Eyes of Infinity
AN: yeah it's me again. So I didn't get the 10 reviews that I wanted :snifflez: but I shant give up! At least I have 20 reviews….which is more than I have for any of my other stories, so it's all gude.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
A shout out to those of you who reviewed the previous chapter:
Ukrc (aka 'soredemo'…read her storie it is gude!): dude u are my favorite reviewer, u have reviewed every chapter:applaudz madly: and do not fear, u shant wonder anymore! For I have updated, and now u can read and die in agony of the suspense all over again!
Silent Storm 2000: Must…resist…puppy dog eyes….GAAAHHHH what are u doing to me! Making me feel guilt like this. So I felt compelled to update because of u lol. And I'm really glad u like this storie:feelz speshul:
silver angel 03: awww don't cry, I have updated:sings: don't worry, be happy. Ok I have had too much caffeine, and not enuff sleep.
A-passive-interlude: I'm glad u like the whole Sirius POV thing, I couldn't stand doing the whole thing from Kat's POV cuz the reader would just miss out on sooo much. Never fear! There shall be more James and Lily on the way!
Cerulean Asphodel: Thanx so much for the review! I'm glad u likez! I tried so hard to keep Sirius IC as much as possible, I'm glad it paid off.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Anywho…on with the show!
Disclaimer: I do not own it. Need I say more?
From Sirius' POV
:Chapter 7: The Meeting:
Something soft, yet very solid struck me in the face, jolting my groggy brain out of the deep sleep it had finally fallen into.
"Come on, Paddie! Get up!"
I groaned. It was too early in the morning for this. I rolled over on my stomach and buried my face in my pillow, hoping to drown out any more attempts at waking me.
"Sirius! Get up! Now!" The voice commanded, exasperated. Then, "If you don't get up, I'm going to go to McGonagall and tell her who enchanted the stove in the teacher's lounge to spit fireworks at random intervals!"
I swore silently into my pillow. Sleepily, I dragged myself to a sitting position on my bed, and was greeted by James' grinning face. "That's called blackmail, you know."
"What are friends for?" he replied indifferently.
I rolled my eyes, then stretched and began to get ready for another day of classes. Strange, it was only the first week back, yet to me, it felt like I had been here an eternity. True it was a great improvement from my home sweet home. But it was different this year. I chuckled dryly to myself. Everything seemed different here of late.
"Oi! Quit dragging your arse, Padfoot! Breakfast is half over!" James said.
"If you'd have woken me up on time, we wouldn't be late, now would we?" I retorted huffily, pulling on my robes at a slightly faster pace.
"I shouldn't have to be responsible for making sure that you get up on time! Next time I'm just going to leave you here, snoring away the day."
"I don't snore," I said defensively, "that's Peter's area of expertise."
"That's not the point." Said James, throwing up his arms in defeat.
I finished dressing, ran a comb through my long, messy hair, pulled on my shoes and then headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast with James. Everyone was already there, chatting amongst themselves. I made a beeline for my normal table and plopped myself down across from Remus.
"A little late, aren't we?" he asked, thick sarcasm in his voice.
"Yes, yes." I said, tossing my hair over my shoulder, "It's quite fashionable to arrive a tad late, didn't you know?" I added casually.
Remus snorted derisively. "Whatever. Try and sell that story to McGonagall. I'd love to see her reaction."
"Maybe I will," I countered. Remus grinned back, knowing I'd probably be stupid enough to do it, then fell silent.
I filled my plate with yummy Hogwarts food, and ate happily. People were starting to wander out of the Great Hall by this time, preparing for class. I noticed Lily Evans walking hurriedly past our table.
"Hey Prongs, there goes –" I realized I was talking to thin air, as James was already hurrying after her.
"Lily dearest!" James called at the top of his lungs. The fiery red head turned around and shot him a glare.
"Listen good, Potter. I-Don't-Like-You." She said, scathingly.
"That's just you being in denial." James stated calmly, as if explaining to a child, "Deep down, you know you want me."
"Ugh. I would rather eat dragon dung." Lily responded. "Now please, leave me alone." She turned on her heel and walked out. James trotted after her.
I shook my head. Maybe one day, Lily would finally put the guy out of his misery and go out with him.
"Hey hot stuff."
I jumped slightly and looked to my right to see Celestra Higgins seated next to me. Great. Just great. Celestra was one of the most 'popular' girls at Hogwarts, and as such, she had a very pompous air about her. She was pretty; there was no denying it. But that about summed it up. There was nothing else I could find to like about her.
"Hey there, pretty lady." I responded, flashing her my trademark playboy smile.
"So, are you free later?" She asked coyly, batting her eyelashes at me, "I'm sure I can think of something amusing for us to do…"
"As tempting as that offer sounds…" whatever cool, witty remark I was about to make was cut off as I saw Kat get up to leave the Great Hall. I rose hastily, knocking over a glass of pumpkin juice and spilling it all over Celestra's robes. I mumbled an apology and scrambled over to where Kat was.
She was waiting for me at the entrance with an amused expression on her face. Apparently she had seen my display of clumsiness on my way over here, which now included not only spilling pumpkin juice all over Celestra Higgins, but slamming into the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, knocking a first year into a garbage can, and tripping over my own two feet.
I reached her rather breathless. Strange, it had never been such an ordeal to cross the Great Hall before…
She laughed and leaned up against the doorframe, waiting. I smoothed my hair so that it didn't look as ruffled and tried to act casual.
"I forgot to ask you something last night,"
"Apparently," Kat replied. She suppressed another giggle.
"What time am I supposed to meet you tonight?" I asked, trying to keep any shred of dignity I had left.
At this, the laughter ceased. And in came the silence once more. Kat looked a little nervous. Like her insides were squirming inside of her. It was probably a good thing, I told myself, since it was how I was feeling at the moment too.
"Tonight," Kat responded, "right…um…how about eight?"
"Eight?" I restated. She nodded. "Eight it is then. So, I guess I'll see you then."
She nodded once more, and then left, leaving me standing by myself in an almost empty Great Hall. I hurried to class, cursing myself for losing it like that in the Hall. Why was she doing this to me! Maybe it was because of the impending dread of the meeting later that night.
For some reason the day seemed to pass more quickly than any I can remember. Unfortunately, it's only when you want classes to drag out that they seem to pass by at lightning speed. I remember snatches of conversations from each class and that's it. Most of the day I was zoned out, lost in worried thoughts that led down confusing paths that twisted and intertwined with one another and more often than not ended up making very little sense.
Dinner came and went like normal. Everyone was laughing and joking and talking. I assume that I made the right comments and responses, because I don't remember being hassled about anything.
The next thing I knew, I was standing outside the Room of Requirement. It was like my feet knew where they were going, even though my brain hadn't fully sorted it out yet.
I entered to find the room had already assembled itself into quite a cozy little nook. Bookshelves lined the walls, stocked full of any reading materials we would need. There was just the right amount of light in the room so as to provide ample reading light, yet not enough so as to be blinding. Comfy chairs were scattered about the room. Tables held crystal balls, and teapots full of tea, ready to be consumed. Then there were things that I didn't know the name for. Well…at least we wouldn't fail this project from lack of resources.
Kat was seated at the far end of the room in one of the chairs with a very large book in her lap. Apparently she wasn't finding the contents to her liking, judging by the face she was making while reading. It was a look of disgust mixed with disdain and a dash of sarcasm. I laughed to myself, and shut the door behind me.
The sound startled Kat from her reading, and she glanced up at me. I strode over and sat down in the chair next to hers. "So. Working hard? Or hardly working?" I asked.
"Both." She said with a smile. She gestured to the books that covered a nearby table. "Those I rented from the library at lunch. I forgot the Room of Requirement was so…accommodating," she waved her arm around to indicate the numerous bookshelves. "But they've all got a load of nothing in them," she concluded.
"What do you mean, nothing?" I asked.
"I mean nothing! None of these books tell us how to go about seeing the future!" she exclaimed. "They only thing they're good for is describing numerous ways to see the future…not actually doing it!"
I nodded, understanding completely, "Basically, you can't 'see the future' either, can you?" I concluded.
She shook her head angrily, "Of course not! And that's why we're going to fail, because I don't have a clue." She sighed, and slammed the book on her lap.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can't see a thing either." I offered.
"Actually, that makes me feel worse."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
The eerie silence of doom descended on us once more. Kat rubbed her temples, closing her eyes to think. I sat there, racking my brain for something to say. Something comforting, suave, something right to say. The words wouldn't come.
"I guess all we can do is test each of these methods and hope that one of them actually works." I said, breaking the silence to prevent going mad.
"But how will we know if it works, Sirius!" Kat exclaimed. "If neither of us has ever 'seen' anything before, how will we know if it's a real vision or just our wishful thinking?"
"Well, I would assume that we would get some kind of feeling or vibe that would tell us that we are 'in the beyond'," I said, imitating Professor Trelawney.
Kat threw up her hands in frustration.
"Ok, fine, lets just try something then. Anything is better than sitting here arguing about it." I stated. This was true as far as I was concerned. If I was doing something I wouldn't be focused so much on the current issue between Kat and I.
She nodded in defeat, and rose to go to the bookshelves.
"What are you doing?" I asked, puzzled.
"Well, Mr. Genius, since neither of us know where to begin, I would think that the best place to start would be to consult a book." Kat snapped.
I wrinkled my nose. "But that's so boring! Why can't we just start doing random stuff like read tea leaves and squint into those crystal balls over there and hope something happens? It's Divination! It'll probably yield the same results anyway!"
The glare that Kat shot me clearly stated that we would do nothing of the sort. So we did a combination of the two. We brown-nosed it for a while, browsing through a ton of pointless books for any information of any sort. It's a wonder that people actually buy these kind of books. They don't really say anything, just sort of dance around with lots of flowery language. It gets kind of tiresome after a while.
After what seemed like hours (my eyelids were drooping and I may have even fallen asleep for all I know), we finally decided to screw the books for the night and try a couple of tests.
We did what I had suggested (tea leaves and crystal balls), but neither test brought us anything but a headache. The tea was disgusting and foul tasting, and I vowed to have a word with the house elves in the kitchen after tonight. After drinking it, the dregs of the tea swirled around and made 'psychic messages', which apparently neither of us could interpret (although I did see one image that looked like a decrepit old man, but Kat wouldn't believe me).
The crystal balls were no better. All we saw was pretty smoke that floated around and made us even sleepier. So far, this project thing was not turning out well.
A glance at a clock showed us that it was after midnight. Frustrated, we both decided to call it quits for the night. We packed up our things and left for the Common Room.
Great. So now we've got a bunch of useless books that aren't helping us in the least, some nasty tasting tea that I'm never going to drink again, and a crystal ball that's a piece of junk as well! Not to mention that I still haven't even gotten to talk with Kat.
I stole a glance at her. She was staring off ahead of her, apparently lost in thought. Her brown hair fell messily into her face, and her eyes were filled with confusion. She looked very…lost. Maybe she really is feeling the same thing that I am, whatever that is. Or maybe she's just upset about the project.
We reached the common room, and headed for our dormitories. Neither of us had said a word the whole walk here.
"Kat," I said, feeling a wild urge to say something.
"Yeah?" she said, startled. She looked at me for the first time directly. The impact was stunning. She wasn't only lost…there was this grief and emptiness in her eyes that I couldn't even begin to place. It was like she was hoping for something, willing for me to say something. Only problem was, I didn't know what to say.
"Er…I…when are we going to attempt this project again?" I stuttered. I mentally slugged myself for being a royal git and not saying anything.
"Oh," she replied. Her face fell, and she lowered her eyes once more, "I guess tomorrow. We'll need to work all we can on it if we're ever going to manage to pull this one off…"
She turned without another word and disappeared into her dormitory.
I am officially the biggest idiot in the world. The perfect opportunity had presented itself. I could have talked with her, it was what she wanted…. yet I didn't. I resolved to be more, well, resolved about the whole matter.
Resolved….
Suddenly, Trelawney's voice was echoing in my head. 'This project will require you to delve into the depths of your partner's soul. You will have to familiarize yourself with their past history, in order to gain a clearer glimpse of what the future holds for them.'
The past, huh? I sprinted up to my dormitory, flung myself on James' bed, and began shaking him violently.
"Who---What---SIRIUS!" James stuttered, shoving me off of him roughly, "What the bloody hell are you doing!"
"Sorry, Prongsie, but I need to borrow your invisibility cloak." I replied, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
"It's in the trunk," he gestured towards the foot of his bed, "I'm going back to sleep now. If you have any more violent urges, wake Remus up, ok?"
I shrugged, "No problem,"
James fell back on the bed and was asleep almost instantly. I pulled the invisibility cloak from his trunk, slipped it on, and headed back down the stairs.
I made my way up the other set of stairs to the girl's dormitory. I tread quietly to prevent waking anyone up. I opened the door to the sixth year's room, and entered.
After a few failed attempts, I found Kat's bed. I nudged her gently.
"Kat," I whispered softly from under the cloak.
"Mmm," she murmured sleepily. Her eyes fluttered open and stared around, trying to find who was talking to her. I sat lightly on her bed and pulled the hangings shut, removing the cloak so that she could see me.
"Sirius!" she hissed, "what are you doing!" Her eyes were wide, disbelieving.
" I had to tell you something." I whispered back.
"And it couldn't wait until morning?" she said, incredulously.
"Well, it probably could have," I reasoned, lapsing into thought, "but it's better this way, it would have tormented me all night if I had waited."
"Can't have that now, can we?"
"That's right." I responded, smiling rather cheesily at her in the darkness. She smiled despite herself.
"So what is it?"
"Oh yeah," I said, forgetting for a minute why I'd came. "Trelawney said something about the past being the key to the future. So that means that any tests we try to perform right now are going to be useless until we know about each other's past."
"But we already know that!" Kat responded, "Our pasts are linked together, what's there to know?"
I hadn't considered this. I had thought that she would agree and say something along the lines of 'that's right, lets reminisce about old times and see what we come up with.' Guess I thought wrong. Hmmm…
"Well, the past is the key right? Maybe we're missing something?" I replied. That seemed to strike a nerve within Kat, as she stiffened up as I said it.
"I guess so…"
"Then we should start there at least. Tomorrow, we should talk it out and figure out if there's anything we can use." I stated. She nodded wordlessly.
I gave her a reassuring smile, and threw the cloak back over my head. Whispering goodbye, I left her dormitory, leaving Kat in even more turmoil.
On my walk back I breathed a sigh of relief. I was happy that we'd be talking soon…even if it was sort of forced upon us. However, the talk wasn't exactly appealing to me. I'd been dreading it for a while now. Kind of like an unpleasant visit to the doctor. You know it has to be done; yet you don't want to go.
Judging by Kat's body language, she apparently felt the same way to that effect, and was probably steeling herself for the confrontation as we speak. At least now I would learn what was tormenting her so. I hoped…
I lay down on my bed, throwing the invisibility cloak to the side carelessly. Thoughts consumed me. Sleep did not come.
AN: ok I have a request. When u review, tell me who's POV chapter eight should be from, Kat or Sirius. hope u liked this chapter! It turned out rather longer than i anticipated lol.
Keep the reviews coming! It's what I thrive on!