Blackbird

Chapter 3: On with the Show

I'm not paying enough attention to my surroundings, and fall to the floor again, when someone bumps into me. How embarrassing.

"Sorry about that." A hand makes its way into my line of sight and I let it haul me into a standing position. I don't look up, and instead try to locate my trunk, assuming whoever it is will move on. Most do.

"Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar." I finally find my trunk and am able to haul it back up and into my hands. Looking up for the first time, I nearly drop it right back onto the floor.

James Potter, in all his messy glory, stands there, watching me with curious eyes. His hair is everywhere, and tucked behind his ear is his wand. Shirt untucked, tie missing, the famous Gryffindor is very solid, very there, and very much not moving on.

"You might have seen me around, but I'm a fourth year." I keep it clipped and civil. If there were to be a person who rivaled my hate for my mother and father, it would be him. In my eyes, it's his fault Sirius is gone, that I'm in this mess. If he hadn't befriended him, he wouldn't have anywhere else to go and would've just stayed at Grimmauld place.

"Maybe..." he looked unconvinced. "Hey Padfoot! Would you come out here? I need your help identifying a girl, and you seem to know them all."

Padfoot? Who in the wizarding world could that be? Of course, James really only hung out with a few people, meaning it could be that scarred boy, Remus, the short chubby one Peter, or-

"The only female folk you can identify are your mother and Evans. Look up once and awhile, will you?" Collar popped, hair secured in a man bun with a wand, and a swagger in his step that faltered when we made eye contact. " 'quila ?"

Like a startled unicorn, I wanted to run. It was too soon, I wasn't ready. Not to face him, or anything that had gone down this past year.

"This your sister Pads?" James looked utterly confused.

"No." The word was out of my mouth faster than I could think about it. I could see his eyes dull a bit at the response, and his mouth screwed shut. Tightly. Like Father's would, right before...

I'm spiraling, and I know it.

"Hey. Hey!" I'm snapped back into reality, with a hand waving in front of my face and the concerned look of my oldest brother's best friend. "You okay?"

"Of course."

"Of course not." Me and Sirius chorus at the same time, making me glare at him.

The hurt is gone, replaced by sorrow, worry, and a hint of anger. "What did they do to you little bird?"

The nickname would have me in tears if I was still nine. But I'm not. Aquila is the eagle constellation, so Sirius thought the nickname quite ingenious back when I was five.

"What does it matter Siri?" I spit out the words, fast and bitter, because if I don't say it fast I won't say it at all. "You left. It clearly doesn't concern you anymore."

I can tell by the way his eyes linger on my scarf and long sleeved clothes that he knows. And the anger in his eyes ticks me off to no end. Didn't he know this would happen? Their anger had to go somewhere, and no one would ever think they'd hit their golden boy Reg.

"You know I know what you're going through. Let me do something."

"Like walk out on me again? You left us. What did you think would happen? We'd all the sudden become a functioning family?" He looks more pained than anything and drops his eyes from my furious gaze. Good.

"So you are his sister?" If possible, James's face had screwed up into even deeper confusion.

Wow he's slow.

"Congratulations Potter, you finally put two and two together. You want a sticker for recognizing your best mate's sister?" Was it a bit mean? Yes. That was kinda the point.

"Aquila." My eyes flicker back to see my brother's fierce glare. If anything it only ticks me off more, but I cover it with a signature smirk that only he could have taught me.

"Apologies, I suppose it isn't really his fault that he's so slow. Perhaps he was dropped as babe, or maybe being around you killed too many of his brain cells." As it turns out, Sirius looks remarkably like Father when he glowers, and it took everything in me not to flinch.

"He's done more for me than you and that rotten family ever have. So what does it matter what state his brain is in, so long as he has a bit of soul left?" Ouch. I think I prefer Father's punches to Siri calling me soulless. He might not be wrong though, I feel pretty empty.

"Sirius? James? What's taking so long?" A boy covered in scars walks out, and I know this is Remus, the werewolf. Sirius told me all about his new friends when he came home in the summer, telling me all about their adventures and secret plan to become animagi. In spite of myself and apparent soullessness, I can't help but soften. It's impossible for me to be mad at someone who has gone through more pain than I ever have.

"It's nothing...Remus? Or do you prefer Lupin? I accidentally bumped into Potter here and um... I'll just be on my way." I awkwardly shuffled past the three Marauders and continued down the hall.