Trouble (The Marauders Era» Sirius Black Fanfiction) *Editing*

3» The Art of Showing Off

Chapter Three

The Art of Showing Off

<Do as I say, not as I do>

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The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Wake up, go to class, sleep, repeat. Everyday was the same, and the only thing keeping Thea sane was practicing her magic. Whenever she could, Thea would sneak off to the library and read and practice spells. Her new favorite was the Patronus Charm. They weren't studying it in Defense Against the Dark Arts; she found the spell in a book and had yet to master it. She could only manage a small puff of silvery smoke so far, but was anxious to discover what her Patronus would take the form of.

She had become acutely aware of the Marauders whereabouts. When they entered a room, she found an excuse to leave. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to face them after what happened in the Hospital Wing. That moment when she lied to protect Sirius was a moment of weakness that she didn't want to confront. Or at least, she didn't want to be teased about it.

That didn't stop Sirius though. He would throw paper airplanes with stupid jokes written on them at her during classes ("Did you hear about the witch who won the lottery? She went knuts!") She could feel him stare at her sometimes, and she swore that he seemed to talk and laugh a bit louder than usual when she was around. Despite all this, the two didn't speak to each other, Thea made sure of that. Until Halloween.

"Good morning, ladies," Remus said from beside Thea as Lily and she made their way to Defense Against the Dark Arts with the rest of the Gryffindor sixth years.

"Morning, Remus," Thea said. "How are you?"

"Very good, thank you."

"Are you ready?" an excited voice chimed in. They all looked over to see James walking beside Lily.

"For what?" asked Lily, looking up at him. James automatically grinned and ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier.

"Rumor is we're going to be dueling each other in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Sounds like fun," Thea said, both excited and apprehensive. She had dueled before and was actually pretty good at it, but she was nervous about practicing it in a room full of mostly strangers. Sure enough, the group walked into their classroom to find all the desks pushed up against the walls and their professor hopping energetically at the front of the room.

Professor Thomas Lysander was a short and round man with a balding head and an excessive amount of hair protruding from his ears, nose, and comically large mustache. He was a Muggle-born, and was enamored by magic. At least every few minutes, Professor Lysander would say "Fascinating, yes?" to which the class would reply with bored groans in response. Despite his never-ending enthusiasm, he always reeked of fire whiskey and often stumbled into class late.

"Put all your belongings against the back wall, please!" Professor Lysander squealed, reminding Thea of an over-excited pig. "Wands out, children!"

"This should be interesting," Thea muttered to herself, receiving a small chuckle from Lily who overheard.

"Because today is Halloween, I've decided that we will take a short break from our lessons to practice the art of dueling. As a reminder, dueling is not permitted at Hogwarts, and rule-breakers will be reprimanded harshly."

Thea and Lily, along with multiple other students, immediately swung their heads to face the Marauders. James simply winked at Lily while Remus dusted off his Prefect badge, Peter laughed nervously, and Sirius grinned proudly.