Vivicendium ➝ Sirius Black/OC

Aeger amore

Chapter Twenty Four | Aeger amore

[Love's sickness]

If Vivian thinks that the strange energy between her and Sirius Black is destined to come to a swift end, she is quite wrong. In fact, it is only just beginning, which is something that she can't help but notice as Christmas break gets nearer and nearer. It isn't Christmas itself that brings in these alterations, but rather the events surrounding it. (Cheer and happiness and all that shite.)

The first event to give her pause is less of an event in a literal sense and more of a string of happenstances that strike her as odd. James seems to have taken to Sirius's nickname of her, and in a bizarre sequence of passing moments spread out during the next two weeks, he's decided to acknowledge her in the hallways, whenever their paths cross. His short nods and brief greetings are downright weird, especially because Vivian doesn't feel that they are sarcastically murmured. In fact, it almost seems to her as though he's convinced that the short-lived camaraderie that had been haphazardly forged between them on that fateful patrol some days ago is still very much in existence.

The second event is really more of a postscript to the first, and encompasses the entirety of the Marauders rather than just James. There seems to be a strange and slightly awkward hesitance whenever they find themselves in each other's vicinity, and only James seems to have found a way of navigating it with his odd acknowledgements. There isn't much difference in Remus's character, who has never given her reason to dislike him besides his poor choice in friends; or in Peter's, who still scurries behind someone else whenever he sees her, as if he thinks that she's there to enact revenge for some old grudge that she has against him. No, the real change exists within Sirius Black.

It isn't that he has suddenly become less antagonistic towards her – it's that his very definition of antagonistic seems to have been turned upside down. His sneers are less potent, and he's taken to ignoring her rather than calling her out like he normally would. Since the incident on patrol, whether in class or in the corridor, he has become...well, she's not sure how to describe it. Coldly cordial, perhaps? In any case, it's strange, and she's not sure she trusts it, but no matter how many suspicious glances she's given him over the last week, his attitude towards her has remained unfaltering.

The third event that proves she is not imagining this strange new energy between them is, in fact, an actual event. It is an event that she has been both dreading and looking forward to for some weeks now. Dreading, because Slug Club parties happen to be things that she innately dislikes; looking forward to, because for the most part, she'll be in familiar territory and it means that she's one step closer to the holidays. According to Slughorn, at least, Christmas is meaningless without one of his gatherings.

"What are you wearing?" Morrigan snidely wonders as she casts a glance at Rosalind, who is at this very moment prancing about in front of the mirror as she brushes out nonexistent wrinkles and admires her new dress robes. The mystery of what it is, exactly, that Rosalind is wearing (and why she's wearing it at all, seeing as she isn't even going to the party) happens to be one that they're all somewhat invested in, if only because it gives them a reason to tease her.

Rosalind looks a bit scandalized at the question, of course, which she makes known when she promptly huffs, "What am I wearing? Do you not keep up with the current fashion? Honestly! What a stupid question!"

"You look like you're trying to be an ostrich," Vivian deadpans from the other side of the room, pausing for a moment as she curls her already wavy hair with her wand. She's never quite perfected beauty spells the way Rosalind has, and so instead of gorgeous curls, she ends up with tight ringlets that make her look like she got into an altercation with one of those scary muggle hair irons. (Of which Rosalind has told her many shiver-inducing horror stories.) She'll have to steal some of Narcissa's hair cream to fix the mess that is her hair, but anyway –