A/n- Do your eyes deceive you? Is that really a double update? Yes it is! I'm so excited that I'm not going to take a year and a half to update the next chapter! YASSSSSS BABY! Anyway, hope you guys like it! ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Lily came down for breakfast on Sunday, slightly disgruntled and distinctly boyfriend-less.

"He said he's not hungry," she said, grabbing a piece of buttered toast from the pile in front of her.

"He hasn't come down for meals since that evening. Are you sure he's going to be alright?" asked Dorcas, looking worried.

"He's got a box full of food hidden under his bed," snorted Sirius, derisively.

"He does," admitted Lily, reluctantly. "I'm more worried about your first match. James is clearly obsessing about it. But I don't know whether he's going to make much headway on his own." She glanced meaningfully at Sirius.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm done with breakfast." Sirius got up and walked off, not sparing a glance at any of the others.

"I can't believe those two are having a cold war right now," sighed Lily. "They need to be using their heads. Together."

"They don't make them more stubborn than Black and Potter, I'm afraid." Remus let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples. "The dorm was hell last night. No one does passive aggressive better than teenage blokes with massive egos."

"I'll be right back." Dany picked up a particularly large apple and ran out of the hall.

"Sirius!" He turned around to see her running after him, her hair flying out of her ponytail. "Hold on! I'm not athletically inclined like you."

A tiny smirk lit up his dark expression. "That's debatable."

"I have a peace offering." She thrust a special edition Honeydukes slab at him.

"For what? I wasn't aware that we were at war." He was looking distinctly amused now.

"It's from James. Lily gave it to me because you walked off in such a huff." She raised her eyebrows at him, beckoning him to take it.

"In exchange for what?" His face hardened slightly as he examined the chocolate.

"Cooperation."

It was clear that Sirius did not like the idea of letting go of his anger so easily but after a few long moments, he grabbed the bar. "Alright. I'll help."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the bar of Honeydukes changed into a rather large, a rather red, apple.

"Okay, so James didn't send this," said Dany, failing to hide her delighted smile. "But if you do help, the real bar of chocolate is under my bed."

"I'm impressed." Sirius chuckled. "Not the most elegant planning. But it can be excused seeing as I didn't see through it."

"Great! Let's get you back to the common room. You and James can start working on a strategy to replace Marls."

"Oh no… I said I would help. I never said I would be talking to James."

"How will you manage to do that?" she asked, confused.

"By training our new Keeper."

"Wait, I thought you didn't have a reserve."

"We don't. But I'm going to train someone who I'm sure will do very well on the field."

"And who is that?"

"You."

Lily had a bad feeling as soon as she saw Dany run out of the hall like that. She had waited a few minutes but in the end, her anxiety got the better of her and she walked out as well. And what she found was Dany and Sirius in the middle of a shouting match.

"You are utterly insane! I have never played Quidditch in my life!" Dany looked like she was an inch away from hexing Sirius into oblivion.

"I know! I know… You haven't played Quidditch before. But," he paused, trying to calm her down. "You know it so well. The plays, the tactics, the history - everything! And you know our team inside out. You've sat with us for numerous brainstorming sessions! The only thing missing is that you can't fly. But that's what I'm going to train you for! And contrary to what you said earlier, you are athletically inclined. You play muggle sports so well!"

"They are ON THE GROUND!"

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But please, just trust me. I can teach you to fly in a day. I know I can. And I know you can. So will you trust me?"

"I think you should do it, Dany." Lily placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know James doesn't have an alternative right now. And if you're the best shot, then I think we should go for it. Please."

Dany looked between them incredulously. Were they seriously suggesting that she learn to play Quidditch in less than a week? Apparently they were.

She shook her head in disbelief and walked away, not sure where her legs were carrying her.

"Is there no one else?" Lily looked at Sirius as they sat by the lake.

"Might be. But we don't have enough time. I know she can do it. She has it in her. And I'm the first line of defense. I won't let those Slytherin bastards get anywhere near her."

Lily purses her lips together. She wasn't particularly keen on Quidditch but she knew that it meant a lot to her friends. Especially James.

"Won't you run this by him once?" she asked him tentatively.

"Absolutely not." Sirius' eyes had hardened. "James thinks that I'm incapable of taking responsibility and I'll never be good enough to lead people. This is my chance to prove him wrong."

"'Incapable of taking responsibility'? Where is this coming from?" asked Lily, extremely confused.

"Doesn't matter. Just don't tell him anything about this yet. Please, Lily." It was probably the first time Sirius had addressed her by her first name. She knew that he trusted her a lot. "Help me convince her. If you help, I know she'll agree."

"Alright. But I have one condition."

"Name it."

"You have to tell James once Dany gets a hang of flying."

"You can do the honors. Thank you, Lily."

The library was usually a place where people came to study and cherished the quiet around them. Dany had escaped to the Transfiguration section in hopes of avoiding a certain grey eyed boy. His idea was ridiculous even by the Marauders' usual standard. And she was absolutely not going to play along.

Although it would have been cool to play Quidditch properly for once.

A long sigh escaped her and she continued searching for one of the books that McGonagall had recommended for their pre-Halloween assignment. Another good reason for her to not agree to Sirius' plans.

"Was that a sigh of regret?"

Dany nearly jumped out of her skin at the warm whisper near her neck. She turned and saw Sirius standing there with his hair only slightly disheveled.

"Your trysts in the broom closet seem to have messed up your auditory impulses."

"That was a terrible attempt," he chuckled. "Even by your standards."

"Come on, Juliet. Just say you'll do it. We'd all owe you eternally."

"No," she hissed. "And stop calling me that. I hate that name. And everything associated with that character."

Sirius watched her as she continued searching for her book. She really loved blues and greys. Those colors were only second to black and white. In fact, he felt like he had never seen her wearing red (other than the stripes on her tie). This just increased his resolve to see her in the Gryffindor Jersey.

"You're being awfully stubborn." He was standing very close to her. So close that he could see her collarbone where her grey jumper had shifted slightly. He gulped quickly and focused on maintaining eye contact.

"Pot meet kettle." She refused to break eye contact. Her head was tilted slightly upwards as he was a tiny bit taller than her. He was noticing all these fascinating details about her. Like the tiny beauty mark on her left cheek. The slight dent on the bridge of her nose. Her cupid bow lips…

"Dany?" They jumped apart at the sound of Lily's voice. She had a slight frown on her face, although Dany didn't quite understand the look she exchanged with Sirius.

"What're you doing here, Lils?" she asked not in the mood for games.

"What is it going to take to convince you to play on Saturday?"

Dany was a little taken aback by her blunt reply. Her friend looked determined. And it didn't look like Sirius was going to give up anytime soon. Quite frankly, she was tired of fighting. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to let Sirius train her. She could always back out if she was absolute rubbish. Surely, they wouldn't want her then.

"A chance for me to back out if I feel like I can't do it," she said finally.

Sirius' face broke out into a brilliant smile, almost making Dany drop her books in surprise. It really was unfair how handsome the boy was. Lily came forward and hugged her tightly.

"I knew we could count on you, Dany!"

As she let go, Sirius enveloped her into a hug as well. Dany was caught unawares as his fresh cologne hit her senses. She tentatively hugged him back, willing her heart to stop racing like a bloody idiot.

"You're the absolute best!" Sirius whispered into her ear, before laying a quick kiss on her forehead. "I'll meet you on the Quidditch pitch in an hour."

Dany nodded her head, trying furiously to not make eye contact with a rather pleased redhead.

"Look," said Dany, rolling her eyes. "I know how to mount a broom. I'm just not good with navigation and turns."

"Fine," Sirius chuckled, throwing the spare broom her way. "Let's go for a round and I'll see what needs to be addressed."

Dany took the broom and kicked off, slightly unsteady having not flown in a few years. Eventually, she felt comfortable in the air and began hovering at a safe distance. Sirius asked her to make a few simple turns and then move on to higher speeds.

He noticed, that although her turns were fairly good, she started to lose control as her speed increased. It was more due to lack of confidence and minimal experience than anything else. Whatever it was, she was quick to catch on to what he was saying. She was a rather excellent student.

"I think this should be enough for today. Let's meet before class tomorrow. I'll toss the Quaffle around a bit. Then we can release the Bludgers in the evening." Sirius flew down and walked back to the locker room, not noticing the frown on Dany's forehead.

The next morning followed in similar fashion. Sirius continued his training, completely unaware of Dany's growing irritation. Because contrary to his opinion, Dany was not enjoying their sessions. He was far too strict and criticised her every move. He had a terrible way of making you feel incredibly ashamed of your most valiant efforts by absolutely obliterating any sense of confidence you had in yourself. It was, simply put, his Black blood speaking.

"Sirius, can we take a break? I'm exhausted." Dany wiped the sheen of sweat on her forehead.

"I'm sure you're aware that Quidditch matches can sometimes go on for days," he said, raising his eyebrow. "But if you think you need a break then I'm not one to stop you."

"Damn right, you aren't," she muttered, flying down and taking a huge gulp of water.

It was Lily who noticed the tension between the two during Charms that day. It was subtle, but she had caught a glimpse of Dany's temper before. So she knew something had to be done before those two reached breaking point.

"Concentrate, Wilson! The Slytherins don't care if you haven't played a bloody match before! They'll knock you out irrespective!"

Dany ground her teeth together, focusing on the incoming Quaffle rather than driving Sirius' head through a wall. He was getting more and more insufferable by the minute!

"Catch the bloody Quaffle!" He yelled, as Dany's fingers managed to graze the red ball before it went through the left hoop.

"I'm trying!"

"Well try harder! This isn't a bloody strategy session!" He aimed another shot at the goals, the sheer force in his throw knocking the wind out of her as she managed to catch it.

He continued his onslaught for another 20 minutes before deciding that it was time to release the Bludgers. He got out his Beater's bat and charmed the Quaffle to keep aiming itself at one of the goal hoops. His job was now to direct the Bludgers in a way so that it resembled an actual match.

Dany's muscles were sore and her head was starting to ache. On top of that, it had started raining some time ago. She had slammed into one of the goal posts in an attempt to avoid an incoming Bludger, and she was pretty sure it would leave a nasty bruise on her arm the next day. Exhaustion was setting in rapidly and it took all her strength to catch the next shot. However, she was a bit too late in noticing the Bludger that was headed her way. In a moment of sheer panic, she swerved to dodge it, the sudden movement not registering with her tired body and resulting in her losing balance and falling off the broom.

Well not totally falling off. She had managed to grab on by her left hand, hot white fear pulsing through her. She suddenly felt a pair of arms around her waist and looked at the person who had helped her back on her broom.

"James!" she croaked in relief, her eyes welling up immediately.

"It's alright, Dany!" He smiled at her, guiding both of their brooms back to the ground. As soon as she got off, her legs felt wobbly but another pair of hands came up to support her. She turned around and saw Lily nodding her head encouragingly.

"Dany! Are you alright?" Sirius yelled, running towards her in panic. "Merlin! I didn't think I would get to you in tim-"

WHACK!

Dany's ignored the throbbing in her hand as Sirius looked absolutely shocked at being slapped.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING AT?" she yelled, her voice broken and uneven. "YOU'RE THE ABSOLUTE WORST, BLACK! SO FUCK OFF!"

"Dany, I-"

"Padfoot, don't." James put a hand up to stop his friend before beckoning Lily to take her back inside. Once they were out of earshot, he turned towards Sirius with a soft expression.

"She's basically running on adrenaline right now. She'd have collapsed right here if we had let her go on."

Sirius looked away, his fists clenched in frustration.

"You did the right thing by choosing to train her. But maybe you could've gone a little easier, mate," James continued, grasping his friend's shoulder. "She's not just anybody. She's Dany. She's our friend. Your friend. And she's basically doing us a favor."

"I'm sorry," Sirius huffed, frustratedly. "I only wanted to help. But like always, I've only managed to fuck things up."

"That's not true, mate. She'll be alright tomorrow after a good night's rest and some time away from the source of her anger." James raised his eyebrows knowingly and Sirius had the decency to look ashamed.

"Do you think I should apologise tomorrow?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"What if she's still mad at me, Prongs?"

"Then you'll just have to keep trying. Because she's not just anybody."

"She's Dany," said Sirius, quietly as he looked back at the castle.

I think a huge reason behind this chapter was to get you guys to see the different sides of both Dany and Sirius. There are flirtatious encounters but that doesn't mean that things can't quickly turn sour. Another point I wanted to make was that even though Sirius and James seemed to be in the middle of an argument, they didn't actually need to talk things out to make up. I feel like they've been through these kinds of situations/fights many times before and they are able to resolve things easily when something of more importance comes up - in this case it was Dany's training. Also, Sirius and Dany's dynamic is pretty messed up right now. They don't know each other well enough to understand the reasons behind each others' actions. But they're close enough to get very riled up by each other as well. Strong emotions. But maybe the reason isn't clear yet. And it will probably take a while to figure that out. However, you guys have the match against Slytherin to look forward to in the next chapter. Plus an exciting showdown!

Please leave a review to let me know how you like the story! And feel free to ask any questions.

Cheers xxx