Taming the True Fire (HP)

The next few weeks flew by, filled with taking care of Nyx and managing schoolwork. The young Kneazle felt completely at home in the Gryffindor Tower. Despite being just about two months old, she was already taking charge and dominating the other ordinary cats owned by fellow students. James turned out to be right about the creature's stubbornness. Besides Catherine, Nyx didn't like anyone else. She was particularly vicious towards Sirius and Peter, who couldn't even approach her owner if the Kneazling was around. While Peter got the message immediately, Sirius was not one to run away from a challenge. As a result, his hands and arms were constantly adorned with painful-looking scratches and bite marks. This didn't help his overall bad mood, which appeared to worsen with the approaching holidays. 

By the beginning of December, he was smiling so rarely that Catherine found herself going out of her way to make him laugh. During a Charms class, dedicated to various spells affecting human senses and movements, the young witch cast such a strong tickling charm on Sirius that Professor Flitwick needed to spend half an hour lessening the effect of the magic. 

"Remind me not to partner with you anymore." – said the boy grumpily after finally being allowed to leave the Charms classroom. 

"I'm sorry, it wasn't on purpose." – apologised Catherine, who had patiently waited for her friend while the rest of the group went to lunch. 

"Yeah, right. Your beast mutilates my hands, you almost tore my internal muscles with a bloody spell…Who would have known that a tickling charm could feel like torture." – mumbled the boy crankily.

Catherine took a deep breath, trying to suppress her initial harsh reaction, and disregarded the young wizard's snarky remarks.

"Look, I think you had a rough day. How about I offer you a treat?" – she said, smiling in a bribing manner.

"Brownies?" – asked Sirius with vague interest. 

"Even better." – smirked Catherine, looking at the far end of the corridor. 

The lunch break was almost over, and students were walking towards their afternoon classes in merry, chattering groups. Among this overall happiness, one slim, lanky boy with long oily black hair was moving silently, his gaze fixed firmly on the ground. The girl, dragged Sirius, behind the statue of Elandra Mystifira and took out her wand. 

"Observe my latest creation." – she whispered cheekily, pointing her wand at Snape's passing feet – "Glowbindo!"

No immediate effect was visible. Snape walked past them and went to the boys' bathroom nearby. 

"What was supposed to happen?" – asked Sirius, confused.

"Be patient." – shushed Catherine. 

In a few minutes, the Slytherin boy exited the lavatory and headed towards the Transfiguration classroom. What he hadn't noticed, however, were the few long pieces of toilet paper stuck to his shoes. After a few meters, people started laughing and pointing at him, finally prompting him to look down and see what the issue was. Swearing under his breath, he attempted to remove the toilet paper, but it was firmly fixated on his shoes, and it wasn't possible. At this point, the whole corridor was laughing, and Snape had no choice but to tear off the excessive part of the toilet paper and attempt to leave with whatever dignity he had left. 

Unfortunately, the effect of the spell was far from over. The torn pieces, lying on the floor, followed the boy swiftly and attached themselves to his shoes once again. The young wizard was now completely panicked. He pushed aside a few first-years and ran as quickly as he could in the opposite direction of his initial destination, probably towards the dungeons. 

Sirius was on his knees, tears rolling down his cheeks, while he could barely breath, choking on his laughter. 

"Damn you, my belly still hurts from your darn spell!" – he finally managed to form a coherent sentence. 

"But you're no longer in a bad mood, are you?" – insisted Catherine, coming out from behind the statue and walking towards the DADA classroom. 

"No way, after this magnificent performance." – chuckled Sirius – "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing that bad, really. It's a very minor spell that just attracts small items around you and temporarily attaches them to a certain place where you've chosen to apply the spell." – she explained smugly – "It's very effective, but I'm surprised he didn't just use a simple Finite Incantatem. That would have been enough to cease the gluing effect." 

"He wasn't really thinking that much." – sneered Sirius – "Didn't you see his face? He looked even uglier than usual."

"So, you forgave me about the tickling charm?" – asked the girl.

"How can I say no?" – grinned Sirius and threw his arm around Catherine's shoulders. 

*** 

December arrived with ice spikes, hanging from every branch of the old trees in the Forbidden Forest. The occasional snowstorms forced the students at Hogwarts to spend most of their time inside the castle. There, they could experience the freezing wind firsthand while strolling along the long corridors, where their breath formed a thin silver mist.

The only comfortable places were the Common Rooms, where the battle for seats around the roaring fire was fierce. In the Gryffindor Tower, the winner was Catherine's Kneazle, Nyx, and by extension, her owner, and the only two people tolerated by the feline – Lily and Greg. Both of them took advantage of the unexpected prize, spending many hours comfortably playing Wizard's Chess and chatting. Meanwhile, Catherine was trying to persuade Nyx to allow the boys to join them around the fire.

"I can understand Nyx not liking me, but I can't accept her liking McMahon!" – complained Sirius loudly one evening.

Greg, engrossed in a particularly competitive game with Lily, lifted his ocean-blue eyes and raised an eyebrow mockingly. 

"Kneazles are surprisingly intelligent creatures, Black. They seem to have a great judgement regarding people who are suitable to be around their owners… and also regarding those who are not suitable."

"What's that supposed to mean?" – shouted Sirius, jumping to his feet, while Nyx hissed warningly from Catherine's lap. 

"That's enough." – the black-haired girl intervened, casting a sharp warning gaze toward her brother who just shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to the chess board.

"Sirius, I'm craving something sweet. Will you come with me to the Kitchens?"

"Okay, if you insist." – answered the boy, still frowning at Greg, and followed the young witch through the hole outside the Common Room.

They walked together in silence for a few minutes. 

"Do you like Greg McMahon?" – asked Sirius all of a sudden, looking intensely at Catherine.

"Why does everybody keep asking me this?" – the girl snapped, throwing her hands in the air with annoyance – "I barely know him, let alone like him." 

"Well, he's an aristocrat, rich, handsome, and a perfectly good and polite boy who's liked by everyone. Why wouldn't you like him?" – Sirius continued, staring at his shoes. 

"You're also rich, handsome, and while not necessarily a good boy, most people do like you." – smirked Catherine, playfully ruffling the young wizard's black hair. 

"So, you like me?" – laughed Sirius.

"No, I hate you in the guts!" – Catherine chuckled and stuck her tongue at Sirius – "Come on! If we continue walking with this pace, they're going to later find us, frozen to death somewhere along the way."

Sirius needed to put in some serious effort to catch up with his surprisingly fast friend. After a quick raid in the Kitchens, the two Gryffindors were sitting in an empty classroom on the second floor, its windows looking at the frozen shores of the Black Lake reflecting the silver light of the full winter moon.

"It's certainly beautiful." – said Catherine, licking the pink frosting from her fingers – "Although, I'm not sure I can look at the moon in the same way anymore, knowing what Remus is going through."

"I know how you feel." – stated Sirius, finishing his last cupcake – "At least, it's the last full moon for this year."

"Indeed. Christmas is coming soon." – noted Catherine, mostly to herself. 

"Oh, the joy!" – groaned Sirius.

"You don't like Christmas?" – asked the girl, surprised.

"It's not that I don't like it, but rather I dread the family time it usually involves." – answered the wizard bitterly – "Imagine how much fun it's going to be this year with my mother praising her golden Slytherin boy…or maybe he's the silver Slytherin boy…whatever… and then, you have my favourite cousins there ganging up on me before the most awaited part of the festivities take place – the merry tradition of listing all the ways Sirius Black is a major disappointment."

"Sounds truly awful." – said Catherine, gently patting Sirius' back – "I wish we could spend Christmas together, all of us. Then it would be nothing but laughter, jokes, and good food."

"I hope we do it one day." – almost whispered Sirius. Then he nodded decisively – "You know, if I must endure all this crap for the sake of being free in the future, I'll do it. You'll see! This year, their vile snake tongues won't touch me."

"That's the spirit!" – laughed Catherine – "And if that makes you feel any better, my Christmas is going to be all dull and quiet. I'll probably not even see a lot of my family during those two weeks."