Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I hold any claim to said literature. Special mention to the Rat Pack swing era for the song.

A/n: thanks to my reviewers... I live for you guys! ;) I hope the story doesn't drag, I'm just getting it started. Here goes!

Chapter 3

Taking off down the corridor, Sirius snapped his fingers to a tune in his head. Pretty soon, he was warbling at the top of his lungs to nobody in particular.
"How lucky can one guy be? I kissed her and she kissed me
Like the fellow once said, "Ain't that a kick in the head?
The room was turning black, I hugged her and she hugged back
Like the sailor said, quote: "ain't that a hole in the boat?
My head keeps spinning, I go to sleep and keep grinning
if this is just the beginning, my life is gonna be eautiful
She tells me that we'll be wed, she's picked out a kingsize bed
Tell me quick, ain't that a kick in the head?"

Passing some gryffindors, Sirius hums the instrumental while boo ga looing with one of the fifth years. Taken aback by such a show of informality, the straightlaced Gryffindor girl gave Sirius a hard slap across the face, leaving a red palm mark.
Dumfounded, Sirius scowled at the girl and took off down the corridor, finding the portal for the Dueling Club left wide open.
"Some people..." Sirius mumbled to himself.
Stepping inside, his watchful and alert eyes took in the sight. Students milling around like ants, but with one significant difference. With ants, there were no factions or groups of dissidents. In Hogwarts, there were four. Typically, the house members kept to themselves. Craving some excitement, Sirius sauntered over to the Slytherins and tapped Barty on the shoulder.
"What do you want, Black?" Barty scathingly asked.
"Only to be your dueling partner, Bartimus. Would you do me the honour?'
Sneering, "The pleasure is all mine, Sirius."

Pleased with himself, Sirius excused himself from their company, and walked over to Athena.
"Oy! How'd you get here so bloody fast? Didn't i just leave you with Lily and Tara?"
"Well Sirius, on my way to tonight's session, I didn't unexpectedly dance with anybody in the halls and get slapped. But hen, with you, its perfectly normal."
"Scoff if you will, but I know that deep down, that little Gryffindor girl wants me." Said Sirius, exuding charm as only he could.
"Wants you dead, that's for sure."
"Oy! That hurt, Athena! I don't go about picking on you!" He said with a hurt look in his eyes.
"I know. I go about picking on you. I never said we had to be even!"
"Fine, go your merry way, see if I care."
Putting her arm around his neck and laughing, Athena poked him in the stomach goodheartedly and asked him "Who's your partner tonight? Are you booked? Of course you're not, you've only just arrived! Tell you what, I'll be your partner! Since you're a better dueler than I am, we can call it even." Slipping out from underneath her arm, Sirius gave her a sad smile and said,
"Sorry love, already booked."
Trying to hide her disappointment, Athena tried to shrug it off, saying to Sirius that it was no big deal-he was only a charity case to begin with. She would go with Caitlin Bell instead. Thanking Athena for her consideration, Sirius stepped away, plodding along like a tired old cow. He thought to himself 'I wonder why she suddenly got all nervous on me? That never happened before. Maybe she's losing it, what with exams coming on in a couple of weeks. Or maybe, she hasn't found a date for the Christmas Formal... I know! I'll ask her, so we'll be even! Although I don't know what she means by that... Even shmeven, as long as I get shagged, I'll be happy.' This thought struck vivid images into his mind about the agile-bodied athlete. Grinning to himself, Sirius resolved to ask her after the first fight.
* * *
Calling the meeting to order, Professor Lucius Malfoy (a/n: I figured he had to have been a teacher because he was very respected-or was it feared-by the board of directors. Either way, he had to have some contact with them, so I made him Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.) introduced the new spell which the students were to learn.
"It is called Draconousto. It expels a dragon spirit from your wands that will physically knock down your opponent, depending on your level of concentration. For those of you who have dragon heartstrings in your wands, the spirit will take form and a dragon will burst out of your wands, knocking down your opponent and keeping him pinned, just as long as you hold your concentration. Now students, I warn you, for if you lose concentration, the spell could very easily rebound on you. And, since both you and your partners will be performing the spell at the same time, the chances of rebounding are very large, and if it happens, very dangerous indeed. I have enlisted the help of my two colleagues, Crabbe and Goyle, and Hagrid, the keeper of the keys, in case anything goes wrong. Now I know between the three of them, they haven't much talent for magic, but they will easily take the brunt of your spell should it happen to rebound. That is why only 3 groups will duel at a time. Any questions?"
Many Ravenclaw hands were raised. Lucius took one sour look at them and said.
"Good. On we go, then. The first three groups will be Lestrange and partner, Snape and partner, and Crouch and partner. Please step up to the fighting rings and begin your training."
Hearing the name of his partner called, Sirius stepped up to the biggest circle, the middle one, for he was confident of his abilities. Plus, he had a wand made with three dragon heartstrings. Maybe if he concentrated enough, he could make three dragons pop out of his wand and maul Lestrange. Beaming, Sirius was lost in his thoughts until somebody roughly prodded him in the back. Turning around to tell the little bastard off, he heard Professor Malfoy's voice booming at him.
"Black! Are you deaf, boy? I didn't call you! Get back in the crowd with the others and wait your turn. For your disrespect, you and your partner will go last."
Magnifying his voice, Sirius told Professor Malfoy, "Oh, Mr. Crouch will be so disappointed. I must really be a jinx."
Barty's voice came up through the murmur, saying
"Professor, you called me and my partner before you banished Sirius and his partner to the last set. In all fairness, I plead with you to let us fight now. It'll soon be over, I promise."
" I wholly agree, Professor. May we please? If you'd like, we'd gladly go again with the last set." Sirius taunted.
"Alright, alright. You may proceed." Professor Malfoy conceded, indignant.
Warming up his wand, Sirius did a couple of exercises, all the while thinking to himself how much he would love to show up Barty.
Crouch apparently was thinking the same thing, for when the two of them stepping into the rink, the crowd noticed that they both had the same demonically pleased smile plastered on their faces. Gryffindors and Slytherins alike began to congregate around the center rink, looking anxiously from Sirius to Crouch.
"Come on, then Black. Show us your stuffing, why don't you?" Taunted the Slytherin in Sirius' rink.
"I'll show you mine, if you show me yours Crouchy." Sirius retorted, circling the arena, eyes locked on his opponent.
"Boys, stop this 'ere chatter an' get on wi' it!" Came a raspy voice from Sirius' left. Smiling to himself, Sirius remembered the many times Hagrid had saved him on school grounds. The big lovable bear was taking care of Sirius and that reassured Sirius even more.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Sirius zoned out the crowd, leaving only him and Barty. Concentrating very hard he was about to say the spell when Barty yelled "Draconousto!" expelling a load of sparks which formed a dragon head and came charging at Sirius. Horrified that he hadn't fired the first shot Sirius muttered "deterante!" and successfully blocked the half-hearted spell sent by his opponent. Focusing his whole mind on the spell, Sirius yelled "DRACONOUSTO!" and held his concentration until he saw three forms blast out of the end of his wand. Three dragons were taking shape in front of him, a Horntail, a Ridgeback, and a Fireball. Concentrating all his energy, Sirius urged the three forms to charge at Barty, who was stunned out of his wits. The sight of three dragons in front of him was rather terrifying and he stood spellbound.
Lazily taking a step forward, the Horntail stared at Barty as if he wasn't worth eating. But then, thanks to a burst of thought from Sirius, the dragon's eye went ablaze and it charged at Barty, pinned him down and snarled. In tears, Crouch still would not give up. Trying his very best to make the spell disappear, he pathetically pointed his wand at its belly, whimpering "evaporator!" which was quite useless. He was so scared that his magic wasn't working.
Meanwhile, the Ridgeback and the Fireball were trying to get out of the ring, because Sirius was focusing his attention solely on the Horntail. The magical restraints on them made it impossible to leave the rink. Enraged, and equipped with free will, the two spells threateningly moved closer to their captor, Sirius Black. So unaware was he, that Hagrid had to prod him sharply in the chest. Eyes snapping forward, he saw the advancing danger.
"EVAPORATOR!" he screamed. The three dragons vanished and Barty Crouch was left on the ground, panting and whimpering. Striding across the arena, Sirius extended his hand to Barty. Grabbing it, Barty pulled himself up, spat in Sirius' face and stalked out of the room, eyes still puffy from crying.
"Mr. Black, well done. But I said only to expel one dragon and you released three. I'm afraid I shall have to give a detention to you. You will report to my office when this is over."
"Yes Professor." Sirius grinned. No amount of bloody detentions would take away the memory of Barty shivering on the ground, pinned under Sirius' own spell. He really was going to be an auror one of these days.
Walking over to where Athena and Caitlin were, he was given a wide berth and wary glances from the students.
"So, how'd I do?" he said as he sidled up to them. Gruffly turning away, Athena muttered something and stalked off.
"What's got her knickers in a twist?" He asked, piqued.
"She thought you said you were a bad dueler. She was so worried that you were going to hurt yourself and when you made those dragons pop out, she felt... well, sort of stupid because she was yelling, 'Sirius, Sirius, you don't know what you're doing!' or 'be careful, you'll hurt yourself!' at the top of her lungs. People then started laughing at her." Caitlin offered, still in awe of Sirius and his performance.
"Why? Why'd they start laughing?" he asked sharply.
Startled, Caitlin said, "How the devil should I know? I wasn't laughing at her!"
"Fine, fine." Sirius chuckled, unused to seeing the quiet Gryffindor schoolgirl get as provoked as she was.
"Go apologize, I mean it. She's probably crying now, you know."
"Athena? For heaven's sake, she was called Athena for a reason, you know. Her parents wouldn't name their daughter after a fierce Goddess just because!"
"Idiot! Athena is a weaver! A spinster! Our Athena is probably really fragile. Now I insist you look for her and apologize."
"Fine, fine." He chuckled once more, then set off towards the door.
"Have you seen Athena?" He asked Bart Zolotin, a Hufflepuff who was standing next to the door.
"Yep, run out just now. Wot 'chu do to 'er then?" His cockney accent drove Sirius up the wall, so he declined to answer.
"Where'd she go? Left or right? Just point. I don't want a whole damn essay about why she chose the way she went either."
"But we 'ol choose the way go, event'ally."
"Left or right!" Sirius bellowed, brandishing his wand. "Don't make me do to you what I just did to Crouchy." He whispered threateningly.
"'Ere 'ere, no 'arm dun! Right."
"Thanks!" Sirius flashed a smile and ran out of the room, down the right corridor.

* * *