A Parental Guide
By xXxFluffy-Pink-Socks
a.k.a Miss Willow
A/N: Again, I don't know what to put here. Sorry about the shabby work of this chapter but I'm really tired and I know that if I send this chapter to be edited by my beta then it won't be up on FF for another 3 or 4 days, so I decided that you'd probably prefer me to put the chapter online now.
-x-
"I've just thought of something..." I said, as we made our way down the grassy slope toward the Quidditch pitch.
"I doubt it will be of much interest, but what?"
"We could've just magicked our clothes on."
"You mean you didn't think of that?" I stopped in my tracks and looked over at Sirius.
"You mean you did!"
"Yeah... it was kind of obvious..." Sirius told me. He also stopped and grinned at me. "You didn't think of using magic, did you?"
"Do you HONESTLY think I would have chosen to get changed within a fifty mile radius of you if I had?!" I exclaimed.
"Well, when you put it like that..." Sirius said, still trying to smile his way out of what would surely lead to an argument. And then I did the most mature and responsible thing I have ever done in my life; I walked away. Well, not technically, of course, because of the whole joined hand situation but I did walk away from the argument, even though I was a moment away from hexing Sirius. I contented myself with scowling and muttering angrily under my breath, as Sirius dragged me down to the Quidditch pitch.
A figure appeared at the edge of the grounds and began to wave enthusiastically. James was running toward us, broomstick in hand and also kitted out in a set of red quidditch robes. "Sirius!" James greeted Sirius, grinning, completely ignoring me, which must have been a really hard thing to do considering I was standing right next to him. "What happened to you? You weren't in the common room when I got back from the library."
"The library?" Sirius scoffed in disbelief.
James' expression darkened, "Yeah, Lily's fault. I'm telling you that girl is out of control! Whatever happened to obeying your husband?"
"Yeah, I completely agree."
"Hello, I am here!" I interrupted angrily, not bothering to hide my irritation at their attitude toward women. The two boys turned to face me with looks upon their faces that clearly said they had forgotten I was there, or in James' case hadn't even noticed my presence in the first place.
"Oh, right. Erm... why is she here?" James asked.
Sirius gave James a moody stare and held our linked hands up in the air.
"Oh my god, you two are dating? I thought you liked that Bambi chick..." James trailed off, noticing my stony expression. I spun around and managed to glimpse Sirius making 'shut your mouth' signs in the air, before he hurriedly stopped and became very interested in the sky.
"Ok, let's get a few things straight. A) We are not dating, nor will we ever be, as I can't stand him-"
"The feelings mutual, Willow," Sirius declared loudly, returning my glare.
"- and B) Bambi's a slut, who should be avoided at all costs."
"Ooh jealousy!" James said.
"NO!" I snapped.
"It's not like you know her," Sirius replied.
"Oh and you do?"
"Maybe I do."
"Sticking your tongue down someone's throat doesn't count as knowing a person!"
"O-K-A-Y! I think this lovers' spat ends now..." James cut in.
"WE AREN'T DATING!" Sirius and I shouted at him.
"Then why are you holding hands?"
"We're not!"
"McGonagall did this to punish us for breaking the rules of the project."
"That would explain quite a bit..." James admitted, grinning sheepishly at the two of us. We glared back. "I think it's time for Quidditch practice. The rest of the team are already waiting for us, along with the SBFC..."
"The what?" I wondered aloud.
"The Sirius Black Fan Club."
"Sorry I asked..."
-x-
Standing in the same position for over twenty minutes in the freezing cold at 6am in the morning was not my idea of heaven. James had been droning on and on about what tactics the Gryffindor Quidditch team would be using in their upcoming match with Slytherin. It seemed that there was more to Quidditch than sticking your arse on the back of a broom and flying around at ridiculous speeds at equally ridiculous heights and although I acted politely surprised when Alice (she's a chaser) told me this, I really couldn't have felt more passion about it than I did about signing up for chess club. That was absolutely none. Zilch. Na-da. Whatever you want to call it. So here I was freezing by bits off in the middle of a Quidditch pitch, while James nattered on about something called the Sloth Grip Roll.
"Ok, so for those of you who haven't noticed we have a slight problem concerning Sirius-" James stopped talking long enough to waze lazily in our direction. Seven pairs of eyes were upon me and I suddenly found myself wishing that I had taken the time to at least try and smooth the creases out of my t-shirt the night before. "-but Sirius, Rosa and I have agreed that Rosa will ride on Sirius' broom with him."
"We have?" Sirius inquired coolly. I narrowed my eyes and glowered at James, using all my energy to send him negative vibes. I think the glower was enough to get my message across.
"Ah. I didn't mention that?" James said, his eyes darting shiftily from team member to team member.
"HOW about we get around to some flying during this practice?" Alice said, with a finalising tone in her voice, just as I had been about to open my mouth and lose my temper with James.
"Excellent idea," James exclaimed bracingly, clapping his hands together in enthuasisasm. The rest of the team murmured their agreements and all began to clamber onto their brooms, kicking off from the ground and zooming into the air. I watched them with genuine interest, before I noticed Sirius was watching me.
"What?"
"Have you ever ridden a broom?" I faked a laugh of stupidity and gave Sirius a playful slap on the arm.
"Of course I have, silly. Broomsticks are my soulmates in life. My restless soul is only truly at rest when in the air. To feel the wind in your hair-"
"OK, OK, I get it!" Sirius stopped my ramblings and I bit my lip; if my meaningless monologue hadn't persuaded Sirius that I certainly couldn't fly then my over-friendliness and willingness to actually touch his arm definitely would of. "So, we know you can't ride a broom... do you think you can manage to sit on a broom without falling off?"
"Err... maybe..."
"Maybe?"
"Yeah... I actually meant no."
Sirius rolled his eyes and looked back up at the sky. I followed his gaze and saw James gesturing wildly for us to hurry up and get in the air. "Right, if I can manage to fly no-handed..."
"No-handed?" I said, puzzled.
"Yes, I have to hold a club, remember? Anyway, if I can fly no-handed then I'm sure you can at least try to stay upright on a broom, ok?"
I doubted my saying no would have made any difference so I merely remained silent and nodded to show I had understood. Sirius nodded back and mounted on the broom, hovering a few feet above the ground. "Just jump up and sit behind me."
I jumped up and managed to mount the broom without too much difficulty. Maybe I wasn't so bad at this whole flying thing... "Okay, now all you have to do is keep your arm wrapped around my waist and then you won't fall off."
"You make it sound so easy."
"No, you make it seem so hard. Ok, let's go before James gets really pissed off." Sirius exclaimed and before I could prepare myself, he had leant forward on his broom and we went shooting across to the other end of the pitch. I didn't even have time to scream, though I doubted I'd ever been more fearful of my life before then. I had dug my fingernails into Sirius' hand so deep that there were now red marks on his hand.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"Wow. You really don't like flying." Sirius said, as though it was only just dawning on him.
"Great observation, Einstein..."
"SIRIUS!" I glanced to my right and managed to duck just in time to see a gigantic club fly over my head. I glared over at James, who looked like he was about to start laughing within seconds. Sirius caught the bat and caught James' eye. He turned away, also smirking. Damn them! Damn them all! Damn them with their stupid broomsticks and their stupid quidditch robes and their stupid big, ugly clubs!
"OK! I'M RELEASING THE BLUDGERS AND THE SNITCH NOW!" James shouted over the sound of the roaring wind. Everyone nodded. He threw open a wooden trunk and unbuckled the belt that was binding the two bludgers down.
"Er, why is he doing that?"
"Because then they can shoot around the pitch and try to knock players off their brooms."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"I mean, why does it have to involve violence? Can't we all just hold hands and dance around in circles? World peace and all that crap..."
"Not that your passion for world peace isn't inspiring or anything but we have a practice to start."
We flew around the pitch for the next half hour without any major incidents happening and I realised, to my complete surprise, that I was actually beginning to like flying. If you kept your eyes closed and pretended that nothing was happening, it was actually quite fun. It felt very much like you had wings; you like you were flying but without the aid of a magical object to keep you in the air. I think James must have thought I'd fallen asleep... that's why he threw another club my way, this time aimed at my head. I opened my eyes just in time to lunge forward and catch it with the tips of my fingers.
"Thanks for that!" I shouted over at him, shoving the club under my arm so that I could shake my fist at him with my unbound hand.
Giving me the responsibility of a club was probably the worst idea that James had had that day, as both I and Sirius discovered after only five minutes. Not only could I not fly a broom but I also couldn't control a beaters' club either. "ROSA! WATCH- WHERE- YOU'RE- WHACKING- THAT- THING!" Sirius shouted, as he was forced to dodge out of the way of the club again.
"I'M ONLY DOING WHAT YOU TOLD ME TO!" I complained, still swining the bat aimlessly, "YOU TOLD ME TO HIT THE BLUDGER AT PEOPLE ON THE OPPOSING TEAM!"
I did a particularly vigrous hit and the bludger flew straight into Arnie Fwiddle's broomstick. "THEN WHY ARE YOU HITTING AT ARNIE?"
"HE'S ON THE OTHER TEAM!"
"HE'S ON OUR TEAM!"
"NO, HE ISN'T! YOU'RE NOT ON MY TEAM!"
"OF COURSE I AM!" Sirius yelled, trying to grab the club and wrestle it out of my grasp. However, I had become quite attached to my new found Quidditch position and I refused to give my club up without a fight.
"IT'S MINE! LET GO!"
"ROSA! GROW UP, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Sirius shouted. I gave the club another huge tug, before giving up and letting go. Unfortunately, Sirius was still pulling on the club with all of hismight and when I let go, it was was sent whacking straight into Sirius' eye. He swore at the top of his voice, clutching his eye with a look of agony on his face. Far below I could see the SBFC staring up at us with open mouths, shrieking in panic.
"Oh my god, Sirius, I'm SO sorry!" I also shrieked, staring at the shades of blue and black that Sirius' eye was steadily turning.
"What is happening here- SIRIUS!" James came flying upto us, looking like he had just heard christmas had been cancelled. "STOP! STOP! EVERYONE! SIRIUS ' VISION IS OBSCURED!"
There were more screams of panic, as the rest of the team shot towards us like bullets, all crowding around me and Sirius, trying to get a glimpse of his injured eye. "What happened?" James asked in a deathly whisper, as though afraid Sirius might die if he didn't hush his voice. Everyone was wearing expressions of horror very similar to James and, I assumed, mine.
"It was an accident... Rosa attacked me with a club..." Everyone turned to glare at me and I recoiled slightly, trying to hide myself behind Sirius.
"Great job, Rosa!" The Gryffindor keeper, a fourth-year I knew by the name of Dennis, exclaimed angrily.
"Hey! It wasn't her fault!" Alice tried to defend me.
"Then whose was it? The Giant Squid's?" This Dennis person replied, now glaring at Alice instead.
"Oi, if you don't watch it, mate, you'll be swimming with the Giant Squid by the time I'm through with you!"
"ENOUGH!" Everyone stopped arguing and James looked around at us with an attitude of forced calmness about him. "Someone needs to take Sirius to the Hospital Wing. See if Madame Pompfrey can maybe fix it before the match."
"I might as well go," I said, sighing, "After all, we are joined at the hand and if it weren't for me then we wouldn't all be in this mess." I felt offended when no-one, not even Alice, bothered to offer re-assurance toward me, so offended that I wasn't even that bothered when Sirius dived the last twenty feet to the ground and I fell off the broom in a less than graceful manner. Oh well, as my mum always said, some things are meant to happen and nothing anyone can do will change that... if that saying was supposed to provide me with any comfort or support, then it had failed miserably. I decided that taking Sirius to the Hospital Wing wasn't such a bad idea; after all, I could book my own bed while I was there, considering I would be spending the next month or so there if Sirius' vision wasn't fixed by Madame Pompfrey.
-x-
Please R&R!