Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter forty-nine

May 17th - Marauders' Dorm

It was late in the afternoon, and the marauders, alongside Nephera, Tony, Lily, Alice, and Marlene were all sitting in the boy's dorm, studying. Apparently, Tony and Lily enjoyed bonding over forcing the rest of them to work on their upcoming exams, much to the dismay of their other friends.

No one was really paying attention, barring Lily and Tony, who were sitting on James's bed, while James, who was laying on the floor next to them, was occasionally answering a question or two, mostly for the sake of not having Lily be mad at him.

The rest were sprawled across the room. Marlene was sitting on the floor, her head leaning on Alice's shoulder, fighting to keep her eyes open. Peter and Ellie were sitting in Peter's bed, drinking hot chocolate and gossiping amongst themselves about the most recent drama that had taken place at school, something about Amos Diggory's girlfriend cheating on him.

On the bed next to them, Remus was working on Herbology and sometimes correcting Peter whenever he got a rumor wrong.

Nephera was lying on Sirius's bed, leaning against the headboard with the raven-haired boy between her legs, his back on her chest. She was really tired, the many sleepless or nightmare-filled nights had finally begun catching up to her due to Pomfrey refusing to give her any more of the Dreamless Sleep potion.

The girl could very easily brew some herself, she had brewed harder and more complicated potions, but something about what the mediwitch said stopped her from doing so.

You will become dependent on it.

Nephera Winchester was never one to rely on anyone, or anything else, the mere thought of it terrified her. So, she did not brew any more of the potion, and had simply taken to not sleeping in order to avoid her nightmares.

That's how she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open, her fingers playing with Sirius's hair as a means to distract her, while the boy was smoking a cigarette, sometimes lifting his arm up so she could take a drag as well. They were both aware of how uncharacteristic the position was, but they were also too comfortable to move.

The others noticed it as well but said nothing since they found it far too entertaining to see the two guarded teens be so soft around each other. The marauders, especially, were absolutely shocked at the fact that Sirius was sitting there, letting someone touch his hair repeatedly.

"Winchester," said Lily "Dates of the Goblin Rebellion,"

Nephera groaned, "Which one? There were three," she pointed out, focusing on making small braids in the boy's hair

"All of them," replied Lily, her patience wavering

"1612, 1752, and 1863," replied the Slytherin

Luckily, Lily accepted the answer and moved on to Peter and Ellie since she had just gotten wind of the fact that the two weren't paying attention.

Sirius took the cigarette from his lips and blindly raised his arm up, letting Nephera take a drag.

"I like your hair," she commented, undoing some of the small braids

By that point, the Gryffindors had been brought to a space between consciousness and unconsciousness, so he could only muster a nod of his head. He felt the girl laugh behind him, the vibrations of her chest passing onto his back.

He felt her stifle a yawn, and he slightly turned his head, looking up to her in question.

"Evans is boring me to death," she mouthed, taking her hands out of his hair, to which he whined and shot a hand up, bringing them back to where they were