A/N: Arghh…I need a beta for this fic! Anyone willing/know of a good one? (aka one that won't beat me over the head for it being SiriusLily). This chapter is looooooooong….overcompensation for the small ones I've previously done! x
Oh yeah—hehehe.
b4dawn101—oh lmao, that song. Fine, I'll recite that silly Wormtail rap…hahaha. You're gonna killlll me.
Cubann—hehe-yay! Thanks for reviewing after reading…I get mad when people put me on their favourites and don't review…grr! Ahhh, anyways…
Aarg—I think that Sirius' mum still has some hope that he'll come back and act like a Black, though if I were her I wouldn't hold my breath…
MarauderetteLily—alright haha I'm updating! And this chapter is extremely. ginormously. long.
Lily's POV…again.
Honestly, how much homework could these professors give? I had to write an essay for Slughorn, read the next two chapters in A History of Magic, perfect performing eight different charms, and practise turning beetles into jewellery, among loads of other things. I had already written the Potions essay and could flawlessly perform five out of the eight charms, but I really wasn't in the mood for reading history. After staring at the same page for two minutes, I slammed the book shut. I could read this later—after all, I had two whole weeks to do it. I concentrated on yet another charm.
"Locomotor—" I looked around the room for an object to move, and spied an already-floating candelabra. I pointed my wand at it and began magicking it across the room.
Hardly a second later, I heard—and felt—a small explosion. It rattled the windows in the dormitory. I jumped, breaking my concentration on moving the candelabra. It fell at the foot of Marissa Curtis' bed. My brain, in shock, took too long to process what was happening. All of a sudden, I saw a tiny flame creeping up the corner of Marissa's bedspread. I heard someone from the common room shouting profanities that perfectly described what I was feeling. I ran over to the bed, completely horrified.
"Aguamenti!" I cried, and a stream of water shot out of my wand and onto the bed. The mini-fire hissed furiously, but soon gave up and went out. I flew towards the door, flung it open, and ran down the stairs into the common room. The room was buzzing with the complaints of several portraits. Sirius was still muttering under his breath, trying to replace a very fussy one back on the wall.
"No, no, no!" yelled a portrait of a wizard working with his alchemy set, "Put me down at once, young man! How dare you touch my frame!"
"Oh, shove it," Sirius growled at the portrait, heaving him back onto the wall.
"Sirius!" I shrieked, coming closer to him from across the room, "What did you just do?" He looked at me and then pointed behind him on the wall.
"Put him back where he belongs, of course," he said, indicating the portrait.
"That's not what I mean, you know that! What on earth were you doing? I—" I paused, unsure of the response I would get out of Sirius, "I just set a bed on fire because of you!" He burst out with that barking laughter.
"What? Never would've guessed a perfect prefect like you would have set things on fire on account of me," He smirked and looked at me. It was the sort of look that I would have expected out of James, not Sirius. It made me uncomfortable.
"Are you going to tell me, or not?" I asked, harsher than I had originally intended, but it didn't matter much. I crossed my arms over my chest in impatience. He sighed upwards, scattering his dark bangs away from his eyes.
"Someone put mistletoe in here," he pointed his wand at the ceiling, "so I thought that I'd get rid of it. For you, you know. Wouldn't want to be caught in any, er, situation." He visibly shuddered, smile still on his face. I tried not to flinch. I wasn't supposed to care. Sirius Black was not—and could not be—my type.
"I think you overdid the effect," I said somewhat grumpily. He shrugged casually.
"I got rid of it, though. And took the portraits off of the wall," he added happily.
"Uh, so what were you doing down here before your little, er, explosion?" I asked, trying to avoid the usual awkward silence.
"Playing wizard chess with myself," he smiled ruefully and walked over to chess table, "but it's so boring to play all alone." He flopped down on the blood red couch next to the chess table. He didn't even ask me to join him. Obviously, he had somewhat implied it, yet I got the feeling that he wouldn't have cared if I had left him and gone back to the dormitory—back to my homework.
I lowered myself into the large red couch across from him. The pieces began to rearrange themselves into a new game.
"So, Evans," Sirius said, smoothly as ever, "have you thought about giving James a chance yet?" My body stiffened. I tried to glare at him as menacingly as I could, though the expression on his perfect face didn't change one bit. I picked up one of my little white pawns and thrust it down two spaces ahead. It squealed in pain—if a chess piece could feel pain.
"No," I said icily, "And I won't. Ever."
"Ever?" Sirius repeated, looking at me dubiously, then moving his own pawn.
"Not unless he changes," I conceded, "significantly changes."
"Fair enough," He let it drop, thankfully. "It's your turn," he added.
"Oh, right," I looked down to the board.
"Pick me!" pleaded my bishop, "I know just the perfect place to move!"
"Yes," snarled Sirius' black knight, "where I will capture you single-handedly!" I ignored both of them and moved my relatively silent castle.
"Tell me about your family," I said over the hubbub of the chess pieces.
"What?" Sirius was gaping at me. This was the most surprised that I've seen him since—well, ever since I've known him.
"You heard me," I said, enjoying myself. "I want to know as much as I can about the wizarding world—and that includes learning about the major wizarding families." He sighed.
"I'm not sure you want to know. We're called Black for a reason." He muttered. But I did want to know. And now he had made me curious.
"Well, you can't be all bad," I persisted. "What happened to you? You're a Gryffindor," I added, stating the obvious.
"I've always been the rebel. And I don't want to turn out like them," he grimaced, "especially not like Bella." He saw the look on my face and explained, after moving his queen. "Bellatrix is the worst of my three cousins. I hate her. She's a Death Eater,"—he ignored my gasp—"and married another Death Eater—Rodolphus Lestrange—a few years ago. My family made a huge deal about it." He spoke as if he had a rotten flavour in his mouth and was spitting out the words.
"Oh my God," I breathed, staring unashamedly, "I had no idea that it was—that it was that bad. Are most of you like that?" He snorted.
"No, of course not. Too many Blacks are, but most of us are simply supportive. The only exception was—"
"You," I said, not wanting to hear it again. "I already know."
"No," he said, sounding mildly annoyed. "One of my other—damn, nice move!" He congratulated me as my arrogant little bishop knocked one of his pawns off of the board.
"Thanks," I acknowledged. "You were saying…"
"My other cousin, Andromeda. She was alright, especially for a Slytherin. She never took part in any of the Dark Arts and was the only cousin who was nice to me. The best part is that she married a Muggle. My mother burned her off of the family tapestry for it. Haven't seen her since." I gaped at him. I wondered if this sort of thing was normal in wizarding families. "And then there's Cissa…"
"Oh, her," I wrinkled my nose in distaste. I remembered Narcissa Black very well—cold, proud and beautiful. Thankfully she was five years older than I was and not at Hogwarts anymore. I didn't have to deal with her supercilious stares anymore. He laughed happily at my reaction.
"She's nothing but a pain in the arse." I mentally agreed with him but didn't say so. I scrunched one eye shut as Sirius' queen took my queen.
"So what's your story—from the Muggle side?" His grey eyes reflected the dancing firelight.
"Uh, well, there's really not that much to tell," I mumbled. Nothing in my former world was nearly half as exciting as things in my new one. "I could move things when I was little. It scared Petunia—my older sister. She's disliked me ever since I started coming here. Mum says it's because she's envious, but I really don't know anymore," I took a deep breath and continued, "and Sev has been my neighbour since, well, I can't exactly remember. He helps me get through the summer holidays." I couldn't read the look on Sirius' face.
"What?" he said, a smile playing at his lips. "You're neighbours with…Snivellus?" I bit my lip, trying to keep myself from exploding—Sirius would only tease me because of my horrible temper. Though Sev had been becoming stranger and more distant over the past few months, I still loved him. He was one of the few things I still had from home.
"Don't call him that," I said, digging my nails into my palms. "You're no better than he is!" Sirius didn't seem to hear me.
"James will be happy to hear this," he mused.
"That Sev is my neighbour?"
"Yes," he smothered a laugh, "James thought that you and your greasy friend had a, uh, you know, a thing…"
"What?" I attempted not to screech. Of all the stupid assumptions that those boys have made, that has to be the worst (besides the one in which James believes that I might want to be his girlfriend). Sev and I? No, that would never happen. I hadn't even ever thought of it.
"Oh my God," he groaned. "You can't say that you haven't noticed?" I gave him a blank stare.
"So you're saying," I said weakly, "that Severus is—is interested in me?" I tried to picture my best friend kissing me and shuddered in revulsion. I instantly felt guilty, but I had no interest in Severus, and I still didn't believe that he had any in me. Sirius had to be lying.
"It's kind of obvious," he said, rolling his eyes slightly, "when an aspiring Death Eater is friends with a Gryffindor Muggle-born girl, and he otherwise hangs out with other greasy creeps." He smiled to himself on the last line. I scowled at him.
"He is not a greasy creep," I said defensively.
"Whatever you say," Sirius said, but I could have sworn he said something else under his breath. I put my chin in my hands and looked at him for a moment.
"You know, I don't think that it should matter," I said finally. "It won't change anything." Sirius made a face.
"You're not easily swayed, are you?" I had to grin.
"No, I'm not," I agreed. I heard the faint chimes from the clock tower—it was already five o'clock.
"I think it's been your turn for the past half hour," laughed Sirius.
"What?" I asked, confused. "Oh!" I smiled crookedly, realising after too long what he was talking about. "Sorry, I forgot all about it. You were going to win anyway." He smiled, unwilling to challenge the fact.
"Are you hungry?" he abruptly changed the subject, taking me off guard. Was that what he was trying to do?
"No," I said, mostly because it was true and partially because I didn't want to subject myself to more questioning on my personal life. I stayed plastered to the couch. He stood up, gave me a mischievous smile, and sauntered out the portrait hole. I groaned. No doubt he was going to go looking for more trouble. I peeled myself off of the couch and felt miserable. There was a twisting feeling in my gut that I was trying my best to ignore. I almost wished that I had gone with him, even though he was most likely trying to beat his personal record of most school rules broken.
It was a mistake staying here. Not like I had any choice, but still. I was missing this stupid bloke who had gone from an enemy to the closest thing I had to a friend. How pathetic. Frustrated more with myself than at anyone else, I thudded dully back up to the girls' dormitory, ignoring the puddle of water at the foot of Marissa's bed, and threw my books onto the floor. I didn't care if it was hardly past five o'clock—I had nothing better to do. I crawled into my bed and drifted into a restless sleep.
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