Pawns & Players - Sirius Black

-16-

Only in the darkness can you see the stars - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Where's Lily ?"

"With Snape"

"Again ?"

"Fucking Snivellus"

"Good one James, and yes, again"

"She can't ditch us for the whole ride, right ?"

"Go and look for her then, you know she starts running away when she sees me."

"I would rather die than spend one more second with that greasy git. I don't understand what Lily sees in him, he hexed the muggle-born first years in front of me. The only person he doesn't call a you-know-what is his Lily dearest."

"I'm going to take her to Hogsmeade this year."

"Yeah, you do that before Snape proposes to her." Remus had finally lifted his head from the book he was holding.

"I don't know why she rejects me. My mum said any girl would die to date me !"

"That's probably why James"

Marlene snorted while waking up from her nap on Dorcas's lap. Alice was still sleeping on the girl's shoulder and Mary was talking to Frank while bringing the whole compartment the much-needed food.

While she was throwing the chocolate frogs around for everyone around to get a few, the redhead popped inside the compartment.

"Finally carrot, nice to see you"

"I'm not a ginger"

"I apologize on the behalf of our ignorant friend Lils"

"Shut up Marlene"

"Rude"

"You sure you don't want the chocolate Elle ?"

"Yep take it"

"I WANT IT" 

"Calm down Pete"

"Too late"

"Cruel woman"

"You know what they say, the first one who gets the chocolate eats it."

"Lily, I heard the first Hogsmeade weekend is in two weeks, go out with me ?"

"In your dreams Potter"

Once again, the left window side was occupied by the brunette, lost in between pages, when the train stopped.

-

After last year's end-of-year feast, the professors didn't have enough evidence to punish a student and yet everyone had a clear idea of who it was, or rather who the five were. Laurel, Sirius, and Marlene all had gained popularity among others, their good looks being indisputable, and James had made it very clear he was going to stay a virgin until Evans went out with him. 

"Why is everyone so horny all of a sudden. It's Hogsmeade for the love of Merlin !"

"So you're saying I shouldn't have said yes to the Ravenclaw girl ?" 

"Marls. Which language were we speaking when we said going together as friends. The first time was supposed to be our thing !"

"Al calm down this means you can ask Frank out"

Alice was shifting uncomfortably, mumbling a few inaudible things before blushing. She certainly needed a lesson on holding a straight face because this had started to happen every time Longbottom was mentioned. 

"And does this also mean I can ask Sirius out ?"

"Black ? Seriously Macdonald you can do better"

"Oh you are one to talk Lils. James would jump off a cliff to take you on a date so you and your unreachable standards do not apply to me."

"True. Both of them are assholes though. Max is literally scared to come inside the Gryffindor common room because of them."

"But, he is a Gryffindor..."

"...Sleeping in the Hufflepuff common room with Mikey."

"They are not that scary"

"Oh them hexing everyone that annoys them slightly isn't the only reason. You are even worse Laur !"

"At least I don't hex them" She defended herself while laughing loudly.

"Your looks are scarier trust me. The last time you yelled at the second-year boy, McGonagall gave him a free day to recollect himself."

"We weren't like that at that age." Nodding her head disapprovingly, still laughing.

-

Classes were harder and yet Laurel had no difficulty whatsoever at excelling, at almost all of them. They required logical thinking skills and practical demonstration which she was brilliant at, except for the two classes, completely wrecking her average and provoking angry outbursts in the middle of nowhere.

Divination and Astronomy.

Stars were never at the same place she left them, tea leaves were tea leaves and her hormones were the only thing changing her mood, unlike what Professor Mopsus was saying about bored planets changing their placements every second. And one thing that infuriated her above all, Black was top of their year in both of them. She liked him and was happy about him succeeding of course, but her competitiveness said otherwise. Every night in the astronomy tower, she forced herself to note everything she saw, and yet, to her, it consisted simply of shining dots. 

"Bullshit" She muttered before burning another paper and throwing it out of the tower.

"You know if I didn't know you any better, an insane person talking to herself and burning things in the middle of the night would seem strange."

"Fuck Orion"

"That's what I say every day but all I get is a lecture from my lovely mother"

"I will throw you out and watch you fall until I hear the sound of your body bein-"

"You will have to do much more than that to have a passing grade."

The girl was glaring at him and yet was waiting for him to continue.

"And that's not Orion."