This will be a slightly boring chapter due to the fact that I have to wrap up a few things that I started, like the prank. Sorry!

Chapter 29: More than a simple crush

The second years and above were lucky, for the second years, fortunately, were to learn the cheering charm in their Charms class right after breakfast since Professor Flitwick thought that they'd do well with a bit of cheering up, so they were free of the Curse of the Marauders, as the other students started calling it. The first years weren't so, for they hadn't learnt the spell yet and it took them a week to learn the spell. In this period of time, there were a lot of 'incidents' and one of the most extreme was when a first year boy walked into the Quidditch girl's rooms and caught a glimpse of Ginny changing, and when Ginny realized that a boy was staring at her naked she screamed.

And her knight in sweaty Quidditch robes came in and smacked the boy (or was she/he a girl?).

Yeah. It was a troubling week.

And Hermione served her first detention on the 21st of December, 1975, but it was not her last detention.

Luna and Severus went on their first official date as a couple on the 22nd of December.

And at the same time, Ginevra Weasley lost her virginity to a certain boy named James Harold Potter (They didn't manage to finish what they had started cuz Lily walked in on them the first time).

Sirius Black kissed Hermione for the first time on the 23rd of December before boarding the train back to Kings Cross.

Ginny and Hermione met James's parents on the 23rd of December and would live there for the rest of their Christmas holidays.

...

...

~Sirius POV~

"You will receive the Dark Mark, you will glorify the name of the Blacks!" Walburga Black said as she slashed her magical whip on her eldest son. "You will bring pride to our family," she said as she slashed him again. "No!" Sirius said defiantly, despite his pain. "Crucio!" Walburga said.

"Will you receive the Dark Mark?"

"No! Even if the price is dying," Sirius said as his mother slashed him again, sending him flying towards the floor.

"Crucio. Will you receive the dark mark?"

"Never!"

"Crucio!" The unforgivable hit Sirius, but he never made a sound, he never looked at his mother.

"This is your last chance. Will you receive the dark mark?"

"No!" Sirius said, using the last of his energy.

"Plasiea! Entaillen! Saignerous!" she said, cursing her son with the legendary Black curses. Sirius fell in and out of conscious as his mother blasted him off the tapestry.

"Leave! You are not a Black now," she said, screaming as she blasted her son towards the fireplace. "You are no son of mine, filth."

"5 Burgshill Street, Potter Mansion!" He said, using the very last of his energy to fall into the fireplace.

He was free of his family... At a great price...

~Hermione POV~

"Mrs Potter, do you think that the tinsel should be hung here in the stairway instead of the walls?" Hermione asked as she skipped round a corner only to bump into Mr Potter. Harold Potter was the Head of the Auror offices, and he was a tall, lanky man with scars all over his arms to prove the battles he had won.

"Child, I believe heat the tinsel should be wrapped around James, actually," he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. It wasn't hard to figure out where James got his pranking genes.

The Annual Auror New Year Ball was to be held at the Potter's and the girls were helping Mrs. Potter and the elves to decorate. Suddenly, Hermione heard the doorbell ringing...

She ran off to the lobby, thinking excitedly that this might be Luna, who was staying with Severus. She had promised to stop by. But what she saw was the bravest, strongest man she had ever known, lying crumpled at the door, bloody and scarred.

"Mrs Potter!" Dorea Potter came running towards Hermione. When she saw Sirius, she was shocked. She immediately picked Sirius up and brought him to the Potter's Hospital Wing.

"What has happened, Domina?"James and Ginny asked. "Sirius..." The two ran to the Hospital Wing, seeing the trail of still fresh blood. Sirius was lying on a bed, screaming in agony. Dorea was shaking her head and mumbling to herself, "Have she no shame? Using the Cruciatus Curse on her own son..."

Ginny fed Sirius water as James asked his mother "Can Sirius live here from now on?"

Dorea smiled. "It would be nice to have another child under this roof..." she said. "Jippy, arrange a room for Mister Black beside James's bedroom please?"

The houself smiled as she ran off to prepare a room. James jumped up and down with joy, knowing that his best friend was going to live with him for the rest of the holidays.

As James and Dorea left the room, Hermione hid in a corner, observing Ginny. She was pleading to Sirius. "Please don't die, please don't leave James. Don't leave me!"

Hermione secretly left the room, locking the door behind her. She had always suspected that Ginny would love Sirius, seeing that he was the bad boy type she was looking for, so when she decided to date James it was unexpected.

~Sirius POV~

The last thing I remember was the flashes of red light- the Cruciatus Curse. I refused to receive the Dark Mark, I could stand the curse because her face kept me anchored to the world. Her skin, as pale as fresh snow, her lips the color of a ripe apple, her voice like the morning dew falling from a leaf, her eyes the color of the fur on a doe and her hair... Oh! The sweet flowery scent of her scarlet hair haunted him in his sleep.

But she was out of bounds. She was his brother, his real brother's girlfriend. The only restrictions to Sirius's flings were James' girlfriends. Also, they were perfect for each other- the angel paired to the saint. Oh! He was the devil, a fallen angel that was given the chance to leave hell, and now totally disowned from his family. They could never be together.

"Don't die...don't leave me!" Ah! It was her melodic voice, tugging him from his coma. It is an illusion, merely due to the fact that I long for her love. I need love, and the source I want it to come from is her.

James and Ginny were the perfect couple- or were they?

(5 days later...)

Sirius had recovered from his coma well enough to join the Auror Ball. More accurately, he recovered well enough to drink a certain amount of alcohol. As he sat on the host balcony of the Potter's ballroom being fed wine by the Minister's daughter, Angelina Watson, his heart was down there on the ball-floor, dancing and laughing.

Ginny looked absolutely radiant in a dress of emerald silk and a simple crystal crown. Her hair tumbled gracefully around her plunging neckline, and her hair smelled like roses in the morning sunlight.

"Siri? You want to dance?" Angelina asked, pulling him from his trail of thought.

"Sure!" He said as he guided Angelina down the stairs. Sure, Angelina was beautiful but she was an ugly duckling compared to Ginny in Sirius's eyes.

He looked at the princess and the prince twirl in a circle, laughing and kissing as her ruby hair dazzled in the light.

Maybe they were perfect after all...