101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 18

Although Emmeline had been slightly wary of Ora's enthusiasm regarding her new plan, she was too concentrated on her upcoming Charms test to put up a fight and Ora was able to leave without her friend putting up too much of a fight. When Sirius had said he'd sort it out, Ora hadn't expected him to be so swift. The same day that they'd discussed it, a note had been delivered by a shy first year to her giving her strict details of the time and place they were to meet. The note hadn't said who he'd got to help them or anything else so Ora really was walking into it blindly. For all she knew, this could be a trap designed by Sirius to get out of the truth clause and she'd walked into it willingly.

Sirius had given her a random classroom that she'd never been in before so she was left to wander around the school, clutching the note like it was her saving grace. Eventually she arrived outside of a door, having gone up several flights of stairs which meant she was forced to wait outside as she caught her breath; although she did feel comfortable around Sirius, she still valued how she looked around him and looking red and flustered wasn't a great look. Eventually, when her breathing had studied she neatened her school uniform, hastily pulling up her skirt a bit before opening the door to the classroom... except it wasn't a classroom at all.

She was on the top of a tower.

"Hey, you made it!" She glanced over to see Sirius and girl with long mousy brown hair, standing by a telescope, "Ora, I don't know if you've met but this is Mary."

An icy wind blew which made Ora's white blonde hair go everywhere, obscuring her vision as well as freezing her to the bone. Sirius walked over towards he and she longed to snuggle up close to him and feel his arms around her... mostly for warmth rather than anything else.

"I told her that you felt kind of lonely only have one friend and all so she agreed to instruct you of how to act around the other girls," Sirius whispered, quickly turning to Mary and giving her a smile to let her know that everything was okay.

"What?" Ora said, pulling him back by his sleeve, hastily giving Mary a reassuring smile before turning back to Sirius, "You said I was lonely? That's so embarrassing!"

"Better than admitting the real reason," Sirius replied.

"I guess..." Ora replied, glancing at Mary who was absentmindedly staring into the school, slowly bobbing up down. Although Sirius seemed to think she just wanted to befriend them for the plan, if she could be friends with them, it would give her an excuse to be around him more and part of her kind of liked the idea of having more friends. Although she liked being a dynamic duo with Emmeline, seeing Sirius and his friends joking around had made her slightly yearn for a larger group. They seemed to have a jokey, easy-going dynamic which she'd simply never had in the same way, "You're right, I'll pretend to be lonely.... hold on, that's Mary? The one who Emmeline lied to?"

"Yeah but she doesn't hold it against you," Sirius said, "She said she liked you, go over and say hi."

For a moment, Ora was tempted to ask Sirius to come with her but then she reminded herself that she was a strong, sarky, independent woman and other girls were not monsters. She could do this herself even if her paranoia was getting to her a bit.

Mary turned around, giving her what looked like a genuine smile (although her mind was also telling her it all could be an elaborate trick).

"Hi Ora," She said, "I hear you want me to train you?"

"Yep, I'm a lonely bastard," She replied, playing it off as casual and not something she'd been thinking over and over in her head for the past thirty seconds, "It's just me and Emmeline but you guys seemed great and I don't want to mess this up..."