December 18, 1976
5:45 pm
Gryffindor Common Room

The Anneliese Black Bet
the details - anneliese callaway will be dating sirius black by the end of their seventh year

the rules - tampering is highly encouraged to get them together, but not apart

the contenders -
they will be together by the end of their seventh year

james potter - 100 galleons
peter pettigrew - 5 galleons
minerva mcgonagall - 3 galleons
horace slughorn - 80 galleons
pomona sprout - 5 galleons
filius flitwick - 19 galleons
albus dumbledore - 100 galleons

frank longbottom - 20 sickles
marlene mckinnon - 7 galleons
poppy pomfrey - 3 galleons
kat goyle - 9 sickles
ludo bagman - 30 galleons
amos diggory - 12 galleons
gideon prewett - 60 galleons
milton cresswell - 5 galleons
gilderoy lockhart - 75 galleons
mary macdonald - 9 galleons
sebastian fink - 34 galleons

they will not be together by the end of their seventh year

remus lupin - 18 sickles
lily evans - 2 galleons
silvanus kettleburn - 8 galleons
alice fortescue - 4 galleons
dorcas meadowes - 3 knuts
rolanda hooch - 4 galleons
lucius malfoy - 10 galleons
regulus black - 15 galleons
izzie fletchy - 2 sickles
narcissa black - 13 galleons
bartemius crouch jr. - 8 sickles
severus snape - 1 knut

money will be exchanged at graduation - best of luck to all those who participate!

Anneliese's hands were practically shaking as she read the list over and over, in total shock of how this had managed to stay hidden from her for so long. If there were this many names, then it must have been an active effort for her to not see it.

Which meant that everything had been fake.

She assumed that this had started on rather early in the year, when James had started to put her and Sirius together mentally. That was probably why Sirius came up to her so much, like helping her on the way to the Owlery and making sly jokes to her so often.

He hadn't ever had any real interest in her.

That also must have been the reason for him getting so mad at Fabian on his birthday when he had been so close to her at the party, all because Prewett was threatening his chances of winning the bet and stopping the fun game he was playing with her emotions.

All of the times he wanted to make up after their fights was just for those galleons, not because he actually cared about their relationship and wanted to keep it going.

That tension between them must have also been expertly crafted by the Hogwarts heart breaker, Anneliese should have guessed that he had quite a bit of experience doing so and that she was in no way something special to him.

At Slughorn's party, when she had heard the Ravenclaw, Callaway had dismissed his statement as just gossiping and obscure.

The only reason she's even talking to her is because he's angry because she's the only girl that he can't get into the pants of.

Now she realized that they were right.

And she hated herself for being so stupid and allowing herself to trust him.

To fall for him, just like she was supposed to.

How could she have been so naive to think that a player like him with dozens of dates at his disposal would actually take interest in some pathetic orphan with a tough act?

How could she have ever pushed aside Regulus's warning?

How could she have shoved any common sense out of her brain and think that he wasn't the person he seemed to be, that there was some depth behind the cigarettes and looks?

And she had trusted him.

Anneliese had shared some of the darkest parts of her past that she had only told Leo with this boy she had known for mere months, and it was all kindling a relationship that was going to end the second everyone got their fair share of money from her gullibleness.

He didn't care about her past, it had all been an act that she was too blinded by his stupid grey eyes to see.

A sickening pit flooded through her stomach as the parchment fluttered to the ground from her limp hand, landing without a sound on the warm carpet near her socks.

In her haze of blurry vision, Anneliese knew that only one thing would make her feel better. Only one thing could make her feel powerful again, what Sirius had taken from her.

The dark green leather closed around her fingers.

December 25, 1976
4:57 am
Potter Manor

If there was one thing that Sirius disliked about Potter Manor, it was that James insisted on waking up at five in the morning every Christmas like an actual toddler.

Ever since that day at Flourish and Blotts with Regulus, the Black had an uneasy feeling in his stomach about what he had said to Anneliese, along with the fact that their relationship not only as brothers, but just human beings, was slowly being completely destroyed with every interaction.

Euphemia had seen the disturbance on his face and done her best to make him feel better, but not much could really help Sirius when he started thinking about his past too much.

Nothing, apparently, besides James catapulting himself onto his bed.

Black let out a loud groan as Potter's entire body weight hit him directly in the stomach as an abrupt awakening from his half asleep state. A knee to the chest wasn't his first choice of waking up, especially after a storm had kept him up so late last night.

Sirius quickly grabbed the pillow next to him and smothered his face in it with a vain attempt to block out James as he pressed the silky fabric to his smooth skin.

"Wake up, Pads!" James shouted, hitting his black hair over the head with a pillow. "Happy Christmas!"

"It's going to be Christmas all bloody day, so let me sleep," Sirius moaned. "I can duel you half asleep, try me."

"Nah, doing this is going to be much more fun," James replied with a grin as he quickly grabbed both of Black's arms and dragged him off the edge of the king bed to the carpet.

Much to his surprise and annoyance, Sirius just fell right back asleep on the floor.

"Okay so I guess that you're just going to ignore that we got you the best Christmas gift that has ever been known to man," James teased, nuding him with his foot. "Something cooler than a tattoo."

"Nothing is cooler than a tattoo, you moron," he said back, rolling underneath the bed so that he could only see wooden slats. "Stop lying to me."

"No, there is definitely something cooler than a tattoo," James declared, swinging his head under the bed frame. "And if I'm lying, you can have all of my brownies."

Like a child bribed with candy, Sirius rolled out from under the bed with narrowed eyes at James, his back still flat on the ground.

"You have a deal."

Much to Black's surprise, when he came down the dark oak carpeted stairs from his fourth floor bedroom, Euphemia and Fleamont were already waiting in the kitchen for their sons. Both of them had a cup of tea in their hands, and smiled eagerly when they saw Sirius.

"I told him it was cooler than a tattoo," James smiled proudly with his arms crossed over his chest. "That's the only way I got him awake."

"I still stand by that nothing is cooler than a tattoo," Sirius said with a large, exaggerated yawn. "I just wanted his brownies."

"You just say that because A has a tattoo," Potter joked. "Tattoos plural, actually."

"She does?" Euphemia asked, setting down her sloppy hand painted mug by a six year old James. "Where could she have gotten them done that's not illegal?"

"She does them," Sirius replied, a smile tugging up at the corners of his mouth that he let slide on. "Actually gave herself a stick and poke in the middle of Transfiguration."

"Well, I don't know if this will top a stick and poke in class, but it is most certainly cool," Fleamont smiled, gesturing for Sirius to come out onto their enormous front porch. "You might want to put on some shoes, son."

Black was becoming too excited at whatever they had been building up to notice the freezing liquid soaking through his socks as they went outside.

He had to blink his grey eyes a few times before registering that he was no longer dreaming about what was in front of him. If it weren't for the cold stinging at his cheeks, then Sirius would have probably pinched himself to double check that this was real.

He almost didn't want to know what kind of insanity had gone through the Potter's minds to trust him enough to purchase one of these for him, but Black was most certainly grateful as he took in one of the most beautiful sights of his life.

"A MOTORCYCLE?!"

"A motorcycle."

Before even touching any of them shining steel or sleek black leather, Sirius tackled Euphemia and Fleamont in a hug that rivalled the one Mia had given them at the train station. Especially after seeing Regulus, he was just even more grateful for the Potters.

"Hey, maybe you could take A for a ride," James said with an elbow in his side and a sly smirk. "Rather romantic-"

"Oh, shut up," Sirius cut him off, but there was already a large grin on his face.

He was planning on it already.

December 31, 1976
2:09 am
Gryffindor Common Room

The usually roaring fire inside the bricks had been reduced to a small smolder that emitted only a bit of a crackle and bit of heat. There were inky ashes scattered all over the stone, and the only warm tones was a slight glow from within the wooden lumps.

Even though the room was freezing cold because of the dying hearth, Anneliese was still just wearing a lace strapped tank top and a pair of small pajama shorts. Her skin was flushed pink from focus and anger, along with dark blue narrowed eyes.

Studying the Summoning Charm and Disarming Charm carefully alongside one another, Callaway jotted something down in her notebook before pulling out her wand and crossing her fingers that this would work.

"Accersi."

Much to her both smug satisfaction and slight surprise, at a dozen wands all flew towards her through all of the Gryffindors still at Hogwarts in a second. They whizzed their way from every stairway up the tower, going directly through doors as if they were just made of air.

They were like a floating mass of power in front of her, just waiting to be tested and used.

"Exsilium."

Just as smoothly as they had come to her, the various types of wood all flew back to their owners silently, as if nothing had ever happened.

She had successfully merged accio and expelliarmus.

Anneliese jotted down the final two spells, charm and countercharm, in the nearest page of the green notebook at the very end, where every finalized spell was located and ready for use. It had only taken her two weeks to create three spells, leaving her with four total.

Opscuro, which she had named the Blinding Curse, was the second most dangerous.

Since she wanted to keep this private, and no one else was there, Anneliese had to test the curse on herself. That was probably for the best with what the results turned out to be. When cast, the room would go dark for only the victim, like a veil had been placed over their eyes smothering out any sort of vision.

Or any chance of resistance.

Anneliese had opted against creating a countercharm.

Whoever it was cast on would deserve it.

Humming to herself as she closed the notebook, Anneliese revealed the tattoo on her thich that the dark green leather had been blocking.

The dog.

She winced slightly even at the sight of it. Callaway desperately wished that Sirius had never told her that they shared a Patronus, then every time that she looked at it, she would see him on the back of her eyelids or hear his laugh in her ears.

She knew good and well that Sirius would be very angry if he discovered that she was still creating dark spells, but-

No, he wouldn't, Anneliese cut off her own thoughts. He wouldn't be very angry because he never even cared in the first place. Just keep doing what you're doing, don't even think of him. It was all fake.

She had spent a good portion of her time already thinking about exactly what she wanted to say to Sirius. After a dozen sleepless nights with her tossing and turning in her sheets and pressing her palms to her temples in thought, Anneliese had decided on one simple solution.

She vowed not to talk to him, or ever trust him again.

Confrontation was too painful, even just looking at him would be both humiliating and infuriating.

Anneliese begrudgingly knew that he was incredibly intelligent, and it wouldn't take long for him to figure out that she was angry because of the bet. Once he did, she doubted that he would even feel any remorse.

He would just move on to the next girl.

Because that's what he does, Anneliese reminded herself. A heart breaker doesn't care about his victims, just as long as he can build up his ego by making every girl fall for him.

Callaway was glad that the dormitories were empty.

That way no one could hear her cry herself to sleep.

damn thats some dark shit

i was tired after writing 29 names - but there are more than that

2.3k words

see you tomorrow!

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