Sirius and Isabella's 5th year: 1975

Story Title: Sirius Black The Star Chaser
Author: LynxGirl90
Main Pairings: SB/OC
Time-Period: 1975 – Sirius and Isabella's 5th Year at Hogwarts
Story Type: Short Story
Genre: Romance
Rating: T

~oO* The Star Chaser *Oo~

Chapter 1: The Secret Stares

November 12, 197505:43 AM

It was still too dark outside, but several over-enthusiastic Quidditch fans from Gryffindor (mostly boys) were already up and thronged the Changing Rooms along with the rest of her team. It was, after all, the match of the year and the 'Sudden Death Play-Off' OF THE SEASON (Hooch's words, not mine); in other words, it was practically even bigger than the finals. The match was so important that the whole school, including the professors, was eagerly looking forward to seeing the Slytherins get CRUSHED after their mega foul against the Ravenclaws.

Unfortunately for Isabella though, the more she went over such useless bits of trivia, the more nervous she got and that was so not ideal! Scowling at herself, she blew out a long breath and shouldered her broom before plodding down the steps towards the Gryffindor Changing Room.

Okay, let's go, 'Chaser-who's-just-been-made-permanent', she thought to herself. It's no big deal, you're just another player. No pressure What. So. EVER… she told herself and clenched her jaw in determination before walking through the curtained entrance. The air inside was stiff with tension and bursting with excitement, but when she entered, several heads turned around.

And then all hell broke loose.

"THERE'S OUR STAR CHASER!" someone yelled, and the tiny room went berserk with jubilation, owing to her spectacular performance in their previous match against a very tough Hufflepuff team. Before she could even register what was happening, several burly boys had hurtled towards her and lifted her right off solid ground amidst loud chants that went, "Williams! Williams! Williams! Williams!"

Squealing in sheer panic, she looked around frantically at the ecstatic faces of her fellow House-mates and begged them to put her down, but evidently, none of them seemed to care and ended up doing a victory lap around the little make-shift room. "Honestly?!" she cried, stifling a laugh and looking around the room for help when her gaze fell on Sirius. He stood a little distance away from her and was grinning to himself, his face gleaming with amazement at the reception she was getting. For the space of a heartbeat, though, their eyes locked, making her stomach squirm uncomfortably. She blushed when she realized he was still holding on to her gaze and quickly turned away before she embarrassed herself any further.

Next to him, James, the other Chaser on the team, was chuckling casually too at the madness and decided to join in on the fun by chanting oddities every time the boys yelled her name.

"Williams!"

"The Star Chaser!"

"Williams!"

"The Snake Charmer…!"

"Williams!"

"The Queen Slayer!"

"Williams!"

"The HEART-Breaker…!"

Isabella was in splits now and the longer she watched James, the more she risked choking to death with laughter. Still bobbing up and down on the boys' shoulders, she yelled, "Rob, it's not funny anymore! Put me down, this is mental!" she half-yelled, half-laughed.

"Honestly! That's enough!" Thomas Walker called out from the back of the room, a seventh-year and the Captain of the team. There was something about being the Captain of the Quidditch team that gave the person almost a 'Godly' status among Gryffindors at least, because, the second the words were out of his mouth, the hooligans, albeit reluctantly, put her down right away. Thomas, along with Clarissa Goody, Oliver Wharton, Brian McAdams, Simon Gregor and the scared-looking Victor Davies, were going over the match strategy and position maps over and over again before today's match against Slytherin. "Williams, come on over, you're our main Chaser now, so you and James need to learn your new positions!" he said curtly, glaring pointedly in James's direction.

James fisted his chest and dramatically thumped his hand in the air as a way of saluting his Captain. "Anything for you, Tom! Especially, since you had the balls to sack big-mouthed Jackson from the team!" he said, wiping away fake tears off his face. "I can Chase a LOT better now, mate, and it's all thanks to you…" he crooned theatrically, inviting several rolling-of-the-eyes from the rest of the team.

"Yeah, I fervently hope Williams kicks your butt in today's match," replied Thomas, his lips curling up in a slight grin. "Anyway, Goody, you, Williams, Potter and I, we need to communicate all the time! The three of us will keep Chasing until you've seen the Snitch. What's the first rule of Quidditch?"

Clarissa rolled her eyes. "'Don't chase the Quaffle when you can see the bloody Snitch!'"

"Exactly! And that's what we're going to do today as well!"

The next two hours were spent going over maneuvering techniques and position strategies that the team needed to employ in today's match—all painstakingly drawn out by their Captain. The sun had fully risen now and was shining brightly down at them. "…and remember," Thomas added, as the team began to disband and get ready for one last practice before the match started. "You two," he said pointing at Sirius and Oliver, "since Williams is new and since she's a…" he stopped and shrugged, as if her being a 'girl' was somehow changing the whole tone of the game, "you two need to do EVERYTHING under the sun to keep her from getting hit! Protect her with your life or you will die a PAINFUL death!" he said, suggestively holding his hands up in a choker position.

Isabella flushed instantly while James snorted and thumped Sirius hard on the back. "Oh, he will!" he said, making Sirius grace him with a deadpanned expression that did a better job at screaming 'bloody murder' than Thomas's open threat! "Look, mate, just let me do my job as your best friend, alright?" he said, feigning hurt before breaking off grinning stupidly that made Sirius want to punch him even more. "Now get your Lady Love to start talking to you again before I take matters into my own hands!" he guffawed, ducking away from Sirius's death swipe and dashing out of the Changing Room.

A moment passed when neither of them moved a muscle.

Biting his lip, he finally looked up at Isabella and shrugged apologetically. "Ignore him," he scoffed apologetically, looking very red in the face, while she put her gear on. "Anyway, all set?" he said, grinning from ear to ear and slapping her painfully on the back. "It's your first full match in over two years!" he exclaimed, shaking her up real good and being blissfully oblivious to the look of shock on her face!

She didn't know how he did it.

How was it possible for him to act as if everything was just perfect in paradise? How was he able to look past the fact that the two of them had hardly even spoken to each other in last several days?!

And right now, things had gotten so awfully formal between the two of them, Isabella wondered if they'd ever go back to being normal friends again!

Isabella huffed and tried to be just nonchalant as he was. "If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm practically considering running away and never returning!" she muttered, even as the rest of her House-mates filed out of the little room to go sit on the stands and scream out nonsense instructions at the team till their throats bled.

Sirius shook his head in exasperation. "Blimey, Izzy, why do you always have to be so painfully modest?" he asked, giving her a disapproving look. "You're a bloody genius with the Quaffle, and you know that. You're all the whole school's talking about!" he said, pulling his Quidditch robes over his head and ruffling it out.

"Still no reason to get over-confident," she replied, knowing fully well how irritatingly morbid that must sound to Sirius.

He merely shook his head in disbelief. "Officially abandoning all hope of trying to get you to see the light!" he stated flatly mutely grabbed his broom off the floor.

"Fly well today," she said, purely because she couldn't think of anything cleverer to shoot back at him. "And don't get hurt, or my mum will hear about it," she added with a little smile.

Sirius snorted. "Oh, yes. Wouldn't want that now, would we?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, chuckling a little. "Anyway, it's not me that you should be worried about. Tom is right, they're going to be targeting you most of all. It's your first match as a full-time Chaser so they don't know your game at all," he said walking out of the Changing Room with Isabella. "Plus, you're a girl!" he jeered idiotically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked crossly.

"Hey! I have no problem with that!" he said, putting his hands out in defense. "If you were to ask me, I'd say I find that mighty sexy!" he grinned, giving her a knowing look. "I mean, imagine, a girl, on a broom, giving the boys a run for their money?!" he looked longingly into the distance with a hand to his heart, as if that's all he'd ever want from the world. "I'd pay MUCH gold to watch that!" he snickered, making her gape at him in disbelief. "I'm kidding, come on!" he quickly added, looking at her expression. "I'd never think that way, you know that. But there's no telling with the Slytherins, so…"

"Lucius wouldn't dare," she said, trying to sound as confident as possible. "He knows my game and he's not as stuck-up as the rest of his House is at least," she said, and noticed him visibly stiffen at that comment.

Looking at her like she'd finally lost all the screws in her brain, he scoffed. "You wish!" he said. "You don't know the first thing about that prat!"

"He's my best friend these days, Sirius."

That did it. That was the last straw and Isabella knew it. She'd gone too far this time and felt bad almost immediately.

"I mean…"

"Save it," he cut in, grabbed his broom and took off in the blink of an eye.

"Oi! Careful on the pitch today!" she barked out.

"Yeah, what do you care?!" he called back, and zoomed off into the distance to join the rest of the team.