Sirius was reluctant to leave Bella to face her dorm alone, he had mulled over the possibilities a hundred times in his mind as he paced himself through his morning routine. It was oddly early and eerily quiet as he pulled his soft black sweater over the white t-shirt that clung to the dampness on his body from the shower. Sirius shook his head full of wet hair resembling a dog shaking the wetness from it's coat. Tiny droplets of water rained down on the nightstand that he shared with Remus and fell upon an open roll of parchment causing several of the words to bleed and smear. Sirius cringed as he realized that he had just marred the pristine condition of Remus' Transfiguration essay on The Physical & Mental Effects of Prolonged Time Spent in Animagus Form, which he had been working on tediously.
Remus had begged Sirius to be his test subject but Sirius would have nothing to do with it, "What, you just want me to take my classes in my Animagus form? Just curl up at Flitwick's feet in charms?"
"You could be dead useful in Herbology Sirius, digging in the dirt and all." interjected Peter as they trudged up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. This caused James to start snickering at the thought of his best friend joining him in class in the form of the large black dog that they all knew him to be.
"Ah so Mr. Potter finally decides to pipe up, I was just waiting for an excuse to throw him off on you! Here Remus why don't you ask James to be your test subject?" Sirius asked feigning annoyance as they all came to rest at the top of the stairs.
"Well, he's rather big isn't he?" Remus said thoughtfully
"Thanks Remus I get that a lot." James answered without missing a beat.
Sirius replaced the parchment back on the table gingerly, deciding that he wouldn't risk the possibility of destroying it with a spell to clean it up.
Having some extra time alone since the group of his friends had headed off to serve their early morning detention and no longer having Bella to keep him occupied Sirius set to work on getting ahead on some of his studies. He settled into a large soft chair off to the side of the warm fire ablaze in the empty Gryffindor common room, momentarily glancing out the frost covered window at the dim pink and orange of the early morning sky. The moon was still visible along with some rapidly fading stars and was steadily approaching fullness; it would only be a few more days until Remus would be claimed by his affliction.
Sirius grinned to himself thinking back on how Moony had tried so desperately to hide the fact that he was a werewolf from the group fearing that they would be afraid to remain close with him. If anything, finding out that Remus was a werewolf only intrigued the group of friends causing James and Sirius to go on a mad hunt to find any information on becoming Animagi. They were determined to accompany Remus secretly, not only for curiosity regarding the werewolf but to keep their friend company and out of trouble during what seemed to be a very stressful business to Remus. Sirius had been the one to finally find the ancient book with the information on how to transform in his own family library at Grimmauld Place.
While he sat gazing absently out the window of the common room the thought of the huge shadowy library in his parents' house caused chills to creep up Sirius' spine as the same musty smell rose from the book in his lap making his nose wrinkle in displeasure. Sirius lifted the book to study it for a moment; it was thick and severely worn, the gold lettering on the spine and cover now barely visible. Sirius' eyes softened for a moment as he thought of his father. The book had belonged to him when he had attended school at Hogwarts many years before, and although it was extremely old it was still required for Transfiguration, certainly one of Sirius' toughest and most challenging subjects.
Sirius had felt compelled to go searching for the book over his summer holiday having seen it before and hoping that his father's markings and notes still remanded. He opened the front cover of the book with a bit of apprehension, he wasn't sure why but he felt nervous as if he were not supposed to be handling property that was not his own.
The inside the cover was stamped with a log of ownership usually used for the purposes of reselling school books as "used" at a reduced price. The only owner marked on the list was written in a very slanted and sharp tightly written script Dominic Aurelius Black. Sirius, recognizing his father's penmanship, sat for several moments in heavy silence staring at the page. He felt a lump rise in his throat unexpectedly and was forced to look back out the window sighing heavily as to prevent tears from escaping his eyes. He had never thought for a moment that simply handling his father's old book would be such a hard thing to do.
Sirius swallowed hard as he looked back down at the book determined to move forward with his studies. He began to slowly turn through the pages noting the underlined sentences and paragraphs as well as notes written off to the sides and along the bottoms of the pages. There wasn't a page left unmarked, he had elaborated on every single thing that had been written in the book, this caused Sirius to smile the sting still in his eyes.
Dominic Black had been a remarkable student, he had received outstanding marks throughout school and had scored so high on his N.E.W.T.s that many had claimed he was a genius. But Sirius' father had never bought into that saying, "I'm thorough in my assessments, and I try to find my own answers to questions. I'm not a genius I just don't trust anyone." He would laugh lightly after stating this but it was a true statement all the same.
Suddenly the memories came flooding back, things that he had pushed out of his mind for so long, things that he didn't have to think about while in the safety of Hogwarts. Sirius never stopped wondering if his father had insisted that he attend Hogwarts for this very reason, no matter what he was protected. Only now the rules had changed, all of the things that Sirius had worked so hard to separate himself from where now surrounding him once more and in this the safest of places. Ever since Bellatrix had come back into his life it seemed that those same cold dark feelings, like something constantly lurking just a few steps behind were always present. It was the same way that he felt when in the presence of his mother or in the family home and the feelings made him sick not wanting to associate anything unpleasant with Bella.
Sirius let his mind wander as he reclined in the chair thinking of things that he had not thought about in a very long time.
A velvet burgundy chair warm around him due to lack of movement over a long period of time, his mind and body numb as he allowed the rumbling symphony of hushed voices and tinkle of glassware to lull him into a conscious dream state. The smell of cigar smoke mingled with roasted meats and burning candle wax hung thick in the air as people came and went, glancing over at him but never approaching.
It was better this way, he could continue to pretend that he was blind and that the room was empty. He could pretend that he was away from this horrible place and these wicked people, he could make-believe that he was sitting in the common room waiting on his friends to come find him. He could pretend that his father was still alive, and that at any moment he would hear his low, calm voice enter the conversation with the men in the far corner of the room. He would hear the crystal decanter hit the side of the glass and spill amber liquid against it's sides, he would hear the flick of the large heavy litter being ignited and the puff of a cigar being lit. And then a sigh, he could almost hear it. He would sigh as if immediately relaxed from the routine, and then he would speak.
"Gentlemen. Is everyone accounted for? Has anyone seen Anastasia?"
Sirius' eyes suddenly fought to focus, his heart stopping in his chest as he took note of the familiar voice. His gaze shot directly over to the group of men by the high open archway of intricately carved mahogany. He met the gaze of Asher Malfoy, a tall extremely hansom man crowned with an exquisite main of white blond hair, standing amongst the crowd of black cloaks. Asher had just entered the room but was looking directly at Sirius as he spoke to the group of darkly dressed wizards near him. A pained expression slipped across his face as he nodded ever so slightly in recognition of Sirius sitting in the far corner of the room.
A lump formed in Sirius' throat as tears began to sting the corners of his eyes seeing his fathers friend so far from him, so solemn, so not himself. Sirius moved to close his eyes wishing it would all just be over, this torture of being on display. As he began to slip once more into his imaginary oblivion he noticed something bright and vibrant enter the room of shadow and darkness. A beautiful girl with long tendrils of curling crimson hair had just made her way commandingly through the archway followed by two lovely blondes who stopped as they entered to speak with Asher and the group of men who were smoking tiny perfectly rolled cigars.
The girl, who seemed aglow with her own luminance, passed them all to walk directly over to Sirius gazing down at him with the most sympathetic eyes he had ever seen. Her cheeks stained with tears her dark lashes glistening, she stood before him in silence. Sirius knew her at once even though it had been such a long time since he had last seen her. It was Andromeda Black, the eldest daughter of his father's brother Caesar Black.
Sirius attempted to speak to her but found that he could force no words from his mouth, his throat was tight and dry and he wondered for the first time how long he had been sitting quietly in the corner of the room. A tear escaped Andromeda's eye, they were the brightest green eyes that he had ever seen and he thought to himself how much like an angel she looked. She brought her finger softly to her lips to signal him not to speak as she slid lightly on to his lap without warning and wrapped her long thin arms about his neck.
The feel of the warmth and weight of her body embracing him was so comforting that he felt his own arms wrap around her small waist without thought or hesitation drawing her closer, hiding himself. Kissing the top of his head as Sirius bent into her shoulder she whispered, "Everything will be alright Sirius."
As she spoke he could feel the warm tears falling from her eyes onto his neck sending chills through him as they roll down to be absorbed by his crisp black shirt collar. She smelled of milk and honey as one would imagine the holy virgin to smell and it was a welcomed escape from the bitter overbearing scent of the room around him.
Tears began to fall slowly from his own eyes that were now safely buried in the black velvety folds of her robes. She stroked her hands through his hair gently, as if she was a mother quieting a scared child causing his composure to breakdown but effectively hidden from the gazes of the on looking vultures that circled them. Why had his mother not been here to do this, why had she not comforted him, why could she not even look him in the eye.
"This is hard for her as well Sirius, we can only hope that she will come around." Andormeda answered his thoughts a loud. He pulled back to look up into her gentle eyes, tears running down his cheeks.
"She blames me, I don't know why, I don't know what I did…" The relentless tightening in his throat from the pain that his own words caused cut off Sirius' voice. Andromeda cupped his face with one hand brushing aside the tears and leaning in to speak.
"This has nothing to do with you Sirius, you know that. She just doesn't know how to handle the pain of loosing Uncle Dominic, don't blame her, give her time." Sirius closed his eyes at hearing his father's name, feeling as though he would be consumed with misery. Letting his head fall back to rest against the chair he sighed, reclaiming his voice and whispering, "Where is Caesar?"
Andromeda sputtered a bit, then answered in a wavering voice causing Sirius to open his eyes once more now out of concern for his cousin.
"He wouldn't come, he has locked himself in his study…we haven't seen him for days. He will only speak to Bella, she is with him now. She says that she has never seen him like this before and she is worried that he will drink himself into an early grave." Andromeda lifted her hand to her mouth as if to suppress the anguish that she was feeling, then continuing in whispered sobs.
"I fear that is what he wants."
Sirius jumped feeling an icy hand grab his shoulder and sat up quickly in the chair with a gasp causing the book to spill to the floor with a loud bang bringing him back to reality.
"Calm down! What's the matter with you? Were you asleep? I've been talkin to you for about five minutes now." Sirius turned to see Peter still standing with his hand out where it had made contact with his shoulder. Sirius took in a very jagged deep breath and placed his hand on his chest beginning to smile.
"You damn near scared the life out of me Peter. I guess I must have dropped off." Peter was now smiling back as he continued to peel through several layers of cloths and warm himself by the fire. Many pairs of feet came thudding around the fireplace to where Sirius was seated upon hearing the commotion.
"Sirius Black you dog! How is that you get to sneak girls into your bed with you at night? What the hell is your secret?" Yelled Fabian, causing the group to shush him furiously and glance around to be sure no one was listening, as he bounded up practically knocking Peter into the fire.
"Watch it!" Growled Peter indignantly, but he was drowned out by Solace and Jacob rushing forward to greet Sirius.
"I guess it helps to have a prefect on your side." Sirius said going slightly red at everyone knowing the happenings of his dorm room the night before. Remus just smirked at the comment as he scooted in to lean against the window.
"And to think of the hell I caught from you when you found out I was to be a prefect." James had just stepped forward to take a seat on the stubby round ottoman in front of Sirius when he noticed the book at his friend's feet. He bent to pick it up and in doing so noticed a small shimmering image on the floor.
"Hello. Who is she?" James asked, a wicked grin forming on his face as he viewed the small picture more closely tossing the book carelessly to Sirius.
"Here! Give me that!" Sirius said as he reached for the picture only to have it plucked from his reach by Remus whose eyes went wide along with his grin.
"Honestly Sirius slow down cause I can't even keep track anymore!" Remus laughed as Sirius snatched the tiny picture roughly from his hands.
"I don't understand…" but Sirius' words were halted as he looked at the picture. It was an old photo of a young beautifully exotic girl with dark hair and features, a look of savage confidence on her face. She looked to be no more than fifteen in the photo but her eyes seemed to reflect lifetimes worth of hardening.
"So come on, tell us…who is she?" encouraged James who was gazing at Sirius with stressed curiosity noting his friends pale pallor and shaky disposition. Sirius frowned slightly as he poured over the picture.
"She's my mum."
The boys, knowing all to well how stressed the practically nonexistent relationship between Sirius and his mother was, did not broach the subject further. Instead they all exchanged uneasy glances and began to break off heading up towards the dorms to shower and change for the glorious Sunday that was dawning. Sirius starred at the picture for a long time mentally working things over in his mind before he was interrupted by a calm friendly voice.
"She was really quite pretty…in an evil temptress sorta way." James said with a comfortable grin, now the only person left in the common room with Sirius. A smile broke on Sirius' face at being pulled away from his thoughts by his best friend's comment. He took his eyes from the picture and then slipped it back into his father's book feeling as though he had disturbed its sanctuary.
"What's the book?" James nodded down indicating the shabby work that Sirius was tucking the picture back into.
"It's one of my dad's old transfiguration books with all his notes. I nicked it from the library this passed summer and I had forgotten all about it until Professor McGonagall assigned us that essay on the 10 most widely used spells of transfiguration sighting their origins and effects…"
"Ah yes, a little paper that I like to refer to as it's going to take me three bloody weeks to finish so I'm copying off Moony, he's already half done you know." James grumbled interrupting Sirius and having particularly nasty thoughts about their Transfiguration teacher who seemed to be under the impression that Transfiguration was the only subject that anyone in the school was taking.
"How do you plan to trick Moony into letting you copy, you'll have to tie him up and then use a memory charm so he doesn't turn you in." Said Sirius abandoning his former train of thought for the new prospect of copying Remus' work. James sat thoughtfully for a moment and then answered.
"Well I hadn't really worked all that out yet, but it sounds like a good idea to me." Sirius just smirked at James who was giving his most winning smile. "So that's your dad's book from school, did ya know that picture was in there, you seemed a bit doggy at seeing it. Sorry bout that I didn't realize…"
"What do I care." Sirius said in a low voice making a small scowl then looking up at James questioningly. "What I don't understand is why it was there at all. I mean Mum didn't go to school here so they couldn't have met till after they were already out and if that's the case why was my dad walking about with a picture of her as a girl and with his old school book?"
"Are you sure that they didn't know each other in school?" Asked James absently pulling his fingers through his hair as he stood to make his way towards the dorms to ready himself for the day. Sirius frowned in thought for a moment before answering.
"I guess anything is possible, no one ever really talked much around my house about the past or such frivolous things as first meetings."
"Well there you go, there's no point in mulling it over besides hearing romantic stories of your parents is way overrated and I really don't think that it rates that high to begin with." James smiled back at Sirius as he said this noting that it was not having the desired effect as his friend still sat gazing down at the closed book in his hands attempting to trace the lettering on the faded cover.
"Besides we have a quest to see to." James stated with conviction. This caused Sirius to look up and meet his friend's eye, which was sparkling with excitement.
"What are you, I mean we up to now?" Asked Sirius apprehensively.
"While you were off on your little family outing last night, Mac got the honor of announcing that we will be having a Yule Ball. It's to happen the night before our Christmas holiday starts." Said James nonchalantly.
"And I'm evidently supposed to be excited by this news?" Sirius answered in a cool tone, but James just continued to smile ignoring his friends' glum attitude.
"Yes, because I'm going to ask Lily…and she's going to say yes." The two friends stared at one another their smiles becoming wide in unison.
"You are still loosing me James. Where is the we in this scenario?" Sirius now seemed much more lighthearted at his friend's false confidence.
"Oh come on Sirius you have to be there, what if I foul up and tell her something like how I love the way she looks when she runs. Besides we need to make sure that Peter finds a date, he really beats himself up over stuff like this, I'm not real worried about anyone else."
"And what of me? Who am I supposed to take?" Sirius asked a bit roughly, James looked confused for a moment before answering.
"Won't you go with Bella?"
"Okay James, I know that after the events of last night it seems like everyone knows about Bella and I but they don't and there are a few people…like Rudolphus, her fiancée who would have a huge problem with it." Sirius said with sarcasm. "No, I'm not going. It would be torturous to be forced to watch her led around by that bloody prick all night." James grimaced clearly having not considered this.
"Alright then, if you help Peter and I win our dates we won't force you to come and you can spend your evening here packing my things to go home…as well as your own cause if you miss the Yule Ball here you must show up for the Winter Carnival in the Hollow." This caused Sirius to glance away remembering his mother's note. She had forbidden him to leave the school over the holidays specifically mentioning that the Potter's home was off limits. She had ordered him to study for his O.W.L.s, but as he thought of her a little spark of rage carried over from the memory of his father's wake ignited inside of him causing her words to become meaningless. Putting the thought of his mother out of his mind he stepped up to shake James' hand in agreement.
"It's a deal." He answered in a very business like manor just as Remus tromped down the stairs his long sand colored hair wet and hanging loose about his face.
"Awe, how sweet. You two have moved on to holding hands I see." Remus beamed at the expressions on James and Sirius' faces as they quickly broke their handshake and absently wiped their hands off along the sides of their jeans.
"Oh Sirius! We saw Hagrid this morning on our run. He said you needed to come to visit him, and that you would know what it was about. The old boy acted very sneaky about the whole thing then got all nervous and said that I need not come." Remus said this sounding a bit indignant. "Now I ask you, how do you go about setting someone to a task of delivering a message for you but then completely cut them out of any going-ons?" Sirius' face grew bright at this new information and his friends immediately recognized the look, which could only mean that he was hiding something wonderful and most likely dangerous or illegal.
Remus eyed him with a weary expression, "Why do I always get a bad feeling when he smiles like that?" Sirius laughed, "You should worry Moony, but I give you full permission to join us…but you'll need to leave your prefect badge behind." James and Sirius both looked to Remus for a reaction and although they had expected him to argue they were pleasantly shocked when Remus answered with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"But of course, I'm a Marauder before I'm a prefect." Remus said in a mocking lofty voice causing James to snicker and Sirius to furrow his brow, "Since when?"
"Since last night when your dear cousin bared herself to our entire dorm room…" Remus started in a playfully defensive tone only to be cut off by James, "I must interject here, I will never be able to look her in the eye again." He smiled innocently.
"Yeah you'll be like me starring at…um…other things." Remus said with an eyebrow raised at the shock mounting in Sirius' expression. The boys erupted into laughter as Sirius shot them both extremely nasty looks while giving Remus a hard punch in the arm. Remus winced through his laughter grabbing his biceps in pain.
"Ouch! Watch it, I think I have a bruise from Malfoy's nose just there."
After breakfast the boys all worked diligently on their stacks of homework and on trying to convince Remus to let them peek at his now completed parchment on the 10 most widely used spells of transfiguration. Finally he agreed that he would help them along taking an extreme interest in Dominic Black's old book and notes.
"Sirius, you do realize that he has written spells in the back of this book that…well that could be dead useful. Do you mind if I barrow it, I swear I'll be careful and won't let anything happen to it." Said Remus gauging Sirius' reaction. At first Sirius hesitated not wanting to share his father's things but then could see the look of peeked curiosity in his friend's eye and grinned.
"Of course you can barrow it Moony," then looking down at the book with concern in his eye, "Just be careful with it, okay?"
Once the day had begun to turn to late afternoon Sirius lead James, Peter, and Remus down to Hagrid's Hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. He surprised his friends when he passed the front door to the little round stone cottage and headed directly for the back.
Hagrid was Grounds Keeper for Hogwarts so there were all manner of strange tools hung on high massive hooks in the exterior stone walls of the hut, as well as a large work bench. There were stacks of firewood, so much that it created a makeshift fence cutting the little area off from sight. The boys had quickly become close with Hagrid in their first year at Hogwarts after being caught by him in the Forbidden Forest numerous times. Hagrid had finally begun to feel bad about turning them in, realizing that much like him they were unafraid of the mysterious wood and that they would not be kept out. He had taken to the boys and became like an elder brother sharing with them the secrets of the grounds and accompanying them on jaunts into the Forest.
Hagrid reasoned that he went along to protect them if anything were to happen. "I'd not be able ta live with my self if I knowed yous were all killed roamin bout the Forest and me like a great fool knowin all along and doin nothin ta stop ya." The truth be told Hagrid had been very lonely before the boys had started to school and had kept to himself, going about his daily routine practically invisible. Now after knowing each other for several years Hagrid had overcome his initial shyness with the help of his young group of friends.
Sitting against the wall of the hut was a large object draped with a white sheet. "That must be it." Whispered Sirius and note of excitement in his voice. Sirius moved quickly to remove the cover revealing a very old broken down motorcycle. Once he was done with the chore of uncovering the bike he turned to view his friends astonished faces with a proud smile.
"How in the world did you come by one of those?" Cried Peter jubilantly.
"And what in the world are you going ta do with it?" Chimed Remus moving in closer for inspection.
"I'm going ta fix her, I've always wanted one…I mean why should the muggles have all the fun? I can't even apperate yet…not legally any way and even when I can, how boring can ya get?" Sirius looked at each of his friends in turn gauging their reactions.
"What about a broom, Sirius. This thing won't even fly." James said poking questioningly at the handlebars.
"It will once I'm done with it." Sirius retorted with a huge grin, "But first I need to figure out how it works…" Just then Hagrid stepped from the side of one of the huge woodpiles.
"Hullo, I see ya've found it. I'm afraid it's a bit beat up but we can fix all that once she's up n runnin." Hagrid unloaded two large traps that he was carrying by his workbench, then set to rummaging around finally producing several odd tools and dropping them with a clatter into the soft grass next to the bike.
"Hagrid, what are these things?" Asked James curiously.
"There muggle tools, sos Sirius can fix the bike…there'll be no enchanting it ya know…it's not legal." Hagrid said this with a sharp look at Sirius who's mouth dropped just slightly.
"Ah, so no flying then." Said James loftily as he picked up Hagrid's acoustic guitar and set himself on a great stump strumming and lightly tuning it. Peter clapped Sirius hard on the back with a breathy laugh and quickly nestled himself under a great knobby oak tree. He began eating from a box of Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans, ever so often spitting one over his shoulder as he tried to make sense of his Transfiguration book.
Remus stood smirking a Sirius' plan gone bad, as Sirius knelt down on his haunches to look over the tools then shifting his focus to the alien looking bike. He could hear Remus laugh to himself as he took a seat on the bench near Sirius starting to leaf through the pages of Dominic Black's book. Hagrid took a seat next to Remus watching Sirius pick up each of the tools and try to place its use on the bike. The book opened to where the picture had been tucked away and Hagrid noticing it lifted it to the fading light.
"Merlin's beard, look at that." Hagrid said in a gruff yet airy tone causing Remus to shift his focus from telling Sirius what each tool was most likely for, to Hagrid.
"Yeah you'll never guess who it is." Remus said with a grin as Sirius looked up from his toil.
"It's Anastasia Black…well before she was a Black I mean. She had this name that no one could pronounce save Sirius' dad, and I'll wager he spent some time learnin it before attemptin to say it in front of her."
"But Hagrid, Sirius' mum went to Durmstrang how is it that you know her." Questioned James, beating Sirius to the punch.
"Well she came here for the Tri Wizard Tournament of course, when your parents were attending school here. In fact she was champion for Durmstrang, which took several people by surprise seeing as she was the only girl that came over with that lot. Maybe one of the only girls in that school." Hagrid handed the small faded picture to Remus who flipped it over reading the name scribbled across the back.
"Anastasia Frederika Petrovna."
"You got it right on the first try Remus!" Hagrid said brightly
"Whoa Sirius your mum was a Tri Wizard Champion for Durmstrang? You never told us!" Peter said as he spit a bean in to the grass, "Mustard, augh."
"I rather like the mustard ones." Replied Hagrid. James and Remus both glanced at Sirius noticing his astonished look suddenly change to embarrassment from not knowing such a huge fact about his own mother. Remus, wanting to relieve his friend's obvious discomfort attempted to change the subject by giving Sirius directions concerning the muggle tools of which he knew nothing about.
Sirius had gone bright red with anger at having to find out the intricacies of his own family from people other than his parents first with Bella about the prophecy and now with Hagrid about his mum being a Tri Wizard Champion. He roughly worked at fitting a large wrench around the bike's foot peg only to have it slip and fall to the ground with Remus commenting from behind him.
"I'm not so sure that you should be doing what you're doing with that thing, maybe if you used the pointy one…"
"Blast it all Remus! Stop lending me your mouth and lend me a hand if you know so damn much about muggle tools!" Sirius growled. Remus grinned broadly at James and Hagrid who were chuckling silently so as not to frustrate Sirius further. Then Hagrid pulling back the great sleeve of his coat glanced at his watch.
"Blimey! Look at the time, I'll have to be goinin. Gotta start my check of the grounds. Be sure you cover that thing fore ya leave. I'll see ya all at diner." With that Hagrid headed off. Remus had crouched down beside Sirius and was attempting to prod at some of the gears with a screwdriver while James began to sing the lyrics to a Pink Floyd song that he had been working out on the guitar.
Remember when you were young
You shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond
"That's an excellent song James. My favorite by a muggle group." Said Peter perking up at the song and glancing wearily at the grumbling coming from the bike as Sirius and Remus waged a small war with the tools.
"Yeah mine too. Makes ya wonder bout them, huh?" James grinned only to have his attention focused back on the bike as a loud clang resonated from the strange machine.
"A lot of good that did!" Complained Sirius who was now getting on Remus' last nerve causing him to fluster in frustration as he briskly produced his wand yelling, "Work, you damn confounded machine!"
At this the bike jerked as if it had come alive but was wild and blinded, revving and lifting it's front wheel as though it were a wild stallion. Remus and Sirius were immediately knocked on to their backs as the bike lurched forward taking off directly towards James and his stump. James quickly jumped onto the bench, guitar still in hand as he played a wild tune like a Mariachi band and laughed uncontrollably as the bike hit the stump and veered straight for Peter.
Peter was frozen to the spot until he heard his friends yelling for him to run for it, over the deafening sound of the evil motorcycle's engine. He stumbled getting up but quickly took off running for his life. James had dropped the guitar and was standing with his wand drawn along with Remus and Sirius.
"On the count of three…One…"
Peter tripped and fell hard on his stomach causing a small cloud of dust to swirl up from the ground.
"Two…"
The bike collided with Peter's rather large posterior launching itself into the air just whizzing over the rest of his body and landing with a thump just beyond his head.
"Three…Finite Incantato!" The three boys yelled in unison.
They all stood for a moment stunned by what had just happened, no one moved as the bike's head light grew dim and it fell to it's side with a large clatter. All three ran to Peter who hadn't moved since he had been hit.
"Peter! Are you alright?" Yelled Remus as he skidded down into the dirt beside his friend. James and Sirius loomed breathlessly as Peter rolled over to his side covered in dust with a look of disbelief on his face.
"Am I alive?" He asked in a hoarse whisper.
"Yeah, are you hurt though?" Asked Sirius anxiously. Peter looked around for a moment as if he wasn't sure where he was, then furrowed his brow tightly.
"Of course I'm bloody hurt!" Peter yelled, " I just had YOUR damn motorcycle up my blinkin ars!" With this tears began to stream down the boys faces from severe laughter suppression, all except for Peter. Sirius collapsed against Remus unable to breathe and James put forward a hand to help Peter up.
"Oh yeah, laugh it up! Next time you need my help I'm gonna count ta bloody THREE!"
Aching from laughter with tears in their eyes the three boys escorted Peter back up to the castle after they had successfully hidden the bike. Sirius, Remus and James worked hard at composing themselves, as Peter really seemed to be walking with some difficulty and was extremely unamused by the entire situation.
"This should teach me to hang around with you three, I'm always the butt of your jokes." Peter said grumpily as he began to hobble up the stairs of the castle with James and Remus each holding an arm for support. At his comment the boys fell into hysterical laughter again, this time causing Peter to giggle at his own accidental play on words. As they entered through the high wide oak doors their laughter engulfed the massive hallway echoing as they walked.
"How in God's name are we going to explain what happened to you to Dr. Dashid?" asked Sirius a hint of concern in his tone as he tried to stifle his laughter. All of the boys stopped walking to glance at one another in question.
"Well we can say that his boyfriend was a bit rough with him last night." Said Remus through a wicked grin, knowing that his smart remarks could anger no one faster than Peter. Grumpily Peter jerked his arm away from Remus who had begun laughing loudly at his own statement.
"Yes and I wonder if you'll still be laughing when we tell Dashid who Peter's boyfriend is." James said smirking at Remus in payment for similar comments made earlier that day about he and Sirius. Remus stopped laughing suddenly, "That's not funny." He said coolly scowling at James.
"No matter, we would still have to explain that." Said Sirius laughing and pointing at Peter's backside which boar a huge dirty tire mark. As the boys again broke into fits of laughter this time with Peter laughing and wincing in pain, two fifth year Hufflepuff girls, which they all knew from class, entered the hallway on their way out of the castle each carrying a tennis racket. The girls strode casually over to the boys quickly noticing the mark across the back of Peter's khaki pants bringing immediate smiles to their faces.
"Peter, what have ya done to yer self this time?" Asked the cute pixy like girl named Cora Wells in a sweet tone a look of sympathy on her bright face. She had shinny shortly cropped blond hair and was accompanied by Amanda Whitby who also had blond hair, seemingly the only trait that the two girls shared. Amanda was tall and curvaceous with her long hair hanging down to the middle of her back and a simple yet pretty face. Both girls were dressed in similar soft yellow sweaters each baring the Hufflepuff crest, but while Cora wore a pair of thick sweatpants suitable for playing in the brisk weather, Amanda wore a dangerously short white tennis skirt.
As Peter attempted to think up some explanation, Amanda leaned in closely to Sirius and pulled him towards her so that she could whisper in his ear, "Can I talk to you for a moment…in private?" Sirius, caught a bit off guard turned to look into her large brown eyes sensing something predatorily in them. He pulled back slightly and looked over to his friends who were now all watching them with interest.
"Um…well…actually I was just walking with Peter to the hospital…" Sirius began but was quickly cut off by Remus whose wicked smile had reappeared. "We've got him Sirius, we'll meet you at supper." Sirius glared at Remus for a moment and then looked to James for help, but James only shrugged trying to fight the grin from emerging on to his face as he turned to continue the slow journey to the Hospital Wing. Cora gave a sparkling smile as she headed back into the bustling corridor from where she had just come "I…um…forgot something I'll meet you on the court Mandy. Bye Sirius." She said with a dreamy giggle as she quickly disappeared.
Sirius watched as everyone abandoned him to the clutches of Amanda Whitby, then slowly and cautiously he turned to face her again. She beamed up at him her lips perfectly glossed, her cheeks lightly blushed causing her to look far more innocent than he knew her to be.
Without a word she slipped her fingers lightly into the front pocket of Sirius' faded blue jeans and forcefully pulled him forward knocking him off balance and using her own body to steady him. Sirius tried to right himself and laughed nervously as Amanda slid her leg between his and slipped her arm around his waist, her tennis racket still dangling loosely from her right hand.
"Mandy, I'm not sure what this is about…" Sirius stammered, trying desperately to keep control of his reactions to this surprise attack, but Mandy knew all to well how to make a man stop babbling. She tilted her face up to his and let her lips fall gently against the soft skin of his neck causing Sirius to swallow hard as she made her way delicately to his ear.
"I want you to ask me to the Yule Ball." She said simply and continued to explore his neck and earlobe with her satin lips. Sirius' senses reeled, he was feeling weak as the powdery sent of her body rose from the heat between them to cloud his judgment further.
"I'm not going." He answered trying to sound decided and stern but his words came out in a barely audible whisper. Mandy giggled against the nape of Sirius' neck then pulled back to look him in the eye once more.
"I can make it worth the hassle." She answered seductively but Sirius eyed her regaining his steadiness as she disconnected from him. "I am sorry Mandy, but I'm kinda…involved with someone else." Sirius admitted cautiously. Mandy's smile fell the sparkle in her eyes turning immediately dull from disappointment.
"I had no idea Sirius, who is she?" Sirius' eyes went wide for a moment and he clenched his jaw in thought trying to conjure up a quick answer.
"She…uh…doesn't go to school here." He lied starting to feel bad for disappointing Mandy but beginning to inch back from her. At hearing this her smile returned as she reached forward gripping the waist of his jeans this time and pulling him back against her.
"Oh well, what she doesn't know can't hurt her…right? Her fingers slipping against Sirius' warm stomach as he drew a sharp breath and grimaced. Sirius tenderly removed her hand holding it softly with both of his.
"I won't be going to the Ball, I'm sorry. Please don't be upset with me." Sirius said gazing softly down at her, wishing that his friends had not left him alone to endure such an awkward situation. Sirius dropped Mandy's hand gently then turned to walk quickly away towards the Hospital Wing to reconvene with his friends. A pang of guilt ever present in Sirius' heart as he focused on not turning around to meet Mandy's eyes as he walked away. "It's good that we will be meeting in the Hospital Wing because I will kill them for this one." Sirius mumbled grumpily to himself as he wiped at his neck hoping that there were no remnants of Mandy's affection there
