A Sirius Unicorn
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plot and a few OC's you haven't heard of. The world is J.K. Rowling's and a few of my idea's for the Unicorns came from the book, The Unicorn Chronicles, and the movie, The Last Unicorn. On to chappie four!
Chapter Four. Slug Me
As it turned out, the first class of the day happened to be potions, with the Slytherins of course. Athena couldn't understand why everyone was so upset with the House of the Snake. At Spring Meadow, there had been no separate houses. Everyone was a Unicorn, simple and pure.
Sirius had exclaimed, "Every year it's the same BLOODY thing! They like to torment us with double potions first thing after breakfast and as if having Professor Slug wasn't bad enough, they have to force us into the same room with the likes of Snivilly and that witch of a bitch, my own sister, Narssisa." He finished with a dramatic gag in the direction of the Slytherin table.
"I didn't know you had family here." Athena said. She thought it strange that Sirius showed so much contempt for his own flesh and blood. Were they not part of each other? Did humans not know that if one hates their own family, they are hating themselves?
He nodded, apparently unable to perceive the conflict beneath her blue/green orbs. "And not just a sister." Sirius then pointed to a particularly handsome and familiar looking black haired boy at the Slytherin table. "That-is my brother Regulus. He's a sixth year. The little snot head."
The resemblance between the brothers was remarkable. The only significant difference Athena could tell was their eyes. While Sirius's were an intense stormy gray, Regulus's were lifeless and as black as his ebony hair. Athena then noticed the girl sitting in front of Regulus and saw she too was a Black. 'That must be Narsissa' Athena concluded. To her right, Athena spied a sallow young man with greasy black locks draping his face. He was casually talking with Narsissa and would occasionally grace Regulus with a word.
"Who's that?" Athena asked pointing to the boy out.
"That's Severus Snape. Better known in Gryffindor as Snivillus or my personal favorite, Snivilly. He's really into the dark arts. Probably has a picture of Voldemort tattooed to his-"
"Not in front of the ladies Sirius, please." James said covering Sirius's mouth. "Besides, you could start a riot just saying his name."
Sirius shoved James' hand away and gave him a mock glare. He then shrugged and gave Guenivere and Athena a grin. "What can I say, I just don't follow the beaten path. Besides, it's stupid to be afraid to even say his name."
"It does seem awfully foolish. After all, it's just a name, and Voldemort is just a man." Athena added. Sirius nodded to her in agreement, but James and Guenivere still looked skeptical.
Just when James looked about to argue the point by screaming "Lord Voldemort" to the entire great hall, Remus came to the rescue. "Hi everyone," he said looking down at the foursome. "Classes start in ten minutes. If any of you plan on attending them this year then you probably ought to get going."
Sirius eagerly jumped out of his seat and ran over to where Athena was sitting. "I'll show you where the Potions classroom is 'Thena'." And without waiting for her reply, grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the great hall. The rest of the group were left shaking their heads at Padfoot's antics.
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"Your friends keep telling me how lazy you are when it comes to classes. Why the sudden interest?" She asked still in the death grip of the over zealous animagi as they headed down to the dungeons.
"Well, the seats we choose at the beginning of the year are the seats we stay in the rest of the year. If we get there first, I can direct who sits next to who." Sirius explained without losing his focus to reach the dungeons first.
'This is getting interesting' Athena thought, and then voiced the question, "So who do you want sitting by who?"
Sirius finally spared a look at her, and seeing the amusement in her eyes flashed her a grin. "Well, I'm going to strategically get James and Lily sitting together. Remus and Guenivere would also make a good combination, and they've only ever had eyes for each other anyway. They just need a friendly push in the right direction."
"More of a shove if you ask me," Athena interjected.
"True. I mean it's so ridiculous between the two of them. I know both of them have had plenty of offers to go out with other people, but they've always refused. I think they really are in love."
"What about you?" Athena was unnaturally curious about this question. She admitted to herself that she did like hanging with Sirius, and if he had a girlfriend then that would become a very messy thing to do.
"Oh, well I um.. I don't really go out with girls so much." Athena gave him an odd look. "NO! Nothing like that! I just don't really want to. I mean, most of the girls here only like me because of my looks, not to be too egotistical mind you, and I don't want to go out with someone like that. I had some bad experiences my fifth year. Girls really used me, and now, any girl that I actually like thinks that I'm some kind of guy slut or something. I've found it easier to simply stay out of relationships and remain Hogwart's most eligible bachelor."
"I can tell you've thought a lot about this. It sounds like a good idea." She gave him a smile to show she was sincere and then noticed that they were in a very dark hallway. "Is the Potions classroom buried under the school or something?"
Sirius suddenly stopped his dragging and let go of Athena. "OOPS. Um, guess I was a little preoccupied. We passed it back there." He took her hand more gently this time and they headed back towards the faint light. Stormy Gray eyes shining through the darkness into Athena's blue/green.
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Only four Slytherins had reached the dungeon by the time Athena and Sirius came rushing through the heavy oak door. "Alright," Sirius said assessing the damage done. "I'm going to have you reserve that table there," he said, pointing out to Athena a table in the back, "And then I'm going to go out and stall the two couples while you just make sure that no one sits in those two tables."
Athena nodded and put the bag Dumbledore had supplied her with on the table Sirius had dictated for them, and then she headed over to the two tables at the front to keep the other students away. Sirius headed back out into the corridor.
It didn't take long for everyone to come in and that greasy haired Slytherin had almost cursed Athena when she told him that he couldn't sit there due to a nasty rash curse placed on the wood-that she had made up of course.
Two minutes after all but the 'Sirius Tables', as she now thought of them, had been filled, the foursome and Sirius entered. Lily had obviously protested at being detained in the hallway and was sporting a rather nasty putrid green robe. She was also glaring daggers at Padfoot, who seemed to be rather pleased with himself.
Lily huffed when she saw no friends to sit next to and with a heavy thud sat down at the right front table. James, finally seeing what the goal of the strange game Padfoot had been playing was, almost flew to the table, and before Lily even knew what had happened, James was sitting next to her unloading his cauldron and Newt level Potions book.
Sirius, quite proud of himself, quickly sat at the back beside Athena, leaving a dumbfounded Remus and Guenivere the front center table. Knowing that they had been set up, they quietly adjourned to it and began taking out their supplies, careful to avoid eye contact with the other.
"Welcome class, to what I'm sure will be another absolutely wonderful potions class!" A rotund, jolly man Athena assumed to be Professor Slughorn said to the class. He spared a special grin to Lily and Remus and then continued with, "Now this being your Newt year and all, we will get right into today's lesson of the Hydrapurity potion." Athena swallowed. This was not good.
Professor Slug continued, oblivious to Athena's discomfort, "Now, does anyone know what the Hydrapurity potion does?" Lily Evans was the first to raise her hand, and Slughorn, who had almost anticipated calling on her, eagerly said, "Yes, Miss Evans?"
"It's just as the name implies, a water purification potion."
"The most effective and hardest to concoct to be exact, but very well done Miss Evans. I always knew you would be Headgirl." At this, Lily's face became as red as her hair. Though that could have also been due to the fact that James was coughing what sounded like 'suck up' right next to her. "Take ten points for Gryffindor. OK now, let's get started making the potion." Slughorn flicked his wand at the chalkboard where directions came up, "And whoever finishes first will gain their House thirty points. Please begin."
"You feeling Ok Athena?" Sirius asked as he began to sift through his bag for his Potions book. It seemed that Sirius was slightly more perceptive than their professor.
"Uh, yes. It's just that I don't like making this particular potion. I've made it before and-"
"Wait, don't tell me. You're one of those Unicorn rights fanatics, aren't you? Just because the main ingredient is crushed Unicorn horn is no reason to get squeamish." At his last comment, Athena gave a violent twitch. "If it makes you feel better, I'll put the crushed horn into your potion for you." Sirius liked making fun, but he also seemed to have an obscure conviction for gallantry.
"If it has to be done, than thank you." Athena said hoping that she didn't know the Unicorn who's horn was about to go into her potions assignment. Sirius nodded and retrieved the ingredients from the storage closet. He then rejoined Athena and dropped into the cauldron, the crushed horn powder first as the directions indicated.
"Now see Athena, that wasn't so bad...Athena?" He turned around and saw a passed out Athena Skydancer on the floor. "Well maybe it was that bad, for you." Sirius said as he scooped her up off the floor and back into her seat. Although he could have enerviated her, he thought it more entertaining to let her limp head rest on his shoulder as he worked over the two steaming potion cauldrons.
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"I still can't believe you passed out in potions! I mean, no one's done that since forth year, and even then it was just because the Marauders put a sleeping drought in the air vent," Guenivere said to Athena as the two of them and Sirius headed down the hallway to lunch. Sirius had finally been forced to revive Athena when Professor Slug had decided to check on everyone's progress. She had waved off her fainting spell as an allergy to Unicorns, which would have explained why she wasn't crazy about the potion in the first place.
"Those were the days." Sirius sighed. "Back then James and I pranked every day, sometimes more than once. Now, it seems like I'm the only 'immature' one left."
Athena didn't know what to say. She couldn't understand his need to prank, but she did know that it wasn't the lack of mischief that was bothering Sirius. It was losing James. "So Sirius, when is the first Quiditich practice?" Changing the subject at times like these was always a good idea, and it seemed to work, because Sirius immediately brightened up and said, "In thirteen days, four hours and-" he quickly glanced at his watch, "twenty-three minutes."
"Not that he's looking forward to it or anything," Guen added, not without some playful sarcasm.
Just as they had almost made it to the Great Hall, James came jogging up to them.
"Hey guys, Dumbledore wanted me to give this to you," James said as he handed a note to Athena. "He said I wasn't allowed to read it either, not that that stopped me from trying." Athena looked annoyed just then. "No, I said tried. He put a charm or something so that all I see is a blank parchment, kinda like the Marauder's M-"
"So James! What did you think of the seating arrangement in Potions?" Sirius asked rather loudly.
"Seating arrangement? Huh? Oooooh." James suddenly got whatever hint Sirius was dropping him and exclaimed, "Yea, your seating arrangement is wicked Padfoot! Kudos mate!"
Guenivere and Athena just turned to each other and silently mouthed, 'Boys are SO weird."
"So 'Thena,' what does this mysterious note say?" Sirius inquired with his usual amount of subtlety.
Athena opened the note and read:
Dear Ms. Skydancer,
We will be starting your weekly private lessons tonight in my office. The password is still Pumpkin Pastries, though I have thought of changing it to that delightful new candy Hondydukes came out with called 'Lemon Drops'. They're absolutely wonderful! At any rate, please come to my office after dinner.
"Oh, it's just a personal letter from my sister. Family stuff," Athena lied as she carefully folded the parchment and stuck it in her pocket.
The four of them headed to lunch and as James began digging into a turkey sandwich, Lily Evans came rushing at him.
"I don't know how you orchestrated that little show in Potions, but don't get used to it!" Lily screeched, her normally beautiful emerald green eyes consumed with rage. When James just continued eating, Lily drew back her fist and socked James in the eye. Satisfied that he couldn't ignore that, she stomped off to join Rose at the opposite end of the table. It might as well have been the opposite side of the universe though.
"Looks like you both lose that bet." Athena said to Guenivere and Sirius. She was beginning to think that James' cause was hopeless. Lily Evans just couldn't be reasoned with.