What the Heart Wants (Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 26

As the weeks wore on, Sadie found that she didn't have much time at all to worry about Gideon's inattentiveness or Sirius or much of anything outside of homework. Their teachers were piling on assignments with increasing enthusiasm, lecturing them about their upcoming O.W.L.s all the while. Sadie typically performed quite well in her classes, but, in most cases, that was less due to mental prowess and more a result of hours of hard work and James and Sirius agreeing to help her get a good grasp on more difficult concepts. They, in contrast, had always been naturals at, well, pretty much everything they did and, much to the chagrin of Sadie and many others, managed to remain at the top of every class without studying or practicing much at all. It probably would have annoyed Sadie more if they weren't so willing to lend her a hand with her own work any time she asked for it.

February passed by far too quickly for Sadie's liking, and March began with, quite frankly, the most pathetic Quidditch match she had ever been a part of. The team had practiced a grand total of three times since the holidays, and the game only lasted thirty minutes before Hufflepuff destroyed them with a score of 280-30. The rest of the team, minus Fabian, had spent days afterward muttering mutinously about Gideon and his lack of leadership while Sadie would awkwardly excuse herself every time it came up. She didn't want to speak poorly about her boyfriend, but she was also feeling rather frustrated with him for several reasons.

It hadn't taken long at all for Gideon to slip back into ignoring her except on the occasion he decided he wanted a quick snog. He'd been growing bolder in his insistence that they go further as well. Their little interludes had become rather few and far between, and Sadie knew this was at least in part due to her avoiding him with increasing frequency. He hadn't made any acknowledgement of this, however, and had simply taken to pulling her up to his dormitory or into empty classrooms any time he spotted the opportunity.

On one such occasion, Sadie had reluctantly allowed him to lead her into one of the potions' supply cupboards after he caught her making her way up to dinner after class. They couldn't have been in there more than five minutes before the door opened, and they jumped apart. Sadie had inadvertently knocked over a shelf in the process, completely dowsing herself with armadillo bile and managing to splatter a fair amount into the face of Professor Slughorn, who had opened the door to store the leftover ingredients from their class.

She had never seen the potions professor's face turn purple quite so quickly. Gideon had always been one of his favorites, and so he was let off with a warning. Sadie was not so lucky and had been given a week of detentions. She had stomped up to the common room, seething and dripping in bile, and it had taken her several hours to cool down enough to grudgingly listen to Gideon's laughing apology.

And so it was that Sadie found herself scrubbing cauldrons in the dungeons for the fifth night in a row. She didn't mind the cleaning so much; she'd always found cleaning to be incredibly therapeutic, and she was in much need of some vigorous stress relief lately. However, her time spent in detention was cutting into her much-needed study time. She glanced anxiously at the time and sighed with relief; she was down to her last couple of cauldrons for the evening before she was meant to go report to Slughorn and head back to her dorm, and it was only just after nine. She would have plenty of time to get some homework in before she needed to turn in for the night.

Her motivation renewed, Sadie quickly finished up and put away her supplies, looking in satisfaction at her collection of sparkling cauldrons. She brushed her clothes off with a smile and exited the classroom, a cheerful spring in her step. Sadie had always thought the dungeons to be slightly creepy, and that effect was magnified extensively at this time of night. The corridors were cold and deserted, and Sadie let out a shiver as she heard the distinct groans of the Bloody Baron from someplace she couldn't see. She picked up her pace, eager to find Slughorn and get out of there. She halted in her tracks, however, when she heard a voice she didn't know speaking on the other side of the door to Dungeon Five.