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."
Peter was listening with excitement, and even Remus had completely put his book aside, eagerly watching the scene.
"The Hogsmeade trip is in five days. We both ask two different girls out tomorrow, and the deadline is until midnight. The one who gets the yes, wins the bet," James explained cunningly.
"Hmm..." Sirius rubbed his chin, considering it. "What would the winner get?"
"Whichever one of us who wins, will prove that he is the cooler and more desirable," James suggested with a smug look. "And if we both win or both lose, we'll call it a tie."
"And the loser has to buy the others Butterbeer for the rest of the Hogsmeade trips this year!" Peter chimed in excitedly.
"Good idea."
"All right."
James and Sirius nodded in agreement. They were both fine with this idea, because surely neither of them had any problem with spending money, considering the families they came from.
With that, they raised their hands to shake on the bet, but just as they were about to do so, Remus stopped them.
"Now hang on." He held his hands up. "You have to decide who you're going to ask on a date. It can't be just anybody."
"And why not?" Sirius raised a brow at him.
"Well, James wants to ask Lily out, and the chance of her saying yes is less than one percent."
"Hey!" James retorted at Remus, looking offended.
Remus just ignored him and went on, looking at Sirius, "Therefore, you can't ask one of those girls in your 'fan-club'." He air-quoted the last word meanwhile rolling his eyes. "They're obviously going to say yes. It would be too easy. So it won't be a fair competition."
"Fine." Sirius sighed in annoyance, though he secretly felt thrilled at the challenge ahead. "Then who do you suggest I ask out?"
***
With her blanket over her head and her illuminated want in hand, Jenna spent the whole night reading the book of The Quest To The Impossible Magic. The specific chapter about Metamorphmagi was filled with tips on how she could work on her power and change her appearance more easily.
Jenna didn't know how long she was reading that book or at what hour she finally fell asleep, but it must've been really late, because the next morning Lily had to force her awake and literally drag Jenna out of bed so she wouldn't miss breakfast.
"Now I get how you feel every day," Jenna told Marlene, as they were sitting down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
"What were you even doing last night?" Marlene asked, immediately piling up her plate with pancakes the moment she sat down. "I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and you were awake even then."
"I was reading," Jenna said in a casual tone, grabbing a toast from the hovering tray above their table.
"It must've been a really interesting book if it kept you up all night," said Alice after taking a small sip of her pumpkin juice. "What were you reading?"
"About Metamorphmagi," Jenna replied simply. It certainly wasn't a lie, but they didn't have to know the whole truth either.
After their classes were over for the day in the afternoon, Jenna went down to the Quidditch pitch along with the rest of the Gryffindor team. She quickly changed into her Quidditch robes, picked up her broom, and joined the practice. The first match of the season was as always between the Slytherins and the Gryffindors, and they only had a few weeks left to prepare for it.
Jenna was extremely glad that Lily, Alice, and Marlene came to most of her practices and sat in the stands, cheering her on. Although sometimes she wished that audiences would be banned during practices, because she hated the many second and third year girls who showed up and gawked at Sirius and James, or giggled to each other every time the two boys made a showy move in the air to impress them.
After the practice finally ended at the dying hour of the sun, Jenna and the rest of the team landed on the ground. With that, Jenna grabbed her broomstick with her hand and waited for her friends to catch up with her.
"Your practice was great today, Jen," Lily said kindly, accompanying her through the green field and toward the girls' locker room.
"Yeah, you're getting really better with each time." Alice nodded along.
"I can't wait until you kick those Slytherins' butts!" Marlene punched the air in excitement.
Jenna chuckled. "Thanks, guys."
Just before they could walk through the door, Jenna heard the swish of a flying broom in the sky above them. Looking up, she had to hold herself back from rolling her eyes when she saw James twirling in the sky before landing near them on the ground with a risky dive.
Soon after, Sirius landed down as well, though he didn't follow James any closer and stood behind, watching him with a knowing smirk.
Then, Jenna saw Remus and Peter from afar, walking toward them and only stopping once they reached Sirius. They all had an odd smile over their faces, as though they knew a secret that no one else in the world did.
Oh, Merlin... Jenna sighed to herself.
If those four boys approached you with sly grins on their lips and such mischievous glimmer in their eyes, it could only mean one thing:
Trouble was coming.