Second hand smoke | Sirius Black

Chapter 1: Mona Lisa

Joy moved through the train ignoring weird looks from other Ravenclaws. She kept her head high and tried to seem as confident as ever, even though all her muscles were getting ready for an attack.

She was late, so of course there wasn't any free compartment. She was considering just riding in the corridor, when the door next to her opened.

In it was standing Amon - one of the most popular boys in entire Hogwarts. He seemed surprised to see someone there but as soon as he realised it's her, the smile that made most people swoon entered his lips.

„Joy!" he exclaimed with well, joy. „I'm so happy to see you. Do you want to sit with us?"

She couldn't help but smile at him. She saw some girls looking at her with daggers in their eyes and she could completely understand why. Not only, she was friends with this walking sunshine, but moreover, she had the experience of dating him. She felt bad for them knowing that the reality of this situation wasn't half as enjoyable as they thought.

„I don't want to intrude" she said, seeing that apart from Amon, compartment was filled with three other guys from Hufflepuff quidditch team.

„Stop it. You're not intruding anything" he said making dismissive gesture with his hand. „Do you want me to take it from you?" He pointed at the trunk next to her.

„Yes, please" she said. „Thank you".

It truly wasn't any problem for him considering how tall and strong was Amon thanks to quidditch. Sometimes when she was looking at his nonchalance in lifting heavy things she wondered if she should join the team too.

„So how have you been?" Amon asked when she sat down next to window.

„Well, not as terrible as I thought" she said feeling uncomfortable in front of other boys.

Amon was still smiling, but she felt instinctively he is studying her face. She tried to ignore the awkwardness being watched brought to her.

He understood she doesn't want to talk about heavy subjects. He started asking about her summer instead. Even told some jokes to make her more at ease. She really appreciated the way he managed to calm her anxiety enough so she could finally feel sleepy after the entire night without any rest.

In a true Hufflepuff manner the moment she started getting tired, the topic of conversation got changed to quidditch so she wouldn't feel bad about not joining it. Joy at first listened to excited voices around her but they didn't follow her to the world of dreams.

In her sleep she saw her mum, the day she died. She was standing in front of burning building but this time, it wasn't the house of their neighbours, but Hogwarts. Enormous castle looked like a demon straight from hell ready to swallow her mother.

She knew how it would end so she didn't even feel the need to scream when Elena Woods ran inside, leaving only a sight of her honey braid disappearing in flames and last words that would haunt Joy for years: „Someone has to help".

She watched calmly as entire castle started falling down when a thought entered her head „But why does it always have to be you?".

Joy was woken up by Amon as they were arriving to Hogwarts. She looked around in sleepy confusion and realised other boys already left the compartment. She jerked up worried she overslept, her brain still covered in the smoke of dream.

„Woah, woah" he said raising his hands to calm her down. „It's okay. I thought you don't want to miss the station"

„Yeah" she said weakly and blinked a few times in hopes to wake up. „Sorry".