Written In the Stars | s.b |

SIXTY

Ariah let out a loud huff, rubbing her irritated eyes. She had been in the library since she woke up this morning. It was Saturday and she was meant to study with the whole group but many of them left hours ago to get lunch.

The O.W.L exams were in two weeks and Ariah was sure she would fail all of them. She didn't even know what she wanted to do after hogwarts so she needed possibilities which meant passing and going into as many N.E.W.T level classes as possible.

Ariah's vision suddenly went dark, her eyes covered by a pair of hands. "Boo," she heard Sirius say behind her.

She rolled her eyes, taking Sirius' hands off her eyes. "I'm trying to study, Sirius."

Sirius draped his arms over her shoulders, bringing his face close to Ariah's.

"You've been studying all day. Take a break," he whispered in her ear, slowly kissing the side of her head.

She almost let him convince her to take a break. Almost.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "This is important to me, I'm not going to let you seduce me to fail."

Sirius pouted, plopping himself in the chair next to Ariah. "I'm not trying to make you fail, just take a break."

"I already have to give up studying tonight due to the full moon," Ariah said, lowering her voice at the mention of the full moon.

"If its really that big of deal, I'm sure he'll be fine without you just tonight," Sirius said. "But you need the break. And it'll be fun!"

"Yeah, trying to get passed that whomping willow and crawling through a dank tunnel is so much fun," Ariah said with an eye roll.

"You don't use the trick?" Sirius asked.

"What trick?"

"To stop the whomping willow from attacking," Sirius said. "You just prod the knot on the bark of the wood and the tree stops."

"That would have been delightful to know last year, maybe," Ariah said, causing Sirius to chuckle.

He leaned in closer, resting his cheek on Ariah's shoulder. "Please take a break. I'm bored.."

Ariah sighed, closing her text book. "You're a needy dog you know that."

Sirius smiled up at her. "Is that a 'you're right Sirius, I need a break to snog with my boyfriend in the astronomy tower,'?"

"You're very lucky you're so cute and that I love you," Ariah said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder, standing to her feet.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed, grabbing Ariah's hand. "I love winning."

"Don't press your luck, Black," Ariah said.

"Sirius?" Ariah asked, earning a "hmm?" from Sirius as he ran his finger along Ariah's arm. "Do you remember when I told you I was named after a star? And you asked me what the story of my star was and I said maybe one day I'd tell you?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "I think we were twelve."

Ariah nodded. "Well, Ariah is right next to Sirius — so close to one another people mistake them for one. My mum was an astronomy and folklore professor at a college before she got sick."

Sirius nuzzled his head in the crook of Ariah's neck.

"She knew everything about constellations and the folklore behind them. The story of Ariah and Sirius is that they fell in love but it's like Romeo and Juliet —"

"That's the muggle play where the two lovers kill themselves because their families are on outs?" Sirius asked.

"Yes... and the story of Sirius and Ariah's kind of the same in —"