The One That Got Away| Sirius Black

026| Friends

June 21, 1975

Isabella woke up in an unfamiliar room with a pounding headache. Even worse, there was a person in the bed next to her. Not just any person either, it was Sirius Black. The events of last night come flooding back to her. Isabella gasps as she tries to back away from Sirius but ends up falling off the bed. Sirius awakens quickly at the sound of her body colliding with the floor.

"Bloody hell you're going to wake up the whole house!" Sirius whisper shouts, peering down at her over the edge of the bed. Her long brown hair was sticking out in all different directions, so different from its normally perfect state.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to wake up next to you," Isabella whisper yells back, sitting up. Her tailbone was aching but she ignored it.

Sirius smirks at this and props his head up on his hand, lightly shaking the hair out of his face. That's when Isabella noticed that his shirt was off. He was thinner than she expected, she couldn't see his bones but there wasn't much muscle either. She feels her heart speed up slightly. Isabella quickly looks away, before Sirius notices. He was too distracted, noticing that his family would be waking in a couple of hours.

"You probably should get going though. I'm sure neither of our families will be thrilled to know we slept together," Sirius says turning back to Isabella.

Isabella's jaw drops at his words. Sirius looks confused for a second before the realization of what he said dawns on him. Isabella bursts out laughing at this and Sirius joins her. Both try to contain their laughter but can't seem to stop.

"Sorry," Isabella gasps. "You're right though, I really should get going. Thanks for hanging out with me last night. Sorry about just showing up, I was just- I don't know. Sorry...." Isabella got flustered, not wanting to say too much about her situation. She wasn't sure she and Sirius were close enough to get that deep. Isabella feared she would overstep a boundary and Sirius would be uncomfortable.

"No, don't worry about it, Izzy. I know what it's like to have a shitty home situation. Sometimes you just need a little something to distract you," Sirius says his eyes not wavering from the clock. Isabella can't help but wonder how many times he's done that this summer. Listening to the hushed fights between his parents, willing time to go faster so she could return to Hogwarts. Isabella knows she's done it quite a few times. She shook her head, she and Sirius were not the same persona and she needed to stop trying to convince herself otherwise.

At the same time, Sirius was thinking about how similar the two of them truly were. He also noticed how for the first time this summer, he didn't feel alone. He wasn't able to write to his friends or go visit them. He spent most of the time in his room, avoiding the rest of his family. It felt nice to have someone for Sirius to talk to. Especially someone who understood. Sirius finally turns to her, his grey eyes hopeful. "We could do that this summer you know, distract each other when the family drama becomes too much?" Sirius blurts it out before he really thought it through. It sounded incredibly lame, like a child who was desperate to make their first friend.

Isabella ponders it for a second. She and Sirius had never been close friends. They'd always had this frenemy thing going on, and occasionally it truly felt like they hated each other. Moments like this though, when they could just talk without judgment and understand each other, made her think they were meant to be friends. "I'd like that," Isabella quietly admits. "One rule though."

Sirius quirks a brow, indicating for her to continue. "We can never go to my house."

[][][][][]

Isabella climbs the drain pipe and shimmies along the roof in order to climb back in through the window. It was nearing eight in the morning now, and her family would notice if she came in through the front door. Her heart pounded against her ribcage at the thought of getting caught sneaking out to see Sirius. They weren't doing anything wrong, but her parents would not be happy with it either way.