Rain--- A Novel

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own HP.

He watched her from across the room, half in daze. He was always watching her lately. It unnerved him. It was as if his eyes were no longer under his control. They were of a separate entity following the way she moved, the slight sway of her hips. They caressed the tangle of curls cascading down her back. Wild.

He'd known her for forever. Or least he'd thought he had. She had always been pretty but the creature in front of him, arching her neck back gracefully and laughing into Jim Wyatt's shoulder, he had never seen before.

This girl was something entirely different and he liked her even less than the previous one. The summer had made a new Isabella Landon and if the hairs standing straight on his back were any indication, she was more dangerous than the old one had ever been.

From the corner of her eye, Isabella glanced covertly back to where Sirius sat glaring at her. She new he didn't like her, he never had. But she couldn't deny there had been a time when that dislike had not been mutual.

Closing her eyes she remembered her childhood. He had been so crucial a part, his life so interwoven with hers she couldn't imagine what it would have been like without him. He had been beautiful to her back then. His black messy hair, those big blue eyes. His pride. He had smelled of dirt and sunshine. He had made her heart reel.

But then the sting of rejection never ceases to leave a scar.

And his cut hadn't been clean. It had been one strawberry gash after another. One year followed by the next.

Despite the one year age difference he had always seemed so old to her. And to him she had been just a baby. One whose affection he did not want. His rebuffs had never been gentle and for the most part neither was he.

She remembered days in the play room, long days that lasted way into the night. She remembered death eater meetings just below them and the appeal of the sunshine casting light from the window.

"Sirius come have tea with Maggie and me."

He had known then what she hadn't. She realized this now. Understood his pacing, the tension coiled stiff in his back. He had crawled out the window then and hadn't come back home for days. He had been 11.

She snuck another glance over Jim's shoulder. He had gone back to staring at the fire. The glare however, still shadowed his face. Silently chiding herself for her weakness, Isabella took the opportunity to study him.

His skin was tanned, his hair dark as hers, and his eyes were blue, so blue. They drew you to him, the color deep and vivid framed by long lashes that, had they been on any other man would have made him feminine. His lanky figure, toned from quidditch, was sprawled on the couch, and had she not known him, she would have guessed he was at ease. But then this was Sirius. He was never tranquil.

Looking at him you would never know. He was a wild jumble of passion and extremes, of brooding silences and unnatural highs, a paradox. He was Gryffindor's bad boy and for that reason alone he attracted the female population with out even trying. Drawing them closer and closer to the fire he lived in, until they burned. Stupid girls. Fire wasn't to be played with. It couldn't be caged or contained. It simply took what it wanted. Consumed it and moved on.

But then it had always been so with Sirius. He had been out with girls while she had still been playing with dolls. As a boy he had been attractive, with his big blue eyes and messy black hair, but as an adolescent on the verge of manhood, he was devastating.

Looking once more she smiled bitterly to herself, wondering why she simply couldn't bring herself to look away. It seemed she was no better than the others.

Almost as if he sensed her eyes on him, Sirius turned around, his eyes piercing her with an intense stare that made her shiver. She quickly turned away, blushing. Whatever she felt for him would have to be stamped out and fast.

She didn't know what she was thinking. He'd told her numerous times, she was simply not attractive. Her eyes were too big for her face, her skin too pale in comparison to her dark hair and her body slim and petite on the opposite scale of the long legged busty blondes he dated.

Sighing, Isabella tuned Jim back in. He was still going on about himself. And with the appropriate comments and a nod now and then he would continue to do so. But then she was judging him harshly, he was a seventh year, attractive, and had been nothing but nice to her. It was amazing in itself that he was interested in her with all the girls he could have had.

Laughing, she congratulated on having proved Sirius wrong. Not only did she have a guy interested in her but the guy was older than Sirius. Besides, having skipped a grade she was in his grade now.

Sirius sat lost in thought, gazing endlessly into the fire, watching the flames dance. He could hear her laughing. Her and Wyatt. They deserved each other. He turned his gaze to where her laughter was coming from and their eyes met. She was looking at him intently. Almost as if she was studying him. Trying to take him apart and see through him.

He briefly wondered what Wyatt had told her about him, then quickly pushed the thought out of the way, when he saw her blush at something Wyatt said, turn away and then laugh unsurely. It bothered him. And for some odd reason he was felt himself grow mad. Not just mad but furious. He could practically feel his hands tightening around Wyatt's scrawny neck and strangling the life out of him.

"What exactly did Wyatt think he was playing at? She was just a kid. She had no idea what she was doing" Sirius thought looking the two of them over deliberately. She laughed again, this time placing her hand against his chest. Sirius growled. Enough was enough.

Already half in rage he started moving towards the couple. Cutting them off smoothly, he leaned suavely against the door.

"The rest of the team is already upstairs. We have a game tomorrow. You know the rules," Sirius snapped still glowering. Turning his head, he looked Wyatt directly in the eye, "If you don't like them you can get off the team. You decide."

Smiling smugly, Sirius prided himself on Wyatt's reaction. He looked ready to explode. Had it not been for Sirius, Wyatt would have had been captain of the quidditch team. That Sirius had been given the position over him had been the ultimate set back for Wyatt. He had never really been able to overcome the fact that he had been beaten by a sixth year. Any reminder of it was known to send off fuming.

And it did. Wyatt tensed, straightened his back, before walking rigidly away. He shot one dark look at the couple left behind, before disappearing up the bold curve of the staircase.

Isabella stared, somewhat in shock. How could one person be so cold. So stoic. His voice, his manner. He was ice.

Still half lost in thought she quickly snapped out of her reverie as Sirius turned to her. "Didn't take long for you to show your true colors. Why didn't you just go ahead and give him what he wanted right here in the common room?" Sirius asked her cruelly.

Pushed by some unknown rage, Sirius felt reckless. He wanted to tear them apart. She was the symbol of everything he hated. Everything he could never have. The glamour, the beauty, the power, the greed. She was woven thickly into delicate darkness of her family's cloth, his own cloth, what was to have been their legacy.

"You know one day we're going to get married Sirius. You'll have to kiss me then you know." Her voice was light, her eyes dancing, expectant.

"Shut up Bella. You don't know what you're talking about."

"But maman said so." She was persistent, not to be dissuaded.

"I said, shut up!"

He had approached her then, his figure, tall even then, casting a shadow over her small frame. She taken a step back and flinched as if he would have struck a blow. That was the first time someone had ever feared him and he realized then that he was his father's son. Perhaps it was fate, or coincidence. Perhaps it was blood. The scars on his back had burned and he had wondered if his hands would ever hold the whip. Draw blood and flesh; breed fear.

Time was no longer. The question now remained the same. Was he his father's son? Sirius looked up and instantly felt a twinge of guilt as he saw the stricken look that flashed across her face.

Quite taken aback, her eyes glistening from what she assured herself was range, Isabella was not about to end their confrontation without her getting a word in edge wise. "Listen Black," she said spitting out his name, "I don't need to take this from you. If you have problems you need to deal with them elsewhere. Just sod off and mind your own business."

"Just go to bed Bella," his voice was tired, softer this time, but hard all the same.

Isabella's stomach fluttered as her name rolled off his tongue. She cringed He always had this effect on her and she hated him for it. How could he just stand there spewing crude words and without even touching her make her want him. It couldn't be natural.

"Stupid Black charm," she thought.

"Whatever Black. I'm not going to waste my time." Spinning on her heal she walked away.

Not waiting for his comeback, Isabella bide her retreat. A successful captain new that sometimes one had to forfeit a battle to win the war. And she was going to emerge the victor

Sirius looked after the retreating ebony curls. He just wanted to pull them. And that bottom. He wanted to do things to it. Teach her a lesson. She always did talk to much. He would simply flip her over on his knee and †shaking himself he stopped abruptly.

"What is wrong with me lately," he thought distractedly. "Talk about unnecessary abstinence.

Scanning the room his eyes settled on the blond smiling felinely at him. Flashing his trademark grin he thought, "Yes, Amy would do very well."

Isabella sat at the table stabbing her cereal viciously as she glared across at Sirius and that stupid Amy make out. "It's breakfast for God sakes," she silently screamed. Wasn't one night of slobbering over one another enough for them?

She rued the day James and Lily had started going out. She loved Lily yes, and she wanted her to be happy. This was simply too much however. If it hadn't been for Lily she would be safely sitting on the other end of the table. A girl had to eat and it was simply impossible when the two people in front of you were trying to suck each other's faces off. She just didn't understand it. How could anyone possibly want to make out so early in the morning and over the mess of foods piled on Sirius's plate too. Ughh.

"Izzy?" Remus Lupin asked, interrupting her train of thought. "Izzy, are you following me?"

"Of course," Isabella bit out before stabbing her spoon into the bowl again. Remus was to be her tutor to help ease the transition, now that she had skipped a grade.

Glaring angrily she looked up from her food to see Sirius again. He somehow managed to continue making out with Amy while he shot her a smile and a wink.

"Obviously the night had done a lot to improve his mood. Could he get any lower," Isabella thought as she sneered back at him. "It was simply disgusting." Slamming her spoon down for the final time she got up and walked out

Sirius grinned against Amy, who thinking the smile was meant for her silently congratulated herself on her success and continued to inch her hand up his thigh under the table. Ignoring the hand and pulling his composure together, Sirius drew his mouth off Amy's and commented on Isabella sudden exit. "What's up with her?" he asked.

Lily looked simply looked perplexed, James shrugged, Amy was disgruntled at the interruption and Peter, as usual, looked rather lost. The measuring look Remus was giving, on the other hand, wasn't sitting too well with him.