COMFORT ZONE | Sirius Black [REWRITING]

32. Love is in the Air (Or Something of the Sort)

Thursday, 10th January 1974

Since her return from the Christmas holidays, Madiha had been going to the library more regularly than she ever had in her time at Hogwarts, sometimes with Remus and Lily, sometimes with Sirius and sometimes alone. This was partly because her teachers had really began to pile on the work, owing to their end of year exams, and also because of her quest to find a way to help Remus during his transformations. As promised, Sirius had helped her, but sometimes she found it was easier to look through the books on her own, when there was no one to disturb her train of thought.

However right now, she was supposed to be completing her Arithmancy homework, but Lily and Remus' constant bickering was distracting her.

"She's been looking at her the past three times we were here!"

"So, what, Lily?"

Madiha raised her eyes from the symbols on her parchment. "Yeah, so what?"

"So, it means she's probably spying on you," Lily glanced between them unsurely. "Or something."

For a week now, every time Madiha had set foot in the library, she had come across Olivia Brown, a Ravenclaw girl who was in a lot of her lessons, always conveniently placed near the table she usually occupied. It didn't just stop there, Madiha had also caught the girl glancing at her whilst appearing to be immersed in a book—she always smiled and paid little mind to it, but Lily had resolved to not rest until she discovered the cause of the girl's behaviour.

"Why would she be spying on me?"

"I don't know?" Lily searched around wildly for an answer. "Because you're pretty?"

"That doesn't even make any sense," Remus rolled his eyes.

The redhead began shushing them.

"Look, she's heading this way."

Madiha tried hard not to laugh as Lily and Remus pretended, very badly, to be working working on their essays as the brown-haired girl approached their table.

Kindly, she decided to greet her first.

"Hey, can I help you?"

Remus made a move to look up, but Lily kicked him under the table, and she was certain the girl had noticed this.

"Hi. Can I talk to you?" Olivia glanced at the pair before gesturing back to the table she had been sat earlier. "Over there?"

It wasn't like she was getting much of her homework done anyway.

"Yeah, okay."

With a small smile, Madiha got up to follow the girl, leaving behind her friends who were clearly struggling to contain themselves.