Trouble (The Marauders Era» Sirius Black Fanfiction) *Editing*

18» Monsieur Mallory

Chapter Eighteen

Monsieur Mallory

<To add insult to injury is to kick a man when he is down>

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The snow slowly began to melt, and with it came the faint chirping of birds in the distant morning, the orange sun rising and warming the air. The post-Valentines Day hum surrounding Hogwarts had calmed, and was quickly replaced with the tension between the four houses, particularly Slytherin and Gryffindor. The Quidditch cup was quickly approaching, and word of the encounter between the two Black brothers had rapidly spread throughout the school.

Sirius had put himself in a sour mood but pretended everything was fine, as usual. He was constantly scowling over his shoulder, searching for his brother's dark eyes glaring back at him. The two didn't speak, only brooding stares from a distance and the Slytherins laughing a little too loudly in the Great Hall, seeming to be directed at Sirius.

Thea kept close to him. Though he wouldn't say much, she could tell he was bothered by the encounter with his brother. Regulus's remarks had struck a cord with Sirius, and that wasn't something Thea wanted him stewing about without knowing she was there for him. As corny as that sounds.

The Marauders were buzzing. With the beginning of spring also came two fast-approaching birthdays. First was Thea's, March 15th, which she didn't want to make a big deal of. She wanted to move on from the day and forget that it was ever something to celebrate. Her friends didn't understand her hatred for the day, but she didn't want them to understand. If they knew, they'd look at her with those eyes, the 'I have no idea what you must be feeling right now but I pity you' eyes. They'd tell her "I'm sorry" and she'd have to pretend those words meant something to her. As if that could take away the pain she felt.

"Hello?" Fingers snapped in front of her face. She blinked and looked up. "Were you listening?"

"No," Thea said. "What did you say?"

"I asked," James said. "If you'd like to have a little fun. Get ourselves into a bit of double-birthday mischief."

He grinned evilly and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She rose an eyebrow.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well it's a secret," he said. "I can't disclose secret information in such a public setting."

He glanced back as two girls ran past the Gryffindor table and out of the Great Hall, giggling and whispering to each other.

"I told you I don't want to make a big deal today," Thea said, opening up her copy of the Daily Prophet as Lily and Peter sat down and began piling eggs onto their plates. She hoped James would drop the conversation, but of course he didn't.

"Oh, come on!" he cried, slapping his hands down on the table and whining. "We never get to do anything fun!"

"Remember yesterday we threw dungbombs into the girls lavatories!" Peter piped up excitedly.

"Oh yeah, that was fun." James leaned over and gave him a crisp high five, which made Peter beam proudly.

"I just want today to be over, James," Thea said. "That's that."