Tristan was trying her best to ignore Sirius. The two of them had been sparring for the past few days non- stop. She knew that things were even more intensified because he had just broken up with Mulrone. It was a few days before the Hogsmeade trip and they were all seated for dinner. Lily was sitting next to James while James was staring at her. Cris was busy talking animatedly with Marauders, while Alia stared absently at Tristan. Tristan looked at Alia long and hard.
"What's wrong?" Alia glanced at Tristan, while focusing her gaze.
"Nothing's wrong, Hollis." Tristan started to laugh, dryly.
"Oh come on, you're not even calling me Holly to annoy me, I think that I can safely say that something's up." Alia shook her head stubbornly. Tristan sighed. They turned back to the conversation between James and Remus.
"Mate, you're head boy, you can't prank."
"I'm not saying that I want to prank anyone, I'm just saying that Sirius here is getting kind of bored." Sirius glanced up with his mouth full. Remus shook his head. Tristan smiled slightly. Suddenly Remus' face lit up.
"If you're getting bored you two could have an eating contest," Remus said. Sirius' face took on a look of unholy glee. He glanced over at James, who started to grin. Remus sighed.
"Okay, ready, set go." Ten minutes later Sirius and James were still shoveling food. Most of the Gryffindors had surrounded them and were watching as both boys continued to eat without looking remotely ill. Cris slapped Remus along side the head.
"You idiot. This was your idea." Remus rubbed his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"Trust me, this is much better than hearing Sirius' own ideas when he is bored." He shook his head as James finally stopped eating. He looked perfectly fine. Remus shrugged.
"He'll go be sick now." Cris laughed as James bolted from the Great Hall. Lily shivered.
"That was absolutely disgusting, Black. Is James all right?" Sirius raised his eyebrows and laughed.
"Don't worry Lily flower, he'll be fine." She glared at him. Her eyes narrowed.
"Don't call be Lily Flower, Black." Her voice was forced.
"How about lily petal? Or I could call you lily tree? Or I could call you lily seed? Hmmm, How about Lily of the valley? Or I could-"
"Just Lily or Evans, Black. That's it. There are no nicknames. Ever." Sirius shrugged and gave her puppy dog eyes while she merely glared. Tristan stood and left.
Later in the hallways Sirius caught sight of Tristan. He had just seen his brother, Regulus with the undead and was feeling particularly raw. "Going to meet your Slytherin friends?" Tristan whirled around. "No Black, but if I see yours I'm sure that they'll send their regards. The only Slytherin pet here is you." She once again turned around.
"A pity, I would think that you would be proud about your lineage. You obviously don't mind." She knew that he was talking about her family. Her eyes were empty and dark.
"Ah, but that would mean I would have to mention your lineage. I'm sure that you miss your family very much. I can't say that they miss you, though. No Black's have ever really turned out well." His eyes hardened. Remus could see the fury in his eyes. He knew that the two of them weren't quite aware that there were onlookers.
"I don't see why you don't just marry into the bastards. I will say that the only good Hollis' are of course your cousin who I've heard is much lovelier than you and your brother. A pity that you turned your back on them and now live up to your parents standards. You haven't had a hard time in your whole life," he spat. Her face darkened. She could barely suppress the fury.
"Don't presume to make judgments on my life, Black. Just because my family didn't black me off of the tree doesn't mean I have to be a martyr." James appeared beside Remus and let out a sight.
"How long have they been at it?" He looked curiously at Remus. Remus glanced at the other students that had slowly started to appear.
"I'd say about five minutes. The two of them are really at it. I have a bad feeling about this, Prongs." James nodded and stared at Hollis and Sirius. He caught sight of Alia and Cris walking towards them. Lily wasn't there yet. He knew that Lily would have his head for letting this go on in the hallway. He couldn't move, though.
"Shouldn't we restrain them or do something? I mean the two look ready to start hexing?" Cris looked at Remus, James and Alia. Alia and James both shook their head. Alia bit her lip.
"Tristan won't take kindly to us getting her out of this mess. She'd probably hex us into next week." The boys nodded in agreement and Remus could see the look of indecision briefly flicker in Cris' gorgeous eyes.
Sirius laughed a bitter laugh. "I know more than you know. I heard about your brother from my brother. Were you the one that set him up? Did you sell out your own flesh? Then again I don't see why this should surprise me, seeing as what you come from and who you've spoken with." Alia noticed Tristan's entire body tense. She knew that at the slightest move from Sirius, Tristan would have him hexed into next week. After hearing her brother mentioned, however, her skin had drained of color.
"Don't talk about my family Black. You know nothing. Don't pride yourself. By the way, was the informer your lovely brother? I often see him at pureblood gatherings with nice little friends like Malfoy and of course your gorgeous cousin Bellatrix. Does that wound you at all? Does it hurt you to know that your younger brother is lost?" That was it. Sirius drew his wand. The next moment hexes were being thrown. There were flashes of light and Sirius and Tristan were both trying to dodge hexes. James sighed as he saw Lily walk over to him. Her face was slightly red.
"James! Why aren't you doing something?" She looked absolutely furious.
"You try to disarm them and tell me if you can. They're so busy dodging." Lily sighed. She knew she couldn't stop them. Then again, she should have seen it coming.
Every student in the hall was absolutely shocked when Tristan disarmed Sirius and flung his wand to the wall. She was breathing heavily and stood staring at him. He stared at her. He then started to laugh. James stared at him in disbelief. He had never seen his friend act like such an ass.
"Is that all? No dark magic?" His words were mocking. She pocketed her wand an in a flash had hit Sirius hard. It wasn't a polite or even strong slap. There was nothing ladylike about this hit. Her fist was clenched and she'd swung hard and hit her target. Sirius reeled from her punch and slapped her. She hit him again. He gripped her arms. She kicked him. In a matter of minutes they were on the floor fighting. James had to admit that although Sirius was landing some hits and kicks and whatever he could, Hollis was really holding her own. Suddenly there was a blast and the two were flung to opposite sides of the room. All the students stared in shock.
"HOLLIS! BlACK! I am absolutely shocked by you behavior. The two of you in Professor Dumbledore's office immediately. The rest of you, out of the Hallway and get to your common rooms before I start deducting points. Head Boy and Girl, start your patrols, I don't care what you do, just clear everyone out." Professor McGonagall looked absolutely furious. Her eyes were hard and her face was almost purple.
"Oh Merlin, Padfoot and Hollis are really in for it now." James sighed and shook his head. He and Lily finished shooing the few remaining students out of the hallway. Lily glared at him and shook her head.
"I can't believe you didn't stop them. And don't you dare say that it was because they were moving too fast, you could have stopped them when they were fighting." She glared. James looked at her apologetically and then suddenly shrugged his shoulders.
"Lily, I hate to say it but you didn't exactly make an effort to stop them." She sighed.
"I know. I just sort of froze. Oh I'm a terrible head girl." She sighed. James shook his head.
"Don't even think that. You're an amazing head girl. Don't put yourself down." He gave her shoulders a squeeze. She smiled as they walked back to their common room in silence.
Tristan and Sirius followed behind Professor McGonagall , who was currently ranting about using magic against each other and setting a bad example by fighting. She followed them up to Dumbledore's office. Professor Dumbledore was sitting at his desk. He looked displeased. He frowned when Sirius and Tristan entered.
"I've heard about your escapade today. I'm very disappointed. I expected better." Sirius looked guilty and Tristan kept her face impassive.
"I can't speak for Black here, and I'm not sorry for fighting black, but I'm sorry to have hurt you." Sirius scoffed and Dumbledore gave her a frown.
"Ms.Hollis. are you all right?" Sirius glanced at her. He could see her face change. For the first time he actually looked at her. She looked very pale. There were red marks on her face. She had already started to bruise and she sported a cut lip. The arm of one of her robes was torn. He could see her bony white arms. Her long fingers were a little red and there were a few cuts along the knuckles. He assumed that was probably from when her knuckles scraped the stone. The truth was that he had never looked at her before, but looking at her now, she didn't look well. There was a look on her face that he couldn't quite place.
"I'm fine, professor. I think I'm probably doing better than Black here." This brought a smile to Dumbledore's face as he chuckled slightly.
"Yes, you can certainly hold your own Ms.Hollis," he seemed to remember that Professor McGonagall was there and that he shouldn't be smiling,
"However, the two of you, your behavior was unacceptable. The two of you have detention together until a week before the ball. For Hogsmeade this weekend, you are only allowed to go for a brief time to get any supplies or possibly new robes, and then you are return and serve detention, together. You are also suspended from quidditch practice for the next week and a half. Now the two of you go and get cleaned up. You start serving your detention tomorrow. I will also be removing a hundred points from Gryffindor. Before you go Ms.Hollis, I want a word." Sirius nodded. Professor McGonagall looked a bit shocked that that was the only punishment that they were receiving but she didn't say anything.
Tristan walked towards the hospital wing in absolute silence with Sirius. She only stayed at madam Pomfrey's long enough for her to clean her face and give her some pepper up potion for the morning, before she disappeared.
"Sirius, mate, I can't believe you fought like that. First of, it's a girl, second think of the trouble." Sirius shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Trust me, it wasn't that hard to get in a fight with her or hex her." The other marauders shook their heads. Meanwhile the girl were giving ht same sort of drill to Tristan.
"Tristan, didn't you at all think of the risks and the consequences involved before you and Black… Never mind." Tristan started to laugh.
"Wow Lily, you make this sound like an advertisement for safe sex." Lily rolled her eyes while Cris and Alia laughed. Alia glanced at Tristan out of the corner of her eyes. Tristan didn't look good.
"Are you all right, Holly?" Tristan nodded and grinned.
"I can't see why Black and I got paired together, it just gives us more opportunities to hex each other." The girls shrugged. Tristan caught Alia's eyes. She stood and Alia followed her out of the Great hall.
"When did you forgive me Li?" Alia sighed. She brushed a dark curl back from her face.
"I realized that I didn't get the whole story and it was my fault for never giving mine." Tristan laughed dryly.
"My fault too. I don't want to know just yet. He hasn't told me anything. I'm sorry, Li. I can't explain things just yet. Let's just say that was a one time thing." Alia smiled. To anyone else this conversation would have seemed cryptic.
"It's all right. You're right, I can't tell you just yet. It's fine. Things are complicated. You're not going to tell me about your brother are you? No, anyone? " She watched as Tristan shook her head. her eyes looked so empty.
"We're good my friend, we're good." Tristan smiled and Alia hugged her gently. Have fun with your first detentions together."
The first two days passed without the two ever speak or looking at each other. Finally, on Friday night the two of them were cleaning the trophy room, without magic. She had lost her balance and staggered against one of the cases, leaning heavily on her arm. She swore and inhaled quickly. Sirius heard her and walked over.
"Hollis, just clean the damned case so we can be done. Honestly, I'm sure any other-" She slapped him and then winced. She pulled her arm back.
"What did you do to yourself?" he glanced at what appeared to be a cat collar. He looked at the way she favored her arm. Her face was blank. He looked at her and took her arm. She yanked it back, but he was absolutely transfixed as he saw the flash of creamy skin. The purple bruises stood out like stains. He inhaled and let out a breath. She slowly pulled her arm back.
"Did I do that?" he motioned to the dark purple bruises and the way she winced slightly. She turned away from him. He sighed.
"I've never fought with a girl that wasn't either Bella or my mother before. I've never hit a girl." His voice was dry and hard. She laughed humorlessly when he said this.
"You can add that to you list of deeds. I suspect you probably did do that." She returned to cleaning the trophy. He looked at her. He didn't know why but he wanted to lighten the mood.
"So are you in on the bet?" She started to laugh again.
"You mean the pool you've had going since third year about James and Lily?" She laughed.
"Why I don't know what you're talking about, I'd never bet on the pathetic love life of my friend…often." She gave the slightest of laughs and shook her head. He watched as she started to shine the trophy.
"Do you really want to be spending the entire night using your bare hands to clean?" She shrugged her shoulders. He sighed and muttered something about 'amateurs' to himself. He walked towards the cabinet in which their wands were locked. He grinned.
"Turn your back, can't have you knowing marauder secrets." She sighed and turned her back muttering something about 'stupid prats' to herself. In about five minutes he had their wands and muttered a quick spell and the entire trophy room was cleaned, with every trophy polished.
"I take it you do that a lot?" Sirius sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"When James and I set out for the record we figured we didn't really want to be spending our time in detention actually doing our detention. You never answered my question." He glanced at her as he conjured two chairs.
"You mean the bet? No I won't bet. Let me ask you something. Did Potter really thinking that going out for the detention record would make Lily like him?" Sirius sighed.
"We're young and misguided boys, whaddya expect. I still can't understand my mate's fascination. He can have almost as many girls as me and yet he's hung up over her." He sighed wistfully. Tristan's eyes hardened. She kept her tone light and simple.
"I wouldn't expect you to know what it's like to love someone unconditionally an remain loyal to them. I also suppose that monogamy means absolutely nothing to you." Sirius glared at her.
"Keep you're opinions to yourself, Hollis." She laughed.
"We'd better stop or we'll be back to throwing punches." He sighed.
"I've never met a girl that I've wanted to physically hit as opposed to his on." Sirius put his head in his hands and sighed.
"I've always wanted to hit you. I've never wanted you to hit on me. This isn't to different for me." He laughed quickly.
"About James though, James has always like her, it's more than a family or friend like. There's real affection there. I can't understand it, but he's my mate so I support him." She shook her head.
"I hope you didn't give him any advice in his love life. I hope you've let Remus give the advice." Sirius frowned. He gave a fake wounded look and pouted.
"What's wrong with my advice? I'm Mr. Casual with the ladies. They all love me, well except you. You love to hate me. Honestly, Remus doesn't do any better than James. Look at him and Cris." Tristan started to laugh. It wasn't a real laugh, but it was the closest thing to a laugh that Sirius had seen her give in months.
"No wonder the poor bloke has gotten nowhere. Poor Potter. At least Remus doesn't pursue Cris non-stop, however I personally think that those two as well as Lily and James could use a push in the right direction." She sighed and laughed again. Sirius looked thoughtful.
"I've had a thought."
"Oh Merlin. Was it unfamiliar territory?" He narrowed his eyes. He was trying to be civil to her. He really was itching to just slap her or hex her to oblivion.
"I think that I should get the couple's together. I'm sure I can figure something out. I'm Mr. Relationship. Okay, not relationship, but I am an expert at dating." Tristan rolled her eyes.
"All right Casanova. If you try to set them up though, I want to keep an eye on you. Lily might be thick but Cris is a darling and doesn't deserve one of your insane schemes." He pretended to look hurt.
"Fine. We're stuck together at Hogsmeade and for detentions anyway." She looked at him thoughtfully
"Hmm, you know we might need to make a pact not to hex each other. We can't really help Lily and James or Cris and Remus if we're constantly dodging hexes." Sirius nodded. He held out his hands.
"We solemnly swear not to hex each other during out brief collaboration, however we can fight the old fashioned way." She nodded. She yanked her arm back as if she'd been burned.
It was Saturday morning and the girls were going into Hogsmeade. Lily glanced over at Tristan and started to laugh. "All right Tristan, we have to do your least favorite thing first, purchase dress robes since you'll have to leave pretty soon." Tristan scowled and nodded. The girls were walking down the steps.
"Anyone going to Hogsmeade with anyone?" Lily asked slyly. Alia and Cris both blushed while Tristan looked uncomfortable.
"Well I'm meeting with Andrew again, after we do the dress robe thing." The girls nodded in approval and smiled at Alia. They all swung their gazes to Cris. She blushed a little. She swept back a silvery curl from her eyes.
"I'm just probably going to hang out with Remus and James, since Peter apparently has a date and Sirius has to leave. Lily, the invitation is extended to you as well." Lily nodded and the other girls just raised their eyebrows. The three all knew that there had to be something going on with Cris and Remus. Tristan shifted uncomfortably as everyone looked at her.
"I'm hanging out with Parrick after the robes while I see if I need any 'school supplies' before heading back to detention with Black." The girls raised their eyebrows and Alia turned away. Tristan sighed.
"All right people, let's get our robes."
The shopping for formal wizard wear was not nearly as painful as Tristan imagined that it would be. She personally was dreading shopping for the end of the year ball which would probably be held sometime in may. Muggle formal wear was always difficult to shop for.
Lily ended up buying a pair of crimson dress robes that almost matched her hair and golden stitching. She had already picked a pair of gold drop earrings to match.
"Lily, that's absolutely gorgeous."
"Yeah, you look so fantastic that you make dress robes look hot." Lily blushed and smiled at her friends. Cris was the next to find robes that suited her. She found lavender robes and silver hoop earrings to match. Tristan picked out Alia's robes. They were a deep purple and she found amethyst earrings to match. The last was Tristan. She put up the greatest fuss about robes. It took all three girls to pick out her robes and to get her to try them on. In the end she had midnight blue robes with silver-blue designs along the seams and similar stitching. They had also found a pair of dark blue and silver chandelier earrings.
"Honestly, how does she ever buy anything?" The girls nodded in agreement with Cris question.
"I don't think that she ever really bothers to look at what she buys. Either that or she's only a royal pain in the arse when she's with us." Lily said . Alia started to laugh. All the girls smiled as they held their bags with their purchases and diverged.
Lily walked with Cris to see Remus and James. Normally the idea of spending a Hogsmeade afternoon with James Potter made her feel ill, but he wasn't such a prat right now. He was just… He was James. She saw James and Remus and Sirius emerge from Zonko's. Sirius had a girl at his side, not that this surprised Lily. When James saw Lily he broke into a grin.
"Hi Lily, what did ya buy?" Lily snatched her bag back from Sirius who had already grabbed it and answered James in mock annoyance.
"Now that is none of your business Mr. Potter… We bought dress robes. No you can't see them. No, Sirius, you can't touch them. NO! you cannot get lost and their wonder. Now stop it your scaring… You're scaring your date." Sirius shrugged his shoulders while the blonde immediately shook her head and looked up at Sirius with adoring eyes. Lily laughed. Remus looked at Cris shyly.
"Hi Talia. So where do you guys want to go today?" Cris smiled and blushed in return when he called her Talia. The girls shrugged their shoulders.
"Do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks? We could get a butterbeer?" They all agreed to Remus' sensible idea. They started to walk. James stayed behind a moment as he watched Lily start to talk to Remus and Cris animatedly. He was suddenly struck by how beautiful Lily was. He shook himself mentally and walked quickly to catch up with the trio.
Alia smiled when Andrew walked up to her and gave her a broad smile. "Hi Alia, are you ready for our date." She smiled and took his hand.
"You sound almost nervous. Don't be. A little tip, generally when you make it to the second date and are absolutely charming you don't have to be walking on egg shells." She laughed softly and he started to laugh sheepishly.
"I can't help it. I really like you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spring that on you, you don't have-" She leaned forward and put her finger to his lips.
"Take a breath Andrew. I'm hardly a goddess. I like you. Now let's go to the three broomsticks." She leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Andrew grinned sheepishly again and grabbed her hand. They started to walk. You could over hear her laughter as they walked away. A pair of dark eyes was watching them from the shadows.
Tristan felt the point of a wand in her back as she stood in the shadows of a remote part of Hogsmeade. She whirled round, grabbing the wand in an instant. She met the familiar eyes of Malfoy.
"Hello Trixia. What a nice spot you've landed yourself in, detention with Black and the attention on the pair of you," he spat. He looked angrily at her.
"This shouldn't have anything to do with what we're doing." He glared at her. She glanced around, searching for Snape.
'Where's your little lover? I don't see Snivellus anywhere?" Malfoy arms shot out as he grabbed her other arm tightly. She didn't say anything. She could feel his grip tightening even more as he spoke.
"Right now, you're an ally. Don't put yourself in a position that you don't have. Now get through your detentions and don't give anything away. Meet at the astronomy tower tomorrow on Monday at one. You should be done with detention and put on a good show of going to sleep by then. Don't cross the line." He shoved her into the stone and with that he was gone.
Tristan stood behind Parrick, waiting for him to notice her. He saw her and breathed a sigh. He glanced at her arm, she was really favoring it now. He raised an eyebrow and she glared. He stood forward and kissed her quickly on the lips.
"Let's go buy some school supplies before you have to serve your detention." She shrugged her shoulders and walked beside him. He seemed distracted for a moment. She looked at him closely.
"Why are you here? Don't give me that look. Tons of girls want you and I know who you want. Why are you here with me?" She looked at him. The jewel of her nose ring sparkled in the light.
"You know why. Besides, why would I rather be with a stupid bint over you?" She nodded cheerfully.
"You make an excellent point, however that's not what I'm talking about. Well?" He smiled at her, his handsome features looking even better.
"I take it she didn't tell you." He watched as she stopped and leaned forward, she kissed him again. He sighed. "You're determined aren't you? Well you aren't getting a speck of information out of me. Control yourself. Now let's go purchase a quill for you and then we can head to the three broomsticks."
"Are you sure you aren't going there because you know that a certain someone is going to be there on her date? All right, I get the point." She sighed and started walking towards Flourish and Blotts.
Lily was currently noticing the fact that James couldn't leave his hair alone, even when drinking a butter beer. She glanced over at Sirius who was currently making out with his blond Barbie and Alia who was also making out with that boy Andrew. She looked up to see a pair walk in. They were walking side by side. She saw Tristan catch sight of Sirius and sigh, dragging who, Lily assumed to be Parrick, along with her.
"Hold on a moment." She kissed quickly, but there was definitely a lip lock and walked over to Sirius. Lily caught Alia staring at the table. The boys immediately launched into discussing quidditch.
Sirius was not being roused form his snogging session. She saw Alia glare and grab his butterbeer and dump it on his head. He broke away sputtering.
"Bloody Hell, Hollis!" She smirked at him and his soaked date that currently twittering about. He narrowed his eyes and poured the remaining butterbeer over her head. She glared and grabbed him. He gave his date one last kiss. She stopped by the table and nodded at Parrick who walked out behind the soaking wet pair.
A/N Okay,for the few people that actually read this fanfic, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Anyway, I wrote a really long chapter, so I hope you liked it. I'm open to any suggestions what so ever. I know that whole Sirius and Tristan thing seems kind of weird, but they're not really friends. They're just collaborating... For now. Pleaser REVIEW :)