lovely lady may • sirius black

Chapter 32

When I return to my common room, it's almost completely empty, with just Regulus sitting on the couch.

"Hey Reg," I smile before heading down the hallway to the girls' dormitory.

"Hey Octavia," he smiles slightly back, "Can you wait a moment? I have your birthday present, I just need to get it from my room."

"You didn't have to get me a present..."

"Well, I wanted to," he gets up from the couch and disappears down the boys' hallway. I hope he comes back soon, I don't like standing in the common room for too long. It leaves too much risk of running into the less desirable member of my house.

When he finally reappears, he holds a small box in his hands and gives it to me timidly, "I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," I murmur as I undo the ribbon holding the box closed. Inside is a very old looking golden hair comb, adorned with an emerald encrusted snake. It's beautiful.

"I know all you ever get is jewelry these days, but I know how much you like it, so I couldn't resist giving you this," he shuffles awkwardly, "I didn't have the money to buy this... I actually took it from mum's jewelry collection, but I've never seen her wear it, so I don't think she'll notice it's gone."

"I love it, Reg," I give him a tight hug, "thank you so much."

"I wish we could be friends again... I miss hanging out with you."

"You'll always be my friend—"

"You know what I mean," he frowns, "I mean in public."

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here. Public or private, it doesn't really matter to me. A friend's a friend," I close the box back up, "I should get going. I'll see you around, Reg."

"See you around," he smiles sadly. It's a gut wrenching smile. All I want is to remove him from everything that's going on. He doesn't deserve to be so deeply immersed in all the bullshit—he deserves to be a kid.

•••

November comes and goes in the blink of an eye, and by the time December rolls around, things are still very much the same as they were during the birthday. Sirius' and my relationship is still going smoothly, I still barely feel safe in my own common room, Remus still has some mysterious grudge against me—Sirius denies he has anything against me personally, and that he's just being grumpy about werewolf stuff, but I don't buy it.

On the bright side, I have going home to look forward to, along with the usual holiday party. Thankfully, Sirius decided it was probably in his best interests to be my date to the party this year, given what unraveled last year when he opted not to go.

"Do I have to wear a green tie?" he groans. "Why can't you wear a red dress?"

"Because it wouldn't match the jewelry I want to wear," I sigh as I put my makeup on for the party in his bathroom, "And you're my date, so I think that means I get to choose the outfits."

He continues to whine, "Can we just compromise and I'll wear a black tie?"

"Fine."

"Thank you," he appears in the doorway, grinning with his black tie on, "How do I look?"

"Quite handsome," I finish off my makeup and start to pin my hair up into a low, neat bun before inserting the hair comb Regulus got me for my birthday.

"Where did you get that comb?" Sirius asks immediately.

Judging by his reaction, it's probably best that I lie about it at least until the party's over. "A relative sent it to me for my birthday. Why do you ask?"

He kicks at the doorframe lightly, clearly trying to search his brain for where he's seen the comb before. Come on, Reg. I thought you said you'd never seen your mother wear this. "Weird, I could've sworn my mother had the same one. And she said it was one of a kind."

"Well, clearly your mother was either lying, or she was swindled by whoever sold it to her. Maybe she sold it. Who knows?"

"I bet she was just lying. Sounds like something she'd do," he still looks uneasy. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, does everything look alright?" I do a quick spin so he can see the back of my dress.

"More than alright," he holds out his hand for me to take, "Come on, we don't want to hold up James and Lily."

"I still can't believe she actually asked him to go with her," I smile softly, "I knew they were getting more friendly, but this seems like a huge leap."

"Well, she did make sure to specify on several occasions that they were just going as friends."

I can't help but snicker, "I think you and I both know how taking James to the Christmas party as just a friend goes..."

He rolls his eyes, "I'd rather not be reminded."

After joining the others downstairs, we all make our way to the party. "So my brother's probably going to be there, isn't he?" Sirius murmurs just loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah, he will be," I give his hand a light squeeze, "and all I ask is that you try to be civil with him, just for tonight. He's one of the only people in my house who's actually shown me any sympathy through this whole ordeal."

"If that's the case, then I suppose I can be civil for just one night."

"You don't suppose, you will be civil with him."

"Okay, I will be civil with my brother."

"Thank you."

Sirius furrows his eyebrows, "Has he actually been nice to you this semester?"

"Yes—privately, of course."

I can tell he's holding back his pride, and I'm proud of him for that. "Well, I'm glad you have somebody in Slytherin, even if it's him."

"Look at you, being all mature and shit," I peck him on the lips quickly, "Thank you."

•••

hey guysssss going to start doing more time skips so hopefully I can actually finish this fic someday lol