BOOKWORM [Sirius Black] [DISCONTINUED]

[T W E N T Y F I V E]

SILENCE.

Dead, sweet, unspeaking silence. 

Sirius looked at Maia with a mixture of shock and surprise. All of the air had left is body and it seemed as though he had been punched repeatedly in the gut. Maia just blankly looked at him, as though all of her words were as easy and manageable as saying hello.

He blinked.

Once.

Twice.

He then laughed.

It started off as a quiet chuckle which turned into a loud guffaw that rocked the room. Maia looked at him weirdly, as if he was the one who was drugged instead of her. His hands went into his hair and he started to brush his hands through it - almost in a nervous fashion. His laugh went for an awkwardly long time before Maia tapped his shoulder hesitantly. His laughing ceased for a moment and he almost jumped, as he almost thought he was alone with his thoughts.

"Are you alright, Sirius?" He looked at her and for a fleeting moments she seemed genuinely worried for him, as if what she said seconds earlier wasn't a big surprise - well, for him at least. Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, he smiled boyishly at her. 

"Funny joke, Maia. If only you were this funny in real life." Maia's face morphed into that of protest but before she could retort, Madam Pomfrey barged in with a soft smile.

"I managed to find some leftover potion from last years OWLS," She handed the magenta potion to Maia.  "Sip up, love." 

Maia looked at the potion. On the front of it it had little roses on it with lace imprints. The title read 'potio transuerso'. Shrugging, she unscrewed the lid. She smelt the potion and crinkled her nose. It was not an awful smell, but unfamiliar. Keeping up with the theme of the bottle, it smelt faintly as of roses but mostly of a sweet but tangy scent - kind of what muggle cold and flu medicine smelt like. With Pomfrey's encouragement, Maia managed it down and sat down in her bed, feeling a little more normal. Feeling suddenly very tired, she closed her heavy eyes and drifted off in a matter of minutes. Sirius looked at her as she drifted off and frowned.

"I think it'd be best to go back to class, Mr. Black. It seems you have a lot of thinking to do." She smiled kindly at him, her oddly pretty face lighting up in a nice smile. Sirius caught on what she was saying and felt quite red on the cheeks. Sirius nodded.

"I will go soon, thank you Poppy." Ms. Pomfrey's face morphed into that of annoyance but with a flicker of affection in her eyes.

"Don't keep your teacher waiting, Mr. Black." With that, she left him to his own thoughts. Facing back to the unconscious girl that lay beside him, his mind drifted.

Why would she like him? He was a mess.

A cracked, abused mess who uses his flirty attitude towards girls to get over his parental abandonment.

He was nothing. While she - well, she was everything.

The front of Sirius' brain - the rational side - screamed that it was just a cruel joke.

'I mean, c'mon Sirius - why would she like you. She's abnormally perfect and you - well...'

'You don't deserve her.'

For the most part, his brain agreed with what it was repeating in its head - whether it was hurting or not.

 However, a small piece of his brain defied him, screaming in protest.

'What if she did like you?'

'What if it wasn't a joke?'

Somehow, he knew that that part of his brain was connected to his heart; because his heart refused to let go of the possibility of her even connecting attraction to him. That was implausible, untrue and most importantly,

Impossible.

____________

Maia woke up, hours later to her hospital bed. She could only faintly remember what happened in her drug induced high. Something about wearing two pairs of glasses and getting ice cream. Shaking her head, she yawned while stretching. She called out to Madam Pomfrey, who stepped out of her quarters.

"Hello, Ms. Sterling. How are you feeling, love?" She asked gently, her hand going to cover Maia's forehead to check for any fever she might have. Maia gave a small but toothy smile at the young nurse.

"I'm alright, thank you for asking. Hopefully I wasn't too much of a pain." She frowned. The blonde nurse shook her head, smiling politely back. She began to get a spray bottle filled with disinfectant and spray the trays beside her bed, which were already clean. 

"Not at all, you had a silencing spell on you at first but as soon as the others went you were quite still. You had quite the conversation with a young man however." Maia stilled, her eyes widening in fear.

"If you will, Ms. Pomfrey. Whom did I speak to?" She asked feverishly. Pomfrey slightly smirked, her eyes bring a mysterious but knowing look to them.

"The one with brown hair and very pretty grey eyes. He was quite nice to you, it was very cute. It seemed as though he was sweet on you, Ms. Sterling." She stopped to wipe the tray clean  and put the spray bottle and the rag in her apron pocket, before smiling at her and continuing. "It seems as though the feelings are reciprocated too."

Maia's mouth opened in shock and before her brain could fully process what happened, she started to deny everything.

"Oh no, Ms. You've got it all wrong! I don't like him. Well - I don't like like him, I mean I like him but not in a like like sense. I mean t-that's ridiculous! Why would I ever-" Madam Pomfrey started chuckling under her breath, shaking her head.

"Whatever you say, Ms. Sterling. You may go now, as you are normal enough to. Dinner will be in hour and I'm guessing that your friends are slightly worried for you." She stopped and her smile widened, as if she wanted to say something else but stopped herself. "Off you trot, Miss."

Maia quickly shuffled past her and to the entrance, her mind reeling in mortification of what the nurse thought. Before she could go, however, the sandy blonde medi-witch stopped her.

"By the way, Ms. Sterling." Maia turned back to the nurse politely. The older witch smirked.

"That's not what you said earlier." 

One word.

What.

________

I'm back! After a, what, two month hiatus? I can't believe my readers have doubled since then! There are a lot of reasons as to why  haven't updated, but they wont bring back the time I wasted procrastinating on this story.

I'd like to welcome the new readers and thank them  for reading this cringe-fest of a book, and I'd also like to thank the old readers for sticking with me in this book - it means a lot :)

Also, you should follow my account! I'll post updates as to how many words im up to or a round-a-bouts when I'm going to update next. It'll be great :)

Thank you,

Amme :)