Chapter 5

It was several hours before Ebony awoke and several days before Madam Pomfrey would let her leave the hospital wing. Finally on the following Monday, Ebony was allowed to join Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter on the way down to breakfast.

Sirius had been distant for the better half of the weekend, feeling guilty and responsible for what had happened, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. It hadn't helped that the whole school knew that it was his mother who had nearly killed one of his best friends and three quarters of them were treating him with contempt.

There was a stiff and uncomfortable silence in which none of the marauders or Ebony and Lily spoke. It filled the Entrance Hall as they made their way down the marble staircase, intensifying as they entered the Great Hall, in which every student and teacher turned to look at them. Their searching and prying eyes followed their progress all the way over to the Gryffindor table where their fellow Gryffindors made room for them to sit down.

Slowly all the faces turned back to their breakfasts and conversations resumed leaving them in peace. Sirius, however thought he knew what their topic of conversation was as their eyes flickered, snatching sneaky glances in his direction.

James, who was sitting opposite him, helped himself to some orange juice and handed a glass to Lily who was sitting beside him.

"Ignore them mate," said James, studying Sirius' face. "They don't know the whole situation, if they did, they'd be acting differently."

At that moment the post arrived. Sirius and the others looked up instinctively, fearing what might come, Ebony grabbed Sirius' hand in alarm as an owl fluttered down in front of her. Holding her breath she took the letter and opened it, breathing deeply as she read what it said before letting out a sigh of relief.

"It's from my mother."

James laughed nervously and leaning over, grabbed a piece of toast looking up at Sirius again with a reassuring smile. "Dumbledore must have had a word," he said. Heglanced past Sirius and muttered, "Oh brother, what does he want?"

Sirius turned around just in time to see Regulus swagger over to them, a smirk upon his face.
"Aye aye. Still alive Mudblood," he sneered at Ebony.

Ebony, who was sitting on Sirius' right hand side, grabbed a handful of his robes in an attempt to stop him from standing up and muttered, "Leave it. Oh and Regulus, I'm very much alive and well thank you. And yourself?"

Regulus scowled, not expecting the comeback. "You still not learnt your lesson then Sirius?"

"Why you little-"

"Run along now Regulus and play nice," Ebony interjected patronisingly, feeling the tension rising and not wanting a full blown war to break out in front of the entire school.

"Don't you dare talk to me, you filthy little-"

"I wouldn't finish that if I were you," Lily snapped, standing up angrily, her face flushed and her eyes glinting dangerously.

"Oh, need girls to stick up for you now Sirius? How pathetic. I'll leave you and your Mudblood girlfriends to it then, but be warned, next time you won't be so lucky," he smiled malevolently at Ebony.

Sirius and James made a move to stand up but at that moment Professor McGonagall bustled up the table wearing a stern look upon her face.

"Mr Black, please go back to your house table, or I will escort you there personally."

Regulus smirked, and turning on his heel, he headed back to the Slytherin table.

Sirius didn't feel much like eating breakfast anymore and got up to leave.

"Where you going?" mumbled James, through a mouthful of bacon.

"Out!" replied Sirius simply. With that, he left the Great Hall, his posture hunched, staring at the floor.

James watched him leave before saying, "If that little toe rag was my brother, I'd murder him right here and now, the cocky little git."

The rest of the day and week was spent in a subdued silence. Sirius was becoming ever more distant and the others were struggling to come up with anything halfway decent to say to break the ice. What they did say was often strained.

Saturday morning dawned afresh and bright. The snow, which had settled over Hogwarts over the last few months, was finally beginning to melt.

Sirius awoke early to find himself bathed in the dawn sunlight, which had found its way through a gap in the hangings. As he lay there struggling to go back to sleep he could hear his friends heavy breathing. However, he could not get back to sleep and as silently as he could, he pulled on his robes and coat and headed for the door.

Walking down the staircase, which led to the Gryffindor common room, he noticed how quiet the castle was at that hour of the morning. As he reached and pushed open the door which led to the room, he realised he wasn't alone. Sitting by the window, looking out over the twinkling snowy grounds, sat Ebony, her chocolate brown hair glistening in the early morning sunlight.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, yawning She turned to face him.

"No."

"Neither could I. It's a beautiful morning, do you fancy going for a walk?" she smiled.

"Um okay," said Sirius.

"Let me just get my coat." Ebony, on saying this, quickly ran up to the girl's dormitories and grabbed her things before returning and following Sirius out of the portrait hole.

"Oops," she giggled, as she tumbled out of the hole, landing flat on her face.

Sirius helped her to her feet. "Lord you are clumsy sometimes," he said rolling his eyes and smiling.

"Hey, I resent that, it's early and I'm tired. Anyway, I'm not clumsy, just a bit accident prone!"

"You can say that again!" he grinned.

"Hey, it's not my fault. Your mother's caused a lot of my accidents recently." Sirius smiled meekly.

"Oh Sirius, I'm sorry," shesaid looking horror-struck. "I'm not blaming you. It's not your fault your mother uses extreme measures to get her son's attention. You didn't ask her to do those things did you!"

Sirius still looked a bit uneasy as they rounded the corner and descended the marble staircase. Ebony, catching her foot in her trouser nearly went flying again. Sirius leaned out and caught her just in time. He laughed as she blushed scarlet.

"Shove off," she said playfully. "You love me really, even if I am a tad clumsy."

Sirius smiled properly for the first time in ages as they reached the bottom of the stairs and crossed the Entrance Hall. As they opened the doors; a cool blast of bitter wind hitting them, they made their way down to the lake where the giant squid glided serenely across its frosty surface, snow crunching underfoot.

There was an awkward silence in which Sirius peered out over the grounds as the sun glistened across its snowy surface. He glanced sideways at Ebony, who was biting down on her lower lip lost in thought. They headed towards an old bench that looked over the lake and sat down on it, basking in the sunshine.

Sirius realised that he hadn't spoken to Ebony properly since before the final letter had arrived the week before. He suddenly felt a desperate urge, a need, to speak to her, to apologise, to explain...

"I thought you were going to die!" he said weakly.

"Me too," said Ebony softly.

"I'm really sorry-" he continued.

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

"But-" he tried desperately.

"It wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong."

"I should have-"

"Should have what?"

"I don't know," he said feebly.

"Sirius, you stood up for us when no one else could. Your mother performed the Cruciatus curse on you, but you still tried to protected us!"

"But still!"

"Sirius, your one of the most headstrong and stubborn people I know, but you're also brave and loyal and I'll never forget that!" said Ebony.

He sneaked another sideways glance at Ebony who was still staring out over the lake, the sunlight twinkling in her eye. The breeze rustled through her thick curly hair, which billowed out behind her. He noticed, as he had done several months earlier, how pretty she was when her hair wasn't hiding her face. She wasn't as striking as Lily, but there was something about her, especially her eyes, that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Ebony turned to look at him. Feeling embarrassed, Sirius hastily avoided her gaze and looked out over the grounds. Ebony grinned, and grabbing a handful of snow from behind her, she chucked it at him, hitting him squarely on the side of his face.

"Hey, what was that for," he said humorously, shaking the snow out of his thick black hair.

"You're so weird," she laughed.

"That's what the girls like about me, I'm mysterious."

"Hmm," said Ebony raising her eyebrow and biting down on her bottom lip to stop herself smiling.
There was another pause in which Sirius played absentmindedly with a loose piece of cotton on his coat. "What's wrong?" sheasked, breaking into his thoughts.

"Nothing," he said looking at her. Behind his back he pointed his wand at the ground and muttered

"Accio snow." Forming a snowball in his fist he aimed and threw it at Ebony, the snow hitting her head and sliding down the neck of her coat.

"Ahh," she cried in shock. "Why you little-" She leapt to her feet grinning and pulled out her wand. She used it to conjure up limitless snowballs, which she hurled, Muggle-style, at Sirius, who followed her lead. Snowballs hurtled in every direction as they chased each other across the lawns laughing and shouting.

A window opened in the Gryffindor tower and a disgruntled looking Lily stuck her head out shouting, "Do you mind. It's half past eight on a Saturday morning," and looked down to see who it was.

Sirius bewitched a couple of snowballs and launched them at the tower, one hitting Lily in the chest.

"Ahh, why you little-" she shrieked, squinting against the glare of the sun and the snow and still not able to recognise who they were.

Ebony grabbed Sirius by the arm and pulled him behind a nearby tree, giggling as she watched a furious looking Lily scour the lawns for them from the dormitory window.

After the window finally slammed shut, Ebony turned around, her back to the tree, and looked up to find Sirius' face barely an inch from her own. She smiled uncomfortably at him as her eyes met his, from behind his shaggy black shoulder length hair. There was a short pause in which neither of them spoke nor moved, still staring at each other shyly. Sirius was so close that Ebony could feel his warm breath against her skin, her heartwas pounding.

Suddenly a door slammed and footsteps, heading towards them, broke the silence. Ebony, breaking eye contact, looked away sheepishly and turned to see the games keeper, Hagrid, heading up towards the castle, trudging a deep path through the snow.

Sirius sighed inwardly. Something always happened when you didn't want interruptions, he thought. You were never alone. As he watched her, he saw that Ebony was flushed, her cheeks glowing from the crisp fresh air, her hair curlier than ever.

After Hagrid disappeared out of sight, Ebony turned back round. She smiled back at Sirius, who was still looking at her intently, and who's face was also glowing from the cold morning air, his eyes sparkling.

Ebony raised her hands to her face, blowing on them and rubbing the together, visibly cold.
"You reckon it's time for breakfast yet. I'm starving," she said.

"Yeah probably," he said, shrugging off his thoughts. "Come on, I don't want you ending up in the hospital wing with hypothermia. Then I really will be in trouble!" he said, trying to sound light-hearted.

Ebony grinned wickedly at him and said, "Could you imagine her face if I went again. I seem to have spent more time in that wing than out of it recently and I have the mountain of homework to prove it."

Sirius and Ebony ambled slowly back up to the castle and, their robes dripping, entered the Great Hall, which was almost completely deserted. Sirius kept glancing at Ebony, who was looking away shyly as they sat down.

He'd just started his second fried breakfast when the others arrived. Ebony, who was sitting beside him, was munching absentmindedly on a bacon sandwich whilst pointing her wand at her clothes, from which hot air was streaming from its tip, in an attempt to dry them.

A disgruntled Lily looked suspiciously at Ebony's clothes which were still damp. Ebony crammed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth trying desperately not to smile. Beside her Sirius coughed into his orange juice.

"You weren't outside earlier were you?" she asked.

"No," Ebony smiled innocently. "Why?"

"Well how come your clothes are wet then?" Lily continued, suspicion and impatience creeping into her voice.

"Oh," said Ebony, looking down at herself and smiling. "Peeves caught me on the way down to breakfast. Threw a bucket of water at me."

Sirius snorted into his drink and said, "The cheeky git." Lily didn't look convinced.

"Why do you ask," said Ebony, looking as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Oh some stupid prat launched several snowballs at me. Soaked me they did. Bloody freezing. I'll get that little squirt if it's the last thing I do. A weeks worth of detentions would be a nice punishment, sweeping the driveway in nothing but his underpants."

Sirius and Ebony looked away, desperately trying to avoid each other's eyes. Remus, noticing their grins, smiled slyly and rolled his eyes.

James threw his arm loosely around Lily's shoulders and said, "Not to worry, I'll warm you up!"
Lily looked at him with contempt, the look on her face finally reducing Sirius and Ebony into tears of laughter, Ebony trying to bite down on her bottom lip to regain some self-control.

"Sure that's the way to win the girl's affection," said Remus sarcastically, over the top of his Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

James shrugged and flopped down onto the bench, pulling a plate of bacon towards him. Lily clucked her tongue in annoyance.

Peter chuckled as he slumped down opposite him muttering, "You have no idea."