Let's
fast forward a month.
It was Halloween now. Sirius, James, Remus
and Narcissa were spectating the shrieking shack, their cold hands
being warmed by the bottles of Butterbeer they were holding. Wormtail
had accidently touched an acid during potions class first period, and
so he was confined to bed rest. Narcissa was rather pleased - Peter
Pettigrew was alright at times, but he was so desperate to fit in and
to keep up with his so called friends, that it was rather annoying to
watch. Sirius and James had transformed - Stag and Dog standing side
by side. They wandered off together, their footprints no longer
visible in the snow, as it began to fall heavier. Abnormally large
snowflakes drifted down and settled in Narcissa's hair. Remus looked
mildly amused. "Your hair ..." he gestured quietly,
approaching her. His face was illuminated from the winter sun, and
his blue eyes seemed to sparkle. His hand reached her hair, and he
brushed away the snowflakes with soft, delicate strokes. She froze,
he was too close now. She had a constant ongoing argument in her
head, three quarters of her mind encouraging her to take it to the
next step, one quarter reminding her of 'were her priorities lay.' "I
..." Narcissa began, but was interrupted. Not by Remus,
however.
"Cor! We've just nicked - I mean borrowed a
whole load of Butterbeer." Sirius said cheerfully, approaching
with James, carrying a box of Butterbeer. Remus sighed inwardly and
moved away from Narcissa. She sighed too. She could slap her cousin
sometimes for being so - RANDOM. The way he appeared out of no were
sometimes was rather uncanny.
"I ... I guess we better go
back - we don't want to miss the feast." Remus advised, still
looking rather put out. Sirius raised an eyebrow at Narcissa who
returned his silent queery with a smile, and then punched him on the
arm softly.
So, Sirius and James taking turns to carry the box of
Butterbeers, they made their way back to Hogwarts. They were not far
from the castle, when they saw Bellatrix sneak in, looking rather
frazzled. Her clothes were all out of sync; and something told
Narcissa she had not been fooling around with Rodolphus. Sirius
shared this view by pointing at Bellatrix and snorting with laughter.
Narcissa informed the others she'd be back with them in a moment, and
ran off after her deranged sister.
"Bella - BELLA!" She
called, running after Bellatrix at impressive speed. Her sister
turned, her lips pouted, hair out of place. She gave an odd smile
towards Narcissa.
"Hello, Cissa," Bellatrix spoke as if
in a trance, a crazed look in her eye. "And how are you today?"
She chuckled at herself.
"Are you drunk?" Narcissa shot
at her. "And what have you been doing?"
"E-enjoying
a Fire Whisky with Voldee-mortee." Bellatrix hicupped. Narcissa
rolled her eyes, gesturing for her sister to continue. "Don't
tell Rod," Bellatrix whispered suddenly, now completely serious,
"But-"
"You never?" Narcissa prompted, her
worst fear waiting to be confirmed by her tipsy sister.
"Yeah
- Merlin's beard, he was fantastic.
But - please don't tell Rod!"
"Whatever. That is
disgusting. He may be your master - but - oh what the hell,"
Narcissa shot at Bellatrix, who was now running up the stairs,
hiccuping. Narcissa walked over to her friends and cousin, who had
now appeared in the entrance hall. Remus gave her an enquiring look,
but did not press the matter. It was as if he was waiting for
confirmation that he could. Narcissa sighed inwardly, and then told
them in a quiet voice. James rolled about with laughter, saying that
it was disgusting. Sirius, however, was more dignified about the
affair. "Bloody Hippogriff," he muttered, as they skulked
into the great hall.
"And what," Narcissa asked, "does
a Hippogriff have in common with my sister?"
"Well -
they're both rather ugly," James answered promptly, "And
rather stupid ..." he trailed off as he saw Lily, and wandered
over to her, mesmerized, so it seemed. Narcissa and Lily were on
speaking terms now - and Lily had shared some quite private things
with Narcissa, such as family life, her feelings about James, and so
forth. Her feelings were clearly confirmed as James wrapped her in a
warm hug, happily. Lily grinned up at him, and turned away. "See
you later, James."
"Yeah ... see you." He
called after her. He turned back to the group, a big smile on his
face. "I'm going out with Lily. She said as long as I stop
hexing people, we'll be pretty good together." Remus chuckled to
himself but did not contradict his best friend. Instead, they all
entered the Great Hall, and sat down to some rather delicious looking
Halloween food. Sirius was amusing his cousin by drinking a whole
bottle of Butterbeer in a single gulp. "Impressive," she
chortled, sipping her own Butterbeer, surveying him with approval.
James was rather happy, flicking food at unfortunate students - and -
McGonagall.
"James Potter!" She shrieked, as a bit of
meat landed on her face, "If I catch you throwing meat one more
time ... WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS AN ACCIDENT?"
"Time to
go, methinks." Sirius snorted, flipping his hair out of his
eyes. McGonagall luckily let James off as it was Halloween. They
reached the entrance hall again, and James glanced at his watch. "I
don't feel like going to the dorms ... anyone fancy a quick,
unoffical game of Quidditch?"
"Yeah!" Narcissa and
Sirius replied enthusastically, then exchanging looks. Narcissa had
not played Quidditch for a good while, but she was pretty good at
catching the Snitch.
"That's settled then," James
smirked. "And Moony will be ...?"
"Watching from
the Bleachers," he replied, his eyes twinkling, "finishing
off the butterbeer."
"That's the spirit!" James
cried enthusastically, patting Remus on the back.
Ten minutes
later, Narcissa was darting about in the sky, laughing. She had not
felt so free, so young, so alive
for such a long time. She was quicker than her cousin when it came to
racing, but James was far by the best. His technique was remarkable,
his catches of the Snitch flawless. They spent an hour in the sky,
feeling the wind on their faces and in their hair, and never had they
felt so refreshed. Even Remus, who was reading and drinking countless
amounts of Butterbeer seemed happy.
