Shakespeare ❆ Sirius Black [1]

Chapter Sixty Eight

Nadia's summer had gone by in the blink of an eye. With her time spent at home, at Lily's and the last couple of weeks at James' it seemed like the days just sped past her. But then again, that's what happens when you're having fun. And right now Nadia couldn't help but smile as she looked around the train platform. The summer may have been fun, but she was also happy to be going back to Hogwarts.

"Last year of school! Man I can't believe this is really happening." James exclaimed from his spot beside Nadia as they waited for the rest of their group to pass the barrier along with Sirius whose arm hung around Nadia's shoulders while she sleepily leaned her head on his chest. Since it was their last night before the start of a new school year, the boys and Nadia had stayed up all night, and did not even get a wink of sleep. Because according to James, they have classes coming up, they can sleep then.

"Oh don't remind me, it's like it was yesterday that we were bringing you to the station for the first time. And now you're in seventh year and a head boy and I couldn't be more proud." Euphemia said with tears in her eyes as she passed through the barrier and threw her arms around James, something that the emotional mother had been doing for most of the morning. She did the same thing on the day when the letter informing James that he had been appointed as Head Boy arrived. It was a very happy day in the Potter house, and the night was dedicated to the celebration among the teens.

"Mum! Stop embarrassing me!" James exclaimed with a frown as he tried to pull away from his mother shyly, but the woman seemed to have an iron grip. All his attempts were rendered futile as he was forced to hug her back while Nadia and Sirius laughed. And Remus and Peter joined them once they too moved through the barrier.

"How about we let the boy maintain some dignity Euphemia?" Fleamont asked with a chuckle as he caught sight of the scene once he moved on to the Platform 9 ¾. After that Euphemia hesitantly let go of her son and took a step back to look at all five of them.

"Oh look at all of you. You have all grown up so much since I first saw you. Even you Nadia, you're quickly turning into a beautiful young woman." Euphemia, while she may have let go of James, wasn't letting go of her emotional and sentimental state.

"Thank you Ms Potter." Nadia said with a smile on her face. She had been hearing that a lot during the summer. Her father and mother said it almost every morning, and her grandparents continually commented on how quickly the time passes.

"Oh look, there's Marlene and Lily." Peter commented and pointed in the direction of the two girls who stood alongside their parents.

"Go woman!" James yelled out, pulling Nadia away from Sirius and pushing her in the direction of the two girls. It was her job to convince them to share a compartment with the five of them.

"Sometimes I really question why you're friends with me James." Nadia commented, turning to give him a small glare while he shook his hand at her with a scoff.

"Oh don't be an idiot, you know I love you." James said with a laugh before fixing her with a pointed expression again. "Now go! Sirius will get your things onto the train." He exclaimed.

"Okay, okay." Nadia rose her hands into the air in a sign of surrender before turning to James' parents to say goodbye. She received a tight hug from Euphemia, one that she had been expecting and happily returned before saying goodbye to Fleamont as well before she made her way towards Lily and Marlene who were saying their own goodbyes.

She walked through the crowd, trying not to bump into anybody or disturb other families. However, in one of her efforts to side step a mother hugging her son, Nadia accidentally found herself running into another person.

"I'm sorry." Nadia said, turning to look at the woman she had run into with an apologetic look on her face. She looked up with the dark haired woman clad in furs, her grey eyes looking down at Nadia and she couldn't help but think they look familiar.

"Watch where you're going you insolent child." The woman scowled as she spoke in a cold voice making Nadia take a surprised step back. "Honestly, nowadays no one has any manners." The woman continued to scowl.

"Mum, we should just go. I have to get on the train." A voice spoke up from the woman's side made Nadia look over at the person. Her eyes instantly widened as she noticed who had spoken, and also who she had bumped into. Regulus Black was trying to pull his mother away from Nadia before she realized who it was she was speaking with.

"I'm sorry again." Nadia squeaked out before quickly rushing away from the mother and son and hurrying over in the direction of Lily and Marlene who had by now spotted her and started making their way over. Unlike Nadia, from the moment they saw the scene they knew who the Volkov girl was dealing with.

"Are you okay? What did she want?" Marlene asked quickly as soon as Nadia reached them while Lily put her hand on the rattled girl's arm.

"I bumped into her, she was just complaining, she didn't realize who I was." Nadia reassured them as she finally let out a relieved breath.

"And Regulus? Do you think he'll say anything?" Lily asked, her eyes glancing back to the retreating figures of the two Blacks. The two girls knew about what Bellatrix had said to Sirius that day during the Death Eater attack, as did the rest of the Marauders, so seeing Nadia talk to any other member of the Black family aside from Sirius didn't seem like the safest thing.

"He didn't say anything, and he had his chance." Nadia reassured them. Once again, Regulus had in a way helped her out of a sticky situation, and she couldn't help but wonder why he kept doing it.

"Come on, let's get on the train just in case." Lily said as she stepped away from Nadia and grab her things that had been on the ground beside her. Marlene did the same and the three girls quickly made their way through the crowd, making sure to keep as far away from Walburga Black. In their rush, Nadia completely forgot to ask Lily and Marlene to share the compartment with her and the boys, but it all seemed to work out as they just followed after her while she lead them to the one where she knew they would be.

However, as she came up to the door of the compartment Nadia was just about to pull it open before she remembered one last thing. And just in time. Instead of sliding the door open, Nadia turned to the two girls as she pointed a finger at them.

"Not a word about what just happened in front of either one of them. Sirius would go mad." Nadia warned them and the two girls gave her a small nod of understanding before she pulled the door to the side and walked into the compartment.

"Ah Lilypad, always a pleasure to see you." James said with a large smile on his face which was quickly wiped away as Nadia hit him over the head as she passed by him on her way to sit down next to Sirius. She plopped into the empty space beside him with a heavy sigh, feeling her exhaustion as it weighed her down even more now than it did just minutes ago.

"You alright?" Sirius looked down at her with a curious look on his face.

"Yeah, just tired." Nadia explained, and it wasn't even a lie, she did stay up all night after all.

"Get some rest, you've got time." He told her gently and she lightly nodded before leaning her head on his shoulder as his hand rested on her knees as she folded them up on the bench beside her. It wasn't long before Nadia fell asleep, surprisingly comfortable as she leaned on him and inhaled the smell she had gotten so used to over the summer; leather, burnt wood and rain.

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It's a bit of a filler, I know and I apologize, but I promise the following chapters will get better. We're going into seventh year, and I have so much planned that I can't wait to share with you guys. 
- 03rd August, 2019