Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 87

It took only three seconds of silence before Sirius, Remus, and Peter all burst into laughter.

"What?" James snapped. "I'm serious!"

The boys laughed even harder at their usual joke, holding their stomachs or grabbing the table so they wouldn't fall off their seats.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous! What's wrong with asking someone out?" James said angrily, losing his patience.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong to ask someone out," Sirius admitted, though still sniggering. "But there's something wrong with you if you think for a second that Evans is going to agree to go out with you."

"Keep your voices down. They might hear us," said Remus, throwing a glance at the three girls who were sitting on the other side of the common room, busy studying.

"And why on earth wouldn't she say yes?" James scoffed.

"Well," Remus began wittily, "to name one tiny reason: she hates you."

James rolled his eyes. "Rubbish. She doesn't hate me."

"You've become funny tonight, Potter." Sirius snorted with laughter. "Peter, tell him that Evans hates him."

Peter nodded sincerely in agreement. "She definitely hates you."

"She doesn't hate m — oh, forget it!" James huffed out angrily and shot up to his feet while his friends kept sneering at him. "You lot don't know what you're talking about! She would be happy if I asked her! Who wouldn't want to go out with me? It doesn't matter who I ask out. They would all say yes."

"Way to keep it humble, mate," said Remus, raising his book again to keep on reading.

"I'm not going to lie to myself." James shrugged earnestly. "There is literary a bunch of girls who show up to every single one of our Quidditch practices and afterward follow us all the way to the locker rooms and huddle around to talk and flirt with us. I'm not going to act humble and pretend like I don't notice them."

"And what makes you so sure that they come to the practices because of you?" Sirius grinned handsomely and folded his arms, leaning his back in his chair arrogantly.

James raised a brow at him. "What? You think all those girls show up because of you?"

Sirius's smug grin widened. "No. I don't think they show up because of me. I know they come for me."

"I'm a way better Quidditch player than you, Black!" James argued, though there was a fun and joking tone to his words. "Everyone knows I'm the coolest."

"And everyone knows I'm way better looking than you are," said Sirius, getting up to his feet as well to halve his tallness over James.

Sirius was the first one among the third year boys to suddenly grow taller, and after the summer break, he looked like a different person. Everyone else their age was developing pimples, acnes, weird facial hair, and cracking voices. But it seemed as though Sirius had completely skipped that stage of adolescence and had immediately jumped into his golden years.

     There was no denying that he truly was the most handsome boy in his year, if not in the whole school. Not even James could deny this fact, but he wasn't going to back down from this fight so easily either.

"What do you say to a bet then, Black?" James said challengingly.

     Sirius mirrored his grin. "You've got my attention, Potter."