deceit - sirius black

twelve

"Duncan!" Sirius shouted, "Oi! Adeline!"

She turned around at his voice, and through the crowd in the corridor she could just about make out that it was him calling her name.

"You know where Sabrina is?" He asked, catching up with her.

"Why should I?" She snapped. Truthfully, she didn't - when she had woken up the morning after their argument, Sabrina's bed had been empty. Natalia, who was currently with Marlene, didn't know where their friend could be, either.

"Well, I just thought that because you're her roommate-"

"That I know every move she makes? I don't know where she is, I'm not obsessed with her!" Adeline sped off, leaving a confused Sirius alone to contemplate exactly what he could have said wrong.

***

Sadie Wraith lived alone, and rarely received visitors, as her small group of friends lived a distance away from her. So, despite having received her sister's short letter the evening before, she was surprised to hear a knock on her door mid-morning on a Monday.

She set aside the cereal she'd been eating, and shut off the television, a muggle device she far from regretted purchasing. Wrapping her dressing gown tighter around her to battle the cold that would attack once she opened the door, she walked quickly to let Sabrina in.

"Hi." She said expectantly, waiting for Sabrina to explain why she was there. Instead, she simply let herself in, looking around briefly before taking her shoes off and sitting on the sofa.

"Hello," Sabrina said, shifting her bag between her hands, "I wanted to talk."

"I got that from your letter," Sadie sighed, "Why to me?"

"You're my sister." She shrugged.

"Who you haven't spoken to in years?"

"I was hoping that didn't matter." She winced.

Sadie sighed again, "Before you start talking, could I just ask something?" She sat in an armchair facing Sabrina, who nodded, "Are you and Sam still with.. 'him'?"

"Sam is," Sabrina said, "And I'm.. in a sort of grey area."

Sadie scoffed, "You're either with him or you're not."

"I'm working on it, just bare with me." Sabrina snapped, rolling her eyes. It was strange that she hadn't seen her sister in years, but they interacted as though they still shared a room.

She told Sadie everything about Walburga, Orion and Voldemort's request, the plan she'd devised, the story of how she'd first approached him, their first 'date', where they were now. She explained what she'd realised on Valentine's Day, her worries of his parents' treatment, and the arguments she'd had with her friends the next day.

"-And now I'm just confused, and scared, and frightened-"

"Those two mean the same thing," Sadie interrupted.

"Just help me." Sabrina snapped.

"I don't think I can," she exclaimed, "You're kinda fucked."

Sabrina stood up, frustrated, "I did not skive off school to come here and tell you about my feelings for you to tell me you can't help. You're my sister, it's practically your duty to get me out of all of my messes."

"Okay!" She exclaimed, "I can't fix it for you, but I think you could easily fix it yourself. You need to tell Sam, and Sirius' parents, and Voldemort that you can't do the task anymore, and I can try to help you if it's not that easy. And once you're out of it, you need to tell Sirius what happened, whatever that might mean for your future with him."

"He'll hate me." She complained.

"He probably will. But he deserves to know. And it's best he finds out from you. He's more likely to forgive you eventually if you're honest with him now."

Sabrina sighed, "Fine. Thank you." She gave a small, reluctant smile, and Sadie pulled her into a tight hug: she wouldn't admit it, but she'd missed having her sister around. Even though they'd never had the same views, they'd got along while they both lived at home, and, despite their denial, both missed the other's company.

***

It had been three weeks since Sabrina had returned. It was now March 8th, which brought more sunlight to accompany the still-existing snow. Sabrina knew Sadie was right, and that she'd have to tell Sirius what had been going on eventually, but for the time being she found herself avoiding him at all costs: with her friends still angry at her, she'd resorted to skipping certain lessons so that she wouldn't have to sit with him.

Sharing a dormitory with only her friends had also become more of a curse than a blessing recently. They were all far too stubborn to apologise first, and Sabrina, particularly, felt as though the others should apologise to her considering they'd 'ganged up' on her.

In the last days of February, the Headmaster had also written Sabrina a letter to invite her to their first of the monthly meetings he'd proposed, which she'd almost forgotten about and would have loved to have some sort of excuse to give him. It wasn't too bad, only a little awkward, especially as, even though she wasn't really planning on joining the Order, but had to pretend she was interested.

Sabrina had also begun to notice her brother around school more often. He was in Seventh Year, but was in her house and therefore her common room. Since speaking to Sadie, she realised she'd missed her siblings, and every day she would come closer to talking to Seth, but still found herself with too much pride.

There was also the problem of Regulus: another secret she was keeping from Sirius. He wasn't even fifteen, and now had the weight of the Dark Mark on his arm, something that even Sabrina now felt guilty about: she wanted nothing more than for it to be gone, which would be the first step to being rid of the Dark Lord.

Meanwhile, Sirius tried his hardest to convince himself that Sabrina wasn't avoiding him, while James tried his hardest to convince him that she was. He couldn't understand what had happened: they'd had what he would describe as the perfect night on Valentine's Day, and they seemed to be okay on Sunday, but she'd disappeared on Monday and hadn't spoken to him since then, despite him seeing her in the Great Hall the day after.

He'd seen her around school, but she'd been absent for all of their lessons together: she was in History of Magic with Lily, who said she'd been there for that, but never turned up to the classes Sirius was in. Every day it got harder for him to tell himself she wasn't avoiding him, but the worst part was that he didn't know why.

She simply didn't want to accidentally say something about his brother, or about the reasoning for her arguments with her friends, or to talk to him at all until she wasn't working for Voldemort.

However, when she'd bumped into him in between classes on the Monday morning, she'd had no choice but to talk to him.

"Hey." He said, uncertainly.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Are you alright?" He studied her, looking for any hint of something he'd done wrong.

"Perfect," she said, perhaps a little too quickly, "Yeah, I- I'm fine."

"Okay," he said, not sounding completely convinced, "You just seem like you've been avoiding me."

"Don't be stupid," she laughed, "Of course not. I've just been a bit busy - OWL revision and stuff."

"Oh, alright," he said, smile picking up a little, "So, do you wanna meet me tonight? I thought we could do something, just us."

"Sounds great," she smiled, "But I need to get going." She began to walk off.

"I'll pick you up outside your common room!" He shouted after her.

Sabrina felt bad. Sirius seemed to care a lot more than she'd expected him to, and while she cared about him too, she knew that whatever way she went about telling him about her secret alliance, whether she told him tomorrow or in a year, he'd be hurt, and probably wouldn't speak to her again.

Despite her heavy mind, she couldn't help but be excited for whatever it was Sirius had planned for the night ahead.