𝕐 𝔼 𝕃 𝕃 𝕆 𝕎 | 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

6. P a r t n e r s

"This is going to count towards 70% of your grade. You will be partnered with them for other studies also until the end of this curricular year. The professors and I have also paired you up with someone you wouldn't necessarily choose! You will not be able to change partners and that's final! Try to work together outside of classes too and learn to get along with them if you didn't before." Professor Slughorn announced to the class of shocked and angry students. Uproar broke out, yelling from many students including Lily and many Slytherins were mixed amongst the protests.

"This is the end of my life! I'd rather be trampled by a hippogriff and have it chew my arm off than work with Potter for the rest of the year! My grades are going to plummet!" Lily cried on Nora's shoulder, a lot of her protesting muffled as her face was smushed in her friends robes. Nora patted her head, chuckling a little as she looked at James Potter and his friends, whom were naturally grinning at the girls. Nora shrugged and gave an apologetic smirk to a very happy James.

Marlene was paired with Remus, Peter paired with Severus Snape, Alice with Frank Longbottom, Lily with James and lastly Nora with Sirius. Her stomach dropped and she felt sick at the mere idea of being paired with someone who took joy in aggravating her and teasing consistently. Just when Nora thought things were starting to improve, it was one step forward and two steps back. Lily had finished dramatically sobbing on Nora's arm as the professor demanded for the pairings to start that lesson.

Setting up her cauldron, Nora felt the presence of her sadly new partner sit down beside her. Stealing a glance at him, she frowned at the cigarette tucked beside his ear, his school tie draped around his neck like a scarf and a toothpick hanging loosely from his mischievous lips.

"Sooooo...Lysander"

"It's Nora... just Nora." her voice was quiet but held authority. It was a common thing for two people who don't know each other well enough to address each other by last names. Nora, however, did not like it; especially as she was one of four Lysander's and because of the chat she had with Lily earlier that week. She was trying to learn to trust others until they gave reason not too. In this case, Sirius Black was as harmless as a little puppy dog.

Sirius was also quite taken back by her request in how to be addressed. Despite it, he found himself rather pleased that he was paired with her. As the weeks were passing, his curiosity of her developed in a small tiny piece of genuine interest for her as a person. So far all he had gathered was that she was quick witted, easily clumsy, actually funny and had incredible taste in music (in which he discovered her singing Golden Years by Bowie on their way to class earlier that morning. He danced behind her the whole time which naturally gave the boys some amusement) - along with the fact that he found her obviously attractive, He was worried that he was going to get into his own filthy head a little too much.

" ... well, Just Nora - fancy a study date tonight?" He bumped his shoulder against hers, his flashy grin blurring her vision. Considering she found Sirius to be somewhat a prat, she couldn't deny that he was insanely attractive and there was a tiny charm to him but it didn't change how she felt towards him, at least not currently.

"In what world..!" She scoffed, copying down the notes that had appeared on the black board. A shiver ran down her whole body at his next response...

"My one. You'll eventually be my wife, we'll have a dragon called Gus and 4 kids, all boys of course." he wiggled in his seat, surprisingly taking notes as well. Her breath hitched and the famous barking laughs from Sirius' friends echoed around the classroom, thankfully masked by the increase of chatter by the students discussing the notes with their new partners.

A blush erupted on her cheeks and had she clenched her jaw any tighter, her teeth would have shattered.

Nora struggled to focus during the remainder of the lesson, her mouth pursed shut in fear that if she spoke any further, it would be an open firing ground for Sirius to tease her more. By the end of the lesson, Nora zoomed to Lily to not only rescue her from the ogre that was James Potter but to leave quickly.