Coming Together ༄ Sirius Black

Chapter Twenty Seven

Lily looked up from her food as she saw Sirius Black entering the Great Hall for breakfast. Her eyes widened, however, when she saw who followed in after.

"Ria." She stood up from her seat and dashed towards her friend.

"Lils... Hi," Asteria laughed slightly as she was pulled into an immense hug. She watched over Lily's shoulder as Sirius went and sat with his friends, the other boys turned to glanced in her direction momentarily before engaging in deep conversation with him.

"Where've you been? You look exhausted and Sev said you didn't go back to the common room all night." Lily gripped Asteria's arms, "Were you with Black?"
Asteria laughed nervously, "Why would Snape know where I'd been? Was he up all night waiting for me or something. Bit creepy if you ask me."

"Seriously. Why do you and Black turn up at the same time looking like you've had next to no sleep?" Lily narrowed her eyes.

She knew Asteria and the Gryffindor boys were up to something, she just didn't know what. Yet.

"Okay, fine." Asteria removed herself from Lily's hold, "Let me just sit and eat first."

Asteria moved over to the table and sat down, grabbing a slice of toast and shovelling it into her mouth.

"Well?" Lily leaned forward across the table, "Did you tell him you like him?"

Asteria nearly choked on her second slice of toast, "What? No! I don't like anyone. We've been over this."
"Are you going to tell your parents? Oh wait, they already think you're dating because of the Christmas meal!" Lily squealed excitedly.

"We went to the kitchens last night." Asteria finally explained, "We hung out with the house elves and chatted most of the night and ate cake and then I fell asleep. Sirius woke me up this morning and we came straight down for breakfast." She shrugged, keeping her gaze focussed down on the table.

"So... Do you think he likes you?" Lily rested her head in her hand, "He must do. You're cute, he's... shaggy... You two spend loads of time together."
"It's not going to happen." Asteria shook her head, "I'm going to eat a load more toast then I'm going back to my dormitory to clean up then I'm going to spend the day trying not to fall asleep in my lessons."

Lily narrowed her eyes at Asteria, "He's obviously pining over you. Why don't you say something to him?"

Asteria thought for a moment, gripping the edge of the bench as she did so.

"I do like him."

Lily smiled.

"I mean, I really like him. I really do. I like it when we hold hands and laugh together and run around and the more time we spend together the more I like him." Asteria admitted quietly, "But it's not going to happen."

Lily blinked, "What?"

"It's that age old thing of I'm in Slytherin and he's in Gryffindor. I already get enough stick as it is but if we were together... We'd both be harassed constantly."

"You realise the guy is practically a billboard for rebellion. He doesn't care and I'm pretty sure he hasn't even breathed the same air as another girl since hanging out with you." Lily shrugged, leaning back in her seat.
Asteria frowned, "Yeah but I'm boring. He'll get bored of me."

"You know what, this is crazy. I have more important things to do than chase after some boy. I have OWLs to revise for and... and stuff. This is all a little crazy." Asteria stood up, "I'll see you round."
And with that, she walked out of the Great Hall. She still munched on her last piece of toast as she walked back to the common room.

Asteria did feel a little bad about blowing Lily off. But then again, maybe it wasn't any of Lily's business. Sure she was just trying to help but what help could Lily offer? She didn't know any more about relationships than Asteria did.

She strode back up to her dormitory and made a beeline for the bathroom. Asteria placed her hands on either side of the sink as she looked at herself in the mirror. Just underneath her chin, out of sight unless she lifted up her head, was a small marking from the chocolate cake icing. Asteria smiled to herself as she wiped it away before washing the rest of her face.

Despite looking like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, she didn't feel terrible.

Asteria couldn't get the thought out of her head: maybe Sirius liked her too. After all, she had awoken that morning with his arm wrapped around her shoulders and her head rested against him. Not that he'd probably noticed because she had jumped up before he managed to awaken himself.

As lesson time drew nearer, Asteria departed from the dormitories feeling just a little more refreshed. She was a least certain she didn't smell bad.

"Halloway. Where exactly were you last night?" Snape sneered as he sat on the sofa in front of the dying fire in the common room.
"Don't remember me asking you to be my bodyguard." Asteria replied sharply, "Apparently you were waiting up for me last night."

Snape's expression faltered, "Just noticed you didn't come back. Were you slutting around with that shaggy Gryffindor?"
"Nice try Snape but I'm not going to get into it with you." Asteria walked past him, making her way towards the door.

"I'd hope not. You might've caught something nasty from Black."

Asteria gritted her teeth as her hand hovered over the door handle. Whilst she wished she had the calm mind to just leave it - to ignore Snape - that was something she couldn't do.
Nobody badmouthed her friends.

Sirius was dragging his feet down towards his first lesson of the day - Potions. The class only included students from Gryffindor and Slytherin so he was partially hoping he'd see Asteria but also knew that they wouldn't sit together.

He could see it in her eyes sometimes. When Asteria told a joke or made a snide comment or sometimes when she laughed there was something else behind it. It was like Sirius was a much needed distraction for her. Occasionally when she'd had her nose stuck in a book, Sirius would steal a look over at her and she always looked sad. This led Sirius to believe that the only cause could be her fellow Slytherins as every time one of them spoke to her she physically flinched or froze up.

Sirius pushed open the door to the Potions classroom and set his bag down at one of the empty desks to await James, Remus and Peter.

Then the door opened and one lone student walked in.

Sirius turned his head and, for a brief second, caught sight of Snape.

Snape had entered with a bruised and bloodied nose.