Filthy Purebloods | ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

New Admirer

It didn't escape Sidra's notice that she had a new admirer. Sirius Black hadn't looked away from her for the entirety of the lunch hour and it was rather irritating.

Marina quirked her eyebrow. "What's his problem?" She asked, biting into a juicy red apple. She scrunched her face in distaste, flicked her wand and turned the apple into a shimmering blue pear instead.

Sidra was speechless for a few moments, not having seen Marina arrive and being scared silly when her friend suddenly began to talk and then put on a display of eating a strangely coloured fruit. She shook off her shock, "You mean Sirius? I have no idea but it's annoying."

"Mmm. Shall I slip something into his pumpkin juice? Say, every time he looks at you he loses an inch of hair?" She grinned evilly.

Sidra chuckled. "It might help to quell his ego," She looked over her shoulder at him. "Although I doubt even going bald would make him stop staring into every reflective surface he passes."

Marina shrugged and then smiled mischievously. "Your lover boys approaching."

For a second, Sidra thought Marina meant Sirius but when the scent of parchment and the chemical smell of injured plants reached her nose, she knew it was, in fact, his brother. She looked up at Regulus and offered him a small smile that he didn't return.

"Sidra, we have prefect duty."

She gasped. "I completely forgot!" She stuffed her things into her bag and stood.

"Reg, do you even eat?" Marina chuckled. "You are so skinny and you're always missing meals because of prefect duty. Sit for once, have a bite to eat."

Regulus looked around the Great Hall, his eyes narrowing on something behind Sidra. It didn't take a genius to guess what but before she could come up with an excuse for Sirius's gaze, Regulus had sat beside her.

Marina jumped up and sent Sidra a discrete wink. "Gotta go!"

"My brother is staring at you," Regulus mumbled, reaching over Sidra's plate for an untouched newspaper.

"Really?" She asked coyly. "We bickered a bit last night."

He hummed in response, too absorbed by whatever was inscribed in the Daily Prophet to pay attention to her. Sidra watched him, admiring how a single dark curl fell over his eyebrow and how his chocolatey eyes flicked over the page.

When he looked up she quickly focused on something - anything - else so he wouldn't catch her staring at him.

"We have Potions class in a few minutes." He stood and looked at her expectantly. Sidra stood and draped her bag over her shoulder. "Slughorn doesn't like it when the prefects dawdle."

The pace of her heartbeat quickened as she walked through the Great hall, side by side with Regulus. They were so close she could smell him and practically feel the material of his robes brushing against hers. She was internally squealing as they reached Slughorn's class and Regulus turned to her.

"It's not my place," He said. "But you'd do well to not get mixed up with my brother."

Sidra didn't know what to make of his advice, but one thing was clear – being involved with Sirius had gotten Regulus's attention. For people who had an awful lot in common, Sidra and Regulus had never exchanged more than a few sentences and now he had sat with her at lunch!

It was obvious what she had to do. And it involved a certain troublesome Gryffindor.

Ϟ

Sidra stepped into the library, determined to complete her History of Magic paper before the morning. The essay was comparing the Goblin Wars of 1612 and 1752 - it was an extremely tedious part of the curriculum with many tiny details to recall and she needed to get at least Exceeds Expectations if she was going to please her parents.

She skimmed the notes she'd made on both and realized with a sigh that she'd probably need all night to complete the essay if she wanted to have it in by the deadline. History of Magic wasn't her toughest subject, which is why she'd left it until the last minute. A fact she was deeply regretting now as she stared at the blank piece of parchment in front of her.

To make matters worse, her usual seat in the library was occupied by none other than Sirius Black. She was in no mood for confrontation and chose another spot to sit in but it was far away from the books she needed. She glanced at her usual place longingly before returning her attention to the task at hand.

A few blissfully quiet moments passed in which she was able to write out an entire paragraph before the chair beside her was pulled out. Sidra didn't need to look up to know who it was. "What do you want?" She huffed, dipping her quill into the ink jar.

"You don't usually sit here."

She turned to face Sirius. "There was some obnoxious prick in my seat so I had to change plans."

Sirius grinned and leaned back in his chair. "As you were."

He seemed perfectly content to just watch her work but she couldn't push aside how strange his behaviour was. The last time they talked it became clear he had a problem with her, so why was he being... civil? Why was he even near her at all?

She stared at him, determined to break this false demeanour and get to the bottom of his sudden change of attitude. Not only had Sidra inherited brilliant Quidditch skills but also a menacing stare that could break even the most stubborn of wizards.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Look... I thought about what you said and... Maybe I am prejudiced. A little."

She blinked in surprise.

"And... I shouldn't have judged you before."

"Is this..." Dare she say it? "An apology?" Sidra couldn't help but crack a smile, so humorous the situation was. She hadn't spent another moment thinking about what had happened in the library the other day. Clearly, Sirius had dwelled on it for some time if he was coming and apologizing days later.

"Don't make a big thing of it, but... Yes."

"Sirius Black, apologizing. Imagine!"

He shushed her. "You'll ruin my reputation."

She laughed, which seemed to break the tension and Sirius began to laugh too before Sidra caught herself and quietened down. She didn't want to get kicked out of the library. And she didn't want to be caught enjoying herself around Sirius Black either.

"Anyway... I'd like to make it up to you for being such an obnoxious prick."

She looked down at her parchment and smiled. Perhaps he wasn't so bad.

"Maybe one on one Quidditch practice so we can see who's really the better player?"

"You're on!"

He stood. "Then I'll see you Saturday, bright and early, to kick your ass."

"You wish." She rolled her eyes. "Now go, I have work to do."

He laughed and stood. "Yes. I'll let you get back to your fascinating essay." He leaned over her shoulder. "You spelt goblin wrong." He laughed before running off.

Sidra shook her head and skimmed over the paper, seeing that indeed, she had misspelt the word in the last line. It was the final word she'd written before he had come to sit by her, which proved that Sirius Black was a terrible distraction if nothing else.

But she was willing to put up with him if it meant garnering Regulus's attention.