Due to the Slytherin's attack, Bess' three detentions for sneaking out the night before her birthday were deferred for a week. On Monday morning, coincidentally the first day of classes following the week's break, McGonagall had given Bess the new times and dates of her detentions.
Bess thought that getting a week's worth of detentions for sneaking out wasn't fair - the Slytherins who had attacked her had only been handed a month's worth of detentions. However, she had surmised that considering Dumbledore didn't expel Sirius for almost killing Snape by telling him about the Whomping Willow passage, the school wasn't great at appropriate punishments, and her complaints would fall on deaf ears.
Instead, she'd taken the slip of paper with a tense smile and dropped it in to her bag before hurrying off to her first lesson of the day.
"You're sure she said Wednesday, Friday and Saturday?" Sirius asked, frowning and biting his lip.
"Yeah. Why?" Bess asked, absentmindedly, looking down the hallway.
They were waiting outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom for Selket to turn up. It was Bess' first lesson with him and she was a little nervous.
"Nothing. I just... thought maybe... don't worry about it," Sirius said, before sighing and walking back over to his friends.
"You have detention on Wednesday?" Skye asked quietly, looking over at the boys.
"Yeah... why?"
"It's Sirius' birthday," she replied slowly.
"Oh Christ. Of course it is!" Bess said, clapping a hand to her forehead.
"And I'm guessing McGonagall knows that..." Jo added, "why else would she give you Wednesday, Friday and Saturday detentions? Normally she spreads them out over a couple of weeks. She's probably trying to stop any parties..."
"Wait, why can't he have a Saturday evening party?" Mary asked quietly. She, too, was looking over at Sirius and the boys.
"Dunno. Just heard him them talking the other day about keeping the Saturday evening and Sunday free," Jo said.
Full moon again on Sunday. They'll need their rest, Bess thought to herself.
"Tuesday?" Mary asked quietly.
"Nah, I heard the boys have detention already," Skye replied.
"What about Thursday?" Jo asked.
"No... we've got quidditch practice already. James has had the pitch booked for weeks. Practice is like the only thing he won't compromise on." Skye replied.
"Sirius has detention then anyway." Bess added in a low voice, before letting out a breathy laugh. "You know you're all talking like he won't have a party at all of I'm not there?"
Lily tried not to smile. "Bess... I don't think he will."
"What? Of course he will! Me being there or not doesn't change anything," Bess replied, looking at the Defence book in her hand.
"If you believe that..." Lily said, before nudging her on the arm.
Bess was about to reply when Selket opened the door. She hadn't noticed that he was already in the classroom.
As they walked in, Bess saw a new seating chart on the chalkboard. She looked for her place and found that she was next to Lily, and, as promised, at the front of the class.
Once the students had taken their seats, Selket began, barely looking at Bess as his eyes scanned over the students.
"Right. Since I'm sure you've all enjoyed your half term a little too much, I'd like to start off with a little revision. Who can tell me what a Dementor is?"
Bess tried to rein herself in. She needed to not know as much about Dementors as she did.
"No one?" He asked, looking around with a tense expression on his face.
The class was silent. She knew someone must know, especially the boys, but no one answered.
Bess hesitantly raised a hand. Contrary to what he'd told her about not looking at her or talking to her, Selket spared her a passing glance and nodded.
She began slowly, not confident at all in her answer, and simply reeling off the facts as she remembered them from the books. "It's a being which uh- essentially sucks the life and happiness out of an area. They, uh- they guard Azkaban."
Selket, obviously not impressed with her answer, sighed, and asked, "anything else?"
"Uh- yes. Uh- they're giant? They hover above the ground, almost like they're flying? And uh- they have grey, scabby skin, and when they take off their hoods it's just like a hole there. Uh- if they uh- if they perform the Dementor's Kiss, they literally suck the soul out of a person's body, and they uh-" she stopped, not knowing if she should continue. She knew she was rambling.
"Go on." He said, nodding at her.
"When they breed, it's like a fog descends. Uh... and they uh... uh... they..." she pursed her lips in thought for a moment before continuing, "when they're near you, it's like the world goes cold and everything... I guess it's like what Muggles would call a deep deep depression.
"The only spell that can stop them is uh... a patronus charm, the spell is expecto patronum. It produces... should I?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Selket.
"Yes, go on." He replied, nodding again.
"It produces a silvery smoke which can help the caster protect themselves from the Dementor, because it feeds on that smoke instead. You have to think of a strong memory to cast it. A happy memory works the best.
"It's hard to do, so a lot of wizards and witches have trouble casting it, but if you're powerful, or you practice a lot, you can cast it stronger and stronger, until eventually you might be able to cast a corporeal patronus, where it takes an almost physical form.
"Ooh, you can also use the charm to communicate, so you can send it to another place to send a message."
Selket nodded, his face blank. "Anything else?"
Bess thought this was a trick question, but she continued anyway. "Uh- yes. The patronus can change based on significant events, like falling in love. Say your patronus is originally a cat, but you fall in love with a wolf, it'll change to that."
"Well-" Selket began, before Bess cut him off.
"Also- sorry."
"No, go on." He replied with a nod and a flick of the wrist.
"Also, dark wizards can't perform patronuses." She said, now pointing with her finger at every point she made. "Ooh, and if a boggart were to turn in to one, it would suck the happiness from the room as well... and a cure for the effects of the Dementor is chocolate... ooh, and also, dementors are the embodiment of fear, some might say, so if you fear them, you fear fear itself."
"Well-" Selket began.
"Ooh, and if you're an animagus then you can shift and their powers won't work as well on you."
Selket waited for a moment before nodding, and Bess sank down in her seat, sure that the whole class was looking at her.
"Have you ever met one?" Selket asked slowly.
"No."
He raised an eyebrow. "You know a lot about them."
"Just a bit of night-time reading," she half lied - she obviously knew it all from reading the Harry Potter books, most of which she read in the evenings after school.
"We won't be covering the patronus charm until later this month. Can you cast one already?"
"No. Not yet anyway... well... if I'm honest, I haven't tried."
Selket nodded and looked at her for moment, before continuing, "can anyone tell me what inferi are?"
Again, the class were silent. Bess raised a tentative hand.
"Yes?"
"They're reanimated corpses which are controlled to do a dark wizard's bidding." She said as quickly as she could.
"Anything else?"
Bess gulped. "I, uh- don't know much about them, but I think they can be destroyed using fiendfyre, but that's a really difficult spell to control."
She was thinking about the cave, and hoping against hope that she could track down all of the Horcruxes before Voldemort made and placed his fifth Horcrux there.
Again, Selket nodded. "I won't let you answer any more questions this class, I'm sure you'll know the answers." He turned to the rest of the class, and Bess could feel her hands and armpits were sweaty. "What is the Cruciatus Curse?"
Bess groaned loudly, and she heard Sirius chuckle as Selket looked at her.
"Uh, sorry sir," she said quietly.
"No, no, I believe I'm about to break my own word. Go ahead."
The class continued in much the same way, and Bess felt like Hermione Granger. Remus answered some questions, but she rambled on about more curses and creatures than anyone else. She'd been doing extra reading and learning for months, so knew a lot more than everyone else, it seemed.
By the time the class ended, Selket had even sent Bess a small smile, and had looked at her for more than a split second. She felt incredible.
"I thought you would've known all that..." she whispered to Lily when they left the class, walking towards the library for their free period.
"Some, but not all of it. Everyone's a bit scared though. Selket tore Jo a new one in our second class with him when she only half described a creature, so we've all been avoiding putting our hands up. Well, I'm sure James and Sirius would have no trouble with any of it but they just don't seem to care about the points enough."
Bess nodded and was just about to say something else when they were joined by Remus, Sirius and James.
"You'd be an incredible defence teacher, Bess," Remus said with a kind smile as he tucked his notes in to his bag.
"Coming from you, that's incredible praise!" Bess beamed. "You'll be the best defence teacher Hogwarts has ever seen, I'm sure of it!" She said with conviction.
"Oh, no, I couldn't," Remus said, shaking his head slightly and looking down at the floor.
"Why not?" Bess asked, before mentally slapping herself. She knew exactly why he didn't think he could apply for the job.
"Uh- just... reasons," Remus replied quietly.
"Well if I ever have kids, hopefully we'll still be friends and you can impart some of your wisdom on them," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently. He smiled back at her, but she could tell he didn't believe her.
She let her hand fall to her bag strap and sighed. The next second, Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I'd call your first defence lesson a roaring success, wouldn't you, love?"
Bess blushed and replied, "ugh, just got to pretend I know what the hell I'm doing for the rest of the year now..."
She smiled as Sirius grinned at her.
As James passed them, he coughed out a "nerd" and she pouted.
"Want me to protect your honour, love?" Sirius asked with a smirk as he pushed her bottom lip back in.
"Yes please." She replied, grinning as he ran over to James and whacked him around the head.
She heard James say, "not my fault your girlfriend's a nerd. Does she recite counter curses in bed?"
Sirius turned to look over his shoulder at her quickly, and she could tell he was trying to work out if she'd heard what James had said.
When she raised an eyebrow at him, she thought she saw the faintest blush, but he quickly shoved James into the stairwell which headed back to the common room, and jumped after him.
xXx
On Wednesday morning Bess walked in to the Great Hall with Lily, to see that the boys were, for once, early for breakfast.
The hall had been 'decorated' - even the Slytherin table, much to their disgust -overnight with gold, red and black ribbons, banners, streamers and table cloths, and the usual breakfast had been switched for pastries, pancakes, waffles, ice cream and what looked like chocolate tarts. She could see one solitary pile of toast on each table.
Sirius was sat towards the middle of the Gryffindor table, holding court. He'd already removed most of his robes and was clad only in his white shirt and trousers, his tie disgarded by his side. He'd rolled up his sleeves and undone his top button, and was wearing a paper crown. He looked, Bess thought to herself, incredibly attractive.
She tried not to think about the fact that he was now 17, and so one of her reservations about dating him - his age - was no longer a factor, as he was now overage.
She watched as girls and boys of all years called 'happy birthday's to him or handed him small gifts and cards.
"It's always like this. James and Sirius are like royalty..." Lily whispered in Bess' ear.
As they walked up the table, heading to sit with their dorm mates a little way further up the table than the boys, Sirius called over to Bess.
"What did you get me, Bess?"
She thought it was awfully presumptuous of him to assume she'd got him something, even though she had, so she just smiled brightly, reached in to her bag as if searching for a gift, and pulled out her hand, middle finger aloft.
Sirius threw his head back and barked out a loud laugh while James smirked and Remus choked on his orange juice. Peter, who was too busy eating, looked around, trying to work out what he'd missed.
"Oh, you wound me!" He called as she walked past, rolling her eyes.
"Did you get him anything th-" Skye began as Lily and Bess sat down. "What the actual fuck is that?" She continued, looking up as the post had begin to arrive.
Bess, who had already grabbed a croissant, looked round to see seven ducks carrying a large parcel. She bit her lip and made eye contact with Lily, who was already trying not to laugh.
The whole hall watched as the ducks made their way over to Sirius and dumped the package down, splattering the boys with baked goods and liquids.
Bess and Lily began to laugh silently, covering their mouths with their hands, as the bemused boys cleared up the mess with a flick of their wands before turning to the ducks, who were quacking loudly and trying to attack Remus' toast.
Once the boys had finally managed to send the birds on their way, Sirius opened the package, which had been wrapped in gold and red paper. Bess had unknowingly matched Sirius' colour scheme. Though, she thought to herself, that was probably more of an indication that Sirius was a bit predictable.
Bess hated this part of gift giving - while most people loved to see the recipient's reactions, she was always worried she'd done too much or too little. However, when she tried to look away, Lily kicked her under the table and motioned for her to watch.
Which is why, when Sirius opened the present, she saw him pause, before the big goofy smile he seemed to reserve for her came over his face.
She saw Remus, Peter and James shaking their heads and him searching for a card, before he frowned when he didn't find one, and looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. She shrugged quickly and smiled. He grinned widely, jumped up, loped down the hall, leapt over the table, straddled the bench next to her, cupped her face, and kissed her on the cheek, his lips just brushing the corner of her mouth.
Although the whole school knew something was up between the two of them, and although the entirety of the common room had seen them cuddling etcetera, this was the very first time he'd dared to touch or kiss her in front of the entire student body, and Bess could feel her blush rising.
His hands had also been placed at just the right place that Bess was sure it looked like he'd kissed her on the mouth.
He pulled back and said, "thank you, love. How on earth did you sort this?"
This was also the first time he'd called her "love" in public. His pet name for her had been reserved for when they were alone or with their friends. She could tell he was doing it on purpose, but decided she didn't care about it enough to call him out on it.
Bess rolled her eyes and replied, "Hogsmeade. Before you mentioned James hiding yours, I'll have you know. Thought you could use it during the party on Friday?"
"I'm not-"
"I've already talked to James yesterday, he's organising the whole thing."
Sirius, smiled at her and rubbed his thumb against her cheek - he hadn't stopped cupping her face in his hands since he'd got to her. "What if I want to spend time with you on Friday? The guys have something planned tonight, and I've got detention tomorrow."
"If you really insist, you can spend an hour with me at my detention and then head off to the party." She said firmly, giving him no leeway.
"Merlin, I-" he stopped himself from saying anything else and kissed her on the cheek and then nose before heading back to his friends. Halfway there, he turned and said "ducks?"
"They wanted fifteen galleons for Golden Snidgets. Ridiculous."
He just laughed and jumped back over the table.
When Bess turned back to her croissant, the girls were all looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"We'll talk about this tonight," Jo said, before realising her mistake. "Oh crap... your detention. Fine. Be prepared the spill the dirt tomorrow after school."
Her detention that night was boring, and very straight forward. She'd been tasked with writing out names and addresses on invitations to the Slug Club Christmas party, and soon enough all of the words blurred in to one. When she finally finished, Lily was waiting for her, having just completed her prefect rounds, and they took the long route back to the dorm.
On Thursday evening Bess managed to avoid having a girls chat by hanging out with Amarella and Grace in the library for the whole of the evening, and returning to the dormitory long after lights out, having completed some extra studying in the common room.
She wasn't looking forward to when they cornered her and she had to finally explain what she and Sirius were classing their relationship as.
xXx
"Can you guys do disillusionment charms?" Bess asked, using her rag to scoop up some more polish.
She was sat cross-legged on the floor with five silver cups in front of her, carrying out her Friday evening detention.
True to his word, Sirius had arrived to spend an hour with her before his party, and was lying in the middle of the trophy room, watching her polish.
He grinned cockily and said "'course. Why, love?"
"Just wondering how you get caught all the time..." she said with a wry smile.
Sirius shrugged and reached his hands behind his head. "It's more fun if there's a chance you'll get caught..."
"So you enjoy detention?" She asked, raising her eyebrows and shaking her hand, trying to stop the ache setting in to her wrist.
"I think this is probably the most enjoyable one I've had in a while..."
Bess scoffed and picked up a spare rag, launching it at his head. "That's because you're not meant to be here, and you're not even doing anything!"
Sirius simply rolled his eyes and pulled out his wand, waving it and instantly cleaning over half of the silver pieces in the room so they shone in the candlelight.
Bess stopped rubbing polish on to the cup in front of her and glared at him, the smile wiping off her face. "I hate you."
Sirius' eyes widened and he held up his hands. "What? Come on! I just cut your detention in half!"
"No! You cheated at my detention, and conveniently forgot to remind me you had your wand on you. Filch took mine, remember? I've been scrubbi-" she stopped mid-sentence and put her fist to her mouth, shaking her head lightly. A second later she put her fist down and said, "you know what? Not worth it," before standing and picking up the cup in front of her, and walking to the cabinet behind her.
Sirius, who had rolled on his side and propped his head in his hand as she spoke, laughed, and said, "you're actually angry aren't you?"
Bess sucked in her cheeks before puffing them out and poking her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she crossed her arms and glared at the cabinet which was now in front of her. "Nope."
"Love..." he said slowly.
Bess could hear the scrape of his shoes against the ground as he stood.
He was wearing a pair of black trousers, an open necked black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and black shoes. She'd been trying not to check him out all evening.
She shook her head and opened the cabinet, putting the trophy back. "No. It's stupid, I shouldn't be annoyed, so I'm not. Just... don't come over here, and don't talk to me for the rest of the evening," she said, holding up a finger over her shoulder.
"Love..." Sirius said again, drawing out the word.
Bess could hear the smile in his voice, and his shoes gently tapping on the floor as he stalked across the room towards her.
"Sirius, I'm not joking... I'm not talking to you right now." Bess said, turning and walking across the room just as he reached where she had been. She picked up a still dirty Quidditch trophy and moved back to her polishing station on the floor.
"Love..." Sirius tried again, following her around the room.
When Bess reached her spot, she felt Sirius' hand slide on to her hip, his thumb rubbing the exposed flesh from where her t-shirt had ridden up. She wriggled out of his grasp and turned round, walking backwards.
Sirius was still smiling, but something in his intense gaze made Bess forget what she was about to say, and she began dodging out of his grasp whenever he'd reach her.
Squealing, she ran across the room and grabbed another trophy, holding it like a shield. "Go find James or something. He's probably around here somewhere."
"Lo-"
As if on cue, Bess and Sirius heard James' voice saying "Pads? Is it time?"
It completely broke the spell, and Bess pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows as if saying "mhmm".
Sirius groaned and said loudly, looking towards the door and reaching a hand into his pocket. "False alarm, mate."
Bess frowned at the doorway - there was no one there. She walked over and peered out in to the hallway.
"Love..." Sirius said as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest. "Why're you angry?"
"I'm not..." she said slowly, still frowning at the doorway, before pushing out of his arms and turning around. "How did-"
"Love..."
Bess, who was incredibly confused as to where James' voice had come from, turned to face Sirius again before calling "James?" tentatively.
Nothing happened.
Sirius, who Bess noticed had grimaced slightly, relaxed and smiled, before saying to her "see, he's not here. Must've just been passing-"
Bess pursed her lips. She knew she was missing something, and knew James hadn't been in the corridor outside. "Sirius Black, you call for him right now."
Sirius bit his lip and grinned at her. "No."
Bess rolled her eyes. "I'm so jealous that you lot are able to run around the castle, but if I want even five minutes on my own I'm attacked, or James turns up, or you do... I- actually, how is that fair?"
Her words had started out as playful, but by the time she'd finished, she was frowning deeply.
Sirius moved forwards and rubbed her arms with his hands. "I know. It's not. It's really not. But I want to keep you safe," he said as he pulled her in to his embrace.
"I know," she sighed, bringing her hands up to his chest. "I just..."
"Honesty bubble?" He asked with a side smile.
Bess let out a breathy laugh. "I need to get out. I go for walks to clear my head, to think. It's my... my thing and... I've been cooped up in the castle for so long now. I just... I just want some space from..."
"From what, love?" Sirius asked, pulling her closer to him and nuzzling her cheek.
"Everything," she whispered. "You have no idea how hard it is to be here and not be able to leave. To have someone watching me all the time. And then even when I'm sticking to the letter of the law, you're there to wave your wand and just remind me how shit I am at magic. Or someone's there to wait for me to slip up and punish me for just breathing wrong." Bess finished, biting her lip, as a tear ran down her cheek. "I feel- I- I feel so alone some- sometimes." She sobbed out.
Sirius didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry, you don't need me crying today," Bess whispered, before trying to pull out of his arms.
He tightened his hold in response and pushed her hair over her shoulder before pressing a kiss to the crook of her neck.
Finally, he mumbled in to her neck, "what you're feeling... I know exactly what it's like." Bess nodded against his chest and he shook his head. "No, love, I mean it. I know exactly how you feel. I... I go for... runs. Clears my head."
"That's why you're so fit..." she said, smiling and snaking her arms around his waist, holding her hands together at his back.
"So you have noticed...?" He chuckled, pulling back slightly and rubbing his nose against hers.
Bess tried not to smile and shook her head.
He pulled his face back again and looked down at her, bringing his hand up to her neck and gently rubbing his thumb over her jaw. "Love. I only want to keep you safe."
"I know." Bess said, leaning forwards to place a kiss on his chin.
Sirius smiled and closed his eyes, placing his forehead against hers. "I wish I could kiss you properly right now."
"You can," Bess replied, closing her eyes and tilting her head slightly.
She could feel his breath on her face, his lips almost on her mouth. Suddenly, he stilled.
"Not yet," he whispered.
Bess' eyes snapped open and she pulled her face back so she could look at him.
"Do you trust me?" He asked her. "Completely? Have you forgiven me?".
"I- I- yes."
Sirius smiled sadly and shook his head. "There's still part of you which is worried I'll hurt you again. I don't want any part of you to think that."
"I trust you with my life."
"But not with your whole heart."
Bess frowned and looked down.
"It's fine, love," he said, tilting her head back up. "Even if you did, I'd want to wait. Just a little bit longer."
Bess nodded and put her head in to the crook of his neck.
"You're not even going to ask why?" He asked quietly.
"No. That's your business." Bess said, before kissing his neck and drawing back.
She rubbed her nose against his before giving him a long kiss on the cheek and pulling back to look up at him. "I'm sorry."
Sirius smiled down at her and said, "don't be, love. There are so many things I haven't told you yet."
"I think my secrets are worse," she replied with a small chuckle.
Sirius' jaw clenched. "No. Last year... I went too far with something. But I need to tell you, because I-" he stopped and let out a sharp breath. "Bess... I- I think I'm fall-"
"Pads? What- ah shit. Sorry!"
This time, Bess did laugh. As did Sirius.
James, who had turned around and was facing the hallway, said "sorry, I thought you'd be detention-ing, not canoodling..."
Bess rolled her eyes and pulled away from Sirius, patting him on the cheek and whispering, "go."
"No, love, I'll walk you back."
"I think Filch is meant to be doing that... and you're not meant to be here... now go. I still have an hour and you have a party to attend," she said, raising her eyebrows and pushing him towards the door slightly. "Thanks for the help," she added, pointing to the wand sticking out of his jeans pocket.
"Anytime, love," he grinned, before turning to James and clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Once more unto the breach, dear friend!"
"How do you even know that?" Bess asked, incredibly surprised that he knew a line from Muggle history.
Sirius poked his head back through the doorway and winked at her. "I'll tell you later..." before ducking back out the door and closing it behind him with a click.
Bess sighed and returned to her polishing.
Around twenty minutes later, the door opened again.
"Sirius, really, if Filch catches you, I'll be in trouble too, and you have a birthday party waiting for you, remember?" Bess called out, not even bothering to look up from her polishing.
"Then I would say that it is a good thing I am not Mr Black."
Bess' eyes widened and she turned to look at the doorway.
xXx
A/N:
So my hubby's been laughing at me because I've made Bess up a little class schedule, and I always check the 1976 calendar for the day of the week and the full moon schedule while I'm writing... actually, that is a bit sad, I know...
Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed - Pewz, Guest - (that's the vibe I was going for! And I agree about Lily - she died for Harry, but she wasn't a saint, and I want to show she'd flawed, as they all are! I really love that they can chat about everything. I'm excited for telling you all if he will or not! Watch this space!), Ghost Claw 001 - (luck of the draw definitely! But if you send out enough spells, one's got to hit, right?!), CharlotteGryffindor, and issycameron17!
And thank you to everyone who's reading, favouriting and following as well! You guys rock!