Chapter 11

"So much for a great day," Sirius snarled as he took his usual seat next to James in Transfiguration. This morning had been great, of course. He had woken up to a the red sun burning on the horizon. And after graciously waking up his best friends, walked downstairs to the Common Room, where three lovely ladies were on their way to breakfast. James of course, had been disappointed that Lily was not with them. Then, however, he had hurried ahead of the rest of the girls to rush down to hand out the schedules he had spent most of the night writing up. Then Remus and Sirius had escorted the three girls down to breakfast.

Sirius had been shocked when Alaina had thrown away her shy manner and made fun of him at breakfast. Sure, it was only a little joke, but he had a feeling that she was hiding something on the inside. He had a feeling that the shy little girl was not really who she was.

It was quite strange not to have Moony in class with him. That and James had been rather distressed over it at first, but were easily adaptable to change. In Care of Magical Creatures, Sirius and James had stood with Alaina the whole time. During that class, she had started to open up to the two boys. She had laughed with them, and had even helped them prank Snape. Sirius knew he was catching a glimpse of the girl he knew was in there all along.

Now here he was, stuck in Transfiguration class as McGonagall lectured them on god knows what. James was doodling on his piece of parchment, sketching his normal LE + JP Love. Peter was sitting behind James, and he was watching McGonagall with his beady little eyes. Alaina was sitting down next to Peter. She was looking at McGonagall, but Sirius could tell that her mind was not focused on class.

"Sirius Black!" Sirius quickly spun around, and found McGonagall standing right in front of his desk. "Now that you have kindly consented to join our class, would you repeat what I just said?" Sirius thought of the first think that popped into his head. It was something Alyssa had been telling Alaina earlier about that day.

"The recipe for mashed potatoes and ketchup?" Sirius said with a smirk. Alaina let a soft giggle and McGonagall tapped her wand on Sirius' desk in a disciplinary way.

"Mr. Black, detention." Sirius smirked and looked towards James as McGonagall walked back to the front of the classroom.

"You owe me a galleon, Potter," Sirius said with a grin. "I was the first one to get a detention. Pay up!" James rolled his eyes and handed over the money. Sirius kissed it and pocketed it.

"All right class, kindly begin. Mr. Longbottom here will be passing out hedgehogs. I would like each of you to turn them into a rabbit with your partner. Begin." McGonagall proceeded to hand Frank Longbottom the box of hedgehogs. Sirius turned to James quickly.

"Work with Peter this class, Prongs?" Sirius asked, pleadingly. James smiled and nudged his head back towards Alaina.

"Move your behind, Padfoot," James muttered. Sirius patted him on the back enthusiastically and slid in next to Alaina after Peter had moved. She looked surprised that he was sitting next to her.

"Sorry about being so cold earlier," Sirius whispered, as Frank sat the hedgehog in front of them. With one flick of his wand, a rabbit now sat there. This left Sirius and Alaina free to talk the rest of the period. "I just don't like Chambers very much." Sirius said, and she smiled weakly at him.

"There is no need to be sorry, Sirius," Alaina said, as she scratched the rabbit's ears. "I wasn't mad at you. I was mad at Jake." Sirius raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why?" Sirius asked, and then he smiled gently at her. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, I know that I am not your best -," She cut him off.

"You," Alaina whispered in a rush. "We were talking about you." This was the last answer that Sirius was expecting. He reached forward and started to pet the rabbit's back, as Alaina was stilling scratching his ears.

"Why were you talking about little old me?" Sirius said. He tried to make it sound like a joke, but he was dead curious. Before she could answer, two unwelcome Slytherins came over.

"Hello, Riley." Angela Barron snarled in a unfeminine voice. Her long reddish brown hair was pulled back into a bun, and her blue eyes were glowing with malice. Standing behind her, was none other than Severus Snape. Sirius hated Snape more than he hated Jake.

"Hello, Angela," Alaina growled, viciously. "Did you lose your way? Wait, I am friends with the headgirl. Maybe if I talk to her, I could get her to put up signs for you Slytherins, that way your problem is solved." Sirius and James, who had stood up as soon as Snape was close by, let out laughter.

"Very funny, Riley," Snape hissed in a greasy voice. "But that is not why we are over here. We just came over to warn the two of you," Snape spun around to look at James. "And you of course, that you might want to watch your backs this year. You never now when I might just slip." Sirius snarled and jumped out of his seat.

"You touch her, you die," Alaina quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him back down. McGonagall came rushing over.

"What seems to be the problem?" McGonagall said as she pushed James roughly down into his seat. He looked rather shocked but shrugged. Sirius quickly snarled an incoherent word, and the Slytherins ambled back to their seats, evil smirks on their faces. "Thats much better." McGonagall added and she went back over to Frank, with whom she had been helping remove hedgehog spikes.

"Sirius!" Alaina cried, looking annoyed. "You already have one detention, don't make me loose another bet!" Sirius, thinking he was going to get reprimanded was shocked.

"What?" Sirius said alarmed.

"I made a beat with Alyssa that James would get the first detention, and that you would only get one today!" Alaina said, excitedly. "Don't make me lose again!"

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh.

"That's my girl," Sirius said with a grin. Alaina looked shocked. "What, Lainy?" She just smiled and shook her head.

"Nothing, Sirius, nothing."