𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 78

CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH SIRIUS  
AND AVIANA TALK

. . .

"Well?" Aviana asked, averting her eyes from the group behind her, more than aware of the three gazes burning into the back of her head. Her arms crossed over her chest, having been the subject of far too many talking-tos as of late. She never took any of them seriously, as if, taking them in her stride and never actually adjusting her behaviour accordingly.

Not with friends, or teachers, or parents. But there was something a little different about this one, because there was always that little awkwardness between her and Sirius. Needed conversations, necessary deliberations - all that had been lost over the years of him being in Azkaban and there was that... that consistent lull in their relationship, that knowledge that he was actually her father and that everything could have been so, so different, that just sat there in her stomach.

It reared it's head every now and again, in a stomach ache or a thrumming deep within her, when she wrote a response to a letter or caught the glint of the signet ring around her neck, or Harry brought him up in conversation.

But nothing could really change, not until they had the holidays to spend time together.

"Well?" Sirius repeated, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" Aviana pushed. "I assume it's nothing about the Order or trying to extract information out of me or..."

"No, it's about you deciding to piss of Draco by doing... that with Harry."

Aviana's eyes widened, she glanced back, so purposefully, back to Harry, who leant forward in interest. She winked at him and his ears burned visibly pink, but didn't look away. "Who, that Harry?" She turned back to Sirius, frowning. "Are you sure? The bartender in the Hog's Head is known to be a little heavy handed on his shots and Mundungus is known to be, well, an alcoholic." She shrugged.

"Please, I know every excuse in the book." Sirius rolled his eyes. "You can't use all that sarcasm and wit to get away with things here. Why the hells are you involving Harry in this?"

"Arguably, Harry got me involved." Aviana pursed her lips. "Why did you think it was my fault?" She sniped. "You saw how I treated Harry at Grimmauld Place, and there was all that disdain and disliking between us."

"Because I know Harry and I know that there's not a chance he would've kissed you first." Sirius replied. "Hell, he might be the spitting image of James but I know  for a fact he would wait it out for as long as he could - his mother's son."

"Well he... he implored me to join his cause and there were, admittedly, some already strong feelings towards Umbridge that may have pushed me slightly off the edge into purposeful misbehaviour... but he started it!"

"I don't care, why the hell did you figure it was a good idea to start snogging in front of Umbridge?" Sirius asked, plainly, and certainly impatiently.

"Well... I figured that she hates us both so nothing could anger her more... and I might have told Draco - as a joke - that I was going to shag Harry because he pissed me off." Aviana shrugged, deciding that there was no need to cover it up with flowery language and euphemisms. "It happened to really annoying, so I had to uphold the bit."

"Yes, upholding the bit is very important." Sirius rolled his eyes again, and Aviana was beginning to believe there was absolutely no other option than her having gotten that particular habit from him. "What about his feelings?"

"What about his feelings?"

"Dung told me all about the meeting. The way you two were sat, how you defended him... how that would never have happened through August. You hardly even wished him luck for his bloody trial!" Sirius replied.

"Can I not just have hobbies? Why do people always have to be so involved with my business?" Aviana scoffed. "Everything you pointed out, those were not specific choices, they just ended up that way. And for your information, he's perfectly okay with the bit, starting to get the hang of things now so, so help me Salazar if you start messing around and putting other ideas in his head."

Sirius didn't reply, and was instead rather intently watching her. "Things just 'ended up that way'?" He repeated.

"Yes, and?" Aviana asked pointedly.

"No, nothing..." Sirius trailed off, lost in thought. And then he changed his tune. "Well, if you're putting it like that, it seems you've certainly got a handle on things."

She narrowed her eyes, more than suspicious of the adjustment of his attitude. "Okay..." She continued slowly.

"Now tell me about this Umbridge woman." Sirius leant forward best he could in the fire, looking interested. "Harry said in his letters that you've been acting, well, awfully."

"Definitely." Aviana hardly blinked. "Arguing, swearing, detentions, refusing to go to detentions, threatening her with my old Ministry connections from when William was a respectable man in the eyes of old Fudge... you know she wants me expelled?"

Sirius looked taken aback for a moment, before he composed himself. "Colour me impressed." He hummed, overwhelmed by a sensation of utmost pride, and the realisation that sat before him was the exact daughter he would have raised if given the chance. Sirius had never been able to give a shit by any of that conformity bullshit, and to see Aviana continue that path made him more than proud. "You'll have to tell me more when-"

And Aviana almost screamed, the charm dropping as she scrambled away from the fire, hand clasping over her mouth in shock.

"What?" Harry was on his feet in an instant, stood over her only a moment later. "Where did he... what in the living fuck is that?"

And Aviana's back pressed into his legs as she tried to move back even more, because Sirius's head had been replaced by a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings, clawing at the coals.

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