Author's note: This small story was the result of the Prompt and Post Competition. Once I received the prompts that I had picked, I had only 72 hours to complete. Please be truthful but kind.
Prologue: The Obstacles to Pie
Sirius Black had abruptly woken up in the middle of the night with a craving for a warm slice of apple pie. He had never been the type of person to deny himself of anything that he desperately wanted, the other marauders knew this for a fact, and wouldn't have been surprised to know that Sirius Black had immediately borrowed the Marauder's Map and the Cloak of Invisibility to aid his unplanned journey to retrieve a warm slice of delicious apple pie. The unexpected trip to the kitchens was going along quite smoothly until he decided that the enchanted stairs would be the quickest route to his warm slice of apple pie. Sirius was rushing down the stairwell when he suddenly noticed Alice, Frank Longbottom's girlfriend, rushing up the same stairwell that he was rushing down. The two teens would have passed each other without a major incident if the enchanted stairwell had not begun to move unexpectedly.
Alice lost her balance and was just about to tumble off the moving stairwell when her hand frantically successfully grabbed the fancy, thick railing. It was Alice's cry of pain that pulled Sirius out of his pie induced daydream. He noticed Alice dangling off the moving stairwell and rushed down to help pull her up. Alice screamed when she saw a pair of large male arms appear out of thin air.
"Be quiet," he hissed at her. Sirius did not want to get into trouble before he got to eat a warm slice of apple pie.
He then softly continued, "Grab my hands and I will be able to pull you up."
Alice's eyes frantically searched the empty space where the arms should have been connected to a body and she made no effort to reach for him.
"Alice," Sirius hissed at her.
Her indecision was taking up too much time. The enchanted stairwell was a minute away from reconnecting. If Alice didn't plummet to her death and continued to hold on, she would suffer gruesome death. Quickly he grabbed hold of her wrists and began to pull her up. Only when Alice's feet were firmly planted on the ground did Sirius begin to calm down.
He had half the mind to vanish on Alice but his mind quickly changed when Alice shakily sat down and begun to cry. Sirius sighed in frustration when he realized that James Potter would kill him if he left Alice crying there. Quickly, Sirius removed the Cloak of invisibility and quietly asked her, "Hey Alice, are you alright?"
Alice began to cry even louder and so with a sigh filled with regret, he sat down by Alice and quickly covered them both with the cloak. Perhaps a professor stalking the corridors would be thrown off by the crying coming out of nowhere. Sirius uncomfortably patted her on the back in an attempt to calm the hysterical girl down.
"You're fine," Sirius quietly murmured, "You're not dead. I got there just in time to save the night."
Alice rested her head against his shoulder and kept on crying. Sirius stiffened a little but quickly relaxed. Alice was just acting weird because of the near death experience that she had. Her resting her head against his shoulder meant nothing romantic. Alice was just searching for comfort and definately was not looking for a romantic fling.
"You know," Sirius told the crying girl, "James Potter has taken quite a shine to you."
The crying girl didn't respond to his rambling.
"We had heard you and Lily arguing about her not giving him a proper chance. He, and I, really appreciates that you stood up for him. If you only knew how long James Potter has been seriously moony for that girl."
Alice's sobs slowly got quieter as he continued talking, "Did you know that Lily has been quite friendly to James during this past week? It's almost like her walls are falling down."
Sirius smiled when he noticed that Alice was becoming calmer.
"James is looking at this change of treatment as a big breakthrough," Sirius confided to Alice before he told her, "But don't tell him or Lily that I told you that."
"He really likes her," Alice shakily asked him.
"Yeah, he does really like her," Sirius replied.
With a chuckle he continued, "Lily is like a piece of heaven to him. He once told me, and don't you dare tell anyone that I told you, that dreaming of touching Lily's red hair was more heavenly than eating chocolate. Remus almost punched him for saying that because he hates it when people talk bad about chocolate."
Alice burst out with laughter.
"Laugh a little more quietly," Sirius told her with a grin, "We don't want to get caught, do we?"
It took a while for Alice to stop laughing but when she did stop laughing Sirius told her, "I had originally snuck out for a slice of apple pie. If you came down to the kitchens with me I'd would be able to escort you safely to the Gryffindor Common Room after I got a warm, large slice of apple pie. Do you want to come with me? I'd hate to have Longbottom thirsty for my blood if you came to harm after I left you here alone."
"I'd hate for that to happen too," Alice agreed with a grin.
Author's note: What do you think? This is just the grand beginning. If I need to correct something then please mention it to me.