101 Ways to ditch the Date | SIRIUS BLACK

No. 65

Having successful stayed out of the scheme investigation for most of last term, Ora had been hoping to do the same now but every day that went by this was looking less and less likely. When she'd confronted Emmeline about her weird note regarding Marlene, she'd been coldly snubbed for no particular reason. Instantly fears had prickled inside her that Marlene was in the girl's head especially as Emmeline was starting to spend more and more time with Marlene again. She knew that Marlene had been doing some sort of scheme regarding her and Sirius last term but wasn't entirely sure of the particular details: perhaps turning Emmeline against her was part of it. Still, it didn't make sense why Emmeline would go to her so willingly considering how miserable the friendship had made her before Easter. 

Ora was baffled.

Before she'd felt a little hesitant to get involved but if it was possibly going to derail Emmeline, she felt she had to. Sadly the morning she decided to ask Sirius to completely and utterly fill her in, her boyfriend was annoyingly absent and when she did bump into him all she got was an admittedly amazing kiss before he chased after James. Although she and Lily had joked the two boys were together, perhaps there was more truth to it than she thought...

Luckily, the perks of expanding her friendship circle meant that she now had more than one person to turn to and Dexter was more than willing to lend her his ears. Due to 'conniving behaviour' regarding an intellectual rival, Dexter had earnt himself an evening detention sorting out cages of Cornish Pixies although he claimed this had no impact on his listening skills.

"I swore I'd be less selfish this term and manage my time better with Emmeline but it feels like I'm going in the opposite direction now," Ora whined, as she sat on the edge of the desk, her legs idly dangling, "For a start she doesn't want to spend any time with me it seems, so I just while away hours trying to suss out what Marlene's up to instead. It's quite inconvenient really, taking away from things I actually want do like ridding myself of Mum's influence or you know, Sirius."

"Maybe make a schedule? Dedicate an hour to reworking contracts, three for revising, two for Emmeline and um ... evening sessions with Sirius?"

"You know me too well, Dex. And an hour for you of course."

"Oh you do know how to flatter a wily Pureblood," He grinned, "Although if you are excessively busy I'm sure we can negotiate down to half an hour, Marlene's a complicated girl by the looks of it."

"No, I like this downtime with you, it's uncomplicated," She admitted, "Not that you're uncomplicated ... well, you are but not boring, is what I'm trying to say."

"I understand," Dexter exhaled as he hung one of the cages up on the wall, "Well, at the moment it feels like the uncertainty is getting to you, no? You don't know what Marlene's up to so you assume the worst, that she's playing tricks on Emmeline and making her hate you."

"You must be psychic."

"Just perceptive," He admitted.

"That's probably it. Last term I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she was up to something and then Em became miserable and now it feels like she's avoiding me, keeping secrets."

"Like I said, it's the uncertainty," Dexter replied.

"I would ask Sirius but last term I was so adamant about not getting involved, it feels embarrassing to go back on my word."

"He is your boyfriend," Dexter pointed out.

"True," She smiled, "It does feel like there's been a shift between us too come to think of it."

"How so? Your impressive knight worthy rescue in a stolen car?"

"Well ... yes but more than that, I opened up to him about my Mum," She said, "I think I've only told Emmeline the whole story before that, it's sort of like we've moved beyond just a physical relationship and into the real stuff. Usually, I'm very closed off about it, I don't like to cry and things but it felt nice to talk to him, I hope we can have more times like that. He still didn't tell me everything though but I know he's closed off, wouldn't want to pressure him ... it's getting serious."