After a pleasant brunch with Samuel, in which she had met his new girlfriend, Anne, for the first time, Sabrina had decided it was time to go back to Hogwarts. With a crack, she had apparated into an alley in Hogsmeade, and made her way slowly back up to the castle. It being eleven o'clock on a Sunday, everywhere was quite quiet, so Sabrina didn't expect to have to worry about being seen.
But Albus Dumbledore was always where he needed to be when he needed to be there, and was standing in the Entrance Hall to meet Sabrina upon her arrival. He briefly mentioned that he needed to speak with her, and beckoned for her to follow him up to her office, where she sat opposite him like all students did if called there.
"Sir, if this is about my absence-"
"Miss Wraith, I have no problems with, nor do I have any control over what my students do in the free time of their weekends. I merely wanted to inform you that the proposal I gave you not long ago will not go ahead for quite a while."
"Oh?"
"The Order of the Phoenix have collectively decided that we need more members, and we need to pick the right time to make our official appearance against Lord Voldemort and his followers. We will not require your assistance for a while, which I'm sure will come as good news, considering your OWLs are not far away, but I would like to arrange monthly meetings with you to discuss your progress."
"May I ask why, Sir?"
"We are not looking to have you officially a part of the Order until you leave Hogwarts, perhaps the end of your Sixth Year at the earliest. I want to make sure that you are still confident that this is the right decision for you." He made quite intense eye contact during the next part of his mini speech, "If at any time you are uncomfortable, or have any concerns that you wish to speak to me about, you are more than welcome to do so."
"Thank you, Sir," Sabrina gave a small smile, "I'll keep that in mind."
"I shall be in contact about the dates of our meetings. Have a lovely Sunday, Miss Wraith."
***
It had been over a week since Sabrina's return to Hogwarts: February was flowing by, and somehow it was now the tenth, already. While the majority of her week had been spent pretending to have caught Adeline's cough, she had now actually caught it, so had not much left the dormitory in days.
One of the times she did leave was for the occasional meal. A lot of the time, Natalia, who never seemed to catch the coughs that the other two passed back and forth to each other, would bring up food, but if they were feeling up to it, Sabrina and Adeline would join her in the Great Hall.
This particular evening, Sirius Black had decided he would march over to the Slytherin table, despite the death stares. He slid into the seat next to Sabrina, and swung a confident arm around her shoulders.
"Hi." he grinned, "I haven't seen you in a while."
"I've been in bed." she answered.
"So I've been told," he smiled, looking dreamily into her eyes, "Hey, so, Valentine's Day's on Saturday, and I was hoping you'd spend it with me."
Sabrina glanced at her friends, who, the plan in mind, gave her encouraging looks. "Are you sure you want to spend the day with someone who's laughs turn into coughs?" she asked with a teasing tone.
He chuckled softly, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Meet me in the Seventh Floor Corridor at seven?"
"Sure." she sighed. He gave a quick 'great', and went to join his friends, who were waiting impatiently for him.
"Well done," Adeline smiled, "That's definitely progress."
"Yeah," Sabrina agreed, "So, what are you doing for Valentine's?" she addressed both of her friends, who sat opposite her, at the same time.
"Me and Marlene McKinnon are off to Hogsmeade." Natalia said nonchalantly.
"Fun," Adeline said, "When did you ask her?"
"Well, I technically haven't yet," Natalia admitted, "But I'm almost certain she'll say yes."
"Good luck with that." Sabrina commented. "Ads, you doing anything?"
Adeline looked nervously between her friends, cheeks flushing and nerves building as if she were and embodiment of the feeling of butterflies. "Remus Lupin asked me out the other day when I went to the Owlery."
"Lupin? Really?" Natalia asked, surprised. "Didn't know he had the balls."
"Don't be mean!" Adeline nudged her, but smiled a little.
"I'm not! Seriously, Ads, I'm happy for you. I promise."
In the Gryffindor Common Room, it seemed Remus' friends had similar thoughts about his people skills, or more specifically, dating skills. The four boys were joined by Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon, the former sitting as far away from James as she could.
"Are you sure she wasn't the one who approached you?" Sirius teased the still blushing boy.
"Shut up, Sirius," Remus said playfully, rubbing his arm nervously, "You're the one who's dating a Death Eater." He joked.
"She's not a Death Eater!" He defended, throwing a pillow at Remus.
"She could be," James shrugged, turning the conversation serious. "You never know."
"She told me she's not, and I trust her. And anyway, have any of you ever seen a Dark Mark?"
"None of them have even got close enough to her to judge her." Marlene commented.
"Oh, and you have?" James rolled his eyes.
"No," she replied, "But I'm not the one judging her based off stupid reputations. Rumours aren't always true."
"The ones about you are." Sirius said.
"I'm trying to defend you, mate." Marlene's hands flew into the air and slapped down on her lap in frustration.
"I'm not doing anything on Valentine's." Peter changed the subject, disliking the conflict brewing once again.
"I'll stay with you, Pete." Lily offered, "I'm not doing anything either."
"I could change that, Lily-Flower." James smirked.
"Piss off, Potter."
YOU ARE READING
deceit - sirius black
Fanfiction"you'd like me to date your son?" she asked, demandingly. "not exactly.. he will think so, but all you have to do is pretend to be interested." "eventually," voldemort took over, his voice alone enough to make several of the group flinch, "mr and mr...
