Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. Oh and I also don't own "We Are the Champions" by Queen, obviously, QUEEN does!
AN: The 3rd chapter is upon us! Thank you to TheGarbageCanIsNotAMonster, UltimateLoveStorys, Starlight1746 and () (anonymous reviewer) for reviewing! I hope you enjoy it! Read and review!
Timeless
Sirius walked through the hallways and corridors trying to ignore the glances everyone was giving him, trying to ignore how everyone was tiptoeing around him. He had Potions at the moment, and he could already tell it would be a difficult subject. He and Grace had always been partners in that class; he would notice her absence most there. Sitting down in the back of the room he was content to brood in silence for the whole class. The class slowly trickled in, everyone shooting him worried glances. James, Lily, Remus and Peter were one of the last people to come in. They smiled at him weakly and sat at the tables in front of him. Lily bent down next to Sirius and gave him a tender look.
"Sirius, if you want, I can be your partner today. I'll do all the work, you just… well, just relax."
"It's alright, I need to get used to working alone." He said quietly.
"Okay Sirius. If you need any help though, I'll be right in front of you." James put an arm around her shoulder and led her back to their desk.
Professor Slughorn entered last, and was one of the only people who didn't give him a look. He put down his books on the desk and took attendance. Everyone was there except for two people.
"Miss Van-…" Professor Slughorn stopped abruptly and peered over his clipboard at Sirius with a strange expression. Sirius wanted to snap the clipboard in half and feed it to the fire. Professor Slughorn moved on, "Miss Crane."
"She's not here sir." Said a voice, a female voice. "She's feeling sick, she's upstairs in the dormitory. I'll be happy to give her the homework."
"Ah Miss Ray, you are her partner are you not?"
"Yes sir."
"I suppose we'll have to make do with this then." Said Professor Slughorn finally. "Today we will be brewing amortentia. You may begin with your partners, its on page 39."
Excited murmurs broke out but Sirius only felt sinking despair, they just had to make amortentia when he was feeling this way. All the other students would be wondering what they smelt, he would know what it wasand he would know he would never smell it again.
Sensing that it was time to break some news to Professor Slughorn Sirius got up slowly and made his way to the front of the room, sensing that the other girl, Ray was doing the same.
Sirius cleared his throat and Professor Slughorn looked up. "Sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to work by myself."
"Nonsense, Mr. Black. You will be paired with Miss Ray."
"Sir?" she asked taken aback.
"Bu-" Sirius protested.
"No buts Mr. Black. Now get to work, I'll be coming over in half an hour to grade potions and I daresay it'll take at least 25 minutes to brew it." He waved them away. Sirius was sure that Professor Slughorn thought he was doing something kind by pairing him with Ray. Sirius had always been a little preoccupied with Grace in Potions but he did know that Ray was one of the best students after Grace and Lily. But Slughorn obviously didn't realize that the last thing Sirius wanted to do was to replace Grace in anyway. Having Ray as his partner, was very much replacing Grace. And Sirius was determined to hate every moment of this awful new partnership. Why couldn't anyone understand that he didn't need someone to be there with him all the time? That he just wanted to be left alone?
Sirius looked at whatever-her-first-name-was Ray and walked back to his desk without a word. Uncertainly she followed him, she obviously didn't know what had happened to him as she had the courage to sit by him and smile at him.
"I'm Amelia Ray." She said holding out a hand. Sirius stared at her outstretched hand and then turned around and stared at his cauldron.
"Sirius Black." He said vacantly.
"Oh, alright then. Let's get working. So we need griffin claw…"
Grace worked efficiently, chopping up her ingredients and gently sliding them off her board and into her pot. Sirius was content to just watch her doing what she loved. The look of concentration on her face radiated peace and happiness; she hummed under her breath as she sliced ingredients.
It was just one of those perfect days where you knew that nothing could ruin that feeling of immense happiness and joy. Although the room was dark, Grace managed to radiate sunshine. She always did, it was just one of those things that was unique to Grace.
"I don't understand how you can hum while making Draught of the Living Dead." He said humorously.
Grace laughed and Sirius wished he could somehow permanently save the sound, have it with him forever.
"I know it's strange, but when you're brewing it, the process is so calming, it's almost an art, the thought never crosses your mind that you could be making something potentially dangerous."
He shook his head. "You and your psychological thoughts, Grace."
She laughed once again and Sirius knew that if she laughed like that always, then he could get through anything.
"Black! Black! Siri-"
BOOM!
The cauldron exploded and Sirius was covered with a sticky substance that overflowed his senses. The smell of broomsticks flooded over him, he felt as if he was drowning in the scent of chocolate and then came the aroma that he would kill to have forever. Grace. He smelt Grace, on his face, on his hands, on his clothes, it was everywhere. His eyes began to water and he was vaguely aware that people were shouting loudly but he was disoriented and couldn't think properly. His mind was hazy and his senses were doing him no good either.
A hand flew out of nowhere and slapped him hard on the face.
It was Amelia. He assumed that the slap had been to erm, knock him out of it but it could've been because she was mad because she looked murderous.
She looked furious, she was covered in amortentia and he could tell she was desperately trying not to sniff her clothes. He suddenly felt quite dizzy and almost fell, thankfully James had ran over and managed to prop him back up.
"Black!" she shouted. "This is your fault! Why weren't you paying attention?" Her blonde hair was messed up and her grey eyes looked especially stormy. Her fists were clenched at her sides and she was all tensed up.
"Give him a break!" snapped James angrily.
"Oh, of course! Just because he's the great Sirius Black EVERYONE should give him a break! I forgot!" she said in a sarcastic tone.
"You have no idea what-" began James heatedly but Sirius cut him off. He didn't need another person giving him sad glances.
"James it's fine, she's right I wasn't paying attention." Sirius murmured quietly. James looked at him furious that anyone should scream at his friend when he was already so disturbed. Lily ran up and calmed James down, she was eventually able to take him back to his desk.
But then another problem decided to present itself.
"Mr. Black! Miss Ray!" spluttered Professor Slughorn. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It was Black's fault!" accused Ray.
"I don't care whose fault it was! Tonight, detention! Be there or you'll be in a load of trouble!" he barked and then turned to the class. "Class dismissed!"
Everyone filed out whispering about the girl stupid enough to accuse Sirius Black of anything at a time like this in his life. Amelia avoided looking at him for the rest of the day but Sirius was too occupied, he'd refused to change his shirt after the sticky incident, he loved Grace's smell too much. For the whole day when he thought no one was looking he'd take a sniff of his shirt and feel almost happy for a second, but at the same time extremely nostalgic. Classes went by painfully slowly, the same condolences, the same attitude towards him, all of it made him want to throw up. He had been almost glad when Professor Slughorn had given him detention; it made him feel better that at least someone thought he was the same. That he deserved to be punished.
Detention time finally rolled around and Sirius entered the Potions classroom and was surprised to find that instead of desks there were large beanbags in violent shades of multiple colours thrown across the room. He knew that beanbags were the new fad but he had no idea that Slughorn was this in tune with the modern times. In fact, he hardly thought any teachers were in touch with modern times, he honestly believed until 5th year that they lived in cupboards and just spent all day planning lessons. Obviously he had been wrong as a Queen song began to play out of nowhere.
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -
Sirius groaned as he heard Freddie Mercury belt his heart out – Lily had made them all listen to some Muggle bands and Sirius definitely liked Queen-, this had to be the worst attempt at trying to make him express his feelings, as he was sure that Slughorn just like many other teachers *cough McGonagall cough* was trying to get him to talk about it. Like a few beanbags and a good song would want to make him want to pour his heart out in front of a teacher who had no idea what was going on inside his head. Sirius bet that the Professor had asked Ray to stay behind and told her the whole situation… and let her off detention. But that didn't explain the dirty looks he'd gotten from her right before he came.
He uncomfortably sat on a beanbag and almost immediately stood back up. At the door stood Amelia Ray giving him cold looks. He'd noticed that her attitude towards him hadn't been the usual screechy type that most girls had; she was cold around him, like icy fire or something. Ignoring him she made her way to the beanbags and looked at them suspiciously. She opened her mouth most likely to say something rude but Professor Slughorn walked in.
"I see you've… erm, made yourself comfortable." He said noticing the two standing teenagers. "Well, I've been reading a lot of teaching books lately. Most of them contradict the method of 'punishment' in detention. So I've decided to do something different. Instead of making you do something mediocre like cleaning I'm going to try to help you talk about what happened today and how you can improve yourselves."
Sirius wanted to die.
This couldn't be happening to him.
Not today.
Not with beanbags.
Not with Queen for crying out loud! He'd never be able to listen to "We Are the Champions" the same again.
Professor Slughorn ungracefully plopped down on a beanbag and Sirius just ended up sitting on the cold stone floor. But the Professor didn't care; he was too caught up in the moment.
"Let's begin shall we?" he started.
"PROFESSOR!" A younger student came bursting in through the door.
"What is it Mr. Reginald?" asked Slughorn impatiently.
"Clark Mervin smuggled a crate full of blast ended skrewts into the castle and it's gone! We need all the teachers to round them up!" he said breathlessly.
Huffing old Sluggy got to his feet muttering about how Mervin would get real detention. "Mr. Black and Miss Ray, I believe you are mature enough to talk about this yourselves. When you feel that you have solved the problem you may leave." He said and then ran out the door to help capture the blast ended skrewts.
Sirius stood up when he thought the coast was clear. "Alright then, see you at Potions." He said blankly and turned to leave when the door swung shut by magic. Gritting his teeth he turned back to look at Amelia. "What?" he demanded irritated.
"Didn't you hear Slughorn? He said we could go after we solved the problem. The problem has not been solved!" she said with a condescending tone.
"So? How's he going to find out?" he said coolly.
"I'm not going to let you leave until we solve the problem." She said coldly.
"Fine." He said irritated. The faster they solved the 'problem' the faster he could get away from her.
She looked at him angrily and began to tap her foot against the floor, which annoyed Sirius greatly.
"What do you want?" he finally snapped.
"An apology." She said matter-of-factly.
"Okay." He said. If anything he was determined not to give her an apology. He knew that it had been his fault but he really wasn't in the mood to apologize to anyone, especially not the person who'd replaced Grace as his partner, despite the fact that it wasn't her fault. Sirius just liked being petty like that.
"Well?" she asked expectantly.
"Well what?"
"What about my apology?"
"Just because I asked you what you wanted didn't mean I was going to give it to you smart ass." He said snidely.
"You know what, fine. Go." she said offhandedly. She obviously hadn't expected him to take that seriously because she was quite surprised when he ran out the door, not looking back once. He never once felt guilty about it either.
James stood up when Sirius entered the Common Room. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to have detention with that Ray girl?" he said Ray like it was something quite nasty.
"Long story, just know that Slughorn tried to connect with us and… I'll tell you later." Sirius jogged up to the door of the Girl's Common Room and knocked on the door in a specific rhythm. Lily opened the door a moment later and smiled at him.
"Do you have it?" Sirius whispered.
"Yes, here you go Sirius." She said in a hushed tone. "I managed to isolate her smell, you know, separate it from whatever else you love." She passed him a little bottle and in there sat the sticky remains of the Amortentia-gone -wrong wrung from his shirt. She passed him his newly cleaned shirt as well.
"Thanks Lily, I owe you one." He said softly.
"No problem Sirius." She said kindly. Gently she shut the door and Sirius was left with his own thoughts.
Lily had convinced him that it would be stupid to keep the amortentia in his shirt. She had squeezed out all the remains she could from his clothes and placed them into a small bottle that was strung on a bit of black yarn that Sirius could wear around his neck. The idea was for him to have it around his neck at all times so that he would be able to smell it in the middle of class. Much more discreet than a shirt.
But as Sirius walked back to his dormitory he smelt a familiar fragrance, not wafting from the bottle though, but from the shirt. Sniffing it cautiously and feeling the wave of happiness flood over him again, it seemed as if the shirt hadn't lost his amortentia.
"Well I guess this is how people on drugs act." He thought to himself. "Next thing you know I'll be in the papers: Sirius Black turns to drugs for help with the trauma in his life. Where is his brother?"
The last statement was one he hadn't meant to say, but now that he had said it, he couldn't help but think about it. What was he doing these days? He doubted he'd be in therapy, talking to Regulus was like talking to a brick wall. It won't tell you anything and if you keep on trying to talk to it you'll end up going insane. He was probably trying to finish what Grace had died trying to stop, he thought bitterly.
Sirius slept that night with his hands full; one hand wrapped around a small bottle and another wrapped around a shirt. Somehow that night, he didn't get nightmares, instead he dreamt of potions that kept people alive forever, that kept people timeless.