Arcane [Sirius Black]

Chapter 22 - De Lumine

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Lily could tell something was up. She wasn't ignorant to the dynamics of her friend group and between the strange behaviour of the boys at the beginning of the year, Marlene's pleas of jealousy, and the slip-up with Diana's spilt glass of wine on Halloween, it was obvious something unsaid had occurred.

It didn't help how the boys were now increasingly outspoken and intrusive in the girl's business, semi-courtesy of Diana's growing friendship with their likes.

Today was especially bad, Professor McGonagall's classroom a buzz of thundering distraction and noise as the class attempted to transfigure owls into opera glasses. The boys had crowded around the tables the girls were sat at, pushing their desks together to cooperate on the assignment.

Lily was attempting to focus while simultaneously carrying out the difficult task of ignoring the loud voice of James Potter to her left.

"Evans," he whined repeatedly, practically falling out of his chair to gain her attention.

"What?" she finally gave in with a sigh, turning sharply to the side only to see the boy with his eyes magnified in the opera glasses he now held up, leaning forward toward Lily's face.

"I can see you in close-up!"

"You're already close enough," she said, flinging forward her hand to knock the glasses away so he could see how close he really was. "Much too close if you ask me."

He stumbled a bit in his chair as Lily's hand flicked his face, falling back with a blush as he, in fact, did notice their increased proximity. He didn't say anything, just chuckling with a sheepish grin and turning his attention back to his own desk.

Lily rolled her eyes, albeit with a bit of amusement, and looked to her right where the rest of the girls were sitting. Mary was in a trance of switching her owl between objects while Sirius was leaning against the table, smack in between Marlene and Diana.

Lily shook her head as she watched Sirius push Diana's shoulder repeatedly to annoy her, the smirk on his face bright as she told him off with a playful grin.

"Mr Black," Professor McGonagall's voice commanded the boy's attention as she made her way down the row of the room, "If you could find your way back to your own seat?"

"Anything for you, Minnie," he said with a smile as he flounced back to his spot, gaze still wandering back to the other table over time.

Lily, mindlessly straightening her opera glasses that sat on the desk, thought about the changing auras of her friends. Fifth-year was constantly evolving — innocent conversations on crushes were more concrete and corporeal, brushed touches were lingering, and the want for rebellion was rampant among the Gryffindor year.

They weren't all bad changes and Lily wasn't a prude in terms of all defiance (she was becoming more numb to Marlene's pleas to sneak around and drink, for example) but she did feel a sort of bittersweet longing for the simplicity of their past.

She moved her head out of the way of a charmed paper aeroplane that whizzed past her ear and toward her friends, squinting at the boyish grins of Sirius and James as they continued their juvenile jests from afar.

Diana picked up the aeroplane with a roll of her eyes, oblivious to the underlying implications of the target on her head.

Then again, Lily thought, it was rather interesting to observe the rapid changing of the teenage tides.

-

"What's the deal with you and Sirius, hm?" Lily asked as she and Diana pushed through the crowds of the second-floor hallway.