𝕆𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕤 | 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

He's Confused, Max

"Oi! What you doing on the stairs?" I heard boyish grunts above me, my eyes stretching open to look. I glanced up, blinded momentarily from the bright morning light. The messy Barnet of James Potter shadowed over me, looking like a slob waking up from a four year nap. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Urgh, no wonder Lily keeps saying no! I wouldn't want to wake up to that every morning" I wrinkled my nose.

"What are you doing on the boys stairs, Green?" He repeated again. I slowly climbed up and stretched, using his shoulder as a pole to lean against.

"Sleeping bag, hot. Stairs, cold." I huffed, making cave man noises for him to understand. Like I said before; I'm not a morning person. I trudged down the stairs and crawled over to Lily, whom was still fast asleep in hers, tucking into the sleeping bag with her. Within a few minutes, I was back to sleep. I needed a few more hours to function properly.

---//---

Lily had her head practically balanced on my shoulder during our first Potions lesson. The exhaustion of her planning for the Gryffindors Girl Sleepover, had her completely wiped out. It was an odd lesson to say the least; we spent the majority of the lesson recapping last years progress in preparation for our final exams. Snore!

Across the work bench sat Potter, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew, all crowded around this fat wad of paper. I watched with such curiosity that eventually Lily clocked on and watched too.

"Ladies, come on! Focus!" Sirius clicked his fingers in front of us, his cocky demeanour on a high scale today. I sent him a glare but all I got was a wink. I remember our chat last night and how I suddenly fell asleep, waking all alone and cold on the stairs. It put me in an bad mood for most of the morning.

"Shut up, Black! You should be doing work anyway!" I snorted in retaliation.

"Yes miss goody too shoes!" He bowed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh bite me!" I glared

"Gladly" he glared back. In a flash, my eyes flickered into a second of enjoyment, followed quickly by my short glare again. Our friends were watching. McKinnon scurried over to our table, wrapping an arm around Sirius' neck, distracting him momentarily

"He's confused, Max" I heard the little whisper in my ear. I turned my head slightly to look at Lily, who's eyes were locked on Potters

"How so" our voices were hush, not wanting anyone to detect our conversation.

"The friendship is easy to see. The witty comebacks and the playfulness in his tone. Yet, there is something else" she analysed, turning her eyes away to look at me.

"What would that be?"

"He's with Marlene, yet there is this underlaying need to impress you? Get your approval? Woo you as it were... I don't know, I can't get the vibe yet. Either way, watch him closely. You know how fickle he can be with women and I'm not having you get caught in that messy hurricane!" She snorted, her low whispers comforting. By lord, I never realised until now how smart she really was.... yet she was blind when it comes to James.

We continued our lesson as followed, the sound of rain suddenly hitting the ground that laid about the dungeon. I love the rain. My eyes flickered to Sirius from time to time, getting a vibe that he wanted to talk.

As class ended, I pulled my content into my bag but felt around for something important. I found the letter I had been searching for and told Lily I'd meet her in the Great Hall for Lunch shortly. I trudged through the treacherous rain, not giving a care about the cold sensation slashing me like icy blades. It's Scotland, something I should be used to by now. After slipping almost several times in the mud I reached the owlery, shaking off the rain and enjoying some time of peace and quiet. I climbed the little wet stairs to find Nicky, my owl.

"What is with you and the rain. You never use an umbrella!" The out of breath puffs of Sirius echoed at the bottom, sitting beside my bag as I continued to climb the stairs.

"I'm surprised you followed me. Wouldn't want you to get your precious hair ruined!" I laughed, finding myself high amusing.

"Yes, well! I wanted to spend some time with you! Is that a crime?" He petted one little baby barn owl. I found Nicky and carried him down as carefully as possible. Sirius smiled at the bird on my arm, stroking him as soon as he reached me at the final step.

"It would be to everyone else. It's a secret friendship remember!" I shook my head, my tone dropping slightly. I put Nicky down and the tower was silent of our words, the chirping and hooting of the owls echoing beautifully. I tied the letter I had written to dad and sent Nicky on his way, watching him as he gracefully flew into the dark, clouded sky. I felt Sirius' hand press gently around the top of my back, him too watching Nicky fly away.

"Yeah about that..." he finally spoke up, his husky gravelly voice singing to me. I turned my head to look at the tall specimen. "I don't think we should keep it a secret... anymore?" He suggested. I blinked rapidly, taken by surprise. I grabbed my bag and made my way out into the pouring rain. I heard him huff but non the less follow after me.

"You're the one who liked the idea of being secretive!" I yelled over the loud downpour, speed walking away but Sirius was tall so he could catch up.

"Yeah well, I think it would be better if our friends finally knew!" He stopped us by grabbing my arms and pulling me around to look at him, which naturally was hard to do with fucking water in my eyes.

"Better for you? Or for us both! Because I don't know if you've bloody noticed but that thing you're currently seeing HATES me! If we told them all that we're friends, she would make my life hell, they'll think we're dating and that we're mental!" I growled. I did want our friends to know at first but the more I thought about it, the more complicated it got... all because of fucking McKinnon!

"Oh Max! Grow up! You wanted to tell people at first to prove that we're normal! What's changed!?" He barked back. Oddly in that moment we looked like a couple. We carried on storming up the the castle, yelling random issues with this hidden friendship

"Fine, call me ridiculous! But where the hell did all this come from!? Just last night, we were happy, laughing about all the trouble we got up too over the summer, talking about my parents and then you left me on some cold stairs, by the way!, and now all of a sudden you want to tell everyone that you befriended me last year? You feeling guilty about something?" I threw my hands up in the air. We were in the middle of the courtyard at this point, the place completely deserted due to the rain hitting down so hard that it felt like nails.

"No! I -"

"At the end of 6th year, before we got on the train, you said to me: it's been a weird year but for some reason having this quiet friendship with you is the most exciting thing going on my life. Are you afraid of being judged or something? What is it? Now that you've got McKinnon, I'm not exciting to you anymore? I'm just like every other girl!?" I laughed, my temper rising to the point where there was no going back.

"Haha! What's the matter with you! Do you fancy me or something!?" He did not just go there!

"Ha! Fuck no! Why do you?" I quipped back, folding my arms.

"No, obviously!" For some ghastly reason, his reply stung. I thought about what Lily said and perhaps I was fighting with him because I was starting to like him in more than one way. How god damn naive of me.

"Good! I wouldn't touch you with a stick!" I laughed in his face, marching up to the castle and into the Great Hall, soggy and irritated. He stood beside me. Now in the light, he saw my sadden eyes and slumped away to the boys who looked at the pair of us quizzically. Lily looked at me also with concern. I sighed and went to join her for lunch. I really felt shit now.