The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|79| Potter! You Little Stalker!

"Sirius, you really don't have to keep doing that..." Adelaide said quietly, pulling her scarlet and gold scarf tighter around herself, looking over to Sirius walking alongside through the snowy courtyard one Wednesday morning, her school books in his arms.

Ever since her bludgeoning at the first Quidditch game about a month prior, Sirius had taken it upon himself to carry Adelaide's books to every class.... even the ones they didn't have together. Initially, it began out of necessity (Poppy didn't want her re-injuing herself the first few days out of the hospital). But eventually it started to become routine. A win-win situation for both of them. Adelaide got to have her handsome boyfriend carry her belongings, and Sirius got to spend more time with his lovely, stupendous, absolutely brilliant girlfriend... or at least that's how he saw it.

"I'm being a gentleman!" Sirius said proudly.

Lily snorted. "Since when?"

Sirius scowled. "Since always."

"Sure... you were a real gentleman when you hexed that Slytherin girl in the hallway last Tuesday." Lily said scathingly, rolling her eyes.

Sirius's scowl intensified. "She had it coming—"

"Oh, look at the time! I think I can manage from here Siri! See you after class!" Adelaide said quickly, pulling her ancient runes book and workbook from his arms, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, and ushering him away before things turned ugly.

Sirius left, trotting back through the courtyard, away from the auburn-haired girl glaring at him.

Lily continued to stomp her way through the snow toward the covered hallway. "He follows you around like a love sick puppy..." she muttered.

"Well, I mean—"

"Don't! Don't you dare make a dog joke out of that!" Lily said, blowing her red hair out of her face and aggressively shaking the snow off of her robes.

Adelaide paused to look at her best friend carefully. Lily seemed to be more irritated by Sirius's presence than usual. Actually, now that Adelaide thought about it, she seemed irritated by everyone's presence that day, which was very unlike her. Normally, she was the most patient person on the planet. "Is something bothering you, Lily?" she asked slowly.

"No!" Lily said a little too loudly, making a few nearby first years jump in fright.

Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "If you say so..."

"I'm fine." Lily snapped.

Lily's sour mood continued through Ancient Runes where she refused to let Adelaide copy off of her worksheet, into Defense against the dark arts where she gave even Marlene a run for her money in their mock duels, and on through dinner where she ate her lamb chop with unprecedented amounts of ferocity.

"Geez Lils... what did that poor lamb ever do to you?" Mary asked in slight disgust.

Lily ignored her, and continued eating.

"Lily... don't take this the wrong way or anything... but you seem a little... worked up." Adelaide said hesitantly.

Marlene chuckled under her breath. "That's putting it lightly..."

"I told you I was fine. I'm just hungry." Lily said, fighting to remain civil.

After dinner, while Mary studied for some important quiz or another with Remus and Peter in the corner, Adelaide lounged comfortably on her favorite couch by the fire, feet in Sirius's lap. As she skimmed through the Evening Prophet's article about a muggle family terrorized by some of You-Know-who's followers, she caught a flash of red hair racing past. Pulling the newspaper down, she watched in confusion as Lily attempted to run out of the common room alone. "Lils! Where the blazes are you going!?"