Chapter 7: Make You Feel Better
1976 is coming to an end. The snow graces the grounds and snow angels are scattered in the snow. December is drawing a close to semester, ushering in Christmas with snowy arms. The second weekend marks the last trip to Hogsmeade that the year would witness.
Angie strolls the halls with Lily, discussing what the holidays could potentially bring. At the moment, it could be said that Angie does not care much for celebrating. The sentiment of being overlooked for possibly the one person she hated the most in all of Hogwarts still stings her heart.
To say that Lily does not noticed Angie's sullen mood would insult Lily's observational skills. The blunt traces of depression and lack of self-worth radiating from her friend serve no other purpose than forcing the Mother Goose instincts to surface. In a matter of weeks, Lily had managed to mature beyond her years, supervising Angie's eating and sleep habits.
"Hey, mind if I meet you in class? I need to go talk to someone."
"Yeah, sure." Angie sighs.
Lily nods and doubles back, looking for a certain young man.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Everyone is jovial. There is no trace of sadness or anger. This does not make sense to Sirius Black. He listens to James recount his latest exploit in the realms of pranking Snape, not really caring for the details regarding the Slytherin's reaction to suddenly acquiring a third nostril. Instead, he contemplates the event of the past month and how a certain girl who means the world to him is no longer the same. Something must be done about this.
As though fate had a plan in store for him, a certain redhead makes her way to where they are loitering. Immediately, James senses her presence and interjects before she manages to utter a syllable, "Would the lovely Miss Evans care to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"
Lily casts him a glare, not dignifying the request with an answer. Instead, she turns her attention to Sirius. "Black, we need to talk. Now."
Startled, Sirius snaps his head up to look at the woman who had issued the order. His brows furrow in confusion as he looks at her skeptically. "And why would that be, Evans?"
"Please don't tell me you haven't noticed the lack of luster in Angie's demeanor!" Lily pleads, "Every time I've talked to her these past few weeks, it's almost as though I'm talking to someone who's manic depressive. It breaks my heart to see her in such a state. Please, fix her."
Sirius nods his head in understanding, secretly happy that someone else shares his concerns. "Well, if you'll excuse us, Evans, I do believe we have some planning to do." At that, Sirius ushers the Marauders away, leading them to a nearby passage way.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Angie sits at the Gryffindor table with Lily, eating her dinner under the constant supervision of the redhead. She sighs before looking up and asking, "So, are you going to tell me who you left to go talk to?" She smirks at the end of the sentence, hinting at the possibility that she already has her mind in the gutter.
Lily eyes her carefully before answering, "No, not yet. And it wasn't as you're thinking of it."
Angie gives Lily a dull stare before continuing to systematically pile in the mashed potatoes. The answer only deepens her sentiments of solitude and rejection. Her supposed best friend will not supply her with the answer to a simple question. In her mind, best friends share secrets but she respects Lily's right to privacy.
"You know I'll find out sooner or later, right?"
"Well, of course. I told you I'd tell you later anyway."
It is at that precise moment that a certain boy casually strolls over to the pair and takes a seat next to Angie. Lily takes no notice as she continues to eat. He leans over and whispers in her ear, "I need to talk to you, ok?" He does not wait for an answer as he gets up and leaves the Great Hall.
Angie excuses herself and follows him out the Great Hall and into the Gryffindor common room. She closes the portrait hole behind her and joins him in front of the fire place.
"Are you going to tell me why you're miserable?" He asks her.
Angie stares at him, unable to identify the source of the question. "What?"
"You don't think I haven't noticed that your spirits happen to be at their all time low, do you?" He asks her, incapable of comprehending how she may arrive to that sort of conclusion.
She stares at him, processing what he has asked of her. "I don't think you would understand." She hopes it is enough for him to drop the matter. Destiny has her own ideas though.
He is taken aback by her response. Angered, he demands, "What the hell? You're not even going to try to explain it to me?" His mouth hangs open.
She closes her eyes, audibly exhaling, and thinks of the answer. Frustrated, she allows her legs to give way as she drops to the floor. She inhales sharply before exhaling with equal audibility. "Sirius, I-…. I've just been feeling so rejected lately."
The anger he feels dissolves as he watches her fall to the floor, her hair falling into her face. A feeling of helplessness washes over him, soon followed by sadness. He hates seeing her like this. "What?" He whispers as he kneels on the floor behind her, encircling her in his arms, "You think I don't understand what it feels like to be rejected? In case you've forgotten, I have been rejected before. You do remember that conversation we've had before in the kitchens, right? Do you want to know how I've managed to get over it? I remember who I have with me. I remember that I still have the guys' support; I remember that I have your support." Angie looks at him, a small blush creeping across her face. Sirius takes a mental note of the blush, a small victory for him, before he continues, "Besides, you know I'm always here for you. You know I'd never reject you, right? It would be stupid and hypocritical of me to do so. You're one of the best things that has ever happened to me." Realization dawns on him after he has spoken the last sentence. He hopes she does not dwell on it too much.
Angie sighs and leans back into his embrace. She feels him rest his chin on her head and wraps her arms around his. In that moment, all of her inhibitions are gone, her troubles and worries seeping into the floor beneath her. It is then that she knows she was being foolish for believing she was doomed to a fate of rejection.
Her lack of verbal response reassures him. She has not goaded him about being mushy or weak yet. Physically, she has said more than necessary. He knows she believes him.
She surprises him when she turns gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispers, giving him a full smile before making her way to her dorm.
He remains in the same position on the carpet, reveling in the feeling of her lips on his cheek. This is the second small victory for him to occur in the span of a minute. Elated, he makes up his mind. It is going to happen tonight.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"James." A voice whispered. "James! James, wake up!" It continued. The lump of sheets and flesh on the mattress was without a doubt the sleeping figure of the person known as James. "James! Come on! Get your lazy carcass out of bed this instant!" The lump on the bed shifted, pulled pillows and blanket over what could only be presumed to be the boy's head and groaned. "Prongs, I swear to god, if you don't get up this very instant, Evans is going to slaughter me." This seemed to lull the boy out from the protective cocoon of bed wear.
"Evans? Really?" The boy sprung up, eyes full of hope and amazement.
"No." The voice said bluntly. "But, now that you're awake, you're going to help me wreak havoc on a certain Ravenclaw prat."
"What? Come again?" James said.
"You, James Potter, are going to help me, your best friend Sirius Black, wreak havoc on a certain Ravenclaw, Chase Trevors." Sirius spelled it out for him.
"We don't think so. The clock says it's three twenty-seven in the bloody morning. The schedule says we have potions first thing in the morning. You do the math." James said as he pulled the blanket over his shoulder and flopped backwards onto his bed. He closed his eyes and bid sleep to come over him. To his dismay, however, sleep never came.
James Potter was a person with a mission. Usually, said mission was missing in action, thus making it easier for him to sleep. However, at this very moment, the mission was back. He was, after all, a marauder and a marauder's main focus was to pull pranks, a literal translation for 'wreaking havoc'. Now that Sirius had uttered the words 'wreak havoc', there was no way for him to sleep. It was as inexcusable as a dragon keeper falling asleep on the job, only to have said dragon demolish an entire muggle village.
He sighed, threw the sheet off him and pulled himself out of bed. He reached for a tee shirt and trousers, pulled them on and proceeded to find his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map. "All right, explain to me, dearest Padfoot, just what exactly are we doing this time?" He asked irritably enough.
Sirius was leaning on one of the posts of James' four-poster bed, silently remarking just how much of an open book his friend was. He stood up straight, cleared his throat and dusted himself off. "We, my dear Prongs, are going to transfigure the lower half of the aforementioned prat into that of a goat's. And I'm debating whether or not we ought to transfigure all of his clothes into frilly dresses."
James laughed. "I think we should have left that one for the Slytherins."
"No. This is one of those pranks that must be pulled on an individual, not a group. As a group, it would be less effective. However, we must, without a doubt, cast that lovely charm that causes the subject not to realize it. We can't have him go to McGonagall or Pomfrey to fix it before he makes his grand entrance to the Great Hall at breakfast tomorrow." Sirius remarked.
"Agreed." James said. He tapped his wand on the map and muttered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." before he whispered, "Lumos." He gave the cloak to Sirius and the two made their way out the Gryffindor Tower.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"We need to find the boys' dormitories." James said as the took off the cloak.
"It's over there." Sirius stated all-knowingly as he pointed to the staircase on the left.
"How can you be so sure?" James asked, amazed that his friend had found it so quickly.
"The sign that says 'Boys' Dormitories' had nothing to do with it, I swear." Sirius said with mock innocence.
"Yeah, yeah, Merlin, shut up and let's go and get this over with. The sooner I can catch some sleep, the better." James muttered as he dragged his friend toward the staircase.
The two silently made their way up the staircase, poking in every room, hunting for their prey. Well, they did so until they realized that the year was labelled clearly over each door. They then marched up the staircase, intent on finding the one that said "Sixth Years". They managed to finally reach the desired room after passing the one labelled "Fourth Years".
"James, I don't understand it. I thought Ravenclaws are supposed to be smart." Sirius whispered to his bespectacled companion.
"They are." James whispered back.
"Then why is it that they have fourth proceeded by sixth? What happened to fifth?" Sirius whispered back.
"Good question. Maybe we should have paid more attention at the sorting during second year… Wasn't that the year we convinced the house elves to dye the Slytherins' food gold and red?"
"I thought we managed to get them to slip saliva-activated pop rocks in their soup that year..." Sirius whispered back.
"No, that was last year. I remember Lily yelling at Remus for slacking off on his prefect duties on the first day." James replied.
"Oh. Maybe we did dye their food that year…" Sirius trailed off.
"Hey, Padfoot, no daydreaming. Let's do this and get out. What's rule number one again?" James snapped.
"Never get caught, mother." Sirius joked. "Spoilsport. And it's not quite day yet so it can't be 'day' dreaming."
The pair crept up to the bed of Chase Trevors. They pulled back the curtains to reveal their sleeping prey. The boy lay sprawled across his bed, his pillow tossed carelessly on the floor and his blanket twisted around his body like a piece of ribbon twirled around one's finger. Immediately, thoughts entered the two Marauders' minds.
"Well, 'X' marks the spot." Sirius said as he withdrew his wand. He was about to transfigure the boy's lower half when a thought occurred to him. "Hey, James! What's say you and I make this a little more interesting…"
James grinned a grin that only propelled the other to continue in a more devious plan. It would be four o'clock in the morning before the two finished their work.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The next morning yields a happier Angie. The feeling of doom that enshrouded her dissipated, revealing a much more chipper adolescent. She sits in her place between Lily and Sirius, a small smile playing on her lips as she listens to Peter talk about his home.
At the precise moment that Angie reaches for a piece of toast, the sound of a goat makes its way into the Great Hall. The goat "baa-aaah"s before it stands on its hind legs so that its upper body may morph into that of a boy's. Chase's.
Angie laughs with the rest of the room at the spectacle in the center of it. Smiling, she turns to Sirius and hugs him. "You're awesome, you know that?"
Sirius returns the hug, "Nah… Anything for you, Angie."
Too soon by his standards, she pulls away, excusing herself to get ready for the last trip to Hogsmeade.
"Angie, are you coming with us?" James calls to her before she leaves.
"No, sorry." She does not notice Sirius' face fall a fraction before it resumes its usual mirth. "I've got a pile of Christmas shopping to do." She calls back before she leaves the Great Hall.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The streets of Hogsmeade bear witness to throngs of shoppers. Couples could be seen in the streets as well, doing the couple-y thing to do. The wind nips at their faces, blowing snow in people's hair.
Angie makes haste in the streets, careful not to ram into people with the bags she already had. She had bought gifts for her parents, brother and the majority of her friends. She has one more gift to purchase: Sirius'. She strolls along the streets, perusing the windows as she passed them. His gift had to be perfect.
She sighs as she moves from one store to the next. She walks in and scrutinizes the objects around her. It is a plain and simple object that catches her attention. "Excuse me, sir, but could explain this to me? I'm afraid I don't quite comprehend the nature of these."
The old clerk behind the counter makes his way toward her. "Well my dear, you see…"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The next day saw the departure of the students for their homes. Trunks are dragged into compartments as students take their seats for the journey homeward.
Toward the middle of the train, a group of five sat in a compartment.
"We need to go make our round, Remus." Lily informed her prefect counterpart while getting up and leaving the compartment. Remus just sighed, offered an apologetic smile and left with Lily.
"Where's Peter?" James wondered out loud. He looked towards his best friend and Angie and saw that the situation was almost ideal. Sensing he may as well be labeled a third wheel, James rose from his seat and excused himself with an, "I'm going to go look for Pete."
Suddenly, Angie and Sirius found themselves alone in the compartment.
"So, um-"
"You're not going to leave too, are you?" Sirius cut Angie off.
"No… I was going to ask if I still get to indulge in invading your room on Christmas morning this year or if that's a no go due to recent developments."
"… Oh." Sirius paused and thought about it for a moment.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Truly miserable days never began with any indication of their nature. The birds would chirp merrily, the sun would shine to a nearly blinding degree, the sky would be free of any sign of impending precipitation… It is this sort of day that Sirius Black would rue above others. At least on a gloomy and cloudy day, the chilly temperatures and foreboding skies did not lie about the possibility of a good day.
The position in which he awoke was particularly comfortable. The lack of covers over his body made the heat more bearable. The absence of yelling on his mother's part made him believe the morning would lead to a stellar day. Unfortunately, Sirius had forgotten about Murphy's Law.
"SIRIUS BLACK! GET YOUR LAZY CARCASS OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT!" His mother's shrill voice rang through the house as she entered it. The door closed and the silencing charms were suddenly in effect.
Sirius groaned, not wanting to listen… He had not actually listened to the fallacies that had erupted from his mother's mouth since the age of approximately three… Pretend to listen would be more accurate then. He had no intension of pretending to listen to the old hag on a chipper day like today. No, today, he would not even grant her the courtesy of pretending to listen. It may have been a foolish decision on his part.
Contrary to his mother's orders, Sirius remained in bed, face still in the groove of his pillow, body spread over the bed, blankets on the floor. He was not finished dreaming about a pretty girl he had seen at a bar once. It was barely mid June and Sirius was already wishing for the summer to either end early or grant him a miracle.
Suddenly, the door to his room was wrenched open by the iron grip of an old shrew. The aristocratic feature of Mrs. Black contorted with disgust at the sight before her eyes: her son still lay asleep in bed, naked as the day he was born. "FOR THE LOVE OF MERLIN, CLOTHE YOURSELF! HAVE YOU ANY SHAME? OF COURSE NOT! NOT WITH ALL THE FILTH YOU'VE SLEPT WITH! HAVE WE TAUGHT NOTHING?! DOESN'T HONOR MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?!"
In one fluid motion, Sirius managed to roll over and place his pillow strategically. He glared at the woman he was ashamed to call his mother and snapped, "Haven't you ever heard of manners and courtesy and that small gesture people call 'knocking'?"
With the same fluidity as her son, Mrs. Black was suddenly at the bed side, left hand sweeping across his face and stopping at the other side. "YOU DARE TALK BACK TO ME, YOU LITTLE MISCREANT?! HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO EDUCATE ME IN YOUR LITTLE BLOOD TRAITOR WAYS?" Suddenly, her wand was withdrawn, pointed at him and releasing hex upon hex on him.
Face full of blood and body painted with bruises and slashes, Sirius reached for the nearest blunt object and threw it at her. The metallic replica of the Black family crest made full impact with the woman's temple, effectively knocking her out. Cleaning off the cuts with the sheets, Sirius hastily stepped over her, careful not to wake her up. Hastily, he packed whatever he had not unpacked from his trunk back in. He pulled on a pair of shorts and went about his room in search of his broom. Finding it behind his door, he magically attached his trunk to it and kicked off out the window. Sirius Black was finally running away from 'home'.
He flew across the skies, hungry and drowsy, adrenaline numbing the pain. Twice he had almost flown into birds and trees but had managed to avoid them. Ten minutes later, he found himself at Godrick's Hollow. Ungracefully, he landed the broom but the trunk crashed to the floor as gravity won the battle with magic. Sirius groaned, slumping to the floor. The adrenaline had suddenly worn off.
The sound of hard wood colliding with stone attracted the attention of a groggy James Potter. Confused by what was going on outside, James hauled himself out of bed to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside. Looking down, he saw his best friend passed out on the stone steps. Confused at first but inevitably panicked, James quickly made his way to the entrance, opened the door and pulled his friend inside, allowing the house elf to gather the broom and trunk.
"MOM!" James cried, "Mom!" He dragged Sirius into the living room and place him on a sofa. "Sirius? Sirius? Sirius, please wake up!"
Suddenly, Mrs. Potter burst into the living room, somewhat annoyed by her son's commanding shouts. "James, what the devil has gotten-" She suddenly stopped when she saw the unconscious teenager on her sofa. "What happened to him?"
James shrugged his shoulder, unable to provide his mother with answers.
"James, go get some cloths, a bowl of warm water and bandages. We need to clean these cuts."
James obediently left the room. He stopped off to his room and wrote a message, sending his beloved owl to deliver it with the most urgent orders. If anything happened to Sirius, she would want to know about it.
He then dashed about the bathroom, getting the supplies his mother had asked for. When he entered the living room, the fire place suddenly set ablaze with green flames and out came a girl before it extinguished itself.
"What happened to him?" A frightened girl asked.
Mrs. Potter looked to the young girl, startled by her presence, and offered her a sympathetic shrug. James blushed at Angie's attire. It was clear to him that she had previously been sleeping. Suddenly, he remembered that he was just as un-presentable as she was.
Angie discarded any thoughts of indecency she may have had and assessed Sirius' condition. "I can't believe she did this again…" Angie whispered.
"Who did what again?" Mrs. Potter asked her.
"His mother." Angie supplied. James nodded, Angie's answer a confirmation of his speculations; his mother gasped.
James watched as she set about cleaning the cuts and slashes, bandaging the injuries and whispering incantations over the bruises. She could hear him begin to stir as she finished.
As Mrs. Potter left to empty the bowl of the red contents and clean the cloths, she felt a smile on her face as she looked at the two teenagers in the general vicinity of the sofa.
Sirius heard someone call his name as he opened his eyes. The room around him was quite blurry and the voice sounded very familiar. He could make out a big brown blob that surrounded two small blue ones. Eventually, his eyes focused on the face of Angie Benson.
"Sirius!" She cried as he hugged him, mindful of his injuries.
"Hey…" He managed to gasp.
"Why didn't you come see me?" She asked. He could sense the hurt in her voice as she asked him.
"Angie, you live next door to that house of… Oppression. I finally managed to escape from there and seeing it every day would probably mean I accomplished nothing. Besides, I doubt your father would allow my constant presence under the same roof as his beloved baby girl." He smiled; Angie nodded.
"Aw, how sweet…" James teased from the corner.
"I guess not." Sirius said, snapping out of his reverie. "I'm still staying with the Potters."
"I see." Angie murmured.
"But you can always come visit. You know Mrs. Potter loves all of James' friends." Sirius added hastily. "Hey, you remember how I woke up to find you in a really high cutoff tee shirt and your nickers that morning?"...
Eventually, the rest of the group found their way into the compartment only to soon be joined by Cetus. The group laughed merrily as Lily continued to curse James' attempts to have Lily go out with him. The train chugged along the tracks, bringing them to a halt at King's Cross. There, the group disbanded, each going to their respective residences for the holidays.
