Here it is, guys, chapter four! All characters are J. K. Rowling's except Lucrezia.
In the library, Lucrezia had snuck the map Sirius had given her inside her copy of Advanced Potion Making. She was looking at everyone on the map. Lily was in the library near her, a few shelves behind her. James was off with Lupin and Pettigrew. Sirius seemed to be pacing in the Gryffindor common room. Severus was in the Slytherin common room probably studying or resting or just sitting. It was amazing how much this map did and that Sirius and his friends were clever enough to make it greatly impressed Lucrezia. Suddenly Sirius' dot on the map was leaving the Gryffindor common room and seemed to be heading up the castle, floor by floor. She knew where he was going and packed up her things.
"Oi, if only Padfoot were here to see what we found," James said while Lucrezia was on her way to see him.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Lucrezia waved her wand at him and did not stop walking. "I don't have time for your rubbish, Potter."
She walked away a little faster and eventually reached where the door to the Room of Requirement was supposed to be. She closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could of Sirius and how much she wanted to see him. Upon opening her eyes, there was no door. There was Sirius. He walked up to her and gave her a long hug and stroked her back and buried his face in her curls. Once he pulled away, he only had one thing to tell her.
"Hi." He said weakly.
"That's it?" Lucrezia laughed. "Hi?" she playfully hit him. "We haven't seen each other in days and all you can say is hi?" Sirius slung his arm around her shoulders.
"You've got to think more than just wanting to see me. Be a bit more specific."
"Well…." she paused. "I want to see you. And I want to talk to you and do some magic and laugh and make jokes with you. I want to be with you in there because that's the only place I can be with you. And I have a favor to ask of you but I can't ask it unless we're alone. Is that specific enough?" Lucrezia looked at him and smiled. He gestured at the door now appearing on the wall.
"After you." he said.
She walked in and looked around. She had only just noticed his arm still around her and kindly shook it off. "About the favor…" she said.
"Ah, yes. What was that?" Sirius sat down and looked up at her.
"I need some hair." Lucrezia said sheepishly.
"Well," Sirius started. "I've had plenty of girls ask for favors but nothing like that. Might I ask why?"
"I need to get into the Gryffindor common room. As you. I think I can pull off your personality. Please, Padfoot?"
"What do I get in return?" he asked slyly.
"Anything." Sirius nodded and plucked a long black hair from his head.
"Will this do?" he asked.
"That'll be lovely." Lucrezia replied and sat next to him, holding his hand. They talked for a while and she eventually found herself lying down in his arms on the floor in the room. But was nice but she couldn't pay much attention to it. All she could think about was her needing the polyjuice potion. A faint bubbling suddenly started happened on the other side of the room.
"Hold on." Lucrezia said suddenly. She stood up and Sirius sat up and watched her pick up her robes and walk to the other side of the room. This was the first time he noticed her feet.
"What is it?" he called after her, still looking at the feet until they were once again covered by her robes.
"It's… polyjuice potion. Just what I needed."
"You mean, just what you required?" Sirius smirked.
"Can I have another hair?" She almost felt ashamed for asking.
"Can I have another anything?" She admired how he was so straightforward and unafraid. He knew what he wanted and he would ask her, no matter what the answer was.
"It depends. What is it?"
He smiled again. "Can't it be anything?"
"Sirius."
"I want you to go with me to Slughorn's party." Lucrezia was completely taken aback.
"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, James doesn't even know we're friends. The only person who does is Severus. I don't think we should just blurt it out by going to a party as a date. I really want to and I am sorry. It just isn't a good idea."
"Yeah. You're right. What was I thinking?" Sirius looked upset. He must have known that it wouldn't work but he had to ask anyways, just in case.
He looked down and plucked a hair for her.
"Now go. The password is whatever flavor of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans is your least favorite. I'm sure you know from the map where the common room is."
"Wait." Lucrezia said suddenly. She took a small clump of her waves and curls and poured Sirius a glass and put her hair in. "You can't stay in here naked. And I'm sure you'd love to see the Slytherin girls' dorm."
"Actually," he began. "There's only one girl I would love to see indecent, thank you very much."
"And who might that be?"
"Doesn't matter. But she isn't a Slytherin, that's for sure. Not anymore. Not to me." He mumbled the last parts so she couldn't hear him.
"Well drink up. I'll do the same and we'll switch clothes. You know where the common room is but the password is parceltongue."
They both looked at each other one last time and drank the disgusting bubbly potion.
Lucrezia felt as though she was turning inside out. Exploding and boiling into a completely new person. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. They were clean and strong. She felt her hair. It was shorter and neat. Her clothes were tight and for once, her robe was the right length.
Sirius felt himself, too. His hair was long black coils framing his face and spiraling down his back. His robe was brushing the floor gently, rather than dragging. His hands were smaller, his fingers longer and skinnier.
"Alright, we need to switch clothes." Lucrezia finally said after both their skin had stopped bubbling.
"You're just trying to see me naked." Sirius smirked.
"I am you. If I look at you, I'll see me naked which, I assure you, is not that great and not a surprise to me. You look at me and you'll see you naked. Which I hope isn't a surprise to you." Sirius glared at her and they switched clothes. Sirius wanted to but he couldn't bring himself to look down at the naked body he was now in. He just couldn't set himself up as some perverted pig.
"Alright. Thank you, Sirius. I need to hurry and go off to the common room." She almost left when she remembered the ring that Severus had made for her. "Wait," she took it off hesitantly. "Take this. I forgot it was on. If you're not wearing this, you won't pass for me. I always wear it." Lucrezia handed it to Sirius.
"It feels alive." he said.
"It is. It was made from a Serpensortia curse. Severus made it for me."
"And you wear it?" He couldn't believe it. He was jealous. She was always wearing a ring that he made for her. There was no reminder on her at all of him. He had given Lucrezia nothing but a map. Severus gave her jewelry that she never took off before that moment. Even then, when she took it off, she didn't seem to want to do so. He had to shake the thought. He would not be jealous of Snivellus.
The two walked out of the Room of Requirement and went to the common rooms; Lucrezia to Gryffindor, Sirius to Slytherin. Once she finally got to the portrait of a fat lady and got up enough nerve to finally enter, the common room, Lucrezia came to a small problem.
"Password?"
"Earwax." she said simply.
"Incorrect." What was going on? Sirius said the password was her least favorite flavor of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans. Both of them hated the earwax ones. Unless….
"Password? The Fat Lady asked again.
"Whatever flavor of Bertie Bott's every flavor beans is your least favorite." The door swung open and the first thing Lucrezia noticed was just how completely red everything was.
"Hey, Padfoot, we were all wondering where you were. Found you a date for Slughorn's party." James smirked at her.
"Who with? Is she hot?" Lucrezia so desperately wanted to just tell James that Sirius had already asked someone but because James and everyone else were such insolent loathsome people, they could never go together. They could never really be together.
"Yeah I think so. Patricia Goyle sound good to you?" No. No she did not. Lucrezia hated Patricia and it wasn't just because of how gorgeous she was. She always had to take things away from other people just to make herself look nicer. She didn't want Sirius anywhere near her. She'd wear a dress that was tight, short, and showed way too much anyways. Patricia would love to be on Sirius' arm even though he was a Gryffindor. She'd go after anyone. The only boy to ever reject her was Severus.
"Not really. I'm not interested in Slytherins; too much family over there anyways." Lucrezia thought this answer would suffice. It was true, at least
"Oh well. We'll keep looking." Remus said. He was reading his Transfiguration textbook and didn't even look up when he spoke.
"Hey I'm going to go talk to Lily for a second." Lucrezia said. As soon as she said this, Peter, James, and Lupin all looked up at her immediately. They actually thought she'd ask Lily to be with Sirius.
"No it's not that. It's about homework. I know she's yours, James."
She left that part of the common room and snuck up to the girls' dorms.
"Lily?" she called softly.
"Yes, Sirius?" Lily and Sirius had gotten along a lot better in the past few weeks.
"Can I talk to you for a second? About James?"
"Sirius. If you're here to tell me that James doesn't really fancy me and that he just wanted to take me from Severus, I already know. I've known for a while. I heard him bragging to some girls. I don't want him either, Sirius. But he's my only option. I'd rather be with him than be alone."
"He asked you to Slughorn's party, didn't he?"
"Yes," she said. "Sirius, who're going with?"
"I don't know," Lucrezia said. "I asked someone but she said no."
"I'm really sorry. Who was it?" Lily asked.
"Doesn't matter." Somehow, Lucrezia knew that Sirius was ashamed of her. He knew she wouldn't want anyone to know that he had asked her to the party. And she really knew that he wouldn't want people to know that she had rejected him.
Suddenly, Lucrezia could almost feel herself growing shorter. She pushed the sleeve of her robe aside a little. And there it was. The scar on her arm.
"I've got to go." She said abruptly. She ran across the common room to the exit.
"Where the bloody Hell are you going?" James asked.
"I need some air. Sneaking out of the castle."
"Cool, let's go." he said.
"No I really need to be alone. I'm sorry." Prongs nodded at her. He seemed to understand. Did Sirius do this a lot or was she just that good at impersonating him?
Nonetheless, she ran out as fast as she could and headed toward the seventh floor. Sirius had a longer trip there but he was probably smart enough to leave before he could feel the potion wearing off. Once she finally reached the Room of Requirement, she was alone. No Sirius, no nothing. He must be on his way or back in Gryffindor. Lucrezia closed her eyes and pictured her robes. She couldn't wear Sirius' forever, no matter how good they smelled to her. Once she opened her eyes, her standard paid of robes appeared in front of her. Tattered, holey, and long, she slid them on and left the room with Sirius' robes well hidden.
"Parceltongue." She stepped into the Slytherin common room and was greeted by a sight that angered her beyond belief. Avery, Mulciber, and Lestrange were standing around Sirius Black with their wands raised. Lestrange was holding both his and Sirius' wands.
"Expelliarmus!" She pointed her wand at Avery and disarmed him.
"Incendio!" Mulciber screamed at her. It was her against Mulciber but Lucrezia did not think that would last for long; Lestrange could only torture Sirius for so long. She couldn't stand it. She had to help Sirius.
"Aguamenta!" She lowered her wand from Mulciber and turned her attention to Lestrange. "Oppungo!" Six birds shot out of her wand and attacked Lestrange.
"Protego!"
"Serpensortia!" This was her specialty spell. It was a basic spell that many Slytherins learned in their second year but from her wand, the spell was always exceptionally powerful.
A silver snake shot out of her wand and immediately struck at Lestrange one… twice… three times. The wounds wouldn't be fatal but they were more than enough for him to lose his grip on his and Sirius' wands; He fell to the floor, dropping them both. Upon seeing this, Mulciber looked scared for the first time ever in the time Lucrezia had known him.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at the three dark wizards in the room and wiped their memories of this entire encounter and sent them to bed with the Imperious Curse. She had no choice. She would protect her friend.
"Sirius," she said breathlessly. "Sirius, wake up. Please. I need you here. Please wake up."
A small mumbling came from his mouth.
"What, Sirius? What did you say?" His eyes came open lazily and he smiled at her weakly and sat up. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as he could.
"I messed up. I just wasn't good at being you. I think I acted too much like Bellatrix."
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you're safe now," she pulled his robes out for him. "Here are your robes. I saved them for you."
"I don't think I can get dressed on my own." He smirked at her.
"You're fine. I may have actually believed that if you were any good at acting. Also, James asked me about you going to the party with Patricia Goyle. I said no for you and used the excuse that you had too much family in Slytherin to ever date one. It sufficed." Lucrezia paused. "I was supposed to say no, right?" Suddenly, panic went all through her. What if Sirius did want to go with Patricia? Did she just ruin his chance at getting a date?
"Lucrezia," he said. "Of course you were supposed to say no." He held her face in between his hands and smiled at her. At that moment, Lucrezia knew that she should have kissed him but she couldn't bring herself to do it. James wouldn't approve.