Chapter twenty-four: A Sirius Problem

A few days after Remus was put into the hospital wing he came out of his coma like state. James, Lily and Sirius visited at least once, sometimes even twice, a day, which thoroughly annoyed Madame Pomfrey to no end. Remus saw neither hide nor hair of Peter. Every time they mentioned going to see Remus to him he always had some excuse or other not to go. One night, while Lily and James were off doing their Head girl and boy duties and Peter was God only knows where, Sirius decided to pay a little visit to Remus and bring him his homework.

Sneaking into the room he walked quietly over to Remus' bed.

"Hey," Sirius said with a smile, holding out his books. "How ya' doing?"

"Fine, a little tired but other than that, fine," Remus replied pushing himself up and taking the books from Sirius.

"How can you be tired? You sit here all day and do absolutely nothing."

"Well the poison still has some affect on me. I also believe the full moon is coming up, so…"

Sirius nodded in understanding agreement. "So," Remus continued after a silence, "how's it going with Sarah?" Sirius sighed. He had relived the whole experience with James, Lily and Remus when they had questioned him about it.

"Not too good," he replied grimly. "She still doesn't believe anything I say and who could blame her? I have done stupid stuff in the past."

"Maybe not a lot of stupid stuff," Remus said trying to cheer him up. "Well okay there was that one time when you played that "joke" on Snape. You know the one that almost got him killed and you expelled. And that other time when you decided it would be fun to make snowballs to hit Snape all day. Oh, and that once when-"

"You're not helping Remus," he said cutting Remus off mid rant sternly but with a smile.

"Sorry. So maybe you did do a few stupid things in the past-"

"A few?"

"Okay, maybe a lot of stupid things but that doesn't mean she shouldn't at least give you a chance."

"Are you kidding? I'm surprised she even tells me to go away. There's no way she'll ever trust me. I've used too many girls," he sighed. "If only I could go back and make everything different. Where's a time turner now when I need one, eh? I would definitely change a lot just to show her how much I really like her."

"Why are you telling me this?" Remus asked with a glint in his eye. "You should go and tell her."

Standing up, Sirius said, "You're right. Thanks Remus." With that Sirius left the hospital wing and ran down the hall towards the library.

Suddenly he tripped and fell face forward onto the hard ground. Not being able to catch himself, he slammed his head on the hard floor and blacked out.

What felt like days later, Sirius was woken up.

"Sirius, get up." It was James' voice all right but Sirius could barely open his eyes. When he finally achieved it he found himself laying where he had fallen, James hovering over him.

"What time is it?" Sirius asked groggily.

"It's almost ten."

"Are you serious!"

"No, you are." James replied smartly.

"Ha ha. Very funny." But inside Sirius was thinking, 'that means I've been out of it for about three hours'. He started to get up but James placed his hand on his shoulder as if to push him back.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to find Sarah," Sirius said. "I have to tell her how I feel about her. I have to tell her I think I love her." Sirius watched James' features change from confused to sad.

"So, you're breaking up with Christine then I guess."

"What are you talking about James?" Sirius asked really confused. "Christine and I were never going out. She was just a one time thing to get my frustration out, if you know what I mean."

"So you've been only going out with Christine for the last three months to use her? That's really low Sirius." James sounded disgusted.

"Going out for- for three months?" Sirius whispered more to himself then to James, but he heard anyway.

"Yeah, don't you remember? You said that you never felt the same about anyone." Sirius stared at James and as he continued his voice began to change. It started to sound less James and more feminine. "Remember when you told her how much you loved her. How much you wanted to stay with her forever." Sirius' view started to black out again and suddenly he was inside a dark chamber. "And now you can." Instead of James, Christine was standing right in front of him and he was chained to the wall in rusty old shackles.

"Christine," Sirius said still confused. "But- how?"

"Simple little tripping curse and a dream spell. Any first year could do it," she replied with an evil smirk.

"Where are we?"

"Down in the dungeons, I'm guessing in a part where Filch used to suspend the kids by their ankles. But no one ever comes down here. I know because this is my little hang out room you could say. But I only ever bring a special few down here."

'Figures,' Sirius thought, 'that I'd end up picking the stalked girl to get my frustration out on.'

"I know what you're thinking," Christine said after some silence.

"You do?" Sirius asked anxiously because he was thinking a couple bad things.

"You think I'm crazy. But I'm not mental crazy, oh no. Just love crazy. I'm in love with you Sirius Black. You make my heartbeat like some wild beast whose been chasing her prey all day long. And now you're all mine. You'll stay down here until you find your true feelings for me."

"You do know people will notice I'm missing."

"Oh yeah but there's nothing a memory charm can't do, and I'm very talented at memory charms."

'Fuck, I'm in trouble,' Sirius thought.

Christine sighed. "Now Sirius Black, I'm going to leave you here and I won't have to worry about hunting you down again because here you'll be waiting for my return. Don't worry, I'll bring you food and drink, but you'll have to stay chained there." She turned to walk out the door.

'At least I know the perfect charm for that,' Sirius thought. Suddenly Christine turned back, her hand on the door knob, and she said, "Oh yes, if you break free an leave I will kill Sarah White, and you can hold me to that." With that she left Sirius with dread in the pit of his stomach.