Arcane [Sirius Black]

Chapter 20 - Sunset Solidarity

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    SIRIUS was ready.

    He'd had his trial run complete and was sick of James's nagging; it was now time to man up and confront Diana head-on and in harsh sobriety. He'd had his month of exaggerated sulking and now realised he wasn't going to get anywhere without acting on it. He'd never been one to stand down in turmoil and he had to remind himself it was not like him to fear an encounter.

    More so than this logic, though, was the anger he felt brewing when he saw Remus and Diana laughing merrily in the hallway one afternoon.

    He knew they were friends — as Remus annoyingly brought up each and every single time they discussed the girl — but what frustrated him was the idea that she could so easily warm up to his friend but not him. What caused her to be cold one moment and chummy the next?

    He was sick of questioning it and thanks to the interesting game of hide-and-seek the weekend before, he now knew she was actively attempting to not talk to him. It was clear his efforts to ease into conversation weren't going to work.

    This is what he pondered as he sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts class, ears closed off to any actual information, and eyes glued to the back of Diana Montgomery's head. He could just make out the shape of James beside him folding paper airplanes and sending them off around the room whenever their teacher wasn't looking, but besides that, he was focused only on his thoughts.

    That is, until he heard the word Werewolf reverberating around the room. His eyes flicked quickly up and at their teacher, the lousy Professor Randall Connolly, before subtly glancing at Remus to his left, who looked pale.

    "Lycanthropy is one of the most dangerous ailments in this world. These individuals become demented creatures capable of bountiful evils—"

    Sirius felt his blood beginning to boil and James's distracted movements stopped sharply to his right.

    "Various legislation has been put forth to allow the coexisting of humans and werewolves...but no signed paperwork can account for their immoral behaviour—"

    Remus shifted uncomfortably and Sirius frowned. Another coarse word from their dense professor and Sirius would snap.

"Some might even argue that a werewolf is soulless, lacking human principles completely."

That's it, Sirius thought, sitting upright to tell the man off. Before he could open his mouth, however, another voice rang out into the classroom. It wasn't a voice heard often in the room, usually kept quiet and reserved to jotting notes or scribbling doodles.

It was a voice that caused all the boys to turn curiously to the owner, waiting with bated breath to see what she might say.

"That's not true," Diana Montgomery stated abruptly, voice gone stern and powerful with anger.

"Excuse me?" Professor Connolly raised his eyebrows at the outburst.

"They're not some beast to ridicule. Do you really think a werewolf chooses to be that way? To think you, a professor on the subject, wouldn't understand any better is appalling to me, really."

Professor Connolly's eyebrows lowered into an evilly numb face. "Are you talking back to me?"

"I suppose I am," Diana crossed her arms and the entire class stilled with tension.

"Detention, Miss Montgomery. And five points from Gryffindor for this defiance."

Diana furrowed her eyebrows with anger.