Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 174: Secrets

"They went in there?" Remus looked at the door of the building as he hid behind a wooden box.

"The Golden Pegasus…is that really a restaurant? Never heard of it," Peter muttered.

"You haven't?. It is a famous place in Hogsmeade." Marleene said.

"Yes, I also know about it…" Sirius said. "My parents go there once or twice a year. It's the fanciest restaurant in Hogsmeade."

"That seems outside the budget for most students. Although I can imagine Malfoy going in there," Remus commented.

"I wish a certain someone would take me there one day..." Marleen commented, earning a glance from Sirius. "I was joking!"

"That's good, because I would need like a hundred allowances to reserve a table," Sirius responded.

"Why would James go to such a place? I thought he was working hard selling potions because he needed money for some secret project. Now he is wasting a fortune on a fancy date?." Peter seemed to recall hearing something like this months ago.

"If he can afford a meal in there, he is no longer hurting for money. I can assure you of that," Sirius said.

"I don't think he needed to try that hard to date Lily. She seemed to be very into him the last time I checked," Marleen added.

"My birthday is next month," Peter commented. "You think James would take me t—ahhh!" He suddenly let out a scream.

Sirius and Remus snapped their heads to look at what had startled their friend so much.

"What are you doing here?!" Sirius exclaimed when he spotted his three cousins standing behind them.

Andromeda had a mischievous grin on her face, as she was the one who had startled Peter by grabbing his shoulder.

"Sorry about that. Didn't think the little one was going to get so jumpy."

"Im not little!." Peter complained.

"Well..." Marleen made a complicated expression.

"Would you lower your voice? We don't want anyone to see what we are doing," Bella huffed.

"Then we shouldn't stand here…" Narcissa added.

"Were you also following James?" Peter asked.

"Not that we were doing that…" Remus gave him a glare. "We just saw our friend by chance and got curious about where he was going with his dat—"

"It's not a date!" Bella's narrowed eyes landed on Remus, making the boy very uncomfortable.

"What's her problem?..." Marleen whispered to Sirius's ear.

This one returned a gesture as if he was saying 'not now!.'

"Whatever that is…James chose a very nice place this time." Andromeda let out a whistle.

"Lucius took me there once," Narcissa commented with a grin on her face, remembering the good times. "It was so amazing! That is the most exclusive restaurant in Hogsmeade, and they normally don't let students eat there." She said with a smug grin on her face.

"That means James must have dropped a large bag of galleons to get inside," Andromeda said.

"That's it! I'm going inside." Bella pushed Peter and Remus aside.

Her two sisters had to restrain her while Marleen, Remus, and Peter watched in confusion, as they didn't know why Bella was so angry.

"Hold on, Bella. Let's not rush into things," Andromeda told her.

"Yes, don't make a scene. That is beneath our status," Narcissa grumbled.

"I need to know what is going on." Bella glared at her sisters.

"Would you stop already?" Sirius got in front of her. "This is not what you think. James only asked Lily to come here so he could talk with her properly, about…"

"You know something about this." Bella grabbed Sirius's robes. "Tell me."

"Yes, tell us." Marleen was extremely curious about it.

"If I say this...you have to keep quiet about it." Sirius glanced at his girlfriend.

"Hey!, I can keep a secret." Marleen huffed.

"You can?." Remus didn't look too convinced.

Sirius sighed. "Fine..." He knew that if he didn't calm his cousin down, she was bound to get violent. "James wanted to make things clear to Lily so she wouldn't be hurt."

"Hold on, what do you mean by getting hurt?" Peter looked confused.

"Yes, what are you talking about? James has been obsessed with that girl since the first year," Marleen added.

"James cannot date Lily. Or anyone else for that matter," Sirius responded. "He wanted to tell her in person, before she heard it from someone else."

"Tell her what?" Remus gave the three girls a passing glance. He was starting to put the pieces together already.

"Sirius, you can't tell them anything," Narcissa warned him.

Sirius snapped at her. "Like you didn't already tell Malfoy about it."

Narcissa looked surprised. "How did you…no, but Lucius is not like that. He will not reveal it to anyone."

"This is getting confusing…" Peter said.

"Is James engaged to one of them?" Remus finally asked.

"What?!" Marleen exclaimed. "Is that true?."

The three sisters appeared to be shocked, Sirius, however...was grinning.

"I knew you would figure it out."

Remus cleared his throat. "I read a bit about pureblood family customs. Arranged marriages are still a common thing. Although I didn't think the Potters would use them…much less with a house like the Blacks."

"Something wrong with our house?" Narcissa huffed.

"Careful there. Don't insult my family," Andromeda added.

"That was not my intention," Remus corrected himself. "It's just that your views are very different in so many matters…" His eyes went to Bella. "It's you, isn't it? James is engaged to you." That would explain why she was so upset about James being with Lily, and it would also explain what Sirius had said the previous week, when James disappeared.

"Oh! He is engaged to Bellatrix Black?!" Peter said with shock.

"Shut up, or I will do it myself." Bella pointed her finger at Peter in a menacing manner.

"Shh! Lower your voices," Andromeda told them while looking around.

Luckily for them, not many students wandered into this part of the village, so there was little cause for concern.

"Sorry…" said Peter. "It was just very shocking news."

"You can say that again..." Marleen glanced at Sirius.

"You can't tell anyone," Sirius warned her.

"I know!." Marlneen huffed.

"Seriously. You can't talk about this to anyone, is that clear?" Bella warned them.

"I understand," responded Remus.

"I was mostly referring to them." She pointed at Peter and Marleen.

"I won't say anything!" Peter cried.

"Me neither!." Marleen added.

"Peter can keep a secret. It's not him that I would be concerned about." Sirius gave his cousin Narcissa a passing glance.

"Hold on..." Marleen said. "What abo-"

"We can't all stay here." Sirius interrupted her. " We look too suspicious…" Three was one thing, but six people hiding behind a wooden box was too strange, and any adult who passed by was going to become alarmed by it.

Andromeda pointed at the other side of the street. "There is a clothing shop over there. We can spend some time trying on clothes while keeping an eye on the restaurant."

"That's a women's clothing shop," Sirius pointed out.

"It will be okay as long as you all come with us." Andromeda shrugged. "You can carry our bags afterwards. I could use a new dress."

"I want to see some shoes!" Narcissa became excited all of a sudden.

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