A/N:
Ho ho! Guess who's back?
I'm sorry I haven't continued this like in... A YEAR!
Really sorry, promise I'll be more responsible
Disclaimer: Anyway I don't own Harry dammit!Ginny does! J.K. Rowling does!
Don'trub it in my face... I'm suffering here JK please don't kill dear Harry
Luv yas... Hope you like :)
Definitely A Death Sentence
"I WHAT?"
"James you heard me!" Sirius said desperately "If Gryffindor doesn't win today you must spend Halloween with Bellatrix as a date."
"I WHAT?" James repeated in shock once again not quite processing what he was hearing, Remus tried very, very hard to control his urge to launch himself to the floor and drown in laughter.
"JAMES!" Sirius growled loosing all sign of patience.
"ARE YOU MAD? I definitely won't"
"Oh yes you will! Cuz if you don't I'm as good as dead! I'll be crushed to nothing by a hundred feet tall willow! It's not like she's THAT ugly" Sirius said picturing his cousin in his mind, James scowled. "Well she is, actually. But it's only IF Gryffindor looses… Which it won't!" Sirius added quickly.
"I wouldn't be saying that if I were you kid, our seeker's crap" Said a 5th year student that was just passing by that corridor, he played keeper position in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. There was a moment of silence.
"Mate I'm sorry, I mean, I really, really want to get rid of the Slimy git."
"That's all you ever think about! About what you want, what about what I want? I wanted to be with Lily on Halloween!" Sirius' jaw dropped in disbelieve.
"GOD YOU HAVE BEEN WITH HER ALL TERM! YOU ARE BOTH IN THE SAME HOUSE, YOU'RE NEIGHBORS OUTSIDE HOGWARTS, SHE LIKES YOU SHE LOVES YOU! WE HAVEN'T PRANKED LIKE WE USUALLY DO BECAUSE OF HER BUTTING IN FOR EVERYONE! WHY DON'T YOU TWO JUST MARRY ALREADY AND LIVE ME ALONE DAMMIT, I HATE HER SHE HAS ABSORVED YOU COMPLETELY, I HATE LILY EVANS! I MEAN IT!" Sirius shouted with the color rising in his cheeks, loudly enough for everyone to stop what they were doing and look around to see what was all the screaming about.
Before James could retort anything, Sirius turned on his heel to leave, only to find himself face to face with a pair of emerald green eyes looking back at him. Obviously Lily had heard everything, Sirius felt a twisting, horrible sensation in his stomach, it was about time for her to start throwing him furious insults, but to his surprise she didn't make a sound.
Her gaze made him feel uncomfortable somehow, he ripped eye contact and ran past the redhead storming down the stairs.
"Sirius!" Remus called trying to stop him, not at all amused anymore.
"No Remus, leave the drama queen alone, he just needs some time to think and GROW UP!" James bellowed. Sirius was so mad a hot tear was streaming down his face, he even pushed Annabelle that was talking to Snivellus out of his way down the hall and towards the Quidditch pitch.
"What's your problem?" She demanded but he didn't answer.
Sirius marched directly to the Gryffindor changing rooms where all the players were getting ready and took the 3rd year boy playing seeker by the collar even if he was much taller than he was, he didn't even care to notice, Sirius pushed him hard against one of the lockers looking at him with a menacing stare.
"You better get that snitch, for your own sake because I've bet my best friend's ass on your crappy team" He said letting go, he left and slammed the door shut. The team players exchanged confused looks.
After a while, every single soul at Hogwarts was outside looking for seats and getting ready to watch the match.
Lily was as quiet as a mouse and determined to evade the boys' gaze. James anxiously ran his fingers through his hair staring at her, waiting for her to say something, hear her breathe at least. Remus was trying to convince her not to worry about anything Sirius had said, that he would come around. James knew Sirius better than anyone and very seriously doubted him to ever change his mind about what he had said.
Andromeda Black, Sirius' favorite cousin was commentator and was already cheering the morning up, she was giving some general information about the past Hogwarts' Quidditch championship, everyone cheered, applauded and made lots of noise when she mentioned that 75 of the school was wearing red and gold today.
Peter, Remus and James had spotted Jess' curly red hair among the crowd.
"Jess!" James shouted through all the noise, maybe her company will make Lily feel a bit brighter. She turned around towards them and smiled at the sight of Lily, she was pushing her way through all the people towards them.
"I thought I'd never find you!" She said with excitement, greeting Lily with a tight hug, she smiled weakly. Jess had a huge sweet smile plastered on her face, she stared closely at Remus, his eyes behind the square shaped glasses were red and he was as pale as paper. He blushed.
"Hey, we better go look for some decent seats before—" James started but Jess interrupted.
"Lily told me just a few hours ago to save some seats for you guys! Me and my Ravenclaw friends are going for Gryffindor, in fact, we even charmed our school robes to turn red and gold as you can see!" She spun around beaming for them to see.
"All school hates Slytherin nowadays, nothing to be shocked about" James said indifferently as Jess spotted her Ravenclaw friends who were waving from a line of empty seats.
"Is something bothering you Lily?" Jess asked worried, Lily turned red as she glimpsed through the corner of her eye James jerking his head to stare at her, she shook her head no.
"If you say so" Jess said turning to James with a questioning look, he shrugged.
"Thanks girls!" Jess said to her friends as they arrived at the empty spot.
"No problem!" They said giggling at the sight of James and Remus who blushed once again.
"Thank you for saving us such good seats Jess" Remus said politely and sat down next to Lily and James.
"Our hats down to Lily! She had the idea" Jess replied cheerfully and eager for the game to start. She sat next to Remus avoiding his gaze, still feeling guilty about peeking in his pensive without permission. She noticed Sirius' chair was empty.
"WHERE is Black?" She asked in an offended tone.
"You mean Sirius?" Peter asked.
"Yes where is he?" She demanded. "I protected these seats with my life, these are the ones with the best view, one of them is his and just look how he pays me!" Remus laughed.
"I'm mad at him, so he's not coming" James said blankly.
"What do you mean you're mad at each other? I'll go and find him RIGHT NOW" Jess said furiously, standing up glad to have an excuse to get away from Remus.
"He's over at the Slytherin crowd at a far behind corner to the left. You'll have no trouble, he's the only one wearing red there" Remus said.
"Err..." Jess was in loss for words, she was stupidly staring at her reflection in Remus' glasses, Peter waved at her sniggering.
"Jess?" Lily said hoarsely frowning slightly, James jumped slightly at the sudden sound of Lily's voice.
"Huh? Oh yes, where was I going?" She asked blinking a couple of times, getting back to earth.
"To look for Sirius" Peter reminded her.
"Oh! Black, right" She said laughing at herself and ran across the long line of seats and people. She hadn't gone too far before she tripped over someone's feet, a little scream was heard. Jess, she had landed painfully on the ground, the Ravenclaw crowd sitting on that spot laughed.
"Merlin, are you alive?" James shouted through all the noise. Shocked, Remus stood up at once and was hurrying down to help her but stopped when somewhere among the crowd a little voice emerged: "I'm fine!"
Remus' worn out face changed drastically to a very handsome one as his lips curved into a thin smile...
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Meanwhile the little Sirius had snuggled as much as possible in his seat, with crossed arms and a shrunken heart his gray eyes lingered among the Slytherins below on the front seats.
His blonde cousin Narcissa was talking nonstop at Lucius, Crabbe and Goyle had fallen asleep and there beside them the person he was looking for, Annabelle. She was the only one wearing red and gold in the group, she was sitting next to a greasy head, it was Snivellus Severus Snape's, without a doubt.
Sirius snuggled if possible even more on his seat, he wanted to disappear. He was feeling quite dreadful as he watched how Snivellus showed Annabelle that book of his again.
Even if no one was looking he felt very ashamed of himself to be on the verge of tears.
"Sirius, Crying? Ha…! Never" He said softly.
Sirius rubbed his watery eyes, wondering: "Honestly Sirius, what would sound better? Annabelle Snape, or Annabelle Black?" He frowned "Snape is indeed a very crappy last name, it couldn't sound any better on anyone else but on Snivellus." Sirius whispered to himself smiling, proud of his own good logic, he at last found himself feeling a bit better.
"Black! What in Merlin's world are you doing up here?" Sirius jumped as he saw Jess walking angrily towards him, he groaned.
"Great, this is about the best day I've ever had" Sirius stated sarcastically, Jess glared.
"I'm trying, actually trying to be friendly here!" She said highly offended this time "I even saved you one of the top seats—!"
"Sweet" Sirius interrupted. "But no thanks" He said sitting back gesturing her to go. Jess stood there staring at him, hesitating.
"But—" Jess was interrupted once again by Madam Hooch's whistle, red and green players had soared up high into the air everyone exploded in cheers and applause as the feminine voice of Andromeda Black the commentator echoed in every inch of the pitch. Jess without thinking it twice sat next to Sirius hypnotized by the game.
"I'll let you sit next to me today just and only because I can see you where worried about me" Sirius mocked with a cheeky grin keeping close watch at the chasers and the red, big quaffle.
"What makes you think I worried?" Jess asked awestruck looking at him.
"You came all the way up here to find me didn't you?"
"But that was just because… Because…"
"Come on don't deny it! You're head over heels for me" Sirius said laughing his mood and self esteem had come back to its right place.
"No I am not!" Jess said shocked.
"You are blushing" Sirius sang, making Jess furious.
"I'm not blushing! I just wanted to be friendly"
"Yeah whatever you say Jessie poo, lets watch the game" He said, Jess' teeth gritted.
"Good Bye" She said sternly and stood up.
"Oh no now you'll stay here and make me company Jessie poo, look!" Sirius said grinning innocently making her sit again, the school roared Gryffindor scored. The Slytherins groaned.
"No, I want to leave right now!" Jess freed herself from Sirius grip.
"Oh all right! Leave then!" Sirius said crossing his arms again, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Ok, I'll stay" She said, Sirius rolled his eyes. "I know you had a fight with James" She said a couple of minutes later, no one had scored yet. "He seems very disturbed, please say you'll talk to him,"
"How do you kno-"
"I dunno further details, Don't worry" She added quickly, Sirius stared at her "I really don't want to butt in, just thought you should know"
"Well what makes you think I care about what you say?" Sirius answered more rudely than he had meant to.
"I know you don't, but do this time Sirius… Please"
Sirius rolled his eyes once again.
The game continued for hours, Gryffindor was winning but there was no sign of the golden Snitch to end the game yet.
"It looks like the Slytherin chasers must swallow their prides now! They haven't scored once! My sister is Slytherin chaser, Bellatrix you swore you were going to win, you totally SUCK! All Slytherins totally SUCK actually!" Andromeda said with a huge smirk plastered on her face.
"MISS BLACK!" McGonagall's screechy voice bellowed, the school roared with laughter, the Slytherins scowled.
"Sorry professor!"
"My cousin rocks!" Sirius said grinning.
"It's 0 - 250 points to Gryffindor! Lets hope for the snitch- Oh I think the seekers have seen it!" Andromeda shouted in excitement, Sirius stood up desperately jumping up and down.
"COME ON YOU STUPID SEEKER!" Sirius shouted, the Slytherin seeker was on the lead, everyone was screaming.
"AAAAAAAAND THE SLYTHERIN SEEKER HAS GOT THE SNITCH! THIS IS A TIE LADIES AND GENTLEMAN 250 POINTS FOR EACH TEAM! OVER AND OUT" Andromeda's voice finished, everybody had gone mad some were crying some were celebrating some were furious, James for example.
"Great now I get to date Bellatrix on Halloween!" James said furiously.
"James calm down, we can solve this out-" Remus said steadily.
"Of course we'll solve this out! With a good strong punch, I will" James said standing up.
"Stop it James" Lily stated, speaking for the first time in a long while, Remus, Peter and James stared at her intently, very taken aback, she looked angry. "Just talk to him, no need to hit anyone. You're being very immature you know"
"I'm being immature? What about him? You are taking his side now, after everything he-"
"Yes after everything he said! I will apologize, and I'm not taking sides"
"Now you are mad at me"
"I just think you are taking this too seriously"
"Too seriously? Too seriously?" James repeated madly. "He made this stupid bet and now my Halloween will be fiasco!"
"I thought you were his friend, he needed your help and thought you wouldn't mind!" Lily retorted.
"Come on Lils-!"
"That's what friendship is all about right?" She interrupted.
"He's my friend, but you're my girlfriend!" James said blushing, something in the back of his mind told him he had screwed up, he ran his fingers through his hair nervously, Peter and Remus exchanged looks of astonishment.
"How dare you! Friends are way much more important than girlfriends! Since when am I your girlfriend anyway? Can you remember it? Because I don't" Lily shook in anger, her hands clenched into fists.
"Lily I'm sorry-" James started but Lily turned on her heel and marched away. "LILY DON'T!" James gripped her arm making her turn around.
"Leave me alone" Lily said not looking at him, James let go of her…
"I LIKE YOU LILY, I LIKE YOU A LOT!" Some Ravenclaw stared at James giggling as he shouted this. After a while Lily had disappeared and the pitch was almost empty he sat down and groaned.
"I screwed it all up didn't I?" He said looking up at Peter and Remus. Remus nodded with a deep sigh, Peter pouted. "Darn, I wonder where Jess disappeared to"
In that precise moment Sirius silently walked behind James.
"Mate-"
"I'm too tired to endure your immaturity just now Sirius" James said without turning to look at him, Sirius glared.
"I just wanted to…" Sirius stopped taking a deep breath it took a lot of effort to say this.
"Wanted to say… I'm sorry"
James snorted, Remus smiled. Sirius waited impatiently for James to say something but he didn't. "I didn't mean to say I hated Lily, I'm sorry… I'm really very sorry I ruined your Halloween" He said trying hard to keep his voice steady. "And… Well… Come on James! Don't be an ass, I'm running out of things to say!" James couldn't help a hearty laugh.
"You're such a cry baby Sirius! Seriously" James laughed standing up and facing him "What's a pal to do? I guess I'll have to save your butt from the Whomping Willow" He said grinning, Sirius beamed and before he could stop himself he jumped and gave James a killing hug.
"Oh James! I love you so much!" Sirius squealed mockingly imitating rather exaggeratedly Lily's girly voice, Remus laughed.
"Stop messing with Lily in front of James, Seriously Sirius, I'm serious" Remus laughed again. "Couldn't your mum have thought of a more suiting name for you?"
"But I'm not Sirius, seriously Remus! I'm "SIRI"!" Sirius said squealing again. "That's what James' precious Lils calls me"
"Urgh stop hugging me Siri, I love you very much too, but I think I have enough with my dad making me feel gay" James said pushing him away but smiling all the same.
"I think you have to apologize to Lily" Peter said suddenly. Sirius glared with a sarcastic "thank you" expression at Peter.
"Well you should" Remus added knowingly.
"You MUST" James said with his eyebrows raised.
"OK, OK I WILL! Darn you… It's not easy, Give me a break" Sirius said desperately, Peter, Remus and James sniggered.
"You do reckon Bellatrix will keep her promise?" James asked.
"She better, she knows she can't break her promise" Sirius said maliciously as they all walked back to the castle "Or she'll be tree food"
"You know, speaking of trees, I tried to go to Hogsmade the other day, you know buy some stuff through that secret passage Remus told us about and I bumped into a thick root"
"The willow must have blocked it" Sirius stated.
"Do you think they planted that tree to block that entrance?" James asked Remus.
"…No idea" Remus said blankly.
"Oh well, we might as well find another passage, there must be loads in that castle" Sirius said cheerfully at the idea of sneaking out in the night to maraud around with his friends.
"Right" James smiled, thinking about that very same thing. "When can we start looking? Tonight do you reckon? I think all four of us fit in my invisibility cloak—"
"Guys I really don't want to turn you down but I can't, I'm leaving Hogwarts tonight… Just for a couple of days" Remus said quickly.
"Why?" Sirius and James asked at once in unison, Peter on the verge of tears, Remus was taken aback.
"Because… My grandfather gets sick quite often you see, I need to go and keep a watch on him once I a while, he's living all by himself"
"Don't go" Peter said crying and hugging Remus sideways
"I have to Pete, I'll be back very soon"
Sirius sighed deeply "I wanted to play chess with you" he pouted, Remus smiled weakly.
"You can play with James and Peter"
"Wicked" James said to the fat lady and climbed the portrait that had just swung open eager to find Lily in the common room, but she was no where to be seen.
"Nah Peter barely knows the king can't be killed and James… Well James" James glared at him listening to what he was going to say. "James goes berserk when he looses! You should see him it's scary" Sirius said with a cheeky grin, Remus chuckled.
"You do too" James said then looked at Remus' pale face and red eyes, he looked very sick himself, James knew, somehow that he had lied about his grandfather being sick, he was hiding something. Remus avoided James's stare.
"Well Remus… If you must" James smiled running his finger through his jet black hair. "But do please come back soon"
"He means soon ENOUGH to see him dancing with Bellatrix! We can't loose that Rem! We'll have a blast!" Sirius grinned, James grimaced.
"Come on I won't be THAT long. Just a very few couple of days… Trust me" Remus grinned.
"All for one, and one for all!" Peter said cheerfully brushing away his tears.
"Urgh stop that!" Sirius barked but James smiled at Peter. "I'm too tired to endure your immaturity just now Peter" Sirius said in an outstanding good imitation of James.
"Come on, it's not like you won't do a couple of days without me…" Remus said and frowned at the sight of Sirius' gray puppy eyes on the ready.
"Oh Remmy! Can't you see? You're breaking our hearts here!" Sirius sniffed with a cry-baby, hysteric voice. They all roared with laughter…
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