Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince | Sirius Black ✓

40. no body, no crime

Mid-March 1978

Kelsey,

Figured you might need these notes as well. I sent the original ones to Mary. These are a copy. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

xx

Benji

"That blithering perv!" Sirius snatched the letter from Kelsey's hand at the Hufflepuff table. He had initially approached her to talk things over with their recent tiff in the common room last weekend.

"SIRIUS!" Kelsey got up immediately and went to grab it from him.

"So what, now you're writing to him?" he said testily.

Kelsey's nostrils flared and she lifted the remaining stack of NEWT notes and waved them in front of his face.

"Must you be so dramatic?"

"I don't like that bloke," he eyed the paper.

"Well," she said icily. "Right now, I don't like you." She crossed her arms. "You've been avoiding me since that night."

To say she was irritated was an understatement. She had spent the last two days being avoided during which she had managed to channel her frustration into a plan to expose Pettigrew.

"I'm here now, yeah?" Sirius looked guilty before frowning. "Besides I don't see why you couldn't have just asked Moony for notes-"

"You mean between all those times I've seen you four scamper away at the sight of me?" she seethed.

"Kelsey," he tried to reach out to her but she stepped back.

"Look just.." she stopped to swat his hand away. She was on edge. "..I'll see you later, okay?"

ϟ

Step 1: Acquire full-body invisibility? Check.

Step 2: Make yourself scarce? Check.

Step 3: Follow the rat? In-progress.

Kelsey looked behind to make sure she wasn't visible under her disillusionment charm. She was good. At eight in the evening, the corridors were mostly empty and Mission 'Rat the Rat' was in motion. She had been keeping a close on Peter Pettigrew for the last week although it had been a task now that he was on to her.

Sirius was still miffed at her with the letter incident but it wasn't something she hadn't been able to solve with a special surprise after Quidditch practice for the last match of the year. One well-timed appearance in the boys' locker room after making sure Sirius was the last one remaining had forced him to face her. She found that she could be very persuasive when in the mood. Remembering the bold actions made her cheeks heat up and she had to slap them to make herself focus.

Now that they were back on talking terms, she could proceed with this plan in peace. She was currently following him.

Pettigrew was taking the familiar route to Dumbledore's office in a scurry holding a long object sheathed in a dark cloth. Despite the charm in effect, Kelsey would have to dive behind pillars every time he looked back in her worry.

It's strange, she thought. Almost as if he knows I'm following him. But she couldn't for the life of her figure out how he would know that.

To stay safe, she put some extra distance between them and almost lost him in the process. Two corridors away from the office, she came closer once again hearing voices around the corner.