I am SO sorry it's been so long (almost a year! i'm a terrible person). And i KNOW this is really short. But i wanted to get SOMETHING up. I promise a new longer chapter will be up soon. Hopefully really soon. Like this week. Let me know if the story still works, and any constructive critism would be awesome!
Chapter 9
"Mr. Black I'm afraid this is going to be an incredibly long seven years."
Sirius looked up into the face of hell. Fire shot from the depths of her eyes and he imagined her hair crackling in anger. Her robes swished around her ankles as she paced before him. As terrifying as a lethifold. Strangely mystifying.
"As the newly appointed Head of Gryffindor House it is my responsibility to deal with the infractions of my students. That I already have to deal with those of a first year is appalling. Please tell me why you felt it proper to start throwing food at classmates your very first day here."
Sirius thought for a moment. He wasn't a snitch. He couldn't expose another student even if he were going to take the fall. But it was AJ. She deserved it. By the time his mind was made up, the woman before him was beginning to look slightly impatient. "Professor…?"
"McGonagall," she said tersely.
"Well Professor, I think this is all a big misunderstanding. See Alice Jenkins called down the table to me to pass her a spoonful of mash and swore that she could catch it if only I'd toss it. And I had it perfectly aimed to fall into her plate, but then that poor girl moved forward just enough to catch the food with her hair. Truly unfortunate that." And Sirius plastered a look of sadness across his face.
"Be that as it may Mr. Black, I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish the creator of the first food fight in recent Hogwarts' history. Detention with me every Thursday of this month from 6 until I deem fit to release you."
"I look forward to it Professor."
"Go to your dorm Black."
AJ looked around her new room with happiness. Right at the top of the tower, it had a perfect view from the window. There were just 5 other girls in the room. Robyn and a small redhead took the beds next to, and across from her chosen corner bed near the window. Two brunettes and a blond took the remaining beds. After a minute they all looked at each other a little warily.
Finally AJ spoke up. "I'm AJ."
"Robyn."
"Lily."
"Jennifer," said the blond who had taken the bed next to Lily.
"Allison," said one of the brunettes.
"Morgan," said the second with a blush.
They all stood awkwardly for a minute before Allison, Morgan, and Jennifer filed out the door and down to the common room. Lily was about to follow when AJ called out to her. "Hey Lily, where're you going?"
She jumped and looked back. "Uhm…"
"You should…come talk to me and Robyn. I have a feeling we'd all get along. That and I bet there's going to be some yelling down there in a minute."
Lily looked a little confused but made her way over to AJ's bed, where she gingerly sat at the edge.
Robyn was a little wary of AJ's rapid trust of people, but for some reason she felt that she could trust her judgment. She began to ask Lily a few questions about her home life, what it was like to be completely new to magic. It wasn't long before she realized that she was going to get along with Lily.
"I guess I'm not completely new to it because I've been accidently casting things for over a year now, but it was still a huge shock. I've been reading the textbooks so that maybe I'll be up to everyone's level, but I'm still a bit worried. Everyone else has such a head start."
"I don't know any spells really," exclaimed AJ suddenly. Lily looked at her. "Even purebloods aren't allowed to use magic outside of school until they're of age."
"But what about the accidents that happen?"
"No one can help those. The Ministry won't punish everyone for something they can't help," Robyn said.
Their conversation probably would have continued long into the night, but suddenly the sound of raised voices floated up into their room.
In the Common Room
"JAAAAAAAMMMMEEESSSSSS"
"YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!"
"WHAT?"
"I MET THE MOST LOVELY WOMAN. HER NAME IS PROFESSOR MCGONNAGAL! I HAVE TO MEET HER EVERY THURSDAY!"
"SERIOUSLY MATE?"
"OF COURSE I'M SERIOUS! I'M SIRIUS BLACK!"
There was a long silence as the three girls finished descending the staircase. AJ appeared bored and lagged a few steps behind. Robyn and Lily however were insanely curious. They peered into the common room and soon Lily began giggling. The common room was immense. Close to the entrance – which happened to be the back of an enormous painting – stood Sirius. All throughout the large space were clusters of couches and arm chairs. There was an entire wall lined with windows that each had a table underneath, perfect for studying, or perhaps a game of cards or chess. Overall the room was very warm and inviting, colored in maroons and golds. The warm feeling was certainly aided by a large fireplace surrounded by the largest cluster of armchairs. James was standing by this fireplace staring at Sirius incredulously. Why the two had been yelling was immediately obvious. They stood on opposite sides of the large room. Why the two hadn't gotten closer to each other before speaking was not as obvious, and obviously confused everyone else in the room. Every student in Gryffindor house was looking slowly in between the two first years with shock and confusion, and even a little amusement.
"Come on! That joke is so old!"
"Eleven years old in fact!" Suddenly Sirius got an odd look on his face and glanced to the staircase that led up to the girls' dormitory. AJ had just appeared in view. "James. We need to talk."
James's eyes found AJ. Quickly he turned to Sirius, nodded, and the two boys filed up the stairs leading into the boys' dormitory.
AJ's carefully schooled features wavered a moment and then anger flared across her face. She shoved past Lily and Robyn, stormed toward the portrait hole, knocked over a fat first year she faintly recalled being named Peter, and left.
Robyn and Lily observed this with worry, but neither really knew what to do, or even why AJ was angry. Slowly they finished their own descent and found Remus. As everyone else began talking and greeting each other and various games began to be played, the young trio began their own quiet conversation about what could be expected on their first day of classes.
"You want to get revenge…on AJ?" James knew he had heard correctly. The thing was, he prayed that he had heard wrong. AJ wasn't a girl to be messed with. He certainly didn't want to mess with her, but if that was what Sirius wanted, that would be exactly what he would have to do.
"She got me detention ALREADY! She started that stupid food fight! Now I have to go to detention all month!" Sirius was fuming, pacing back and forth across their dorm room.
"Why didn't you just tell the Professor that it was her?" James asked from his spot seated on his four poster bed.
Sirius stopped abruptly. "I am no snitch."
"I know. Alright fine. We'll get your revenge. But she might kill us. We'll have to be careful."
"I know. I'm not stupid. But she's going down mate. I need to get her back for this."
"I get it." James stood up and patted Sirius's back. "So what's the plan?"
Sirius began pacing again. He muttered a few things, numbered items off on his fingers, started to say something numerous times. James eventually got bored watching him and made to stand up and go to the common room. He took two steps, and tripped on the corner of someone's trunk, barely managing to catch himself. Sirius gasped and pointed at him.
"I've got it!"
"You're going to trip her? That's kind of stupid…"
"No! Merlin that's an awful idea. My idea is much better. But we're going to need a bit of time, and help." Suddenly the door opened and three of the other boys that stayed in their dorm entered. Sirius fell silent and sent James a meaningful look before quietly getting ready for bed. They both knew that this plan would have to wait until the morning. They didn't know who in their room they could trust, and it was way too early to risk AJ finding out.
Just one more time. Pleaseee review, even if i am a terrible evil person who never updates.