New Beginnings

Mr. Edmund McClintock blew the whistle and all the six of the captains became erect in their positions. Girls were standing in a row facing the row of the boys with the professors from Beauxbaton on one side. The professor from Durmstrang, Maria Boltsman, and professor Slughorn watched them from the other end.

"This is first day of your two week long schedule. Let me start by giving you an introduction of WDSC. It was founded in the year 1970 by the then minister of magic, Fredereich Quesel. Since then, every year, two students from each of the participating schools are trained to fight and defend the wizarding community," informed Mr. Edmund. He went on, " All the caretakers have been trained in the skills and techniques which will be taught to you. We have prepared various activities for you, which will enable you to imbibe the qualities like team -work, decision making, defence against encroachment from other species, logical thinking etc. Today's activity is to improve your surveillance and observation skills. You will be divided into three groups of two, a girl and a boy, and will be assigned areas of surveillance. You have to make use of the provided facilities and your own analytical power to check the area for possible weak knots, probable hideouts in case of a war and prepare a war strategy. You will explain your plan to the assigned leader by six in the evening, ie, in the next eight hours,"

All the students listened to him carefully and for the first time, Lily noticed, that Sirius wasn't yawning while listening to a speech.

Then professor Lwoff took over. She started, " The groups are as follows: Sirius Black and Mary Sears are water fighters, Ted Odum and Pamela Devlin are land fighters, Aulay Mackenzie and Lily Evans are air fighters," Then she went to Sirius and handed him a packet of gillyweed. To Ted, she gave a Merychippus, an ancient ancestor of Horse from the Miocene era. Aulay received a broomstick.

She spoke again, " For water fighters the leader is professor Maria Boltsman, for landfighters the leader is professor Horace Slughorn and for air fighter the leader is professor Edmund McClintock. Your time starts now,"

The four teachers walked away leaving the six of them in the buzz of excitement.

Aulay, who had been, though inconsistently, staring at Lily, went up to her and said, " So, let's get going,"

" I'd love to but there is one problem," Lily murmured in his ears, much to the displeasure of Sirius.

" And what is that?" Aulay asked in a low voice.

"I am scared of height. I can't fly," Lily's emerald eyes expressed her fear quite well to Aulay.

Aulay smiled and Lily said in mock fury, "How dare you laugh at me?" and punched him lightly on his shoulder.

He smiled more.

" Let's do one thing. You climb the broomstick and close your eyes. Then when we take off, open your eyes slowly and we will fly at a height you are comfortable at," he suggested calmly, noticing that Sirius was still looking at them.

Lily looked at the innocence in his hazel eyes and agreed. He climbed the broomstick and Lily followed nervously. Her legs were shaking and she was sure Aulay could hear the sound of her mad heart thumping against her ribcage.

"Can I hold you, please?" Lily asked him trembling inside, dreading what he must be thinking about her.

"Sure,"

She held his waist in her hands and saw how strong he felt. She squeezed her eyes when the broomstick took off. She clenched his pale yellow shirt in her fists till her knuckles became white and she got scared that she might actually tear it. Her mouth was dry. But as they went up slowly, the cool breeze began to blow in her auburn hair.

"Open your eyes, Lily," Aulay asked her softly.

She opened her eyes very softly and gasped at the breathtaking view. They were flying over the mountains. The castle was far away but looked as beautiful as from near. The river flowing beneath them was crystal clear and Lily witnessed a few fishes popping out of the glass sheet and diving in again.

"It is so beautiful," she exclaimed, unclenching her fists, her hands brushing Aulay's shirt.

"Indeed, it is,"

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"Mr. Black! Do you want to start the drill or shall I continue on my own?" Mary shouted at Sirius who was busy staring at the vanishing figure of Lily and Aulay.

"Call me Sirius," he said still gazing at the sky.

"What?"

"Call me Sirius, belle femme," he turned to her.

Mary raised an eyebrow and said, " Sirius, are you at all interested in the drill?"

"Of course I am. Let's go,"

Sirius took out two gillyweeds from the packet and gave one to Mary. They swallowed it together and jumped inside the water. Slowly, both of them developed gills and they started swimming with the flow of the river.

"You look equally beautiful with gills," Sirius flirted.

"Do you mind if we concentrate on observing the area rather than my gills. We have just eight hours," Mary replied coolly.

"Sure," Sirius smiled to himself and added one more to the list of those girls who haven't given him any footage.

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The sun had set and all the teachers came out to evaluate the work done by the students. All the students had reached the castle by five and had gone to their canopies to change and rest. As the clock struck six, all the students came down, except Sirius.

Professor Lwoff checked the students off her list and frowned when she noted that one was missing.

"Where is Mr. Sirius Black?" she asked.

All the students looked at each other in confusion while Aulay gave a sideways grin.

"Ms. Evans?" she asked looking intent.

" I haven't seen him after morning," she replied.

"Ms. Sears?" Lwoff asked Sirius' partner.

"He was with me till we came back to the castle at four thirty. After that I lost touch," Mary said to her potions teacher, who was looking like a volcano about to burst.

"Does anybody know where Mr. Black is?" she asked again, this time to all of them.

No one replied.

"Sirius," Lily said to herself in an exasperated tone, nodding her head.

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Do you realise how irresponsible you've acted?" professor Lwoff scolded Sirius in her chamber, the next morning.

Mr. McClintock, professor Slughorn and professor Boltsman too were present at his trial.

"I do, madam," Sirius replied, looking gravely at the floor.

"And may we know the reason for your sudden disappearance?" she hauled at him again.

"I was not feeling well,"

"So you went to the local infirmary without informing any of us? A muggle infirmary? Were you drunk or do you not realise the intensity of the mistake that you've committed?"

"Madam, I suffer from an unusual muggle disease. I get fits of hysteria and sudden bouts of self-harming obsessions. I have suffered from it since my childhood. Something in my genes, they say. I did not want to tell anyone and disturb them," he lied innocently.

The mood of professor Lwoff and others changed after this but Horace Slughorn looked at him in disbelief. He admired Sirius inside for his story-telling capabilities.

"Do not repeat this," professor Lwoff said in a calmer voice.

"I'll make sure of it,"

he turned back and left the room. He was pacing towards the Pink Palace when he felt a hand clasp his arm and pull him behind a pillar near the entrance.

"Where were you Sirius? How irresponsible can you get? You could have told someone. Poor Mary had to do all the explaining alone," Lily was furious. She stopped to get an answer.

"It was full moon last night,"

Those words of Sirius poured a bucket full of ice over Lily's anger. She generally liked him for what he was to his friends, but this act of his made her worship his friendship.

She immediately apologized to him and said, " I'm so proud of you,"

Sirius grinned and spoke, " Friends?"

Lily gaped at him and stared at his outstretched hand.

"My friends say that I'm a good one," he winked at her.

"I'm sure," she shook his hand.

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