Detention

2

Iris sat with a stiff and straight back on the uncomfortable wooden stool in McGonagall's empty classroom. Her hands were clasped together in a suffocating hold to stop them from shaking nervously in her lap while she watched Professor McGonagall rifle through a stack of papers on her desk. Iris was extremely aware of her current attire, her pink sheep slippers and spotted grey and white cow pyjamas making her stick out like a sore thumb in the dark room and Iris could feel Sirius' curious stare from across the room.

He watched the way her eyes darted all over the room, looking everywhere but at him and the Professor in front of them and noticed from all the way across the large classroom that her knee was jerking nervously beneath the table, only drawing his attention to her . . . unusual choice of footwear.

Sirius supposed he should have been annoyed at the blond haired girl, it was after all her fault he had been caught in the first place, but somehow he couldn't find it in himself to be angry at her. It could have been because she was just another pretty face that he would one day want to woo, or because of the sheer amount of fear radiating off of her as she sat helpless in the too empty classroom. Meanwhile, Sirius looked like the picture of confidence. With his elbows on the desk so he could slouch forward while twirling his wand between his fingers like a muggle drummer would do with their drumsticks.

While he sat looking  like he didn't have a care in the world, Iris couldn't help but think of the many punishments she would receive when she returned home; never mind the ones she would receive in school. The list could've gone on for miles and each one she thought of made her shiver or wince with just the thought. Her parents weren't the forgiving type and she didn't expect them to overlook what she had done. She could already hear the lecture her mother would give her the second she stepped foot into her home, expressing how much she had shamed the family and how she had disgraced herself, her family and the family name.

Iris was used to being punished for smaller things like forgetting to clean her father's shoes or for leaving out a book she had been reading; she dreaded to think what would happen to her if her parents ever found out she had actually done something worth punishing.

Of course, Sirius was also used to the consistent lecturing from his own family but he had heard the same things being said to him over and over again so often that it had got to the point where he simply didn't care about what his family had to say to him anymore. And besides, he lived with the Potters now, he didn't see any members of his 'family' except for his younger brother Regulus during school but they tried to keep as much distance between themselves as possible. 

"Please excuse me for a moment children." McGonagall said as she moved from her desk to the door of her office swiftly without a further explanation.

Iris continued to nervously let her eyes hover over the objects of the room as more and more ideas of punishment came to her mind and Sirius scoffed at her behaviour, thinking she was just concerned about receiving a detention as she seemed just as stuck up and perfect as the girl James was constantly fawning over, Lily Evans.

"So what exactly were you doing out after curfew for Smith?" Sirius asked the girl next to him, temporarily stopping his wand from circling his fingers. The use of her last name didn't have any effect on Iris, she didn't even notice she had been spoken to until Sirius threw a blank piece of parchment at her head.

"What was that for?" She questioned angrily and glared and Sirius as best she could, her mind was still preoccupied as she rapidly tried to think of ways to convince McGonagall not to send a letter to her parents.

"You were ignoring me." Sirius said simply with a shrug of his shoulders and Iris scoffed and shook her head slightly saying, "And I'll bet that doesn't happen to you often."

"What's that supposed to mean Smith?" Iris guessed Sirius didn't know her first name by the way he only used her surname and that didn't actually surprise her too much. It wouldn't matter to him that she had been in the majority of his classes since first year, or that she had been on the same boat as him and his friends on their way to Hogwarts before they were sorted into their houses. She was a complete nobody in his eyes, much like she was to almost everyone else at the school.

"Nothing! I just - um forget I said anything." She stumbled over her words quickly and turned to look back to the front of the room instead of staring at Sirius who was watching her intently with mischief and curiosity dancing in his grey eyes.

"No, go on. Tell me." He said with a sly smirk and he leaned one of his elbows on the table and put his head in his palm so he could better see her.

Iris didn't know what to do, she knew what Sirius and his friends did for fun. She knew what they did when someone annoyed them too. She also knew they were basically the same thing. They pranked.

She'd watched with Lily as James and Sirius had pranked Severus Snape since their first year and on more than one occasion she had tried to stop them though nothing they did ever worked. Iris knew that Severus wasn't exactly pleasant to the majority of the people he interacted with (herself included) but she still didn't think what Sirius and his friends did was okay.

Slowly, Iris turned to look back at Sirius and took in a deep breath before speaking quickly saying, "Well you're just that type of person.  I mean, you expect girls to fawn over you all of the time and you play them without caring about their feelings. You use people and torture them with endless pranks and you're really, really self-centred and only care about appearances."

Sirius looked down at his desk for a moment after Iris had finished speaking and tried understanding exactly what she had just said. Then, after a few moments had passed by, Sirius turned to look at Iris again who was already staring at him with wide eyes, an apology waiting to be said on her lips as she also processed everything she had just said.

"So you're saying you think I'm a stereotypical, self-centred, uncaring bad boy." He said with his smirk back on his face and Iris nodded slowly, casting her eyes downwards so that she wouldn't have to look at his face. "Well I'm going to prove you wrong."

The way he said it, with so much determination and purity in his voice , Iris almost took him seriously. But then she realised that she was in fact talking to Sirius Black who didn't take anything (but his name) seriously. 

She laughed lightly and then bit her lip to stifle her giggles as she looked back at Sirius whose face was blank of any emotion but the determination she had heard in his voice was clear in his eyes.

"I'm serious." He said and she giggled lightly again, a smile on her face as she said "I know your Serious Black."

Her own terrible joke made even Iris roll her eyes as she giggled despite the awfulness. Sirius let out a soft chuckle but tried covering it up with a cough while Iris continued to laugh and then continued to wait quietly until she was finished.

"Okay then, if you are being serious how are you going to prove it?" Iris asked him once the giggling subsided and Sirius thought for a moment and in that time the door to the office creeped open and Professor McGonagall stepped in.

Sirius and Iris immediately stopped talking as the Professor walked through the room and back towards her desk, though Sirius continued to sneak glances over at the outspoken girl in the room.

"Right, well before I give you both your punishments I would like to hear your excuses for being out of bed after 10 o' clock when you both know that you are not allowed out of your common rooms after curfew." McGonagall said as she folds her hands together and rested them on the desk in front of her, looking at Sirius expectantly.

"Honestly Professor, I was trying to sneak into the prefects bathroom because I've been quite stressed recently and I've heard that the bath in their is very relaxing." Sirius said. The way he spoke made even Iris almost believe him as she listened to him but McGonagall didn't seem to think that it was as honest as Iris did.

"And Miss Smith? Your explanation please." McGonagall said with a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Iris suddenly didn't think that her explanation would sound anything more real than Sirius' had and his had actually been a decent excuse.

"Well um . . . I have this cat . . ."