CHAPTER TWELVE !
↳ stirrings

                     THE FIRST TWO weeks of December were quickly flying by. The icy cold weather had settled over the grounds of Hogwarts and Josephine was mentally already at home.

The time before the holidays was always the time that was most stressful for the students. Everyone had to hand in their last paperwork for their different classes.

And everyone, who was going home over the holidays was already counting the days until the holidays finally begun.

The students were coming home a week before christmas this year and Josephine couldn't wait to finally see her parents again.

A little smile made it's way onto her lips while she watched the little snow fakes floating elegantly through the air.

Josephine just loved the winter, not quiet as much as she loved the summer, but still.

The snow was great, christmas came around and she could sit in the common room by the fire and drink a hot chocolate while reading a good book.

But suddenly the brunette's peaceful smile quickly faded. She had suddenly remember why she had to stand up so early in the morning.

Today was the last Quidditch practice before they would play against Hufflepuff next week. James had been driving the whole team crazy for the last couple of weeks.

The little flakes continued to sail slowly past her window and Josi's thoughts wandered back to the last winter Holidays.

The anual Winter Ball was always the highlight of the whole celebration. The ball was an event her parents were always hosting around Christmas, and the group of friends had been at the Potters, having a good time.

Sadly Peter couldn't come and Alice was on vacation with her family but they had sent Christmas cards.

Apparently Alice and her parents had been skiing, that was something Muggles did on two long sticks of wood. Josephine found that quiet irretating but it looked quiet interesting.

The brunette got up from her bed with a deep sight before she quickly changed into her Quidditch robes and grabbed her broom.

She then quickly made her way downstairs and immediately spotted Marlene, who was sitting besides Lilly on one of the couches.

The brunette quickly hurried over to her friends before she shot Marlene a warning look. "You know that we have practice in five minutes?"

The blonds eyes widened in shock before she quickly jumped onto her feet and rushed up towards their Dormitory.

Lilly had a small smile on her face while she shook her head, her book still in her hand, "Merlin, that girl doesn't remember anything."

Josephine chuckled in response before she nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah."

A second later Marlene stummbled downstairs, her broom in her hand, her uniform completely loose and her hair still open.

Josephine quickly grabbed Marlene's broom and the two hurried through the castle while the blond brought her uniform into position and pulled her hair up into a lose ponytail.

Before the two had reached the Quidditch pitch Josephine handed Marlene the broom back and the two then stepped onto the field.

The rest of the team was already there, standing on the green pitch, waiting.

"Oii- look who finally decided to show Up." Sirius voice reached Josie's ear, making everyone look down at them.

James had a dark look on his face, "You're late."

Marlene gave him an annoyed glance, "Just five minutes." The two mounted theri brooms and a second later the two flew into the air.

Practice was exhausting because of the snow and Josephine had trouble seeming anything through the flakes and James soon decided to cut the training short.

Josi grew more and more exhausted while she was fighting her way through the snow dunes.

She still held her broom in her hand, Marleen to her right when she suddenly felt something cold hit her in the back of her head.

The brunette quickly spun around on her heel and immediatly spotted Sirius and James, who we're crouching in the snow. Both of them were grinning from ear to ear, already forming knew snow balls.

Josephine's eyes widened when she saw the next snow ball coming, but she couldn't avoid it and it hit her into her face.

The brunette immediatly let out a shriek and whipped the snow Off her face. "I'm going to kill you, Black!"

The long haired boy gave her a cheeky smirk, "I'm shaking in my boots, Potter."

The brunett girl couldn't supress the smile from forming in her lips while she quickly threw her broom away and crouched down into the snow.

The two boys watched her carefully while she formed a snow balls and straightened up.

Marlene did the same and smirked now as well, "You know what that means- this means war!"

The two boys' immediatly made a run for it while the two girls' chased after them.

Marlene hurried after James as quickly as she could and soon the two Gryffindors' had disappeared behind the hill.

Josephine had caught up to Sirius and threw the snow ball directly against the back of his head.

The boy let out a yelp before he turned around and quickly gathered snow, Josephine did the same.

The two them started chasing each other over the snowy landscape, bombarding each other with snow.

Josephine let out a laugh while she tried to escape Sirius, but the boy's arm quickly slung around her waist.

Josephine felt how he pulled her against his body. The girl let out a loud chuckle while he held her up into the air, the girl struggled against him and after a moment the two lost their balance and fell.

As Josephine laid in the cold snow, she saw her warm breath repeatedly riseing into in the air.

She slowly turned her head to face Sirius and realized that the boy had already been staring at her, a small smile playing on his lips.

For a moment the two gazed into each other's eyes, but then they broke out into laughter.

Sirius turned his head and looked up into the sky, the snow flakes landing in his face.

Josephine still stared at him, watching how he smirked, his eyes fixed on the sky. "Admitted, your life would be boring without me."

Their eyes met again when he faced her. Josephine smirked widely before she gazed up into the sky, "Shut up, Black."

The brunette then quickly got onto her feet, patting the snow off of her cloths.

Sirius gave her a curious glance before she held her hand out for him to take. The boy looked her up and down before he took ahold of her hand.

As soon as their hands touched Josephine felt like electricity was running through her.

The girl tried to ignor the feeling and gathered her strengh and yanked him up onto his feet.

Sirius didn't expect that and stummbled forward, crashing into her. Josephine placed her hand on his bizeps while Sirius hands went to both sides of her waist.

The girl's breath hittched in her throat when she looked up and realized that her and Sirius forheads we're nearly touching.

The boy was looking down at her, his dark hair falling into his face while his grew, stormy eyes fell onto her rose lips.

Josephine felt the butterflies in her stomach and wanted to kick herself for it.

She bit down onto her lower lip and when she gazed up into his eyes, she saw a glimps of what seemed like pure desire.

Sirius slowly brought a hand up to her face and stroked his thumb over her cheek but before anything else could happen Marlene's voice called out for them and immediatly made them jump apart.

Josephine quickly cleared her throat while she pushed the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ears.

Sirius was suddenly awfully interested in his boots and when Marlene appeared on the hill, the two quickly made their way towards her.

Sirius gave Marlene a small smile when he passed her and joined James, who was already stomping up the Hill, towards the castle.

When Josephine passed Marlene, the blond raised an suggestive eyebrow at her. And a smug smirk was tucking on the corner of her mouth, "You were gone for quiet some time."

Josephine sighed quietly while she picked up her broom, "Nothing happened, Marls."

The blond nodded at her and still smirked, "Sure."

Josie gave her a glare and the girl shrugged, "I didn't say anything. -I belive you."

Josephine rolled with her eyes, "Shut up."

The two then quickly followed after Sirius and James, with some distance between the two duos'.

At some point before they entered the castle, Josi saw how Sirius glanced over his shoulder to take a quick peak at her, but he quickly spun around when they made eye contact, a deep blush on his cheeks.

                        TO SAY THAT Josephine was confused woud've been the understatement of the year.

The little moment with Sirius on that snowy hill had completely changed the perception of her own feelings.

Suddenly the brunette was very aware of the butterflies in her stomach, that appeared every time she was near the Black boy.

She could hit herself in the head for that, but she just couldn't go back to the time where she had been oblivious to tingle that was spreading over her whole body as soon as the boy touched her or even just looked her way.

She really tried to supress the feelings, but when Sirius stood next to her in the changing room, waiting for Madame Hootch to call them in she just couldn't.

Josephine noticed how the boy glanced at her, Josephine closed her eyes and then he spoke, "Are you nervous?"

The brunette leaned her head from one side to the other, before she sighed deeply, "A little."

Sirius shook his head at her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze, "Don't be. We got this one in the bag!" He gave her a cocky smile and Josephine chuckled.

The warm feeling spreading through her once more before Sirius spoke "The Quidditch Cup is practically ours."

Josephine gave him a warning look before they suddenly heard the announment.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team quickly made their way onto the pitch, "Gryffindor, James Potter, Josephine Potter, Marlene Mckinnon, Gideon Prewett, Fabian Prewett, Sirius Black and Frank Longbottom."

After that the Hufflepuff team was announced and the Captain shook hands before the game started.

As soon as Josephine took off into the sky, the Quaffel was released. The brunette girl immediatly snatched it out of the air and made her way towards the three Hufflepuff goals.

When she saw a bludger coming towards her she elegantly spun with her broom and quickly passed the Quaffel over to Marlene, who scored.

Jordans voice echoed over the pitch, "Ten points for Gryffindor, scored by the absolutely stunning Chaser, Marlene Mckinnon!"

Marlene threw Jordan a kiss before she continued to focus on the game.

The Hufflepuff chasers' were making their way threatening quickly towards the Gryffindor goals, but suddenly the McMillen boy was hit by a bludger from Prewett.

The boy let go of the Quaffel and Josephine flew under him, caught it and immediatly sped into the opposite direction.

"Potter in possesion of the Quaffel, she avoids Bones aaaaanndd another ten points for Gryffindor!"

The crowd was going wild beneath them and the game continued while they all chanted their house names.

At some point it started snowing, but Josephine was way to focused on the game to even take notice of it.

Hufflepuff scored a few times after Josephine's goal, but Fabian had managed to hit Diggory, Hufflepuff's seeker, off his broom.

That meant that James only had to catch the snitch and the game would be over.

Josephine hands were freezing because of the cold weather the brunette saw her breath when she exhaled.

Her eyes darted over the pitch and she saw how Gideon was making his way towards the Hufflepuff goals, the Quaffel under his arm.

He quickly passed the Quaffel over to Marlene, who avoided one of the Hufflepuff Beaters and scored them another ten points.

After half an hour of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Chasers' speeding over the pitch, the game was finally over.

James had caught the snitch, Gryffindor won and the crowd still roared loudly when the team made their way into the changing room.

Josephine disappeared into the girls locker room and quickly changed into her normal cloths before she stepped out into the cold.

Lily, Remus, Peter and Alice already waited for them outside and cheered loudly when she came into view.

The redhead squealed in excitment and stormed into Josephine's arms while jumping up and down. "You did it! The cup is as good as yours! Only Slytherin now!"

"Wow, who knew you could be so excited over Quidditch", Josephine chuckled in amusment before she greeted the other's.

Remus smiled at her, "You played fantastic." Josi nudged his shoulder with her own, thanking him, while the group started their journey towards the castle.

The sounds of the loud music already reached their ears when they entered the corridor that led towards the Common Room.

Marlene raised her eyebrows at the other's, while they climbed through the portrait hole, "Sounds like they're already having fun."

A large crowd of people filled the Common Room and everybody started cheering when the Quidditch Team entered the room.

Josephine and Lily exchanged a quick glance before the redhead suddenly grabbed her by her hand and dragged her upstairs into their doorm room.

Marlene and Josephine hurried and quickly changed into a bit more casual cloths before they returned into the Common Room.

The music was playing and the students were singing along while they were drinking their Butterbear.

"McGonagall was so happy that we won, she gave us permission to stay up till two in the morning -", James immediately informed his sister when her and Marlene reached the group, that was gathered around the large fireplace.

Josephine chuckled before she settled down in-between James and Alice.

In the back of the Common Room a couple of students were dancing and chanting, "We won, we won, we won!"
Which made the rest of the students laugh loudly.

"You did great today!", Lily stated when she settled down in-between Remus and Sirius, a large smile on her face.

"Yeah, we kicked Hufflepuff's ass", Sirius smirked confidently while he exchanged a look with James, who nodded in confirmation, also a confident smirk on his face.

"That was a good catch, James", Remus stated while he clapped James onto the shoulder.

Suddenly a female voice interrupted their conversation, catching everyone's attention.

It was a blond, blue eyed girl, who was fluttering her eyelashes at the long haired boy infront of her, "You played good, Sirius."

She bit down onto her lower lip and gave him a seductive gaze, which made Josephine roll her eyes in annoyance.

Sirius gave the girl a friendly smile and nodded his head at her in appreciation, "Thanks."

The blond gave him another seductive look before she then slowly went back to her friends.

The boys were giving their friend a look, like he was possessed or something and Sirius slowly took notice of their stares. "What?"

Apparently Sirius hadn't noticed that he was behaving abnormal compared to his normal, flirting self, that had immediately jumped at the opportunity to flirt with some blond girl.

Everyone exchanged a silent look before James quickly muttered a quiet, "Nothing."

And everyone was trying to suppress the smiles' that were about to form on their faces because by now they all knew about the unspoken thing that was lingering the potter girl and the black boy.