Chapter 8: Lora Clense, The Roly-Poly Puppy, Is Breaking Hearts And Noses

One arm was wrapped around her waist and another was resting on top of her head, which lay next to my chest. After a moment of looking around the crowded and quiet room (where Lily was in for a rude awakening when she saw that James had wrapped his arms around her and had burrowed his head into her neck; Remus and Addie were no where to be seen though), I leaned back against the armchair, closed my eyes and replayed the kiss over and over again until I drifted to sleep.

-8-

"GET-OFF-OF-ME-POTTER!"

Lily's enraged voice filled my ears as I blinked my eyes a few times to get adjusted to the sunlight. I could hear other Gryffindors moaning around the common room. They were obviously miffed that Evan's had woken them up from their peaceful victory sleep.

It happened in a flash; a mass of dark brown shot up and hit me directly in the nose. The sharp pain spread through out my whole head and I could feel my nose getting wet and sticky. I touched it gingerly with the hand that wasn't still tucked around Lor's waist and felt my own warm, red blood cascading down my face. I moaned with pain as I realized that my nose was unmistakably broken.

"Ow…what the bloody-" Lora began but she stopped in a heartbeat as she saw the blood trickling down my face. Her face turned instantly white as she backed off of my gently.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Siri. It was an accident, I swear!"

"Bloody 'ell! What's wrong with your nose, mate?" James asked as he ignored Lily's ranting and strode over to me. He stepped over several people that had fallen back asleep on the plush, red floor and kneeled down against my seat.

"I 'ink it might 'e broken," I managed out as James and Lora prodded and poked my nose, in fascination. I could still feel the warm blood against my skin and the heavy pain that came along with it. I gripped the arm of the chair as another wave of intense and sharp pain came crashing down onto my face.

"Let me get him to the Hospital Wing," James told Lora as he hoisted me up with his arm. Once I clung onto the neck and opposite shoulder, he gripped his hand around me waist and walked me to our destination.

The stone hallways were bare except for a few passing ghosts and a professor here and there. Every once in a while I saw a student heading to or from the library (probably Ravenclaws. What other student in his right mind would get up this early on a Sunday morning just to go read a book?) I could feel the freezing December air coming in through the windows as I realized that today was the first day of December. When I hear December, there are always three things I think of: Christmas, winter break and mistletoe.

I must admit that my favorite of the three is the latter. And this year, I'm hoping to catch Lora under the mistletoe. I've tried before but it's hard to do without making it blatantly obvious. I know that Remus has told me countless times to just tell Lora that I like her but it's not as easy as he may think it is. She's my best mate; what am I supposed to do if she doesn't like me back? It will be the end of our friendship and I think that would hurt me more than twenty Cruciatus curses to the heart ever would.

But Christmas is definitely something to celebrate too. I got all the best presents as Christmas. I remember last year, James got me a gift certificate to the Quidditch shop in Diagon Alley, and when I went to go buy something, the England team was signing autographs there! So not only did I get a new beater's club, but I also got an autographed jersey. It was awesome! I just wonder how he's going to one-up that this year. I know that the present I got him is going to blow his mind.

As for winter break, it's one of my favorite times of year. Remus, Peter and I always head over to James' house for it (except this year Peter said he couldn't make it. When I asked him why he offered me some muffins and then ran out to the library). But we go over and spend the whole break there. Remus' parents don't mind because they always have to go to his aunt's house in Russia for Christmas and Remus hates going to his aunt's house so they just owl his presents on Christmas day. But Mrs. Potter always bakes us cookies to eat and she makes the best cookies. We'll go outside and have snowball fights and go ice-skating on the frozen lake behind James' backyard. But the best part of winter break is that it's not all emotional like summer break. You'll see everyone in two weeks so there's no need to get all upset over it.

I was snapped out of my winter haze and back to reality when I heard James curse as a ghost passed through us. A shiver ran down my spine and I felt like someone had pushed me into the currently freezing waters of the lake. I felt my teeth chatter against each other and I huddled in closer to James to steal some of his escaping body heat. The only good part about our trip down to the Hospital Wing is that Nearly-Headless Nick passing through us had dulled the pain in my nose some. Plus we get to see that hot new nurse, Madam Pomfrey. Watching her walk was one of my favorite things in the world. Though I would appreciate it if she didn't snap at us whenever we came.

"Oh Madame Pomfrey! Your two favorite boys are here!" James said as he walked me over to a bed. We both laughed silently as she walked out of her office, wrapping a robe around herself. We saw her roll her eyes when she us and this made out laughter die down a little.

"What's wrong with you now, Black?" she asked me in a pinched tone, as if it was my fault for waking her up in the morning.

"My 'ose eez broken," I replied. She looked at and touched it carefully, which made me cringe and squirm around on the hospital bed. She walked over to the corner cabinets and pulled out a bucket and a small blue towel. She tapped her wand against the bucket and muttered a spell. As I she walked back over to us, I saw that she had filled the bucket with water.

"Clean the blood off of him, Potter. I'll be right back with the potion that will make your nose better, Black." She strode into a back room and shut the door behind her.

"Ew, Siri-poo, I have to clean your bloody face?" James asked me, using the one of the nicknames that Lora had made up for me. We both laughed as James dabbed away, cringing at the sight of the blood. Every once in a while he would dip the towel back in the bucket and the rub blood off of my face.

"Do you know 'ow many 'irls would kill to be in your spot 'ight now, James? So quit 'omplaining and start 'leaning off this 'andsome face o' mine," I directed James as we both laughed again.

"Oh Siri, let me just clean off your face! I would lick your face clean if you asked me to!" James said in a high-pitched voice, pretending to be one of our fangirls in the school. He ran his hand playfully through my hair and batted his eyes at me. The sight of James fake-flirting and pretending to be a girl made us both burst out into hysterics.

"Get off o' me you bloody wanker!" I yelled at him, while still laughing. We pushed each other around some until Madame Pomfrey walked back in. She gave us a stern look and we both fell into order, though poking each other hard in the thigh whenever she wasn't looking.

"Drink this up, Black," she said briskly. I looked down into the thick, bubbling orange potion and was instantly reminded of Pumpkin Juice. Though this looked nothing like the pumpkin juice I was used to. But the name would have suited this drink better. I squeezed my nose shut and downed the potion, feeling the burning hot liquid run down my throat and then to my nose. I growled in fury as my nose felt like it was on fire. After about five minutes of this infuriating pain, it subsided and disappeared.

"That was awful," I moaned as I reached a hand up to my nose and felt no pain this time.

"Well, what do you expect? You broke your nose. If you think it's going to be all rainbows and unicorns healing it, then you're wrong. You may go back to your common room now." She went back into her office and shut the door.

As James and I entered the common room, it was in a completely different state than it was when we left it. The place was nice and tidy and I guessed that the house elves had come while everyone was in their dorms, drifting back to sleep or taking warm showers. Remus saw us enter as he exited the boy's dorm, zipping up his grey jacket.

"Where have you two been all morning? You missed McGonagall's freak out when she saw everyone sleeping on the floor. It was hilarious," Remus said casually, laughing to himself at the thought of Minerva going berserk. He sat down on the edge of the very same armchair that I had just slept in last night.

"We had to go down to the Hospital Wing. Padfoot broke his nose," James said, giving me a playful push and then glancing the room for, what I assumed to be, Lily.

"How'd you break your nose?" Remus asked, furrowing his brow as he spoke.

"Lor woke up and smashed her head into my nose," I replied casually.

"Where was she sleeping?" Remus questioned.

"Armchair."

"Where were you sleeping?"

"Armchair." I muttered.

"The same armchair?" Remus asked, getting a coy smile on his face.

"Yes," I muttered as I threw myself down onto the sofa. I watched as Remus and James held a silent conversation with each other.

"What?" I asked them, somewhat nervously.

"Nothing…it's just that we saw you two kiss yesterday-"

"And now you two are sleeping with each other." Remus finished James' sentence.

"Lor always comes to sleep with me. It doesn't mean anything," I said to them briskly, with a tone stating that I didn't want to continue the conversation. They shrugged their shoulders to show that they understood and sat down in the armchairs. It doesn't mean anything. That sentence echoed through my head. Every time it bounced off a side of my brain, my heart would more and more.

"So where were you and Addie last night, Remus?" I asked, hoping to change the subject and shift the focus over to him. I watched him fiddle with his jacket zipper nervously and cough a bit to clear his throat.

"We went and slept upstairs in the boy's dormitory. Nothing happened," Remus said, more to himself than to us. He stared out the window as if in a trance.

"Hey, I was going to go and try to ask Lily out later. After that I'm going to go ice-skating on the lake with Lor and Sirius. You and Addie should come," James said to Remus, trying to break him from this daze he was in.

"I don't think Addie will want to come," Remus said sadly.

"Why not?" I asked. I knew it was something bad from the minute I heard Remus say that.

"We're over. She broke up with me last night," Remus said mournfully. I felt for the guy. I knew Addie had meant a lot to him.

"Why?" James asked curiously.

"When I told her that I love her, she didn't feel the same way and said that she wouldn't feel right if we kept on dating," Remus said, and I saw him push back tears.

"Eh, you could do better than Addie anyway," I said hoping to cheer him up.

"I just need a walk," he replied as he got up and left the common room.

James and I exchanged worried glances and I motioned for James to go with him. I watched him leave the common room behind our other friend and sighed. I looked around the now-empty common room and felt so alone. I got up and went to the boy's dorm to take a shower. When I entered the room though, I saw Lora crawled up in my bed, in a tight little circle. She reminded me somewhat of the little roly-poly's I poke and prod in my backyard when I was a kid. I remember them curling up into little balls whenever they were afraid.

Lora curled up in that little ball reminded me of a roly-poly, only Lora is gorgeous, and roly-poly's are hideous little creatures if you look at them close enough. I went over and laid down next to her on the warm mattress. I slid under the covers and sent my hand on her waist. She slowly relaxed and cuddled in closer to me. This also reminded me of a roly-poly. Once they became comfortable and trusting with someone or something, they would relax but if they were alarmed or scared, they would curl back up into their little ball. Lora was comfortable with me, so she wasn't afraid to be herself and stretch out.

"Sirius? Are you okay?" I looked down at her and saw that she had been glancing up at me the whole time. Her eyes were filled with guilt and worry and I immediately just felt the urge to pull her into a big hug. She reminded me sometimes of that lost dog that you would see wandering down Diagon Alley. It was always cute and adorable and just dying for someone. That's how Lora was. Not in a bad way, but sometimes she felt guilty for things that she shouldn't have to feel guilty for. I know her parents are going through a nasty divorce and I can see that she feels like it's her fault.

But like the stray dog, Lora's just looking for someone to care for her. I wanted to be that person. I wanted to take care of her, and protect her and make sure that she would never have to wander down Diagon Alley alone.

"I'm fine, Lor," I said with a reassuring smile. She gave me a small smile back and then slid in closer to me.

"I'm sorry for breaking your nose," she said sadly.

"It was an accident. Don't be sorry," I said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.

As I moved in closer to her, I wrapped my arms around her and made a silent promise to myself never to let her go.