After their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Lily beckoned for Sadie to join her and the other girls as they walked up to the castle ahead of the boys. Sadie cheerfully waved goodbye to her brother and the other boys and hurried to catch up with the girls. They were excitedly discussing the project they had just been given.
"Where were you and Sirius?" Alice asked Sadie. Sadie shrugged casually.
"Kettleburn assigned us one that he keeps apart from the others. She's blind, so she startles easily. He's trying to keep her protected from a lot of noise, at least until she's a little stronger." She deliberately left out any other details, not wanting word to get out about the baby. They last thing the poor creature needed was a bunch of Hogwarts students barging into her clearing to try and get a look at her. "How did everything go for you guys?"
Mary sighed. "Oh it was wonderful! Remus is such a sweetheart, you know? And his smile just melts my heart! Sadie, do you think there's any way you could get him to ask me to Hogsmeade sometime this year?"
Sadie bit back a smile. "I'll do my best, Mary."
Marlene rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "I'm pretty sure Sadie was actually asking about our unicorns." Mary blushed. "Archer's and mine doesn't seem to be in too terrible of shape. He's an adult, and he definitely took to me better than Archer, but Archer is being pretty patient about it." She shook her head with a slight laugh. "He named him Albatross of all things. But, I mean, he's hot, and I figured it won't hurt my chances with him to just go along with it. So, well, Albatross it is, I suppose," she shrugged.
The other girls giggled. Alice spoke up next. "Peter and I got assigned the one you were checking out at the beginning of class. Poor Peter seems pretty terrified of the whole project, but Charlie is such a sweetheart. That's what we named the unicorn," she added at their blank looks.
"Bertram actually seems to have kind of a gift," Lily smiled. "Our unicorn, Amaryllis, liked him as much as me right off the bat. She's in a bit of a bad way; looking really skinny, and Kettleburn says she's having a hard time keeping food down, but we're hopeful. Did you and Sirius name yours?"
Sadie nodded. "We named her Rhea."
Mary laughed. "Well, that's a good one! James insisted to poor Eliza that they were naming theirs Elvendork because 'it's unisex.'" Everyone giggled except Lily, who just rolled her eyes.
"Well, I guess I lucked out with Albatross then, didn't I?" Marlene joked.
"Hey, Sadie!"
The girls stopped and turned around to see Gideon hurrying toward them. With a chorus of "See you in class, Sadie" and some suggestive winks, Sadie was left on her own with the redhead, who grinned down at her. 'Merlin, has he always been so tall?' Sadie thought weakly.
"I just booked the pitch for tryouts this Saturday at 8am," he told her happily. "You'll be there, right?"
Sadie smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Not wasting any time, are you?" He chuckled and shrugged sheepishly. "Of course I'll be there."
"Great!" He beamed at her. "That's great!" There was an awkward pause as they looked at each other. Then, Gideon cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hey, listen, Sadie, I've been thinking...that is...I was wondering..."
"Hey, Gideon!" They both jumped as the sound of Fabian shouting at him from down the corridor. "You coming, or what?"
Gideon hesitated before giving Sadie an apologetic look. "I'll, uh, see you around, yeah?" She nodded, feeling a little baffled, and watched him jog back to meet up with his twin. With a start, she realized that she'd been staring off into space for several seconds, and so she hurried the rest of the way to the Transfiguration classroom.
True to his word, Sirius plopped himself down next to Sadie as soon as he and the other boys had arrived. He was rewarded with a glowing smile that made his heart leap into his throat. James, Remus, and Peter shot him knowing smirks and rolled their eyes in amusement, but he ignored them in favor of throwing a friendly arm around Sadie's shoulders. She kissed his cheek and leaned her head against his shoulder happily.
"Thanks, Sir," she whispered. "You're the best."
"Miss Potter, kindly extricate yourself from Mr. Black's arms, or I shall be forced to deduct points," McGonagall said sharply without looking up from her desk. "You are free to engage in public displays of affection outside of my classroom, but I will not have you distracting other students during class." Sadie's cheeks burned at the sniggers of her friends and classmates as she hurriedly sat up, but she could have sworn she saw her professor send her a subtle, good-natured wink.
In contrast, Sirius, who was not known for being particularly easily embarrassed, got to his feet dramatically. "Don't worry, sweet Minnie! You know my heart belongs only to you!" He declared, blowing a kiss toward the front of the classroom.
The class erupted into giggles, and the corners of their head of house's mouth twitched slightly, but she maintained her composure. "Sit down, Mr. Black, or it'll be detention for you."
Sirius winked at her but did as she'd asked, patting Sadie reassuringly on the leg after he was seated. She smiled sheepishly at him before pulling out a piece of parchment and her quill and ink. McGonagall began her lecture on OWLs and vanishing spells, and Sirius watched in slight amusement as Sadie frantically rushed to copy down every word that she said. He leaned down close to her ear.
"Relax, Speckles," he muttered. "I'll help you. And besides, we both know that you don't learn as well when you stress out like this." He swallowed hard as she pouted at him prettily, but she reluctantly slowed down her notetaking.
It wasn't long before McGonagall had set the class to practicing vanishing spells on their own. Each student was given a snail that they were to attempt to vanish by the end of the period.
"Evanesca," Sadie flicked her wand at her snail for what felt like the thousandth time. "Evanesca!" No change. She gave a huff of frustration and set her wand down. "This is pathetic! Look! Even the bloody snail is laughing at me!"
Sirius pursed his lips to keep himself from chuckling and rubbed her back soothingly. "You know you're your own worst enemy when it comes to this stuff. You've got to relax. That's your biggest issue here anyway. You're giving it more of a stiff jab than a light flick. Why don't you take a break for a minute? Take some deep breaths, calm your mind, that sort of thing." Sadie nodded wearily.
Professor McGonagall approached them then. "Mr. Black, while it is admirable of you to be helping Miss Potter with her work, I have yet to see you actually-" She clamped her mouth shut as Sirius vanished his snail with a casual flick of his wand. "Oh, very well then. Continue." She began to walk away but then turned back just long enough to quietly add, "And ten points to Gryffindor."
Sirius leaned his chair back on its hind legs, smirking cockily. Sadie rolled her eyes but couldn't keep a fond smile from forming on her face.
The first couple of weeks back at Hogwarts passed by in a blur of homework, unicorn care, and quidditch. Their teachers were piling on rigorous assignments in an effort to prepare them for their OWLs. Sadie was beginning to understand why it was so common for fifth year students to turn to girding and invigorating potions just to get them through the year. She and Sirius would study and practice together as they sat in Rhea's paddock to observe her and get her used to their presence.
Rhea's condition hadn't gotten any worse, but she wasn't getting better either. The one small victory they'd had with her so far was that she no longer startled so strongly at whatever noises they made. They still had to sedate her if they needed to feed her or do any tests, but she did seem to be slightly less terrified of their presence.
Quidditch tryouts had gone wonderfully, and Gideon was emphatic that they could absolutely win the cup this year as long as they trained hard enough. He held formal practices every Tuesday and Thursday evening (he was only allowed to book the pitch for two nights per week), but he expected them to train on their own time every other day.
It was after one particularly grueling practice that Sadie, James, and Sirius found themselves slumped moodily over plates of food in the kitchens. Gideon had kept them until nearly curfew, but the trio hadn't had much time for dinner between classes and practice, so they had crowded together under the invisibility cloak and headed out in search of much-needed sustenance.
"I know you like him and all, Sade," James grumbled between mouthfuls of treacle tart. "But if he yells one more time for me to keep 'eye contact' with the goal posts, I may just murder him in his sleep."
Sadie was too exhausted to do anything but nod her head resignedly. Her plate was empty, and she was entering a pleasant state of drowsiness. Sirius glanced at her and let out a small laugh before pushing his chair out and offering a hand to help her up.
"Come on, Prongs." He clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Looks like we'd better get this one to bed."
James looked regretfully at his half-finished dessert, but he nodded and pulled the cloak over all of them. They crept quietly through the portrait hole and made their way slowly toward the staircase that would lead them to Gryffindor Tower.
They were just turning a corner when James came to an abrupt halt, throwing out his arms to stop Sadie and Sirius from walking any further either. Sadie let out a small squeak of surprise, but it was stifled as her brother quickly placed his hand over her mouth, giving a warning look. The three friends stood as silently as possible, and it was only a moment before Sadie and Sirius heard the voices that had startled James.
A seventh year Slytherin, Corvus Rowle, was speaking in hushed tones. "-had better work, Snape. My father says He is growing impatient with our lack of progress."
"It will work." Snape's voice was deadly calm. Sadie felt her heart hammering as the two Slytherins walked past them, missing hitting them by mere inches. "But it must be done underneath the full moon. That was why nothing changed when we worked on it over the summer. I'm sure of it this time. Tell your father we will have further progress after this Saturday."
Rowle didn't sound convinced. "If this isn't completed by the time He specified..."
"It will be," Snape hissed. "And, anyway, if you're so worried about it, maybe you should be trying to come up with solutions as well instead of leaving all of that on me."
"I'm just saying, it had better work," Rowle repeated hastily. As they reached a split in the corridor, the two of them gave each other curt nods before walking briskly in opposite directions.
Sadie, James, and Sirius stood frozen in their spot for several moments, waiting to be sure the Slytherins wouldn't be returning. Then, they slowly turned to look at each other, eyes wide, as they wondered just what kind of conversation they had just stumbled upon.
A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading, and especially to those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed! Let me know what you think! Also, I'm curious to know if anyone has any guesses about what Sadie's animagus form might me. There was one tiny little hint in this chapter, but it isn't terribly much to go off of.
Guest: Okay, your review seriously made me so happy because conflicted is exactly the feeling I'm going for with that! I have a special place in my heart for Gideon. 3