Same disclaimers

Chapter 4:

It had been three weeks since Sirius had offered his impromptu good deed for the decade and Dani was none the wiser as far as he knew; plus, he felt certain that his karma was up because just that morning in the Great Hall at breakfast Danielle had looked up when he had, their eyes met and she bestowed the sweetest smile on him. It was definitely a fine morning.

Sirius sat at the big mahogany table in the library watching her as she sat on the couch from behind his lowered brow. He could tell that something was in her lap that she was reading, but from that distance he couldn't be certain of what it was; he only knew it wasn't a textbook.

Suddenly, she took a sharp breath and held it for what seemed like ages. When she did start to breathe again, it was in short, shallow gulps and it made Sirius's heart race with worry. Something was wrong. When the color drained from her face, he acted on instinct and rushed over to her and sat on the coffee table before her. "Love, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Her voice cracked betraying her as did the tears in her eyes.

"Dani, tell me what's wrong."

"She's…dead."

Sirius's breath caught in his chest; she had just lost someone she cared for. "Who, love?"

"Anna."

"Anna who? Anna your friend? Your sister?"

"Sister."

"Oh, love, I'm so sorry, I—"

She looked up and over his shoulder as the tears turned to angry ones. "How can someone just kill a character like that?"

Sirius sat up stick straight. "Character? Love, I feel like you're having a conversation thinking I know what's going on inside your head but I don't. Explain."

She held up her book as if it were obvious that's what she was talking about. "One sentence alive and kicking, the next dead as if she magically disappeared. I had to read it six times just to make sure it had happened!"

A puzzled look crossed his face. "And you're crying because Anna, a character in your book, is dead? She's not real."

Dani truly looked at him for the first time and furrowed her brow. "Real or not I'd still grown rather fond of her."

He paused and thought for a moment. "I can understand that. It would stink to just, I don't know, disappear. Me? I want a valiant death."

She blinked and laughed. "You deserve nothing less."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Your death?" Her laughter turning to a smile, she tapped her wand to her book and immediately all signs of troubles, tears, or worries were gone. "The book had a charm on it; it's truly a different experience to read when a book has a magical hold on you." Unexpectedly, she seemed to realize who she was speaking to and her mirth turned to skepticism. "Why do you care? Are you sick or something?"

"Me? No. Why?"

"Well, I mean I know we've spoken over the years but never like this. Like you actually," she faltered and looked away.

"Like I actually what?"

"Are you sick? Maybe I'm sick." She paused, touching her hand to her forehead and listening to the clock chiming. "Flaming Nora! Is that the time? I've got to dash!" She stuffed her bag with her things and ran to the door. Turning slightly she called to him in a stage whisper, "Nice chatting with you, mate! Maybe we can talk more later!"

&!&!&

The halls were crowded when Sirius left the library a few short moments later. Being Friday evening, the normal pairings-off was taking place and he found it difficult to weave and bob between the couplings to get to the Great Hall for dinner. Boasting and giggling were the best words to describe the noises echoing around the stone walls of the hallways and it was enough to make a sane man queasy. Why couldn't two people just date without the guy having to put on airs and the girl getting all uptight and antsy when the boy came around?

Turning the corner, Sirius ducked around a seventh year Hufflepuff and almost slipped when he stopped abruptly at the sight he saw. Tucked in the corner by the statue of the humpbacked witch were Dani and a boy—Snivellus. And Snape was actually tinged red with a flush. He watched dumbfounded as his girl ran her hand down Snivellus's arm. All of Sirius's hard work and for nothing. The mangy git had probably assumed responsibility for writing up Dani's textbooks for her. The nerve!

Sirius's blood was boiling. He knew that if Snape looked at him at that moment, he would be reduced to cinders from Sirius's stare; that's how angry he was. So much for good karma; all it had done was set him up royally for a spectacular crash and burn.

&!&!&

Staring at the stupid lout from behind his curtain of hair, Snape had to try his hardest to keep from whipping out his wand and cursing him during class. His stomach had rolled that morning as he walked to class and realized that, being Monday, it was double Care for Magical Creatures with Gryffindor and he'd be forced to be in the same room as the Arrogant One and the Clod. Just the very sight of Sirius, the smell of his cologne, the sound of his obnoxious laughter made Snape ill to the core.

And Danielle had grown fond of the mangy yob.

Not that Severus cared for that fact; he didn't care one wit who the girl made her acquaintances with usually, but, by being her friend, he was only one degree removed from the troglodyte. Snape had strived since the first time that he met Danielle to ignore her but the girl wouldn't take no for an answer. Sometimes he was skeptical that she had made him her pet project but he'd yet to read an impure thought as to her intentions for their friendship. She had a sharp wit, was at the top of her class, didn't care a bit what others thought about her, and was a pure blood.

Snape chastised himself for allowing that last thought to come to the surface. He had had many discussions with Professor Dumbledore about the narrow minded ways of some and he didn't want his true thoughts and feelings to become known, whatever those may be. The best way to thwart his real feelings from showing was to keep them hidden deep down so that even he didn't know where they lie. It was the only way he would ever survive; it was the only way those around him would survive.

"Psst, hey, Padfoot, he's doing it again," James said under his breath as he glanced across the classroom to where Snape was sitting, staring at them.

"The toerag," Sirius growled, pulling out his wand. "I'll teach him it's not polite to stare!"

&!&!&

"Detention!" Sirius mumbled to himself as he trudged up to the Astronomy tower neither satisfied nor vindicated. His plan was to teach Snape a lesson for blushing around Dani as he had a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, his charm had missed and Sirius had ended up charming a rare Ramora red from its true silver coloring. Professor Kettlburn's shrill chastisement still rung in Sirius ears about how it was a good thing it was only a charm and some such nonsense. But his anger about his precious fish had landed Sirius in detention for the week. A whole week!

Now, it was his responsibility to help clean the Astronomy tower of owl droppings. He had only wanted to teach Snivellus a lesson for talking to—"Dani?"

She looked up from her sweeping and pushed her hair out of her face with the back of her hand. "Oh, hullo." She leaned on her mop handle and shot him a smile that sent his heart somewhere to the area of his toes. "Professor McG said I'd have some help tonight."

"You're in detention? Wait, did you just call her Professor McG?"

"Yes. For the rest of the week. And yes; that's how she'd signed the note she sent to me informing me of my detention."

"What did you do?"

She handed him the mop she was propped up with and grabbed a shovel for herself. "I bewitched Professor Binns's blackboard."

"How so?"

"Well, he was talking about some battle or something and I just couldn't keep my eyes open so I thought I'd create a little battle of my own. The left was just about to win; Professor Binns was, well, Professor Binns so—"

"He noticed nothing," Sirius supplied, totally enthralled by her story.

"Exactly. But, Professor McGonagall walked by the room. She wasn't amused. So she gave me an option: clean all blackboards and erasers in Hogwarts for the night or clean the Astronomy tower for a week."

He stopped sweeping and stared at her skeptically. "You had the choice of one night of blackboard cleaning, using magic I assume, or a week of cleaning the Astronomy tower and you chose the latter?"

"Yeah."

He thought about the choice and then realized that by her choosing the work she was presently doing, he got to work with her. "Works for me."

They continued to work in silence for a few moments before she explained, "My greatest fear would be not to be able to see the stars."

He stopped and walked over to her. He thought for a moment before claiming, "I think mine would be to have my freedom to be wrongfully taken from me. Locked up some place, you know?"

"So no desk jobs for you."

"Among other things."

The corner of her mouth tweaked a bit and she leaned in closer. "Hey, look at us. Having a conversation again."

"And I actually understand what we're talking about."

"It wasn't because you were lost before; it's just because you're understanding me better as we talk more." She paused, feeling the heat in her cheeks. She turned and started to work again. "It was bound to happen," she covered before catching one foot on the other and plunging towards the dung-covered floor.

Sirius quickly reached out and wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her tight to him. He noticed her hair smelled like peaches and was softer than down. She fit perfectly in his arms, too, he noticed, and her resting hands on his forearms were like fire. "That was cute."

"One time thing. I promise. Thank you for the assistance, Sirius."

Only a week of detention? Surely they deserved more.

I guess I'll stop asking for your thoughts. But they'd be much appreciated. :)