Prima Donna | Sirius Black Fanfiction

Exams +/- Self Destruction

Exams. Aka. The bane of my existance. I don't know what it was but something about the thought of doing spells in front of some of the best examiners in the world made me literally self implode. The biggest problem was I knew I could do the spells, I had done them hundreds of times in class or with the girls but I just completely blanked under pressure. To top it all off my dad, being an auror, was known by nearly every examiner and one look at my middle name; 'Mathieu' sent expectations sky-rocketing. Needless to say, the pressure was high.

My exam ritual was self-destructive to say the least. It started a month out from exams and involved strict four hour sleep schedules, and fifteen minute dining breaks. Every hour of my day was planned out. So, here I sat in the common room at three in the morning, desperately reading over Lily's potion's notes. The girls had gone to bed and only Sirius was left munching on Cornish pasties beside me (apparently sleeping wasn't his thing).

"Why do you care so much about potions? You're doing fine." He looked over my shoulder at Lily's beautifully colour coded notes. 

I sighed of course he didn't understand... he was good at everything. "Because I need to get my grades up to an O." I said.

"You know all of this." Sirius sighed. He tried to pull the book out from in front of my nose. I clicked my tongue nervously, not relenting my grip.

"No, I don't. You do and Lily obviously does. But I unfortunately do not." I was beginning to get frustrated at his disturbances... they were ruining my schedule but I was able to control the tone of my voice.

"Yes, you do. You study harder than all of us combined. You just need to learn how to relax under pressure. Confidence, darling, confidence." He stood up reaching out for my hand.

"I have a schedule. I need to study potions for another thirty minutes." I attempted to ignore the dancing boy in front of me with an outstretched hand. "SIRIUS!" I exclaimed as I felt myself hoisted onto his shoulder.

"Trust me love, we'll be studying potions." He laughed as I struggled, still slung over his shoulder. I huffed angrily as he carried me out the portrait hole.

"Where are we going?" I hissed. It was well, well, well past curfew and I didn't rate my chances of getting caught by Filch.

"Just trust me Milla, merlin. I saved you from Rabastan Lestrange, I would've thought you'd have more belief in me." I could feel his body shake with laughter. We continued down several more flights of stares.

"Firstly, you didn't save me. Secondly, I can walk myself."

"I know, but this is more fun." I gave up on trying to fight it... Sirius was much too tall and I didn't fancy the fall if I were to attempt a suicide escape. Additionally, the view wasn't all ... bad. "Ok." Sirius dumped me unceremoniously on a chair. I glanced around... we were in the dungeons. He waved his wand casually and a large timer appeared in the air. There were ingredients and a small copper cauldron in front of me, I recognised it as Scarlett's.

"How did you get this stuff?" I asked confused. He just smiled cheekily.

"You have an half an hour to complete all three potions in front of you." He conjured up some thick-rimmed glasses and a long pointer to complete his look. "Ready? Begin."

As expected. I froze. My hands shook and I stared blankly at the bottles. I knew what each one of them meant, what each one was for. I was just reading about strengthening solution a minute ago. My brain was too busy imploding to think clearly. I looked up at Sirius, throwing my hands in defeat.

"I told you, it's useless. I don't know it. You haven't let me learn it well enough, to remember." I slumped down defeated on the uncomfortable wooden chairs. "I'm not like you guys, I need it to be engrained into my brain before I can do any good."