Focus, Sirius! he told himself angrily. He didn’t need to be thinking about James when he was trying to do Transfiguration homework.
“What’s up?”
He looked up to see Jocelyn sitting beside him. Up close, he saw, she looked extremely tired. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed before, then realized with a twinge of guilt that he hadn’t looked at her up close for a long while. He had a momentary struggle with himself.
“Hey,” he said finally. Her worn face broke into a tired smile.
“Look, Sirius, I’m sorry about what I said in Potions. About James,” she said quickly, looking at her hands. “You’re right, I should stay out of it, it’s just “”
“It’s all right,” he said quickly, mostly because he couldn’t bear to hear any more about James.
She looked up at him, her smile broadening, but her eyes looked suspiciously shiny.
“Don’t you start crying,” he warned her, and she gave a shaky laugh. She looked down at what he was doing.
“Need any help with that essay?” she asked him.
He nodded.
“Help,” he said appreciatively, “would be fantastic!”
“You could try to talk to him,” Jocelyn suggested tentatively in Transfiguration the next day. Now that she and Sirius were on speaking terms again she was anxious to smooth things over with him and James.
“No!” said Sirius stubbornly. “I didn’t do anything wrong! If he wants to make things up he knows where to find me!”
He tapped his desk, which he was supposed to be transfiguring into a pig. It sprouted a pair of pale pink pig ears and emitted a small grunt.
“I just think it must be awkward sharing a dormitory, that’s all,” noted Jocelyn, shrugging. She and Sirius both looked over at James, who was using his perfectly transfigured pig as a footrest.
“That’s his problem,” said Sirius bitterly.
Jocelyn looked up at him, and what she said next surprised him.
“There’s a war going on, Sirius,” she told him quietly. “And someday someone you love is going to die. What if, God forbid, it’s James? Who’s problem will it be then?”
“Bad luck for him, then,” said Sirius indifferently.
Jocelyn raised her eyebrows.
“Do you really think that?” she asked, her voice emotionless. “Do you think that’s what you’ll think if he’s dead?”
“He’s not dead, Jocelyn!” snapped Sirius, then added under his breath, “Unfortunately!”
He was starting to feel the old, familiar feeling of annoyance with her. He tapped his desk again and the wrought iron legs transformed into four short, spindly pig legs, which collapsed immediately.
“Black, I want a word with you after practice!” James barked at Jocelyn that night.
“Big surprise,” she mumbled. She had been expecting this for over two weeks, but it didn’t make the prospect of a confrontation with James any more pleasant.
“You clearly aren’t paying enough attention during the games!” said James severely after the practice. “A Bludger practically knocked out Sylvia Long! If she hadn’t ducked when she did she would have been out cold in the hospital wing for a week!”
“There are two Beaters, Potter,” Jocelyn reminded him coolly. “And I was clear across the pitch when that Bludger went after Long. Why don’t you speak to Beavis, it was his responsibility.”
“You are a better Beater than Beavis, so I count on you to watch out for these things,” explained James, extremely unfairly.
Jocelyn wasn’t sure whether she should thank James or punch him in the face. She compromised by saying evenly, “I don’t have the ability to be in two places at once, Potter. And the reason I was clear across the pitch was because I was stopping the other Bludger from flying into your thick skull. However, if you’d rather I had sped across the pitch to aid Sylvia and let the other Bludger permanently imbed itself in your brain I will most certainly remember to do so at our next match. It should be rather satisfying, actually. Is that all, captain?”
“No, that’s not bloody all!” snapped James. “Tell Sirius “!”
“I’m not telling Sirius anything!” she interrupted loudly. “You share a dormitory with him, you see him every evening, tell him yourself! I won’t be the middleman in your petty squabble!”
“Petty squabble?!” gasped James indignantly. “Jocelyn, he and Lily “!”
“I KNOW WHAT HE AND LILY DID!” bellowed Jocelyn. “You don’t, because you won’t listen to him! If you can’t take the time to listen to your best mate that’s not my problem!”
She turned and began to stalk away.
“Doesn’t it bother you as well?” James questioned suddenly.
She froze.
“What?”
“Seeing them as a couple. Doesn’t it bother you to see your best mate and the person you fancy together?”
Jocelyn turned slowly, her eyes narrowed.
“Firstly, it wouldn’t bother me if they had a good reason for it,” she said, her voice deathly calm. “Secondly, they’re not a couple, so it’s irrelevant. And thirdly” “ her voice rose angrily “ “I do not fancy Sirius!”
She turned and stormed angrily away. James didn’t bother her during Quidditch practice after that. In fact, he hardly spoke to her at all. But every time Jocelyn saw him while they were practicing she would clutch her Beater’s club convulsively. It was all she could do to keep from flying straight at James and beating him with it.
“Seven days,” Remus anxiously reminded Jocelyn Monday morning.
“I know,” she muttered back. “I wish I could go with you.”
Inwardly she cursed herself. She really should have become an Animagus when she’d had the chance. Sirius had offered to help her. Well, she supposed there was no use fretting about it now.
“It’s not your fault,” Remus assured her. “I’m just wondering who’ll end up coming with me. Pity that Peter transforms into such a small animal,” he observed as Peter took a seat opposite them.
“Quite,” agreed Jocelyn. “Still, maybe your transformation will be what brings them together.”
“You really think so?” Remus questioned skeptically.
“No,” she admitted. “But I can dream, can’t I?”
“No, that’s rubbish! Work on a plan,” he instructed her. The only problem was, she was running out of ideas.
Transfiguration that morning was probably the worst class they had had yet. Professor McGonagall wasn’t at all pleased by their pitiful pigs.
“Mr. Potter remains the only student who has successfully transformed his desk,” she reminded the class as soon as they were settled in their seats. “Some of you have only succeeded in breaking yours,” she added severely, glaring at Sirius over her spectacles.
If looks were lethal James would have died at that instant, for Sirius sent him a glare of pure hatred. James leaned back in his chair and whistled at the ceiling.
They spent the rest of the period attempting, once again, to fully transfigure their desks, but for Sirius, at least, it was no use. He simply couldn’t concentrate. He could see James out of the corner of his eye, feet propped on his plump pig’s back, chatting lazily with the students nearest him, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around him. Sirius knew what was making him angry wasn’t James’s excellent spell work; no, what was really making him uncomfortable was that he should have been right next to James, in a similar pose, and that James should have been chatting with him. As it was “
“Mr. Black, pay attention!” Professor McGonagall reprimanded.
Sirius jumped, and looked up to see her towering above his desk.
“Try to do the spell!” she ordered.
Sirius tapped his desk. Nothing happened. He tapped it again. Again, nothing. He tapped it a third time. A feeble grunt, but no physical change. In his peripheral vision he could see James smirking at him. He slammed his wand angrily against the desk. A corner of the desk caught fire. Sirius quickly put it out with a wave of his wand. In the corner of the room he could hear James laughing at him.
A/N: Hello my faithful readers! As you have probably noticed I have been updating fairly quickly. However, due to certain circumstances in my life (such as the fact that I actually have a life), I will be unable to update again until Monday (June 27th) at the earliest, and possibly as late as next Friday (July 1st). I tell you this because a.) I don’t want you to all think I dropped off the face of the earth, and b.) because of the longer time frame I am upping the price of an update to twelve reviews (from different people, just so we’re clear ;)). So review, and see you all next week! ~ Trinsy