26 Date With Pandora

James got ready for his date with Pandora, deeply confused as to why he was going on it.

He felt nothing toward the girl romantically, sure she was hot, but not his type. And he didn't think she liked him either. Not to mention the fact that she knew that they were Fellow-In-Laws, wasn't that weird?

After a long, intense shower, he felt he could still smell the chamber pots he spent four hours cleaning yesterday. Then he put on some nice clothes. It was probably the nicest he's dressed for a Hogsmeade date.

The clothing was rather Muggle, slacks and a dress shirt, but with a snug maroon robe with gold patterned trim. Harry's glasses still sat on his nose, and his hair was fancifully messy. Sleekeazy's was the coward's way out. Sorry Dad.

"Looking nice James," Remus said, leaning on the doorframe to the bathroom.

James turned, looking at his quiet friend with a grin.

Despite his and Lily's face-off from the previous week, James had been in a great mood the following morning.

For the first time since they met, Remus didn't spend the days following a Full Moon in the Hospital Wing. There were only a few new cuts on him, from him testing his body while in full control of himself. But no broken bones, or inch deep gashes.

The days before had also been smooth. No lurching sickness, or overwhelmed senses.

Remus himself had seemed like a breath of fresh air. There wasn't as much of the self-pity that followed his transformation. He smiled and joked, bumped shoulders a little easier. Only slightly, just enough that only the Marauders noticed. But all of them were ecstatic.

James and Remus often fought for "mother-hen" of their group. Remus for school and social stuff and James for personal stuff. So to see one of the Marauder's two mothers doing better made them all happier.

"Thanks Remmy."

Remus grimaced.

"Don't call me that."

"My bad Mussy."

"Ugh, no," Remus cringed.

"Musre?"

"James."

"Loopy?"

"I hate you."

"Ralal?"

"What?"

"Remus Lyall Lupin. Ralal, maybe Rll is better."

"That's not even a word."

"Rllllll," James droned, the sound vibrating through the back of his throat.

Remus snorted, a grin pulling at his face.

"Ready for your date with Pandora?"

"Uh, I guess," James said, running a hand through his hair.

"Don't sound too happy."

James rolled his eyes.

"I just don't know what to expect."

"Well James, when a boy and a girl like eachother very much-"

"They go to sleep and a crane delivers them a baby I know."

Remus laughed.

"I was going to say they bat their eyelashes at each other and hold hands while blushing."

"Nah, they just run to the nearest broom closet to call for that crane," Sirius said, poking his head around the door. "You just have to make sure you get her to call reaaaaaaly loud. The crane goes by different names too. Sometimes its God, Merlin, Yes, More, and every once in a while, Daddy."

"Gross Sirius," Remus said, but his smile widened. "But you're right. If you don't want to get a kid delivered you have to make sure to use protection."

For a second James thought Remus was being serious, then he continued.

"Of course by protection I mean making her mouth preoccupied with something else. There are plenty of things you can put in her mouth to stop her from-"

"I'm not going to have sex with Pandora," James cut in.

"Of course not, remember what happened to Frank after the Fat Friar caught him with Alice?" Remus said, smirking.

Peter, as if called, walked into the bathroom puffing out his gut, and putting on a disappointed frown.

"To do such an act while unwed is a sin. Bringing dishonor not only on yourself, and your family, but the lady as well. I hope the first Longbottom will forgive you when you meet in the afterlife- P-P-Professor McGonagall, My apologies I was just informing- yes- yes, next time I will come to you- good day."

Peter pretended to flee in fear of the invisible Professor McGonagall, who had been livid that Frank and Alice's dirty laundry had been displayed during dinner in The Great Hall.

It had been the first time they had seen the stern professor angry at a ghost.

They laughed, Peter grinning widely at the positive reaction.

"So what are you guys' plans for the day?" James asked.

"Picking up an order for the next prank," Sirius said, shrugging. "Then probably just look around before sneaking around the Forbidden Forest."

Hogsmeade was a nice break from the castle, but it was still a rather small town. Harry had told him that in his time Hogsmeade trips were every other month or longer, compared to the monthly outing it currently was. When the war had really started to ramp up they changed it apparently and never reverted it.

However unlike Hogsmeade the Forbidden Forest was huge, and the roads around Hogwarts had several smaller wizarding settlements that weren't really towns or villages and instead just groupings of houses.

So after the initial glow of Hogsmeade had settled the Marauders had taken to exploring more of the Scottish Isles that Hogwarts found itself on. Sometimes taking brooms, to the peaks of mountains, sometimes walking through the forest, and sometimes visiting the odd home to talk to the locals.

James couldn't wait for them to be Animagi and travel during the Full Moon with Remus.

He trailed his tongue along the Mandrake Leaf stuck to the roof of his mouth. They had gotten used to it, but in the mornings it woul still surprise him.

"Cool, if this date ends up a bust I'll try and find you guys."

"Sure, just don't go looking for Evans again," Sirius said.

James grimaced. All the progress he seemed to have made thanks to Harry had gone up in flames. James himself was annoyed at Lily for wanting him to act like something he wasn't. Him meeting Harry had only made him love his childish antics even more.

"He's spiraling," Peter said, waving a hand in front of James's face.

"Huh?" James spluttered, remembering where he was.

Remus sighed.

"James, go on your date and have fun. Stop thinking about Lily so much."

James ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Rems,"

Remus raised a surprised eyebrow, but didn't comment. Sirius though opened his mouth to say something, but Remus stepped on his foot.

"Ow!"

"Alright I'll see you all later."

"Have fun," Peter said, waving, while Remus glared at Sirius.

-

Pandora stood at the entrance to the gate leading to Hogsmeade. She wore a white and blue dress, giving her a fairy-like look. Her hair was done up in a bun with a few wisps framing her face. It drew glances from boys all around, and James could easily admit that his Fellow-In-Law was very very pretty.

However she also wore what looked like radishes for earrings and had a cork necklace. He'd never seen her with those on before.

"Hello James. I see you decided to try today. That's good."

"Um, nice to see you too Pandora."

Pandora smiled.

"Not at all what I said, but I can see the need to fall back on typical greetings when you're thrown off."

"Er, yeah…"

"Let's head out. We don't have much time to waste," Pandora said, holding out her arm.

James took it, feeling rather awkward. It felt like Pandora was just going through the motions, to be fair, he was too.

"So you have the day fully planned out?" James asked.

"Yes, but don't worry, you won't be needed for more than half."

"I see… Alright, so what's the plan?"

"Well my husband will be in Hogsmeade today and I need him to notice me. Xeno is a jealous man so me being on a handsome boy's arm will surely get his attention."

"Wait what! You're married?!"

"Of course not silly, it would have been rather difficult to hide that from the rumor mill."

"But you just said your husband will be there," James said, thoroughly confused.

"Yes, my husband, or at least the man who will become my husband and the father of my child."

James just nodded to Filch as they passed, too confused by the conversation to give his usually charming smile. They boarded one of the empty carriages, it began moving as soon as they were seated.

"So… its another of your "not technical a Seer" things?"

"Yes. Let me tell you it was quite scary when I was eleven to see a boy four years older than me for the first time and know we would make a great couple."

"So its not some Fate thing?"

"Oh Merlin no, that would be a bummer."

"It would? Isn't the idea of Soul Mates super popular?"

"It's just as popular as it is illogical. Relationships require work to work you know? It's also how love works."

"I don't get it," James said, mildly annoyed at the fact he was acting as a wingman for the girl he didn't really know.

"Hmm," Pandora said, thinking with squinted eyes. "Here, Accio Rocks."

She held out her wand through the now opened window and two rocks flew into the carriage. With another flick of her wand the two rocks were Transfigured into- well they were still rocks, but instead of being random jagged stones they were smooth except one side each, where there were protrusions and indentations clearly meant to go with one another.

"Put those together."

Feeling much similar to when Harry had taught him a lesson in the snow James grabbed the two rocks and fit them together, they easily slid together and clicked into place.

"A perfect fit right?"

"Uhm, yeah."

"You could say they were destined to be together."

"No, you clearly transfigured them."

"That I did. I am Fate, and I have determined that these two rocks are destined to be perfect fits for one another," Pandora said theatrically, taking the rocks from James and holding it out in display. "From the moment I created them I decided that they belong together, see how easily they fit? How smooth it was to put them together? Now they look perfect."

"Yeah… they do."

Pandora nodded.

"And just as easily as they come together," Pandora twisted the stones, making their puzzle-like ends disconnect. "They are taken apart."

Pandora threw the two stones through the window again and smoothed out her dress.

"I don't get it."

If she was saying that two people who fit together were easy to separate then James had to disagree. Sirius and James were the definition of two peas in a pod, and they were okay with staying in said pod thank you very much.

Pandora shrugged.

"You will, one day. Now lets talk about the date."

James shelved whatever odd lesson Pandora was trying to teach him for another time.

"Okay," wingman mode activated.

"Xeno will be here following a lead for his Quibbler article. Its will take him to a house some ways outside Hogsmeade, where we will be. I may change a few things about how you and I look depending on his mood and clothing. You are going to talk about Quidditch or Dueling, two things he does not think highly of, and I will laugh appropriately."

James nodded, confused.

"Then I will bring up an actual interesting conversation topic up."

"Wait wait wait. Quidditch is interesting."

"Sure it is. Anyways I will bring up the topic of house-elves, and how their name is a conspiracy to make the populus forget about their natural origins. You will blow me off, say something insensitive, I will be the good little girlfriend and not counter you on your opinion. I will ask if you want to dip your toes into the water, and you will say you don't want to get dirty. I will hesitate, then Xeno will come in after overhearing the conversation. From there it's a mystery, but just comment about some odd behavior or Xeno's, if he doesn't try and give a counter argument I will defend him, and if he does your next actions are the same, you will say lets leave, I will be angry and say no. Then you storm off like the spoiled Pureblood most think you are."

James sat in shocked silence for several moments, the bumping of the carriage the only noise. Being Wingman for Sirius was nothing like this. It either meant flirting with the girl's other friends or embellishing something about the other boy. Not… whatever war strategy Pandora had.

"Okay… a few things. One I do agree that house-elves are named that so that it's easier to forget their origins," James had done some reading into the books that Harry left from Hermione. How hyper fixated Harry's wife was on house-elves was frightening, but she made a lot of good points. "Two, I would rather not insult someone for no reason."

Pandora raised an eyebrow at that, but James ignored it.

"And three, isnt this… I don't know, wrong? Faking an entire date to get a boy to notice you? Why don't you just ask him out?"

It reminded him of when he wanted Harry to help him with Evans by telling him what happened in the future. Could you "set up" falling in love?

"I have, he ignores all the letters because he's too focused on his work. And its not like I know exactly what will happen."

It sure sounded like she did. She even knew that "Xeno," would be there today.

"Look I like Xeno, it took me a few years to realize that. When I first saw him I knew we could be an amazing couple, and that scared me. He was some random older boy and I didn't know how I knew that. Now I know why I knew that. I know things, like little threads interwoven in reality I can see where they connect and what they mean. Xeno sees things, things beyond what I know, and he goes after those things single mindedly, trying to figure out what it is that he sees," Pandora said, a blush covering her pale skin. "I really like that. Someone who can see something that others cant, but doesn't have all the answers to what it is but still does their best to figure it out."

Well that was… actually really cute. What she was doing was still insane to think about though.