This is my very first fan-fiction. It is with my original characters (okay, admitted, I didn't create them, I got the plot-bunny with names of the characters from Vicki, but I developed them). Basically, the characters that you do know belong to JKR, the ones that you don't are mine. This chapter is dedicated to my friend Vicki who got me started on this and gave me the push. And thanks so much to my amazing beta Nick. Well, please start reading now:

Let the games begin!

My eyes stopped at the two letters. It was early morning so it took some times for my eyes to really understand the meaning of those two small letters. I blinked as I saw it. I thought it was a practical joke when I read it in the letter. Hogwarts had never taught this subject; I guess it was now and I was mortified.
Tanya nudged me in the ribs and I looked up. All sixth and seventh years were looking at Professor McGonagall who somehow had managed to make them all shut up and listen to her. She had been speaking for about five minutes by now, but all of it had rushed right through my mind without leaving sense.
I blinked, trying to focus, but Alex, trying to stick a breadstick into Mitch’s ear without Mitch noticing was far more interesting than McGonagall’s speech. His long dirty-blonde curls hung into his eyes which were narrowed in concentration and his eyebrows were pulled together. His tongue stuck out and was firmly placed on his upper lip. Mitch on the other hand was unaware that Alex was guiding the stick between his thick black hair. Mitch’s own brown eyes were looking upwards in boredom. Stretching a little I could see Will’s nearly bald head lying in his arms on the bench. He was basically sleeping. His eyes were closed and if his fingers hadn’t been moving I had been sure he was asleep. I turned my eyes to the last of my friends; Tanya. She was the only one was looking at Professor McGonagall, her big brown eyes widened in horror.
Mitch and Tanya were twins really; looking like each other a lot too. Both with the black hair with the brown hint, the brown eyes and the slightly brown skin they’d gotten from their mother. Their mother was African, from Tanganyika or something. Tanya was actually named so, but as no one but Mitch could pronounce that, she was called Tanya. Mitch – of course – wasn’t named Mitch either. As Tanya shouldn’t be the only one with a strange name, he was named Michelangelo, but everyone agreed that Tanya had gotten the worst part. But it was all nothing compared to my eight names. Tanya and Mitch were very different though. Mitch was very down to earth, everybody’s friend, while Tanya was more… wild, really; though lazy at the same time. That’s why this year’s new classes would be hell to her.
I turned my eyes to Alex again who was still unnoticed by Mitch. Alex was my best friend besides Tanya. He was the funny guy of the group, or at least he liked to think so. He thought high of himself. He was the tallest too and if I had to be honest, he was extremely good looking.
At last there was Will. He was something special. An appetite like a Hippogriff and spending half his day playing Quidditch and getting into duels for the other part. He was very well trained and strong too, and as he wasn’t very tall he looked rather bulky. He was a true Hufflepuff; putting his friends first and trustworthy like a true Hufflepuff. I’m sure he could beat both Mitch and Alex even if they were united against him. Tanya and I had laughed when we met with him the previous day at the Hogwarts Express. He’d cut all of his lovely red-brown thick hair off and was now running around egg-head and all. But after having looked at him a few hours, I found that I liked it. It suited him.

“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. You can now freely go to classes!”
I snapped out of my thoughts as McGonagall stopped talking. I looked at Tanya who still looked horrified.

“Well,” I muttered and grabbed for my bag. “We’d better be going.”She looked even more devastated.

“I can’t believe I’m not going to be in the same class as you.”

“You’ve got Mitch,” I said brightly.

“Wuhu. Great.” Her tone was dark.
“OUCH!” Mitch snapped out of his world and whacked Alex on the head. “That hurt.”
Alex just snickered while Mitch tried to brush the breadstick out of his ear. Will slowly sat up, yawning.

“Right behind you Elena,” he muttered.
I looked at Alex. “You commin’ too or do you have other ears to fill up with bread?”
He stuck out his tongue, but grabbed his bag and followed Will and I, mumbling, “Can’t believe this is happening.”

“I wanna go home!” Tanya whined behind us.

“Get a grip!” Alex called. “You’re such a cry-baby, Tanya!” I shoved him. “Shut up, Alex! You’re not a nice person.”

“I know you don’t mean that,” he grinned and put an arm around my waist. “I’m your bestest best friend.”
“You can’t say that,” I muttered and removed his arm. “Besides, that’s Tanya.” He sent me a sour look. “Fine. Just so you know, Will has just replaced you.”

“Like I care.” I rolled my eyes.

“So, Will, bestest best friend,” Alex said, turning away from me and putting his arm around Will’s waist instead. “Are we going to do some best friends’ stuff later?”

Will looked at him, pushing the arm off. “You’re gay, man.”

Alex smirked. “If I were, you’ve be the last guy I’d go for.”
Will elbowed Alex hard in the stomach and he gasped and bent over in pain. Will grinned and continued. I looked between Alex and Will, then ran after Will with a grin at Alex.

“Was that really necessary?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

Will smirked. “Alex has got to learn some respect.” His eyes were fixed on the approaching Quidditch Pitch. “He’s so snotty and thinks he’s king of the world.”

“That’s a different matter,” I said, but couldn’t help smiling. Will was right.
We stopped at the pitch where a tall thin wizard met us. He looked at our chests and then gave us each a pair of shorts and a t-shirt without one word.

“Wow,” I muttered to Will. “Yellow and black stripes. I’m going to look like a bumble bee.”

He chuckled. “So do the rest of us.”

“Not those from the other houses.”

We parted at the changing rooms. I entered the girls’ changing room and took in the sight. Two Gryffindor girls (Lily Evans and Christy Johnson), three Ravenclaws girls (Alice Rubenstein, Marlene Alexander and one girl whose name I did not remember) and two girls from my own house (Kade Barton and Rochelle Davis) were present. The Gryffindors’ gym clothes were simple red with broad golden edges while the Ravenclaws had blue shirts with simple bronze sleeves. Hufflepuff had gotten the worst part.

“Hey girls,” I said brightly and dropped my bag at the bench nearest Rochelle.

“Hi,” they all chorused.

I began dressing while small talk continued.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Rochelle complained. “I hate gym!”

I turned to her. “Really?” I asked. She nodded. I couldn’t help grinning, “So does Tanya. She thinks it’ll be her death.”

“It’ll be mine too,” Rochelle pulled on her t-shirt. “And look! I look like a bumble bee!”

“That’s what I said!”

“Hey, Elena?”

I turned to Lily and Christy, “Yeah?”

“We were just wondering,” Lily muttered, her cheeks going slightly red. “Your brother… is he… is he single now?”

“We were just discussing!” Christy hurried to say.

“Aether?” I asked and they nodded. I eyed them. “Um, yeah. He broke up with Winnie in the summer.”

“I said so!” Lily exclaimed.

Christy rolled her eyes. “Well, I just heard different from Josh.”

“Why?” I asked suddenly suspicious.

“Noth-” Christy begun, but Lily cut her off.

“Christy likes him.”
“Do so not!”
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
“Yeah, well, you like James then.”
Lily glared at her friend. “Then you like Peter!”
“You just said I liked Aether.”
“You can like two at the same time.”

They continued bickering and I just turned away to my bag and continued dressing. Just then two last girls entered the dressing room with their green gym clothes over their arms.

“I can’t believe we’re doing muggle-subjects!” Ursula Stone hissed.

“It’s so low!” Anica Langston muttered low. “Sports of the Mudbloods.”

I turned to them. I knew that at least two of the girls in here were muggle borns and four, including myself, was half and half. Sure Stone and Langston knew that. They didn’t seem like caring. Lily look flustered, her eyes lightening towards the two Slytherins.
Ursula saw I was looking. “What?” she snarled.

I sent her a look with as much loathing as I could. “Why don’t you just shut up?” I asked and shook my head.

Her lips formed a soundlessly snarl. “Don’t talk to me filth.”

I rolled my eyes and turned. “Get lost.”

“You little-”

Anica cut her off. “Leave it alone, Ursula.”

That did it and I was left in peace. With a last look at the other girls I exited the room.

*

Outside a smaller crowd of boys had gathered around the professor who laid around ten balls on the ground in front of him. They were white and black and about the size of a Quaffle. Two boys in red were throwing one back and forth between them. I recognized them as Quidditch star James Potter and his friend Sirius Something. Not someone I usually talked to.

When Will saw me he hurried to my side. “Ready for PE?”

I shrugged, “I guess.”

Just then something very hard hit me in the back of the head and I stumbled forward. I turned as laughter was heard. The two Gryffindor idiots caught my attention. James was nearly falling over in pain of laughing and Sirius tried to look solemn, but failing. I looked down at the ball and then picked it up. In a few long steps I stood next to Sirius.

“I’m sorry,” I said, making him stop laughing, “is this yours?”

He nodded. “Yeah, thanks.” He took it without another word.

I frowned as they started to throw it between each other again. “Excuse me,” I said and poked his shoulder.

He looked at me, “Yeah, what?”

“Um, I think you owe me an apology,” I said, smiling.

“Why?” he asked and threw the ball back at his friend.

I stopped smiling. “You threw a damn ball at the back of my head.”
I was surprised by myself. Normally I spoke nicely and friendly to people. I was a friendly person in general, I only hated a few Slytherins and otherwise I was a true Hufflepuff.

He rolled his eyes. “No, you stood in the line of our ball’s heading. Your fault, not mine.”

I clenched my fist. “All right then. I see now, sorry for the misunderstanding.” My voice was heavy with sarcasm, but he didn’t seem to catch it.

“It’s okay,” he said with a smile.

Angry I turned around and stomped back to Will who now had been joined by Alex. They were both looking at the Gryffindors.

“What was that about?” Alex asked.

I clenched my jaw. “The idiot didn’t want to apologize.”

Will looked at them over my shoulder. “I could kick his arse for you?” Typical Will-comment when you were mad at someone. He was very protective over his friends.

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, but no.”

“Okay class!” the professor called. “Please gather around here.” Everyone did. “Fantastic! I’m Professor Angus and I’ll be in charge of PE classes.”

“Ha,” Alex whispered in my ear. “Remove the ‘g’ from his name.”

“Alex, a lot of people are named so. It’s not funny.”

He rolled his eyes and turned back to listen. “We’ll start out with a popular muggle sport; Football! So first we’ll have some passing exercises. You there!” he barked at Sirius who stood in the front of them all with James. “Up here.”

Sirius grinned at James and then walked up in front of the class, chest pushed forward. I placed one arm at Will’s shoulder and studied Sirius as he picked up a ball, smirking. He caught my eyes and then turned to Angus.

“What’s your name, boy?” Angus asked.

“Sirius Black, sir,” Sirius answered.
So that was his last name! Suits him.

“Great,” Angus said and looked at the other students, then he pointed at me. “You! Up here too.”

I looked at Will just to make sure it wasn’t him he meant. It was me. Slowly I moved up next to Sirius.

“Elena Curz,” I said before he could ask.

He handed me a ball. “Here you go, Miss Curz. So please pass the ball to Mr Black.” I threw it to him without looking at him. Angus laughed, “No, you’re to kick to it. It’s called football!”

“Oh,” I said.

Sirius dropped the ball to the ground and kicked it softly. I stopped it easily with my foot.
“Fantastic!” Angus said. “Now a little more distance would be great. And then you just continue.”
I walked a few metres away from Sirius where I passed the ball back to him again. Angus started paring the rest of the class. Alex got paired with Lily Evans, receiving a jealous glance from James Potter. Will was with a Ravenclaw boy I knew as Fredric Montgomery.
The ball hit my feet and I noticed Sirius had passed the ball back. Sending him a glare I kicked the ball hardly back. He didn’t react quickly enough to stop and had to run away to get it back. I watched as Alex was instructed by Lily on how to kick the ball in the best way. He had wizard parents so he’d never in his life played football. Suddenly Sirius stood next to me.

“Hey, are you always so mad?”

I looked at him. “What?”

“Mad,” he said. “You’re really in a bad mood.”

I shot him a glare. “Why do you think?”

“I’m sorry about that with the ball,” he said. He didn’t seem sorry. “I didn’t know you’d get that mad about it.”

I glared at him again and turned away. “Just pass the ball, Black.”
He did as told. I kicked it hardly, making it leave ground. He caught it before it hit his head. He let it fall without another word, eyeing me. He passed it back to me.

“Are you really always this mad?”

For every sentence he said I just got more and more annoyed. I kicked the ball. I could already tell that these classes were going to be my personal hell this year.

“It’s just when I’m around idiots,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows. “Not the usual reaction I get from girls.”

“Better get used to it then, right?”

“So you are planning to spend more time with me then? Great!” he said with a grin on his face.

I passed the ball. “Oh, yeah. Great as hell.” I let the sarcasm float freely, hoping he could feel it at his body.

He tilted his head and looked at me. “I thought Hufflepuffs were to be nice towards all other people?”

“You must have gotten the wrong Hufflepuff then. Besides-”
As I was about to finished my sentence all of a sudden pain exploded in my nose. I fell backwards with a shriek and clasped my hand to my nose. I could feel the blood running freely. He was at my side at once.

“Looks like good reflexes are not a strong side of yours,” he chuckled.
I hadn’t noticed I’d slapped him before he howled in pain and shot away from me. The blood in his left cheek disclosed that I’d used my left hand – my good hand – to slap him; I must really despise him.

I got up, anger blazing in my eyes. “You are a prick, Black, an utterly disgusting prick!” I slapped him at the other cheek. “I hate you.”
Then I stormed towards the hospital wing.

*

When I met Tanya later that day in Charms I was still raging over Black and my hurt nose. He’d got me so worked up. I needed my friend to talk to.

“Tanya, you of all people know that I am a true Hufflepuff, I’m tolerant, I’m friendly and I usually get along with everyone. Now, I think I’ve found the exception that confirms the rule.”

“Who if I might ask? Someone I know?”

“I guess. It is that prick Sirius Black, one of those Marauder-things. He just annoys the hell out of me!”

“Elena! Don’t talk like that! He cannot be that bad. I mean, he is pretty hot!”

“Oh, he might be good looking, but yes, he is that bad. Every time he opens his mouth, it’s just like the words coming out are scratching my ears on their way into my brain, where they must be doing some kind of damage, because my head hurts in a way I thought impossible. He is just so full of himself; he just has this annoying air around him. He’s just- he’s just… Arrgh!”

Tanya put a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down Elena, you might burst a vein or something. Try to concentrate on something else, we’re practising Aguamenti…”

I shook my head, “You do it. My brain is obviously not working well at the moment. I swear to Merlin, if I get the chance, I will kill him.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed and looked at me with wide eyes. “We could get Will to beat him up! He’s just looking for something on those boys…”

“It would be better if it was Potter, Will’s holding a grudge against him,” I grumbled. I started massaging my temples. “But oh boy that Black idiot!” I took a deep breath and looked out of the window. “Okay. I’m calm now. I’m collected. I won’t let him get to me like this again.”

Tanya smiled. “That sounds like the Elena I know.”

“Until the next PE lesson,” I said under my breath, rubbing my sore nose.

“Really Elena, get over it! It is not like he is asking you out on dates to bother you, like the thing Potter is doing to Lily Evans. You might even consider yourself lucky!”

I scowled, “Sure, when you put it that way. I felt really sorry for Lily at PE today. Potter wouldn’t stop bothering her. He just kept going on and on.” I shook my head. “Thanks for setting things into perspective; I guess I’m not the one suffering the most.”
I sighed. I knew I had to keep myself together. I was not going to let some stupid boy spoil this year at Hogwarts.

“Ouch!” I exclaimed. I had decided to try and concentrate on Aguamentia, but when I flung my wand absentmindedly, I accidentally hit my already hurt nose.

“Are you alright?” Tanya said with sincere anxiety.

“No I am not alright! Oh, crap, now my nose is bleeding again! If it weren’t for that Black boy… Never mind. Tell Flitwick I’ve gone to the hospital wing.”

I stood up, grabbed my bag and my book and stormed out, pressing my nose hard to prevent the blood from running freely.

*

So that was the first chapter. Did you like it? Please leave feedback, it makes me happy

I am sorry that it was almost a month, but first I was waiting for more feedback and then I went on holiday and a study trip. So I would really really like some more feedback this time, 'cause then it might come up faster, and it would help me write better. So feedback please this time?
Allright here goes:

When the games have begun

At the end of this day, I will be halfway through the first week of my sixth year, I thought happily to myself as I ate breakfast. I had Muggle Studies in the first class today, a subject which I was the only one of the group to have taken to a N.E.W.T level. It was either that or arithmancy. But I actually liked the subject, the burden of homework wasn’t all that big and debates were encouraged.

“Elena, shouldn’t you get going, classes starts in ten minutes! Haven’t you complained that it takes almost ten minutes to get to that classroom of yours?” Mitch asked with sincere concern in his voice.

I broke out of my flow of thoughts and got up.
“Thanks Mitch, I guess I had my mind somewhere else”

“Think we all will have that problem soon enough”, he said, smiling at me.

I knew him well; he was more of a daydreamer than I was. It was usually me who woke him up, not the other way around.

As I got to class, I sat down at a table I had to myself. I liked it that way, it meant that I was able to concentrate.

“Good morning class,” said Professor Langolf in a happy voice and continued, “this year we are going to take Muggle Studies to a… ahh, nice to see that you were able to join us today Mr. Black”.

I turned around and sighed. Apparently had Black also taken Muggle Studies to the N.E.W.T level. “Of course Professor, as always happy to be here! Oh, hi Curz, mind if I crash here,” a soft and deep voice said.

“Actually, I do. Will you do me a favour and just bucker of?” I scowled.

“Yeah, sure. When you ask me so politely, of cause I will obey” he said, his voice thick of irony, and sat down next to me.

“Look Black, over there is an entirely free table, why don’t you sit there? There is more room for your ego over there”

He grinned at me. “But then Curz, I wouldn’t be able to sit here and enjoy your cheerful mood and the way your smiles are contagious. And my ego is perfectly fine here, thank you.”

I scowled yet again. Black had this way of ruining my concentration and annoying me at the same time. Not the effect he usually had on girls, but then again, I am unusual I thought to myself and smiled.

“Why are you smiling? Do you really like that I am sitting next to you because you dreamt about this last night, or did you just remember a funny joke?” Black said, laughing silently.

“Well, if you ever enter one of my dreams, it must be a nightmare. Otherwise I’ll let you know. Will you please shut up now, I am actually trying to focus”

“What do you two lovebirds in the back have to say on the subject World War 2?” asked Professor Langolf in a high and chuckling voice.

“I think that the World War 2 has its roots in the stock market crash of 1929. It brought poverty to Europe and when Hitler then said that he would turn Germany around and give them all jobs and food, the Germans gave him power and he started World War 2.” I said and got an approving nod from Langolf.

“I disagree,” said Black. “I think the World War 2 started because the Nazis were a bunch of bored idiots with nothing better to do than hunting Jews. Just like those Death Eaters or whatever they call themselves chasing those who aren’t purebloods.”

“You think World War 2 started out of boredom? That they killed people just for fun? Just like you and your friends do pranks on people for fun. Ergo you can relate to the Nazis?” I said in a harmful tone

“Ergo you just compared me and my friends to the Death Eaters? No, I cannot relate to them, I don’t think it is fair to compare pranks and murders. It is not the same thing. If the Nazis had done pranks on people, yes I could relate to it. But let’s face it. They tried to take over the world and destroy a people just for their beliefs! Why would they do that if they had something better to do?”
“Because they thought they didn’t have anything better to do!” I almost shouted
“I am glad that we agree”
“No, we don’t agree, don’t you see? You say they didn’t have anything better to do, I say they thought they didn’t have anything better to do. There is a big difference there”
“Children, children, calm down, I am afraid that class has ended,” Langolf said.
I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the classroom, raging furiously about Black, as I heard him shouting “saved by the bell” after me.

*

So, since all of you seamed to get to know the technique in our last lesson, I find that we should try to have a proper game in today’s lesson,” said Professor Angus.

PE was clearly not going to be a favourite subject of mine, and as I looked around, I could see that many were thinking the exact same thing. Especially those who didn’t have any relations to Muggles at all (or just didn’t wanted people to know so).

He divided the class into two teams, counted 1, 2, 1, 2 etc. etc. I was on the second team as well as Potter, Alice Patterson, a few Ravenclawers, one Slytherin and Alex. At least I had him to go to for support when I for sure was going to make our team loose this match.

The sound of a whistle reached my ears.

And the game was on. Most of us barely understood the rules. Some of it resembled to Qudditch, each team should have a goalkeeper to, well, keep the goal, but there was only one in each end. And then you had to kick the ball with your feet, it was not allowed to be picked up with your hands, only if it crossed the white lines in the periphery of the field. Violence against players from the other team was frowned upon, and would likely result in a so called penalty kick. Not quite sure I had got it right, but then again, I wasn’t going to play captain or anything. That post was quickly assigned to Potter, the all-good sport player. As fast as anyone could say gillyweed, James had conquered the ball and was heading towards the other goal. He dribbled the ball with a lightness as had he played the game all of his life, and I was pretty sure that he was a pureblood wizard. Not that I cared.

All of the sudden, James kicked the ball in my direction, as to get me into the game. I was able to stop the ball with my feet and tried to do what James had just done. No much success there. As I tried to pass the ball to Joe Fawcett, Black came running towards me out of the blue, tackled me and got the ball. He ran far, and Alice, who was playing keeper, had no chance of stopping the ball as he kicked it in the goal.

A loud cry of YEAH’s rose from the field as the score now was 0-1. That was the weird thing about football, so few points! It was apparently not unusual without any scores at all in an entire game. I had no idea how Muggles could ever find this sport fun!
Black came running towards me.

“And that is how it is done Curz. Don’t be afraid to use a little violence in this game, it will get you to the goals” he smirked.

“Just like the Nazis did during WW2? Your resemblance with them keeps growing as time passes,” I said looking straight ahead.

“I am not like them,” he almost shouted. “Don’t you see? You just try to turn everything around to make me look bad” he continued.

“No I don’t. Don’t you know a broad hint when you see one? I don’t want to talk to you!” I answered in a powerful voice.

“Sure you do, everyone wants to talk to me” he said.

“I am serious!” I almost yelled

“No, that’s me, so you can’t be!” he laughed

I sighed and started running to fulfil my spot as a striker (or whatever it was called). The ball was passed to me from Alex, and just like last time I had the ball, Black tackled me and got the ball. But this time Alex came storming towards him, tackled back, took the ball from Black, passed the ball to Potter, who did a few dribbles and the passed it back to Alex, who shot the ball right behind their keeper Rubenstein.

“GOAL” I shouted along with my teammates.

“Very well played, very well indeed,” Angus said to Alex and Potter. They laughed all over their faces, but then Alex’s face darkened a bit. As he ran to play defence, he shouted something towards Black, sounding like “not well-played, not fair to attack her twice like that” and I guessed that he was talking about me. I caught up with him.

“Thanks Alex” I said and smiled

“Well, that’s what friends are for, right?” he said and patted me on the shoulder.

____

So, what do you think of it? Please leave me some feedback, it will help me write better and hopefully give you a chapter up here faster

I hope this wait wasn't too long. I'll try to be faster next time, I'll have to, because I am going to Australia in mid-december, so I WILL post the next chapter before that. Thanks to my amazing beta Nick, without him, you probably wouldn't understand half of it. Well, here goes

Controlling the game

Friday, it used to be one of my favourite days of the week. Fridays were always casual and relaxed, people joked a lot more, and even some of the professors tried to be funny and there was always a slight chance that they would let you out earlier in the last class, because they also hungered for the weekend. Or at least, that was how it used to be. This year, I had PE in my last class, and Angus was the kind of Professor who seemed to enjoy his job too much.

“You look like a bloody mess Elena” Alex called at me as he came walking alongside with Will. I don’t think Will noticed that Alex had coloured his hair in the colours of the Union Jack.

“Thanks a lot, that was really what I needed to hear. Now my mood is so much better!” I smiled at him. Though it wasn’t supposed to cheer me up, it kind of did. “Do you enjoy your new hairstyle Will?” I almost laughed.

“What...?” he exclaimed, but before I could answer, we were interrupted.

“Wow Elena, what happened to you, ran into a Blast-Ended Skrewt?,” Black smirked.

“Why don’t you just bite the dust Black?” I snapped right back at him.

“What? Alex could say that you don’t look well, why can’t I then?” he asked with innocence.

“Here is a lesson for you Black. What you just experienced is the difference between friends and school related acquaintances. Your mates can say you look bad, but your acquaintances should not. So… since you are not my friend, please don’t address me as one,” I said in a formal tone, maybe just a bit to the arrogant side and wandered off with Will and Alex.
For the first time in my life as a Hufflepuff, I didn’t even bother to try to become friends with him.

“Alright, gather around everyone” Angus barked.
“Today we will continue to play football. We will try to play fluently and I won’t interfere much. I know it is a tough task, but I hope you´re up to it?”

Silence, awkward silence; I guess we all sensed that there was only one correct answer. Potter and Will were just on the edge to break the silence with a yes, but Potter was too big-headed to be the teachers favourite, and Will didn’t want to be indifferent from the rest of us.

“Great” Angus said enthusiastically as no one replied. After all; silence gives consent.

The teams were the same as they were in the previous class. I couldn’t decide whether that was a good or a bad thing, but I concluded that I didn’t care. After all, it was not like I was here to enjoy myself. These classes were going to be my personal hell.
Our ‘opponents’ had the ball. They all seemed so active and good at the game (though they probably weren’t, they just knew how to put on a good show) and here I was, standing still, afraid somebody might kick the ball in my direction and it would collide with the centre of my face – again. I still hadn’t fully recovered from Blacks attempt to make my nose go inwards instead of outwards on my face.

The sound of a whistle blew.

“Miss Curz, don’t just stand there.” Angus shouted at me

“You must play some defence; you must be active so we can play a fluent game. Okay?” he asked.

I nodded though I didn’t quite understand what he meant by active. Surely he wanted me to move, but I had no idea in what way. I ended up tripping on the spot for a minute or so while Professor Angus blew the whistle once again as a sign for us to resume the game.

Once again the other team had the ball. They now took it slow; as if they knew they had all the time in the world. And they probably did, I had no idea how to stop them. Lily Evans had passed the ball to Will and he tried to get me into the game by dribbling the ball straight towards me. I guess he wanted me to attempt to take the ball. And then, when he was right in front of me, I tried to move away, but slipped, and as I slid forwards I kicked the ball accidentally.

“Woohooo! Well done Elena!” Alex and Potter shouted

“I knew you had it in you,” Will exclaimed and gave me his hand to help me up.

I looked around in utter confusion. I had no idea what was going on.

“What did I do?” I asked while brushing grass and dirt of my bumblebee striped uniform.

“You just scored” Alex cried and fell on me in a giant hug. Everyone else from the team followed his example and soon I was lying down on the ground once again, this time with all my teammates on top of me in a big pile. For the first time, PE felt a little good.

*

Back in the locker room, I had just taken a shower and was now brushing my hair as I watched Chrissy walking up to me.

“Great score today” she said anxiously.

“Well, thanks” I answered, unsure what she wanted. It was definitely something more than congratulations.

“So… your brother, Aether, he is still single, right?” she asked, looking very nervous.
I smiled to myself, having a very good idea where this conversation was going.

“Yes he is, as far as I know at least”
Her face lightened up as the blood rose to her face.

“Do you want me to set you up on a date with him?”

The red colour increased.
“Would you? I want to ask him to go to Hogsmeade with me, but I am too shy to ask him myself”

“Sure, it’s no big deal.” I answered lightly.

“Wow, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me!” she replied in a happy voice and hurried away.

I decided to wait until dinner to fulfil my task. Aether was always nicer when well fed and it would be unfair to Chrissy to ask Aether at a bad time. Chrissy had had a crush on him for quite a while
So, without anything to do for the rest of the afternoon, I decided to go outside, and enjoy the beautiful September day.

As I got outside it appeared I wasn’t the only one who had gotten that idea. The lawns were crowded with students. I eyed Tanya who waved at me to come over to her and the rest of the gang which was already gathered around her.

“Hi El’, what’s up?” she asked

“Just scored in PE,” I answered proudly

“Who?”

“Not a person you idiot! I scored a goal in football” I laughed

“Well, you know me, I always want the juicy stuff” she said, winking.

“Who said anything about juice?” Mitch said and joined the conversation.

Tanya and I rolled our eyes simultaneously.

“That goal of yours is actually going around the school,”

“Really?”

“Yup. By now, everyone probably knows that you are an exceptional football player.”

“So that is why everyone was staring at me on the way over here” I said ironically

“That could also be due to your excellent look with wet hair and red cheeks” Mitch said.

“Thanks a lot Mitch! That really warms my heart. I’ll remember that the next time you have a bad hair day” I said and rolled my eyes.

“I never have a bad hair day. Oh, by the way Elena, I was wondering whether you had finished that Herbology essay or not?”

“No I haven’t. Do you want to finish it together with me Mitch?”

“Yeah, that’s why I asked”
“I know it was”
Mitch and I got up and left for the Hufflepuff Common room.

*

“So El´; I guess your head is already filled with ideas how to tackle this” Mitch stated

“Well you know me too well.” I smiled. I enjoyed Herbology, so I had been thinking about how to do this essay for quite a while. I had gone to the library to get all-important information about Venomous Tentacula, and I had even sketched it, so I could specify it’s exact look and function.

“No I don’t. The entire school knows, that if you’ve got a problem in Herbology, you are supposed to ask you or Frank Longbottom for help. No one is superior to the two of you, except Professor Greene!”

“I know I’m brilliant” I said and tossed my hair.

“Or you just really like this subject! You know, if it wasn’t because Longbottom fancies Alice Patterson more than Potter fancies Evans, you would have a good chance on scoring him on your Herbology skills!” he said with a mixture of seriousness and sarcasm in his voice.

“Well, you know Mitch, he is not really my type”

“What is your type then?”

“Tall, good-looking, nice, not annoying me”

“So that could basically be Will, Alex or me?”

“In theory yes, but in real life – no. You guys are my friends. Friendship is more important to me than romance for the time being”

“Good, ‘cause if you started hitting on me, I would be seriously worried,” he said and laughed out loud.

“Well, if I one day start losing my mind and hit on one of you, let me know” I replied and laughed with him

“What is so funny over here?” Alex asked and came over to over table in the Common Room. He, Tanya and Will had just entered.

“So, this Venomous Tentacula. What should we do about it?” I said without answering Alex, as to change the subject. I returned to my paper.

“Oh, it is just Elena who wants me to let her know if she sometime in the future looses her mind” Mitch answered in a very polite voice.

“That is all? Well, you won’t have much trouble there, there is not much to be lost” he joked.
I turned around and punched him in the stomach

“Ouch” he exclaimed. “What was that for?”

“You know”

“Yeah I do, but I just wanted to hear you say it,” he said as he bowed down and took a stray hair away from my head.

“You know, you should really consider buying a hairbrush or find some spell which could do something about that hair of yours. It has been better. What happened?”

“Stop picking on me because of my hair! I’m just having a bad hair day, that’s all,” I shouted.

“Real friends point stuff like this out to each other”

“Ahh, so this is the time I mention that you got some type of indefinable food in your hair?” I said and pulled what seemed to be a piece of pumpkin pie out of his hair.

“Thank you my dear that was SO sweet of you” Alex said in his most polite and also most overdone voice.

“No problem darling,” I answered in the same highly false tone.

“Hey Mitch! What do think about postponing that essay of yours and come join us over here for a game of wizard chess?” Will yelled.

Mitch looked at me. He enjoyed playing so much; you could tell in his eyes that he longed to play.

“Go on. We can finish this some other time in the weekend. It is Friday; we’ve got all the time in the world, right?”

“Thanks El’, you’re the best!” he exclaimed.

“I know I am”.

*

I still had one task to do before I could call it a day; I had to arrange a date between Aether and Chrissy. As I got down to the Great Hall at dinnertime, I caught a glimpse of the two of them talking together. This job was not going to be too difficult, but I had to be subtle.
I sat down at the Hufflepuff table on the side, which made sure I had a clear view to the Gryffindor table.

“What is wrong with you? You eat faster than I have ever done, and you don’t even look at your food!” Will asked.

“It’s true Elena, where have your manners gone?” Tanya asked.

“Sorry guys. It is just because I have to ask Aether about something, and I wanna catch him before he leaves the Great Hall, it is always such a big trouble to get him out of the Tower.” I mumbled; my mouth full of spaghetti.

At that instant moment, I saw Aether getting to his feet. I got up and hurried towards him. I caught him right outside the Great Hall.

“Hi Elena, what’s up?”

“What? A girl can’t talk to her older brother for no reason?”

“Sure. Ehm, you got some sauce on your cheek El’ ”

“Oh, thanks,” I said and wiped it of with my sleeve. Aether rolled his eyes in a way that told me that it wasn’t charming.

“But you were right, I actually wanted to ask you something”

“What?”

“Well, it is just, I was thinking, since you have broken up with Winnie, do you have a date for the Hogsmeade weekend, ‘cause I think I know a girl who would be just perfect for you!”

“Who might that be?” he asked with interest.

“You know Chrissy right? She is in my year, but in Gryffindor.”

“Yeah I know her. She is a very nice girl. Do you think she would be interested in me?”

“Yup. I think the two of you could be great together”

“So if I asked her out, she would say yes?”

“I am sure of it.”

“One more question: why did you tell me this” he asked, looking searchingly at me.

“I am a Hufflepuff, it is my duty to take care of the well-being of my friends and family” I answered proudly and continued, “so you will ask her out then?”

“Yeah. I was actually thinking about it anyway, but unsure about what she would say. So thanks I guess” he said and poked my shoulder.

“No problem.” I said smiling. I had made him think this was all his idea. Now I just had to tell Chrissy not to tell Aether she had asked me to set them up on a date, and then everything would be perfect.
I am so good at this game I thought to myself.

*

What do you think? Please leave me some feedback so I can improve my writing skills

I'll start with an apology. I am so sorry. I know I said I'd be quick on the update, however, I got so tied up with a major paper and packing for holiday, so I forgot to give you the new chapter. I've just gotten home now, so without further ado:

Fights

A few weeks had passed since my goal in football, and since then, PE lessons had actually been almost durable. Angus had not been after me all the time, and on the field, players usually didn’t turn in my direction, fearing that I might score once more. So I could basically stand on the side and watch, which mean relaxation; but now that was going to change.

The weather was getting colder and colder by the minute, so PE lessons had now moved indoors. It appeared to be a gymnasium, which I had never known existed in Hogwarts. When I was young, my father had brought me and Aether to one in the hope that doing physical activities would get us some Muggle friends to play with. My father believed it was important that we knew Muggles and respected them, so did I.

The gymnasium was a very large room. It had a wooden floor with a lot of different lines painted on it. It was high-ceilinged (not as high as the Great Hall though) and one of the walls was covered in wall-bars. This was without a doubt the least magical room in the entire school. This room was designed to create physical pain, almost like a torture chamber. The thought sent shivers down my spine.

“Are you alright Elena? You look nervous, almost scared” Alex asked with deep concern.

“Why would I be? It is just PE,” I said, but my voice trembled. I actually was a bit frightened of what today’s lesson would bring.

“I know it is, but I also know that you really don’t like it.”
I nodded in consent.

“If I know you right, you are terrified of what horrors you might experience in here, right?” he asked and grinned.

“Come on! I’m not terrified,” I grinned back and poked him on the shoulder.

“So what if I told you to climb up one of those bars and jump back down in the ground?” he asked.

“Please don’t make me,” I joked and wrapped my arms around him to emphasize it.
We both laughed as Angus called us all to gather around.

“Alright class, since it has gotten too cold for us to do sports outside, we have moved indoors.”

“Wait a minute. It is not to cold to do sports outside. We play Quidditch all year, no matter of the weather!” Black exclaimed. I could tell that both Will and Potter thought the same. They all played Quidditch.

“That is a wizard sport. In PE we only do Muggle-sports. And as Muggles play by season, so do we. They are outside in the summer and inside in the winter. We will do so as well.”

“So are we going to play football indoors?” Stone asked.

“Hey!” Lily Evans shouted as if she was offended. “Muggles do have more than one sport.”

“That is correct Miss Evans. Can you mention some of them?” Angus asked.

“Well, there are so many. Basketball, hockey, volleyball, golf, handball, lacrosse, softball…” her voice wandered of a bit before she continued; “Do you want any more?” she asked as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

“No, that was plenty. We will actually be playing many of those you mentioned during the year. Ten points to Gryffindor!”

“What!? She is rewarded for being a Mudblood? That doesn’t make any sense!” Anica Langston shouted

“If you weren’t a girl I would have broken every bone in your body, one by one, until you apologized. Take it back!” Potter demanded. His eyes were filled with anger; he was serious.

“Now, no violence in this class,” Angus almost pleaded as his arms were going up and down and in circles as if the movement would make the anger go away.

“I am sure James wouldn’t harm anyone in your presence Professor,” Black said innocently. The whole truth was crystal clear; when class ended he might do so.

“So today we are going to play volleyball,” Angus shouted out to change the subject.

We all looked around at each other, unsure what to do next. Angus started handing out balls to some of us. Potter tried dribbling with it, but it didn’t work. Lily laughed, walked over to him and took the ball from him as a sign that he should stop dribbling. Potter smiled.
Angus threw a ball at me. I didn’t catch it; it touched my fingers and ricocheted away from me until it fell on the ground. My eyes followed it as it jumped across the floor and landed at the feet of… I looked up … And the eyes that met mine were Blacks. He picked it up and threw it back at me. I held my hand up high, slightly separated to catch it. But with my bad luck, it only made contact with my fingertips and returned. I sighed and looked down in disappointment. I was never going to learn how to catch a ball.

But Lily looked amazed at me.

“How did you learn how to do that? I tried to learn how to play volley for several years as a kid, and you just go do it the first time you try!” Lily exclaimed.

“I didn’t catch the ball. Is that the idea in volleyball, dropping the ball?” I asked stunned.

Angus broke in, “Not quite, but then again, you are not supposed to catch the ball either. You are supposed to shove the ball over the net,” he explained.

It was not like we really got the message. Lily nodded and Will and Potter tried to pass the ball to each other without catching it, but they didn’t succeed.

“There are many different techniques, and as Miss Evans already explained, it is a difficult game, so we will take some time to learn it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Miss Curz, would you come up here to help me demonstrate how it is done?” Angus asked.
I sighed and walked away from security and into an area with a high risk of damage.

“Okay Curz. I am now going to throw the ball towards you and you are going to return it just as you did before. Alright?”

I nodded in consent and held my hands up high, ready to return the ball with my fingertips. I watched as Angus moved his arms backwards to get power and then slowly shot them forwards. I saw when the ball left his hands and travelled through the air. And I saw the ball as it came closer and closer to me. And then I suddenly realized that this might end up hurting and by instinct I flinched. The result? The ball hit my head and made a bump. Even Will and Alex laughed at me.

Once again I was able to walk out of a PE class once more with a mark to show off my accident.

*

“Well, somebody was bound to make a fool of themselves in these classes sooner or later.” Tanya said to comfort me in Charms.

“Why me? It is always me!” I complained.

Tanya was quick to change the subject.
“You know, you are going to break some record some day, I’m sure of it,” Tanya said after she had examined my bump.

“Well, PE is just not my subject,” I said but my voice trailed off a bit.

“At least you can’t blame this one on Black.”

“I wasn’t going to!” I said a bit offended.

“Sorry, I just figured you might since you always talk about your dislikes about him. Then again, you haven’t talked about him I a couple of days.”

“Hey you’re right, but I guess he hasn’t annoyed me in… two whole days now. Maybe he has gotten the message by now?” I asked hypothetically to myself.

“Or… he has just found another way to get on your nerves. You know, like a calm before the storm.” Tanya said.

“You just had to shoot my mood down, didn’t you?”

“You know me, always looking out for a way to destroy people’s days,” Tanya grinned.

“Who is it you remind me of?” I asked while stroking my non-existent beard. “Oh, that’s right… Black.”

“Then he must be a really nice person if he is anything like me!” Tanya laughed back and poked me on the shoulder.

“Are you sure you want to have that conversation?” I grinned back at her.

“Oh yes of cause. I absolutely enjoy being told what a delightful person I am” Tanya said in a playing voice. “But let’s do that another time. Flitwick is looking at us quite strangely. I think we should get back to work now,” she continued, more seriously.

*

When we went down for dinner that night, I ran into Aether.

“Hey Elena, can I talk to you about something?” he asked.

“You just go ahead and save me a spot. I’ll be right there,” I told Tanya and Mitch. Alex and Will went to dinner early because of their never-stopping hunger haunting them for too long.

I turned towards Aether once more. “What’s up?”

“Well, since you have arranged that date between Chrissy and me, we have begun talking a lot with each other. I really like her,” he confessed.

“But that date is not until this weekend. Or have I missed another Hogsmeade weekend?”

“No you haven’t done that since your fourth year or something,” he said and laughed as he remembered how I had totally overlooked that a Hogsmeade weekend was coming up, and Tanya and Mitch had forgotten to tell me. That was before I was really close with Will and Alex. The funny part was that when I found myself all alone, it turned out that Alex hadn’t known either. That was the day we became friends.

“Wow, that is so great! Uh, if you keep going out, maybe she would like to visit us for Christmas? I would love having another girl around in the house!”

“Are Tanya and Mitch not coming this year?”

“No, they are going to Africa during the holidays,” I said, a bit sad.
My stomach grumbled.

“I guess you’re hungry?” Aether grinned.

“Yeah, I am. So was that all you wanted to tell me?”

“No, I haven’t even made my point yet. But we could just walk to the Great Hall, and I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Great idea,” I said and started to motion. “So, spit it out, what is it?”

“Well, since I am so happy about that you set me and Chrissy up on a date; I decided that you would be happy if I did the same for you. So I have!” he said rather proud of himself.

“How could you be sure that I didn’t already have a date for Hogsmeade?” I asked. It annoyed me a little that he had set me up without even asking me.

“Seriously El’, when have you ever had a date for Hogsmeade? If the rest of your little gang all have dates, you join me if I don’t have a date, or you go with some of your classmates. You have never had a date, why would you now?”

He was right as always. I hated that about him.

“Alright, point taken. So who is it?”

“Well, I have noticed you have talked a lot with him, and he actually came up to me to ask whether you had a boyfriend or not. I think you will like him; every girl in the school wants him, and me of course,” he said with a smile.

“Just get to it, who is my secret admirer?”

“It is Sirius, Sirius Black,” he said as if he had just revealed a trump in a game of wizard cards.

“Are you serious?” I yelled at him.

“No, that’s me,” a voice said behind me.

I turned around and looked into a grey set of eyes.

*

Was it worth the wait?. Criticism and praise will be highly appreciated in the feedback-thread

I am sorry. I keep saying it, but this time I really truly mean it. I have had this chapter ready to go for a while, but I've actually been to busy to put it up with exams and all. I am stressed out. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this. Thanks to Nick for betaing and to Quantas for giving me inspiration (but you probably won't find it)

To make a pass

”WHAT?” I yelled into the face of Sirius.

“Hi, my name is Sirius,” he said gradually, as if I was slow, and sent me a cocky smile.

“I know your bloody name, but why on EARTH did you want to go out on a date with me?”

“You challenge me and I’m not used to that; it’s attractive,” he answered frankly.

“But why, WHY, did you think I would agree to go on a date with you? Have I ever given any signal that I was interested in you?”

“Well, you know what they say. There’s a fine line between love and hate. And I was rather hoping that you’ve crossed the line from hate to love by now.”

“Oh my god! I thought that boys didn’t know anything of inverted psychology,” I said sarcastically.
Sirius just looked at me like he didn’t understand, so I continued.
“When I say I don’t like you, it means that I don’t like you. It is that simple.”

“But how can you know that you don’t like me when you don’t know me?” he asked.

“It is just a feeling,” I answered honestly.

“Come on, go on a date with me and I will show you how I really am,” he pleaded.

“NO!” I yelled and stormed back to the Hufflepuff common room. I didn’t even want to go to the Great Hall to have dinner, I was that furious.

*

The next day my mind had settled. But it was like still water, it didn’t take much to make it troubled. I had actually forgotten about it as I took a shower, and it was still gone as I brushed my hair. The horrible scene from last night wasn’t in my mind when I got dressed either. And when I walked down the corridors to have breakfast in the Great Hall, I was actually thinking of pleasant things such as the fact that I had made all my assignments for the next two weeks and how beautiful it was outside with red and yellow leaves flying where the wind told them to. But when I got to the Great Hall, I saw Sirius and Aether talking together, and it all came back to me. I had stopped just for a second, but then I got back to my senses and hurried towards our table and sat down next to Tanya and Alex.

“Morning El’. What happened to you last night since you never came down for dinner?” Tanya asked.

“Are you sure you want to know? Because I could have been hanging out with that Ravenclaw lad you like – Elton Johnson isn’t it,” I said in an angry voice.

“Wow, who stepped on your toes? You are pretty cranky this morning,” she replied.

“Why on earth do you think somebody did something to me? Maybe I just have a severe stroke of PMS? That could happen,” I said, still upset

Now Mitch broke in.
“Come on El’. I have known you like forever, and I have never noticed that you have had something near PMS. It is actually like you’ve never had your period – ever,” he said surprisingly serious.

I looked confused.

“It’s true you know. Tanya has PMS like every third week,” Alex said.

“More like every second,” Will laughed.

“Cut it out guys,” Tanya said as if she was offended, her eyebrows lifted, but she still laughed a bit at it. “Back to Elena, tell us about your apparently very big problem”.

All eyes were on me. I sat silent for a period of time that seemed like forever before I finally started talking.

“It’s my brother. He betrayed me, though he doesn’t know it; but he ought to know. Sirius Black asked Aether to set me up on a date with him so he did, but without asking me for my consent! Why would he do that? Why, why would he do that?” I stuttered.

“Maybe,” Mitch said and knit his brows like he thought really, really hard “maybe Black likes you and Aether saw that?”

“As if!” I shrieked a bit too loud, grimacing.

“Want me to beat Black up for you?” Will asked.

“Can I join you?” Alex asked Will with a smile.

“Of course,” he grinned. “It’ll be a laugh!”

“Would you guys do that for me? That would be great!” I said and put on my ‘innocent-as-an-angel-face’.

“Elena, I’m sure neither Sirius or Aether did it to annoy you, they were just trying to be nice, friendly and do a good thing. Maybe you should go on the date, at least just to get a free meal,” Tanya said in her most comforting voice.

“You do realise that I could get a free meal here at Hogwarts as well?” I grinned and frowned at the same time. `How is that even possible?´

“No kidding! Show me the free food!”

*

I was lucky enough to be able to avoid Sirius all day, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him anyway. And that was not in the good sense; I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things about him that annoyed me. His smirking, his self-confidence, his grey eyes (eyes really should be brown), his sportiness and the way he always contradicted me. I just loathed all of it. I thought about it in Herbology where my partner for the day was Robert Silverston who had a pair of eyes in a wee bit darker shade of grey than Blacks. And I thought about it when I answered a question wrong in Transfiguration and Robertson then knew the right answer and sent me a smirk, just like Black did. I used the whole day wondering what I should do.

“Earth to Elena! Hey Elena, wake up. Your fork has circled the same pea for a minute now and it is getting kind of annoying,” Alex spoke to me quite loudly.

My flow of thoughts stopped abruptly and my mind returned to the present. In which I was having dinner – rissoles with potatoes, sauce and peas.

“Sorry. I was just thinking about Black.”
Wow. Did I just say that out loud?

“WHAT? I thought you hated his guts,” Alex exclaimed.

“I do. That was actually what I was thinking about – how much I dislike him,” I answered though I could feel my cheeks warm up a bit. “Have you guys beaten him up yet?” I asked, still a bit flushed.

Will was the one who answered. “No, not yet, I haven’t seen him around. Still want me to do it?”

“Let’s just say that if you get a sudden need to punch someone in the face, I wouldn’t mind if your balled fists were pointed in his direction,” I said and forced a smile.

*

The next morning I was still thinking about Sirius. I had had a horrible nightmare, in which I was in the Three Broomsticks with him and we had held hands. I woke up in the middle of the night, sweating like a pig, when he in my nightmare had leaned across the table with a certain glimpse in his eyes. My guess would be that he was going to kiss me – luckily I didn’t get to experience that.
But today I would have to face him. It was Friday, which equals PE day. Not quite like D-day, but still not a good day.

When I got to the gymnasium, I noticed that Alex and Will stood in one corner. They were looking quite happy with themselves while Potter and Sirius stood far away from them, scowling in their direction. And Sirius looked like he had been punched in the face. Why else would he have that black eye?
“I think you have already spotted our little work of art? Do you like it?” Will grinned at me.

“You really went through with it? You actually hit him?”

“Yes, wasn’t that what you requested?” he asked a bit confused.

“Yeah, but I never thought you would in fact go through with it. It is pretty nice, nonetheless,” I said and smirked. Typical Will, going out of his way to help his friends.

“What happened?” I asked.

Alex started talking
“Well, we asked why he wanted to go out on a date with you, and then he said that you are hot and interesting, and then we punched him. Well, I wanted to punch him, but Will got there first. And then Angus saw, so we both have detention this evening. But so have Black and Potter, they exploded something or… yeah, something I guess.”

“You two got detention for me? You really shouldn’t have, now I feel so bad. I owe you one.”

“No, it was all worth it. Just look at the two of them now, all mad and fuming. It is just comical,” Will said sincerely.

We all laughed as we walked up to Angus so he could tell the class what to do.

“We continue with the game we had in our last class. But before that we will need to warm up a little, so pair up in your usual pairs and do some throwing and catching exercises,” Angus said and handed out volleyballs.

I rolled my eyes. This would mean that I had to face Sirius. It looked like he thought just the same as he walked up to me with a ball in his hands and then suddenly threw it at me. It was not a soft throw; it was quick, fast and hard. It hit me right in the stomach and all my air just blew out of my lungs. At the same time the power of the ball forced me backwards. I landed on my coccyx.

“You know that wasn’t really necessary,” I mumbled as I got to my feet. I sent him an angry look as I passed the ball back to him.

“You know that is was necessary,” he scowled. “I try to take you out on a date and you get me beaten up,” he continued. “But now that it’s over, I’m not angry any more and ready to give it another try,” he said and winked at me. The ball was passed back to me, softly this time.

“First of all; what makes you think I got you beaten up? You annoy a lot of people, not just me,” I replied, but my voice was unable to hide the truth. I made an attempt to pass the ball back angrily. Instead; I got the direction wrong and the ball hit Mitch in the head. He collected the ball with a smile and handed it to Sirius.

“I annoy a lot of people?” he asked and made an effort to sound and look astounded. Then he laughed. “None of those people would dare to beat me up. Besides, you’re not that good an actress”.

This time he smashed the ball to me. I held my hands up in front of my face, but my fingertips barely touched the ball. They did nevertheless, and the ball recoiled. It didn’t get very far though, and I got see in the corner of my sight that Langston made a smug face as she saw my failure.

Sirius picked up the ball.
“Lets try it again, you can do it,” he said and threw the ball at me.

And I could. I made a perfect pass, Sirius passed it back to me and I passed it back again. What a success. We didn’t even have to catch it to keep up, we just kept going. It was actually a great feeling. I could see Langstons face getting redder by each pass in the corner of my eyes, and out of nowhere; she smashed her hand into the floor. When she yelled “Ouch” I almost cried, I was laughing so hard, it had looked way too funny for me to keep up a facade.

“Don’t do that, you might end up straining you hand, I did that once,” Lily said and looked sincere and sounded concerned, but there was a little smile curling around her lips and a hit of sarcasm in her voice. Lily might not be the person to it, but I’ll bet 5 Galleons that she was thinking payback time.


Can anyone see where I got inspired from Quantas Airlines? Cookies to the one who guess it!! Post your thoughts here

No excuse this time. A busy beta and a busy me equals a late update. But now that I've passed all my exams (some better than other) and got an overall brilliant result I have time to write. As always feedback is more than welcome. Enjoy

Timeout

“OUCH!!!!” I shrieked as I tried to sit up. ´Why does my body hurt?´

“Well, you said yourself that you didn’t want to go to the hospital wing,” Will’s voice told me. But it wasn’t his eyes that met mine; it was a couple of brown eyes filled with concern.

‘What the … am I doing on the couch in the Common Room in the middle of the night, and why is Alex sitting on the coffee table next to me?’

“I did? What happened?” I asked with a hoarse voice.

“Well,” Alex begun. “I was sitting here doing… nothing, when you fell down the stairs from the dorm. I asked if you wanted me to take you to the hospital wing, but you said you could take care of yourself. And then you passed out. I ran up to fetch Will and we carried you on to the couch. Two hours later you woke up – well; that is know actually,” he answered.

“Well, it sounds like me alright, but maybe I should reconsider the suggestion about the Hospital Wing. My hip, my torso and my head hurts pretty badly,” I admitted.

*

“Well, your head seems alright, it’s just a little bump. However, I am afraid two of your ribs are broken and you have just bruised your hip,” Madame Pomfrey said and looked concerned. “Drink this, it will heal your rib and take the pain – don’t worry, you’ll be fine for school tomorrow,” she continued and handed me a cup of nasty-looking potion. Then she left.

I turned my head towards Will and Alex who were standing on the other side of the bed. They were both grinning when they saw the content of the cup.

“Well, drink up,” Will said and burst out in laughter.

“Haha very funny! Maybe I should push you down the stairs some time. Then you’ll have to drink this?”

“You would never do that. Besides, you are not nearly strong enough to carry me up here anyway,” and if underlining his statement he felt the size of my biceps. Not that there were much there to feel.

“ELENA! What happened?” a familiar voice called. Someone had apparently woken Aether up and told him about my little accident.

“I just fell down some stairs,” I answered in a tired tone.

Will and Alex eyed each other. “Well, I think we’ll leave you two alone for a while. I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow before breakfast, is that okay Elena?” Alex asked

“Yeah, that’ll be fine. Sleep tight!” I answered and faked a little smile. I hadn’t drunk the potion yet so my body was still aching all over.

Aether looked after them as they went and then turned to me. “You are here because you fell down some stairs!? You are very lucky to have such good friends to take care of you.”

“I guess I am”

“You should really drink that potion you know,” he said and nodded in direction of the cup in my hand. “Perhaps you got it for a reason?” he said in an attempt to be funny. I didn’t laugh.

“Come on Elena. Everyone just wants you to get better. Drink it”

Though I hated to admit it, Aether did have some ´older-brother-power´ over me, so I drank it. It was disgusting. In my mouth I could feel some lumps and almost vomited. But I swallowed it, however with a big frown.

“Good job,” he smirked and ruffled my hair. “We wouldn’t want you to miss out on your big date with Sirius.”

“I’m not going on the date with Sirius; I thought you knew that already! Why do you care so much?!”

“I… I don’t want to tell you,” he said very silent and looked down. He wouldn’t lie to me

“Well, spit it out anyway!”

“It’s embarrassing.”

“If you tell me, I just might go on the date,” I said in a persuasive voice.

“He paid me,” he admitted, and I could see he felt lower than low. And he ought to do so.

“You were paid!” I shouted, both out of surprise and shear anger.

“Yeah…,” he sighed.

This was actually a little interesting. “Out of curiosity, how much am I worth?”

“2 Gallons for asking you out and a bonus of 4 Gallons if you went with him”

“Wow. That’s a lot of money. I guess that guy just can’t stand when a girl isn’t attracted to him.”
That’s a thought.

*
Madam Pomfrey was right as usual. I was, unfortunately, ready for school the next day.

When I entered the Great Hall by myself at breakfast, I shot a glance towards the Gryffindor-table. At that moment Aether looked up and sent me a pleading gaze. After a short moment I broke the eye contact and went to the Hufflepuff table. My friends had all arrived before me.

“Good morning,” I greeted them and sat down

“Feeling better?” Alex asked.

“Yup! Fit as a fiddle! Oh, and thanks again you guys for your help last night,” I said, the latter while eyeing both Alex and Will.

“We heard about the accident El’. I guess we need to tie you to the bed in the future,” Tanya said and winked at me.

“I don’t think that would be a pretty sight,” I said and laughed a little uncomfortably, feeling my head warm a little.

“I think it would,” a deep, and regrettably too familiar voice said behind me. Despite the fact that I was sitting down and eating, I quickly got to my feet and spun around with an angry look in my eyes and slapped him.

“Ouch, what was that for?” Black exclaimed.

“For thinking that… that about me,” I was able to stutter out, my face now blazingly hot.

“If you went on a date with me, I would stop saying that you know,” he replied with a cocky smile and his left hand scratching his neck. ´Why did I notice that`

“So… a date is what it takes for you to stop bothering me?”

“That kind of depends on what bothers you, but yes,” he answered.

“Okay. I’ll go out with you on these following conditions; no asking me out, no making inappropriate comments, and you’ll be nice to me in our common classes,” I said in a businesslike voice.

“It’s a deal,” Black said and held out his hand with a smile. I shook it as if settling a business contract.

“So… I guess we’ll see each other in PE tomorrow?” he asked

I nodded and he went back to his table. When I sat down again I had four pairs of gawking eyes and open mouths pointed right at me.

“What?” I asked kind of unknowingly, even though I perfectly knew the answer to my own question.

They just kept looking at me, not even blinking. It was getting creepy.

“I know, but I’m just doing my brother a favor,” I said matter-of-factly and sighed.

“But WHY!?” Alex and Tanya shouted together.

“Aether could use the money, you know. He has been saving up for a new broom for a year now, so this is just my way of chipping in,” I replied. However, I could tell from their faces that this wasn’t exactly the explanation they were looking for.

“Didn’t tell you about the part where Aether was getting paid, did I?” My face suddenly felt a little warmer.

“No you didn’t,” Tanya replied. “Can you really be sold?”

“I am not being sold! I am going out with a guy to make him stop bothering me. On top of this is my brother getting 6 Gallons. I would say that is a pretty good deal,” I explained.

“I agree with you Elena,” Mitch said. “It is a win-win situation actually.”

“No, no, no. You are letting your principles down.” Alex exclaimed. “You should only go out with a guy if you really like him, and let’s face it, do you really like Black?”

This outbreak surprised me a little.

“Dear Alex, I didn’t know I had such a principle. And who I date and my motive for it is really my business and my business only!” I fired back. ´Take that´

But it didn’t seem to hit him at all. He had an answer ready on hand

“You didn’t answer my question. Do you like Black?”

“That depends. I like to resent him. But again, the matter is none of your nosy business,” and with that I got up, helped my self to some loaves of bread, and left the Great Hall. I wasn’t really in the mood to discuss the topic anymore. It was bad enough that I had to go on the date, and the fact that I might actually enjoy it frightened me.

*

I didn’t sleep that night.

*

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