Author's Note: I own fuck all, all belongs to JK. Enjoy!

The 'God' of Transfiguration

'So, I hear someone is in need of a little help from the god of transfiguration' stated Sirius suavely while strolling into the class room.

'You're late' she stated bluntly.

'At least I showed up,' he said flashing a winning smile as if the situation were funny.

'Three weeks Sirius?'

'Only two' he argued back.

'Three whole evenings I've sat here waiting for you,' she was aware she was beginning to sound like an abandoned wife.

'I told Remus to tell you I was ill,' it was a poor excuse and obviously a lie.

'Well he didn't tell me'.

'Trust Moony to forget,' he sighed dramatically, 'I've been really ill, quite contagious, I shouldn't even be here tonight, but what can I say? I'm a saint.'

'I guess it's the kind of illness that requires you to grope fourth years and fly broomsticks'. She said curtly.

'Something like that,' he shrugged knowing he was caught out. He strolled over to the open window and lit a cigarette. He didn't offer her one, she would have said no but all the same it would have been polite. The smell was alluring it reminded her painfully of her mother, she too had smoked Marlboro Reds; chain smoking them till the day she died.

He took a couple of long drags, 'So you've been spying on me?'

'Yes, I've got binoculars and everything' she said sarcastically. 'I guess you think I should be grateful that I'm being graced by your presence this evening?'

'Well yes,' he stated plainly, 'if I remember correctly it's me who's doing you a favour.'

'If I remember correctly' she countered 'you're in desperate need of extra credit and furthermore you're forgetting that if it was up to me, not Dumbledore I would never be in the same room as you for the rest of my life'

'Well in that case we must be thankful to dear old Dumbledore, I don't know if I could survive the school year without the insults you lavish upon me.' He was flirting, she would have to get used to it. He just couldn't switch it off. She found it insulting. He did this with everyone, even the female teachers. It was no compliment; it merely demonstrated his lack of respect for the female population, assuming them all susceptible to his meagre charms.

Put him in his place she thought; 'Just shut up Black.' Simple but effective.

He looked a little taken aback, 'Someone's grouchy,' he teased

'Well you stood me up the last three weeks, and today you're twenty minutes late.'

'You make it sound like a date,' he said smirking. He was so smug standing there trying to make her feel embarrassed. Is this what he got off on making gawky girls feel uncomfortable? Leading them on with his smiles and corny winks, making them think they stood a chance but behind their backs calling them fat, ugly or his favourite for her 'the banshee'. Then later laughing at their gullibility and stupidity with his friends.

'Stop changing the subject. I can't believe you haven't admitted you're in the wrong or at least said sorry. You're so immature' she searched around for the right words, but all she found was: 'You're such an idiot!'

'Now who's being immature?' he accused.

'Oh my god you're soo annoying!'

'Come on lets not make this any more painful than it has to be.' He said ignoring her last comment. 'You're wasting time, let's get to work.' She went to speak but nothing came out. He was taking the moral high ground; he was turning this in his favour. Fuck Fuck Fuck.

He opened the book and they began. But Sirius got thoroughly bored after the first five minutes and had the gall to point out what he could be doing instead of being there with her:

'I could be playing Quiditch with Prongs…' he mused.

'Ravenclaw have the pitch tonight,' she pointed out as a blue blur shot past the open window.

He pretended not to hear her and carried on with his train of thought, '…and Angela Carter wanted to meet me for…'

'I don't want to know'

'She's wild!'

'You're thirteen and a moron; I don't want to hear about it!'

'Actually I'm fourteen and has anyone ever told you that you're blunt to the point of being rude'.

'No one has ever seen the need to be so purposefully irritating in my presence before' she countered.

'You know I'm doing it on purpose to wind you up?'

'Yes, that makes it worse.'

'I could be huddled in a broom cub…'

'Shut up!' she snapped.

''You're no fun.'

'This isn't meant to be fun.'

'That's the wrong attitude,' he said condescendingly shaking his finger at her.

'How am I meant to concentrate on this when you won't shut up?'

'But it's easy.' He complained.

Oh my god, she threw her hands up in despair 'Sirius why on earth would I be having tutorials with a knob like you if I found this easy?'

He looked genuinely perplexed and sauntered back over to the window to light up again.

'You know you are supposed to be teaching me, you can't just stand there chain smoking for the next hour and a half'' she tried to get the reality of the situation through to him.

'Just watch me!' He said, puffing away on the Marlboro in an exaggerated fashion.

Jesus, this was pointless. She was wasting her time. Holly started to pack her books into her shoulder bag.

'Wait, where are you going?'

'To actually get some work done.' She said frustrated.

'But we haven't finished.'

'We haven't even begun,' she said exasperated.

'I'm sorry' he mumbled.

'What?'

'I'm sorry' he mumbled a little louder.

'I didn't quite catch that?' she said mischievously

'You can fuck right off; I'm not saying it again.'

'Okay, I'll stay, I need the help and you need the extra credit,' she said dropping back into her chair.

He smiled like a small boy, Holly looked a little dubious.

'Could you pass the butter?'

'Salted?' questioned Lily.

'Of course' replied Holly.

It was dinner time and the grand hall was filled from wall to wall with rowdy students. She was sitting with the girls in her dorm. It surprised Holly how fast she had adapted to a life populated by other people. She found most of them trivial but liveable. It was odd when she took a second to listen to herself discussing the most banal of things with the most self centred of girls.

She knew they still found her a little odd. Layla and Jessica were the kind of girls who just couldn't look past difference; they were idiots and very bitchy. She had heard them whisper and laugh at her, commenting on her hair and stifling giggles when they saw her undress. There were still some bad scars, she had caught Jessica miming self harm vignettes across the room to Layla; kids were cruel. It kind of pissed her off because there was no truth in it, even if she had wanted to there wasn't much hope as Gerald hid the knives. Svetlana was just a bit dopey but very sweet and ethereal, genuinely oblivious to most things surrounding her. Mostly she just sat there with her large lips slightly parted and her eyes else where. Moira was a northern girl who spoke plainly and Holly liked that.

Then there was Lily, what was there to say about Lily? She was the first person who had spoken to her, accepted her and she had been nothing but patient and kind. She was a bit prissy, unadventurous, childish and at times down right ridiculous. Holly felt bad for having those thoughts. She felt like she had outgrown Lily. Outgrown the Lily who still played with her dolls when she went home. The Lily who had pictures of Donny Osmond all over her bedroom walls. The sweet, innocent, but ignorant Lily. Lily's presence often made her feel unclean; it was Lily's whiteness, her purity, the way she would hiccup whenever Holly cursed; it made her envious and angry. She wasn't very tolerate with Lily anymore and often her sharp tongue could lead to Lily's tears But she needed a friend, and Lily was trying to be the best friend she could be but Holly wasn't sure if it was enough.

'You know Holly you're real hair colours so pretty,' cooed Jessica.

'We should give you a make over!' exclaimed Layla, at this Svetlana clapped her hands.

'No really I'm fine,' answered Holly, not to bothered if it sounded ungrateful. Layla and Jessica looked at her as if she was a troll, turn down a makeover!

'Do you really like it like that?' asked Jessica, making her disgust clear.

'No' replied Holly as if it were obvious.

'Then why did you dye it in the first place? You look like a dark wizard!' They both laughed.

At this point Lily put her hand on Holly's knee. She knew that this was Lily's little way of reassuring her but the whole gesture was just so futile and pathetic it only served to incenseHolly more. It reeked of a bad soap opera, how did Lily's hand on her knee help? It was one of those gestures people feel they should do; the only person it made feel any better was Lily. Her one act of defiance, if she really wanted to help she could vocally defend me against these bitches thought Holly. But she knew she was being unfair, over analysing, purposefully picking holes in Lily's actions. She hated herself for thinking it.

'I dunno, I just did' Holly said not rising to the bait. This was normal dinner time fare if you sat with those two.

Jessica obviously didn't like Holly's tone, 'Well if you ask me it looks stupid.'

'Well she didn't ask you' said Moira. Her tone wasn't aggressive just bored, the sort of tone that made you feel silly and puerile. Holly stifled a laugh.

Jessica looked acutely insulted and turned her back on them and began to mutter her indignation very loudly, words such as 'bitch', 'nosey' 'Goth' and 'banshee' could be heard.

She inwardly cursed Sirius, for it was he who had created that infernal name. He thought it was funny. He called her 'banshee' straight to her face in their tutorials, now that he actually turned up. But that was the thing about lads like Sirius they didn't understand how it felt to be the one on the end of those insult when you didn't have anyone to stick up for you. The Slytherins liked to chant 'gryffindor banshee' repeatedly when they saw her. Some days it affected her worse than others. Nearly all the kids at Hogwarts got stick one way or the other she thought; this was high school after all she would have been mad to have expected anything different. Dumbledore had said it was adversity that made you stronger, but he had also reiterated that if it ever got out of hand she was to report it straight away. Dumbledore was a wise man, he realised that being a tattletale only made the problem worse. This was the teenage jungle; you had to ride it out if you wanted respect, and so she did.

'You've been practising!' he exclaimed.

'Well some people do have a work ethic' she scolded Sirius.

'Look here you go again, I'm praising you and all I get in return is snide insults,' he mocked.

'Oh someone's sensitive,' she retaliated back.

They were turning mice into teapots, one of the things that was certain to be on her exams.

'Still a little furry though' he commented.

'Perfectionist' she accused.

'So I guess this is Happy Christmas' Sirius said. It was their last tutorial before the Christmas holidays and they were parting ways at the bottom of the stairwell in Gryffindor common room.

'Yeh, have a good one.' She said in response.

'I'll try,' he said looking unhappy and hesitant. Holly didn't know how to reply so she just stood their looking dumb. She expected him to snap out of it, crack a smile, call her a name and carry on his way but he wasn't even pretending to make a move to leave. Suddenly he started, but he thought better of it. He tried again and blurted out 'I hate being home.' Holly again just stood there unsure if he was going to carry on; she wasn't one to force information out of people. He could make up his own mind about that. Then he began again, quickly, falling over his words. It wasn't like Sirius at all. 'My parents are tools. I wish I could stay here… over Christmas I mean. They're ashamed of me…' He stopped, then after a couple of seconds of awkward silence he asked her 'How about you? Cleverly shifting the spotlight from himself.

'I'm staying here.'

'Oh.'

'My parents are dead.' She said simply. There was no point in being dramatic.

'Oh I'm sorry. You must think I'm a right twat sitting here cursing my own parents.'

'No,' she said 'I don't know your family.'

'Trust me you don't want to.' He said trying to smile. She felt very sorry for him at that moment; she hadn't felt like that in a long time.

'My mother wasn't that great either,' admitted Holly 'but I guess she was just a human being after all. We always seem to expect parents to be amazing, but their just people at the end of the day, just people with kids. When you have children you don't have to pass a test to see if you're good enough to be one. They are just as shit as the rest of us.' She stopped abruptly shocked she had said so much, and to Sirius Black who would undoubtedly tease her about it later. But he wasn't laughing he looked serious. The bizarre nature of the situation threw her off. She was perfectly comfortable having a rally of insults with him, but treating him as a human being was just too weird.

'I guess you're right' he said, 'But you see my mum's not just a bad parent, she's a bad person. My family are into dark magic. It's kinda scary all the crazy shit they're into.'

She didn't really know what to say to that, it wasn't the kind of comment that required a response. It was odd she wouldn't even count Sirius as a friend more of an acquaintance really. But here they were having this conversation. She suddenly felt uncomfortable and had a desperate need to say something, anything to break the tension.

'Erm that's weird' was all she could think of to say, it sounded forced and rude.

'This whole conversation is a bit weird isn't it?'

'Yeh, lets just stop,' she agreed with him.

'Yeh, don't let me do that again!' he joked.

'You're Sirius Black, and you're an arrogant shit' Holly stated, trying to hold onto some sort of normalcy.

'Thank you' he said courteously 'you're Holly King and your resident goth-slash-freak-slash-loser.'

'Exactly' she said pleased with this new lighter atmosphere, she hardly thought about parents in general if she could help it. 'Charming as always Sirius,' she congratulated him.

'Well good bye!' He thought about hugging her. He would never have done so in the past but after the uncomfortable conversation he felt close to her. But instead they shook hands it was ridiculously formal and they both laughed.

'See you Sirius.'

'Later Banshee!'

'I fucking hate you Sirius Black!' she said loudly while she walked up the stairs to her dorm, not even bothering to turn around to look at him.

'Love you too!' he called at her retreating back.

How many girls in Hogwarts would love to hear those three little words she thought happily to herself.

Author's Note: So what do you think? Please review, it makes me feel like writing a bit more! xxx