Disclaimer: Anything that rings a bell belongs to J.K Rowling
Chapter 4: The Glimpse
Sirius turned away from the tapestry he was inspecting when he heard the sound of footsteps, "Hey! Pixie!"
The short girl froze in her tracks, hugging herself against the cold of the dungeons, her face flushed a dark pink as her large brown eyes dimmed with disappointment, "No…er… it's Mary…"
"I know Mary." Sirius chuckled and the girl's blush deepened, "I was referring to Tuesday…outside Runes…"
He laughed as her eyes widened comically as realisation dawned on her and he waved his hand in dismissal of the subject, "Anyway, it was nice of you to come down here with such short notice."
"Oh no! It wasn't a bother!" She gestured with her hands, fidgeting with her bottom lip as she took in their surroundings. "It's been ages since I've been down in the dungeons… can't say I missed this place."
"You don't take Potions?"
"No." She swallowed, releasing her lip, and staring at the ground in embarrassment, "I didn't get an E."
"Neither did Peter." He laughed, the narrow corridor echoing with the sound and Mary offered him a conflicted sort of smile.
She jumped suddenly and twirled around, her hands folding around herself as if in protection, "Isabella?"
"Mary." Isabella McDougal sauntered forward, tossing her long ginger strands behind her shoulder, her cheeks had a slight pink tinge to it and her chest heaved slightly beneath the white t-shirt, "Black, you best not have made me leave practice early for nothing."
"Isabella, when have I ever wasted your precious time?" The girl rolled her light blue eyes at Sirius but smiled slightly at the grin on his face. "This is Mary by the way."
"Of course, I know Mary, she's my cousin you nut." The sixth year Hufflepuff laughed, glancing down at the shorter girl with a conspiratorial shake of her head.
"Well forgive me for not assuming that every person with a Scottish surname is related." Sirius smirked at the tall girl; his eyes bright from the torch he was leaning under. Isabella was a chaser, and it was evident from her physique, she was slender yet firm which matched her assertive personality.
Sirius' eyes flickered to the sound of the opening door, and he pushed off the wall and crossed the corridor to the source of the noise.
After quite a bit of snooping, most of it involving his furry alter ego's keen sense of smell, Sirius found out that Devon would be having remedial potions down in the dungeons that night and just on time the slight figure made his exit.
Devon's black eyes widened slightly when it landed on the crowd outside his Potions lesson, and Sirius clamped a friendly hand on his skinny shoulder and pulled him forward.
"Ladies. This is Jude Devon! Jude, this is Isabelle. And Mary." Sirius' smile widened as he gestured at Mary, nudging the boy slowly and winking in a way that he thought was covert.
"Black, what's going on? If this is about me sneaking you into my common room-"
"Oh, Isabella not everything is about you sneaking me into the Puff common room, though I find the fact that you declined my request the first three times quite disconcerting considering I've never been stingy in offering you new experiences."
Isabella's face flushed red, and Sirius' face brightened with mischief as he pulled out a small bottle from behind his back.
"Who's up for some firewhiskey?"
"What?" Isabella's light brows twined together as she looked down at Mary with shared confusion.
"Oh, come on, the night awaits…" Sirius gestured at Mary with his head, his eyes firmly on the shorter boy's vacant expression. If he failed to get the message he was probably as smart as he was talkative. "A little bit of night sky. Soft grass." Sirius cocked his head again as if he had a kink in his neck, flabbergasted that the boy was just not getting his hint.
"Wait… you mean… all of us?" Isabella's ginger hair was orange in the light, the sole source of brightness amongst their group.
"Yes, all of us. You and me, Mary and Jude." Sirius smiled as Mary's lips flung open in a shocked gasp.
She stared at Jude Devon for a heartbeat and then spun around and ran up the corridor.
"Hey-"
"You know, this is messed up. Even for you Black." Isabella shook her head soberly at Sirius and twirled about, heading after her cousin.
Sirius raised his brows at the retreating figure. He thought it would make more sense inviting Isabella because apart from hooking up a few times, they actually were somewhat friendly to each other, whilst all Daisy wanted to do was snog. Which Sirius usually didn't mind but would make quite an intense setting for two shy teens to come out of their shell.
"Mate, don't pay attention to Mary. There's nothing wrong with you, definitely nothing gasp wor…thy." Sirius glanced left and right but all he saw was empty corridor.
He sighed, shaking his head, and making his way back up to Gryffindor Tower. With any luck Daisy would be feeling a little adventurous, it would be such a shame to waste a good bottle of firewhiskey.
-x-x-x-
"All I'm saying is… think about it!" Sirius took the front steps two at a time and spun around, catching his best friend's exasperated smile, "The way you act like it's the worst possible thing in the world. I thought you liked Andy!"
"I do like Andy." James hastened up the stairs, holding his palm up and preventing Sirius from springing on his words, "But I don'tlikeAndy. And she doesn'tlikeme."
"Prongs, mate." Sirius grabbed James around the shoulder as they made their way into the Entrance Hall, faces still slightly flushed even though they had showered and changed after their morning run. "I Siriusly," He chuckled and winked at a group of giggling third years as James rolled his hazel eyes, "doubt… and don't take this the wrong way… you understand whatlikingsomeone means."
"How does one take that the right way!" James shrugged Sirius off him with a laugh.
"You think Evanslikesyou!" Sirius stated in explanation as they made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Evans doeslikeme. She just doesn't know it yet." Sirius shook his head as James ran a hand through his dark hair as he spotted the redhead approaching them from the top of Gryffindor table.
They walked towards their usual spot, Remus and Peter sitting alongside each other and Sirius realized just how hungry he was when he caught sight of the plateful of sausages and fluffy scrambled eggs that the smaller of the two boys was tucking into.
"Black!" Sirius hit the table slightly as he was uprooted by a hulking figure, large hands ruffling his hair good naturedly, "You bloody dog you!"
His grey eyes met James' in a stifled smirk at the comment as Remus quickly pulled his textbook away from the spilled orange juice. Sirius turned to his attacker who had just released him with a huge grin.
"Bones. You bloody ogre you! Seriously mate, you eat a hippogriff for breakfast or something."
Edgar Bones smiled genially at the comment, glancing down at his large arms with pride. He was hulking, especially for a wizard, one of the largest boys in the school, but much like Hagrid he was a gentle giant.
"Probably nothing compared to thefillingsupper you had last night!" Edgar laughed, his blonde eyebrows suggestively dancing, and Sirius frowned in response.
"Hey, if I'm looking a little pudgy it's because- ouch!" Sirius grabbed his right arm as someone smacked it harshly, "What in Merlin's saggy scrotum was that for!" He spat, glaring into the brown orbs of Aiza Shafiq.
"You know what it was for Black!" She stepped forward threateningly.
"Hey now, no need for violence."
"Shut up Bones." Shafiq spat, momentarily imparting some of the venomous glare she was throwing at Sirius on the Hufflepuff. "You better leave now while you still have the ability to father Lan's children."
"Aiza, you can't tell him to shut up, he's the Head Boy!" Lily chided up at her roommate, turning her emerald orbs on Edgar with a strained smile, "Though, perhaps it is better you do leave now Edgar. I do like Lan, and I would hate for you to get caught in the crossfire." She then turned her glare on Sirius, holding her willow wand threateningly at him.
"I like you too Lily." A slight girl popped up behind Edgar and the boy seemed to shrink to half his size from the look on the seventh year Gryffindor's face, "What were you saying, Eddy?"
"Babe… nothing… I was just congratulating Sirius-"
"Congratulating him on what!" Snapped Lan Daiyu, her jet-black pixie hair more than a head below her boyfriend's chin but he reclined backwards in fear.
"Nothing!" He laughed awkwardly, "Wow your hair looks-"
Lan swatted her boyfriend's approaching hand, glared momentarily at Sirius, and then made her way down the table, Edgar grovelling behind her.
Sirius shook his head and turned back to the table, jumping slightly as Aiza and Lily were still glowering at him.
He sighed, tired of the girls' antics and more than a little hungry and flicked his wand at the orange juice but before he could grab it Aiza snatched the jug away, sloshing some in the process.
"Hey!" Remus snapped, rising to his feet after someone squeaked. It was a chubby blonde girl who Sirius didn't even realise was sitting with them, her wild hair looking wilder now that it was soaked with orange juice.
"Oops." Aiza shrugged innocently as she placed the now half full jug back down on the table, "I didn't see you there."
"Evelyn-" Remus called as the blonde girl jumped up and scampered away, "Really! Really!" He glared at Aiza over the table and the slender girl shrugged nonchalantly.
"I said I didn't see her there. Can you honestly blame me; the girl is practically the definition of wallflower."
Peter snickered as he usually did at Aiza's jokes and Sirius reached for the platter of bacon, his stomach growling in reminder of his hunger.
"No! No bacon for you!"
"Oh, come on!" Sirius moaned as Lily snatched the platter away.
"You don't get to eat Black! Not when my best friend is upstairs crying her eyes out!"
"Best friend! Mary's MY best friend."
"Some best friend you are!" Lily snapped at the raven-haired girl, strands of her hair freeing itself from her bun as if they were little sparks of protestation, "You're too busy fighting with Remus to help matters."
"Like you're doing a better job! Steal his bacon, that will show him!"
"Could I perhaps have some-"
"Shut up Peter!" The girls sang in unison, turning on the boy who quickly sunk in his seat, watery blue eyes still steadily on the platter in Lily's hand but not daring to say a word.
"Don't tell him to shut up!" Remus snapped at Aiza.
"Oh, you keep quiet Potter!" Lily spat.
"I haven't even said a thing!" James blanched as Lily's face went slightly pink at having reprimanded the wrong person.
Lily took a deep breath and lifted her chin imperiously, evidently not a stance for apologising for mistakes, "Exactly! You just let him do whatever he wants!" She gestured emphatically at Sirius, "You should keep him on a leash!"
Peter choked on his orange juice at that, and Remus banged him on the back as Sirius jumped up from his seat, "You know what Evans, your snapping at Prongs is becoming a tad bit tiresome. You can't just take your bad mood out on him all the time! "
"Excuse me!" The redhead recoiled, affronted.
"Don't, Padfoot!" James stood, and a good few heads swivelled about to see where all the commotion was coming from.
"You know what, Black is right! You've been a complete bitch recently." There was a culmination of gasps at Aiza's words and a few second-year boys seated near the group of sixth years grabbed their bags and scuttled away.
"You're one to talk." Remus muttered under his breath as he patted his mouth with a napkin.
"Lupin, if you have something to say-"
"Will you all just SHUT UP!"
Everyone snapped around, Marlene Dawson was standing there, pink faced in frustration. She turned her attention to Sirius, "Sirius, I don't know what possessed you last night, but Mary is NOT that kind of girl. Now, go upstairs and apologize to her."
"Oh Sirius, what did you do?" Remus groaned as he let his napkin fall onto his empty plate.
"Nothing!" Sirius' voice was high pitched in defence. "Except try and please you!"
"Me?" Remus' brows rose in alarm.
"Yeah you. You made me feel all bad for calling Devon scrawny and odd the other night, so I tried to fix things."
"Oh Godric." Remus muttered as he shoved his textbook into his bag, "What did you do Padfoot?"
"Nothing bad. If anybody should feel bad it's Mary. She's the one that ran off when she saw Devon. I mean, here I am, trying to do a nice thing and hook those two up…"
"What?" Lily gasped.
"Well, I figured he's shy, she's shy-"
"He's shy!" Lily choked out, immune to all the stares they were accumulating, "HE!"
"Yeah, Devon. Evans if you didn't notice the boy doesn't…" Sirius was distracted by the tall tanned girl who appeared to have almost fallen over with laughter, gripping James's shoulder for support as Lily took a startled step back.
"You think… Devon is… a boy…"
"I don't think Devon is a boy. Jude Devon IS a boy. What is up with you girls-"
"Oh Godric! You are SUCH an idiot Black!" Aiza straightened up to her full height, her brown eyes were misty with tears and her face radiated amusement, "JudALIA Devon is in the sixth year, and SHE is a Gryffindor! If she was a boy, why wasn't she rooming with you idiots?"
"No no no… Devonisa guy." Sirius backed up, bumping into the table for the second time that morning, sharing none of Shafiq's evident enjoyment, "I'm positive. And I didn't know HE was in Gryffindor."
"Then I suppose McGonagall made a mistake then, placing a boy in a girl's dormitory. That makes so much more sense considering the impossible alternative of you being wrong." Lily stated sarcastically.
"Well, I would have to agree with you Miss Evans." Lily jumped and spun around in shock, "Indeed I am mistaken. By thinking my sixth years are adult enough to sit a breakfast in a polite manner, but alas the responsibility is much too difficult for you lot to bear." She held a thin hand up as Lily opened her mouth to defend herself, the deputy headmistress's olive-green eyes were relentless, "I do not expect to speak to you again on this matter." And with that final statement she stalked off, leaving the redhead prefect in a state of horror.
"Marlene!" Cassandra Johnson ran up to the group of students, blind to the awkward silence that just descended upon the sixth years, "I've just been to your dorm to return your jumper, is everything okay? I couldn't get in and I could hear crying…"
At Cassandra's words, three pairs of eyes darted back to Sirius, and he groaned as Marlene grabbed him by the arm, "Walk, Black!"
He tossed the platter full of bacon a longing glance, feeling as if he'd be lucky to even eat dinner at the way this morning was going.
-x-x-x-
"Mary?" Sirius walked into the girls' dorm slowly after Aiza spelled it open. Being in the same year as the school's biggest pranksters made the girls in his year very paranoid about security and Sirius glanced back at the now closed door that the girls had pushed him through.
How those three managed to convince him that this was somehow his problem to fix he didn't know, "Mary?"
"What do you want?" Sirius spun around, the voice coming from the closed four poster closest to the window.
He walked towards it, sitting down on the bed next to it which he was positive was Evans as it was painstakingly neat.
"Well, I've come to apologize." He rolled his eyes, grateful that she couldn't see that he didn't really feel sorry at all. He hadn't done anything wrong in his opinion but Evans and Shafiq were annoyingly persistent.
"The whole school thinks that… that… last night… that…"
"Oh, who cares what the school thinks." He grabbed at the frame on the drawer and stared at Evans family. It was odd how different she looked from her sister.
Sirius always assumed that siblings had to look similar. He and Reg were practically twins when they were younger, most of the differences they had now was manmade. Sirius worked out like a 'common muggle' and had lean muscles whilst Reg looked like the typical pureblood who never had to lift his finger to do anything. Reg would grow his hair long if Sirius cut it and vice versa. He stared at the little redhead girl in the picture, her emerald eyes staring up at her sister in admiration… he remembered what it was like to be looked at like that…
There was a sound of ripping and Mary MacDonalds' head appeared between the scarlet drapes, "I care, Sirius!"
He cleared his throat and placed the frame back down on the drawer, "Well you shouldn't! You know what really happened-"
"Yes, I do! You… you wanted us… you-" She bit her lip and tears cloaked her eyes and Sirius sprung off the bed, shaking his hands profusely.
"Woah… no! I didn't! Mary, I thought that Devon…" Saying it aloud made him realise how stupid he was for thinking it, "I thought Jude was a boy. I thought you two would… enjoy each other's company."
Mary's face paled, the tears remaining trapped within her large orbs, "So you invited me there… for Devon."
"Yes." Sirius laughed, happy that she finally was getting it, "See, I didn't invite you there for any nefarious reasons! Just a double date… of sorts."
"Oh."
"Yeah! So, there's no need to be embarrassed. And shut yourself away. You know how this school is, somebody would knock somebody up by lunchtime and there'd forget all about this mess."
She sighed, pushing the drapes open and sliding out of her bed, she was wearing blue flannel pyjamas that were a size too big, "I guess Azura was right."
"Five words I truly think impossible. What did the blonde banshee say." Sirius wandered to the window and stared at the first years making their way to the greenhouses. He chuckled as one tripped and fell in a spot of mud, mini-Ted Tonks.
"That there was no way that Sirius Black would have an…orgy and invite me."
He turned away from the window and walked back to the mousy haired girl, "She's completely right." The tears freed themselves from their chamber and rolled down the girl's round face and he glanced at the apparently harmless door as he reached forward and swiped his thumb against her plump cheeks, staring down at her large brown eyes and whispered, "I respect you way too much for that Mary."
She bit her lip, and her nose was a startling pink colour as she looked two seconds away from fainting. He lowered his hand and turned away from the girl, voicing the question at the door, "Will you please come out now, before your friends murder me."
She snorted, "Like they care. Aiza's probably off flirting with Remus, Lily fighting with Potter and Marlene f…fluttering her eyelashes up at Andrew."
"Fluttering her eyelashes up?" Sirius chuckled and turned back to the girl as she ducked her head.
"It's the only euphemism I could think of." She sighed, "You know I look at you, and Potter and Remus. And even Peter, and I get so jealous. You guys are such good friends… we used to be like that. Now everything is different and I'm all alone. Maybe Ishouldhang out with Devon, the two outcasts."
"Oh Mary!" Lily and Aiza barged into the room and Marlene fluttered in after the pair.
"Oh, we had no idea you felt that way."
"Of course we're all still friends."
"You'll never be an outcast!"
"You're my best friend." Sirius' brows rose at the declaration made by all three girls in unison.
"He who is everybody's best friend is nobody's best friend."
"Shut up Black." Aiza and Lily chimed together.
"No, he's right." Marlene walked towards Mary, her chestnut hair golden brown in the sunlight staining the room, "Mary is OUR best friend because she's always there for us, but we've been pretty pathetic friends in return. Not just to Mary, to each other as well. Lily, Aiza is right, you've been in such a bad mood lately. You just snap at anyone. And Aiza, I don't even know what happened, you just drifted away last year. You don't tell us anything. You just leave and don't say where you're going. And I know that I've become one of those girls that's constantly with their boyfriend …" She lowered her blue eyes in shame at her own words.
"Well, what do expect of me Marlene. Every time I tell you something you lot judge me." Aiza folded her arms defensively.
"Because you're so much better than those idiots that you fool around with." Lily moaned as she turned to the taller girl, "They don't deserve you."
"But it's my life Lil's. I hate feeling like my mother is sleeping in the bed next to mine, like I have to report back to you all the time."
"I just worry about you-"
"I know you do, but you're suffocating. What happened! You used to be… fun! AND funny! We'd stay up ALL night talking and just picking on these idiots." Aiza gestured at Sirius as Lily worried her bottom lip, her green eyes misting over, "And now all you know is rules and regulation and work."
"I know." Her voice cracked and Sirius bit back an astonished gasp, Evans was just about the strongest girl he ever came across, "It's just so… hard! I'm taking all these subjects because I want to be Head Girl SO badly."
The room resounded in groans, but Lily wiped at a tear that broke free and ducked her face into her palms, "I just want to be able to go home and tell my parents' ONE thing there'd understand! Outstanding in Transfiguration? Perfect score for Charms. That's gibberish to them! Head Girl they'll get!"
"Lily! Of course you're going to be head girl! You're the best at everything!" Marlene walked forward, flinging a comforting arm about her crying friend.
"No, I'm not! I'm only the top of the year for like three subjects, Lan is top of her year for EVERY subject and that's how she got Head Prefect this year!"
"Well, that's because we have freaks of nature like these monkeys in our year, upsetting the hierarchy with their weird natural talent. Luckily they all have penises." Aiza gave Sirius a once over, "Well I think they do. So, you have no competition for Head Girl."
"No competition." Lily lifted her head up and stared at Aiza in disbelief, "Selina Selwyn! Sarah Fawley!"
"Selwyn's a frigid bitch and Fawley is like the timidest creature I've ever met. Will you stop stressing!" Aiza swallowed thickly, "I'd really like my friend back."
"Even if I mother you too much."
"My mother didn't mother me enough, so I guess… you're Fate's way of compensating."
"Oh Aiza!" Lily flung herself at the girl, Mary and Marlene quickly joining the embrace.
Sirius walked forward, "NO!" They chorused, still holding each other comfortably in the way girls could only do.
He shook his head and backed out of the room, grabbing his broom stick, and turned, feeling a soft bump at his chest.
He glanced down, seeing the now familiar black eyes.
He narrowed his eyes, taking in the bo…girl's features. Upon closer inspection, the face was very feminine, but Peter's face was like that too and Sirius knew Peter was a boy. He glanced lower, the real conundrum. Sirius was aware that not all girls were gifted equally but none were so robbed than the girl that stood before him.
Flat wasn't even the word.
She side stepped him, still clad in an amorphous track pants and he shook his head, "You owe me bacon."
He stepped on the stairs just as he remembered why he had the broomstick in his hand, but it was too late, the stairs flattened and he tumbled quite ungracefully to the bottom.
He grumbled to his feet, cursing himself for forgetting about the girls' staircase but his breath hitched as he caught a glimpse of the girl at the top of the staircase.
Sirius was positive of two things that morning.
That Jude Devon was most definitely a girl.
And he most definitely saw a smile cross her face…
And it was beautiful.
Thanks so much for reading! Feedback as always is very much appreciated!
Kalina