The Outcome Of The Bet
A little crowd gathered outside Sirius' quarters early that morning.
A very plump woman with very little neck was the first to arrive. She positioned herself just outside the door, almost blocking the entire doorway. She had a hungry expression on her face, not unlike a predator that was waiting anxiously for its prey.
Three teenagers were the next to turn up. They were whispering excitedly among themselves.
"Do you think Sirius will do it?" Ron asked, trying hard to keep his voice down.
"He will. He has to," Hermione whispered back. "Don't you agree, Harry?" she looked to Sirius' godson for assurance.
Harry looked thoughtful. "I don't know. The dare may not a good idea. I wish April had chosen something else," he said uncomfortably.
"I think April will win the bet," Ron said loyally.
"Professor Lupin!" Hermione called out when she spotted her favourite professor coming their way, not bothering to keep her voice down any longer.
Remus smiled at the youngsters. As he drew closer, they noticed his face was paler than usual. There were obvious lines and dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. The three friends' eyes widened in realisation at the same time – it was full moon the night before. But they did not make any reference to it since Dawn Umbridge was also present.
"So no one has seen Sirius yet this morning." Remus remarked casually. He slipped both hands into the pockets of his robes, leaned against the wall to make himself comfortable and waited with the rest.
Nearly an hour passed.
"Did he say what time he'll meet you?" Remus shot Dawn Umbridge the question.
"No," she snapped. She was getting very edgy and restless.
"Sirius sleeps till past noon on some days," Remus told her calmly.
Umbridge looked horrified and started pounding on the door. "Sirius Black! Come out this minute! SIRIUS BLACK!"
There was no response from the other side of the door.
"ALOHOMORA!" Dawn Umbridge pointed her wand at the door, but it remained stubbornly shut.
"That'll not work. Sirius cast a counter-spell the day he moved in," Remus said, eyes twinkling.
Dawn Umbridge glared at Remus, as though it was his fault that she had to carry on waiting.
"I've an idea," Hermione spoke up suddenly. She walked close to the door and started knocking on it, loudly and urgently. "Sirius!" She had injected panic into her voice. "Help! That awful woman got Harry! Quick! Help! Ron, stop her! Dawn Umbridge, get…"
The door swung open in a flash, as Hermione was in mid-sentence. She almost banged her fist right into Sirius' chest.
All five of them stared at Sirius. There were loud gasps from all except Remus who was wearing a nostalgic smile.
Ron and Hermione gasped because they were staring at a Sirius Black they had never seen before.
Harry gasped as his godfather looked almost exactly like the handsome young man in the leather-bound photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year. For the first time, Harry noticed that his godfather's appearance had changed vastly from the first time they met at the Shrieking Shack. His face was no longer sunken and waxy. Over the past few months since Sirius began hiding at the Shrieking Shack, his face had began to fill out as he reverted to a healthy normal diet. He was still slim, but was no longer the skeleton that he was for the most part of his past fourteen years. His once pale skin was even beginning to show traces of a tan. Now, the godfather standing before Harry looked not a day older than his thirty-five years. Sirius had shaved…and yes, his hair was cropped short once again, just like the laughing young man in his parents' wedding photographs.
Dawn Umbridge gave the loudest gasp. She stared at the new Sirius Black in disbelief which soon yielded to horror and then rage. Pure rage.
Dawn Umbridge lunged at Sirius, who just barely got out of the way in time. She was left standing on the spot, fuming. "WHY?" she howled.
Sirius' hand went up to the back of his neck subconsciously. It felt strange to bare his neck, not having his hair around his face as a shield. His hand then went to his chin. The stubbles were gone. But Sirius was not complaining. He looked into the mirror this morning and liked what he saw. In fact, he liked his new image so much that he decided to have a close shave to complete his clean-cut image. The old glint in his dark eyes was back. He could feel that the old Sirius Black was grinning back at him in the mirror.
Sirius' eyes scanned the room, amused to note the astonishment on the three youngsters' face. Then they looked into Remus' eyes and there was spoken understanding between the two old friends.
"Welcome back, Padfoot." Remus said softly.
"Moony." That was all Sirius needed to articulate.
Sirius looked around the room again. "Where's April?" he asked. Without waiting for a reply, he slipped out of the room, leaving four pairs of eyes staring after him.
Remus chuckled softly as he looked at the stunned faces of Dawn Umbridge and the three teenagers. Padfoot is back, he thought to himself, feeling an indescribable sense of anticipation. He could not pinpoint the reason. But somehow, he felt that something that had been long lost and almost forgotten, had finally returned to him.
*
Sirius pounded his fists onto the door for the third time. There was still no response.
Frustration and impatience soon gave way to anxiety. She had to be inside, he thought. Sirius had searched almost the entire school when there was no response to his loud knocks on the same door earlier. April was nowhere in sight, but Dumbledore confirmed that she had not left the Hogwarts grounds.
As minutes crawled past, Sirius began to imagine the worst. Perhaps she's sick or worse, injured. Perhaps something had happened to her. I shouldn't have let her leave with Dawn Umbridge last night. I should have walked her safely back to her room.
When further banging on the door yielded no results, Sirius lost his cool. He took out his wand and uttered the spell to allow him entry into April's quarters.
Sirius glanced around the room, and it was empty. Images of terror flooded his mind, not unlike what he had witnessed at Godric's Hollow many years ago.
Sirius quickly made his way to the bedroom, and swung open the door.
He felt his breath caught in his throat when he caught sight of the person he was looking for. He hurried to April's bed for a closer look at the young lady. Fear numbed his brain as he saw that her eyes were shut.
Sirius was about to reach out for April when he noticed her deep breathing, and let out a breath of his own from sheer relief.
He stood transfixed for several moments, staring at the sleeping form before him. She was all curled up in bed, a hand tucked under her head, face relaxed and expression unguarded. He felt a tug at his heart as he continued watching her, and realised that he could be perfectly content to stay there forever, just keeping his eyes on her. She's beautiful. The most amazing piece of magic that happened in my life, Sirius found himself thinking.
Sirius' thoughts were jerked back to the present when the sleeping form began to stir. He was suddenly acutely aware of what he had done. He should not have come into her quarters uninvited. Worse, he should not be standing by her bed watching her slumber, no matter how much he wanted to.
Sirius drew in a sharp breath as April's eyes fluttered half-open. She closed them again, waited for a few seconds to adjust to the light before prying her eyes fully open as they swept across the room and met his.
"Sirius Black? What in the world are you doing here?" she asked, her voice was thick from sleep.
As Sirius was struggling to find a suitable reply, April drew her blanket up to her shoulders, shifted slightly to a more comfortable position, and closed her eyes again. "I'll get Moody to put up some wards here as soon as I'm up. It'll not do to have visitors drop by whenever they want and disturb my sleep."
Whatever embarrassment Sirius had felt disappeared as he noticed that she was drifting off to sleep again. "It's already nine in the morning," he said in a voice that was louder than necessary. He wanted to keep her awake. "The rest were all there at my quarters this morning."
"That's nice," she mumbled vaguely, eyes still shut.
"Remus, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Umbridge were there," he stated again, this time in a colder voice. And you weren't, he added silently.
Unable to hold himself back any longer, Sirius placed a hand on April's shoulder and gave it a rough shake. That was the final straw for her. April sat up in her bed, eyes sparkling with dangerous fury. "What do you want?" she yelled at him.
Sirius looked at the young woman whose face was flushed from sleep, and had to suppress a sudden urge to run his fingers through her tousled hair. There was no way he could raise his voice at April Flamel now.
He changed his tactic, "I thought you were not well when I didn't see you earlier."
April's eyes softened at once. "I was up working till dawn," she explained.
"Working?"
"I was doing tests on a stone."
"Why don't you do that during the day?"
"Some tests have to be done in the absence of daylight and in the cool of the night." She fell back into her pillow.
Sirius was not about to give up. "I thought you were getting rid of Umbridge? You may have won the bet but she's still sticking around in the school," he said. He crushed the impulse to repeat several times that she had won the bet so that she would really look and notice him – the new Sirius Black.
"What time did she see you just now?"
"Slightly before eight."
"Alright. It takes eight hours to work. We'll meet at your quarters before four this afternoon. Invite Remus and the rest too," she mumbled through closed eyes.
Sirius was puzzled and was about to demand a clarification when April told me firmly, "Now get yourself out of here and let me catch up on my beauty sleep."
Sirius had no choice but to obey.
As he was making his exit from her bedroom, she called out his name. "Hey, Sirius!"
He turned to look at her.
"Nice haircut," she grinned, before rolling over till her back was facing him.
Sirius felt heat grew on his cheeks as he left himself out as quietly as he could.
* * *
Summerkins : A new-born baby in your house? That's sweet…bet you're enjoying playing with her!
Calm Serene / peachgirl1608 : His long hair is gone! He'll soon be VERY glad that he made this choice!
Ms. Padfoot : Ok – I promise that Sirius will have long hair in my second fic. But in this fic, it'll stay short. As for Dawn Umbridge, this is not the end!
Charma1219 : Glad you like it :)
Annoriel : She's not 100 percent sure of how Sirius feels about her.
LILRKCHK : Much of the emotions he showed were true. That's why he was so convincing!
padfoot1979 : True…Sirius was easily the best Marauder (sorry, James) and he'll not take things lying down. But April is not one you can bully too!
Senshichan14 : Sirius is handsome, no matter what his hair length is. Oh, and he said the kiss was sweet revenge because it was something April could not protest against since they were still in the midst of pretending to be a couple. And I suspect he said that partly to hide his feelings by making her feel it's a sort of prank/revenge on her for making the bet on his hair.
Fire'N'Ice : Would you prefer a fic about a long-haired Sirius who dates Dawn Umbridge? LOL I'm evil!
nunnya buiznes : Thanks. I'm trying to update twice a week!
Diosa Alexia : You agree with Matt Damon too! Yay!
OutofAzkaban : I'm waiting for your new chapter! Hurry… :)
an-angel36 : You're my 400th reviewer!!! I guess you know by now if Sirius prefers April or his hair! For Sirius, I think Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom will be great. Have you seen Depp and Bloom's pictures in the new movie "Pirates Of the Carribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl"? They look like Sirius! I've not come across an actress who fits April's looks yet. For Dawn Umbridge, guess it'll have to be a short actress with pouchy eyes who's heavily padded up to look very fat.
sakura : Do you still need me to let you know whenever I update?
Star06 : You have more now. You still want more? Ok…wait for the next chapter ;)
Lily Skylo : It'll not grow back in this fic because April will keep forcing him to trim it! LOL
nameless soul : Yes, I'm a Singaporean too! Thanks for reading my fic and reviewing all those chapters! Yippee!
black-cat-on-the-wall : Yes, Madam! I know it's time to update when I see your review! :)
