Disclaimer: If I had as much money as J.K Rowling did, would I even be here? I'll probably be rolling around in gold or something, throwing fifty-dollar bills in the air. And I don't own Moulin Rouge either, sadly enough. But enough with my wishful thinking. Oh yeah, no copyright or trademark infringement intended.
Summary: What happens when you fall in love, only to learn that you have to say good-bye for the greater good?
Pairings: Sirius Black/Other, slight James/Lily
Authors Note: This is based on a dream I had. No, I do not fantasize about Sirius Black. Just a bit of Harry Potter altered in my own weird mind. I only chose to include romantic bits with Sirius Black because there aren't many of those around, and if they are they're only present in James/Lily stories. Please note the fact that I intentionally spelled this chapter "Chocolat" which is French for chocolate.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and to be loved in return."—Christian, Moulin Rouge.
Black on black. This was the only way he could possibly describe it. Sirius Black propped his head up with his hand. He was bored. Very bored. Bored to the extent of examining Julia Zhou's hair. Now normally, he wouldn't even take a second glance at the Chinese girl. But hey, this was Binn's class and the professor was droning about.. Bobbin Rebellions? Something Sirius hadn't bothered to take notes on. His best friend, James Potter, was sitting next to him, doodling on a slip of parchment. James had drawn yet another Snitch with L.E. scripted on it. His obsession with Lily Evans was getting slightly overboard – rather annoying, really. Lily Evans had to be one of the most stubborn girls in the Hogwarts history. If Sirius ever took the time to read Hogwarts: A History, Lily's face would probably be plastered under the heading, "Award for Rejecting Every Single Date Offered by James Potter". Sirius reckoned the total was roughly eighty-five so far. Interestingly enough, her best friend was Julia, who also turned down every date thrown her way.
Sirius snorted. They probably had some secret society: "How To Set A Amazing Record of Snubbing Every Date Opportunity." Probably a wizarding record by now, judging by how many times either James or some poor chap trudged dejectedly in the Gryffindor common room. He sort of felt sorry for them, but that Julia seriously had one hell of a temper. The first prank he had ever tried to pull on her was also one of the last.
The memory was still quite fresh in his mind, even though it happened in second year, and they were now in their seventh. James and Sirius had planned to plant a book in the girl's dorm, which would transfigure into a rat at the slightest presence of a human. Sirius winced. He remembered Lily going upstairs to fetch the book, and then hearing a piercing shriek. Julia had run upstairs, and came down after a few minutes, her brown eyes blazing. She had strode directly in front of him, and jabbed her index finger into his chest.
"You are an insufferable prat." Julia said.
"Me, a prat? My dear Julia, I am afraid you're mistaken," Sirius said innocently, leaning back in his chair.
"Mark my words, Black, you will pay. Potter too," she retorted, throwing a glare over her shoulder at a surprised James.
She spun on her heel, thought better of it, then turned back and kicked one of the legs of Sirius's chair, effectively knocking him onto the ground.
"Ow!" Sirius yelped, getting up and rubbing his back.
Julia smiled sardonically, and said, "Just a taste, Black, just a taste." And walked back to her dorm.
The next day, he found out what the price was to mess with Julia Zhou. Freezing rain poured relentlessly over his and James's head for the entire bloody day. He even pleaded to Professor McGonagall to remove the spell, but it was one of those weird spells that go wonky if you'd tried to remove it. So he had to spend the entire bloody day cold and immensely wet. Julia had even placed a charm over the cloud, leaving everything else completely dry. Errghhh. He was very glad to wake up the next morning relatively dry. Apparently, according to Madame Pomfrey, they were lucky he and James didn't suffer hypothermia.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class and startling Sirius out of his daydream. He gathered up his books and tore out of the classroom, heading toward the Great Hall for dinner. There was no need to ask where Sirius Black was at mealtimes. For some unusual reason, he was perpetually hungry.
Sirius plopped down on the Gryffindor bench, next to Remus Lupin. He happily shoved a mountain of food onto his plate, and began stuffing his mouth at a rapid speed.
"You're going to get indigestion someday, and then you'll be sorry," Remus half-laughed.
"Musdrifens," Sirius muttered.
"Hey, has Sirius invented a new language?" James asked cheerfully, before joining Remus and Sirius at the dinner table.
Sirius swallowed a massive amount of mashed potatoes, before replying, "No, I was informing Moony that I would use a simple unbloating spell to stop the indigestion."
"Really?" Remus raised an eyebrow. "Then what was Musdrifens?"
"Hey!" Sirius said indignantly. "If I recall correctly, I was making a valiant effort to say, "makes no difference.""
"Whatever, Padfoot. Where's Peter?" James said.
"He's in the library desperately trying to finish that Potions assignment for that git, Professor Cornix." Remus answered.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. I still need to do mine." Sirius said, after consuming the last mouthful of food on his plate. He stood up and went to the library to research the uses of dragon scales in the Expergiscor potion.
An hour later, Sirius rose, stretching his arms over his head. The essay was surprisingly easy; the assignment had only required information in one book.
"See you later, Peter," Sirius mumbled to Peter Pettigrew, who was now working on the huge mound of homework he had forgotten to do.
Sirius felt hungry (yet again). He decided to go up the kitchens and ask the house elves for some chocolaty stuff, preferably éclairs. Yum.
He climbed up the stairs to the painting of fruit, which he and James discovered in second year. Sirius reached out a hand and tickled the pear. Giggling, the painting swung forward, allowing him entry in the kitchen.
Bustling house elves raced around, cooking and cleaning. Sirius breathed deeply, inhaling all of the good food smells that wafted in the air. Chocolate, baking pastries and bread, stew. Yummmmm.
A house elf came up to him and bowed. It was wearing a highly stained cheesecloth that had obviously seen a lot of cheese.
"What can Pleenky get for Mr. Black?" the house elf said, it's face still to the ground.
"Some éclairs would be nice, Pleenky. Can you get me chocolate?" Sirius asked.
"Of course Pleenky can get it for Sirius Black, sir!" the little elf exclaimed as it scurried off.
Pleenky soon returned with a tray piled high with éclairs, trembling dangerously. Sirius accepted the tray, and began chomping as he walked back to the Gryffindor tower, carefully watching for any teachers, Filch or Mrs. Norris. Luckily, he encountered no one, as it was out of curfew and he would have been punished if caught. Sirius quickly stuffed the last éclair into his mouth, as he faced the Fat Lady.
"Password?" the Fat Lady inquired.
"Pink fluffy cushions," Sirius said, wrinkling his nose. Whoever came up with that password should have been hexed.
The portrait swung open, revealing a dim light in the common room. Wondering who on earth would be up this late, Sirius cruised in to find none other than Julia Zhou, feverishly working on homework.
She looked up, and acknowledged his presence with a simple nod.
"Transfiguration homework, Zhou?" Sirius said, with a wry little smile. Professor McGonagall has assigned four feet of parchment on plant transformation. Extremely tedious.
"Yes. McGonagall is positively insane to give us this much," Julia replied. "Half the stuff I don't understand."
"Yeah. Do you want me to read it over for you?" Sirius asked, looking for an opportunity to get on her good side.
Julia thrust her parchment towards Sirius. "Fine. I could use a break." She dropped her head onto her folded arms.
Sirius scanned the paper with quick eyes. "It's okay, except for this bit. You might to re-word it a bit. The part on plants being transfigured into a different species."
Julia nodded, and started crossing out several words, her black hair spilling across the table. He was mesmerized; it was like watching a waterfall unfold.
"There," she threw her quill down and pushed back her hair. Julia finally noticed that Sirius was still sitting at the table, and quickly hid a smile.
"What?" Sirius asked, when he noticed her facial expression.
Julia collected her things, and got up. She walked over to Sirius, extended a finger and touched the corner of his mouth. Lifting her finger to her face, he saw a clump of chocolate on it. She tasted it, raised an eyebrow and said, "Interesting, Black," and walked off.
Author's Note: Yayyy! Chapter One is up!
Latin Translation:
Expergiscor-to awaken
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