Captivated

[bea]

1.

"Sirius"

No answer.

"Sirius!"

My eyes didn't really focus on what they were looking at till James threw what felt at the time like a wad of wet paper at my forehead, I frowned slightly at the impact and sound of squelching before wiping the wet residue with the back of my hand . Only after I made sure all the evidence of the offending object had gone did I give my messy haired best friend who was sat up at the front what Remus affectionately called 'the stare of doom'

Goodness that guy had a good throwing arm, granted I was sat on the second to last row of seats next to the last person I'd least like to share oxygen with than sit next to, Severus Snape. Hazel eyes met my blue-grey ones before he nudged his head toward the stern-manly looking defence against the dark arts professor who I always failed to recall her name, not that I cared she always found an excuse to give me a failing grade on assignments.

"Ah Mr. Black, back from your trip with the fairies, do you have your essay on common poisons and antidotes?"

Without looking at her I ducked my head under my side of the desk to rummage in my school bag till I found the thick roll of 4 sheets of parchment , thanking Remus and Lily silently for helping me finish the work last night.

I was just straightening myself up in my seat when I met the looming gaze of said professor with her beefy hand, easily twice the size both of mine outstretched for my 6 hours worth of work , it would have taken half the time if I hadn't sat in the library for 2 hours complaining of why she sets such hard work for us, I thought she was going to grade right in front of the class and embarrass me stating I'd failed yet again and never pass the NEWT examination. I tried not the stare at the blatantly obvious dark facial hair as she scanned her eyes over my face before snatching the leaves of parchment from my outstretched hand.

I was grateful when the bell rang a few minutes signaling the beginning of lunch break, on queue my stomach gave a loud growl as I stood up and stretched my stiff limbs, gathered my belongings and made like a rocket for the door .

A laugh followed me "what's the rush?" asked Remus

"I'm hungry" I answered innocently

"More like he wants to see that Ravenclaw girl he saw last week" remarked James ruffling his already unruly hair

I frowned slightly and tilted my head "haven't you got a lunch date with Lily" I started making my way up the stairs from the dungeons, not caring that I had slowed my pace and was currently getting irritated stares from students as they pushed past me "besides she's with that Thorne guy"

James grinned before answering "she says she has to pick up some stuff from the common room, she'll meet me later and your dream girl doesn't go out with him, they're just friends"

"Um guys, can we get a move on?" asked Peter timidly, I'd almost forgotten he was there, completely ignoring Peter's question I asked James "how do you know this?"

James did a weird eyebrow dance before answering "I have my ways"

"In other words he had Lily bring it up in casual conversation with her" whispered Remus in my ear while taking a seat next to me at the Gryffindor table, I raised my eyebrow at the comment I had just heard before reaching out for a turkey leg.

Halfway through the feast Lily sauntered down the isle to take a seat next to James in the great hall before taking her seat she gave James a soft kiss on his cheek, he smiled at the loving gesture from his dream woman before turning his face to give her a small kiss on her lips

I interrupted the sickening lovers reunion with a loud clearing of my throat "what class do we have n-" my eyes fell on the girl I'd wanted so badly since seeing her, she was laughing along with her friend, the one I'd dated last year, what's-her-face at something, her deep brown eyes glimmered with tears of laughter, her dark mahogany, soft hair was tied loosely to the back of her head with stray hairs playing around her heart shaped face "-ext?".

Lily chuckled at my gaping expression before waving her hand in front of my face and speaking to me once she had my attention "talk to her"

"I can't" I answered

Lily frowned slightly "why?"

"I just" I heaved a heavy sigh "can't"

She snorted back a laugh "thats a new, the infamous lady charmer can't speak to a girl?"

I sighed and went back to my half eaten chicken leg.

[bea]

2.

I awoke the next morning, mainly because of the cold "wake up!" I heard and felt a slight nudging motion, I groaned and rolled over in my sleep, more urgent nudging , I mumbled a few slurred profanities before cracking an eyelid open "what?" I asked to the nudger impatiently.

"Quidditch practice, ten minutes"

I was able to prop my face up from being buried in the several pillows which were scattered in various areas of my bed to see the time on my alarm clock, six in the morning, I yawned widely before my eyelids slid down on their own accord again.

"Did you hear me, sleeping beauty?" asked James from around the bathroom door

"Yeah yeah" I managed to mumble with my eyes still firmly closed, I was blissfully unaware of my surroundings till my coverings got snatched away roughly, My eyelids flew open and I sat bolt upright in bed grabbing for the quilt but I was too late, it was already on the floor

"Five minutes" he replied throwing my Quidditch uniform at me

I sat up and swung my legs off the bed and stretched my arms out in front of me letting a little lazy groan escape me as I stretched, a few minutes later I was down on the Quidditch pitch , broom in hand and bludger bat in my other hand with James.

"You're late" said the team captain Markus Watson, a tall well built seventh year with dazzling black hair and golden eyes

"Sorry, some people haven't grasped the concept of time" James chuckled

"Okay" said Markus rising into the air on his broomstick and heading for the goalposts "let's do this"

After a few hours of being in the air I was kind of relived to have my feet touch solid ground, I was ok with heights now but when I started on the team with James I'd been terrified that I'd fall off the broom

"We'll surely beat Ravenclaw next weekend" said James clapping me on the shoulder when he caught up with me. I really wasn't listening to what he was saying, I was more concerned in getting indoors to the warmth, just as I was reaching for the door handle that led into the entrance hall the door got opened from the inside and I was face to face with the other man who competed for my dream girl's affections. He had the freaking face of a lord, perfect sturdy built body, perfect height, perfect squared jaw line, and perfectly styled black hair and piercing blue eyes, yes he was a good looking one.

"Black" he said looking me up and down before roughly pushing me aside making me stumble abut and hold the door frame for support, James gave the tall lord like boy a distasteful look before saying "pee off, Thorne"

"See you on the Quidditch pitch, ladies" he said with a sly wink before leaving for the grounds with a much smaller Ravenclaw boy

I didn't tell James but I had a bad feeling about the coming weekend, I reopened the door to the entrance hall to see Peeves bombarding two first years with what looked like balloons filled with green jelly, dodging the disarray I started making my way to the great hall and taking a seat opposite Remus.

He looked up and smiled at me from the book he read as soon as he heard me pulling the water jug closer to me before pouring myself some out, I tried to eat something but my stomach felt like it was being squeezed by giant a hand, defiantly not a good feeling

For the rest of that week I had dream after dream of falling or getting hurt in some way, on that Saturday morning of the Quidditch match I got woken up by a violent jerk of my body from another of these falling dreams, didn't really do anything for my nerves starting to build in anticipation for the game in a few hours time. I looked over at James' bed to my right to see he'd already got up and was at the time occupying the bathroom, I took these few minutes of waiting for James to finish to stretch my arms and legs out , when he had finished in there I silently collected my Quidditch robes from my school trunk and went to into the bathroom.

After having some coffee and a slice of toast and getting a short briefing of strategy for today's game in the changing rooms we headed out for the pitch in time to see the other students wrapped up tightly in hats, scarves, gloves and coats talking their seats in the stands above, the morning air was frigid.

The Ravenclaws made their way to the pitch after a few minutes of us waiting, the two captains shook hands before mounting their brooms and taking off from the ground , moments later the whistle was blown and the game began, I started to circle the pitch looking for bludgers heading towards my team players, it was a few minutes into the game that I saw one of my team mates score another goal making Gryffindor lead Ravenclaw 50 to 30 . I took my focus from where I was going to look at who had scored the goal before looking ahead again to see the team seeker catching the snitch a while later for the win .

A roar erupted from the Gryffindor stands and I looked around at the view from my broomstick, I caught a quick glimpse at Gabriel Thorne with a sour look on his face before smiling to myself and landing my broom. On the ground the celebrations continued, the rest of the team and a small group of Gryffindor students had gathered around the team's seeker who was hoisted up onto two team members shoulders and still had the snitch tightly clutched in her hand, I started making my way to the group when I felt something heavy hit the back of my head with such force it made me stumble, instinctively I felt the place it had hit hoping the pain would pass and my eyes would refocus, the dizziness proved too much and I saw the ground rush up to meet me, the last thing I heard was urgent footsteps rushing towards me before everything went black.

[bea]

3.

After what felt like a pleasant nap my eyelids fluttered open, confused with my surroundings this wasn't the dorms, why was I in the hospital wing?. I tried to sit up in my bed but was met with a wave of dizziness so decided against the trying to get up thing and collapsed back into the fluffy pillows , but not before bumping my already sore head on the headboard with an audible thunk.

"Ouch" I whimpered rubbing the sore spot

"Madame Pomfrey, I think he's awake" I heard a soft feminine voice say

The Hogwarts nurse, a small but stern looking woman came out of the small office at the far end of the long room consisting of six beds including the one I was occupying , she quickly made her way to me allowing a warm smile grace her lips before she fussed over me for 30 whole minutes and giving me a vile tasting and smelling greenish-greyish potion to drink , then disappearing back into her office. After taking the potion the dizziness had subsided some so I decided to try sit up again , it worked this time and I swung my legs over the side of the bed, cringing slightly at the coldness of the stone floor on my bare feet , I then started my short walk around the room.

Halfway through my wanderings of the room my heart started to race, oh my lord, was I having a heart attack? No….wait, my heart was going a mile a minute after something caught my eye, or rather someone, she was sat on one of the high backed visitors' seats, her dark hair curled to perfection and the shirt and dark blue jeans she wore hung and clung in all the right places, I spent a long while standing staring in awe before she raised her eyes from the ancient spell book she was reading and smiled her trademark smile, I noticed for the first time that she had dimples , in return I gave my 'girls turn into a giggling mess' crooked grin in return

"Hi" she said in her soft feminine tones while she shifted slightly in her seat slightly and inclining her head to the empty seat opposite her

I felt my face heat up a deal before going to take the seat she indicated "How do you feel?" she asked

I cleared my throat before answering in what I hoped was a casual tone "Okay now, I guess, but what happened?"

She shifted again and crossed her legs at the ankles "Um well, after the match when you were all celebrating on the ground Gabriel hit you with a bludger, hard I might add, you could hear the thud it made in the stands" she winced "James, Lily, Remus and I ran to check on you but by the time we got there Dumbledore was already carrying you on a stretcher to the hospital wing, James and Remus wouldn't have left your side if Madame Pomfrey didn't tell them to go to their classes" she drew a breath and slowly exhaled before looking me directly in the eye "that's a really good couple of friends you have there, Sirius"

I was a little awestruck that she knew my name , I thought about asking her till my inner voice said ' come on Siri, you've dated half the female student body of Hogwarts, of course she knows who you are' I smiled slightly at the explanation before looking into her gorgeous eyes "H-how long was I out for?"

She took a while to ponder this "three and a half weeks"

I whistled low

"Yeah, Dumbledore was going to make preparations to have you moved to St Mungo's if you didn't wake up soon"

I whistled low again, before uncomfortable silence took over, I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair for a while before speaking again "so I'm going back to bed now" I grinned "seeya"

"Yeah, bye Sirius" she grinned

I was halfway to my bed when I turned to look at her still sat in the chair, I grinned when she looked up at me "by the way, I didn't catch your name"

She smiled her beautiful smile, showing two rows of small perfectly while, straight teeth "It's Amalie"

"Pretty name, see you around" I replied adding a wink

She flushed slightly "Yeah, see you around" then she made her way out of the hospital wing while I jumped back into my bed.

[bea]

4.

"Must you do that?" he asked without taking his eyes away from the book he was absorbed in

I grinned "yep" I answered continuing to tap my pen on the desk's edge while swinging on the back legs of my chair

I heard my friend heave a very long heavy sigh before grabbing the pen from my hand mid tap and pulling my seat back on its four legs, to this I gave a small groan before looking at the offender "aw" I pouted

Remus cast his amber gaze on me "Siri, you have to study if you want to pass your exams"I let my lower lip jut out a bit "But Remmy" I whined "I'm hungry and bored and this place smells of books"

He grinned crookedly at me "well we are in a library Sirius and don't call me Remmy" he shifted the book towards me

I sighed and stared up at the ceiling before lowering my head to read, audibly complaining and heaving heavy sighs

"Stop being so stubborn, Sirius, it has to be done"

I pouted some more and continued to read till Madame Pince, the school librarian shooed us away back to the common room

"Where were you at dinner?" James asked when I stepped through the portrait hole

"I was being held captive by Moony" I answered as Remus stepped through the entrance way

"You missed Snivillus choking on a pea" he mused staring into space

I chuckled "oh lord no, and I missed it."

Tuesday, the day I most hate dawned in a flurry of snowflakes and icy cold gales.

After breakfast we trudged down to our first lesson of the day which was Divination, the professor was a strange woman with he bushy brown hair and freakishly large blue-green eyes

, she also liked to predict the death of either myself or Remus every other lesson and openly wept when she foresaw a "terrible accident" which will befall James in the next few weeks, she was a Trelawney who came from a long line of female seers which made her believe that her daughter would become one also.

"Moony?" I noticed Remus dragging his feet and being eerily quiet as we made our way up to the northern tower, sure Remus was quiet but never this quiet and he never shuffled along as slow as he was today "you okay, mate?" I continued halting to a standstill while James and Peter continued on saying they'd save seats for us

"I'm fine" he lied

"No you aren't, Remus I've known you for seven years, I know when something is wrong so stop pretending nothings wrong and tell me what's on your mind"

He sighed and spoke in hushed tones that only I could hear "it's about the full moon tonight, what if something-"

I silenced him with a look and spoke in the same hushed tone "nothing will happen, how many times we have been through this?"

"But, what if something does? It only takes one wrong move" he looked down at his feet "I couldn't bear if anything happened to any of you" his voice faltered on the last word

"Hey, don't get all weepy on me now" I joked "besides we should get going to Divination, wouldn't want to miss Trelawney's new prediction of my death"

He laughed while we made our way to the class.

The Divination room was invitingly warm today as | took my seat next to James as Remus took his near Peter

"Everything okay?" asked James as I put my bag down on the floor

"Yep" I grinned

Just then the professor emerged from her small office that was hidden behind the purple heavy silk drapes

"Good morning my children, today we will partake in the art of palmistry" Trelawney mused "now if you'd take your partner's dominant hand and then turn to page 490 in your books it will illustrate to you how you are to gain an accurate reading"

I sighed and dug in my bag for my copy of Unfogging the Future, laying it on the desk with a dull thud and turning to the page I needed, there was a large diagram of a hand with detailed explanations of each line and the length of each finger

"Remind me why we retook this class?" I asked turning in my seat before giving my left hand to James. Because it's fun" he replied grinning at me then frowning down at my hand as though he was studying it intently "wow Sirius" his frown grew deeper "you have quite feminine hands"

I snorted back a laugh and punched his shoulder with my free hand.

He rubbed his arm and pushed his glasses up his nose before looking at the teacher again

"Now now, children" she waved her hands about making the many bangles rattle together on both her wrists "first you must determine the shape of your partner's hand

"Hmmm….I'd say your hand is a fire shaped hand"

I raised my eyebrow quizzically

James tore his eyes from the book and looked up at me "it means you have a square or rectangular hand with shortish fingers." James' eyes widened as he looked back at the book "it says, that people with that shaped hand are prone to die of a stampede of rabid pigmypuffs"

I gasped dramatically "oh no"

The class continued that way till the teacher assigned us to practice our palm reading and write down what we see in our other partner's hand "and that, my children is unfortunately the end of our time"

"Oh and Mr. Black, I regret to inform you that you'll suffer a nasty bout of the flu next week"

I looked at the professor and grinned then started making my way down the thin ladder leading to the corridor

The rest of the day went by quite smoothly even with Remus' worries about the coming evening

"We'll meet down at the willow as soon as we see Madame Pomfrey back in the castle again" I said while James comforted Remus with a pat on the back as he made his way towards the hospital wing

I blew into my gloved hands as myself and James waited for Wormtail to press the knot in the Whomping Willow, which was currently swaying merrily in the winter air with dustings of snow covering its branches

I watched as the small grey rat that was my friend scurry its way into the brambles, entwining its small body between the tree's growths, a few minutes later the tree froze and Peter made his way with the two of us down the dark damp corridor that led us to our fourth friend . The moon hadn't fully risen yet when we got to the entrance way of the Shrieking Shack so we waited till we heard screaming eventually turn into painful howls, I gave James a look before transforming into my animal form and entering the room.

[Duddahs]

very good Bea, I look forward to more.