Liquid Luck [Sirius Black]/editing

chapter 81

Winter break ends quicker than all of us would care for, but all good things must eventually come to an end.

Elliot's gone back to New York already, though not before promising to write me as often as he remembers. He and James have grown quite fond of each other over the course of the couple weeks spent together, going as far to refer to each other as cousins.

Meanwhile Everliah's talked my ear off about her current boyfriend, Callum Goldstein. For someone who claims she isn't too taken by him, she's sure got heaps to say.

"Tell Cal I say hello." I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively as Ever blushes crimson just from the mention of his name.

"I will." She rolls her blue eyes and snaps back with a sneaky, "Tell Sirius the same from me." It's now my turn to blush. I'm sure it was James who spilled about my crush. The git.

Mum and Dad have been called in to do some work back at the Ministry, so Benjamin and I have already bid them our goodbyes. Everliah's playing the part of the cordial older sister by dropping us off at King's Cross.

"Don't forget to study, missy." She brings me in for a bone-crushing hug before moving onto Benjamin. "And you!" She looks at him sternly. "You had better treat Linda with the utmost respect."

"I will, Evy." Benji grins at her and she ruffles his dark hair affectionately.

"Alright, now go on! Get on the train before it leaves without you!"

"I still think it would be wicked to miss it." My siblings both stare at me in horror. "I won't do it...this year."

*

Getting back into the groove of school is never difficult for me. Though the same can't be said about Duke. With his O.W.L.s coming up at the end of this year, I know he's having a difficult time preparing for them.

I still don't know what I want to do with my life after Hogwarts. But I do know what I don't want, and that's a job where I'm constricted at a desk doing the same thing everyday. I fancy my job at Zonko's, but even full-time it doesn't nearly pay enough to live off of. Sirius once suggested I start my own shop and I suppose that could be an option for me, but I still have time to figure things out.

"What do you want to do after you graduate, Dukey?" I ask the pale blonde.

He tears his eyes away from his reading and fingers the pages of his book as he talks, "I'm between the idea of either being a Herbologist or a Healer."

"I can see you doing both, sweetheart." Fabian says fondly, leaning forward to peck his boyfriend on the cheek. The little gesture makes Duke turn red. 

Gideon scoots his chair closer to mine. "I give it ten seconds before the snogging starts."

"Shove off, they're sweet." I swat his arm.

But he's right. The two are suddenly all over each other, with Duke practically sitting in Fabian's lap. Given how deep into the library we are, I doubt anyone else will come across them but their public display drives us straight out of the library.

"This happens a lot." Gideon explains to me as we awkwardly linger outside the library. "Still think it's sweet?" He bends down to meet my eyes with a boyish grin playing at his lips.

"The start of a relationship should be like that. All over each other, I mean. So yes, I still think it's sweet...it's just more than I wanted to see of the two of them together." I laugh.