Anything But Ordinary

Chapter 2-Beautiful Disaster

The first day of classes always involved the perfect amount of anxiety. One was always nervous for what was to come, but excited all the same for the fresh start.

As a seventh year, Kelsey wasn't required to take as many classes as she had previously, but she was forced to excel in the ones required. When asked what she wished to do when she grew older, Kelsey's mind had fallen blank. She had said she wanted to be an Auror, but she knew that wasn't the profession for her. She wanted to help, of course, but she never truly was a 'take charge' sort of girl.

The fact that it was her final year of Hogwarts had finally sunken in. That morning at breakfast, Dorcas had asked her if she was feeling alright.

So, as she sat in the Potions classroom, her foot tapping nervously on the ground and her clammy hands wringing one another, she held the perfect amount of anxiety that was acquired from the last first day of her life.

Her brown eyes drifted up as she heard laughter. Sirius Black entered, his hair perfectly windswept as usual, his bangs falling gracefully into his alluring gray eyes. His cronies, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, the infamous Marauders, trailed quickly behind him. She watched as Remus sat beside Peter and James took a seat next to Amos Diggory, which coincidentally enough happened to be directly behind Lily Evans. Her eyes widened as she realized her seat, the seat directly beside her, was the only one available. She cursed under her breath as Sirius swiftly sat down and grinned over at her.

Her professor, Horace Slughorn, stumbled in merrily, a large grin planted below his walrus-like mustache. His large belly peaked from beneath a very luxurious smoking jacket. Kelsey turned forward as he patted down his thick, straw colored hair, his prominent eyes focused on Lily.

"Welcome back, seventh years!" he proclaimed, tossing his thick arms in the air. "This year looks extremely promising from my standpoint. Firstly, I get to start my day off with some of the most talented Potion masters in this school." He winked at Lily, who seemed to beam. Kelsey distinctly heard him mutter something along the lines of, "Old git".

"We all know what the new school year means!" Professor Slughorn stated. "New Potion partners! Now, instead of taking the time to assign you all with someone you absolutely detest, I figure I'll cut you all a break this year." A chorus of high-fives swept throughout the room. "Your new partner is the same person sharing a desk with you."

James groaned as he looked over at a confused Amos Diggory. "That'd be me, you idiot."

"Oh," Amos said, realization upon him.

Kelsey took in a deep breath as Sirius looked over at her, less than amused by the entire scenario. He did try and make light by feeding her a feeble grin, but the two of them knew already that they held no compatibility. Professor Slughorn came over and patted the two of them on the shoulder.

"What a pair," he cried out. "I can feel the chemistry flouncing off of you."

With that, he turned and walked over to Amos and James, not mentioning anything about chemistry.

Sirius couldn't help but snicker. "Did he just say flouncing?"

Kelsey laughed, in spite of herself. "I think he did."

"Always thought he was an odd one," Sirius mentioned. The two of them sat in silence for a couple of moments before he turned to her. "I feel pretty bad about running into your sister the other day. It was a cruddy thing to do."

Kelsey smiled slightly, not used to this sort of behavior from Sirius Black. "That's fine," she managed to say quietly. "Accidents happen."

"So we're good?" he asked, holding out his hand. "It's just, I don't want to have to work with someone who secretly thinks I'm the biggest prat in the entire room."

Too late, Kelsey thought bitterly.

"I hate my life," Dorcas whined into her pillow, her long brown hair spread out all over her face. Kelsey had walked down the steps and into the sixth year girls' dorms to ask her sister how her day went, seeing as Dorcas was basically the only friend she had.

"What happened now?" Kelsey asked, plopping down next to her sister.

"Professor Slughorn, stupid git that he is, stuck me with Ludo Bagman! Can you believe that? Ludo Bagman is the stupidest git to walk the planet. I swear, that man knows how much I loathe Bagman. I mean, loathe," Dorcas emphasized, her brown eyes feisty and upset. "I am going to fail Potions, I just know it."

Kelsey knew exactly how her sister felt. Sirius Black was no catch for a Potions partner. He was most likely going to pull pranks on Severus Snape or Narcissa Malfoy the entire class. She wasn't looking forward to having to perform all the work herself. She wasn't that great at Potions, truth be told.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Kelsey said. "You're a very talented witch. By far more talented than I'll ever be."

Dorcas turned over onto her back and folded her hands casually across her stomach. "Who did he pair you with?"

Kelsey rolled her eyes and grumbled, "Sirius Black."

"And I thought I had it bad," Dorcas laughed. She grinned as her sister her in the head with a pillow. "You know what? I'm glad you're my sister."

Kelsey smiled softly at Dorcas. The two of them had always been close, yet sharing their fair few of disagreements. "We're all we've got in this school," Kelsey agreed. She knew that even if things were bad for her, she always had Dorcas, who would listen and tease. Her sister always seemed to be able to lighten the mood. "If we didn't look out for one another, who would?"

The next couple days proved to be a reality shock for Kelsey. During their first potions assignment, both Kelsey and Sirius contributed to the final product, which wasn't half bad.

She seemed to find his newfound behavior somewhat intriguing. He was much quieter now, hardly ever turning behind him to talk to Remus and Peter. She noticed how he furrowed his brow when he was deep in concentration. She supposed it wasn't healthy to find such things intriguing, but she did anyways.

For some reason, Sirius seemed normal. He didn't act like a jerk, at least not in front of her. He seemed concerned about his final product, adding all the ingredients carefully and correctly. For some reason, he never seemed to catch onto all the staring she'd been doing. She found that interesting as well. While Sirius was busy making the potions, she was busy observing. He was oddly fascinating to her, unlike anyone she'd ever seen. He had quirky habits. He was completely oblivious to anything and everything in that Potions classroom.

The two of them hardly ever spoke. Kelsey knew that she wasn't real eager to talk to him anyways, but she figured she'd have to. Yet, the two of them were just as comfortable in silence. They seemed to be able to connect in a way that didn't need any communication. It didn't feel strange or awkward, which was surprising. As the days increased though, Kelsey wanted to talk to him. She wanted to know if she was completely wrong in assuming he could be halfway decent at times.

One particularly chilly fall night, Kelsey slipped out of bed at 2:08 AM. She felt the cold stone floor send tingles up her legs. She didn't even bother to grab her dressing gown as the cold hardly ever bothered her. There was no worry of being spotted either as no one was up at two in the morning.

Every year since she could remember, waking up in the middle of the night had been a ritual. Her mother suffered a slight case of insomnia as well. The two of them would stay up for hours, just watching the wind blow from the porch. That was their time to bond, their time to be with one another. Her mother worked a lot, but Kelsey knew that no matter how little she saw of her mother during the day, she would be able to see her at night. Dorcas knew nothing of their little ritual, seeing as she slept like a rock, and Kelsey preferred it that way.

She hadn't been able to break the habit when she came to Hogwarts. The Astronomy Tower was normally her destination, yet during the summer she usually took a stroll out by the lake.

That particular evening, she decided to sit upon her designated windowsill and try to name the stars. She had always been fascinated by astronomy. Last year, she had dropped the course, but she always found the time to stargaze.

As she entered the dark, freezing cold tower and walked towards the windowsill, she saw a shadow sitting at one end. She walked a bit farther and saw that the moonlight revealed none other than Sirius Black.

You've got to be kidding me, she thought.

She turned to leave when he spoke.

"You don't have to leave."

Five words. Five measly words. Yet, that was all it took. That was all it took for Kelsey to realize that maybe Sirius wasn't so bad after all. She took a chance, stepped out on a limb, and sat down on that windowsill in peaceful silence with Sirius.

A/N: Kind of short, sorry. Had writer's block. Please review.