--

--

Chapter 9:

The girls slept happily in their beds so it was a big surprise when Amanda's loud alarm clock woke them up the next morning at 7:00am. They all groaned.

"Turn it off" Candice complained.

"Candice, why are you in Bianca's bed?" Amanda asked seeing Candice's bed empty and Bianca's bed just a little overcrowded.

"Old habits die hard" was all she said. Amanda looked at Bianca for a better explanation but she just shook her head. Once they were all showered, dressed and clean they made their way down to the great Hall and met Chloe and Annie on the way.

Of course they were the last of the group to get there.
"Morning" Bianca said kissing everyone on the cheek and sitting between Lily and Amanda.

"How are we all?" Chloe asked.

"Good" Remus answered.

"Really?" Annie asked looking at him opposite her.

"Yes, why?"

"No offense Remus, but you look like crap" she told him.

"Oh" he said looking at his friends. "Yeah, I think I'm coming down with the flu or something" he lied coughing to add the effect.

"That sucks. I can make a potion for you if you like?" Annie offered drinking some juice.

Remus smiled, "I'm fine right now but if I get worse you'll be the first to come to. At least I can trust you won't poison me"

"How can you be so sure?" she grinned.

"Because I know that you, Annie, wouldn't hurt a fly" he told.

"Ok stop flirting at the table. It is way too early for that" Sirius complained. "OW! That hurt" he clutching his leg under the table and glaring at his friend.

"That is surprising coming from you Black" Chloe said.

"Don't you two start" Lily said before they got into another one of their heated arguments. Everyone looked at her. It felt like a while since they heard her talk but she acted completely normal. "Potter, remember we have our Heads meeting again tonight" she told him before collecting her bags and leaving. Everyone saw him wince at the use of his last name.

Great… the last name thing he thought.

"Well guys" Bianca sighed, "We better go to Potions" They all grunted as they got up and walked their first class with the Slytherins.

--

"Sirius, are you ok?" Lily asked as he watched him bounce up and down in his seat. "You look like you're going to wet your pants"

The others all laughed except Remus and Annie.

"What did you do?" they asked at the same time. The others looked at them and they tried their hardest to hide their very red cheeks.

"I may have added an extra ingredient to Malfoy's cauldron" he grinned.

They all looked at his cauldron and it was turning a deep brown color and bubbling over. Finally it exploded and the contents sprayed everyone at the table. The girls screamed as it went into their hair.

The rest of the class laughed as big boils started forming of their faces and arms.
"Off to the hospital wing" Professor Slughorn sighed at the students from his house.

"I should have done that to you Black, then maybe we wouldn't have to listen to you for the rest of the period" Chloe said.

"You're smart ass comments are going to get you into a lot of trouble one day and boy will that be a good day" Sirius retorted.

"Well if I get into trouble I plan to drag you along with me"

"I'd like to see you try" Sirius challenged.

"You think I can't?" she questioned standing to face him.

"Nope because you are weak and completely useless"

"Then what does that make you?" she yelled back feeling her temper rising to its boiling point.

"Is that your best come-back" Sirius asked laughing.

Chloe pulled out her wand and pointed him in the neck.
"You really don't want to know what my best is Black."

"Alright, that is enough" Professor Slughorn told. "Put your wand away Ms. Cartwright"

"Yeah, put your wand away" Sirius pushed.

"Be quiet Mr. Black"

"It's fine Professor. She wouldn't do anything" Sirius started as she slowly turned around and sat at her desk. "She's too chicken"

Chloe wiped around and sent a spell soaring towards Sirius and he went flying across the room and landing in a heap on the floor. Candice and Bianca rushed to help him up but he pulled his wand out and did the same to her.

"That's it! You two are both on detention tonight. Meet back here at 9:00 sharp" Professor Slughorn told and took their wands off them. "Back to work everyone"

The rest of the class slowly turned around and got back to work but the two were still picking themselves up from the floor. Chloe had hit Sirius in the leg and Sirius hit Chloe in the shoulder. If they had aimed for their chest's they would both be unconscious.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Lily asked her friend but instead of an answer she got a growl.

"I'll take anger patrol" Annie whispered to Lily.

Once the lesson was over Chloe flung her bag over her good shoulder and stormed out of the room. Annie quickly gathered her things and said a quick goodbye before finding her friend and calming her down. It was the same situation for Sirius who was unusually quiet.

--

"Well let's hope this lesson isn't as eventful as Potions was" Bianca said as they all sat down in Transfiguration and waited for Professor McGonagall. They all looked at Sirius giving him the 'do-not-start-anything' look that he got all too often.

"I agree." Remus said.

"Alright class, settle down." the Professor said standing in front of the class. "Now, I know that you are all aware of the assignments I will be giving out today. This year has a lot of content to learn for the NEWTs so we have decided to assign partners today and the work will be split up evenly between the two. I will draw your name out of the hat and you must move to your partner" she said using her witches' hat and waving her wand over it before drawing out a small piece of paper.

"Lucius Malfoy and... Bellatrix Black" she said pulling both names one at a time. The two got up and sat together.

"Amanda and... Justin Dobbs"

"James Potter and... Lily Evans (our Head Boy and Girl)" she said smiling at them.

Just Great. Lily thought

YES! James thought. Let's just hope she doesn't kill me

"Candice Rosslind and... Scott McCartney" Candice stopped and looked over her shoulder to see Scott wiggling his eyebrows at her. She just rolled her eyes and moved over to his desk.

"God help you" Brett whispered. She just sighed.

"Remus Lupin and... Annie Rogers"

"Bianca Rosslind and... Severus Snape" Many of the Slytherins sneered at her but Bianca just sighed not believing her bad luck. The other members of the group gave her a sympathetic look.

"Brett McKinnon and... Lisa Goldstein" he collected his things and moved to his Ravenclaw partner. She gave him a friendly smile.

"Rodolphus Lestrange and... Avery Montague"

"Oh God" Chloe said, her eyes widening.

"That leaves Chloe Cartwright and... Sirius Black" the professor read.

"WHAT?!" they jumped up at the same time. Everyone looked at them, some with worried expression, waiting for a fight to start.

"Professor I can't be paired with him. He will drive me crazy" Chloe told

"Yeah" Sirius agreed lamely. Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Can't I be Bianca's partner and Sirius can go with Snape?" Chloe negotiated.

"Yeah... Wait! No! I would rather be your partner than that greasy piece of bum fluff" Sirius told. Chloe looked at him as if he slapped her in the face as did the others from their group.

"Unfortunately Ms. Cartwright. I can not change the partners because it would be very unfair to the rest of the class and it would defeat the purpose of drawing names out of a hat. You will just have to make do, now please take a seat" McGonagall said.

They did as they were told. Chloe scowled in her seat and began repeatedly hitting her head on the desk.

"Stop that!" the Professor said, "Now. This assignment will not be as long as your next one. You will have the rest of this term to work on it and the holidays. It will be due at the end of your first week back next term. Given you have so much time we will not be working on it in class but I will be holding fortnightly checks to make sure both partners are working properly and the assignment is being completed correctly. Is that clear?" she asked.

The class nodded their heads in response as the Professor wrote the task on the board and they all copied it down. The rest of the lesson was a 'drag', as Sirius put it, and they were all so happy by the time dinner came around. Well, most of them were happy.

"I can't believe I have to spend a whole detention with Black" Chloe muttered under her breathe.

"I can't believe how much homework we have" Candice told.

"I can't believe that Bianca got paired with Snivillus for the Transfiguration assignment." James said and everyone stopped to look at her.

"Well I not one that has good things happen to me often but I'm hoping it won't be that bad" Bianca said. "Out of all the Slytherins, I am glad it is him at not Malfoy because then I would be super pissed."

"But it is still Snape" James told.

"Who is this Snape guy?" Keagan asked.

"Was he there that time in Diagon Alley?" Candice asked Bianca but she shrugged.

"You mean one of the poofs?" Jordy asked as they stopped eating. "No way am I letting you go off with him alone. What if he does something?"

"I will be fine" Bianca answered.

"Nope. I don't trust him already and I don't know, or just can't remember what he looks like."

"Just organize to do the assignment in the library and we will be there if you need us" Keagan told.

"I don't need you there"

"Bianca, I will tell Nick and then we will see what happens" Jordy threatened.

"Fine. You're just as bad as him" Bianca mumbled.

"Well at least now we can all relax knowing Bianca will be safe, which I can't say for these two" Candice commented pointing to Chloe and Sirius. They looked up at her but didn't say anything.

"Well" James said standing up, "Lily and I have a meeting to run. See you bitches later"

--

Chloe sat on her bed finishing her essay before she had to go back down to the dungeons to serve detention with her enemy. Annie was also doing her homework and brewing a potion in the middle of the dorm.

"Tell again why you are brewing the same potion we were doing today?" Chloe asked folding her parchment.

"Because I want to. You know Potions is my favorite subject" she stated throwing something gracefully into her cauldron.

Just then Candice and Bianca walked through the door connecting the two rooms together.
"Are you ready for detention missy?" Candice asked, "Because it starts in ten minutes"

"Yeah, I better get going" Chloe said getting up and putting her wand in her pocket before leaving.

"So Annie" Candice grinned. "I see a lot of flirting going on between you and Remus and he is also your partner for Transfig. Don't think I don't know what you two are doing when you go to the library to 'study'" she said making little quotation signs with her fingers and the mention of the word study.

"Oh God. Chloe don't leave me with them" Annie yelled as her friend walked out the door.

--

"Hello everyone. Welcome to our second meeting for the year" Lily started. She saw a piece of paper on the desk addressed to the Head Boy and Girl so she read it silently.

"Are you going to count every one Evans?" Malfoy asked menacingly.

"Are-" James started.

"If I see fit, then yes" she answered, glaring at James.

"Before I forget this letter is from Professor McGonagall saying that they are hoping to start the Quiddich season earlier than planned so she has a list of who will be using the pitch and when and the games scheduled for the rest of term. At the bottom it also has the new schedule for try-outs" Lily told. She handed it around so they could copy it down.

"Now the main thing I want to talk about tonight is upcoming events" she told when everyone was done.

--

Chloe reached the dungeons with two minutes to spare and of course she entered the classroom to see she was first to arrive. Soon Professor Slughorn walked in and they waited for Sirius to arrive.

Sirius strolled through the corridors dragging his feet not wanting to serve detention with his enemy but there was little he could do about it now. He arrived exactly on time and sat on a table.

"Right, now that you are both here" Slughorn said, taking out two large crates of potion bottles. "I want you to take a crate and clean out all of these potion bottles so I can use them for another class"

"Great" Chloe muttered.

"Now please hand over your wands" They looked at him with wide eyes.

"Not our wands Sir" Sirius begged.

"I'm afraid so Mr. Black" They sighed and gave their wands to the professor and watched as he left the room. "I will be back in two hours to see how you are going. Behave"

The room was silent for a while as Sirius and Chloe looked at numerous bottles of old rotting potion before them. Chloe sighed and took off her roe and rolled the sleeves of her white shirt before taking a bottle of the crate and opening it.

"Gross" she said trying the cover her nose. Sirius soon joined in, doing what she did in silence.

--

The Head's meeting continued for the night and surprisingly very successfully. James and Lily had full co-operation from all prefects, including the Slytherins, and they managed to clear a lot of things off the To-Do-List that Lily had come up with the night before.

They discussed upcoming events that will be happening in the castle. It was decided, mostly by James, to have as many events as possible to make the year one of the best so far. He urged them to organize more Balls.

"So we are going to have a Christmas Ball a few days before we leave for the break" Lily said writing something down on the parchment in front of her, "A Masquerade Ball at some point during the year, and another ball that we don't have a theme for yet?"

They all nodded.
"Alright, now Headmaster Dumbledore told Lily and I that we need to organize a school event to raise money for the school. Now I was thinking that we can organize this event for Halloween instead of having a feast or a Ball. I just don't exactly know what to do" James told.

"That actually sounds like a good idea" Lily told him trying to hide her impressed tone at the smart thinking on James' part.

"Yeah, I was thinking something different that the school hasn't done yet, otherwise we can just have a Masquerade Ball"

"Let's do something different. We can always have a Masquerade Ball later" a prefect from Ravenclaw told.

"Ok, well it is getting late. Thank you for the wonderful co-operation everyone. Keep thinking of these ideas and we can finally decide next meeting for I can organize what we need and tell the Professors" Lily told. "Goodnight"

"See you later guys" James told as they dismissed the prefects and watched them leave the room. James started to pack away the chairs as Lily gathered her things.

"I wonder how Sirius and Chloe are doing in detention" James said trying to start a conversation.

"Hopefully not getting into more trouble" Lily replied not wanting to be too rude and ignore him after his very mature behavior in the meeting.

"Ready to go?" James asked. She just nodded and walked out the door with James following her all the way back to their Headquarters.

--

Chloe and Sirius were standing beside each other at two sinks cleaning out old potion bottles. Their noses were scrunched up due to the unpleasant smell emitting from their bottles. They had been working in silence for the past twenty minutes, ignoring the disgusted sounds they made.

"I hate Slughorn" Chloe said.

"Tell me about it" Sirius agreed and flinched slightly when he saw something move in one of his bottles. He put it to the side carefully and left it for a later time.

Chloe took the bottles that were now clean, carried them over to the desk and put them back in the crate. Sirius didn't notice her move until after. She stood with hr back to him and she looked to be staring off into space. He thought of how funny it would be to scare until he heard her sniffing.

He walked over towards her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"OW! Don't touch me!" she yelled and he grabbed her sore shoulder.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine" she snapped.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" he asked and Chloe thought she heard a hint of concern in his voice but ignored it, thinking she was just tired and hearing things.

"What do you think?" she asked adjusting her top so it wasn't touching her shoulder too much. Sirius just happened to see her shoulder and remembered that he did it to her in their lesson.

"Its bright red" he commented. "You should go to the Hospital Wing"

"I can handle it" she told going back to washing her bottles in silence.

"It looks really bad"

"Can we please change the subject or go back to not talking?" she asked. She didn't know why she was suddenly talking to enemy in such a normal manner or why he was giving her advice on an injury but then again, it was Sirius Black and he has had many injuries in his seventeen years of living.

"So... looks like we are partners for Transfiguration" he said breaking the silence yet again.

"Love stating the obvious, don't you?"

"I'm just saying"

"So am I" she told.

They continued cleaning and finally Professor Slughorn came in and dismissed them early because they were doing as told and almost finished. They walked through the corridors, as if they were alone and paid no attention to the other.

"Chloe wait" Sirius stopped her at the top of the steps outside the Fat Lady's portrait.

"What?" she sighed turning to face him again.

"I was thinking about this assignment and... well we are going to be working a lot together this year and I was thinking maybe we should just forget everything that has happened in the past and be... civil" he said trying to find the right words to say.

She looked at him like he was mad for such a mature moment, "Are you serious or are you lying and just saying it to make a good prank out of it?"

"No, I'm serious" he told and a crooked smile came across at the mention of his name.

Chloe just shook her head.
"Look, I'm not saying its going to be easy but it is going to be a lot harder if we keep going on like we are now, so why not try?" he asked.

"Um-"

"I'm not asking us to become best friends and hold hands and all that jazz. I just want us to stop fighting and try to get along. Our grades are counting on it"

"Alright Black. You have a deal but I have a few conditions" she said, "One: you don't play any pranks on me or my friends, Two: I need to be able to know you are going to show up and do the work instead of snogging Candice in broom closets, and Three: Don't expect me to call you Sirius" She said poking him in the chest.

"That's fine by me" Sirius told holding out his hand, "So do we have a deal?"

Chloe stretched her hand out and hesitantly shook the hand of her enemy since first year. Sirius threw her a smile that melts the hearts of every girl at Hogwarts.
"Why do I feel like I have sold my soul to the devil himself" she asked dropping her hand to her side.

"Well you did tell McGonagall once that I must be the devil because I make your life a living hell" Sirius told matter-of-factly.

"I meant it too." She muttered, "Wait... what do we tell our friends if they ask why we are suddenly talking and acting... civil?" They both stood there thinking for a while.

"Just tell them the truth" Sirius said.

"Alright"

"Are you going to give me the password or are you going to stand here all night?" The Fat Lady asked. Chloe jumped forgetting where they were.

"Sorry" she said blushing, "Chocolate Frog"

The portrait door opened and they found Annie and Remus waiting for them.
"How was it?" Annie asked carefully, waiting for them to start fighting and yelling but it never came.

"Fine" Chloe answered. "Right Black?"

"Yep. Well actually no, I think something bit my finger" he said holding it up for Remus to see. Usually he can count on Remus to tell him what to do and whether he should worry or not.

"So, you guys are not going to yell or start hexing each other into next week?" Remus asked raising his eyebrows at them.

"I think we did enough of that today" Sirius said, "By the way, sorry about your shoulder"

"Yeah, sorry about your leg" Chloe said back as well ignoring her friends looking at them as if they had completely not all sense of reality. "Well I'm going to bed. Goodnight guys"

"Me too" Sirius told.

They both separated going up to their room and leaving a very confused Remus and Annie in the common room.

"That was by far the strangest thing I have seen since Sirius ate a bunch of old lollies from under Peter's bed and was sick in the Hospital wing for the rest of the day" Remus told looking at the door that lead to the boys dormitories that Sirius had disappeared through a few seconds ago.

"There are many things wrong with what you just said but all I want to know right now is what happened during their detention tonight?" Annie said and all Remus could do was nod in agreement and make his way up to his room.

--

Sirius was lying on his bed in his boxer shorts talking to James through his two-way mirror when Remus walked in the dorm.

"Yeah, Moony is here now." He told.

"Hey Prongs" Remus said looking into the mirror to see James lying on his bed like Sirius in his boxer shorts. "What's going on?"

"I'm just making sure everything is alright for tomorrow" James explained running his hand through his hair and yawning.

"James, I can see your tonsils when you do that" Remus told pulling his face.

"Sorry mate" James told as Sirius laughed.

"So I was thinking we can meet in my room and get the cloak and map before going" James suggested.

"I guess that is ok" Sirius agreed.

"No, I will go straight there and you guy can come together" Remus told. "I don't want to take any unnecessary chances."

"Alright, well I will see you there."

"Yeah, I'll be there" Remus told, "With bells on" he muttered dryly.

"Right well I am going to bed. See you in the morning" James told and disappeared.

Sirius put down the mirror and yawned.
"So how was detention?" Remus asked unbuttoning his shirt.

"Fine."

"Is that all you are going to say?"

"Yep. Just fine" Sirius told rolling over and falling asleep.

"Tease"

"You know it Moony" Sirius replied laughing. "Hey Moony?"

"Yes Sirius?" Remus said getting into bed.

"You would look cute with bells on. How about I make a collar?" Sirius laughed.

"Stuff you Padfoot" Remus laughed as well and hitting him on the head with a pillow.

--

"… and then he suggests that we try to get along" Chloe said. She was currently sitting on Annie's bed explaining to her best friend what happened on their way back from detention.

"That is very unlike Sirius. I'm still surprised that he apologized for hexing you today" Annie told. "By the way, it looks really bad. It all red and stuff" she said examining it. "You see Madam Pomfery otherwise you might get blisters or something"

"Maybe in the morning if it is still sore" Chloe told flicking her thin spaghetti strap off her shoulder and holding an ice pack on it. "So did you talk to Lily?"

"No, I haven't seen her since dinner. Hopefully the meeting went well"

"I guess we will see in the morning. Speaking on which I am so tired, I'm going to bed" Chloe said climbing into her own bed while Annie turned the lamp off.

"Goodnight Chloe."

"Night Annie. Don't let the bed bugs bite"

Annie flicked the light back on and glared at her friend. "You know I hate it when you say that. It freaks me out"

Chloe laughed. She knew it freaked Annie out but she couldn't resist. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Just think of something happy like pudding, Christmas or… Remus"

"Shut up" Annie said turning the light off though despite herself fell asleep thinking about a certain boy sitting awake in his bed dreading the next day.

--

There you go. We finally got there.

Please Review!