Chapter 3: Embarrassed Beyond Belief, Scared Beyond Meeting the Grim Reaper's Mother
Of annoying Slugs that embarrass you, of a talent that we're not sure is a talent, and of other crap…
"You'll always be a part of me…I'm a part of you indefinitely…boy don't you know you can't escape me…oh darling 'cause you'll always be my baby…" Elle sang softly under her breath, taking notes.
Slughorn spun around, his eyes focused on her.
Elle glanced up from her paper.
"What was that, Miss Camberlin?" he asked harshly.
She mentally sighed.
Slughorn had been on her case for joining the Slug Club, and she had continuously refused. And as far as Elle knew, Hogwarts had not won the NPT (National Potions Tournament) as of yet; with Elle as a possible future Potions Mistress, Slughorn would drive to anything to get her in his club- even if that meant he had to embarrass her (more like harass, Elle thought darkly) into joining the Slug Club.
"Nothing, Professor," Elle answered, trying to remove any edge from her voice.
"Hmm, are you positive? Well let's just make sure," he said, flicking his wand in her direction.
Elle opened her mouth, suddenly having the urge to say what she had said in the past five minutes.
Hell, Slughorn! You're not allowed to cast such a spell on a student! Elle thought.
But then Elle had no control over her actions whatsoever.
Her mouth open, her voice box started to vibrate.
Oh bloody effing hell…
Then:
The entirety of the Seventh Year Ravenclaws and Seventh Year Slytherins heard what Elle believed to be a cricky, rough rendition of "Always Be My Baby".
What she didn't know was that good ol' Sluggy was entranced by the sweet melody.
That, and the fact that every single person in the room was mesmerized and/or astounded and/or disbelieving of the lovely amazingness that emitted from the body of the quietest Ravenclaw in the history of, well, Ravenclaws.
Yeah, Elle sooooo didn't know that.
But if she did, it probably would've freaked her out more.
Probably.
Anyway, back to Elle:
The only thing she could control was her eyes, and she took full advantage of them. Elle closed her eyes and painstakingly waited for every everlasting second to pass, and then she was done.
All was silent.
"Holy shit," someone murmured.
…
God, it was awful.
Elle silently ate her soup, the dinner not at all appetizing.
It had been two weeks since she'd seen Black or heard the whisperings of her singing.
God, it was awful.
Still two weeks after the fact and she couldn't stop thinking about it.
Karan, Yash, and Farah were going to skin her alive later.
Mentally banging her head against a figurative cement wall, Elle grabbed her books and started toward the library.
Notice how I said that she started toward the library.
She was stopped about 30 yards from the Great Hall entrance.
By whom other than the Black speck himself.
Oh yay.
"Excuse me," she said quietly, her books clutched to her chest, trying to maneuver herself around Black. He didn't let her.
Oh crap. She should've seen this coming.
"What have we here? Now don't go telling me that you're actually afraid of me right now," Sirius said mockingly.
In fact, Elle was afraid of him right now.
She had no idea what he was capable of, and she had never heard of him being a big, soft, cuddly teddy bear (though she had heard he was big…ahem).
She came very close to flinching.
She knew that he wouldn't try anything in public, but now everybody was at dinner.
Oh crap, she definitely should've seen this coming.
Elle lowered her eyes to her books, "I must be on my way, so if you'll please move".
"No, I don't suppose I will. I want to find out what happened to that overly confident, sarcastic girl that I'm usually competing with in witty banter," he said.
She could almost hear the growl of dissatisfaction and annoyance in his voice.
Elle decided to brave it up a bit, "Only when she is provoked shall she come forward. If she is left alone, she will not disturb the peace".
A sarcastic smile adorned his face.
"You think you're so clever, don't you," he said, grabbing her elbow.
She would've squeaked, but no noise came out. Still, he could tell there was an intake of breath.
She saw his eyes, a brooding storm.
"Pretending to be either a quiet angel or a loud bitch, are we? Which one is it, Elle? Are-"
"Sirius!"
Elle would've breathed a sigh of relief, but her vocals still hadn't returned.
Stay tuned! I really like the next chapter. After this chapter is when the story really starts to take off. Ah, yes, good ol' awkward conversation…