Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince | Sirius Black ✓

43. Fearless

Something Jones had said the day they caught her trying to follow Wormtail hadn't sat well with him either although he had kept it to himself. He thought of that in addition to the not-so-subtle hint Remus had brought up soon after. James didn't have a good feeling about this.

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'How does one deal with an Inferi? Detail with examples'

Kelsey wanted to yell in frustration as she stared at the practice question in front of her. She had been sitting in the library for the past hour, alone, while her friends were all at the Gryffindor match. She glanced at the large charmed clock up on the ledge in front of her. They were all probably at the party by now. She remembered hearing roars of cheering when she had briefly peeked outside the window to see a sea of Red and Gold celebrating.

Where was he? Her study partner, the Ravenclaw boy, never showed up. She hadn't been lying when she said she needed help with Care of Magical Creatures. Her only option was to dredge up her notes and read up on Inferis.

She almost regretted forcing Astrid to join Mary and Marlene at the celebratory party. They had begged her to come too, insisting that they would gladly hex any girl that made her way within two feet of him but Kelsey refused. After their brief run-in in the corridor earlier that week she couldn't handle it.

Nevertheless, she wasn't about to fret over the loss of a study partner that never made it. She mentally boosted herself up and instead shifted to reviewing her sixth-year NEWT notes. They were one month away from their exams and that Gryffindor party would have been the perfect spot to relax.

Sometime later, Kelsey found herself glaring at the page in front of her.

'Kelpie: Not to be confused with the Australian breed of dogs, a kelpie is a shape-shifting water spirit found in the lakes of Scotland. The most famous one being the Loch Ness Monster..'

She threw her head back and groaned. Why did her thoughts keep coming back to him? Even something as simple as studying about Kelpies reminded her of him. Of course, it was his fault for making that name stick..she scowled in concentration.

Boys were a distraction. She knew that now.

The library was a lot more deserted this late, at least it appeared so from where she sat at the back in a corner by the window. She pulled out a highlighter, her trusted muggle study companion, and started underlining the textbook.

'A few common techniques to placate a kelpie as per renowned magizoologist Newt Scamander..'

"..is to feed her copious amounts of chocolate doughnuts," Kelsey grumbled under her breath. Her hand moved over the sentence, smoothly gliding over when a noise made her freeze halfway on a sentence.

Kelsey swivelled her head, on alert, to see if anything was amiss but it wasn't. With a shrug, she picked the highlighter back and was about to continue when a loud crash made her jump up.

"Hello?" she called out but was met with silence. She took a step towards where she had heard the noise, the restricted section when she stopped herself.

She knew how this ended. She wasn't going to be that idiot from horror movies who went searching after the strange noises. She was too young to die. She had many comic books to read whenever she actually got around to being able to look at them without having it wrench her heart that was. It was the right decision she realised when a few moments later, she saw a figure step out from the shadows.

Oh hell no, she thought.

The figure was cloaked in dark garb with a strange mask. This was some Marvel villain nonsense. What was with the strange costume? The person took a step towards her. 

Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope to the hundredth degree.

"Ronan?" she called out nervously. She ducked as a spell hit the wall next to her. She grabbed her wand off the table.

That was rude. I guess muggle humour isn't everyone's cup of tea.

She peeked up to see the person much closer. She could stay and risk being hexed or run? She didn't like her options. Who even was that? She heard another crash by the restricted section making the figure turn and look.

Okay, steady steps. Crouch and creep. She had made up her mind to escape this unscathed. If she stayed low she could maybe make her way under the desks while staying out of sight. It was the perfect moment since the person was distracted. This wasn't the time to freeze. 

She made it through under two desks when the air behind her shook with force. The person had blasted the desks away, sending splinters everywhere. Her wand fell out of her hand and before she could crawl to grab it, a foot kicked it away. She felt herself become weightless as she was lifted off the ground roughly.

"This is going to be so much fun mudblood." The man- no boy's voice was gravelly and hoarse, muffled by the mask. However, he must have recognised her.

"I mean I get it: being called Ronan the Accuser would hardly make anyone happy but you can't really blame me," she didn't know why she started talking. But it seemed to get his attention away from crushing her throat. "Have you seen yourself in the mirror? I mean that cloak alone-"

He tugged her hair harder making her wince in pain.

Not a fan of comedy. Noted.

"Are you done?" he hissed, turning his head to look at the restricted section again but heard nothing.

"Might I interest you in an X-Men villain instead?" She eyed her wand on the ground behind him. "I'm sure I can think of someone who better fits your aesthetic, yeah?"

She could see his patience die in that exact moment as he threw her back with force.

She pictured her obituary: Kelsey Jones, Died April 1978. Cause of Death: Unappreciated wit.

Seriously, though, where were superheroes when you needed them? She found herself asking that as she stared at two icy blue eyes through the eyeholes of the mask.

Ahh, but Miss Jones, it is never too late to be the hero of your own story. We are wizards after all.

The new voice in Kelsey's head shocked her. I think talking to myself has finally driven me insane. She used her hands to drag herself back, as the person stepped towards her. It's just in my head. It's just in my head, she chanted to herself, trying to focus. If only she could go around him and grab her wand.

"Of course, it is happening inside your head, Miss Jones, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

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A/N: The last sentence is from the Deathly Hallows book - All credit to JK Rowling.

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