The One That Got Away| Sirius Black

023| Close Encounters

March 4, 1975

"Sirius!" James exclaims as he runs into the Gryffindor common room. Sirius had been talking with Gwenog Jones on one of the love seats. Since their Quidditch season has officially been canceled, they were already starting talk of next season so they could beat Slytherin.

"What James?" Sirius asks in annoyance. He glances at Gwenog to let James know that now was not a good time. James didn't get seem to get the hint, or he simply didn't care.

"I need you in the dormitory now!" James insists, reaching out to grab Sirius's hand and drag him away. Begrudgingly, Sirius stands up. He shoots Gwenog an apologetic look and mouths 'sorry' before letting himself be pulled away by James.

"This better be important," Sirius grumbles on their way up the stairs.

"I was doing the spell this morning, and I started to feel it! There was a second heartbeat I swear!" James says excitedly as they shut themselves in their dormitory. Peter and Remus had gone to the library, so it was just the two of them.

Sirius is confused at first but then realizes James is talking about the spell to become an Animagus. They're supposed to repeat it every morning and night while holding their wand tip above their heart. Sirius had been doing it since they took the Mandrake leaves out of their mouth after the February full moon and he still had no progress. They had also taken a silver spoon of dew deep into the Forbidden forest. The ground was smooth and there were no footprints and the brush of the tree was thick enough that no sunlight could peek through. Now all they had to do was wait for a thunderstorm where they could go drink the dew and finally transform. 

"That's great James, when is it supposed to storm next?" Sirius asks excitedly.

"Dunno," James shrugs. "Has Peter had any luck?"

"Not that I've heard, but I suppose we could ask him," Sirius suggests feeling his excitement starting to dwindle. What if Peter had felt the heartbeat and Sirius was the only one who wouldn't be able to turn into an Animagus?

"Oh go on then," James says with a shake of his head. Sirius had been staring at the door and James was grinning at him. "I saw how close you and Jones were sitting."

Sirius raises a brow, genuinely surprised by James's comment. Sirius hadn't thought of Gwenog like that, he just wanted to beat his brother in Quidditch next season. Sirius thought of Gwenog's tanned skin and dark brown hair that was usually tied back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She was an attractive girl and one hell of a captain, but was she into Sirius?

"Did she look interested in me?" Sirius asks with a curious brow.

"Well, what were you two talking about?" James asks.

"Next Quidditch season," Sirius answers simply.

"Yeah, she was definitely thinking of what it'd be like to snog you," James assures nonchalantly. Sirius feels his face heat up slightly as James smirks and shoves his arm playfully. "So are you going to ask her out?"

"How do you even know she likes me?" Sirius questions. He needed to gather the facts before he thought about anything else.

"Because you're Sirius Black, everyone likes you," James shrugs, going over to his bed and grabbing his broom kit out from underneath it. He sits down on his bed and spreads out all the supplies so he can begin cleaning his broom.

"True," Sirius drawls, crossing the room and joining James on his bed. "That doesn't mean she likes me like that though."

"Well," James shrugs seeming uninterested in the conversation. He took pride in making sure his broom was always in top condition and it was no use talking to him while he was polishing his broom.

Sirius sighs and lays back on James's bed, resting his arms behind his head. He ends up dozing off as he thinks about Gwenog Jones. He dreams of her flying with her hair down, the wind blowing through her short wavey hair. She's weaving through the sky with such grace that Sirius hovers in the air to watch her. Gwenog begins a nose dive toward the ground and Sirius follows her. When they land, Sirius feels the urge to confess his feelings for her. She was walking toward the locker rooms and Sirius jogs to reach her. He places a hand on her shoulder, lightly trying to turn her around to face him. When she turns around, she is met face-to-face with Walburga Black. He gasps in shock and quickly steps backward, but his foot catches on a branch and he begins falling. This fall is much steeper than the short distance to the ground, it feels like he's free-falling.

Sirius wakes up with a jolt. He finds himself in James's bed and is deeply relieved. His heart is pounding against his rib cage and his breath is shallow as he recovers from his frightening dream. He looks around to find the other boys sound asleep in their beds. James had taken over Sirius's bed. Sirius feels slightly guilty about this, but in the end, his tiredness outweighs his guilt and he falls back to sleep in James's bed. This time, it was a dreamless sleep.

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March 7th, 1975

"How are we going to distract him long enough to do a full transformation?" James whispers into the darkness of the broom cupboard. The two had slipped away from Charms once they found out that it was supposed to rain that night.

Sirius could hardly see his friend, the only source of light coming from the crack between the door and the ground. "Can't you ask Lily to keep him busy?"

"No, she'll ask too many questions. Plus, she's too smart, she'll figure it out," James dismisses. Sirius can't see, but he knows James is running his hand through his hair and adjusting his glasses in agitation.

"Okay, so what's your brilliant plan?" Sirius counters feeling his annoyance grow. He wasn't necessarily angry with James, but Sirius was irritated and James wasn't helping to come up with a helpful solution.

"I haven't got one," James snaps back.

"Did you hear that?" a voice says from outside the cupboard. On instinct, the boys hold their breath, trying not to get caught. Neither of them could be in detention tonight or it would set them back months in their transformation process.

"Yeah, it sounds like there's someone already in there," another familiar voice whispers.

Sirius's eyes go wide as a plan falls right into his hands. Before consulting with James, Sirius throws the door to the cupboard open and comes face to face with Elliot Wright and Barty Crouch. The boys' faces go white as if they had been caught doing something illegal.

"Well well well," Sirius tuts, crossing his arms over his chest. "Look what we have here." James slowly emerges from the closet, looking scared about what is going to happen next.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Barty asks his hand slipping into his robes, most likely grasping his wand.

"It means, I just found two second years skipping class," Sirius says, hoping to put Barty off edge before he has to jinx him.

"And what were you two doing in the broom cupboard together?" Barty asks looking back and forth between Sirius and James.

"What were you two going to do in the broom cupboard?" James counters, finally speaking up.

The boys pale even more if that's possible. Elliot looks close to fainting while Barty looks like he could murder the older boys. "Listen," Sirius says, holding his hands up in a peace offering. "I don't want to get anyone in trouble here. We can forget this ever happened if you do me a simple favor."

"We'll do anything," Elliot practically whimpers as his face grows even paler. Sirius felt a guilty pit in his stomach for blackmailing the young boy.

"Like hell, we will," Barty interjects his brows furrowing together. "We weren't doing anything wrong. We don't owe you anything!"

"Barty, it's fine," Elliot says quietly placing a hand on his arm. Barty looks over at Elliot, his eyes saying a thousand words that Sirius can't interpret. Elliot drops his hand sadly and turns back to Sirius. "What do you need from us?"