How Cliché | Sirius Black x OC

Chapter 28

It was about two weeks after the party and work hit the older students like a sack of bricks, that also happened to be on fire. Nicole would be doing her essays in the middle of class as they were being taken up, Marlene would be complaining about it the entire time she was doing it, and Evelyn could be found banging her head against her desk.  

 Evelyn had been struggling with Astronomy and she had considered dropping out of the NEWT level class more than once. She would make her way to the library almost every night and hunched over a damned star map. Her had gone numb more times than she could count in the oak chairs, and she was bloody over it.

Evelyn's warm eyes narrowed at the words in her astronomy book and groaned. 'What the hell does this all even mean?' she thought to herself. 

She felt tears of irritation burn behind her eyes. The brunette quickly rubbed her eyes and slammed her face into her book, she couldn't keep doing this, she had to ask for help.

" Alright, Truelove?" said a voice filled with strain, as if they were trying to hold back a laugh.

Evelyn bolted up with a bush on her face, " Oh! Yes, I'm fine- Black?" she asked with surprise. 

The eldest Black brother smirked his usual smirk, but something was different, his eyes were softer. Evelyn had always thought he was handsome, though she would never admit it, and she would sometimes ask herself why Sirius acted the way he did- when she got the feeling that wasn't all he was. 

Sirius tilted his head slightly and glanced at the book on the table, " Can I see?" he asked.

Evelyn pursed her lips before nodding.

Sirius approached the table before taking a seat next to her. He rolled up his sleeves and slip the book towards himself. 

Evelyn glanced down at his right forearm and smiled slightly, he had a minimalist tattoo of the moon phases and at the top was a small pair of antlers. 

Sirius hummed slightly and turned to look at Evelyn who he noticed was looking at his tattoo. His smirk deepened, " You like it?" he asked.

She looked back up and gray met brown, she held his stare for only a second before nodding, " I can honestly say I do, since it's not something stupid and meaningless." 

He chuckled, " What's wrong with stupid and meaningless, Truelove,"

" Well it's just pointless so why bother to do it?" she answered looking back at him.

He tilted his head slightly, " Because it's fun,"

She frowned slightly, " Eh,"

He shook his head slightly with an amused look on his face, " I can see you're having, um, trouble," he tapped the star chart with his quill, " due to the vulgar fact that you mistook me for Bellatrix," he jokingly chided. 

Evelyn sighed, " This class is going to actually kill me," 

" Oh c'mon Truelove, the only way that could happen was if you got Prof. Sinistra pushed you off the Astronomy Tower," he joked.

Evelyn pretended to contemplate the idea, " You think she would,"

" Maybe if you paid her, but you can't pay her if you're dead,"

" Well that's out the window, unlike me, unfortunately," 

Sirius chuckled, " So if you will Truelove, erase this entire chart,"

Evelyn glanced down at her paper and frowned, " What if I just pushed myself?" 

-

About an hour later Sirius had managed to help her finish the entire chart and some of her essay before they looked at the clock and realized dinner was about to begin. 

Evelyn packed her things away and stood, Sirius followed. 

" Thank you for your help, Bl-"

" Sirius," he interrupted, " Er, you can call me Sirius,"

Evelyn smiled slightly, " Thank you for your help, Sirius," she said softly.

The man in question placed a hand behind his neck and opened his mouth before closing it again, " You're welcome but I... I just want to um... I want to say I'm sorry," he finished lamely.

She knew what he was talking about but she wouldn't drag it out and beat his pride up any further. 

Evelyn straightened," I forgive you, now," she began grabbing her bag and motioning toward the door with her head, " Shall we,"

-

(Short)