stars | sirius black

25: On the Horizon

"ARE WE EVEN GOING to act surprised that she got expelled?" James Potter asked, walking through the halls of Hogwarts with Sirius, Remus, Arabella, and Peter.

"I guess not." Remus said, shrugging. "It still a shock that it took us this long to find out what happened to her though."

"I think it was pretty obvious though." Arabella said, clutching her books closer to her chest and trying to avoid bumping into one of the other students in a rush to make it to their next class. "We haven't seen her in a while. Just put two and two together."

"It sucks though, she had a lot of potential." Peter said nervously, unsure of what his friends would think about his statement."

"What do you mean Peter? She was terrible! She deserved it." Sirius said shocked, slowly starting to get mad. Arabella noticed this and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, Sirius visibly calmed down and sent her a grateful smile.

"All I'm trying to say is, she was a brilliant girl. She wasn't stupid, came from a well-known family and she pretty much just ruined their name by getting expelled. She seemed to have a bright future ahead of her, until she got caught up into this whole brain washing Sirius thing." Peter said, much more nervously than before and avoiding Sirius' disapproving glare.

"Peter. Are you actually taking her side? After all she did to us. Don't tell me you actually feel sorry for this girl." Sirius asked, unable to stop the harsh tone in his voice.

"Sirius." Arabella warned but Sirius ignored her, looking at Peter with a disapproving glare.

"I'm not taking her side! I swear." Peter said, looking at Sirius nervously. James and Peter couldn't help but watch as the scene unfolded. "I promise."

Sirius just sighed and let the subject dropped, he didn't want to cause another rift between the Marauders. They've been through enough and things have been going well for them these past few weeks. "Alright, Peter."

"Now that's out of the way," James said, easing the somewhat awkward tension. "We really need to hurry because we are late for our next class."

______

"HOW COULD he say that Belle?" Sirius asked as he and Arabella walked down the streets of Hogsmeade. "He knew what Vanessa did to us."

Sirius and Arabella decided to ditch the rest of their afternoon classes to have an impromptu date at Hogsmeade. They snuck out using the map and used one of the hidden passages that allowed them to get outside of Hogwarts.

"You're still not over that, are you?" Arabella asked, looking at Sirius with an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.

"Of course not Belle! How could I be?" Sirius said exasperatedly making Arabella sigh and shake her head.

"I understand that Sirius." Arabella said, placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "But you can't really blame him for having an opinion. He doesn't approve of Vanessa's actions towards us, he just thinks it's a shame that she ruined her family's good name. The Peverells are a very well-known wizarding family."

"Trust me, the Peverell's good name was already ruined before Vanessa put her dirty little hands on it." Sirius spat bitterly.

"I don't really understand." Arabella said, confused. "What are you trying to say?"

Sirius sighed. Hogsmeade was pretty much deserted except for them and a few wandering shoppers. Sirius said nothing as he dragged Arabella to an empty booth at The Three Broomsticks.

"What was that Sirius?!" Arabella asked, looking at Sirius weirdly. Confused at why he had dragged her there.

"I need to tell you something." Sirius said quietly, looking around at the store for anybody who might be listening in on them. He turned back to look at Arabella once he thought that it would be safe enough to say.