ink - sirius black

avoidance and howlers

September 21, 1976
1:01 am
Gryffindor Common Room

Even though he had a comfortable, soft quilt, a perfectly dark room, and a firm pillow to sleep on, Sirius seemed incapable of fading into unconsciousness. He had been tossing and turning for what felt like hours, but every time he checked his watch, only a minute or less had passed.

The noisy rustling of his sheets and dramatic sighs were completely lost on his roommates, either because they were asleep or didn't want to deal with him at the moment. He was indecisive for the next few minutes if he should finally get up and try and get some energy before he swung his legs out of bed.

His socks and the rate at which he had stood up made his head go hazy for a second like he had taken a shot of firewhiskey before he shut the heavy steel hinged door behind him and started to climb down the carpeted stairs to the common room, humming a bit to himself.

There was already music playing.

Anneliese was sitting cross legged and slouched on the cushy orange couch with a flask next to her on the mahogany coffee table and tiny pajama shorts that had a splotch of ink on them. A needle was in her hand along with a bottle of ink in the other, and her blue eyes were squinted carefully in the firelight as her golden hair hung beside her freckled face in concentration.

The orange, flickering flames illuminated the small muggle radio next to her that was pumping out music quietly so that if he walked across the common room, he wouldn't be able to hear it. It was a song he had never heard before, but it had a good rhythm to it.

His eyes were focused on her legs for a moment before he snapped himself out of it at the sound of her voice.

"What brings you down here at this hour of the night?" she drawled, looking up from her wrist where the lion was almost completely done.

"Couldn't sleep," Sirius replied honestly, sitting down on the chair across from the couch. "You?"

"Nightmare,"Anneliese told him, not at all lying.

Sirius recognized the truth in her voice and a bit of a faraway look in her eyes with concern.

"What was it about?" he asked, adjusting in the chair so that his legs were hanging off one of the armrests.

"You."

His grey eyes widened for a second, actually believing her, before he saw the teasing expression on her face.

"Very funny," he groaned, eyeing the flask. "What's in the flask?"

"Why do you care what's in the flask of the most difficult, annoying person you've ever met?" Anneliese asked, the teasing tone completely gone as she reminded him of his words a bit back. "The one you hate?"

Sirius's smile faded off his face as he swallowed heavily.

"I shouldn't have said that," he told her as she set down the needle on the desk. "It was rude."

"It wasn't just rude, it was ugly," Anneliese corrected. "And I would rather not talk to you right now, I can't hear myself think without American Pie."

"Ah, so that's the name of the song," Sirius said, mentally noting it. "Have you ever listened to Queen or ABBA?"

"Don't assume that I'm uncultured," Anneliese replied quickly, taking a swig from the flask secretly full of water. "Get outta here and let me finish my tattoo since I can't do it in class anymore, Grey Eyes."

Frowning a bit, Sirius didn't go.

"I don't want us to hate each other," he said persistently. "We got off to a rough start."