Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the wonderful wizarding world and all credit must be given to Ms. JK Rowling, however, anything unrecognisable is of my own creation.
Chapter 27: Ravenclaw Ruckus
I was practicing yoga as part of my morning exercise routine. I didn't immediately notice him perched on the rocks watching me, but as I moved to a downward dog position I spotted the dopey-looking Padfoot through my legs.
'How long have you been watching?' The dog animagus leapt down from his position on top of the rocks, landing gracefully on his paws, before bounding forward and knocking me to the ground. I screamed, but then groaned as Padfoot licked me. 'Eww... Sirius! Gross!' Sirius transformed back to his human form, and kissed me on the cheek. I wiped the dog slobber from my face into my oversized tshirt, as Sirius spoke.
'All morning.' I raised my eyebrows, before realising that he was answering my question. He continued speaking, before I had chance to respond. 'I understand now, how my Mynee keeps in such an attractive shape... though, I enjoyed watching the last part the most.' I shoved Sirius as he commented on the yoga, and we tumbled across the grass, until I was on top.
'What can I say? You have Quidditch... and the Marauder's monthly excursions, to maintain those lovely muscles of yours.' Sirius smirked, kissing me again.
'Mhmm.' I chuckled, shoving Sirius again.
'Come on you mutt, I'm starving.' Sirius snapped out of his trance, before scrambling to his feet and pulling me to mine. We headed up to the castle for breakfast, as this morning we have training for facing the Basilisk. I freshened myself up using a simple hygiene charm as we headed back to the castle, and because it was the weekend we entered the Great Hall immediately, without going back to Gryffindor Tower first. We grabbed some breakfast, which I desperately needed after exercising. Sirius started discussing Quidditch practice with James: I didn't listen, because I have no interest in Quidditch tactics. I joined the conversation that Dorcas, Lily, and Marlene were having. Breakfast was soon interrupted as a rather arrogant and irritated Gilderoy Lockhart dramatically leaped up from his seat at the Ravenclaw table.
'No!? You're saying no… to me!' The girl next to Gilderoy, who is rather pretty, looked so embarrassed, and I watched as she mumbled something. Gilderoy's face fell. '… but I'm Gilderoy Lockhart!' The Ravenclaw girl was silent, and slowly turning a deeper shade of red. Gilderoy continued his arrogant rant in attempt to persuade the poor girl, meaning Sirius rose from his seat beside me.
'Gilly, stop harassing the beautiful little Annabelle Day! She's way outta of your league, anyway!' The next second, Sirius had literally climbed over the table: Gilderoy glared towards the outspoken Marauder.
'What's your problem, Black!? Can't you keep your nose out of other people's business!?' Sirius smirked.
'You're my problem, Gilly… harassing young lady's. I am merely chivalrously coming to Miss. Day's defences. She's not interested, and I don't blame her.' Gilderoy attempted to square up to Sirius at this point, although, Gilderoy has more of a seeker's physique and is shorter than Sirius.
'Don't call me, Gilly!' Sirius smirked, whilst Gilderoy continued his tantrum. 'You think you're all that, don't you, Black!?'
'I'm Sirius Black, I am all that.' I rolled my eyes at Sirius's arrogance, however, Sirius's arrogance is somewhat justified, because everyone knows his name, and then there's his families reputation. I watched as Sirius continued talking. 'Now, you be a good boy, Gilly, and leave the lovely Miss. Day alone, or we shall be having another little talk.' I thought for a moment that Gilderoy was going to give up, but apparently he got a second wind of arrogance.
'Is that a threat!?' Sirius rolled his eyes, before completely ignoring Gilderoy and turning his attention to Annabelle. I grinned, as Sirius asked Annabelle if she was okay. Annabelle flushed red, giggling as she nodded.
'Yes, Sirius... thank you.' Annabelle's reaction to Sirius's concern made Gilderoy snap, meaning he stormed out of the Great Hall. Sirius returned to his seat beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist, before speaking.
'Little twerp needs to learn that he's not the reincarnation of bloody Merlin.'
Sirius was still complaining about Gilderoy as we walked to our training session. 'How'd you learn anything with that twerp as your DADA professor?' I smirked.
'I'm a bookworm remember, I did a lot of reading... plus my third year defence professor was particularly good.' Sirius chuckled.
'Still can't believe Moons becomes a professor: and a good one, if I'm to believe you.' I shrugged.
'He taught me how to defend myself against Boggarts, and he taught Harry that quite spectacular patronus that you saw.' I'm hoping Dumbledore will consider hiring Remus, once I'd finished changing the future, because Remus deserved that teaching position. We soon arrived outside the DADA classroom, and as we entered we found Professor Cullen and a second male vampire waiting for us. Professor Cullen spoke.
'Hermione, Sirius... it's good to see you again.' Sirius and I both greeted Professor Cullen, though, were a little occupied by the male vampire whom was standing beside her. Professor Cullen chuckled, before introducing the male vampire. 'This is my... well, I guess father. This is Charles Goodwin, he's a bit of an expert with a sword.' I gazed towards Charles Goodwin as my mouth dropped open. He smiled once Professor Cullen had introduced him.
'It's a pleasure to meet you both; Gemma speaks highly of you both. I have been told that Mr. Black requires lessons in sword combat.' Charles Goodwin continued by telling us that when he was an auror, it was regulation for all aurors to carry swords, so this is why he's somewhat of an expert in sword combat. The training session began after the introductions were over: Professor Cullen and I sat watching as Charles ran through the basics with Sirius. Professor Cullen explained that she'd be teaching me further advanced defence spells, because I would have to protect Sirius, whilst he was wielding the Sword of Gryffindor and attempting to slay the Basilisk. I sort of assumed that I'd be providing cover fire, so to speak, as Sirius battled the Basilisk. I watched Sirius clumsily swing the Sword of Gryffindor at Charles, who easily dodged: I hope Sirius improves, because at the moment we don't stand a chance. Professor Cullen spoke again as we continued to watch Sirius.
'He took the news of the future well then?' I smirked.
'Not exactly, but he came around.' Professor Cullen grinned.
'That's love, hun.' I nodded, before asking a question of my own.
'You're undercover now?' Professor Cullen grinned.
'Yes. It's been interesting. I received a warm welcome: he's very pleased with my loyalty, and fortunately for me, the Dark Mark can't be placed on vampires.' Professor Cullen then showed me her left arm as if to prove her point: there was no Dark Mark. 'He tried, but my enhanced immune system didn't approve of such an invasive charm. It disappeared just as quickly as it appeared… He commented that he encountered a similar problem with Greyback.' I didn't realise that the Dark Mark was incapable of marking vampires and werewolves; this could be why Sirius didn't trust Remus in the old timeline. I asked Professor Cullen a few more questions, before she moved on to talking about the spells that she wanted to teach me. They consisted of a multitude of highly advanced defensive charms and spells, and required a fair bit of background reading, so we were going to start practicing the spells during the next session. I therefore spent the rest of the training session watching Sirius sparring with Charles Goodwin: which I must say was a rather amusing site at times.
A/N: Hey! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'd just like the thank my reviewers, and to respond to a few of those reviews. So, I had a guest reviewer on Hermione Granger and the Explosion in Time: if this review is reading this I'd like to answer her questions, Dumbledore's mother was a muggleborn therefore this is how Hermione can be related to Dumbledore and muggleborn. Dorea's character is all love, hun, and sweetie, because she's British and in my experience (that's being British myself) the British use terms of endearment a lot: plus she's supposed to be a mother figure. Thanks to Lizziecats and joellen818 for their reviews, I'm glad your enjoying the story... and thanks Hello Smilies for your constructive criticism on the Explosion in Time. I hope that I'm getting better with making my dialogue clearer: and I'm glad your enjoying the story.
