Wow, I almost nearly forgot about this story!
In any event, hello there, if you're still interested, here's the fourth chapter.
The previous disclaimers still apply, and this chapter is being told in Sirius' limited third-person PoV.
On with the show!
"It's not an act," he explained, raking a hand through his hair to perhaps charm her into agreeing with his plan. Honestly, he wanted to try her out. She seemed to have grown over the summer—by grown, he meant, into his standards. Up close he noticed the ample décolleté, the small yet not ridiculously tiny waist, the firm derriere, and of course, those long, unblemished legs. These features he noticed when he managed to tear away from her gaze, which was large and magnetic in its effect. "Though you want me to believe you?" Rumer asked, words flowing out of her mouth. "You seem like you're game for anything. I went along with your little experiment, the one with the potions that could have potentially had a permanent effect on me. Will it really hurt you so much to pretend to be going out with me just until the Halloween ball?" he told her bluntly.
Rumer regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt much." They stopped before the Charms classroom. "Thanks," he said, "can I kiss you goodbye? You have agreed." She blinked, "OK, try not to make out with my cheek." That made him crack a smile, and place a kiss where she asked. "See you later, then," he shifted from one foot to the other. "Yeah, see you," she turned and disappeared into the classroom. Wow, is that how you treat the guys you date? Stares followed him when he made his way to his Transfiguration. From girls they were a mix of sadness and wrath, and from the guys, surprisingly, they were annoyed.
He walked into the room, and slid into his seat beside James in the back row. "So, you and Sable," his best friend began teasingly, "I didn't think you were serious, just under the influence of Amortentia. Though it does appear that you and her are actually going out." He let out a breath, "Where in Merlin's name do you get your information?" James shrugged, "The most reliable of sources, of course." Remus turned around and said, "He asked Marlene McKinnon, who saw you talking to Rumer outside the Charms classroom and kissing her on the cheek. Please, I'm trying to increase my intelligence quotient. Do argue about Padfoot's life later."
That silenced him. James Potter, his best friend presumably in the entire universe, had resorted to schoolgirl gossip to know what was going on with him. You could've asked, he thought, I'd tell you anyway. In spite of everything, Prongs was still Prongs, and he could tell him anything. The fact that he hadn't asked him first stung a little. It subsided, like his initial reactions. For once, they made it through class without their Head of House calling their attention. Lunch was uneventful. A lot of the time they spent it pulling pranks and lounging about near the lake, but all of a sudden when Moony suggested actually eating in the Great Hall, he couldn't think of one reason why they shouldn't. Breakfast and dinner, those were the times they made appearances in the said venue. Right then, as he felt the midday sunlight on his face, he felt strangely out of his element.
"Feel like telling me something, Sirius?" asked Remus, closing his latest read. "The only thing I'm telling you, Remus, is that I am bored. I am very bored, and I don't like being bored," he let out a blast of air. "Ask one of your girls to entertain you, then," suggested James, "or are you waiting for just the one girl to entertain you?" he made the mistake of looking over, to be met by a few hungry gazes of the female variety. It warranted another sigh. Where is my fake girlfriend when I need her? He drummed a half-steady beat on the table with his fingertips. "I'm trying to eat, here," muttered Peter. "Well, good, the pacing will slow you down," he snapped. "Leave him be, Wormtail, he's testy because his new toy isn't present," smirked James. You're damn right I'm testy; I all but hire her to act like she fancies me and she's not here. Remus began another book.
Speak of the devil. Rumer walked into the Great Hall, hair down, floating down the path and landing at the Gryffindor table. He raised a brow at her. Once she noticed him doing so, she seemed to mouth, oh, right, and floated over to his end. "Hello, Rumer," it was Remus who greeted her first, "read anything good lately?" she nodded, a little absentmindedly for her usual alert self, "This lovely little book, I can't remember what it's called, but it's about these unshaven people in America who gather round bonfires and dance to folk music. It's a really lovely, wonderful read. It gets you to loosen up and things like that, really lovely." James looked up from his plate. Peter stopped mid-chew. Rumer Sable was the reserve Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, selected for her reflexes and good instincts, and there she was in front of them, talking about hippies?
"You think it's 'really lovely,' Rue?" he asked her. She looked up at him and a slow smile spread across her face, "You're so pretty to look at, Sirius." James laughed under the guise of a violent coughing fit. "Oh, Jimmy, you're sick. This magic medicine will do you wonders," she slid a vial across the table, "You take one drop and everything is just so lovely—except Sirius, he was already lovely when I drank it." Remus wasn't amused. "Rue, who gave you the magic medicine?" she played with a lock of hair as she spoke, "This lovely person with blond hair, really lovely, but his vibe is sort of, I dunno, wigged out." He narrowed his eyes at her, "How blond was his hair, Rumer?" she transferred her gaze to him, "Wow, you're lovely, like, actually lovely. Say something else; you look lovelier when you talk." James recovered from his giggles, "Carry on then, Sirius."
"How blond was his hair?" he asked, an edge creeping into his voice. "Whoa, you just got less lovely. Can you shove your fascist beliefs down my throat a little less forcefully? I mean, that was not groovy," her head lolled back. "You should take her to the infirmary; the drug Malfoy gave her could have permanent effects. In all technicalities, giving him a piece of my mind isn't abuse of my Head Boy position," James added. "I'll take you to the Hospital Wing, how does that sound?" he told her softly. "Mm, groovy, hospitals have beds, right? I miss my bed," she nodded, allowing to be led out of the hall, James slipping the vial swiftly into his pocket to show the nurse what she had drunk. "Yeah, they have beds," he managed to say before she swooned, falling backwards on to him. With a huff he tucked both arms under her legs, and carried her out. "We'll see you in class, Sirius!" Peter's oddly squeaky tones were the last thing he heard before he began the journey to the infirmary. Ah, here comes the hard part; might as well do it now while most people are at lunch doing boring things.
"You're really lovely," Rumer murmured, still in that somewhat dazed tone, "has anybody told you that you were lovely?" he nodded, "Yeah, a couple of people." She smiled and put her arms around his neck, "I must say; they're not wrong at all." I don't know whether this is an effect of the potion or just you, but either way I'm going to take them as compliments. "Sirius," she piped up again as he turned the corner. "Yes, Rumer?" he replied. Without warning, she kissed him on the cheek, resting her forehead against his temple. "There's nobody around, you don't have to play-act when there's nobody around," he would've shrugged, but he risked letting go of her. "I'm not play-acting, Sirius," she did it again, her lips against his cheek, "You're so lovely." Normally girls told him he was hot after they made contact with his skin, not lovely. That word was effeminate.
The arrival at the Hospital Wing was welcome—the sudden displays of unwarranted but not unwanted affection unnerved him. "What's happened?" asked Miss Shaw, the younger nurse, once he safely lowered Rumer onto the nearest bed, mumbling and giggling in a half-slumber. "She said she drank this potion," he found the right vial in the pocket of his robes and dumped it into the woman's hand, "and she's been acting strange, using phrases that she wouldn't use normally, and doing things that I'm sure she doesn't even think about." Miss Shaw, an auburn-haired twenty-something nurse, uncorked the bottle and sniffed the contents. "Ah, I see," she concluded, stuffing the cork back in, "She's going to be fine in a few hours, Mister Black, but for now she'll be a bit out of character. This potion that she drank brings any alter egos out for a ride—fortunately for this young woman, the alter ego the potion brought out is a harmless, peace-loving hippy, so she won't be causing too much damage." He was confused, "So is she on Veritaserum or something like that, Miss?"
"It's not as simple as that. To put it simply, think the effects of Veritaserum, except ten times more," explained Miss Shaw, watching Rumer while she plaited her hair, humming some song. "Are you saying it brings out this facet of her personality?" he still didn't understand, and usually he understood these things faster than most. "That's exactly what it is, Mister Black. Will you be waiting until she snaps out of it? I'll be giving her a lot of sedatives to make her rest, I'm telling you now," the auburn-haired nurse informed him. "When will she wake up?" he asked. "About two hours from now. I think you should go to class," added Miss Shaw. Rumer heard her when she said this and cried out, "Sirius, are you really going to leave me here?" he felt the need to comfort her. "I have to go, Rumer. You would've wanted me to go to class." She blinked and waved farewell.
He responded with a two-fingered salute, and left her in Miss Shaw's capable hands. He knew she was fully capable because she'd treated a few minor injuries he incurred the past year, and trusting the Healers were part of the equation. He went to his next class—Potions. Oh, the irony; the sweet, irksome irony.
—TBC—
