Chapter 5 - Snivellus

It had been a week and four days since Professor McGonagall had set the transfiguration project, and so far Katie had managed to avoid even opening a book on the subject. It wasn't that she couldn't be bothered to do it, in fact she didn't really mind, but quidditch trials were coming up, and she was practicing hard every day and night. And Sirius wasn't exactly excited about the project, so it simply never got done. Which was exactly the reason why Katie and Sirius were sitting in the library, on a particularly hot sunny day.

Sirius sat gazing wistfully out the window, preparing to sacrifice anything and everything to be able to escape from the stuffy library. Katie sat next to him, a pile of books four foot high next to her, and one open in front of her. She was trying to find out what on earth 'Helia' was, which was the last ingredient they needed. Unfortunately it was one of the first ingredients they needed to use, so without it the project was impossible.

Katie glanced over at Sirius and sighed irritably. It seemed she was the one doing all the work, which was annoying as she knew he had the brains to do it. She gave him a sharp prod in the arm with her quill. He hissed and looked over.

"Are you going to even bother opening a book today?" Katie said angrily. Sirius eyed her warily, he had recently discovered that Katie could be quite vicious when it came to school work.

"Maybe..Why? Are you going to stab me again?" he made an attempt at sounding hurt, but Katie wasn't having any of it.

"Look," she said, slamming the book shut. "I'm fed up of you just sitting there while I look through every book in this bloody library! Either you help me, or I'll shove this book where the sun don't shine!" Sirius considered this for a moment. From past experience he wouldn't put it past her, and the project really did need to get done. He sighed and agreed, picking up a likely book from the ever growing pile in front of Katie.

He flicked through it, searching for anything that might help them. Katie watched him, when it became clear he wouldn't start daydreaming again she carried on looking through her book. Suddenly the word 'Helia' appeared on a page. She eagerly opened it up and looked over it. A second later she had stamped her foot angrily. Sirius looked over.

"What is it now?" he asked. Katie was looking over it, getting more and more agitated.

"It's the print! Look at it, all faded! I can't read a word!" Sirius leaned over.

"Let me see." he said, sliding over next to her to read the book. They both looked down over it, faces barely a inch apart. He squinted at the words for a moment, then sighed.

"Useless, book must be ancient." he said. Katie put her face in her hands. Sirius put an arm around her.

"Look, there's no need to get so worked up about it, we'll find another book." he tried to console her, but apparently the pressure was getting a little too high. With quidditch practices, and all the homework they were being set, a huge project with only three days left to complete it was obviously a bit too much.

Sirius stood up, grabbed her arm, and pulled her off her seat.

"Hey!" she made an attempt to sit back down, but Sirius refused to let her go.

"You need a break!" he said, and forcefully dragged her out of the library. When they had left the library far behind, he let go of her. She whirled around furiously.

"What was that for!?" she cried.

"You're working too hard!" he shouted back.

"Well one of us has got to do the work!" Sirius suddenly felt very guilty. It was true, when he looked back, he had only done a few bits maximum, whereas she had been working non stop ever since they started work on the project. He softened his tone slightly. He didn't need a shouting match right now.

"Look, I'm sorry. You're right, I've hardly done any work. But you're working too hard! There's only so much you can do before you lose it completely and start dancing naked around a bonfire or something!"

Katie bit her lip and tried not to laugh.

"Dancing naked around a bonfire?" Sirius grinned.

"Well at least you're smiling now and not stabbing me with pointy objects."

"Right, well I'm out of the library. What now?"

"Uh...well I hadn't really thought that far..any ideas?" Katie smiled to herself.

"Well, I haven't practiced quidditch today..?" she began hopefully. Sirius laughed.

"You're more obsessed than James! And that's saying something! Fine, it you want to practice, I'll come. I'll ask James if I can borrow his broom."

Half an hour later Sirius, after having surgically removed the broom from James, was up in the air above the quidditch pitch with Katie. He wasn't as big a fan of the game as James, but if it stopped Katie stabbing him with her quill he was all for it. He hovered in front of the hoops, while Katie attempted to put the quaffle past him. He had to admit, she was pretty good, so far she had gotten it past him twelve times, although he was quick to explain that the sun was in his eyes.

After a couple of hours the quaffle was finally locked away, much to Sirius's relief. There was only so many times he could take being beaten. The two walked back to the castle, brooms over their shoulders, taking in the bright sunshine as they crossed the grounds. On the way there they spotted James, Remus and Peter, sitting underneath a tree by the lake. James was messing up his hair and looking hopefully over at Lily, Remus and Peter however, were just lying back in the sun. They had books and parchment scattered around them, obviously signs that the transfiguration project had come second place to just lazing by the lake.

James saw them coming over and waved, gesturing for them to come over and sit next to him.

"Broom's still in one piece then?" asked James, grinning.

"Only just," replied Sirius, settling himself down next to his friend. Katie sat down next to Remus, after nudging him awake.

"How's the project going?" asked Katie, indicating the scattered books.

"Not well, we just can't figure out what the last ingredient is." said Remus, leaning back against the tree.

"Which one's that?"

"Mullwort." Katie sat up.

"Have you found out what Helia is?" she asked hopefully.

"Yup, some herb." Katie was about to ask to see his work when something caught her attention. Sirius and James had just stood up, and were walking over to someone who had just sat down by the lake. Katie shielded her eyes from the sun and saw a boy with greasy skin and a hooked nose, covered slightly by greasy black hair.

"Oh no, not again." Katie sighed.

"What is it?" asked Remus, not opening his eyes.

"Snape." Remus sat up and opened his eyes. He groaned.

Katie had grown used to this by now, but it still annoyed her. Especially since she couldn't see what was wrong with Snape. Sirius and James were quick to explain that he was a 'greasy haired git who deserves what he gets'. But Katie didn't agree with them. Neither did Lily, who was looking over at the scene just like everybody else was.

Sirius and James walked up to Snape, and casually prodded him in the shoulder with their wands.

"Hey snivellus." said Sirius. Snape immediately pulled out his wand and stood up, facing the two with looks of deep hate.

"What?" he asked viciously. James looked over at Sirius.

"You know what mate? I don't like his tone."

"Me neither." said Sirius, raising his wand.

"I think you'd better apologize Snivellus, or we might have to take drastic action." said James, raising his wand menacingly and pointing it at Snape.

"Either you apologize Snivelly, or I might just have to-"

"POTTER!" James whirled around, expecting a teacher. When he saw Lily advancing on him, he immediately lowered his wand and ruffled his hair.

"Hey Evans, "

Katie soon stopped paying attention after this, she knew what was coming. Lily would tell off James, James would then leave Snape alone, and Sirius would soon follow suit. It happened on a regular basis. You could predict it like clockwork.

Katie settled back against the tree, and waited for the others to return.

Yeah I know, really naff chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else for them to do, so this happened. Actual storyline is planned for upcoming chapters...yay! So please review!!!! Oh and cherries not necessary, I'd settle for some chocolate....or maybe some ice cream.... Suggestions welcome! What do you want to happen next? Oh and while I'm at it, I have LOADS of coursework to do so don't be surprised if I don't update everyday, but I'll try for every other day...hopefully...umm...yup....woo!