Sirius

1.3

Late February

Eleanor was finally somewhat happy at least. Just as Sirius had suggested, she spoke to her parents over the break, explaining to them why she was so upset recently.

They seemed to completely understand. Not enough to pull her out of Hogwarts and enroll her into a muggle school. But at least enough to sign her up for homeschooling.

So needless to say, Eleanor Reynolds was a much nicer person second semester of her first year at Hogwarts. And to think, it could have easily been solved with a package from home containing textbooks and a stack of homework. Who would have thought.

Sirius Black walked into the library. Normally, he'd never end up there by himself, but today, he had promised his friend Remus, who was quite sick, he'd pick him up a book for class; Remus was usually the one that ended up dragging him, James, and Peter to the library, they never seemed to go there without him, but then again, Remus was always in the library.

Eleanor was sitting by herself at a table, open books covering almost every inch of the surface. She was scribbling something down in a notebook when Sirius plopped himself down next to her.

She looked up, a scowl finding its way onto her face. "What do you want?"

Sirius gave her a lopsided grin, "what? I can't come to visit my little ravenclaw friend?"

"When did we become friends? I don't recall." Eleanor looked back down at her books, continuing with her notes.

Sirius' grin widened. He gave a theatrical gasp, placing a hand over his heart and willing himself to burst into fake tears. The tears did not come, so he found a small, soft voice and continued to bother the girl next to him. "Not friends? But I did so much for you, this is how you treat me? My heart, it's breaking!" He held back a smile, as he clutched at his chest, gasping again to emphasize the pain he was experiencing.

Eleanor flipped through the textbook in front of her, finding the appropriate chapter, not even offering Sirius a glance as she muttered under her breath. "You're such a drama queen."

"Come on, I know we're friends," he tried again, dropping the act and allowing the smile to take over his lips.

Eleanor finally looked up, "you're the worst listener on the planet and you give terrible advice. You didn't help me out and we aren't friends." Maybe some of it was a lie, but this boy was not about to be her first friend, Eleanor was sure of that.

Sirius ignored her response and looked at all of the books before them, "so what's with all these books? Finally accepting the ravenclaw lifestyle, I see. I have to say, I think I liked you better as you were before the Christmas holiday." He leaned back in his chair effortlessly, running a quick hand through his growing hair. "Your whole I don't give a fuck about magic school, fuck you Dumbledore attitude was pretty cool. Look at you now, you're doing schoolwork. McGonagall said you could be a talented witch in transfiguration. You've changed."

She sighed heavily, the ever present scowl overtaking her features. "Listen Sirius," her tone was sharp when she said his name and Sirius flinched back a little. Her eyes softened, taking in his stormy eyes that seemed to cloud over with some unknown emotions. She wondered what it was about her saying those two words that made him flinch away.

Hesitantly, she reached a hand out, seeking one of the hands Sirius had stretched out in front of him. Her fingers slipped into his and her eyebrows dipped as she watched him quietly.

After a minute, Sirius seemed to fall out of whatever memory was flashing through his mind and he quickly glanced between Eleanor and their joined hands.

Eleanor pulled her hand away, "is something wrong?" Sirius didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, so Eleanor decided to drop it, changing the subject. "I actually followed your advice, you know. I talked to my parents."

"Yeah?" His voice was a little softer and didn't hold the playful tone it had minutes earlier but he was at least talking so Eleanor figured he was somewhat okay.

She nodded, "they enrolled me in muggle homeschooling. Said I could do the muggle school along with wizard school. That's why I'm actually doing my school work now, mum said she'd take me out of muggle school if my grades here didn't get better."

"Don't you think that'll be a little hard? Two schools at once?"

She shrugged. "It's the deal, I only get muggle school if I do good with wizard school. And I want Cambridge, means I have to do good in both, you know?"

"You really are a ravenclaw," Sirius grinned, looking much more like himself. "Hell, I'm struggling with just wizarding school, props to you."

Eleanor smiled. "You're not so bad, Sirius."

His grin widened and all of the sadness that had previously been etched onto his features disappeared, almost as if it had never been there. His playful tone returned, "I knew we were friends." He looked victorious, as if he was a boxer who had just won the biggest fight of his career.

Eleanor rolled her eyes and turned back to her books.