Written In the Stars | s.b |

FORTY-FOUR

Sirius walked into Three Broomsticks, shaking the April showers from his curly, black hair. His eyes scanned the restaurant, searching for James, Remus, Peter or any of his friends, really.

His eyes landed on his messy haired friend who's eyes scanned the room behind his thin circular glasses. Sirius immediately concluded he was up to no good — he looked guilty.

Sirius watched his friend for a moment longer, moving his own eyes to where James was staring; The table in which Frank Longbottom sat in and Ariah had just left for the bathroom.

He moved his eyes back to James, irritated beyond comparison. He better not be trying to break them up... again.

Continuing to watch, he surveyed James' expression as he whispered to Deni Lin, a Slytherin sixth year. Only due to carful inspection did Sirius see James slip a small drop of some liquid into a mug of butter beer.

Without a second of hesitation, Sirius ran over to his friend, grabbing the mug before he could hand it to Deni Lin.

"James Henry Potter!" Sirius exclaimed, the butter beer splashing on him. He got a strong whiff of dittany and cement right after rainfall as he brought the mug to his nose. "A love potion?! Are you really that childish?"

"I'm doing it for you, Sirius!" James exclaimed, pulling the mug back into his grasp.

"What was going on through your head?" Sirius asked, grabbing the spiked butter beer from James' hands once more. "Oh I've got an idea — let's give Frank a love potion and make him cheat on Ariah — James it's —"

"You're doing what?" Ariah's hurt voice sounded from behind him.

Sirius spun on his heels, the spiked butter beer spilling onto the ground. The smell of dittany and wet cement even stronger than before. Ariah's blue eyes swelled with tears.

"I thought we were good?" she asked, her voice barley above a whisper.

"We are!" Sirius said. "I — it —"

He looked back at James, who stood looking guilty. Sirius couldn't rat him out but he couldn't loose Ariah again either. "I didn't..."

"Ariah it wasn't —"

"Save it... as far as I'm concerned both of you are involved. A friend wouldn't do something like this to their friend." Her voice cracked as she turned to leave.

"Ariah wait!"

Ariah ran out before Sirius could say anything else. He stood, broken and hurt.

"Sirius — I'm sorry..."

"I just got her back in my life, James," Sirius seethed. "You just had to ruin it."

"Sirius!-"

He marched out of the restaurant, slamming the door behind him in anger.

James cursed to himself, angry at himself for making such a mess. He just wanted Sirius to be happy with Ariah!

"So..." Deni said. "I'm still getting paid, right?"

Ariah let out a loud scream as she slammed her dorm door shut, the lamps on the five desks flying against the wall. She was angry and hurt and confused.

Why would Sirius try and hurt her in that way? It didn't make any sense.

She let out a strangled cry, throwing her hands in front of her and causing her bed posts to blow off, along with blowing the feathers in her blankets to burst out. Ariah collapsed onto the ground with a sob, a hard earthquake like shake erupting through the room — only it wasn't just her room.

She couldn't explain why she was having such a difficult time controlling her emotions. She had finally gotten the handle on it — yet when it came to being hurt by Sirius; she was unable to ever control that.

"What in heavens is — oh my.... Ms. Lupin..." the voice came from Professor Sprout.

"Ariah!" Meeka called.

Within a second, Ariah felt her friends embrace cover her. She leaned into Meeka, taking in the scent of her coconut and jasmine shampoo as well as her light, natural scent of incense and burning cedar.

"Ms. Glass?" Professor Sprout said from behind them.

"I'll fix it Professor," Meeka said, stroking her friends head.

Somehow, she just knew it had everything to do with Sirius Black and nothing to do with Frank. Only Sirius could make her break like this.

Sirius sat at breakfast, pushing his food around on his plate rather than eating it. He had tried talking to Ariah yesterday but she hadn't shown up to dinner and he couldn't find her anywhere the rest of the day.

Remus and Peter were sitting across from him. Luckily, James was nowhere to be found yet. Sirius was sure he would strangle the boy if he saw him.

"Are you going to eat that?" Peter asked, eyeing the food with a look of disgust. "Because it just looks like you're ruining that poor piece of meat into some kind of soup..."

Sirius sighed, pushing it back on the table.

"James!" Remus called, waving the boy over.

Sirius rolled his eyes, turning his head as James hesitantly sat beside him. He could feel his former best friend eyeballing him.

"Where were you this morning?" Remus asked.

"Er — trying to find Ariah..." James said.

Sirius turned back to him. "Haven't you done enough, James?" he spat. "Just keep your nose out of things that aren't your business."

"I'm trying to fix this!"

"There's no fixing it!" Sirius yelled as Meeka marched up to the boys.

"Sirius, we need to talk," she said sternly.

He knew he was about to be chewed out by Meeka by the way she chewed the inside of her cheek. But anything was better than being around James right now.

"Please," he said, standing to his feet.

Meeka grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the Great Hall. As soon as they were in an empty hallway, she lifted her hand as if to smack him. She froze as she saw Sirius tense up, cowering slightly in himself.

"What the bloody hell, Sirius?!" she said, crossing her raised hand under her arm.

Sirius relaxed. "Look, I didn't do anything...."

Meeka raised an eyebrow. "Well explain."

"Right... well... see — James was the one trying to do it," Sirius said. "I was trying to stop him!"

"Well why didn't you tell Ariah that? She's really hurt Sirius — that earthquake last night wasn't from a natural occurrence."

"I tried!" Sirius argued. "She wouldn't hear me out..."

"Well.... we've got to get her to hear you out," Meeka said.

"You — you're going to help me?" Sirius asked.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I'm not a shit friend."

Sirius smiled, hesitating a moment before hugging Meeka. He didn't hug very many people — physical touch wasn't something he enjoyed or took comfort in. He had hugged Ariah, the boys (Peter once, Remus countless times— he gave the best hugs) and Marlene — once; and now Meeka.

"Thank you Meeks," he said.

"Anytime Siri," she said, returning the hug. "We'll get her to hear you out. I solemnly swear."

A/n

Finally!!!! An update!! I feel like it's been an eternity! First few weeks of college were super boom boom boom one thing after another — hopefully I can get to update more often now that I'm getting use to the swing of college :)

Btw I love Meeka and Sirius sooooo! Much!!! So there's that :)