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Fool Me Once... by Crickette

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Chapter 3

Sirius Black was in very poor shape. His head ached viciously and throbbed to a dull beat, tempting him back into the peaceful nothingness he had emerged from. With a great effort, he became dimly aware that his head was resting comfortably on a plush surface; however, he was unable to account for the rest of his limbs. Sirius was completely numb from the neck down. With another enormous amount of willpower, he attempted to gingerly move each of his arms and legs, and nearly screamed. Dizzying, mind-numbing pain swamped him, and it took every last ounce of concentration not to fall back into the welcoming darkness. Sirius interpreted this as a good sign, however; it meant that each was limb was still attached, and even better “ he was alive.

“Well, well, well, Mr. Fearless is finally awake. No, you don’t want to move that, not yet. Oh, you poor fool. Here “ I just came in from outside and it’s freezing, so this should feel nice.”

The next moment, Sirius felt a pair of icy, gentle hands press firmly against his forehead, then his cheeks, and neck. He groaned appreciatively, earning a distinctively female chuckle from his companion whom he had yet to see.

“Thought it would. Oh, you idiot, what did you think you were doing over there?” She sighed. “I suppose you’re not in any shape to answer that at the moment. There now,” the girl murmured, gently stroking the damp hair back out of Sirius’ face. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit. You should try to get some more sleep, I promise it’ll be much more enjoyable than staying awake at this point.”

No, Sirius thought frantically; he couldn’t yet bring himself to form words. Wait! He felt a sudden, desperate compulsion to see his caretaker before she left. Concentrating, his eyes fluttered open, and he blinked furiously trying to clear his vision.

Finally, a blurry image began to form, and he could make out long, dark hair framing a face so fair, he thought for a moment it was glowing. She was draped in wispy robes of white, and there was a halo of light shimmering around her. One chilly hand was still cupping his cheek, her thumb tenderly stroking his sweaty brow. As she began to move away, Sirius shot out his hand and seized her wrist, barely registering her surprised, “Oh!” She needed to stay with him. He needed her to stay.

Unfortunately, the sharp movement brought on a wave of sickening pain that made his stomach roll and his vision blacken around the edges. An angel, he thought dreamily.

Then everything went black.


Sirius awoke to the sounds of familiar voices chattering away close by. He opened his eyes and saw his best friends, James Potter sitting to his right, and Remus Lupin standing beside him. Lily Evans, a pretty girl with vivid red hair was arranging flowers at the foot of his bed. The pain in his body had lessened dramatically, and he found he was able to think clearly once again. Glancing around, he realized that he was in the hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, lying in one of the lumpy beds they provided for unlucky patients.

“Wicked beating it was. I thought he had snuffed it for sure. It should have been me in there, I never should have let him go by himself.”

“James, shut up,” Lily snapped. “He’s awake.”

Lupin turned and smiled down at him and James grinned broadly, gripping Sirius’ hand in his own. Sirius grinned back.

“Welcome back,” said Lupin.

“You look like hell,” observed James, and gave Sirius’ hand a squeeze. His voice had a rough edge to it, as though there were something large caught in his throat he couldn’t quite manage to dislodge.

Sirius squeezed back. He had understood the unspoken sentiment, and responded in turn.

“Enjoy it, mate; you might not get another chance to be the good looking one.”

“Amazing,” marveled Lily, walking back over to the bed and placing a hand on James’s shoulder. “Practically gets beaten to a pulp, yet his ego remains perfectly in tact.” Her voice had a sarcastic edge to it, but she too was smiling happily.

Together they filled him in on the incident, as pieces of his own memory slowly fit back into place. On a recent venture into the shrieking shack, James had forgotten his invisibility cloak, which they normally used to sneak Lupin back into the school after his transformation into a werewolf had reversed itself. Intrigued by the challenge, Sirius had volunteered to retrieve it, and bet James he could make it past the Whomping Willow without transforming into his Animagi shape first; a large, black dog. The Whomping Willow was a recent addition to the Hogwarts grounds. A rather ordinary looking tree, anyone unfortunate enough to get close enough soon discovered that the willow did not appreciate company. This was evidenced by the impromptu graveyard of bird skeletons surrounding the perimeter. No one else was exactly sure what had happened next, as he had insisted on going it alone, but Sirius distinctly remembered mounting his broom and weaving brazenly in and out of the Willow’s violent, furious branches. He had just nearly reached the knot on the trunk that froze the Willow’s attacks, when out of the side of his vision he caught a glimpse of a thick, rough branch swinging towards him at an alarming speed. The next image that formed in his mind was of the dark-haired girl who had soothed him with cool hands and a kind, soft voice.

“You’ve been out cold for three days,” said Lupin, somberly. “We weren’t sure if you were going to come out of it, had us worried half to death, but then Miriam told us you had “”

“Who’s Miriam?” interrupted Sirius.

“Miriam,” answered Madame Pompfrey, walking towards the bed and delicately balancing a silver tray packed with bandages, some sharp-looking tools, and half a bottle of foul-looking green liquid, “is the reason you’re alive, my dear. Now, stand back, let me see, let me see…Hmm.” She snipped away at bandages examining the healing bruises and bumps, poking here, prodding there. “Ah hmmm. Very good, very good indeed. Magical hands, that girl’s got. I daresay I couldn’t have done a better job myself. You’re a very lucky young man; if she hadn’t been tending to you in my absence, you very well might have lost this,” she said, and gave Sirius’ right leg a sharp jab with one of the tools.

“Bloody hell!” The blood drained straight out of his face and seemed to collect in the pit of his stomach where it gave one slow, sickening roll. Lily winced, Lupin looked away, and James grimaced as the hand still gripping Sirius’ was crushed in his friend’s reflex to the pain. Panting for breath, Sirius looked down at his leg, and immediately wished he hadn’t. The leg, or what was left of it, was hardly recognizable. Thick, black stitching circled around the length of it, and looked as though a jagged chain had been burned into his very skin. The flesh itself was a sickening purplish-green color, and swollen. His toes appeared twice the normal size, and seemed to splay out at odd angles. Madame Pompfrey, tutting to herself, dabbed absently at fresh blood that began to leak out of the stitching.

“This,” hissed Sirius, breathing heavily still “is lucky?”

“Be glad that you’re able to feel that! Goodness, I’d never seen such a mess in my life. Not all on one body, that’s for sure, and to think, non-magical it was, too! So much blood. Any other student would have passed out cold at the sight of that leg. Girl’s got a stomach of pure steel, she does. It’s a miracle you’ve still got it, hate to think what would have happened if Miriam hadn’t volunteered cover for my leave. Full marks, I say. Full marks, indeed.”

“You should have seen the rest of yourself,” said James grimly. “You looked like you had been trampled by an angry herd of hippogriffs.”

“Gashed from head to toe,” added Lupin.

“Miriam was able to patch the rest of you up fairly well,” said Madame Pompfrey. “However, no amount of magic, I’m afraid, will be able to instantly heal the number of

injuries you acquired. You’ll be sore for a few days yet. This,” she started, and began to wrap the gruesome leg in fresh bandages, “will take a bit longer, I’m afraid.”

“What exactly happened to it?” asked Sirius through gritted teeth. The pain was unbelievable.

Madame Pompfrey heaved out a huge sigh. “Ripped completely in half, it was. Bones crushed to smithereens, entire leg just lying ripped open, pouring, just gushing out blood…”

“Alright,” said Sirius, catching the slightly green tint to Lily’s cheeks. He wasn’t feeling too keen himself. “I get it. It was a big mess.”

“A big mess! Gracious, a big mess, he says. Miriam had to completely vanish the remains of whatever bones were left in, and re-grow them, all the while patching up layers and layers of your flesh. I don’t know how she did it, and all by herself. You see,” said Madame Pompfrey gravely, “you cannot rely on magic for everything. There’s only so much one can perform on a body before it’s overloaded with this and that, and your spells start to cancel each other out. Otherwise, you’d simply explode with it. Sooner or later you have to rely on nature. Hence,” she said, and finished up the bandage with a neat bow, “those stitching. Primitive, perhaps, but it’ll heal. As for your bones, those will take some time. You can expect a painful next couple of days,” said Madame Pompfrey, and she carefully poured a dollop of medicine into a large spoon. “Drink up!”

Sirius swallowed a spoonful of the sickly green liquid, and had to try very hard not to gag. Almost immediately, however, he could feel the merciful numbness in his body returning. Madame Pompfrey informed James, Remus, and Lily that they had ten more minutes before it was time for Sirius’ afternoon nap and ambled away with her tray, muttering something about hazardous vegetation.

Sirius, who felt like he had been napping for an eternity, ignored this and looked intensely at Lily.

“Who,” he asked meaningfully, “is Miriam?”

“What, do your ears need to be bandaged up as well? Madame Pompfrey just told you all about --”

“Miriam,” interrupted Lily, obviously understanding Sirius much better than James had, “is a sixth year, like us, in Hufflepuff. Pretty girl, dark hair. We’ve partnered together loads of times in Double Herbology. I’d say she’s very likely the brightest girl of her House. Don’t tell me you don’t know her,” said Lily, incredulously. “We’ve all had dozens of classes with her over the years.”

Lupin nodded agreeably.

“We have Charms with her this year,” he piped in.

“I’ve partnered with her more than once in Advanced Potions,” James added. “There isn’t an antidote known to wizard-kind she can’t conjure up. Quite entertaining, really,” he said, and smiled. “I’m quite sure Professor Scourgish would have loved to fail me dozens of times. You should see her face when she walks by our perfectly concocted potions,” he laughed. “Priceless.”

“I’m sure those ‘perfect concoctions’ of yours were also perfectly equal efforts,” quipped Lily. James shrugged, grinning. He picked up the hand on his shoulder and nibbled playfully on her knuckles. Lily blushed furiously and yanked her hand away, her lips pursed so hard together trying not to smile it seemed as though there were something particularly sour in her mouth.

Sirius tried half-heartedly not to smile himself as he and Lupin exchanged knowing glances.

“Anyway,” said Lily, clearing her throat, “she’s training to become a Healer. I remember her mentioning something about apprenticing under Madame Pompfrey a few weeks ago. Oh, she must be so pleased, she’s been dreaming about this for years.”

“I guess I’ve never noticed her before,” admitted Sirius, and tried to look nonchalant. Lily, however, caught the gleam in his eye.

“Oh, no you don’t. Don’t even think abut it,” ordered Lily, her voice rising. “Miriam does not need any distractions, especially of the romantic sort. She’s worked very hard for this, and has got enough on her plate without the likes of you meddling about. And besides,” she said, calmer now, “she’s not your type.”

“And what,” inquired Sirius, “exactly is ‘my type?’”

“Well,” muttered Lily, and blushed. “It’s just that…I mean, Miriam’s…” She seemed as though trying to word her answer as delicately as possible. “Miriam’s smart.”

James snorted derisively, and covered his mouth with his fist, his shoulders shaking with laughter. Lupin bit the inside of his cheek, and stared determinably at a crack in the ceiling. Sirius, however, was not amused.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, come off it, Sirius,” said Lily, giving up on delicacy. “It’s just, I’ve never seen you give a girl a second look because of a particularly insightful answer in Transfiguration.”

“I like smart girls,” said Sirius, grudgingly.

“Oh yeah,” scoffed Lily. “Tiffany Phillips, now there was a genius. I’ve never met anyone so knowledgeable about the chemical structure of their lipstick before. And Brittany Rosen, well, I suppose it can’t be easy to match ones robes to hair that blonde quite so perfectly.”

Lupin abandoned his attempt for politeness and guffawed quite loudly. James was clutching his sides, his entire body now quaking with laughter.

“Alright, alright, I get it,” muttered Sirius. “So I’m not exactly known for picking the brainiest sorts,” and glared at James whom he had distinctly heard mutter, “or brunettes,” under his breath.

“Well, to be fair, I suppose she’s not exactly the most striking girl, is she? She does tend to kind of…blend in,” Lily admitted. “Still, I don’t doubt every boy in Hufflepuff has tried to catch her eye.”

“Why, if she’s not beautiful?” asked Sirius, and regretted it instantly. Lily drew an indignant breath, her green eyes blazing.

“Because,” she said, her voice rising a few octaves with each word, “not everybody is in agreement that looks account for everything! Believe it or not, some people are actually attracted to intelligence and wit! And substance! And common sense! And --”

“Alright, alright,” Sirius relented, holding up his hands in peace. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant “”

“I’d imagine because of the challenge,” Lupin interjected, glancing at Lily apologetically and preventing Sirius from wedging his foot further into his mouth. “She’s almost always buried behind some book or another, and she has this very innocent, I think, way about her. And she is very pretty, just not particularly…obvious about it. I suppose it would garner some bragging rights to be the one to finally nail “ ow! I mean…er, win her heart,” he finished, rubbing his arm where Lily had punched him.

The next minute, Madame Pompfrey was rambling towards them, shooing James, Lily, and Remus promptly out of the hospital wing, insisting that the poor, mindless idiot needed his rest.

Alone, Sirius leaned back against his pillows. He frowned, thoughtfully. Again he tried to imagine the dark-haired girl, Miriam, though the image was fuzzier than ever before. Instead, he replayed the description his friends had given him, over and over again in his mind. A challenge, Lupin had said.

Sirius Black was always ready for a challenge.