Blood Status || Marauders Era

Chapter 74|| Valentines

After coming to terms with the fact that I may have the smallest crush on Sirius, I tried to avoid him. It was stupid, I know, but it was the only way I could try and get rid of these feelings. However, being in the same house, and the same year, and being close friends, made it a lot harder to avoid each other and so, I was still suffering with what Lily liked to call Sirius - itis. 

It wasn't very creative, but it worked.

I woke up one Monday morning, it was cold, a Monday, and I had my first lesson of the day with the Slytherins who had been horrible ever since we beat them in Quidditch. So, it already wasn't going very well, but only when I got to breakfast did it get even worse, it was Valentine's day. That was what I realised when I heard Alice talk to Frank. And it scared me. 

"Hello Thea, isn't it a lovely day, I love Valentine's day, don't you?" I heard Sirius say sarcastically.

I sat down in front of him, only partially agreeing with him, but focusing more on my food in front of me which was normally a priority, but today it was my entire reason for living. "Why have you been ignoring me lately? What did I do this time?" Sirius asked me, stealing my fork. I grabbed another and said, "Nothing." Then, I went back to my food, being grateful that the other boys had joined us so that they could distract Sirius from talking to me.

Our first lesson, I sat at the back with Marlene, Aafiya, and Mary, and we decided to have a conversation, which didn't last very long as all they wanted to do was tease me. It seemed that Lily accidentally let it slip to the other girls I had a thing for Sirius and at first, two out of the three were normal about it, but Marlene was horrified. "Sirius Black," she whispered, "surely there was better options."

I had been enduring this for forty-five minutes and as soon as we had a talking task, I turned to Marlene and said, "It's not like I could choose, it just happened. Do you think I would've chosen Sirius if I could choose?" Mary and Marlene laughed, but Aafiya eyed me like I'd said something mean, which was kind of true, but in my point of view, I'd argued with the man, and avoided him, and been a target of his pranks. 

Very regularly.

I stopped paying attention to the lesson and looked at the boy sitting diagonally from me, leaning back on his chair, running a hand through his hair with his hands decorated in rings. The boy was grinning, joking with his friends, and generally looking effortlessly good, like he had woken up and decided every day was a good day. I hated how I felt but I loved it at the same time. 

There were times when I was sat in the Gryffindor common room and had resigned to relax by myself, but the Marauders had walked in, laughing and joking, and suddenly, I found myself doing the same. It was a strange thing, having a crush, he was both inside my head when he wasn't there, and usually around me when he was. I couldn't escape him.

It's like I found a piece of him everywhere, listening to music was no longer relaxing but reminded me of the many times we danced and sang loudly both in the common room and in the boys' dormitory. Looking up at the stars reminded me of him, of his name, of that time on the Astronomy Tower. Laughing and joking even reminds me of him, how he loves to pull pranks and laugh to cheer everyone else up.

Walking out of class, I decided to fall into step with Remus who was walking behind the other three boys slightly, adjusting his bag strap as he walked. "Hi Remus, your lace is undone," I said, pointing down at his shoe, it was amazing how he could keep his balance, fix his bag, and walk all at the same time. "Oh, I know, but thanks anyway. What would you like?" He knew me quite well, and this time, it seemed he knew I wanted to talk.

"Have you ever had a crush? Never mind, even if you haven't, how do you imagine you would get over it?" I asked him. Remus let the bag strap fall and turned his head to look down at me, meeting eye contact, I might have accidentally given him the idea I have a crush, which is entirely true but no one else needed to know. "I have... but I'm not sure how, I still haven't got over them yet."

"Makes sense, thanks anyway Remus," I sighed, I knew there was no more he could do, it was just news to me that he liked someone. However, I wasn't surprised, he knew how to keep a good secret. "But Athena, I don't think avoiding them is going to help," he said, then, he hurried slightly to catch up with the three in front of us. I blinked; did he know? 

I just hoped it wasn't too obvious because Sirius isn't stupid, maybe he can tell. I mean, sure he was stupid sometimes, but he could also be exceptionally clever and I hated that side.

Getting into the next class, I decided to face my fears and prove that I wasn't avoiding him. So I did something stupid and sat next to Sirius. When I sat down next to him, the first thing that happened was James having a tantrum, but then he resolved to sit next to Peter. The next thing that happened was Sirius smiling widely, slinging an arm over my shoulder and saying, "So you aren't avoiding me Thea, that's good to know."

I hoped that I wasn't blushing, but I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks, like a fire spreading throughout the woods. I was going to stand up for myself, but all I heard was James yelling, "Help! Wormtail's going to kill me!" I turned around, as did the rest of the class, nosily, and saw James throwing himself forward onto his desk and Peter sat there awkwardly with his wand in his hand.

"Stop being dramatic Prongs," Sirius laughed. I loved his laugh, it was like music on a bad day, happiness and sunshine fighting through the storm. "What are you staring at?" I heard a voice pull me out of my thoughts. I was definitely red, but this time from embarrassment, I didn't mean to stare at him. Sirius Black was just so easily ... stared at. "I wasn't staring."

"Whatever," Sirius chuckled, shoving my shoulder gently. What would I do without his comments, it drew me in, his whole personality and aura was intriguing. This is also the moment I came to a realisation; I liked Sirius Black. Nothing more had hit me so hard as this information did, not even my mother on my eighth birthday. 

I didn't just like him, I liked him.

Sirius Black gave me his shoulder to lean on, multiple times. Sirius Black showed me kindness and friendliness when my parents didn't. Sirius Black helped me to fight back and find a real home, somewhere I belonged. Sirius Black made me laugh and cheerful, when I was feeling very dull and empty. Sirius Black was my best friend, but I wanted to be more.

Fingers were snapping in front of my face, and I heard, "Pay attention to the lesson Ash or you might not understand the subject." I turned to Sirius, I registered the use of my animagus nickname, and I also regarded the fact that he was doodling on some spare parchment and so that made him a hypocrite. "How's my hair today?" he asked.

"Perfect, as always," I said quickly, instantly regretting it. Thankfully, Sirius didn't seem to think much of that as he smiled and ranted about how he was jealous that James' hair was curly and so it never looked out of place but as he has straight hair, he constantly needed to tend to it. I would know, I listened to the whole speech. 

Walking out of the lesson, packing up my notes and heading towards the courtyard for break to meet up with the girls, I heard footsteps walk next to me. "Good luck with him Thea," James said, pushing up his glasses and smirking. I sighed exasperatedly, "Does everyone know?" The boy nodded, giving me a moment to take it all in but then he said something which lifted my spirits greatly.

"Everyone but Sirius, the man's oblivious," he told me. I thanked everything that I owned and everyone I knew that the one person I didn't want to know, didn't actually know. As James ran off, I heard him shout, "Just because it's Valentine's doesn't mean practice is cancelled." I grinned at his seriousness of being Captain but then remembered something, fifth year Gryffindors and above were holding a party, so that meant more music and more Sirius.

Greeting the girls in the courtyard who immediately fired questions as to why I sat next to Sirius in the lesson, I slouched on a stone wall. Today was not my day, and it seemed that every time I saw the black-haired boy, my feelings expanded and grew. Happy bloody Valentine's Day.