Wow. He had it all wrong. What's more, he was convinced he'd hit the right spot.
-If you don't tell me, I've still got the potion I stole from you, and I'll know what the ingredients are sooner of later. So what do you say?»
-Alright,» I admitted defeat. «You win.» I could see he was proud. «I'll give you the recipe if you give me that vial back.»
-Deal.» I snatched the potion from his hand and headed for the door.
-Wait,» I turned around. «You haven't…tried this potion yet, have you?»
-No.» I sighed. Good. «Where's my recipe?»
-You're not getting it.»
-You promised!»
-I didn't, actually.» I smiled. «A secret's got to remain a secret. Goodnight.»
The sun shone through the many windows of the Gryffindor tower, illuminating every corner and eliminating the remnants of night. Slowly, the students awoke from their sleep and prepared themselves for another school day.
I put on my uniform and headed down the stairs where I met Sirius. It was quite unusual that he was up this early, and I thought maybe he'd had a bad night's sleep. I grinned. My dreams had never been so calm and peaceful. The day was starting out quite good.
-'Mornin', Black.» I yawned. He grumbled as a reply. Sirius wasn't exactly what people called a morning person, thus why many avoided him between 7 and 10 in the morning. Even the professors had taken a habit of transmitting to Potter what they had to say to Black, for he was the only who could speak to him without receiving a death threat or a punch in the face.
I watched him grab himself a cup of coffee and flush it down in seconds before filling up another. Maybe that was the source of his sudden and unpredictable mood swings.
-What?» he growled, noticing I was staring his way.
-You know,» I walked closer. « coffee is bad for you. (he snorted) I'm serious. It's often the cause for insomnia, nervous twitches, sudden mood swings, attention deficit disorder, lack of focus, lack of-»
-I got it!» He roared, practically throwing his mug on the table. I tried to contain my laughter.
-Black?»
-Yeah, what?» He sighed.
-What do we have first?»
-…Muggle studies.»
-Riveting.»
-Couldn't 've said it better meself.»
-'Mornin' Padfoot, Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwn.» James stumbled down the stairs, his shirt on his shoulder, yawning.
-'Mornin' to you too, Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmes.» I mocked.
-Muggle studies first, aye?» he asked, grabbing some coffee.
-Yeah.»
-Riveting.»
-That's what we thought too.»
After having breakfast, we made our way to the 6th floor, where we encountered none other than the slytherin Lucius Malfoy, accompanied by his slimy pet Severus Snape and Bellatrix Black, Sirius' cousin. All three held their wands in their hands, expecting an 'attack' from the Marauders (James and Sirius), since forever their sworn enemies.
-What're you doing here?» Sirius spat, hand in his pocket. James did the same.
-Since when do muggles interest you? I though you wanted them all dead?» He said. The slytherins were the last people you expected to see in front of a muggle studies classroom.
-They say you have to know your enemy. We thought we might have a peek.»
-Go back to your filthy den.»
-Go hide behind your parents, Sirius, although we doubt they'd try to protect you anyway.»
A bolt of light crossed the room and hit Snape square in the chest. He tumbled over, dragging Bellatrix down with him. Another bolt flashed in the other direction and crashed against the wall, instantly covering itin mold.
-Now, now, children,» Lucius stepped forward. «You wouldn't want me to tell Dumbledore you've been abusing of your Head Boy badge, now would you?» He glanced at Lily, who was standing beside the door, a closed expression on her face. «Your mudblood girlfriend wouldn't be too impressed.»
-Go to your next class, Malfoy.» Lily said. «I wouldn't want to take points away from you for being late.» Lame excuse, but Lucius didn't want to be nagged at for having lost the House Cup…again. He grunted and walked away, his disciples following close behind.
Sirius suddenly seemed to remember something and whispered in James's ear. I managed to catch a few words, enough to make me want to follow them and figure out just what they were up to this time.
-… full moon… midnight… grounds… what d'you say?»
-I say, quite a fine idea, Padfoot.»
-What's a fine idea?» I asked as the bell rang. We took our usual placed near the windows- James insisted on having a nice view, yet we all knew it was a view of Lily he wanted.
-Nothing.» They said, turning to the front.
I didn't insist, knowing they'd never tell me, even if I was dying on a bed in the Hospital Wing and that it was my last wish to know. It's not like I was going to die anyway. I'd just have to stay up late and secretly follow them out tonight.
-Um… Dawn, you alright?» Sirius tilted his head to the side and cocked his eyebrow.
-There's nothing to worry about, Black. Why?»
-… you look like you're up to something.»
-Is that…bad?» I couldn't keep a straight face. I loved to tease him.
He started to mumble something in return, but the professor stopped him, shutting his mouth magically. He turned to face her, apparently protesting, but his voice was muffled out, and the room was filled with laughter.
At the end of the class, the teacher approached Sirius, who'd been exceptionally silent due to his welded lips, and muttered the counter curse.
-I'm not going to lie to you, Mr. Black : I wish I didn't have the counter curse, however…» She sighed and returned to her desk.
-I think it would've been nice to have some peace and quiet everytime you're around, Padfoot.» James laughed, patting his friend on the back. They walked out into the hallway, along with the other children.
-The fan girls would've gotten bored.» He replied, glancing at the mass of bleached hair staring avidly his way. Some even risked a timid wave.
-Why?» I asked, ignoring the idiots who stuffed their bras and smothered themselves in barbie pink lipstick in order to look more… what was the word… appealing?
-Can you imagine trying a french kiss?» Ew.
-I'd rather not imagine it, whether your lips were welded shut, or wide open, Black.» He and James snorted. They were used to these kinds of insults from me and no longer took them seriously. Come to think of it, they were never considered as anything other than jokes and/or (depending on the occasion) sarcastic comments.
-What class do we have next, Black?»
-Don't you know your schedule yet, Dawn?»
-I never bothered to remember it.»
-Why?»
-I've got you, don't I?»
-Shut up.» He snarled, annoyed. I knew he liked the fact that he was being of some use.
-So?»
-So what?»
-What cla-»
-Defense Against the Dark Arts.»
-Perfect.»
-Why, personnal favorite?»
-I get to beat you up and have a passable excuse for it.»
Sirius stopped in his tracks just long enough to let me catch up to him, and slammed me into the stone wall, forcing a few students to disperse instead of being dragged down with me.
-You're behaving like such a troll.» He laughed.
-Yeah, I'm starting to get influenced by you.» I laughed as well, rubbing my shoulder. «It's cold…» I whined.
-What?»
-The wall.»
-Ah.»
As usual, the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was wide open, ready to welcome the energetic students. Severus was already inside, having picked a seat far from the back; where we usually sat. We'd had this course with the slytherins since our first year, and very soon the teachers had learned to separate us gryffindors from the others. The left part of the class was occupied by them whilst we took our place more to the right in order to keep us all attentive and in one piece. Throughout the years, there'd been a few incidents, a few illegal duels between the students, but no one had died yet, so Dumbledore figured it was alright to leave the slytherins… in such good company.
Soon after having practiced the repelling spells on each other (it was rather entertaining to walk toward someone while they were being pushed fiercely across the room), the bell rang and we made our way- with great difficulty- among the horde of hungry students to grab ourselves a seat at the Gryffindor table.
-Dawn, you're eating real food?»
-Yeah.» I swallowed loudly, staring at the food set on the table. Chicken legs. Cooked.
-Oy, you have to try it before deciding you don't like it. Here.» He tossed a few things in my plate. «Try.» I swallowed again and dug my fork in the meat. It tasted like roasted human flesh, with the texture of pickled celeri.
-How'd you like it?»
-It's disgusting.» Every one who'd happened to hear the conversation shrugged.
-Why?» One of them asked, mouth full.
-It's so dry.»
-Then have some pumpkin juice.»
-Good idea.» I picked up the glass and chugged it down. Too clumpy. «I think I'm going back to my all-potion diet. Now if you'll excuse me…»
yet another chapter! Review if you like! It's about to get very interesting, so keep reading!