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SEPTEMBER 1976 ╱ hogwarts, scotland
Sirius sat at the back of the potions classroom beside James Potter, listening to the boy bat on and on about Lily Evans.
Truthfully, Sirius could not see why James was so obsessed with the girl, he understood that he had a thing for Lily but to go as far as the boy did, well, he just wouldn't understand that.
Last year was the first year Potter had ever kissed a girl, something he could not imagine doing for the first time at fifteen. You could have started a lot longer before.
James never spoke of the brief relationship, if that's what it was. All they knew was that she was in Ravenclaw and Sirius had never gone out with her, but that still made it difficult for him to work out who it was. He didn't like Ravenclaws much.
"Have you heard much about the new girl?" James said abruptly, steering Black out of his daydream. He shook his head and ignored James again.
"I think she's Muggleborn and had never been to a Wizarding school before, and I think she's French–"
"What? She's French?" Sirius looked over at where Lily was sitting with Marlene, Alice and a brunette with freckles and light pink lips. She looked extremely bored and uninterested in what was going around her.
She turned her head towards him and noticed his eyes on her. She flushed pink and turned away, a small smile on her face.
"Why were you wondering about her?" Sirius asked.
"Apparently we're tutoring her, look." He handed Sirius a scroll of parchment from his bag and passed it to him.
It was James' school letter, the one you received over the holidays, Sirius hadn't bothered to read him. He would not be a prefect, or head boy nor quidditch captain since James had secured that position in fourth year.
But at the bottom of James' letter was a paragraph speaking of a new student who would need tutoring. James had been asked to help her with defence against the dark arts.
"You should find the letter, and I'm surprised you didn't open it, you were at my house then anyway."
Sirius' throat went dry at the memory of leaving number twelve Grimmauld Place. He knew not to dwell on such things but he could remove the scene from his head.
Red lights, yells, silver plates clattering to the ground, necessary movement and warm blood and cold tears. The sneaking out of the house, the declaration of not belonging, the whole fiasco was traumatising.
James mouthed a 'sorry' to him and the boys went silent, as Slughorn began teaching.
***
How Katya hated slow walkers. She disliked them with every bone in her body. If you were walking you must have a distant target close or far, either way you have somewhere to be, get there for god sake!
The brunette walked alongside Marlene on their way to the library to meet Lily and Alice who had had Care of Magical Creatures.
Katya muttered curse words in her delicate French accent and had the urge to kick the back of their shins. They were talking loudly and one of them was waving their hand excitedly.
"James for fuck sake!" Marlene said abruptly.
A shiver went down her spine when the four boys turned around and she realised she was behind the Marauders the entire time.
Her eyes quickly connected with Sirius' and goosebumps appeared on her bare arm. He started back at her, more interested in her than she was in him.
I can't like him anymore, he's a slow walker, she thought stupidly.
The two halves of her brain were fighting furiously, but her heart was fluttering, just being in his presence. She felt elated.
It took her a moment to realise James and Marlene were having a conversation about Quidditch, something Katya knew she would never have interest in.
Her life lay in books, and poetry she couldn't write. Ink on paper was like an internal getaway, from the chaos and trauma that was her life. If only she had the skill, tragedy wrote the best stories.
"Y'know we've never been introduced, I'm Sirius Black." He stuck out his hand in an almost posh way and Katya refrained from snorting, but she shook his hand nonetheless.
"Katya Duval."
At her names, Black's face lit up. He stopped shaking her hand, but he had not let go. Suddenly she felt uncomfortable, like his grey eyes were trailing down her like hands, touching her at every corner.
"Tu es français?" He was grinning while he spoke, and Katya assumed she was meant to be charmed.
She pulled her hand away from him, and nodded. "Oui, comment se fait-il que tu parles français?" In less than three minutes, Katya wanted almost nothing to do with Sirius Black. She took a step back, watching Sirius become more and more confused.
"Mon père ne le disait qu'à moi," he said.
The brunette nodded stiffly again and turned away, leaving Black behind.
***
It had taken Katya a long time to find the library, and the sun had already begun to set when she reached the dimly lit room.
It was impossible not to spot Lily on the other side of the library chatting with Alice, Marlene and a brunette girl with a long plait down her back.
"Oh, Katya! You're here, did you get lost? I'm so sorry, someone got too busy talking about Quidditch." She directed her comment towards the blonde sitting opposite her and Marlene grinned and mouthed a quick apology to Katya.
"This is Rosie Smith by the way, she's in Ravenclaw." The girl with the plait smiled kindly at Katya and shook her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Marls here told me you're from France!" Her cheeks went as rosy as her name as the two girls sat down.
Rosie and Marlene started bombarding her with more questions about France, and Katya felt a little guilty not being able to respond to them. She hadn't only told Lily that she had lived in an orphanage, and it seemed that Lily had been a decent enough person not to tell the world.
"Can you two be quiet please, and leave poor Katya alone? I'm sure her first day's been enough, plus she's most likely been pounced on by Peaves too," Alice said, pulling Marlene away from Katya. "Now, Lily can do her teaching, and I'll strangle these two for you."
୨ৎ suki's note
i need to make my chapters longer
also give me ideas for risk and dear reader (working on a hoax chapter atm but dear reader is the second in the series and idk where to start!!)
