claret, sirius black

26

chapter 26

SIRIUS BLACK DOESN'T know how to sit properly in a chair. He had pulled the wooden library chair from underneath the table and purposely turned it backwards so he was sitting with his legs on either side and his arms rested on the back of the chair. Madam Pince looked furious when she noticed the way he was sprawled all over the furniture but she was yet to say anything to him.

"Don't lean too far forward on that," Lenora told him, she didn't have to look up from the parchment she was writing on to know that he was swinging on the chair to test how far he could go before it fell from beneath him. "If you fall you'll hit your chin off of the table, and that's far too much blood for my liking."

Sirius grinned, flattening the wooden legs on the floor. The library was dark, but the dim candlelight still reflected on his cheekbones.

"What would happen if I did start bleeding out?"

Lenora looked up from the messy scrawl of handwriting on her paper, she'd only written a quarter of the two rolls of parchment she had been set for her potions homework.

"I preferably wouldn't like to find out," she stated.

Sirius was too curious to give up. "But if it did."

"It won't."

"Right probably," Sirius huffed, "But if it did happen then I should know what I have to do, just in case." He quirked an eyebrow.

Lenora gazed at him, debating whether she should entertain him or not.

"I suppose if you started bleeding out then I would leave, very quickly." She told him, putting the feather of her quill against the corner of her mouth, ink smudging against the palm of her left hand.

"What!" Sirius gasped, "You wouldn't stay and help me, it could be life-threatening." He joked.

"Unless you think me drinking you dry would be helpful, no." Lenora chuckled, "I wouldn't be able to do anything. It would be more dangerous if I was to stay."

Sirius nodded. "Do you think you'd be able to leave?" He asked softly, "You know if that happened?"

"I would hope so," she said quietly, now getting ink on her cheek. "I did it that once, when you had a nose bleed."

Sirius pursed his lips, "That was only a drop though."

Lenora coughed. "Are you planning on bleeding to your death in my presence, because I'd much rather you didn't?"

"You'd rather I didn't do what, bleed to death or do it in your presence?" He wanted to clarify.

She shrugged, "I'll leave it for you to decide." She smiled sweetly at Sirius, he rolled his pearl grey eyes.

Lenora looked back down at her homework so she could finish it as it was due the next day but Sirius spoke up again.

"What would happen if you drank human blood?"

"Er -" she paused glancing around the room to make sure no students were sitting near them, "The same as drinking animal blood, but it would sustain me a lot better I think, it would make me stronger, and it would taste nicer."

"Does your dad drink human blood?"

Lenora nodded, slowly.

"Oh," Sirius said, his mouth forming an 'O' shape.

It was silent again for a few minutes, but only because Madam Pince was lurking behind the pairs table eager to catch them up to something.

Once the librarian had gone back to her desk, Sirius looked back up, another question ready.

"You don't mind me asking questions, do you?" He asked first, to make sure. Lenora doesn't like speaking about herself and she despises talking about her condition more.

"No," she told him, "It's fine."

"Oh, good." Sirius smiled. He was messing with his hair, holding it behind his head as if he was going to tie it into a ponytail, only to let go again and let it fall against his face. "Do you think you'll ever drink human blood?"

Lenora thought. "I don't want to."

"What if you had to."

"Why would I have to?"

"Hypothetically." Sirius waved his hand about. "If we were locked in a room for weeks and I agreed to let you drink my blood would you? If you could stop yourself."

Lenora bit her bottom lip. "If I had the choice not to then I wouldn't, I'm just worried that one day I might not have the choice."

Sirius nodded.

"It's like if a bear was to eat a human," Lenora began to say after a short minutes silence, "They get killed because once they've had a taste of a human they see humans as food for the rest of their lives."

"Do you think you'd be strong enough to," Sirius paused to think, his finger grazing his chin. "I don't know, rip my heart out?"

Lenora raised her eyebrows.

"Again, I wouldn't want to find out."

-

"Do you want to come and watch the Quidditch match with me on Sunday?" Sirius asked, mid-yawn.

"I don't like Quidditch," Lenora replied, having finally given up on the essay. "I don't understand the rules."

"I don't think anybody does," Sirius laughed, "Except James, probably."

Lenora smiled.

"It's Ravenclaw against Slytherin, it will be fun to watch my brother get knocked off of his broom."

"That's an awful thing to say," Lenora said, "And from what I've heard there's no way your brother would get knocked off, he's a great flyer. Apparently."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You can sit in the Gryffindor stands?" He suggested, "Dorcas will be."

Lenora hummed. "I'll think about it."