deceit - sirius black

twenty-one

After Sabrina's first week of living with her siblings, it was time for her and Seth to return to Hogwarts, for the final term of the year and Seth's last term ever. It wasn't until leaving Sam's house that Sabrina realised how un-fun her life at home had been - yes, her and Sam had the occasional joke between them, but overall it had been very structured and serious. In one week at Sadie's, the three of them had camped in the garden, played hours of monopoly, had several cook-offs, and spent many nights in blanket forts, as though they were children again.

Sabrina had written to Sirius as often as their owls could deliver their letters, telling him of all their antics: he was happy for her, and she was probably at her happiest, yet there was still the overwhelming weight of the knowledge that she was lying to him. Like always, she attempted to push it to the back of her mind, simply enjoying getting used to life with her siblings again.

On the morning of the journey back to Hogwarts, Sadie had seen Seth and Sabrina to the train station, but let them go through to the platform on their own. It had taken less time than either had expected for them to become close once more, and there was hardly an awkward second that went by between them.

At 11:58, two minutes before the train left, Sabrina nudged her brother, "Last one to the train's a rotten Hippogriff egg." And ran off towards the train, with Seth close behind her. They pushed through crowds and dodged wandering First Years, not paying attention to whether they knew the people they were pushing, or not.

As it happened, Sabrina made it to the train first: through efforts to catch their breath, they said their goodbyes, and went separate ways to find their friends.

Sabrina found the girls' compartment first, and soon got to telling Marlene and Lily of her first week living with Sadie and Seth: it was odd for them to see her so openly happy. It seemed that their week of visiting the Potters' together had brought them close enough for them to see this side of her.

Marlene told of her two days visiting Natalia's family, which Sabrina was not as opposed to hearing as she thought she'd be: she was happy for the both of them, despite Natalia's shunning of her. Lily admitted she had been writing to James over the past few days; it was known that she had feelings for him, but writing to one another was very new.

A couple of hours into the journey, as Sabrina was fiddling with her necklace, they were greeted by the boys, two of whom were fighting over a pumpkin pasty (surprisingly, it was Remus and Peter, who were usually the calmer of the group). James slid right into the space between Sabrina and Lily, sitting close to Lily and seemingly refraining from wrapping an arm around her.

Sirius, on the other hand, reached down and gave Sabrina a hug, burying his head into the crook of her neck. This was short-lived, however, as Sirius jumped up at Peter's finger up his arse, something the boys did to each other uncomfortably often.

He got Peter back by hitting him in the crotch, but soon came to sit next to his girlfriend, leaving him and James squashed together in the middle of the seats. With about three conversations all happening at the same time for the next few hours, the journey flew by, and they were soon at Hogwarts, where, to their delight, a feast awaited.

***

Seth Wraith was unexpectedly excited to tell his friends of his sister re-joining his household. Somehow on the train journey it had completely slipped his mind, but now in the Slytherin common room, he was happily retelling the tales of Sabrina's first week at the house to his four friends.

Owen McCain, Thomas George, Dottie Henley and Lucy Hickling had been Seth's friends since First Year. He had met Thomas and Dottie through being in the same house; Dottie and Owen had been childhood friends, and Owen had met Lucy through both being in Ravenclaw: thus, their group was formed.

They had been with him through his parents' death, his fights with his oldest and youngest siblings, the split of his remaining family, and his guilt and regret regarding it all. So, to hear that his little sister was back in his life was almost as heart warming for them as it was for him: Sabrina had visited them all the time when she was in First and Second Year, so while they clearly didn't know her as well now, they remembered her fondly.

Seth wasn't a sad person in the slightest, but he was his happiest in the few moments he spoke of his family (with the exception of Sam, of course); he had always had a particular soft spot for Sabrina, being his only younger sibling.

Just as this particular conversation died down, Sabrina came through the entrance to the common room, sending a smile Seth's way as she passed, intending to go to her dormitory, as she had had a sudden realisation that evening that she had OWLs in close to a month and she had done very little preparation for it.

"Sabrina." Seth called, reaching for her arm as she passed.

"Seth!" she returned with false enthusiasm.

"Stay!" he said in the same tone.

"I need to do OWLs stuff." she sighed disappointedly.

"It's ten o'clock," Seth checked his watch, "You can do it tomorrow. Please?"

"Will you move over and give me the seat next to the arm rest?"

"Fine." he rolled his eyes and moved over, letting her sit where she wanted.

Sabrina hardly remembered her brother's friends, but there was a certain sense of familiarity and nostalgia due to her nights in her first few years at the school. They welcomed her despite them all knowing how what she (and Sam) had done had affected Seth over the years - leaving Sam seemed to suit as a sort of peace offering to Seth's friends.

At the end of the day, Sabrina was a child and Sam was an adult; if it were anybody's fault it were his. Seth's friends saw that, and soon got used to this friendly version of Sabrina rather than the one who used to only exchange awkward little glares with Seth. For the siblings, this was more or less the perfect evening.

***

Natalia Merle and Adeline Duncan rarely sat in the common room of their partners. It seemed that Sabrina was always there first, and Natalia was too stubborn to sit there with her old friend. Adeline would have happily done so, but it would only provoke Natalia, and she wasn't good enough friends with Sabrina anymore to get into an argument with her only friend over the matter.

Tonight, however, Adeline and Natalia were happily sitting, respectively, with Remus and Marlene, as the Gryffindors chattered away to each other. They were grateful that Sirius didn't seem bothered by their being there, as they anticipated he may be due to his loyalty to Sabrina. It did bother the girls, however, that he didn't know that she was using him for Death Eater-related things.

They weren't aware that Sabrina had left Sam's house, or they may have felt a little less strongly. Sirius had chosen not to tell them despite chatting to them both, as it was a strange topic to speak of with your girlfriend's old friends. He did not know, nor did it bother him, whether Marlene or Remus had informed their significant others, but he did not want to be the one to tell them.

Adeline in particular wished Sabrina was there, not exactly ready to consider her an 'ex-friend' just yet; they had often spoken of how strange it would be when one day all three of them were in relationships, and wondered if their partners would be friends: and here it was, an almost perfect situation, except that Sabrina and Natalia were being petty. Adeline only hoped her friends could one day make amends.