Black // Marauders

39. Jump

January turned colder and colder as the snow began to melt around the grounds. Persie and Sirius stuck to each other like glue and avoided any confrontation from James. Even though spring drew closer, everything seemed colder to them. They sat in the Common Room on the carpet in front of the fire most nights, Sirius trying to help Remus with his Potions homework while Persie curled up on the sofa and slept. She didn't want to tell Sirius it was because she was consistently getting worrying letters filling her in on Order meetings. It was this habit that started her and Sirius' conversation on the way down to Charms that afternoon.

"Pers, you look exhausted." Sirius told her, as she yawned for the fourth time and gave him a look, "Well spotted."

"I'm just saying. Maybe you should tell Moody to give you a break?" He suggested as she stopped still in the corridor and looked over him, "What are you talking about?"

"Pers, I spend every waking minute of the day with you," Sirius said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I know Mad-Eye sends you letters all the time. And I know they stress you out because ... well, you look like this every morning."

"Look like what?" She yawned again, trying to suppress it, but her flared nostrils gave her away.

He cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, Persie began to walk again, "They're just letters, Sirius."

"If they're just letters, why do you have to get them?" He questioned as she shook her head, "I'm not having this fight with you."

"Trouble in paradise!" Lexie shouted after them, before Persie blinked slowly and sighed, pushing the door into Charms with her back before sliding into her desk at the back. Her and Sirius were the only people in the room seeing as they'd gotten into a habit of arriving to lessons five minutes early to avoid people before she put her head on the table and sighed deeply, "God's sake."

"People'll forget about it soon enough. Don't worry." He replied, smiling weakly before sitting on the edge of the desk, "I'm not worrying. I'm pissed off. This is ridiculous!"

"I know. So am I, but I promise everything will work itself out." He said lifting her head up and kissing her softly. They broke apart as she got up off of her chair and stood upright, "You've been promising that a lot lately."

"I've been promising a lot of people a lot of things." He replied slyly before she rolled her eyes, "Oh yeah? Like what? You aren't that popular, you know."

"I can be whatever I want to be. Atleast that's the message I'm getting from Dumbledore's speeches at the minute, which I don't really understand because surely he wants everyone to, you know, not be a Death Eater." He explained before she gave him a look, "You really need to start keeping a diary to write all this stuff down."

"Maybe I'll get a pen pal. Start writing letters." He mumbled as Persie frowned, "Sirius-"

"I'm not even sorry." He stated.

The door creaked shut, making Persie whip her head around and stare at Eloise as she adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No." Sirius insisted, before his face split into a grin and he beckoned her over, "Hi."

"Hey Sirius." She replied brightly, before wrapping her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Persie's face fell as she raised an eyebrow to attempt to keep herself calm and clamped her teeth down on the inside her cheek.

"Hi Eloise." She stated blankly, smiling fakely as she unwrapped herself from him and took a step to the side.

"Hello." She replied meekly, before looking at the floor and scuffing her shoes as the door swung open with a bang and Flitwick's face appeared, as he beckoned in the rest of the class, "Oh! Miss Potter, Professor McGonagall was looking for you. She says you have something to do."