Love You In My Mind // Sirius Black

Chapter 26

Valerie patted my shoulder in a comforting manner. "You'll manage. You're all great, and leading anyway."
Then she shook her head worriedly. "I'm more concerned about the finals this year. Although I've been studying, nothing seems to stay in my head!"

Great, this lunch talk really managed to raise my anxiety levels. That reminded me that I still had to start studying.... Crap.
Why did I never start learning in time!? I really had to learn how to sit tight and study my bum off before our NEWTs next year, or I'd never get the score I expected from me.

It sucked to be a procrastinator and an overachiever at the same time.

I should defenitely start studying. Note to self.

"Tell me about it," Lina sighed. "I can't remember anything."
Valerie and I exchanged a sceptical look.
Sure. Because Lina was such a bad student.

"I can see your faces, you know?" Lina waved her hand between our faces, looking a little indignant, but still grinning.

Valerie laughed. "Sorry, Lina, but really. You should have more trust in yourself!"

Lina gave Valerie a grateful smile. "Thanks, Val."

With that, I kind of dozed off again, my gaze flying back and forth between my hot chocolate and Sirius, who was sitting with his back toward me, a few tables in front of us.

And I think that the grin reappeared on my face.

~~~~~

As we were sitting in our dormitory, listening to Aleya talking about her date, I realised that I had had the Marauder's map for quite some time, now. Because I didn't want to make them suspicious or let them regret giving it to me, I decided to bring it back.

I didn't mind walking through the castle to get to the Gryffindor tower, since I was in happy anticipation to meet Sirius again. We hadn't exchanged a word today, since we hadn't had classes and went to Hogsmeade seperately, and I didn't want to wait for our Astronomy lesson either.

With my heart fluttering excitedly, I giddily skipped through the hallways, earning a few weird glances from the pictures - but for what seemed to be the first time ever, I didn't care. Let them stare, right?

I only slowed down when I reached the picture of the Fat Lady, who threw a sceptic look at me.
"What are you doing here?"

"Erm," I replied, a little caught off guard by her attitude. "I wanted to return something to a friend."

The Fat Lady's eyebrows rose. "That couldn't wait until class?"

"No," I simply answered.

"And how exactly are you planning to reach your friend?"

Erm... Oops, I hadn't really thought about that. I had been too busy daydreaming.

But I couldn't believe my luck when three fourth years rounded a corner, walking towards their common room.

One of the boys frowned when he saw me.

I blushed. Why exactly had I thought that that was a good idea, again?
I swallowed down my embarrassment.
"Hi. I was wondering if you could get Sirius?"

The boys exchanged confused looks. "I suppose," the one all to the left said, giving me one last curious look.
Then he bent forward and whispered something to the Fat Lady.

She nodded, then there was a click and the portrait swung open.
As the Gryffindors walked through the hole, I only caught a glimpse of red and gold banners and armchairs, before the portrait fell shut again, and I had to wait.

I didn't dare to look at the Fat Lady and bobbed my foot up and down, until the portrait hole opened again.

This time, Sirius came out of it, flashing me a grin that made my heart skip its usual beat. "Wassup, Frey?"

"Hi," I grinned back. Then I took the Marauder's map out of my cloak's pocket. "I'm done with it, so I thought that I'd return it."

Sirius' followed my eyes. "Ahh, right. Did it help you?"
The intense look in his eyes almost made me forget the question.

Then I remembered that the map only made me have more questions. "Yes," I lied. "It was great."

Sirius grinned, taking the map out of my hand. "I'm glad it helped."
He cleared his throat. "About tonight; I checked the weather."

A bad feeling spread in my stomach and my smile faltered.

"It's going to rain and the sky is too cloudy, so it doesn't make sense to do our lesson."

I tried to hide my disappointment. "Oh, okay. I see."

Sirius nodded. "But since we didn't really spend much time together these past few weeks, I came up with an alternative."

My face lit up. I felt giddy again, thinking about how Sirius didn't want to go without our weekly meeting. "What's the plan?"

He winked playfully, making my heart skip a few beats again. Merlin, this boy was going to be the death of me if he kept doing that.
"That's a surprise."

I raised a questioning eyebrow. "A surprise?"

Sirius nodded happily. "All I will say is: Meet me in front of the kitchen at half past ten tomorrow morning, okay?"

Well, so much about studying. That would have to wait, then.

Hello, sorry for the long silence, but school's keeping my busy.
In the future, I think I'll manage one update per week, minimum.

And now, on another note: It's my birthday! (in my time zone at least)
I'm officially eighteen today!!

(I don't really want to leave my childhood behind, but it's still my birthday, so I'm happy about that)

And I got amazing presents!!!! Camp half blood and Hogwarts merch 😎😏😍😍

Stay happy!
Xoxo, your fangirl