BOOKWORM [Sirius Black] [DISCONTINUED]

[E L E V E N]

[Thank you for not clicking away this story! As your reward, I give you a picture of Sirius Black (Ben Barnes).]

SIRIUS - FOR THE lack of a better word - fucked up.

He knew he did.

She was ignoring him, walking away every time he tried to talk to her. It was like her jaw was set, and talking to him was some sort of taboo. Only in Potions does the short-haired bookworm speak to him - and that's only because if Slughorn found out that they weren't working together they'd get bad marks. Maia only asked for him to do simple things, like chop some ingredients or set up the cauldron, in which Sirius begrudgingly obeyed. When talking to him, she was tight-lipped and sharp. She wasn't smiling, nor was she frowning. She was monotone. It was worse than the phrase 'I'm not mad, just disappointed'. Sirius, quite frankly, hated it.

However, there was an element of stubbornness around him that was preventing him from saying sorry. His other side - stubbornness - was saying that it was irrational to be that angry at that question, as it was simple. Why did she believe all those things were true?

The mental fights he was having were affecting his behaviour. Whenever she ignored him, he'd get angry. When he overthought the situation, he'd get into a more vexing mood. When he thought about forgiving her, he'd get snappy.

He was quite frankly sick of getting ignored by her.

It was quite easy to explain why he was sick of it. Humans don't like to be ignored by people, especially if the act of ignoring was caused by that Human. It gives a sort of gnawing feeling in your gut, and a disgustingly painful twinge in your heart. It feels as if you would pay anything to redo that harsh comment, that pestering jab at; even that uncalled for remark. Your throat constricts and more often than not, your eyes start to water. Your hair gets greasy from the amount of times you run your hand through it.

In the end of a nearly two week mental argument, the battle was won.

His stubbornness lost.

So, after thinking long and hard about how to get into Maia Sterlings good books, he came up with an idea.

It included an attack, feigning fear and the Great Hall.

I know, I know, it sounded like a Tim Mitchin song. It was the best idea he could come up with in History of Magic.

The plan was simple, get a girl who has staged to hate him to throw a punch at him. He chose a girl who could act and throw a punch, and he could only think of one girl to do the job. Leena Alcalute. She was a Pureblooded Ravenclaw. Sassy as a Slytherin and hot damn can she fight. They were once partnered up to do a Transfiguration assignment together and Sirius tried to make moves on her. She was surprisingly resistant to his charms and just ignored his constant attempts to flirt. He didn't think too hard about it, I mean it wasn't as although he didn't get rejected. She was just immune to it. When he approached her about it, she was hesitant about the role.

"What do I get out of it, Black?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Her normal school robes were gone and a long worn out leather jacket hung around her hips. Her icy blue eyes pierced him dangerously and he almost flinched but regained his composure.

"Money. 3 galleons." Her eyes scrutinised him.

"Five and I'll make it more realistic."

"Deal." She immediately turned and sped away, Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. Although he'd never show it, he was always nervous around Leena. She was intimidating. Her eyes would pierce you and you would be frozen. No one but McGonagall challenged her on her uniform choice and absolutely NO ONE talked to her unless they were spoken to first. It was an unspoken rule. People have gone to the hospital wing with injuries because of Leena, so most of the schools population steered clear of her.

Later on, while they were eating dinner in the Great Hall, Leena decided to show up and walk to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey baby." Leena whispered in his ear, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. Sirius - although quite shocked - played this motion off and greeted her politely. Maia, who was sitting a couple of meters up watched carefully and sneakily - but Sirius caught her staring.

"So babe, are we going to Hogsmeade together next weekend?" She said silkily. From her tone and acting, he almost believed himself that she was really asking.

"Ahh, I'm sorry babe, I'm going with the boys next weekend." Her expression grew dark and she stood up.

"Excuse me darling." She said venomously. "But I thought we were going to a date?" Sirius almost once again flinched but he kept his posture.

"Well I'm sorry Babe, but I need to go with the boys." He responded, shocked at how calm he was. At that point, Maia had forgotten what sneakiness was and had been staring at the growing tension between Leena and Sirius.

"How dare you!" Leena stomped her foot on the ground and held her hand up to slap him. Knowing this was apart of the plan, he embraced the impact.

However, it never came.

Before Sirius could get slapped, Maia had stomped over and grabbed Leena's wrist, glaring (almost possessively but what Sirius thought was friendly). Leena's eyes whipped to hers and she almost winked at him in a 'told you so' manner but she knew that Maia would see so she kept a dangerous face.

"Don't lay an arm on him again." Might I mention, that the whole hall went quiet for this scene. Leena smirked.

"Or what, little bookworm? Are you going to murder me with facts about the Goblin Rebellion?" Maia sighed and went to walk away.

"Weak." Leena whispered lowly enough so Maia and Sirius both could hear. At once, Maia's temperature raised and her knuckles went white from clenching.

"Aren't you just a weak, pathetic girl. Can't even stand up for her crush. What girl walks away from a f-" Leena's harsh words were cut off by a fist connecting with her face. Maia's book had dropped out of her hand as she tackled one of the most dangerous girls in school. Leena of course fought back, raising her hand to Maia's short hair and pulling at it, in which Maia responded with a great big punch in the nose. Blood dripped down Leena's face as she knee'd Maia. Maia's face scrunched up in pain but she kept fighting. Slapping her across the face and clawing at her, Maia bared her teeth, growling almost primitively.

The battle continued for another minute before Sirius decided to call it off and grab Maia off Leena. She kicked and screamed but Sirius shushed her calmingly and stroked her hair. It calmed her down and soon she just had shallow breathing. McGonagall came up to her and shook her head at both of them.

"This is completely unacceptable behaviour from both of you! Maia Sterling, I'd have expected more from you and Leena Alcalute, how many times before I have to suspend you from Hogwarts? You girls both have detention and you lose 40 house points each. I am very disappointed in both of you!" The Gryffindor head of house lectured the girls. Maia, out of anger, shrugged. Blood went down her face and under her chin. Sirius noticed this and asked Lily if she could collect Maia's book bag. Out of shock, Lily nodded and Sirius ushered her out of the Great Hall and off towards the Hospital Wing. The whole way there, Maia was breathing heavily. Sirius hands were resting on her shoulder and lower back, guiding her. Midway through the journey she started to cry. Sirius immediately stopped and looked at her.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Maia wiped her eyes and nodded.

"I'll be fine. It just- really hurts." Sirius widened his eyes and realised that he knew a spell to fix broken bones from late nights on the full moon. Brandishing his wand from his back pocket, he pointed at her nose and whispered an incantation. Maia screamed as her nose cracked into place and hit him, before leaning on him for support.

"It's better," She whispered. "Way better."

"Thank you."

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**EDITED**