Orphic » Sirius Black

Chapter 3 - A Friend

The usual shuffle of parchment and small talk filled Remus' ears as he entered the Gryffindor common room, undoing his tie with one hand and holding his bag with the other. He spotted James sitting on the floor near a coffee table surrounded by Potions books, a lot of phials with ingredients, and his heating cauldron in front of him. Remus sighed as he walked towards him, feeling like crying at the thought of having to do his own homework.

"Don't be so stiff, Moony," James giggled, staring at him through his glasses and seeing the exhaustion on his friend's face as he stirred the mixture inside his cauldron. "You can copy mine if you want to."

Remus shook his head, dropping his bag onto the floor and throwing himself on the sofa, extending his long legs above the cushions. "Slughorn's gonna find out. Just hope he's not expecting a very elaborated essay, though."

"If you need help, the offer still stands," James said with a wink, making the boy laugh. He returned to his potion, and Remus reached for his copy of A Tale of Two Cities, deciding that he was too tired to stress over Potions homework at the moment. Who would have thought doing patrol duty would be so tiring?

He had just started reading when the portrait hole opened again. Peter and Sirius entered the room, a frustrated expression on both of their faces. Remus glanced over to them as James turned around completely, scowling.

"What took you so long?"

"We ran into those Ravenclaw blokes from the lake," Sirius said, running a hand through his hair. "Turns out, there was only one copy left of The Book of Charms and Spells in the library and they happened to take it."

Remus had to bite the inside of his cheek to avoid laughing at this. He shook his head, his eyes fixed on the pages before him.

"We're gonna need that book," wondered Peter, as he sat on the floor and removed from his pocket a bar of chocolate, breaking it into pieces. "Maybe they can lend it to us if we ask?"

"Or we can wait 'til they're done with it," proposed Remus with a shrug.

"Moony, we are so close to finishing this," pleaded Sirius. "We are not gonna need it for that long. She was so longing to take it, I reckon she's gonna keep it for a while."

"She? Juniper, you mean?" Remus asked, turning the page.

"Yes, her," Sirius let out, suddenly aware of how indiferent his friend seemed to be in their conversation. Remus gave a little nod, still trapped in the story he was reading, but Sirius felt it was just a consciously detached answer. "Who is she though?"

"A friend," Remus muttered, not bothering to lift his eyes from his book.

"A friend? How, exactly?" Sirius uttered, tired of Remus not paying enough attention and removing the book from his hands.

"Someone you have a friendly relationship with. Can you give me that?" said Remus impatiently after rolling his eyes and sitting properly, his finger extended towards the object Sirius held hostage between his hands. He shook his head, hiding it behind his back.

"Not before you give us some answers!" he exclaimed, starting to pace in front of the fire and stealing a piece of chocolate from the one Peter chopped seconds ago.

"She's the one you spend Christmas with, isn't she?" Peter glanced at him, crossing his legs. Remus nodded.

"What? How do you know that?" Sirius frowned, his eyes travelling from Remus to Peter as he spoke.

"He literally tells us every year, mate," stated James from above the potion. "Where do you think he got that fancy box of tea bags? We'd certainly never get one for ourselves."