The first week back was definitely one of the most tiring Sirius had ever had the misfortune of experiencing. His and his fellow seventh years’ noses were red raw from having them continually pressed against the grindstone. Their workload was at an all time high, and Sirius was having a harder time of it than most. His detentions with McGonagall and Slughorn weren’t exactly what you’d call hard work, but they had been time consuming, which ultimately didn’t ease his soon-to-be disastrous homework situation. The detentions along with the workload, the lack of sufficient amount of sleep, and Regulus constantly plaguing his mind had resulted in Sirius already being three homework essays behind everybody else.
Regulus. He had been Sirius’ biggest problem this week. After confiding in Remus, it hadn’t been hard for Sirius to divulge his fears unto the others. And he was immensely glad that he had done so, for they had been nothing but supportive. However, this had been earlier on in the week, and recently Sirius had got the feeling that they were slightly fed up of discussing the situation.
As the week had progressed and his homework situation had started to become dire, he had been forced to realise that there was nothing that he could do concerning Regulus for the time being, and he was left to hope that the time for confronting his younger brother would present itself in due course.
The week’s Defence against the Dark Arts lessons had also done nothing whatsoever to lighten his mood. It wasn’t the fact that MacIntosh wasn’t good; in fact he was annoyingly so. Their first lesson had consisted of their professor informing a class of shocked seventh years that their lessons were pretty much in their hands. “For you are now, as seventh years, rather past the stage where you can be instructed in what spells are to be used in certain situations,” he had recited. “I am afraid that it is now a mere matter of you playing to your strengths, acting intuitively and, above all else, having a natural affinity with the unique magic that flows through your veins and encompasses your very souls.” However, before Sirius had even begun to get excited about the prospect of being allowed to run a ruckus during the class, MacIntosh had told them that there were still certain protective spells that they had yet to encounter, and that they would be starting on Patronuses before the Christmas break.
But it was not MacIntosh’s lesson plan that had vexed Sirius so; rather the effect that MacIntosh was having on his constituents. For all the way through their first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson, Lily and Hayley were to be found trying desperately to dissuade Kirsty from trying to earn herself a detention. In Sirius’ opinion, it was safe to say that she would have found detention with MacIntosh about as punishing as being made to spend the day inside Honeydukes.
Even more annoying than that was the fact that Kirsty had proven herself to be a natural at acting intuitively with concerns to magic. MacIntosh had been so impressed with her that she had been the only one exempt from that day’s homework.
It was these things and more that had led to Sirius secretly claiming war on MacIntosh. The first bout of this had commenced during their third Defence against the Dark Arts lesson of the year.
Making sure to arrive much earlier than everybody else, Sirius had slipped inside the classroom and concealed himself in a shadowy corner behind a grand oak bookcase which made its residence at the far end of the classroom.
The class had trundled in, but still Sirius had remained hidden.
MacIntosh took the register and yet Sirius still didn’t alert the Professor to his presence in the room.
It wasn’t until about halfway through the lesson, when MacIntosh had set the class that day’s task, that Sirius had chosen to make his appearance.
He jumped out from behind the bookcase, startling many a student in the process, and yelled triumphantly, “Just kidding! I’m here! Fooled you again!”
MacIntosh had been too taken back to speak, let alone dish out punishment, and Sirius sat down and remained quiet for the rest of the class. There was a limit to how far you could take such things after all. Sirius one, MacIntosh zero.
*
“You’ll do fine, James,” stated Remus reassuringly.
James paid no attention to him and continued to wring his hands anxiously.
It was Friday evening, and Sirius and the others had all just settled themselves down for dinner.
They had not long been released from the swelteringly hot Charms classroom and, due to the immense heat, robes had now been yanked off, shirt sleeves rolled up, hair tied back, collars loosened, and ties removed.
Sirius was now digging enthusiastically into his shepherd’s pie, but James, who was looking like nerves had started to take a hold of him, refused to touch anything.
“You’ll be a great captain!” chirped in Peter.
James shrugged noncommittally.
“You know what,” began Hayley munching thoughtfully on the sandwich she had just pinched off Lily’s plate, “I think I might tryout for Ravenclaw Seeker this year.”
Sirius choked on his mouthful of shepherd’s pie and proceeded to have a coughing fit. As Lily helpfully patted him on the back, Remus queried, “You?”
“Yes, what’s so funny about that?” Hayley replied defensively, shifting her weight to the other foot from her position behind Kirsty’s shoulder, poised to leave for her own table at any moment.
“The fact that you can’t catch for one thing,” piped up Emma.
“What? I can too catch!” protested Hayley indignantly.
From his seat beside Sirius, Peter quickly launched an apple Hayley’s way.
She reacted too slowly and the apple soared past her outstretched hand.
“See,” retorted Peter smugly.
Hayley wasn’t amused in the slightest.
“You have to be able to catch to be a Seeker,” Kirsty informed Hayley with a cocky smirk.
Sirius, having now recovered from his recent coughing fit, picked an apple out of the fruit bowl and gazed at it, a cunning smile gracing his lips.
Without further hesitation he lobbed the fruit over at Kirsty.
Sirius had to credit her, because she did in fact notice the oncoming green blur quicker than Hayley had done.
Kirsty practically lunged sideways on her seat to retrieve the apple. Her fingertips were inches away from latching onto the waxy exterior of the fruit when her balance failed her. She perched precariously on the edge of the bench, flailing her arms around madly, before Remus grabbed her sleeve and pulled her upright once more. The apple hit the floor with a small thud.
“My Seeker, everybody,” remarked James dryly.
Kirsty looked sulky and replied defensively, “Shut up. I bet Sam won’t be able to catch it either.”
Typical Kirsty, thought Sirius, pass the challenge onto someone else and pray that their failure will far outstrip your own.
Lily studied her apple for a moment before throwing it towards an extremely unaware Sam.
Thump. The fruit hit him hard on the forehead.
Lily dutifully mouthed her apology to him before Peter quipped sarcastically, “Great Quidditch team, Prongs.”
James was looking unimpressed by his team’s performance.
“Are you sure you don’t want to make this lot tryout again?” asked Sirius.
James just shook his head disbelievingly.
Emma, clearly wanting revenge for the unprovoked attack on Sam, scooped another apple out of the fruit bowl and threw it at James.
With the air of a pro, James stuck his hand out and caught the soaring fruit effortlessly.
“Damn you, Potter,” growled Kirsty, displeased.
James gave her what she must have construed as an extremely infuriating grin.
“So, do you reckon I should do it?” Hayley continued to enquire.
“Do what?” asked Remus, cutting into his steak.
“Try out for the Quidditch team!” cried Hayley exasperatedly, giving Remus a highly annoyed look.
Sirius and the others all shared glances and smirked at each other.
“No,” they all confessed in unison, grinning madly.
“You’re all rotten buggers, you know that?” announced Hayley, picking her bag up angrily and storming off to the Ravenclaw table.
“Bless,” sympathised Emma.
“If there was one thing we could have done to make sure she’d try out, it was that,” stated Remus. “Now she’s going to do it just to prove a point.”
Sirius laughed along with the others.
“So, technically, we just did her a favour,” pointed out James. “I must say that makes me feel decidedly less guilty.”
“I am so going to watch Hayley tryout,” said Kirsty enthusiastically.
“Well, I guess you should make to at least one of the teams’ tryouts,” retorted James with annoyance. Kirsty lowered her gaze.
“So what are you lot going to do whilst Prongs is at tryouts and me and Kirsty are in detention with Typicus?” asked Sirius. Kirsty gave him a dark look at the mention of the detention.
“Well, we thought we’d go down and watch. After all, we’ve got the weather for it,” replied Peter, looking up at the ceiling. Sirius followed his gaze and was met by the tantalising rays of sunlight that were being mirrored in the hall’s enchanted ceiling.
“So whilst we’re inside slaving away, you lot are all going to be outside sunning yourselves?” asked Kirsty grumpily.
“You’ve got no one but yourself to blame for your detention,” Lily reminded her.
“That’s not true! I have him to blame!” she exclaimed, pointing directly at Sirius.
Sirius feigned a look of innocence and shock and replied, “Who, me?”
Kirsty was saved from answering him when Mary MacDonald, the last resident of the seventh year girls’ dorms, got up from the table, slipped on something invisible to Sirius and fell to the floor.
Remus, looking horrified, mouthed to them all, “Apple.”
As one, the group all guiltily averted their gaze and shielded their faces with their hands.
*
It was with heavy hearts that Sirius and Kirsty plodded up to their Ancient Runes detention with the rest of the group waving cheerily at them as they departed for the sunny grounds.
“Gits,” muttered Sirius.
“Clean,” instructed Typicus upon their arrival. “I want this whole classroom spotless upon my return.”
Sirius sighed with relief, talk about being let off easy.
“Without magic,” added the Professor.
Sirius saw Kirsty’s shoulders slump, and he stood with his mouth hanging open slightly.
“Have fun!” exclaimed Typicus as he made his way out of the door.
Sirius and Kirsty stared hopelessly at each other.
*
“I swear this is slave labour!” yelled Sirius in frustration fifteen minutes later.
Kirsty stopped and rested her chin on top of the mop which she had previously been cleaning the floor with. “I wonder how tryouts are going…” she pondered, ignoring Sirius’ outburst and turning to look out of the window.
“Wishing you were out there?” Sirius asked her.
“Yeah,” she sighed.
“Come on, Kirst, stop beating yourself up about it. What’s done is done; you can’t go down to the tryouts now. So just stop feeling guilty about it.”
“I don’t feel guilty about it. I have no reason to feel guilty about it. You, on the other hand, should be feeling nothing but remorseful for getting me into this situation,” she retorted heatedly.
“Oh, but I do,” he replied. Dropping the duster down onto the desk, he slid across the wet floor and skidded to a halt in front of her.
“I just cleaned that,” she pointed out, looking irritated.
“I know,” he replied with a cheeky grin.
Kirsty bashed him on the underside of his chin with the top of the mop handle. “Dust,” she commanded him, pointing over to the pile of old books that they had recently unearthed.
“You’re so masterful,” he informed her with a flirtatious grin as he sidestepped her, “I love that in a fan girl.”
She rapped him hard across the shoulder blade, using the cleaning instrument as her weapon of choice once again.
Sirius did as he was told and began dusting down the old volumes whereas Kirsty again mopped the spot of floor he had intruded upon before stalking over to the far end of the classroom.
It was only when he was placing the books inside the vacant spots that he had found in one of the bookcases that he stole another glance Kirsty’s way. She was standing on one of the chairs in order to reach the top of the classroom’s grandest bookcase. Watching her, he simply couldn’t help but marvel at just how well they got on with each other, especially when you took into consideration the fact that they’d only been friends for little over a year.
It wasn’t just Kirsty; it was all four of the girls. Sometimes it astounded him just how much he cared for each and every one of them, and he knew for a fact that he’d never be able to envisage day to day life without them. It was Lily’s hatred for James that had caused the initial rift between the two groups of friends, though Sirius and Kirsty’s animosity towards each other definitely didn’t help any.
Sirius had been bought up hearing the White family’s name uttered in sheer disgust. The Whites were the positive to the Blacks negative. Kirsty’s family were dead against Voldemort and what he stood for, having always stood firm beside Dumbledore themselves. They favoured Gryffindor house above all others, although if a family member didn’t get accepted there they didn’t exactly treat it like the end of the world.
But despite this, Sirius knew that there were members of her family that, like the Blacks, lived under the impression that being of pure blood practically made them royalty. Sirius supposed that this came with the territory of being from an old wizarding family.
Kirsty, however, didn’t share these views at all. You only had to see the way that she admired Hayley and Remus’ intelligence, Lily’s potion brewing skills and, Emma’s spell work to know that.
It was funny to think that, even though most pureblood families were interrelated, not a single White had ever managed to tarnish the Black Family Tree. The tree housed Prewetts, Lestranges, Bulstrodes, even Potters, but never a White.
Sirius was pretty sure that it had been her family’s prejudices that had caused Kirsty to initially hate him so, though he supposed that him being an arrogant little berk hadn’t helped matters. Even though Kirsty hated him during their first five years of schooling, Sirius actually took a shine to her way back near the end of the first year. Countless times he had found himself laughing at her jokes and inadvertently keeping a watchful eye on her when she had an unexpected run in with the Slytherins.
But it was what he liked to call ‘the fifth year incident’ which had finally bought the two groups together. It was the incident that had earned him his second Kirsty related trip up to the Hospital Wing, and it had taken place after their Defence against the Dark Arts OWL exam.
Sirius’ boredom had been the initial cause of the whole scenario, for James had attacked Snape for this seemingly trivial reason. But it was Lily coming over and confronting them on the matter that had really set the ball rolling.
“Who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?” enquired James jovially moments after Lily had stormed off up to the castle with a worried Hayley trailing hot on her heels.
“Put him down, Potter!” someone instructed angrily.
Sirius and James both wheeled around to see Kirsty standing there with her wand raised, looking the most furious that Sirius had ever seen her.
“Don’t tell me you’ve partaken in the Snape fan club too, White,” sneered Sirius. Kirsty glowered at him.
“Look, Kirsty, do you really expect me to let him get away with what he just said to Lily?” asked James.
“On the contrary, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the likes of James Potter and Sirius Black.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” demanded Sirius.
Kirsty sighed. “Do you two have any idea who you are acting like?”
Sirius shared a puzzled look with James.
“You’re acting like those who you have always claimed to despise.” Sirius felt none the wiser, and Kirsty seemed to be growing impatient with their lack of realisation. “You’re acting like Death Eaters, for God’s sake!”
This accusation made Sirius feel sick to his stomach, and he saw James slacken the grip on his wand.
“What?” James asked her quietly.
Kirsty swallowed hard and looked at them apologetically. It seemed as though she had been unwilling to inform them of this in such a harsh manner, but unfortunately her lashing tongue had beaten her indecisive conscience to the punch.
“She’s right,” Remus informed them solemnly, appearing at Kirsty’s side. She gave him a startled look as if surprised by his confirmation. “You are acting like Death Eaters.”
James looked revolted with himself and bought his wand down to rest by his side. Shame flooded over Sirius, and after having sneaked a glance over at Peter, he saw that he, too, was looking horror stricken.
“And I’m just as bad for cheering you on,” whispered Peter.
“And I’m no better for not putting a stop to it,” confessed Remus.
Kirsty seemed shocked by the reaction that she had managed to obtain from them all.
“No, Moony, don’t say that,” instructed James, shaking his head. “You’re the good one of the group.”
“Yeah, right,” replied Remus disbelievingly.
Kirsty cleared her throat. “Maybe we should…erm…let him down before all the blood rushes to his head and Lily jinxes you all into high heaven because of it,” she suggested.
None of the boys moved, so Kirsty reverted to pointing her own wand at Snape instead.
“I don’t need your help either, blood traitor.”
Sirius bared his teeth in a snarl and wheeled towards Snape, how dare he?
Kirsty, however, merely hesitated a fraction before waving her wand and performing the counter-curse. “Ah, but unfortunately for you, you do,” she informed him coldly, and with a flick of her wand she made him fall painfully to the ground. “I think you should go and apologise to Lily,” Kirsty informed James.
“What? He should be the one apologising after what he’s just said,” James replied shooting Snape a look of utter distaste.
“Look, you’re doing yourself no favours here. If you care about Lily at all, you’ll go up there and apologise. Plus, Lily’s never going to start liking you if you don’t start acting like the bigger person.” James looked a little terrified at the thought of having to face Lily again so soon.
Sirius heard the swishing of robes behind him and turned to see that Snape had made it to his feet and was now standing with his wand raised. But Kirsty reacted faster and with a lightening quick wrist action Snape found himself having to do his utmost to rid himself of the Tarantallegra curse.
She turned back around to face them and winced. “Promise me you won’t tell Lily about that one.”
Sirius laughed.
“Your secret’s safe with us,” Peter assured her with a smile.
“So, you’ll go and apologise?” Kirsty reverted to pestering James.
James sighed and nodded. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any hints?”
“Just be yourself,”
“…But Lily hates me,”
“Okay, then be the less arrogant and infuriating version of yourself,” she amended. James continued to look unconvinced.
In the silence that ensued between them, Sirius heard a low muttering from behind him. Snape had managed to perform the counter-curse for his dancing legs. Sounding quite demented, he screeched from behind them, “Sectumsempra!”
The flash of bright light that emanated from his wand streaked towards the group, its intended target: Kirsty. Instinctively, Sirius ran towards her intent on removing her from its path. But all did not go as planned.
Sirius didn’t quite muster all the speed needed to both reach Kirsty and remove her out of harm’s way. As the spell headed for the two of them, Sirius had only just managed to run in front of her. Blood spurted from Sirius’ torso as if he had been slashed by an invisible sword and the pain was excruciating. He staggered backwards, nearly colliding with Kirsty, before collapsing to his knees with a prolonged groan.
Sirius bit down hard against the pain and he was dimly aware of Remus incapacitating Snape with a hastily performed, “Incarcerous.”
“Oh, Merlin!” exclaimed Peter upon seeing Sirius’ wounds. “He needs the Hospital Wing urgently, guys.”
“I’ll take him,” offered James immediately.
“No, you need to go and see Lily. I’ll do it,” objected Kirsty, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.
“Are you sure?” James seemed reluctant to delegate the task unto her.
“I promise I’ll look after him,” she replied with a forced smile. “Besides I want to do it.”
“Well, okay, if you’re sure…”
“Go on, go and see Lily,” she urged him, “I’ll take of things here.”
James nodded his thanks and turned towards Hogwarts.
“Good luck!” Kirsty shouted after him.
Remus helped Kirsty heave Sirius up from his knees.
Before Sirius proceeded to lose his balance, Kirsty draped his arm supportively around her shoulder.
“Are you okay to sort all this lot out?” Kirsty asked Remus, indicating the large crowd of onlookers.
“Don’t worry, it’s taken care of,”
“We’ll come up and see you as soon as we can, Padfoot,” added Peter.
“Can you walk?” Kirsty asked Sirius in a whisper.
“It’ll hurt like hell, but I’ll give it a go. I can’t expect you to carry me up to the Hospital Wing now can I?” he replied meekly.
As they made their way slowly up to the Hospital Wing, Sirius had started to feel extremely indebted towards her. Here she was volunteering to take him, who she absolutely despised, up to the nurse, when clearly the most that he deserved was to be left behind for Snape to finish him off.
Sirius was starting to feel incredibly faint. His surroundings were blurred and he had a ringing in his ears, and though he couldn’t see, he guessed that he must be loosing blood at an alarmingly fast rate.
As they ascended the stairs they met up with Emma. But Sirius didn’t follow her and Kirsty’s conversation at all. Thankfully, after a conversation that had seemingly been short and to the point, they reached the Fourth floor.
*
Sirius awoke to a blinding light. He squinted and shielded his eyes in order to locate its source.
“Sorry,” exclaimed a girl’s voice, “is that too bright?”
The light became dimmer and Sirius looked towards the voice’s owner. Kirsty White was sat by his bedside with her feet resting on the edge of his bed and a magazine propped up against her thigh. He looked over at her, confused beyond belief. “Oh, please don’t tell me you’ve got amnesia too. I already feel bad enough as it is!” she cried.
Suddenly everything came flooding back to him: the attack on Snape, Lily’s insistence that they leave him alone, Snape calling her a Mudblood, Kirsty informing them all that they were acting like Death Eaters and then pain lots and lots of pain.
“No, I’m good,” he informed her with a kind smile.
She sighed with relief.
“And what have you got to feel bad about in the first place?” he enquired, confused.
“Well, it’s my fault that you’re in here. If I’d just let you be-“
“It’s not your fault. I deserved everything I got. I’m glad you came over and gave us a piece of your mind, it was a real eye opener.”
She surveyed him sceptically.
To avoid her analytical gaze, he looked down at his bare chest intent on surveying the damage that Snape’s spell had caused. He had three big scars running diagonally from left to right along his chest, the biggest of which started just below his shoulder and disappeared under the bed cover. He prodded the big one experimentally and winced. He was still a bit tender.
“Don’t do that, it hurts,” observed Kirsty dryly.
He looked questioningly at her, wanting answers.
“Madam Pomfrey says that the pain should go away within the next few days, and she also said that with some luck the scars will disappear with time.”
Sirius nodded thoughtfully in response. “How long was I asleep for?” he queried.
“A good three hours or so.”
“What? Seriously? And you’ve been here the whole time?” he asked, astonished.
“Pretty much. Peter and Remus both say hi by the way.”
When Kirsty folded up her magazine and turned away from him to place it on the table, Sirius lifted the covers slightly just to make sure that he wasn’t completely naked, because just being topless in front of Kirsty was making him feel uncomfortable enough.
Phew, his trousers were still to be accounted for.
He looked up to see Kirsty grinning amusedly at him; apparently his little antic had not gone unnoticed.
“Shocking, isn’t it?” she asked him.
He gave her a puzzled frown.
“I must be one of the only girls in the school who could be in a room with an unconscious and half naked Sirius Black and not want to ravage him.”
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. He had never before been graced with the much friendlier side of Kirsty’s personality.
A hush developed between them.
“Thanks, Sirius,”
“No, problem,” he replied with a warm smile. Kirsty proceeded to look mildly uncomfortable. “Makes it a bit hard to hate my guts now doesn’t it?” he asked her jokingly.
“Just a little,” she replied giving him a radiant smile.
“Truce?” he asked holding his hand out to her.
“Truce,” she affirmed enclosing her hand in his and sealing the deal.
*
“Merlin! Are you alright, mate?”
Sirius and Kirsty had just tumbled through the portrait hole, Sirius laughing uncontrollably at the Quibbler article that Kirsty had just read out to him. ‘Speculation is rife that He Who Must Not Be Named is the long lost celebrated Wizard toy maker and proprietor of the well renowned Jigs and Trinkets toy shop in Diagon Alley.’
James rose slowly out of his chair, concern etched into every line of his face and Sirius swallowed his laughter and inclined his head in affirmation.
“I’m fine. I’ve been better, but I’m doing okay.”
James heaved a sigh of relief. Remus and Peter, who were sitting over in the corner of the room engaging in a game of Exploding Snap, both smiled, clearly pleased to see him back in their presence.
Lily was sitting on the sofa hugging her knees. Her cheeks were red and blotchy which suggested to Sirius that she had previously been crying, and Emma was standing with her hand resting on the back of the sofa watching Sirius and Kirsty with undisguised intrigue.
Everyone seemed a bit puzzled by Sirius and Kirsty’s behaviour, and, as if to clarify the situation, Kirsty brandished her copy of the Quibbler in front of them all.
“Oh, Kirst!” Lily sprung forward off the sofa and ran over to throw her arms around Kirsty’s neck. “I’m so sorry!” she sobbed into her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Kirsty, who looked extremely taken back by this display of affection, prised Lily away from her. “I’m perfectly fine, Lil.” Lily took a few deep breaths and wiped her eyes. “And it wasn’t your fault,” Kirsty assured her.
Lily nodded meekly and gave Kirsty a gratified smile. She turned to Sirius. “Sirius, I suppose a gigantic thank you is in order.”
He held his hand up to halt Lily in her tracks. “No, there’s no need, I don’t deserve it.”
“But… Kirsty…” she stammered.
“Has already thanked him and made amends,” Kirsty interjected.
Emma choked. “You two? You made amends?”
Kirsty grinned at her shocked expression.
“Lily, I just want to apologise for being such a git earlier,” Sirius informed her softly.
Lily gave him a look of surprise before breaking out into a smile.
“There seems to be a lot of that going around this evening,” she replied wryly, shooting a fleeting glance at James, who was looking ashamed.
“So, is everything okay here?” Kirsty asked her, indicating James.
“I suppose so,” replied Lily resignedly, “for now.”
“So what happened?” asked Emma, looking eagerly towards Sirius and Kirsty; after all, she had been the one who had been absent for most of the proceedings.
“You mean you don’t already know?” asked Sirius, shocked.
“Nope,” moped Emma, “nobody’s seen fit to tell me much.”
“We were all a bit too worried to speak to be honest, Padfoot,” confessed Peter.
Sirius gave him a grateful smile.
“Oh, but never mind about that now,” stated Kirsty dismissively, “I want to know what went on after we left. You apologised, I take it?” she asked turning to James. He nodded. “And Snape?” she continued.
“McGonagall got him,” replied Remus.
“And?” persisted Kirsty seeming impatient.
“Well, from what we overheard he was close to expulsion. But I think Slughorn objected, and he’s now being forced to serve two weeks full of the most gruesome detentions he can find.”
“Did you tell McGonagall everything that had happened?” Lily asked him sceptically.
Remus nodded gravely. “Us four have all got detention with her once the exams are over.”
Sirius nodded along with the other two; it was no more than they deserved.
“Now will someone please tell me what happened after I left?” begged Lily.
James sighed. “Well, Kirsty came over and ordered us to put Snape down before she proceeded in informing us that we were in fact acting like Death Eaters-“
“You said that?” asked Lily, astonished.
Kirsty said nothing, but her uncomfortable body language spoke volumes.
“And as you can imagine that really struck a chord, so much so that we all froze on the spot and Kirsty had to resort to going to let Snape down herself-“
“So you didn’t take off his pants?” confirmed Lily, her mouth twitching slightly.
“No,” replied James shortly.
“Shame,” noted Emma.
Sirius smirked but Lily shot Emma an annoyed look.
“Then Snape called her a blood traitor-“
“Oh, Kirst, he didn’t!” wailed Lily.
“Water of a duck’s back, Lil, they’re only words. Besides, I’m proud of being a blood traitor. I’d much rather be that than one of those pureblood obsessed scum. The same goes for you; you shouldn’t get upset with being called a… that. You should be proud to be muggleborn, especially when you have magical abilities that most of the purebloods in this place can only dream of.”
Lily smiled at her, her bottom lip trembling slightly.
“But she let him down regardless and then suggested that I come and apologise to you, which I did,” James paused for a moment and gave Kirsty a consulting look before continuing. “Then Snape fired Sectumsempra at her, and Sirius took the spell, and not long after that I came up here to apologise.”
“And we went up to the Hospital Wing,” added Sirius.
“And we dealt with the onlookers and made sure Snape got what was coming to him,” informed Peter.
“Hang on, why did Snape suddenly decide to fire a spell at Kirsty?” queried Emma.
“Did something else happen?” flared up Lily, fixing Kirsty with a piercing look.
Kirsty sighed resignedly. “Fine, I’d cast Tarantallegra at Snape prior to that.”
“What?” screeched Lily, “I don’t believe this, Kirsty, after everything I’ve said to you in regard to Severus!”
“Look, Lily, yes, it’s common knowledge that I absolutely despise the bloke, but I didn’t jinx him just for the hell of it. He made to attack this lot from behind but I got him first. I despise such cowardly actions, you know that.”
Lily stood in silence, her chest heaving. There’d always been a rift between the two girls when it came to Snape. “Don’t you dare say I told you so,” Lily ordered Kirsty through gritted teeth.
A prolonged silence ensued.
“There was so much blood,” whispered Emma, glancing at Sirius, “you looked terrible, like you were on death’s door. It was scary.”
“I’m fine,” Sirius reassured her, immensely touched by her concern. “Madam Pomfrey patched me up in a heartbeat. Besides, scars are sexy, right?”
Kirsty rolled her eyes and smirked.
“When did you see Sirius?” Lily asked, puzzled.
“I met Kirsty when she was bringing him up to the Hospital Wing.”
Sirius looked to Kirsty, waiting for her to give her confirmation, but instead he saw her eyes light up.
“How come you didn’t mention it before?” Lily asked again.
“Well, I came in during the apology didn’t I? So I didn’t want to interrupt. And afterwards everyone was too worried to care about my information anyway,” declared Emma.
“Fair enough,” relented Lily.
As if she had been waiting for a lull in the conversation Kirsty jumped in, “Hey, Lil, ask Emma why she went off to curl her hair again after the exam.”
Emma shot her an extremely filthy look. “Will you shut up?” she spat.
But Lily was already looking intrigued. “Go on, why did she?”
“Emma’s in love!” cheered Kirsty.
“I am not!” replied Emma defiantly, her ears going red.
Lily was grinning madly. “Oooh, who with?”
“Don’t you dare, Kirst!” commanded Emma.
Defiantly, Kirsty opened her mouth to answer Lily, but Emma pounced.
Moving swiftly, Kirsty got out of the way, and Emma nearly careered into the wall.
She proceeded to run around the common room, jumping over chairs and avoiding tables, with Emma in hot pursuit.
Kirsty, laughing inanely dodged every object that Emma hurled at her with ease.
“Don’t you dare breathe a word, Kirst.”
“Oh, come on, Em, you can’t deny me a bit of gossip.”
Emma roared with frustration. “Just you wait, I’ll spread all of your most embarrassing secrets throughout this entire school-“
“Good luck with that, considering that I don’t have any. None that you know of anyway.”
Kirsty dove towards the now unoccupied sofa and jumped onto it from behind. “Emma fancies-“
But Emma anticipated this move and ran to the front of the sofa to clap a hand over Kirsty’s big mouth.
Whilst Kirsty was struggling against Emma’s restraints, the portrait hole open and Sam North walked through.
Kirsty, upon seeing him, started laughing so hard that tears were pouring down her face. Emma’s whole face went bright red as he walked past the gathering. Kirsty gave Sam a brief thumbs up as he ascended the boys’ staircase. Emma removed her hand and Kirsty’s giggles reverberated around the entire common room.
“Him?” asked Lily, grinning widely.
“Oh, shut up, the lot of you!” screeched Emma, for all four boys were now in on the hysterics. “I’m going to kill you, White!”
And with that Emma, too, climbed up onto the sofa and began to wrestle with the almost completely incapacitated Kirsty.
Lily, rolling her eyes, withdrew her wand and yelled, “Protego!”
The force of the shield charm threw both of the girls off of the sofa, but Kirsty got the worst deal as she careered backwards and fell over the back of the sofa, causing it to tip up.
Sirius, who had slipped over and joined the other three boys, asked Remus, “Are they always like this?”
“I hope so!” exclaimed James, clearly entertained.
Kirsty sat up and rubbed the back of her head.
Lily threw Kirsty’s Ancient Runes book at her and it hit her hard on the chest.
“Enough of the squabbling,” instructed Lily, “now get upstairs the pair of you and start doing some revision for your Ancient Runes exam.”
Kirsty and Emma complied without so much as a grumble obviously sensing that Lily had nothing but their best interests at heart.
*
“Get up!” exclaimed an impatient voice from Sirius’ left.
Groggily, he rubbed his eyes. “What?” he asked, his mouth bone dry.
“Get up now!”
“Who’s there?” asked Peter.
“Kirsty.”
“And Emma,” came a second irritated voice.
“What?” yelped James. “What the hell are you two doing in here?”
“What’s going on?” enquired Remus.
Kirsty sighed exasperatedly. “Snape’s outside our common room.”
“What?” yelled James, accompanied by the creaking of bedsprings. Sirius guessed that he had just sat bolt upright in bed.
“Exactly. And Lily’s just gone down to speak to him, so hurry the hell up!” demanded Emma.
They didn’t need further encouragement. Sirius practically threw himself out of bed before tearing down the staircase after the two girls.
Kirsty reached the portrait hole first and pressed her ear firmly against it. Emma was next pushing against Kirsty to try and get a better vantage point, Kirsty gave her a look of deepest annoyance. Sirius and the other three boys leaped over the room’s many scattered objects to reach the portrait hole in time to hear the whole conversation.
Due to the cramped conditions, Sirius was forced to lean over Kirsty in order to press his ear up against the entrance. His skin tingled at its close proximity to hers. As soon as his ear came in to contact with the solid surface, Snape’s voice filtered through.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not interested.” Lily replied simply.
Sirius and James raised their eyebrows at each other, Lily clearly wasn’t giving into Snape this time.
“I’m sorry!” protested Snape, more vehemently this time.
“Save your breath. I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here.”
“Yes, but who was it who told Mary?” asked Kirsty, sounding miffed.
“I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just ““
“Slipped out?” There was no pity in Lily’s voice only anger and annoyance. “It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you.” Out of the corner of his eye Sirius saw Kirsty give a small nod of compliance with the last statement. “You and your precious little Death Eater friends - you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?”
“Go, Lily,” whispered Emma in awe.
“No “ listen, I didn’t mean ““
“- to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?”
Silence followed, and Sirius wondered whether Snape was struggling with his words.
Suddenly there came a scraping noise, announcing Lily’s return.
“Move!” Kirsty instructed them all.
They all pelted back over to their respective staircases but due to their number and speed it all simply resulted in them lying in a dishevelled heap on the floor.
“Not quite quick enough, guys,” Lily informed them wryly.
Sirius noticed that she didn’t look as angry as he had expected.
Kirsty stood and opened her mouth to speak. Lily halted her in her tracks. “Not one word, Kirst, not one word.” Kirsty floundered before clamping her mouth shut. “I’m off to bed, night all,” stated Lily ascending the staircase.
“I was right about him all along though, wasn’t I?” Kirsty asked them all triumphantly.
Emma smiled and shook her head. Sirius stole a look over at James and saw that he was looking practically giddy.
“Right, we’re off to bed too,” exclaimed Emma.
But Sirius dismissed this comment. “Nice pyjamas, Kirst,” he complimented, smiling broadly as he noticed them for the first time.
Kirsty looked down at her pyjama top and smiled playfully at him in return.
Her top was pink with a picture of a dog wearing shades and a black leather jacket embroidered on it, and across the top in bright red the words ‘Doggy Style’ were emblazoned flamboyantly across it.
Sirius shared a look with the other three boys as they, along with him, were sure to appreciate the humorous significance of this.
“Night, guys,” stated Emma, giving them a fleeting wave as she followed in Lily’s wake.
“Night,” echoed Kirsty giving them all a warm smile.
“Night,” Sirius and the boys all chorused together.
And they hadn’t been able to get rid of the girls since.
It was Kirsty’s shocked exclamation of “Oh, my God!” that dragged Sirius out of his reverie.
She hopped down off the chair, ran over to the window, and pulled it open.
“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Sirius as he stood up.
There was a torrential downpour taking place outside, and even as Sirius watched, a fork of lightening illuminated the sky.
“It’s raining,” stated Kirsty.
“I think that may just be a bit of an understatement,” Sirius informed her with a laugh.
She leaned out of the window and lifted her head up to meet the onslaught of raindrops. Kirsty loved rain; downpours such as this were, in her opinion, one of nature’s greatest offerings.
She pulled her head and shoulders back inside the classroom and turned to face Sirius. Her hair was sopping wet and sticking to her head and her shoulders were covered in little spots of water. He couldn’t help but grin at her appearance.
“It looks like we got the better end of the deal after all,” she informed him gleefully.
“You’ll catch your death of cold, you know,” he stated.
“See if I care,” she replied, jokingly sticking her nose up in the air.
Sirius withdrew his wand and cast a hot air charm upon her hair.
“Spoilsport!” she whined, “I’ll just have to go and do it again now.”
Sirius grabbed hold of her arm in order to stop her.
She turned and rolled her eyes at him. “Just because you’re afraid of a bit of rain, you’re nearly as bad as Emma.”
“I am not. And you know I’m just trying to stop you from catching a cold.”
“So what if I catch a cold? All I need to do is ask Madam Pomfrey for a Pepper up Potion.”
Sirius sighed.
“Come here,” she requested with a smile as she grabbed hold of his hand.
Sirius suddenly became very aware of the fact that this was the first time that he and Kirsty had ever held hands, and he had to admit that the sensation it bought was not a bad one.
She pulled him towards the window to stand beside her. “Honestly, there’s nothing better than standing out in a downpour. But seeing as we’re stuck in here, we’ll just have to make do with the next best thing. Come on lean out, I dare you.” She gave him a wicked smile.
“Fine,” he relented, finding himself grinning despite himself.
“Hmm, there’s not much room though, and I’d have to do it with you, it being your first time and all,” she informed him with a wink. “I know, just lean over the top of me. God knows you’re tall enough, but be gentle.”
His mouth twitched. “I’ll be nothing but.” He walked over to stand behind her, and she let go of his hand.
“Now we can both catch colds together,” she told him as she projected her head out the window once again.
Sirius laughed as he followed her lead. He hated to admit it, but Kirsty was right, being out in a downpour was definitely an experience. He leant his head out further loving the feeling of the raindrops cascading down his face.
“You’re squishing me!” giggled Kirsty.
“Hey, don’t complain,” he replied lowering his head in order to address her better, “this was all your idea.”
She laughed, and he felt it reverberate through her back and into his chest. He also caught a whiff of her hair as he made to tilt his head away from hers again. Mmm, it smelt delightfully of cherry.
He sighed, realising that this was the most contented that he had felt all week. His heart thudded in his chest, and he wondered whether Kirsty could feel it.
“Seriously, you big lug, get off me!” she exclaimed jokingly, trying her best to push him away with her back.
Moment ruined then, he thought morosely as he moved back in order to free her. Feeling immensely vulnerable, Sirius averted his gaze away from hers so that she could not see the disappointment in his eyes.
Deciding that he needed some time alone, he announced, “I’ll be back in a minute.” He allowed himself a fleeting glance at Kirsty as he made his way over to the store room and saw that she had her head tilted in a questioning manner.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to check that the store room doesn’t need tidying,” he replied, closing the door to the store room with a snap. Plunged into darkness, Sirius withdrew his wand and commanded, “Lumos.” His wand ignited and sent tendrils of light around the room.
With that done Sirius plunged his hand inside his trouser pocket and pulled out a small, black, square mirror. “Prongs?” he requested tentatively.
For a few seconds Sirius only saw his own grey eyes being reflected back at him, but slowly the framed hazel eyes of James came into view. “Hey, Padfoot,” he replied wearily.
Sirius’ mouth twitched as he took in James’ bedraggled appearance. His face looked as if it was freezing cold, his hair was no longer rumpled but soppy and flattened, and his glasses were all fogged up.
“How’s it going, mate?”
“Terrible,” was the disgruntled captain’s reply.
Sirius raised his eyebrows, surprised. “So, being captain’s not all it’s cracked up to be then?”
“No. It’s bloody awful! I’ve already had arguments with about five players who think they know better than me, I had to put up with being harassed by your fan girls who kept on pestering me asking when I thought you might be turning up, and one of them even had the cheek to try out for the team!” he ranted.
Sirius furrowed his brow. “Well, what’s wrong with that?”
“She was a Ravenclaw!” fumed James.
“Oh,” chuckled Sirius.
“Yeah, so all in all not a very good night. I wish Kirsty could have been here. I think she may have just been able to keep me sane.”
“You know, if you think you require my services for the team, I’d be only too happy to pop down there and tryout…”
“No! You’re not being on my team! Besides, I think I’ve found my needed players.”
“I don’t know why you’re so set against having me on the team, I’m a pretty decent player, you know.”
“I have my reasons,” James informed him shortly.
“So, who have we got then?” asked Sirius huffily.
“Billy Harper as the new Beater and Michaela Chase and Luke Tyler as the new Chasers,” James dutifully informed him.
“Doesn’t sound like a bad line up to me.”
“No, they’re really good. I suppose I should be more enthusiastic about finding them really.” He sighed. “Why’s your hair wet?” he then enquired seemingly looking for a change of topic.
“Oh, Kirsty dared me to stick my head out of the window.”
“Where is Kirst anyway? You’ve not disposed of her in some way, have you? Because I really don’t want to have to hold another set of tryouts.”
“No,” laughed Sirius, “she’s still cleaning.”
“So she’s cleaning, and you’ve sneaked off to have a good old chinwag with me.”
“That’s about the long and short of it,” Sirius replied with a grin.
“Lazy git,” James reprimanded with a roll of his eyes.
“So, are you all done now then?”
“Yeah, I’m heading back up to the common room any second now. What time do you think you two will be back?”
“We shouldn’t be long now. I’ll see you soon. Over and out, Prongs.”
“Over and out, Padfoot.”
And with that James’ face vanished.
Sirius hastily stuffed the mirror back in his pocket before extinguishing his wand and pushing open the door to the classroom.
Splash!
A bucketful of ice cold water washed over him, trickling down his back and dripping from his hair and on to his face. Upon its impact Sirius’ nerve endings immediately stood to attention. Taken by surprise he immediately started looking around for any clues which would help certify what had just happened to him. The mop bucket lay discarded mere feet away and Kirsty’s manic giggles punctuated the air.
“Your face!” she gasped in between gurgles of laughter. She clutched her sides and leaned against the desk to keep herself upright, her eyes shut tight in which to revel in the mirth.
The prankster had become the pranked.
He shook his sopping fringe out of his eyes and, feeling devilish and in dire need of revenge, ran towards her.
But Kirsty realised his intentions too late, so much so that she had only managed to accomplish a small shift away from the desk by the time she was confronted with his sodden face.
Sirius took a firm grip of her shoulders in order to pin her to the spot. “You’re going to pay for that,” he informed her in a dangerously low voice.
She merely replied by giving him a cheeky smile. But her eyes seemed to be taunting him, daring him to do something to her which she’d never expect, something that would completely knock her off her feet.
It wasn’t until the smile disappeared from her face to be replaced by a look of uncertainty and puzzlement that Sirius realised just how much he’d love to wreak his revenge by doing something unto her which would render her speechless. And the look of her lips when she formed them into a puzzled pout were drawing him in, telling him that they would be the tools in which he needed to do so.
For the briefest of seconds he closed his eyes, hoping that it would rid him of his feelings of confusion and disconcertion which had began to bubble deep down within him.
He felt Kirsty shrug and his eyes snapped back open. His grip on her had slackened and she moved her foot sideways as if she were looking to sidestep him. However, both of them had failed to notice the small puddle of water that had been born from a soaking wet Sirius.
Kirsty’s foot slipped and reaching out to make a grab for something, anything, for which she could latch onto she looped her right arm around Sirius’ neck and grabbed the collar of his shirt with her left hand.
As she descended a few inches she tugged hard on his collar and Sirius felt the fabric burn into the back of his neck. Well, Sirius had wanted to knock her off her feet and now he’d got it, literally, though it wasn’t quite what he had envisaged…
Oh well, waste not want not.
She was so close that they were practically brushing cheeks and it was doing nothing to ease Sirius’ inner turmoil.
He heard Kirsty chuckle softly next to his ear.
Oh dear Lord.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw that she was looking pointedly over his shoulder.
“I think this is going to have to wait until later,” she announced.
What?
“What’s going to have to wait until later?” he asked cautiously.
“Your revenge.”
“Oh. How come?” he queried.
“Because we still have a hell of a lot of work to do in here, and,” Kirsty removed her arm from around his neck and checked her watch. “Typicus is going to be back soon.”
Realising upon surveying the classroom that she was indeed right, Sirius placed his hands on Kirsty’s waist (emotional torture in itself) and helped set her upright once more.
Must not look at lips, must not look at lips, he chanted a mantra inside his head.
His eyes, hearing his plea, took to looking at a spot just over her shoulder, but his body, rebelling against the mantra, leaned in close in order to whisper in her ear.
Stupid hormones!
“I suppose that I can contain myself for another half an hour,” he informed her.
She swallowed and nodded at him before walking away, back to her chores. But Sirius knew that he’d be containing himself for a long time to come, the rest of his life if he could manage it. After all, ignorance was bliss and definitely the bane of a lustful hormone’s life.
*
Half an hour later Sirius was to be found lounging back on the rear legs of one of the classroom’s many vacant chairs.
Putting his hands behind his head, he proudly surveyed his handiwork.
After having finished his tasks in record time due to the fact that cleaning had taken his mind of Kirsty (Sirius got a sneaking suspicion that the Gryffindor common room would be constantly gleaming from now on), he had taken it upon himself to relieve his boredom by scribbling a message to Typicus on the board.
Sirius’ message consisted of two stick figure drawings, one of them being himself and the other being Typicus. The stick figure Typicus had a caption above his head which read ‘Professor acting like Mr Know-It-All’ and the stick figure Sirius was drawn mid worship of the stick figure professor and his caption read ‘I bow down to the almightiness that is Typicus’.
He smiled, pleased with himself.
His eyes fluttered shut and Sirius felt as if he had earned himself this moment of peace. The only sound in the classroom was that of Kirsty bustling about finishing the last of her chores.
A cramp formed in his leg and he eased the chair further back in order to rid himself of it. But this time he’d pushed the chair too far and it perched on what felt like a knife edge before starting to plunge ominously backwards. Sirius came painfully into contact with the hard stone floor of the classroom and for the second time that evening Kirsty’s hysterical laughter filled his ears.
As Sirius lamely stood upright, Kirsty composed herself and announced, “I think that may just have been karma.”
Deciding to act first and think later, Sirius hastily withdrew the sponge he had been using to wipe down the windowsills from its bucket of soapy water and launched it at Kirsty.
She shrieked as the sodden yellow foam hit her in the stomach. Wasting no time, she retrieved the sponge and threw it back at him.
And so the fight began.
The sponge was tossed back and forth and Sirius and Kirsty darted around the classroom and dived behind desks in order to avoid it.
This, Sirius realised, was exactly why he was not going let his hormonal longings towards Kirsty continue. He loved their friendship too much. He loved how much fun she was to be around and how childishly they could act when they were together.
He took careful aim and the sponge flew across the classroom to come into contact with Kirsty’s head (something he had been trying to achieve since the fight began), and she flipped him a v sign. They were back on friend territory again, and Sirius was immensely glad of this because this territory was safe.
After impact the sponge had ricocheted off and now Kirsty was making a play to retrieve it for her own. But Sirius was not going to give her the satisfaction of being able to claim revenge on him, so he dived at her the moment she bent down to pick up the weapon in question.
They came crashing down on the floor, with Sirius on top pinning her down.
Bugger.
Sirius could literally envisage his guardian angel smacking himself on the forehead and storming out of the room slamming the door behind him in protest.
Kirsty raised her eyebrows at him and a playful smile graced her lips. And making light of the situation she stated, “We seemed to have found ourselves in rather a presumable situation.”
Sirius had never loved her more than at that moment. Copying her carefree tone and allowing himself a devilish smile he replied, “Come to the dark side.”
She gave him a puzzled look before her eyebrows shot even higher up her forehead. Her mouth twitched until, unable to contain it any longer, she snorted derisively. “That is unbelievably corrupted, do you know that?”
“You’re equally corrupted for knowing what I was insinuating,” he retorted, prodding her playfully in the side.
Somebody coughed from behind him. “I do hope I’m not interrupting anything,” stated Typicus.
Sirius jumped up and away from Kirsty as if she had burned him.
He turned to survey Typicus as Kirsty scrambled to her feet behind him.
Typicus surveyed the room taking in the open window, the discarded mop bucket and the wayward sponge before settling on Sirius’ drawing on the board.
His mouth twitched.
“Well, it looks like you’ve both done an excellent job. I’d say you’re free to go.”
Sirius sighed relieved and grateful. He and Kirsty nodded to the professor before making for the door.
“Although,” amended Typicus, “I wouldn’t mind a quiet word with you, Mr Black.”
They both stopped and Sirius surveyed Kirsty who shrugged. “I’ll wait for you outside,” she offered.
Sirius nodded before turning back towards his professor.
“She’s a nice girl,” complimented Typicus as Kirsty disappeared through the door.
Sirius swelled with pride. “Yes, she is.”
“You two get along well.”
Sirius nodded.
“Extremely well, in fact, one may even be forgiven for thinking that you’d set up this detention deliberately.”
Sirius was rendered dumbstruck.
Typicus surveyed him his eyes scanning every inch of his face. “Forgive me, I seem to have spoken out of turn, it is not my place.” He apologised before striding towards the door. “Goodnight, Sirius.”
And with that he left, leaving a confused Sirius to wonder whether on some level what Typicus had said was true.
Anything in the memory sequence that you recognise does not belong to me, that is solely JK’s writing from Order of the Phoenix, chapter 28: Snape’s Worst Memory and Deathly Hallows, chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale, I just borrowed it to set up the scenes. Thanks for reading, and please take the time to review.
Things Aren't Always Black and White by padfootsgirl1981
Chapter Notes: Thank you to my beta star_falling13, I hope you enjoy this one, everybody!