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I saw him around the castle a lot.

I think it was more that I started noticing him. Something had changed within me. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't attracted to him in any way. That's just silly. But I did feel something. An indescribable emotion. It wasn't pity. I never pitied him.

I can admit that hearing all the girls fuss over him made me seethe. Not from jealousy, but more because that's all he was to them. A hot guy with brains. I was the only person that really saw his inner turmoil.

I never had the chance to talk to him and I knew deep down that even if I did have the oppurtunity I would never take it. He was always with his friends. Four boys. I'd never taken much notice of it before but now I did. Him and another dark-haired boy were so close they could've been brothers, but the differences between the two physically seemed to say otherwise. There was a light brown haired boy who was a little less carefree than the other two. Finally, there was a small, watery-eyed boy who was more of a tag-along.

I had always been in my own world, walking around the castle with my head in the clouds, never noticing the things that went on around me. He changed me. I started to think about him. I started to bother brushing my hair in the morning. I started to accidentally-on-purpose walk from lesson to lesson via the corridors I knew he would walk along. I started looking forward to those lessons I would have with him. I started sitting in the common room more often. I never looked at him directly and he never looked at me but sometimes I would feel flitting over me curiously.

He brought me back down to earth.

With a not unpleasant bump.

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I had detention that Friday.

I turned up at Filch's office hoping the detention wouldn't take long because I wanted to get back to this fascinating book I was reading.

"Detention is it," said Filch delightfully.

I nodded, waiting for him to take me to scrub the toilets or whatever it was.

A minute later a heard voices coming down the corridor. It hadn't occurred to me that other people might have detention too. Not that it made a difference to me. Filch leapt out of his chair as he heard the voices and ran out into the corridor.

"Stop making so much noise! I'll give you detention!" screeched Filch as two figures began walking down the corridor.

"Sorry about that Argus old chap, we're a bit tight for time this year. Already booked up, you see. Maybe some other time eh?" called out a male voice which I had heard somewhere before. The two people walking up the corridor laughed.

As they drew closer, I had a pleasant jolt, as I realised a pair of familiar pale grey eyes were staring right at me in apparent shock. As him and his messy-haired friend stepped into the direct light, he lowered his eyes and turned away from me as they came to a stand-still before Filch.

Veins bulged in Filch's forehead as he glared at the two boys. He turned on his heel and then led us wordlessly down to the dungeons. "You and you," he said pointing to me and one of the boys behind me, "will be cleaning out the store cupboard I here. The first years seem to have had an accident of some sort," he said cruelly opening the door to reveal an incredibly mess. "Without wands," he added, reaching out to take out wands.

I was still unaware of who I would be doing my detention with. I wanted it to be him and at the same time wanted it to not be him. I didn't turn around as I heard Filch march off with one of the boys following him. The person behind me cleared his throat meaningfully. It's now or never, I thought as I turned quickly and thrust my hand at whomever it was, opening my mouth to introduce myself. But as I met those inquisitive grey eyes I couldn't say the words and ended up opening and closing my eyes in a very goldfish-like manner. He raised an eyebrow at my strange antics. I turned away from him biting my lip quickly ditching my initial plan.

We both surveyed the mess in silence.

"Maybe we should-"

"Shall I start over-"

We both said at the same time turning to face each other.

"Go ahead-"

"You go first-"

We both said again at the same time.

This was ridiculously embarrassing.

"I'll start from this side," he said hastily before I could open my mouth.

"Good idea," I replied.

He glanced at me and looked like he wanted to say something but then decided not to.

We worked painstakingly through the festering frogs' legs, rotting beetles eyes and various other ingredients without another word for a couple of hours.

I was carrying a cup full of some vile green concoction past him as he was sweeping up something which I thought was bat's nails, when I heard a faint voice. It was such a shock that I dropped the cup which shattered and its contents landed right on him.

"Oh," I said in shock as his robes began to smoke.

"Shut up James," he yelped as he tore off his robes.

"Sorry, I'll sort that out for you ... hang on," I said quickly fumbling for my wand, only to remember that Filch had taken it. Oh dear. "Hold on, I'll go and get someone" I said hurriedly rushing towards the door.

"No," he said pulling off his t-shirt, which had huge holes in it. "Water," he said.

I grabbed a cup and filled it up from the taps at the side of the dungeons. As I rushed back he was running his hands through his hair. Unsure of what to do I dumped the water onto him, which wasn't such a great idea after all. He leapt up shivering, totally drenched in icy cold water.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I did to you but I am sorry and I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly refrain from tossing various liquids upon me," he said in a low voice, his face very close to mine.

I looked back speechlessly. "Well, you're not dissolving anymore," I said dumbly.

He stared at me nonplussed for what felt like ages and then burst into laughter. He set me off and we were both laughing hysterically. Finally when we wheezed to a stop, wiping our eyes, he smiled at me.

And I smiled back.

"I'm Sylva," I said, "Sylva Hollow."

"Sylva Hollow," he repeated softly, not taking his eyes off mine.

"What's your name?" I asked.

He looked at me confusedly before laughing. "Funny," he said with a small smile.

I frowned. Funny? What was funny?

"Are you serious?" he said, noticing my frown.

I nodded slowly, unsure of what I had missed.

He stared at me for a moment, with an odd look on his face.

"Sirius," he said slowly, "Sirius Black."

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A/N: Snuffles

Don't we just love him.

I use my mind-controlling powers to make you review.

Sorry for the exploitation.

Krispy Kreme?

xXx