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"AND HUFFLEPUFF SCORES ONCE AGAIN!!" The commentator cheered and so did the crowd of students wrapped in Yellow and Black scarves around her. But Kelsey didn't even bat an eye. She was transfixed on the disgusting giggling right next to her that had rendered her unable to focus.

"Eugh. That's revolting," Kelsey scorned at the couple next to her whispering sweet - or rather dirty nothings to each other. "Think I'm gonna be sick. Can they like not?!" She huffed loud enough for everyone around her to hear.

"Got something to say, Jones?" Sirius finally turned his attention her way upon hearing that comment.

It was working. If someone asked him what the score was, he'd be lost. His sole purpose was to rile up Jones while pretending to charm the girl next to him who didn't seem to be complaining. After all the effort he had gone through to secure the exact spot next to her for the game.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Don't be surprised if I hurl my breakfast on you," Jones gave a fake smile before showing the couple the finger.

The girl next to him, whose name Kelsey hadn't bothered asking, paled. She scooted a little close to Black in hopes of protection.

"Don't worry, babe.." Sirius emphasised the word and brought an arm around The Girl's waist. Kelsey ignored the drop in her stomach.

"..Kelpie here is all bark, no bite," he whispered in her ear. Everyone in a three feet radius caught that.

"Well, if it's biting that you want.." The Girl smiled coyly and leaned in closer to Sirius. She proceeded to whisper something while Jones observed his reaction. The Girl then lazily put her hand over his crotch and squeezed him. In front of everyone.

The crowd cheered again but all their friends were more invested in Sirius' self-inflicted misgivings as an expression of pain and embarrassment appeared. .

"Ugh, get a room," said Kelsey.

"But then I wouldn't get the satisfaction of annoying you," he pouted his lips.

"I'm with Jones on that, mate," Potter piped up on The Girl's other side. "It's getting a bit much."

"I'm surprised she could even find it," Kelsey commented loudly, making Sirius turn redder. He was in the middle of trying to pry his date's hand off his crotch. Blimey, the girl had a strong grip. He was starting to regret this.

"Jealous?" Sirius managed to speak just as he undid her grip.

Kelsey felt sick. And not the throwing up kind. It was the 'stab your heart and rip it out' kind. She realised that she was in trouble as she hoped for a moment that it was her that his arm had been wrapped around.

As she saw them sitting like that, she remembered the feel of it from the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. She glared daggers at The Girl who now went in for a 'Lady and the Tramp' style bite of the Honeydukes candy between her and Sirius. Kelsey had the strangest urge to topple half her Snapping Kettlecorn over the two of them.

But she maintained composure.

The Slytherin crowd on the opposite end of the stands cheered as their Chaser scored.

This wasn't like her. The last time she had felt like this had been when she once saw Benji with his ex-girlfriends and with Dorcas Meadowes during Potions this year. She found herself getting warm as the common thread hit her.

Kelsey was in deep deep trouble indeed.

"Are you alright?" Astrid suddenly asked, having watched Kelsey suddenly go still.

"U-h-uh," Kelsey stammered a bit unsure of what to do with the realisation that she suddenly had feelings for one Sirius Orion Black.

That traitorous heart of hers! She couldn't believe it!

"You're really red. Are you okay?" Remus asked too.

"Yes," she peeped and shot up straight. "No problem here," she laughed nervously. "I think I ate something bad at breakfast earlier. I'm like gonna go now."

"We ate the same food," Astrid gave her a pointed look.

"I don't know Astrid, she looks off. Perhaps she should go to the hospital wing?" Lily added from the row behind them.

By now even Sirius had his attention on her, watching with concern.

"Alright there, Jones?" he asked.

Instead of meeting his eyes she ignored him and spoke to Astrid and the others as she excused herself.

The moment she was out of the row and had made her way down the stands, she broke into a dash along the grounds. She only stopped when she thought she saw what looked like Peter Pettigrew with a sneaky bunch of boys in Slytherin robes in the corridors.

"Oi Pettigrew!" she called out making the lot stop. "Whatcha doin'" she skipped over, squinting her eyes at the Slytherins.

"I was um," Pettigrew squeaked, looking really guilty all of a sudden. "I was just about to tell them off," he declared.

"Tell them off? You're not a Prefect."

He nodded slowly but she didn't believe him. He looked at the Slytherins who hung their heads down and stalked off.

When she turned to face Pettigrew he was gone as well.

"Wonder what that was about," she muttered, really confused now. Her gut feeling was off.

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Sirius watched Kelsey rush away, pressing her hands to her neck and face as if to calm herself. His stomach sank again.

"You idiot!" Prongs scolded and reached over The Girl to jab his friend in the side.

"Hey!" Sirius protested.

"You're going to die alone!" Remus added.

"What a nutter," The Girl next to Sirius spoke up. He gave her a hardened stare making her gulp.

"Chelsea," Mary spoke up next to Lily. "I think it's time for you to go," she tried to put it as nicely as she could.

Chelsea got up in a huff. "Fine! But when I'm telling the story Sirius Black and I made out - the way French way!" She stormed off.

"Kelsey might be a nutter.." Mary sighed.

"..but she's our nutter," Marlene agreed, crossing her arms.

"That she is," Sirius had that goofy grin on his face.

"Ahem," Astrid elbowed him hard in the stomach looking him dead in the eye.

Running a hand through his hair, Sirius got up while his friends shook their heads. He made his way down the stands and saw Jone's outline in the distance as if she were running.

Cursing to himself, he followed her, breaking off into a jog as soon as he reached the grounds. When he finally caught up with her, she was standing in the middle of the courtyards looking around fanatically.

"Jones!"

Kelsey saw the last person she had expected. She straightened herself to be more alert.

It was just a silly crush. She was sure it would go away just as quickly.

"This isn't the way to the infirmary," he panted, leaning a little to rest his hands on his knees.

"I-I was just-," Crap. She needed to think of something. "- getting some fresh air before heading over."

His curls fell over his face as he caught his breath. She had the strangest urge to run her hands through them.

"Alright then, I'll come with you," he straightened up and started walking in the other direction when she stopped him.

"NO!" she shouted a little too loudly, scaring him. "I mean. I think I'm fine now. I'll just be off to my dorms."

"But you're still red - look." He knit his eyebrows and placed a hand on her forehead, making her even more flustered.

Why was she reacting like this suddenly?

"I'm fine!" she insisted once again.

She hated the butterflies.

She hated the worried look in his eye.

Most of all she hated how much she was enjoying the coldness of his hand that was soothing. "Actually, I-I think I'll just sleep it off," she grasped his hand in her small ones and pried it off. Wordlessly, she took off running again towards her dorms before Sirius could think to follow her again.

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Kelsey chewed her food aggressively while staring at the back of Sirus Black's head at dinner later that day. He was talking to Potter while Pettigrew and Remus listened. Her original plan had been to keep an eye on Pettigrew but her attention inadvertently went to him.

Without warning, Remus suddenly flicked Sirius with his wand on top of his head. She could only see him throw his head back in laughter as she gazed dreamily, disgusted by her own sappiness.

It was all the harder to ignore now that she was extremely aware of her feelings for him.

When had this happened? How had this happened? She needed answers.

"Kelsey," Astrid whispered next to her. But she didn't hear. Being the good best-friend she was, she gently reached out to grab Kelsey's chin that was hanging open as she stared at Sirius and lifted it shut. Food was meant to be eaten.

Remus looked past Sirius catching Kelsey's eye at the Hufflepuff table and he nodded at her. At this, Sirius too turned to see her and he effortlessly shot her one of his swoon-worthy smirks. She temporarily forgot to breathe as he winked, instantly sending a flurry of butterflies through her stomach.

She went to smile back in the middle of taking a bite of her chicken and ended up spitting out bits of it.

The fates were not in her favour.

Mortified, she stared at the horror show as the slobbery chicken fell with a plop! on her plate now mingling with the rest of her food.

She pushed her plate back and got up. She had made up her mind. There was only one way out of this.

Instead of making for the dorms as usual, she instead started walking towards the grounds before those Gryffindor boys had time to react.

"Where are you going?" Astrid caught up to her. In her haste, Kelsey hadn't heard her follow.

"The Black Lake."

"Oh okay," Astrid said before stopping completely "Wait. Why?!"

"To drown myself," Kelsey said as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

"WHAT?" Astrid's screech could be heard down the corridor as she did her best to keep up. Kelsey simply walked on. In fact, she picked up her pace.

"Kels, stop!"

The two girls were now on the grounds. The Black Lake could be seen in the distance. Astrid dug her feet into the ground and started tugging Kelsey's robes.

"Lemme go!" Kelsey tried to fight Astrid off.

This was it. This was how she died. It was the only way to escape the embarrassment.

"You didn't see it Tatty. It was like super cringe!"

"Stop being dramatic. So you embarrassed yourself in front of the guy you like. It wouldn't be the first time. You'll be fine," Astrid tried to pull her arm.

"My life is over!" Kelsey protested. There's no coming back from thi- Wait a minute!" Kelsey stopped struggling. "You know?!" she cried.

Finally gaining some leverage, Astrid managed to force Kelsey to take a few steps in her direction.

"We all know!!" Astrid yelled back just as exasperated. "Except him, I guess."

Kelsey gasped dramatically. Her life was over indeed.

"Precisely why I shall be busy drowning myself in the lake. The shame," Kelsey still couldn't believe she had gone and fallen for stupid Sirius Black with stupid perfect hair and the stupid dazzling smile.

"Hear that Moony?" Potter's voice rang through the empty corridor.

"I didn't think Kelpies could drown," Sirius snickered joining in.

Both girls froze, sharing a horrified look. They had the implicit understanding that nothing was worse than the guy you liked actually finding out about that exact fact.

"How did you guys even follow us?" Astrid asked.

"Well, you two weren't' exactly subtle," Potter pointed out while Sirius observed her silently while she kept avoiding his gaze yet again.

"You didn't erm- hear much, did you?" Kelsey was about to lose it.

"Why? Were you in the middle of proclaiming your undying love for me?" Sirius said jokingly, although a good part of him hoped it was true.

The boys had in fact, not heard anything. They had barely made it in time to hear Jones announce that she was going to drown herself in the lake after watching her dramatically exit the Great Hall.

"In your dreams," Kelsey glared at him.

"Now if you don't mind," Kelsey continued. "I'd like to get on with this."

"You're not drowning yourself in the lake no matter how embarrassed you are!"

Sirius couldn't help the snort that. "I mean..that was embarrassing even for you Jones," he recalled her attempt to smile back at him and instead slobbering food on her plate. His feelings remained unchanged.

Kelsey stomped her foot in frustration and let out a disgruntled shriek. He couldn't hold back his smile.

"Excuse me! Were in the middle of something," Kelsey made a shoo-ing gesture with her hands.

She was adorable when she got like this, Sirius realised, as he leaned against the trunk of a tree, gazing at her like a lovestruck fool.

"Guys!" Astrid demanded their attention. The four boys were lazily leaning against a tree trunk, yawning at the scene in front of them. "A little help here?" She sounded just as crazy as she looked after ten minutes of playing tug of war with Kelsey's person.

Remus who had caught on to his mate's dreamy stare elbowed Sirius hard snapping him out of it.

"I mean if you insist.." Sirius suddenly announced as the thought came to him suddenly. He was feeling edgy with Jones avoiding him all day. With a mischievous chuckle, he strode forward and picked her up, bridal style.

"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?!" she started beating his chest as best as she could. Sirius resisted the need to bury his head in her hair and smell that soothing citrusy scent.

"Kelsey darlin'," his gravelly voice whispered in her ear, as she held on, with her arms around his neck. "I'm just giving you what you want."

His face was inches from her. She had half a second to process what was happening before he flung her into the lake.

SPLASH!

Astrid, Potter, Remus and Pettigrew watched in horror.

This was it. Sirius really was going to die alone.

"B-B-B-Black!" Kelsey emerged from the lake, moments later, cold and shivering. She brought her arms up around herself for warmth.

"I'm g-going to k-k-kill you!" Kelsey was really cold. Like really really cold.

Late November was not the time for this. But before she could make good on her threat she found herself slipping away from consciousness.

Sirius' petrified face was the last thing she remembered as she slumped into his arms once again.

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