sanguine ⏩ sirius black

18.

"HAVE YOU TOLD HER YET?" PETER ASKED as the short boy dropped in the seat next to Sirius during dinner. 

Sirius looked up from the potatoes that he was pushing around the plate, "Tell who what?"

Peter rolled his eyes, "You know who about you know what?"

"Wormtail, I have not the slightest indication about what you mean."

"Merlin Paddy," James said as he joined the two, "He wants to know if you've told MacMillan that you fancy her."

"SHHHHH," Sirius said, hitting the Quidditch player as he looked around frantically, "Keep your voice down."

"Come on, mate. It's just MacMillan. She's a sweetheart. Stop taking the piss and tell her how you feel."

"Prongs, I love you but I will throttle you if you keep talking so loudly," Sirius said before he turned to peek over his shoulder at the Slytherin girl.

She was sitting by her house table, holding a book in one hand while her other hand played with the ends of her red locks. Her food laid forgotten on the table in front of her as her eyes scanned the pages of the Potions textbook that she was holding. OWLs were steadily approaching and it was notably stressing her out.

"I don't know," Sirius said, without removing his gaze from the fifth year, "I think you guys are wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Peter asked.

"Her. Maybe she isn't such a sweetheart," Sirius said.

"Why would you think that about Farrah? She is literally the sweetest person on this compound."

"She stood him up," Remus said, dropping into the seat next to Peter.

"Moony!"                                                                       "She did what?!"

"Farrah," Remus started, nodding his head towards the girl as he arranged his dinner, "Did not show up for the secret thing Padfoot did for her on her birthday and she has been avoiding him since."

"Farrah wouldn't-"

Remus cut Peter off, "But she did. Now, Farrah hasn't said anything to me about it and we all know how good she is at changing the topic when she doesn't want to talk about it. So, I told Padfoot to confront her but it's been two weeks and it seems like he might never."

"Merlin," Sirius said, shaking his head, "I can't tell you boys anything."

"Pads, you should know by now that if you tell one of us, you tell all of us."

"Are we sure she stood him up? That doesn't seem like Farrah," Peter said.

"Yeah," James said, "MacMillan may look like a snake but she never acts like one."

"Well, she did," Sirius said, a finality in his tone that ended the conversation. He couldn't believe it. He had spent the entirety of her birth-week planning the picnic and had gotten the house elves to prepare all her favorite sweets. 

Then, she didn't show. 

But Sirius had excused it. He knew that it was her birthday and her friends would have her preoccupied. He also knew that the MacMillan girl was a bit (and by a bit, he meant very) forgetful. He had excused it.

Until the next day when she blatantly ignored him after breakfast. Then again before lunch. And again at dinner. And again and again and again for the next two weeks. 

Sirius turned to peer over his shoulder at the Slytherin girl once more. Narrowing his eyes at her, the boy said, "Wormtail, go tell her to meet you in the kitchens tonight. Usual time. And make it sound like she's meeting you and Remus."