Hey! I wrote this as basically a two part chapter so... look forward to the next bit soon! Disclaimer: blahblahblah I don't own Sirius or anyone else in the Potterverse, JK Rowling does... I do own Jess so... blahblahblah READ RATE REVIEW! So without Further Adieu here is Chapter 2:
"Jess…"
I felt a gentle shaking…
"Jess…"
The shaking became more…
"JESS."
…and more…
"JESS!"
…violent until…
"JESSICA!"
I shot up in my bed, eyes wide and frightened, to find Alice, the source of the yelling and shaking, beside my bed with her hands on my shoulders.
"COME OOOON! We can't miss our first class of the year!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah, it'd be a tragedy…" I mumbled, slowly getting out of bed and onto the cold floor. For the most part, I totally live for school and learning but it's been a challenging time for me these past few days-the lack of sleep the travelling caused has been driving me bonkers. I was in desperate need to catch a few Z's. See how tired I am? Nobody in their right mind should say that phrase. It's ridiculous. I yawned loudly, sounding something similar to a dying cow, which caused Lily to giggle. I noticed they were both dressed and ready so I made my way over to the loo. I showered as quickly as I could make myself go and when I emerged, I found both Lily and Alice (still) waiting for me. Lily was sitting criss-cross on top of her bed and had begun to read a textbook and Alice was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.
"Go on without me, you'll be late for breakfast! I'll catch up in a bit…" I said, gathering my uniform in my arms, "I promise." They both seemed a bit hesitant, but with a firm nod of my head, they decided it was okay and left, allowing me to get ready at my own pace. I still hurried a bit though, not wanting to miss breakfast or, more importantly, my first class ever at Hogwarts. Once I had dressed, brushed my teeth, fixed my hair and all that, I grabbed my books and a jumper (just in case I needed one) and headed out the door… only to crash into Sirius Black.
"Whoa!" we both yelled as we hit the floor, our things scattering about.
"Fancy meeting you here!" he flashed a dazzling smile at me then started to gather my things, "Let me help you with these…"
I moved closer so as to take my things from his hand, but when I looked up at him our faces were less than a few centimetres apart. "You don't have to do that…" I whispered, trying not to get caught up in the unbelievably cliché moment.
"My pleasure." He mused, trying to bridge the gap between us. I suddenly backed away and stood up, leaving him alone on the floor.
"Yeah well… Sorry for bumping into you… Sirius was it?" I mumbled nonchalantly (in an attempt to knock the smug grin off his face) as I rearranged the clutter in my arms.
"Yeah, it's Sirius… No problem." He said, his smile unchanged. "Usually, I'd hex the person who crashed into me this early in the morning, but I think I'll leave you alone; wouldn't want to mess up that gorgeous face of yours!" he winked cheekily. I scoffed at him and began down the stairs only to have him following me at my heels.
"I see that what I said yesterday hasn't deterred you from your mission…" I said over my shoulder behind me.
"Nope." I had no doubt he was still grinning, but I couldn't be bothered to look back at him.
"And why not?" I inquired, trying to figure my way to the Great Hall but failing. Sirius seemed to notice how lost I had become; he caught up to me, nodding his head to the left.
"It's this way." He smirked. "And because you're in denial. I'm trying to help you, Jessica."
"Denial?" I looked at him quizzically.
"Yeah, you don't want to admit that you'd love to go out with me!" He stated matter-of-factly. "Its okay love, I'm here to help. You'll face the truth eventually!" he smiled.
"Ha-ha, don't hold your breath. I'm done with men…" I retorted with an eye-roll.
His eyes became wide. "You're a lesbian?" He seemed to think on it a bit before commenting with, "That's HOT." I wasn't able to tell if he was genuine or not.
I sighed, looking at him with an uninterested expression plastered on my face. "No, I'm not a lesbian, Sirius. I'm just not looking into dating anyone right now… that includes you, so you might as well give up, sorry." He didn't seem at all put off by this.
"My dear lady, I merely see this as a challenge of my efforts and of your resolve… we shall see which cracks first!" he said with a wink as he opened the huge wooden door for me. I hadn't even realized we reached the Great Hall until that moment. I stepped over the threshold and turned to him, one of my eyebrows raised incredulously.
"You're a total thickhead if you think I'll crack before you do, Sirius. No, if you think I'll crack AT ALL." I told him. He just shrugged at me.
"Jess!" Lily and Alice yelled at me, motioning for me to sit with them and the rest of the group. It was the same as it was last night—James, Remus, Peter, Lily, Alice, and, soon to join, Sirius and myself. I took my seat next to Lily and Sirius sat down across from me, next to James who was staring longingly at Lily until his friend shoved a piece of bacon in his face.
"Sirius! You finally decided to wake up! Good lad!" James grinned at Sirius, taking a bite out of the bacon.
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't want to miss the first day of pranks—I mean class…" He purposefully corrected himself, eyeing Lily mischievously.
"On the FIRST DAY you guys?" she asked, exasperatedly.
Remus looked at her sympathetically. "I tried to talk them out of it. I tried to tell them that it's really not how you should begin the new school year with new teachers, getting off to the wrong foot like this, but they wouldn't listen…" he said, turning accusingly to James and Sirius.
"Bloody Prefect..."Sirius muttered as he picked at his eggs.
James nudged him. "The badge has gone to his head."
Remus shot him a look. "I don't appreciate the lack of respect from you two."
"Whatever do you mean, Moony?" asked James sweetly, displaying one of his most innocent faces to Remus.
"How could we do that to you, Remy-poo?" Sirius cooed behind batting eyelashes.
"We wouldn't do anything wrong would we, Padfoot?" James turned to Sirius.
"NEVER, Prongs!" Sirius shook his head in with mock appal, "Wouldn't DREAM of it!"
Remus tried to put on a stern face but could not completely conceal the smile playing at his lips, "Cut it out you two! Your morality is putting me off my toast!"
Peter looked up eagerly, a red mark on his forehead from its prolonged contact with the table during his nap. "Toast? Where?" He said in a daze, causing us all to giggle.
"Here you go Wormtail, you'll need the energy."
"Yeah, takes a lot of energy to sleep through your classes, you know..." Sirius said sarcastically. We laughed again as Peter blushed lightly, apparently not embarrassed enough to stop himself from shoving the toast in his mouth.
I turned to the giant clock at the end of the massive room and panicked. "You guys! I don't want to miss my first class at Hogwarts!"
Sirius looked at me calmly, grabbing a shiny green apple from the table, "We've got time..." he said as he inspected the apple for any blemishes.
"Well, I don't want to risk being late!" I said, gathering my things together.
"You don't even know where it is..." he retorted, taking an obnoxious bite out of the apple.
"So?"
"So," he looked up at me matter-of-factually, "You'll get lost... I mean I would be more than happy to escort you to first lesson but you need to loosen your boots a bit, babe. I'd hate to see you turn into one of those," he looked to Lily, "Academic types..." He obviously has a lot to learn about me.
At this point, Lily stood up, glared at Sirius, and picked up her belongings. "Hey, Jess, I'll take you to first lesson if you want to go now. I'm sure you don't want to be taking leads from Slack-Master Black over there..." Sirius grinned broadly before taking another chunk out of the granny-smith. "He's such a thick-head!" she finished, causing the boy to look up with (mock) shock on his face.
"Lily! I-I thought we were mates! How could you wound me like this?" he cried, dramatically clutching at his chest. She just huffed and turned back to me.
"If you want to, we can go now." she said with a smile.
"Let's go."
"Et tu, Harris? Mortally wounded, I am!" Sirius yelled behind us as we walked away.
Most of my classes went smoothly; however, as it turns out, I have the same schedule as Sirius. Each class begins the same-the teacher takes roll, realizes I'm new, introduces me as the exchange student from Australia, makes a conversational joke/comment about Australia, resumes with lesson, and Sirius bothers me. He finds a new way to pester me in every bloody class. This hour, fourth hour, History of Magic, he decides to interrupt my notes with Lily...
Lily, what was that book Prof. Binns mentioned? -J
Hogwarts, a History... I think... -L
:( I don't think I have that one... do you know where I could get a copy? -J
Yeah, I'm sure Madam Pince has a few in the library that she wouldn't mind lending out to you - L
Passing notes are we? -S
Sirius? -J
Yeppers! ;) -S
Sirius, look at this face - :| this is my not amused face. Take note of it. -L
Yeah, Black, pay attention to class. -J
Hypocrite. -S
Padfoot! Didja see the shot I just made? -J
Right through Binns, Mate! -S
Not to mention, in the ACTUAL bin! -J
JAMES! What are YOU doing? -L
Being awesome, same thing I've BEEN doing! -J
*sigh* James, you're an IDIOT. -L
I resent that! -J
So um... My book... -J
What did I tell you about becoming a bookworm, Harris? -S
Shut up, Sirius. -L
Yeah, shut up, Sirius. -J
Prongs? What the hell, mate? -S
Hahahahahahaha you love me and you know it ;) -J
So, Jess, library! -L
Do we have time after this class? -J
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT! We have a LIBRARY? -S
You've been at this school for SIX years and you DIDN'T KNOW WE HAD A LIBRARY? Absolute thickhead... -L
Apparently not, Evans. Rude. -S
I think we've pranked Snivilus there once... -J
So, we have lunch hour after this one, we could stop by before we go to the Great Hall if you want -L
Was that the "Exploding Textbook" prank? -S
Thanks, Lily; I would've been totally screwed without you! -J
No mate, it was the "Long-Winded Text" prank, remember? -J
It's really not that big of a deal but I thought you might want to know where the library was for future reference or whatever :P -L
OH YEAH! That prank was BRILLIANT! How did we make that come out of the book again? -S
What would I do without you, Lily? -J
It was a spell I found. -J
I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWO HAVING A CONVERSATION ON OUR PARCHMENT! GET YOUR OWN! -L
But why? It's so much fun bothering you two lovely witches! -S
*facepalm* -J
It's almost time to go. -J
Mate, let's go to the library after class! -S
WHAT? -L
A wonderful idea, Padfoot! It's always time for academics! -J
What the hell... *puts head on table* -J
BRILLIANT! It's settled! -S
But... But... No! You'll ruin the library visit! ... And possibly the actual library! -L
I just wanted a book. Is it honestly even worth it anymore? -J
We're going to the-
Fortunately, Professor Binns dismissed the class just then, cutting our "notes" short. Unfortunately, the boys did in fact follow us to the library...
Hopefully you caught that BOLD was James, Italics was Sirius, Underline was Lily and Normal Font was Jessica :) I didn't want to put an author's note in the middle of my chapter ha-ha but there it is! The second half (library bit) of this chapter will be up soon so READ RATE AND REVIEW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! So much love!
