Hogwarts: A History [Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Chapter 25 - Smoke Rings

The Room of Requirement felt oddly silent now that Sirius was back, save for the residual buzzing that lingered in his ears, making it impossible to form any clear thought. He took a seat on the floor, resting his back against the wall. Clammy hands found his face. He nestled his forehead into his palms, replaying the memories that he had been brought back from.

Where was he supposed to go from here? He was torn. On the one hand, he was sorry for what happened to Gizelle. He was sorry that he had procrastinated on viewing the memories he gave her, sorry for her loss, but he did not understand why she would give him those memories. Why she would trust him with this information. What was she expecting him to do? And better yet, what was he supposed to do?

It was different with women, wasn’t it? Not like talking with the Marauders. He thought back to the only other female he had been truly close with. His cousin Andromeda. She was a fair bit older than he, but she had been the only female in his life that he had connected with.

He stood back up, scooping Gizelle’s memories out of the pensieve and back into their vial, stowing them in the pocket of his robes.

Finding his way back into the Gryffindor common room, he brought out some parchment and began a letter to Andromeda. He explained to her his history with Gizelle, carefully obscuring the details of her childhood, and asked the best route to go about in having serious discussions with the female persuasion.

He finished off the letter and brought it down to the owlery. Now all he could do was wait.

 ~.:#:.~

The prefect stood with purpose in front of the Gryffindor common room bulletin board. Her freshly polished badge caught the thin stream of light that seeped through the heavy maroon curtains covering the soaring windows. Using a semi permanent sticking charm to adhere each flyer to the board, the prefect made a quick announcement of the updated chart to the few students who were present and headed out of the portrait hole.

Gizelle hopped up from her favorite armchair and shuffled over to the bulletin board. She traced her finger along the new announcements, searching for one in particular and clicking her tongue as each one passed under her phalange. At last she came across the one she had been looking for. With an excited squeal she took out a piece of parchment and scribbled a quick note down onto it. Rolling it up into a small tube, she rustled up her cat Mr. Paw Paws and tied it to her front paw. The cat purred, rubbing up against Gizelle’s leg, and then took off out of the common room.

It was still early in the morning and the girl’s dormitories were silent. Rhythmic breathes rose and fell in unison. She tip-toed passed Eva’s bed to get to her chest, dawning a fresh set of robes and gathered her bag before finding her way down to the Transfiguration classroom.

It was quite deserted, so she set her bag down and plopped onto the nearest desk, dangling her feet off of the side. Thanks to her short attention span, she quickly found herself bored, so she lay down and began practicing her transfiguration movements toward the ceiling. Her weekly remedial classes with Benjy had really begun to pay off and she had now mastered most of the lessons she was supposed to have accomplished the previous year.

From the doorway someone cleared their throat. Gizelle sat up from the desk, pointing her wand  playfully at the figure standing in front of her.

“Thinking you might take me on?” Benjy chuckled, tossing his bag next to Gizelle’s and taking a seat on the bench below her.

“You may be the master of Transfiguration, but I have you when it comes to charms,” she said, poking him in the side with the tip of her wand. The both laughed for a moment, before the conversation settled into a somewhat awkward silence. Neither made direct eye contact with one-another, only slightly laughing when one would catch the other staring.