Curiosity Killed the Cat

"What is it?" I called, the suspense killing me. Mary was still standing stock-still in the bedroom doorway as if unable to move.

"What's going on?" Marlene called to her impatiently.

Finally Mary bent down and picked something up off the floor, turning around with a confused expression.

"There was no-one there," she shrugged.

"What's that in your hand?" Marlene demanded.

Mary turned the note over in her hands. "C.M." she read aloud.

"They're your initials, aren't they?" she looked at me accusingly.

She passed the folded slip of parchment to my outstretchef hand, and my heart pounded as I forced myself to open it out.

'Morland, it's Sirius,' I read silently.

I let out an audible sigh and rolled my eyes. It was just Black.

How did he even get up the girls staircase? Wasn't it supposed to be tricked out like a fun house slide or something if boys tried to walk up it?

'Meet me in the Common Room at 18.30pm tomorrow.' the scrolled handwriting instructed me.

'It's important. Come alone, I mean it.'

A different handwriting had then scrawled 'Siriously', but it had been furiously scribbled out. I suspected Potter had tried and failed to make a tired joke at his friend's expense.

Only then did I notice a small P.S. right at the bottom of the page. 'Don't let McKinnon snatch this from you' it warned.

I furrowed my eyebrows and as if by clockwork felt the paper being swiped from my hands.

"Hey," I exclaimed at the curly haired girl.

But I needn't have worried, as soon as the paper touched her hand it gave a quiet fizzle and melted quickly away, dissolving into thin air.

"What the-?" Marlene exclaimed, her eyes wide.

I had to hand it to him, Black was nothing if not resourceful.

.o.

Telling Lily alone that I was going to meet him, I headed to the common room at quarter past six the following evening; on my own, just like his note had requested.

I knew I was absolutely insane to be doing it, but some invisible force seemed to be pushing me onward.

Surely even Black wasn't heartless enough to trick a poor defenseless girl. Even if we had covered him in chicken crap.

The image of it made me want to laugh even now.

I had left Marlene, Sally and Lily sitting chatting on the benches in the Transfiguration courtyard, and I was relying on Lily not to tell them about where I was going.

There was no way Marlene would have let me go meet Black and the boys on my own. She would never let herself be too far away from where she thought the heart of the action was.

Besides, I had a feeling she had a soft spot for James, which he obviously didn't return, and so would not want to miss out on a chance of meeting with him.

Finally climbing the last set of stairs leading up to the Gryffindor Common Room, I said the password to the Fat Lady.

I had almost forgotten how positively huge Hogwarts really was. It took forever to get from one side to the other.

Pushing open the portrait door I stepped inside with some shock. It was practically deserted.

The Common Room was never deserted; it was usually a throng of activity and hubbub. I could feel the hairs on my arms prickle, something not feeling right.

My eyes scanned the room until I located Black at the far corner, lounging in a chair at a small round table by the window. For probably the first time in his school life he seemed to be alone.

Making my way over with a mixture of trepidation and utter confusion, he finally spotted me and I noticed him straighten immediately, his casual stance now alert.

Resting a brief hand on the table, he stood to his full height.

It was strange, being on his own should have made him seem more vulnerable, but for some reason it only seemed to give him an aura of mystery.

With no one around to bear witness to his actions, it was as if he could do anything and no one would ever know.

I glanced around reflexively; there were a couple of students dotted around on the other side of the large room, but I could tell they were too wrapped up in their own conversations to take any notice of us.

Black made no secret of eyeing me up as I walked over to him, staring at me with an indecipherable expression.

Almost as soon as I got within reaching distance, his hand lashed out in my direction, grabbing at me with lightning speed.

With one quick glance around us to make sure no one was watching, he pulled me through a doorway I can honestly say I had never even noticed, let alone been through before.

At that moment I was scared.

Once inside our new surroundings, I pulled my arm forcefully from his grasp.

The room was a good deal larger and higher in size than a store cupboard, but it felt confined due to the many large shelving units lining it.

They looked like they had been taken straight out of the library, but instead of housing books, they were covered from top to bottom in old, dusty trophies.

'Evelyn Togue. Presented with this much coveted award for Toad Warbling' lay just behind Black's head.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, trying not to let my fear get the better of me. "If this is some kind of prank you should know that Lily knows exactly where I am."

I felt my voice waver pathetically and could have kicked myself.

"Lily knows you're in an old trophy store room, hidden in the common room behind a unicorn tapestry?" he said sarcastically.

"What do you want?" I asked, giving up on any charade that help was coming for me.

He seemed to hold my gaze for an eternity before he answered. I could practically see the cogs working behind his eyes, as though working out what to say to me.

"I heard about the chat you had with my brother," he finally stated. Before I even had a chance to reply he added, "Regulus is little better than a loose cannon. If you know what's good for you you'll stay away from him."

I looked back at him dubiously. This was really what Black had called a meeting about, just to warn me to stay away from someone I would probably never talk to again anyway?

He took a step toward me. "Are you listening to me, Morland?" he demanded.

"How did you know I spoke to your brother?" I asked slowly.

He shrugged. "He told me." He paused as if to say more. Finally he let out an annoyed breath of air, shaking his head.

"You should really learn to choose your friends more wisely. To want to count my brother among them shows a really bad judge of character. There's a reason he's in Slytherin."

"He told you?" I echoed.

He nodded once. "Practically bragged about it."

"Why would he think you would care?" I mused aloud. Regulus had told me he knew his brother and I didn't get along, why would he think he would care if we had spoken?

"How am I supposed to know?" he replied. "Reg is a law unto himself, who knows what goes through his head."

"This is seriously what you called me here to tell me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Call it a public service," he replied easily. "Not even you deserve to get caught up in whatever Regulus is planning."

He looked towards the door as he made to leave. As he turned the handle, he glanced back, "Just stay away from him, alright? He's more than you can handle."

Without really thinking I closed my hand around his shirt sleeve. He couldn't just call me here, throw around cryptic remarks and then leave. What if I had questions?

He turned his head in surprise; I had never purposefully initiated body contact with him before. Of any kind. Ever.

When our eyes met it dawned on me that it was those same weird grey eyes of his that had seen me in just my underwear. The first boy to have seen me in my underwear. He had stolen that from me.

I felt my mind go instantly blank, my reason for holding him back drifting out of it.

"Well?" he asked, glancing down at my hand still grasped tightly around his cotton sleeve.

I dropped my offending limb quickly, feeling a renewed wash of anger; Black had robbed me of what should have been an intimate moment. What was even worse was he had shared it with half the population of Gryffindor boys.

"Why did you spy on us through the mirror?" I demanded, searching his face.

Now would probably be the one and only time I would be able to get a straight answer from him, we were alone and there was no one around for him to show off in front of.

He glanced yet again at the door as if he wanted nothing more than to escape. For once he actually seemed uncomfortable.

"It's really not a big deal," he shrugged finally. "It's not like you were naked. Plenty of girls wear less at the beach."

I furrowed my eyebrows, desperately wanting to scream at him, to do anything just to make him feel a shred of remorse.

I'd never even properly kissed a boy, let alone stripped in front of one and what he had done to me had been completely out of order. But I couldn't confess all of that to him. Instead of feeling guilty he'd probably just laugh and use every future opportunity to throw it in my face.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I shook my head. "I have feelings just like everyone else."

"None of the other girls seemed bothered by it. You need to loosen up, Beaver," he said, looking increasingly unnerved by my reaction.

"Don't call me Beaver!" I shouted suddenly, feeling my rage explode.

He looked down at me increduously.

"Don't ever call me that name again," I warned more calmly, my expression serious.

"Fine, whatever! Merlin..." He looked at me as though I had grown an extra head. "We didn't even see that much. If you hadn't stormed off you'd have noticed how small the mirror we were looking into actually was. Prongs has a knack of stirring up excitement and when you all came in it went into overdrive."

I raised an uncertain eyebrow at him, unsure of whether to believe what he was saying.

"But if you ever do want to show me the real thing," he added, with a deliberate glance down my body, "I'll be waiting."

Not hanging around to field any more of my questions, he turned the handle and disappeared back through the door.

.oOo.

"Hey, wake up!"

I blinked and forced my eyes open a crack against the the slightly pink-grey sky of the next morning. From what I could tell, it was just after sunrise and it'd been raining.

My blurry focus drifted to the other bright haze of orange in my peripheral vision. Only this one seemed to have a face and seemed annoyingly insistent on waking me up.

"What is it, Mary?" I mumbled groggily at the curly flame haired girl.

"Remember how I was telling you about Ant?" her words spilled out rushed and excited.

Before I could say anything she was practically shouting out, "He's heading a lesson in rugby and it starts-" she checked her watch quickly, "Right now! Come on!"

"Rugby?" I questioned, still half asleep. "But that's a Muggle game-"

"It's part of Muggle Studies," she answered impatiently. "Now come on or it'll have finished."

I felt her tug on my blankets, trying to prise them from my rigid hands.

There was only one thought going through my mind at that moment.

What the heck had happened to the real Mary Macdonald?

Mary was sour-faced. She was dry. She was ...dare I say...a bit of a cow-bag.

She was not an enthusiastic ball of fun, and she most definitely did not want me of all people to accompany her anywhere.

I let the confusion show on my face. Obviously this was a dream, but dreams weren't usually quite as forceful in dragging me from my comfortable bed covers.

I shook her grabbing hands off.

"Why me?" I demanded.

"Because you know how I feel about Anthony," she insisted wide eyed. "And," she looked sheepish now, "you're the only one who doesn't have a morning lesson."

Ah, so there was the real reason she wanted me to go with her, she had no one else.

Well she could just go alone. There was no way I was missing my lie in for a girl who didn't even like me. Not a chance.

.o.

"Scrum!" yelled a particularly beefy looking young man down on the Quidditch field. A massive clash ensued made up of the largest boys from all four Quidditch teams.

Arms were linked. Shoulders bashed together like massive rock boulders.

Okay, so I caved.

You try resisting a maniacal love struck girl pulling you by the feet from your bed.

Besides, it turned out it was actually quite entertaining; seeing the normally none physical Quidditch teams get down and dirty on the grass.

The lesson had apparently been suggested by Professor Cringle, the teacher of Muggle Studies, as a 'practical and informing' lesson on Muggle sports.

As a half-blood, Mary's crush Anthony Javerhops had been chosen to tutor the teams on the rules and act as a sort of referee thanks to his first hand experience of playing it outside of Hogwarts.

He was actually doing a pretty good job of it too. Everyone seemed to like him. Though it was obvious the Slytherins resented taking part in anything Muggle.

It was just too bad for them Professor Cringle had a massive influence on their Head of House, Slughorn. Cringle's granddaughter was a particularly popular chaser on the Holy Hippogriffs national Quidditch team. Slughorn had never been able to resist a good trade: tickets for Slytherin cooperation.

The small crowd that had gathered in the stands cheered suddenly; a muscular Ravenclaw beater had lobbed the oval ball with tremendous force, sending it spinning over the goal posts.

Mary made a loud booing noise next to me. Ravenclaw were teamed with Slytherin for this match.

She had been jumping up and down in her seat all through the game trying to catch Anthony's eye. It made me long for a rope, gag and extensive knowledge in hog tying. It seemed she had got it bad for the rugby playing Hufflepuff.

I looked down at the field at him, his deep voice calling instructions to the players. He was attractive in a brawny sort of way, his light brown hair short and neat. If you liked that sort of thing.

"Well done, Potter!" he hollered enthusiastically. A glasses-less James had wrestled the ball from a Slytherin and was now using his long athletic legs to sprint the length of the field.

"Go on, mate!" encouraged an equally loud voice on the other side of the stands. Black was sat there cheering his friend on.

"Oof," he grimaced. A rhinoceros of a Slytherin had just tackled Potter to the ground from behind.

Potter went flying, the ball flung from his outstretched hands. He landed head first on the squelchy pitch, sliding along for about a foot from the force of it. When he lifted his face up, only the whites of his eyes were visible through his mud mask.

The sight of my old tormentor sprawled on the floor made me laugh uproariously.

A few of the nearby Gryffindors shot me dirty looks at my obvious lack of loyalty and I feigned innocence, placing the hilarious image carefully in my memory bank.

"Aw look at Anthony, he's so caring," Mary gushed as he ran to see if Potter was alright.

James brushed him off tersely, obviously embarrassed at his own gaff. His shirt was covered in brown and bright green grass stains and he looked around to check who was watching.

Luckily for him Lily wasn't there to see it.

.o.

"He's coming," Mary hissed in an undertone as Anthony made his way past us after the match. She sniggered girlishly, making me grin at how differently she was acting.

When Anthony spotted us looking at him he shot us a confused smile, obviously wondering what it was we found so funny.

As he passed he continued to look back at us over his shoulder, the smile still there but his cheeks tinged a faint pink. I didn't know what he had to be embarrassed about, we were the ones acting like primary schoolgirls.

Just then I spotted two familiar dark heads making their way past back toward the castle. I hadn't spoken to Black since he warned me away from Regulus, and I had no care to. I was sick of him and his sarcastic remarks and purposefully cryptic comments.

The world would be a much happier place if he would just leave me alone.

Readying myself for whatever he would throw at me as he came past with the brown and green camouflage version of James, I was mildly surprised when they both breezed past without giving us so much as a glance.

Like I, I mean we, had been carefully cropped from their vision.

I watched the back of Black's perfect head walk away and for some reason found myself incredulous. Not disappointed he had blanked me of course, it was just odd.

"I've got to go," I muttered, ignoring the unpleasant sensation wriggling in my stomach.

I had a DADA lesson to get to.

.o.

When I walked out of my Defense lesson an hour later I found myself greeted by a particularly odd looking Mary waiting outside.

"Anthony told me to ask you to meet him."

I looked at her blank eyes, her voice toneless and nothing at all like the excited babble it had been just an hour ago.

"What?" was all I managed.

"He wants to meet you," she said in the same dull voice,

"But...why?" I stammered.

She snorted humourlessly. "Isn't it obvious?"

I didn't dare ask anymore. Despite her facade it was obvious she was really upset.

"What's going on?" Dorcas had approached us with a pleasant smile on her face, until she took in Mary's expression that was. "Is everything alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah it's fine," I reassured her.

"One of my friends has asked Cheryl out," Mary blurted out. There was a distinct sound of accusation in her voice.

"Oh." Dorcas seemed taken aback. She looked at me uncertainly, "Well, that's...nice."

"So anyway," Mary said, the volume of her voice escalating, "Are you going to meet him?" She looked at me pointedly.

"Of course not," I assured her, "You like him. I wouldn't-"

Dorcas's face lit up in understanding. Her expression became concerned.

"I'm not bothered," Mary reassured falsely, "If you like him you should go ahead."

I wasn't sure how to tell her I had absolutely no interest in him without making it seem like I thought I was too good for her precious crush.

"I already like someone else," I lied.

Mary's face looked unconvinced.

"She told me about him the other night," Dorcas tried to confirm helpfully.

"Why didn't you tell me this when I told you about Anthony then? Who is it?" Mary demanded.

"It's a secret," I answered.

"It's Sirius," Dorcas chorused the conflicting answer at the exact same time.

I balked and looked around at her, "What?"

She looked apologetically up at me.

"You like Sirius?" Mary asked me, her mouth dropping.

"Apparently so."

Mary nodded slowly. "I guess I'll tell Ant that then."

I grabbed her arm to stop her escaping. "No, don't. It's a secret."

"Sirius doesn't even know," Dorcas added quickly.

"Fine, whatever," Mary relented. "I'll just tell him you're not interested. See you later."

I turned my attention to Dorcas. She looked even smaller than usual.

"You do realise what you've done, don't you?" I asked her.

"I'm so sorry," she said genuinely. "It just slipped out, I don't know why."

I shook my head. "Mary is the biggest loudmouth in Hogwarts."

Black was going to have fun with this one.

.o.

I approached my Herbology lesson with no small amount of dread. I was only too aware that Black had this lesson, and I was almost definite that Mary would have told him about Dorcas's outburst.

Me fancy Sirius Black. Of all people. It was ridiculous.

Perhaps I should go out with that Ant boy just to prove how much I didn't like Black. Unfortunately, he just wasn't my type.

When I entered the pleasantly warm greenhouses I spotted them straight away. Potter and Black were sat in the seats farthest away from the door.

When I walked in, Potter immediately leaned over to his friend and I noticed them both glance over at me.

I couldn't read their expression from this distance, but their mutterings officially ended all hope that Mary had finally received her personally transplant and not told the world and its cousin about my new 'crush'.

"They're looking at you again," Lily muttered underneath her breath.

I pretended to look out of the window and chanced a quick glance over at the two boys.

"Actually James is looking at you, Lily," I corrected, making her blush becomingly. It was true, James was giving her weird goo goo eyes. As soon as he noticed me looking he feigned indifference and looked lazily away.

Black on the other hand seemed to be avoiding eye contact altogether. I wasn't sure what his new tactic was, but it was like he was finally bored with the constant point scoring with me. He seemed, well, over it.

"Are you sure Black was looking?" I asked Lily.

She seemed uncertain. "Hmm, perhaps it was just Potter then."

.o.

"Right then, pack away the apparatus and you may go," Professor Sprout addressed the class. "But don't forget your essay on the warble root."

Black raised his hand.

"And no Mr Black, 'the dog ate my manuscript' is not an acceptable excuse for missing pages. We don't even allow dogs at Hogwarts," she added irritably.

Black lowered his hand and Potter gave him a nudge with his elbow, both of them grinning like idiots.

"Your NEWTS will come around before you know it," Sprout continued. "Don't be the only one who cannot achieve a career after Hogwarts because of poor performance in school."

With that everyone started to pack away.

So that was it. I wasn't sure how, but I had managed a whole lesson with Black without so much as a peep from him about Mary's blabbing.

Stepping into my room after our evening meal, I found myself greeted by one solitary person. Mary Macdonald.

My insides twisted. Great, another guilt trip about her beloved Ant, like it was my fault he clearly had no loyalty or respect for her.

I know it might've sounded harsh, but why else would he tell her about his crush on one of her friends when it was so obvious she liked him?

It seemed like he was playing games.

"Ant has said it's fine if you don't like him, but please would you go and meet him at eight by the lake."

There was no smile for me this time.

I glanced at the clock:

19:15.

"Why?" I asked her, the impatience showing in my voice.

She shrugged. "No idea, he just wants to see you. He won't stop talking about you," she added a little bitterly.

I was unable to hold back my eye roll. Ant was getting more annoying by the second.

"Just meet him, would you?" Mary requested. "Maybe then he'll stop going on."

"Fine."

Without another word I grabbed my cloak and stormed down to the lake.

I felt erratic and irritated. There was no way Ant would 'go on about me' after this meeting. My mood would make sure of it.

It was getting dark early now, winter was practically upon us. Outside, any trace of light was fast disappearing and the chill in the air was biting.

I pulled my cloak tighter around my body.

There was a well known area caused by the protruding castle walls that students tended to avoid at night. An area where the shadows were that much darker and a general sense of foreboding hung in the air, and it was only when I was upon it that I realised.

Nothing bad had ever happened there. It was just a bit creepy really. Not exactly a place a person would run to if they were being followed anyway.

Though come to think of it, it would probably make a fairly good hiding place what with the complete darkness and all.

The words repeated in my head, taking on a different, less palatable perspective this time.

'It would make a good hiding place'.

Not just for the escapee, but for the pursuer as well.

I chided myself, I was sixteen, not six.

Nevertheless, I felt my feet move that little bit faster as I passed the area.

Skirting around the edges of the shadow's arc, I tried not to stare directly into it. I didn't want my mind to see things that weren't there.

Suddenly a growling noise echoed all around me, and I couldn't help it. I glanced towards it.

Big. Mistake.

A/N As always thanks so much for the reviews I've already received, as well as the story favs/alerts and everything. We reached the 100 review mark -x dances around her laptop excitedly x- so a special thanks to that reviewer. I can't believe it!