Sirius walked into James's bathroom, leaving the door open as he stood in front of
the mirror to run his fingers through his hair, making sure his tousled look was perfect and
did not resemble James's mess in the slightest. "I think it's only fair seeing that she was
talking about us. Get over it, mate. We've got bigger things to worry about."
"Like what?" James narrowed his eyes.
"Like beating the shit out of Adrian Abbott when we get back to school."
"Do I want to know?" James asked with a sigh, hanging his head in his hands.
Sirius sucked in a breath, thought about not telling him, but decided against that
plan of action. "It has to do with your sister's tits."
Looking ill, James muttered, "My sister doesn't have tits," under his breath.
"They say anything about me?" Peter asked from the corner of the room.
Sirius frowned, remembering Mary shriek. He made a mental note to talk to his
friends about how to actually speak to girls instead of shadowing them like a creep. "Sorry,
Pete, bad luck."
Twenty minutes later, the nine teenagers were at the river, half already in the water,
taking advantage of the perfect weather. It took picturing Cormac McLaggen in order to
keep the blush off of Mia's cheeks as the boys made their way through the orchard,
shirtless. The other girls had not been so successful at hiding their looks of approval,
though Lily had taken the high road by turning away and hiding her face entirely.
James spent his time diving off of the tree branches into the deeper parts of the
river, doing back flips and cannonballs, each time surfacing in Lily's direction only to be
disappointed when she was not looking at him.
Frank and Alice were on the other side of the bank quietly talking, and Mia smiled
when she watched her friend reach for Frank's hand and lace their fingers together
innocently.
Remus was curled up beneath the giant oak, book in hand, occasionally looking
over to watch while Peter failed to keep Mary's attention as he told her the story about how
he successfully brewed a Shrinking Solution even though it was a third year potion. Mary
sent Mia a look that said she would rather hear he could perform an Enlargement Charm.