A/N; As you may have noticed, I'm slightly altering the chapters so rather than there being 8 really short ones, I'm sticking some of them together where appropriate so that they will be longer. I hope that this doesn't cause to much confusion but I thought that in the long run it would probably be more effective.
My friend Katy often accused me of replacing romance with work, but I always disagreed with her. Why did love always have to be our number one priority in life? Why was my being more concerned with school and getting good grades than boys and going on dates so unacceptable to all my friends? At least when Lily was still single I had an ally against the other love- crazed girls in my dorm, but since she started seeing James Potter she was just as crazy as the rest of them.
When our Seventh Year at Hogwarts rolled around, life for me became even harder as my friends went from having silly little liaisons with boys that would end an hour later when they saw him turning another girls hair green, to proper relationships. Lilly, my partner in crime was suddenly deeply in love with James, the boy she claimed to despise just four months before. The world had well and truly gone mad- I was the only one of them who was still sane! Weekends at Hogsmeade stopped being about us girls going out and having fun, and became dating central. Couples were everywhere, they were sitting in front of me in the pub when I tried to get and afternoon drink, they were laughing next to me in the joke shop and they were making out behind the shrieking shack! Nowhere was safe from the deadly duos!
Work was less a replacement and more a refuge for me. Alone in the common room on a Sunday afternoon was the perfect get away from the terrifying world of coupledom outside. So while the rest of my friends were off canoddling at Hogsmeade, I escaped into a world of figures, potions and magic. I guess I sound pretty boring, but before my friends turned into muffin-brained, relationship addicts I knew how to have fun. We used to have outrageous nights, safely locked up in our dorm, where Katy would perform miracles night after night by turning water into wine. Our wild parties used to carry on till dawn, just the four of us having a good time without a boy in sight. Those nights finished the night Lilly tried to smuggle James in- alarms went off and we've been under scrutiny ever since. Another perfectly good way to have fun ruined by the opposite sex and girls inability to function without them.
By this point I had well and truly given up on love, it just seemed to get in my way and take all of my friends from me. However love was more cunning than I gave it credit for, and by the time the first snow had laid a soft, white blanket across the endless Hogwarts grounds, love had devised it's first plan and operation Sirius was finally put into action.
I don't think that I have ever been unfortunate enough to meet anyone who loves themselves quite as much as Sirius Black seemed to. Wherever he was, a mirror was never more than 3 feet away even if he happened to be stuck in the middle of an airless vent of nothingness. He was beautiful, I'll give him that, really out of this world good looking but my God did he know it! He was the type of guy that you'd see holding hands with some girl on the third floor one minute then catch making out with a completely different girl by the library five minutes later. He was also the boy who had caused my friends the most anguish in the past, Katy had been intoxicated by him for almost three years before she met her boyfriend Dave, and I can't tell you how many nights she spent crying over him. A part of me found it all quite pathetic but then again I suppose I didn't understand what it really felt like to be in love. I wouldn't say I disliked Sirius, I just saw past his smooth talking, well groomed exterior to the shallow pit that lay beyond. You would never catch my swooning over his "puppy dog eyes" or falling over myself to be his partner in potions whenever James decided to pair up with Lilly which was starting to happen more often that not. Sadly when Lilly went with James it also meant that I was out of a partner and soon enough the inevitable happened, and Professor Nerf forced Sirius and I together one fateful Thursday afternoon. This was just the beginning of Operation Sirius, and soon enough the two of us were made to do a presentation together on the Properties of effervesce Beans, the vegetable that brings the Bubble out in all of us.
'Would you please take this more seriously Sirius, and put those bubbles down! I knew I shouldn't have given them to you.' I scowled, snatching the new longer lasting enchanted bubbles from his hands before the room turned into a smaller version of the Bubble works.
'Oh come on Ella, its just a stupid Potions assignment. We'll just go in there, blow a couple of bubbles and we'll have aced it.' Moaned Sirius as he slumped back on his chair. It was now past twelve and everyone else had gone to bed hours ago, but I'd forced Sirius to stay and help me with the project he'd been avoiding all week.
'You know that isn't what the beans do Sirius, now will you please focus- I wish I'd never even considered bringing actual bubbles into his, I should have known you wouldn't be mature enough to use them sensibly.' I remarked prissily, throwing the biggest book I could find onto his lap.
'There bubbles for Christ sake Ella- there not supposed to be used sensibly.' He replied wearily, rubbing at his eyes, which were no longer smoulderingly attractive, just red and bleary. I could tell that I was starting to irritate him but it served him right for attempting to let me do the whole thing by myself. We sat in silence for a while, as I skimmed through 'Water and its enchanted properties' and made notes whilst Sirius simply drummed his fingers on the chair impatiently. It would probably have been a lot easier without him there distracting me, but I didn't want him to get away with doing absolutely no work- it was simply the principle of the thing.
'Hey I have an idea, why don't you try a bean to demonstrate what it does.' He said finally, perking up at the idea. I raised my eyebrow at him sardonically, but he seemed completely taken with his new proposal.
'Sirius you know exactly what the beans do and I do not feel like turning into a human sized bubble at this moment in time.' I retorted scathingly. Sirius sighed dramatically
'Well that's the only way I can see this project ever being remotely interesting, you know we could play pop the Ella bubble, it'll be great- could become the new monopoly' He muttered.
'Sirius you really do speak some tremendous crap sometimes.' I snapped
'You're just bitter you didn't think of it first.' He replied with a slight grin. I tried to ignore him, but it all got a bit to much when he began giving me a demonstration of how Pop the Ella Bubble would be played.
'You see I think we should play it on brooms and you could float around the grounds while we go after you with lance like sticks.' He exclaimed, jumping from the chair and bursting an imaginary bubble.
'Right that's it, bed time I think.' I declared, snapping the book shut.
'Okay then mum.' He replied, putting extra emphasis on the last world. I glared at him and stalked off to my dorm.
'Nighty night Ella.' He called after me, but his only reply was the sound of the door slamming.
Love would have to try harder than that in future if it stood a chance of beating me.
A/N: I know that was terrible, but I was trying to build a foundation for Sirius and Ella's relationship.
If you didn't know, The Bubble works is a ride a Chesington World of Adventures where you sit in a dinghy type thing and go through this tunnel of bubbles.
