Arcane [Sirius Black]

Chapter 15 - A Fickle Thing

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DIANA was mortified when she woke up in the early hours of the next morning.

Why?

Well, mortification is sometimes a response to extreme feelings of awkwardness, and Diana certainly deemed it awkward to wake up on the couch in the Gryffindor common room still in her uniform with a hazy mind and two arms wrapped around her.

As the prior evening came back to her, she came to the conclusion that James, Remus, and Peter didn't find it necessary to escort the two potion-drinking imbeciles named Sirius and Diana up to their respective dormitories.

Instead, they must have left them deep in slumber, buried beneath blankets, and cuddled up with various throw pillows.

However, it seemed those very throw pillows had fallen away during the night, in turn resulting in the compromising situation Diana found herself facing.

It had been a very difficult task to untangle herself from the boy beside her without waking him, but she eventually managed to replace her torso with a pillow and let him rest his head on the side of the sofa rather than her head, where it had been before.

She then ran up to her dorm, launching herself into her own bed and cosying up under her blankets as if she had been there all night.

It only occurred to her later, when James made a suggestive comment, that she had fallen asleep on the couch prior to dinner time, therefore resulting in the entirety of Gryffindor seeing her snoring glory as they returned to their common room that night.

Luckily for her, it seemed the snuggle fest hadn't happened until later when James had finally gotten sick of Sirius hugging him in his sleep and decided to rotate the boy's clingy arms to face Diana instead.

Sirius didn't seem to realise he had cosied up to her in the night, but Diana didn't care, only seeing the situation as yet another reason to avoid the boy to the absolute best of her ability.

She only spoke to him during Potions class so they could finish their essay and brew a second (much less potent) Draught of Peace. Besides that, and very much to Sirius's confusion and disappointment, she seemed to turn the corner in the opposite direction every time she saw him coming.

If he had thought Diana didn't want to talk to him the other night while studying, Sirius was now sure that he had done something wrong.

    He just hoped eventually she'd tell him what it was.

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    At the next meeting with Dumbledore, the drink of choice became tea.

    Spoons spinning themselves around and sugar cubes plopping into cups with a splash, Diana found herself staring down at the platter for the majority of the time.

    She found it funny how much attention Dumbledore paid to the snacks and refreshments, but after all, Dumbledore was a funny man. He had a way with exuding silly babbles and words of curious eccentricity. For a man regarded so highly in wizarding society, it might come as a surprise to some that he conducted himself with so much oddity, but Diana couldn't imagine him any other way.

    It only bothered her that beneath Dumbledore's quirky casualness he seemed anything but that.

    It would be immature to think that the man was no more than jolly jokes and witty comments. He held a foreboding sense of knowing in everything he did; as if he understood what someone was thinking before they opened their mouth.