never until forever [s. black]

twenty

"hey, princess. how are you?" sirius asks as he walks up to katherine, who looks up at him and smiles softly.

"i'm okay. about last night, thank you." she says and he shakes his head with a soft smile.

"you've thanked me a hundred times and i've told you a hundred times, it's a pleasure." he assures her and a slight blush forms on her cheeks. he leans against the wall next to her, his hands buried in his pockets. "you going to the quidditch match tonight?"

"sirius. i really appreciate you helping me, but is it really a good idea to be friends after everything?" she asks, making him chuckle and he's about to say something but he cuts himself off. someone wraps their arms around katherine, startling her as she looks at the culprit with wide eyes.

"don't be foolish, katherine. it's the best idea ever. you can't miss james beating the slytherin team." remus says, making her look at him in disbelief as james and peter stands next to sirius.

"i think you might have forgotten the detail where i'm a slytherin, remus." katherine reminds him and he chuckles softly, while james smirks

"the more reasons to come. we'll prove to you that gryffindors are better." james says smugly and sirius grins encouragingly, making her smile and shake her head.

"i hate you guys. but i suppose a quidditch match won't kill." she says in defeat, making them all cheer happily. remus drops his arms and it's soon replaced with sirius' arm.

"perfect. this will be great. and i'll introduce you to my girlfriend." james excitedly, making everyone stop and look at him questioningly. he sighs in defeat as his lie clearly didn't work. "okay, fine. she's not my girlfriend, yet!"

"you know what, you'll get there eventually prongs." sirius says softly as they move along the hallway, in the direction of the great hall.

"who are we talking about?" katherine asks in confusion and james turns to look at her with a wide grin.

"none other than the most beautiful, smartest and most amazing witch ever." james dreamily, making katherine give him a look as she glances at sirius questioningly and he simply shrugs. katherine looks back at james. "lily evans."

"evans? james, she'd rather date regulus than you." katherine says, making james' grin drop as his friends burst into laughter. james glares at her playfully as she giggles to herself.

"harsh, avery. extremely harsh." james huffs and her smiles drops at the mention of her last name. they notice her sudden change in mood and glance at each other.  "you good there, kat?"

"uh, yeah. it's just.... could you not call me avery, i don't want to be reminded where i come from." katherine says and they all nod in understanding.

"you could change your name to black, i'm sure we can get a someone to get us married." sirius says teasingly, making her shrug off his arm and glare at him playfully.

"ew. no. don't you have a girlfriend?" katherine asks, and he suddenly turns pale as his eyes widen.

"yeah. and i was supposed to meet up with her." sirius says, as he starts backing away and they all look at him in amusement.

"go before she rips your beautiful glorious hair." james says teasingly, making sirius smirk.

"merlin forbid." sirius says, before running away, leaving the four behind and katherine looks at her others.

"come on, katherine. lily will be waiting for us." james says in excitement and katherine raises an eyebrow questioningly.

"why... why are you guys being nice to me?" she asks and they all smile at each other.

"because we know what it's like to afraid and lost." remus smiles softly, before looking in the direction sirius left and then back at katherine. "and he knows exactly what you feel."

"he suddenly feels like he's responsible of you. and because i'm responsible of him, that makes me responsible of you." james says proudly, making remus shake his head at him and roll his eyes.

"and i'm responsible of the lot." remus says and she chuckles as they slowly start making their way again.