Shakespeare ❆ Sirius Black [1]

Chapter Fifty Nine

"I can't do this!" Nadia said as she halted a couple of steps in front of the door Lily and Marlene were just about to walk through before her. The two girls turned to her with confused looks.

"What the bloody hell do you mean you can't do this? You studied more than anyone I know." Marlene commented as she and Lily walked back to a worried Nadia.

"Yes, and now it's all getting muddled up and I can't differentiate between Cauldron Cakes and Cabbages." Nadia exclaimed, trying her best to remember the spell they had learned for transfiguring one into the other.

The time of finals has started. And today was their first one. Transfiguration to be precise, and Nadia was panicking.

"Oh come on, you're overreacting. You'll do great." Lily tried to reassure her, but she could see her words weren't having much of an effect. She and Marlene exchanged questioning glances, debating on what to do to convince Nadia she had this and get her through the door of that examination room.

"This test is going to be a piece of cake. Just you wait, I'll get a 100%, you'll see." The boasting voice of James Potter approached them, the boy flanked by his usual companions.

"You guys going in?" Remus asked as the four of them noticed the three girls and stopped beside them instead of walking right into the examination room.

"Yes." Lily and Marlene said.

"No." Nadia mumbled at the same time.

"You know it'll be worse if you don't go right?" Marlene asked the girl with a raised eyebrow.

"What's up with her?" James leaned down to whisper into Lily's ear as he and Sirius sent the red head questioning glances while continuously looking back to a freaking out Nadia.

"She's panicking." Lily explained shortly, making a knowing look pass between the four boys.

"Nadia come on, we all know you can do this." Peter put his hand on her shoulder in a sign of support as he sent her a smile.

"Guys, how about you head inside and give us a minute." Sirius suddenly said as he looked among their group, silently letting them know he would handle this situation. Remus was the first to nod, knowing that if anyone could get the girl to stop worrying it would be Sirius. With that, the group around them soon dispersed, friends calling out one last good luck to each other as they entered the examination hall and went to their seats.

"Nadia, look at me." Sirius instructed, the girl's eyes had so far been zeroed in on the door of the room she was about to enter, but as he spoke she craned her neck and looked up into his face. Even though he wanted to, Sirius knew now was not the time to admire how adorable she was in that moment.

"You, Nadia Volkov, are one of the smartest and most hard working witches in our class, so all this worry about the exam is just you being too critical of yourself as you always are when you get nervous." Sirius began, putting his hand up as Nadia opened her moth to reply, but he just continued instead.

"So what you're going to do is close your eyes." Sirius spoke as he placed both of his hands on Nadia's cheeks with a gentle touch. Nadia did so, closing her eyes and continuing to listen to him. "Take a couple of deep breath and stop thinking about transfiguration or any other class and exam." Sirius said, his voice quiet and his gentle touch making the job a lot easier for her. But she still opened one of her eyes to squint at him.

"I don't think that..." She tried to tell him that not thinking about the upcoming test didn't seem like the best idea but he just shushed her and gave her a pointed look to listen to him. So she did. Her eyes closed once more, and as she breathed, instead of focusing on the exam which was just minutes away, she focused on his voice and his hands as he continued to talk.

"And in there, if you get nervous, you'll do the same." He continued. "I know you can do this, you just have to believe it too." He said gently once she opened his eyes and looked up at him again. "So go in there, and show me that I'm not wrong." He smiled widely as he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the top of her forehead. They stayed like that for a couple of moments, Nadia taking in the calmness that spread through her just from being around him, before pulling away.

"Thank you." She said as she slightly pulled away, his hands falling down to her arms as she did. She was still slightly worried, but thanks to Sirius, the idea of even taking the test didn't seem like a complete failure yet.

Knowing there wasn't much more time before the start of the exam, the two students made their way through the door and to their assigned seats, not wanting to be caught getting in too late by the teacher. And anyone who looked at them as they did, would have noticed the bright red faces with which they walked into the room.

"You know, sometimes I wish I was a fly on the wall when they have their little private moments? I mean, seriously, what is that blush about this time?" Marlene whispered to Remus who had been placed next to her thanks to their last names being next to each other in the alphabetical order of the class.

"You and me both Marls." Remus let out a small chuckle, his eyes looking between his two friends one last time before Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the class and began to read out the instructions for their exam.

Nadia ended up walking out of the room with a wide smile on her face. Not only was she confident in how she had written the exam, but it also ended up being much easier than she had expected it to. In the end that resulted in her being one of the first people to walk out of the classroom.

Their whole group had made a deal to wait for each other instead of going off to the next class, exam or to study some more on their own once their writing was done. With that in mind Nadia was about to walk over to sit down on the opposite side of the hallway and lean against the wall while she waited. However, a small hoot close by made her stop and look over.

Nadia was surprised to see the familiar owl, sitting on one of the lamps that rested against the wall. As soon as it saw her it flew down and flapped its wings so it could extend her leg to it while flying in the air in front of her. And as it did, Nadia saw a letter, with the familiar cursive spelling her name on the cover of the envelope. With a small smile, she untied it from the owl's leg and the creature quickly flew off down the hall.

Nadia sat down on the floor, opposite of the examination room door and quickly opened the envelope, her curiosity making her want to read the note as soon as possible. The school year was nearing an end, and after so many notes, she had begun wondering whether this person would ever reveal their identity to her.

When you speak to me

Your voice is like some kind of symphony

Even when I don't understand

What your words mean

Nadia smiled at the note, by now it had become obvious that the person wasn't sending non-Shakespeare quotes by accidents, but instead writing some of the notes with the tools of their own imagination. And each new one was better than the other. But she couldn't help but wonder about the meaning of this one. The words made it seem like this person spoke to her, and not only once either. She was growing more and more curious. She could only hope that the person would reveal themselves soon enough, because she wasn't sure she could handle all the mystery much longer.