We Are Golden (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Surprises in the Trophy Room

"Today, you two will be polishing every single one of these trophies until they glisten, do you understand?" McGonagall looked at me over her spectacles as she gestured to the room around us. Of course, we were in the trophy room which was a step up from our last detention. At least I didn't have to show Sirius how to polish a trophy.

Whenever he decided to show up that is.


That's right, I was about to start detention by myself because dear old Sirius was late. I didn't want to be left alone to be constantly checked up on by Filch. And there had to be thousands of cups and trophies lining the walls, not to mention floating about and spewing smoke and sparks every so often. If I had to clean all of this by myself then I would track him down the strangle him.


McGonagall gave me a weary look. "Tell that to Mr. Black once he shows up, I suggest you don't touch a thing until he does" she gave me a mischievous smile before walking out of the room, taking Filch with her. I secretly think that McGonagall was a troublemaker in her youth, and I quite enjoyed her dry sense of humour. It's what made her one of my favourite Professors here.


As soon as the sound of her shoes had died away, another sound came slapping down the corridor outside of the gate that was the entrance. In came Sirius, sliding around the corner and covered in sweat. "How late am I?" he asked, doubling over and panting out each word.


"Just a few minutes or so" I said in a cold tone, throwing him a rag and bottle of shine polish. "Just a few wasted minutes of my life, that's all."


"Sorry Annabelle, breaking up with Mary was harder than I thought it would be" he immediately grabbed the supplies I threw at him and began to get to work.


"It's Elle" I persisted and jumped up into the air, grabbing one of the floating trophies and attempting to pull it down. Instead it lifted me up into the air as I kicked my legs out and shouted in defiance. "PUT ME DOWN!" I looked down to the floor, six feet below and was tempted to just release the trophy and hit the cold stone.


"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, his grimace twisting into an amused smile as he watched me flail up in the air.


"I'm playing chess with a gnome, what else do you think I'm doing?" I watched as my bottle of cleaner and rag fell to the floor. The bottle cracked open as it hit the stone, mimicking what my head would no doubted do if I decided to fall from this height.


"Well as long as you're having fun" he said and began to walk away from me, sniggering under his breath.


"Sirius Black you get back here and help me down!" I shrieked, sounding dangerously like an angry Veela.


"No, I don't think I will" he said in a snide voice and picked up a trophy the size of Professor Flitwick.


"If you don't help me down this instant I swear to Merlin I will...."


"You'll do what? You don't have a wand, I do. I would start being a bit nicer to me if you ever want to get down without injury" he gave me the wickedest of smirks, dark hair partially in his eyes....

Even when he was being a git he was still good looking. I shook my head, refusing his offer.


"Never" I mumbled and he shrugged, moving as far away from me as possible, probably to avoid the possibility of me using him to break my fall.

"So then, seeing as I have you in a sticky situation, I will hold up on my side of the deal. It's time to hear the story of Sirius Orion Black" he said smugly, as if he was some sort of celebrity on a muggle biography channel. "I was born on a dark and stormy night....."


"Please Black, skip the details" I interrupted and he rolled his eyes.


"Anyways, I was born into the Black family, though that's a very liberal way of putting it. It was more like being raised by heartless fiends who only had your linage, not happiness, in mind. My parents are all for the pure-blood bullshit, same with that toad Regulus" he spit out his brothers name like it left a dirty taste on his tongue.


"Raised to believe that anyone who wasn't pure was scum.... yada yada yada..... Mummy and Daddy issues..... yada yada yada....... Was beaten until I was blue for stupid reasons, like thanking the muggle who pulled me from a tree.... and now we come to today" he gave me a mischievous smirk was I had to re-grip the trophy I was clinging to. Git.


"So why did you run away?" I asked with a grunt as I attempted to make myself comfortable. The task was impossible so I settled with hanging limply and trying not to fall to the floor.


"Mum and dad insulted James and Remus. They told me that if I didn't get my act together and start acting like a Black or they would pull me from Hogwarts. I told them no bloody way and booked it. The Knight Bus took me to James house with my trunk and such and I've been living there ever since" he shrugged and scratched his head.

"They haven't tried to send me any letters so I guess they really didn't care much about their rebellious son when they have another." He mumbled something under this breath that sounded distinctly like "An heir and a spare."


"That sucks" were the only words I could muster up.


"Well thank you, I thought my life was barming perfect" his voice was rather sour as he walked across the room to get to another rack of trophies.

I took this as my chance and let go of the rim of the trophy the second that Sirius came too close. I landed on him with a thud, rubbing my ankles and thanking every person in Wizard Heaven that I didn't break anything.

"Harsh Annabelle, just harsh" he rubbed his head and I scrambled to get off him as quickly as possible. I didn't need another carrot peeling incident on my hands. "If you wanted to get on top of me then you could have just asked." Too late.


"Can you tell that ego of yours to leave the room? It's taking up too much oxygen." I sprang to my feet and grabbed the rag that I had dropped previously.


"Annabelle, this hostility facade is really getting quite old" he took a step into my personal bubble, breathing down at me. Did I stop growing or did he spurt up? "If you are going to kiss me than just get it over with."


"Was I really that transparent?" I asked, my hand behind my back balling into a tight fist. Sirius closed his eyes and leaned forward, waiting for our mouths to meet. Did they? Of course not. Instead he got a big ol' helping of knuckle sandwich, right in the kisser.


He sprang back from me, clutching a hand over his mouth. "You just punched me" he said in disbelief. "In the mouth!"


"I was going to bat bogie hex you but then I realised that I was lacking my wand" I examined my knuckles and wiped off any blood or spittle that had stained them in the process. "But that's what you get for trying to kiss me you incessantly pretentious cretin! I swear, you have nothing better to do than vex those that aren't up to your elevated reputation! Now stop pestering me and get to work." I'm sure my face had gone red due to all of the ranting I was doing. Yes I was ranting, what to know how I know? When I rant I tend to use words that I didn't even know I know.


"So you admit that you aren't up to my lofty standards?" he said in disbelief.


"I never disagreed, in case you didn't notice. I just don't understand why any girl with a brain would want to be with an egotistical moron like you" I threw him a look of distain and began to polish a collection of medals that were hanging on the wall.


"They don't need a brain, just eyes" he said as if it was obvious. "Beside's I'm not exactly looking for a brain" he gave me a wicked grin and gave me the Up Down.

Could he be any more crude? I'd slap him if I hadn't already punched him, he'd be ready for it now.


"Oh, so that would explain why most of the girls you date are all fur coat and no knickers" I said, taking into account that Mary was probably the only girl with substance that he had ever dated, granted she was a tad airy.


"Don't be jealous Annabelle, just because you're not as bang-tidy as they are doesn't mean that you have to get your knickers in a twist. Some guys fall for the butch look...." he trailed off and my hands rose over my mouth.


"What do you mean by butch?" I had been called plain or even bog-standard but I have never been called butch. Sure, my hair was always pulled out of my face but that was for the sake of convenience. I wore my uniform the proper way so of course it didn't exactly look like I was the most voluptuous girl around but you could tell I was a girl.... right?


"Like what's with the McGonagall type hair-style? And the baggy clothes? I'm just saying that girls like you don't exactly get put in a guy's wank-bank, that's all" he shrugged and turned away from me nonchalantly.


"You little prick!" I was tempted to pour cleaning solution into his smouldering grey eyes (let's see him get the girls when he's red-eyed and blind!) but decided that it wasn't going to be the best way to get back at him.


How was I going to get back at him? I mean it's hard to embarrass the boy that the whole school loves for Merlin knows why. Either way, he needed to be punished. He couldn't go around, talking like a sexist and making it sound that girls were only good for a feel up or snog. He definitely couldn't go around telling people that they were ugly, because let's face it, that's pretty much what he just said to me.


"Don't hate, love, just accept" and with that we walked out of the room, a swagger in his step as he left me behind to clean up the large amount of trophies that he had left lying around.

Come on Elle, this is some serious thinking time. How in the world could you show Sirius that you were attractive but at the same time brass him off beyond the valley of brassiness? Someone who could get under Sirius's skin but a fitty that would....make him jealous? No, just show him you could get someone who wasn't a complete bear.


Just then the door was wrenched open and someone slid inside, closing the door quietly behind them. Why didn't I think of him before!? He was rather gorgeous, curly dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and a nice build. On top of that he was the one person that annoyed Sirius to the point of possibly hatred.

My answer to all of my problems was Regulus Black.


Yes, so maybe he was about six months younger than me but he sure didn't look like it. It was obvious that the two boys were brothers, for they shared the same aristocratic pure-blood genetics that made them do desirably handsome. He didn't seem to be a bad kid either, smart, in the detested slug club, on the Quiditch team for his house, which was Slytherin, the only downfall.


He finally turned around and gave me that famously smouldering Black stare. "Hi" he said in a nervous tone before looking down at my hands and noticing the rags. "Detention?"


"Yeah, you hiding from Filch?" I asked, placing the rag and polish on the floor and putting my hands on my hips.


"Now, why would I be doing something like that?" His brother and he shared the same facial expressions as well. He gave me a look of innocence and leaned against the door, one foot against it, one of the floor and bother arms crossed over his chest.


"Because your pockets are stuffed with all of the sweets that you no doubted nicked from the kitchens" he gave me a sheepish grin before reaching into his pocket and throwing me a packet of Droobles Best Blowing Gum.


"Will that keep you from squealing?" he gave me a hopeful look.


"What makes you think that I would squeal in the first place?" I took a step towards him, giving him by most flirtatious smile. Merlin I really hope that I'm not coming off as some sort of slag... or even worse, desperate. He shrugged his shoulders, his charming smile never leaving his face.


"You know what would really keep me from squealing?" he cocked his head to his side, much like something his brother would do. "If you took out your wand and magically cleaned all of these trophies for me." I batted my eyelashes and he gave me a confused look before pulling out his wand. I prepared to tell him the cleaning spell, something I would definitely have to do with his brother but he already knew it. Surprise.


"Scourgify!" he said and with the sound of a cracking whip, every single one of the trophies, medals and plaques were shining to their full potential. So far, Regulus seemed rather confused by my coy advances... time to take to take it a step further perhaps?


For once in my life, I let my hair out of its bun around someone who wasn't my roommate. Of course he was too distracted by looking out the door and checking to see if the coast was clear for him to leave. I flipped my head upside-down, trying to create a bit of volume while he wasn't pay attention.


He looked back to me, as I staggered on the spot from the blood that suddenly rushed from my head. My straw-coloured hair was now hanging in soft waves down my back, not doing anything spectacular but had to be a step up from my comfortable bun I usually had it in. His eyes widened in the slightest as he opened the door for me.


"So, what's a good looking girl like you doing in detention?" he escorted me down the corridor, leading me to the main staircase. He must have noticed the Gryffindor tie that I had hanging casually around my neck or else he wouldn't know to head in this direction.


"Got into a duel with some prat and McGonagall put us in detention together for the rest of the year" I said, somewhat grudgingly. "The berk skipped out half-way through though."


"What kind of prat would pick a duel with a girl" he noticed my insulted expression and corrected himself. "Not that you can't defend yourself. I mean, it's just not gentlemanly at all." There are those pure-blood manners I had heard so much about but never actually witnessed.


"The kind of prat that you may call your brother" I looked up at him and noticed a look of anger crossing his face before turning into an amused smile.


"Did you win?" he asked eagerly.


"Turned him purple" I announced happily as I skipped up to the first stair. He looked at me, somewhat scrutinizingly, as if he was trying to place my face.


"So I guess I better be going then" he went to turn away, scratching his head but turned back in the blink of an eye. "I'm Regulus, by the way." He held out a large hand.


"Elle" I said, touching his hand with mine and he held it for a bit longer than I thought necessarily. "Talk to you later then" I added quickly in a coquettish manner. With that, I left him standing at the foot of the stairs, looking up at me in wonder.


Well that hadn't been as bad as I thought. Interaction with the opposite gender was actually quite fun. It would be even more fun to see the look on Sirius's face when he hears that Regulus and I have a date to Hogsmead.


Okay, maybe I was jumping the wand in saying that (possibly even jinxing myself) but come on! There was some definite spark there, even if it might have just been from a teenaged boy's raging adolescent hormones. Regulus seemed really nice actually....


No Elle, no liking for the pawn. As horrible as it might sound, that's all he will ever be. A cute, funny, smart pawn who shared my hatred for his brother. I know that most people are going around and saying that he's a pure-blood supremacist and aspiring death eater but you can't exactly believe everything you hear in the rumour mill. For all we know it could just be Sirius starting that rumour because he was jealous that his parents were actually in favour of his brother.


"Wolfsbane" I said and the fat lady creaked open just as I pulled my hair into its normal bun. Even though that show with the hair made me feel ridiculous, it worked. He seemed too distracted by its immense length to notice my horrible pick-up lines and flirting techniques.


Anyways, there sat Sirius, looking rather surprised that I was back so early. I gave him a poisonous look before running up the girls stairs, only to be greeted with the wailing of Mary Macdonald, laying across her bed and stuffing her face with chocolate.


Oh yeah, Sirius did say that he broke up with her. What. An. Arsehole.