Winter In The Shade | Sirius Black x Female Ravenclaw Reader

XII

Your eyes lingered in the empty hallways of the castle, turning with the shake of your head "I was surprised to see you out after dinner." you said "You're always in bed or at least in your common room by now."

You noticed how he clenched his jaw, licking his lips as he thought for a moment "Class got really interesting, we didn't realize what time it was until it was too late."

You hummed in response, not giving him a particular answer as you reached the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room.

"You've never told me what this class is about." you told him, turning to him as you stood by the door.

For the first time that night he looked surprised, his silence more than enough answer for you.

"It's not really a class, just a study group for defense against the dark arts." he answered, taking a step back.

"I could use some help in that area." you murmured, loud enough for him to hear you.

He let out a chuckle, raising an eyebrow in your direction "You do not."

"How do you know?" you asked, crossing your arms over your chest in defiance.

"Because you and I have competitions. Most of the time we're even, no one ever wins."

"Yet." you said, looking at him with a smile.

"So you know I'll win." he said back, taking a more confident stance. "Good. You were never a good loser."

You gasped, covering your mouth trying to muffle the loud sound of your voice. "I hope you take that back in the morning." you said, dramatically turning around in your spot as you moved your robes to hit him. "Goodnight." you said, whispering the answer to the riddle and stepping inside your common room, the last thing you heard being him wishing you goodnight.

Once the door closed you rested your entire weight against it, letting out a heavy sigh as you covered your face. "Merlin, help me." you muttered, sliding down to the floor.

*******

The next days were just like you remembered, like nothing had ever happened. You woke up and had breakfast with your house to then go to find Regulus and start the classes for the day. It wasn't difficult to act like everything was just as it used to be, because nothing had really changed and you weren't acting. If it was the case you had problems believing what had happened that night. Sometimes it felt like a bad dream, like Sirius' words got tangled inside your head enough to affect your dreams. But it wasn't a dream and the only person who shared your secret seemed to be doing his best effort to avoid you.

You hadn't seen Sirius since that night, his worried yet relieved face the last you saw of him. You had been looking discretely around the castle, keeping an eye out while you changed classes or while being at the Great Hall.

Is this what he felt when you locked yourself inside the Ravenclaw common room? The constant drop of your heart every time you saw someone with the slightest resemblance to him only to find it was another student with black hair or messy uniform. The worst came when you actually found black hair and grey eyes, the live image of Sirius drawing a smile on your face only to find green colors instead of scarlet red.

For the first time in your life the look of Regulus Black looking back at you with a smile didn't get the same reaction from you, instead your own smile dropped while you sighed.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, taking hold of his broom.

"No," you lied, placing a hand on your chest. You blew out a breath while pretending to breathe heavily "Just out of breath. I ran all the way here."