sanguine ⏩ sirius black

12.

"I AM GOING TO STAB MYSELF WITH this knife and I am going to go sit in a corner and bleed out and die," Farrah said.

The Slytherin trio were at breakfast the next morning, Farrah sitting between the two boys who had just finished filling her in on the night's activities. She had the faintest idea of what happened as it was all blurry in her head but their confirmation was what she needed to know she had to die.

"It's really not that bad," Regulus said.

"Not that bad!" Farrah exclaimed, snapping her head to him, "Reggie, are you forgetting that I snogged Sirius Black standing on a table in the middle of the common room?"

"I wish I could," Regulus muttered under his breath before he answered, "That's nothing. I heard the Prewetts jumped in the the lake last night after getting caught on fire. No one's even talking about you."

"I am absolutely mortified," Farrah said, her face in her hands. She shook her head, "I'm such a wanker."

"Can't forget that you made Sirius fall off the table too," Josh added before he took another bite out of his toast, "That must have been some kind of kiss, he fell over almost instantly."

Farrah groaned, dropping her head to the table, "I'm ruined."

Regulus made a face at Josh, who shrugged, "What? I'm not sugarcoating anything for her. She embarrassed herself."

The pureblood hit Josh behind the head, causing the latter to yelp, "Ow!"

"Reggie, it's okay," Farrah said, resting a hand on the boy's lap, "Josh is right. I embarrassed myself and I should face the music."

With that, the girl stood up. Regulus looked at her in confusion, "Where are you going?"

She nodded her head towards the Marauders who had not too long ago entered the Great Hall, "To face the music."

Over at the Gryffindor table, James was asking the same question he had been asking all morning, "She snogged him?!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Can we please stop talking about it? It happened. It's done."

"You don't understand, Pads," Peter said, "This is Farrah MacMillan we're talking about. She doesn't just snog anyone."

"I've also heard she can hold her liquor so forgive me if I don't believe you."

"Ahem."

The Marauders looked up to see Farrah standing in front of them. She waved, "Hello boys."

"Farrah," Remus and Peter both said while James nodded, "MacMillan."

The girl slid in between Remus and Peter and started, "I just came over to apologize. I know I made a right bag of last night and that was completely unacceptable."

"Water under the bridge, MacMillan," James said, "We all get a little out of control sometimes."

Farrah nodded, her face going slightly red as she spoke, "Sirius, can I talk to you in private?"

The Black nodded and stood up. He started walking out of the hall, Farrah following behind him. When the two were standing in the corridor, Farrah bit her lip before starting, "I am really sorry about last night."

"You said that inside."

"Yeah, I know," Farrah said, "But I personally attacked you so I felt like I should have personally apologized."

"It's alright, MacMillan," Sirius said, "You were drunk."

"Yeah," she started, "But that's no excuse for it. Consent is a very important thing and if it was reversed, everyone would have been on your ass for kissing me first which is a little sexist because no one's been on my ass about that specifically but maybe they should be because-"

"MacMillan," Sirius cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulders, "Calm down."

The girl stopped and Sirius shook his head, "You're okay, don't worry."

"You're sure?"

"Actually, you want to make it up to me?" Sirius asked.

Farrah nodded and Sirius continued, "Let me take you to Hogsmeade sometime."

"What?"

Sirius nodded, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the wall, "Hogsmeade. Just me and you."

The girl bit her lip. She wondered what he was playing at. She stared into his steely gray eyes, trying to pull any kind of hint from them. It was to no avail. His eyes hid their secrets well, nothing more than his usual mischievous glint shining through.

"Why Hogsmeade? Why me?"

He shrugged, "You've piqued my interest, MacMillan. There are a lot of things about you that surprise me and I'm intrigued to see what else you're hiding."

Ignoring the implication that she was hiding things (she was, but she didn't think he knew that), Farrah asked again, "And why do you think I'd go to Hogsmeade with you?"

Sirius stood upright and started walking past her. He stopped when they were shoulder to shoulder, leaning into her ever so slightly to whisper in her ear, "Because whether you want to say it or not, that kiss last night told me that you're interested too. Why don't you come find out what you want to know?"

The Gryffindor continued his gait back into the Hall, leaving Farrah in the hallway with a red face. Did he really just say that? Did she really make him think that? The girl couldn't lie, ever since she had gotten her hands on that journal, she had been fascinated by the way that the Black's mind worked. More than once, she found herself dazing off and thinking about how best she could get answers to the many questions she had. Now she was given a chance to do just that, get herself some answers.

She shook her head and turned to walk back into the Hall. As she strolled back to the Slytherin table, her mind ran a mile a minute. What was she going to do?

"What did you and Princess have to talk about?" Josh asked as he shoveled eggs into his throat.

"I just apologized about my behavior last night, and about the position I put him in specifically."

Josh snorted, "And how'd he respond to that?"

Farrah pulled the hair tie out of her low ponytail and readjusted it, making it a high one instead. She shrugged, "He was an ass about it as usual. Some things don't change, I guess."

The Muggleborn turned to Regulus who was watching her with a look she couldn't quite place. It was similar to Sirius' but darker, more serious. As if he knew something that she didn't. Farrah rose an eyebrow, "All good?"

He didn't say anything for a moment before he sighed and nodded, "All good."

The trio remained in silence after a while, the boys finishing their breakfast while Farrah twirled a strand of her hair and thought about Sirius' offer. A day in Hogsmeade, just the two of them. That would mean having to lie to the boys. Already, it seemed like a bad idea. Not only would she have to lie to the boys, but she would have to hide from most of the Hogwarts' population so that they wouldn't be the talk of the school.

It seemed fair enough, a day spent with him to get all her questions answered. He didn't say what had to happen on this date. This could be a strictly friendly thing. But, then there was Regulus. Regulus, who had written her a tear-stained letter when Sirius left home but hadn't explained why even now. Regulus, who Sirius has found some way to torment since the beginning of the school year. Regulus Arcturus Black, who had been Farrah's best friend and protector for the past five years.

With a heavy sigh, Farrah began to mentally prepare herself for all the trouble Sirius Black was about to put her in.