She's the Girl | A Marauders Love story

Chapter 28

The bet

The rest of Christmas break passed so fast Hailey barely noticed it had gone. Soon enough, she was back on the train on her way to Hogwarts. James had his head in her lap and had his eyes closed, though Hailey knew he wasn't asleep. His hand was holding hers tightly, and their fingers were interlocked. She squeezed his hand, smiling when he squeezed it back. Using her free hand, Hailey ran her fingers through James's hair. James smiled and puckered his lips. Hailey leaned down, but was interrupted when Sirius coughed.

"Remus and I are still here, you know. We don't really like you two doing...couple stuff in front of us."

Hailey laughed.

"You two are just as bad, if not worse. You have no place to talk."

Remus scoffed.

"We could go longer than you could without doing all of that." Remus gestured vaguely at Hailey and James. Hailey raised her eyebrow at Sirius's legs, that were propped on Remus's lap. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You and James did that before you were dating."

James opened his eyes and turned his head to face Remus and Sirius.

"Yeah, because we were into each other. That's like the whole point."

"Fine. Let's make a bet. First couple to show PDA this semester owes the other couple butterbeers."

Hailey looked at James, who shrugged.

"Deal." Hailey stuck out her hand and shook Remus's, then Sirius's. James did the same. "When do we start?"

"When we get to Hogsmeade station."

Hailey and James nodded.

"That's fair. But let's clarify. What counts as PDA?"

Sirius nodded.

"I would also like to know that."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Any kind of more-than-friends affection in front of other people. Including us." Remus pointed at himself and Sirius. James nodded.

"We can do that."

Hailey nodded.

"Easy."

Sirius stood up, pulling Remus with him.

"I would like to use my last hour and a half wisely, so if you'll excuse Remus and I."

The two left the compartment in a hurry, shutting the door quickly behind him. James looked back up at Hailey.

"We could snog for a bit."

"We could." Hailey leaned down and kissed James gently. As she pulled away, he put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her face close to his.

"Is that a yes?"

Hailey laughed and kissed him on the nose.

"Yes."

~~~~~~~

Remus opened the compartment door, walking in with an air of importance.

"We have reached Hogsmeade Station, now back up from each other. No couple-y stuff."

Hailey lifted her head from James's lap. She raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't PDA. We've done this since before we were interested in each other."

Remus sighed.

"If you guys are going to keep bending the rules, this won't be fun anymore."

Hailey and James laughed.

"Fine. We'll stop. But not all contact is PDA. We're still allowed to hang out together and touch and stuff."

"Yeah, that's fair. You guys were always pretty physically close anyway." Sirius shrugged. Remus nodded.

"But we do have to get a carriage, so let's go."

The group grabbed their trunks and ran to find a carriage. They caught one of the last available ones, and all sat down, panting.

"We do this at least once every year. Can't we just get a carriage normally? I'm really sick of running up that stupid hill." James gestured at the hill they had just run up. Remus, Sirius, and Hailey nodded.

"Yeah, this sucks. We need better time management."

"Or you could all wear watches and not rely on me to get you everywhere on time." Remus noted.

"Maybe that can be our goal for this year. Because we obviously won't always have you to help us with everything, so being independent could be useful." Hailey said thoughtfully. Remus nodded.

"I also shouldn't be responsible for all of you guys. I am only sixteen. If anything, Sirius should be the most responsible out of us."

"But I'm not, so we're happy to have you, Remus. Because if I was the most responsible of us, then we would be in trouble. And James is fairly responsible. You should have seen him when I showed up at Hailey's house this summer. He rivaled even your mother instincts Remus."

James punched Sirius's shoulder.

"You were half dead, of course I was worried."

"That's your personality, James. It just came out the most when Sirius was hurt." Hailey smirked James stuck out his tongue. Hailey reached out to pinch it, but Remus grabbed her hand.

"Remus, that was not PDA. And don't you want to win anyways?"

Remus sighed.

"You two are impossible."

~~~~~

"So, we're back at Hogwarts." James said at breakfast the next morning. Hailey raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, we are."

"Remus and Sirius don't know about the Room of Requirement." He smirked. Hailey smiled.

"And we do."

"Hailey, would you care to join me on a trip to the Room of Requirement this fine Saturday morning?"

Hailey looked around for Remus and Sirius. They were nowhere to be found. She turned back to James.

"I would like that very much, thank you."

James grabbed her hand and they headed towards the seventh floor. They had just left the Great Hall when they ran into Remus and Sirius.

"You two seem to be in a hurry. Going somewhere private?" Sirius smirked.

"No. We're going to get our coats, because James wants to have a snowball fight."

"Are we invited?" Remus asked, eyeing their hands suspiciously.

"Yes. Of course you are. It's just a friendly activity anyway, isn't it?" She raised her eyebrows at Remus, who nodded slowly.

"We'll meet you outside in, say thirty minutes."

James and Hailey nodded and the group went their separate ways.

"We can go later. Remus is being such a pain about this though. He's acting like we were afraid to touch each other before we started dating." Hailey hufffed. James laughed.

"Well, we didn't kiss before we started dating."

"That's not true. You kissed me like five times before we started dating." Hailey pointed out. James smiled.

"You think Remus agrees with you on that?" He wiggled his eyebrows, making Hailey laugh.

"Maybe. We could always try."