Chapter Five
Quidditch Try-outs and Mari Sol
Josefine POV
A week later, I was heading down to the Quidditch pitch with Lisa, Alice and Lily to watch the try-outs. Lisa and Alice had squealed at the prospect at seeing the Gryffindor guys in their gear. Lily had followed, reluctantly and me… I just wanted to see Sirius.
"What would Frank say if he knew you were coming to check out the boys, Alice?" Lily asked, curiously.
"Frank never needs to know," Alice sang, cheerfully.
"Don't tell him, Lils," Lisa added, sternly. "I'm so glad I'm not with Jonathan anymore. I mean, now I can admire other fit guys without having a jealous toad following me everywhere."
I laughed and held on to the wooden banister that followed the stone steps that led up to the seats in the pitch. After about five minutes of climbing up and up, the four of us finally reached the top and took a seat right at the front. I scanned the sky for the familiar face. There he was. Flying next to James. My stomach fluttered and I couldn't hold back the dopey smile that was creeping onto my face. I had it bad for Sirius Black. I watched him talk animatedly with James, his grey eyes sparkling and throwing a quaffle in the air before catching it again.
"Jo and Sirius sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Lily chanted in my ear, quietly.
I elbowed her, blushing.
Sirius POV
"We'll do the beaters first," James told me. "Then the chasers and then seekers."
"Sounds good, mate. You still positive about keeping Wood for keeper?" I asked, absently tossing the quaffle in my hand up and down.
"Yeah. He's a natural. There's no way I'm sacrificing him." James jolted something down on his clipboard.
"You know, being captain suits you," I said. James grinned at me. "We're gonna whip some serious Slytherin ass this year."
"You bet we are!" James and I exchanged a quick high five, before we flew down to meet Richard Wood, the other already secure member of our team. There were about fifteen other people gathered, waiting for instructions.
"Right. This is what we're going to do…" I blocked out the rest of James' rant. My eyes flickered over the stands and did a double take when I saw Josefine sitting with Lily and two other chicks. Josefine looked away when our eyes met and she blushed slightly. I was to busy watching the beautiful brunette, I didn't notice that the try-outs had started.
"Padfoot, stop acting like a love sick puppy and get your rear end up in the sky." James gave me a shove in the right direction and I shot him a brief glare before throwing a leg over my broom and shooting up into the air.
There were only five trying out for chaser. I would pass them the quaffle and do my job as a chaser, but let them try and score. I couldn't understand why some of them even thought they had a slight chance of getting on the team, but I kept my thoughts to myself.
I swung my legs, bored out of my mind. The chaser try-outs were over so I had nothing to do. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, that only Lily and Josefine were still in the stands. I noticed that Josefine was scowling and Lily looked slightly worried. Were they arguing?
Finally, after what seemed like years, the try-outs ended. James and Richard were discussing the results, but I wasn't listening. I had just seen Lily leave Josefine. That wasn't what was worrying me though. I saw someone making their way towards her. Regulus, the little slime ball.
"Sirius?" James asked.
"What?" My gaze didn't leave Regulus.
I heard James sigh, irritably. "I asked you what you thought of Perry. For seeker."
"James, mate, he was terrible."
"I know, but there's no one else." James ran a hand through his hair.
"What about Wilson?" I said. "He was pretty good."
James' eyes widen in surprise. "Padfoot! He couldn't even mount his bloody broom!" He raised an eyebrow at my obvious distraction. He followed my line of sight and his eyes narrowed considerably. "Wood, we'll carry on this discussion tomorrow."
"What? But-" Richard started.
"Tomorrow," James said, firmly.
Richard slouched off, looking grumpy. James and I hastily mount our brooms and kick off. Regulus hadn't reached Josefine yet, and she hadn't seen him yet, either. Just before my so called brother reached Jo, I landed in front of him with James next to me. Regulus glared at me.
"Problem, bro?" I asked, sweetly.
"Move, Sirius," Regulus said, through clenched teeth. " I want to talk to Josefine."
I dropped the sweet and innocent act. "Yeah? Well, you can't so sod off."
"Who are you to decide who I can and can't talk to?" Regulus demanded, his eyes flashing.
As I didn't have an answer to that, I simply jerked my head towards my brother and James levitated him and marched him off to the castle. I chuckled quietly to myself, before turning and hurrying the rest of the way to Josefine. I sat down next to her. I waited for her to say something but she didn't.
"Did you-" I started, but I didn't get any further because Josefine's shoulders had begun shaking violently. Concerned, I tilted her face towards me only to see tears streaming down her face. "Josefine…"
She pulled out of my grip and turned away from me. "Leave me alone."
I felt a brief wave of hurt, but it was soon replaced by worry. I crouched down and took her small hands in mine. "What's wrong?"
Josefine tore her hands away and looked at me. I was shocked to see she looked petrified. "No! Please. I'm sorry…" Her eyes widened when she registered what she'd said. "No, I mean. I…Sirius?"
"Yeah, that's me," I answered, confused.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you," Josefine said, quietly.
"That's all right. What's wrong?" I asked, again.
Jo sighed. "I miss California, I miss my friends, I miss my dad and I miss my brother. I feel so out of place here… and I just had a bust up with Lily."
"You're homesick, huh?" I said, taking her hand in mine again. I thought that there was something she was hiding, but I decided not to push it. "How about I show you the village? You know, Hogsmeade. Do you think that would make you feel better?"
Josefine shrugged. "Maybe, but I'd love to go."
My stomach swooped. "Great. So, what happened with Lily?"
Josefine's eyes darkened. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh. Okay. Hey, have you been flying before?" I asked, changing the subject.
"No, not really." Josefine watched me warily.
I stood up and held out my hand. "Well, come on then!"
Josefine smiled and wrapped her fingers around mine. I tried really hard not to blush, I swear!
Josefine POV
Something about the way Sirius acted around me, made me forget that I was upset. I didn't feel judged by him and he made me feel light and alive. I climbed onto his broom cautiously and wrapped my arms around his waist. It felt nice, being able to touch him like that. It was something I wished I could do all the time.
"Ready?" I could feel the rumble of Sirius' voice.
"Yeah," I said, uncertainly.
Sirius laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall."
"What if I do fall?" I asked, automatically tightening my grip on Sirius' waist as he kicked off.
"If you do, then I'll save you."
I sighed dreamily at the thought of Sirius catching me in his strong arms. Maybe I could fall off on purpose…
You're nuts. For once, I agreed with my conscience.
"Dios mio…" I mumbled. "Sirius? Can we go lower? It's really high."
"Jo, we're a few feet off the ground," Sirius said, amusement evident in his voice.
"Hush up. I don't like this. It's scary. I feel like I'm gonna go flying off the end!" I imagined myself falling off the end of the broom and panicked. "Sirius! Can we swap places? I don't like it back here."
Sirius flew down to the ground and I slid off, shaking. "Do you want to go in front of me, then?" He asked. I nodded. "Okay, then. Get on."
I suddenly regretted my request. Having Sirius' arms around me and his face only inches from mine was extremely distracting. He pushed off once again and shot into the air. I screamed and gripped the broom so tightly my knuckles turned white. Sirius turned the broom sharply and shot towards the ground.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I shrieked.
"Relax," Sirius whispered in my ear.
I braced myself as the ground came closer and closer. My heart was racing and my hair was whipping around my face. Adrenalin was rushing through my body and I was sure I was going to die. About three feet from the ground, Sirius swerved and shot back up again. He stopped going fast and flew slowly around the pitch.
My breathing was ragged. "You jerk."
Sirius laughed. "Love you too."
My heart jumped, but I tried to ignore it. "You could have killed us! We were only a few feet from the ground! Are you insane?" I shouted.
"Calm down, Jo. I knew what I was doing," Sirius reassured me.
"Well, I know that! Otherwise I would be dead!" I stopped shouting and waited for my breath to return to normality. I looked back at Sirius, my eyes wide. "Can we do it again?"
Sirius laughed. "If you want."
I grinned widely. "Wicked."
And so we did it again. And again. And again. We did it until my lungs hurt from screaming so much.
"Wow," I panted, about half an hour later. "That's so exhilarating."
"I know." Sirius shivered a bit. "Do you want to head back? It's getting chilly."
I nodded. "Yeah."
We walked back to the castle together in a peaceful silence until I broke it.
"What are those winged horses that pull the school carriages?" I asked.
Sirius froze in mid-step. "You can see them?"
I shot him a confused look. "Yeah… Can't everyone?"
Sirius shook his head, slowly. "Only people who have seen death."
My blood turned cold. "Uh…Excuse me?"
"Only people that have seen someone die, can see Thestrals," Sirius explained, quietly.
An image of a young girl, laughing flashed through my mind. Sirius looked worried. "Oh."
"Josefine…" Sirius trailed off, not sure how to carry on.
"Promise me one thing," I said, quietly.
"Anything," Sirius answered, quickly.
"Please, please don't tell anyone," I said. Sirius nodded. "I have a brother. I told you that earlier, didn't I?" Sirius nodded again. "Well, I also had a sister. She was three years younger than me and her name was Mari Sol. A few months ago, there was an accident." My voice cracked and my throat tightened.
"Jo?" Sirius said, concerned.
"I'm fine," I said. "I can do this. Um… In the States you're allowed to have your drivers licence at sixteen. You what that is right?"
"Yeah, carry on," Sirius said.
"Well, my sister and I were crossing a road to go and see if I when I could schedule an exam, and Mari Sol was running in front of me. This black convertible was speeding down the road and didn't stop at the zebra crossing. It was coming straight at me and I was so scared. I couldn't move. Mari Sol was screaming at me to get out of the way, but I was totally paralyzed. Mari Sol pushed me out of the way just before the car hit me." I could feel hot tears sliding down my cheeks.
"Oh Merlin…" Sirius breathed.
I nodded, my eyes shut tight. "The car just drove off and I ran to her side. I was shouting for help and an old man came hurrying over and called an ambulance. I held her in my arms and she told she loved me and asked me to tell my brother and my dad that she loved them as well. She was dying. She was so strong. She was dead before the ambulance even arrived." Tears were flowing steadily now.
Sirius swore softly and he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I sobbed into his chest, my eyes closed. I saw the car speeding and I heard myself screaming. Mari Sol falling to the ground.
"Josefine!" Mari Sol's voice screamed in my head.
I sobbed harder. "My baby sister." I hiccupped. "She saved my life."
Josefine…
Josefine…
Josefine…
A/N: Omg… I feel so bad. PLEASE REVIEW!