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The soft patter of Zinnia's footsteps echoed in her ears as she descended the stairs in the early morning. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she mindlessly flung the kitchen door open, making a beeline for the small tin pot of coffee that someone had already made.
Her morning tended to follow like this. Zinnia got very little rest in the dingy house and seemed that she could never stay asleep for more than an hour or two at a time. In a drowsy state she grabbed a mug from the cupboard above her and messily poured her coffee in it, wishing she had worn some socks as her feet were getting particularly cold.
"Morning" the deep voice of Sirius spoke from the end of the kitchen table with a newspaper covering his face. Zinnia almost leapt out of her skin, spilling a bit of coffee of herself as she turned around.
"Merlin, you gave me a heart attack" she whispered to herself as she regained herself.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you" Sirius lowered the paper and gestured to the seat next to him for Zinnia to sit down.
"It's alright, woke me up a bit" she quietly chuckled as she sat down in the chair next to him. She idly sipped her coffee as Sirius eyed her. Zinnia noticed this but decided not to mention it, she brushed it off as a habit he had gained after being locked up for so long.
"What are you doing up so early?" he asked as his eyes returned to the paper.
"Cant really sleep much" she shrugged, not wanting to cause a worry. She bunched up her long shirt into her fist and brought her hand up to pick at her lip, a habit she had acquired as a consequence of the stress of the impending war.
"I could never really sleep here much as a kid either, only found myself making it through the night at Hogwarts" Sirius reflected looking longingly out of the kitchen door.
"You grew up here?" Zinnia asked as she took another sip of her dark coffee, snapping him out of his gaze.
"Yes, yes. Not the best of times but it could have been worse." Sirius humbly admitted looking around the room. She nodded and held her mug close to her chest, finding comfort in the warmth from the ceramic.
"Zinnia... I thought it best I let you know.... That was bringing Harry here tonight." Sirius gently spoke in hesitance to the girl
"Oh. I thought he-" Zinnia asked, remembering hearing that Harry was safer with the Dursleys.
"There was an incident last night, the ministry.... They expelled Harry for defending himself against a dementor" Sirius spoke carefully, trying to break the news to the girl.
"What? He can't be expelled. We can stop this right?!" Zinnia shot up, her slouching position turning into a confident stance as if she was ready to march into the Ministry at that moment and demand they revoke Harry's expulsion; and honestly, she was.
