If Love is a Game...

Chapter Twenty-Two

In Hogsmeade He Sings

Suddenly, Sirius and Krystyna appeared in the middle of the street in Hogsmeade. Krystyna gaped at all the places, realizing that it actually was possible to Apparate to Hogsmeade. She had always thought it was impossible. Now she knew otherwise. Sirius was looking impressed. He sat Padfoot Jr. down on the ground and he began to romp around in the snow. He turned to Krystyna.

"So... where to first?" Sirius asked her calmly. She turned to him and shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno; I'm not that hungry yet," Krystyna replied bemusedly. "What about you?"

"I'm not that hungry either," Sirius said thoughtfully. "We can go check out the Shrieking Shack if you like." Krystyna thought about it for a second, apprehensively. It was not like she was afraid of the place--no way--but the tales that she'd heard about it always made her... uneasy. He grinned at her.

"Ah, c'mon, you know I'll protect you from any ghosts," Sirius added impishly. She looked at him doubtfully. You see, he knew that the place was not haunted at all. That was just an old myth Dumbledore encouraged. All those crazy howls and crashes had actually been made by Remus when he was transforming into a werewolf--and when he was a werewolf. Krystyna, however, knew nothing about Remus being a werewolf yet. "But, if you're too scared..."

"I'm not scared!" Krystyna exclaimed quickly. His grin broadened. "I was just thinking about it, okay? You jump to conclusions, Sirius; you're so impulsive. Besides, I want to go."

"Alright, you're not afraid; I was just kidding with you," Sirius replied, chuckling a little. He whistled for Padfoot Jr. to follow and then started walking, tugging on her a little, still having hold of her hand. "I know you're not afraid. And I don't jump to conclusions and I'm definitely not impulsive!"

"Whatever you say, Sirius," Krystyna sighed with a grin. He eyed her oddly and gave up on making her believe anything else. They walked through the streets of Hogsmeade in the snow with Padfoot Jr. following them, occasionally running into people's shins.

"Okay, I'm talking Quidditch here," Sirius said conversationally. She looked at him attentively. "I told James that Germany is going to win this year. I mean, they've got a pretty good chance this year, although I'm not for them much."

"The Wolves--win the Quidditch Cup? I'm not sure about that," Krystyna told him serenely. He looked as if he was thinking of something, and then it popped in his head.

"Listen; Chavinsky is the second top chaser in the world, did you know that?" Sirius replied, putting up a good case. "By stats, Baumgart is the best seeker this season, right? And Kenneth is an awesome keeper. I mean, alright, Brendan and Harris aren't the best beaters in the world, but they're pretty darn good. And sure, Polar and Chastfer aren't nearly as good as Chavinsky, but they play as a bloody good team when together."

"Wow, I never thought of all that," Krystyna said contemplatively.

"And did you know that out of all the games they've played, they've only lost one?" Sirius added, smiling proudly at his newfound knowledge.

"Well, you've got me convinced," Krystyna replied truthfully. He grinned smugly. "What did James say to all of this?" He deflated a little and frowned slightly.

"He told me that you've made me nutters because the Wasps were going to win the Quidditch Cup this year," Sirius told her honestly. She laughed.

"That's okay," Krystyna sighed. "Lorena still supports the Chudley Cannons all the way." He snorted and she grinned at him. He looked a little guilty.

"Well, they're better than they were last year, I guess," Sirius admitted sheepishly, "but winning the Cup is a little far."

"A little far?" Krystyna laughed incredulously. "They're about as close to winning the Cup as you and Malfoy are at becoming best friends!" She continued to laugh along with Sirius.

"Whoa, that is far," Sirius noted, giving his bark-like laughter. She calmed down and sighed, laying her head against his shoulder as they continued to walk toward the Shrieking Shack. There was a bout of silence between them. A few kids ran in front of them as they passed Honeydukes, the sweet smell of candy washing over them along with the memories of the "Choco Snogo Incident" on Halloween. Small flakes of white snow began to fall on them.

"Let it snow! Let it snow! Let... it..."--Sirius suddenly saw the look of confusion on Krystyna's face--"snow."

"Okay, what was that about?" Krystyna asked him bluntly. He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. He sighed and put his hand down.

"I was at about twenty different Christmas party's yesterday, and throughout the entire day, I heard more Christmas carols than in my entire life--all Muggle Christmas carols--and now they're all stuck in my head," Sirius admitted sheepishly, looking down at his feet to kick a pile of snow in his way. Krystyna grinned at him. He was slightly pink in the face now. Maybe it was to tag along with his cherry nose that was due from the cold and wind. He looked so adorable.

"They weren't that bad, were they?" Krystyna asked playfully. He looked up at her.

"No, but I had to explain myself about two hundred bloody times!" Sirius exclaimed. She giggled.

"Well, that was bound to happen," Krystyna told him softly, nodding her head. He suddenly grinned wickedly at her.

"Of course, James got more attention than I ever did. All the men and boys in Lily's family were questioning him and telling him to take good care of Lily, all much to Lily's dismay," Sirius noted cheerfully. There was another soft silence in between them, but it was nice. She laid her head against his shoulder once more and closed her eyes, letting him guide her through the streets of Hogsmeade. He felt quite elated to have her by his side again.

"Home sweet home, Krystyna," Sirius suddenly said, catching sight of the Shrieking Shack as they walked through the light wooded area. She opened her eyes right as they stopped at the fence to gaze at it. "I heard from a source that last night, the ghosts' rage was at a top notch level."

Krystyna, without warning, shivered. Sirius looked over at her as she went pink in the face because it was not the fact that she was cold--which she was--but because she had always found the Shrieking Shack a tad bit... scary. She didn't like to mention that to anyone.

"Did I scare you?" Sirius questioned incredulously. She looked at him, as if he must be stupid.

"Of course not; it's just cold," Krystyna lied quickly, but maybe said it too hastily. He grinned at her slyly. "What? I'm not afraid!" She slapped him on the arm as he began to snigger.

"Alright, I believe you. I believe you!" Sirius said loudly, still sniggering and trying to get her to stop slapping his arm. He finally stopped sniggering and sighed. A faint wind blew around them and he saw her looked around nervously. "Shall we have a closer look at it then?"

Krystyna snapped her head in his direction so quickly that her neck popped. "Wh--what?" she stammered anxiously. He grinned at her impishly as he saw the colour slightly drain from her face a bit with the shock. He knew perfectly well that she was a bit frightened of the place. She was thinking he was a bit mad. "Have a closer look at the most severely haunted place in England?"

"Well, that is, of course, if you're not too afraid of having a closer peek at it," Sirius teased her, pulling her along for a ride. "I can understand if you're not willing to go closer..."

"I'm not afraid of going closer and I'm perfectly willing to do so," Krystyna replied indignantly, determined to prove him wrong. "I was just caught off-guard, that's all." He grinned mischievously and pulled her through the always open gate. She let him drag her along, even though her mind was screaming for her to put a stop to this madness.

"Great, c'mon, it'll be fun!" Sirius told her eagerly. She said nothing as she let him pull her along with him on his small escapade to the Shrieking Shack. She could hear Padfoot Jr. trailing behind them, leaping in the large piles of snow. Suddenly, she felt him let go of her hand and continue on quickly as the snowing became very hard.

"Sirius! Sirius, hold on, wait for me!" Krystyna shouted fearfully, very uncomfortable being alone and so close to the Shrieking Shack. She saw his figure through the snow halt, turn around, and wave for her to hurry up. She trudged through the snow for him and saw him round a tree. And then, she saw nothing more of him. She stopped abruptly. "Sirius, where are you?"

There was no answer. The snowing became a light fall once again. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep herself warmer than how she truly felt. She supposed she should've worn warmer clothing. She looked around for him again, but saw nothing but white and brown. She sighed again. Where was he? A sudden whisper in her ear sent shivers up her spine. She spun around quickly.

"Hello; who's there?" Krystyna called out apprehensively. No one answered her and she turned around again. "Sirius, if this is some type of joke, it's not very funny...! Sirius?" Still, no one answered her. She grumbled and traipsed into the direction she last saw him.

"What a way to spend Christmas with my boyfriend. 'Great, c'mon, it'll be fun!' he says, but oh no, something like this has to happen," Krystyna muttered under her breath. "Where is that boy?"

There was another whisper, and this time, she spun around with her wand in her hand. But again, there was nothing to be found or seen. Grudgingly, she put her wand away and continued to trudge through the snow.

"Krystyna!" someone yelled. She turned around, but was suddenly knocked down into the snow. Her attacker came crashing down on her and the two of them rolled down the snowy hill wildly in a flailing mess. She saw nothing but blurry figures until they came to a slow stop. When she opened her eyes, she found Sirius lying over top of her, his face an inch from hers.

"Blimey, Sirius, what in the world was that for?" Krystyna gasped, very shaken up. He merely grinned at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"Dunno, I guess I just felt like doing that and seeing what you would do," Sirius replied calmly, still lying over top of her. She frowned at him, but couldn't suppress the laughter in her eyes. "That's the girl I know."

He kissed her shamelessly and then rolled off of her. She groaned from the trip down the hill and sat up slowly. She looked up and suddenly realized she was lying right up against the Shrieking Shack.

"Sirius, what happens if we've disturbed the ghosts or something?!" Krystyna exclaimed worriedly, feeling as if Sirius' brash side was at a high today. He stood up and shrugged his shoulders, brushing himself off. "Oh, whatever, I guess if they haven't come out by now, nothing will happen, right?"

"Right you are," Sirius replied smoothly, helping her up to her feet. He looked at his watch. "Well now, that took more time than expected. We should get on to the next thing of the day."

"What's that?" Krystyna asked him, wondering if it was going to end with another tumble down a hill. They began to traipse back up the slippery knoll, looking at each other solemnly. He smiled happily.

"A sleigh ride, of course; Lily told me all about them and said that people think it's something of the romantic-type sort of thing...y," Sirius said exuberantly. She grinned at him. He'd obviously never been on one before. "What do you say about that?"

"I say that it sounds lovely," Krystyna told him honestly. "But who knew? Sirius Black--a romantic sort of guy?" He turned a light shade of pink, but grinned unabashedly, nonetheless. They got to the top of the hill and left the Shrieking Shack behind, much to Krystyna's delight.

Now was the trick to acquire a horse-drawn sleigh to ride. Krystyna thought it was quite humorous to see Sirius trying to get one. She stood at the sidelines while he leaped in the middle of all the pandemonium, shouting things. He always had to dodge one, leaping out of its way. He jumped around in a frenzy, waving his arms in the air frantically, hopelessly trying to get one to stop, but always failing at it. After having her share of payback, Krystyna rolled her eyes and sighed. She walked over to his side and whistled.

"Sleigh, please?" she called. Immediately, the closest one stopped in front of them. She grinned coyly as Sirius gaped at her bemusedly. The young man holding the reigns of the one horse drawn sleigh looked down at her oddly enough. Sirius soon began to glare at him heatedly.

"Oy, what can I do fer such a pretty young lady like yerself?" the young man said with a thick accent that matched the Hogwarts' gamekeeper's voice.

"We would like a ride," Krystyna replied sweetly, but trying to get him to take note of Sirius, who was still glaring at him, standing beside her. Obviously, he wasn't that much older than them. "How many around the park, would you say, Sirius?" She was looking at him.

"Oh--um--two would be nice, I suppose," Sirius replied, being caught off- guard and looking at her swiftly. She smiled and looked back at the young man on the sleigh.

"Two around the park, please," Krystyna said nicely. He nodded his head and Sirius got in the sleigh, helping Krystyna up. They sat down on the comfy, warm seats as the horse began to pull them along. Slowly, the speed of the horse sped up and snow flew from the sides. Krystyna was enjoying the nice silence and laid her head against his shoulder again, closing her eyes as he found her hand once again. There was silence, but then--

"Dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh; over the hills we go, laughing all the way!" Sirius sang cheerfully. "Ha! Ha! Ha... ha. What's that look for?" She was grinning at him happily, yet looking at him oddly, her eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, it's just..." She ended her sentence with a fit of giggles. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Oh, I can't help it!" Sirius exclaimed exasperatedly. "They just pop up in my head randomly! I'm going to go insane." She was still giggling madly.

"I think it's rather cute," Krystyna giggled happily. "Just don't quit school for your singing voice, okay?" He gave his bark-like laughter to that. He knew that he had a terrible singing voice because James complained all the time that he would wake him up because he sang in the showers, at times. He had already known that before, of course.

"Right, I'll try to remember that," Sirius replied teasingly. She grinned. He always managed to get her to grin, smile, laugh, do whatever. It was amazing, really. She nuzzled her face in his chest and sighed happily. Suddenly, something clicked. "Oh, no, where's Padfoot Jr.?!"

"Calm down, Sirius; he's chasing the sleigh right now," Krystyna told him calmly, her head still resting against him. He looked back and sure enough, the black puppy was chasing the sleigh with much ambition. He chuckled and looked straight away again.

They didn't talk much through the sleigh ride. It was more of a blissful silent moment than ever in reality. With Krystyna's eyes closed and her head resting against his chest, her own moving up and down rhythmically as she breathed softly, there wasn't much of anything that could interrupt Sirius' happiness. He had his arms wrapped around her warmly, one hand gripping hers and his other hand subconsciously playing with her long, wavy black hair, curling it with his fingers and humming the tunes to some random Muggle Christmas Carol.

Soon, the sleigh ride had ended, much to their dismay. Sirius jumped off of the sleigh and stumbled into the snow, almost falling over. Krystyna giggled. With Sirius' help--his hands holding her up--she leaped off of the sleigh, but came to an easier landing with Sirius practically lifting her down slowly. They thanked the man, Sirius gave the man his pay, and they continued their trip through Hogsmeade with Padfoot Jr. jumping at their heels.

Suddenly, Sirius pounced on the black puppy. Picking him up in the air and spinning him around until they both came to an awkward crash in the snow. Krystyna laughed at them joyously as she watched the puppy attack his unruly black hair. She picked the dog up off of Sirius and let him lick her hands as her boyfriend got to his feet, shaking the snow out of his hair.

"Br, it's a little chilly out here, wouldn't you say?" Sirius asked, shivering and letting his teeth chatter noisily. She nodded her head as she set Padfoot Jr. back down in the snow again.

"Yeah, it is," Krystyna replied, pulling her hat over her ears again.

"Let's go the Three Broomsticks to have a butterbeer or two, eh?" Sirius suggested. She nodded her head quickly. He grinned happily, wanting to be warmed up again. He wrapped his arms around her again as they headed for their next destination. She consented easily and put her arm around him, walking along with him. They passed a bunch of people jingling bells and singing.

"Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse... open... sleigh..... Hey?" Sirius sang out cheerfully. She gave him that look again and he groaned, rolling his eyes at her. "I can't help it! I'm sorry!"

"Don't be sorry, it's adorable," Krystyna snickered, grinning at him. He sighed and they began talking about how the Christmas parties with Lily's family went.

They entered the Three Broomsticks and had to cut they're conversation short so she could find them a table and he could get them their drinks. He was thoroughly tempted to buy himself a quick shot of Firewhisky, but reminded himself that Krystyna was sitting at a table, waiting for him to come back with their drinks. He paid for them and found her sitting with her legs crossed patiently at a table with her jacket hanging on the back of her chair.

"Here you are," Sirius said, setting her butterbeer down in front of her on the table. She smiled at him and picked it up as he sat down in the seat across from her. "And here I am."

"Thank you, Sirius," Krystyna said politely, before drinking a bit and feeling the warmth flood through her body. Sirius guzzled half of his down in one large gulp, making sure that he was definitely going to be warmed up. He sat it down on the table.

"So... I wonder how Remus, Peter, and Sara are doing at Hogwarts without us around," Sirius sighed contemplatively, gazing at her intently. She shrugged her shoulders and took another sip of her drink. She sat it down.

"I dunno; Sara's probably reading--she likes to read more than I do--Peter is probably lost--no offense to the poor boy, but he doesn't know which direction he should go in by himself--Remus might be..."

"Thinking," Sirius blurted out of the blue. She looked at him peculiarly. He shrugged his shoulders and took another drink. "He does that a lot--thinking. I bet he's thinking about how he feels about Lorena, ya know. He gets confused when he has 'feelings' for a girl. Last time he had 'feelings' for a girl, he thought about it constantly, trying to make sense of it all."

"And did he make sense of it?" Krystyna asked curiously, wanting to know more. She was literally sitting on the edge of her seat. He shook his head.

"Nah, it just made him more confused because he thought he didn't like the girl, but he had those 'feelings'; he's over that girl now, of course," Sirius answered serenely. "You see, I told, 'Love is a complicated thing that cannot be explained by words, but by action.' And then he says to me, 'So I have to act like a blithering moron with a super ego to express how I feel to a girl?'"

Krystyna burst out laughing as Sirius grinned shamefacedly. Remus had obviously been referring to the way he had always acted around her and how James had always acted around Lily. When she calmed down, she took another drink.

"But, of course, I have ceased to act like that, haven't I?" Sirius replied, still grinning at her. She nodded her head and he scooted closer to her on the chair. "Am I still a blithering moron with a super ego?" She shook her head and he scooted closer.

"No, don't think so," Krystyna replied jokingly, smiling at him brightly. He scooted closer to her, somehow still on his chair.

"So what am I?" Sirius asked her, his face an inch from hers as he gazed into her eyes and she gazed back into his. There was silence in between them.

"I don't know," Krystyna whispered tenderly. "What are you, Sirius?"

"I'm a seventeen year-old fool in love," Sirius told her softly against her lips, his eyes closed and hers alike, a warm, fuzzy feeling rising up inside their chests like a wildfire. She had accidentally left her hat on by mistake so he took it off for her, tossing it on the table and letting the rest of her wavy, black hair bounce. He cupped her cheek with her hand before they slowly pulled away.

"Of course, because I'm the same thing," Krystyna said blissfully. He smiled and they began to talk again about other things. They talked about what they were planning on doing after school ended and everything. They talked about what they wished their future lives could be and then ordered some food. Sirius fed Padfoot Jr. scraps of his meat from underneath the table as he talked with Krystyna smoothly. All things were very enjoyable and the day was turning out to be one of the best days in both of their entire lives.