Disclaimer- Everything that you recognize, characters and all, belongs to JK Rowling. Everything you don't recognize belongs to me, including the plot.
By Sun and Candlelight
Chapter Two: Feeling Out of Sight
"Ah!" Lily said, stretching her arms. "I love the first day of classes. I feel so much more in touch with my brain."
"Because you're totally brain-dead over the summer?" Deirdre asked, putting a sarcastic look of concern over her face.
"No! Honestly, Deirdre." Lily placed her hands on her hips.
Elsa laughed. "Yeah, Deirdre. She just doesn't use it much in the summer."
"Exactly." Lily said, smiling to herself. "Wait a minute, Elsa!" She punched her lightly on the arm.
Deirdre was tired. She'd never been much of a morning person and she hadn't got much sleep the night before. She wasn't exactly thrilled like the rest of her friends to be going to potions.
"I can't stand potions." Teva said, obviously not thrilled by the prospect of going either.
"C'mon." Lily said. "Teva you're good in every class. You've no reason to hate anything."
"Merlin, if I had your OWL scores I wouldn't be complaining." Deirdre smiled at Teva, they all knew that it wasn't the class's difficulty she was talking about.
Teva pouted. "No, that's not it. Slughorn's bound to partner me up with Pettigrew. He does it every year."
Teva, an obsessive perfectionist, could never seem to get past Peter's lack of coordination. He had no chance of winning any fight either. Teva was one tough cookie when it came to academics.
"Maybe, he'll switch it up this time. Perhaps I'll get the 'mouse-boy', Lily will have Potter, you'll get Lupin, and Deirdre will have her beloved Black. That'd spice things up for sure." Elsa grinned her mischievous smile and ran off, heading to Potions in order to get there first.
"What they hell is she on?" Lily asked, furious as always at the mention of James's name.
"She loves to pretend she's a matchmaker. Let it go Lils, she doesn't mean any harm." Deirdre patted her friend on the back and they sauntered off to their class.
Once everyone was seated and quiet, Professor Slughorn took his place at the front of the dungeon.
"Don't make yourselves too comfortable." Slughorn smirked. "I should tell you before we begin that I've rearranged some previous partners due to the inability to work in operable pairs." He glared solemnly at Teva who shrugged and shook her head.
Of course, their partners were the same as Elsa had predicted. Once again, Deidre found herself in the uncomfortable, close proximity of Sirius Black. They were thoroughly following the directions to one of the potions from their textbook when Deirdre finally worked up the nerve to talk to him.
"How was the rest of your summer, Sirius?" She asked, cutting up some herbs and tossing them into the cauldron.
"It was…eventful. How about you?" Sirius threw a couple of slimy purple things into the boiling water. Deirdre stared absentmindedly at them as they bobbed around.
"It was fine." The conversation was so painfully awkward, and the fumes from the potion were making Deirdre feel funny, impulsive.
"Sirius, why'd you stop writing me?" She said slamming down her knife and turning to face him. Apparently she'd said it a bit more forcefully than was meant. People started starring at them from all the way across the room.
"Are you mad? Why'd you just go off at me like that?" Sirius whispered angrily.
Deirdre had never noticed how utterly handsome Sirius was, but looking him right in the eye made her see. He wasn't boyishly attractive like James, or ruggedly appealing like Remus. He was a completely different thing all together. He was like a Greek statue of a god, with features that looked like they had been chiseled from expert hands. Not to mention his grayish-blue eyes that a girl could get lost in…Deirdre was beginning to feel a bit lost herself.
"I-I'm sorry, I just- It's the smoke from the potion, it makes me feel strange."
"You okay then?"
Deirdre nodded and Sirius continued throwing things into the cauldron. Deirdre started cutting up more herbs in order to regain her concentration. Sirius obviously wasn't finished yet; he stole a few more glances at her.
"I wanted to write to you." He breathed. Deirdre had to strain her ears to listen. "I just couldn't."
She began cutting faster, hardly even paying attention to the knife. "What happened?"
"I-I was busy okay? I had some other things to take care of."
Chop chop chop. The knife was practically flying across the cutting board. "You didn't even tell me you were going to stop. You just cut them off so abruptly. I thought you were kidnapped or something."
Chop chop chop. Sirius glowered at her. "You don't know anything! Okay? I'm telling you, I was busy!"
And just like that the knife collided with Deirdre's palm, breaking through her skin. The cut wasn't deep, but the wound was bleeding pretty heavily.
"Bloody hell, Sirius!" She yelled, clutching her left palm with her right. Slughorn ran over and examined the slash the knife left on her hand. He didn't send her to the nurse, insisting that if she followed his directions that she could be healed faster.
"Go to the cupboard and get the soap in the purple bottle. It's from Romania, top of the line. Wash out your hand, and I assume Mr. Black will help you wrap it." Slughorn turned to Sirius, an intent look in his eyes. "Black, there is a small brown box in the cupboard. Inside is a thorny plant that is smothered in a yellow liquid. Remove the leaves and wrap them about Ms. Kaleigh's hand. When you're done, come back and show me so I can approve."
The two students did as they were told Deirdre washed her hand in silence while Sirius plucked the leaves off the plant, both wearing stony expressions. When Deirdre was finished she sat in front of Sirius and he began dressing her wound.
"This is kind of my fault, eh? I'm sorry, Deirdre." Sirius said, taking her hand in his. She couldn't help it, her hand started to shake.
He began to gingerly wrap they sticky leaves around her palm, making it feel warm. "Am I hurting you?" He asked, noting her shaking hand.
"No. It's the plant, it stings." She lied. How could she tell him the truth? She didn't even know what the truth was.
"You've got small hands." He said, holding it in comparison to his own. It was small, like a child's next to his.
"So? Maybe you've got abnormally large hands." She giggled.
"Well, you know what they say about big hands?" He said slowly, flashing her his ever so famous smile.
Deirdre raised an eyebrow. "What do they say, Sirius?"
He shrugged. "Big hands, big…gloves."
She shook her head. "Hilarious. What do they say about small hands?"
"Small gloves, naturally." The two sat on the floor laughing until Professor Slughorn came over to inspect the bandage. He dismissed them after telling Deirdre to remove the bandage an hour later, revealing a healed palm.
Deirdre ran back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, smiling to her self all the while. She knew that starting a friendship with Sirius wouldn't be easy, (hence the slicing open of her hand) but she never knew how funny he could be. After they got past all of the awkward stuff, he was pretty easy to talk to. There was one thing she couldn't get past; why did he make her feel the way she did? It was like an emotional rollercoaster ride with Sirius. One moment, she could feel as though she could stab him, the next she could kiss him. But, she didn't fancy him, did she? Oh! What a tangled web we weave!