Love Song Requiem

Chapter Three

Pain

"She still ignoring you?" Sirius lifted his eyes from the plate in front of him, and looked over at his grinning best friend. James had been no help since the first Hogsmeade trip, and Sirius was quite certain it was because he was happy Emma could still play Qudditch. The first game of the season was against Ravenclaw, and Sirius knew how excited James was. Sirius enjoyed Qudditch, but he never played no matter how hard James had tried to convince him. He'd rather watch a good game of Qudditch than put himself in the line of fire anyway. Sirius turned over his shoulder to look over at the Ravenclaw table, where Emma was sitting with a few of her Qudditch mates. She was laughing, and Sirius remembered the laughter she shared with him on their date. He wasn't quite sure what he did wrong, maybe the truth about him bullying Severus Snape did it. Shaking his head, he turned back to the table.

"Lets put it this way," Sirius said reaching for a cup of juice, "if I was to be dying on the side of the road, Emma would just pass me by."

"Nah, that's not her style," James said with a slight chuckle, "she'd keep you alive long enough to torture you and only then would she kill you."

"Not funny," Sirius muttered, before taking a long drink from the cup. He was running out of ideas to get Emma. A part of him just thought it would be best to give up the game, and move onto another target. Except the new target wouldn't make it as interesting as Emma did. Her resistance, her will to not want to like him made it all worth it. He would just have to come up with a better plan, a plan that would sweep her off her feet. He had to surprise her, make her drop her guard. But how? Sirius knew he was going to have to think on it, and put a new plan into action. His old tricks weren't working on Emma, she was too smart for him. He had to think of something good, something that he had never done before. But what?

"Good luck today Potter," Emma's voice almost made Sirius spit back up what he had been drinking. He turned his attention to her, but noticed that her eyes were all on James. James also teased Severus, why didn't he get the cold shoulder? But it wasn't James trying to get Emma to fall for him, so maybe her standards for friends were a little lower than they were for lovers.

"You don't stand a chance Reeves," James responded with a grin.

"We'll see," Emma returned the grin, before departing from the Great Hall. Sirius groaned, dropping his head down on the table. He could hear James chuckling from across the table, and Sirius was half tempted to kick him. He didn't of course, because James meant well. Kinda. Okay, not at all but Sirius wasn't really in the mood to possibly injure James.

"You better show up to the match Sirius, maybe if you play support squad she'll fall head over heels again," James chuckled again as he left the table, and Sirius banged his head against the table again. Of course he was gonna be at the match, he never missed any match James was playing in. Sirius just hoped that maybe seeing him there would show Emma that he wasn't all THAT bad. He doubted it, but hey it was worth a shot right?

"The Quaffle has again been stopped by Ravenclaw's own Emma Reeves!" The announcer's voice rang out, and Sirius could hear the Ravenclaw's erupt into cheers again. Emma was really on her game, there was not one single thing that had gotten past her today. Sirius lifted his eyes towards the sky as the threat of rain rolled closer in, he had been listening to the thunder in the distance since the game had started. Everyone knew that Qudditch played rain or shine, but he wondered how it would effect the game. Someone always got hurt during a rainy match, and Sirius felt a little on edge. He hoped it wouldn't be James, or Emma for that matter. As the first drops of rain started to fall, Sirius felt a terrible feeling in his stomach that something was going to go very wrong today.

"The visibility is going to be difficult folks, I have a feeling things are about to get messy," The announcer's voice just added to Sirius' unease, and he kept his eyes towards the sky. James was holding the quaffle, heading right for Emma. Sirius, like everyone else in the stands were on their feet. Some were cheering for James, others were cheering for Emma. Sirius wasn't sure who he should be cheering for, but he knew that if anything went wrong one of them was going to be in Sirius pain. He saw James throw his arm back, and the quaffle went soaring through the air. Sirius felt like time had slowed as he watched that ball fly through the air, heading right for Emma. She was ready, she was determined, and Sirius knew she wouldn't let that quaffle get past her.

Some quick movement made Sirius draw his attention to the side a little, looking towards one of Emma's teammates. It was one of her Chaser's, and he looked like he was shouting a warning to her. Sirius snapped his attention back to Emma, just in time to watch as Bludger hit her hard in the side.

"Emma!" Sirius called, watching her fall from her broom, and hit the sandy ground beneath the goal posts, "c'mon Reeves, get up, shake it off and get up." But Emma didn't get up, she didn't move at all as the officials rushed to her. Sirius gripped the wooden rail in front of him, his focus not even on the match anymore. He knew something was going to go wrong, he knew something terrible was going to happen the minute the rain started. It always got messy, and this time it was Emma that had to suffer the pain. He didn't wait to see if she woke back up, he bolted. He shoved past Gryffindors that were on their feet, he could practicly hear James shouting over the wind. He knew his friend didn't want to win this way, and James was probably trying to figure out how the Bludger managed to hit her. Sirius jumped down the steps, taking two at a time and racing towards the entrance that led to the field. He was stopped dead in his tracks by Professor McGonagall.

"I don't think so Black," McGonagall seemed distress, and Sirius knew for a fact that she hated seeing students injured.

"Professor, I gotta…" Sirius began, but McGonagall cut him off.

"You'll only make things worse, go see her in the hospital wing once we get her in," McGonagall gave Sirius a gentle shove, and Sirius stepped back. Sirius clenched his fists, stepping to the side as they brought Emma off the field. He turned his head away, refusing to see her in that kind of mess. McGonagall was right, he'd just go see her in the hospital wing. He took one last look at the field, before following the small group that headed back up to the school. James would have to forgive him this one time for missing a game. He had a feeling his friend really wouldn't mind.