Finding fireworks || Sirius Black

09

"A Sirius and James sandwich"

James' POV

Three days. It had been three full days since I'd been with Jocelyn in the Room of Requirements and I still hadn't managed to find the right moment to talk to her alone. And to add fuel to the fire, we had practically spent every waking second together in our little group of seven. I was finding it hard to act normal. Every time she spoke, every time she moved, I had flashbacks to that night. It was deliciously painful. I threw on my Quidditch gear and grabbed my broom.

"Padfoot, I'm heading to the pitch. I'm the captain, I can't be late."

"I'm coming!" he jumped around the room looking for his missing glove. I rolled my eyes.

"You live in a permanent state of chaos."

"And you don't?" I looked at my side of the room and gave him an innocent smile. He had a point.

He found his glove and we hurried to practice. We were getting closer to our next match against Hufflepuff and I wanted us to perfect a new strategy I had been working on. Padfoot walked with me in silence. Everyone on the team was waiting for us at the pitch. I immediately looked for Jocelyn only to realize she wasn't there. This was very much unlike her. She had never missed a practice.

"Where's Jo?" Sirius voiced my thoughts.

"Nobody knows, we thought she'd be coming down with you guys," Cal replied.

"She's never missed a practice before," said Annie.

"She's never even been late to a practice before." Matt was right.

"I'll go find her. I can't really train without her," said Padfoot. It annoyed me slightly (I was still a bit paranoid) but he was correct.

"Okay, Sirius you go find Jocelyn, the rest of us, we start practice now. Warm-up is three laps around the pitch. Come on!"

Everyone took off, and I turned to Padfoot quickly. "I think the map's in my trunk," he nodded and ran off back towards the castle.

Sirius' POV

The map was, indeed, in Prong's trunk. I sat on his bed and opened it.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

I scanned the map carefully and realized with a jolt that Jocelyn was in McGonagall's office. I knew Minerva loved Quidditch and was positive she would never, ever give detention to Jocelyn, her star student, let alone one during Quidditch practice. Was Jocelyn in some sort of trouble?

I made my way to the transfiguration professor's office and knocked on the door. I heard McGonagall's voice from the inside "Come in," so I did. Jocelyn was sat by the main desk, looking over a pile of parchments.

"Hello Professor McGonagall, I'm sorry to interrupt but we were worried about Jocelyn. She's never missed Quidditch practice before," she looked up at me with a horrified expression.

"Oh no!" she hit her forehead with her hand, "I'm so sorry. I lost track of time. I'm coming!" she stood up, putting all the papers neatly back in the pile.

"Good work today, Miss Silverway. I'll see you in 30 days," McGonagall dismissed us without another word, and we both walked out of the office.

"Is everything okay?" I asked Jocelyn as we hurried to Gryffindor Tower.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry I didn't realize how late it was. James must be fuming!" the fat lady let us in, and she sprinted up the stairs to her room to get changed. I saw a piece of parchment gently sway in the air and land on the floor at the bottom of the staircase.