A/N: Thank you everyone so much for the brilliant response to the last chapter! You all had such kind words about Effie and my writing. Quick answer to TheEvilPinkCupcake - no Remus in this chapter, but some more of him coming soon.

Chapter Eleven: F for fish-brain

My delusions were rewarded the next week, in the beginning of November when Sirius finally, after many weeks of silence, spoke to me again. Professor Kettleburn had Hagrid, the groundskeeper build the stables in my second year and every year after I started taking Care of Magical Creatures in Third, he had added more magical creature pens. They mostly roamed free, but if Kettleburn needed them for a class, he would keep them in the stables for a few nights. Today was supposed to be the last night the unicorn was being kept, so I wanted to say goodbye. I was in love with the thing, probably freakishly so, but I didn't care – it made me so happy to be around such a gorgeous animal.

"Hello Freddy," I crooned, stroking its mane softly.

"You know – that unicorn is a female."

I turned around to see Sirius Black leaning against the Hippogriff pen and squinting at me.

"How do you know?" I asked, running a hand over my hair to attempt to smooth it out. "He's never objected to me calling him Freddy."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, there's the obvious missing appendage but also, she's about to have foals. Kettleburn's letting us watch the birthing tomorrow during class."

My mouth dropped open. "What? That's not fair – you studied unicorns last year!"

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe he'll keep the foals for the Fifth Years." He hoisted himself up on to the fence and smiled at me. "I feel like I haven't seen you since my detention."

I inched over and leaned against the fence before I looked up at him.

"I've been around." It had barely been a week since my dramatic Chess win in the courtyard! But I suppose that things that were a big deal for me, were probably barely blips on Sirius' radar.
"So, why haven't you come to watch Marlene practice?" Sirius asked, patting the space beside him on the fence. I didn't really trust myself to get up on the fence but I didn't want to deny any of his requests so I put a foot up on the lowest beam and attempted to hoist myself up next to him. Unfortunately, I slipped and ended up hanging awkwardly over the fence as I scrambled to grab a foothold. Sirius clicked his tongue and grabbed my arm to help right me. Blushing madly, I managed to turn and sit beside him. He was biting his lip, making one of his more hilarious faces at me and I covered my face in embarrassment.

"So…why don't you come to Quidditch practices? All the girls from your year do," he said, clearing his throat and kindly not bringing attention to my bout of clumsiness.

I shrugged, trying to seem cool and casual. "Marlene has never asked me to come, so I just don't."

"Well I'm asking you to come, so you should," he said, bluntly giving me a silly, pouty face and then smiling charmingly.

I was getting better at not freezing around him, but when he sprung the cuteness on me, it was sort of impossible not to. He laughed and leaned over to pinch my blushing cheek, which only made things worse. I stared at him with wide eyes and his expression changed slightly. He cleared his throat and made a face- a deliberate grimace - before he leaned back and swung his legs back and forth, kicking the fence.

"So what's new?"

"Oh not much. I got another T in Transfiguration, obviously because I had such a fantastic tutor," I said, attempting to normalize my tone, despite feeling like I was shaking from his touch.

"Obviously! Someone give that lad a medal," he replied, puffing up his chest and patting his own back.

"Or a T for terrific!" I said, giving him the thumbs up. "Actually my mum asked what it stood for the other day – and that's what I told her."

"HA! Really? Blimey – Muggle parents, it must be so easy to lie about school."

"Yup, when I tell them I'm getting straight A's – they actually think I'm doing brilliantly."

He laughed. "Oh yeah, we read about the grading system in Muggle Studies – seems bonkers."

"Actually it makes much more sense!" I argued. "And it's less offensive. F just stands for fail – not like T for Troll."

"There's always F for fish-brain…" Sirius suggested.

"Or fat-head."

"OR F for Fanny. Fanny face? Something like that," Sirius grinned.

"I'll write to the muggle authorities and suggest it," I said.

"So what else did you lie to your mum about? Did you mention your epic chess victory?" he said, elbowing me lightly.

"Nah, I didn't want to show off," I said, looking over my shoulder under the pretense of watching the hippogriffs. "I am supposed to send her a drawing of a unicorn though. Not my best work – I had to do it under the table during Charms, so it may have come out looking like a pig with a horn, but it's the thought that counts right?"

Sirius looked surprised for a moment but burst into infectious laughter, making me beam and join in. We both laughed for a solid five minutes before I almost toppled backwards into the hippogriff pen and he had to steady me. Still chuckling he took a deep breath, jumped down from the fence and stretched.

"What time is it?"

"Quarter to," I said, taking in his bright eyes and slightly disheveled hair, that he was running a hand through.

"We've got a Quidditch practice now, why don't you come along?" Sirius said with a yawn. "It's usually a laugh. James loses his marbles at least twice."

I giggled but shook my head. "Nah, I have an essay to finish and I don't really want to sit there alone like a sad git."

"Aw, come on. Lily Evans might be there – you know her, don't you? And Wendelin, Florence and Emmeline come to almost every practice," he said giving me one of his best smiles. Believe me, there were tons and tons of versions but this one was top quality. Despite witnessing our chess game, he obviously wasn't fully aware that I didn't get along with my dorm mates, but the look on his face made me forgive this ignorance.

After a very long pause I sighed and nodded.

"Great!" he said, holding his hands out to me to help me down from my perch.

"You have astonishing powers," I said, before I could stop myself.

Thankfully he laughed. "Yes, I have the gift of persuasion and puppy dog eyes – works every time."

"I'm sure it does," I muttered, focusing on not tripping as I took his hands and lowered myself down from the fence. I landed on the floor, very close to him.

"You've got pretty good puppy dog eyes too, you know," Sirius said casually as he nodded towards the Quidditch Pitch and started walking. In my surprise, I tripped over a rock.

"What?"

"Well, you've got those round, big brown eyes – how does anyone say no to you?" he said with a grin.

"Oh…" I muttered, feeling awkward. He was just taking the piss out of my glasses.

"Well come on, James hates it when anyone is late," He said, not sensing my embarrassment. He kept a stream of funny stories up about all the ridiculous things that seemed to happen during Quidditch practices but I felt too glum to really enjoy them. By the time we reached the Quidditch Pitch, I was already regretting my decision to come to Practice but Sirius seemed oblivious to my discomfort.

"Here comes Marlene – I'll see you later," he said, grinning as he headed to the Changing Rooms. "All Right McKinnon?"

"Yeah Sirius, you all right?" Marlene called as they passed each other before she headed straight to me. "Are you here to watch me practice?" she said happily and I nodded, trying to smile back. After we'd chatted for a bit, Marlene headed off to join the team and I went up to the stands to watch. Unfortunately, Wendelin, Florence and Emmeline were there with a couple of Fourth Year girls I didn't know. Neither Lily Evans nor Dorcas Meadowes were anywhere in sight, so I embarrassedly took a seat on the empty side of the stands, attempting not to draw attention to myself. Of course Wendelin Warcroft was not one to miss an opportunity to mess with me, especially not after I'd embarrassed her the week before.

"Oh look, the circus is here!" Wendelin announced making the group laugh and Emmeline bite her lip. She didn't say anything though and simply turned a page in her book pretending like she couldn't hear. I said nothing in reply to Wendelin because I was still too upset by Sirius' comment to think about anything else.

"Aw babes, you look upset. What happened? Didn't your extra Transfiguration lessons help at all?" Wendelin called to me before turning to the listening Fourth Years and Florence. "Sirius Black was forced to help her with Transfiguration because she's so thick. I thought glasses were supposed to make you nerdy?"

The group laughed loudly at this. I rolled my eyes and massaged my temples to get rid of my headache and try to tune their laughter out. I opened my sketchbook to my picture of the unicorn. I'd exaggerated to Sirius about how bad it was, because I was actually fairly good at drawing, but it definitely wasn't my best work. I worked on getting the proportions more accurate for a while before Wendelin, who was obviously trying to inflict her revenge on me, yelled to me again.

"What are you working on Savage? Are you really that nerdy that you're studying instead of watching all the fit blokes out there? What's wrong with you?"

The group laughed once again and I clenched my fists, closing my sketchbook. If I wasn't careful I'd accidentally draw Wendelin as a pig and I couldn't imagine she'd take that well if she saw it. Instead, I focused on Marlene, who was doing a brilliant job of stopping all of the Quaffles that Potter and the other Chasers sent her way. I even managed a smile when I saw Potter fly over to her and gesticulate wildly about something, making her laugh.

"Oh wow, that is really desperate! What is your mate doing throwing herself at James Potter, Bottle-Specs? Everyone knows he's only got eyes for Lily Evans!" Wendelin said.

"They're just friends," I muttered but they ignored me, sneering at Marlene who was now talking to Sirius and James.

"Is she, like, trying to steal James from Lily?" Florence added.

"Does Lily Evans even like James Potter?" I asked loudly, unable to keep my thoughts to myself.

"That's not really the point, Einstein. Why would he look at a manly girl like McKinnon anyway?"

I lost my temper at that and forgot that there were six girls there and only one of me. When I sent my curse flying at Wendelin, I only heard a muffled cry before someone else's curse hit me in the stomach and I went flying off the edge of the stands and plummeted to the ground, head first.

A/N: Quite literally a cliffhanger! Thanks for reading, please review!