𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄
chapter fourteen; Romantic Gestures With Strawberry Ice Cream
" That's just it, Potter, she doesn't deserve you. "

  JAMES WAS HAVING a good joke with Lily. Like, the proper kind, where their laughter had turned silent and their eyes brimmed with happy tears. Neither could pinpoint what had started it, just that the Valentine's Day sun beaming on the pitch had lifted their spirits so high they could no longer see the ground.

  And then, not only did the ex-lovers halt their laughter, but Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Dottie Fitzgerald, and Marlene McKinnon fell silent as Sirius and Salem's unmistakable voices ripped through the air.

  "It's classic!"

  "It's cliche."

  "Don't be such a Debbie Downer, Gerard," Sirius whined, trailing after the girl, "It's the most romantic flower on the most romantic day!"

  "What are you two bickering about?" Lily laughed shortly, eyeing the two.

  Salem held up a rose. Dottie cringed.

  "What?" Sirius exclaimed, his arms flailing to express his confusion, "It was a nice gesture!"

  "Yeah, but it's Sal," Dottie laughed.

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means I already think Valentine's Day is a bunch of shit, and roses just so happen to be the most cliche, over-commercialized flower in the entire world."

  "Didn't know you had such harsh feelings on flowers," James noted with an amused smile.

  Salem melted inside, but kept her composure.

  "Of course I do, Potter, I have harsh feelings on everything."

  "Alright, then, what's your favorite flower?" Sirius asked, "You can't say something usual, either, since you're so loud about a rose."

  "Chocolate Cosmos."

  "Not a thing, don't exist."

  "Actually," Dottie laughed, "They do, they're a flower native to Mexico."

  Peter raised his eyebrows at the girl.

  "We read a lot," She explained quickly, blushing at the look she was receiving, "Boredom strikes and we end up wandering through a flora and fauna book in the library."

  "Strange, strange girls," James muttered, shaking his head.

  "Well, I didn't come here to chat about flowers," Salem cleared her throat, "How are we doing the game?"

  "Couple more blokes from the team are showing up— then we'll pick teams."

  "I call Sal!" Sirius shouted, pulling the disgruntled redhead under his arm, "We're beaters."

  "No shit, Salem Gerard can hold her own?"

  "Guess you'll find out," Salem told James, "I have to grab a broom, 'scuse me."

  James and Sirius watched the girl walk away— which elicited judgmental looks from the rest of the group.

  "She's a bit feistier than I remember."

  "You don't know the half of it, mate."

  Salem Gerard was a beast. She didn't take any shit, which shouldn't have been surprising, but when she reeled her arm back and sent a bludger towards James Potter and he just barely dodged it— he became enamored.

  It was probably why James's team lost the scrimmage. Because while everyone else was focused on the game and the falsified rules Sirius kept shouting— James was focused on Salem Gerard.

  "I don't know how you lot play all the time," Lily sighed as soon as her feet touched the ground, "I am exhausted."

  "It's not for the faint of heart," Salem teased, making Lily scoff and hit her arm.

  "Oh, shit," Lily cursed, "I've got a date— I should go. . . ten minutes ago."

  "Have fun, use protection!"

  Lily, once again, hit Salem before hugging James and Dottie goodbye. This began a chain reaction of the team dispersing as to avoid clean up— and in the end, only James, Sirius, Salem, and Remus remained.

  "Sal—"

  "Gerard," Sirius cheered, "You have got to come to every single one of these and help me win."

  "You're dumber than you look if you think that'll happen," Salem chuckled, locking the angry bludger down.

  "Ah, worth a shot," Sirius huffed, "Fancy sneaking into the kitchens and grabbing dessert after this?"

  ". . . Fine," She mumbled, closing the quidditch trunk, "But only because I could really use a bowl of strawberry ice cream."

  Sirius grinned as the girl heaved the trunk up, thumping off towards the supply shed.

  And, James, while Sirius was in his daze, hurriedly collected the brooms and followed her.

  "I just have one question for you, Sal," James announced, making the girl jolt slightly, "Why the bloody hell aren't you on my team?"

  Salem laughed and finished sliding the trunk back into its rightful place.

  "I've never been into school activities," She shrugged, "Never been into school in general, if I'm honest."

  "Oh, why's that?"

  "Personal preference."

  Salem nodded to herself, looking down at her somewhat raw hands. James faltered at the silence, hanging the last broom before facing the girl.

  The prank.

  It had all been addressed and, seemingly, swept under the rug, but James still forgot. That it wasn't just a prank— it had objectively ruined Salem Gerard's Hogwarts experience as a whole.

  So he made a choice.

  "Salem Gerard," James said, crossing the shed in a single step, "I will make the rest of your seventh year the best one you've ever had."

  Salem laughed sadly, and before she could comprehend it, she was being pulled into a hug.

  James Potter was a surprisingly soft person to hug. Not in the sense that he was soft— he wasn't, quidditch had bulked him up quite nicely over the years and Salem wouldn't have been ashamed to admit that she briefly couldn't think about anything but the broad chest as was pushed against or the strong arms keeping her there.

  No, that's a lie, she was quite ashamed of it.

  But James was gentle, like a teddy bear, his jumper and sweet scent of cinnamon and broom polishing wax, the way he bent down to rest his chin atop her head— it was all so gentle Salem didn't know how to exist in it.

  "So," She cleared her throat, pulling away and instantly craving the warmth again, "How's a guy like you not have a date today?"

  "Mystery Girl," James shrugged, "You know."

  "Right. . ."

  "Is there a reason you won't tell me?" He asked the question that had been weighing on his mind, "Is it payback?"

  "It's not my secret to tell," She said with a shallow smile, "I'm sure you'll find out when the time is right— but you shouldn't wait for her."

  "Why not? I'd wait forever for her."

  "That's just it, Potter, she doesn't deserve you."

    "Well, I think it's quite the opposite," James shrugged quietly, "And that's why I haven't got a date. 'Cause she's the best girl there is, and anything else is just settling."

  "Gerard!" 

  Sirius tripped into the shed, not choosing to comment on Salem and James's closeness.

  "Ready for dessert?"

  "Stupid question, the answer is always yes."

  James smiled lightly as Sirius held out the crook of his elbow and Salem rested her hand in it before they were off.

  And oh, how James wished he could do such silly, insignificant things with Mystery Girl.

⥊

  "You know, I've never been in the kitchens before," Salem informed Sirius, pulling her bowl closer to herself. 

  The two had claimed seats at the long, wooden table running down the center of the kitchens. Salem still found herself distracted by the house-elves busily cleaning up from dinner around them, but Sirius seemed nearly oblivious to it all.

  "You have been missing out, my dear," Sirius grinned.

  "Clearly."

  They talked about nothing forever. Sirius mentioned that Salem looked quite like Roman, and she laughed at how this had been a recurring comment. The girl discovered Sirius had a liking for muggle rock music and, for reasons unknown, favored summer over winter. 

  And after Salem told him her favorite animal was an otter but before she got to the bottom of her icecream— Sirius leaned over to brush a piece of hair away.

  Then he went in for a kiss.

  "What are you doing?" Salem asked, standing from her seat abruptly.

  Sirius floundered for words.

  "Uh, I— uh, well," Sirius sputtered, standing as well, "I was, uh, well, I was going to kiss you but I see that wasn't a good idea."

  "Is that why you've been so nice to me?" She asked, "Oh, my God."

  "Gerard—"

  "I like James," Salem said loudly, "I play chess with him every night and talk to him about everything, you know that!"

  "I know, but you're just so pretty, and we'd been spending so much time together—!"

  "Because we're friends," Salem gaped, "You don't kiss your friends!"

  "Gerard—!"

  "Shit," She mumbled, cupping her face, "This is a train-wreck, Sirius, I fancy your best friend and he fancies me, but not really me, just Mystery Girl—"

  "You're James Potter's mystery girl?"

  Salem, for the second time, felt as though the velvety curtains of her chest had been drawn back to put her fleshy heart on display. Lily Evans stood with her jaw dwindling, emotions mixing in her green irises.

  "Lils—"

  "Is that why you wanted to be friends?" Lily asked, hurt spreading over her face as she absorbed the information, "Because you fancied him and—"

  "I didn't fancy him to start with," Salem said, cringing at her own words, "I just— Lily, he was messing with my chessboard and— it was never meant to be more than that, and—"

  "But still," Lily continued, "You never told me? That you're this. . . huge piece of his life? The way he talks about you, Sal. . ."

  And, perhaps the worst part was that Lily wasn't even angry. There was no fire in her words, for Lily Evans was simply hurt. She had never wanted to break up with James Potter, she'd loved him more than she thought possible, but James Potter didn't want the future she did and therefore her heart cracked in two.

  Only to find that James wanted the future with another girl. Perhaps not Lily's ideal one— but James seemed certain he'd go wherever Mystery Girl did and sure enough, Mystery Girl was Lily's new best friend.

  "I didn't think any of this would happen," Salem let out pitifully.

  Lily just nodded with tight lips, looking at her feet briefly.

  "Well, I suppose you should figure out what to do now," The redhead said quietly, "Bye, Salem."

  Her own name was a weapon used against her, slicing a gash in her heart as Lily turned tail and left. Salem didn't know what to do with all this hurt, like it was an anvil tied to her heart constantly falling down, down, down, the girl just stared at the exit Lily had just disappeared from until Sirius brought her back down to earth.

  "Gerard?"

  "I wish I'd never given anyone a chance," Salem said in such a fragile voice, Sirius knew it was destined to shatter, "Not Potter or Lily or you or Roman or anyone— I should've just finished Hogwarts the way I've been going and everything would've been fine—"

  "You can't take it back now," Sirius said quietly.

  "Surely I can?"

  "It's far too late for that," He frowned, walking lightly around so he could see Salem's face, "You've got us all caring about you now."

  And in a moment of weakness that Salem would never speak about and Sirius would never forget, the redhead collapsed into her raven-haired counterpart. She was greedily hanging onto his jacket— leather clashing against leather— cologne drowned Salem and she found herself thinking about how different this was from hugging James.

  This was two people who didn't hug anyone enough, one searching for any kind of reassurance that there was one good thing left, the other accepting any form of affection from the girl he was so quickly falling for.

  "That's the worst part," Salem mumbled— and her voice gave away her tears which shocked Sirius more than he thought possible, "I'm starting to care about you all too much to walk away."

  Sirius just shushed her gently, he hugged her until she broke it apart— everything on Salem's terms. And he didn't touch her again— he didn't let his hand linger on her arm when they cleaned up after themselves or lean in for a kiss when she loitered in the common room. He didn't so much as try to hug her when he left for bed, only offering a smile she reciprocated.

  This was enough.

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
this chapter was spicy wow,
alright, 1. who do we think Dottie
went on a Valentine's date with?
and 2. how do we feel about how Sirius 
is handling his feelings and how Lily
reacted to finding out AND james
and Sal's newfound. . . friendship?? 
I LOVE HEARING YOUR GUYS' THOUGHTS
AH