Hpov
Over the next week there was only one topic of conversation between the corridors as the weekend approached. The quidditch cup. If Gryffindor won this year, James and Sirius would have a perfect record of winning the cup each year they were on the team.
"That's what we like to see." James said happily as Lily, Alice, and I sat down at the Gryffindor table next to the Marauders. "Pretty ladies in red and gold."
We were all wearing Gryffindor colors. Seeing as it was May and it was too hot for hats and scarves, we'd dashed red and gold paint on our cheeks and Lily and I had even made shirts that matched the Gryffindor quidditch robes. Hers with James's name and number on the back, mine with Sirius's. Alice was wearing Frank's old keeper robes, and she'd even transfigured the tips of her hair to fade from red to gold.
"Wish me luck." Sirius said smiling charismatically down at me and I felt my heart skip a beat.
"Do me a favor will you?" I asked as a couple of girls walked by, glanced at Sirius and giggled when he noticed them. "Try not to make too many girls fall in love with you out there today."
"What about just one?" he asked his eyes glittering mischievously and I blushed. While Sirius and I had been dating for a little over five months now, neither of us had actually said I love you yet.
I'd never been in that many relationships before, and my brothers had made sure they never lasted, and Sirius had been in so many that they didn't mean anything, I felt like neither of us were really sure when to say it, or what it even felt like. Although recently, I was sure now I knew, but still I was afraid to say it. Once it was out, I couldn't take it back and what if Sirius didn't feel the same way? Would that totally freak him out? And if so, would he pull away?
It has been so long since Sirius had been distant, and I didn't think I could go through that again, so I refrained from saying it. As cowardly as it sounds, I was too afraid of what might happen if I did.
"Hallie," Sirius said and I jumped.
"What?" I asked realizing I had been lost in thought.
"I said James and I have to go now, we're meeting the rest of the team in the changing rooms."
"Oh." I said shaking my head slightly and looking back at him. "Alright. Good luck."
"I don't need luck." He said arrogantly and I resisted the temptation to role my eyes, but his expression softened. "I'm already the luckiest boy in the school I have you."
I blushed again and he kissed me before setting off with James out of the Great Hall leaving Remus and Peter with us.
"Well let's eat quickly and make sure we get good seats." Alice, who was a die hard quidditch fan, said excitedly.
I grinned and reached for the plate of toast in front of me, feeling very confident for some unexplained reason. Things had been going very well lately. I'd made it past the first round of admissions for the internship at St. Mungo's, Gryffindor was in the lead for both the House and Quidditch cup, my relationship was running surprisingly smooth, and I felt pretty good about my classes and the up coming exams. If the year ended like this, I was willing to think that when I was forced to step out into the real world I'd feel unstoppable. As of right now, I couldn't think of anything that could possibly go wrong.
Spov
"Feels good to be a champion doesn't it mate?" James shouted over the raucous cheers in the common room. We were standing on one of the tables holding up the quidditch cup, as all around us people clapped, cheered, and toasted the two heroes of the Gryffindor quidditch team.
"Fourth time in a row mate!" I yelled over the party.
Someone turned on the radio in the corner and music filled the common room as Remus and Peter stepped through the portrait hole carrying drinks and food from both Hogsmead and the kitchens. Some people rushed towards them, but the majority still crowded around us.
I grinned when I spotted Hallie and dragged her onto the table with us and pulled her into a kiss.
Wolf whistles erupted around the room and several people cheered again. I didn't want to, but I eventually let her go and she grinned up at me.
"So Mr. Quidditch hero." She said amused. "What are you going to do now that you have a perfect record?"
"I'm going to grab a drink." I said handing James the trophy, hopping off the table, then offering Hallie a hand to help her down. "Grab my girlfriend, and enjoy the attention of being generally adored."
"Adored is right." She said rolling her eyes as I slid an arm around her waist and led her through the people in the crowd all of whom were complimenting me on my playing. "If there was ever a time you could start your own religion I think it would be now."
"Well if there was a church of Sirius Black," I said grinning. "I know who the Goddess would be."
She smiled and I grabbed a glass of fire whiskey for me and a pumpkin juice for her from the low bookshelf on the wall that was now doubling as a drinks table.
"Cheers." She said knocking her glass into mine and we both took a drink.
"So." I said grinning in what I hoped would be a charismatic smile and not the idiotic grin I often wore when she was around. "You're not going to curse me again if I drink to much of this and try to kiss you again right?"
"We'll see." She said amused and I laughed.
We took seats next to the fire and I rested my drink on the mini table next to the couch.
We ended up talking to a few of my fellow teammates for a while. I wanted to talk to James, but he'd long since disappeared with Lily. A few people came up to us asking for blow by blow recaps of the match but I managed to get rid of them pretty quickly. I was just starting to think that maybe James had had the right idea by leaving this party for some alone time with his girlfriend, when she appeared.
"Sorry Sirius can I borrow Hallie for a bit?" she asked apologetically.
"What's wrong?" Hallie asked frowning.
"I think Alice has had a little too much to drink. She's upstairs in the dormitory absolutely freaking out about the upcoming wedding."
"I see." Hallie said and then she glanced at me.
"Go calm her down." I said removing my arm from around her shoulders. "I'll be waiting here when you get back."
"Alright." She said giving me a swift smile then quickly following Lily towards the staircase that would lead towards the girls dormitory. As their figures disappeared, I caught a glance of Valerie and quickly checked my glass like James had suggested.
There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, so I took another sip and caught the smell of roses and drank more. It reminded me of Hallie but when I looked over my shoulder again, she wasn't there.
"I'd better slow down on this stuff." I said setting the glass down and realizing I had almost emptied it. That was weird. I didn't remember drinking that much, but now the glass was nearly empty. It had left a sweet after taste, almost too sweet. Definitely too sweet for fire whiskey. A strange light sensation was going through me, and my brain seemed to be clouding with a warm fog that numbed all suspicion and quieted most of my thoughts making them slow and sluggish. I felt a blissful happiness that seemed to stem from nothingness. The world around me suddenly seemed to be shimmering and I felt dizzy.
"Sirius? Are you ok?" I looked up from my glass and blinked. Hallie was in front of me, but, was that Hallie? Her image seemed to be flickering but but who else could it be? What was wrong with me?
"Yeah." I said rubbing my forehead feeling extremely confused but my suspicions were instantly being relaxed by that blissful happiness. Why was I worried? Just relax, this was Hallie.
"Did you change?" I asked in surprise.
"What?"
"Your clothes." I said. It wasn't unusual for Hallie to switch to muggle clothes for the weekend, but I'd never seen her dress like this at school. She was wearing a tight black tanktop, a short dark skirt, and high boots. Her long hair had been curled slightly at the ends and she wore just enough dark eyeliner to make her blue eyes stand out brighter than ever. With a jolt I realized she looked just like she had for the AC/DC concert, and now, just like I felt back then, I wasn't sure I'd be able to contain myself around her.
"Oh." She said confused but then decided to go with it. "Do you like it?" she asked grinning.
I nodded feeling to stunned to speak at first but another question popped into my head.
"I thought you were with Lily?"
"I left." She said shrugging in a tone that was not familiar to me coming form her.
I frowned. It wasn't like Hallie to simply leave her friends, especially if it was true and Alice was having some sort of pre-wedding melt down. But again that suspicion was eased as she smiled and continued.
"I wanted to see you."
I couldn't quite place her expression as she rounded the corner of the couch and sat directly in my lap, it was ambitious, almost as if she had something to prove but I stopped caring the second her lips touched mine.
Around us a few people started to whisper but I didn't care. What was it to them if I kissed my girlfriend? Not ten minutes ago they'd all been cheering.
When we broke apart, she fixed me with that same ambitious gaze and I felt something stir in the back of my mind. Something wasn't right, Hallie never looked at me like this.
"Sirius?" she asked.
"What?" I said uncertainly.
"You realize everyone is in the common room right now right?" she said with a sexy smile and wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Yeah."
"Which mean the dormitories are empty…" she continued suggestively running her fingers up the back of my neck and then through my hair.
"Sirius mate, what are you doing?" I looked up to see James crossing the room looking furious and Hallie quickly stood while taking my hand and pulled me to my feet. I felt dizzy but the tone of James's voice seemed to be forcing the fog in my brain back. It almost felt like my mind was in a state of tug of war between the dreamy feeling of unconcern, and a feeling that something was very, very wrong.
"Let's go." She said quickly dragging me towards the dorm. I followed her still confused but James continued after us.
"Sirius, have you gone mental?" he asked me still looking angry. "Don't do this."
"It's his choice James." Hallie snapped in an uncharacteristically ugly tone.
"Mate, think about this," James said jerkily. "What about Hallie?"
"She's right here." I said confused and his eyes went wide. Realization seemed to be dawning on him.
"Who do you think you're looking at?" he asked.
"My girlfriend." I said frowning. "James what's a matter with you?"
But James had already run off muttering something about an antidote and Hallie, who looked anxious, continued to drag me towards the boys' dormitory.
Several people turned and whispered as we passed including a horrified looking Peter and I again the feeling that something wasn't right was battling this dream like state of mind.
She didn't seem to care though, in fact she seemed to be rather enjoying the attention, but soon we'd made it up the stairs and walked through the door marked 'seventh years'.
The second we were through the door her lips crashed into mine, she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me to my bed and we fell back on the blankets.
"Hallie wait." I said breaking away from her as she went for my shirt. Everything was going so fast, my head was spinning. What had gotten into her? I was totally confused, and still, something felt wrong.
"What?" she asked.
"It's just are you sure about this?" I asked quietly looking into her eyes. Something strange was going on the back of my head again, just a twinge of hesitation that was battling the clouded sensation that was pulling me to her. There was something about her that seemed… different. I looked at her but I couldn't figure out what it was. This was Hallie. Those were undoubtedly her eyes, weren't they?
"You don't want to?" she asked incredulously.
"Of course I want to." I said quickly. "What I mean is, we've never- we can wait. I just want to know that you are really sure."
"Of course I'm sure." She said boldly, much more confident than I expected her to be in this situation. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me into a kiss. My mind clouded again, which suppressed all of my lingering doubts. I pulled her closer.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," she said breathlessly while sliding my shirt off my shoulders and down my arms. What she said didn't make much sense to me, but I was past the point now of where I was going to stop and devote any time or energy into figuring it out.
I smiled and our lips met again. She fell back onto the pillows and locked her arms around my neck pulling me on top of her as we continued to kiss. My shirt had made it all the way off now, and I was working on hers.
I couldn't believe this was happening. I mean, I'd imagined it countless times but I never thought I would actually be here, with her.
And yet, no matter how many times I imagined it, it had never felt like this. The more I kissed her, the more it felt wrong, and this feeling didn't abate. The doubt was back, and it increased steadily up until the point where she reached for my belt and I broke away.
"What's wrong?" she asked looking slightly annoyed.
"Nothing it's just…" I looked at her, really looked at her. I'd seen Hallie look irritated before. In fact, I probably knew that expression better than anyone in this school, and I knew it was all wrong. I couldn't quite place was it was, but the more I looked at her, the more I was convinced that the girl with me, was not my girlfriend. No matter how much she might look like her. "Something's different about you."
Usually when we kissed, she was hesitant, almost shocked. As if she couldn't quite believe that I considered her someone to be kissed. It had gotten much less pronounced the longer we'd been dating, but still, even now there was always that moment where she froze, her body tense, before she realized what was happening and relaxed. I had always thought it was so cute, that moment when she looked so surprised, but it was gone now. She was the one going after me. It just wasn't right…
The dormitory door slammed open and I jumped. I looked at the door, and felt as if I'd been slapped. The strange foggy feeling that had taken over my mind vanished, and was replaced by fear as cold as ice when I realized it was Hallie who was standing in the doorway.
"Sirius?" she said in a shattered voice.
"What the-?" I started. This was impossible, how could Hallie be standing in the door way when she had been right here with me?
But when I looked down, the girl who I was in bed with, wasn't Hallie. With horror I realized it was Valerie, with her hair ruffled and her blouse hanging loosely off her shoulders.
"How-" I started trying to back away but she grabbed me and tried to kiss me again. "Get off me." I said pushing Valerie away.
"Hallie wait!" I shouted but she'd already turned and slammed the door behind her.
Terror ran through me as I snatched my shirt, and without bothering to do it up, ran after Hallie but by the time I'd made it to the common room she'd already made it through the portrait hole.
Instantly, I saw that the party had come to a screeching halt. The music had stopped and everyone was looking at me.
Just then, the portrait hole opened and for one wild moment I let myself think that I was going to see Hallie, when James and Remus came toppling through holding a small brown bottle and saying.
"Where is Sirius?"
He then seemed to notice that no one was talking anymore and that the party had died completely. He, like the rest of the crowd, turned towards me and he swore when he saw a disheveled looking Valerie.
I made a B line for him.
"James what is going on?" I asked my brain was still foggy but getting clearer all the time as the horror of my situation was setting in.
"You remember when Peter and Valerie went out on Valentine's?" Remus asked bitterly.
I nodded.
"Turns out, she only agreed if Peter stole some of the love potion Slughorn had us working with in class." James said furiously.
The whole common room was listening and suddenly there was a shout of.
"You. Bitch!"
Everyone turned to see Alice and Lily coming down from their dormitory, obviously wondering why the noises from the party had stopped. And to all our surprise, it was Lily who'd spoken.
She'd taken out her wand and went straight for Valerie with a fury I'd never seen in her eyes.
"Lily." James said quickly going after his girlfriend. But it was too late, Lily had let loose a string of curses and was preforming magic so quickly, it was almost like looking at Hallie trying to hex someone.
"Has everyone lost their mind?" I asked my eyes going wide. If anyone were to react this dramatically I would have expected it to be Alice.
"She is Hallie's best friend." Remus pointed out and a shock went through me.
"Oh god Hallie." I said and went tearing after her out the portrait hole.