We ran as fast as we could towards the two boys. However, Lily stopped me in the middle of the street.
“Look at what shop they’re by,” she said, pointing a little ways ahead of us.
I read the writing on the window that they were inspecting. It was a jewelry store. I looked down at the bracelet that Sirius had given me for my birthday, fingering it gently. This bracelet was a good gift, but would he step up and give me something more for Christmas? I blushed at the thought. We have only been dating for a few months, why would he be getting me any more jewelry? They’re probably just looking at things for their Mums. This argument was good enough for me, so I let it rest.
James was tucking a bag into an inside pocket of his cloak when he noticed us. He waved, smiling widely. In response, Lily grinned and took off running towards him again. She sailed gracefully into his arms, laughing like a child. James laughed too as he took the opportunity to snatch the white hat from her head, sending her flaming hair flying everywhere in the small breeze. James broke free of Lily’s arms, hat in hand, and sped towards where I still stood. Lily let out a sound that was either a laugh or an annoyed scream, I’m not sure which, and dashed after him. She was almost to him when James playfully tossed the hat to Sirius, who quickly became Lily’s new target.
“Amelia, help me!” Lily cried as she charged at Sirius.
I laughed as I joined her. The game went on for a few minutes, Lily and I getting close to whoever held the hat and then they would toss it to the other.
It was me that finally ended it. Sirius was running down the street, hat held high, and I was chasing him. We weaved through the crowds of students, occasionally knocking into people.
“Sirius Black, you get back here right now!” I shouted as he took a moment to stop and check how close I was to him.
“Not a chance, sweetheart!” he called back, deciding to stop. He held Lily’s pretty white hat above his head like a trophy.
“Oh yeah?” I tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably. “How about NOW?” As I said the last word, I rammed into him with all the force I could muster. This must have taken him by surprise, because he toppled over backwards with me on top of him.
Although it was slightly awkward, falling on top of Sirius in the middle of a crowded street, I really didn’t mind. Of course, this really shows how much I had changed since coming to Hogwarts. The Amelia Jordan who went to Beauxbatons would have been mortified to be falling on boys in public.
I couldn’t seem to stop giggling as I reached for the hat that was still in Sirius’s hand.
“Oh no you don’t!” Sirius laughed, holding the hat just out of my reach.
I responded by hitting him hard on the chest with my fist and making a quick grab for the hat. This time I didn’t fail to retrieve it. I let out a whoop of triumph, but my boyfriend wasn’t through with me yet. When he realized I had gotten the prize, he grabbed me around the waist and twisted me so I was laying flat on my back, looking up into those beautiful grey eyes.
I quickly realized that I could hardly breathe. He smelled absolutely amazing and his face was unbelievably close to my own. I had never been this close to him before…
Sirius grinned, making my heart flip flop. “You thought I’d let you win, didn’t you?” He whispered, sending goose bumps down my spine.
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t respond. My body wouldn’t move and my brain felt like it had been washed clean. Suddenly, Sirius was the most important thing in the world. He was the only thing in the world. Nothing else mattered outside this moment.
Sirius just smiled down at me. Did he feel the same way?
I bit my lip and his expression changed, turning serious. Without saying anything, he slowly moved his face towards my own. My mind was now working again and had worked itself into quite a frenzy. He was going to kiss me! What should I do? Should I close my eyes?
I could feel his warm breath on my face and closed my eyes. Whatever was going to happen would happen. I could almost feel Sirius’s lips on my own…
“SIRIUS, AMELIA!” From down the street, someone called for us and the heat that seemed to gather in that small moment instantly vanished as Lily and James appeared. Sirius grinned at me and got to his feet, offering a hand to me to help me up.
When I was safely on my feet again, I held the hat out to Lily. My face was burning and I could feel the onlookers staring. Did I really just do that in public?
“Will you two stop frolicking in the middle of the street?” James demanded, looking slightly cross. “It’s so embarrassing.”
Sirius glanced at me and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.” Was it just me, or was he blushing too?
“Okay, well, what are we going to do now?” I asked, knowing I sounded completely lame.
“How about going into The Three Broomsticks?” Lily suggested.
That was the best idea any of us could come up with, and a few minutes later I found myself sitting between Sirius and a wall. Lily and James sat opposite of us in the booth. We ordered our drinks and I took a moment to observe Lily. She looked so radiant and happy, not to mention beautiful. Her hair contrasted perfectly with her cloak and her eyes shined like gems. I took note of the way she leaned into James, resting her head on his shoulder. From the way they were sitting, I was positive that they were holding hands under the table. I was filled with happiness just watching them interact, they were so cute. If any two people were meant for each other, it was Lily and James.
I glanced around the pub to see who else was in there. Severus Snape, the greasy haired Slytherin, was sitting alone in a corner, immersed in his potions book and looking extremely grumpy. Aly Hazen was with her friend, Anna, and a few boys I didn’t know, and Donyal from the Quidditch team was flirting with a tall Hufflepuff sixth year. She caught me staring and winked. To my surprise, Hollie was sitting alone at the bar talking with Madame Rosemerta and looking extremely pensive.
I was shocked to see that she wasn’t surrounded by her usual swarm of gossiping girls. Was she up to something again?
I brushed all thoughts of Hollie aside when Sirius abruptly started a conversation. “Man, I can’t wait for break to be here,” he moaned.
James nodded. “I know what you mean, Padfoot. All this homework is addling my brains.”
Lily elbowed him in the ribs. “Come on, James, its N.E.W.T. year.”
“That means more work and, if you ask me, all the more reason to slack off, Lily-love.” James yawned, throwing his arm over Lily’s shoulders.
She sighed. “You’re impossible.”
Just then, Madame Rosemerta came with the drinks. Sirius was reaching into his pocket to pay for them when the young barmaid stopped him.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Mr. Black, a girl at the bar already paid for them.”
My head whipped around to the bar. Hollie was gone and the only ones still there were a group of third years and a pair of awkward looking fifth years.
“What?” Sirius asked, brow crinkling in confusion.
Madame Rosemerta glanced over at the bar. “Oh, well, she’s gone now. She paid enough for you all to each have a refill.”
“Wow, that’s generous of her,” Lily said, looking impressed. She obviously hadn’t noticed who had been sitting there a few minutes ago.
“Sure is,” the barmaid nodded. “You guys enjoy these. Just give me a shout when you’d like those refills.”
“Well that was weird,” Sirius comment as she returned to her spot at the bar.
I took the nearest butterbeer and took a long sip, letting the golden liquid slide down my throat. I regretted the action instantly, something about it just didn’t feel right. I figured it was Hollie that paid for our drinks. My only question was why would she do something like that? Was she, once again, up to something?
I set my mug down, blinking as a horrible aftertaste filled my mouth. I gazed down at it, watching the golden liquid slosh around in the mug. Butterbeer never had a bitter aftertaste, it was always unbelievably sweet.
I then gripped my mug so tightly that my knuckles turned white. A wave of nausea came over me. My stomach hurt very badly all of a sudden. I knew I was going to vomit.
“Amelia, are you okay?” James asked, looking concerned. “You look kind of green.”
I stared blankly at him, blinking to keep a wave of dizziness at bay. “I…” I tried to speak, but could hardly get a word out of my mouth. “I need to use the bathroom.”
I nearly plowed over Sirius in my mad dash to the lavatory. When I reached the safety of the girl’s room, I didn’t even pause to check my surroundings and plunged myself into the nearest stall. After a few minutes of being intensely uncomfortable, the contents of my stomach were safe in the toilet bowl.
It was all quite nasty, and as I was leaning over the shiny white toilet, I felt long fingers weaving through my thick brown hair, pulling it back and tying it so it was out of the way.
“How do you feel, Amelia?” the horribly familiar low toned voice spat into my ear. It was Hollie. “Do you feel good now that you publicly embarrassed me? Do you feel better that you stole my date at the ball? Because of you, James probably spent the whole time after he disappeared getting it on with your redheaded friend. How do you feel about all of this? Do you enjoy the fact that you got the guy? I saw the way you and Sirius acted in the middle of the street. Did that feel good? Are you pleased with yourself that you’ve somehow managed to get your ugly little hands on the most attractive boy in the school?” She pulled my face out of the toilet to face her own. Her pale eyes flashed in cold fury. I wrenched away, heaving into the toilet. “I sure as hell don’t enjoy these things, Amelia Jordan. You better watch out. You have no idea what I can do to you”“
“What’s going on in here?” It was as if an angel had spoken. I glanced over Hollie’s shoulder at my savior. It was Lily!
Hollie let go of my head immediately, straightening so she was taller than Lily. “Oh, nothing,” she sneered. “Just helping out a friend.” She spat out the word “friend”.
Lily narrowed her eyes in intense dislike. “Well, I appreciate it, but I think you’ve helped enough.”
Hollie leered at her. “Just make sure Amelia here watches her actions more closely. I would hate it if someone accidentally slipped something into her butterbeer.” With a swish of her long hair, Hollie was gone.
Lily was instantly at my side. “Merlin, Amelia, what happened?”
I gulped and struggled for words. “Hollie put something… in butterbeer. She paid… came in here… jealous…” I could only get a few of the words out; the horrible taste in my mouth was disgusting. I was filled with anger at my beautiful rival. Why did she always do things like this? I didn’t do anything to her! Is her jealousy so great that she feels that she needs to hurt me, falsely accuse me, and threaten me?
I felt my head go fuzzy again and there were now three of Lily dancing in front of me.
“I’ll go get you some water, okay?” they said. I nodded as they got up and left. A few moments later, the three Lily’s returned with water in their hands. “Drink this,” she instructed as I reached out blindly for the water.
I gulped it down. My head instantly felt better and the three Lily’s morphed back into one. “Thank you,” I said softly, closing my eyes.
Lily nodded, putting a hand on my head. “Amelia, you’re burning up!”
“Am I?” I asked, feeling distant again.
“We need to get you back up to the school,” She said.
I yawned; her voice seemed worlds away. I was suddenly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away. “Can I have a nap first?”
Lily’s voice was stern. “No, Amelia, we need to get you out of here. Come on, put your arm over my shoulders, I’ll help you up so we can find the boys, all right?” Lily grabbed my waist and dragged me to my feet. I leaned on her for support. “Okay, now we’re going to walk.” I shuffled my legs as she led me out the door.
My ears seemed to explode as the noise of the pub hit them. My gaze landed on our booth where Sirius sat with James, both looking incredibly worried. The butterbeer remained untouched. Their images blurred before my eyes.
James glanced over, saw us, and got to his feet. “Sirius!”
Sirius looked at Lily and me. His eyes widened and his face paled. He was on his feet and striding towards us before I even had time to think.
“Amelia! Lily, what happened?” Sirius demanded as he took Lily’s place by my side. Even in my dizzy state, I was glad he was there. He was much stronger than Lily, and easier to lean on.
“I don’t really know,” she said.
“What’s wrong with her?” James asked, catching up to us as we made our way slowly out of the busy pub and onto the cold street.
I shivered. “Brr, cold.” I sounded so childish.
Sirius stopped, gazing at me for a moment before hoisting me up in his arms. “You’re in no condition to walk,” he told me firmly. I wasn’t paying attention. I was off in my own little world. “Here, put your arms around my neck, it will make it easier.” I did as instructed, leaning my head against his chest. His heart was racing; I could feel it against the side of my cheek. “All right, let’s get you back to the school.”
We set off up the path. I could hear them talking about the situation as we traveled.
“Lily, we want to know the full story here,” James demanded.
“I don’t know the whole thing,” Lily began. “When I came into the bathroom, Amelia was vomiting in the toilet. Hollie… Hollie was with her.”
I could hear Sirius’s heart skip a beat. It was an odd experience. How often do you get to hear someone else’s heart do that?
“Hollie was there?” Sirius was grinding his teeth and his voice was low.
Lily nodded. “She was holding back Amelia’s hair so it didn’t get dirty or anything. From what I heard of the conversation, she was threatening Amelia.”
“What?” James exclaimed. “Why?”
“I don’t know, only Amelia knows. I think…” Lily cleared her throat. “I think that Hollie put something in the butterbeer. She was the one who paid for it, I’m sure of it.”
“So if we drank the butterbeer, then we’d all be sick?” James asked.
“I don’t know,” Lily said. “I just don’t know.”
This was the last thing I remember. I must have fallen asleep in Sirius’s arms.
~*~
I don’t know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes, I was in an unfamiliar bed staring up at red hangings. I rolled over on my side and realized that I was wearing my pajamas. I lay there for a few moments, enjoying the feeling you get right when you wake up. I took several deep breaths. The sheets and pillow smelled distinctly like… “Sirius?”
The hangings around me pulled slowly open and there he was, looking genuinely worried. I could see Lily sitting with Remus and James on one of the other beds.
“Hey, Amelia,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “How do you feel?”
I tried to sit up, but Sirius touched my arm gently, telling me to stay down. I sighed. “I feel fine,” I yawned, “just a little groggy.”
Sirius reached over and put a hand on my forehead. It was amazing how something that simple sent chills down my back. “Your fever has gone down,” he commented, removing his hand.
“Fever?” I asked.
Lily joined Sirius at my bedside. This time, I actually sat up. My head spun, knocking the events of the trip to Hogsmeade back into my head. I looked from Lily to Sirius. “Wait… what happened? What day is it? Why am I in here?”
Sirius took my hand in his. “One question at a time, love.”
My face flushed and Lily replied. “We think Hollie put something in the butterbeers. You were the only one who drank from them, it made you really sick.”
“Like a potion?” I asked.
“No, we think it was a potion ingredient, a dangerous one.” Sirius said.
“Well, Lily, you’re the best one at potions, what was it?” I asked.
She shook her head. “We’re not sure. It could have been multiple things and I couldn’t go back and inspect the drink. I guess we’ll never know.”
“Oh.” I looked down at mine and Sirius’s linked hands.
“Today is Sunday, though, so you haven’t been out that long,” Lily explained. “We would have put you up in the girl’s dormitory, but I couldn’t carry you up the stairs by myself. Plus, Sirius here would have been pestering me constantly for updates, so we just brought you to the guy’s dorm.” She paused, glancing at Sirius. “Now that I think about it, Sirius has been pestering me this whole time anyways.”
I smiled weakly. “I can see that.”
Sirius grinned sheepishly at me. “The things we do for love.” As he said this, he tucked a strand of my messy brown hair behind my ear.
Lily rolled her eyes and I put a hand over my face to repress a fit of giggles. Sometimes Sirius just looked so stupid when he was acting like this. I squeezed his hand gently.
“All right, you two, this is no time for you to get all boyfriend and girlfriend on me,” Lily retorted.
“But Lily,” I protested, “We ARE boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Yeah, Lily, come on!” Sirius whined. I hit him on the arm, failing to stop another fit of giggles. My vision blurred for a moment and I gripped Sirius’s hand more tightly to keep it from completely fading.
“Amelia, you should probably get some more rest,” Sirius advised.
“Hmm… okay,” I agreed, laying back down and pulling the covers around me. Lily offered me one last smile before returning to where James and Remus sat on the other side of the room.
Sirius, however, lingered for a moment. I swallowed hard as I noticed a strange look in his eyes and a gentle smile on his face. I couldn’t quite remember how to breathe as he left a small kiss on my cheek.
“Sleep well,” he whispered before drawing the hangings shut. I could hear him walking away and I let out the breath I had been holding.
My heart raced and my head spun with emotions. I pushed it all aside, knowing that I would never be able to sleep soundly with thoughts of Sirius in my head. I flopped over so I lay on my side, breathing deeply and inhaling the lovely, distinct smell of Sirius. In no time at all, I felt the world slip away as I fell into a deep slumber.
A Girl Like You by Lady Alanna
Chapter Notes: Well, after yet another almost half a year without posting anything, I'm back in action!! I feel horrible about not being able to post anything, but I literally didn't have any time this past winter to write. All my spare time went into speech team and classes (stupid math...), but I've been getting caught up with my typing and writing! I've got the next three or four chapters typed up and are waiting to send to my beta, so hopefully they will be showing up on here soon. Speaking of betas, thanks so much to Ashley for betaing this chapter! :)
Chapter Endnotes: Aww... I love ending chapters with fluff. I hope you all enjoyed that. Say, I'd love to know what you guys think of Hollie's little stunt. So please please please leave a review letting me know what you think!! I love reading them!!!