A Circle of Flame- Sirius Black x OC

Chapter 18

"You could talk to him."

He looked over to see Remus buried in no less than three textbooks. A splatter of ink dotted the tip of his nose.

"Are you really taking notes on all of those?" Sirius nodded towards the thick roll of parchment in Remus's lap. "You do realize textbooks have about a quarter's worth of usefulness? All the rest is bloody extra." He kicked his feet up on the windowsill.

His friend was extremely aggravated. Remus always acted exceptionally irritated around exams. As if he wasn't going to pass them with flying colours. Ruddy annoying, really. Sirius had been trying to break him of the habit for years.

"Then why, tell me," Remus didn't bother to look up from his quill and ink, "did the author bother to include the extra five hundred pages?"

"Two reasons." Sirius rubbed the sole of his shoe against the glass of the window, tracing images into the frost. The outside grounds were buried under a blanket of snow. Pine branches dipped in front of the glass with the weight, blocking the rest of the view.

"One, they're a swot like you. Two, they're one of those."

He pointed to a blonde Ravenclaw, who was busy attempting to mend a rip in his robes. It wasn't working. Sirius should have known the boy's name—Locksomething? Lockfoot?

"They never were good at real life and decided to spend their time making life miserable for the rest of us."

This finally got Remus to put down his quill. "So, if we can't be carefree like you," the barb smarted Sirius slightly. "Then we're wasting our time?"

Sirius watched as the snowfall grew heavier outside the glass, collecting in large drifts that would have reached Hagrid's knees. He was rather friendly with the gamekeeper, although he had learned early on not to accept any of his baked goods. Pomfrey had spent an afternoon mending his teeth.

"Worrying only means you'll suffer twice." There was a slight pause, although not an uncomfortable one. He and the lads had been through far too much to be offended over debates like these. "And I'm not always carefree."

Remus drew in a long breath and his shoulders slumped. "I know." The sound of scratching resumed as he turned back to his notes. "So, are you going to accompany James to Slughorn's party?"

That was all that was needed to settle a sense of forgiveness between them.

"I'm only going if Lily doesn't say yes." Sirius fought a grimace at the pointed glance Remus sent him. He would support James to the death. But even Sirius had to admit that his mate was a tad too optimistic. "So yeah, probably."

Over to his left, Regulus's voice rose to an audible volume. He turned to see his brother talking to a very familiar redhead. Liza Prewett pushed a bit of orange hair behind her ear.

"You're really leaving me to dance by myself?" Her dark eyes were narrowed, but her tone rose at a playful note that Sirius had never heard. It was rather disconcerting.

To his surprise, Sirius watched as the edge of Regulus's lip twitched. It meant his brother was fighting a smile.

"I'm the one who taught you to dance in the first place." Regulus shut the cover of his journal before tucking his pen neatly into the spine. "Just warn the poor lad who accompanies you that my magic only goes so far."

Liza smacked Regulus with the edge of her book. Her frizzy curls bounced over her cheek. Sirius tried not to let his gaze linger on the hair. It really was in desperate need of conditioning.

The pair drifted out of sight, their muttered bickering fading around the corridor.

"You could talk to him."