Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter forty-six

April 29th - Room of Requirement 

Ellie and Nephera were hanging out in the room of requirement, enjoying the peace and quiet that came with the secret room. It had morphed into a small space with two hammocks hanging from the ceiling, each girl occupying one. 

"Did the hat ever consider anything other than Hufflepuff?" asked Nephera, the weed in her system making her ask the most random of questions 

"Where did that come from?" asked the blonde, but the brunette just shrugged "Not really, my sorting was over in a second. Yours took a bit longer than that, right?" 

"Yeah," sighed the Slytherin "Believe it or not, I was almost a Gryffindor," 

Ellie snorted, "Nephera Winchester, a Gryffindor. I would've paid to see that,"

"Bullied the hat out of it," she laughed, "I told it that I'd set in on fire if it dared do so," 

"So you always did threaten your way through," 

"Like father like daughter, right?" joked the Slytherin 

"Don't make jokes like that," insisted the Hufflepuff, but Nephera only rolled her eyes in response "Oh, and please don't hate me, but I invited Lily, Marlene and Alice," 

Nephera stood up abruptly "Why the hell-" 

"Because Lily's dating James, and frankly, she's a good person," stated the blonde "And I'm getting tired of the back-and-forth between you and Marlene" 

As if the sound of their own names had summoned them, the three girls walked into the room, and three more hammocks appeared instantly. Ellie greeted them, the blonde being liked by all of the Gryffindors, while Nephera rolled another blunt, knowing that she'd need it. 

Alice, Ellie, and Lily immediately started conversing with each other, while Nephera and Marlene stayed as far away as they could, brooding. It was clear that neither of the two wanted to be there. 

Alice looked around, and sighed "They're not even looking at each other," she whispered 

"Great," spat Lily "This was all for nothing," 

"Look, if Neph and Sirius could become friends, so can those two," stated the Hufflepuff determinedly

A deck of cards appeared on the table, and the two Gryffindors looked at the blonde, shooting her a questioning glance "Poker. It's Nephera's favorite and she's always in a better mood when she wins something," 

Lily laughed, "I'm not playing with real money, Winchester's going to win, we all know this," 

"Your call," said the pixie-haired witch "Marls, Winchester, come here," 

The two girls looked at each other before approaching the table that had appeared in the middle of the room, sitting on opposite chairs. 

"What are we doing?" asked the blonde Gryffindor 

"Poker," replied Alice, shuffling the cards expertly 

Nephera grinned at that. It was undoubtedly Ellie's idea, the Hufflepuff knew how much she loved the game, but it had worked nevertheless, for it already put her in better spirits. 

They played with money, despite Lily's initial hesitation. Soon, it became clear to Nephera why the redhead didn't want to bet too much. The girl was absolutely horrible at the game, every move she made or wanted to make, was evident in her face. She folded first, which came to no surprise for anyone on the table. 

Next, was Alice, who gave up after Nephera raised the bet too high. The pixie-haired witch's tell was evident, she drummed her fingers on the edge of the table every time she lied, and it was clear that her cards weren't good at all.