Celeste || Sirius Black

Chapter 4: Breakfast Balance

Sirius Black couldn't sleep that night.

He lay in his comfortable bed but was tossing and turning around. He was glad that James was a heavy sleeper but his insomnia wasn't the reason that he wasn't able to sleep. The girl's eyes were haunting him. There was a shock on her face when she heard him shout at her for being too close to the ledge. There was a surprise that he couldn't shake off because he had only seen that look once before - his own.

He remembered how James had described him to look when he had suggested that Sirius stay with the Potters during the holidays. Sirius was beyond grateful because he needed to get out of the Black mansion whenever possible. That wouldn't be where he spent his life. He wouldn't be forced to live there while hiding who he was to the world.

Entering the main hall the next morning, his eyes were sweeping the crowd for that familiar brunette who wanted to look at the stars at night by disobeying school rules and more importantly, getting past Filch, when he was the one who was known to do that.

"Padfoot," James patted his chest. "Who are you looking for?"

That was when he realised how obvious he was making him look. "No one." He shrugged. "I think it's about time that we discuss the case with Moony! The night is nearing. We should talk more about what that means." He changed the topic immediately to turn James' attention to something else.

The girl did not show up for breakfast that morning.

Sirius kept glancing at the doors over his shoulders, but she was nowhere to be seen. The Hufflepuff table was empty of her. He felt a tinge on his chest when he saw the room getting empty by the seconds. That's when his eyes fell upon a certain redhead whom he had seen talking to the girl. As she was leaving the hall, Sirius made a random excuse and left before his friends to catch up with Lily Evans.

"Hey Evans!"

Lily stopped walking and turned around to see him running towards her. "What do you want, Sirius?"

He could see the annoyance on her face. "I'm not here on behalf of James. I'm looking for someone."

She frowned. "You are searching for someone."

He laughed as he held the back of his neck. People took his reputation too seriously. "It's not like I know everyone in the world, okay? I'm looking for a Hufflepuff. She is about," He held a hand near his shoulder. "ye high and she has dark brunette hair. Dark eyes and...." He thought about how else to describe her but all her could see was her standing in the dark before him. "Doe eyes. I've seen you talking to her."

Lily's eyes opened wide. "Oh."

That was it. "Do you know her?"

She did not know whether Celeste would be happy about her telling Sirius her name. So she answered the question with another question. "Why are you so curious about her?"

Ah, Sirius thought. He was making it obvious once again. "No reason." 

"If there is no reason, I'd like to go to class."

She turned around and was going to quickly head towards the corridor when Sirius gently grabbed her arm to stop her. "Lily." She looked up at him. "Please."

There was a certain emotion in his eyes that she had never seen before - concern. "What did she do?" She knew that Celeste had a hard life and she definitely needed to talk to her if Sirius Black of all people was asking for her.

"What's her name?"

Lily sighed. "Oh she is going to kill me!" She grumbled to herself. "Celeste."

Sirius stood straighter. Celeste.

"Thank you," he said before hurrying towards the Hufflepuff common rooms near the kitchens.

Celeste was really going to kill Lily for this. But Lily had heard two words from Sirius that she never thought she would - 'please' and 'thank you'. She went about to her classes while waiting for her friend to confront her. It was only about time.

Sirius reached the corridors near the kitchen and stopped two Fifth Year girls in their path. "I'm looking for someone. Can you please call them out?" As much as he didn't want to, he was forced to ask for help.

The girls looked at each other and smiled - a common reaction that he received. He didn't know why people, especially girls, reacted that way when he tried to talk to them. But he couldn't help his devilish good looks, now could he?

"Her name is Celeste."

That got their attention. They stared at Sirius for a few seconds before realising that they were supposed to go back to the common room and call her out. "Wait at the end of the corridor." One of them told and Sirius obeyed without any questions.

He leant against the turning of the corridor with his arms folded across his chest. He was looking at the sunlight that came through one of the windows and saw the way it played with the dust that was settling down.

Celeste, who had decided to miss the morning classes to have some time to think about what had happened the previous night, was confused when one of the Puffs came back into the common room and called for her.

She looked up at her, breaking her gaze from the sketchbook that she held in her hand. The girl looked flustered but she was smiling as if she had some good news to impart. "Someone is calling for you." She pointed to the door that she had just walked through.

Celeste's eyebrows furrowed. She didn't talk to many people in the school and there was no way that Lily was going to come for her with Potions as the first class for the day. Professor Slughorn had a new assignment for all of them and Lily had told her about the corrections that she was going to ask him about.

She dropped her pencil and stood up. "Thank you, Elora. I'll meet them."

Elora nodded and made her way to her friend. Both of them looked at Sirius waiting, not caring that his hair was falling over his eyes as he looked at the floor. They chuckled to themselves as they started talking about what Sirius Black could possibly want with Celeste Rajput of all people.

Celeste walked out of the common room and looked at the empty corridor and frowned. "If this is another one of the stupid pranks...." She started to mutter to herself but when she looked at the end of the corridor, her eyes opened wide.

Sirius had heard her whisper and he jumped off of the wall to walk towards her. "Good morning!" Looking at her, he felt happy. She was still there. She was in the common room. She was safe.

She blinked. Oh no, she thought. "What the hell are you doing here?"