never until forever [s. black]

thirteen

"got the pictures!" regulus exclaims as he rushes to katherine and emma, who are waiting for him in the empty slytherin common room. everyone else had left to go watch the game, leaving the three behind. regulus hands them two pictures of sirius and katherine looks it, before smiling.

"merlin's. he looks so innocent in this one." katherine muses as she looks at the baby picture and regulus nods in agreement. emma glances at the picture katherine is holding and chuckles in agreement. "okay, you should get going. the game is starting soon."

"right. good luck!" regulus smiles, before leaving the two girls, who smile at each other. they make their way to the gryffindor common rooms and glance around the room, before putting the pictures down.

"ready?" katherine asks emma, who nods in excitement. katherine pulls her wand out and looks at the pictures. "geminio."

the two watch as the pictures multiply and before they know it, they have stacks of pictures in front of them. without wasting a minute more, they immediately start sticking the pictures to the walls, the furniture and even the ceiling. some pictures are spelled to stick themselves, so that the process is sped up, but some pictures they stick themselves on the wall. after an hour of work, the two back away and look proudly at their work. everywhere are pictures of sirius as a baby and they can't help but laugh.

"this is amazing. outstanding." emma grins, before checking the time and her grin drops. "we should go. the match is nearly over."

"you go. i'll clean up the last few pictures." katherine says as she looks at the stack on the side and emma looks at her, silently asking her if she was sure. "go. i'll be fine. you should join regulus."

"okay. be careful." emma smiles, before leaving katherine. she makes her way towards the stack and starts putting them into her bag to eventually throw away later. unbeknownst to her, one of the few people she hoped not cross while here, walks into the room.

"katherine?" she turns around, her eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.

"sirius!" she exclaims, his own eyes are wide in shock as he looks around the common room. his lips part slightly in disbelief.

"merlin's. please tell me you didn't do this." he breaths out as he looks at all the pictures, making her hide the bag behind her back as if that changed anything.

"nooo!" she squeaks. feeling hopeless as she is so shocked to see him here, that she has no idea how to lie to him. she expected him to get mad, and for them to start arguing like they usually do, but instead he laughs. her eyes widen even more, unsure what do. no matter how much they had planned this, nothing had prepared her for this.

"i must give it to you, princess. this is good. this is great. i'm guessing regulus was in charge of getting the pictures." he says as he walks up to her and she is stuck in her spot, not moving.

"right. uh, well. i'm happy you like it?" her confusion and uncertainty becomes obvious to him, causing him to chuckle softly and shake his head.

"so this is what you meant by saying snakes bite back?" he asks teasingly, making her huff as she crosses her arms over her chest and tries to regain her cool.

"yes. what else did you think?" she raises an eyebrow and he simply shrugs.

"you, slytherins, are too unpredictable to expect anything." he admits, making her roll her eyes at him. before she can say anything back, professor mcgonagall walks into the common room and gasps as she sees all the pictures.

"merlin's beard. what is this?" she exclaims, before her eyes land on the two students who smile at her sheepishly. "merlin's beard! detention the two of you! this is no way to behave."