𝕐 𝔼 𝕃 𝕃 𝕆 𝕎 | 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

15. W a t s o n

It was 2 weeks later when Quidditch Try Outs started. "Just ... don't embarrass me?" Deanna took a deep breath, walking quickly beside her sister towards the Quidditch pitch to try out for the Slytherin team for the first time. She had been practicing with her father over the summer, with a little extra help from Ben of course before he started his new job at the Ministry. Nora rolled her eyes with a smile, holding open the gate for her to go through. All around the pitch, each houses were gathered to start try outs.

Deanna jogged over to her friends, greeting the other Slytherins. Nora stuffed her hands in her pockets and wondered around, looking out to see who was there and if she knew anyone she could sit by. Sitting alone, she spotted some faces in the groups dotted around the large grass area. She saw Garrett, Nicholas and kids from her house, her sister and Regulus from Slytherin, she didn't recognise anyone from  Ravenclaw and naturally she saw James, Sirius and a few other Gryffindors she knew. Try outs started and she sat eagerly as her sister stepped up to try for Beater.

"Come on girl!! You got this!" Nora whistled and cheered for her sister, wrapping her coat around her tighter. Sirius caught the sound of his favourite voice from the stands. Grinning, he excused himself for a moment as he hopped on his broom and flew up the stands were Nora was.

"Hey loud mouth!" He got off and sat beside her, looking out at the view in front of her. Seeing her shiver, he pulled her to his side and rubbed the side of her arms quickly, taking in the sweet smell of her perfume again. He wanted nothing more than to keep her lips warm too...

"Hey you!" Nora continued to shiver, scooting closer to him. "Isn't it so strange that our siblings are just as close to each other as we are... well, maybe not as close". Nora muttered the last part, glancing at his grinning face. He snorted, nodding his head in agreement.

"So long as they don't date, I don't care. Your sister scares the shit out of me sometimes but I'm sure Reg can handle it. Would be so weird if they dated anyway..." Sirius wrinkled his nose, silently begging that they were just friends.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Nora pushed, her confidence growing suddenly.

"Because..." He was hesitant as his voice dropped an octave, his hand slipping down to rest on her knee and his face moved a fraction closet to hers, slowly as his eyes gazed into hers.

"SIRIUS DARLING! Hurry up! We're starting in a second!" James' voice echoed across the stadium, all eyes suddenly shooting towards them. Sirius closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

"Way to cock block me you git!" He muttered to himself, Nora hearing him perfectly clear

"Be there in a sec lover!" He shouted back, whistles and cheers came back at his response to his best friend. Nora threw her head back, howling with laughter. Sirius grinned again as he watched how happy and amused it made her.

"You better go, co-captain." Nora composed herself, her hand patting his cheek as they sat up straight, not even realising Sirius' attempt to kiss her that he had dipped them ever so slightly.

"Gimme a minute." He joked but blushed non the less, turning his head away to think about other things. Nora had to close her eyes and cover her mouth to stop herself erupting in fits of laughter again. Now with Sirius relaxed, he climbed back on his broom and hovered for a second. "See you later Princess." He winked, flying down and smacking the back of James' head on the way.

- - - - - -

The tryouts finished, everyone below looking exhausted and flat. Nora stood to meet her sister below until a commotion erupted on the grass. Squinting, she saw two boys in yellow robes stride over to red robes. Realising who it was, Nora gasped and tried to climb down quickly.

"Black!" Garrett stalked over, picking the tired Gryffindor up by the hood of his Quidditch uniform. Smacking his hand away, Sirius glared at him with his jaw clenched and chest puffed. All houses around them stopped dead in the case of a fight breaking out. "You snake. I knew not to trust you! First day of classes and you were all over Nora like a filthy rash. Merlin, I've been waiting weeks to beat your ass!" Garrett gripped his jumper, pulling him close and getting too close for comfort.

James went to jump him but Sirius pushed him back. "I got this, Prongs"

"Yeah Potter, this is between me and this turd!" Garrett's nostrils flared. Sirius laughed loudly at his choice of words. Seeing Red, Garrett gripped him tighter.

"Fuck you Watson. I never made Nora do anything, let alone convince her to be friends with me. She's figuring things out on her own." His words were like venom to the Hufflepuffs ears and the next thing he knew, Garrett threw a punch at Sirius. Nora had just reached the ground when it all broke out. Deanna and Regulus ran over to Sirius, holding him back with James and the rest of Gryffindor team as he fought his way to strangle him. Garrett reached for him again but was stopped short by Nora standing in front of Sirius, pain in her eyes and tears threatening to spill.

"Nora. Move!!" Garrett fell soft at the sight of her, his heart ached and he wanted to hold her tight. Nora stood her ground and ignored him, her stance strong but her stomach started to churn.

"Why are you even fighting Garrett! YOU broke up with ME!!" Nora barked, her hand reaching behind her, a finger touching hers and locked quickly. She had Sirius in her hand and she knew she was safe.

"Because of him!" He snarled at Sirius, his hands on her shoulders and his desperate eyes searching hers.

"NO! Because of your insecurity, lack of trust and .... immaturity. But I guess you were right. Maybe I wasn't truly invested and had someone on my mind and I didn't realise it until we got back to school...." She looked down. "But fighting doesn't always settle it" She huffed.

"I loved you.." He choked on his breath, feeling the embarrassment drowning him. Sirius thought back to the 'Crush to Love' system. Garrett had been talking about how long he had loved her and Sirius tried to move again, wanting to pull Nora to him but his friends and sibling were using all their strength to keep him still.

"You loved me? You sure do have a funny way of showing it... If you 'loved me' then you should have thought about that before becoming a jealous, angry and embarrassing mess and breaking up with me. I don't like seeing anyone upset but now I have to make a choice here. And given the circumstance, who do you think I'm going to choose now?" She waited for him to look up at her.

"Black" He swallowed, looking over at Sirius "So help me Merlin, if I catch you with anyone other than Nora, I'll castrate you." He turned away and walked off with his friends trailing hesitantly behind him. Deanna and Regulus let go hesitantly also and glanced over at their angry Slytherin team mates, all of whom hated the Gryffindor team, naturally. Saying a quick goodbye, the two of them scurried away. James patted his best friend, muttering that the team will give them a moment.

Finally taking a breath again, Nora closed her eyes and squeezed Sirius' finger. "I'm sorry I got you in this mess Sirius. Fucking men..." She huffed, watching the Hufflepuff team leave. Sirius' clenched jaw loosened slightly as he pulled her backside to his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head.

"Don't be. I'm not letting that asshole upset my best friend." He squeezed tighter, feeling complete comfort with her close to him. Nora grinned, looking down at his arms around hers.

'And this is why I'm choosing you.' she thought to herself.