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The Illustrious Mrs Black - Chapter One ~ Butter beer and Snitches
"Ron!" Hermione shouted again.
"Ron!" Ron chidlishly mimicked in a high tone voice.
Harry laughed as he and Sirius watched Ron and Hermione squabble again. The argument had started with peppermint trolls, and moved onto butter beer .v. pumpkin juice, but Harry had gotten lost somewhere between the talk of socks and Crookshanks.
"Are you following this?" he asked Sirius, looking at his Godfather for the first time since the eruption twelve minutes previously.
"Uum?" Sirius asked distractedly, and Harry noted the distant look upon his Godfather's face, one lighted with a kind of melancholy, nostalgic smile.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked in concern, but Sirius looked at him and smiled, nodding towards Ron and Hermione.
"Ron just reminded me of someone..." he said, with a small, knowing smile. Harry was about to ask who, when Hermione beat him to it.
"Who? A big, pumpkin-hating prat?!" Hermione asked, and Ron shot her a glare. He opened his mouth to respond, but Sirius cut him off with a deep chuckle.
"Something like that," Sirius laughed, grinning, and adding, "he just reminded me of me... I've never been partial to pumpkins. In fact, you both reminded me of myself, and someone I used to know..." He sounded slightly wistful and guarded. "Hermione, when you fight with Ron, you two remind me of myself, and... the illustrious Mrs Black."
"What?!" the trio shouted in unison, and Harry stuttered, "T-t-the who?!"
Sirius shrugged slightly and added, "A girl I used to know in another lifetime Harry... Before..." Sirius looked at his tattered rags and at the dismal, suffocating cave walls. "Before this... before Azkaban," he said, a shadow in his eyes.
"Oh tell us Sirius!" Hermione gasped, missing the look, and suddenly forgetting her complete fury at Ron's disaproval of peppermint trolls.
"It's a boring story," Sirius said, but then he looked at Harry. Harry wondered if the intrigued shock on his face prompted Sirius to go further, because he suddenly added, "But maybe, it's time you heard it?"
Then he gave Harry a meaningful look, and leant back against Buckbeak comfortably. "Like all good stories, it started with the girl..."
"For Gods sake James, ask her out already, you great big sod! You like her, she likes you, so get together already!" Sirius Black was completely exasperated, as he watched his best friend stare lovingly down the table at Lily Evans.
"I can't just ask her out Sirius! Woman like Lily are one in a million, I need to do this properly. Besides, she thinks I'm a complete prat." James said quietly, gazing at Lily, and looking down at his food whenever she looked back.
Peter Pettigrew laughed, and Remus Lupin let a small smile play on his face. Sirius just shook his head in disbelief.
"You are a complete prat! But for some reason, she seems to like you anyway! So Prongs, all I can say is get a move on! Or next thing you know, some other guy will have asked her out and you'll have missed your chance! For all you know she might get together with Snape!" Sirius kept a straight face for as long as possible, but it wasn't long before he cracked up at the idea of Sniveling Severus and Lily ever getting together. Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs all burst out laughing at the Gryffindor table as they looked at slimy Snape, sat with Malfoy. Sirius shot him a them both a look of disgust, before moving back to his dinner.
Sirius looked down the table, to where Lily sat with her friends, Isabel Connor and Desireé Taylor. Sirius rolled his eyes when he saw Desireé, who caught his eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, scrunching up her nose. She was one of those painfully beautiful, irritatingly interesting people. They were friends through association, but she had a knack of annoying the hell out of him. She had black hair, distinguished, grey eyes, tanned, ageless skin... but she was as irritating as hell.
Sirius shook his head, and turned back to his friends. Lupin had been looking at him knowingly, with that wisdom filled look that no one of seventeen should have. Maybe it was the werewolf thing, but Sirius always had the feeling that old Moony always knew what was going on in your mind, maybe even things you hadn't realised yourself.
"All I know is that you better sort yourself out before the dance... I don't fancy having to go with you mate. No offense, but the sight of you in your dress robes doesn't do it for me." Sirius said, and James rolled his eyes.
"Like I'd accept an invite from you anyway," James replied. "You aren't my type... I go for the red heads," he smiled, and his eyes fell on Lily again.
Sirius resisted the urge to band his head against the table.
~~~~~~~
"Come on Gryffindor!" Desireé shouted loudly, and the crowd roared as chaser Brooke Jones scored. The cheers from everyone else were almost drowned out the Slytherin's hisses.
Sirius laughed as Desireé did a little celebratory victory dance, and Lupin said, "Ray Ray, don't you think you should save the victory dance until after we win the match?"
Desireé rolled her eyes, and said, "Remus, so much to learn! When we win, everyone will be doing victory dances, and no one else will care about mine. Whereas now, everyone will be in awe of my victory dance!"
Sirius laughed, "Yeh Remus, and we all know that little Princess here always has to be the centre of attention!" Desireé stuck her tongue out him and rolled her eyes, biting back on her usual retorts to turn back to the match, too enthralled to respond. "It's there!!" she suddenly shrieked, as a golden creature winged it's way past the crowd. "Go on Potter!!"
Lily was watching James dart for the snitch with concern in her eyes. "Oh, what if he falls? He could get hit by a bludger, anything could happen to him up there!"
Desireé rolled her eyes. "Come on Lil, he'll be fine, he always is! I'm sure nothing will go wrong."
Lily shook her head, "Ray, last time he got knocked unconscious ten minutes into the match!"
"Minor detail," she said, smiling at Sirius. He winked at her, and they watched anxiously. Desireé added as an after thought, "Besides, if Slytherin win the match then I'll do Potter an injury myself, and trust me, it will be much worse than falling off his broom!"
Sirius laughed, not doubting her for a second. He was a little relieved that that was an unlikely outcome. Gryffindor were in the lead by 70 points, and he didn't think James could take a round with Desireé. He would probably rather be locked in a room with an angry spinx.
Sirius looked out to were Snape was stood in the Slytherin stands. He was cowering next to Lucius Malfoy, pretending to be big and strong in front of all of his 'friends.' Sirius hated the guy so much. He was slimy, a total weasel, and always lecherously staring at Lily and Desireé...
Not that he cared, Sirius quickly corrected himself. James got angry as hell when Snape looked at Lily, but Sirius was just looking out for his friends...
Okay, so when Snape gave Desireé those longing looks Sirius wanted to jump up, punch the guy then set a few hundred bludgers on him, but he would do that for any of his friends...?
Sirius saw one of the Gryffindor beaters, Traylor Karnes, notice Snape's scowls, and he hit his bludger straight at him. Snape fell to the ground, knocked out, and Slytherin was awarded a penalty. Barely anyone in Gryffindor cared. On the contrary, most people cheered!
"Oh he had that coming!" said Peter, jumping up and down, following the lead of everyone else. Sirius laughed at Snape, and Desireé shouted, "Take that you snake!"
Lily looked worried, "Oh he might be seriously hurt!" she gasped and Desireé rolled her eyes again.
She turned to Sirius, shouting over the crowds, "How did I wind up with such a sweet best friend? Its sickening, really."
Sirius nodded, looking at Lupin, who had a small frown on his face. "Tell me about it Princess! Remus, you can't say he didn't deserve that!" he said when he saw Remus frowning.
Lupin just shook his head wisely, saying, "We all get what's coming to us eventually, Sirius."
Sirius laughed to himself. His friends truly amazed him. There was Lupin, a guy so cool he could freeze the sun. He was terribly quiet at times, and never seemed to lose his cool. Sirius once again wondered if that was to do with being a werewolf. How could one guy be so permanently in control? Maybe the fact he lost it so severly once a month kind of... balanced him...
Then there was Lily. She was sweet, kind, caring... So right for James. Sirius had an idea that if anyone could tame him, it would be Lily. Though he was sure noone could ever trully take the mischeif out of James Potter.
Not forgetting Peter, a guy that was a little bumbling, but sweet and caring. Wouldn't hurt a fly.
-----
When Sirius was telling the story to Harry, Ron and Hermione, they all stopped to marvel at the irony of what Sirius had once believed of his own 'friend.'
"Sure, he wouldn't hurt a fly," Ron scoffed. "Too busy hurting his best friends, wasn't he?" he asked with a scowl, subconciously putting his hand over his pocket where his pet rat had once hibernated.
----
And James. Sirius's best friend. The two were hardly ever apart, and Sirius respected James so much. The two were inseparable.
That leaving the Princess. She was smart, and loving, and kind, but she kept all of that deep down, buried. On the surface, she was fiery, not to be messed with, and confident. A typical daddy's girl with a wild streak.
But Sirius couldn't help but to be drawn to her at times. She could be a very people kind of person.
Sirius watched the match, and the nearly the whole stadium went wild as James landed with the golden snitch. Lily almost swooned at the sight of him, and Sirius vowed he would never turn out like that. Love sick and annoyingly happy.
Desireé turned and hugged him, and then they both pulled apart abruptly as they realised who they were hugging. She paused with a smile, and held out her hand, and he grinned, shaking it exaggeratedly.
"Party, Gryffindor common room!" Peter cried, as the crowd celebrated.
"But where will you get the food?" Lily asked distractingly, barely paying attention to anyone other than James.
Sirius said, "We have our ways," winking at Lupin. Peter joined them, and James landed with a thud, snitched still grasped tightly in his hand.
Sirius knew the four of them must have looked very suspicious, standing there with their cheeky, mischievous grins... But there would be a party, and if anyone could pull that off, they would...
They were, after all, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.
