Celestial | Sirius Black Love Story

The Marauders

James led me up to their dormitory and, after rummaging around in a heap of clothes he assured me were clean, handed me a jumper and a pair of pyjama bottoms to change into should I want to shower. He assured me that he'd be back soon with the rest of them and made me promise I'd be ok on my own and not go on a head hunt for Tibbles. Then, he left.

Deciding that I did, in fact, want to shower, I grabbed the jumper and trousers and walked into their bathroom which was surprisingly clean and neat compared to the bedroom. My reflection in the mirror looked tired, with red, blotchy skin, my ever-present dark circles around my eyes, and small dried-out trickles of mascara streamed from my puffy eyes. I was pale, especially against James' black school robe, which I quickly proceeded to shrug off, shivering in the absence of it. I regretted not turning on the shower first.

The thing about living in a school, and a magic one at that, was that it took no time at all for the shower water to warm up and I stepped into the jets of water only moments after turning it on and only after having stood there for a second did I realise how cold I had been. I used the only shampoo there was there, which turned out to be Sirius'- I recognised the smell- then proceeded to condition my hair with something that smelled like the shampoo; coconutty and familiar. I smelled the four different shower gels lined up on the floor of the shower and picked one which by the smell alone seemed to warm me up from the inside. It smelt like many different spices; cardamom, ginger, and fennel the most prominent. After standing in the shower for a considerable amount of time, I heard the dormitory door open and Sirius yell out, "We're here with food, little precious!"

I turned the shower off and replied, "A'ight, I'll just dry myself off. Don't start eating without me."

Laughter echoed in the neighbouring room, "Wouldn't even dream of starting without you, O." Sirius called back.

I smiled a little and looked down at my feet. I then looked in the mirror again and marked a definite improvement in my appearance from the shower. I found a fresh towel in the cupboard under the sink and wrapped myself in it, still staring at my reflection. I dried away some remaining mascara from under my eyes and dried my shoulders and torso. I had some scars here and there, but on the back of my left shoulder were three prominent marks. I ran my fingers over the white marks and shuddered a bit, thinking back to when I had received them. One was a spiral, one was an eye and the third was larger and more intricate, and looked like a dragon. The dragon was a birthmark, something that had always fascinated me, and had been a source of ridicule for my bullies at elementary school. I made sure to wear something to cover all of them at all times.

Remembering that the boys were waiting with food, I hurried up to dry myself off and pulled on the pyjama bottoms and the jumper, both of which smelled of James and were warm from laying on the heated floor. I hung up the towel on a spare peg and glanced in the mirror one last time before opening the bathroom door. The boys were sitting on the floor in a circle around a large pile of food on different platters.

"Finally, I was just saying that if you took another minute I'd start eating." James said, reaching hastily towards the shepherd's pie.

I made a face at him and shook the jumper arms further up my arms so I could reach out of them - James was not the tallest or largest of the boys, but was still three times my size- to tuck my wet hair out of my face to get a better look at the food.

"You know, I'm surprised you weren't singing. You always sing in the shower." Remus said with a grin.

"Uh, my throat is kind of sore. And I'm too tired." I answered, sitting down and picking out different foods. I didn't notice the nervous look all the boys exchanged with another.

"The chicken was particularly good today, you should have some of it. I tried a little on our way up, sorry." Peter said, and passed me the chicken, looking actually sorry.