Coming Together ༄ Sirius Black

Chapter Eight

Asteria pushed the door to the common room open and slowly left the room. Upon entering the dark corridors, she was instantly met with a wave of coldness. Winter was starting to take grip of Hogwarts as a shove ran down Asteria's spine.

"Fancy seeing you here." Spoke a familiar voice from the shadows.

Asteria jumped away, slamming her back against the wall, "Merlin!" She gasped.
"It would be more impressive if I was Merlin, but I think I'm second best."

Sirius moved into the dim torch light of the corridor wearing his signature smirk.

"What're you doing here?" Asteria grumbled, dusting off her jumper.
"Looking for my brother." Sirius shrugged coolly, "Seen him around?"

"Regulus?" Asteria asked.
"That would be my brother, yes." Sirius nodded.
"Sorry, I'm tired. Er, no I didn't see him but then again I don't make a habit of checking the boys dormitories."

Sirius chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, "What're you planning on doing? I don't see Snape or Lily around."
"I wasn't invited to the slimy Slug Club." Asteria tugged her bag over her shoulder tightly and stepped forwards.
Sirius smiled as he started to walk beside Asteria, "Neither." He said.

"And you're not going to... Prank me or anything?" Asteria eyed him carefully.
"W-what?" Sirius asked, "No, that wasn't the plan."

"Okay, good." She replied.

"So, now seems like a pretty good time for us to hang out?" Sirius smirked.

Asteria frowned as he continued to follow her down the corridors.
"Why the sudden interest in me? We've never spoken before this year." She pointed out.

Sirius frowned and opened his mouth to speak before hesitating. "I told you before, didn't I? I'm going to prove than I'm an amazing and charming guy."
"Charming guy?"

Asteria stopped walking and turned to look at Sirius.
"I am charming." He smirked.
"You are." She stated quizzically, narrowing her eyes at him.

Sirius chuckled as he looked down at her, "Well... thanks?"

"Okay..." Asteria began, her plan finally becoming perfected in her mind, "Let's hang out then."

Sirius' eyes widened in shock as he stammered to respond.

"I was just going to head to the library to revise." Asteria suggested, saving Sirius the trouble of coming up with words.
"Revise? Are you insane?" Sirius gripped Asteria's wrist and spun her around to face him.

"I suck at potions. I need to revise if I stand a chance of passing." She pulled her arm free before turning around and walking away.
"You know I'm not so bad at potions." Sirius shrugged, pocketing his hands.
"Well that's lovely."

Sirius sighed, he couldn't believe what he was saying as the words came out of his mouth, "Want me to help you revise?"

Asteria blinked hard at the boy, she'd never heard of him actually doing school work let alone being good or revising.

"Know anything about astronomy? I suck at that too." Asteria smiled as she led the way towards the library.
"I happen to be named after a star." Sirius smirked.
"My name means star but I'm still bad at the subject." Asteria pointed out.

"Your name means star?" Sirius asked.
"Just like how your name references a star... Are you sure you're good at astronomy?" Asteria smirked now, nudging him gently with her elbow.

"I know what we've been taught in lessons and that has to be all we need to pass these exams." Sirius smirked as they reached the entrance to the library.

Asteria pushed the doors to the library open and the light of the torches and candles instantly seeped out of the room, shocking their eyes that had adjusted to the darkness of the corridors. The warmth of the library was also a stark contrast to the winter chills that ran throughout the rest of the castle.

"Woah..." Sirius blinked hard before stepping inside.

"Have you ever even been into the library before?" Asteria raised an eyebrow.
"Well I've done a few pranks and hexes in here." He shrugged, then glanced over to see Asteria's unamused expression, "But never to sit and do actual work or read." He clarified.

Asteria pulled out a chair at one of the empty tables and took a seat.

"Won't we get kicked out of here soon?" Sirius asked, sitting down beside her as she pulled out a book from her bag.
"No, it's alright." Asteria shrugged, "The librarian likes me so she'll probably let us stay."

"The librarian likes you?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, "That's not what I expected."
"Well when everyone hates you, you don't have much choice." Asteria snapped.

Sirius watched quietly as Asteria slammed down another boom onto the table before opening it up and turning her back to him in order to read it.

"Asteria, not everyone hates you."
"That sure is comforting." Asteria rolled her eyes.

"People only think they hate you. If they got to know you, they'd instantly fall in love. I think you're great." Sirius grinned as Asteria turned her head to look at him.
"You don't really know me." She narrowed her eyes.
"Well then let me."

Asteria sighed, before spinning around in her seat to face him, "We're here to do Potions work, why don't we get started?"

Sirius grumbled something under his breath before leaning forward to read over Asteria's work with her. He wouldn't stand a chance of unlocking the puzzle that was Asteria Halloway is she didn't allow him to get to know her.
But then again, did he really need to get to know her in order to fake date her?

"You realise that line is wrong, don't you?" Sirius pointed to the line in question on her piece of parchment, "Which makes all the rest of it wrong." He gestured to the rest of the page.

Asteria frowned and reread her work, "How is it wrong?"
"Firstly you spelt the potion name wrong, and secondly the list of ingredients is for a different potion altogether."

Asteria sunk down in her seat, allowing her head to fall onto the table.

"But it's not all bad! Look, I can fix this just give me your quill." Sirius reaches forward, dipping the quill in ink before he started to scribble over her writing, correcting the mistakes.

"I really hate potions." She grumbled, allowing her hair to cover her face from view.
"You read a lot, don't you?"
"Nobody reads about potions, not even me."

Sirius chuckled, "Alright, I'll help you with your potions troubles and I'll make sure you pass your O.W.L. but you have to go on a date with me."