Mortem . Sirius Black

chapter one hundred and sixteen

April 17th - Marauder's Dorm 

It was unusually quiet in the marauder's dorm that evening, something that should be cause for concern because normally, silence emanating from that particular room meant trouble. This time, however, trouble was the farthest thing from the boy's minds since they were all pouring over their homework and NEWTs revisions. 

It seemed as though the stress of seventh year was finally catching up to them, and all four of them, including James and Sirius, who had previously claimed to be allergic to working for exams, "Merlin this is exhausting," sighed James, closing his book and throwing it at the foot of his bed 

"Prongs, it's been twenty minutes," deadpanned Peter, rolling his eyes 

The bespectacled boy grumbled something under his breath, looking for the snitch in his bedside drawer, "It's still too long for me to sit still," 

The others knew better than to argue with this, mostly because it was true. James was a hyperactive mess of a person on a good day, and that was only made worse whenever he was forced to sit quietly for prolonged periods of time, "You know you need to study this stuff," mused Remus, "You might've been accepted into the Auror office, but you still need the grades," 

"Nephera will put in a good word for us, Moons, you know that," laughed Sirius, closing his book as well 

"And how exactly does your girlfriend feel about you using her to essentially get out of exams?" countered the werewolf, raising an eyebrow 

Sirius laughed, catching the snitch that had flown too far away from James, "You're forgetting who you're talking about," he said, "Nephera's a Slytherin, in her book, one ought to work smart, not hard," 

"One also ought not to be an idiot," pointed out Peter

The other three laughed at that, while Sirius took it upon him to attempt to launch a tickling hex on Peter, which the mousy boy easily deflected with a wave of his wand. Right at that moment, a tired-looking fifth-year knocked on the door of the dorm and entered, pausing slightly when he saw the four intimidating older boys looking at him, "Uh, Black, McGonagall's outside the portrait, she's looking for you," 

Grinning, the boy hopped off his bed, "Duty calls, gentlemen," he announced dramatically, exiting the room 

As he was walking downstairs, though, his mind kept filling with the worse of possibilities. He couldn't help it, it was practically second nature with the way the world looked around them. Nephera couldn't be hurt, because then all of them would've been called in, not just him. Something happening to the rest of the girls was out of the question as well, because again, all the boys would've been called if that was the case. 

Once the portrait of the fat lady swung open, he came face to face with the Head of his House, looking down at him with an unreadable expression, "Minnie, what can I help you with?" he asked, masking his slight worry with sarcasm as usual 

The Professor sighed, long having given up on correcting him and the rest of the marauders on the use of that particular nickname, "Please follow me to the Headmaster's office, Mr. Black," 

"Lead the way," 

The walk from Gryffindor tower to the Gargoyle statue was short and silent, although, to Sirius's surprise, there was no tension as they walked. He had been in a similar situation multiple times when Nephera was missing, and back then there was a thick tension filling the air whenever they approached Dumbledore's office. 

This time, however, there was no such feeling, and as Sirius was looking at the older witch, he got the inkling that she too wasn't sure whether she was about to deliver good or bad news.