good things fall apart • sirius black

In style

Four Marauders wandered down the trail that led to the village, chatting absentmindedly about nothing of any real importance, and drawing the unwanted eyes of other students. None of them payed much attention to this though, for they were all just glad of a break from homework and essays.

But Sirius Black was stuck in a one of the self-drawn carriages, squished amongst five Ravenclaws. Going to Hogsmeade with Jessica wasn't a chore, for she was his girlfriend after all, but having to endure the obnoxious giggling of her friends definitely was. He did his best to block out their annoying voices, Jessica's hand in his as he watched the scenery go by, but it wasn't as easy as he thought it was. The other Ravenclaws had millions of questions to ask him, none of which he wanted to answer. Jessica, would nudge him in the side with a smile and force him to speak regardless.

When they finally arrived, he was more than relieved to get off of the carriage, standing up first and ignoring the disgruntled looks being sent his way. Being a gentleman wasn't a priority, he just wanted to get as far from Jessica's friends as possible.

"Where do you want to go first?" Once his girlfriend had arranged to meet back up with the other Ravenclaws later, she clung to his forearm tightly as they began their walk into the village. Sirius hoped she'd say Honeydukes, for he was clever enough to realise she wasn't the type to go in Zonko's, but instead she dragged him in the opposite direction. Jessica had a plan for the day, as organised as she always was, and Sirius was unsure what role he really played in this 'date'.

Snogging her face off later, he eventually concluded.

"You look very handsome today." Jessica announced, rather loudly, a flirty smile on her lips.

If she hadn't of said it when they happened to be walking by a large group of students, Sirius would've taken the compliment better, but instead he felt like he was suddenly being put on show. Uncharacteristically, the attention wasn't welcomed. He'd generally been excited for his date, the first proper one he'd ever had with Jessica, but now he was actually in the middle of it, something felt off.

After his initial wobble about getting himself a girlfriend, Sirius had grown cocky quickly. Every chance he was given he'd boast about how cool it made him. It didn't help his ego that James was completely in awe, desperate to know what the secret was for getting a girl interested in him - not surprisingly, he'd still had no luck with Lily Evans.

The pair would sit for hours in the common room discussing different kissing techniques and where to put hands and how to sit. Most of the time, Sirius talked, and James listened, the messy haired boy asking shameless questions. Peter couldn't listen to them and Sirius' words would send his cheeks a vibrant red, before he'd scuttle off up to the dorm. Ellie and Remus though, constantly mocked them, making crude hand gestures and embarrassing the boys in front of the whole common room. There had even been a time where the pair threatened to re-enact Sirius' words, the handsome boy went into so much detail and James got so panicked, he sat on Ellie's lap so she couldn't get anywhere near Remus.

After that, the two black haired boys had their discussions in private.

Now though, some unfamiliar feeling was creeping its way into his stomach and it unsettled him completely. Nerves. The usually confident Sirius Black had been replaced by a pale imitation of himself, this one quiet and unsure of his actions. He didn't know whether it was first date jitters or whether there was something else going on, but he tried to keep his expressions as neutral as possible so that Jessica didn't notice. 

"Well, I like your outfit." Feeling obliged to compliment her back, Sirius made a point of making it obvious that he looked her up and down before speaking. His words weren't a lie, Jessica's mini skirt and knee-high boots showed enough skin to be enticing, but he was also slightly concerned she might get cold.