Breaking Black (A Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 72

James kissed Lily on the cheek as she brought him a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Even in the two months since they started dating after their terrible run in with Death Eaters, my heart still skipped a beat every time I saw them together and looking oh so happy.

"Lexi, are you sure you don't want to come with us to Hogsmeade?" Lily asked for the twentieth time. She was packing up our collection of research books about protection against Dark Magic. "It'll be like a... quadruple date!"

"Lily, I can't go shopping with you all because the only gifts I have yet to buy are for you guys," I sighed and slammed my book shut. Madam Pince glared at me as if mistreating her books should land me in Azkaban. "And you can't call it a quadruple date because Marlene and Remus are not dating!"

"I'm just really excited that Peter found someone is all," Lily admitted. It was true, Peter finally growing a pair and asking Mary out was the cutest.

"Go, have fun on your triple date," I told the group and gathered up my things. "Sirius should be back from his mum's any minute now."

"Lily, dear," James rolled his eyes. "If you can't tell, Lexi and Sirius would like some alone time. Something we could use every now and then... Just me and you-"

Lily laughed and playfully punched James in the arm. She tried to push him away, but James managed to plant a quick kiss on her lips. I personally don't think she was trying very hard to get him to stop. After a final reassurance that I didn't want to go, James, Lily, and Peter left me alone in the common room and left the library to collect Mary and Marlene. I left and started to make my way towards the Gryffindor tower when I noticed a boy with long black hair walking in the corridor in front of me.

"Sirius!" I exclaimed. The boy stopped in his tracks and turned around. He waited for me to catch up and I took his warm hand in mine.

"I was just looking for you!" Sirius smiled. I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him, and he turned his head, so I ended up kissing his cheek instead.

"I was in the library with James, Lily, and Peter," I explained. We kept walking and Sirius casually let his hand fall out of mine so he could fix his hair.

"Really?" Sirius asked. "What were you researching there? Winter break begins tomorrow. We don't have exams anymore, so what were you doing?"

"You know, the usual," I sighed. It was exhausting how many hours the Marauders spent in the library or the Room of Requirement reading about how we could prevent an incident like Halloween from happening again. "How was visiting your family?"

"My family?" Sirius repeated and scrunched up his forehead in confusion.

"Yes... the family you were visiting this morning...?"

"Oh, right! Of course!" Sirius nodded. He nearly took the wrong turn on our way to the Gryffindor tower, but I grabbed him, and we continued in the right direction. "It was nice, mum was so happy to see me. I really missed her."

I frowned. Walburga Black being happy to see her disowned son? Highly unlikely. I also thought Sirius once said if he ever saw his mother again in his whole life, it would be too soon.

"Flabberghasted leech," I said the password when we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. James performed a charm on her and she was wearing a Santa hat for the holidays. The Fat Lady was trying to remove it, to no avail. She glared at us as the portrait swung open. The Fat Lady knew we helped James charm her.

The common room was empty except for someone's cat sleeping by the fireplace. Sirius slowly sunk into one of the couches and I snuggled up beside him.