Chapter 38: Middlegame
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction and no copyright is intended. Everything that you recognise from the Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling.
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GREENGRASS SUPERGRASS
AN ANONYMOUS TIP HAS LED TO A RAID BY THE AUROR DEPARTMENT'S ELITE SQUAD ON THE GREENGRASS MANOR WHERE ADARK ARTIFACT WAS RECOVERED THAT WAS USED TO OPEN THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IN HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY. THE SCHOOL IS NOW SAFE ONCE MORE. PICTURED IS THE DEPUTY HEAD AUROR RORY –
"Well that's that, then…" said Mary, placing down the newspaper.
Katherine hummed, absently watching the flashing image of the golden-topped deputy of the Auror department as he escorted Greengrass in glowing magical binds from her manor along with her mother and father.
Slughorn swept by, "I mean, did he resign or did he resign?"
"The position isn't cursed, Horace," said Grubbly-Plank, his peg leg sounding out an echoing CLACK, "Absolutely poppycock, I tell you!"
The word that Zabini's had with Slughorn seemed to have been 'farewell'. He had handed in his resignation that very night and had taken a carriage down to the Hogsmeade while everyone was pedantic over the petrification of the Gryffindor sixth year prefect.
Slughorn was not the only one gossiping about the absence of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.
The announcement that Quidditch would resume, however, overshadowed any whispers.
"First match is against Slytherin…" James repeated as he read the school's fixture announcement from McGonagall, raking a hand through his hair morosely.
Katherine's eyes drifted to the Slytherin table at his words, her eyes immediately found the shiny slicked back black hair of Regulus Black. Even swamped in the green robes of his fellow quidditch team members.
Sirius hummed, quill to the crossword in the Daily Prophet, "Regulus' first match as Captain."
James groaned, raking his hand across his face.
"Merlin's saggy – Evans!"
Katherine's water dribbled down her chin, having chosen the most inopportune time to take a sip of her drink.
Lily strolled down the Gryffindor table, smiling ear to ear.
Katherine clambered over the bench and met her friend with a laugh-filled mess of limbs as they embraced.
Katherine pulled back and held Lily by the shoulders as she observed her, "You're okay?"
Lily laughed, red hair swishing and green eyes blinking.
"Perfectly okay," she said, before pausing, "Well, except for the taste of mandrake in my mouth that I can't seen to get rid of."
James grinned, "Nasty, isn't it?"
Lily met his eyes, hers glittering.
"I would like an explanation for the things I've heard since waking up however."
Newspaper in hand, Lily read as she listened to Katherine, nodding, until Katherine dropped the word of the week.
"What's a Horcrux?"
Katherine frowned – her own understanding a little foggy from Dumbledore's reluctance to explain, "An object in which someone conceals part of their soul so that it – and they – can never die."
Sirius grimaced, closing the paper, "Figures he'd go for immortality…"
"The diary was one – Greengrass brought it into the castle, and the part of his soul in it opened the Chamber of Secrets." said Katherine, nodding.
"You-Know-Who is the heir of Slytherin?" said James, frowning, "I thought that the pureblood descendants died out with the Gaunts."
Sirius gave a quiet smile, "They did."
"He's a half-blood?" James snorted, eyebrows raised, "That's rich."
It was a curious feeling to sit and speak openly with the sixth year boys, to all be apart of something
"So what if he had a Horcrux?" said Lily, her voice high, "He can't actually come back, can he?"
Katherine took a deep breath, "The diary – the Horcrux – would possess Greengrass, and… and it slowly fed off her…bringing the part of Voldemort's soul in it back to a corporeal form."
Lily frowned, shaking her head.
"But we have the diary now – he can't use it."
The first shrill SQUARK of owls overhead was the only warning of imminent mail, a large black velveteen satchel landing in front of Sirius and interrupting the conversation of the sixth year Gryffindors.
James frowned at the package, "Whose it from?"
Sirius did not even glance at the name tag.
"My parents."
"What is it?" asked Remus, putting down his cup of pumpkin juice.
"I don't know," Sirius' words were sarcastic.
He lifted the package up and down.
"Feels heavy," He placed it down and gave the slightest of smiles, "Must be their disappointment in me."
Sirius was rescued from further probing from his friends by a large envelope dropping down in front of Katherine. The owl zoomed away soundlessly – the fastest in the Great Hall by far.
Katherine curiously opened the red and white envelope, a rose the intricate wax seal on the back. With a puff of smoke, the envelope vanished and a single scroll unfurled mid-air. Katherine squinted as she read the invitation, immediately spotting her father's name.
There was another puff of smoke and from the parchment of the invitation sprung goal hoops and two miniature quidditch players. A chaser slammed a Quaffle through the hoops past the keeper before it erupted into a handful of glinting gold pieces of card.
Lily paused her spoon of porridge just short of her mouth, "Whose chocolate factory have you been invited to?"
"What?" said Sirius and James together.
Remus, Lily, Mary, and Katherine all smiled and chorused together, "Muggle thing…"
Sirius looked closer at the gold, "Hang on, I recognise those… they're…"
James' eyes flashed behind his glasses.
"Tickets to the Quidditch World Cup!"
The bedlam that erupted in the Great Hall at breakfast as owls continued dropping golden tickets to the lucky few, was only addressed in the second lesson of the day as professors ran a constant stream of correspondence to Dumbledore's office.
When the sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, McGonagall and Flitwick stood by the blackboard.
The chatter was loud as everyone settled down. Too loud, if McGonagall's buttoned lips were any gauge.
"Quiet…Quiet…" Flitwick hopped about the front of the classroom, waving his arms in his conductor way out of habit, "Now, before we address who will be taking your class in Defence for the rest of the school term,"
The reminder that Zabini was long gone settled over the classroom.
"Professor McGonagall and myself thought it best that we put to bed the rumours of the Quidditch World Cup."
The drop of a pin could be heard as everyone waited with bated breath.
"As the events take place over the Easter break, it will be to the discretion of your guardians as to whether you are allowed to attend. This is Dumbledore's final decision on the matter,"
McGonagall eyeballed the entire class over her spectacles before she flicked her wand at a piece of chalk.
"Now, it will be in place until the end of the term that your professor…"
Katherine did not hear the rest.
Mary turned around from her seat in front of Katherine and Lily where she sat with Marlene, "Oh, Katherine…"
Katherine nodded, a sigh deflating her chest.
"I can't go."
Katherine barely listened through the class as Flitwick got up to speed on where Zabini had left off his teaching by quizzing the students. Her eyes found the window that looked out through the courtyard, one solitary goal hoop visible on the Quidditch Pitch.
On the walk to lunch, even Marlene suppressed her urge to talk about the World Cup, very nearly going purple in the face as people skipped past talking excitedly of the very event.
Sirius broke off from the group as they closed in on the double doors of the Great Hall, nodding to his brother who also streamed past in a group of green.
"Reg, a word?"
The brothers lowered their heads in conversation, Regulus muttering something too low to hear.
Sirius grinned at his brother, "When have I done anything rash or irresponsible?"
Regulus blinked coolly.
"Do you want to hear it alphabetically or chronologically?"
Sirius pulsed his eyebrows up and down.
Regulus lifted his robe to nose, "Urghhh – you reek of grease…you have taken that motorcycle for muggle studies too seriously."
Sirius swung an arm around Regulus' shoulders as they started to walk toward the stairs down to the dungeons.
Regulus ducked deftly before they could make contact, straightening his robes as they walked on.
James frowned as he turned back to walk into the Great Hall with Remus and Frank.
Shacklebolt zoomed up to meet Katherine, his gold hoop missing for the match though his beater bat clapped against his thigh.
"Orders from the Captain," he breathed heavy, the zoom of Sirius behind him swaying him off balance where he hovered, "We're being slaughtered out there, our best bet is a tie."
Two Slytherin Chasers zoomed past a good three broom lengths behind Sirius.
Katherine had to yell over the wind and cheers of the crowd as Sirius performed a dizzying serious of loops of barrel rolls, "Best bet for what?"
Sirius had passed to Frank, who was promptly descended upon by both Slytherin Beaters.
"Maintaining our dignity!" shouted Shacklebolt, lifting his bat and turning his broom to leave, "It all rests on your shoulders to catch the snitch when the time is right – I've got to go save Longbottom!"
And that he did. The play continued, the Quaffle now in Slytherin's hands. Again.
Katherine observed Regulus where he hovered on the other side of the pitch, watching her.
The Slytherin team that Regulus Black had put together in his first year as Captain was in one word – formidable. After their first seven unanswered goals Katherine knew the look in Sirius' eye would be pride if the elder of the brother's was not playing on the opposing team.
The DING of the scoreboard ticking over alerted Katherine to the importance of her beginning to locate the Snitch as inconspicuously as she could. The difference was nearly at one hundred and fifty. She had to end the game at exactly the right time or else they would lose the match and any semblance of pride.
Checking to see if Regulus had noticed her subtle drifting around the pitch, pretending to be looking for a better vantage to view her team in the match, that was when she saw it. Glittering behind the shiny black head of the Seeker himself.
Katherine cursed James Potter silently before she calculated the perfect speed of approach to not alarm Regulus into action.
He seemed smug, however, as she flew up. Almost waiting to gloat.
Katherine had banked on it.
"Losing must be a new feeling for you Gryffindors."
"You know what they say," said Katherine, trying not to stare behind his head, "You can't win them all."
"Gracious of you," Regulus inclined his head, "Not very ambitious, I will admit, but gracious."
The DING of the scoreboard was her signal, and Katherine snapped her arm out.
Wide-eyed, and probably thinking he was about to fouled, Regulus weaved away.
Katherine relaxed with the cool metal in her grasp, and tried to not smile too much, "We're better known for our nerve."
"SPENCER'S DONE IT – SHE'S TIED THE MATCH AT THE PERFECT MOMENT!"
Regulus blinked rapidly, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.
"CAPTAIN JAMES POTTER MUST BE CHUFFED AT THE VERY LEAST WITH HIS SEEKER'S PERFORMANCE AS THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM NURSE THEIR EGO'S AND PREPARE FOR THE NEXT MATCH AGAINST HUFFLEPUFF!"
There was no party in the common room that evening – James Potter did not even attend dinner.
When Katherine returned from her meal, she found the Captain alone by window overlooking the forbidden forest and part of the Black Lake.
"Katherine, what do I do?"
The helpless gleam to his hazel eyes was magnified by the absence of his glasses, cast aside on the windowsill.
Katherine frowned as she closed in on where he sat, "What do you mean?"
"What if last year was just…luck?" He averted his eyes, running a hand through his hair, "What if I'm not any good at being Captain?"
"Stop right there, James Potter," said Katherine, suddenly feeling very stern, "Regulus had something to prove going out there today – of course he wanted to make a statement by trouncing whoever he first versed,"
Katherine laid a hand on James' shoulder.
"We have been too busy saving the world, you know,"
James' lips broke their straight line.
"We did not have time to train twice a day and spend hours going over strategy."
James nodded, before turning solemn, "So how do we…train?"
"Well what do you call what we were doing last year?" asked Katherine.
James shrugged, "That's just what King had always done before me as Captain."
Katherine grappled to think of something helpful.
"What about what Jimmy Twills said about you guys trying to steal England's old training programs?"
"'Trying' would be the operative word there," James sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, "I just… I can't think."
Katherine's heart squeezed.
"How about we just start with stamina and agility?"
James slowly nodded, "Alright."
"We've got three weeks until we play Hufflepuff," said Katherine, hoping to raise his spirits, "And you and Sirius are the best Chasers in the school, we'll be back on top in no time."
Katherine could not help but smile at her Captain and felt compelled to reach up and ruffle his messy locks that were beginning to look much too neat as she stood to leave.
James returned with a pinch on Katherine's hip as she passed.
Stamina was the first thing the Gryffindor team would have to work on, the seven members signed up by James Potter to running laps of the Black lake every other afternoon in rain, hail, or shine.
It was one particularly warm afternoon, for late November at least, that the group happened across Regulus Black and the Slytherin team swimming in the Black Lake after their practice on the Pitch. The glint in James Potter's hazel eyes was unmistakeable even behind his spectacles as he pulled Katherine and Sirius behind a large boulder to observe the stripped Slytherin boys as they raced from one side of the lake to the other.
Though James and Sirius had left Snape alone all year, there was something that always seemed to spark between Gryffindor and Slytherin students. And from the smile on Sirius' lips, relation was no shield from the antics.
It was that afternoon, wedged between a sweaty and shirtless James and Sirius, that Katherine saw the rivalry of their sixth year born.
She thought it had been far too quiet of a year.
The initial goal of running laps soon became opportunities of reconnaissance for the Gryffindors to map out the schedule of the Slytherins. Although reluctant at first, Katherine soon was sucked into the fun of it and even recruited Mary on the day that they were to go through with their first act of retribution for their lost quidditch match.
"Okay, okay…" said Mary, muggle binoculars to her eyes, "Now!"
The two girls hurtled the boulders at the Lake's edge, quickly snatching articles of clothing from rocks and down off tree branches. Arms full of quidditch gear and brooms, the girls stole across the lawns giggling.
"Don't tell Lily?"
Mary nodded, "Don't tell Lily."
Katherine wrinkled her nose as their running had jostled a pair of Avery's tights to her nose, "Who would have thought rich boys would be so smelly?"
Having to rush back to establish her alibi, Katherine left the Slytherin teams belongings with Mary who was packaging them up to mailed back to the boys one article of clothing at a time.
Back down by the Lake, Katherine caught up with James and Sirius, glistening under the sun. Katherine too glistened, her rush ensuring that she looked as if she had been running with the rest of the team for the past half hour.
James looked up, panting by continuing to run, "It's done?"
"See for yourself." said Katherine, nodding to the edge of the lake and trying not to smile too much.
The Slytherin team had to walk back up to the castle and down to the dungeons in only their soaked, translucent underpants. Much to the entire school's amusement.
Not only did they win that day, but Gryffindor also won their second match of the season against Hufflepuff that Saturday.
In the celebrations in the common room the night of their first victory of the season James deftly scooped Lily into his arms and proceeded to dance them exuberantly around the common room while Lily cried out with glee and laughter.
"Got to get my practice in for the party."
Remus shifted in his seat by the fire, "Slughorn's parties are a bit… elitist, don't you think?"
James relinquished his hold on the red head.
"This is the first time Lily agreed to go someplace – anyplace – with me," said James, pointing a finger at Remus, "I'm not missing it."
"Why don't we all just bring each other? Break the system,"
Katherine looked around at all the eyes of her friends on her at her words. She shrugged uncomfortably.
"What?"
Lily blinked looking absently to the far window, "I don't know why we haven't thought of that before."
When mid-December fell upon the castle with the sleet and snow, one particularly chilly night was warmed with a Gryffindor common room of laughter and fancy robes.
"Now – line up – or else we'll be late!" James clapped his hands before taking up his place at the front, "Miss Mary?"
Mary linked arms with James, Lily behind them with Remus, Alice with Peter, and Frank with Marlene. That left…
"Katherine Spencer, I believe I'll be your escort this evening."
The aristocratic clipped tones came from no other than the midnight velvet-clad Sirius Black. He stood, arm proffered and hair artfully swept back. Even his silk cravat was perfectly knotted and crease free.
Katherine's chest bloomed with laughter at his posturing.
Sirius' lips cracked into a roguish grin that a bark of laughter slipped from, but he still nodded to his arm.
Despite how easily it came to him, and how well it suited his darkly handsome good looks, Sirius was not all that…serious.
Katherine, her face as light as butterfly wings, slipped her hand inside the crook of Sirius' arm.
And then the group were off, laughter and chatter echoing before and after them through the hallways. McGonagall even poked her head out of her office, as if to reprimand them for their nuisance, but then simply pursed her lips and returned to her office. Katherine saw the glitter in her eyes, however.
"Not that I'm complaining about how keen you're holding onto me," Sirius' eyes slid down to Katherine, smiling with only a slight furrow in his brow, "But are you alright down there?"
"Just nervous to see Slughorn," Katherine's skin felt as if it were buzzing, "I'm surprised he even invited me after everything that's happened…"
Sirius gave a light laugh, tossing his curls back from his face, "Look at me – I'm not doing anything with my life and he still invites me."
Katherine looked up at him in incredulity.
He walked beside her, tall, strong, and devilishly handsome.
"You're Sirius Black."
Sirius lowered his face to hers, eyes playful and glittering, "You're the bleeding chosen one, love."
As they crossed the threshold into the party, James ducked back, having left Mary with Remus at the drinks table.
"Oi, Sirius – it's Jimmy!"
Sirius' head snapped up, and he grinned, "Jimmy Twills as I live and breathe!"
Slughorn swooped in the moment Sirius leapt off before Katherine too could go see Jimmy, "Katherine – I've meant to thank you for taking the burden of that memory off my shoulders!"
"Oh – it's okay… Professor." said Katherine, feeling suddenly out of sorts.
Slughorn just gave a loud chuckle and leant forward with a conspiratorial grin.
"Now I bet you're excited to be going to the world cup over easter, hey?"
It was all Katherine could do to not sigh.
"Actually, Professor," said Katherine, the words clawing up her throat, "I won't be allowed to go."
Slughorn paused the lifting of his goblet to his lips and gave a scandalised look, "You don't say… well – that's terrible, you shouldn't miss out!"
Katherine saw an opportunity. She had utilised Slughorn's usefulness before…
"It is a shame," Katherine conceded, feeling suddenly in better spirits with the act she was about to play, "I thought we could use it as a quidditch camp for the Gryffindor team to have a look at what real teams look like before the final match this year…"
Slughorn nodded thoughtfully.
"And to think about all the witches and wizards you could rub shoulders with…" He leant forward over his goblet with a grin, "You could be signed to a professional team before you even start seventh year."
Katherine made a show of shrugging disappointedly, "Like McGonagall said, there will be more world cups."
Slughorn hummed, tweaking his moustache, "Yes…yes…McGonagall…"
His eyes fell to Katherine's shoulder and the man was startled out of his thoughts.
"Oh, Mister Black – good to see you here again!"
Katherine had to check which Black and it was then that she found Sirius' smile, carefully crafted and designed to charm.
Sirius bowed his head and said with the most charismatic tone, "You can thank Katherine for that one, Professor."
"Really?" Slughorn's eyebrows raised, and so did the corners of his lips as he made a 'shooing' motion, "Oh – you two youngens should be dancing – off you go!"
Sirius' hand in the air in front of Katherine beckoned like a magnet for hers. It was then that Katherine's mind was cast back to the previous year's Christmas party with Remus. She had laughed away the idea of attending any sort of event with Sirius Black. And yet, as soon as he showed up, things seemed to be more enjoyable.
With the barest of hesitations, Katherine placed her hand in Sirius'.
He artfully twirled her into his arms and onto the dancefloor, speaking quietly against her ear as he looked around, "Very Slytherin of you – earlier with Slughorn."
"Then why are you smiling?"
Sirius licked his lips, glancing around before slipping her a wink, "Proud of you."
Sirius did not count behind his eyes, nor did he rigidly maintain a foot of distance between their torsos. Regularly her chest met his as he twirled her out and then brought her back with a roguish grin time and time again. Not once did he step on her toes, his shoes swivelling on the floor with coordinated flair.
Katherine forgot that there were even steps – if felt like the music simply carried them front to back and side to side in circles after circles like a wave. He didn't push and she didn't pull.
As they notes of the song slowed and became further spaced apart, Katherine felt disappointed that it was about to end.
Sirius however, moved in a way Katherine had only watched from the sides of the dancefloor in her life.
He wouldn't…surely he wouldn't…
His arm encircling her back was all the warning Katherine had to prepare herself.
And then, in perfect time with the music, Sirius dipped her expertly.
Slughorn clapped, "Bravo! Bravo!"
Before her very first ball she attended with her Aunt and Uncle, Katherine had been taken to dance classes with the children of one of her Aunt's friends. She had been paired with the son around her age who had attempted a dip and, with terribly shaky arms, had promptly dropped her on her back.
Sirius' velvet-clad arms did not shake.
Smoothly he lifted her back up and twirled her out in front of him once again.
"Oh my gosh." Katherine laughed, her cheeks aching.
Sirius chuckled with creasing eyes, pulling her close as another song started up, "You so thought I was going to drop you."
Katherine laughed and caught her breath as she laid her head against his rumbling, broad chest, closing her eyes.
"Sirius Black…" was all she could muster in reprimand of his surprise.
His chest rumbled again.
It was as they swayed in a slower number that Katherine pulled away, her nose passing the gleaming skin pulling over his columnlike throat, that she smelt something familiar…
"May I cut in?"
Sirius's smile was mischievous as he lifted his nose and spun Katherine away from his brother, "No, you shan't."
Regulus shook his head as he backed away with the smallest of smiles.
"I miss when you hated these things."
CLING CLING CLING, the rap of a spoon on Slughorn's goblet halted the dancing and the music dwindled to a stop.
"It's time for a traditional dance now – everyone line either side of the dancefloor!"
Sirius proffered his arm, "Have you learnt the Genger?"
Katherine slipped her hand along his bicep unthinking.
"The what?"
James and Lily approached from the other side of the dancefloor, James seeming to be explaining to Lily as well.
"Two lines," Sirius explained, head bowed, and voice lowered as he walked her over, "There's some twirling and fancy hand work which I'll lead, a hop, change partners, a lift…"
And that was what happened.
Until Regulus swept across in the partner change.
"You can go keep Lestrange warm for me." He said to his brother, before smiling mischievously with Katherine.
Katherine couldn't help but laugh at the antics despite the Quidditch rivalries that had plagued the previous weeks.
Peter filled a cup of butterbeer from a pitcher, "Thirsty?"
Sirius reached up to loosen his cravat before stopping himself, remembering his company.
"Positively parched."
"Usually you retire from dancing at balls before it begins, it was… interesting, to say the least, to see what I have been missing." said Lestrange, beady eyes blinking aloofly.
Sirius pretended to be uninterested, "You've never had Katherine as your dance partner..."
Lestrange raised his eyebrows, watching the dizzying twirling of a rainbow assortment of robes on the dancefloor.
"Yes, well she did not seem to step on your toes, I will give her that much."
Sirius smiled on the lip of his goblet between sips, "How generous."
Lestrange hummed.
"What's more striking is that you and Regulus choose now, of all times, to learn to share."
The three leant against the wall, an unlikely group, and watched the dancing.
Sirius was not concerned with any of the couples, bar the one his brother was apart of. He watched closely as Regulus led Katherine through the dance traditionally for courtship. It was quite a beautiful dance, the twirls looking like flowers opening and blooming when all the couples did it in unison. He could not help but pick apart his little brother's dancing. Too stiff, thought Sirius.
It came time for the lifts, Sirius remembering how light Katherine was and how easily his hands closed around her small waist. A bloom of concern came in his stomach for if his brother was strong enough to not drop her, however. Regulus was only just slightly taller than the girl now, and not significantly more muscular as the two were both Seekers.
She would have been better off with Sirius, he thought.
The music swelled regardless of how Sirius felt about his brother's capability, and surely enough Regulus' hands moved to Katherine's waist and she rose above the dancefloor next to Lily and the other girls. There was only a slight hint of effort in the stiffness of Regulus' jaw.
In the commotion of the fanfare around the lifts, Sirius slipped out his wand and under the cover of his fancy dress robes gave it a quick flick.
"Confundus,"
Lestrange slumped against the wall more so than before, sliding down until he was in a pool of his robes and spilt drink beside the food table.
Sirius quickly cut a line through the onlookers to the dancing to his Potions Professor, "Sir, I believe Lestrange may have had a bit too much."
Slughorn frowned where he found the seventh year Slytherin.
"Oh no, he'll need help to get back to his common room…" his eyes flickered between the dancing and Lestrange, betraying his reluctance.
"Don't leave your own party, sir," said Sirius with feigned concern, before motioning to himself and Peter, "Me and Peter will do it."
Slughorn gripped Sirius' shoulder with a slightly dizzy smile, "Good lad."
Peter was confused to say the least as to why they were helping the Slytherin back to his common room without hexing him or doing anything of the sort he was used to. Until Sirius plucked a quick few strands of hair from Lestrange as they placed him down.
"What's that for?" asked Peter, suspicion colouring his voice.
"Bit of fun with poly juice," said Sirius, mustering a salacious smile as he nudged his friend, "Wouldn't it be neat to have two Lestranges on the Quidditch Pitch and confuse the Slytherin team?"
Peter snickered, catching on, "Yeah! It'd be laugh!"
After depositing Lestrange against the outside of the Slytherin common room door where he was sure to be found, Sirius dusted his hands on the sides of his trousers.
"You should head back to the common room," said Sirius, smoothing his hair back, "I'll be along, I've got to go check on the bike."
~* Chapter 39: In the Blink of an Eye (Preview) ~*
"She can apparate."
Raised eyebrows met the words as well as an acidic biting response of, "Well, she is Seventeen today."
"How do you know?"
"It is our thirteenth anniversary," his lips twisted into a grimace and he waved a hand listlessly through the air with closed eyes, "Unlucky year… I should have known…"
Malfoy stepped forward, head bowed, "I heard the Blacks talking at tea last week, there is an envoy from the school attending the Quidditch World Cup."