A Shade of Sirius

Sirius leapt from his dormitory bed in anger; this fuelling him, his hand grasped around the red velvet curtain and shoved it to the side. Slipping on his shoes, he grabbed his dark blue jumper and dragged it onto himself. Thoughts were circling his head like prey, eating away at his thin fused temper. A photograph, already precariously balanced at the bottom of his bed, fell at the hands of the predator. Sirius, once realising his action, picked up the object and looked at it with dismay in his eyes: a thin edged crack now lay against the moving picture of him and his three best friends – the only family that he ever considered himself to have.

The memory of that day filled him. The four of them (James, Remus, Peter and himself) were currently residing at the Potter household. It was Christmas break, and James had invited them over to his house for the holiday. The first few days were filled with examining the town before them: what they could and couldn't do. On that particular day, the weather was being quite unpredictable, and no-one could predict what it would be. Disappointed, the boys had shrugged out of their outdoor jackets and instead retreated to the grand living room to pla Wizard's Chess. In the middle of an intense rematch between Peter and Remus, James' eyes had been drawn to the paned window where he spotted amongst the grey sky a single delicate snowflake fall and land unbroken on the glass. He remembered turning to follow his friend gaze, and his eyes opening in wonder as the heavens opened and snow began to fall right in front of their very eyes. After everyone noticing this sudden change of events, there was almost a stampede to the door as the boys grabbed coats, scarfs and gloves before trekking outside. One advantage of James Potter being in good favour with money was that he had a big garden: in fact he had quite a lot of acres of ground. He himself was a lonely child, therefore the humongous grounds were only slightly used- this was not the case today. It only took a few moments before a snowball fight began. Amongst the midst of flying snow, defences were built up, and stacks of snowballs protected inside of them. Hours passed as they played in the snow, making four fine snowmen to portray themselves and creating snow angels all over the ground. James mother came out and provided refreshments, along with taking photographs. This was what the photograph that she had took was: all four of them linking arms, covered in snow, before the moving picture showed each of the boys producing a snowball and pushing it into each other's faces; it appeared that the truce had not lasted long.

Being brought back into the present, Sirius smiled as that happy occasion filled him. Reaching for his wand located on the bedside cabinet, he whispered the spell that would repair the crack, and placed the photograph where it had been before, back now in its rightful place. Whilst gently putting down the object, he noticed yesterday's newspaper peeping round the curtain of James bed, and although he knew what he would read, he walked over and picked it up anyway.

The headline read "WILL WE FALL TO VOLDEMORT?" and the main image on the front was the image of a smiling family; sadly the caption underneath was not so cheerful: this image was one of the last taken of the Campbell family before they fell prey to the wicked ways of he who shall not be named.

Sirius's eyes glanced over the article, and as he had done previously, read through the sombre piece of news:

Family of the Campbell's today were saddened by the news of their demise from the followers of he who shall not be named. This happy family consisted of three: Connor 17, Richard 45 and Elizabeth 43. Witnesses say that 'they were shocked when they saw what had happened. One moment they were there and the next they were dead.' It appeared that the family were playing with their dog in a well-known muggle spot in a park located close to their house when the incident occurred: non-muggle witness's say they spotted black mist suddenly appearing and taking form of a death eater (he who shall not be named followers) who struck those dead on the spot. After one muggle found them lying there on the grass, she phoned an ambulance who took them away. Muggle doctors believed them to have had a heart attack, for no sign of attack was present on the body. Unfortunately, this is always the case with the curse 'Avada Kedavra' and we can now put it down to the work of The Dark Lord himself. This is the third death that has occurred in the space of a month – can we assume that more are to come?

The article ended there, leaving Sirius with a pit of feelings ready to burst in his stomach. After receiving the letter that his family had just written for him about how he should think about who his allies were, and then re-reading yesterday's article, he was no longer in the good mood that the photographs memory had presented him with. With a heavy sigh, he picked up his broomstick caring kit and ventured outside. Making his way down the spiralling staircases, he trotted over to the Quidditch pitch and made his way over to the broomstick cupboard. He was determined to enjoy the dying embers of his Sunday night, before school was upon him once more. After spotting which one was his, his fingers clasped upon it and he made his way to the centre of the pitch.

Placing his broomstick care kit in front of where he was sitting, he opened it and took out a rubber ball that was the size of the quaffle. For months now he had been devising a spell that would enchant the ball so that when he shot it through the goal it would return to his hand, much the same as a muggle boomerang did.

Taking out his wand, he cast the spell before slipping it back into his cloak pocked. Shrinking the broom care kit, he did the same to this also before lifting his leg over the object.

A few seconds later he felt his worries slip away as the view of Hogwarts filled him. Up here in the sky everything felt far away and distant from him, as though as long as he stayed up here nothing could harm him. The sky was clear tonight, and gave an excellent view of the distant stars. He flew towards the goals, and practised shooting from all angles, and from far back. After doing this for a while, he flew back to the ground and lay there, looking at the stars.

A voice disturbed him: "Sirius?" The tone of the voice was instantly recognisable as Lily Potter, the apple of his best friends' eye.

"Lily?" he uttered in reply, shock at seeing her evident in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

Ruefully, she smiled before answering his question: "Most nights I come here just before curfew to clear my mind. I may hate flying, but lying on the ground looking at the stars sure is a great way to clear your mind," Smiling, she continued "But now I guess the gig Is up and my secret has gone." With a small chuckle she waited patiently for Sirius to explain himself.

"I received a letter from my parents this evening, all about who I should have as my friends and my allies. I guess it got me really upset, them insulting my friends and calling them all mudbloods. In fact, I was thinking about moving out."

Lily's voice became a silent gasp as she took it all in. "Sirius, this is a big thing, moving out from your parents. They will take that as a declaration and they won't have any leeway for you anymore. Think about this before you make a quick decision." Sirius smiled at the sincerity in her tone before answering:

"Thanks Lily for being concerned, but I have been thinking this through. If anything, talking to you tonight has helped me tremendously. James invited me to live with him, and I think I should. I cannot, and will not stay in that house a moment later. Last break I packed up everything that is of value to me in that house and I have it all in my trunk. In fact, I am ready to go to James's in two days when we get on Hogwarts train."

"James offered to let you live with him?" the admiration was evident in his voice, and, if he wasn't mistaken, there was a tinge of pride also. Inwardly, he smiled to himself. It was becoming more and more clear as the years continued on that Lily was letting herself fall in love with James, day by day. If only his friend would continue to pursue her.

"Yes, he did," he smiled outwardly at the expression that was presented on her face: crinkling nose and eyebrows. "And, if you don't mind me, I think that I will make my way back to Gryffindor common room now. Tonight has been a rather productive time for me, and tomorrow I will owl my parents with my good news! Now, would you care to accompany me?"

In jest, he stood up and bowed deeply to her. Giggling slightly, she took his arm and linked it with hers, before they continued to the common room.

In no time at all they were there, uttering the password, and watching the fat lady swing open. Tonight, she had been complaining about spilt wine: which means to say, nothing of importance.

Sirius entered the room first, and at once his eyes glanced over to the fire, noticing that there were two arm chairs free in which they could sit down at. Making his way over, he beckoned Lily over, after noticing that the third arm chair was occupied by one of her best friends Marlene. Lily came over, smiling, and took a seat next to Sirius. He glanced around the room, and finally spotted who he was looking for: James. It took a moment for his brain to register what position he was seen it: a girl on top of him, locking lips with his. Looking on at the scene, an expression of dismay took over his face.

A few moments later, when he had recognised just what scale a mistake James had just made, he turned back to see Lily standing up, school bag slung back over her arm. He could just glimpse miniscule tears that she was trying so hard to conceal from him.

"Lily-"

"Won't you excuse me please, I'm feeling rather tired all of a sudden." She suddenly departed, with Marlene trailing behind her on the stairs, but not before she took one last look at the scene which could have cost James his end goal.

The man in question finally spotted his best mate looking upon him, and within a few seconds had sprung the girl with no name off his knee and was next to him.

"Whats up mate?" James asked him, with a confused look. "Hey, and is that Lily heading up the stairs? I was kind of hoping to get to know her a bit more tonight, she's been acting much more civil towards me recently."

2You idiot James potter!" Sirius said, anger in his voice as he protected Lily. "She spoke to me tonight, and when I talked about you, there was admiration in her voice, and dare I name it? Pride. But now she's just seen you kissing Miss whatever her name is, and now she feels like a grade A idiot for ever thinking that you could have changed!" Fire dying down in his voice, he uttered "I guess there's gone your chance of getting to know her gone. Name to me one woman who wants a man who is with other women. You should be disappointed with yourself James."

Getting that off his chest, he mumbled a goodnight before making his way to him dormitory bed and promptly falling asleep, glad to put behind him one terribly confusing day.