The Clockwork Locket || SIRIUS BLACK

The Second Match

Thick snow and frosted grounds heralded the arrival of February. Hogwarts had been swept with a bitterly cold wind from the north that led the students and staff to stay cooped inside to avoid the biting chill. Cassie, however, was quite sick of being stuck indoors all the time, especially when the group of third years sitting at the table behind her in the common room were holding a belching contest whilst she wrote an essay about goblin rights in the nineteenth century.

"That's disgusting," Marlene commented, wrinkling her nose after a particularly loud belch assaulted their ears, followed by the boys' roaring laughter. "Why do they do that?"

"All that hot gas they keep bottled inside has to go somewhere, I guess," Cassie replied, scowling at another belch. "Where's Lily? She's a prefect; they'll listen to her if she tells them to shut their gob."

"In the library," Marlene said, dipping her quill into her inkpot before scribbling a sentence on her paper. "Said she wanted some quiet so she could do her work."

"If I didn't mind Madam Pince breathing down my neck the whole time I'd say we join her, but alas." Cassie shrugged, popping her knuckles and looking out the window.

"How are the blokes?" Marlene asked.

She shrugged again. "Fine. Still arrogant and insufferable idiots, but at least they're my arrogant and insufferable idiots."

Marlene hummed. "And Sirius? Are you still avoiding him?"

Cassie stiffened at the mention of the Marauder, but she kept her expression neutral when she said, "I haven't been avoiding him."

"Really?" Marlene paused in her writing to give her a high-browed glance. "Because you've barely spoken to him in two weeks. That kind of seems like avoiding."

"Focusing on school is not avoiding," she pointed out, scratching at her arm. "You've seen the course load they've given us for O.W.L.s. It's never ending!"

"Then you should tell him that," Marlene said. "He's worried about you, Cass, that much is evident."

Cassie spluttered, her face going red. "Where does he get off on that?"

"Dunno," Marlene said, thankfully not noticing Cassie's flushed face, "but at least let him know you're all right, so he can stop staring at you whenever you walk into a room. I'm surprised you haven't spontaneously burst into flame yet."

"I'm going to gouge his eyes out," Cassie muttered under her breath, low enough so Marlene couldn't hear it, but luckily the blonde witch dropped the subject after that, leaving Cassie alone to brood.

It had been a fortnight since they had broken into Carlisle's office and Sirius's unexpected declaration, and though she hated it, she had to admit Marlene was right—she had been avoiding Sirius; or as much as she could, given the perpetual presence of the Marauders around her. She had allowed them to read what was written of Miranda's story, but she and James had agreed that they would continue the painstaking process of translating their respective books until they got the ending—which was easier said than done, of course, as the amount of homework for the fifth years had increased dramatically upon their return from the holiday in preparation of their O.W.L.s in the summer.

Sirius, to her grudging relief, had yet to bring up the topic of their discussion the night she had stayed in his bed, but a large possibility of that was simply because she never gave him enough time to put in two words to her. She had tried her best to shake that night off as nothing more than a hallucination, but she knew it was pointless—Sirius had feelings for her, apparently, and now waited on her to show her hand. But did she even have a hand to show?