Chapter 38: Of Fire, Flames & Fervour
Unedited...
"No. That's not how you do it! Merlin, we've been through this a thousand times already."
The hint of annoyance in the silky voice of the fifteen-year-old blond was unmistakeable.
The younger boy winces at his tone, his heart squeezing in his chest at being such a let-down.
A crooked grin cuts Amycus's face as he watches the boy flush with embarrassment. "Aw. Quite the softy, aren't ya?" he slurs, roughing the lanky boy up with surprising strength.
Regulus's cheeks flare up even more at being called 'soft'.
He wasn't 'soft'.
Not even in the slightest.
But even as he mentally cancels out any ounce of softness within him, his insides melt and dissolve completely when he feels the heat of Amycus's lips as they brush against his ear. "Let's make a man of the wee baby today, shall we?" he drawls, and gingerly lifts Regulus's wand hand until it is pointing straight at the levitating toad that was hanging upside-down in mid-air.
Regulus's breath was coming out in rags now. And he wasn't entirely sure if it was because he was nervous of using the spell the blond insisted, or if it was because of the blond himself...
"It's simple, Reg," Amycus mutters, alluringly moving behind him and leaning over Regulus's shoulder.
Don't listen to him, Reg...
"Focus on everyone and everything you absolutely detest in life," he said, looking deeply into Regulus's glazed eyes, "feel the energy rush to your hand," he said, winding his cold fingers around Regulus's bony wrist, "allow it to sit there for just a second," he tightened his grip around his skin ever so lightly, "...and throw it all out through your wand," he muttered, making his skin instantly tingle with goosebumps.
Regulus had gone numb all over now.
Devoid of all thought, feelings or emotions.
Except for the burning desire of Amycus's touch again.
"Trust me... It's the best kind of release, y'know," Amycus grinned, making the younger boy crash land back to earth.
Mentally deciding to not state other 'better' forms of releases he could think of, Regulus faced the toad once again, fully aroused with passion in his heart and hatred in his head now.
Carrow is dangerous, his brother's words rang through his mind once again.
"Now, do you trust me, Reg?" Amycus asked, looking expectantly down at him, his bony face cracked in a handsome grin.
"O-Of course," Regulus mumbles in a daze, genuinely trusting him so completely, it legit scares him.
"Very good."
He will lead you down a treacherous path...
"Shall we get this over with then?" Amycus asks, a hint of exasperated mockery playing in his tone.
Regulus swallows dryly, because everything within him was screaming no. And yet, there was an invisible force drawing him towards this beautiful boy next to him, one he just could not shake. Regulus, for his part, was fully aware of the spell he's under around this boy; fully aware of the web that Amycus was spinning around him, and yet, he wanted nothing more than to go further down this rabbit hole... Because there truly was something so exhilarating, intoxicating even, about flying too close to the sun that got Regulus's blood pumping through his veins. He wanted more. So much more...
"Turn around," Amycus ordered.
"But Ames..."
"I won't say it again," Amycus warned.
He's bad for you, Reg.
Regulus knew that his brother was right.
But as he stares up at Amycus's uncaring eyes and boyish grin, he couldn't—for the life of him—bring himself to care.
Don't do it...
Regulus shook it off. Drowning Sirius's voice out of his head he got ready, even as Amycus drew closer in anticipation.
And he wasn't sure if it was accidental or on purpose, but Amycus briefly leans into him, revealing a similar hardness in his pants too, driving Regulus mad with ecstasy. Unwittingly, his entire being got engulfed in absolute deliration in that instance, one filled with mad love, anger, loathing and fear all rolled into one... Without a second thought, he points his wand at the large toad and screams, "AVADA KEDAVRAAA!"
...
Their second day back at school was uncharacteristically warm and sunny. Despite the Autumn chill, the air around was hot and dry, making the packed greenhouses sweltering enough to prompt students to roll up their sleeves and throw away their robes (and in Sirius's case, his tie and the first several buttons on his shirt too).
"Only Black can do that and still not get told off," Claiborne muttered, shaking her head disapprovingly at the boy who was wrestling with the Snargaluff pods several seats away whilst being blissfully oblivious to the attention he was drawing from the onlookers around him.
"That's 'cause no one's complaining," guffawed Marlene McKinnon from across them, eyeing him thirstily.
Isabella pursed her lips and shot Lily with a 'May-I-Please-Punch-Her-In-The-Face?' look, making the redhead sputter into her hands.
"Oh, don't get your breadcrumbs soggy, Williams, I'm just looking," Marlene snapped back, but the corners of her mouth twitched teasingly.
"What in the world's that supposed to mean?" gasped Isabella, trying to look intensely affronted at the insinuation. Scoffing, she turned back to her own mud pot, fully aware of Lucius's glare on her. "By all means, look all you want! In fact, I won't even judge you if you presented him with an enchanted heart ablaze with pink passion, y'know?"
Lily's eyes flew open. "IZZY!" she exclaimed from her side. "I thought we agreed we would never talk about this morning's incident to anyone. What is WRONG with you?!" she chided, turning magenta in her face.
Marlene raised a curious eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Esmeralda Blishwick who looked equally piqued. "Why, I sense a story here," Esmeralda drawled and the pair of them wordlessly dropped their pods, symbolically letting Lily know they're not letting this one slide.
Lily blushed. "Trust me, it really isn't worth your time," she mumbled, her voice drowning in the sounds of students wrestling with the vines around them.
"We'll be the judge of that," Esmeralda replied, trying very hard to suppress the smile bursting at her lips. "Besides, you owe me one for that time, y'know?" she said, subtly referring to the time when she'd helped the girls sneak into the Slytherin dungeons and jinx nearly half the House last year.
Lily looked at Claiborne and Isabella and sighed, knowing fully well there was no way out of this.
"Well, alright, if you must know..." she started, pausing to rub her face in frustration, "Potter pulled yet another of his 'practical jokes' on me this morning that nearly set half our dorm on fire!"
Somebody snorted. "That's a lie," they said from the far left end of the long table.
The group of Gryffindor and Slytherin girls swung their heads around to find James Potter pulling out one of the grape-sized gnarly vines out of his hair and smiling sheepishly at the company. The rest of the Marauders, for their part, seemed to have collectively decided not to participate in this rather riveting discussion.
"Wow, that's quite an allegation coming from you of all," Esmeralda scoffed, while Marlene and Claiborne sniggered on the side.
"D'you not believe me?"
"Nobody believes you, Potter," Lily retorted haughtily.
James rolled his eyes. "You know I wouldn't be sitting here detention-free had your whole dorm 'burned down' like you claim."
"So there definitely was some amount of fire involved?" Marlene asked cheekily, her eyes darting back and forth between James and Sirius's bare chest.
Sirius took a second to pitifully regard his bespectacled friend's current countenance before catching Marlene's eye on him. "Well, technically, yes," said James, stifling a sheepish grin. "But otherwise, Evans, as usual, is just blowing it way out of proportion."
Lily squinted dangerously at him. "Oh, I've half a mind to blow your head way out of proportion right about now, Potter!" she wrung out.
"Well, I'd gladly sponsor that mission," Isabella heard Lucius mutter from the other side of the table.
James's face hardened as he glared at the Slytherin. "Firstly, stay the fuck out of this conversation, Malfoy..." he said, looking about ready to headbutt him in the face. "Secondly," he said, darting his eyes back towards Lily, his demeanour becoming relaxed and frisky again, "I'd very much like to see you try," he sighed, almost as if he was tired of having the same argument again. "And thirdly, if you're telling the story, at least say it right," he guffawed and playfully threw some mud in her direction.
"Well, why don't you do the honours then?" Remus smiled, as if curious to know how James would weave the story.
"With pleasure, mate!" James guffawed, before Lily could even protest. "You see, basically," he started and turned to face the rest of the party, "I was merely experimenting with magic. It's ingenious, really —"
Lily guffawed. "— I don't think you should be saying that about yourself, Potter —!"
"You can say that again," Remus muttered to himself.
"I've named this invention, 'FLAMES' —" James continued, ignoring the rude interruptions.
"I see this going badly already," Marlene rolled her eyes while Esmeralda laughed into her hands.
"Wait till you hear the rest of it," Claiborne mumbled exasperatedly.
James rolled his eyes, an arrogant smile etched on his face. "Don't listen to them, McKinnon. You'll be paying me five Galleons for one of those bad boys when I'm done narrating the story, I promise," he chuckled, dropping the pulsating pod in his hand into a bowl and looking very pleased with himself. "It's basically an enchanted heart. A heart that, well, sets itself on fire when it senses deep feelings of love a person feels for another. The greater the love, the bigger the flames."
Lily's face had turned so red now she looked like a giant, ripe tomato.
James seemed to have noticed too and bit his lip to stop himself from bursting out laughing. "And it's not real fire, but if Evans claims it 'burned down' half her dorm, then, hey —"
"It's a STUFFED CUSHION enchanted to emit pink flames whenever someone, ANYONE, touches it —!"
"— There, there, princess..." James cooed patronisingly. "I didn't want to tell everyone either," he said, winking teasingly at her blood-red face.
Marlene and Esmeralda roared with laughter while Isabella, Claiborne, Sirius and Remus fought to stifle their grins. "Wow..." Esmeralda whistled, rolling a strand of hair around her finger. "Can't say I'm not impressed."
"Ah! Finally a lady with great taste," James grinned, tipping his invisible hat in appreciation, while Lily ruminated in mind-numbing rage on the side.
"D'you have more of those, Potter?" Marlene asked, for which she received a mere wink from James as a response.
When the bell rang, Isabella quickly packed her things and waited for Lucius to join her as the rest of her class filed out.
"Okay, just come on out and say it. What the bloody hell's bugging you?" Isabella asked when Lucius finally caught up with her.
Lucius rolled his eyes irately. "Whatever d'you mean?" he drawled hardly looking at her.
"Is it Mucliber, are you scared he'd make another move at Lily or me? Because I can handle him, Lue, and I'll take care of Lily too, there's —"
"You can handle Mulciber any day. I know that, didn't doubt it for one second, won't put it past you to blow his head off whether I'm around or not."
Isabella paused, while her eyebrows shot up in her forehead in pleasant surprise... That was the first open compliment Lucius had ever given her till date.
"Then why have you been so quiet since we got here?" Isabella asked, hurrying to catch up with him.
"Because I'm a coward," Lucius replied curtly and marched on
Isabella gritted her teeth. If there was one thing she absolutely despised, it was someone speaking in code and expecting her to unravel the hidden messages they were trying to convey. "Wow, that explains a lot, wonder why I didn't think of it," she said sarcastically.
"I'm glad we see eye to eye on that."
Isabella was truly furious now. "Lucius, don't expect me to chase after you every single time," she said most earnestly. "If you have something to say, bloody hell just come out and say it!"
"I've told you already."
Isabella closed her eyes in irritation. "Why are you like this, Lue? What on earth could make you a bloody coward" she ground out.
"Everything!" Lucius said, abruptly turning around to face her. "I am a blooming coward, Bella! Because, as nauseated I am at Potter's god-awful attempts to woo Evans, I truly am blown away at the bloke's plucks too. He's truly got more balls to look a girl in the eye and make an absolute ARSE of himself than I do ANY DAY, doesn't he?" Lucius roared and swung around, his voice echoing through the green expanse.
Isabella blinked, his words ramming into her like a speeding train. And then, realisation dawned on her — one, because he wasn't looking at her anymore. Suddenly, everything was clear as crystal...
A light breeze blew over them, filling the sudden silence that had crept up between the pair.
And even if it all seemed to have come out of nowhere, even if it all sounded extremely strange to Isabella, somehow it felt like she'd always known something else apart from friendship had existed between her and Lucius... And today, in this very instant at least, she was sure she had finally figured it out — he fancied her, not someone else as she had assumed earlier during their holidays.
Lucius hadn't turned around just yet, but she knew his face was etched with worry.
"You should leave, Bella."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Yes, you are. You've got Ancient Runes —"
"— Are you terribly serious about this?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Why not?"
"Because this was not how I wanted you to find out," Lucius said, finally whipping around to face her, his head blocking the sun out entirely above her. "This is not how I wanted to tell you how I feel about you, Bella, but the clabbert's out of the bag now, isn't it? Now you know," he muttered, tiredly gazing into her face.
And all Isabella could ever do in that second was stare back, dumbfounded. Incredibly, though, her brain chose this very instant to register just how strikingly handsome Lucius actually was.
Wordlessly, Lucius ran a finger across her face and winced as if it physically hurt him to touch her.
"I've so much to tell you... to show you," he muttered, taking her face in his hand this time and moving closer, his breaths choking in his chest now. "I've spent days, years competing with that plonker for your attention, so imagine my state when you repeatedly chose him over me. Every. Single. Time..." he said, his green eyes boring into her hazel ones.
"Why... Why didn't you just tell me earlier on?" Isabella whispered, the words tumbling out in a slur.
Lucius fell silent, as he continued to study her face, the pair of them blissfully unaware of the curious looks that Sprout was giving them through the glass of the greenhouses. "I wanted to tell you, I really did... But I didn't want to make a fool of myself, Bella. I wanted to wait and see if there might ever come a time when you'd want me and no one else... When you, of your own accord, chose me over anyone else..." he whispered, his grip tightening ever so lightly on her face. "But it looks like that day would never come, would it?" he said, finally letting her go and staring miserably down at her.
.
"...I hope everyone's chosen their desired booths!" Professor Lorraine Abolet was shouting over the hullabaloo that ensued in her classroom. "You will be given only five more minutes to make up your minds! Any student who isn't in one of the booths by then will cost their House twenty points, mind you!"
Alice rolled her eyes. "I applaud her for thinking that ought to goad us into submission," she said, pitifully shaking her head as the group of sixth-year Gryffindors scanned the extremely crowded, maze-like room they were standing in.
Every year, Abolet made it a point to redecorate her classroom entirely to keep it 'interesting' as she called it. This year, she seems to have gone wild with a circus theme and had achieved it by installing floor-to-ceiling make-shift booths and tents made out of brightly coloured canvases. Unfortunately though, it was so haphazardly installed that it made navigation through the classroom a terrible challenge. As a result, it had become commonplace for utter chaos to ensue at the beginning of every Divination class, but Abolet seemed determined not to let it stir her in any way.
"Ooh, look at that! Cartomancy!" Mary said, pointing at particularly tiny, yet quaint little tent at the centre of the room. "Let's take that one," she said and ushered the rest of them towards it before anyone else could claim it. They were sharing their class with fellow sixth-years from Slytherin again.
"D'you even know what Cartomancy is?" asked Claiborne, as the girls settled down on the comfortable cushions inside the bright red and yellow tent with tiny fireflies lighting up the inside.
Mary looked around and shrugged. "Looks like we're dealing with cards," she said, looking at the stack of decks of regular playing cards and tarot cards placed on a tiny circular table at the centre.
"No! No! NO, Mr. Crabbe, you do not play 'Catch' with the prophecy orbs!" Abolet was seen streaking through the classroom, clutching the end of her skirt to keep herself from tripping over. "NOW, can everyone kindly settle down while I state the terms of study for this year!" she screamed, snatching away a silvery orb from Albert's hands and glaring him down to no effect from the grinning blond boy. "Since this is your sixth year in Hogwarts, you will learn to manage all your lessons by yourselves as adults. Everyday, you choose the subject you want to explore and learn the art of Divination in that area by means of practical application. Your inputs will be marked everyday, mind you, so there's nearly no room for play this year...!"
"She never teaches us anything anyway, and now she plans to not teach at all?" wailed Mary as Abolet continued to scream in the background.
"...That's it from me! Now, get to work everyone!" Abolet barked, clapping her hands in a business-like manner.
Isabella cast a bored-cum-'Kill-Me-Now' look in Claiborne's direction before grabbing the deck of playing cards, leaving Alice sniggering in her direction.
"Alright, let's get cracking then," said Lily, rolling up her sleeves and opening her textbook to the chapter on Cartomancy.
The girls spent the next quarter of an hour poring over the meanings of the different card positions and noting down their divinatory readings as they went. Their task today was to accumulate the readings enough to be able to 'accurately' predict the fate of the world twenty years from now. Of course, the girls merely ended up dramatising the whole thing and deriving some of the most outrageous meanings of the tarot cards, enough to leave them cracking up every two minutes (much to Lily's chagrin).
"In exactly nineteen months from now, I see that time will come to a COMPLETE STOP... before backing up all over again," chortled Mary.
"What? That makes absolutely no sense —" Lily started.
"— And we shall be visited by someone nearly forty years from the future, someone who's come to save us all from absolute downfall!" Alice spluttered, diligently noting her reading down, adding to Lily's woes.
"Okay, honestly —"
"— Oh no, check this one out," said Claiborne, peering into a card that showed three young men holding the naked body of a beautiful young witch who appeared to be dying in their arms. "Oh, how terrible!" she exclaimed, reading the possible meaning of the card she held in her hand.
"What is it, Clay?" asked Isabella when suddenly, their tent was wrenched open and in came Abolet, huffing and puffing, as if she had only just urged a baby troll back into its cave. "So! What do we have here?" she panted, squeezing between Isabella and Claiborne and wiping her sweat on her sleeve. "And I hope you haven't been playing Wizard's Chess like your despicable classmates have all this while!" she barked, adjusting her beaded choker necklace and staring into the four tarot cards laid out on the carpet in front of her. "Oh, golly! What is this?" she muttered, scanning it sedulously. "My, oh my..." she added and the girls all looked at each other nervously. "Mighty interesting cards, aren't they? Well, then, let's see what the bunch of you have derived from all this," she said, and before anyone could say anything, she had snatched the scroll out of Alice's hands and peered curiously into it.
"But, professor, we were only making random assumptions until now," said Lily, timidly coming to their rescue.
"Oh, nonsense, there's nothing random at all in Cartomancy, in fact, what one says as soon as they look at the cards is what it is. The words pour out of your subconscious mind you know, so there's nearly never any 'assumptions', merely predictions in this field of study," she said, not once taking her eyes off of Alice's parchment. Lily cast an unforgiving glare in Alice and Mary's direction, while the pair of them stifled their sniggers. "Oh, the future looks mighty bleak from your readings, doesn't it?" she mused, still scanning through the notes. Isabella and Claiborne exchanged glances while Lily looked close to exploding on the spot. "A giant killer snake on the loose, a lake full of lichs hidden inside a murky cave, a bird's dance from death, turning time and saving nine, seven of one streaking through the sky, the return of the Grimm, women getting kidnapped by Centaurs, mysteries to immortality unlocked, time coming to a stop in nineteen months, a visit from a time-traveller forty years from the future... My, my, might I say, what a prediction!"
"Professor Abolet, I sincerely apologise on behalf of my absolutely brainless friends, they —"
"Oh, quite the contrary, my dear, this is near accurate, I daresay!" Abolet cut Lily, looking genuinely appreciative of their fine work. "I am thoroughly impressed with your abilities, well done Miss Parker and Miss MacDonald, it seems quite clear from Miss Evans's statements that it was you two who's worked your fingers to the bone!" she gushed, this time casting a nasty sneer in Lily's direction.
Everyone's jaw dropped in surprise while Lily gave a confused-yet-flabbergasted yelp in Isabella's direction.
"Oh, but... But... Professor —"
"Stop sputtering Miss Evans, I give credit where credit is due, you know?"
Lily was positively furious now.
"Er, professor, we weren't nearly finished yet," Claiborne suddenly jumped in, smiling sheepishly in an attempt to steer her off her friend. "What would you say this depicts, eh?" she said, handing over the card portraying the three men and the dying woman.
And Abolet's eyebrows scrunched up at once. "Oh dear," she said picking the card in her hand. "A grim future awaits these three young men, dunnit? Oh, but I never see this card get picked up... It's one of those extremely rare cards that rears its head every once in a while, and every time it does, it spells utter doom for three random males present in the vicinity at the time," she said, worriedly looking around her classroom.
Claiborne's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "But what does it mean, professor?" she asked.
"Well... as you can already tell from the card, its a tale of love and betrayal. The men in question are deeply enamoured with the girl of their dreams, and yet, it is those same three men who would bring doom, and ultimately death, upon their dames at the end... The worst part though?" she asked and paused, looking rather sullen all of a sudden, "the three women shall die in their very own betrayers' hands," she said, mentally living out the tragedy. "And the tragedies shall occur on the same day before the clock strikes twelve."
Everyone had fallen silent, gripped with despair, when not three minutes ago, it was a total laugh riot in this tent.
"Has this ever happened before, professor?" Isabella asked.
"Well, my dear, if it were up to me, I'd slam the table and say yes, that it has happened in the past, several times, mind you. But if you were to ask anyone else, they'd brush it off as a mere coincidence, and who's to argue with that, eh? Everyone wants everything slapped right across their faces these days, don't they? Nothing is ever ethereal and beyond our powers, because wizards are Gods, aren't we? Sacrilege!" she screamed, punching the air and making her bangles tingle against each other. The others exchange cautious looks and indiscriminately decided to give her time to collect herself.
"Right then," Abolet said, snapping back to her senses and making them all jump up in their seats. "Very well done. Five points to Gryffindor! Each!" she added, looking at Alice and Mary and prepared to shuffle out of the room.
"Mental," scoffed Lily, rolling her eyes and packing up her stuff. "She nearly had me there!" she said, shaking her head amazedly at the disappearing image of their professor.
~oO Library, Hogwarts
'I just want to TALK to you! For Remus's sake, GODDAMMIT!'
Isabella barely held it together enough to prevent herself from setting the table on fire as she crumpled the fifth-or-so note that day, before tossing it in the bin next to her. She had only just recovered from her talk with Lucius, she was NOT prepared to have another one with Sirius — not within a span of two hours at least!
"Good heavens, I hope no one's getting murdered tonight?" asked Lily, casting Isabella a disquieted look.
It was lunchtime, but the sixth-years decided to skip lunch and prepare for their most dreaded DADA class in the library instead.
"Believe it or not, that would be the kinder thing to do." Lily opened her mouth to comment, but quietened catching the steely determination in Isabella's eyes.
"Might I suggest a more sagacious perspective to this whole affair?" Claiborne cocked her head from Isabella's left (she also quickly noticed the sneaky glance her two friends exchanged with each other from under her nose).
"Would you rather I refreshed your memory of the sheer act of COWARDICE that Black's been choosing to display EVER SINCE THE —" Isabella paused to acknowledge the annoyed looks she was receiving from a couple of Ravenclaws two tables away. Lowering her voice, she spoke again, "— ever since we did the nasty?" she hissed, her left eye twitching in rage now.
"If you're referring to how he's been avoiding you the last couple of days, I'd merely like to convey my apologies on behalf of the male species." Claiborne clucked her tongue and shook her head contritely. "Their brains are unfortunately lodged up their backsides, you see."
"Jones has a point."
Isabella gasped, the betrayal searing against her skin. "Well, you can count on your friends, they said!" she scoffed.
Lily made a noise that suggested impertinence. "He has grown a pair ever since and is trying to mend his ways. Can't hurt to see what he has to say, y'know —"
Isabella swung around abruptly, jaw hanging open. "You're the last person I ever expected to take Black's side."
"I just think you're being a bit hard on him —!" Lily stuttered, stealing another nervous glance with Claiborne. "Izzy, all I can say is you two are being ridiculous. Why is it always such a cat-and-mouse chase with you two, eh?"
Isabella raised an indignant eyebrow. "Says the girl who nearly swore him out of her life for kissing me unadvisedly last year! This time, the blockhead's done that and pretends not to know me, and you want me to go 'easy' on him?"
Lily merely gaped, while Claiborne shot her a triumphant look. "Told you Izzy with a conscience is a dangerous combination."
"Oh, off with you, Jones! Look, Izzy —"
"— Evans, I will give you exactly sixty seconds to tell me what your agenda really is for this afternoon." Isabella crossed her hands and looked at her unblinkingly.
Lily, though, merely sputtered and huffed and puffed on the spot, trying to look as affronted as possible. "Oh, believe you me, I have not been this insulted in my whole bloody life! Here I was, trying to be your best friend with the BEST interests at heart and —!"
"— JUST tell me why you think it's such a brilliant idea that I talk to him again!"
"Merlin's beard! Because I promised to help her get back at Potter!"
Isabella nearly tumbled out of her seat in fright, knocking over a whole pot of ink as she did.
"What the bloody hell...?" she let out, twirling around to find Sirius Black standing over them, the Invisibility Cloak still clutched in his hand. "How long have you been here?" she demanded crossly.
"Oh, have the Gods forgiven me finally? She's talking to me again," Sirius mused sarcastically. "Half expected you to burn me alive too, like you've done with all of my notes to you."
"Don't mind me if I do," Isabella churned out savagely. "And what is this business with you and Potter, might I ask?" she added icily in Lily's direction.
Lily swallowed, looking like a cross between a chimpanzee and a stunned goblin now. "Well, I... The... You know?" she blubbered, looking anywhere but in her direction.
"She was only trying to help me —"
"Would you lot shut it over there?" Ursa MacDougal called out from the other table.
"Oh. Of course, Your Highness!" Sirius retorted back sarcastically and kneeled down beside Isabella's chair so he could level with her and keep his voice down. "Look... I'm not daft, I had my reasons for staying away from you, okay? I'd honestly thought it's what's best for us both, but Remus seems to think otherwise —"
"— Oh, so you're here on Remus's orders?"
Sirius blinked. "Wha-? Er... What? No! I..." he stuttered confusedly. "No, I just —" he paused and sighed. "Izzy, I... I wasn't brave enough to 'have The Talk' with you about... About what happened after you left me hanging for the second time in a row...!" he said, casting her an unforgiving-yet-contrite look. "Thought it'd be easier to... y'know, run away and pretend like it never happened and —"
"— My, my... You're quite the orator, aren't you?" Isabella hissed sarcastically, slow-clapping him as she did. "You can prevent countries from bombing each other with that speech."
Sirius bit his lip, frustration showing on his face now. "Izzy, our situation's pretty complicated..."
Isabella scoffed and nodded vehemently. "Ah yes. A fact that only bats all the way in Texas are yet to discover, but go on," she bit out.
Sirius, though, merely paused and stared into the distance, his mouth still frozen in mid-sentence and his eyes showing tell-tale signs of having fully given up now. "...so I take it that neither of us want to get off our high horses?"
"That about sums it up, yes," Claiborne nodded innocently only to get stabbed with glares from the pair of them.
Ignoring her tactless friend, Isabella turned to face the six-footer. "Why are you here, Sirius?"
"To persuade you to try my suggestion, obviously."
Isabella looked like she had swallowed a porcupine now, retching and choking on the spot.
"And here I was thinking you had too much pride," Lily smirked, looking genuinely impressed. "Reckon I was mistaken."
Sirius leaned forwards to get a better look at her. "Well, you ought to make exceptions when you need something badly enough, y'know" he grinned, his eyes twinkling mischievously up at Isabella. And three jaws dropped at the same time, as the girls wallowed in the allusion of his words. "And if history is anything to go by, I can say with fair confidence that I usually get what I want —"
"— The only thing you're about to get," started Isabella, her demeanour taking on a vaguely threatening edge, "is a black eye from the punch I am about to lay on your face!"
"Aww," Sirius cooed patronisingly, a teasing grin spreading across his face. "I always knew you liked it rough —"
"— GET OUT, Sirius!" hissed Isabella, her vein threatening to burst out of her forehead now.
Sirius, incredibly enough, found it in him to grin even more broadly. "Thank you, darling, I was going to leave anyway," he said, cutely kissing his fingers and pressing it against her lips with careless elegance. "See ya ladies, later," he said, and before she could take her revenge, he had jumped back up on his feet and raced to the door, leaving the girls gaping back at him in sheer disbelief.
"If you don't take him, I will," Ursa MacDougal's voice came floating by, slapping the girls awake.
A legit sense of exhaustion washed over Isabella as she shrivelled up in consternation in her seat, her mind racing.
"Come now, Izzy, don't do this to yourself..." Claiborne empathised, wrapping her hand around a lifeless Isabella. "No pressure, whatsoever... You do what you need. You be with who you want... Don't let the boys sway you..."
.
This was the weirdest, most horrified Isabella had ever felt within the classroom walls at Hogwarts. Because when she walked into their DADA classroom post lunch, she did not expect to walk into a proper war-zone, with haphazard rocks and boulders taking the place of their usual chairs and tables. Upon first glance, it looked like Drudalf had randomly installed the rocks wherever he felt like, but a closer look revealed that he had actually arranged them in a circle against the walls of the classroom with a tiny clearing in the centre that was hit with a blinding spotlight from the top. What they were going to do here today was beyond her, but she knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Incredibly though, Drudalf seemed to have found it important enough to add little shrubs and bushes here and there to make it seem as 'realistic' as possible.
"Today's class is simple," Drudalf spoke from the centre of the classroom, the spotlight casting eerie shadows on the rocks while the rest of the class stood around him, peering uncertainly at their professor. "Three students will be chosen from each House who will battle it out in this real-life setting, using any spells or hexes they are familiar with."
Both Isabella's eyebrows and Lily's hand shot up at the same time.
"I don't understand, professor, what do you mean any —"
"TEN points from Gryffindor!" Drudalf bellowed, cutting her like a knife upon an onion.
"But... Professor, I merely intend to —"
"— One more word out of turn and you will be banned from my class for the rest of the term, Miss Evans..." Drudalf churned out.
Lily looked confounded on the spot, the shock screaming in her features. James, who stood a few feet from her, looked equally dumbstruck.
"Anything else anyone wants to add?" Drudalf asked, eyeing them all like a hawk.
"N-No, professor," Brock Bletchley muttered.
"Very good." Drudalf prowled about the brightly lit clearing in the centre, scanning the list of names on his clipboard. "Now, without further ado, let's call upon the students who truly hold the ground for the rest of their House, shall we? The heroes without whom we would never know what rock bottom looks like," he smirked, sarcasm and malice pouring out of his face. "Miss Evanora Snow?"
Evanora looked up horrified. "Y-Yes, professor."
"Please confirm if you received an abysmal 'D' in your A.P.E.s last year?"
Evanora turned crimson in the face as every face whipped around to look at her, some even sniggering meanly.
"Miss Snow!"
"Y-Yes, professor!"
"Thank you. Step forward, please. Also, Miss Bluebell Boot and Mr. Stavius Owyss. You three will represent House Ravenclaw and will duel House Gryffindor from this end of the classroom —"
"— Duel? Brock Bletchley whispered under his breath, while the room burst into murmurs.
"SILENCE! Now, from Gryffindor, Mr. Peter Pettigrew?" Drudalf called out loudly over the sound of loud murmurs now. "Mr. Pettigrew!" he bit out one again, and Peter emerged from behind Remus, completely white and shaken to the core. "Very good, and do we have Miss Mary MacDonald and Miss Isabella Williams?" he said, scanning the crowd more severely than required.
Isabella's bottom seemed to have fallen to the ground as she realised she had been called too. Hardly ever breathing, she stepped forward and took Mary's hand in hers as the three of them took their place behind the rocks on the Gryffindor side.
"Very good! The rest of you may ascend to the gallery please?" said Drudalf.
Isabella's eyes shot up and her heart nearly jumped into her throat when she realised he had indeed transformed the classroom to accommodate a circular balcony on top from where students could get a clear view of the centre of classroom.
"Now, the rules are very clear. This is a survival task," Drudalf bit out even as the rest of them reluctantly took the stairs to the top floor. "The six of you may use any spells that you may see fit to overthrow your enemies. Your attack must be tactful and strategic! You may use the boulders to hide from your enemies, and the team that reaches the centre, wins. Seeing as you lot are the weaklings of the class I do not see this exercise lasting too long, but that's no excuse to perform foolishly."
The insult stung Isabella right in the heart.
"The rest of you on top —" Drudalf clapped his hands to get their attention. Everyone fell quiet. "— You will make notes on what went wrong, what went right, and how the teams performed and submit a three-foot-long essay on your observations by the end of the week. Alright then," he ground out, turning his attention back to the ground-floor occupants. "Your time starts now," he said, overturning a large sandglass and placing it in the centre, as he stepped into an antechamber on the East to watch the proceedings.
Isabella felt immobilised for a second, as she took in her surroundings. The classroom was quiet as the night. Nobody moved, not the ones below nor above. Breathing feverishly, she turned around and looked at the petrified faces of Mary and Peter.
"It's going to be alright," she whispered, hardly moving her lips.
"We do not have all day!" Drudalf bellowed from behind the window in his antechamber.
Looking up, she saw Sirius watching her through fretful eyes, edgily leaning forwards with his elbows resting on the ledge.
Closing her eyes, she calmed her mind before crouching behind one of the rocks. Watching her, the rest of them followed suit too, knowing fully well that there was no way out of this but the hard way.
"Let's do this," she whispered, even as she heard Stavius screaming, "Confringo!"
~oO 2 days later... Oo~
"How's your hand now, Izzy?" Claiborne asked, as the pair of them stepped off the ladder from their Divination class.
Isabella did not respond immediately. Something in her had shifted since their last DADA class. Scanning the burn mark on her elbow, she curtly nodded. "A lot better now."
"Izzy." Claiborne caught her by the hand and held her back. "Will you please not let him get to you, this is exactly what Drudalf wants and you're handing it to him on a platter!"
"I'm not doing anything! How is he to help if I'm just darn stupid?"
"STOP saying that!" Claiborne growled, and dragged her aside as the rest of their class filed out. "You're not stupid, in fact, you're the exact opposite of that. You're brilliant! More than even Lily in our class, but of course Drudalf won't let you see that, will he? He wants his revenge —"
"Well, if you're so right, why the hell did I make a total arse of myself in class the other day, eh?"
"Anyone in your place would have done badly too, that was his whole agenda, wasn't it?! To put us on the spot and destroy our self-confidence entirely so he can board his sadistic train of pleasure!"
"— Clay, look! I love you and I know that you're only trying to be my friend, but I'd rather spend my time buried behind my books than endure a lecture from you on life lessons!"
"Izzy, please don't —"
"— He won't let me stay on the team if I fail DADA, Clay!" screamed Isabella, dropping her unzipped backpack and spilling out nearly all of its contents, making several heads turn. Breathing heavily, she clenched her fist to calm down. "Leave me alone, Claiborne," she said icily, noticing Remus and Sirius climbing down the ladder now, chatting away casually.
"I was only trying to help, y'know?" Claiborne mumbled, her voice shaking uncontrollably. Isabella looked up quickly, realising her mistake, but before she could say anything, Claiborne had swung around and dashed out of the corridor, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
"You're the worst, Izzy," she hissed to herself and started picking up her parchments and quills when someone rammed into her, knocking the things out of her hand once again.
"Sirius Black, would you WATCH where you're going?!" she yelled irritably, before slouching on the floor to collect her things.
"Izzy! Oh, I'm sorry baby, I didn't quite see you there," he exclaimed, crouching next to her and reaching out for the fallen books, grinning handsomely.
"Don't call me that," she snapped back, wrenching her books out of his reach, and stuffing them back into her bag.
"Why are you so cross all the time? You know what, fine —" he roared playfully and levitated all her quills so high up in the air, they were hovering near the ceiling now.
"Merlin's beard!" Isabella exclaimed. "REMUS?" she yelled helplessly.
Remus, for his part, rolled his eyes frustratedly. "Sirius, give it back," he muttered simply and watched his friend's face fall. "Now."
"Such a killjoy," Sirius grumbled. "You can stuff it, Lupin."
"Stop it! We have a class to get to, you know? We're going to be late, give it back!" Isabella exclaimed, grabbing his wand off his hand and lowering the flying quills.
"I've warned you, Izzy," said Remus smilingly, pulling her up by the hand. "Contrary to popular belief, the more you ignore this one, the more he gnaws at you!" he said, chuckling at her murderous look.
Sirius who was shamelessly checking her out till now, simply shrugged. "I'm not even embarrassed by it..." he grinned, and swung his hand around her neck genially. "She's the biggest plot-twist in my life, you know...?" he guffawed in Remus's direction. "Aren't you, babe?" he hummed, pressing a loud kiss to her cheek.
"Get off, Sirius," mumbled Isabella, her stomach going wild with bats instead of butterflies this time.
"Or what?"
"Or I will drag you into MCGONAGALL's office!" she yelled, trying to give him her most dangerous look. Sirius, however, merely fake-gasped at her saying, "A threesome? And with Minnie?! Aww, baby, you know me SO well!" and ended up giving her yet another bone-crushing (albeit adoring) kiss to the side of her face.
"Good Godric! Sirius, for the sake of Merlin's pants, let go of her, we've a class to attend," chided Remus with raised eyebrows, rescuing her out of his iron grip.
"Thank you, Remus. Let's get on with it, then," Isabella said breathily and turned around only to find their path blocked by Ornelle Spratt, a fifth-year student from Ravenclaw.
"Oh, darling, I've looked everywhere for you!" Ornelle squealed windedly.
Remus and Isabella exchanged quizzical looks.
"E-Excuse me?" Isabella stuttered, only to be shoved aside by the redhead, as she collapsed into the hands of an unwitting Sirius Black. "There you are! How silly of you to ask me to come to our broom closet by half two when you don't show up yourself?" she crooned, ruffling his hair and being blissfully unaware of the near repugnant expression that was creeping up on his face.
Sirius clearly looked irritated because one, he was just getting started with Isabella and two, that she had just messed up his meticulously set hair.
"Ornelle...?" he began, and tried to wriggle himself out of her hands. "Golly, I'd quite forgotten about you..." he mumbled, battling fear and awkwardness at the same time.
Isabella shot Remus an unimpressed look while he seemed to beg her for patience.
"Ornelle, why don't you... Why don't we talk later?" Sirius suggested, looking more at Isabella than the redhead. "I agree! Why waste time talking, right?" she squealed and before yanking his head forward, and without a second's warning, started attacking his mouth like she needed CPR or she'd choke and die any second.
"Oh, Merlin's tragic left ball!" Remus breathed, looking on the verge of throwing up. "That's it, we're leaving!" he muttered and threw his hand across Isabella's eyes before dragging her out of the corridor.
~ Sirius's POV
This was truly HORRIFIC! This can't be happening, NOT NOW!
But it was.
And to Sirius's dismay, it was happening in front of twenty odd seventh-year students who had just arrived for their Divination class.
But Ornelle clearly did not seem to mind the crowd, not even that they were now pointing and laughing in their direction; on the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying the attention she was drawing smack in the middle of the hallway.
Somewhere at a point when Sirius thought his lips might get tragically eaten, he somehow managed to break apart from the girl and gulped in a ton of air. He held her at arm's length and raised his eyebrows as if to say, Okay, what just happened?
She looked at him quizzically and said, "What's the matter, pumpkin? You didn't want me to stop at all last August...?" she giggled, seeming more stupid than he ever remembered even as the little crowd burst into louder claps and laughter from the onlookers.
Sirius was now truly distracted and claustrophobic and desperately searched the hall for a way to get away from this girl. "Er... So sorry to disappoint you babe, but I have a class to get to!" he said and immediately seemed to realize how horrible that excuse sounded, even to him.
Since when did Sirius Black start caring about missing classes?
"Oh come on, it'll be a quickie, I promise!" she giggled, making him almost gag in disgust.
He looked around desperately looking for a way to wriggle himself out of this situation, when all of a sudden, he lit up in happiness when his eyes locked with the green ones of a taller, bespectacled boy. "Hey! Frank, my man! I'll be right there..." he said forcing a laugh and nodding vehemently at Frank Longbottom, making it look like him chatting with his cousin right then was a matter of national importance!
Ornelle let out a loud gasp. "Sirius?" she demanded.
Sirius, however, pretended as if he heard Frank call out to him. "Hold on, babe, I'll be right back," he managed to get out before adding sheepish, "Yeah, I'm just coming right over!" to Frank, whilst desperately battling to untangle himself from Ornelle's vine-like hands.
Instead of helping him out, though, Frank merely stood there with his hands in his pockets and a broad grin on his face, lightly shaking his head, as if to say, No way, I want to see this, making Sirius gape around looking flummoxed and on the brink of committing suicide!
Finally understanding what was going on around her, an annoyed Ornelle, placed a firm finger on Sirius's chin and turned it towards her saying, "Sirius, are you avoiding me?!" her voice coming out shrilly and, quite frankly, sounding scary.
Sirius looked slightly perplexed now. "Look, Ornelle," he said, trying to look serious, "Er... I well... Um..." he stuttered, not knowing exactly what to say. "As in, what I'm trying to say is, we..." he said, nervously glancing around before closing his eyes and blurting the words out, "We er... We're over..." he said and immediately braced himself from a possible assault to his head.
What Sirius was really taken aback with, however, was Ornelle's reaction. She didn't whack him on the head, she didn't slap him across his face and neither did she cry like he expected her to. She screamed. She actually screamed her lungs out so much so that Sirius was genuinely concerned for the glass bookshelves that lined the library two wings away.
"No! Nooo!" and she screamed some more. "Sirius, don't do this to me! You promised to love me forever!" she wailed, tears streaming down her chin now. On the contrary, the onlookers were having the time of their lives, as they roared in gut-wrenching laughter now.
"Ornelle, please, I never said that!" Sirius scoffed in a low voice, and eyeing the others wildly as if to say the girl's tragically cracked in the head. "Okay, Spratt, you listen to me now," he hissed violently, this time grabbing her by the hand and muttering in her ears in an attempt to try and salvage whatever reputation he had left now. "This has got to stop!" he hissed, trying to get the point across. "We're done! It's over, okay?" he added weakly.
Ornelle's widened eyes seemed to suggest absolute disbelief and shock. "NO!" she shrieked.
"Yes, we're over!" he stressed once again. As an afterthought, he decided to hiss a, "And if you must know why, it's because I'm with someone else right now!"
She looked up looking shocked beyond expression and started to hammer him on the chest screaming, "WHAT IN THE WORLD?! You can't be SERIOUS!" she bellowed. "Who is this girl?" she cried out, and stepping threateningly in front of him (Frank had collapsed to the floor now, thumping the stone in uncontrollable laughter. Sirius, however, was still trying to play it as cool as possible, grinning and waving at his friends in the crowd).
When she flicked him on the forehead to get his attention back on her, he merely sighed and turned to face her and said, "It's really not important who I'm with currently!" he exclaimed exasperatedly through gritted teeth.
"NO!" she screamed, as reality slowly started to sink in. "Who is it, Sirius?" she asked menacingly this time. It looked like she was ready to butt-head this girl's guts out right now! "Who is it?" she insisted. "There really isn't anyone, is there?!" she shrieked. "Sirius?!"
Seemingly exhausted, Sirius contemplated for a second and decided that giving her a name would be faster than coaxing her into rejection. He pursed his lips and, before he could stop himself, the words were out of his mouth: "Izzy Williams. Happy? Now get the fuck out of my hair, Ornelle," he said cuttingly, and walked away from a shocked audience. A second later, however, the hall erupted into loud cheers as the crowd applauded their hero out of the hallway.
His heart still racing in his chest after that embarrassing encounter, Sirius adjusted his hair and made a dash down empty corridors and out the Great Hall towards the greenhouses for his next class — a class he was very, very late for now. But he didn't care. His mind — scratch that — his whole body was consumed with thoughts of one person, and one person only, and nothing else mattered, not even getting detention for being late to class.
The fuck is happening to you? he thought to himself, as he tucked his shirt in, fixed his hair and boldly entered the glasshouse.
Professor Sprout looked up.
"Sirius Black. Forever late to class!" she announced, making all the students look up and snigger at him. Sirius let his jaw drop at Sprout.
"What? Professor, that was the FIRST time I am late to your class!" he appealed to which, she chuckled softly and replied, "I never said you were always to MY class. But ten points from Gryffindor!" she cried before turning towards a group of Hufflepuff girls, who were currently being strangled by a Venomous Tentacula.
"Oh and Sirius, join in with Mr. Lupin and Miss Williams for your class today," Sprout called out. "They got in late too," she added with a reproachful nod of the head, before rescuing the girls from the grip of the Tentacula.
Sirius felt a swooping sensation at the mention of Isabella and at the prospect of spending the hour beside her. Distractedly running his hand through his hair once more, he jogged towards the corner table and found Remus and Isabella engrossed in their assignment. As soon as he reached them, however, his usual confidence dissipated to get replaced by fear. Deciding on keeping it simple, Sirius gingerly pocketed his hands and loudly cleared his throat at them instead.
No reaction.
Neither of them even looked up, and continued to collect venom off the vines of the plant.
Odd, he frowned to himself.
"Er... Hello?" he began, clicking his fingers impatiently. "I'm Sirius Orion Black, your most dear friend? A humble lad who loves you two with all his heart, remember? Remember —?" Sirius paused to compose himself. It wouldn't help coming across as needy and desperate, no sir! "By the way, if you must know, Sprout asked me t o join your table," he said, scoffing petulantly. "And I told her I did not want to waste my time with two of the most stuck-up snobs the planet ever saw... But she insisted. And that's why I'm here," he shrugged weakly.
Still no reaction.
"OKAY!" Sirius slammed his hands on the table, scaring the living daylights out of Remus and Isabella. "That's enough, just talk to me already!"
"Sirius, d'you mind calming your knickers, please?!" Remus whisper-yelled.
"My knickers are calm as a ice, thank you very much!" Sirius hissed back, and the two boys bore each other ended up glaring at each other.
"Will both of you get a grip on yourselves? I don't want Sprout to give us detention!" Isabella ground out fiercely.
Still glowering, the two boys decided to stop being in each other's faces, much to Isabella's relief. "Good. Let's get on with class now," she bit out, avoiding Sirius's eyes entirely.
"Yeah, let's not talk for a while," Remus said darkly.
"Just one little thing about earlier, though," Sirius started, mumbling to no one in particular. "It isn't how it seemed..." He carefully noted a slight blush creeping up Isabella's face as she pretended to not listen and continued to extract the venom from the Tentacula. "I'd erm... lent her a book which unfortunately contained a note that I usually use to... you know... 'invite' them over for a er..." Sirius choked, his heart hammering against his chest as he continued, "...a private time..." he concluded, anxiously looking for signs of distress on Isabella's face, but none came.
Which only meant he was in bigger trouble than he ever imagined.
Crap.
"Pads, Sprout's watching, we better get working now —"
But all Sirius could see was Isabella's nose turning a ghastly shade of red now. "— Oh, to hell with her. Come here," he said, grabbing Isabella by the hand.
"Sirius, for heaven's sake —"
"Shut up, this is important," he silenced her and steered her to a corner behind a large vine.
"Listen, I'm really tired of this. I don't even know why you think you owe me an explanation —"
"— Because, I do. Merlin, I cannot tell you how mad I am at her fucking timing! This was never supposed to happen, not when I have finally started to —"
"— To what?" Isabella demanded. "The answer to all this bullshit lies at the end of that sentence, Sirius."
"Look," Sirius started hyperventilating at his own stupid mistake, "all I want to tell you is there literally isn't anything going on between me and Ornelle or anyone at the moment."
Isabella frowned. "And what exactly are you trying to prove with that?"
"Bavarian Erkling, why does everything have to have a fucking concrete edge in your world, Izzy? Can't you ever function in Speculative Land just for once?!"
"No, because it's not worth it, Sirius!" Isabella shut him up. Sirius grimaced helplessly as she continued. "Gosh, life's such an irony, isn't it? You want someone who doesn't want you, and someone else wants you, but you don't want them!"
Sirius swung around as if he had walked straight into a pole as her words jarred against his skull. Grabbing hold of her hand, he turned her around and scanned her face.
"Malfoy?" he simply asked.
He didn't even need her to nod her head to know he was right. "Fuckin' hell..." he muttered, running a frustrated hand through his hair.
"BLACK, WILLIAMS! You two just earned detention for the rest of the week!" Sprout waded through the chairs towards their corner, her nostrils flaring in rage. "And twenty more points from Gryffindor for sheer nerve! Wait till I've reported you to McGonagall, now get back to your benches!"
~oO House Common Room, Gryffindor Tower
6:00 PM
The House was in an uproar, as students from every year were screaming and causing a racket, throwing the room in a state of utter bewilderment. Basically, the news of Ornelle getting dumped smack outside the Divination corridor in front of the whole damn world, and of Sirius and Isabella's mystery 'relationship' seemed to have come a full circle.
All the boys were wolf-whistling in Sirius's direction in total admiration; James, who was also hooting wildly along with the others, thumped Sirius proudly on the back, making him roll his eyes crossly at him. The fifth and seventh-year girls, on the other hand, were looking rather shocked and angry at what they'd heard through the grapevine, while Lily and Claiborne stood around helplessly watching the whole thing pan out. And from where Sirius was sat, he could make out the look of absolute fury on Isabella's face, and his insides churned painfully. The day was steadily going from bad to worse, much, much worse.
But even in such a harrowing instance, Sirius couldn't help being distracted by the girl-of-the-hour herself. He seemed to like her a lot in her Muggle clothes: a full-sleeve, grey hoodie which she zipped up to her chest and a pair of blue jeans which made her legs look extra-long and thin. In the Muggle world, she would be considered as one of those truly 'sexy' women. Shaking himself awake, he stood up and marched up to her.
"Izzy, look..." Sirius began, sounding absolutely beat and frustrated, only to be shot at with a murderous glare from her. "Would you just stop and listen for two seconds?!" he hissed at her, amidst all the noise and chatter and held her tightly by her hand, but she merely shook him off saying, "Not in the mood, Sirius!" and stormed away from him. He threw his hands up exasperatedly before sinking back into the brouhaha that ensued in the common room.
~ Isabella's POV
Without another word, she swung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the room through the portrait for her detention with Professor Sprout. A second after she had stepped out, she heard the portrait hole open up again and a roar of "All the best's" and "Do your thing, man!" and "Go, Sirius!" were heard which were casually dismissed by Sirius with a, "Thank you lads, but honestly, please just stop?!" and with that she heard the door shut behind her.
Isabella's heart raced as she started walking briskly away from Sirius, trying to get to the Herbology department as quickly as possible, but Sirius caught up with her.
Panting from all the running, he held her left forearm and roughly turned her around to face him. He motioned her to stop for a second and then held his waist to stop panting. She folded her arms and waited for the Great Sirius Black to catch his breath.
"Izzy, please," he began. She raised an eyebrow at that and tapped her feet, as if asking him to go on.
Still holding her by the hand, he said, "Listen, I only said that to her in an attempt to get her off my back, I didn't mean to hurt you, Izzy, please..." he pleaded.
"Oh!" said Isabella, "So you announced to the whole school that you were 'seeing me', just so that you can get ORNELLE off your BACK?!" she cried.
"I know, I know baby, I'm sorry —"
"No, stay away from me, Sirius, we are done forever —!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Izzy! For Merlin's sake, please just listen to me!" But Isabella simply shrugged him off and and stomped off out of the castle, determined to get as far away from the plonker as possible.
"Izzy, you know that never works with me, I don't take no for an answer!" he called out before jogging towards her again.
"Listen, Sirius!" she said, stopping in her tracks and whipping around. "I don't CARE about your silly girlfriends or about your rotten night escapades, but I will not stand it if you jeopardize my reputation for as long as I am here in Hogwarts!" she cried. "I've been HUMILIATED and INSULTED and have had to live with all that shame for THREE fricking LONG YEARS thanks to you and your little gang of arseholes! I will not make you pull me into your classic game of 'chase and dump' and more importantly, I do not want to go into your long list of 'ONE-NIGHT STANDS'! Whether real or NOT!" she bellowed, and stormed into the greenhouses, leaving him looking absolutely devastated.
Crashing into the glasshouse, Isabella threw her backpack on one of the benches at the back and sank into the chair, her head pounding against her skull from screaming so much. Breathing heavily, she plunged her face into her hands, feeling absolutely terrible for the person she was becoming... What the hell's come over her all of a sudden?
The sounds of footsteps from behind indicated that Sirius had walked up to the door too, but instead of getting in, he just stood there, presumably watching her rocking helplessly in her chair. Just then, the door at the opposite end burst open and in entered a very happy-faced Sprout, humming under her breath. Wordlessly, Isabella pulled out her parchment and quill, waiting to hear her punishment from Sprout as Sirius walked in and, annoyingly enough, chose to squeeze into the seat right next to her.
Professor Sprout looked up and, quite happily flicked her wand so that all the floating candles that were arranged around the room lit up.
"Right then!" she began, clapping her hands and gleefully examining the string of potted plants around her, being totally oblivious to the palpable tension that abounded in the room between her two students. "Mr. Black, Miss Williams, I want you to de-worm every pot in this greenhouse before half past 8 tonight. NO MAGIC," she said before adding, "Oh, and there are about 75 pots in here, so you two better hurry up!" She got up and heedlessly examined the dying branches of a Mandrake, before shifting her weight out of the glasshouse, slamming the door shut behind her.
And an earth-shattering silence succeeded her exit, saved only by the light crackling coming from the floating candles.
Isabella and Sirius stayed put in their seats. Neither seemed to be in any mood to do anything but to stay put and say nothing. From the corner of her eye, Isabella could see Sirius nervously shooting glances at her every three seconds, but she was in no capacity to forgive him just yet... Her mind was imploding on itself and, oddly enough, she desperately needed to be angry just a little while longer.
Seconds turned to minutes, but the silence prevailed.
Finally after what seemed to last an eternity, Sirius looked like he'd suddenly made up his mind about something. "Ge' over here..." he muttered, mutely swinging his hand around her and pulling her into his frame, at once plunging her into a goop of emotions... It was a miracle she hadn't yet burst out crying at his mere touch. "Okay, yes, fine..." he began, looking down at her while she resolutely continued to stare ahead. "You're right, that wasn't — I was dickhead to have — I mean..." he stuttered, trying to find the right words. "I mean I realise how... what I said... must have made you feel," he whispered at last, looking deep into her face. "I'm sorry, Iz," he mumbled sincerely, shaking her a little. "Forgive me?"
Isabella didn't know what hit her. She didn't know what about those three words were so profound and moving, because a second later, before she could even stop herself, two fat tears had rolled down her cheeks and down to her chin, much to her horror. She quickly wiped her face and stupidly hoped he didn't notice.
Sirius, though, looked genuinely heart-broken. "Oh, Iz," he shook his head remorsefully, winding his hand further down her side and holding her closer than ever. It seemed like hours before he finally broke the silence again, during which Isabella had done everything in her power to hold her composure as much as she could. "Izzy, I —"
"— Sirius, you don't have to do this," Isabella cut him, finally turning her tear-ridden eyes towards him. "I am not expecting an apology from you —"
"— You never do —" Sirius jumped in, crossly.
"— Exactly. I just wanted to make sure —"
"— You just wanted to make sure I treated you right," Sirius completed the sentence for her, a hard, blazing look hanging about in his eyes as he said it. "As I should. 'Cause you deserve the world and more..." he muttered, his voice shaking slightly with sincerity.
Isabella, though, ended up staring surprisedly back at the sudden change in his whole demeanour, as he turned around entirely to face her, his hands winding further around her slim waist. Their faces were so close to each other now that they didn't even need to whisper to hear the other speak.
"I really am such an idiot..." he mumbled into the stillness. "You're my best friend in the whole world. I love you, Izzy..." he said, frowning in dismay as his thumb drew circles on her back. "And yet, here I am, being such an absolute oaf to you... How have I been so bloody stuck up that I don't even notice what I've been doing to you?"
"You've not —"
"— You deserve better, baby..." Sirius said, before she could dismiss him yet again. "You deserve so much more."
The stubborn tear that had camped in her left eye all this time finally tumbled down her face.
But before she could brush it off, his hand had shot up, gently wiping it off as he stared achingly into her eyes.
And as she gazed back into his grey depths, for the very first time, she fell completely, and irrevocably in love with him. And quite surprisingly, the longer he held her face, the more she felt him fall for her too.
There seemed to be nothing that Sirius could do to take his eyes off of her while she continued to claw on to his gaze with a hint of accusation in them. The pair of them were only about ten centimeters away from each other now which seemed to totally intimidate Sirius beyond all expression, but she held on. "It's like you said, Sirius. This all boils down to what we want..." she whispered, holding on to her resolve with all her might.
And Sirius seemed to battle with the biggest dilemma of his life, as he watched her with helpless adoration. It was evident that he was in hell right now, trying to decide what his response ought to be. After what felt like hours' worth of trauma, his eyes fluttered close as he let his forehead rest on hers, showing surprising restraint himself. "I've not been half the man that even Malfoy's been, have I...?" he finally said, shivering slightly beneath her touch.
Isabella froze on the spot. That was not what she was expecting him to say at all...
He pulled back and looked at her once again, his eyes holding an expression that sent a strange kind of fear up her spine.
"You are so much happier with him than you ever will be with me, baby..." he whispered, tugging a lose strand of hair behind her ear, even as an angsty knot formed in her chest. "He deserves you more than I ever will..."
"That's not for you to decide, Sirius," she gasped fiercely.
"I'm not worth it, Izzy," Sirius insisted, lightly shaking his head. "I have no right on you..."
A sense of complete abandonment washed over Isabella as she stared back at him in disbelief. They both knew what he was getting at, and it crushed her from the inside out. But Sirius looked like he had made up his mind on the matter, as he continued to avoid her gaze and stroke the side of her face while his lips trembled with repressed emotion.
"You realise you're being a total coward, don't you...?" but before she could finish her sentence, Sirius wraps his hands around her, pulls her onto his lap and buries his face into her neck, as if not wanting to face the truth in her words. Another slow tear ran down her face, but Isabella dismisses it off with one hand and hugs him back, feeling her whole world come crashing in on her head. Her figure was so small within his broad frame that it looked like he could wrap his arms around her twice. He burrowed further into her chest and seemed to never want to move past this moment.
"Are you sure?" Isabella wept, still holding onto hope that he'd change his mind.
"What do you think?" he mumbles back instead, and the pair of them fell silent once more, ruminating in mind-numbing gloom.
The clock was ticking silently in the back, and a lonely cricket croaked away into the silent night, stretching the seconds they held on to so dearly, until it seemed to make Time itself stand still. Isabella did not know, nor care how long they sat there in silence, breathing each other in, knowing fully well that they had to let go very soon.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sirius pulls apart and presses a loud, wistful kiss to the side of her face. "You deserve better."