do, and I can assure you, lots of girls agree"

"I can second that!" Lily called, the attention turning to her, "Yeah Black and Potter have their little 'Fan Clubs'" she said bitterly, "But you should hear the whispers about you! They call you The Cute One"

"They do!" Mary said, "I've heard that as well, they also call you The Smart One" All of the girls nodded.

"Hold on, they have names for us?" James asked,

"Yep" Alice said with a grin, "They call Sirius The Bad Boy" she said, pointing at Sirius who puffed out his chest and smirked at James, "They call Peter The Small One" James and Sirius snorted but Peter just shrugged,

"And they call you The Arse" Lily said, smiling patronisingly at James, whose face fell

"No, they call James The Hot One" Mary said and James' face lit up with joy.

"We're getting off topic! Rem that girl is most definitely staring at you. Go and talk to her" Eloise said and Remus' face morphed into one of horror,

"What? Why would I do that? I want her to stop looking at me" he said and Eloise frowned,

"Really?" she asked and he nodded, "Okay, well I can make that happen if you want" she said,

"How?" Remus asked,

"Make it look like you have a girlfriend"

"And how would I do that?"

"Pull me on to your lap"

"Do what? How is that goi-"

"Just trust me Moony"

Remus sighed and put his hands on Eloise's hips and pulled her to sit on his knees. She smiled and put her arms around his neck, playing with his hair,

"Now watch" she told him and they both saw Priya's shoulders droop slightly but she still kept glancing at them,

"You have to up the ante" James told them, he was thoroughly enjoying their scheme.

"Whisper into my ear" Eloise told Remus. To an outsider it would look like the boy was whispering sweet-nothings to the girl on his lap, but in reality he was listing similarities between Sirius and Dumbledore. Eloise's giggles, however, only added to the roles they were playing. Remus was halfway through saying that he knew Sirius had the same pair of socks as the Headmaster when Priya stood up and walked out of the pub. Seeing the girl leave, Eloise turned and high-fived Remus,

"Mission accomplished!" she cheered and the rest of the table clapped and laughed, all except for one person. Eloise caught Sirius staring at Remus, his eyes were narrowed and she could almost hear his mind whirring. She decided that she had to talk to him, stuffing one of her gloves in her pocket, she pretended to look for something,

"Oh no!" she said and her friends looked to her, "I lost a glove! I must've dropped it somewhere" she sighed, 

"You might've dropped it on the way here" Lily offered and Eloise nodded. She tried to stand up but wobbled on her bad ankle and had to hold on to James to stop herself from falling over. 

"I can't even walk to look for it" she pouted and, just as she had suspected, Sirius climbed over James and stood up next to her,

"Come on Lou, I'll take you to find it" he bent down and she jumped on to his back.

The pair left the pub and began to walk back the way they came, Sirius scanning the floor for Eloise's "lost glove". 

"Pads.." Eloise began, he hummed in response, "I didn't actually lose my glove, I just needed an excuse to talk to you in private" Sirius stopped walking and turned his head to face her,

"What do you need to talk to me about?" he asked frowning. Eloise pointed to a bench and he walked over, setting Eloise down and sitting next to her.

"You had a look on your face back in The Three Broomsticks" she explained and Sirius faked a look of innocence,

"No I didn't"

"Don't play dumb Siri, you looked like you wanted to kill Moony when we were pretending to be a couple" he sighed,

"Well that's the thing" he said, "How do I know you were pretending?"