𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐏A𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄, jp

A Bad Day.

"Wizzle," Sirius said as he flopped down beside Izzy in Herbology, taking Lily's usual seat without a second thought.

"Sirius," she greeted, glancing up at him. The nickname still sounded ridiculous to her. "Why are you sitting here?"

"You've broken James," Sirius announced dramatically, like he was reciting poetry. "And I need you to fix him."

"What are you talking about?" She frowned, her heart racing at the thought of James being upset with her. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You tell me, Wizz. He won't speak to Moony," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Care to explain why?"

Her stomach clenched. She never should've told James the truth about Maisie.

"If James doesn't want to talk to my idiot brother, that's his choice," she said coolly with a shrug. "I don't control him."

"But Wizz," Sirius said, exasperated, "something changed after your little chat in the common room last night. What did you talk about?"

"Nothing important," she lied smoothly. "We just talked about our Christmases."

"And? Was yours any good?"

"It was... fine," she said, lying again. She seemed to be doing that a lot more often these days.

"You're terrible at lying, by the way."

"I'm not lying."

"You are," Sirius said matter-of-factly. "Besides, Moony already told me what happened over Christmas."

"Remus what?" she said sharply, her fingers instantly twisting in the sleeves of her jumper. "What exactly did he say? I swear to Merlin, when I see that idiot—"

"Relax," Sirius interrupted with a grin. "He didn't actually tell me anything. But you just admitted something did happen. So... is that why James won't talk to him?"

Izzy glared at Sirius, resisting the urge to drop her head into the Herbology table. "You're insufferable, you know that?"

Sirius grinned. "That's not a no."

She exhaled sharply, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. "Whatever happened or didn't happen over Christmas is none of your business."

Sirius tilted his head, studying her like he was trying to read through her skin. "You told Prongs something. And now he's all stormy-eyed and growly. Which, don't get me wrong, looks hot on him if you're into that tortured, broody type but it's not normal."

"Maybe he's just tired," she said flatly.

Sirius made a noise of disbelief. "He's James Potter. He'd still be cracking jokes if you dragged him out of bed at four in the morning and made him duel a troll. Nah. This is something else."

Izzy didn't respond. She thought back to when James was talking about how everyone expected him to be happy all the time. She understood what he meant. She focused on the spiky-looking plant Professor Sprout had just dumped in front of them and began fiddling with her gloves.

Sirius leaned in slightly, his tone softening. "Look, I'm not trying to pry. Well, I am, but mostly because I care. Moony's been weird since he got back, and now Prongs is acting like Remus ended the world, and you look like you're about to explode every five minutes."

She didn't meet his eyes. "That's a bit dramatic."

"I'm a Black. Drama is the only thing we do well."

Izzy gave the tiniest of smirks, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Sirius reached over and gently nudged her arm. "Whatever it is, I'm not here to judge. I just don't want all this to mess things up. For any of you."