Chapter Two: Vengeance on Valentines'
The next day, Sirius woke up to find that he had slept in. It was a Sunday,
and after looking at his watch he realized that he had to meet Rosmerta in
half an hour. He sat up, squinting his eyes to adjust to the light and then
instinctively smoothing his disheveled hair. He saw James just about to
leave the room, just as he was taking his last peek in the mirror. The
mirror was asleep, which was a good sign. Sirius did not like to have his
temper fuddled with in what he called the 'early hours of the morning.' He
got up quickly and got dressed into what he thought were his 'coolest
clothes.' They consisted of a pair of muggle jeans, a black T-shirt and a
leather jacket, which looked very worn due to the vintage spells Sirius had
cast on them to make them look trendy. He spent his usual amount of time
mirror gazing and trying out different hairstyles and eventually settled
with a kind of spiky hair-do that would have driven his already crazy
mother even crazier. Then just as the mirror woke up he took out his wand:
"Floristi!" He shouted perhaps a little to vehemently as the bunch of
flowers he had just conjured obscured all of his face when he held them in
front of him. He would look a bit strange carrying them all the way
downstairs he thought. He caught sight of the silvery invisibility cloak
next to James' bed. He took it and decided he would use it to cover the
flowers and then surprise her.
He arrived at the entrance hall at 10:15. The hall looked a little over the
top he thought; the walls were bright pink and real-live cupids were flying
around in the air shooting golden arrows that disappeared into glitter as
soon as they had been shot. There were even little fairies sprinkling heart-
shaped confetti over the students. He looked around the gathered crowd and
then saw Rosmerta looking around desperately apparently very upset. He
walked over to her and said, "Surprise." She gasped and looked around a
little frightened; her large brown eyes growing even bigger. When she
caught sight of him she looked up at his hair looking interested. Sirius
didn't like this too much, so he decided it was time for the flowers.
"I got you a present." He said, and peeled off the invisibility cloak that
obscured the large bunch of flowers.
"Oh my Goodness!" She blushed, and looked around at her friends who were
all watching intently with mouths open.
"Sorry they're a bit over the top but-"
"-Oh no they're lovely, its just.how am I going to carry them?"
"That's simple," he said as if it was obvious. He took out his wand and
said "Levito!" and the bunch of flowers levitated in mid-air, "Problem
solved." She looked at him open-mouthed.
Then there came a loud magically enhanced voice, which boomed over the
waiting crowd making everyone shudder and look up towards the speaker.
"Would everyone please line up in an orderly fashion if you please!" The
voice was that of Professor Piscis the Charms teacher who was also head of
Ravenclaw house. Everyone lined up by the door, most of them with their
hands over their ears. Sirius saw James who's face looked completely normal
again, laughing about something with Lily. He didn't care so much now. Wait
till he sees me with Rosmerta, he thought.
"Sirius? Sirius?" Sirius looked around at Rosmerta who had been trying to
gain his attention.
"What?"
"Look!" She pointed up at the ceiling where Peeves was obviously taking
great delight in throwing water bombs over Professor Piscis who was dodging
them as best she could. She had hitched up her robes and was now running
screaming towards the staircase. Sirius peered round some Hufflepuff
students and watched as she raced up the staircase with Peeves on her tail
now blowing raspberries. As soon as she had disappeared everyone looked
around for any other teachers to take charge.
"I'll go and find a teacher." It was Griffiths, one of the Prefects who
always sucked up to the teachers.
"Don't be a idiot!" Sirius burst out.
"Excuse me are you aware of this?" He pointed at his highly polished
prefects' badge.
"And are you aware of this?" Sirius said taking out his wand. Everyone
gathered round. Some students cheered him on enthusiastically.
"I-I'm afraid I'm going to have to report you, you know Dippets' got you on
record, and I can do anything I want."
"Really?" Said Sirius interestedly, completely relaxed, now twiddling his
wand between his fingers, "but you know I think Dippet would be highly
amused to know that someone as distinguished as a prefect would take a girl
with him into the Prefects bathroom." Everyone gasped. This was obviously
highly secretive information. Griffiths blushed a deep scarlet, his hands
shaking.
"Well then everyone," said Sirius, "those who wish to go to Hogsmeade in a
non-orderly fashion please raise your hand." To his amazement James stepped
forwards.
"I'm with you man." Sirius wondered if this was a peace offering or just
James' obsession for being part of the moment. This was enough. Together
Sirius and James could lead the whole school if they wanted to. Peter
Pettigrew stepped forwards.
"Me too!" He said timidly. Then everyone raised their hands except for
Griffiths and another prefect.
"Right then, would you all line up in a non-orderly fashion if you please!"
Mimicked Sirius in Professor Piscis' high-pitched squeal. Everyone laughed.
Soon the doors of the great hall had burst open and everyone was racing out
of Hogwarts towards Hogsmeade. Rosmerta looked at Sirius admiringly, but
Sirius didn't see, he was looking over at Sophia Chang. She was talking
with the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain who was presumably her date. No one
seemed to care that they were breaking rules, there was no way that any of
them could get expelled as there were so many of them. Sirius was unlikely
to get into trouble as he had earned respect from most of the students,
even those from Slytherin, in fact everyone except for Snape and the
players on the Slytherin Quidditch team who disliked him because he was
friends with James. After all, his cousin Narcissa Black was only popular
because of him.
Sirius decided that it was time to break the ice between him and James. He
walked over to him stiffly. He cleared his throat and James looked round.
"Hey James, I'm really sorry about the beard n stuff." To his surprise
James just laughed.
"That's alright mate. I'm sorry too for being such an idiot about it."
"Oh yeah is your mum ok then?"
"Yeah, she's ok now."
"Cool, well can't keep the lady waiting." Sirius gave one last smile and
walked back towards Rosmerta who was watching him inquisitively.
They were now walking down the familiar path that led towards the town.
"So your from Beaubaton right?" He asked her.
"Yes, we moved here earlier this year."
"Well you're very good at English for someone who's lived in France most of
their life." He said.
"Well my father is English so I was brought up with both languages."
"Oh I see."
"Why did you move schools? I've heard that Beaubaton is the best Wizarding
School around."
"It's very complicated." She suddenly looked very uncomfortable, ".It's a
long story.you wouldn't understand."
"Fine then." Sirius said somewhat resentfully.
"I'm sorry.I-"
"-No, no it's ok." Sirius tried not to sound too annoyed.
"If you promise not to tell anyone then." She said suddenly looking
agitated.
"Of course, I swear on my life." They were now turning the corner off the
path that showed the whole of Hogsmeade, colorful lights glowing in the
distance.
"Well you see, there is a sort of dark wizard group in France. Some of the
most powerful wizards in the world have joined it. They have bad powers,
enough to take over the world some people say.Well my father, you see, he
worked for the French ministry-"
"-He's an auror?" Said Sirius with admiration.
"Oh God, I really shouldn't be telling you this!"
"I gave you my word."
"Yes-yes of course you did.but I mean you can't tell anyone, not even
James."
"I promise you, I swear on my life." Sirius was sincere in this. He may be
a troublemaker, but his heart was in the right place. His family may have
been power greedy Slytherins but Sirius had always been different.
"Well nearly a year ago my father set out on a dangerous sort of mission to
try and stop them. I don't know the particulars; even I'm not allowed to
know. But it was around this time last year when my father was sent away by
the French ministry.He-he never came back. Some say he was tortured for
information. They sent other aurors to try and find him, but they had moved
their premises." She started to cry, and took out a flowery handkerchief
from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, I had no idea."
"No-no I'm ok.goodness look at me, I'm so pathetic. It happened almost a
year ago, and there's still hope isn't there?"
Sirius, even though he very much doubted this said, "Yes, of course there
is." People turned around to see why she was crying.
"She's ok." Said Sirius to the watchful crowd, afraid that they would think
he was the cause of her suffering, "hey how about we go to The Three
Broomsticks or something, where it's a bit quieter?" he suggested. She had
almost stopped crying but was still stuttering.
"Y-yeah that's a g-good idea." She said, her shoulders rising every time
she took a breath.
They past various shops including Zonkos' joke shop where Sirius and James
had spent most of their usual Hogsmeade weekends and a tasteless robe shop
where a fat old witch was shouting at people to come in. Then they got to
The Three Broomsticks, which was where most of the students went for
drinks.
"Let's sit over here," said Sirius walking over to a table in the corner of
the pub where there was no-one except for an old witch knitting with
magical thread that was changing color every time it moved. They sat down
at the table next to her and then Rosmerta carried on talking, but in a
whisper.
"Th-then my mother started to receive th-threatening letters, so my mother
reported them to the m-ministry, but they didn't have a clue where they
were from. They d-didn't even know if they were in connection with the dark
wizards' group."
"What kind of letters?"
"D-death threats," she said shuddering, "They didn't even have a motive as
far as we knew."
"Weird."
"I know. So anyway the ministry told my mother that she had to move
somewhere safe. They suggested that we move here because of Hogwarts' good
reputation, and my mother could speak good English. So that explains it I
suppose." Sirius was shocked. He had always had a liking for danger, but he
had never heard anything this serious before.
"I'm so sorry." Sirius said.
"Thanks, but you never know there may be just a little bit of hope left."
Then after about five seconds Sirius could not control his burning
curiosity any longer.
"So what do you know about this dark group of wizards?" He blurted out,
just as her breathing had got back to normal.
"I don't know much about them. I guess I was never allowed to know. But
it's very serious, the French ministry has been on their tail for years
now. They say that there are mostly dark wizards involved, all purebloods.
They all believe in the purification of the wizard race. It makes me sick
to think of them." She was staring at the wall behind Sirius, a murderous
expression on her face. Sirius watched her, a little alarmed, as she looked
the spitting image of Snapes' famous 'glare' that he used to frighten off
giggling first years who eyed his greasy hair.
"Make good Slytherins eh?" Sirius said while watching a group of Slytherins
who were leaning up at the bar, jinxing the bartender to grow a curly pink
tail when he had turned his back.
"I don't think that anyone as bad as that would be in Slytherin." She said
with some offence, as she had some friends in the Slytherin house. However
Sirius very much doubted this, Snape would make a very good dark wizard one-
day, he thought. He was always calling Lily a 'mudblood', though not so
much in front of James now, as he was aware of James hobby for standing up
for people just so he could have a good duel. James always won at duels,
mainly because Sirius was always at his side.
After about half an hour the date was altogether unsuccessful. It had been
very dull, mostly because she had been talking continually about memories
of her father and occasionally asking him to pass her a napkin to blow her
nose. Sirius did not mean to be so unsympathetic, but he knew that he would
never be one of those sensitive-understanding types that James tried to be
to attract female attention. He had always lived for the moment, and had no
inclination whatsoever to dwell on the past, especially not his own. After
all he hadn't had an altogether incredible child-hood. He had learnt how to
look after himself and tutor his own mind. He knew, with a sinking heart
that his parents were exactly the sort of people that would make Rosmerta
'sick.' But Sirius had always had his own self-confidence and self-
assurance. His family had never influenced him in any way; mainly because
he was so headstrong and refused to listen to what other people said most
of the time.
Sirius' family had turned out to be almost all Slytherin, and his mother
had been very disappointed when he was put into Gryffindor house. Sirius
had always wondered why he was in Gryffindor with such a name as Black,
which had always been disrespected by so many families, but there had
always been a similarity between Slytherins and Gryffindors. This
similarity was that they both had the same want to prove themselves;
although Slytherins did so in a self-interested power-hungry way, and
Gryffindors in a less selfish way. His mother had always loved him, but
Sirius always found it protective, like the natural instinct a bird has to
protect their eggs from predators. Sirius hated her for this reason. His
father was always away on his own 'personal business' as he explained it,
but Sirius knew better than this. He knew enough of his family to suspect
some kind of wayward corruption. He had tried to turn a blind eye to this
but ended up finding out more than he wanted to know. He ran away from home
when he was fourteen, and was immediately accepted into the Potter
household. His family disowned him and his mother had even scratched his
name out of their family tree as if his birth had been obliterated from all
memory. She hadn't even used magic, but out of anger had scratched it off
with a knife as if his written name was his flesh and blood.
Sirius was thinking about this while Rosmerta talked rhetorically to him
while taking large gulps of butterbeer in-between her sobs.
"Sirius? Sirius?" Sirius looked up quickly suddenly realizing where he was,
"Were you listening to anything I was saying?"
"Sorry-yes carry on."
"I thought you would have been a little more considerate!" She stood up and
walked out of the pub just as the bill was flying magically towards the
table. Sirius didn't care about being ditched for the first time, he was
sick of her, 'I mean why couldn't she just grow up!' he thought. She wasn't
stuck in a family full of dark wizards. Then to make matters worse James
and Lily entered. Sirius was just about to leave when,
"Sirius! What are you doing all alone on Valentines' day?" Came a gleeful
mocking voice. Sirius looked round at Lily, her arm around James.
"Just drinking myself to death." He said.
"What happened?" James asked, a note of consideration in his voice.
"Rosmerta has to be the most boring date I've ever had. I fell asleep while
she was talking, so she ditched me." James laughed, but it wasn't a mocking
laugh, it was more a friendly laugh that showed it was no big deal.
"That's classic that is!" James said, and Sirius found himself joining in.
But Sirius could have sworn that Lily hadn't moved a single one of her one
hundred and sixty facial muscles at that moment.
"That is so pathetic Sirius! How can you be so tactless?"
"Well haven't had any trouble wit the ladies in the past have I?" He said
winking at her. Lily blushed, in their first year it was a well-known fact
that Lily had had a big crush on him. But now it was James that didn't look
too happy.
"How about we order some drinks?" He cut in desperately.
"How about some fire whiskey?" Sirius suggested, "After all we don't have
any supervision."
"Sounds like a good ide-"
"-Not while I'm here." Lily said firmly, who had now regained her
confidence.
"I'll have another butterbeer then," Said Sirius dismally, who knew that
Lily was not a person to cross.
"Me too."
"Ok then three butterbeers it is." James said and walked over to the bar.
When James had gone Sirius found a perfect opportunity to embarrass Lily.
"So how big was this crush?" He said.
"Oh shut-up."
"You've got to learn to laugh at yourself you know Lil."
"Well let me tell you this once and for all, I wouldn't go out with you if
you were the last man on Earth!"
"You know it's strange, that's exactly the same thing you said to James the
other day and look at you love-birds now!"
"He's changed a lot since then," she said defiantly.
"Oh really?" Said Sirius in a sarcastic voice.
"Yes he has," and then she gave him a look that silenced him.
Then after a while Sirius said, "What is James doing? He's taking
absolutely ages."
"Yeah, I'll go and see." Glad for this interruption, she walked over to
where James was leaning over the bar trying to look as inconspicuous as
possible.
"James?" He jumped.
"What are you doing?"
"You'll see in a minute." Then as Lily peered over his shoulder she said,
"James, whatever your doing with his drink stop it!"
"Keep your voice down will you! It's just a joke that's all."
"What is it anyway?"
"I bought a polyjuice potion off Snape, and I just added some stuff to it
that's all."
"Off Snape! You're joking right? It could have been poison!"
"Well considering I hung him upside-down and cursed him to warn him about
that then I'm sure it's ok."
"You didn't!" She sounded very angry; she had always tried to stick up for
Snape when they had gone too far.
"Oh come off it you don't still have a soft spot for that greasy haired
bastard do you?"
"Do what you want then, poison your bestfriend." They walked back to the
table where Sirius pretended to be asleep from waiting so long, snoring.
"Here you go." James passed him the tampered butterbeer.
"What took you so long?" He asked looking up.
"Barmaid got the wrong order and mixed it up with this other guy. Although
I wouldn't have minded a brain popping brandy myself."
"Hey look, what's Dumbledore doing here?" Sirius said in fake surprise,
pointing at the door. As Lily and James looked around in horror Sirius
swapped his glass with what he thought was James'.
"Where?" They said simultaneously.
"Made you look, made you scare, made you loose your underwear!" Sirius
said.
"Sirius," said Lily, "We're fifteen, although you may have the mental age
of a two year old."
"Cheers everyone!" Said James raising his glass.
"I would like to make a toast," said Sirius, "After our fight yesterday, I
realized how much our friendship means to me, and well.I promise you I
won't make you do something like that again." James gulped, suddenly
feeling a little ashamed of himself. After this toast had been made they
all took a sip of butterbeer. Then they all put their glasses down, Lily
and James watching Sirius expectantly, and Sirius watching Lily in
disbelief. Her face was growing tiny worm-like threads of orange hair. But
unlike James' incident the hair was growing all over her face, her nose,
her forehead, and now her arms and neck! She let out a high-pitched scream
grabbing the attention of the whole pub, her hands clutched over her face.
"James! You idiot! Is this your idea of a joke?" She screeched at him.
"But-but I swear I gave it to Sirius!"
"So much for our new-found friendship Potter." Said Sirius sardonically. He
got up and smirked at Lily and said, "I must say Lily do hush up a bit and
act your age, you're beginning to sound like me!" Sirius got up,
deliberately leaving his chair a meter away from the table and stormed out
of the pub. The population of the Three Broomsticks was watching in
complete silence with mouths wide open.
"Do something James!" Said lily desperately who could hardly breath through
the orange hair that was still growing.
"Someone get a mediwizard!" Someone rushed out of the pub to go and get
someone. In about a minute a mediwizard had apparated right in front of
them. He quickly muttered a charm to stop the hair growing anymore.
"You from Hogwarts?" He asked breathlessly. She made a squeaking noise and
nodded, as it was now impossible for her to speak, "I'm afraid it's off to
St.Mungos', never seen anything as bad as that since a man came in with
devil's snare wrapped around his neck. What happened anyway?"
"Polyjuice potion." James said looking very red in the face, "It was meant
to be a beard."
"No! This ain't no polyjuice potion, well it could be, but it's definitely
a very strong one. So a beard you say?" James hastened an explanation of
the girls' staircase. To his surprise the mediwizard threw his head back
and laughed.
"Well I would have thought you'd have been sensible enough to know about
using hair produced from other spells. It doubles the affect you see
because the hair wasn't part of the body of the victim." He shook his head
disapprovingly, "and not a very nice Valentines' day gift either I must
add."
"It wasn't meant for her." Said James quickly. There was still a crowd of
people around them talking in harsh whispers.
"Well, since it's just a polyjuice potion, it'll wear off in about an hour
or so."
"Thank you for coming to help." The man gave a croaky laugh and apparated.
Then turning to the audience, "Clear off will you, this isn't a freak
show!" They gave him one last disapproving glance and walked back to their
tables.
"Oh God you don't know how sorry I am. I'm serious! I gave the glass to
Sirius, something must have-"
Then it hit him, Sirius swapped them around! "Oh that bastard thinks he's
so clever doesn't he! I'll get him for this." James suddenly looked
menacing, his fists clenched, "I'll be right back." He said despite the
little high-pitched squeals coming from across the table. James raced out
of the pub and into the street and then bumped into something large and
hairy.
"Watch it will ye!" It was Hagrid the Hogwarts gamekeeper.
"Now's not the time Hagrid." James was running down the street almost as
fast as if he had been on his broomstick, his voice growing fainter as he
spoke. He knew where Sirius would be. He got to their secret place that
even Lily didn't know about, the Shrieking Shack. It was a house where
Lupin made his transformations every full moon, and where they had secret
meetings. It was a good place as it was hidden by a large clump of trees.
No one had dared enter as Professor Dumbledore had deliberately spread
rumors about the place being haunted.
"Sirius! I know you're in there!" James tried to push the door open but it
was magically locked.
"Alo hamora!" He shouted, perhaps a little too violently as the door burst
open, causing him to fall headfirst. He saw Sirius sitting in the corner
staring into empty space. "Let's have a duel Sirius, you and me. How does
that sound?"
"How about we have a little talk first." Sirius' voice sounded deadly as if
he was about to strike out at any moment.
"Alright then go ahead!" James was still standing by the door looking
furious.
"Let's begin with a simple question then. Who would you rather hurt, me or
Lily?"
"What?" James looked confused and angry at the same time.
"Your best friend or your girlfriend? Come on out with it!"
"That's not the point!" James was now fuming with anger.
"That's exactly the point James. Ever since you've been going out with that
bitch you haven't been a friend at all!" Sirius had expected James to try
the killing curse on him after that, but James was surprisingly calm.
"How can you expect me to choose Sirius? You're both my best friends, I
haven't changed."
"You have! You always put on this sensitive act around her. I mean come on
we haven't even got drunk since you started going out with her!"
"Sirius maybe it's just time for you to grow up a bit."
"I can't believe you, I really can't." Sirius was shaking with fury
pointing his finger at him that shook violently, "You're saying I need to
grow up when you were about to make me grow a beard for a practical joke?
Look man we're as bad as each other, what's happened to you? Don't you
remember? Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?"
"Look of course, I'll always be Prongs but that's not.that's not all me."
"Tell you what Prongs," Sirius said, spitting out his name as if it were
dirt, "I've had enough of you, I think it's time for us to part don't you?"
Sirius got up and walked out of the door slamming it so hard it almost fell
off its hinges. James went after him.
"Sirius you don't get it do you?"
"Get what exactly? This girlfriend of yours has completely jeopardized out
friendship. This isn't you! You've changed completely just to impress her!"
"I love Lily." There was a silence.
Sirius shot him one last glance that was as powerful as shooting a bullet
to his target. James was frozen on the spot. What had he just said? Did he
really love her? Was he ever going to get drunk again?
The next day, Sirius woke up to find that he had slept in. It was a Sunday,
and after looking at his watch he realized that he had to meet Rosmerta in
half an hour. He sat up, squinting his eyes to adjust to the light and then
instinctively smoothing his disheveled hair. He saw James just about to
leave the room, just as he was taking his last peek in the mirror. The
mirror was asleep, which was a good sign. Sirius did not like to have his
temper fuddled with in what he called the 'early hours of the morning.' He
got up quickly and got dressed into what he thought were his 'coolest
clothes.' They consisted of a pair of muggle jeans, a black T-shirt and a
leather jacket, which looked very worn due to the vintage spells Sirius had
cast on them to make them look trendy. He spent his usual amount of time
mirror gazing and trying out different hairstyles and eventually settled
with a kind of spiky hair-do that would have driven his already crazy
mother even crazier. Then just as the mirror woke up he took out his wand:
"Floristi!" He shouted perhaps a little to vehemently as the bunch of
flowers he had just conjured obscured all of his face when he held them in
front of him. He would look a bit strange carrying them all the way
downstairs he thought. He caught sight of the silvery invisibility cloak
next to James' bed. He took it and decided he would use it to cover the
flowers and then surprise her.
He arrived at the entrance hall at 10:15. The hall looked a little over the
top he thought; the walls were bright pink and real-live cupids were flying
around in the air shooting golden arrows that disappeared into glitter as
soon as they had been shot. There were even little fairies sprinkling heart-
shaped confetti over the students. He looked around the gathered crowd and
then saw Rosmerta looking around desperately apparently very upset. He
walked over to her and said, "Surprise." She gasped and looked around a
little frightened; her large brown eyes growing even bigger. When she
caught sight of him she looked up at his hair looking interested. Sirius
didn't like this too much, so he decided it was time for the flowers.
"I got you a present." He said, and peeled off the invisibility cloak that
obscured the large bunch of flowers.
"Oh my Goodness!" She blushed, and looked around at her friends who were
all watching intently with mouths open.
"Sorry they're a bit over the top but-"
"-Oh no they're lovely, its just.how am I going to carry them?"
"That's simple," he said as if it was obvious. He took out his wand and
said "Levito!" and the bunch of flowers levitated in mid-air, "Problem
solved." She looked at him open-mouthed.
Then there came a loud magically enhanced voice, which boomed over the
waiting crowd making everyone shudder and look up towards the speaker.
"Would everyone please line up in an orderly fashion if you please!" The
voice was that of Professor Piscis the Charms teacher who was also head of
Ravenclaw house. Everyone lined up by the door, most of them with their
hands over their ears. Sirius saw James who's face looked completely normal
again, laughing about something with Lily. He didn't care so much now. Wait
till he sees me with Rosmerta, he thought.
"Sirius? Sirius?" Sirius looked around at Rosmerta who had been trying to
gain his attention.
"What?"
"Look!" She pointed up at the ceiling where Peeves was obviously taking
great delight in throwing water bombs over Professor Piscis who was dodging
them as best she could. She had hitched up her robes and was now running
screaming towards the staircase. Sirius peered round some Hufflepuff
students and watched as she raced up the staircase with Peeves on her tail
now blowing raspberries. As soon as she had disappeared everyone looked
around for any other teachers to take charge.
"I'll go and find a teacher." It was Griffiths, one of the Prefects who
always sucked up to the teachers.
"Don't be a idiot!" Sirius burst out.
"Excuse me are you aware of this?" He pointed at his highly polished
prefects' badge.
"And are you aware of this?" Sirius said taking out his wand. Everyone
gathered round. Some students cheered him on enthusiastically.
"I-I'm afraid I'm going to have to report you, you know Dippets' got you on
record, and I can do anything I want."
"Really?" Said Sirius interestedly, completely relaxed, now twiddling his
wand between his fingers, "but you know I think Dippet would be highly
amused to know that someone as distinguished as a prefect would take a girl
with him into the Prefects bathroom." Everyone gasped. This was obviously
highly secretive information. Griffiths blushed a deep scarlet, his hands
shaking.
"Well then everyone," said Sirius, "those who wish to go to Hogsmeade in a
non-orderly fashion please raise your hand." To his amazement James stepped
forwards.
"I'm with you man." Sirius wondered if this was a peace offering or just
James' obsession for being part of the moment. This was enough. Together
Sirius and James could lead the whole school if they wanted to. Peter
Pettigrew stepped forwards.
"Me too!" He said timidly. Then everyone raised their hands except for
Griffiths and another prefect.
"Right then, would you all line up in a non-orderly fashion if you please!"
Mimicked Sirius in Professor Piscis' high-pitched squeal. Everyone laughed.
Soon the doors of the great hall had burst open and everyone was racing out
of Hogwarts towards Hogsmeade. Rosmerta looked at Sirius admiringly, but
Sirius didn't see, he was looking over at Sophia Chang. She was talking
with the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain who was presumably her date. No one
seemed to care that they were breaking rules, there was no way that any of
them could get expelled as there were so many of them. Sirius was unlikely
to get into trouble as he had earned respect from most of the students,
even those from Slytherin, in fact everyone except for Snape and the
players on the Slytherin Quidditch team who disliked him because he was
friends with James. After all, his cousin Narcissa Black was only popular
because of him.
Sirius decided that it was time to break the ice between him and James. He
walked over to him stiffly. He cleared his throat and James looked round.
"Hey James, I'm really sorry about the beard n stuff." To his surprise
James just laughed.
"That's alright mate. I'm sorry too for being such an idiot about it."
"Oh yeah is your mum ok then?"
"Yeah, she's ok now."
"Cool, well can't keep the lady waiting." Sirius gave one last smile and
walked back towards Rosmerta who was watching him inquisitively.
They were now walking down the familiar path that led towards the town.
"So your from Beaubaton right?" He asked her.
"Yes, we moved here earlier this year."
"Well you're very good at English for someone who's lived in France most of
their life." He said.
"Well my father is English so I was brought up with both languages."
"Oh I see."
"Why did you move schools? I've heard that Beaubaton is the best Wizarding
School around."
"It's very complicated." She suddenly looked very uncomfortable, ".It's a
long story.you wouldn't understand."
"Fine then." Sirius said somewhat resentfully.
"I'm sorry.I-"
"-No, no it's ok." Sirius tried not to sound too annoyed.
"If you promise not to tell anyone then." She said suddenly looking
agitated.
"Of course, I swear on my life." They were now turning the corner off the
path that showed the whole of Hogsmeade, colorful lights glowing in the
distance.
"Well you see, there is a sort of dark wizard group in France. Some of the
most powerful wizards in the world have joined it. They have bad powers,
enough to take over the world some people say.Well my father, you see, he
worked for the French ministry-"
"-He's an auror?" Said Sirius with admiration.
"Oh God, I really shouldn't be telling you this!"
"I gave you my word."
"Yes-yes of course you did.but I mean you can't tell anyone, not even
James."
"I promise you, I swear on my life." Sirius was sincere in this. He may be
a troublemaker, but his heart was in the right place. His family may have
been power greedy Slytherins but Sirius had always been different.
"Well nearly a year ago my father set out on a dangerous sort of mission to
try and stop them. I don't know the particulars; even I'm not allowed to
know. But it was around this time last year when my father was sent away by
the French ministry.He-he never came back. Some say he was tortured for
information. They sent other aurors to try and find him, but they had moved
their premises." She started to cry, and took out a flowery handkerchief
from her pocket and dabbed her eyes.
"I'm really sorry, I had no idea."
"No-no I'm ok.goodness look at me, I'm so pathetic. It happened almost a
year ago, and there's still hope isn't there?"
Sirius, even though he very much doubted this said, "Yes, of course there
is." People turned around to see why she was crying.
"She's ok." Said Sirius to the watchful crowd, afraid that they would think
he was the cause of her suffering, "hey how about we go to The Three
Broomsticks or something, where it's a bit quieter?" he suggested. She had
almost stopped crying but was still stuttering.
"Y-yeah that's a g-good idea." She said, her shoulders rising every time
she took a breath.
They past various shops including Zonkos' joke shop where Sirius and James
had spent most of their usual Hogsmeade weekends and a tasteless robe shop
where a fat old witch was shouting at people to come in. Then they got to
The Three Broomsticks, which was where most of the students went for
drinks.
"Let's sit over here," said Sirius walking over to a table in the corner of
the pub where there was no-one except for an old witch knitting with
magical thread that was changing color every time it moved. They sat down
at the table next to her and then Rosmerta carried on talking, but in a
whisper.
"Th-then my mother started to receive th-threatening letters, so my mother
reported them to the m-ministry, but they didn't have a clue where they
were from. They d-didn't even know if they were in connection with the dark
wizards' group."
"What kind of letters?"
"D-death threats," she said shuddering, "They didn't even have a motive as
far as we knew."
"Weird."
"I know. So anyway the ministry told my mother that she had to move
somewhere safe. They suggested that we move here because of Hogwarts' good
reputation, and my mother could speak good English. So that explains it I
suppose." Sirius was shocked. He had always had a liking for danger, but he
had never heard anything this serious before.
"I'm so sorry." Sirius said.
"Thanks, but you never know there may be just a little bit of hope left."
Then after about five seconds Sirius could not control his burning
curiosity any longer.
"So what do you know about this dark group of wizards?" He blurted out,
just as her breathing had got back to normal.
"I don't know much about them. I guess I was never allowed to know. But
it's very serious, the French ministry has been on their tail for years
now. They say that there are mostly dark wizards involved, all purebloods.
They all believe in the purification of the wizard race. It makes me sick
to think of them." She was staring at the wall behind Sirius, a murderous
expression on her face. Sirius watched her, a little alarmed, as she looked
the spitting image of Snapes' famous 'glare' that he used to frighten off
giggling first years who eyed his greasy hair.
"Make good Slytherins eh?" Sirius said while watching a group of Slytherins
who were leaning up at the bar, jinxing the bartender to grow a curly pink
tail when he had turned his back.
"I don't think that anyone as bad as that would be in Slytherin." She said
with some offence, as she had some friends in the Slytherin house. However
Sirius very much doubted this, Snape would make a very good dark wizard one-
day, he thought. He was always calling Lily a 'mudblood', though not so
much in front of James now, as he was aware of James hobby for standing up
for people just so he could have a good duel. James always won at duels,
mainly because Sirius was always at his side.
After about half an hour the date was altogether unsuccessful. It had been
very dull, mostly because she had been talking continually about memories
of her father and occasionally asking him to pass her a napkin to blow her
nose. Sirius did not mean to be so unsympathetic, but he knew that he would
never be one of those sensitive-understanding types that James tried to be
to attract female attention. He had always lived for the moment, and had no
inclination whatsoever to dwell on the past, especially not his own. After
all he hadn't had an altogether incredible child-hood. He had learnt how to
look after himself and tutor his own mind. He knew, with a sinking heart
that his parents were exactly the sort of people that would make Rosmerta
'sick.' But Sirius had always had his own self-confidence and self-
assurance. His family had never influenced him in any way; mainly because
he was so headstrong and refused to listen to what other people said most
of the time.
Sirius' family had turned out to be almost all Slytherin, and his mother
had been very disappointed when he was put into Gryffindor house. Sirius
had always wondered why he was in Gryffindor with such a name as Black,
which had always been disrespected by so many families, but there had
always been a similarity between Slytherins and Gryffindors. This
similarity was that they both had the same want to prove themselves;
although Slytherins did so in a self-interested power-hungry way, and
Gryffindors in a less selfish way. His mother had always loved him, but
Sirius always found it protective, like the natural instinct a bird has to
protect their eggs from predators. Sirius hated her for this reason. His
father was always away on his own 'personal business' as he explained it,
but Sirius knew better than this. He knew enough of his family to suspect
some kind of wayward corruption. He had tried to turn a blind eye to this
but ended up finding out more than he wanted to know. He ran away from home
when he was fourteen, and was immediately accepted into the Potter
household. His family disowned him and his mother had even scratched his
name out of their family tree as if his birth had been obliterated from all
memory. She hadn't even used magic, but out of anger had scratched it off
with a knife as if his written name was his flesh and blood.
Sirius was thinking about this while Rosmerta talked rhetorically to him
while taking large gulps of butterbeer in-between her sobs.
"Sirius? Sirius?" Sirius looked up quickly suddenly realizing where he was,
"Were you listening to anything I was saying?"
"Sorry-yes carry on."
"I thought you would have been a little more considerate!" She stood up and
walked out of the pub just as the bill was flying magically towards the
table. Sirius didn't care about being ditched for the first time, he was
sick of her, 'I mean why couldn't she just grow up!' he thought. She wasn't
stuck in a family full of dark wizards. Then to make matters worse James
and Lily entered. Sirius was just about to leave when,
"Sirius! What are you doing all alone on Valentines' day?" Came a gleeful
mocking voice. Sirius looked round at Lily, her arm around James.
"Just drinking myself to death." He said.
"What happened?" James asked, a note of consideration in his voice.
"Rosmerta has to be the most boring date I've ever had. I fell asleep while
she was talking, so she ditched me." James laughed, but it wasn't a mocking
laugh, it was more a friendly laugh that showed it was no big deal.
"That's classic that is!" James said, and Sirius found himself joining in.
But Sirius could have sworn that Lily hadn't moved a single one of her one
hundred and sixty facial muscles at that moment.
"That is so pathetic Sirius! How can you be so tactless?"
"Well haven't had any trouble wit the ladies in the past have I?" He said
winking at her. Lily blushed, in their first year it was a well-known fact
that Lily had had a big crush on him. But now it was James that didn't look
too happy.
"How about we order some drinks?" He cut in desperately.
"How about some fire whiskey?" Sirius suggested, "After all we don't have
any supervision."
"Sounds like a good ide-"
"-Not while I'm here." Lily said firmly, who had now regained her
confidence.
"I'll have another butterbeer then," Said Sirius dismally, who knew that
Lily was not a person to cross.
"Me too."
"Ok then three butterbeers it is." James said and walked over to the bar.
When James had gone Sirius found a perfect opportunity to embarrass Lily.
"So how big was this crush?" He said.
"Oh shut-up."
"You've got to learn to laugh at yourself you know Lil."
"Well let me tell you this once and for all, I wouldn't go out with you if
you were the last man on Earth!"
"You know it's strange, that's exactly the same thing you said to James the
other day and look at you love-birds now!"
"He's changed a lot since then," she said defiantly.
"Oh really?" Said Sirius in a sarcastic voice.
"Yes he has," and then she gave him a look that silenced him.
Then after a while Sirius said, "What is James doing? He's taking
absolutely ages."
"Yeah, I'll go and see." Glad for this interruption, she walked over to
where James was leaning over the bar trying to look as inconspicuous as
possible.
"James?" He jumped.
"What are you doing?"
"You'll see in a minute." Then as Lily peered over his shoulder she said,
"James, whatever your doing with his drink stop it!"
"Keep your voice down will you! It's just a joke that's all."
"What is it anyway?"
"I bought a polyjuice potion off Snape, and I just added some stuff to it
that's all."
"Off Snape! You're joking right? It could have been poison!"
"Well considering I hung him upside-down and cursed him to warn him about
that then I'm sure it's ok."
"You didn't!" She sounded very angry; she had always tried to stick up for
Snape when they had gone too far.
"Oh come off it you don't still have a soft spot for that greasy haired
bastard do you?"
"Do what you want then, poison your bestfriend." They walked back to the
table where Sirius pretended to be asleep from waiting so long, snoring.
"Here you go." James passed him the tampered butterbeer.
"What took you so long?" He asked looking up.
"Barmaid got the wrong order and mixed it up with this other guy. Although
I wouldn't have minded a brain popping brandy myself."
"Hey look, what's Dumbledore doing here?" Sirius said in fake surprise,
pointing at the door. As Lily and James looked around in horror Sirius
swapped his glass with what he thought was James'.
"Where?" They said simultaneously.
"Made you look, made you scare, made you loose your underwear!" Sirius
said.
"Sirius," said Lily, "We're fifteen, although you may have the mental age
of a two year old."
"Cheers everyone!" Said James raising his glass.
"I would like to make a toast," said Sirius, "After our fight yesterday, I
realized how much our friendship means to me, and well.I promise you I
won't make you do something like that again." James gulped, suddenly
feeling a little ashamed of himself. After this toast had been made they
all took a sip of butterbeer. Then they all put their glasses down, Lily
and James watching Sirius expectantly, and Sirius watching Lily in
disbelief. Her face was growing tiny worm-like threads of orange hair. But
unlike James' incident the hair was growing all over her face, her nose,
her forehead, and now her arms and neck! She let out a high-pitched scream
grabbing the attention of the whole pub, her hands clutched over her face.
"James! You idiot! Is this your idea of a joke?" She screeched at him.
"But-but I swear I gave it to Sirius!"
"So much for our new-found friendship Potter." Said Sirius sardonically. He
got up and smirked at Lily and said, "I must say Lily do hush up a bit and
act your age, you're beginning to sound like me!" Sirius got up,
deliberately leaving his chair a meter away from the table and stormed out
of the pub. The population of the Three Broomsticks was watching in
complete silence with mouths wide open.
"Do something James!" Said lily desperately who could hardly breath through
the orange hair that was still growing.
"Someone get a mediwizard!" Someone rushed out of the pub to go and get
someone. In about a minute a mediwizard had apparated right in front of
them. He quickly muttered a charm to stop the hair growing anymore.
"You from Hogwarts?" He asked breathlessly. She made a squeaking noise and
nodded, as it was now impossible for her to speak, "I'm afraid it's off to
St.Mungos', never seen anything as bad as that since a man came in with
devil's snare wrapped around his neck. What happened anyway?"
"Polyjuice potion." James said looking very red in the face, "It was meant
to be a beard."
"No! This ain't no polyjuice potion, well it could be, but it's definitely
a very strong one. So a beard you say?" James hastened an explanation of
the girls' staircase. To his surprise the mediwizard threw his head back
and laughed.
"Well I would have thought you'd have been sensible enough to know about
using hair produced from other spells. It doubles the affect you see
because the hair wasn't part of the body of the victim." He shook his head
disapprovingly, "and not a very nice Valentines' day gift either I must
add."
"It wasn't meant for her." Said James quickly. There was still a crowd of
people around them talking in harsh whispers.
"Well, since it's just a polyjuice potion, it'll wear off in about an hour
or so."
"Thank you for coming to help." The man gave a croaky laugh and apparated.
Then turning to the audience, "Clear off will you, this isn't a freak
show!" They gave him one last disapproving glance and walked back to their
tables.
"Oh God you don't know how sorry I am. I'm serious! I gave the glass to
Sirius, something must have-"
Then it hit him, Sirius swapped them around! "Oh that bastard thinks he's
so clever doesn't he! I'll get him for this." James suddenly looked
menacing, his fists clenched, "I'll be right back." He said despite the
little high-pitched squeals coming from across the table. James raced out
of the pub and into the street and then bumped into something large and
hairy.
"Watch it will ye!" It was Hagrid the Hogwarts gamekeeper.
"Now's not the time Hagrid." James was running down the street almost as
fast as if he had been on his broomstick, his voice growing fainter as he
spoke. He knew where Sirius would be. He got to their secret place that
even Lily didn't know about, the Shrieking Shack. It was a house where
Lupin made his transformations every full moon, and where they had secret
meetings. It was a good place as it was hidden by a large clump of trees.
No one had dared enter as Professor Dumbledore had deliberately spread
rumors about the place being haunted.
"Sirius! I know you're in there!" James tried to push the door open but it
was magically locked.
"Alo hamora!" He shouted, perhaps a little too violently as the door burst
open, causing him to fall headfirst. He saw Sirius sitting in the corner
staring into empty space. "Let's have a duel Sirius, you and me. How does
that sound?"
"How about we have a little talk first." Sirius' voice sounded deadly as if
he was about to strike out at any moment.
"Alright then go ahead!" James was still standing by the door looking
furious.
"Let's begin with a simple question then. Who would you rather hurt, me or
Lily?"
"What?" James looked confused and angry at the same time.
"Your best friend or your girlfriend? Come on out with it!"
"That's not the point!" James was now fuming with anger.
"That's exactly the point James. Ever since you've been going out with that
bitch you haven't been a friend at all!" Sirius had expected James to try
the killing curse on him after that, but James was surprisingly calm.
"How can you expect me to choose Sirius? You're both my best friends, I
haven't changed."
"You have! You always put on this sensitive act around her. I mean come on
we haven't even got drunk since you started going out with her!"
"Sirius maybe it's just time for you to grow up a bit."
"I can't believe you, I really can't." Sirius was shaking with fury
pointing his finger at him that shook violently, "You're saying I need to
grow up when you were about to make me grow a beard for a practical joke?
Look man we're as bad as each other, what's happened to you? Don't you
remember? Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?"
"Look of course, I'll always be Prongs but that's not.that's not all me."
"Tell you what Prongs," Sirius said, spitting out his name as if it were
dirt, "I've had enough of you, I think it's time for us to part don't you?"
Sirius got up and walked out of the door slamming it so hard it almost fell
off its hinges. James went after him.
"Sirius you don't get it do you?"
"Get what exactly? This girlfriend of yours has completely jeopardized out
friendship. This isn't you! You've changed completely just to impress her!"
"I love Lily." There was a silence.
Sirius shot him one last glance that was as powerful as shooting a bullet
to his target. James was frozen on the spot. What had he just said? Did he
really love her? Was he ever going to get drunk again?