Greek Tragedy | Sirius Black's Son

Chapter Eight

it's like, can i get a connection?
can i get, can i get a connection?
one republic, connection

✧

Ever since Icarus had talked to Renée in the library, he started to notice her more and more. He would see her in the halls, and she would give him a little smile and he would return it with a smile of his own. She was even in some of his classes, like Potions, Astronomy, and Divination. The more he saw her around, the more he kicked himself for not talking to her sooner.

Icarus decided that he liked hanging out with Renée. She was smart, she was an absolute fanatic when it came to Muggle literature, and she actually liked his jokes. He had no whether she was laughing out of pity or joy, but he would take any laugh he could get; it made him happy when she smiled because of him.

Phillip and Alan had started to notice that Icarus was spending more and more time in the library. When they confronted him about it, Icarus told them about Renée. Since then, it seemed Phillip and Alan had made it their lives' work to never let Icarus forget about Renée. They were constantly bringing "his girlfriend" up in conversations. Icarue would just wave them off and try to ignore his friends, especially when he and Renée would talk in the halls and they would stand not too far away, giving him a thumbs up and big grins.

Icarus and Renée were sitting at a table in the library. They were both working on star charts for Astronomy.

"Hos do you remember all of the constellations?" Renée asked, setting her quill down and flexing her wrist.

Icarus looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, my mum used to teach them to me, but I only think that was because Sirius's side of the family is obsessed with the stars. I swear, literally every Black is named after a constellation."

"Everyone except you."

"Except me." He went to work on his star chart once more, but stopped. "I'm only named Icarus because my mum's really into Greek Mythology. Guess she wanted to name me after a myth." He frowned and continued. "I dunno why she named me Icarus instead of something like Theseus or Perseus. I mean, Perseus is both a constellation and a mythological figure. Two birds with one stone, right?"

"No offense, but why Icarus?" she said. "He got too cocky and fell to his death."

Icarus shrugged. "I don't know, but what I do know is that I can make a list of Greek heroes that she could've named me after." He reached into his book bag and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. He smoothed it out, dipped his quill into the ink well, and began to write.

"Numbers one and two," he said, "Perseus and Theseus."

"Ooh, she could've named you Jason. That's a normal sounding name," Renée said. "Or maybe Achilles. Or Odysseus."

"Yeah, see that's five already!" He held up the paper. "Honestly, the doctors should have waited until my mum was actually coherent enough to make sound decisions. Or at least until Sirius got there."

He looked at Renée who was peering at the back of his paper. He turned it over to see what she was looking at. It was the essay on werewolves that Snape had the class do. When Lupin had informed them that they didn't have to do it, Icarus had crushed his essay into a ball and thrown it into the depths of his book bag, where it lay forgotten. Until now.