Chapter 3 of Love and House Colors
Disclaimer- Harry Potter and characters from the Harry Potter books belong to their respective copyright holders
The next morning when Sirius woke up and got dressed then threw his P.J.s and clothes from the night before into his trunk before heading with his friends down to the Great hall for breakfast and last goodbyes. From were Sirius was sitting he could see a number of people saying goodbye, a few girls crying and saying how they would miss each other, and a few people here and there making plans to see each other the summer. Over the crowd of students Sirius could see the Slytherin table where he could see a number of Slytherin students, Malfoy, Snape, Crab, his brother Regulus etc. but no Chantelle. Sirius wondered where she could be, "Sirius!? Snap out of it!" it was James snapping his figures in Sirius's face trying to get him to pay attention, "Sorry, mate. What did you need?" said Sirius, turning his attention away from the Slytherin table and back to his friends. "Are you okay? You seemed kind of out of it today," comment Remus, "I'm fine, what were you saying?" said Sirius asking what his friends had been talking about while he was looking for Chantelle, "Anyway, just as I was saying," continued James, "We were just talking about that girl you were with last night, you never told us who she was." Sirius was trying to think of a good answer, "It doesn't matter." Said Sirius, wishing he had thought of something better. "You don't even know who she is!?!?" said Peter, sound astonished. Normally they would put aside Peter's air-headed moments, but Sirius decided to fuel this idea by shrugging a little and looking like it was no big deal. "No way! You made out with some girl you didn't know!" said James. Sirius wouldn't have normally lied to his friends, but he technically wasn't; he didn't know who he was kissing until later in the night. "You guys are making a big deal out of it," said Sirius, maybe he could get them to change the subject altogether. "Well it is a big deal; I knew you were a player," said Remus, "but this is a whole new level for you Sirius. Who knew you were that much of a player, not even asking her name first." "You know I would think less of this if wasn't a school party and you wouldn't ever have to see her again. But this is a different case, she probably knows who you are and you have to face her everyday at school. Or at least I think you will; it's hard to tell seeing as you don't know who she is so I can't tell what house she is in and what classes she would have with us." James said, going on and on about Sirius's unknown girl. "So what did you guys do at the party?" asked Sirius trying to change the subject. The less they talked about Chantelle the less chance there was of them discovering who she was. "Well you saw me and James leave to go dance with those two Hufflepuffs, we spent most our night with the until they had to leave to go finish packing; and Peter here spent his night dancing with that girl you dared him to ask to dance." said Remus, recapping the nights events for Sirius. When Remus mentioned Sirius daring Peter to dance he remembered that Chantelle had gone to the dance with a Hufflepuff friend. Looking over Remus's left shoulder, pretending to be listening as his friend went over a more detailed night with the Hufflepuff he danced with, he had a clear view of the Hufflepuff table. Trying to remember what Chantelle's friend looked like, Sirius looked up and down the table hoping that Chantelle was with her friend; which would also explain why she wasn't at her own table. It only took him a second before Sirius could find Chantelle and her friend. They were sitting not far down from Sirius and only a table away, eating breakfast and talking. Sirius couldn't help but wondered what they were talking about; it was only when Chantelle turned and saw Sirius looking that he realized he was being silly. He knew that he could never be with Chantelle and staring just made him look creepy. Sirius turned his attention back to his friends and joined in the conversation on Quidditch to help get his mind off Chantelle.
Chantelle awoke the next morning from a very strange dream which she really didn't understand, although her dream reminded her of a chocolate frog card she had in her closet back home. Chantelle remembered the first night she had met Sirius, back when they were little, and how Sirius had slipped a chocolate frog card that she had been admiring into her coat pocket. The card was of a famous healer Chantelle looked up to. Chantelle collected the healer series of chocolate frog cards when she was younger and Sirius had given her one of the first cards in her collection. A year or so before coming to Hogwarts, Chantelle had stopped collecting the cards; although she never did find the last card in the collection.
After getting dressed Chantelle went into the Great hall, where she normally would have sat with her own house, today she sat at the Hufflepuff table with Bree because it was the last day at school. When Chantelle entered the Great hall she looked around for Bree and, although Chantelle would never admit it, Sirius. Chantelle first found Sirius; his friends were always being noisy so it wasn't hard to spot him. Chantelle noted that Sirius didn't really seem to be paying attention to his friend's conversation; in fact he seemed to be looking over at the Slytherin table. She secretly hoped that he was looking for her, but felt she was just being silly. Chances are he was just gazing into space; it isn't like there was anything between her and Sirius. Trying to get her mind off Sirius, Chantelle went back to looking for her friend. Once Chantelle started looking it was easy to find Bree not far from where Chantelle was, talking to some other Hufflepuffs. "Hey, Chantelle," said Bree running up to greet her friend, after spotting Chantelle walking towards her. "Hey Bree, who were you talking to?" asked Chantelle, "Oh just a couple of girls from my dorm. Have you eaten yet?" asked Bree, "Not yet, I came to find you." "Come then, let's eat," said Bree, pulling Chantelle down to sit at two open seats. Chantelle was hoping that she would be able to sit the other direction so she could see what Sirius and his friends were doing, but Bree had forced her into sitting in the seat facing the opposite direction and it would have been hard to explain if she asked to switch seats with Bree. "So what did you do at the party last night?" Bree said, "You know, before you left." Chantelle hesitated answering her friend; she knew she couldn't tell her friend the truth, although she wanted to tell her just to be able to tell someone. "Nothing really," said Chantelle, "Well you had to do something. Are you telling me that you didn't talk to anyone all night? Or that no one stopped to talk to you?" asked Bree, "I think that someone from your Quidditch team would have at least stopped to talk to you." Bree said answering her own question. "Well I did leave the party for a while," said Chantelle, wishing Bree would just drop the subject. "How early did you leave the party? You said you left because it was crowded, and it didn't get crowded until later. You must have seen at least one person." Bree stated, not letting the subject die. Chantelle had came to the decision that she would have to tell Bree or Bree would never leave her alone, but she couldn't tell her here; there were too many people. "I'll tell you about it later" Chantelle whispered to Bree. Bree didn't seem to happy about Chantelle's answer, but one of the girls Bree had been talking to earlier came up to ask Bree something. Chantelle wasn't paying attention to what Bree and her friend were talking to; she had this weird feeling that someone was looking at her. At first she just ignored it, thinking she was being silly and that it would go away; but after a few moments Chantelle look and saw Sirius looking at her from the Gryffindor table. For a few seconds Chantelle was excited that Sirius had been looking for her at the Slytherin table earlier, and was now watching her and Bree eat; but then Chantelle came to her senses. There was nothing between her and Sirius and chances are he just happened to be looking over, either glazing off into space or looking at someone else, when she looked up. Chantelle turned back to her friend and jumped into the conversation trying to get her mind off Sirius.
After Sirius and his friends had finished eating they went back to their dorm to grab their trunks, and after a few difficulties; such as helping Peter lock his trunk, helping Remus decide what book to bring as a carry on and what books to put in his trunk, helping James correctly package his wizard pranks from Zonko's so they didn't go off in his trunk, and finally getting Sirius's own trunk ready while wondering why they hadn't made sure they were ready yesterday; they took their trunks down to the Entrance hall. All the students would put their trunks there, were house elves would come and move them to the train. Just as Sirius was putting his trunk with all the others, he took a step back to get out of the way and bumped into a passer by knocking the bag she was holding out of her hand.
Chantelle and Bree had just finished their meal. "Well, I guess we had better go and get our trunks and set them out in the Entrance hall," said Chantelle as she stood up from the table. She still hadn't told Bree anything yet, she was waiting until they got on the train; hopefully they would get a compartment to themselves. "Okay, then I guess I will see you in a minute," said Bree, running up the stairs to go get her trunk. Chantelle turned and went down to the dungeons to get her own trunk. Having pack the day before, all Chantelle had to do was put the last few things into her bag that she didn't want in her trunk. After making sure she had everything and giving her dorm one last glance before summer, she turned out of the room and headed back to the entrance room.
Bree had gone up to her dorm and entered just as none of the girls she had been talking to at breakfast left. Bree was the last one in her dorm to take their trunk down to the Entrance hall. Quickly Bree locked her trunk so it wouldn't open by accident on the trip home and threw the book she had been reading this morning into her bag so that she could read on the trip home. While Bree was making sure she hadn't forgot anything she wondered what could be so important that Chantelle wouldn't tell her at breakfast. Bree had decided on her way to the dorm that Chantelle must have been with someone or she would have told Bree; now Bree just wondered what about this person kept Chantelle from sharing at breakfast. Maybe they were trying to keep their relationship a secret? Or maybe it wasn't a relationship at all and they didn't want the whole school to know whatever it was they did at the party. Considering these two options, Bree tried to think of boys that went missing the same time Chantelle did during the party.
Bree had left her dorm and was headed down to the Entrance hall to drop off her trunk. There were about ten students putting their trunks in the Entrance hall when Bree entered, the rest were in their dorms getting their trunks or outside waiting for the carriages to take them to the train station. Bree could see that Chantelle had yet to make it up to the Entrance hall, seeing as she did not see Chantelle or her trunk. Bree walked over to the trunks, adding her own to the growing pile of student luggage. Bree thought about going outside, but then decided to give it a few minutes and see if Chantelle would come up stairs. As she was walking over to the other side of the room so she could get out of the way of the students adding their trunks to the pile, someone bumped into Bree and knocked her bag with her book out of her hand. "Oh, I'm sorry," said Sirius Black. Bree didn't know Black well, because she spent most of her time with Chantelle who was a Slytherin she really didn't know any Gryffindor to well. "It's okay," said Bree as she got down to pick up her book and other things that had rolled out of her bag. Black got down and started helping her pick up the random knick-knacks that had fallen out of her person when another person joined them. Chantelle, having made it to the Entrance hall, got down to help her friend pick up her bag. Bree looked from Chantelle to Sirius; as soon as they had seen each other there was almost tension in the air between them, and not the normal tension between Slytherins and Gryffindors. The tension between them was almost like an awkward silence rather than an angry tension like the one that was normally between the two houses, Bree noted how they had been avoiding looking at each other. "Did you enjoy the dance last night?" asked Bree in an attempt to break the silence, even though he wasn't suppose to be at the dance he knew by now that Bree would have know he was there; being as she spent the whole night with Peter and him and his friends always do stuff like gate crash together. "It was alright," said Sirius as the three of them started to stand up, having picked up everything. "I didn't see you, apart from when the party just started. Did you stay for the whole party?" asked Bree, "I took a walk during the party to get some air," said Sirius, "anyway, I have to go now," Sirius said as he walked off towards his friends. It was when Sirius had used an excuse close to the one Chantelle had used about missing the party that Bree realized who Chantelle spent the party with.
Chantelle had just walked into the Entrance hall and had found Bree when she saw Bree drop her bag. Walking over towards Bree to help her, Chantelle didn't notice who was behind Bree that had accidently knocked the bag out of Bree's hand. Once Chantelle had gotten down to help pick up the random items that had fallen out of Bree's bag she noticed who had knocked the bag out of Bree's hand and was now helping pick it up. It was Sirius. Chantelle was unsure of what to do, she didn't know whether should say something mean like Gryffindors and Slytherins normally do to each other, or tell him off for knocking Bree's bag out of her hand; but somehow she couldn't do it, so instead she just let awkward silence fill the space between them. As the three of them were getting up from the floor Bree decided to start up a conversation with Sirius. 'Why couldn't you just let him walk away?' thought Chantelle. Bree was asking Sirius about the dance and how he spent. Chantelle saw Sirius glance at her and she quickly looked at the floor, she didn't want to make eye contact with him. Then Sirius proceeded to tell Bree he left early to go for a walk, which caused Bree to grin in an almost scary way. After they had finished their short conversation Sirius walked off to find his friends. Chantelle was just glad they kept their conversation short.
Sirius walked away from his awkward run-in with Chantelle. He walked back over to where his friends were, thinking about whether he had said the right thing to Bree about the party. While he had stopped to help Bree with her bag Sirius's friends had made their way outside and were by the doors waiting for him to join them. "Took you long enough," said James as Sirius reached his friends, "What were you talking to Bree about?" asked Peter, Sirius was wondering if Peter asked because he was generally interested or because he wanted to know what Bree was up to. "We were just talking about the party last night," said Sirius; he wondered if his friends would bring up Chantelle or if they even noticed her standing by Bree, "What did you tell her about your night? Somehow I don't think it was the same story we know," said Remus, "I told her went for a walk to get some fresh air." Sirius replied, "Something tells me you weren't getting to much air," joked James. "What about that Slytherin she was with?" asked Peter, "What about her?" Sirius wondered what Peter meant about Chantelle, "Just surprised you didn't end up fighting. It's not like that is any normal, old Slytherin, that was a Slytherin beater," said Peter. "I guess I wasn't paying attention. Do you know when the carriages are going to be here?" Sirius was trying to change the subject, "Trying to change the subject, are we?" commented James, "What is between you and this Slytherin that is making you act all funny?" normally James would have just assumed that Sirius didn't feel like fighting, but because of his sudden change in subject James was wondering what was going on. "I wasn't trying to change the subject, but isn't time that the carriage got here?" said Sirius, trying to change the subject and save make it look like he wasn't at the same time, "You know, he's right," said Remus, looking at his watch, "the carriages should be here in minute now." Sirius sighed to himself that his carriage story worked. "Oh, look there they are now!" said Peter. Sure enough the carriages were heading towards the four boys.
After Sirius walked off, Chantelle face her friend to see a very excited Bree. "What? Did you drink too much coffee this morning?" Chantelle said questioning her friend's excited behavior. "I know your secret!" squealed Bree, "I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Chantelle wondered how Bree could have already figured it out, but was more worried about someone hearing her, "Quiet, I don't want anyone to hear you," whispered Chantelle, "We will talk more on the train." Chantelle told her over excited friend. "Let's go outside and wait for the carriages," Chantelle said as she was ushering her friend outside; Chantelle was careful to walk away from Sirius and his friends as she didn't want to see Sirius or be seen by him. "Listen, you can't tell anyone Bree." Chantelle told Bree once they had walked away from the main crowd of people. "I won't, I just can't believe of all the people you could have been with," said Bree, "shhh," said Chantelle as a couple of second years passed. Deep down Chantelle knew that Bree was a loyal friend and would never tell a secret that meant so much Chantelle like this one did, it was part of the reason Bree fit in so well with the Hufflepuff house. "Okay, okay. I'll wait until we are on the train to talk," said Bree agree to her friend's request. "Well it doesn't look like you with have to wait much longer," said Chantelle, "here come the carriages now."
Please review! I know it doesn't seem long because not alot happens, but I didn't want to add chapters 3 and 4 together because I didn't want it too long. Don't worry though, that next chapter is already started and should be published soon.