When Somers Turned To Black
Chapter 9: Forest Woes
Disclaimer: We do not own the Harry Potter works. Fortunately, we do not own the movies either.
A/N: Again, I must apologize for such a long wait on this chapter… It's been a long haul since I last posted. I truly don't deserve your reviews because of how awful an author I've been! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! I'll try to post more frequently! Thanks to all the reviewers from the last chapter!
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"Sirius… Sirius…"
"Uhhhhh…" groaned Sirius.
"C'mon. Wake up. You've been out for hours" coaxed a familiar voice.
"Wha… what's goin' on" asked Sirius as he slowly opened his eyes. The pounding in his head kept an annoyingly steady rhythm as if keeping time with a large clock.
"You're in the hospital wing" replied a worried-looking James. "What happened in there"
"Is Raven okay" he asked suddenly.
"Yeah. She's fine" said Remus. "She woke up soon after we got her here. She's down the ward a ways" he said, pointing to a curtained area of the infirmary.
"Oh…" Sirius trailed off.
"Well, care to tell us why you look like you've been attacked by a bunch of bloody rogue bludgers" James asked anxiously.
"Yeah, I think you just ruined your image as the most handsome 5th year in the school" Remus said rolling his eyes. "What is the world coming to when we can't even preserve such a pretty face"
"Oh, knock it off, will you?'' Sirius replied, grinning slightly.
The grin slowly faded as he looked perplexedly down the ward again. James, Remus and Peter all stared at him, waiting for an explanation.
"Well" Sirius started hesitantly"after I went in the first time, I noticed that it seemed just a little to easy."
"What are you talking about" asked Remus.
"It just wasn't as… difficult as Professor Ogletree made it out to be. I went through the whole course and not once did I meet up with some big obstacle that he likes to sometimes add into his tasks. You know, like a troll or something."
"He can't have gotten a troll, they're under Ministry restri…" started Remus.
"Shhh" said James.
"So… when I saw Raven send up the purple sparks, I got kind of worried."
"Why" Peter questioned.
"I figured maybe since I didn't have any obstacles, maybe… well, maybe they all were by her" Sirius finished slowly.
"Okay… so let me get this straight" James started. "You risked your neck for Raven, of all people, and there weren't even any obstacles that were life-threatening"
"Are you kidding me! Look at my face"
"Well, yeah, it is pretty ugly" James laughed.
"No! Seriously. I was right. All of the real difficult creatures were attracted to her for some reason."
"I'm sure you just took the right detour or something and missed most of them" Remus replied logically.
"There weren't any detours. It was just a wide path all the way to the keys. When I went back in, she was only like halfway through and was trying to fight off a swarm of red caps and some fire crabs among other things. The red caps kept bludgeoning her and she was bruised all over and bleeding…" Sirius trailed off. His friends pretended to not see as Sirius looked down and wiped his tear-laden eyes on his sleeve.
"She looked over at me all helpless and then just fainted" Sirius finished. "All he creatures suddenly just backed off and scurried away as I walked towards her. I picked her up and… well you know the rest."
"What's with all the extra scratches then" Peter asked.
"Oh. It seems the Doxies weren't to happy with me carrying out one of their victims before they even got to her. They came after us and I got clawed at some more." Sirius sighed.
James reached over and grabbed Sirius's shoulder as his friend looked away. "Hey… you look tired. Maybe you should get some rest. C'mon guys" James said, motioning to Remus and Peter. As they left the infirmary, James looked back at Sirius's unmoved figure. "That was a really brave thing you did today, Sirius. I'll try to get you out of detention. See ya."
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The next day, Sirius lay in his bed, staring up at the maroon hangings. It was near lunch and James slid into the dormitories to see if Sirius was coming down to the great hall. He walked over and leaned against Sirius's bedpost.
"Hungry?"
"Not really." Sirius didn't look over at James. "By the way, thanks for persuading Ogletree for me. I could've ended up cleaning the kneazle cages for a month after classes."
"No problem. I think he was just happy that you and Raven ended up okay. The guilt was definitely there for leaving in the middle of class," James smiled. "Oh! And I forgot to tell you, but Raven's out of the hospital wing. She got out about an hour ago."
Sirius finally looked over at James eagerly. So, she's not like permanently… damaged or anything?"
"No… she's just a little bruised. And I think maybe still in shock. But she's fine."
Sirius grinned for the first time since the day he entered the forest.
"Hey. What's going on between you and Raven? For two people who seem to hate each other so much you sure did seem really worried about her… I mean REALLY worried," James teased, snickering.
Sirius blushed severely and snorted.
"No, James."
"Oh quit it! Are you in LOVE? Aww! Wittle Siwius is in wove! Sirius and Raven sittin' in a tree…"
"Shove it, James!" Sirius smirked. Then he looked at James seriously. "If I tell you something, you've got to swear you'll never tell anyone. Even Remus or Peter."
"C'mon, Sirius. You know I'd never say anything if you didn't want me to."
"I don't know hoe I feel about Raven… but all I know is when I saw her in the forest, all helpless and… hurt," Sirius stops and gulps, remembering, "I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and my blood stopped flowing. I don't know how else to explain it."
"Well, chum. If that isn't love, I don't know what is," James smiled.
Sirius sat up and whacked James in the arm. "I… am… not… in love with Raven!" James cowered as Sirius repeatedly punched him, grinning all the time.
"Yeah. Sure," James chuckled. "Hungry now?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
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A/N: Don't worry! I've got a couple of chapters lined up! I'll post in a couple of days! K? Thanx again to all the dedicated reviewers!