You Leave Me Breathless
By Lily Orange
Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...
A story of romance, friendship and humour
"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - Charles Caleb Colton
A/N: Thanks for all your support :) Thank you to sarlovesoccer, Rhiannon da crazygirl, MoDuine, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, LittleRed22, 552678, EllieBaby and Stephie Cat-Kat - thanks to everyone who reviewed multiple times! Thank you to hollygolightly88 for adding my story to your alert subscriptions and thank you to 552678 for adding my story to your favourites! I hope you like this chapter...
Chapter Ten
Apple of His Eye
Three weeks later, Isabel was sat in her room staring at the bubbling cauldron gleefully. It was a thick, muddy, sludgy colour and was simmering on the little fire she had lit beneath it. Paying attention to the final instruction in the book, she stirred it a few times and then smiled – it was ready.
She was prepared to take on the role of the blonde, busty Amanda Catherine Burke right away; she had sneakily taken a Hufflepuff uniform from the laundry that was of a larger size than hers and had a little goblet to put the potion in to drink. The only problem was, she couldn't drink it in her dorm because a Hufflepuff couldn't be coming out of a Gryffindor dormitory! So she made the quick decision to take her goblet, full of potion complete with the hair, to the girls' bathroom on the fourth floor and drink it there, so she could transform somewhere that wouldn't ruin her plan.
Isabel stood up and went over to her drawer, where the hairs were. She took them and dropped them into the cauldron – within seconds it turned a pearlescent shade of violet, which was quite a pretty colour, but not one you would particularly like to drink.
Isabel poured some into a goblet, and hid the cauldron at the bottom of her wardrobe for safe keeping – hopeful that Lily wouldn't look there very soon, as Lily would become instantly suspicious and question Isabel to no end about why on earth there was a cauldron full of violet Polyjuice Potion in the bottom of the wardrobe. Even if she was sky high with her James infatuation.
So, eager to get the plan going straight away, she hid the goblet underneath her robes and left her room, walking swiftly through the Gryffindor common room (luckily none of the Marauders nor Lily were in there) and out into the corridors. She walked along a few and down some stairs to get to her destination: said girls' bathroom on the fourth floor.
Isabel entered it cautiously – hoping nobody was in there. Unfortunately, there was. The two girls who had snatched the 'Sirius' Girlfriend Auditions' poster out of her hands in the Gryffindor common room were there, liberally applying brightly coloured lip gloss and mindlessly gossiping.
"So, Aimee, are you totally going for Sirius?" one of them said to the other.
"Nah, Lorraine, he is, like, way too old for me!" Aimee gasped in annoyance at her friend's lack of knowledge.
"Oh right... so who is all this lip gloss for then?" Lorraine asked, bemused.
"Darren Parkes," Aimee grinned hungrily and, grabbing Lorraine's wrist somewhat forcefully, pulled her out of the bathroom, barely acknowledging Isabel's presence – not that she minded, so far Aimee had been a complete pain who was obsessed with her best friend.
"Finally..." Isabel whispered to herself, and, once assured the bathroom was empty, slipped into a cubicle and changed into the Hufflepuff uniform. Then, it was time to take the potion – she stepped out and stood in front of one of the mirrors, and gulped it down. Surprisingly, it tasted alright – a bit sweet for Isabel's liking, but okay all the same.
And now came the transformation – Isabel felt herself physically shrink about two inches, her chest enlarge considerably, her hair magically straighten and turn blonde, her skin to tan slightly and her eyes to lighten and flecks of grey to appear. She closed her eyes – the sensation of metamorphosing into another being was not altogether pleasant.
About ten seconds later, she blinked, and opened her eyes to take in her appearance as Amanda.
Her first thoughts were: "Oh my Merlin! What have I done?" but they were quickly followed up by: "Wow, I look pretty good!"
She smiled to herself, revealing straight, pearly white teeth. Enchanting – surely this was exactly what Sirius would enjoy looking at.
*
Sirius Black felt as if he was being starved. It was a peculiar feeling, and had nothing to do with his appetite. He had proved that by just nipping to the kitchen (for a post-dinner snack) and consuming four pieces of buttered and raspberry-jammed toast and a steaming mug of hot chocolate. So the starving feeling was most definitely not food-wise – it was undoubtedly girl-wise. Sirius hadn't kissed a girl for about four weeks, ever since the bleach-blonde-haired-girl-who-he-didn't-know-the-name-of who had been there for a couple of nights in a row. So tonight – as per usual – James was off with Lily (but according to James, it was a proper date, not the usual kissing in the Transfiguration courtyard or corridors), Peter was struggling with his homework and Remus wasn't feeling very well so was lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing under close scrutiny of Madame Pomfrey, who kept dosing him up with medicinal potions. Sirius was on his way to see him – he felt sorry for Moony. Every month he transformed into a werewolf and underwent a lot of pain.
Sirius sauntered into the Hospital Wing.
"Mr Black! What are you doing?" Madame Pomfrey said disapprovingly, immediately accosting him as soon as he entered.
"Oh, I've come to see Remus, is that okay?" he asked, exercising his seldom-used polite manners (well, they were used but he normally turned on the charm instead of being polite).
"Yes, Mr Black, I suppose it is," she sighed and admitted him towards Remus' bed, which had curtains drawn around it to increase his privacy.
Sirius squeezed between them and smiled brightly at his weak friend, who, surprise, surprise, was reading a book (entitled The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by somebody called Robert Louis Stevenson who Sirius had never heard of).
"Hi Moony," Sirius said cheerfully, sitting down in the armchair beside Remus' bed.
"Hello Padfoot – how are you?" Remus asked, not lifting his eyes from his book. Some would have interpreted this as explicit rudeness but Sirius (and James, Peter, Isabel and Lily) had known Remus long enough to interpret this as completely normal.
"Fine, thanks, mate, you?" he responded.
"Ah, dosed up with plenty of potions," Remus said, "and reading this book, which is quite good, if slightly confusing in parts."
"What is it?" Sirius asked, wrinkling his nose as he observed the picture on the cover of a ghostly-, sad-, evil-looking man.
"'The Strange Case of Dr'–" Remus began, but was interrupted by an impatient Sirius.
"I know what the title is Moony, I can read!"
"Sorry. Well, it's a Muggle classic that Isabel lent me," Remus answered.
"Oh. Is it any good?"
"Yeah, it is. It's quite an original plot – there's this man called Dr Jekyll who is all good and a high society Victorian man and he's friendly with somebody called Mr Hyde who's murderous and nasty. And somehow they are connected, but his old friend Mr Utterson is trying to find out the extent of it and why. I haven't got to the end yet so I don't know what happens but I reckon they are the same person," Remus informed him.
"Oh right. Sounds good. Like Polyjuice Potion then?" Sirius suggested.
"Sort of, perhaps. Anyway, have you managed to find yourself the girlfriend? You know, the girlfriend with the capital 'T'?" Remus smirked, though sympathetic.
"Nope. I feel starved of kisses! I do not know what to do at all – I need to kiss a girl!" Sirius whined.
"I'm sure there are plenty that would kiss you," Remus said matter-of-factly. "But you could exercise a little self-control, Sirius. Anyway, I'm sure the right girl will come along eventually. You just need to wait patiently."
"Thanks Moony, you've got a very wise head, you know that?" Sirius smiled.
"Thank you, Padfoot. Thanks for visiting me – James and Peter popped in earlier, as did Lily, and obviously Isabel, with this book. She also lent me some others as she knew I wanted to read some Muggle classics – she bought all of her Jane Austen collection and Jane Eyre, Frankenstein and Dracula, so I've got plenty of things to do," Remus said warmly.
"Okay Moony – see you later, get well soon," Sirius said, patting his friend on the back soothingly and leaving the wing – but as he left, he bumped into somebody.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the voice of the person said – a voice he recognised very well, as it was the same voice that had yelled at him in the toilet of the Hogwarts Express on September the first.
"Hey Petra, it was me really," Sirius said, deciding to take the blame.
"Oh, Sirius. Well, I suppose it was," she said, shooting him a dirty look.
"Who are you visiting?" Sirius asked her good-naturedly, ignoring Petra's hostile facial expressions.
"My cousin Dahlia, she blew up her cauldron in Potions," Petra said.
"Ah, poor dear. I hope she's okay. My good friend Moony is a little under the weather and looks like he's halfway through reading Isabel's whole library of Muggle classics. I despair sometimes, I really do," Sirius told her.
Petra smiled slightly. They were stood outside in the corridor, coincidentally beside a broom cupboard.
"You know Sirius – I kind of felt bad after the train journey," Petra said in a flirtatious voice that Sirius was quick in identifying.
"Really?" he asked. Maybe Petra could satisfy his feelings of starvation. She was not the girlfriend with the capital 'T', as Remus put it, but she was a good kisser and always willing.
"Yes – and I know how I could make it up to you," she whispered in his ear. He smiled slightly as she dragged him into the broom cupboard and shut the door.
*
Isabel smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Though normally she didn't really wear makeup except for the odd bit of concealer and mascara, she knew that as Amanda she would never need it as the girl was absolutely stunning. So, she had to go and find Sirius and enchant him. It shouldn't really have been difficult with these looks, as she was unquestionably beatific in every aspect.
She left the bathroom and stepped out into the hallway. She grinned at a passing seventh year, who narrowly missed walking into a pillar as he watched her with interest.
The only problem now was, where exactly would Sirius be?
In a strike of intuition, she decided to go in the direction of the Hospital Wing. James was with Lily, out on a date (wherever that might be – James told Lily to bring a warm coat so Isabel presumed it was Hogsmeade through one of the secret passageways), Peter was in the library, trying to get his head round some more Transfiguration work and Remus was in the Hospital Wing. Isabel had been to visit him earlier and deposit the books he had requested to keep him busy; she didn't think she had seen a smile as wide as his when she handed him ten books to read.
Surprisingly, not many students were out so she avoided a lot of staring. When she arrived at the Hospital Wing, she wondered whether or not to go in to see if Sirius was in there with Remus – she was unable to see from the door as Remus had curtains drawn around his bed.
"Are you alright, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked her, having sensed the blonde girl standing uncertainly at the door.
"Yes thank you – has Sirius Black been to visit Remus Lupin this evening?" she asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, he has. He left about fifteen minutes ago – though I swear I saw him go into that broom cupboard with Petra Clarkson," she frowned disapprovingly, and Isabel smiled to herself. Typical Sirius. So she would have to wait somewhere near the broom cupboard for him to reappear and then casually walk by and attract his attention.
"Thank you," Isabel smiled at Madame Pomfrey and went to go and sit on the stone ledge of a nearby window, which was relatively close to the broom cupboard but not a very obvious place to see.
In fact, Isabel didn't have to wait long. Just as she had drawn her Rune Dictionary out of her robe pocket (she wanted to read up on some things), Sirius and Petra exited the broom cupboard. And Sirius was sure that he wouldn't give in again as he wanted to kiss somebody special.
Petra was pleased with herself. And she had now established that everything with Sirius was non-committal so she could just walk away without any strings attached.
"Bye Sirius," Petra said teasingly. Sirius didn't respond. He was staring in the direction of the exquisitely beautiful blonde girl reading a book by the window at the end of the corridor.
"Bye Sirius," Petra repeated. Yet again, Sirius didn't respond. "Sirius?" she asked, tapping his shoulder. He snapped out of his little stupor, and looked back at her.
"Oh, bye Petra," he said unenthusiastically as she walked off, and he made his way towards the blonde girl who had caught his undivided attention.
"Hello," Sirius said in his usual charming voice. The blonde girl looked up at him, smiling slightly.
"Hi," she greeted him, shutting her book (Sirius observed it to be a Rune Dictionary).
"What's your name, I don't think I've seen you round before," Sirius asked.
"Amanda, Amanda Burke. Before the summer I was completely devoid of curves and had brown hair, not blonde," Isabel answered, using her pre-prepared story.
"Sirius Black," Sirius grinned, ready to get to know the girl before him.
*
Outside of the castle, a beautiful crescent moon was casting a silvery glow across the Black Lake, Forbidden Forest and the castle. The stars twinkled prettily – the little clusters of them shedding a little light on the completely magical village of Hogsmeade. Lights flickered in the windows of the houses – most of the shops were shut, excluding the Three Broomsticks, Madam Puddifoot's and the Hog's Head. The busiest of all three of them was Madam Rosmerta's pub, the Three Broomsticks. There were barely any free tables and groups were gathered around the wooden tables, warming themselves up with mugs of Butterbeer and Firewhisky.
It was perhaps the obvious thing to do to go and warm yourself up in one of the pubs or Madam Puddifoot's ridiculously romantic coffee shop as the outside air was freezing. Thus not many people were outside, they were all in and nicely warm.
Two figures emerged from the apparently shut Honeyduke's Sweet Shop. They were both wrapped up in coats and scarves, though the girl could hardly hide her flaming red hair underneath her hood, and the boy's glasses practically had frost forming on them due to the cold. They were holding hands – though both wearing woolly gloves at the same time.
"James! You do know we've broken at least twenty-five school rules doing this?" the red-haired girl chastised her boyfriend.
"Lil – where's your sense of adventure?" James grinned mischievously, and pulled her towards the Three Broomsticks.
As James and Lily entered, they took off their coats, multiple scarves and gloves as it was incredibly hot in there – so hot, in fact, that the young barmaid, Rosmerta, was wearing a sleeveless black dress with her customary sparkly turquoise high heels, and her curly blonde hair was piled up on top of her head.
"Oh, hello, James, out past curfew again I suppose?" she raised an eyebrow and James and Lily squeezed past the other customers and sat on a table for two. "Where are your friends?"
"Oh, at school. I bought my girlfriend" – James placed much emphasis on this word as he couldn't quite believe it himself – "Lily with me."
"I know who Lily is! So you finally gave into James here, then, eh? You make such a lovely couple," Rosmerta complimented sweetly. Lily blushed and James grinned.
"Anyway, Rosmerta, can we have two Butterbeers, please?" James ordered. She nodded and went back to the bar to get their drinks.
"In here often?" Lily asked jokingly.
"Yep. Usually it was boring Pads, Moony and Wormtail with my hare-brained plans to get you to like me," James smiled – causing Lily to blush once more.
"We normally went to the Hog's Head – though Professor Flitwick always advised Isabel and I to take our own glasses," Lily replied after her reddened face had returned to its usual pale shade.
"Why the Hog's Head?" James asked quizzically, taking a large gulp of his Butterbeer and giving himself a foam moustache, making Lily giggle uncontrollably.
"What? What?" James said, flapping around like a baby bird, attracting some attention from other customers who looked quite amused.
"You – have – a – foam – moustache!" Lily gasped, struggling for breath because of her excessive laughter.
"Oh right," he grinned childishly and licked it off. "Anyway, why the Hog's Head?"
"I didn't think I'd see you in there," Lily admitted, looking quite ashamed. "Because I thought I didn't like you. I thought that I found you the most annoying person ever. I thought I was physically repulsed by you. But it turns out, you can easily mistake love for hate – as proved over the summer when I practically lived for those letters you sent me."
"Why did you never reply?" James asked, taking her hand.
"Because I didn't want to admit it to myself," she said simply.
James snorted. "So you admit it to Isabel who chooses to jump up and down on her bed and bellow for the whole Gryffindor tower to hear?"
"Yep," Lily laughed, "Izzy doesn't exactly have impeccable timing – but I'm glad she did it. Because it means I can do this without beating myself up about it." And she leaned across the small table and kissed him ardently. He ran his hand through her long red hair and didn't want to let go.
Eventually, they had to as they were sat in a public place, which their moment of passion had made them temporarily forget.
"Actually, Lils, I kind of, um, made you something to celebrate our one month anniversary," James said in a quiet, embarrassed sort of voice. Lily smiled kindly at him.
"Really? But I didn't get you anything!" Lily responded.
"It's okay – I didn't buy you anything, it's a poem that I wrote," he said, reddening rapidly.
"Can I read it?" Lily requested excitably.
"Go on then," James said, handing her a piece of purple paper.
Lily focussed her emerald eyes on it and began to read.
"Lily, you are my dearest petal,
Your eyes shine brighter than a highly polished kettle,
Your hair is like a flaming, bright auburn fire,
For you I'd climb to the top of a church spire,
You make me laugh, in a good way, of course,
I know you like watching Inspector Morse,
When you rejected me everybody told me to give up,
Instead I drowned my sorrows in a cup,
And the next day appeared just as bright,
But didn't really wait until the time was right,
I wrote you letters, and plenty of them,
Hoping you'd never meet a dashing man who was perhaps called Ken,
But one lovely night when the stars were shining,
In our bedroom for your love I was pining,
Then I heard your friend screaming that you liked me,
In my haste to get to you I nearly broke my knee,
But I didn't and we raced up the girls' stairs,
Wondering what we would find there,
And it turned out to be brilliantly true,
Something that I definitely know is I love you."
Lily found it funny – but also incredibly romantic that James had actually taken the time to write a poem for her, even if the rhyming was slightly bad (who thought 'them' rhymed with 'Ken'?).
"Oh my Merlin, James, that is the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me," she said, her eyes filling up with tears as she hugged him tightly over the table.
Sorry about how cheesy James' poem is - but I thought it would be the sort of thing he'd write :) please review for the next chapter which involves a party and more Amanda/Sirius! Thanks for reading, have a very merry Christmas,
:) x Lily Orange x (: