Coming Together ༄ Sirius Black

Chapter Twenty Four

Four boys sat around a rather small table, tucked away in the back corner of the library. Every now and again they'd groan and grumble as another book was slammed down onto the table, sending dust flying up into the air.

"And I think that should do it." Asteria stepped back, examining the table full of books before her.

"This is... Every book you've read on animagi?" Remus asked, widening his eyes at the sight.
"Yes. Somewhere in here is the transfiguration to become animagi. I just don't know where." She admitted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Better get reading then." James sighed.

"You guys know you don't have to do this." Remus pointed out.
"Oh please, reading through these books is nothing compared to your monthly transformations." James pointed out.
"I'm not so sure about that..." Sirius picked up a book and blew the dust off the cover.

"Don't be an idiot." Asteria rolled her eyes at him, "I'm happy to help at least. You only need to read over the contents page as well - that'll tell you if the instructions are there. We don't have to reach every page in every book."

"And this is why we have a girl here; I wouldn't have thought of that." James nodded happily, picking up his own book now.

"And you call yourself smart." Remus mumbled under his breath to himself.

"You going to sit down?" Sirius looked up at Asteria.
"Yeah, is there a spare chair?" She looked around the table.

"You can sit on my lap." Sirius smirked.

"Thanks but there's a spare chair next to Peter."
"Peter takes up two chairs. Don't you?" Sirius turned to Peter and raised his eyebrows at him,

"What?" Peter furrowed his own eyebrows.

"Don't be weird." Asteria frowned at him, trying and failing to conceal her smile.
"Well when that chair gets too uncomfortable, my lap is still here." Sirius shrugged and leant back in his chair.

"I'm sure I'll manage." Asteria nodded before sitting down beside Peter.

Remus turned to James with a knowing look in his eye, "What do you think that was about?"
"Kind of like when I flirt with Lily except Asteria didn't totally shut him down."
"Exactly." Remus nodded.

"Peter are you even going to look through any of the books?" Sirius looked up from his own book, "Because I am and I think I should sit next to Asteria."
"Why do you need to sit next to me?" Asteria asked, smirking slightly.
"I... Er..." He frowned, unsure of what to say, "I can't read it?"
"You can't read?" She raised an eyebrow.

Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair, sinking lower in his seat as he did so.
Remus and James shared another look as Asteria picked up her chair and moved it around the table to sit beside Sirius.

"That word is 'the." Asteria pointed to the word on the cover of the book Sirius was holding.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Here, start with this one." James picked up a book and threw it towards Peter.
"How long are we going to be here?" Peter asked, looking up at the mountain of books.
"Probably all night..." Remus sighed, flicking through the pages of one of the books in his lap.

The group sat in relative silence, which was unusual for the four boys. Until, Peter finally opened the first book he'd been handed.

"Guys... I think I found something." Peter spoke up tentatively.

Everybody looked up towards him. "What?" Sirius asked, "The first book you open and you've found it?"
"I think so..." Peter replied quietly.

"Well hand it here," Asteria held out her hand as Peter passed the book to her.
"Kind of thought it'd be in the last book we checked through." Sirius admitted, peering over her shoulder at the page in the book.

"Mandrake leaves... Where are we going to get those from?" Asteria asked, passing the book around to James and Remus.
"You just work on getting the potion to work... We'll take care of getting the ingredients." Sirius nodded confidently.

"A whole month? I'm not putting a nasty leaf in my mouth for a whole month! What if I choke on it?" James looked up bewildered.
"It can't be that bad... It must be possible if other people have done it." Remus pointed out.

"How do you even pluck a leaf off a mandrake? Won't they scream? Remember in second year when Frank Longbottom fainted?" Asteria laughed slightly.
"That was hilarious," Sirius chuckled, stretching his arm out across the back of Asteria's chair.

"If the plants are buried they won't scream... I don't think..." Remus furrowed his eyebrows.

"We can sneak out tonight and get the leaves with my invisibility cloak." James suggested, glancing around at everyone at the table.

"You have an invisibility cloak? Like from the Tale of the Three Brothers?" Asteria asked.
"Tale of what?" Sirius frowned.
"Yeah, my parents used to read that story to me. Yeah it's like that I guess. It's how we don't get caught and sneak around so much." James explained.

"Well let me know when you find them then." Asteria stood up from her seat, "I'll go and check this book out." She held up the book containing the instructions and potions for the process.

"You could come with us?" Sirius suggested, standing up.

Asteria looked around at the other boys, "I don't really think me sneaking around in the middle of the night is a good idea. I don't want to cramp your style."

"You think we have style?" Sirius smirked proudly.
"No I think I want sleep." Asteria rolled her eyes.

"So... The plan is we get the mandrake leaves. Then you," James pointed to Asteria, "help us not die for the month we have the leaves in our mouths and brew the potion for the end."
"Sounds like a plan." Remus nodded.

"Why am I doing this? What exactly will I get out of it?" Asteria narrowed her eyes.
"Well you get to spend some quality time with me... and the others I guess." Sirius shrugged.

"That seems more like a punishment."

"You're a Good Samaritan?"
"Well... I don't think so..."

Remus chuckled to himself suddenly, "You hate Snape, don't you?"
Asteria's ears perked at this, "Hm?"
"Fancy being involved in this great prank we've been planning for him?"

Asteria thought for a moment, she wasn't overly keen on the idea of pranking people and possibly being caught for it. Then again, she did quite want to annoy Snape.

"Okay, okay yeah... I think that sounds like something worth investing in." She folded her arms and nodded.

"Why didn't we know about you sooner?" Sirius murmured to himself.

"Well you did. You wouldn't stop staring at her for four ye-" James was cut of by Remus elbowing him in the side and winding him.

"I'll er... See you round." Asteria laughed awkwardly, tucking the book beneath her arm before leaving the library.

"Sirius?" James clicked his fingers to draw him back to reality.
"Yeah what?" He turned to face his friends.
"Do you think you could stare at her a little more?"

Sirius shrugged, "I stare at a lot of people."

"You glance at other girls but she's the only one you stare at. She's the only one that holds your gaze."