stars | sirius black

22: Stephen Jones

"If you three wanted to look for me, couldn't you just have used the map?" Sirius asked.

"I did. James and Peter didn't really think of that and just went off to find you." Remus laughed, shaking his head and Sirius joined him.

Sirius' laughter was cut short when his eyes drifted off to where Arabella was and noticed that Stephen started leaning over to Arabella, his eyes slowly closing.

Suddenly, Sirius felt like his feet had a mind of its own as it made its way towards where Stephen sat. Remus and Arabella barely had time to process everything as Sirius took a hold of Stephen's front collar, pulled him put of his chair, and punched him square in the jaw.

Once Sirius snapped out of his trance, the first thing he saw was Arabella with her mouth open in shock. He looked down to see Stephen Jones unconscious and guilt suddenly washed over him.

"Belle, I-" Sirius started but no words came out, he stared at her as she slowly got out of her seat and ran towards the exit.

"Sirius."

He turned to see James and Peter, standing behind Remus. Their expressions held confusion, only arriving a few moments ago.

"I didn't mean to-"

"We know." Remus said, cutting him off.

Sirius nodded. "What do I do?"

"We'll take him to the infirmary. You need to go find Ara." James said, moving to where Stephen was laid with Remus and Peter following him.

Sirius said a quiet thank you and made his way out of the library, getting the Marauders map to find where Arabella was.

______

SIRIUS ARRIVED at a mostly empty Gryffindor common room, the only person there was a pacing Arabella Arroway. Her back was turned, not hearing him entered. Sirius tried to find the right words to say but his mind came up blank. He sighed as he walked up to her.

"Why?" Arabella asked, a strained tone in her voice.

"What?" Sirius asked, stopping in his tracks.

"Why did you do it?" Arabella asked, clarifying her previous question. She turned around with watery eyes, looking at Sirius with a half-angry, half-confused expression.

Sirius tried to find the right words again and just found himself asking the same question to himself. Sirius sighed and looked down. "I don't know."

"That's bullshit and you and I both know it." Arabella said, crossing her arms in front of her and looked at Sirius directly in the eye.

"I was jealous." Sirius answered after a few moments of contemplation.

"Of who?" Arabella asked, her anger noticeably fading. "Stephen?"

No words came out of Sirius' mouth and he just nodded at her.

"That's crazy. You know that right?" Arabella asked.

"Is it really? You've been spending a lot of time with him." Sirius said, a jealous tone lacing his voice.

"That's because Dumbledore asked me to help him out with Transfiguration, you arsehole." Arabella said exasperatedly, sitting down on one of the sofas.

"Oh." Sirius found himself at a loss for words. "So you don't like him?"

"Merlin, no!" Arabella exclaimed, getting frustrated with him.

Sirius sighed in relief, sitting down next to her. "He seemed to really like you though."

"Why would you even care if liked me? Or if I liked him?" Arabella asked, turning her head to look at him. "Am I not allowed to like other people?"

"Of course not!" Sirius exclaimed, his voice panicked. "It's just that-"

"Just what?" Arabella asked cutting him off.

Sirius didn't know how to reply to Arabella's question. He just stared at her and she stared back, an eyebrow raised and waiting for his reply. He thought of the past few months and the feeling he has felt for her.

He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down and remembered James' and Remus' words:

"You know that she loves you right? Too much for her own good. She doesn't even realize it yet."

"You'll never know if you won't try."

"It's a goddamn tragedy both of you think the other is looking at the ground."

"Love will always be worth the risk."

Sirius opened his eyes, only to see a confused Arabella still awaiting an answer from him. With James' and Remus' words repeating over and over in his head, Sirius Black did the one thing he never thought he'd do so soon,

He kissed Arabella Arroway.

_______

the end!!

kidding, of course. i'm not that cruel. anyways please let me know what you think in the comments and give it a vote if you think it was worthy.

lots of love and i'll see ya when i see ya,
arielle