Victory

Lauren looked absolutely furious. "You, did, what?" She asked again.

"I forged an alliance between myself and Sirius." Beth answered. Lauren was terrifying on a good day, right now she looked positively murderous. Still, Beth knew she had done the right thing. "Cephas and Kaeley have made an alliance too. I can't beat them without his help."

"You can take Kaeley." Lauren immediately countered.

"Not with Cephas and the three remaining clues!" Beth said. "This is for the best Lauren, we only agreed to work together on the first task. It's not a permanent thing."

Lauren pulled her hand through her long hair and thought about it for a few seconds. "There is going to be a moment, where you'll either share the victory, or take it for your own. You know what to do Beth. We can't lose to Sirius Black."

♜♛♜

Beth had found her favourite, quiet, spot in Hogwarts a few days after receiving her clue. It was in the far corner of the library, which only held birth records of famous wizards and witches and other boring things no one ever needed. She had given Sirius the instructions to her hideout so that they could work together for the first time.

Celia tapped her foot nervously, much like the few other people she had told about her newly forged alliance, she did not think it was a good idea. Gryffindors were idiots, she had told Beth, they always rush into things without thinking it through.

"Morning." Sirius greeted her. He was flanked by his friends, as per usual. They looked like an odd group to be meeting together, so maybe it was for the best that they did it in such a desolate corner.

"Good morning." Beth answered. Sirius sat down on the only other chair, which was directly across from Beth's, while their friends sat on the ground, leaning against either the wall or one of the bookcases.

"So, what is the clue?" Sirius eagerly asked.

"Not so fast," Beth smiled at him. "First, we need to agree on terms."

"I thought we had already done that," Sirius said, leaning back in his chair. "You give me the clue and in return, I make sure that Cephas doesn't jinx you during the task."

"Which would mean that I have to trust you on your word." She answered. "I don't know you well enough to do so."

"We're Gryffindors, when we give our word it actually means something." James interjected.

"Yeah well, we're Slytherins, we're not dumb enough to trust you." Celia immediately answered.

Celia then got into it with both Remus and James, while Peter watched with interest. Sirius leaned closer to Beth and said. "Without you, I cannot hope to compete in the first task. Without me, you'll never beat Kaeley and Cephas."

"Which is why we need to discuss terms first." Beth said while Celia threatened James with something Beth pretended not to hear. She got a scroll from her bag and wrote down. 'Guidelines to a peaceful Gryffindor/Slytherin cooperation.'

"If I write it down you do believe me?" Sirius asked her.

"The paper is enchanted." She answered. "Should either of us break our promise, well let's say competing in the second task will be quite difficult."

Sirius looked at Beth for a few moments. She did not look like a particularly outstanding witch and though she was a third-year, he felt as though he had never actually seen her before. She had calm, grey eyes and black messy hair, a good contradiction to each other. She couldn't be described as either "pretty" or "ugly", she was just... Something different. He had taken some time to study her in the Great Hall, after her name had been selected by the goblet. She had been far more difficult to study than the other champions, he constantly lost sight of her. She had mastered the art of disappearing into the crowd, of becoming one face amongst many. Elisabeth was a mystery, one that simply could not be described.

He took the quill from her hand and wrote down: 'I promise to help Elisabeth Batley during the first task. I will help protect her when we go in, and I will help figure out the clue.' He added his signature and handed her the quill.

'I promise to share all my knowledge about the first task with Sirius Black and to aid him once we go inside.' She wrote underneath it, finishing up with her signature.

"No turning back now." He said.

* * *

Eventually, Celia and the rest of the Marauders sulked off. It was clear that their bickering would only get in the way of actual progress. Something that Sirius desperately needed after being next to useless for the last month.

They made sure they were truly alone and opened the cylinder. Sirius listened intently to the clue, taking in every word and repeating it in his head. Beth at this point was already dreaming the words.

"You were lying when you said you had figured it out." Sirius concluded when the voice stopped.

"There isn't anything to figure out." She answered. "It's pretty straightforward."

"I see why you were so desperate to work with me now." He said. "They have five of these clues."

Beth didn't really feel that she had been so 'desperate' to work with him. But arguing would get them nowhere, and time was already cutting short. "All we can do is hope that this clue is important, the final piece of the puzzle."

"What did it say again?" Sirius asked. "Line by line."

"Pick a door to go looking for." She said. Sirius got up and started pacing down the path.

"So they'll probably lock the four of us in a room and we have to find the correct door which lets us leave." He brainstormed. "You any good at hexing, Elisabeth?"

"I've been training." She answered. "And I prefer Beth."

"Right," He looked out of the window. "Say the next line."

That is how they spend the entire day. Beth would say the next line, Sirius would give his thoughts on it. At the end though, they arrived at the same conclusion Beth had arrived at before. If the first door was a dud, they would be screwed.

"We could pretend to fight each other." Sirius offered. "Make it seem like we took each other out, then follow them through the correct door."

"How do I know you won't actually hex me?" Beth asked. Sirius added the line 'I promise I won't hex Beth Batley' to the scroll, to which Beth started laughing.

"Fair enough." She said. It had gotten dark outside, so it was almost time for them to part ways. Still, a strange feeling in her stomach said she was doing the right thing by trusting Sirius. He had gotten detention plenty for jinxing people, so he must be good at it. If all else fails, perhaps he could make good bait to the other contestants.

"Do you think this alliance will work?" Beth asked before she could stop herself. Sirius leaned back in his chair. His hair was messy from pulling his hand through it so many times when he got stressed out.

"You're smarter than I thought you were." He said. "Admittedly, our house qualities together do make a powerful duo. Much more powerful than knowledge and kindness anyway."

"Are we going to let the rest of the school know?" She asked.

"Definitely not." Sirius answered, stretching his arms behind his head. "I don't think I'd be allowed back into the common room if they knew I was working with the enemy." Beth laughed.

"Yeah, at least you have the redeemable factor of being Regulus' brother." She said. "They might allow me to sleep on the floor." Sirius smile went away at the mention of Regulus' name.

"I am sorry that he gave it to me." She said, after the silence had stretched on for too long. She eyed the clue, which was lying on the table. "It wasn't right."

Sirius just shrugged. "It wasn't your fault." He just said, not explaining anything else. "I'm just happy that the goblet chose you, not him."

"Goddamn it." Beth said, leaning back in her chair. "It's actually working." Sirius raised one of his brows at her. "The point of the competition is to distract us from what is going outside. It is also to unify us as one school."

"He knew that we would start working together." Sirius finished and also laughed.

"Luckily for us," Beth got up from her seat and grabbed the enchanted piece of parchment. "We only have to work together for this task. Remind me to curse you when we're done."