𝕐 𝔼 𝕃 𝕃 𝕆 𝕎 | 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

7. S i s t e r s

The light yellow morning haze flooded through the tall arched windows of the library, caressing the 15 meter high bookshelves with a light dust hue and warmed the wood. After her run in with Sirius that morning, she decided to help volunteer with her sister as well seeing as she hadn't spent much time with her since they started back. Nora always knew where to find her siblings on Saturdays; Ben on the quidditch field with Potter, Black, and the rest of his team, Deanna walking around the grounds with her friends before going to the owlery to send her weekly letter to her parents and Georgia, like herself, liked to do some volunteer work so would assist Madame Simźa,  a snappy but tolerable woman, in the Library.

At the top of the ladder. Georgia scanned the shelf pockets for the correct section to return the books from the stacks Nora was levitating.

"I remember doing the partner work. I HATED it too. Ben got Hannah Greenarch, a chatter box of a Ravenclaw - I'm so glad she's not in my dorm anymore, and I had Hugo Barker..." 

"From my house?" Nora wrinkled her nose, holding the ladder still for Georgia as she descended slowly.

Georgia reached the bottom and looked at her little sister with an uneasy expression. "Does he still.."

"Love you with a burning desire and cries over the fact your boyfriend is Jonah French instead of him. OH YEAH. He keeps asking me to tell you that... Can we ask Dumbledore to submit a restraining order?" Nora shook her head, shivering at the thought of how creepy he was. The sisters laughed quietly together, sitting down on the desk for a small break. Saturdays were the days they spent together when they could. Ben was good for somethings, but Georgia was always her advise giver.

"So... any boys that tickle your fancy?" Georgia began to sort through the other piles, alphabetising them, ready to re-shelf them. Nora let her head flop back as she started to think, humming a little and swung her legs like a happy child. 

"Well... Garrett Watson in my year started to talk to me before the first term feast started. He's pretty cute the more I think about it." She shrugged, not thinking much about it .

Georgia nodded, handing the piles to her sister before heading back up the ladder again, the wheels slowly moving her to the right side of the shelves. "I'm pretty sure I heard him say something about you yesterday; he was talking to some of his friends at my table about the class parings but then one of his friends went on a HUGE rant about how you got paired up with 'a sex pest' like Sirius Black and will be tainted by the end of the week'" Georgia imitated his voice

"Wait what!" Nora shrieked, her voice jumped an octave. Her hand slapping over her lips so fast she wouldn't be shocked if there was a hand mark afterwards. Georgia kept still, hoping that no footsteps would descend towards them. To their luck, Madame Simźa must have stepped out momentarily.  

"Garrett defended you quickly but with a sour taste when mentioning Sirius. It's clear Garrett is fond of you... but towards Sirius not so much." Georgia came back down, a sympathetic frown painted unintentionally. Nora's head flopped, muttering and cursing as she waved a quick good bye and stomped out of the library before letting herself get worked up. No doubt, she feared a rumour was due to spread.

- - - - - - - - 

Sirius had James in a headlock, careful to remove his best friends glasses from his eyes before continuing to wrestle around during lunch; on Saturdays, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter would hang out with some of the other boys from their year. Remus was not present this time due to the moon situation the night before and his current location being the hospital wing. Peter was busy chatting with Joshua Alan from Ravenclaw about the upcoming quidditch season and Garrett Watson, Matthew Grey and Nicholas Moore from Hufflepuff were cheering on the mini wrestling match between Potter and Black.

"Garrett! So what happened? Did you ask Nora out or what?" Nicholas piped up, turning away from the playful fighting in front of him to chat with his roommates. Sirius' ears prickled to attention, tuning into the conversation as he continued to hold James tightly, his struggle to get out of the headlock increasing.

"Man, I tried to ask her literally the second she sat down at the welcoming feast and then again yesterday before Potions but we got interrupted and I haven't been able to get a moment alone with her properly." His voice suddenly decreased in volume as the subject they were about to speak of was present. "Typical that she had Black paired with her? I wouldn't be worried if it was any other guy, but Merlins Beard. It had to be him... Honestly, I bet if anyone would come near Nora, or any other girl, he'd start growling." Thankful for his sonic hearing, Sirius' temperature raised, anger pulsating through him like hot lava and electricity. 

He flipped James over and onto the ground, snatching his friends attention at his win. He was panting, looking down at his friend who was groaning at the impact with the stone floor. The silence in front of him was thick and heavy, a silence that spoke louder than him. 

"Merlin Padfoot! Take it easy mate, we've got practice again tomorrow!" James strained, his stomach winded as he held his arm up for Sirius to take. Without saying a word, Sirius pulled him to his feet, placed his glasses back on his eyes before gently patting his cheek and walked away from them all, his feet carrying him towards the entrance hall and out into the courtyard for cold air too pull his focus back.

He sat on the fountain side, taking he shoes off and dunked his feet into the freezing cold water. Groaning at the pain from the water, he understood why Nora did it all the time; he focused instantly

"What was that dude..." He muttered to himself, all feeling of nausea and heaviness coming back. Since that morning of rescuing his class partner, his mind had been playing tricks on him as the day went on. 'It's easy to tease her because it's fun! Yes she's practically a saint but it doesn't mean I care? She's just a class mate.'  The voice in his head fought against all odds and still after 30 minutes of sitting in the 'thinking fountain' as he overheard Nora call it to Lily one time, he couldn't shake the angry feeling he had when his intentions with girls or Nora were questioned. He leaned his head against the pillar and tried to see clearly. He also thought back to last week of the summer when he caught her hand in the bookshop. It could have been ANYONE and yet it was her. Her.  Sirius never believed in fate, at least not to that extent yet every card he was dealt with since coming back to school had lead him to Nora or some kind of interaction with her. Shaking it off, he stared at his reflection and gulped.

"Sirius, she's just a girl. That's it.... "