Disclaimer: For the millionth time, it's not mine!
I would like to thank AmericanPoet for the idea of this character it isn't exactly the same but it originated from your idea i was going to do it as you said but as i wrote this chapter the idea just evolved and also you said a guy and i did a girl so i'm very sorry if you don't like it.
Well you all may be very surprised that this story has been updated what has it been nearly a year or something like that. But i was revising on my computer and got really bored and suddenly i remembered fanfiction and how much i loved writing this story. I went onto the site and read my story so far (it's not as good as i remembered it to be but oh well) and i read all the reviews i got, for which i am very thankful, and i decided that i really wanted to start writing it again. So here it is the long awaited chapter and just to let you know i fully intend to finish this story and update regularly so keep an eye out for the next chapter. I also felt really bad realising i'd left it for so long and so many people had reviewed begging me to update soon so i PROMISE i will!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you enjoy this chapter, god knows its been long enough so hopefully its good.
Hayden
It was the beginning of December, the mother of all festive months, and the Christmas cheer was all around Hogwarts. Everyone was full of the festive spirit.
"I HATE MY LIFE!'
Well almost everyone.
James groaned and collapsed onto the common room couch and curled up into a ball of patheticness. Though James was rather alone in his depression no one else felt his misery in fact they were in quite the opposite mood.
"I love my life!!!" Exclaimed Sirius as he burst through the portrait hole holding Hogsmade shopping bags and wearing a rather ridiculous Santa hat over his mop of hair. "Aww! What's wrong Prongsie?" said Sirius pouting mockingly.
"Go away Sirius" Cried James in teenage angst.
"No" Said Sirius cheerfully and proceeding to sit on the floor right in front of James's face. James lashed out throwing a rather lazy fist in Sirius's direction. "Wow! Someone's PMSing" joked Sirius.
"Shut-up" Grumbled James.
"Come on then seriously what's wrong" Asked Sirius a little exasperated with James's mood but still attempting to be a good friend.
"You know"
"No actually I don't. Enlighten me."
"Lily was with Jason at the fireworks"
"So?" Asked Sirius displaying yet again his lack of tact.
"Fireworks were our thing"
"and......"
"I miss Lily!!!!!!!!!!"
"Don't worry about it!"
"DONT WORRY ABOUT IT!? I LOVE HER!!!! And now she's with someone else!"
"I really wouldn't worry about it. Jason's gay"
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"YES! Why wouldn't it?"
"She'd rather date a gay guy than me! At least she has someone to do things like that with I have no one! NO ONE!!!!!!!"
"you have me" Said Sirius fluttering his eyelashes and getting uncomfortably close to James's face.
James showed his head back and groaned "As much as I love you man that's not what I meant and you know it."
"Well I could always fix you loneliness for you"
"Well as much as I appreciate the gesture I have to face the facts. You're blind dates so far have not been that great. I think I'd rather be alone"
"I'm hurt"
"You should be"
"But seriously I have the perfect person in mind."
"No"
"Really hot blonde, big boobs"
"You have my attention" Said James looking up from burying his face in the couch.
"Well that's not what she's like"
James sighed heavily proceeding to bury his face back into the couch.
"But she's still great. You'll really like her"
"mmmm"
"What was that?"
"Alright then."
"YAY! All I have to do now is arrange it. I feel like a proper matchmaker! I LOVE my life"
"Well I'm glad someone does."
"I'm off I will see you later" and with that Sirius pranced out the common room.
James laughed slightly at Sirius's over enthusiasm and sat up at the end of the couch.
"Sirius" Came a voice from the girls stairwell. "I was just wondering if......oh" Said Kirsten her face falling as she turned round the corner top realise that Sirius was no-where to be seen. "Hey James" She sighed seeing him sitting on the couch.
"Hey" Said James half smiling through his sad face.
"Have you seen Sirius?"
"Yer. You just missed him. Sorry"
"Don't be. I seem to be just missing him allot these days." Sighed Kirsten plonking herself down on the sofa next to James.
"Huh?"
"I don't think I've seen him all week. It's really weird. I think he's avoiding me"
"Really?" Asked James surprised.
"Really" Said Kirsten sadly and proceeding to rest her head on James's shoulder and lean into him. To this James stiffened but noticing her sadness put his arm around Kirsten to comfort her.
"You guys having problems?"
"I dunno. He's just never around anymore. I walk into a room he walks out of it. If i want to do something he's never free and he only ever asks me out when he knows I've got classes. It's just all a bit weird."
"I'm sure it's nothing" Said James at an attempt to be comforting.
"I'm sure it not." Said Kirsten her voice cracking. "And the annoying thing is that I can't work out what I've done wrong."
"Here" Said James handing Kirsten a tissue to wipe her single tear away.
"Thanks" Said Kirsten laughing a little. "I know you probably think this is a stupid thing to cry over."
"Of course not! Do you really think I didn't shed a tear over Lily" James exclaimed.
"No" Said Kirsten laughing slightly.
"Just imagine me curled up like a baby and howling like a wolf to the moon and you'll get just how much I cried. One tear is not stupid, in fact one tear shows me just how strong you are."
"Thanks James" Said Kirsten smiling up at him "Bu the truth is I'm not feeling that strong at the moment. There's just this voice inside my head telling me that maybe I'm just not good enough"
"Hey. You listen to me" Said James sternly really catching Kirsten's attention and pulling her closer and squeezing her tightly against him he proceeded to speak. "You are beautiful, clever, strong, independent, kind, funny girl and it shouldn't be you who is wondering whether or not you're good enough it should be Sirius. Because you are worthy of any guy but not every guy is worthy of you and you need to decide if Sirius is or isn't because truthfully at the moment it really doesn't look like he is."
"Thanks James" Said Kirsten beaming. "So are you worthy of me?"
"Oh of course. I'm worthy of everyone."
"No ego issues there!"
"Nope not at all" Laughed James.
"Did you really mean that?"
"What?"
"What you said about me"
"Of course! Otherwise I wouldn't have said it now would I."
Kirsten looked up into James's eyes and he suddenly became very aware of and uncomfortable with the fact that they were actually the only two left in the common room. She carefully placed her arm over his shoulder and around his neck and pulled herself closer before proceeding to kiss him much to the surprise of James"
"No Sirius I don't want to go on another of your......................well!" Exclaimed Lily as she walked into the common room closely followed by Sirius.
Kirsten pulled away from James as quickly as humanly possible but they had already been caught in the act.
"Nice" Said Lily disgusted before storming out of the common room.
"Lily wait!" Shouted James pushing Kirsten away from him and running after her.
"Sirius...." Kirsten tried to speak but Sirius raised a hand to silence her.
"Just let me think for a minute" He said as calmly as he could manage though his words sounded painfully strained and they stabbed Kirsten a million times over like hot steel rods laden with guilt.
They sat stonily on that couch for many minutes as far away from each other as possible and each time each of them tried to speak an intake of breath could be heard but then words would forsake them and the room would fall silent again. They could have been sitting there for seconds or hours because the silence was timeless but in however long it was not a single person entered the common room it was as though the dry tension of the room had seeped through the portrait hole and served as a warning to all those outside so they knew not to go in.
Another sharp intake of breath was taken and each of them sat there wondering if a word would actually be spoken and then in a room that had not known noise for quite some time now came the voice of a broken man and all he could say was "Why?"
"I'm sorry" Whispered Kirsten beginning to cry.
"Sorry's not good enough. Why did you do it?" Sirius said his voice becoming stronger and louder now.
"I'm really sorry."
"You're not answering my question" Said Sirius through angry gritted teeth.
"I just..........." Began Kirsten.
"Just what? WHAT? I really want to know how you're going to explain this one!"
"I was lonely!" Sad Kirsten suddenly becoming stronger.
"Oh well that, THAT, excuses everything" Said Sirius his words dripping with sarcasm and disdain.
"You were never with me anymore!" Shouted Kirsten standing up to level with Sirius. "You were always busy, avoiding me, leaving messages with my friends. WHAT? Could you not stand to speak to me any longer. DO YOU NOT CARE ANYMOE?!"
"YOU THINK I DONT CARE!" Shouted Sirius his voice now at top volume. "YOU REALLY THINK THAT?"
"YES I THINK THAT!"
"THIS IS HOW MUCH I CARE!" Shouted Sirius now beginning to search his pockets frantically "THIS IS WHY I'VE BEEN ACTING STRANGE. THIS IS WHY WE HAVENT GONE ANYWHERE BECAUSE I'VE BEEN SEARCHING HIGH AND LOW FOR THE PERFECT ONE!!!" he was still searching his pockets "THIS IS WHY I'VE BEEN AVOIDING YOU BECUASE I DIDNT WANT TO GIVE IT AWAY! I WAS COMING HERE TO ASK YOU TO DINNER TOMORROW!" his voice cracked on the last word and tears began to roll frantically down his face as his hand stopped in one of his pockets grasping tightly onto something.
"Sirius..." Tried Kirsten.
"No" He replied sternly "Just no. I loved you and all you did was throw it back in my face. Its over!" his voice calm and broken with resignation to the fact that the relationship they once had was lost.
"Sirius..." Kirsten tried again.
"No!" Sirius said pulling his hand out of his pocket. "Here. This is what broke our relationship" He harshly threw a small, velvet, bottle green jewellery case at Kirsten and in her stiffness and shock at the situation it just fell to her side. She was too shocked to even attempt to catch it.
"Nice to see how much you care" Spat Sirius. "Goodbye!"
And with that the tension in the room caused by love, anger and pain was broken by the audible sound of both their hearts breaking in painful synchronization and then Sirius was gone and Kirsten was left stiffly standing there staring into space. A couple of seconds later she looked down at the green case that destroyed her relationship and picked it up. Hesitantly she popped it open to reveal a beautiful silver ring with a diamond as big as her fist with the engraving 'will you marry me' in its inner ring. And with that Kirsten became hysterical. Her voice screamed uncontrollably and it cracked in pain. She collapsed desperately onto the couch howling, as James had said, like a wolf howls to the moon. She clutched the case tightly and wrapped her arms around herself, curled up into a ball on the couch trying to keep herself from falling apart. She could feel a literal hole where her heart had been and as she wept manically she knew that hole would never be filled again because that was for the Sirius in her.
..................................
"Lily wait" Shouted James after the red head who was charging down the hall at a phenomenal speed.
"Why should I?"
"Just let me explain."
Lily turned round sharply and looked James dead in the face "You don't need to explain anything to me James I'm not your girlfriend, you haven't wronged me in anyway though trust me that is not what you want to walk in on in the common room, but I think that you do need to explain something to Sirius because that was his girlfriend"
"She kissed me!"
"And as sure as I am about that fact because I know she's not your type I'm not the one you should be convincing. So go back and talk to Sirius because you're wasting your time with me, I can't fix anything." And with that Lily stalked quickly her head down and her arms folded self-consciously.
James stood there feeling blank for a moment or it could have been a thousand and all he could think of was Sirius and how this would ever be fixed. He sprang to life and rushed up the stairs to the common room.
"Sirius?" Said James bursting into the common room but Sirius wasn't there. "Sirius?" Repeated James as he ran up the stairs to the boys dorm. He burst through their dorms door and there was Sirius sitting on his bed looking rather dishevelled.
"What?" Sirius said in a strained, sharp voice.
"I just......................" Began James.
"JUST WHAT?!" Exploded Sirius. "WANTED TO APOLOGISE FOR DESTROYING MY RELATIONSHIP?! BREAKING MY HEART? SNOGGING MY GIRLFRIEND? WHAT?!"
"Sirius I....." James tried remaining calm despite Sirius's outburst.
"DON'T!" Interrupted Sirius standing up and squaring up to James. "Don't!"
"Sirius just relax and............" Next thing James new Sirius's fist was making painful contact with his face. James's hand flew up to his face and became covered in blood due to the fact that his nose was no bleeding.
"DON'T TELL ME TO RELAX!" Shouted Sirius punching James again.
"Ok. But its important you know it's not my fault."
"Not your fault?!" Spat Sirius. "How could this not be your fault?"
"She kissed me!" Explained James just pleased that Sirius hadn't punched him again.
"A likely story" Said Sirius raising his fist again but stopped supprised to see that James was not defending himself or fighting back at Sirius. "WELL ARENT YOU GOING TO STOP ME?!" He yelled getting frustrated.
"no" replied James calmly.
"FIGHT BACK!"
"No"
"WHY NOT!"
"Because I deserve this and you don't deserve anything of the sort."
Sirius raised his fist again and punched James even harder than before "HIT ME!" He yelled.
"Sirius.........."
"HIT ME" He repeated once again thumping James.
James took his hands and placed them firmly on Sirius's shoulders. "Sirius calm down. I'm not going to hit you." With that Sirius looked down and sighed deeply. After a second he looked back at James tears rolling out of his soft, puppy dog eyes.
"She's gone."
"yeah" Sighed James.
"Its over" Said Sirius his voice barely audible.
"Yeah"
Sirius sat back down on the bed slowly and in a resigned nature and shortly after James walked over and joined him.
"I'm sorry" apologized James.
"Don't be" Said Sirius looking up at him with an almost half smile on his face but it disappeared quickly.
"Huh?" Said James surprised.
"It wasn't your fault. I believe you." Smiled Sirius.
"Thanks man." Smiled James.
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" Smiled Sirius. "This is just gonna take a while to get over."
"I understand" Said James patting Sirius on the back supportively. "If you ever want to talk about it." Offered James.
"Thanks. But not at the moment."
"Ok. Do you want to be alone?"
"No"
"Do you want to take me to the hospital wing?"
"Why?" Asked Sirius curiously.
"Because I think your fist did some serious damage!" Laughed James.
"Oh sorry." Said Sirius laughing slightly.
They both got up to go and get James's injuries fixed and as they walked pass the common room couch Sirius stopped in stared with the look of a haunted man in his eyes and he knew he would never see the common room the same way again and that being in this particular area would always hurt him deep within.
................................
Oddly enough within just a few days everything was pretty much back to normal. James and Sirius were on great terms as if nothing ever happened though Sirius and Kirsten were still awkward and everyone knew they always would be. They avoided each other at all costs and it was evident they were both still hurting but other than that everything was normal. As it had been. It was the last week of term before the Christmas holidays and everyone was excited to be getting a break and Sirius was especially excited about the next part of his plan. James's next date. And as the marauders sat at the Gryffindor table on a Saturday afternoon eating their lunch Sirius couldn't help but talk about it.
"Ok so at 3:30 you will meet her at the suit of armour by the entrance to the hall." Said Sirius.
"Ok I've got it!" Sighed James. Sirius had now repeated the same thing what seemed like a million times.
"Ohhh! Don't get your panties in a twist!!!!!"
"Ha ha!" Said James his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Just don't miss the quidditch match it should be good."
"Yeah starts at 4:00 right?"
"Yep. I'll be there early so I'll save a seat for you. Keep and eye out!"
"Will do."
"Well I've got to go. Got a detention with Dumbledore."
"Why?"
"long story and kind of embarrassing so you "won't be finding out any time soon."
"Aww!" Moaned James childishly. "Bye then."
"I'll see you later"
"sure."
And with that Sirius left leaving James to eat with Remus.
"So how've you been?" James asked.
"Just great." Said Remus sarcastically.
"What's got your tail in a twist?"
"Well lets just say it hasn't been the best month"
"Do tell"
"Well Maya, the supposed love of my life, has turned out to be a lying cheating bitch. The only other girl who I am mildly attracted to manages to get a boyfriend the moment I express any interest in her. I just failed a potions test thanks to me being up all night worrying about my potions test. And to top it all off its a full moon next week! What a great Christmas I'm gonna have!"
"You're right. That sucks."
"Thanks for encouragement."
"No problem. Well I've got to go Moony I've got a Defence Against the Dark Arts essay to do and a hot date in 3hours."
"Another one of Sirius's set up's?"
"Yep. So it should be fun." Laughed James knowing full well it would probably be nothing of the sort.
"Well bye."
"Bye" Said James getting up and walking off towards the Gryffindor common room.
..................................
Despite the fact that when James started writing his essay 3hours had seemed like a long time he found himself getting dressed in a hurry at 3:15 having only written the title of his essay. Once dressed in a casual pair of dark, ripped, baggy jeans and a black shirt over a white vest, and making sure his hair was sufficiently messy James was running down the stairs towards the main entrance trying not to be late. To his relief although he was a bit late no-one was there yet so he could at least pretend he'd been on time. In just a few seconds after his arrival a girl appeared from the stairs and started walking towards him. She was quite small; she came up to about James's shoulder. Her hair was deep auburn, not nearly as nice as Lily's though, she had golden brown puppy dog eyes and was stick thin. She was wearing very tight dark blue jeans, a white vest, with a black buttoned jumper over the top, and as James looked down he realised that she was wearing black shoes with a massive heel that was at the very least three inches and he couldn't help but wonder how tiny she was without them.
"James?" She asked as she approached him.
"Erm, yeah, that's me." He replied rather sheepishly.
"Hi I'm Hayden. Sorry I'm late. Were you waiting long?"
"Err...yeah I got here like 10 minutes before you arrived."
"I am so sorry!"
"ah never mind, doesn't really matter."
"Well shall we get going?"
"Erm yer probably should Sirius will be really pissed if I miss some of it. Oh and we've got to look for him cause he said he'd save us seats."
"In the Gryffindor section?"
"Yer why? What house are you in?" Asked James as they walked towards the pitch.
"Ravenclaw."
"Their playing today aren't they."
"Yep, against Slytherin."
"Oh well Slytherin have no chance they've got a really shit team this year."
"I know right? And what's up with Perkins?"
"I have no idea."
"He wouldn't be able to see the snitch even if it hit in right between the eyes."
"And their beaters have crap aim. Either that or their colour blind because they always seem to hit the bludgers at their own team."
"I think someone should tell them that Slytherin are the ones in green and so they have to stop sending their own players to the hospital wing."
"Apparently people are beginning to think they're a couple of Gryffindor spies trying to sabotage the Slytherin team."
"Are they?" Asked Hayden her eyes wide with curiosity.
"No." Said James bluntly not quite believing that she could really think that. "Though the idea's quite good. Can't believe we never thought of it."
Eventually they arrived at the stadium and found Sirius in amongst the crowd.
"Hey!" He called beckoning them over to the two seats he had saved for them on his left side."
"Thanks mate. Great seats." Said James sitting down next to Sirius and then Hayden sat down next to him.
"Yer right on the edge and everything." Agreed Hayden enthusiastically.
They sat there with some snacks and drinks excitedly anticipating the start of the game. And by the time Mrs. Cadogan stepped out to start the game they were quite literally on the edge of their seats. They watched eagerly as both team captains walked onto the pitch to shake hands as the rest of the team took their positions. As their hands locked in even from as far away as they were you could see the Ravenclaw's captain, Vanessa Hurley's, pain as the big burly Slytherin captain, Vincent Richards, crushed her hand in what was no longer a handshake but an unfairly matched arm wrestle.
"HEY!" Yelled Hayden at the top of her lungs "FOUL YOU LITTLE BASTARD LET GO OF HER!"
At that moment all eyes in the stadium were averted from the match to where Hayden, James and Sirius were standing and as much as Sirius and James tried to cover up the fact they were with her it was pretty obvious they were since after she had finished yelling at the Slytherin player she turned to them both and muttered "Bloody scumbag!" To which James and Sirius simply nodded trying to cover their embarrassment at her outburst.
" Thank you Miss Clarke but in future could you learn to keep your mouth shut." Yelled Mrs. Cadogan from the centre pitch.
"Whatever" Muttered Hayden angrily.
A couple of seconds later the snitch was released and the quaffle was thrown into the air.
"BAD THROW" Shouted Haden as Mrs. Cadogan released the quaffle and left the pitch "RE-THROW! RE-THROW!" She chanted blatantly alone in her views.
"Maybe you should calm down it looked like a perfectly acceptable throw to me."
"DONT tell me to calm down" Snapped Hayden "And besides who cares what you think" and then she returned to watching the game intently.
Every five seconds it seemed like she had something to say she could not keep her thoughts to herself and it would've been ok if only anyone had actually done something wrong. James was just about to edge past Sirius to go and get a drink when it happened. The Slytherin captain rammed into a small chaser from Ravenclaw, knocking her off her broom to take the quaffle and score.
"HEY!" Yelled Hayden outraged.
'oh god!' thought James he knew that this was going to be ugly he just underestimated quite how ugly.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!!!!" She screamed throwing drinks bottles and cans at the Slytherin players with rather good aim and impressive accuracy.
As the score of the Slytherin team went up and the Slytherin captain proceeded to do a lap of victory for his goal Hayden began to climb up onto the edge of the stand.
"Wow! Hayden what are you doing?" Asked James standing up.
"Just wait." She said now right on the edge with nothing stopping her from falling off.
"Careful" Said James moving towards her trying to steady her in case she fell.
"Get off!" She snapped smacking James's hands away.
Before James knew it the Slytherin captain was flying past the Gryffindor stand and in a split second Hayden launched herself off the edge of the stand smacking into the Slytherin captain bringing him to the ground with a loud thud. Once they landed on the grass and the Slytherin appeared to be unconscious Hayden proceeded to beat him up fiercely. As she did so Slytherin players began flying towards her to defend their team mate as they pulled her off him the Ravenclaw players also flew in to defend her and before you knew it people from the stands were chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT" and some of them were even running onto the pitch to get in on the action. Soon the teachers were running onto the pitch to break up the brawl and as they approached the mass of fighting students James reacted.
"Run." He said to Sirius.
"What?" Asked Sirius confused and leaning closer to James so that he could hear him more clearly over the violent screams filling the stadium.
"Run!"
"Why?"
"Because at the end of this I don't want people to think I was with her and I definitely don't want her coming back over here! Run!" Laughed James beginning to push Sirius forward through the crowd of Gryffindors and out of the stand.
Soon the two of them were running as fast as they could out of the stadium and towards the castle. They ran all the way to their dorm and burst through their dorm door in fits of laughter collapsing on their beds exhausted from the run.
"Good game?" Asked Remus peering up at them from over a book.
"Yes." Laughed Sirius.
"And no." Added James.
"I thought it was great!" Said Sirius.
"Yeah but you weren't the one on a date with the phsyco who satred a mid-game brawl."
"She wasn't a physco, she was a sports enthusiast."
"Yer sure, that's what you call it."
"Shut-up" Laughed Sirius.
"That girl has got some serious sports rage!" Laughed James.
"So I take it you won't be seeing her again." Said Remus putting down his book.
"No." Replied James sternly "Not in a million years."
A/N: Well thank you so much for reading this i am very grateful but i'd be even more grateful if you reviewed!!!!!!!!!! So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! I'll love you eternally if you do
And thanks again to AmericanPoet for the idea. Its awesome and so are you!!!!!!!!!!
Cherry328