Back at Hogwarts, the game was not going well. Since Ravenclaw defeated Slytherin earlier in the season, and Gryffindor had won both games against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Gryffindor was again playing Slytherin.
Lily nervously wrung her hands. She hadn’t thought it possible for Sirius to play worse than he had two weeks before. He had just missed an easy pass from James. Slytherin was only leading 30-10, so they still had a chance. James snatched the quaffle out of midair, and heaved it towards the hoops.
Score! James punched the air with his fist. Lily relaxed slightly.
This game is dragging, Sirius thought. He wasn’t paying attention at all. A bludger whistled by and nailed him in the left shoulder. He spun around, but managed to stay on his broom. He reached for the quaffle, but a Slytherin chaser nabbed it first. He scored. Sirius saw the look on Sara’s face- she was livid. He vowed to pay attention.
As he soared past the stands, he spotted Lily, but not Noelle. What he also didn’t see was Adam diving for the snitch, with Colin right behind him. Still staring into the stands, he pulled up on his broom.
He collided hard with Adam, causing both of them to fall to the ground. Colin used this to his advantage and wrapped his fingers around the snitch, yelling triumphantly.
The teams both returned to the ground. Madame Hooch was trying to separate the two boys. Adam was swinging at Sirius, shouting furiously. Sirius was swinging right back, yelling just the same. There was a shrill whistle and all was quiet. Sara broke the silence as she spoke through clenched teeth.
“Gryffindor, locker room. Now.”
The team dejectedly headed for the locker room, following the cheering Slytherins. Sirius’ head was down, and he bumped into James.
“Sorry, mate. Wasn’t paying attention.”
James snorted. “Well, that’s nothing new. You haven’t paid attention to anything all day.”
With that, he walked faster to the locker room, leaving Sirius speechless behind him.
Once inside, not one of his teammates would meet his eyes. He walked to his locker.
“Black. My office. NOW.”
He heaved a sigh and walked to Sara’s office. She was perched on the edge of her desk.
“You’re done. I warned you to get your priorities straight.”
He smiled incredulously at her. “You can’t just kick me off the team.”
Her mouth was set. “Yes I can, and I just did. It was your fault Adam didn’t get the snitch. You lost the Cup for us, Black!” she screeched. “Turn in your uniform!”
Furious, he spun on his heel. At his locker, he ripped his uniform off and flung the scarlet and gold robes on the floor. He grabbed his bag and his broom and stormed out of the locker room, stepping onto the robes as he left.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noelle happily skipped her way down the corridor from the staff office. She was humming to herself and smiling brightly. Having lunch in Paris was fabulous, and it had warmed her heart to hear and speak French again. It was late afternoon when she arrived back at Hogwarts, and the Quidditch game was long over. When she opened the door to her dormitory, she found Lily lying on her bed reading her Charms textbook.
“Did we win?” Noelle questioned.
Lily slowly shook her head, and retold the details of the game.
“Oh, mon Dieu. Is Adam alright?”
“He’ll be okay, but...” her voice trailed off.
“What?”
“Sirius got kicked off the team.”
Noelle gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She sank to her bed and folded her legs beneath her. Lily took a deep breath and said,
“Noelle, maybe you should talk to him.”
Noelle’s head shook rapidly. “I cannot. He hates me Lily.”
Lily let out an exasperated sigh. “He needs to grow up.”
She reached up and pushed her hair off her face. “They all need to grow up.”
Noelle nodded in agreement. “How did he take it?”
Lily replied, “Not well, I’d imagine. Sara told me he stormed out of the locker room, and no one has seen him since.”
Inwardly, Noelle knew where he was. He went to the same place she did when things weren’t going well.
“If he hasn’t shown up in an hour, I will try to find him.” She said slowly.
Lily’s green eyes widened. “Do you know where he is?”
Noelle answered softly, “I have an idea.”
Sirius lay flat on his back on a rock at the lakeshore. No one could see him unless they climbed over the jagged boulders behind him. This was his favorite place to go to think things over. He stared at the deep blue sky, watching the clouds make their way across. Sara was right; it was all his fault the team had lost. He couldn’t pay attention to anything these days. Noelle invaded his every thought. He closed his eyes and sighed.
A shadow crossed in front of the sun.
“Ça va?”
It was her. He quickly sat up.
“What are you doing here?”
“Checking on you.”
She smoothed her robes underneath her legs and sat on a rock near him. She stared out at the lake.
“I knew you would be here.” She glanced sideways at him.
Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear she said, “I heard about the game.”
Sirius snorted, “So you’ve come to tell me how much I suck? You’ve been pretty good at that lately.”
Noelle stared at him as if she didn’t recognize him.
“What has happened to you? You are not the Sirius that I used to know.”
He glared at her. “I am the same person I’ve always been. I haven’t changed a bit.”
Noelle nodded thoughtfully. “Then perhaps I never really knew you.”
“That’s right, Noelle. You never really did know me. So you know what? Go back to your precious Slytherins. Go back to Beauxbatons for all I care. I don’t care what you think about me. I don’t even care about you.”
Tears sprung to her eyes and it was all she could do to hold them back. She was not going to cry in front of him again.
“Never mind. I’m sorry I cared.” She stood. “Good bye, Sirius,” she said with finality.
She turned and walked away. As he watched her walk away, regret washed over him in waves.
“Wait...Noelle!”
She kept walking, never looking back. He swore to himself. Why did he always screw things up? He never thought before he let the words spill out, and now he had driven her away.
Noelle stormed back to the castle. The tears had abruptly subsided, and been replaced with anger. She crawled through the portrait hole, and found Lily sitting near the fire with James and Remus. James jumped to his feet,
“Did you find him?”
Noelle nodded. “Oui, and I left him where he was. He does not deserve any of us caring about him. He is too busy caring about himself.”
She was hit by a bout of dry rasping coughs. She covered her mouth with one hand and grabbed the back of the couch with the other. She leaned over and braced herself. The coughs grated at her throat, causing pain with each breath.
“Noelle? You okay?” Remus asked with concern.
She nodded. “I just need to lie down.”
She said hoarsely, and turned to climb the stairs to her room. Once in her room, she pulled her cloak off, still hacking.
Fumbling in her trunk, she removed a small vial of dark green liquid. Wincing as she put the vial to her lips, she threw her head back and poured the contents down her throat. The coughs ceased and gradually she was able to catch her breath. She sat on the edge of her bed, and lowered her head into her hands. For all that the healer had told her today, the episode had been one of the worst yet, and she was scared for the first time.