Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter twenty-two

January 8th - Potter Estate 

Sirius had always been the last one to wake up in the mornings, but not on days where he'd be going back to Hogwarts. He supposed it was a remnant of his life at Grimmauld place, back when he was so eager to leave his house he'd barely sleep the night before. 

He loved living with the Potters, he had finally found a family and a home, but old habits were hard to shake, which is why he found himself sitting in the kitchen with a hot cup of coffee, waiting for the rest of the household to wake up so they could head to King's Cross. 

Euphemia had heard of Nephera before that year. James would often send her letters over the years complaining about the Slytherin, but that year her son's attitude had changed. Once the woman met the girl at the station, she understood why.

So, Euphemia wanted to ask Sirius about Nephera, since she had sensed that there was something more than hate behind his words. 

"Excited about school?" she asked, taking a seat on the table opposite Sirius 

"Yeah, but I'll miss your fudge," he teased, but his tone was significantly less happy than he intended

Throughout the holidays, the two Gryffindors had been exchanging letters with Remus, Ellie, and Tony, and had even tried to send some to Nephera, although all of them had gone unanswered. 

It would be an understatement to say that both James and Sirius were worried about the girl, as well as the rest of the group, but while James openly talked about it,  Sirius relied on his sarcastic comments and cigarettes to deal with the stress. 

"This couldn't have anything to do with Nephera, could it?" asked Euphemia, raising an eyebrow 

"Winchester? No, of course not," he stuttered "She'll be there today, annoying as usual," 

"Why do you call her Winchester? James calls her Nephera," 

"Because she's entitled, and she has to give someone permission for them to call her by her first name," he spat "What did I tell you, Mia, she thinks she's some sort of gift from the gods or something," 

"She sounds like a very interesting person, and you sound a bit jealous that everyone can call her Nephera instead of you," 

Sirius stalled at that. He wasn't jealous, he couldn't be, because he didn't care about being her friend. It wasn't in the cards for them, they grew up hating each other and that wouldn't change.

"I'm not jealous, that girl has been making my life difficult since the first year. I want nothing to do with her or her annoying voice and thoughts," 

The older woman rolled her eyes. From her brief interaction with Nephera, she had been amazed by how beautiful the girl was, she had a way to make you feel both welcome and slightly weary of her, and most of them stemmed from the way she talked. 

"Her voice isn't annoying," she countered "And she is very beautiful, even you can't deny that," 

"You're right, I can't. Neither can the guys trailing after her, all of who believe they have a shot. It's cruel, plain and simple," 

"Complaining about Nephera again?" came James's voice, although it was muffled by a yawn 

"Good morning sweetheart," said Euphemia, smiling at her son, "I was just trying to get Sirius to admit that he doesn't hate her as much as he thinks," 

"We've been trying to do that all year, mom, with no success." he sighed, drinking from his coffee and leaning against the counter "At least we'll see her today, she'll be away from her father and back at school. Finally."