A Circle of Flame- Sirius Black x OC

Chapter 29

A loud crash woke Liza from a deep slumber. She rubbed her eyes, sitting with a jolt. Her head still spun with a groggy fog.

"What the—"

"Sorry Baby P." Sirius looked sheepish from where he sat on the floor. The dark circles beneath his eyes had lightened considerably, but his shoulders were still weighed with an uncharacteristic slump. "Got bored."

Liza followed his gaze to where James's bed had toppled on its right side. Several pillows had been dragged across the floor, their feather innards floating in the air.

"Did a dog— PADFOOT." Liza's exhaustion was quickly forgotten as her brain slowly began to assemble the dots. "Your Animagus is a dog."

"Finally figured that one out." Shrugging, Sirius looked not at all abashed at his disaster. "I'm a bit disappointed for someone who's near the top of the class."

Liza stared at the mess disdainfully and pushed herself to her feet. "Reparo Locomotar." The rips torn through the pillows rapidly mended themselves before soaring back onto James's bed. With a few flicks of her wand, the bed remade itself into a respectable state. "Perhaps you should have transfigured into a pig instead."

"I couldn't sleep with all your snoring." Sirius collapsed back onto James's comforter, undoing the crisp folds. "Plus, the potion woke me up."

Turning back, Liza saw that two of the vials she had carefully set beside the cauldron had been emptied. "You're only supposed to drink one!" Her voice was a shrill squeak.

"Good things come in higher doses." Sirius grinned, revealing the crooked canine on his left side. It was the sole aspect of his appearance that wasn't perfect.

Humming unamused, Liza tapped the potions kit to seal the contents before the Gryffindor got into anything else. "Are you going to tell me what happened? Or should we leave and continuing ignoring each other until the next time you get pissed?"

The boldness of her speech surprised even her, and she glanced over to assess Sirius's reaction. Perhaps she should have just let the subject be.

Sirius's jovial nature splintered. He took out his wand, drumming on his leg nervously with an uneven rhythm. It was a habit Liza had witnessed from James all too many times.

"I told Severus to come to the Whomping Willow last full moon.

"I see," Liza's mouth widened in realization as she forgot cleaning her potions kit. "And Remus found out, I wager?"

Frowning, Sirius shot her a bewildered expression. "You don't seem surprised."

"Severus already told me." Liza tugged her hand through her knotted hair. Her anger at Sirius had faded nearly as quickly as it came. She still wasn't sure why. "What did Remus say?"

"That I should leave if I wanted him to ever speak to me again."

The mortification in Sirius's tone was obvious. The Gryffindor stared down at his shoes. A heavy sense of guilt deadened the life in his gaze and the pot of lilies next to James's mattress wilted. Liza wondered how the room could be so attuned to emotion.

"I'm sure he just needs time." Sha had never been very good at offering consolation. How did people like Lily Evans always know the right thing to say? "You didn't think about getting him in trouble, just ruffling Snape's feathers—"

"That's just it. I didn't think." Buring his head in his hands, Liza was horrified to see an oozing gash stretched across his arm. She really hoped it wasn't the result of Remus's claws. The wound was badly infected. "I'm an idiot."

"You are. And not just for that." Liza kneeled in front of Sirius, running a basic diagnostic exam. He would need more than just a mending charm. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Sirius didn't respond, but she caught a feeble twitch of his brow. A disturbing certainty slithered its way across her lungs.

"You left this unhealed on purpose, didn't you?"

The silence was all she needed.

"Merlin," Liza pushed her hair back into a tight knot as she pulled out her wand from her robes. "I can assure you that this is the last thing Remus would want." Reaching out, she took Sirius's wrist tentatively. The Gryffindor didn't pull away. "This is going to hurt."

She sliced her wand point directly in front of the wound with a sharp motion. "Defencerious." His marred flesh gave a soft hiss before a cloud of sickly green rose from the arm.

Sirus let out a grunt but gave no other sign of his pain. Swishing her hand, Liza dismissed the poisonous mist. "That should clear most of the infection, but you really need to see Pomfrey. If you don't, you could lose a limb."

There was nothing but more silence. Sirius still hadn't looked up from the ground.

"Sirius," the name felt foreign on her tongue and Liza tried not to linger on the way it rolled from her lips. "If you aren't able to forgive yourself, you won't be able to help anyone else either."

Finally, the Gryffindor lifted his head. A thickening beard had darkened his sharp chin. Despite his disheveled state, the cologne of pine and musk still filled the space between them. A slight grin pulled the right corner of his mouth.

"Now there's the Gryffindor spirit I've been waiting for."

Liza sat back on her heels with an eye roll. "In your dreams, Black."

"Oh, you are," Sirius reached out a hand and Liza took it hesitantly before standing to her feet. "Would you like to hear? It involves some Firewhiskey, lace knickers, and—"

His words were silenced with a quick jab of Liza's wand. Her cheeks heated a deep scarlet. It was impossible to tell whether the boy was trying to get a rise out of her, but she was glad to see that the mischievous glint to his eyes had returned. Then her gaze caught sight of her watch.

"Bloody hell," she darted for her bookbag. "You lot have ruined my reputation as a good student."

Her last glance of Sirius was through the closing door. The Gryffindor sent her a mocking wave. Whether he would take her advice, Liza wasn't sure. Yet she felt that he was in a better place than last night. She tried not to linger on the memory of their proximity. Never would she allow herself to be deceived by the charms of Sirius Black. But it was becoming more difficult not to overanalyze his every comment.