Passion Dies

Chapter 7

Leona's POV

Flashback to second year

"James Fleamont Potter, you give me my book right now!" Leona's sister, Lily, cried as she chased the boy around the lawn.

Sirius Black, James' best mate, and Leona's close friend, laughed beside her.

"Gee, Jamie sure knows how to capture a girl's heart," Leona said sarcastically.

"He does, look at him go! Stealing her books and laughing at her... A real charmer, that one," Sirius said, laughing again. They watched as Lily grabbed her book out of James' hands and hit it hard over the head with it.

"Ow! Nice, strong arm you've got there, Evans," James said, smirking as he rubbed his head. Lily huffed and turned away, walking back up the lawn to the castle.

"Hey, Lily," a friendly voice said.

"Oh, hello, Jareth," Lily replied. Leona turned to see her best friend Jareth walking down the lawn. She smiled and ran over to greet him.

"Hi, Jareth," Leona said with a toothy grin. Jareth smiled back.

"Hey, Leo."

The two friends walked back down the lawn to where Sirius and James were sitting. Sirius laughed at something James said, shaking his head. James smiled and looked up at Leona and his brother, Jareth.

"Hey, kid," he said. Jareth frowned.

"James, stop calling me a kid, we both know that you're only seconds older. Besides, I look far more mature than you, Mister I-Haven't-Hit-Puberty-Yet," Jareth said, glaring. It was James' turn to frown now. Sirius laughed again.

"I don't believe we've formally met, Jareth," Sirius said, still looking at James and laughing. "I'm-" He turned to Jareth and froze, breath hitching. Leona raised an eyebrow. Jareth smiled warmly.

"Sirius Black, right? James has told me so much about you," Jareth said, extending his hand.

"Uh," Sirius said, staring at Jareth. He snapped out of his daze after a moment. "Uh, yeah, yeah. He's told me a lot about you, too. It's nice to finally meet you." Sirius shook Jareth's hand, holding onto it for a bit too long after, staring into Jareth's golden eyes. He dropped his hand and cleared his throat, looking back at James.

'That's odd...' Leona thought.

"So what sort of this did this chuffer tell you?" Sirius asked Jareth, who laughed.

"Mostly that you're a bloody git, but that you're the best mate he's ever had. He said you were pretty good at quidditch," Jareth said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm great at quidditch. Much better than Jamie here, surely. I'm planning to play for the Gryffindor team, soon," Sirius said, seemingly attempting to impress Jareth.

"You should come watch me play sometime. Are you a quidditch fan?"

"Oh, no," Jareth said, shaking his head. Sirius' face fell. '

Ha,' Leona thought.

"Not really. I play sometimes, for James, but I don't watch it much."

"Oh," Sirius said. He smiled and sat up, puffing his chest out slightly.

"Alright. Well, if you'd ever like to play with someone worth your while, come find me." Jareth smiled.

"Thanks, Sirius. I'd love to play with you sometime," Jareth replied. Leona could've sworn she saw Sirius blush a bit. He quickly covered it and turned to James.

"Told you I was better than you," Sirius said.

"Hmm, we'll have to challenge that theory. Won't we, Jareth? What do you say, Jareth and I against you and Leona, tomorrow?" James suggested. Leona saw Sirius' smile twitch into a frown briefly.

"You're on," he said.

"As long as Jareth's up for it?" Jareth shrugged, smiling.

"Why not?"

"You'd better prepare yourself, then, James, because you two are going down. Right, Sirius?" Leona turned to Sirius, who was, again, staring at Jareth.

"What? Yes, right, get ready to be humiliated tomorrow," Sirius said, smirking at James. He glanced at Jareth, who was laughing quietly at our banter.

If it wasn't obvious to Jareth, it was to Leona. 'Sirius likes Jareth...'

~{Time skip brought to you by Jareth's cheekbones}~

Leona and Jareth walked out the quidditch pitch with their brooms early the next morning. They had to play early, before 5 a.m., so that they wouldn't get caught.

"You are soooo going down, Plant Boy," Leona teased. She'd given Jareth the stupid nickname in their first year, when all Jareth read about were plants.

"We'll see about that, Leo," Jareth said back, smiling slightly.

James and Sirius were already at the pitch, shoving each other and running around the field, laughing.

"Hey, Jare, Leo! Ready for some quidditch?" James called out to them when he saw them approaching.

"Hell yeah," Leona called back. Sirius cheered and ran over to Leo, starting to discuss their gameplan.

"Okay, so our plan is to just keep stealing the quaffle from them, and making hoops," Sirius said.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock, that's how you play quidditch without beaters, bludgers, and a keeper. Are we playing with a snitch?" Leona asked.

"Yeah, James brought his," Sirius explained. "I'll play as seeker and a chaser."

"So you can impress Jareth by catching the snitch?" Leona said. Sirius blushed.

"What? No."

"Mmhmm. Right," Leo said, laughing a bit.

"What are you even talking about, trying to impress Jareth-"

"I've seen the way you look at him, Sirius. I'm not an idiot," she replied.

"Oh..."

"It's okay, Siri, I won't tell anyone," she said with a wink. Sirius nodded, still blushing.

"OKAY, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD," James yelled. We all mounted our brooms in the center, James holding the snitch. "Ready? Three, two, one, go!" He released the snitch and tossed the quaffle, and we all took off. This was going to be a very simple game, Leona could tell. With only a quaffle and a snitch, there wasn't much action.

They all flew around, chasing each other and scoring hoops, laughing and fighting for the quaffle.

Then, both Sirius and James shot into the air. Leona looked around, spotting the snitch, only inches in front of the two boys' hands.

Suddenly, James caught it. He cheered, and stopped mid-air, Sirius crashing into him.

Fortunately, James only spun a few times, maintaining control. Sirius wasn't so lucky. He was knocked off his broom, plummeting toward the ground. They were both so high up that if Sirius wasn't caught, he could die.

"SIRIUS!"