101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 33

Despite the fact she'd had a pretty hectic last few weeks, somehow her History of Magic seemed to be going better than before by a long way. For a start she was actually writing things she remembered, not just made up facts that she hoped made some logical sense.

There were only three of them retaking, supervised by the vacant eyed Professor Binns and although she knew it was awful, she felt a vague sense of satisfaction that she'd written almost a page more than her peers. In the end it was quality over quantity but she'd learnt that as long as the first and last paragraph was incredible, the middle section could be slightly less incredible and it didn't matter quite as much. Part of her wanted to be cocky and loudly finish ten minutes early but that would just be for her to prove a point, in reality she needed that extra time to check.

"And with that, your time is up," Professor Binns said, in his slow drawling tone and Ora obediently dropped her quill onto the desk as he summoned the papers to him, "I shall have them marked at the earliest convenience."

She'd always wondered but never found the courage to ask how he managed to mark them that considering he was a ghost and couldn't hold a quill but felt that it was rude to ask. Essay marking was very subjective and if she pissed him off, it could be the difference between an O and E, a risk she couldn't take. Her good mood was heightened further by Sirius, waiting outside, leaning casually on the wall.

"So, how was it?" He asked, "All good?"

She nodded her head, "I think it went really, I actually knew stuff and Tituba came up!"

"It's a great feeling when that happens," Sirius said with a vaguely fond look on his face.

"You look so happy about it, you're such a dork secretly."

"Um, I wear a leather jacket and biker's boots every weekend, how am I a dork?"

"You just are," She replied, linking her arm around his, "Well, nice of you to wait."

"I didn't have anything to do," He replied with a shrug, quickly adding, "Well, I did but it was just something with Moony, apparently we have homework due tomorrow or something. But you know how it is, I'd rather not do that... so, when do you get it back?"

She shrugged her shoulders, brushing her long hair back with her spare hand, "I don't know, he said at my earliest convenience."

For some reason, this made Sirius stop dead, jerking Ora back a little due to their entwined arms. Ora's head snapped around, her brows knitting together in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing, it's just that's really annoying," He said, slowly, "So vague, I hate that."

Although this was clearly of great concern to Sirius, Ora didn't mind too much, giving him a small, comforting smile, "It's not that big of a deal, I'm fine with it. He usually takes a few to mark it that's just how it is. Although it would be nice to get it back early - wait, where are you going?"

Without warning, Sirius had began to march off in the other direction, leaving Ora to run slightly to catch up. Sirius didn't look angry as such, just vaguely annoyed about the whole thing.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" She asked, giving him a slight nudge as they got to the door again.

"Nothing bad," He replied, "I just... well, we've been doing all this tutoring - "

"Well, not so much now..." She mumbled to herself, sniggering slightly.

" - and Wormy said your next test is soon, you need feedback. Plus, I kind of want to see how this turns out. I want it marked tonight, I can't wait weeks."