Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this update has taken so long. This is one of my favorite chapters, but I had no idea how to start it. This story is loosely based on an RP that I was in. So, this chapter is designed around that RP, as will the next few chapters. The reason I love this one is that I initiated most of what happens here (I played Sirius Black) so things will be fun!
Beaucoup mercies to all the members in PoH for involuntarily helping me with this story!
And much thanks to all my reviewers: DimTwilight, Anne-Evans89, BlackWiltedRose, EVILMWHAA HA HA HA HAA, don't-give-me-a-pen, madderthanyou, deathbycookie15, ISRA-GIRL, Munku-JGSPTV.
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Chapter III- In Which We Explore.
Most of the first day back to school was uneventful. Many of the teachers insisted on giving hour long lectures about how the seventh year was the most important and how the NEWT's were going to shape the life of every student in the classroom.
The Marauders spent their time either sleeping or hexing random people in the room—mainly the Slytherins. In the first hour alone, Sirius and James had managed to make someone's quill explode—granting the owner, Lucious Malfoy, a night of detention; turn four girls' hair neon colors, and charmed Severus Snape's inkpot to move every time he tried to dip his quill in it.
Needless to say that by the time lunch rolled around, three people were in the hospital wing. One with boils, another with an extremely large nose, and the third couldn't speak, only quack; all were Slytherin. And the four boys that caused it all were all huddled in a tight group at an edge of the Gryffindor table, hunched over in laughter and, in between handfuls of food, were discussing their next prank.
Both Sirius and James received harsh glares Lily Evans as they walked through the corridor to Potions. The seventh year Gryffindors were lucky enough to have potions with the Slytherins. Joy. And it seemed that Lily knew who was causing the ruckus in their other classes. It was certain that the Marauders would get an earful later on that night, especially James.
Professor Jones, the potions teacher, was never like the rest of the staff. And instead of forcing his students through another speech about the NEWTs, he set them to work on a new potion—allowing them to choose their own partners. Of course, Sirius and James paired up, as did Peter and Remus, and Lily and Emmeline. Professor Jones's assignment proved to be challenging after having a summer with no magic practice, so no one was hexed. Although, ten minutes before class ended, Narcissa Black's cauldron exploded, spewing lavender colored goop on everything within a yard's distance. While no one blamed Sirius or James, Lily sent a glare their way, along with Emmeline's half-hearted attempt to glare while hiding a grin.
When dinnertime came, the four boys were thoroughly balled up with laughter in their seats. A few tears touched James' eyes as they relived the day's experiences.
"Did you see Narcissa's hair?! She's never going to wash that out." Chuckled James just before he was sent into a coughing fit for laughing so hard.
Sirius clapped his best mate on the back, trying to help him, while still laughing.
"That stuff is like gum, she'll have to cut her hair."
Because of all the merry-making the group almost forgot to eat, almost, and nearing the end of dinner, Sirius almost didn't notice the hazel-eyed girl that excused herself from the conversation with Lily, Hestia, Alice and Molly and leave the Great Hall alone, almost.
His chocolate eyes followed her form, even though she didn't seem to notice, kind of like how he didn't notice Prongs, Moony and Wormtail pause mid-chew and stare from him to Emmeline. Finally, after Emmeline had disappeared behind the great oaken doors, Sirius stood, grinning.
"Don't wait up boys." Her marched out after her, leaving his friends a bit confused but amused nevertheless.
Sirius only paused after he had stepped through the portal to the outside. His cool gaze slid across the landscape, looking for a dirty-blonde head. Then he spotted her, sitting casually under a tree. She was sitting up against a tree; legs curled under her, hand sin her lap, tarnished gold locks dancing in the breeze and blank gaze in the direction of the lake. She was breath taking. Sirius ran an unconscious hand through his hair, causing it to change form, but ultimately wind up perfect, and slowly sauntered over to her.
Emmeline didn't notice him until he was standing right above her. And even then, it took her a while. Her brow arched in question as he just starred down at her. She coughed loudly into her hand.
"May I help you?"
The boy dropped down to his haunches, folding his hands and arms on his knees in front of her.
"I was merely wondering why a beautiful lady, such as yourself, was out here without an escort."
Sirius decided that a gentlemanly approach would best fit Emmeline. His lips quirked in a lop-sided smile as his eyes held hers.
"I was trying to escape the din..." She shrugged, tilting her head to the side.
"Well, shall we go for a walk then? The lake is lovely at this time of day." He made a motion with his arm to point out the sunset.
Emmeline blinked. I Did he just call the lake lovely? This can't be the Sirius Black I know. /I She shook her head a bit, realizing this was in fact the same Sirius Black that had hexed her all through fifth year and the beginning of sixth. Of course, Emme had hexed him back many times; it just seemed to make him want to hex her more. Emmeline was a inch away from thinking this was some kind of joke or that it was a trap. Even though she could very well take care of herself, it unnerved her just a bit. But a casual glance around the grounds told her that, besides a few Ravenclaw third years, they were the only ones out there, probably because dinner wasn't over yet.
"I suppose..." She looked around again, just incase, "A walk would be all right."
Sirius nodded and stood, taking a step back and holding out his arm for her. Emmeline smiled politely and put her hand on his arms as, between the both of them, she got to her feet and smoothed out her robes. Sirius led the way to the lake. The walk was silent, and by the time they got there, it was dark and there was only five minutes until curfew.
"It's late, we should go back in." Emmeline shifted uncomfortably, never having been one to break rules. Although, the thought of being on the grounds, after hours with Sirius Black, the Gryffindor God himself, was a tantalizing bit. "It's almost cur-"
Sirius turned her about, keeping a firm grin on her arm, so that she could see the lake and the giant tentacle that broke the calm surface.
"-few."
Whatever Emmeline had been thinking of was quickly whipped away as the view before her unfolded. The light from the crescent moon glinted off the serene waters of Hogwart's Lake, and even though the stars had yet to emerge, as the beams of the sun was still barely visible, the place seemed to be heaven. She must have gone into an oblivious state of awe because Sirius was gently shaking her shoulders.
"Emmeline... Emmeline, are you ok?"
Blinking wildly, Emmeline nodded.
"Ye-yeah. It's just so beautiful, I would have never known..."
She shook her head and Sirius grinned.
"But we're going to get caught, and I don't fancy a detention in the first week of school."
"We wont get caught, you forget who you're with." Sirius smiled from ear to ear, but it faded as the expression on Emmeline's changed from awe to stubborn. "Look, I'll disillusion us so that if anyone comes by, they wont see us."
"Trust me, I've done this a thousand times..." Sirius' thumb made soft circles on Emmeline's arm in a reassuring and seductive manner.
Emmeline's eyes went blank for a moment as Sirius trailed fiery circles on her arm. A cold shiver went up her spine and brought her back to reality.
"Oh all right, but if we get caught, you have to attend one of our girls' nights." She nodded and grinned at him.
"Fair enough," Sirius spoke as he searched his robes for his wand. "A-ha."
He tapped Emmeline on the head with his wand. She felt as if someone had cracked an egg on her head and its contents were sliding down her body. She looked down as her legs slowly faded from view and instantly felt nauseous.
Sirius tapped himself on the head and was disillusioned just as Emme was. He tightened his grip on Emmeline's arm and began them on a journey around the lake.
"See? Not so bad, is it?"
Emmeline nodded and a soft sigh escaped her lips.
"I guess you're right, and much as I hate to admit it..."
"Shush..."
Both Sirius and Emmeline stopped. Sirius could hear footsteps on the grass. He should have figured; they were on the side of the lake closest to Hogwarts. About that time, Lily Evans came into view. Emmeline gave a sigh of relief and leaned closer to Sirius.
"It's only Lily."
Sirius shook his head.
"And we're not supposed to be out here." He whispered into her ear.
Lily paused, and looked right where they were standing, brow arched in confusion. One of the first things the students learned was that just because you couldn't see something, didn't mean nothing was there, especially when you can hear that something.
Emmeline bit her lower lip. Realization ad dawned. Lily wasn't going to be exactly happy when she found out that Emmeline was out after hours. While being the best friend of the head Girl had it's advantages, there were also consequences like being yelled at for hours on end after breaking a rule.
Sirius broke Emme's train on thought by tugging slightly on her arm, and whispering 'Don't make a sound.' The two slowly backed up. Lily placed her hands on her hips and speed her gaze about.
"Come out, I know you're here."
One could only tell that she was tapping her foot, even though it couldn't he heard over the breeze and was hidden behind her robes.
"If you don't come out now, I'm going to give you a weeks worth of detention and am going to deduct ten points from your house."
Lily's indifferent expression faded into an annoyed one. Sirius and Emmeline, however, continued to move backwards. And in a few moments time, they were back to back with the Black Forest. Sirius cursed under his breath. Evans just had to be so stubborn. Fumbling in his robes again, Sirius pulled out his wand, pointed it at Lily and flicked his wrist.
Instantly, a 'poof' sounded around Lily as she was transfigured into a canary. Sirius snorted, and Emmeline bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh.
"Come on, that wont last long." Sirius chuckled as he pulled Emmeline further towards the lake and away from the canary Lily and Hogwarts. Unfortunately for the two, Lily was equally determined and stubborn, and, as it turned out, could still think quiet rationally. For, as the two made their way down to the lake, keeping in line with the forest, the bright yellow Evans gripped her dropped wand with her talons and flew in the direction on the noises.
Sirius just happened to glance back over his shoulder and see Lily trying to fly towards them. He couldn't' help but laugh.
"Wonderful..." Sirius shook his head and tugged gently on Emme's hand, which was now firmly in his, he noticed—just when did that happen?
Emmeline peered around Sirius and saw Lily. Sirius could feel her body tense, even though only their hands were touching.
There was going to be no way around it, they'd have to give themselves up. Well, at least one of them would have to, and in a bold, gentlemanly move, Sirius decided who it was going to be. He yanked Emmeline, by the hand, into the forest. In reality, they were only about a yard into the forest, but Emme wasn't feeling too good about it. He led the way behind a rather large tree with a thick trunk; unfortunately, it would only be able to hide one of them. He pulled both of Emmeline's hands into his and squeezed them.
"Sirius... what are you doing?"
He shook his head.
"Look, Lily is way too stubborn for her own good. She's not going to give up until she finds us. Well, one of us. I'm going to go out there and give myself away. You wait here until we leave and then follow us up, keep to the shadows and stay relatively quiet and you'll get back to the common room with no problems."
Emmeline opened her mouth to say something in protest, but Sirius cut her off before could mutter anything.
"Just do it. There's no point in both of us getting caught, is there? Besides, I'm going for a record, 'Most detentions in a mouth.' My old record is pretty pathetic."
Sirius grinned playfully, and Emmeline couldn't help but smile. He squeezed her hands once more and leaned down slowly, that unmistaken gleam in his eye of the future midnight snogging sessions up in the Astronomy tower and other possible... things on other nights involving a four-poster...
But Emmeline was too quick for him. She pulled one of her hands from his and covered his lips and the space around them with her hand. She smirked and raised her brows.
"Nice try lover boy, I'm not I that /I easy to win over of the first date."
Sirius returned her smirk.
"Date huh?"
Emmeline's mouth dropped. She hadn't meant for it to come out like that, but, as a second thought, their little walk had really become a sort of date... kind of. They did hold hands through most of it, and they had at probably the most romantic stop that Hogwarts had...
She huffed, trying to sound indifferent. But Sirius could see through her façade—she was breaking down.
"I better get going."
He smiled expectantly down at her, but she wasn't going to give in. Not just yet, she told herself, better to make him work for it.
"Good luck!"
Sirius flashed her a brilliant and mischievous grin and left the safety of the forbidden forest.
Lily was standing there, about two yards away from the dark forest. Even though it was night, Sirius could tell that Lily's face was almost the same shad of red that her vibrant hair was and in a cartoon, steam would be spewing from his ears.
As soon as Sirius feet made contact with the crisp grass, Lily jumped and spun around. Her wand was in her hand and her hand was positioned out before her. They way she looked, Sirius was surprised that she hadn't hexed him already.
"Black! I should have known it would be you... gallivanting off in the middle of the night. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Sirius couldn't help himself. He smirked, casually folding his arms across his chest. His eyes moved up to the sky as he glanced around.
"Hm. I'd say... night time."
Lily's eyes narrowed dangerously and her brow knotted in furry.
"Somehow I expected that from you. Now, let's see."
Her lips quirked into a bit of a smile. It was well known that the only one of the Marauders that Lily got along with was Remus, and that was because he was almost as studious as her, and he wasn't the one behind most of the pranks. Although she was almost positive that he had a hand in organizing excuses, escape routes and the like.
"Being on the grounds after hours, I believe that a detention or two is in ord-"
"Lily, wait!"
Emmeline shifted uncomfortably in her spot as her best friend turned to face her, pure shock radiating from her everywhere.
"Em, what are you...? Why are you...?"
Lily dropped her wand hand to her side as she gaped at Emmeline. Emme peered at the ground, rubbing one of her arms with the opposite hand. She didn't even look up as Lily continued to try and comprehend what she saw before her.
"But with him?!"
Both girls inadvertently glanced up to see that Sirius had slightly back way from the two, inching closer to the lake. He wasn't one of just run from something like that, seeing as he had every intention of taking the blame for Emmeline. Of course, Emme couldn't just stand there and wait and let Sirius take the rap for what both of them had done. Not to mention, she was almost certain that there was something moving around behind her and she wasn't exactly looking forward to meeting whatever it was.
"Yeah... we just decided to go for a walk, and well, here we are..."
Lily's mouth just hung open. She turned towards Sirius and gave him a glare that clearly said 'stay away from my best friend.' And she opened her mouth to scold him about corrupting innocent girls when she was cut off by a few hurried footsteps crushing the grass. Lily rolled her eyes and clenched her fists together as she turned at the waist to see who was coming.
"Oye, Evans. I've been looking for you everywhere. McGonagall wanted me to tell you... Padfoot?"
James stopped a mere foot or so away from Lily, looking straight past her and at his best friend, arching a brow in question.
Sirius shrugged and drug the toe of his show along a short line in front of him. He motioned to Emme with his eyes, explaining everything to his mate with complete body language. James and Sirius were closer than brothers, so they had the weird connection that allowed them to do things like that.
Lily lifted a finger and pointed it accusingly at James.
" I Your /I friend somehow talked Emme into coming out her, after hours!"
"Whoa, hold on tiger," James put up his hands in defense, "I'm sure he didn't do anything to her that I wouldn't do to you..."
His last remark was accented by a suggesting waving of his brows, a snort from Sirius' direction and a few stifled giggles from the hand that had come to cover Emmeline's mouth.
"Exactly my point! There's no telling what he could have done to her!"
Emmeline bounced her weight back a forth from one foot to another, glanced nervously over at Sirius then took the remaining steps to stand next to him.
"Um, do you think we should stop them? They could be at it all night..."
But before Sirius could respond with a smart remark on how it was just more fun to watch them bicker, Lily squealed, and made a mad dash to pull Emmeline from Sirius.
"Em! What has he done to you?"
Lily held her friend at arms length and looked her over.
"Nothing, Lil, really I'm perfectly fine. I'm out her by my own free will."
James had followed Lily to their two friends, standing next to Sirius.
"See, Evans, no harm done. Everyone's ok so we should just go back to the common room..."
Lily turned to James, hands now poised on her hips and about to suggest that he sod off.
"Yeah, Lil, lets go. I'm tired."
Lily sighed and rolled her eyes to the sky.
"Oh alright... we'll head back. But first..."
Her eyes narrowed as she regarded Sirius seriously. Lily took a few steps forward, and Sirius took a step back, not exactly liking the fact that she was so close and that she had one of those looks in her eyes that clearly meant anything was possible. Her pursed lips broke into a grin. She lifted a hand and firmly pushed Sirius backwards, and into the lake.
Before Sirius knew what was going on, Sirius was extremely wet and really cold, and the three still on firm ground were buckled over with laughter.
Sirius frowned and marched up the bank of the lake and next to the rest of them feeling rather... soggy.
"Yeah, yeah, very funny."
"That was for turning me into a canary."
Sirius could have sworn he heard her snort.
James patted Lily on the back.
"I never knew you had it in you."
She shot him another one of her 'looks', which only had James grin at her.
"Whatever; come on, let's go."
Lily stomped off, with James close behind her.
Emmeline turned to Sirius and paused, watching him wring water out of his cloak.
"Here..." Emmeline pulled out her wand and cast a drying spell over Sirius.
"Thanks."
Sirius ran a hand through his hair, grinned, then slipped a hand around Emme's shoulders and steered her back towards the castle where James and lily were a good few yards ahead of them.
"You didn't have to do that, you know. I could have handled it."
Sirius peered down and into the hazel orbs that were intently on him.
"I know, but I couldn't just let you get in trouble because of me."
"Yeah well, just don't do it again. I mean, how am I going to break my record if you keep stepping in like that?"
He grinned down at her and tightened his grip around her shoulders as she playfully smacked his chest and trying to pull away.
The two paused as they heard the shout of the girl ahead of them.
"Not even in your dreams, Potter!"
Her cheeks glowed as she spun around and marched up the steps, with an indignant James chasing after her.
"Come on Evans, it's just a date!"
Sirius snorted, and both erupted in laughter as they followed the footsteps of the Head Girl and Boy back to the Gryffindor common room.
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Finishing Notes: I hadn't expected this chapter to be so long... but I guess compared to some other's I've seen, it's pretty short huh? Ah well.
I'm not sure when the next update will be, I start school tomorrow (Senior year, yay!) And along with school comes all those other responsibilities and junk, so I don't know when I get around to writing chapter four.
Teaser: Chapter IV- In Which We Begin to Understand. Presenting Severus Snape and Narcissa Black as the horrible selves. Who knew that a quiet afternoon under the shade of a tree could lead to a potentially fatal trip to the hospital wing? It's Black vs. Black in a duel to... the snake? Next time, on Lima bean!