The Forgotten Life

The Forgotten Life

Chapter 1: Ravenclaws & Advice

Bee to the blossom, Moth to the Flame,

Each to his passion, what's in a name?

~*~Helen Hunt Jackson~*~Vanity of Vanities~*~

Hogwarts, April of 1975

Sirius Black didn't understand. He wasn't used to being turned down. It had never happened to him before. Not that he considered himself a playboy by any means, but when you're good looking, girls tend to notice, and that doesn't hurt a guy's chances of getting a date with his crush--as long as said crush wasn't a Ravenclaw named Syndil Starborn.

In Sirius' opinion, Syndil was the prettiest and smartest girl in school. James would disagree, but a guy had to be loyal to his girl, even if the girl couldn't stand him. Sirius smiled at the thought of Lily Evans, who was constantly putting both him and his friend James Potter in their places.

Sirius flopped down on his bed, pulled the curtains closed, and stared blankly at the canopy above him, remembering the scene this afternoon in the greenhouse. He had been unusually nervous, so much so, that he could hardly speak.

"So," Sirius began trying to look casual, "want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Syndil was silent for a moment and Sirius' heart had almost stopped. "I don't think so, Sirius," she finally responded quietly.

Sirius was quiet for a moment; of all the responses he had pictured this was the last one he had expected.

"Why not?" he asked when he got his voice back.

Syndil paused for a moment, which gave Sirius a brief glimpse of hope before she continued haltingly. "You're just. . ." She paused. "Not... well, to be honest, you're not my type of guy is all. I hadn't planned on going anyway. I have that defense essay to finish."

Sirius' face burned with embarrassment. "Oh, I see," he stuttered, and overcome with embarrassment, turned and fled the room.

Sirius was just glad that no one had been in the greenhouse to witness his humiliation. He had caught Syndil as the last person to be leaving the greenhouse.

"Sirius?" Remus called from the doorway. "You okay?" he asked coming up to the bed. "You missed dinner; that is never a good sign."

"I'm fine, Remus," Sirius said quietly. "I just needed to think is all."

Remus placed a hand on Sirius' brow, as if to check for a temperature and said, "Okay, now I know you're not feeling well. You missed dinner and you're thinking, not plotting." Remus was thoughtful for a moment. "Wait, you're not plotting anything, are you?" Remus joked, trying to get a smile from his usually roguish friend.

His efforts were rewarded when Sirius sat up and shoved him off the edge of the bed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Suddenly, I'm famished," Sirius told him with a chuckle, "I think a trip down to the kitchens is in order."

~ * ~

"YOU WHAT?" Karin Malfoy shrieked. Hearing the annoyed hissing that followed, she quickly lowered her voice. "Why on earth would you turn him down? He is one of the cutest guys in school, not to mention one of the funniest."

Syndil looked up from the essay she was working on and said simply, "I'm just not interested is all."

Karin raised her eyebrows and asked skeptically, "How can you not be interested? Everyone is interested in Sirius Black!"

"I'm just not, okay?" Syndil snapped.

Karin knew better than to be hurt by this. She and Syndil had been friends ever since that fateful day when she had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

Her initial thought had been: Well, at least it isn't Gryffindor. Now, she had nothing against Gryffindor, but she was a Malfoy. Her father would never have spoken to her again should she have been put in Gryffindor, but looking over at the Slytherin table and seeing her brother's glare of displeasure, she realized that Ravenclaw was almost as bad.

Syndil had motioned for Karin to sit down beside her, and they had become fast friends long before the end of the welcoming feast.

Through the years that followed, Karin had learned that when Syndil wasn't being truthful, either with others or with herself, she would snap at people, hoping to get them to drop the subject.

Karin hadn't allowed it before, and she wasn't allowing it now. "Syn, come on, you know that we have been friends for too long for me to buy that one. What really bothers you about him?"

"He doesn't take anything seriously, Karin."

Karin raised her eyebrows at the pun, but let it go when Syndil glared at her fiercely.

"As I recall, you have played a few pranks in your own time, Syn. Was it or was it not you who put the Filibuster Firework in Filch's lantern?" Karin eyed her friend intently.

"That isn't the point, Karin," Syndil said pointedly. "And besides, I don't play half the pranks he does. Also the ones I do play are at least in fun. Some of his are just plain mean-spirited. Let me tell you, Lily Evans has their number; the whole group of them are no good. Remus is perhaps the only redeemable one out of the whole pack." With that said Syndil went back to her essay. "Where did you put Basic Werewolf Defense Strategies?"

"It is right here under my text book," Karin replied automatically, lifting her book to allow Syndil to take it. "You honestly expect me to let it go that easily?" Karin asked her friend in a doubtful tone.

"No," Syndil replied with a grin, "I expect that you will keep bugging me about until at least the end of the year, and that is only if I give in and go out with him once in that period of time." Syndil stuck her tongue out at her friend, and they continued on working on their essays together.

~ * ~

"James?" Remus asked his friend as he dug in his trunk looking for where he had stuffed his invisibility cloak after their last adventure. When James looked up from what he was doing, Remus continued. "Do you know what is up with Sirius lately?"

"What do you mean?" James asked bemusedly. "I haven't noticed anything. Did you see what Lily was wearing at breakfast this morning?"

"How come that doesn't surprise me?" Remus growled to himself in frustration. "You know for being his best friend, you seem a little disinterested," Remus told his friend pointedly.

"How can you say I'm not interested? Of course I am," James replied, irritation ringing clear in his voice. "Sirius has been a little quiet lately, but that is not so unusual; he is always quiet when he is plotting some new kind of mischief."

"True, but tell me something, James," Remus asked directly. "Who planned today's pranks?" Remus raised his eyebrows inquiringly at his friend.

"Well, I did but..." James began and then became thoughtful for a moment. "Oh." James lowered his eyes and then, as if thinking about it for the first time asked, "By the way, where are Sirius and Peter?"

"I think Sirius said something about a last minute trip to the kitchens. Peter tagged along to help him carry stuff or so he said anyway," Remus replied grinning.

"Again!" James exclaimed. "I think those two put away more food than the whole school combined." James shook his head, laughing quietly.

"Right," Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, "and either of us eats any less then they do?" Remus grinned.

"No, but at least we are slightly discrete about it," James grinned back. Finding his cloak, he stuffed it into his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and said, "Let's go and catch up with them. I am anxious to be torturing Snivelus."

~ * ~

"So, Sirius, what are you plotting?" James asked as the small group was on their way to Hogsmeade. They were walking a short distance in front of Remus and Peter.

"What do you mean? I'm not plotting anything." Sirius looked confused. "What makes you think I am plotting anything?"

"Well, you have been so quiet lately that I figured you had to be up to something." James looked at his friend eagerly.

"Oh, yeah, that," Sirius mumbled quietly, "Ummm... I haven't really been planning anything," Sirius quietly admitted. "I have just had a lot to think about."

"Ok, then tell me this," James responded with a grin. "Who is she?"

"Huh?" Sirius blinked.

"Oh, come on. You are going to try and tell me, ME, that it isn't a girl providing the distraction." James eyed his friend doubtfully.

"I admit to nothing!" Sirius exclaimed and quickened his pace, but James wasn't about to let him off that easily.

"Oh, honestly, Sirius!" James said exasperated. "You know about my infatuation with Lily Evans. Turn about is fair play, my friend. You know my frustration, now tell me yours." James grinned at his friend like a maniac, fully intent on getting Sirius to confide in him.

"Fine!" Sirius gave in. "You know the Malfoy girl? She is in Ravenclaw," Sirius asked lowering his voice.

"You've got the hots for a Malfoy? Your parents will be so proud," James teased his friend.

"No, you git!" Sirius put in quickly clamping his hand over his friends mouth in order to prevent him from proclaiming it to the entire school. "Not Karin, her best friend, Syndil Starborn. I only mentioned Karin so you would have a general reference point."

The two of them tumbled to the ground in a heap of arms and legs and proceeded to try to inflict as much damage as they could to each other. Not that either of them was truly upset with each other, but it was a matter of bragging rights.

"Okay, you two," Remus interjected. "As amusing as this is, we have other things on the agenda, and while I think you should choose someone else to play this prank on, I do think it will be amusing."

"Too true, Remus," James said grinning. "No offense Sirius, but if the choice is you or Snevilus, I will take Snivelus. He reacts funnier than you do."

~ * ~

"Bloody hell!" Sirius swore softly. "Where has James got to? He was supposed to be back by now."

"Be patient, Sirius," Remus scoffed softly. "You know James when he is picking on Snape. I doubt he has even noticed how long he has been at it." Just as he said this, James appeared beside them, shrugging off his cloak and stuffing it into his bag lying near Sirius feet. He was so out of breath from running and laughing so hard that he couldn't speak for a full minute.

"You guys missed a great show," James said when he could finally speak. "Snivelus was chasing his hat all over Hogsmeade. He would just put it on and it would fly off again," he said innocently, as Sirius and Peter howled with laughter. "Then the last time he chased his hat, he bent over and tripped right into the puddle it had landed in." By this time, Peter and Sirius were rolling with laughter. "He is coming this way, time to put our little plan into action, Sirius," James finished, grinning.

Remus groaned. He had hoped that James would have been satisfied with Snape chasing his hat all over Hogsmeade and would have given up on the second half of this plan.

~ * ~

Severus trudged slowly up the hill with his head down, mumbling to himself. Today had not been a good day. Not only was the shop in Hogsmeade out of salamander scales, but also he had also seemed to be unable to keep his hat on his head. Ever since walking out of the apothecary's shop, when his hat had first flew off of his head, he would rush after it and no sooner would he place it on his head, but it would fly off again. Then to top it all off, someone had pushed him into a mud puddle. It didn't matter to him that there had been no one near him; he had felt the hands, for Merlin's sake.

"Oh, there once was a boy named Snivelus," James Potter, bane of his existence, sing-songed from right in front of him. "With his looks he would try to level us, but whenever he saw me, He cried for his mommy, and ran off to hide far away from us." Potter's goons found this hilarious.

"Come on, James," Black put in with a smile. "You forgot to mention his wetting himself."

Snape glared fiercely at Black. As he did this he heard Potter mutter something and felt what he thought was a splash of cold water. He growled a quick drying charm and shoved his way through the group of howling Gryffindors, while muttering to himself.

He was glad all of his fellow Slytherins were still down in Hogsmeade. They would have seen his wet, filthy condition as hilarious. He hurried up to his room, changed his robes, and sat down to work on his defense essay.

When he went down to leave for dinner a few hours later, he did his best to keep from responding to the snickers of his housemates. Potter and his pack had never been able to keep their mouths shut, and he wasn't surprised that their antics were known all over the school already.

His temper rose slowly as he continued down to the Great Hall for dinner, and everyone he passed burst out laughing. When he finally reached the Great Hall, still proudly ignoring the howling laughter, he barely reached the Slytherin table when he heard, "Mr. Snape?"

He turned to see Professor McGonagall standing behind him looking quite distressed. "I think you had better come with me." McGonagall led the way out of the Great Hall and towards the infirmary.

"Excuse me, Professor," Snape began, "but..."

"Mr. Snape," McGonagall cut him off, "I think you had better take a look at this." With that, McGonagall held a small mirror so that he could see himself.

"POTTER!!!!" Snape's scream was heard throughout the castle. He looked like a muggle paint shop had exploded on him. His face was a mixture of splotchy rainbow colors.

"Oh, my!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed upon seeing them enter the infirmary. "What on earth have they done now?" Madam Pomfrey shook her head and rushed off to get the right potion. "You might as well lay down, Mr. Snape. You will be here for the night." With that she left, clicking her tongue.

~ * ~

Back in the Great Hall, the Marauder's broke out into hearty gales of laughter.

"I can't believe Snivelus didn't notice that his face was rainbow colors for three hours, Sirius said through his laughter.

"You know he is going to tell them it was us, don't you?" Remus asked without smiling.

"Yes, yes, Remus. We know all about that," James sighed grinning. "Why do you always have to be such a wet blanket?" He heckled his friend, smiling.

Remus chuckled and responded, "Now James, we have been over this before. I am not a wet blanket; I am the voice of reason," Remus said in all earnestness. Then they both proceeded to break out laughing.

Sirius and Peter just shook their heads and laughed right along with them.

~ * ~

"This type of thing is exactly why I am not interested in dating Sirius Black," Syndil told her friend exasperated.

"Oh, come on!" Karin said smiling at her friend, "That is half of his charm."

Syndil blushed and continued eating for a moment.

"You know Severus will probably be in the infirmary until Monday morning." Syndil glared, "That isn't funny or charming in any way."

"Hey, Syndil," Orion Martin hollered from the end of their table where he had grabbed a seat at the last minute. "We missed you in Hogsmeade today. Severus kept chasing his hat all around town." The whole table howled at this.

Syndil turned to glare at Orion, fixing him with the full weight of her temper. He quailed under the onslaught.

"No one deserves the amount of humiliation that those boys dish out to Severus. I am ashamed to realize that the house that prides itself for brains and quick wit would urge them on," Syndil finished in a heated whisper and stormed out of the Great Hall.

"How does she do that?" Orion asked still quivering.

Karin shrugged. "Beats me. It's a gift I suppose."

"A very disturbing gift," Orion agreed. "She does have a point though. Not even that slime ball Slytherin deserves as much trouble as he gets"

The whole table nodded their agreement and went back to their dinner. After several moments of uncomfortable silence, Orion and Karin spoke at the same time.

"I need to finish that defense essay," Orion said.

"I should check on Syndil," Karin said.

With that they both stood and left the Great Hall.

~ * ~

Severus sat propped up on pillows in the infirmary, arms folded across his chest. "I refuse to take anything unless I know what is in it," he told a very flustered Madam Pomfrey.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Snape," McGonagall said sternly. "You can take the potion on your own or while in a full body bind, but either way you will take the potion. We really can't have you attending class as you are." At that McGonagall turned and left the infirmary.

Severus could not swear to it, but he heard what sounded suspiciously like laughter coming from behind the door McGonagall had just exited.

"Now, Mr. Snape," Madam Pomfrey said coming up to him with the potion bottle. "Will this be the hard way or the easy way?" Madam Pomfrey gave him a grin that he was sure had no place being on the face of a healer.

Severus paled. "The easy way," he mumbled, giving in, and held out his hand for the potion. Swallowing it in one gulp, he grimaced. Why did sugar make most potions useless?

While wondering this, Severus fell into a relatively peaceful sleep

~ * ~

James walked up behind Sirius during dinner and said in an intense whisper. "You. Me. Private. Now."

Sirius looked up curiously at his friend's retreating back. "Huh?" He grunted looking up at Remus and Peter where they sat across the table from him.

They looked back blankly at him and shrugged. "You guys do the plotting, we just tag along." Peter said apologetically.

Sirius shoved in one more mouth full of food and rose to follow his friend out of the Great Hall. He knew exactly where James would go, the room of requirement. They had found it last year after setting off a dung bomb in McGonagall's office. Sirius smiled at the memory, that had been a little too close.

"What have you got in mind, James?" Sirius asked as he entered the room.

"You remember that conversation we had last weekend?" James asked with a grin.

Sirius thought for a moment and replied innocently. "I already told you, James, I am not plotting anything."

"Not that you git!" James growled. "I was talking about Syndil and Lily." James glared fiercely, running a careless hand through his carefully messy hair.

Mission accomplished. Sirius thought satisfied. It was always fun to mess with James. He always realized what Sirius had done just a moment to late; just at that moment James groaned and glared even more fiercely at Sirius.

Sirius chuckled. "Alright, James, what about Syndil and Lily? It has to be good, you know. The last thing I need is for Syndil to become upset with me. She already doesn't like me. I don't want her to hate me."

"She won't. I promise, look, with this plan she can't help but think you're the most charming guy around. Here's what we do. . ." James proceeded to lay out his plan in intricate detail. It was obvious that he had been thinking about it for sometime. When James started covering what easy spells they could use, Sirius quit listening. He knew exactly how to do what James had in mind. He had done similar to Snivelus, though it had differed slightly in order to make it more insulting.

The room became quiet and Sirius started. James was looking at him and obviously waiting for an answer. "Uhhh. . .sorry, James, mind wandered a moment. What was the question?"

"The question was." James said slowly. "What do you say? Are you in?"

"I'm not sure, James." Sirius replied slowly. "There are a lot of variables here. First, she could take it as an insult. Second, how is she going to know it was me?"

"First" James responded coolly "you make sure there is no way for her to be insulted by it. Second, how many admirers' does she have? Known admirer's?" James asked and quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Fine." Sirius gave in "let's plan it for tomorrow night after curfew. I will need to borrow your cloak and take it to dinner stuffed into my bag. That way I can follow them from the Great Hall." Sirius told his friend.

"That is what I had planned on." James grinned.

"I just hope you're right on this one, James," Sirius muttered still unsure. "'cause if she hates me after this I may never forgive you."

With that both boys got up and left the room careful not to be seen.

~ * ~

By dinnertime the next night Sirius had managed to put all of his misgivings out of mind and become honestly excited about what he planned to do. He had sat up most of the night making sure his addition to the plan was just right and he was quite proud of it, much to James' annoyance.

Sirius ate quickly. He needed to finish before the last Ravenclaw left the table so he could follow them up to their dormitories and get the password.

When he had eaten his fill, he nudged James and nodded, saying loudly, "Well, I must go up and get to work, if I want to finish that History essay that is due tomorrow."

Once he was out of sight of the Great Hall, he ducked into an unused classroom to slip on the invisibility Cloak. He then carefully picked his way back to the Great Hall to wait for the last Ravenclaw to get up and go back to their dorm. He had decided to wait for the last one so that he wouldn't have to worry about someone tripping over him as they went in to bed.

When the last Ravenclaw finally left the table, a rather short black haired boy that Sirius decided must be a first year, Sirius was more then ready to be away from the Great Hall. James and the others had long since retired and Sirius was beginning to get nervous.

He was sure to follow closely enough so that he could hear the password as the boy muttered it.

"Carpe Diem" With that the boy scuttled into his common room and left Sirius to settle in and wait for curfew.

"Seize the Day?" Sirius muttered quietly. "I would have thought Ravenclaws would have come up with something a little more obscure." He shrugged and settled himself inside the cloak to wait for nightfall.

~ * ~

Sirius grunted the Gryffindor password and tiredly climbed through, not surprised to see that James was waiting for him admiring his masterpiece.

Sirius read the words charmed to the wall in glittering red letters:

I know a young girl named Lily,

I would love to get lost in her eyes.

Oh, to you it may seem silly,

But she's not for other guys.

Sirius had to grudgingly admit it was good. James didn't really seem the type to Wax Poetic or whatever the phrase was but this was decent.

"How'd it go?" James asked through a yawn.

"Slowly," Sirius replied. "I didn't think the sun would ever go down. Then, I had to wait longer to be sure everyone was asleep." Sirius growled his frustration. "Well, I'm off to bed. It wouldn't be a bad idea for you to go either. Tomorrow morning is going to come really early." That said Sirius trudged off to bed, not really caring if James followed.

~ * ~

He finished getting dressed and hurried down to the Great Hall for breakfast, fighting desperately to ignore the nerves dancing like butterflies in his stomach.

As he entered the Great Hall he saw James and Lily seated side by side grinning stupidly at each other. As he approached the Gryffindor table, someone collided with him and he heard.

"I can't believe you!" Syndil exclaimed. "You're so sweet. How on earth did you get into our common room? Come and sit with me?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes at him.

Sirius awoke with a smile and confident in what the morning would bring, he rolled over and fell back to sleep.

~ * ~

"JAMES POTTER!!!!" Sirius was startled awake by the sound of Lily Evans shout. "Of all the idiotic, immature, embarrassing things for you to do, how dare you embarrass me like this?"

Sirius flinched in sympathy for his friend and rose to get dressed. As Lily continued her diatribe at James and his apparent immaturity, Sirius began to rethink what they had done the night before. All of Sirius' doubts began to resurface.

For all of his sympathy for James, his tongue lashing would be a bit more public. Unlike James, Sirius' girlfriend or crush whatever you chose to call her, wasn't in the same house. Thus, Syndil would have to yell at him either in the hallway or in the Great Hall. Wherever she chose to yell at him, it was very likely to produce a bigger audience then Lily's tirade in Gryffindor Tower. Sirius had never thought that the girls would find their poems embarrassing; he mentally kicked himself for his lack of foresight.

Once he was dressed he headed down to the Great Hall. Best to get it over with. He thought soberly.

~ * ~

Syndil yawned as she trudged down the stairs. She hadn't got much sleep the night before she didn't understand why defense was the only subject she had any trouble with. She had been up half the night working on her defense essay. She still didn't think it was quite right.

As she came down the last step into the common room, Syndil froze unable to believe what she was seeing. "Karin!" She shouted, surely if she was hallucinating Karin would get her to the hospital wing as quickly as possible.

Karin came running down the stairs, "what?" she asked around the toothbrush in her mouth. Syndil just pointed at the wall. "Oh, my!" Karin gasped, toothbrush left to hang precariously out of her mouth.

On the wall written in glittering silver was:

There's a girl named Syndil,

Whose smile's like the sun.

Oh, my heart's in a windmill,

I know that she's the one.

"But who could have done this?" Karin asked.

By this time the rest of the house was crowding into the common room, Syndil was pretty sure of who had done this. There were only two possibilities to begin with and only one of those two were in Ravenclaw and so, had access to their common room. Syndil spotted Orion and quickly went over and hugged him fiercely. "You're so sweet!" She exclaimed, "its lovely, thank you!"

Orion blushed, looking slightly dazed for a moment "Ummmm. . . He stammered for a moment, "it was nothing, really," he said and went an even deeper shade of red.

With the excitement over, the rest of the house went back to getting dressed and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast before the Quidditch match started.

~ * ~

"So, James," Remus prodded at breakfast, "what was it that got Lily in such a huff this morning?" Now, having been a part of the crowd in the common room this morning, Remus knew full well what se had been so upset about, but he was still having a blast giving James hell about it.

James just glared at Remus and refused to comment. Sirius was still waiting for the proverbial ax to fall. Syndil hadn't shown up in the Great Hall but she was bound to any moment now.

Just as he thought this, Syndil showed up with the black haired boy he had followed the night before. She was grinning stupidly at him, Okay, Sirius thought, this can't be good. She is obviously grateful to him for cleaning my poem off the wall before everyone saw it.

Sirius dropped his gaze back to his plate suddenly not at all hungry or amused by how Remus and Peter were giving James a hard time.

Sirius pushed his food around his plate for a few more minutes "I have a few questions about the Transfiguration essay due this afternoon," and with that he quickly left the hall so he wouldn't have to watch and wait for her to remember him and come to put him in his place.

Remus stopped mid-heckle, "What was that all about?"

Remus asked confused.

James was willing to wager a guess but ever since he had started liking Syndil Starborn, Sirius hadn't done more then half-heartedly heckle him about Lily and so James kept his mouth shut. Remus and Peter would discover Sirius' obsession sooner or later and James would not be responsible for it being sooner.

Sirius was distracted throughout Potions and his usually poor work was . . . well--it blew up, rather spectacularly if he did say so himself. He grinned, he had sent most of the Slytherins, Snivelus included, to the hospital wing, and to think, Sirius chuckled to himself, Snivelus was just let out today.

He was the first one out of class when the bell rang. Okay, I can't take this anymore, he thought determined, Time to confront her or Charms will be worse then Potions Sirius groaned and headed in the direction of Charms class carefully watching for Syndil so he could speak to her before class started.

Seeing her coming down the hall blessedly without her young male companion, "Syndil?" he called as she went to walk by him.

Syndil and Karin stopped and looked at him curiously. Sirius had hopped to not have an audience but oh well; He would late what he could get. "How did you like the poem this morning?" he asked bluntly wanting to get the tongue lashing over with.

"How did you know about Orion's poem?" Syndil asked in a confused voice.

Sirius felt like someone had just punched him in the gut, hard. "Ummmm. . . he stuttered fighting to keep the shock and hurt off of his face. "I helped him with the spell to charm it on the wall," he lied smoothly. "Did you like it?" He asked shyly.

"It was very sweet; thank you for helping him," she said and turned and went in to find a seat. Karin eyed him for another moment and then followed her friend.

Sirius, unable to sit through a class period with her, turned and fled desperate for a place to hide. At least his after lunch classes, Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures, would be with Slytherin.

~ * ~

Remus sighed, Sirius obviously wasn't coming to lunch. That's alright, Remus decided, I will just have to go looking for him. With that thought Remus rose and left the Great Hall. It took him almost an hour to find Sirius. Remus caught him as he tried to sneak into Gryffindor Tower unseen. "You okay?" Remus asked startling him.

"Fine," he grunted and proceeded to make his way to their dorm room.

"You miss Charms and Lunch and expect me to believe that you're fine?" Remus asked incredulously.

"No," Sirius replied bluntly, "but I hope my friend will drop it, as it is obvious I don't want to talk about it," Sirius growled.

"Ummmm," Remus attempted to look thoughtful, "how much of a chance do you think that one has?" He asked earnestly.

"Not a snowbell's in Hell." Sirius sighed. "But let's talk about it upstairs, less ears." Sirius looked more defeated then Remus would ever have thought possible for his caviler friend.

Remus, I. . . just couldn't face her. I couldn't sit in the Great Hall during lunch and watch her fawn over him" Sirius concluded, suddenly becoming angry, "Where the hell does he get off taking credit for my work? What's worse, I can't even tell her it was really me; she wouldn't believe me and drive her closer to him." Sirius anger seemed to fade as quickly as it had come.

Remus sighed, "Come on, Sirius, we can't both miss Transfiguration. I need all the work I can get in that class and McGonagall would never believe you were absent for anything other then devious reasons." With that Remus pulled Sirius to his feet and led the way to class. Why did I open my mouth to James? Remus groaned to himself.

~ * ~

"I can't believe it has taken me three years to notice how sweet Orion is," Syndil sighed as she sat in front of her mirror brushing her blond hair.

"I can," Karin grunted. "He is a year behind us. It's not like we go to class with him every day." Karin rolled her eyes. She knew her friend hadn't caught the look in Sirius' eyes when she had mentioned Orion's poem. Karin couldn't understand where the shock and hurt had come from, unless . . . Sirius had written the poem and put it there, but then why wouldn't he have said as much to Syndil in the hall today? If he had, would Syndil have believed him? She asked herself cynically. Not a chance, she would have lost her temper and clung to her conviction that Orion had written the poem even harder, she thought sagely to let Syndil figure out this truth for herself.

"You have a point." Syndil admitted. "I can't wait for Saturday. Orion and I are having a picnic by the lake." Her eyes took on a dreamy look and climbed into bed. Karin bit her tongue and blew out the candle by their bed.

~ * ~

Sirius waited in the common room. Remus had agreed to send James down to talk to him. Granted, Remus thought that they were just going to plan some way to sow Syndil that it had really been Sirius who'd written her that poem.

Remus wouldn't have helped Sirius if he had known what Sirius had in mind. As his initial shock had worn off it had been replaced by a blind fury. Sirius had embraced it, finding blind fury easier to deal with then pain.

James came down the stairs with his cloak in hand and an expression that said he knew exactly why Sirius wanted to talk to him. "Not here," he said, "let's go somewhere we won't be heard," with that he threw his cloak over his shoulders and held it open for Sirius.

Sirius bit his tongue and stood his ground. James was right, Sirius wanted to shout to rant at the enormity of the injustice about the whole situation. He restrained himself though and asked instead. "Do you remember what I said to you the other night? When I agreed to your little plan?" Sirius asked in a controlled voice.

"Yeah," James responded looking glum, "you said if she hates you after this, you might never forgive me, but she doesn't hate you."

"No," Sirius growled, "she thinks that someone else wrote those words to her. She is tanking someone else for what I did and worse, James, she has a boyfriend because of it and it isn't me!" Sirius was shouting now and he didn't care. "You know something, James?" he asked as the rest of Gryffindor Tower came down to see what all the yelling was about. "I have decided that is worse then if she did hate me," with that he hauled back and decked James as hard as he could. "Stay away from me, Potter," he said in a cold voice that would have done his mother proud. "'cause next time I see you I will do more then deck you," and with that he stormed out of Gryffindor Tower.

~ * ~