Chapter XI -- Rattling the Dog Cage
After Professor McGonagall had excused the Gryffindors from Transfiguration class, Sirius prepared himself for meeting Lauren outside on the Grounds. He waited until the class had mostly cleared out, save for James and Remus, before awakening from his cat(or dog)nap. The tall boy gathered up his belongings (what little he did bring to class) and met his friends at the door. McGonagall watched as the trio left the classroom quickly.
Sirius had taken no more than three steps into the corridor before a brunette stepped lightly into his path. She wore a mingled look of happiness and curiosity, and something of a bit of a secretive gaze as well. It was Smith, the president of the fanclub.
"Good morning, Sirius." Her voice was light and soft as she ignored James and Remus; they shot her annoyed glances. Sirius shuffled backwards a few steps as she approached swiftly.
"I was just wondering..." She twirled a lock of her dark brown hair around a slender finger. "What are you doing tonight?"
Sirius' eyes narrowed annoyedly as she reached out and clung onto his robes. "Nothing with you." He tore away, a disgusted look on his face.
For a moment Smith looked horrified.
"I'll probably hang out with my girlfriend, if that's what you're asking." Sirius continued.
"Girlfriend?" Her face quickly changed. She looked furious, not bothering to plaster that usual sweet face on again.
"Yes," Sirius snapped back viciously. "Even if I didn't have one I still wouldn't spend my spare time on you. Now move." He pushed her aside rudely. "I have a girlfriend to meet."
James and Remus both stood, mouths open in disbelief, looking from Sirius to Smith and back again. Smith looked near to tears, although the look of pure hatred shone fiercely through the trembling hands she clapped onto her flaming cheeks. Sirius strode off looking quite triumphant as Smith stormed off, enraged, down the corridor in the opposite direction.
"What was that all about?" James asked in a slightly hushed voice.
Sirius shrugged, glancing sideways at him. "She annoyed me. I can't stand annoying people, you know that. I mean, just look at Snivellus."
James couldn't argue that. A smile spread across his face as he patted Sirius roughly on the back. "That's the Padfoot I know."
Remus couldn't help but be impressed as well. It was very rare that Sirius was ever this rude to a member of the opposite gender, and he had finally stood up against one of them instead of ignoring them like usual. He knew that deep down, their occasional rudeness to this 'handsome fellow (in their opinion)' was often taken to heart, but that 'handsome fellow' never did anything about it. "Way to go." Remus said quietly.
Sirius shrugged again as they reached the doors to the Grounds and opened them. A bench just overlooking the lakeside caught their eyes as a pair of girls waved them over. Rosemary sat beneath a large tree that hung over the bench, casting shade there. Lauren sat near the middle of the bench itself, saving room for Sirius and whoever else wanted to join them there.
"I think I've got it all figured out." Lauren said as they all took their seats. Sirius, of course, sat on Lauren's left, Remus on her right. James parked himself on the hard ground not far in front of them all. They listened intently as she continued.
"She's started stuff about Rosemary and I--"
Lauren was cut off by Sirius' annoyed voice. "And she was coming on to me before we got here..."
"She what?" Lauren looked at him angrily for a few second before getting back on track. "Anyway... I say we give her a taste of her own medicine... Only we up the dosage a bit." She grinned darkly.
Rosemary couldn't help but let a small dark smile creep onto her own face. "What kind of rumors were you thinking, Tyra?"
"Maybe something along the lines of ' I heard Bridgette Smith sneaks into the Slytherin Boys' Dormitories at night.' or something like that. Of couse, that won't be the only one. That's where you guys come in." Lauren looked around at the boys.
"I don't know." James said uncertainly. "We're pranksters, not conniving, vicious females out to get revenge. This isn't exactly included in our area of expertise."
Lauren gave him a scornful look. "Oh, don't you give me that. With all the stuff you guys pull of random First Years, people you don't like, and Snivellus, you might as well be a bunch of girls."
"Yeah, but that would mean you'd be going out with one. And that's just not Lauren, now is it?" Sirius stopped taunting her before he put himself on the recieving end of another punch -- or worse.
"I resent that remark, Scutio." James twisted his face into a very convincing pout.
Lauren's nose wrinkled in mock-spite at him. "Ohh, suck it up and be a man. Or I'll just have to tell Lily about your behavior. What would she do then?"
James' pout quickly vanished as he donned a look of pure mischief. "She'd probably put me in time-out... maybe tell me what a bad boy I've been and take away my supper..."
Rosemary rolled her eyes and decided to change the subject. "How are we going to take what she's said about us?"
Lauren looked over firmly at where the Ravenclaw sat beneath the tree's wide branches. "We're not going to take it. Why do you think I came up with our revenge?"
"That's not what I meant..." Rosemary answered almost under her breath as the others began coming up with other nasty rumors about Bridgette Smith.
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An hour later...
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As Sirius made his way casually towards his Defense Against The Dark Arts class, he was met by yet another girl who barred his path. By now he was beginning to get tired of this, but he looked down to see who it was anyways. This time it wasn't Smith. It was Lauren.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked demandingly.
"I'm going to Defense Against the Dark Arts, the class I have next..." He answered slowly, a little confused. "Why?"
She didn't answer him. "And where were you this morning when I told you to meet me outside? You were late." He noticed that her face looked flushed with anger.
Sirius' brow furrowed. "I told you already. I was leaving Transfiguration and that nutter Smith stopped me. She was coming on to me and it kinda slowed me down before I got rid of her."
"You lying, two-timing putrid heap of dragon dung." She spat, hatred flowing thick in her voice and shining in her seafoam eyes. "I've talked to Smith before and I've come to find out that she's a very nice girl. If anything, you're the tramp."
Sirius hardly had time to catch the pun she threw into the statement; he was too distracted by what she had called him. "What's your problem?" He turned away slightly, confused and growing furious himself. How dare she talk to him like this?
"Maybe you're my problem." She snarled viciously, taking a step dangerously towards him.
He stood where he was, not backing down. He didn't really mind the head-slaps and semi-rude comments, but this whole conversation had been a harsh slap in the face and anyone who knows anything about dogs knows that if you slap one it's going to attack back. "Ohh, so that's the way you feel?"
"Yeah, that's the way I feel."
Sirius restrained himself from harming her in any way. "Fine. I can take a hint." He snarled back. There was almost more hatred in him now than he had ever shown towards Snape; she had betrayed him and he wasn't going to stand for it. "Everything's off. You're not my girlfriend anymore and you're not allowed to have your seat next to me at our table and I'm certainly not helping you with that whore. You know what? Maybe she is right about you. You are nothing but a traitor and I wouldn't be surprised if everything else she said about you is true."
Before she could say anything more, he shoved his way past her and stormed off towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Inside the DADA room, Sirius found his seat and sat furiously down. His things hardly made it onto his desk before they went sliding onto the floor from how forcefully he set them down. He didn't bother picking them up.
Both James and Remus noticed his strange behavior and looked over, surprised. Never before had they seen him this downright furious. They exchanged glances and for once they looked almost nervous, as though they didn't want to set him off in any way.
The whole class period was like that. Sirius hardly did anything, which wasn't out of the ordinary. But when class let out and he finally stood to leave, no one moved a muscle. He looked around, a little confused, but still got no response from the crowd inside the room. For once, Sirius was the first out of the classroom in his whole time at Hogwarts.