A/N I made a small change to the last line of the chapter in order to make the title of the next chapter make more sense. It doesn't really effect the story though.
Chapter 11
Danger.
"This was a really bad idea. I mean, who cares what colors the Slytherin common room is. It wasn't even that fun!!!!!!!!!!"
"Blasphemy!" Sirius said and pretended to faint. "Not fun, who cares. Ah the words burn, Burn I tell you, burn!"
"Calm down guys. It is just a detention Remus, and Sirius by now you should be used to Remus' excessive worrying."
"Just a detention! I probably just ruined what little chance I have of actually getting a job when I graduate!" Remus complained as Sirius sat up.
"But James, he said it wasn't fun. Oh it hurts just to think it." He dramatically flopped on James' bed again.
"Remus one detention is not going to ruin anyone's career. Especially yours, with all those high grades you get. And will you stop acting like a drama queen Sirius, and get off of my bed." Sirius sat up and stuck his tongue out at James. "Oh, how mature." He rolled his eyes and walked out the door. Peter followed, he was still to afraid of Sirius to be around him while James was not around. Sirius looked at Remus and they laughed. Operation Drive-Jameswas ago. They had decided to do it after Sirius woke up and James and Peter were still in bed. Sirius had been in a very good mood because he hadn't had anymore nightmares.
They didn't know why, but teasing James seemed fun.. Peter had no Idea, Sirius was worried he couldn't keep a secret very well.
They were laughing all the way down to breakfast. As soon as James was in sight of course they stopped laughing. They argued over the importance of keeping a clean criminal record during breakfast until they all received notes from Professor McGonagall to meet her in her office when they were done eating. After this both Remus and James lost their appetites and waited for Sirius and Peter to finish eating.
"Gosh, you both are way over reacting. What is the worst thing that can happen, we have to write 'I will not stay up after curfew' a hundred times." Sirius said taking his time eating.
"Just because you don't care about your future doesn't mean we can't." Remus said and they started arguing again.
"If you guys don't shut up I'm going to leave without you!" James said and didn't give them a chance to stop. He just left. Peter swallowed a pancake whole and followed. Remus and Sirius just burst out laughing.
"This is really mean." Remus said, trying to convince himself to stop. It was just too much fun though.
"I know." He finished eating and they headed after James and Peter. When they got to the teachers office James glared at them. Sirius gave him an apologetic smile. He couldn't help but apologize even if they were just pretending.
"All right, a few of the teachers need some help with some things, I will be sending one of you there to help each of them for you detentions." Professor McGonagall told them when she realized they were there.
"You mean you're splitting us up?" Sirius hadn't counted on being apart from them. This aspect made their fun almost not worth the detention.
"Of course, you didn't expect me to actually allow you to stay together and completely blow this off did you?" She said and Remus paled again. He had known that this detention would be unbearable. Potter you will go to Professor Slughorn's room," James sighed, no doubt Slughorn will want him to organize his potion ingredence or something. Incredibly boring, but not hard. "Pettigrew will go to Professor Flitwick's room," Peter was almost glad, he was afraid she would pair him up with Hagrid. He was still afraid of the half-giant. "Lupin you will head outside to Hagrid's hut," Remus almost smiled, she must have known he would be freaked. Otherwise she wouldn't have paired him up with the one person that completely understood him. "And Black will stay here with me." Sirius winced; she was the last person he wanted to have detention with. He was sure she didn't like him because he was almost failing in her class. He couldn't help that he stunk at Transfiguration.
"Yes ma'am." They said and James, Peter, and Remus left.
"What do you want me to do Professor?" Sirius asked dreading the answer.
"Well Black, seeing you are almost failing in my class, I figured I would make sure that you at least got a little studying in for the test Monday." Sirius just stared at her, he wasn't sure that he had heard her correctly. Did she really just say she wanted him to study for his detention? "I want you do well in my class, Black. If you aren't going to study on your own, than I suppose I am going to have to make you." He just nodded; the truth was that he had studied, a lot. He quit because it wasn't helping any, no matter how much time he put into reading that Transfiguration book, it still made no more since than if were in a different language. Actually it made less sense, he was multilingual.
"Sirius, I want you to tell me if any of the things we are doing in that class makes any sense to you." She asked. She didn't understand why he was excelling in every class but hers. She also couldn't figure out why he hadn't asked her for help. Sirius stared at the floor and shook his head. She sighed, no wonder he hadn't said something to her, he was embarrassed by it. He was after all a Black, to them weakness was a disgrace. That was her least favorite quality of the Blacks. Sure they were evil and wicked to others, but when they shunned on of their own was when she began to hate them. Everyone has a weakness. She had seen more than one Black shunned for being so called weak. Perhaps that is why she was so worried about this one. They already hated him for the house he was sorted in, if they found out about his lack of skill in her class, he would never be welcomed back.
She sighed again. "All right Black, we will start from the beginning then." She said and continued to tutor him; it didn't take long for her to figure out why he couldn't get it. The trick to transfiguration was to be able to picture what you were trying to turn the object into in your mind. He couldn't do that, all he saw in his mind was the object it was, not what he wanted it to become. He wasn't the first student that had trouble with it, although his case was worse than anyone else. By the end time McGonagall had told him that they were had been at it much longer than necessary he was able to do small transfigurations with his eyes closed, he could picture it easier that way. He was also feeling hopeful. Maybe he could pass after all. When he went to leave something on her desk caught his eye. A book on Animagi
She caught him staring.
"Are you going to try it?" He asked when she grabbed the book. She sighed and smiled.
"I may. I haven't fully made a choice yet."
"You should. If anyone can do it you probably could. You are a transfiguration teacher after all." He smiled. "One of my uncles tried it once."
"Really." He never saw a Black on the list of registered Animagi, though it wouldn't surprise her if he was unregistered.
He nodded. "I think they are going to let him out of St. Mungos in a month in a half." He thought about what he had just said and chuckled nervously. "I supposed I shouldn't have mentioned that." Professor McGonagall just shook her head. That really didn't make her any more confident that she should do it. "But I'm sure that wont happen you," he said trying to make up for it. "You won't blow yourself up or anything like he did." She paled a bit. Sirius laughed nervously. "Maybe I should just go now" he slowly walked towards the door as she nodded. Sirius shut the door behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. He was so glad to be out of there. He almost smacked himself, why did he tell her about his uncle. "I am such a moron." He said as he walked towards the Gryffindor common room.
"I can't argue with that." Sirius quickly turned around when he heard the high pitched voice. He instantly recognized it.
"Bella." He said as she walked out from under a shadow.
"Well well well, If it isn't little Sirius." She said with an evil look in her eyes. Sirius began to back away; he hadn't realized how scared he was of her.
"Go away Bella, you're going to get in trouble." He said although he was more worried about how much trouble he was in right now. He looked around, there was no one there but the two of them, somehow he doubted there was anyone close enough to help him. He thought about running, but the closest safe place was McGonagall's office and she was blocking that path.
"Aww how cute, he is worried I'll get in trouble." She took a step towards him as he backed away, still looking for an exit. "Don't bother, Malfoy's distracting all the Prefects and no teachers are out at this time of night." Sirius moaned so they were working together, he should have known.
"Go away Bella or I'll...I'll." He stuttered.
"You'll what?" she laughed "Petrify me, please." Sirius backed away even more, he knew she was right, compared to her he knew absolutely nothing about magic. There was no way out, he couldn't run faster than her, and Malfoy would make sure that there was no one close enough to hear him scream for help.
He was stuck and Bellatrix was getting closer. He was also scared to death. Sirius half chuckled and once again though about how little he resembled a Gryffindor. Gryffindors were supposed to be brave, and here he was scared half to death of his cousin.
Bellatrix smirked and rose her wand. "You'll pay for what you did to our family, you mutt." She said as she shot a curse at him. Sirius screamed and ran; he didn't even have enough time to take out his wand before she struck him with a different hex. He screamed again, this time in pain, and fell flat on his back. She laughed, and walked closer to where he had fallen. He winced; she had almost the same voice as his mother. It reminded him way too much of his nightmares last night... He tried to stand but couldn't stay up long enough; she had hit him in the stomach. She stood over him and laughed again. "What's wrong? I thought you were supposed to be the best." He winced again and regretted telling her that now that he was going to Hogwarts too that he would be better then her.
"Go away." He struggled to get to his feet.
"Here, let me help you!" Bellatrix levitated him off the floor and slammed him against a wall. She laughed as fell face first to the ground, and laughed even harder as he tried to stand. She raised her wand again "Crucio!" Sirius screamed, possibly louder than he ever had before. The pain was unbearable; burning alive couldn't have hurt worse than this. He had never wished for death before this moment.
"Expelliarmus" The pain instantly stopped, he couldn't look up to see who had saved him and he didn't need to. James had found him.
He could barely feel it when someone picked him up. He forced himself to open his eyes just to see Remus' worried face as he looked at the wound on his stomach. James was blocking Sirius from Bellatrix's view.
The amount of anger in Bellatrix's eyes was nothing compared to what James was feeling. No one hurt his brother, this girl was going to pay, and James was going to make sure of it. Unfortunately he was only a first year and didn't know much magic. He was determined though and resorted to muggle fighting. He remembered a time when his mother had told him that violence never made you feel better. She had been wrong. It felt so good when his fist connected with her face, too good to resist doing it again. She may have been seven years older, but she had nothing on him in this fight. She didn't even have her wand any more.
"ENOUGH!" James stopped mid punch when he heard McGonagall's voice. He looked at her and let go of his strangle hold on Bellatrix's neck. She coughed and glared at Peter who had just come out from behind McGonagall. James had sent him to get help while he and Remus helped Sirius. "You all will come with me." Bellatrix opened her mouth to protest. "ALL OF YOU!" McGonagall yelled. James walked over to Sirius and helped him stand. Remus helped as well. They were practically carrying him. Bellatrix glared at everything the whole way. She was unable to glare at them as she was walking in front; James refused to take his eyes off of her. She knew he was a disgrace to the family for being in Gryffindor, what she hadn't known is that he had made friends with the heir to the blood traitor family in the wizarding world. Being in Gryffindor was bad enough, but making friends with a Potter was so far across the line that there were no words for it. If she was angry before it was nothing compared to now.
Her anger still didn't even come close to how James felt. He had never hated someone before, but he now knew what it felt like. It didn't really feel good, but it didn't feel bad either. He knew he couldn't have quenched the anger and hatred he felt, and he didn't try. It felt somehow right to hate her. Like she needed to be hated.
Remus didn't feel any of this. All he felt was worry. He had never heard of the spell she had used, he didn't know what it did. Seeing Sirius scream like that didn't help at all. It sounded like he was being burnt from the inside out. What if it had messed with his internal organs? He couldn't die from it could he?
When they got to McGonagall's office she opened the door for them. "In! Now!" she said too angry to form coherent sentences. They walked in and James and Remus sat Sirius down in one of the chairs, he leaned on James not able to support himself yet. No one else bothered to sit. "I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED OUT THERE!" No one had ever seen her so angry. Even Bellatrix who had her as a Charms teacher for six years.
"Bellatrix attacked Sirius." James said. If looks could kill Bellatrix would be in more pain than Sirius had been.
"I was only trying to defend myself." She lied.
"BULL" James yelled and was going to lunge at her. Remus predicted his reaction and held him back. He pointed to Sirius who looked as though he was going to fall asleep on James. James glared at her again but didn't move in fear of hurting Sirius.
McGonagall sighed calming herself down. "Enough. Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew take Mr. Black to the hospital wing and stay there with him. I want to talk to him when he wakes up, I want one of you to come and get me when he does." They did as they were told.
"I'll bet she is telling Professor McGonagall some crap about Sirius attacking her." James said when they had gotten Sirius to the hospital wing and laid him on one of the beds. Madam Pomfrey instantly came out.
"What happened?" She said running towards Sirius.
"One of the Blacks attacked him." James said. He didn't know her name and didn't really care to find out.
She sighed "I knew it; I knew it would happen, but do they listen to me? Nooooo" She said talking to herself more than them now. "I told them they should switch him to Slytherin, I told them they would do this. But nobody listens to the healer." She continued but they drowned her out. The very idea of Sirius being in Slytherin was almost painful.
They stayed with him knowing he wouldn't want to be alone when he woke up. They also wanted to make sure McGonagall heard his side of the story as well as Bellatrix's. If that meant staying up with him for a month they would do it. Peter fell asleep on one of the beds waiting for him to wake. James and Remus would rather have died than slept when Sirius was so badly injured. Madam Pomfrey had told them that he would be fine, but for some reason Sirius found him not believing her. He was probably just over worried.
It didn't take him that long to wake up after Peter fell asleep. He freaked out a little at first because he didn't know where he was but they calmed him down easily enough. Remus went to get Professor McGonagall while James stayed with Sirius. Of course he couldn't help but rant about Bellatrix. Sirius had told him her name when he got tired of him calling her 'that girl'.
"You wouldn't believe what she tried to say in McGonagall's office.'I was just trying to defend mysell' my butt. It took everything I had to keep from smacking her right then and there." Sirius laughed.
"Ow," James looked at him in concern "It hurts to laugh." James laughed as well.
They were still laughing and joking around when the doors opened and McGonagall and Remus came in. She woke up Peter as she passed him.
"Potter, Lupin, and Pettigrew, it is way past curfew, go back to your common room and get some sleep." She told them. Remus began to protest but she just shooed them off.
"I'm staying here." James said absolutely refusing to leave.
"James I'll be..." Sirius began but he interrupted.
"I'm not leaving." He said. McGonagall only had to look at him to know that there was no way she was going to get him to leave of his own free will.
"All right Potter, you can stay, but only you. You two need to go to bed." She looked at Remus and Peter. Remus looked at Sirius who nodded and they both left. "Potter, I want to speak to Black privately." James nodded and walked to the other side of the room, his eyes not leaving Sirius once he got there.
"Alright Sirius, I want you to tell me what happened." McGonagall said and sat at the end of his bed. He attempted to sit up and she helped him. Then he began to explain. He told her everything. Even about how scared he was. He didn't know why but it was easy to tell her about personal stuff like that. The only thing he didn't tell her was that Bella had used the Cruciatus curse on him. He needn't her to believe him, and there was no way she was going to believe that a seventeen year old girl knew how to use the Cruciatus curse. Whether she was a Black or not. When he was done he could tell she believed him.
The next day Bellatrix ended up with no less than twenty detentions, the Slytherins were down by around a hundred points and her transfiguration grade plummeted. (McGonagall knew calling her parents would be useless so she dropped her transfiguration grade instead.)
Unfortunately Bellatrix made sure that Sirius' punishment was far worse than hers
A/N) hehehe I'm mean. Poor Sirius he gets beat up and now he is in trouble. You have to wait to find out what happened.
Was this a good chapter? I really hope it was, this may be the first fighting scene I've done.