Chapter 11: Willow's Past

"An old friend, I take it?" Sirius asked.

From beside him, Willow nodded her head, pocketing the wrapped ornament.

"Yeah, my parents knew him very well." She sighed and looked up to the sky. "Dad hasn't set foot in that shop for nearly fifteen years," she murmured. "Not since mum's death."

Sirius blinked in surprise, whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't that.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Willow turned to face him.

"Don't be," she said. "It wasn't your fault."

Silence fell for several seconds as they walked quietly along the cobbled street heading back towards Hogwarts.

"How'd she die?" Sirius eventually asked, curiosity winning out.

"Potions accident," Willow replied. "I was one when it happened; it was a week before my second birthday."

Sirius felt sorrow and sympathy well up for Willow inside him. In a way she was like Harry, losing her mother at such a young age.

"It's strange," Willow whispered, sounding thoughtful. "I don't miss her, I hardly knew her, but still," she paused, "It's like theirs this big, aching gap in me, as though a piece of me is missing." She glanced at Sirius. "Does that sound strange?"

Sirius shook his head.

"No, it doesn't, Willow," he said softly. "In fact, I know exactly what you mean, I lost my best friend several years ago, they died in a terrible car crash," he added, remembering the story that Harry had told him which Petunia Dursley had told him. "They left behind a beautiful baby boy, my godson."

"What happened to your godson?" Willow asked softly.

"Raised by his Aunt and Uncle," Sirius replied. "I see him occasionally, but," he gestured towards the castle, "with this job, well, it's hard to see him now."

Willow nodded in understanding before sighing deeply.

"They say things are only going to get worse," she said, staring up at the castle. "What with the rise of Voldemort, what?" she added, looking at Sirius who had gasped in surprise.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "I just didn't realise you said the name."

Willow shrugged.

"Dumbledore says it," she said, "and so should we. After all, fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself."

Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Dumbledore's a good man," he said. "The only person Voldemort's actually afraid of."

"That's the way it should be," Willow commented. "I reckon if more people were like Dumbledore, unafraid of him, then Voldemort wouldn't be as powerful as he is now." She sighed and ran a hand over her hair. "It's a human weakness, to be scared."

"That's why it takes a lot of bravery to show it," Sirius replied. "Hence the reason those brave people are in Gryffindor."

Willow looked at him.

"Do you think Voldemort can be stopped?" she asked.

Sirius smiled at this.

"I'm counting on it." He told her.

Willow smiled and to Sirius' surprise, wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Thanks for today, Professor," she whispered. "I really appreciated it."

Sirius gave her a light squeeze before releasing her.

"Don't mention it."

Sirius walked with an easy grace back up the path towards Hogwarts, Remus and Peter beside him. They had enjoyed their day out together and had even taken the opportunity to spy on James, well, Sirius had. Remus and Peter had been quite reluctant to do so, but Sirius was not one to be shy about things and so had done so, pulling stupid faces at James when Lily wasn't looking causing James to be embarrassed and even give him the finger in response.

The only thing that hadn't been good about their day was seeing Professor Century leaving the Three Broomsticks with a student, a student that Sirius vaguely recognised. Remus was convinced that Professor Century's intention were honourable and that it had, perhaps been a coincidence. Peter, on the other hand, had refused to take a side but mostly agreed with Remus on the whole thing.

They continued walking up the path when something caught Sirius' eye causing him to halt where he was, Remus and Peter, who had been walking behind him, also stopped staring at what Sirius was staring at.

A little in front of them Professor Century stood with the student from before, as they watched, the student hugged Professor Century, who looked slightly taken aback, before he hugged her back. After several seconds he released her and the two walked back up towards the castle conversing.

Sirius stared after them.

"Did you see that?" Peter squeaked from behind him.

Remus nodded but appeared unbothered.

"It's just a hug," he said. "Beside Willow hugged him first."

"Willow?"

Sirius whirled facing Remus and Peter who both looked quite surprised by his statement.

"Yes," Remus said eyeing him curiously. "That was Willow Briar, everything alright, Pads?"

Sirius nodded before turning back around and walking purposefully up towards Hogwarts, trying to ignore the twisting feeling in his gut.

They reached the castle to find that both Professor Century and Willow had gone. Sirius was still angry about what he had seen and so, when Remus suggested homework, he couldn't find an excuse to avoid it.

For the rest of the afternoon the three of them sat in the common room pouring over the books, doing their homework.

About two hours into their homework, the portrait hole opened to reveal James and Lily, their hands intertwined.

Sirius immediately forgot all about homework when he saw this and let out a loud wolf-whistle causing James to glare while Lily blushed, smiling.

"About time!" Sirius cried, jumping to his feet. "We thought that you two would never surface from your snogging." He laughed and ducked out of the way of the punch that James sent his way.

"Ignore him," Remus said glancing up from his homework and smiling at the couple. "Congratulations I believe in order. Four years of pursuing and you finally got her, Prongs."

James just grinned widely.

"And it was worth it," he said, turning to face Lily who blushed with pleasure.

"Well," she said, "I best leave you guys too it, besides I promised Marlene and Emmeline that I'd tell them all the details about our date." She smiled and placed a light kiss on James' cheek before bidding good bye to them and heading up to the girls' dormitory.

Sirius waited until Lily was out of sight before turning to James, who was staring after Lily, a love-sick expression on his face.

"Earth to Prongs!" Sirius cried, waving a hand in front of his mate's face.

James blinked before turning to face Sirius.

"What?" he asked.

Sirius just laughed before slinging an arm around his friend's shoulders and leading him towards a seat.

"You going to tell us how it went?" he asked. "Or are we going to have to guess?"

James grinned at them and launched into the story of how his date with Lily had gone.

Willow hummed as she walked the familiar steps to the owlery, the present for her dad now wrapped in a parcel. Reaching the owlery, she managed to convince a large, strong looking barn owl down from its perch, and tied the parcel to its leg.

She had had a good day with Professor Century in Hogsmeade. He was a very respectable man who clearly loved his godson; that she had seen in his eyes and in the tone of his voice when he had spoken of him.

She smiled and watched out of the window as the barn owl took flight, flying south towards her home. She watched the owl fly for a while before sighing deeply and turning to exit the owlery, her mind still on the conversation she had had with Professor Century.

She didn't know why she had taken him to that shop and told him about her mother, she just had a strange feeling that she could trust him. It was weird she had never mentioned her mother's death until her third year when Isabella had asked her about her mother, in which Willow had been forced to reveal the truth.

Sure, Isabella was her best friend and had been sympathetic, but Willow just couldn't face taking her to that shop in Hogsmeade. It had been something she had done with her parents, a memory to keep her mother alive.

But Professor Century, well, she had taken him there after only knowing him two months. Strange how things worked, but with Professor Century she just felt that he understood and that he could be trusted. She trusted Isabella of course, she trusted all her friends, but, she just seemed to trust Professor Century more.

Perhaps it's because of his presence, being around him just made Willow feel at ease, he had a calming influence about him and treated all of them as if they were long lost friends, including the Slytherins.

Willow didn't think she fancied him, sure he was good looking and extremely smart and well-liked, but Willow just felt comfortable with him, the way she would an older brother.

Sighing to herself once more, she began to whistle a little tune as she headed across the ground and towards the castle.

However, she had barely made it out of the owlery fifty feet when someone spoke.

"Well, well, well, what have we got here?"

Willow groaned as she recognised the voice.

"Go away, Greengrass." She said, continuing to walk.

There were sounds of laughter and then Willow found herself hanging upside by her ankles, only just managing to grab hold of her top to stop it from flying up and revealing her bra.

"It's not polite to walk away when someone's talking to you." Willow glared at Greengrass who was walking towards her, a smirk on his face. "Perhaps we should teach you some manners." He glanced at the people behind him and Willow's eyes widened in horror as she recognised the seventh years.

Avery and Mulciber stood there, smirking while Pucey and Parkinson hovered in the background, grinning.

Willow watched as Avery walked towards her, his wand out, he flicked it and Willow dropped, managing to twist herself so that she landed on her back. Wincing at the pain, she made to stand up but found herself dragged to her feet instead.

"Take her to the lake." Avery told them, Mulciber and Greengrass coming to stand beside him.

Willow found herself hauled along the grounds, dipping towards where the lake lay. From what she could gather, it appeared that both Pucey and Parkinson where the ones dragging her. Eventually they stopped and Willow found herself once again suspended in mid-air.

"Let's see if you've learnt any respect," Avery hissed before flicking his wand causing her to be moved out towards the middle of the lake.

Willow glared at him.

"Put me down!" she cried.

Avery just smirked while his fellow Slytherins laughed.

"As you wi-"

"Oi! Leave her alone!"

Avery was cut off by the sound of the voice and turned to see four students sprinting towards him.

"It's those stupid Gryffindors," Mulciber muttered from beside him. "Potter, Black and their friends."

Avery snarled and turned back towards Willow.

"Hope you can swim." He said, and with that, he dropped Willow into the lake.

Hitting the water head first, Willow twisted and kicked up towards the surface, her head broke the surface and she took a gulp of air.

"You arrogant idiots!"

Willow turned towards the shore to see three Gryffindors with their wands out at the Slytherins; they too had their wands pointed. Another Gryffindor stood behind the other three eyeing them all nervously.

Scowling darkly, Willow began to swim back to shore, thoroughly annoyed. When she reached them she was going to give them a piece of her mind.

She had barely got a few centimetres when she felt something grab her leg, glancing down, she saw several green shapes that she immediately recognised as Grindylows. She barely had time to scream before, with a hearty tug, she was pulled under.