"Do they really think that we don't know they're following us?" Lily was annoyed.

Kelsey giggled into her ear. "I don't know.." She honestly wondered sometimes. "They can't be that thick, right?"

The two girls walked down Hogsmeade towards the newly opened Muggle store. Although it was a little further from the main part of the village, even as the girls approached the store they could see the crowd of students inside.

They came to a stop in front of the sign 'Wee Muggle-ton: One-stop shop for all your non-wizard fancies'

Consequently, they heard some silent shuffling behind them.

"I thought you said Potter was doing okay this year?" Kelsey asked in a hushed tone.

"He is. He's just - I don't know sometimes," her friend blushed.

"Oh my god!" Kelsey looked at her in shock. "You actually like his attention!"

"No!"

"Admit it. You like Potter!"

"I do not!" she retorted as low in a voice as she could without alerting them.

It was the most curious thing. They were sure that the two boys were following them. But every time they turned around, there was nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Just empty air.

Kelsey wondered if either of them knew disillusionment charms.

Why they would choose to follow them around Hogsmeade was a mystery. Kelsey was more interested in learning what the store held. Thinking that that was a problem for another day they entered the store.

"Is that what I think it is?!" Kelsey exclaimed in delight at the row of vinyls in front of her.

"The Rolling Stones!" Lily grabbed a record off the shelf and held it in her hands.

The newly opened Muggle store in Hogsmeade was a hit so far. For the first time ever the wizarding town of Hogsmeade had been graced with the presence of this unique opportunity. The store was very crowded. There were many inquisitive students from Hogwarts, mostly muggle-borns like Lily and Kelsey. The remaining few with no muggle background whatsoever stood awkwardly in the shop wondering what to make of the intriguing products around them.

Two of these students included James Potter and Sirius Black.

"What is that?" James whispered to Sirius as he saw Lily beaming at some thin square piece of cardboard in her hand.

"A vinyl. They go in record players," Sirius explained.

Yes, the two boys had been covertly following Lily. But imagine their surprise when they found out that there was no bloke near Lily but rather just Kelpie Jones.

"And to think he actually had the audacity to bail on my Lily! She's perfect! She didn't deserve him anyway!" James was furious. Of course, his first instinct had been to assume the worst.

"Shh! They'll hear us!" Sirius held a finger up to his lips.

Students around him looked at them warily.

"Is that James Potter?" someone whispered.

"Why does he have his sweatshirt hood on? And why is he wearing sunglasses inside?" another asked.

"Mummy, look. Funny-man," a small toddler tugged her mother's hand and pointed at James' strange get up. Startled, the concerned mother immediately pulled her child in close away from the shady looking young men. "Come on Catherine. I'll get you some Cauldron Cakes instead. The Jolly Ranchers can wait," she ushered her child away while shooting them nasty glances.

"Yeah. This might not have been the best idea. We're drawing too much attention. Where's your cloak anyway? We shouldn't have taken it off," Sirius said matter of factly.

"Tucked into my coat. Never mind that- this store's crowded, they'll never see us!"

"Wanna try that again?" Jones' chirpy voice interrupted their banter. They froze on the spot and swivelled around.

"Fancy seeing you here Jones," Sirius smirked, trying to play it off coolly.

"Please don't tell Evan-"

"Tell me what, Potter?" Lily showed up from behind one of the rows, hands on her hips, looking at him thoroughly displeased.

"Tha-that," Potter was struggling to find the words.

"That you look fetching as ever Evans. Prongs just wanted to stop by and say that," Sirius thumped Potter on the back. He really deserved a lot more credit for being such a good wingman.

"Guys, we know you've been following us," Kelsey informed them.

"Have you now, guys," Sirius mocked, adjusting his accent a bit. She narrowed her eyes at him, mentally revving up to retort when Lily stopped her.

"Let's go Kels. I'm done here if you are," Lily took her by the sleeve and started leading her friend away before she started bickering with Black. Sometimes she wondered if that's how she and Potter looked from the other people's point of view..so heated with copious amounts of unresolved sexual tension?

With their bag full of candies, books and few homey knick-knacks, they left the store.

"Where are you going?" James and Sirius followed them out of the store.

"To eat."

As if on cue, Sirius' tummy growled too. Looking at his friend Sirius shrugged, "Might as well eat something. At least we'll get to follow them."

"We can hear you!"

"Great! Make sure you grab a table for four, we'll be right behind you," Sirius waved at them.

Now outside the Three Broomsticks, Kelsey rolled her eyes but made a beeline for a large table anyway. She thought for a moment with Potter and Black on their heels that she needed to test out that Lily-not-hating-Potter theory.

"Sherlock Holmes got nothin' on me," she whispered to herself in full mission mode.

"Ugh, you're doing it again. I told you- stop talking like you're in a James Bond movie," Lily groaned.

"Did you hear that Pads, she said my name!" The two boys appeared, standing awkwardly. Lily rolled her eyes as she took off her coat and put it around a chair.

"I heard love makes you blind but I didn't think it made you deaf. Who's James Bond?" Sirius suspiciously looked at Lily while Potter looked at her expectedly too. Could this be the mysterious bloke Padfoot had heard make plans with Lily?

Lily shared a silent look of disbelief with Jones. Both girls decided that it wasn't worth it.

"Just sit would you!" Lily exclaimed. "Either that or leave. Anything's better than you stammering and following us."

The three students looked at her in surprise. No one had expected her to actually ask them to sit down at the table.

Who was James Potter to refuse? But nevertheless, Kelsey saw an opportunity.

With a shrug, Sirius took a seat next to Jones while James slowly took a seat next to Evans. "Jones," he chirped.

"Black," she said unenthusiastically.

"Well, don't sound too excited to see me," he winked at her.

"I'm getting myself some drinks, Kels?" Evans got up.

"Just a Butterbeer and some Fish and Chips," she piped up.

"Why thank you Evans, I'll have-"

"-a kick up your arse if you finish that sentence," Kelsey threatened Sirius. Evans sent her an amused look and went off to order. Potter kept glancing back at the door shiftily every few moments.

Sharing a quick look with Potter, she surprisingly got into a conversation with him, egging him about the comic he was still due to give her. It was best that Evans didn't know she was blackmailing him for some free goods, even if it was the least he could do for her troubles. Sirius glanced between them skeptically, scoffing every now and then feeling left out, and increasingly hungry.

Sirius' tummy growled again, a little too loudly, alerting Potter and Kelsey of his predicament. Kelsey tried to keep herself from laughing. She watched the two boys communicating silently without words while Lily walked back with some more Butterbeer. She was kind enough to get one for Black as well.

"So err, anyone here manage to conjure that Patronus too? The unit's almost over and I think Professor Dusting is about to lose it if more of us don't," Lily diverted the conversation. Simultaneously, the other three groaned.

"Lily, remember what I said before we left?" Kelsey asked her. "Out of school, out of mind."

"So that we can hear all about Kelsey daydreaming about snogging Benji while conjuring a Patronus. No, thank you. I'd like to not vomit today," Sirius blanched. Lily shot Kelsey a silent "We'll be talking about that later look" which the other two boys didn't miss.

Kelsey hid her face in her hands, thinking back to what exactly had clicked in her when she had conjured the Patronus. Surely, it had to have been a fluke..she would have to ask Astrid to practice with her later.

"Oh shut it! You just invited yourself," Lily turned a little red.

"Hey now. I think what Evans brought up was important-"

"What are you even doing here still? Weren't you going to order something to eat though? Isn't that the whole point of you following us here?" Evans asked. Sirius was about to agree and tell James to get him something when Potter kicked his friend under the table. With a yelp, anything on Sirius' lips died.

"So you ladies..you two here all alone?" Sirius asked.

"Yes?" Kelsey replied unsure of what they were after.

"Not meeting anyone here?" Potter inquired further, glancing at the door as if waiting for someone to show up.

"Did you not hear what she just said?" said Evans. Just like that Lily and James broke out into a banter of their own, exchanging heated words while Potter tried to explain himself.

"You sure?" Kelsey felt Black lean closer to her and whisper softly. Holding back a smirk, she met his gaze.

"Why Mr Black are you jealous or any potential dates we may or may not be expecting?" she replied softly, batting her eyelashes.

"Pfft," he scoffed once again. "More likely to do a favour to any poor tosser who might walk in the door for a date with you," he replied smugly.

She shuffled her chair a little closer to his so that their arms barely touched. With Lily and Potter busy in their own world she decided to try out the next part of her plan once again.

"What are you doing?" he sounded astonished at her willingness to inch closer to him. In his six years of experience, Jones usually ran in the opposite direction. Not towards him. He found it off that she wanted to be nearer. Odder yet that he seemed pleased about it.

"Have you given any thought to what I said the other day?" she asked softly. His mind went back to something to do with V-Cards. Unfortunately, Moony hadn't been able to gather that information from Astrid yet.

"What's a V-Card?" he asked hoarsely. With a small chuckle, Kelsey grinned and leaned in closer. She whispered in his ear, missing out on his eyes going wide as saucers as he felt himself getting a little too warm. She heard a sharp intake of breath and put some distance between them to see for herself his reaction, no doubt evidence of her well-laid plans.

Their eyes met, and if this was a movie, it would have been in a slow-motion drama. Without breaking eye contact, he reached for the big mug of butterbeer and brought it to his lips so that he wouldn't have to reply.

He had to be dreaming. Did she just say what he thought she did?

Kelsey leaned over again and subtly put a hand on his thigh, just out of anyone's sight under the table.

Sirius did a very un-Sirius thing.

Surprised at the sudden contact, he yelped and spilled half the contents of his mug over the table onto Potter while getting Lily a bit in the hair.

"Sirius, what the fu-"

"James! You can't cuss!" Lily interrupted him. She looked at the drops of butterbeer dropping down her own locks in dismay. "Forget it. Come with me!"

She led him away by the hand, inciting a similar yelp from James at the contact, no doubt leading him to the washrooms. He turned his head back to look at them in wonder. Sirius managed to send him a thumbs up. She had called him James.

With their two friends now gone, Sirius and Kelsey found themselves alone.

Sirius was suddenly very aware of the fact that Kelsey had been trying to grope him until a few moments ago. He put some space between them.

"Aww what happened Black?" she. "Can't handle this?" she pointed her thumbs at herself.

The boy snickered. As if, he thought. It's you couldn't handle me.

"We could always test that." He had said that out loud. Just like that, she was coaxing him again. Sirius wished that he would get tired of looking into her eyes. But he didn't. They were a different shade of blue every time.

"Be careful what you wish for Jones," he murmured. His hand snaked around her waist and she almost froze at the contact. She saw his gaze dip to her lips. He did that a lot around her. It made her conscious. It reminded her of the time he had grabbed her and kissed her. The warmth that started spreading felt the same. I should probably do something, but she remained fixed as his gaze dipped to her lips.

"Oi! This is a pub! Get a room or get out!" The bar-keep yelled out to them, suddenly breaking them out of their trance. They split apart comically.

"I-I," Kelsey too was at a loss for words.

"I need to go. Probably find Moony. Quidditch practice too. Match next week. You should come. Okay? Cheerio," Sirius rambled and rushed off again just like in detention leaving Kelsey with her heart hammering.

He's a mental one, indeed. Kelsey smiled to herself.

Sometime later Potter and Evans returned with Evans looking a little red in the face and Potter looking dazed.

"Where's Padfoot?" he looked around for his missing friend.

"He said something about finding Lupin I think. And Quidditch.." she said, hoping her voice didn't give anything away. She hadn't expected to get tongue-tied herself in this prank war.

"Oh yeah, you two should come. To the after-party celebration, I mean. Common Room as usual," Potter looked at Lily expectedly.

"Are you that confident that you'll win?" Lily looked at him surprised.

Thinking it over, a smile slowly came over his face as he beamed at her. "Evans, love. When it comes to Quidditch I always am."

"In fact," he grabbed a chip off Kelsey's plate and popped it in his mouth, tipping the chair back. "I might play Chaser, but I'm a Keeper for sure," he winked at her and sat down leaving Lily staring at him with her mouth agape.

Now who was the stammering fool, thought Potter as he watched Lily search for words. His initial worry over her 'date' was forgotten and he realised that today had indeed been a good day.

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