Chapter 32: The Gryffindor King

Despite my indifference to quidditch, I did go to the match that Saturday in support of Tess. I also went because I wanted to watch Sirius play and I was curious about him and his quidditch skills, and James's as well. In fact, I reckoned the main reason that I was going was for Sirius, but I didn't tell anyone that. I didn't want to be labelled a 'Sirius Black groupie,' god forbid. Not to mention that I didn't want to hurt Tess's feelings. Emily, Lia and I made our way to the pitch after lunch, getting swept along with the throng of students headed in the same direction. The turn out for today's match was sure to be good, as the two best teams this year were playing each other, and the match had been predicted to be a close one. Most of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw supporters were decked in head-to-toe paraphernalia in their respective colours of red and gold, or blue and bronze. I opted to wear my usual robes, with the addition of a blue and bronze scarf that Lia wrapped around my neck. She and Em were more interested in the quidditch match, but as we climbed the wooden stairs to the Ravenclaw stands, I couldn't help but absorb some of the frantic excitement around me, the competitive spirit warming even my heart.

By the time we reached the Ravenclaw stands, there was already a faint roar of hundreds of students talking and even the occasional cheer that went up. Emily was talking with some girls in our year, Lia was using the binoculars she'd brought to find Andrew Flewelling in the Hufflepuff stands, and I was staring up at the sky, watching an owl flying towards the owlery, when the crowds exploded in cheers and hollering. The cause became apparent when the players from both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams came whooshing out onto the pitch, zooming up and zigzagging, no doubt to work the spectators into a frenzy of excitement. Players whipped by the stands, blowing scarves and robes with the speed of their flight. Eventually they slowed and made more leisurely tours of the pitch at the height of the goal post hoops, flying in pairs and separated into their teams.

"Come on, I think Tess'll come talk to us if we go to the front," Lia said, grabbing me and Emily by the arms and dragging us to the very front of the stands. I rested my forearms on the solid barrier that kept the spectators in, leaning over to look at how far down the ground was from here.

"Oi! You trying to fall out of the stands?" Tess said, laughing and gliding over to us. She looked very smart in her blue and bronze kit, guiding her top-of-the-line broom over to us without her hands.

"Using your binoculars, Tess," Lia said, raising them up on the loop around her neck.

"Then why're you focussed on the Hufflepuff stands?" I teased.

We laughed and she made a face at me.

A flurry of motion by the Gryffindor section caught my eye and I watched as James flew up and hovered in front of the Gryffindors, scanning the crowd for someone. I had to admit that he looked very dashing in his quidditch uniform, his hair sticking up in every direction, one hand gripping his broom handle. No wonder the Gryffindor girls were drooling and practically fainting at his proximity. We watched as Lily made her way through the throngs of students towards James to talk to him from the front row. As soon as he saw her, he grinned like a loopy bastard and ruffled his hair. She leaned her elbows on the edge and looked up at him.

"Bloody Potter," Tess muttered.

James said something to Lily. He leaned forward and, in front of the whole pitch, kissed her full on the lips. The Gryffindor stands burst into cheering and whistles, while the girls screamed like they were at a Beatles concert. I laughed. Typical James.

"They're the school's power couple, no wonder the Gryffindors are going mad," Lia said, laughing with me.

"Overrated," Tess grumbled, glaring daggers at the competition.

"Come off it, Tess. Share in the love, why don't you?" Emily said.

"Bloody Potter, the arrogant arse," she grumbled.

"Sorry for insulting him, Kersti," Lia apologized.

I shrugged and watched as he bid Lily farewell and soared up to his teammates. "He can be an arrogant fellow, alright. But he's mostly just a goof."

Tess scoffed. "Bloody arrogant wanker too," she said and jabbed a finger at someone else.

I followed her finger and my heart thudded when I saw Sirius. He was making a slow lap of the pitch with the Seeker, one hand on his broom and the other gesturing. He was grinning at something the Seeker was saying, his dark hair and robes blowing out behind him. Most of the girls, especially the Gryffindor ones, had their eyes glued to him, tracking his every movement around the pitch above them. I couldn't help but smile when he joined up with James and the two of them jostled each other, playing a dangerous game, considering that they were so high up that they could fall and break their necks. They hovered side by side on their brooms, probably talking about last-minute strategies.

The girls giggled and exchanged a look. I raised an eyebrow and tore my focus away from Sirius. "What?"

"You're smiling while looking at him, Kersti."

"What? He's silly."

A slim figure in Ravenclaw robes made a graceful descent towards us, stopping smoothly beside Tess. "There you are, Sean," she said, greeting him with a punch on the arm.

Sean Roberts the Seeker nodded to her, before greeting Em and Lia. "Sanderson. Stainton." They smiled and waved. He turned his focus to me, colour creeping up his neck to his cheeks. "Er… h-hi, Kersti."

I gave him a closed-lipped smile. "Hullo, Roberts. Good luck out there today."

"Oh, we'll bloody well need it. Just don't tell him that," Tess grumbled while glaring at James across the pitch.

"Theresa, stop staring. He's got a girlfriend," I teased.

She tried to swat at me, but I laughed and dodged. "Says you! Miss 'I've got Sirius bloody Black wrapped around my finger.'"

Sean started examining the wood of his broom awkwardly. I scoffed. "Uh, huh. And do you see a certain Sirius Black coming over here? I do not have him by the balls."

Tess made a face at me before we descend into an immature game of swatting at each other, much to the amusement of Em and Lia. "Alright, alright, knock it off before you make her fall to her death," Lia said, shooing me away.

Tess's playful expression was replaced by a sour one as she looked over her shoulder at James and Sirius. The two had parked their brooms side by side across the pitch near the Gryffindor stands, to the orgasmic frenzy of the female students. James was ruffling Sirius's hair as they grinned from ear to ear.

Sean cleared his throat nervously. "Tess, er… shouldn't we-"

An aggressive male bellow sounded across the field. "OI! RHODES!" James had cupped his hands around his mouth to make the sound carry to her.

She turned on her broom and yelled, "WHAT D'YOU WANT, ARSEHOLE?!"

"Rhodes, no profanity on the pitch!" Madam Hooch shouted from somewhere on the ground.

"SCARED SHITELESS? YOU'LL BE LOSING TODAY!" James yelled back.

The Gryffindor stands erupted into hooting and hollering.

"YOU'LL EAT YOUR WORDS, WANKER!"

"Miss Rhodes! Stop cursing at the competition!"

I laughed. There was nothing like seeing someone else butting heads with James to realize how silly and immature I'd been when I'd held a grudge against him. My heart gave an almighty twinge when I saw Sirius notice me standing with the competition. He said something to James and the two grinned and then made a swift descent towards us, stopping to float across from Tess and Sean. Of course I ended up next to Sirius, a fact that my rattling heart made sure I knew.

His lips quirked as he looked at me. "Hey, kitten. Nice to see you turn up to watch me."

I couldn't help but smile. "Who says I'm here to watch you, you goofy dog?"

He smiled and my heart threw itself against my ribcage. "You're not? You're going to break my heart before the match even starts?"

"Heart? You don't have a heart, Black," Tess snapped.

"Shut up, Tess," I growled.

She rolled her eyes. "You're only defending him because-"

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." I snarled, wishing that I could knock her off her broom with Stripes's roar.

James coughed and changed the subject. "Look, Rhodes. Concede defeat now and perhaps we'll be merciful," he said and ruffled his hair.

"Eat shite, Potter," she snapped.

Sirius laughed and exchanged a look with me. "Not as much of a spitfire as you, kitten."

I grinned. "You know you like it."

Roberts made a strained sound and stared down at his broom handle, trying to curl in on himself.

"Padfoot, stop fraternizing with the enemy," James joked, throwing him a punch on the arm.

"What? Kitten's not playing. It's her friend, Prongs. Or are your glasses not on right?"

"King Rotter doesn't like when he's not the centre of attention," I joked.

He grinned at me, his eyes bright behind his glasses. "So perceptive, Stripes." He glared at Tess. "Prepare to have your arse handed to you, Rhodes."

With a last grin from Sirius directed my way, the two of them flew away, leaning low on their brooms and racing each other around the pitch. Tess flipped James off behind his back before she and Roberts took off to rejoin their team, but my attention was solely reserved for Sirius. As he streamlined his body with his broom, his scarlet robes whipping in the wind, I couldn't take my eyes off him. I loved seeing him this happy, this carefree, like I'd seen him as Padfoot in the forest. To think that he'd gone through such hell with his family and with being born into the Blacks, but he'd come out still in one piece and as an amazing person to boot… He'd had a hard time of it, that much I'd found out even though I wasn't yet privy to the details. Despite this, he was a loyal, caring friend; a silly, joking troublemaker; a brave Gryffindor; an effortlessly smart student; and a bloody hilarious person to be around. I doubted that I would've been able to survive what he had. Sirius was a survivor, and there were so many things about him that I liked and respected and was in awe of. He truly was an amazing, incredible person, though not without faults. But then again, who wasn't? I certainly had faults of my own, but he accepted them and he accepted me for who I was, not as someone whom he wanted to change. That was one of the admirable things about Sirius; when he decided that he wanted to become your friend, he did so without forcing you to become a different person. Just as I would never force him to be someone he wasn't, or do anything he wasn't ready for, he never did the same to me. And even if he didn't exactly get what I was going through at the time, he did his best to understand me, just as I did with him. I longed to be as close to him as James, Remus and Peter were, and I found myself hoping that he would let me someday.

A single sharp blow from Hooch's whistle drew my focus away from Sirius.

"Gryffindors! Ravenclaws! Get in line!" she called.

Both teams drew up to face off in midair, wearing grim expressions. This match would be a close one. Sirius was back a bit from the centre where James and the other were circled, clutching his Beater's bat and fixated on the game. And with a red rush, Madam Hooch threw the quaffle up in the air and the match began with a frenzy of Chasers rushing towards it. Seconds later, the two bludgers were released and Sirius took off like a bloodhound after the scent trail. The only movement that indicated that the Snitch had been released was the sudden departure of Roberts and the Gryffindor Seeker from the main action of the pitch.

I tuned into the announcer as the Chasers whipped by our section of the stands. "Ladies and gentleman, what a fine day for quidditch! No chance of rain and no Slytherins, those nasty buggers."

"MR. GUDGEON!"

There was a snicker from the commentator, Davey Gudgeon. "Sorry for the digression, Professor. Would you look at that, there goes Rhodes with the quaffle! Snatched from Potter like a niffler after a Galleon!"

Em and Lia cheered as Tess barrelled towards the Gryffindor goal posts, an entourage of opposing Chasers on her tail. The Gryffindor Keeper gripped his broom handle and stared Tess down, ready to dive either way for the quaffle.

"And a spectacular save by Peterson! There goes Potter, diving and- HE CAUGHT THE QUAFFLE! AND HE'S HURTLING TOWARDS THE RAVENCLAW SIDE! BEAT THAT, RHODES!"

"MR. DAVIES! UNBIASED COMMENTARY, IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND!" Madam Hooch shouted from her spot near the stands.

"Potter and fellow Chasers Donaghue and McDermott looking to make a coup as they near the goalposts-"

The Ravenclaw stands suddenly erupted into cheering.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? ROBERTS IS DIVING NEAR THE HOOPS, IS THAT THE SNITCH I SEE? LOUGHEED HOT ON HIS TAIL, NEARING THE GROUND-"

There was a resounding whack, followed by cries of anger.

"AND BLACK HITS THE BLUDGER AT ROBERTS, THROWING HIM OFF THE SNITCH'S TRAIL!"

The Ravenclaw Captain Southgate retaliated by taking possession of the quaffle from James and zooming off towards the Gryffindor hoops.

"A flawless pass from Southgate to Rhodes, but Potter's right behind them with Kendrick ready to receive a pass from Rhodes, if she doesn't get knocked off her broom by a bludger."

I watched the two Seekers circle the periphery of the pitch far above, idling until they caught a glimpse of the Snitch again.

"AND SOUTHGATE EXECUTES A BRILLIANT DIONYSUS DIVE! Ten points to Ravenclaw!"

The Gryffindors' boos quickly morphed into frantic cheering as James regained possession of the quaffle and passed it to another Chaser.

"Potter strikes back immediately with a perfect goal! Ten all!"

Now the Ravenclaw section was booing and spouting abuse at James and his teammates, while a bloke next to me yelled aggressively about where the Gryffindor team could stick their broom handles. I would've laughed, if I hadn't been worried about him attacking me with such vigour as was directed at the opposition.

"McDermott catches the quaffle, doubles back- WHAT AN AMAZING BACKHANDED SWING FROM BLACK! THERE GOES THE BLUDGER- Bloody hell! Lucky this time, Rhodes! Davies hits the bludger back across the pitch, saving Blind Rhodes from a fatal hit!"

"NO INSULTS, MR. GUDGEON!"

"It's just the truth, Madam Hooch! And Black retaliates again, hitting one bludger after the other! Fantastic playing as usual from Black."

The match was very close, with the two teams remaining within at the most twenty points of each other the whole time. I could see now why everyone raved about James's quidditch and flying skills. He weaved around the Ravenclaw Chasers effortlessly at break-neck speed, and when he made dives for the quaffle, he was like a falling star. In comparison, the other players seemed to slow as he maneuvered around them. He must've put a sticking spell on his glasses, because they never slipped off, even when he did several barrel rolls in a row during one of his dives.

"LOOK AT POTTER GO! SPECTACULAR FLYING AS ALWAYS, LEAVING SOUTHGATE AND RHODES IN THE DUST! LEARN TO FLY LIKE YOUR EAGLE EMBLEM, YOU LOUSY RAVENCLAWS!"

"FINAL WARNING, MR. GUDGEON!"

I stuck to watching Sirius playing, so fascinated I was by how at home he was on a broom. Everything he did was smooth and streamlined, and he looked as comfortable flying as he did in his animagus form; as he did jumping down the six steps in front of the Great Hall; as he did shagging me until I forgot my own name; and as he did in his own skin. There was nothing more amazing than seeing him in his natural element, doing whatever he enjoyed doing, and when he was clearly so happy. No wonder he attracted so much attention wherever he went; it was the combination of his striking looks, natural self-assuredness, mischief-making and untouchable bad-boy status. But I was lucky, and I'd seen a vulnerable side to him, leaving me craving more. I wanted to know everything about him and I found myself hopelessly addicted to being around him. He was a lodestone, and I was the minuscule shards of metal that found their way to him. Never had I ever felt so bloody curious and interested in anyone in my entire life, and it made me wonder if I'd ever seen an end to my seemingly infinite fascination with Sirius.

"LOOK AT THIS! LOUGHEED, DIVING AFTER THE SNITCH, ROBERTS FOLLOWING! THEY'RE DODGING BLUDGERS, GETTING CLOSE TO THE GROUND. WILL WE HAVE A COLLISION ON OUR HANDS?"

Everyone held their breath as the two Seekers flew low over the ground, gloved hands outstretched to catch the Golden Snitch.

"DANIEL LOUGHEED HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH, ENDING THE MATCH WITH A SCORE OF 200-60! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

The Gryffindors exploded into cheers, while the Ravenclaws groaned and shook their fists in anger. The Gryffindor team flew down and landed on the pitch, dismounting to clobber James in celebration. I laughed as I saw James throw an arm around Sirius and give him noogies, the two of them hopping around in a bizarre celebratory dance. The rest of the team was eating it up, making an even louder fuss than the Gryffindor students in the stands. I leaned on the edge of the barrier, watching Sirius as he accepted congratulations from his teammates and congratulated them in turn, and then as he goofed around with James. I'd have to congratulate the both of them myself at the celebratory party tonight.

"Who're you watching- oh, nevermind," Lia said, coming to stand with me.

"It's too bad about Hogsmeade," Emily said, casting a glance down below to the Gryffindor boy whom I was watching.

"What?" I said, not taking my eyes off Sirius.

"Hogsmeade. Howell asking him to go and all that."

I looked up and focused on Emily. "What?"

She raised a curious eyebrow at me. "Oh, sorry. I thought you knew already. I mean, we," she gestured to herself and Lia, "thought he was going to ask you again for sure, but someone else got to him first."

I stared at her. "He's going with someone?"

"Yeah, this seventh-year Gryffindor girl. She asked him last night and he said yes allegedly. She's been bragging about it non-stop since, that's how I found out so quickly."

"Oh," I said lamely. I felt disappointed that I wouldn't get to spend time with him in Hogsmeade again, but I was more nervous because I feared that this meant that he might stop shagging me, that this was the beginning of the end of our friendship. Was he trying to push me away because he'd realized that I'd accidentally overheard him and the boys in the forest? Was this the beginning of him giving me the cold shoulder and shutting me out of his life?

Seeing my sombre mood, the girls left me with some consoling words. I stood at the edge, still watching Sirius down below, acutely aware of all the space between us now. And when I couldn't stand to torture myself anymore with watching him, I turned away. I was one of the last out of the stands, which allowed me to duck off the path back to the castle and forge ahead, alone, towards the Forbidden Forest. I was in no state to go to the Gryffindor party now. I was dreading the Hogsmeade trip next week, and as I walked nearer to the forest, I became convinced that this meant that Sirius was growing tired of me and would no longer want to be around me. Now my loneliness and stress at the prospect of having to obliviate my family soon crashed down on me, with no one there to distract me from my misery. I realized then how much I liked having Sirius around to cheer me up and how much I valued our weird friends-with-benefits relationship. I wanted nothing more than to run back to him, to have him make me happy with his mere presence. I had to obliviate my family soon, I would be irrevocably altering their lives, and I wanted Sirius here so that I wouldn't feel so alone and isolated. I wrapped my arms around myself and began to cry silently as I walked, my thoughts echoing with longing for Sirius's company.

I transformed quietly under the cover of the woods. As the leaves of the forest crunched under my amber-coloured paws, I wondered when Sirius Black had become my most accessible and reliable source of happiness, and when I had started to rely on him to make me feel better about my shitty situation, instead of retreating into myself and bottling it all up like I had before I'd met him. How had this happened? How had he gotten so close to my heart and mind in such a short time? And what was I going to do if I couldn't have him in my life? I walked deeper into the forest, as if it held the answers to my question. But all I got was the darkness pressing down on me from above, and the sharp, burning pain of longing.


AN: A shorter chapter this time around, but the next one will be longer. Also, I promise that the stuff with Sirius will get resolved in the next chapter.