"How forbidden it was to be in love with them both, the Black brothers, her Black brothers."
Family honor always came first. At least that's what she was taught.
Never step a foot out of the lines set by those who came before her. Keep the northcott...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
⁺ ⁺ ⁺ ⁺ ⁺
"Black."
"Northcott." Sirius slowly approached her in the dimly lit hallway. Their whispers echoed loudly in the emptiness of the hall.
Grinning, Sirius stopped in front of her figure, leaning an arm across the wall. He didn't know the source of his unusually lifted mood. Perhaps it was due to a successful prank pulled with his best mates, but gone was the heavy resentment he'd always felt for her. Instead, his chest was light as he greeted her like an old friend.
"And here I thought you'd forgotten about our little situation. You can only imagine the surprise when a crow of all things showed up at my window." The grin was still in place on his facial features.
A string of confusion momentarily struck her. This was Sirius Black, the boy who'd always hated her with such a passion—grinning at her?
She looked up at him, rolling her eyes. "It's a family symbol—though I wouldn't expect you to understand what it's like to be proud of your family."
Just because his mood was incredibly lightened didn't mean that hers was the same. They were still Elara Northcott and Sirius Black. And Elara Northcott and Sirius Black weren't friends, not even close.
As quickly as it had come, Sirius' light mood vanished, replaced with a scowl. The scowl held a certain familiarity with her, and she felt at ease, believing the situation to be back to normal. They weren't friends. And despite the goal that they both shared — to save Regulus from a fate neither of them wanted for him — that stance wouldn't change.
"God why do I even bother?" Sirius mumbled, taking a step back and shoving his hands into his pockets.
Confusion once again twinged her. Of course she'd seen him angry, at some of their worst moments she'd even seen him repulsed. But this, this Sirius Black that had just taken a step away from her and isolating himself—this was a Sirius Black she'd never seen. She'd recognized the anger in him, that was familiar. But what caused her brow to wrinkle was the way he'd turned his head to the floor, shoving his hands roughly into his pockets.
It was almost as if he was hurt.
The moment the thought had come into her head, she dismissed it. For one to be hurt by another person, that person must first care enough about the other to care about their view on them. The relationship they had was a lot of things, but care was never in the formula.
Irked by the silence that had engulfed them, Sirius glanced back up, making sure his posture was straight as he steeled his features. This was Elara Northcott, he reminded himself.
As memories of years of anger flashed through his mind, a familiar resentment began to flow through his veins again.
"You're not one to waste time. Do hurry along with what plan you have in store so we don't have to be in each other's sights for longer than we have to," he spit out.
