/Lioness\ Sirius Black

[five]

• past •

Sitting in the tall library was Astara, sitting in one of the comfortable chairs with a astrology book in her hand. She tipped the top of her book when she heard the librarian speak. "There will be none of that in here, Mr. Black!" She harshly whispered at the boy.

He only smirked and said, "I'll only be a bit, Mrs." before looking around the library. His stormy grey eyes locked on to her, making Astara hold her book up further. Sirius studied her, her dark brown hair that was bobbed to her shoulders with of it pulled into two little buns on the top of her head. Her eyes that read the lines in her book matched the chocolate brown with freckles that tranced over her nose.

He strides over to the corner she sat at, away from everyone else, and sat down in the chair across her. "Hi." He said with a smirk. She looked up at him from over her book. "Hi. Never thought I'd see the day Sirius Black walked into a library." She teased with a small smile on her face as she closed her book and put it next to her teacup.

He smiled and said, "Ha ha, yeah hilarious." Making her laugh, quietly as the not alert the librarian. It was a nice laugh was all Sirius could think at the moment. He laughed with her before hers subsided and Astara asked, "So, why are you here, Black? Got a report due?" She said slyly.

He chuckled, "No, I just thought that maybe we could get to know each other more. You know, without Remus digging into your stomach." She smiled at the recent memory.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Astara asked as she gave him her full attention. Sirius seemed to think for a second before replying with, "I probably should have thought about this before coming over here."

Astara giggled once again before Sirius said, "Look, well, what year are you in?" She looked at him like he was joking again but seeing his serious expression with natural smile, she smiled and said, "Fifth."

He looked at her with a surprised and shocked expression, making her chuckle to herself. "I swear I thought you were a fourth year."

She jutted out her bottom lip teasingly and said, "Awe! Your such a baby compared to me." Before smiling proudly at the blank look on his face when she leaned forward and ruffled his hair. "Ok ok! Don't get excited, you only have a year on me."

They continued talking, teasing each other, and occasionally flirting on Sirius' part. The two of them talked about school, the Marauders, if Lily liked James back or not. The answer was yes even if she won't accept it. Yet. But soon they got to the topic of the big black dog.

"So, for some reason, I keep seeing this big, shaggy black dog walking around the grounds sometimes." Astara said even though she knew who it was. Sirius started looking nervous and chuckled, trying to play it off cool. It wasn't working. "Really? That's odd.."

She cocked her her to the side, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Oh really? Then why is it that I see a stag, a rat, and the same black dog, out my window, going under the Weeping Willow every full moon?" She raised an eyebrow at him and Sirius finally cracked.

"Fine! I'm the black dog and go with James and Peter to help Remus with his werewolf problem!" He blurted out like a guilty subject before quickly covering his mouth with his hand, eyes wide on how easily he could slip up like that. But then Astara did something he never thought anyone would do in this situation. She laughed.

Sirius looked at her incredulously and just noticed how over their entire conversation, her hair had turned from dark brown to a light summertime yellow. She soon stopped and said through a huge smile, "Black, I know. I've been friends with Remus since we were babies. Bloody hell, we're practically brother and sister!" She calmed down, picked up her disregarded book and continued, "Plus, I know that James is the stag and Peter is the rat."

"How?" He asked, obviously blown away by how quickly she figured this out.

"Well, it was quite easy. You three are Remus's closet friends since me. He never let anyone in so easily, he even tried to push my out of his life so he didn't end up hurting me but I'm too much of a hard ass to let him do he stopped. I've seen how happy and relaxed he is around you guys. Even though sometimes you make so frustrated that he burrows his head into my tummy. But anyway, after you just confessed that you were the dog, I put two and two together. It doesn't take a genius to see that James kind of has the personality of a stag ad have you seen Peter?" The last part of her explanation being sarcastic as Sirius stared at the beau- smart girl in wonder, chuckling a little at the end as he stared at her.

"I'm starting to think you should be in Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor." He said, leaning back in his chair as he was still a little in shock. She laughed and waved him off, picking up her tea and taking a sip.

"You know, White, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

"I think so too, Black."