Time and love don't mix

Snuffles gets some knowledge for his birthday

In the following few weeks Sirius and Cassia grew closer and closer, which James didn't approve of. But, since he didn't know why, he couldn't tell Sirius to keave Cassia alone. It was very confusing for the young man and he talked about it with Lily, who understood. She herself thought Sirius was a bit too irresponsible for Cassia and didn't want them to get together. But, she too, couldn't explain why she thought like that. Sure, she wouldn't want her daughter to date someone like Sirius, if she ever had a daughter, but Lily thought even then she wouldn't mind too much, since she dated James and he wasn't exactly better.

Cassia was torn. On the one hand, she really liked Sirius and enjoyed his company. How they could pull pranks together but also be serious if they had to be. She loved it when he laughed or was just happy and she hated seeing him in a bad mood, whether he was sad or angry didn't matter. Most of the time, she could get him into a good mood.
On the other hand, she knew, that she'd have to return to her own time soon. That Sirius was dead. That she didn't want to bond too close with someone whose future she knew, but Cassia also knew, that he had already become too close to her for her to stop the heartbreak from happening. Whenever she would go, she would have to leave behind one of her closest friends.

Sirius was just happy. Cassia was a great friend and he felt himself falling for her. He knew, she would leave one day to go back to her home, with her family. Back to Australia. But they could keep in touch. They could visit each other and, maybe, if she wanted to, he could save some money and move to Australia or she could move to the UK. Or maybe his crush would go away and they'd just be great friends. They could still keep in touch and visit each other.
Sirius was the only one of the four, who didn't have anything to say against his friendship with Cassia.
She could make him smile, sometimes by simply being around him. She was able to talk sense into him, when nobody else could and had stopped him from being expelled at least once.

Halloween came and went and nothing special happened, except the slap in Cassia's face when she realised on the evening of the second of November that Sirius' birthday would be yomorrow and she didn't have a present.

She started drawing and tinkering in the Room of Requirement, wondering what Sirius would like to get for his eighteenth birthday. A motorbike maybe, but Cassia didn't have money in this time and she definately didn't have the skill or intelligence to build one.

For a start, she settled for drawing Sirius on his future motorbike, a charming smile on his face. She spent three hours alone on his face and it still wasn't as good as she wanted it, but it was recognisable, so she decided to get back to it later.

At 5 in the morning, she was pleased with her work, wich took her nearly ten hours. Originally, she had wanted to colour the drawing, but she feared it might ruin the nearly perfect picture.

Instead, she set on building a small model of Sirius' future motorbike.

Two hours and a waking potion later she put her presents into a red and silver bag and returned to the Gryffindor tower.

She quickly showered and brushed her hair and teeth and, for the first time in the school year, styled her hair. Shocking, I know.

She pulled back a strand of hair on her left and used it, to make sure no hair on her left side would fall into her face. She fixated her hair with a lioness-bloodhound hairclip, wich had been a present by her godfather Remus. The lioness was representing house Gryffindor, the bloodhound her patronus.

She went down to the common room again, where Sirius and the others from his year were celebrating.

"Cassia! Your hair looks good! Did you brush it for once?" Sirius asked her jokingly, when she arrived next to him. "Shut it, Black. Here, hope you like it. Happy Birthday.", she replied, giving him the bag.

Sirius opened it excited and took out the model of the motorbike. "That looks exactly like the one I want to get!", he exclaimed surprised. "Really?", Cassia asked, faking surprise perfectly. She got scarily good at acting by now. Sirius took out the drawing and stared at it for what felt like hours. "This- this looks amazing! How long did it take you to get it that good?!" "Around ten hours. I really wanted to make it look as close to reality as I could. It isn't 100% realistic but it's definately the best drawing I've ever made. And it was worth the time, I think." "It is perfect! Thank you!" Cassia couldn't help but smile brightly when she saw how happy Sirius was. It had definately been worth the time, ten hours for this smile was almost nothing.

School went by slowly on this peticular thursday. Cassia couln't wait to spend Sirius' birthday with him.

Sirius, at the same time, wanted nothing more, than to spend his birthday with Cassia alone, but his hopes were crushed, when he realised he couldn't do that to his friends.

The eighteenth birthday of Sirius Black was celebrated by the whole house and he put on a smile during the whole party.

He talked to what felt like half the house, but was probably just a quarter. Everyone congratulated him and some gave him presents like sweets or money.

At around 10:30p.m., he finally had the chance to talk to Cassia. He led her out of the room, into the boy's dormitory.

"What is it, Sirius? Is everything alright?" "Yep, everything is alright. I just wanted to talk about something with you.", the Gryffindor said and blushed slightly. Cassia was completely confused. "You know you can talk about everything with me. Whatever it is, it won't destroy our friendship. Nothing could." Sirius smiled at that. How come this girl, this woman always knew exactly what to say, even if she didn't know what bothered him?

"Cassia, I really like you. I- some would probably say it's more that 'just' platonic. I- I wanted to ask you out. On a date. If you want! You don't have to! What's wrong?", he ranted and stopped, when she saw tears escaping Cassias eyes. "Nothing. Everything. I don't know!", she exclaimed. "Sirius, I'd love to go on a date with you, but I don't think it's a smart Idea. I like you in the same way too, it's just a too confusing time for me."

Sirius sat down on his bed, next to her. "You know you can tell me everything, right? No matter what, I won't get angry at you." He took her hand, reassuring her, like she did two months ago. Cassia took a deep breath and decided to do what she had sworn not to do. What she would've hit herself for just a month earlier.

"Alright. But you have to promise, not to interrupt me. I swear to you, I'm telling the truth, no matter how weird and crazy it sounds." "I promise."
"I'm from the future. I was, or will be, born on the eighteenth of August, 1979 to James and Lily Potter. My godfather is Remus Lupin. My brother Harry will be born on the 31st of July 1980. In 1991 we started our first year in Hogwarts and in 1997 the war against Voldemort is at it's peak and Harry, our two friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and I went on the run. We ended up going to Godric's Hollow one day, not knowing it was Christmas eve. We visited- a grave and a house and were invited home by Bathilda Bagshot. Harry and Bathilda went upstais while Hermione and I inspected the ground floor, Ron didn't go with us. I saw this magnificent hourglass and just had to touch it. It transported me to the past. You can ask Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat, everything I have told you is true. That's the reason I can't go on a date with you. I'll have to return to my time and it'll hurt too much as it is now. I don't want it to get worse."

Sirius just stared at her. "And you're not making this up? If this is a joke, it's the worst in history." "No, I'm not making this up. We can go to Dumbledores office tomorrow and you can ask him. I wouldn't lie to you. Not in this situation. And I won't ever lie to you again, unless it's in the presence of others, then I might have to." Sirius nodded. "I think I need to process that, okay? I believe you, it's just a lot to wrap my head around. Can we talk again tomorrow?"
"Of course, I'll go to bed now too. Good night." "Good night."