stars | sirius black

07: Downhill

A FEW DAYS AFTER their talk by the lake, Sirius and Arabella rarely spoke to each other; in fact, they rarely even saw each other. They would almost only see each other in the great hall during meals, at least until Vanessa comes pulling Sirius away from the rest of the marauders, during the classes they had together, and during Quidditch practices where they would watch James. 

To say that their current situation annoyed Arabella was an understatement; she was absolutely livid. Especially since Sirius promised her that he would try and hang out with her and the rest of the marauders more.  

Arabella was walking down the halls of Hogwarts one cool Saturday morning, not paying attention to where she was going, she bumped into someone, causing them to fall. She was about to say sorry however, she saw who she had bumped in to.

None other than Vanessa Peverell.

"Don't even know how to walk properly, can you honestly do anything right?" Vanessa said whilst standing up, dusting off her outrageously short skirt in the process.

"Well, I just did something right." Arabella said looking up at her.

"What are talking about? Are you that stu-"

"I bumped into you and caused you to fall and I don't like you. So, in my head, that's a win for me." Arabella retorted, smirking up at Vanessa.

"You are absolutely impossible." Vanessa huffed and walked away from Arabella with the rest of her friends.

Arabella, having already lost the mood to do anything else after running into Vanessa, decided to just go back to the Gryffindor common room; hoping to clear her head and maybe sneak in a nap.

Muttering the password, she entered the common room where she saw no one but the rest of the Marauders, shocked that Sirius was with them, considering that she hadn't hung out with him for a while.

"ARAAAA!!" James greeted with a hue smile on his face, waving her over to the couch he was sitting on. Arabella tiredly smiled and sat down next to James.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked James once she was situated on the couch.

"Just the next prank that they were going to play." Remus said looking up from his book to answer Arabella before James could answer her.

"I think you meant the next prank WE are going to play Moony." James corrected, emphasizing the 'we' to Remus.

Remus just rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book but not before quietly saying "Yeah, whatever." to James.

"Have you decided on the target?" Arabella asked.

"We were thinking Snivellous." Peter snickered, giving Sirius a high-five in the process.

"Seriously guys-" Arabella started

"uh I think you meant SIRIUSL-"

"SIRIUS-LY! Yes Sirius, I know, I didn't say it on purpose and that joke is starting to get old." Arabella cut him off, earning a quiet "ouch" from Sirius.  She didn't know exactly what was the cause of her reacting like that. Maybe it was because of her run-in with Vanessa earlier or the fact that she was slightly angry at Sirius for only hanging out with them once in a blue moon. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. 

"I'm sorry. I'm not exactly in the best of moods right now." Arabella sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, we can tell." Peter muttered, earning him a smack on the back of his head by Sirius.

"What's wrong Belle?" Sirius asked.

"I'm fine. I don't think it's something you would want to hear anyway, Sirius."

"What do you mea-" Sirius started, a questioning look on his face however, Arabella cut him off before he could continue.

"Don't worry about it. And to continue what I was saying earlier, please give Severus a break from your pranks. He's been through enough." Arabella said.

"Alright, alright." James said, putting his hands up in surrender, "Not Snivellous." 

Arabella smiled at this, "So you guys know what you're gonna do?"

"Yeah! We'll just need to get some supplies on our next Hogsmeade trip." James said smiling back at Arabella.

"Uhh guys?" Sirius asked, avoiding eye contact with everyone, especially Arabella.

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to be joining you guys on our next Hogsmeade trip." Sirius said sheepishly.

"WHAT?!" 

"You've got to be kidding me."

"WHY?!" 

"HOLD ME BACK GUYS I'M ABOUT TO KILL HIM." 

James, Remus, Peter, and Arabella said simultaneously. 

"But we all go to every Hogsmeade trip together." Peter said, sadly looking at Sirius.

"Yeah, Padfoot, it's practically tradition now." James said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah and don't they say that if you break tradition something really bad will happen?"

"Really Belle?" Sirius said chuckling, "That's the best you can do?"

"At least I tried." Arabella said softly, sinking down in her seat.

"Yeah, that wasn't very good Ara." James said.

"Not really helping, James." Remus nodded, shaking his head. "And Sirius, why? What could be so important that you would miss Hogsmeade with us?" Remus asked, putting his book down and raising an eyebrow at Sirius.

"I have a guess." Arabella muttered.

"You see guys, Vanessa-"

"Jackpot." Arabella stated, rolling her eyes at Sirius.

"I'm sorry guys. I'll make it up to you, I promise." Sirius smiled sheepishly.

"Ugh fine." James sighed.

"Great!" Sirius smiled, "Anyway, I have to go."

"What? Already?"

"Oh come on!"

"Yeah, I promised Vanessa I'd meet her by the lake." Sirius said, standing up and leaving the common room without another word. 

"You know guys, this Vanessa-girl situation is starting to get on my nerves." James said.

"Starting?" Remus and Arabella asked at the same time, scoffing in the process.

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hey guys! i'm sorry for the long wait. i've been really busy but i'm going to try my best to update this sooner and much more frequently. anyways, hope you like this part and let me know what you think in the comments. also, give it a vote if you think it deserves one.

next chapter: hogsmeade with the marauders! (at least 4/5 of the marauders in my story) )):

-arielle