Trouble (The Marauders Era» Sirius Black Fanfiction) *Editing*

17» Frost Bite

Chapter Seventeen

Frost Bite

<If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all>

<<<>>>

     The next week passed uneventfully. Thea, Lily and the Marauders went back to their old ways, though Thea and Sirius were rarely alone together. Her confusion over her feelings about him only increased since that mysterious gift she had received on Valentine's Day, and she decided that the best way to deal with those feelings was to avoid them. Lily didn't like that plan, so she was always trying to get Thea and Sirius alone together.

     "Lily, I can't feel my toes."

     Thea dusted the snow off the bottom of her cloak as the five of them sat down on the cold wooden benches of the quidditch arena. Most of the seats were still covered with a thick layer of fluffy white snow.

     "Why are we here again?" Sirius asked from his seat beside Thea.

     "To support James, you know that," Remus said from beside Lily. Peter squirmed in his seat at the end of the bench beside Remus, vigorously rubbing his hands together and squinting up at the sun, as if staring at it would somehow make him warmer.

     "But it's just practice," Sirius whined. "James has never needed our support before. Why's he need it now when it's so damn cold out?"

     "The Quidditch cup is just around the corner," said Lily, her eyes focused on the Gryffindor team that was flying around the field practicing. "Now quit complaining."

     Thea and Sirius both let out a small sigh of surrender and turned their attention to the Quidditch practice, but not before Sirius cast a glance at her out of the corner of her eye. He was acutely aware of their close proximity; he could feel the warmth radiating off of her cloak-layered body. Her knee was bouncing up and down, and she was chewing on her lip.

     Sirius turned his eyes back to the field, deciding to not ask her what was bothering her.

     They watched as James and the rest of Gryffindor team flew around the air, shouting at each other and tossing around the quaffle. The team captain would every once in a while stop the play they were doing and correct someone's mistake, then they would do it again. After a while, the few spectators in the stands were freezing and bored.

     "That's it," Thea said, standing up from her seat. "I'm leaving."

     "What?" Lily exclaimed. "But it's almost over!"

     "I'm not getting frost bite because of Potter!" she said, then began shuffling out of the stands.

     "Thea!" she could hear Lily call out after her. She heard her sigh, then firmly say, "What? No! Peter stay!"

     Thea trudged through the snow as she slowly made her way up to the castle. She could hear the Gryffindor Quidditch team still shouting at each other from the field. She watched her feet as they pushed through the sparkling snow, leaving behind a solitary trail of footprints.

"Hey!" a voice called out. She looked up to see a group of smug faces standing directly in front of her. Two girls and five guys, all wearing green and black Quidditch robes and carrying broomsticks. She identified the one who had spoken to her, a female at the front of the group who stood beside a smirking, handsome boy with black curly hair. "You better watch where you're going, you were just about to run into us!" she snickered.