Little Riddle | James Potter

Five

Sirius made himself comfortable straight away, resting on the long sofa with his feet propped up on a coffee table while the ever so prepared Remus Lupin went over their plans, making sure no one had forgotten anything and repeatedly practising the Bewitched Sleep incantation, while James and Peter took a walk around, inspecting the place and listening to Alexis' ramblings.

"---and this is where Avery laid unconscious. Oh, and that couch Sirius is sitting on? That's where they caught Malfoy and Narcissa shagging" All gazes shifted to Sirius, who jumped up immediately and landed on the ground with a thud.

"Shhh," Remus scolded him, earning a scowl in return.

"Oh, oh, oh," Alexis pulled on James' arm and dragged him to a window, where they had a clear underwater view of the lake. "That dark dot you see far away? That's the giant squid. And this," she dragged him to a different window, "is where a lot of merpeople hang out." James found her enthusiasm adorable, and although he had visited the green common room on previous occasions, he found the place a little more tolerable this time around.

"Alright," Remus clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "Let's get to work."

The Marauders began to make their way to the boys' dormitory while Alexis watched them from afar. It was James who first noticed her absence, making him turn on his heels to face her with his signature smirk. "Are you going to just stand there or what?"

The Marauders had been given more detention than they could physically serve. News had travelled fast about the mayhem that occurred in the Slytherin dungeons when some 'radioactive' looking rats had invaded the place. Lucius Malfoy claimed he had a fatal disease after a rat bit him and demanded to be taken to St. Mungo's immediately. Madam Pomfrey begged to differ. About thirty abnormally sized rats had taken up the entirety of their dorm when Mulciber had had the stupidly great idea to open the door in an attempt to get them out. The rats then proceeded to wreak havoc in the common room as well as other people's dorms. It took four professors to get the situation under control.

No one knew how exactly the prank had been executed, but they knew damn well who the culprits were. Thankfully, the four Gryffindors took the entire blame and never mentioned Alexis' name in their confession. She was thankful for their secrecy but annoyed that they had to be late for the first Duelling Club session. Over fifty students had shown up and they weren't looking too impressed by her introduction, which was to be expected because she had rehearsed to teach the lesson and not to be a source of entertainment. But after five minutes of her being a stuttering mess James Potter barged in, immediately capturing everyone's attention as he strutted across the room ever so confidently, shouting orders and mild insults. Everyone seemed excited after that. Remus and Sirius had joined them soon after, and together the four got to mentoring on wand movements, teaching some tricky jinxes, and fixing any deformity without bothering Poppy.

The accidents had been slim to none, with the worst one being yet another heartbreak for James. Alexis had tried to eavesdrop but to no avail, all she knew was that James had asked to have a few words with Lily, who had attended the lesson alongside her friends, and then his demeanour changed drastically once they returned from their little chat. His body language did not scream victory, that she was sure of.

Later on the five of them, with Peter included, opted to stay behind once the session was over and eat dinner there instead, discussing how the evening had been over some pizza and a bottle of firewhiskey. It was Friday, after all.

"Rogers is atrocious, I tell you," Sirius commented as he reached for another slice of pizza. "Can't hold a wand to save his life, literally."

"What about you, Lexi?" Remus shifted his attention to the silent girl, "did anything worth noting?"

"I set Sirius on fire," she said nonchalantly, earning giggles from both Remus and Peter, and a scowl from Sirius himself.

"Those were new robes, Riddle!"

"What about you, Prongs?" Hesitantly, Remus turned to James, already knowing the answer to his following question but wanting to discuss the matter regardless. "What did Lily say about Hogsmeade?"

"Turned me down. Again."

His blunt sincerity amazed Alexis. If it would've been her she would've been far too embarrassed about the entire ordeal to even say it out loud, but the connection the Marauders shared left no space for such things, and it never ceased to amaze her.

Sirius frowned, his eyes shifting from James to Alexis, and then back to James. "I thought you were making progress?"

"One step forward, two steps back," James sighed. He had been fiddling with his food the entire time, clearly wanting nothing more than for the evening to come to an end.

"Don't worry about it, Prongs," Peter attempted to cheer his friend up by rubbing his back soothingly, "she'll come around."

"Or maybe," Remus interjected as he looked down at his pizza, purposely avoiding eye contact with James. "It's time to move on."

Albeit hesitantly, Sirius supported Remus' statement, doing his best to try not to hurt James' feelings. "Maybe it's time to look elsewhere."

James sighed deeply, his shoulders slouched and his jaw tightened. "Maybe," he muttered softly, afraid his voice was going to break in the process.

He had fervently tried his very best to win Lily Evans, he really had, but why she kept turning him down was beyond his comprehension. But even if his infatuation was blinding, James was still smart enough to understand basic human behaviour, and even if he hated it, he often entertained the idea that Lily was simply not attracted to him and would never be. The thought haunted him but he knew it was the grim reality he was yet to accept. He often tried to play it off with his cocky behaviour, but there was no denying the ordeal played with his self-esteem more often than not.

"So," Alexis dusted her hands and called for their attention, hating the tense environment that had overtaken them and had left her feeling like an intruder, "how about we play one truth, two lies?" She desperately wanted to change the atmosphere but did not have the guts to play truth or dare with them, so she tried the next best thing.

Sirius eyed her malevolently, clearly liking her idea and the prospect of finding humiliating information about them all. "Alright, you go first, then."

"Fair enough," she sighed and paused to think about her three statements. "I pissed my pants in front of the whole class when I was seven," she was interrupted by the boys' childish giggles, causing her to direct a sardonic smile their way. "I hooked up with Rebecca Robinson once. And I won London Wool's beauty contest."

"The Robinson one," Sirius immediately bellowed with a smirk plastered on his lips, "that's the lie."

"I really don't think you pissed your pants," added Peter as an answer.

"I'm with Padfoot," said James, a cheeky grin miraculously appearing on his lips. "I've never even seen you talking to Rebecca."

Remus took his time to think things through, eyeing her carefully as he did so. "That's odd. I've never heard about London Wool's beauty contest."

She rolled her eyes hoping to deceive him, "Because I'm sure you keep up with all the beauty contests."

"Alexis," the lycanthrope leaned closer, "there is no such thing as a London Wool's beauty contest, is there?"

She feigned disbelief at first, an act that quickly faded. "Correct," she admitted, scrutinizing each and every boy's reaction.

"Wait," James' eyes widened as the realization hit him, "so does that---does that mean you and---you and Rebecca did the... deed?"

The boys received a wink as a response, sending them into complete mayhem. Sirius immediately began to ask for further details, still in slight disbelief. "When? Where? What? How?"

"This isn't 21 questions, Sirius."

It was two hours past their curfew and the boys had been polite enough to walk her to her dorm, helping her avoid getting caught by Filch in the process. They had learned a lot about each other that night, probably more than they were supposed to. Very intimate information had been shared. For instance, Remus had slept with Marlene one drunken night. Sirius had lost his virginity with Dorcas Meadowes, which he deeply regretted. The last person James had slept with was his muggle neighbour a few years back. Peter was still a virgin, which were certainly not the most shocking news of the night. And Alexis lost her virginity to Fabian Prewett on her fifth year. It was all very personal information that had slipped from their lips ever so casually since they felt so comfortable in each other's presence.

"So, you're walking to Hogsmeade with us tomorrow, right?" James draped his arm around her shoulders, not really concerned about being out of view and earshot.

"Sadly, no," she pouted, "they never signed my permission slip at the orphanage."

"Wait---so you've never been to Hogsmeade?" Remus halted, not believing her words.

"Never ever."

"That's unacceptable," James turned to look at the other boys, all of them sharing outraged looks.

"I'm sure we can work on that," Sirius assured her with a devilish grin, and she could already tell the boys were up to no good given the knowing looks they were exchanging.

Alexis had planned to aimlessly walk around the grounds all morning seeing as over half of the students had left the castle already. She carelessly wrapped a scarf around her neck as she made her way out of her dorm, not overly enthusiastic about the day that waited ahead. But she immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw the mess of dark hair she had grown familiar with. There, comfortably sprawled on a couch in the Slytherin common room was James Potter, having an animated chat with some first years. She absentmindedly fixed her skirt and took off her scarf, wrapping it again in a more fashionable manner. Her presence was noted by a first year, who immediately tapped James on the shoulder and pointed her way.

"Why, there you are, love," he greeted her with a warm smile. He then stood up and reached out his hand for her to take, making her frown at the gesture.

"Why are you here, James?" A confused frown contorted her features yet the amusement in her eyes was hard to miss. She placed her hand in his and he immediately led her out the door.

"I'm taking you to Hogsmeade, of course," James said cheerfully, mentally cursing himself as he felt his hands getting slightly sweaty. The boys had tasked him with getting Alexis to Hogsmeade while they took care of some other matters, and while at first he hadn't thought much about it, he was now awfully conscious about the fact this was their very first time alone. And for some very bizarre reason, he could feel himself getting increasingly nervous.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"

He smirked before pulling her over to an empty corridor and pulling out a cloak from his bag. "That's a silly question, dear."