Lollipops ↬ Sirius Black

Lollipops - Chapter 24

Not even a week after James confronted Naomi about who she hung out with, Sirius did the same, to her astonishment. The scenario happened like this:

Sirius and Naomi were at the Astronomy Tower together again. The two were speaking of one of the darkest topics mentioned in the Wizarding World: Voldemort and his Death Eaters. More so, they were speaking of the Death Eaters.

"Speaking of those Death Munchers," Sirius began in a sarcastic way, making Naomi roll her eyes in amusement. "There are quite a few of them in Hogwarts."

Naomi nodded—this news had already been acknowledged by her a long while ago. Though, she didn't believe that there was much she could do about the issue, even though she wished to prevent it. All she could do was avoid it—or, at least, avoid it until she was of age and could do something to take a stand.

Sirius broke her train of thought by speaking once more. Though, he spoke with such forced casualty that Naomi almost frowned in suspicion. "We'd do best to stay away from them," Again, Naomi did nothing but nod in agreement. But not even a second later, Sirius suddenly asked, "Regulus and Snape—you're friends with them?"

Now, Naomi actually was frowning. She knew Sirius was only aware of this fact because of the encounter that took place a while before the first term ended, in which Sirius hid under an Invisibility Cloak and caught her hanging out with the two Slytherins. The issue was far behind her, but Naomi knew that Sirius was rather disapproving of it. And now, she was afraid that Sirius was about to voice his dissatisfaction of her friendship with Severus and Regulus.

"Yes, they're my best friends," she discreetly corrected, having no shame with her response.

Even though Naomi had gotten into a fight with Severus, she still liked to hope that they'd eventually make up.

"Right, er," Sirius made sure to not meet her eyes as he spoke. "Naomi, why do you hang out with them?"

Naomi froze for a moment before she responded edgily, "Because they're my friends. That's like me asking you why do you hang out with James, Remus, and Peter—you just do!"

"But they're not Death Eaters!" Sirius burst out.

Naomi's eyes momentarily widened, and there was a silence—she was too shocked to say anything.

"Why, that's a strong accusation to make," she at last spoke, rather scandalized, "Quite preposterous, actually,"

Sirius frowned, and he proved to quickly regret his words: "Well, I'm not saying that Regulus and Snivel—Snape are Death Eaters. What I mean is, they're Death Eaters in the making."

Naomi eyed Sirius carefully. "And, that's supposed to make your assumption any more believable?"

Sirius exhaled loudly, and Naomi was appalled—she was the one who should've been frustrated, not Sirius. He had quite some nerve, making false suggestions about her two best friends like that. He was quite lucky that she had a cool composure.

Suddenly, before Naomi could think any further, Sirius suddenly questioned of her, "Tell me, Naomi, what's your blood status?" Before she was able to open her mouth to voice her confusion, he insisted quickly, "Just tell me."

She paused. "I am a Muggleborn," though she added, "Why?"

And Sirius breathed solemnly, as if he was about to deliver the utmost sad news. "Naomi, there's this thing that happened last year with Snape and Lily Evans," she inclined her head for him to continue. "Yeah, well, we—the Marauders and I—had just completed one of the OWLs, and everyone was at the Courtyard. James and I... we saw Severus, and, you know, we were just pulling at his leg a bit, just like we normally do. Lily sighted what was happening and immediately rushed forward, obviously wanting to help Snape. When she tried to defend him, though, he called her the 'M' word, claiming he was not in need of her help."

Naomi's brows furrowed, and slowly she made sense of the situation. She deciphered, "Severus called Lily a mudblood?"

Sirius grimly nodded at the usage of the forsaken word. "Yes, he did," he confirmed. When Naomi said nothing more, he continued, "I'm rather surprised you weren't aware—it was the talk of the school for days,"

"Yes, well, I knew Severus and Lily suddenly became distant, but I never knew it was behind him calling her that!" Naomi exclaimed, sounding rather desperate. She added, "Besides, you know I avoid all of the gossip. I rely on my own information."

Sirius stared at her as she spoke once more, keen on listening to her. Whereas, she openly began to express her disbelief, "Why, I simple cannot believe this,"

Sirius almost instantly picked up on what she was implying.

"What—you think I'm lying?" He demanded incredulously.

"Well," she slowly began, "not exactly. It's just... Severus and I... we're best friends. To betray his trust and believe in something like that without his word would be brutal..."

"Naomi, don't you see?" Sirius impatiently burst out. "The only person who's trust has been betrayed is your's. Severus is just as discriminating towards others' blood status as those other Death Eaters are. Haven't you noticed that he always hangs out with them, anyways? Mulciber, Avery, Crabbe—they're all his mates. And you? Well, there's a reason he doesn't want to be seen in public with you, and it's because he's ashamed that you're Muggleborn. He's already gained the trust of those other Death Eaters, and, to him, you're not worth breaking that wall of trust that he's worked so hard to build,"

She gasped at his words that felt barbaric to her heart.

"Na—"

"How dare you," she coldly cut him off, not at all sounding like herself. "How dare you get into my business like that—question the intentions of my friends like that? You know, after everything we've confessed and shared with each other, I believed you were understanding. Seems like I was mistaken, though."

"No, Naomi—you're taking this the wrong way! You're in denial—"

But, Naomi just shook her head and ignored his desperate look, before she turned her back and ran away. She heard Sirius faintly shout her name as she began to run to the Ravenclaw Tower, but she ignored him.

She nearly shouted the answer to the riddle that the bronze eagle knocker asked her.!She positively fled to the—thankfully—empty Sixth Year girls' dormitory, and when she got there, she unnecessarily locked herself in the bathroom, where she clenched her hands on the rim of the sink, and tried to slow down her breath. Through it all, she sadly acknowledged that, she'd just lost a friend.

————–

I hope you guys weren't cringing at the drama of this chapter. If there's any confusion towards Naomi's dramaticism, please let me know. I'm not really sure if this chapter was well-written.

On another note, Happy New Year! I hope your's was great! I'm really disappointed that school is starting in, like, three days though.

I'm rubbing ice on a huge pimple (the size of Mount Everest, as my sister so kindly worded it) so it goes away in time for school, so I better stop typing now.

Q: How many siblings do you have? (siblingsdoesnotincludeyourselfyoushouldknowthatbynowforgoodnesssake)
A: Three.

Make sure to vote and comment!

Love,
     Manny