Taming the True Fire (HP)

One of these things was finding a gift for Sirius' birthday. Catherine was so preoccupied with the task during Herbology that afternoon, she dropped a Puffapod seedpod, and the shining beans inside bloomed immediately after falling to the ground. 

"Be careful, Miss Plantier!" – Professor Sprout warned her while the Gryffindor girl was trying to collect all the blooming seeds.

"Let me help you." – Alice Fortescue's friendly voice sounded from above, and she was soon crawling around helping Catherine gather all the sprouts. 

"I think that's all of them." – sighed Catherine, getting up – "Thank you for the help, Alice, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I don't think we've ever formally introduced ourselves. I know who you are, of course." – Alice giggled – "I believe the whole school knows after what you guys did with the Slytherins in the last month."

Catherine frowned, arranging the Puffapod sprouts in several pots. "That's not really the thing I would want to be recognised for."

"Well, at least people recognise you. The only thing people notice about me is these friendship bracelets I make, and it's only because they are now popular among Hufflepuffs, and I'm constantly being asked to make new ones." – sighed Alice and showed the Gryffindor girl a pretty yellowish bracelet made of some sort of leather.

"Wow, it looks incredible, Alice!" – exclaimed Catherine – "I know you've just complained about it, but would you mind teaching me how to make it? It's kind of urgent; I need one for Saturday."

"Oh, I can teach you, I guess. I'm free tomorrow afternoon." – said the Hufflepuff. 

"Good, I'm also free. How can I repay you?" – the other girl asked. 

"Please, no need for that!" – blushed Alice – "I'd be happy to share my craft. You look like pleasant company anyway."

"You're the first person to tell me such a thing." – laughed Catherine – "How about that? I'm going to bake you a pumpkin pie this Saturday."

"Really? I love pumpkin pie; in fact, I love pumpkin anything." – giggled the other witch. 

"Great! See you tomorrow then." – smiled the Gryffindor and returned to her classmates. 

"Yes, I'm going to wait for you in front of the greenhouse. Find some leather strips for the bracelet!" – instructed Alice. 

Catherine and Alice spent the Friday afternoon seated on the wooden bench in front of the greenhouse, enjoying the rare November sun. Catherine had acquired a few strips of dragon hide from Hagrid, and the Hufflepuff girl walked her through all the steps involving embroidery and braiding until the bracelet was completed.

The Gryffindor spent her evening trying to apply what she had learned on the most beautiful piece of black hide she had. The embroidery was hard work and apparently very painful one, Catherine deducted, assessing her handiwork, richly decorated with red threads. 

"What happened to your fingers? Why are they all bandaged?" – asked Remus during their Astronomy class that night. 

"Nothing, just an accident. I need to hear what Professor Sinistra is saying." – the girl shushed him.

After class, Catherine stayed in the Common Room to braid the bracelet, which took her about three hours. She went to bed completely exhausted and fell asleep immediately with a smile of satisfaction on her lips.

Unfortunately, she couldn't enjoy her rest for long because at eight, the Gryffindor Tower was already buzzing with excitement about the upcoming Quidditch match. The young witch groggily put on some clothes and went to breakfast. Most of the Gryffindor team was already there, and Catherine took a seat next to Sirius, who appeared rather pale amid the constant taunts coming from the Slytherin table.

"Good morning." – she greeted, grabbing a toast from the pile in front of her. 

"Morning, Flame." – answered James, grinning as Sirius just groaned – "Don't mind him; he's just nervous for his first game."

"I'm not nervous!" – snapped Sirius – "But if we lose, it's going to be a disaster."

"I seriously doubt it." – commented Catherine mercilessly, but then she smiled at Sirius' sulky face and took out the completed bracelet – "You can consider this a good luck charm, as well as a birthday present."

The boy looked at the bracelet with surprise. Then he slowly took it from his friend and stared it for a while.

"Um… if you don't like it, it's not necessary to wear it." – said Catherine cautiously – "I just thought you may like a friendship bracelet, but it's the first one I've made, so it might not be very good."

"No, I love it!" – proclaimed Sirius and looked at the girl, his grey eyes filled with happiness and something Catherine couldn't quite define – "Will you help me putting it on?"

"Sure!" – beamed the young witch while carefully adjusting the leather straps around the boy's wrist – "Now go get them!" 

James and Sirius left the Great Hall soon after, together with Greg, who cast a weird glance at Catherine. Pretending she didn't see him, she finished her breakfast and went to the Quidditch stands, taking the seat Remus saved for her. 

The weather was chilly but mostly clear. There was still a trace of the silver morning mist, and the grass was moist from the melting frost. The Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw teams entered the pitch under the excited cheers of the students on the stands. Patrick Blackwood and the Ravenclaw's captain Elara Hawthorne, who was also their Seeker, shook hands and fourteen brooms flew into the sky with the signal from Madame Hooch's whistle. 

The Quidditch stadium erupted, and Catherine joined the choir of voices, encouraging her classmates. Next to her, Peter had improved his sign, which was now glowing in red and gold, and big letters were forming: James & Sirius – Victory for the Lions! He proceeded with jumping up and down on the stands, watching Sirius with the Quaffle, evading a Bludger, sent by Magnus Talon, one of the Ravenclaw's Beaters, and scoring the first goal. Peter's excited scream almost burst the young witch's eardrums. 

The game continued, and on the other end of the pitch, Greg McMahon displayed incredible reflexes, blocking Ravenclaw's attempts with a mix of skill and instinct, ensuring the score remained in Gryffindor's favour. His dives and saves added to the growing excitement, earning him applause from the enchanted crowd.

Hovering high above the action, James was just a red spot in the sky. Elara Hawthorne, though nimble, couldn't match James' determination and preferred to stay way below him, constantly making circles around the pitch. 

After Sirius' initial success, the game stabilised, and Ravenclaw scored three goals. Marigold Weasley managed to return one of them, but nevertheless the game was equal and relatively clean. The only incident occurred when one of the Ravenclaw's chasers, Archibald Smith, didn't stop in time after peeking toward the Gryffindor's goal posts, and as a result, collided with Greg. Thankfully, neither of them got really hurt and they stayed on their brooms. 

While Madame Hooch was investigating the situation, the crowd erupted into cheers as James made a spectacular mid-air manoeuvre, catching the Snitch in his outstretched hand and bringing the win to Gryffindor in the blink of an eye. The Gryffindor supporters spilled from the stands to the pitch, waving scarlet and gold banners as the players circled the stadium in victory. 

Sirius, all flushed up and ecstatic by the fast-paced game, landed harder than intended, hence he ended up tumbling to the ground and bringing Catherine down with him. 

"I'm sorry, Flame!" – he laughed, immediately jumping to his feet, and helping his friend get up as well.

"It's okay; it seems I fall a lot these days." – said the girl, fixing her clothes. 

"Let's go celebrate!" – shouted Sirius above the crowd – "A birthday and a victory in one day! I suppose the bracelet does bring luck."

"Or you're just a great player." – Catherine winked at him – "You go; I'll join you later after finishing my baking lesson with Hagrid. I'll bring pie."

The celebration continued until late in the evening. Eventually, Catherine returned to the Common Room with the promised pies, after sending one to Alice. It was fortunate that Hagrid grew a lot of pumpkins because they threw away quite a lot of his attempted pastries. One was burnt, one fell on the floor, and one's filling had a very suspicious appearance, thus the young witch had decided against offering it as food. 

"It's delicious!" – said Sirius, still chewing while sitting next to Catherine on the floor in front of the fireplace. 

"Yeah, it's because this is from the ones I made." – the girl chuckled – "I don't know what's with Hagrid and cooking. Whatever he touches turns into a disaster. At least he's enthusiastic about it."

"Maybe I should learn how to cook too, with such a great teacher." – winked the boy.

"I'm not sure you would be able to be around food for a long enough time to cook it without eating it first." – Catherine teased him – "Plus, don't you have house elves at your home?"

"We do, but they are not particularly helpful towards me." – answered Sirius gloomily. 

"Why's that?" – asked the girl, helping herself to some of his pie.

"I think they don't believe I'm fit to represent the great house of Black. That's why they mostly obey my mother and her favourite child, which as you can imagine, is not me." – concluded the young wizard, staring at the fire – "Do you know what they sent me for my birthday?"

Sirius reached into his pocket and retrieved a sizable silver ring adorned with a massive black stone. He carelessly tossed it to Catherine. Intrigued, she examined it closely and noticed an engraving on the inside of the ring.

"Toujours Pur? That's rather demanding, isn't it?" – the girl attempted to joke, although Sirius' face remained blank. 

"The 'birthday card' was even better: You are now old enough to bring glory to the family." – he mumbled, appearing rather depressed. 

"You know, from what I saw from your mother and brother, none of them deserve to spoil the celebration of your birthday." – proclaimed Catherine decisively, standing up – "Now, let's have some pumpkin juice to wash down this pie."

Sirius smirked at her and did his best to not think or mention his family for the rest of the evening. This time it turned out to be easier than usual. Probably the bracelet did have magical properties after all.

'You're truly a remarkable witch!' – he thought while watching Catherine enchanting the butterbeer bottles, they had taken from the Kitchens, causing them to waltz on the table under the cheers of their classmates.