Within two days, all the Gryffindor first year girls were in on the kissing game. Everyone waned to kiss someone and most every girl wanted to kiss either Sirius or James. They were both popular and cute and they had the best sense of humor and timing of anyone. They were constantly acting out, putting on shows, and disrupting the most boring classes. But they had such wonderful personalities and brilliant smiles, not even the teachers could stay annoyed at them for long.

Tamarisk liked them, too, for the most part. There was just one aspect of them that drove her insane, and that was their treatment of Severus. The both hated him and took a sort of cruel delight in tormenting him. They could, at times, be downright nasty. As much as Tamarisk liked the boys, they could make her extremely uncomfortable at the same time.

For their part, the boys seemed amused by the whole game. The flirted terribly with anyone who'd set their minds on kissing them. In a way, Tamarisk was lucky that Crystal had chosen Remus for her to kiss; Remus seemed almost as embarrassed as Tamarisk was and never spoke about it.

As for Severus, Tamarisk had no idea if he knew or not. There were days she thought he must. After all, talk of it seemed to be the only thing besides school she ever heard about. The only time she escaped it was during class, after school during Flying Club, and after supper when she and Severus studied. As curious Tamarisk was about Severus's reaction to her kissing another boy, at the same time, she was relieved not to have to think about it.

A week went by. Crystal flirted shamelessly with Sirius, who, though amused, seemed a little put off. Lily almost never spoke to James and Tamarisk pretended like she'd never heard of the bet. Sirius started throwing Tamarisk looks, and Severus remained blissfully caustic and normal.

And then, one day, he showed up at the Owlery with a black eye.

"What happened?" Tamarisk asked, aghast. She hadn't seen him since that afternoon at lunch; he'd been missing at dinner, but since he often seemed reluctant to eat, she hadn't thought anything about it. Now, however, she was worried.

He lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "I fell off my broom again," he said stiffly. "What happens when you mix witch hazel with toad slime?"

"It combusts," she replied automatically. "You didn't have flying today, and you never come to after school practice."

He ignored her completely as he opened his books.

"Oh," she said softly. "It was Sirius, wasn't' it?"

"It doesn't matter," he said, voice sharp. "I'd rather you not get involved."

"But you're my friend."

"Perhaps. But Sirius had three friends, plus his entire house backing him. You don't want everyone turning on you; it'd make your life miserable."

He was right. She'd rather not be a pariah, but that didn't stop her feeling righteously angry on his behalf. The worst thing was, he wouldn't stick up for himself, not really. He'd continue to argue with them and put the boys down at every chance he got, but Sirius fought with his fists not his words. They'd never be evenly matched.

It was up to Tamarisk to do something.

The next day was double Potions with the Slytherins. They were making a Honey-Voice potion, guaranteed to give anyone who drank it a beautifully enchanting voice for at least an hour. It was a very basic potion, except for the extreme precision required for the measurements. Everything had to be exact or it could go horribly wrong.

"Careful," Tamaris warned Remus, who was her partner that day.

"What?"

She stopped his hand. "You have to mince, not chop. It has to be as fine as you can make it, otherwise you'll sound like a frog for hours."

"How do you always know this stuff?" he asked admiringly.

She smiled and pulled a few sprigs of parsley from the bunch on their table. "I have a good tutor. Um, I'll be back in a moment."

Parsley in hand, she walked to the supply cupboard and grabbed a vial of olive oil. As she walked back to her table, she stopped off at Sirius and James's table.

"Hey, Sirius," she said, smiling as sweetly as she could manage.

Sirius immediately stopped working and smiled hugely at her. "Hey, Tammy. How you doing?"

"Very well. How's your potion?"

"It's easy, isn't it? I mean, last week when we did that silence spell, it was a lot harder. This is a piece of cake."

"Oh, yes. It is." She sort of batted her eyelashes at him. "You know, I've always wanted to have a beautiful singing voice. Looks like today that dream will come true."

"Do you sing?" he asked, leaning closer.

Next to him, James gagged and rolled his eyes.

Tamarisk glared at him, and then said, "Not really." She slid her hand slowly over the pile of nightingale claws and sprinkled the parsley in with it. "I mean, sometimes. I don't much here. I don't want anyone to hear me."

"I want to hear you sometime."

She blushed and looked away. "Maybe after the potion." With a final smile, she pulled away and returned to her table.

Remus shot her a look. "What did you do?"

Tamarisk looked at him in wide-eyed innocence. "I got us olive oil. It smoothes the voice." S he held the vial out to him.

He took it, looking at her doubtfully. But, he let the subject drop and they went back to the potion.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius and James had the voices of three year old girls.


"Hey! Tammy!"

Tamarisk turned, clutching the handle of her broom. Sirius and James were barreling across the Quidditch pitch, serious business on their faces.

She swallowed nervously. "Hi, guys. You sound like your old selves."

Sirius grabbed a broom from Madam Perin, who taught flying and supervised the after school flying practice. It was a fairly popular activity, especially for first years who were too young to play Quidditch. It was held for two hours after the last class and before dinner. Tamarisk, who loved flying, was there almost every day.

"We know what you did, Tammy," Sirius said, eyes dancing with mischief. "You'd better run."

She back away from him slowly, unsure if he was really going to do something. Bubbles of laughter were rising in her throat, and she knew her face was bright red.

"Find, stand there! Make it easy." He reached out, almost grabbing her robe.

With a startled shriek, Tamarisk leapt onto her broom and took off. Below, she could hear Madam Perin's whistle; games like tag and chase were strictly forbidden, but, suddenly, Tamarisk couldn't bring herself to care.

"You're a dead woman, Tammy!" Sirius shouted.

"Why are you mad?" she tossed over her shoulder as she weaved in and out of the other flying kids. "You were such a sweet sounding little girl! Ahhh!" she swerved as James came on her left. As she twisted out of his reach, she accidentally maneuvered herself into the path of someone else. Her heart lurched, and then she went into a stomach-churning drive.

Sirius zoomed from underneath her. She veered up and narrowly avoided crashing into Crystal, who was passing by.

The chase continued for some time. James was really good at this. He always seemed to anticipate where Tamarisk was going to be next. Several times, James almost managed to catch her, but she was able to get away each time.

"Got you!" Sirius shouted suddenly. Unlike James, who'd been concentrating on grabbing her robe, Sirius came from behind her. He had hold of the end of her broom and was smiling victoriously.

Tamarisk let out another shriek, then bit her tongue. Quickly, she whipped her broom around, tossing Sirius off. He shouted in surprise, and as Tamarisk climbed higher into the air, she could hear his delighted laughter following her.

This was fantastic. The thrill of the chase, the cold air whipping over her cheeks. Flying fast though the air, darting in and out students. This was completely worth the points they were going to be docked.

And, then, suddenly, the fun ended. Tamarisk, free of both James and Sirius, flew back down towards a group of students. Crystal went past her again, and her face was like a thundercloud. She glared at Tamarisk, eyes dark before thrusting her nose in the air and crossing her path.

Tamarisk swallowed, suddenly nauseated and dizzy. Her temples pounded with a sudden rush of blood, and the world spun out of control around her. Sweat broke out on her face and hands, and she was so, so cold.

"Got you again!" she heard Sirius say as if from far away. And then, with a panicked note in his voice, "Tamarisk!"

Wind whipped around her, and the ground flew over her head. It took her a second to realize that she'd fallen off her broom and was speeding to the ground. Her robes fluttered around her body and her arms flailed. There were screams, distant. And then, one near. Her throat hurt, and...

"I've got you! Sirius, help!" James shouted. He had her by the wrist, grip bruising. The horrible, out-of-control descent had been halted, but they were still sinking.

Sirius came underneath her. One arm wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her onto his broom. "All right, Tammy?"

"Y-yes." She was shaking uncontrollably, so cold and frightened.

He pulled her into him, his arm holding her safe. They gently wafted down to the ground, and Sirius pulled her off the broom.

Madam Perin and Professor McGonagall were there, pulling her from Sirius, who seemed to be clutching her as if he didn't want to let go.

She couldn't breathe. The air was closing around her, tight and thick. Tamarisk gasped painfully, trying to get air into her lungs.

"Fowler," McGonagall said. "Calm down." She touched Tamarisk's cheek with her hand.

The world exploded around her. The last thing she remembered as she was lost to a sea of pain was Severus's white and drawn face appearing above her next to Sirius's. Then, everything went black.