Chapter Four

"What happened?" I asked, although I was fairly sure I already knew, but felt compelled to ask anyways. This is going to lead to a lot of questions. I must think something up, and fast by the look on Sirius' face...

"Emerald! Are you okay?! You really scared us!" Sirius exclaimed with concern-filled eyes.

Okay, you're probably going to ridicule me for this, but instead of handling the situation at hand, I went in a whole 'nother direction. Being fairly sure at what had happened, my mind was only capable of zooming in and focusing on one insignificant word. "Us?" I asked with a puzzled expression.

Sirius seemed to disregard what I said and continued, "You freaked me out! One minute you were laughing, the next you collapsed on the floor in convulsions! Are you sure you're not okay? We should take you to the Hospital Wing!"

But of course me, having that one-tracked state of mind at the moment, I repeated dumbly, "Us?"

With a wave of his hand and an almost incredulous look he just dismissed my question with, "Yeah, James, Remus, Peter and me. Are you okay?" He proceeded to scrutinize me from head to toe, regarding me with wary glances as if he expected me to go into another fit of wild spasms at any moment. Which I know was not at all likely. After all I've never had a double attack before, but how was he to know that?

I finally took the chance to look around me. As I peered over Sirius' shoulder, I noticed a slightly nervous looking young man who had rich brown, just-above-the-shoulder-length hair and dark espresso eyes. Next to him was a slightly beady-eyed kid with dirty blonde hair who had a flushed looking face, and was constantly fidgeting with his hands. Sirius gave me a rough pinch on the cheek, and looked slightly more satisfied at my state of health.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, "That hurt!" Sirius just smiled roguishly. By this time a few students who had noticed my "attack," alerted the staff. Professor McGonagall pushed her way through the ever-growing flood of students surrounding us. Funny how I hadn't notice them 'till now.

"What's going on here?!" she asked huffily. What the hell do you think? You look as if you're about to have an aneurysm or something. "Why are you on the floor Miss...." Words seem to fail her at this point. Or she had honestly forgotten my name. Really, senility hits young these days...

"Tromdlov?" Sirius supplied with laughter in his voice.

McGonagall gave Sirius a sharp glance before turning back towards me. "Why are you on the floor Miss Tromdlov?" she repeated.

I was actually pretty surprised at my own audacity at what I said next. "Oh, Professor! I just fancied a little lie down, and decided that this marble floor looked rather inviting!" Sirius laughed right out, while the dark-eyed one of his friends stifled a grin and the twitchy one laughed uneasily. I just noticed something! One of Sirius' friends must be missing, cause I could've sworn he'd named three people beside himself...Oh, well back to the present.

Professor McGonagall seemed like death itself in comparison to Sirius, and she did not seem in the least bit, amused. In fact, she looked slightly perturbed...whom am I kidding?! She was royally pissed! She fixated such a stern gaze upon me that I thought I'd nearly crack under the strain those eyes seemed to be emanating. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, and looked away.

Only to meet the headmaster's twinkling eyes, who seemed to be enjoying all of this a little too much. I resisted the urge to flinch, and instead settled for wiping my face clean, completely devoid of all emotion whatsoever. This, I suspect, only made his eyes grin wider. (If that makes any sense.) His face was creased lightly with thin wrinkles, and only the slightly trace of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Sirius, God Bless Him. Was such an angel at that moment, he came to my rescue from the heinous McGonagall and the mad Dumbledore. "Um—Professor McGonagall. I think it would be best if we discussed this in private, for it is a rather...well...fragile subject for our Emerald dearest." He gave me a small wink before continuing, my cue to play along. Though I hardly need to, since it is more than somewhat close to the truth...but he doesn't need to know that. "So if you wouldn't too terribly mind..." This time he had a hint of hardness in his voice.

Professor McGonagall looked slightly affronted, but before she could reply, an earsplitting "BOOM" reverberated across the room, accompanied by a cloud of red and purple smoke. The Great Hall flew into an uproar: some panicking, others laughing as if it were some great joke. "That's are cue babe!" Sirius said with a wink before scooping me up in his arms and practically skipping out of the hall, with me in tow. At least now I think I know where Sirius' missing friend went...

A/N: Hope you liked it! I know it was kind of short, but I had SO much homework to do! I figure that I can either write relatively short chapters and update about every other day, or make you guys wait like a month and have a really long chapter. No offense for those who like it that way, but I'd rather do the former.The last chapter was written a bit weird, when I went back and reread it, I was like "What was that all about?" Oops! Thank-you Smileyface3 (thanks for reviewing ch. 1! Too nice of you! lol and Thestral Tamer! My reviewers! Yay! It's so nice to be able to say that! Well, in answer to a couple comments. I didn't actually know it was going to be Sirius either; it was a last second spur-of-the-moment thing! You know? Oh and I originally hadn't planned this fic to be pre-Harry at all! Go figure. One thing led to another and well, that's what ended up happening! Well, I'm glad my readers enjoyed. So see ya next time!