The Darkest Star | Sirius Black |

5

The three men put their glasses down on the wooden table. After exchanging condolences and a bit of catching up, they had started to reminisce upon happier memories from when they were at school. Frank had just finished narrating a prank Sirius and James had pulled off and was holding his stomach from all the laughing.

"You guys! You were the best!" laughed Frank. "God I wish we could go back to those days!"

James nodded. "Yeah. Those sure were fun times."

"Mmhmm," agreed Sirius.

"Well! I'd better get going," said Frank, clapping both of them on their backs. "I promised Neville that I would take him out today."

"You know Frank, how about you drop in at our place with your son. He's the same age as Harry and they'll probably get along," said James.

Frank looked surprised at the offer but he nodded.

He bid them goodbye and dropped a few galleons on the table. "Drinks are on me."

It was probably due to the fact that he had met Frank who had lost his wife but Sirius found himself thinking of a particular incident from when he had been at Hogwarts.

It was one of the worst days ever to play a Quidditch match. More so, as this particular match was supposed to be the decider as to who would win the Cup. There was a mild snowfall which though didn't cause major visibility problems, proved to be quite irksome as the players were slightly distracted with the snowflakes constantly beating against their faces.

James Potter was flying at a tremendous speed, his torso leaning forwards, flat on the broom, the Quaffle tucked safely against his side. Two of the Chasers from Ravenclaw appeared in front of him trying to block his path, while the third Chaser was hovering a few feet below them, in anticipation that James would drop the Quaffle. One of the Beaters positioned himself a few metres behind the blockade of Chasers, readying himself in case, the block didn't work.

James, without slowing even a bit, flew straight in to the blockade. Like a spear piercing an armour, he rotated himself along with his broom to gain more momentum. Even with the snow, which had begun to fall a bit more rapidly, slightly obscuring their view, the Ravenclaws could make out the mad grin on James' face and as he seemed to have no intention of slowing down, at the very last moment, they broke off, allowing James straight through.

"That nutter! How on earth can he fly like that? Isn't that dangerous?" said Lily Evans, her face though seemingly contemptuous also looked concerned. "And that too, with only one hand on his broom!"

A shivering Remus, who was seated beside her along with Peter, snorted. "That is nothing. If you want see a nutter, look over there!"

Lily looked at the direction where Remus was pointing only to see Sirius Black, hanging upside down on his broom, his Beater's bat swinging wildly as he shot towards the third Ravenclaw Chaser, who had anticipated that James would pass through and now had poised himself alongside his Beater, trying to stop James' momentum. With no bludger in sight, Sirius let out what seemingly sounded like a war cry and hurled his bat towards the Ravenclaw players.

The sound had distracted them and they were flabbergasted as their gazes shifted to Sirius. The Chaser moved away just in time to avoid the flying bat, while the Beater too swivelled out of the way in fear that it might hit him. Their lapse in concentration was enough for James who flew past them and did a ridiculous full clockwise turn, such that the tail end of his broom made contact with the flying bat, changing its course making it easier for Sirius to fly towards it and grasp it back.

The other Ravenclaw Beater, ferociously hit a bludger towards James only to have another Bludger knock it out of its trajectory. The bewildered Beater turned to find the source only to see, Sirius grinning at him, the same mad grin as James'.

Needless to say, James put the Quaffle in to the hoop, out of reach from the Ravenclaw Keeper, to a thunderous applause from the crowd in the stands. Even the Ravenclaws were applauding.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORES! THAT'S A HELLUVA COMBO FROM POTTER AND BLACK! THEY SEEM TO BE IN ONE OF THEIR MOODS AND NOW RAVENCLAW ARE REEEALLY FEELIN' THE HEAT! FROM 050-120, IT IS NOW 250-160 TO GRRRRRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius was cheering along with the crowd. During the previous years, whenever James had insisted him to try out for the team, he had scoffed saying that Quidditch was beneath him. But when James had been made Captain, he had bothered him to such an extent that he finally had to accept.

Now, Sirius felt glad that he did. It was a wonderful feeling to be part of such an intense yet crazy atmosphere. He grinned towards the stands where a couple of fifth-year girls were holding a banner with his face on it. He waved and sent a few kisses in their direction.

"OI PADFOOT!"

The urgency in James voice had made him turn at once and what he saw made his heart stop.

"LOOKS LIKE MOREAU HAS SPOTTED THE SNITCH AND SHE IS RUSHING HER WAY TOWARDS IT. THE GRYFFINDORS SEEMED NOT TO HAVE NOTICED AS HER PATH SEEMS SURPRISINGLY CLEAR. NEEDLESS TO SAY, IF SHE CATCHES THE SNITCH, RAVENCLAW WILL WIN THE MATCH! YOU BLITHERING IMBECILES! SOMEONE BLOCK HER PATH!"

Sirius shot off like an arrow towards Rene Moreau. He decided to fly to a space behind her where he could see a bludger approaching. From the corner of his eye, he could see one of the Ravenclaw beaters gearing up to send another bludger at him. He adjusted his trajectory so that he would end up a few feet in front of Moreau. One, this move might distract her from catching the snitch and two, the Ravenclaw Beater wouldn't risk sending a bludger towards the path of the Snitch.

He reached his desired space in front of her but he was wrong on his second assumption. The Beater who had just been outwitted a few moments back by Sirius was raging and hell bent to make him pay. He hit the bludger with all his might.

'The fool,' thought Sirius. 'He just lost the match for his team.'

In mid-flight, he turned his body so that he was facing backwards, and could see the Snitch was flying towards him, chased by the desperate Ravenclaw seeker. The bludger, courtesy of the opposition Beater was making its way towards them and he had his bat ready to turn it away in to Moreau's face.

It seemed she hadn't quiet noticed him yet as her eyes were fixed on the Snitch. Sirius noticed her crunched up face, full of determination and focus making him feel slightly amused. He could see that she had taken this very seriously after all it wasn't easy for an outsider to establish themselves in a place like Hogwarts, more so being that she had transferred only the previous year.

Her silvery hair was fully blown back due to the speed, her face red with the exposure to the cold not to mention the adrenaline that came with playing the game. She didn't look an inch of the ethereal beauty that many had come to associate with her since she had arrived and yet Sirius felt that he had never seen a more beautiful girl in his entire life.

He was so mesmerized that he stopped flying, his arm slumping down, as he continue to gaze at her.

Rene had come within catching range of the Snitch and now her arm was outstretched, her fingers almost brushing against its fluttering wings. It was at that moment she noticed him. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him, hovering in mid-air, sitting reverse on his broom, a sloppy smile on his face.

Sirius noticed that she had finally seen him and was about to flash her one of his customary toothy grins when the bludger hit him on the side of his chin with a sickening crunch. The last thing he remembered was the warmth of the blood in his mouth, as he toppled from his broom and fell towards the ground.