Chapter 7

It was cold and the sun was just coming out.

Sirius clamped his hands on his broomstick and sped after James. 'It's cold, Jamsie-boy.' He called, in disgruntled tones, stating the obvious.

'Shut up, Padfoot.' James called back, 'Don't call me that!'

'Hot chocolate after.' Sirius said, 'So we'll land early today.'

James, being a devote flier, said obstinately that Sirius could land early and get himself chocolate, because he intended on flying and getting rid of the excess energy so that maybe he could impress Lily by not doing anything wrong in Potions (He sat quite close to her)

'Sssh…' Sirius said suddenly, holding a hand up and stopping. 'Did you hear that, Prongs…?'

'Hear what?'

'A dog barking…'

'Must've been Fang.' James glared at his best mate, with complete annoyance. It was freezing out here and Sirius was hearing things and making an issue out of it. Like always. He'd always been a bit dramatic.

Sirius shook his head, 'Fang sounds different.'

'It must be a stray which wandered in from the forest or something.' James said impatiently, 'C'mon, Padfoot…'

'That's not possible. Outside animals can't just enter school grounds. And the forest has no dogs. I'm the only dog on the grounds other than Fang!'

'How do you know that?' James demanded.

'Remus told me. It's in Hogwarts: a History.' Sirius said, 'I don't get it… let's go check it out, Prongs.'

James groaned and followed Sirius down to the ground. They climbed off the broomsticks and pretty much ran over to the lake.

***

If it hadn't been for Zinc's superior hearing, Leah would never have managed to hide in time.

Zinc had just brought the ball back, when he stopped and cocked his ears. He whined at her, like, Someone's coming. Can I go see?

'Shit.' Leah whispered, 'Zinc, stay quiet, OK? We have to hide.'

Zinc understood the words stay quiet and hide very well. He gamboled over to a small alcove in the grass Leah had never noticed before. He looked at Leah expectantly. She hurried over, erasing their muddy footprints as she went. Then she crawled in after him.

She heard two people enter.

'See? There's no one here, Sirius.' James's voice said, 'You're hearing things, mate…'

Leah winced as Zinc started getting excited behind her. He seemed to want to jump out of the hiding place whenever he heard Sirius's voice. Leah turned and glared at him in the eye and he fell silent again.

'Told you I'm not hearing things.' Sirius said now.

There was silence for a few minutes.

'It's a red ball. Means nothing.' James replied.

Leah cursed herself mentally. She'd left Zinc's ball under the tree…

'It's got saliva on it, Prongs. A dog's been playing with it.'

'Fang, Sirius! Fang. The huge puppy Hagrid's just got!' James sounded pretty impatient now.

'Fang could swallow this ball if he put it in his mouth. No, it's a smaller dog. Not much smaller, but still small compared to Fang. With damn sharp teeth.'

James groaned, 'OK, Sirius. So this dog disappeared into thin air when we got here. I don't really care, Padfoot! Can we go fly now? We'll run out of practice and then we'll have to see Snivelly's smug smile when we lose the bloody match.'

She heard them walk away. She crawled out, surveying Zinc's dirty, muddy coat and her robes with dismay. It looked like they'd forgotten to put the ball back.

Zinc looked at her grumpily, and sniffed around. 'Your ball's gone, Zinc. Don't worry. I'll get you another one. Time to go back now…'

She looked at his muddy coat. She never used magic to clean Zinc. She used special Dr. Fitherhook's Dog Shampoo, Dr. Fitherhook's Dog Conditioner and a bunch of other Dr. Fitherhook stuff to wash him.

It was a painful procedure, because Zinc hated baths and ended up giving her one too.

Zinc nuzzled her affectionately and licked her face. She made him invisible and then led him back to his room. In the room, she hurriedly used her wand to clean up her robes and hair, which had mud sticking to them.

She walked out of the room and bumped straight into Kyle.

'Kyle.' She snapped, in a bad mood, 'Took you long enough to wake up!'

Kyle held up his hands, 'What's wrong with you, huh?'

'Do I look like something's wrong with me?'

'Actually, Leah, you do.'

She glared daggers at him and he held the gaze. He could continue forever. Leah knew her brother was amazing at staring matches…

She groaned and said, 'OK, you win. I almost got caught today.'

'By whom?' Kyle asked, leaning against the wall and looking unsurprised for some probably-lame reason.

'Sirius Black and James Potter. It was a close shave. Except now Zinc's got dirty… I need to give him a bath as soon as possible.'

Kyle frowned and looked at his twin who was staring at her feet. 'Leah, you do know we'll get caught sooner or later, right?'

'No, I don't.' she said curtly, trying to hide her hurt, because she felt he was trying to weasel his way out of helping. Not that he was helping much, anyway. 'Of course, there're more chances of us getting caught because it's just me sticking out for Zinc. You aren't doing anything. Except maybe popping in to show your face to him once in a millennium.'

'Leah! You know that's not true—'

'Oh yeah?' she said, loosing her temper, 'How is it not true? I found out where the kitchens are, I go and get his food every morning, afternoon and evening, I skip lessons to go meet him, I wake up at SIX in the morning to walk him, and then again at night too! While you're snoring in your warm bed!' Then she stopped, and looked at him, 'Of course, Zinc is my dog, and this whole thing was my idea… and if you don't want to be involved, you can just tell me.'

She turned on her heel and stormed off.

'Leah!' he called, 'C'mon, I don't want to fight right now!'

But she'd already disappeared around the corner. And he couldn't open the door and meet Zinc because it turned out that Leah had changed the password.

'Kyle!'

He turned and saw James and Sirius waving at him from down the corridor.

'What're you doing? Up so early?' Sirius asked.

'Thought I'd take a walk with Leah.'

'Saw her going down to breakfast.' James commented, 'But she didn't say hi when we waved at her.'

He shrugged, 'Yeah. She's in a bad mood right now. Where were you guys?'

'Flying.' James said, 'We're on the team, you know.'

Kyle brightened up a bit, 'What're you guys?'

'Chasers.' Sirius shrugged, 'Are you any good? We're having tryouts for Seeker and a Beater.'

Kyle shrugged. If Leah had been here, she might have put in that he was very good. Especially at Seeker. But of course, Leah was mad at him and probably wouldn't talk to him for a week. Once, she'd not talked to him for a month because he'd hurt her feelings over something.

Just then, Angie Snickers and Marlene Brady came down. 'Where's Leah?' Angie asked, 'She didn't come back to freshen up.'

'Down for breakfast.' The three of them said at the same time.

Marlene blinked at them, 'Uh. Thanks. Come on, Ange…'

*

Leah sat down at the breakfast table and took out her notebook. She started writing in it slowly, trying to stop thinking about that stupid Kyle, and how she'd have loved to connect her fist with his face.

She was also feeling immensely guilty. Zinc was having no fun staying shut in that room for most of the day… he'd have been so much better off at home.

She looked at her plate, and put down the pen and then put her head down.

'Morning, Leah.' Angie said, sitting down beside her. 'Why so poker-faced? Here, have some of this toast… its delicious- with extra butter and all that.'

'Ange, let her be.' Marlene said, looking at Leah, mouthing, don't worry. I'll shut her up for you.

But Angie was persistent. 'Come on, Leah. Give me a smile! Has anyone ever told you how absolutely stunning you look when you smile?'

'No.' she said, 'Angie, no, I don't want any more toast-'

'OK… cheese spread?' she asked, and put some of the creamy yellow cheese on Leah's plate without waiting for a reply.

What was with people trying to force-feed her every morning? Leah frowned. The last time she'd checked, she'd been just right- not skinny or fat. Did she really need fattening up? Her wrists and ankles seemed pretty OK…

She was distracted when the voice she least wanted to here right now interrupted her anxiety.

'Hey, Leah.' Kyle said, offering her a smile and sitting in front of her, with the Marauders.

Leah ignored him and concentrated on finishing the toast and the cheese and the omelet which Angie had put on her plate.

'Didn't see you out for a walk today.' Sirius said casually, giving her a not-so-normal smile. Not so normal, because it wasn't a smile. More like the grin James was throwing at Lily right now.

She nodded, not looking up or bothering to say anything.

Just then, a tall, serious looking Seventh Year boy, stopped and told Sirius and James, 'Quidditch tryouts today. If you know anyone interested, bring them over.'

'Tomas Snoddler- captain of the Gryffindor team.' James told Kyle as Tomas walked away, 'You'll come right? To try out?'

'Yeah. Wouldn't miss it.' He grinned, 'Leah, you want to come?'

She threw him a cold, Are you talking to me? look and then added sugar to her juice. Sirius raised his eyebrows at Kyle. Kyle rolled his eyes.

'Leah, you play Quidditch?' Lily asked, looking surprised.

'No. Not really.'

'She can do the Wronski Feint.' Kyle told Lily, 'And she's pretty good at it.'

'That's nice.' Remus said, smiling at Leah, 'Maybe you should go for tryouts.'

'I fell of the broom and broke my nose last year.' She told him, 'The year before that, I landed on my head. I also once broke my foot, almost my neck, and twice my fingers. Yes, I am pretty good. At getting injured in the attempt to play.'

Peter choked on his toast as he stared at her in amazement, 'A-and you're still not mental? After you fell on your head?'

'Head injuries don't always affect the brain.' She told him, 'Didn't you know that? It's ninth grade Bio.'

'He's not Muggle.' James said, after finishing laughing at her injury list.

'Who said she's not mental, Peter?' Kyle asked, somberly.

The Marauders laughed, and Angie told Kyle to shut up.

'Come on, let's not have a fight right now.' Alice said, seeing Leah's lips forming a thin, severe line, and sensing her irritation, 'No more cracking jokes at each other's expense.'

Leah finished the last bit of toast and waited for the other girls to finish. She would ignore Kyle no matter what.