Fortune's Fools
Rated: T (nothing major but this story is about teenagers; what do you expect?)
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, only the OC's
A/N: I am so so sorry about the huge delay in this chapter. School has kept me very busy but I am really glad I finally got this chapter up and hopefully they will start to come faster in the future. As always many thanks to my amazing reviewers Tessia, Carma09, Anjalit2624, The Weatherwitch, Rue'sLullaby74, and Joelle8. Enjoy!
-xxx-
Thump, Thump, Thump.
The rest of the week dragged by with not much excitement. Slughorn had announced that instead of having a weeklong assignment with our partners studying potion theory, we would be spending a month with them trying to create a potion from scratch.
Translation: I would now be spending a month working with Peter Pettigrew.
Now that is just fantastic.
Thump, Thump, Thump.
"Alice, I swear if you throw that ball at the ceiling one more time I will hex you." Mary paused from painting her toenails a bright red to shoot a glare over at Alice who was laying flat on her bed tossing a hard rubber ball at the ceiling.
"What? I'm nervous." Alice groaned. The first game since break was tomorrow against Ravenclaw and as usual, Alice was stressed out even though I have no idea why. Despite her sweet appearance, Alice is amazing at Quidditch. Her small build makes her an ideal seeker. Sirius and James are also on the team. Sirius is beater along side a very attractive and muscular blonde boy in our year named Ben Garren. James is captain and chaser along with Frank Longbottum and Marcus Wood, a rather intense seventh year boy. Our keeper is a seventh year girl named Jessica Bell.
"Alice you'll do fine." Lily said from across the room in a calming voice. She was reading one of Mary's muggle magazines; her textbooks for once cast a side in a pile on the floor and her wet hair was dampening the pillow.
"But what if I don't catch the snitch, what if the other seeker does? I'll be humiliated forever. I'll never be able to show my face again in public. I could make the whole team loose." Alice, who usually is one of the saner people in our group, was in one of her infrequent but disastrous meltdowns. Usually they revolved around two things: Frank or Quidditch, and in horrific occasions both.
Fortunately we had long since found out how to deal with there rare occurrences. A girls night in was always enough to keep Alice's mind off the troubles at hand. Within the next half hour we were all lying on Mary's bed with fresh manicures and pedicures courtesy of Mary and waiting for our spa masks to dry as we flipped through Mary's and Lily's muggle magazines as well as Alice and my witch ones. Mary's radio was blasting a new song from the Wizarding Wireless Network called Just like Magic.
"Which Alessi twin do you like better Ava?" Lily asked me as she opened a muggle magazine. "Billy or Bobby?"
"Well if I can't have both…" I paused thinking, "Billy, definitely." I said as I looked over her shoulder at the brand new copy of Tiger Beat her Mum had just sent her.
"How about we talk about actual guys." Mary grinned as she sat up and leaned against a post of the bed. He face was a bright shade of pea soup green.
"How are the Alessi twins not actual guys?" Lily actually sounded offended.
"I meant Hogwarts boys." Mary said rolling her eyes, "After all you keep on rejecting Potter, you must be holding out for someone."
"No I am not!" Lily protested, her face going nearly as red as her hair. I could feel my face going red too at the mention of James.
"What about you Mary?" I asked trying to change the subject. "You and Alec broke up a while ago."
"Well now that you mention it, that Ravenclaw chaser, Derek Jones, is really hot."
"Mary that is the enemy!" Alice looked appalled.
"He is good looking, smart, and has a great body from quidditch. Who cares if he is a Ravenclaw?"
"I do!"
"I bet you wouldn't care if it was Frank in Ravenclaw."
"Frank would never be in Ravenclaw."
"Are you saying Frank isn't smart?"
"No, he is perfect and a Gryffindor."
"Well Derek is perfect and a Ravenclaw!"
"Alright they are both perfect." Lily interrupted, "What about you Ava?"
I swallowed. I always dreaded this question. I normally just stuttered about not liking anyone and then Mary, Lily, and Alice would list off practically all of the guys in the school trying to see who it was.
"You always say that." Alice complained.
"Yeah, are you sure there is nothing going on with you and Sirius." Mary added.
Crap, I had forgotten to worry about them suspecting anything about Sirius and I.
"Ew, gross no!" I said. And it's true too, why would I want to date Sirius? He's a horrible arrogant pervert.
"I've seen you guys around each other a lot." Mary pried.
"We are in detention together. And that's fate's way of torturing me." A truer statement had never been made.
"Fine, then who do like?" Alice was nice enough to push the topic off Sirius and my relationship away. Not that we had a relationship to begin with.
"Um, well Ben Garren is really cute." I said the first name that popped into my mind.
"More like drop dead gorgeous." Mary sighed. "You guys would be really cute together."
"And he's an amazing Gryffindor beater." Alice gave me an approving nod while shooting a glare at Mary.
"Geez I thought we weren't supposed to judge people based on the house they are in." Mary grumbled.
"Not when it comes to quidditch." Alice, Lily, and I said together; Lily and I mocking Alice's serious tone. Alice shot us a glare but the sight of the smiles creeping onto our faces set her into a fit of laughter.
The rest of the night was spent in true girl night fashion with gossip, dares, laughter, and chocolate until Camilla and Sierra arrived from whatever they were doing, I'll give you a hint, starts with 'b' and ends in 'oys.'
Anyway, their frosty arrival coupled with the fact that it was getting really late, sent us all back to our beds and to try to fall asleep despite a rather large sugar high.
-xxx-
The next morning despite various threats from Alice about missing the Quidditch game I opted to sleep longer than the other girls. This resulted with me walking alone down to the Great Hall with barely thirty minutes to have breakfast and get down to the quidditch pitch.
The halls were empty as I walked down seeing as most people already in the Great Hall. It was only after I turned a corner on the third floor when I spotted another person. The black hair made me realize it was none other than Sirius Black twenty feet in front of me.
I froze, not sure of what to do. I couldn't just walk up to him and say high, but at the same time I couldn't wait and walk down later, I was already low on time. My only option left was to walk really quietly and pray he didn't hear me.
I pressed my back to the cold stone wall and crouched down as I slunk along the wall. Sirius was about the round the corner, I was almost safe when, creak! The suit of arm I was passing turned its empty head to look down at me, emitting a screech.
I froze, my eyes wide, hoping Sirius had a moment of deftness. But then he stopped and turned.
"Ava, are you stalking me?"
"Um no." I made what I think was quite an impressive leap away from the wall in order to assume a position that was not completely creeperish.
"Then what were you doing against the wall?" Sirius walked over to me, his hair flopping over his eyes.
"I uh, dropped my earring." Because that totally makes a lot of sense, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind.
"You know how I said you suck at lying?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Well that was an understatement."
I scowled, "Well what do you think I was doing?"
"I don't know, gazing longingly at me from a far. I'm told I have quite a sexy arse, I wouldn't blame you for admiring it."
I was truly at a lost for words so I did what any mature woman would do; square my shoulders and marched right past him with as much haughtiness as I could muster. At first I thought Sirius wasn't following me, but then I heard running footsteps.
"Wait Ava, I was just kidding." Sirius said with almost an apologetic look on his face as he grabbed my elbow. I jerked my elbow away and raised my eyebrow.
"Well, a little." He said, a grin quickly replacing his previously somber expression. I didn't say anything, after all I was being a grown up and giving him the silent treatment.
Sirius stared at me for a second and then his grin widened, "How do you do that?"
I am proud to say that I resisted the urge to ask him what the hell he was talking about.
"How do you do that eyebrow thing?" He asked again while making an attempt to raise one eyebrow by screwing up the left side of his face and looking at the ceiling. I couldn't help but to laugh.
"Not like that." I rolled my eyes but the effect was ruined by the smile that had crept over my face.
"Oh really; how then?" Sirius said as we began walking again.
"I don't know. You just do it."
"Are you planning on becoming a professor?"
"Uh, no?"
"Good, you're a horrible teacher." Sirius said grinning, giving me a playful shove.
"Oh really?" I grinned back, "Well you're not the best teacher either."
"And what I am trying to teach you."
"Aren't you trying to teach me how to be the next marauder? So far I would have to say that you are failing, miserably."
"I think that would be on account of the student not the teacher."
"Oh, I highly doubt that."
"Okay then fine, let's have your first test right now." Sirius said as we stopped outside the great hall, "You have a minute to pull a prank on the Great Hall."
"Are you serious?" I asked; our conversation had changed dramatically.
"Why yes I am, glad you remember. Fifty-eight seconds."
"That's a horrible joke." I said hiding my smile.
"Fifty-five," Sirius said with the look of utmost seriousness, no pun intended, on his face. I glared at him, deciding what to do. I could do the prank, risk detention and embarrassment or I could face the disappointed stare of Sirius all day.
"Fine." I mumbled, and slipped into the Great Hall. Fortunately most people had already left for the Quidditch match and it was fairly empty. I said the only spell that popped into my mind and with a flick of my wand I was back next to Sirius in the entrance hall.
"That was it?" Sirius said quizzically, "No bangs? No explosions? Did you even do anything?"
"Yes," I said indignantly, "I switched all the pumpkin juice to milk. Now everyone who thinks they are drinking pumpkin juice will actually be getting milk."
"That's it?" Sirius said disbelieving, "You call the possibility of one person maybe spitting out their morning breakfast drink a prank?" He sighed and pulled me inside the Great Hall, "You have so much to learn."
"What? I had to think on the fly." I defended myself, "And look, that first year Hufflepuff, just put down his drink, he looks confused."
"What an accomplishment." Sirius said sarcastically. "It's a good thing I am a master or you would be absolutely hopeless."
-xxx-
"Ava there you are. We were afraid you overslept." Mary waved me over to where she and Lily were sitting in the stands, sporting red and gold banners and scarves.
"And face Alice's wrath? Never." I grinned.
"So where were you?" Lily asked.
"Um, just having breakfast." I answered, it would be impossible to fully explain what had been really going on without giving away way too much information.
Fortunately Lily looked satisfied and at that time the players walked onto the field. The day was clear but cold and windy and the player's robes whipped around them as they mounted their brooms. Despite having multiple layers on Lily, Mary and I had to huddle together to stay warm.
"And they're off!" John Jordan, our commentator, announced with his usual cheery attitude. As a Gryffindor he usually swayed from his 'unbiased' position as commentator however Professor McGonagall had her eyes trained onto him as always.
"Wood has the quaffle, dodges Jones, dodges Davis, oh, nearly taken out by a bludger. Nice block by Gryffindor beater Sirius Black. Wood passes quaffle to Potter. Potter fakes the keeper. Potter scores!"
The Gryffindor fans erupted, it had been less than a minute into the game and Gryffindor was already up ten points.
"Come on Lily, live a little." Mary grinned from her standing position next to me as we cheered on James in his victory lap. His scarlet robes were vibrant against the bright blue of the sky. He pumped his fist into the air as he flew past our section of the stands.
"But Potter scored." Lily said the name the same way you would mention a horrible digestive disease.
"I don't care if Salazar Slytherin scored, if Gryffindor just scored, look happy!"
"Why would Salazar Slytherin play for Gryffindor?" Lily asked.
"That's beside the point."
We settled back to watching the game. I could never play Quidditch, heights and I have never mixed well, and I usually tune out the long boring talks the boys always seem to be having about it in the common room, but I have to admit, it was exciting to watch.
The players zoomed up and down the pitch; Gryffindor I might add was creaming Ravenclaw. In the first five minutes we scored an additional three points. Usually I keep my eyes on the chasers, not just because of James but it's also where the exciting stuff happens, while occasionally glancing at Alice to see how she is doing. But this match my eyes kept focusing on Sirius, my mind drifting back to our conversation this morning.
I felt the corners of my mouth curling up as I thought about my 'prank.' It really had been quite bad. As I thought about it I started to feel kind of embarrassed. Sirius must think I am a complete and total idiot. He was after all a Marauder and pranking was his specialty. He probably could have pulled off a dozen different exciting pranks all at once while I managed my one pitiful one.
The thought was actually making me angry. I couldn't let him think that about me. I would show him I wasn't incapable. I cast my eyes around for a prank to pull but my mind kept coming up a blank. I couldn't do anything to mess up the actual game. Other students take Quidditch way too seriously for me to do that. If I so much as hexed a twig on a player's broom, if that team ever found out, I would be lucky to make it back to Madame Pomphry's in one piece.
Then I thought once more back to the prank I pulled that morning, switching the pumpkin juice and milk. I couldn't resist from smiling now, I knew exactly what I could do.
"Ava, Ava look! Alice is diving for the snitch." My thoughts were interrupted by Mary tugging on my sleeve and I looked up to see Alice in a nosedive, the Ravenclaw seeker on her tail. I would have to act fast if this was going to work.
For a second I had a panic attack, thinking I forgot how to do it. But after a second of confusion I remembered. I raised my wand and thought the spell with all the concentration I could muster.
At first nothing happened as I looked across the stands, but then like a ripple across water all the cheering blue Ravenclaw fans began to change. As Alice's hand closed around the snitch, the entire stadium was decked out in red and gold, right down to the last confused Slytherin.
As the cheering of Gryffindor's erupted confusion took over the opposing stands. As the Gryffindor's began to realize what had happened the cheering got even louder until it was almost deafening. The stands were shaking with the stomping feet.
I looked up to see the teacher's reactions. Most of them were hiding smiles, even McGonagall was having hard time keeping the smirk off her face and as Flitwick went to wave his wand she whispered something in his ear that made him sit back down.
"Come on Ava, let's go." Mary tugged on the sleeve of my robes, pulling me after Lily down the steps of the stands. "We need to go congratulate Alice."
"I wonder who changed all the Ravenclaw robes." Lily puffed as we flew down the steps along with the crowed.
"Probably a Marauder." Mary thankfully dismissed and the question was dropped as we rushed out onto the pitch.
"Alice that was amazing!" Mary grinned as we rushed to hug her.
"Oh thanks guys." She beamed, the snitch still clasped in her hand. I wondered if Sirius had seen my prank. He had to have had. Even now only some of the Ravenclaws had figured out how to undo the spell. The rest were still sporting our colors. I searched for Sirius out of the corner of my eye and found him tightly wound around Camilla.
My stomach clenched for a reason I couldn't put my finger on. After all what had I expected, some big congratulations from him. He probably didn't even care. I sighed and focused my attention back to my friends who had vanished.
Undoubtedly Alice had gone over to congratulate Frank and Lily was probably being 'harassed' by Potter, the lucky girl. I spotted Mary making her way over to Derek Jones with a smile on her face. I decided not to interrupt her and began to walk back to the castle alone.
I was just leaving the stands as I felt an arm grab me a pull me into the dusty area underneath the bleachers.
"Am I to assume that that prank was done by you?" I blinked as my eyes tried to readjust to the darkness. But once again I didn't need to see to recognize that husky voice.
"Sirius, do you always have to ambush me like this?" I complained. "And yes that was me." I tried to hide the satisfaction in my voice.
"Hmm, you're not as bad as I thought you were." He conceded. Then, as if he could see the grin on my face he added, "Not that my expectations were very high."
"Please you have to admit that was a great prank." I smiled.
"It was alright, it must be my teaching skills."
I snorted, "You wish."
Sirius just grinned, "I'll see you later Burke, for our next detention." And he left, giving me once more the responsibility of having to wait a few minutes before leaving the stadium.
When I finally left I was immediately set upon by Mary, who thankfully was in such a good mood she didn't question why I had been under the bleachers and was currently covered in dust.
"Ava! Ava! Guess what?" She bounced up and down.
"What?" I smiled, playing along.
"Derek just asked my to Slughorn's Valentines Day party."
"Slughorn's what?" I said, sure I had misheard her.
"Ava you can be so out of it sometimes," Mary teased, "Slughorn is having a Valentines Day party for members of the Slug Club and they can bring guests. Aren't you excited?"
-xxx-
So I'll leave it there. What do you think? I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can and it is much more encouraging if I get more reviews. Thanks!
-LayRay