Scratches (Fred Weasley)

(53) Hogwarts Again

Train day was the most exhausting part of the school year. It was when all of the things that you needed to pack during the last minute would miraculously disappear, despite the fact that you saw them lying about somewhere during normal days.

Florence was in her muggle jeans and a shirt, sifting through her bed covers in search for her Quidditch jumper that she swore she had left on top of her bed for a short amount of time. By the time she had finished showering and changing, it was no longer there.

She let out a long, muffled groan as she face planted on to a pillow, hearing the door creak open amidst her frustration. She rolled onto her back, seeing Sirius with an oddly amused look on his face.

Florence narrowed her eyes at him, "You took my jumper, didn't you?"

Instead of responding to this, Sirius whipped out a white blindfold, "Come on, I have a surprise for you."

"But I need my jumper."

He rolled his eyes, "It does have something to do with your jumper. Now put the blindfold on."

Curious, Florence complied to the instructions, and soon she felt uneasy with the fact that she could barely see anything.

Sirius began guiding her with verbal instructions, leading her out of her room and to the hall. She could hear the clinking on silverware on the glass place from the kitchen. It grew louder and louder, which only meant that they were going down the staircases.

It had been utter hassle getting down the stairs, being practically blind. However Florence had managed; and she continued to listening to a Sirius' horrible guide.

"Go straight, straight... now to the left—no, to the right!" exclaimed Sirius, almost making Florence bump in to the wall with his wrong directions. Florence sighed, tugging at the blindfold that was covering her eyes.

"Can't you just give me my present like a normal person? I would still love it even then."

"But it takes away the element of surprise," he said, followed by the sound of his slippers padding inside a room, "Okay, you can take off the blind fold now."

She did. And what she saw leaning against a chair made her hands fly up to clamp her mouth.

"No way!" she exclaimed in pure happiness, rushing over to pick up a dazzling new Firebolt, her Quidditch jumper draped over the handle, "No way. Sirius, I can't possibly take this."

The man frowned,  "Why not?"

"Because," she began, and Sirius saw the Jane in her emerge, "One, I know this costs a buttload of money—even mum didn't buy it for me because it was mad expensive. Two, you're going to be broke—"

"I don't have anything that I need to spend my money on, Florence. And besides, haven't you heard? I inherited heaps of old pureblood money from my miserable family. I certainly do not think that I will run out any time soon."

"I—" Florence paused, feeling varnished broomstick in awe, "I don't know what to say, it's beautiful. Thank you."

There was a sad look on Sirius' face that puzzled Florence. The man was never not cheerful.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, hands trailing away from the firebolt.

"Marlene was pregnant, when she died." he told her, speaking again of her aunt, as wistfully as he always did, his voice filled with so much love and pain that Florence didn't even know was possible.