Homonculous |Marauders Era

Chapter Fifty-Eight

"But-"

"I know what you're thinking," he interjected before she could continue, " that I'm a terrible person for interfering. But I know James isn't over Lily like he claims to be. He's just using Nola to make Lily jealous. Which I actually think is a terrible thing to do. He's fancied Lily since the first year and I'm not exaggerating. Trust me, I share a dorm with him here and a room at his house with him, I know for a fact that he's not over her. And while I don't agree with how he pursued her in the beginning, I think he could stand a chance now, as long as he goes about it the right way."

Elspeth didn't know what to say, not fully believing Sirius' reasoning for the couple getting together, but not willing to question it any further.

"I think it's fate that they get together," Sirius said, leaving Elspeth's body to fall rigid, " they just need a bit of a push in the right direction."

"Right, fate," she replied faintly, "I couldn't have said it any better myself."

"So, you'll help me, maybe?" he asked her. "You know, maybe help Lily see that James isn't as bad as she's made him out to be in her head-"

"Sirius, she's in her right to see him the way she does. James has been an arse, regardless if Noseferatu is out of the picture, it still didn't excuse James' behaviour. In order to do this, we have to keep James in a perfect light at all times when she's around. She has to see growth and maturity...basically, she's going to have to see James in a better light than how she views Tucker right now."

The two of them looked over to where Lily and Tucker were examining the broken bench.

"What happened over there?" Sirius questioned before he was spun around to look away.

"That's not important right now," Elspeth said quickly, " what I said is important. We need to build James up so that Lily will notice him in a good light. Once we do that, I bet you as soon as Lily shows interest in him, James will start falling back in love with her. Except for this time, he'll go about the right way."

"So we're going to do this?" Sirius smiled in relief. "We're going to work on this together?"

She nodded her head. "I think we can treat this one like a life or death situation."

"Great! So what's our first order of operation?"

"We make James look good," Elspeth said, " really good. So, I'm going to need a galleon and a first year."

"What?"

"Come along, Piddles."

"I really hope that's not going to become a new nickname!"

Standing outside the library later on that evening, Sirius stood with his arms folded in question as Elspeth's first plan was underway. They had managed to find a first year Gryffindor and with a galleon in hand, Elspeth started making her request. Inside the library, James, Remus, and Peter were working at one table, wondering where the hell Sirius was at the time but figured after a few minutes that he and Elspeth had found a broom cupboard somewhere.

Not too far from them was Lily, sitting with Tucker, going over some homework.

"Alright, here's what you do," Elspeth said, holding the galleon in front of the first year boy's eyes. "I want you to go in there, approach the boy with the glasses like we discussed and thank him for helping you on the train."

"But he didn't help me on the train..." the boy told her.

"One galleon says he did."

"Two galleons," he challenged her offer, leaving Sirius' eyes to widen, especially as Elspeth lowered herself to the boy's eye level.

"One galleon  and the chance to keep both of your nipples."

Following the look on Sirius' face, the boy appeared to be in a state of shock as his hands moved to cover his chest. He quickly reached out and snatched the galleon from her hand and then made his way into the library.

"And make sure you're loud enough!" Elspeth called after him with a whisper. The two remained outside in the corridor, watching as the boy approached where James was sitting, talking with Remus and Peter about something. Elspeth and Sirius both had their fingers crossed that it was going to work, but apparently, that boy didn't take kindly to threats.

"HEY, JAMES POTTER!" he yelled, making sure he was loud enough. " I JUST WANTED TO SAY, THANKS FOR HELPING ME ON THE TRAIN!"

Sure, he had captured Lily's attention from across the way, but she also looked annoyed as if she were blaming James for setting it up. Sirius let out a heavy sigh, turning to Elspeth to say that they had to come up with another plan to act as damage control. However, as he turned over to her, he could see Elspeth rolling up the sleeves of her robes, ready to attack the first year boy.

"El, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to go get my galleon back!"