A/N Thanks to Eira aka phoenix_anamagus for her beta and help on this! Once again, Shinedown lyrics for the chapter title and everything else belongs to JK Rowling
James glanced over at Alexia again with concern. Apparently her fight with Sirius had her flaming mad because she was taking out her frustrations on the Slytherin team. He actually was beginning to feel sorry for some of them. She had already knocked a beater off his broom with a savage blow from her shoulder into his side. Now she had flown directly into the path of their seeker, causing him to lose track of the Golden Snitch. Luckily, Gryffindor’s seeker, Amanda, caught the Golden Snitch.
After the team resumed their footing on solid ground, Alexia got into a screaming match with Thomas Barry, the Beater she had knocked off his broom.
“Potter, you need to keep a leash on some of your players,” Thomas yelled at him.
“Can’t take being beat by a girl, Barry? Maybe Slytherin needs to toughen up a bit,” James said coming to Alexia’s side. “Come on Alexia.” Leading her away from Thomas, he waited until they were out of earshot of both teams. “Look, I know you’re brassed off at Sirius, but you were pretty reckless up there.”
“Oh, I see. So I should play like a girl?” Alexia stopped and put her hands on her hips. “I helped win that game you do realize. If you were playing up to snuff today, I wouldn’t have had to pick up the slack.”
“Pick up the slack? By knocking people off their brooms? I wasn’t ‘up to snuff’ because I was worried someone was going to slug you. Not that I would blame them. You were playing like those underhanded Slytherin wankers.”
“James…you really need to stop right now, before you say something I will make you regret,” Alexia warned him.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked when she walked up and saw the two of them glaring at each other.
“Maybe you can get a straight answer out of your friend here without getting your head taken off, Lily. Personally, I’m going to wait until she returns to her senses.” James stormed off leaving Lily looking confused.
Lily waited a few minutes before she suggested, “Let’s go down to the lake for a few minutes before we go back to the castle.”
Once they reached the lake, Alexia flopped down on the grass then lay back with a loud sigh. “What is wrong with me? I’m acting like I’ve been under the Imperius Curse.”
“Well…I didn’t want to say anything and risk losing an eye,” Lily answered with a smile.
Alexia laughed. “If this is how all relationships make you feel, I think I’ll pass.”
“I’m guessing it didn’t go well with Sirius earlier.”
“No. And the worst part is…” After being quiet a moment, she sat up with tears glistening in her eyes. “He was right. Not all of it but a lot of what he said was true.”
“Then maybe you should forgive him.”
“No, it’s too late. I saw the way he was all over Heather. ‘Course I saw that right before I tried to knock Thomas into next week,” Alexia replied with a frown.
“You know he was doing that just to upset you. And it worked. Now that was him being a prat. I wanted to smack him myself,” Lily said, shaking her head. “You two are so stubborn though. Both of you will let this get worse and worse until it is irreparable unless you talk to him.”
Alexia studied Lily for a few minutes. “You’re such a chancer. No wonder James is such a well behaved sod around you if you con him the same way you’re trying to con me.”
“But I’m right. That’s the key.”
“Yeah, yeah. You want me to give in. How’s that for loyalty and friendship?” Alexia snorted.
“I’m loyal, and I want you to be happy. Sirius makes you happy. Being without him makes you dangerous, apparently, so for the sake of the Quidditch Cup, get back with Sirius.” Lily smiled innocently at Alexia, and she had to laugh.
“I’ll try to talk to him. If he’s not all over Heather, that is. If he’s all over Heather, she can have him!”
~*~
“Can you repeat that one more time?” James said with a huge grin. “I’m not sure I heard you, but it sounded like you were admitting that you were wrong, and you were sorry. And those are two things I never thought I’d hear from you Alexia.”
“Hey! Sod off! I admit when I’m wrong. It just happens so rarely,” Alexia retorted. “I said I was sorry I went off half-cocked on you.”
“It’s quite alright. I’ll cherish this moment however.” James laughed when Alexia shot him a glare.
Trying to be nonchalant, Alexia scanned the crowded common room. She frowned seeing Heather, practically sitting in Sirius’ lap.
“He’s not even paying attention to her now, so don’t go slug him,” Lily warned.
“I don’t care. I…”
“Sirius, come here!” James called over her head.
“James!” Lily hissed. “How subtle!”
Sirius walked up, and without saying anything to anyone, he took Alexia’s hand and led her out of the room through the portrait entry way. “Come with me,” he said and she nodded.
Realizing she was holding her breath, Alexia released a small sigh when she saw he was headed outside. Hopefully, no one would bother them. When he finally came to a stop out of the view of the castle doors, he sat down on the ground and leaned back against the wall. Alexia sat in front of him with her legs crossed and studied her hands in her lap, gathering the courage to speak.
“I’m sorry.” They both said at once and then laughed.
“I’m sorry about the thing with Heather at Quidditch today. That was…”
“Mean? Horrible? Disgusting?” Alexia offered when he seemed at a loss for words. “Yes it was all that. Of all girls here, why her?”
“Because I knew it would make you the maddest. I didn’t realize that you’d get so mad that you’d almost maim Thomas Barry, but I can’t say it would be a great loss if you did.”
Alexia bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Finally, she said, “I’m sorry about what I said and the way I acted. I’m just…worried about my family and new to this feeling.”
“What feeling?” Sirius asked, as he leaned forward and pulled her closer. Resting his forehead on hers he asked again, “Tell me. What are you feeling?”
Alexia felt like she couldn’t breathe at all now. Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scent of him. He always smelled so good and his closeness made her stomach turn somersaults. His thumbs now stroked the insides of her wrists which for some reason seemed so soothing to her.
“Feeling like I can talk to someone, depend on them to listen to me and my problems. And make me feel safe about everything.”
“I make you feel safe?” he whispered.
“You make me feel protected. But you scare me because I don’t want you to hurt me,” Alexia whispered in response as she blinked back tears. “I…don’t know what I’m doing or the right thing to say. And you’ve been with many girls who are a lot more experienced than I am. I never know how to act.”
“Hey,” Sirius pulled her so she was sitting on his lap. “I want you to act like yourself. I want you to be yourself. Why would I want you to be someone other than the person I fell for?”
Alexia smiled shyly. She leaned forward and lightly kissed him. “I’m really sorry…”
“You can make it up to me.” Sirius grinned then kissed her deeply.
After a few heated kisses, Alexia sighed contentedly and put her head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry about your family, Alexia. I know how hard it must be to be away from them.”
“Thank you. It is hard. I should have realized a ministry employee married to a Muggle would be in danger. Add to that, my cousin is hanging around Death Eaters and you have a dangerous mix,” Alexia replied. “Can we talk about something else? If I think anymore about it, I’m going to be boggled. You said you were distracted last night. What were you thinking about? Are you blokes up to something?”
A look of guilt passed over his face, and he began to study the treeline. “Nothing. Just thinking about my Defense Against the Dark Arts paper that is due tomorrow.”
“Oh really? What’s the topic?” she asked casually, knowing he was lying.
“Umm…unforgivable curses.”
“Oh, that’s nasty business. Do you want my help?” she offered.
“No. Remember what you said about each of us doing our own work.”
Alexia raised an eyebrow that he would now use her own words against her. “Sirius, you’re a horrible liar. If you don’t trust me, you don’t have to tell me your big secret.”
“What big secret?”
“The one you are desperately and lamely trying to keep from me.”
Sirius finally looked at her. “I do trust you but…it’s not my secret to share. I’m sorry.”
“Alright,” she said with a shrug, knowing they were going to hopefully find out the truth tonight. “We better get back. Its getting close to suppertime.”
“First, why don’t you start making it up to me?” Sirius suggested then kissed her heatedly.
~*~
Alexia snuck into the lavatory to meet Lily after everyone had gone to sleep. Sitting on the sink waiting, Lily jumped and hid the parchment until she saw who it was. She pulled it back out along with her wand.
“Lumos. What took you so long?”
“Heather was rather put out about the fact Sirius and I are back together. She stayed up late to glare at me. Probably secretly plotting my death.” Alexia answered, sitting on the other sink beside Lily. Glancing at the parchment, she asked, “Are they on the move yet?”
“Yes. They’re just now leaving the castle though.”
The two girls watched the map as the three little flags representing Sirius, James, and Peter made their way across the grounds. They stopped at the Whomping Willow. Then they disappeared completely and the parchment was blank.
“Where did they go? Did they get caught or just close the map?” Alexia asked, still staring at the blank parchment.
“I don’t know. Let’s watch it a little while longer to see if they come back.”
After a half hour of a blank parchment, Lily shrugged. “Well, we have two choices. We sneak out to the Willow and try to find them, or we assume they just closed the map and keep watching.”
“I really hate to sit around waiting for things. Let’s go,” Alexia said as she jumped down off the sink with Lily following after.
The two of them snuck through the castle very carefully, choosing to go through a ground floor window instead of a door, just in case. Outside, Lily looked at Alexia nervously. “This place is pretty creepy at night.”
“Yeah, it is. I keep expecting to get caught.” Alexia glanced over her shoulder again.
When they reached the Whomping Willow, they stood looking around for some time. Hearing a noise, Alexia grabbed Lily’s arm and pulled her into nearby bush. A beautiful stag came into view and the two girls breathed a sigh of relief. Lily came out of the bush and began walking slowly towards the stag.
“It’s beautiful. I love deer, they are my favorite animal.” Lily was holding her hand out to the deer as it backed away slowly. “I won’t hurt you boy. I just want to pet you.”
Alexia heard another noise and looked over just as a black shaggy dog came running out of the Willow towards Lily. Alexia pulled out her wand and ran to Lily, pushed her out of the way, yelling, “Repello!!!”
Yelping, the black dog flew through the air then landed on its back 2 meters away. Raising her wand again, she was knocked back in shock when suddenly the stag transformed into James, rushed forward, and grabbed her arm.
“No Alexia! It’s Sirius!”
Story Summary:
Before Lord Voldomort ruined his life, Sirius Black enjoyed his best years at Hogwarts. In his final year, a fellow student manages to turn things up side down for him but he has no complaints.
PG13 for now - might rate higher later
A Birthday Fic for Viv!!!
Chapter Six
Look Left, Look Right But I'm Behind You
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...