Snap, Crackle, Bang!
Chapter 38
Sirius looked at James questioningly, his own mind flooded with confusion- what the hell could Lucius Malfoy want with Kagome? He'd spent most of the last few minutes spaced out, trying to analyse his own thoughts instead of actually paying attention to their conversation- and by the time he'd snapped out of his trance-like state, it seemed he was only able to catch the tail end of it.
She was laughing, and waving him off, as he walked away, Rossier and Severus flanking his sides.
"See you around," He smiled at her- she didn't seem to notice but there was just something so off about it, like something sinister was lurking behind the façade of niceness. Within seconds, the small band of Slytherins had disappeared around the corner.
"What the hell was that?" Sirius muttered to himself, staring at Kagome.
Kagome was finding it quite easy to understand Potions, after she had gotten over her initial disdain for it, she felt that when the time came she would be able to brew Amortentia properly.
"Did you have to dung-bomb the library?" Kagome asked Sirius with a resigned sigh.
He grinned at her, "Well, I didn't hurt any innocent Slytherins. I can't believe Reg is hanging out with Evan and Snivellus," He wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste.
"Reg?" Kagome asked, looking up from the notes she had been diligently making to meet Sirius' gaze.
"My brother," He answered, seeming distant as he talked about him, "We were close when we were younger, but my entire family's been in Slytherin, so a lot of them weren't too happy when I was sorted into Gryffindor. Reg's a Slytherin, probably a pure-blood maniac, hangs around with future death eaters. That's all any of them are." Sirius sounded somewhat bitter, his jaw clenched as he thought about the close friendship he had with Regulus, until it had been torn apart by his family the second they knew he had been sorted into Gryffindor.
Kagome could practically feel the annoyance radiating off him in waves, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "It'll be okay." Somehow, those blue eyes had him convinced it would all be okay.
"If you two could please pay attention," Professor Slughorn stood at the front of the class, hands on his hips, his gaze aimed squarely at Kagome and Sirius.
"Sorry Professor," Kagome said, withdrawing her hand from Sirius' shoulder to place it back on the desk.
He looked at her with tired eyes and sighed, "Let's just get on with the lesson, shall we? Your exam is only nine days away, I do advise that you go over the notes you have made so far. The only thing I haven't taught you yet is the order in which you brew the potion, though I'll have told you by the exam. Today we shall be going over the work, as is the case with most of our remaining lessons before the test. Over the next few weeks, we'll be studying other potions, and perhaps making them. We'll be making Veritaserum, the truth serum, eventually, it's something I'm confident most of you will be able to master by the time we go into N.E.W.T. level potions."
"James and I took it from his storage room," Sirius whispered to Kagome, somewhat proud that himself and James had managed to steal it from the storage room, while Slughorn was in there, using the invisibility cloak. Sirius knew that Slughorn had his suspicions about who had taken it, and he was one of them.
Kagome raised an eyebrow, "What did you do with it?"
"Used it on anyone we could, of course. Especially Snivelly- turns out he was being honest when he said he didn't like me. Can't imagine why, though." Sirius grinned at the memory.
Kagome shook her head, laughing, "With all the attention you give him you'd think he'd be madly in love with you."
"I'm not surprised Snivellus is hanging out with Lucius, Evan and Bella. They're future death eaters- I'm telling you," Sirius sighed, internally sorrowful that his brother had joined them, though he knew it would only be a matter of time until he was expected, by their parents, that he join Voldemort.
Kagome looked up at him, with confused blue eyes, "Lucius? He seemed nice."
"Ah, love. You still have so much to learn. 'Nice' is impossible with them," Sirius subconsciously clenched his fists as he thought about the way he saw Lucius interacting with Kagome- it was beginning to irritate him. The Slytherins seemed to want something from her- Bellatrix had confronted her multiple times, Narcissa was forever staring at her intently from across the room, stealing glances when she thought nobody would notice- and now Lucius, who Sirius knew for a fact was a pure-blood maniac, went out of his way to try to get her attention. To Sirius, something was deeply suspicious about those Slytherins- and he was determined to find out what they wanted from her.
"He hasn't done anything to me, or to anybody else yet," She shrugged, "It seems unfair to judge him just because he's from Slytherin."
Sirius decided to leave the subject alone- it seemed clear that she would not be changing her mind anytime soon, and he resigned himself to actually paying attention to Professor Slughorn's lecture.
When Kagome and her dormmates got back to the common room that evening, it seemed like Qudditch Captain James Potter was having a minor breakdown, his speech half way between a pep-talk and a prayer that their new beater would get it together before the upcoming match.
"Henderson, I know you can do it. I am begging you, please hit the bludger next time. You can't just keep letting it hit Fabian and Ola!" He buried his face in his hands, obviously frustrated, much to Sirius' amusement.
Sirius was sitting on the battered Gryffindor sofa, relaxing, as if he didn't have a care in the world, while James, who was still in his Quidditch robes, was trying desperately to talk his team into getting better.
"Sorry, it's hard," a small voice chimed in- a tiny, barely five foot tall boy had his head hung in shame, the disappointment in himself evident in his voice.
"Come on, Henderson. Take the bat- hit the bludger! And for the love of Merlin try not to fall off your broom next time!" James was gesticulating wildly, clearly very passionate about Quidditch.
Kagome turned to Lily, the five girls watching the scene unfold before their eyes, "Is he always this intense?"
Mary sighed deeply, looking with pity at Henderson, "Poor boy, he's so small. James shouldn't expect him to live up to Sirius' legacy."
"Want to get the History of Magic homework over and done with?" Kagome asked Mary, parchment in hand as they sat down in the corner of the common room, behind James and near the roaring fire that kept the room warm.
"Might as well," Mary shrugged, looking disdainfully at the dog-eared parchment, "It's so boring!"
Sirius noticed Kagome's presence the second she stepped into the common room, it was impossible not to. Her smile just seemed to light up the whole room, she fit in so well into their house that when he thought about the times before she arrived he wondered how it didn't feel like something was missing.
Sorry I wasn't able to do the double upload on Friday, I was sick :( Hope you enjoy the chapter, please review!