Sugar & Spice

*Rosie's Point of View

I grabbed Black by the collar to forcibly bring him closer and wildly stuck my hands in the inside pockets of his jacket, searching for his packet of floo powder.

"Wait, Tammie - WAIT! I've got it here," Black whispered, quickly catching onto my panic and reaching into the back pocket of his suit trousers.

"What's the rush?" said a smooth, low voice behind us.

Black whirled around and faced the newcomer. I didn't recognise the young man standing there.

"Lestrange," Black spat, and his hands curled into fists. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Now, now, Black," The boy said, slowly advancing into the room. "No need to be rude. In fact, we needn't involve you at all. We're here for Ms Tamsworth," He spread his hands, his tone gleeful, with only a thin veneer of reason. "We just want to ask her a few questions about her family, that's all."

It was like a light bulb went off in my head. I knew it was about Tom or my father. I knew it had something to do with the Dark Lord.

I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

Oh yes, we were in deep shit.

He glanced at me and smiled in a way that provoked me into lifting my chin and staring him down. I refused to flinch away from the sadistic glint in his eyes. With a barely repressed shudder, I realised what he intended to do to me if he had the chance. He knew I knew and wanted to watch me squirm. His tough luck.

Black made a feral noise in the back of his throat, and moved to place himself directly in front of me, his arms spread at his sides. I glanced up at him, my mouth falling open slightly. I'd never realised he cared about me enough to shield me from danger in such a way. After all, he wasn't obliged to - he was fully entitled to walk away.

I peeked my head around his broad shoulders to see Nott and a boy with pale skin and dark hair melt out of the shadows and take their places at Lestrange's flanks.

My breathing sped up and my palms grew damp as I tried to think of what to do. I came up blank.

The three boys moved forward in a way that left no doubt in my mind. They had us.

"Black," I said gently, putting a hand on his arm. He shrugged me off. "Sirius, it's fine. You don't need to get yourself hurt over this."

All of a sudden, Black whipped out his wand and took a dueling stance, pushing me without looking back towards the fireplace.

"You want her?" He challenged, cold fury etched in his features and stance. "Over my dead body, fuckers."

I suddenly realised that I was still holding the little packet of floo powder in my hand. As Nott and the pale-skinned boy moved to offensive positions, I inched my way closer to the fireplace.

I took a deep breath. One.

"Any famous last words, Black?" Two

He thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah - bite me motherfucker," He said pleasantly.

Three

I threw my floo powder into the fireplace and shouted, "Dumbledore's office!"

I grabbed Black by the back of his jacket, and though I was much smaller than him, I managed to tug him hard enough for him to fall off-balance and knock us both into the fireplace. I heard frantic shouts of anger and disbelief and a spell cracked off a piece of marble in our fireplace somewhere nearby, but we were already on our way to Hogwarts, both of us clutching to each other for dear life as we were battered by the stone chimneys we were too large for.

Finally I fell out of the fireplace into a familiar-looking office and waited for Black to fall on top of me. He didn't.

I looked around and ice clenched around my heart as my eyes fell on him; he was passed out in the ashes, a large bloody cut on his temple. Dark liqiud seeped across the stone of the fireplace.

"Sirius!" I gasped in panic.

I dimly heard quick footsteps from up above my head, but I barely registered it. I rushed to his side and carefully lifted his head up onto my lap. I gently moved the hair away from his forehead and inhaled sharply.

There was a huge messy gash from just above his right eye to just behind his ear.

"Sirius!" I said urgently. He didn't stir. "Sirius!" I wailed desperately, giving him a slight shake. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up to see Dumbledore's face inches from mine, observing the damage carefully. Even though he was dressed in a long lilac nightshirt, he looked like the most powerful wizard in the world at that moment.

"Ms Tamsworth, please go wake Madam Pompfrey."

"But -" I started automatically, not knowing what I would say next.

"Now!" He interrupted sharply, startling me. I jumped up and ran out of the door without looking back, and fled down the moving staircase, bursting out into the corridor.

"No running in the corridors!" One of the ugly gargoyles called sleepily after me, but I didn't even hear him. I was sprinting as though my life depended on it. In less than five minutes, I'd reached the other side of the castle and was banging my fists, elbows and shoulders against the large double doors.

"Madam Pomprey!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, shattering the eerily silent ambiance of the castle as I grabbed the handles of the doors and rattled them with all my might. "MADAM POMPREY!" I bellowed just as one of the doors was swung open to reveal a very dischevelled and angry Madam Pomprey.

"What are you -" She started, her eyes sweeping the deserted corridor and landing on my panicked form, standing there covered in ash with blood on my hands.

"Professor Dumbledore sent me to wake you up. There's been an accident - Sirius Black - and Dumbledore's bringing him (I think), and - and - there was b-blood and -" Madam Pomprey took me bracingly by the shoulder, interrupting my mindless rant, and pushed me into a sitting position on one of the hospital beds near one of the windows.

She reached into the cabinet near my head and extracted a small bottle before pouring out a measure of thick, baby blue-coloured liquid and putting it into my hand. When my fingers didn't curl around it at first, she bypassed me altogether and tipped the stuff down my throat.

I'd slipped into a sort of dazed dream state but I now awoke, and started thinking straight. I stood up quickly, almost knocking the glass out of her hand.

"I have to go see where Black is," I said, calm but resolute. She pushed me down again.

"No. You stay here and I shall go find out what's happening," She said sternly, and turned to stride down the dark ward.

"No! I have to make sure -" I protested, moving after her as my voice rose with every word. At that moment Professor Dumbledore swept into the ward, carrying Black in his arms.

I was distracted for half a second, wondering how a man like Dumbledore could carry Black's weight alone, but I dismissed it immediately. There were more important things to worry about. He deposited Black onto one of the beds and I rushed over.

"Professor? Is he going to be okay?" I asked quickly, dreading the answer. He smiled reassuringly at me.

"Mr Black's fine. I believe that his head wound is just the result of an unlucky bump received during your journey. He will be fine," He said again, placing a hand on my shoulder briefly, "When Mr Black is well I would like the both of you to come to my office. I have a few questions for the both of you," He said, smiling gently at me before he turned and strode down the ward and out of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomprey got right to it, reaching into cabinets, measuring out herbs and potions and setting them out next to her. I watched silently as she tipped glowing potions down his throat and bandaged the wound. Finally she tucked him into bed and left, looking at me for a moment as if debating whether or not she should leave me there before moving away into her quarters and closing the door with a soft click.

It was a full ten minutes before I even moved a muscle. I just stared at him there, lying in bed. I tried to think, but I was having difficulty. Fragmented images of tonight drifted lazily through my head.

Watching movies and being tickled by Black; meeting Black's horrible family; the first glimpse I got when I saw my house had been destroyed...

...The sight of Black lying there in the ashes of Dumbledore's office.

That was when I moved. I dragged my chair next to his bed and watched him as he slept. He looked so peaceful and unguarded when he was asleep.

After a moment I laid my head on Black's bed, near to his thigh and drifted off.