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chapter five
"WELL. THAT WAS UNEXPECTED."
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The Hufflepuff table had the best selection of croissants, in Emilia's opinion. They were soft but they didn't fall apart. They were warm but they didn't burn your tongue, and butter could melt easily into them but not too quick that you can't spread it around. And, to be fair, all food tasted better at breakfast, because Emilia didn't feel as bad sitting on her own since there were less people around.
Emilia was halfway through buttering the insides of a croissant when someone sat opposite her. First, she expected one of her friends, and to be fair, the expectation was correct, it just that it wasn't Dinah, Melanie, or Carmilla.
"Morning, Salvatore," said Sirius. He took half of her croissant, and she gasped in offence. He smiled at her. She did not smile back. "Oh, these are far better than the ones from the Gryffindor table—!"
"But that's a secret, because I'd like to keep my nice croissants," said Emilia. She felt she was a little justified in this. Croissants were her favourite thing in the world. Surely, she could be selfish this one time and keep this to herself? "What are you doing here, then?"
"Maybe I just wanted to see you."
"Maybe you just wanted to steal my croissants."
Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. Emilia smiled.
"I was going to suggest," he said, "that we write some of these letters to your godparents, the ones saying you've gotten a detention and all that."
Emilia frowned. "I'm busy this lunch," she told him. "There's a test in Potions—"
"There's a Potions test? What the fuck?"
"Yep," she said. He looked mildly worried (and by this, she meant very incredibly worried) and she quickly added, "It's meant to be a surprise one! And you can't tell anyone, the only reason Slughorn told me was because he thinks it's unfair to let the one with the dodgy brain sit a surprise test."
"Dodgy—?"
"Dyslexia," Emilia said. She saw Sirius nod in an "ohhh okay that makes more sense than 'dodgy brain'" kind of way."I mean, I don't have it that bad, and it doesn't affect intelligence, just the way I learn, but you know, barely any wizards understand it. My siblings just think I'm stupid."
"Well, if we're being fucking honest," said Sirius, "it's not that surprising your siblings think that, they're all awful."
