Human Design | Sirius Black

xxii. Homophobia is Not a Joke

AS THE FINAL Quidditch match of the year between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor approached, much of the school forgot all else. Exams were pushed to second place (there would be time to worry about them even after the Quidditch season was over) and the approaching game, which would be on the last Saturday of May, became first priority. Because it was the last match which would determine the winner of the Inter-House Cup, even those who belonged to one of the other Houses chose either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor to support, and Reece along with the rest of his team was treated either to encouragements or quipped insults in the corridors from people he had never spoken to before.

In addition, James Potter, being James Potter, spent all of his time coming up with prank ideas to sabotage the competition with but Reece who had been receiving this treatment for years now knew better than to accept any food, drinks, or other items offered to him by anybody and checking around corners or above doors before walking into any room or corridor was now second nature.

"You thirsty?"

Just as he had expected, Sirius had (without invitation, as always) sat down on the bench beside him within minutes from Reece arriving in the Great Hall for lunch. He didn't even bother to give him, James who stood behind him, or the goblet he was so graciously offering him more than a glance. "I am, actually," he said, digging into his bag, "which is why it's so brilliant that I have my own bottle that I can carry around and drink water from wherever I feel thirsty –" (he made a great drama of unscrewing the cap from the metal bottle) "– like right now, and I don't need to touch whatever poison you're trying to feed me."

Sirius watched impatiently as Reece took a long swing of the clean and safe water he had filled into the bottle himself. "It's not poison," he said, rolling his eyes.

A humourless laugh that only lasted for a split-second left his throat. "Drink it yourself then."

He quickly placed the goblet down on the table. "I'm not thirsty."

Reece glanced up at James who looked thoroughly disappointed and then started eating his lunch. "What happened to playing fair and square?"

"We are; there's no rule in Quidditch that says you aren't allowed to offer beverages and snacks to members of opposing teams in the weeks following a match," said James, clearly trying not to sound too impressed with himself though he failed.

Joshua, who had been reading the Daily Prophet (not having had time in the morning) on the seat opposite Reece, glanced up tiredly. "Are all Gryffindors full of shit is it just you two?"

In an instant, Sirius's eyes were narrowed into a cold glare. "Are all Ravenclaws ugly idiots is it just your team?"

If he had hoped the comment to elicit a response aside from patronising amusement, he didn't get it. "That's class, Black, very original," Josh said sarcastically. His lips twitched with a smirk though he managed to remove it from his lips almost completely when he added, "You could use some more wit."

"Is that a dick joke? I bet you thought I'm too dumb to know but even I've read Shakespeare, me and Prongs can do a pretty good dramatic reenactment of Romeo and Julet."

Josh gave a noncommittal shrug and returned back to the Daily Prophet. "Statistics are statistics, that's all I'm saying."

With a scoff, Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah and I bet your dick is a bloody foot long then is it?"

Turning the page, Josh gave another shrug and said, "Most of my family's Colombian," without looking up.

Reece, whose cheeks were burning hot once again, would have liked to ask them to change the conversation topic but he seemed to have lost his voice and wasn't able to conjure up anything more than guttural sounds at the back of his throat that were covered up when Sirius began his retaliation ("well, I'll have you know –") but, thankfully, James interrupted with a loud, "Oi, Yrsa!" as he grabbed onto the girl's arm as she went to walk past to get out of the Great Hall.