Vivicendium ➝ Sirius Black/OC

Primum cognitum

A/N: I did plan this chapter out, but once again Sirius stormed his way into said plans and changed everything around, so. There is a specific moment in this chapter that I did not expect, but I'm pretty sure you'll all enjoy the surprise :)

Chapter Thirty Eight | Primum cognitum

[The first thing known]

"So you do realize that Sophia is pretty pissed off, right?" Marlene McKinnon drawls as she throws herself onto the couch in the Gryffindor common room beside Sirius's sprawled figure. The fire crackles merrily in the hearth, warming the occupants of the room as it quietly blazes away. One of those occupants happens to still be in his brooding mood, because Sirius doesn't even turn to glance at Marlene as she makes herself comfortable next to him. She pulls out one of her trashy romance novels and flips to the page where she'd left off as she leans into the cushions.

Sirius scoffs and mutters, "I'm sure she'll get over it."

Across the way, Remus raises his eyebrows a notch as he arranges the chess pieces across the board that James had pulled out, but he refrains from saying anything. As for James, who is sitting across from Remus at the short coffee table, well...

"You can't just ditch a girl and expect her to be okay with it, Sirius," he says, only half paying attention to his brooding friend. Peter, who is only too happy to not be playing wizard's chess, nods in agreement, apparently feeling more inclined to take James's side this time. His loyalty is constantly changing between James and Sirius, so this isn't necessarily surprising.

Sirius doesn't seem like he cares overmuch and just shrugs, not looking away from the fire, which he's broodingly staring into. Unfortunately, though, his silent attempt at deflection doesn't do him much good.

"Sophia isn't the type to let you get away with this. She's too stubborn for that," Marlene adds breezily, not looking as if she's expecting a response from her brooding ex-boyfriend, or whatever Sirius is to her (honestly, neither of them are quite sure). She doesn't look very concerned that Sirius's attention is elsewhere, which is probably because she isn't very concerned. Marlene and Sirius have always had an understanding and they don't typically let their lives intersect too emotionally.

"I don't really care, Marl," Sirius mutters, and tilts his head back. He closes his eyes, appearing for all the world as though he is eternally indifferent to everything occurring around him, and falls silent again.

Marlene turns to study his profile and raises a pointed eyebrow at him. He really doesn't look like he cares all that much, which is altogether very characteristic of him. Marlene knows Sirius fairly well, though, and she has a funny feeling that there's more going on in his head than he is outwardly showing.

"No?" she wonders, eyebrows raising further when she sees the person who is now entering the common room. "Well you might want to have a good excuse ready, because someone else does care."

At this, Sirius opens his eyes and tips his head to the side to send Marlene a confused look. His confusion promptly vanishes when he hears the telltale sound of an angry female storming towards him. Admittedly, it's a sound that he happens to know very well, and is therefore well-equipped to handle the consequences of it.

"Black! I waited for you in The Three Broomsticks for an hour and you never showed," Sophia's voice screeches from behind him. The usual dulcet tones of it are now skewed in her anger, and vaguely remind him of nails on a chalkboard.

He cringes, then expertly dodges to the right – just in time to avoid Sophia's fist as it slams down where his head at just been.

"Sorry, Keene. Let's reschedule, yeah?" Sirius drawls, unfazed by the attack. He's probably the only person in the room who is acting as if this is a normal occurrence. Well – the other Marauders hardly bother glancing up, and Marlene just idly flips the page of her book but – the rest of the common room turns to stare at the confrontation with wide eyes.