Chasing The Stars | Marauders | Sirius Black

24 ~ Some Girl...

"How do I know you were pretending?"

A look of vulnerability and hurt settled on Sirius' face that Eloise had never witnessed before. She felt her breath hitch in her chest and the melancholy boy in front of her looked at his hands, flecks of snow dotting his black head of hair and the expression of sadness looking very foreign on his face. Normally, when something upset Sirius, he would combat it with either a joke or violence, but not this time. Eloise could tell that the thoughts bouncing around in Sirius' head about her and Remus were really upsetting him, and she couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart. She grabbed Sirius' hand and held it with both of her own, catching his attention,

"I promise" she whispered to him with a small smile on her face, "Rem is like my brother, it isn't like that" Sirius searched her face for even a hint of lying or a prank but all he found in her big hazel eyes was sincerity. Sirius smiled at Eloise and kissed the tip of her nose, causing the girl to giggle and check around so no one saw.

"Well I'm glad" he told her with a smirk, "because I rather like Meeting in The Middle"

~~~

"You promise that you won't tell a soul?" Lily asked Eloise for the tenth time, and the brunette groaned,

"Merlin Lily! I won't utter a single word, cross my heart and hope to die" she said making a crossing motion over her heart, "Now tell me!" she said excitedly, sitting up on her bed and clapping her hands together,

"Okay..." Lily said apprehensively, "IthoughtwhatPotterdidtodaywasnice" she said in a rush and Eloise frowned,

"What was that Lils?" she asked and Lily took a deep breath,

"I thought what Potter did today was...nice" she said, wincing as she watched Eloise's face morph into one of pure delight,

"AHHH! YOU SPOKE ABOUT MY BROTHER AND DIDN'T CALL HIM A TOERAG!" Eloise jumped up from her bed and ran to her friends, embracing her in a hug, "I'm so proud! This is progress Lily! Progress!" she pulled Lily's head into her chest and began stroking her red hair. Lily groaned and swatted at Eloise's hand,

"Enough Elle! I didn't say I liked him, I thought it was nice that he got Mary's hair potion, he's still an arrogant, obsessive, troublemaking, inconsiderate, self-obsess-"

"Okay Lily I get it! You don't like my brother...my twin brother...my family" Eloise sniffed dramatically, "You probably don't like any of the Potters, which includes me! So after all of these years Lily, you hated me?!" Eloise flopped onto her back on Lily's bed and clutched at her chest.

"You are so over dramatic" she mumbled, "I don't hate all Potters Ellie" she told her friend. Eloise grimaced at the nickname and sat up, dropping her act, "Ellie? Ew! But you don't hate all Potters? So you don't hate James!" Eloise exclaimed and Lily pinched the bridge of her nose,

"No I do hate James!" she said and Eloise pouted once more,

"So you hate all Potters? And me?!"

"NO! Ugh - I'm not going to win am I?"

"Nope!"

~~~

When the boys' dormitory door was unexpectedly flung open, Eloise found herself in a very compromising position. She was lying in Sirius' bed with him, when she heard James, Remus and Peter outside the door. She didn't have time to pull away from the kiss before the door opened and the three boys walked in so she used her metamorphmagus abilities, so instead of seeing Sirius with Eloise, they saw a brunette student with brown eyes and freckles dotting her cheeks...who was certainly not Eloise Potter.

Sirius smiled to himself at Eloise's quick thinking when they broke the kiss and the rest of the Marauders suspected nothing, although they were slightly confused at the presence of the unknown Gryffindor,

"Ummm, hello" Remus said uncertainly and Eloise smiled shyly, developing a character in her mind,
"Who are you?" James asked bluntly,

"I'm Jenna" Sirius had to hold back a laugh at Eloise's pathetic attempt at a Scottish accent, "Jenna Matthews"

"How come I haven't seen you around before Jenna?" Peter asked suspiciously and Eloise swallowed nervously,

"I'm shy" she said quietly, and James snorted,

"Yeah, you certainly seemed shy when you were eating Sirius' face off" he said with a grin, causing Jenna's cheeks to flush, only adding to her shy facade.

"Yes, well...I must be off" she said as she hurried out of the dorm, flashing a wink to Sirius as she hurried out of the door, not that anyone else could see.

As soon as the girl had disappeared, the boy turned their attention to Sirius who was lying on his bed, one leg bent and his arms behind his head as he smirked at his friends. James crossed his arms and looked angrily at his best mate,

"So...Jenna?" he asked and Sirius flicked his hair,

"Yes...Jenna" he mocked with a grin and Remus shook his head, lying on his bed and pulling out a book, not wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"I thought you fancied Belle" James said and Sirius shrugged, not giving James the response he wanted. Before the bespectacled boy could say anything else, Eloise walked in, back to her normal appearance and a smile on her face.

"Afternoon boys" she greeted and sat on next to Remus on his bed, "How are you so warm?" she asked as he put an arm around her, "It's February and you're in a t-shirt" he just winked at her and returned to his book. Eloise looked over to see James standing over Sirius, arms crossed and a frown on his face, "Why do you look like you're interrogating Padfoot?" she asked him and James rolled his eyes,

"Just asking him about something we found in the dorm earlier" he said through gritted teeth as he walked over to his bed and sat down.

"What was it?" Eloise asked but nobody said anything...that was until Peter did, he didn't get the memo about keeping Jenna from Eloise,

"Some girl who was snogging Pads" he said through a mouthful of ice mice. Eloise raised an eyebrow,

"Well, it must be some girl if she's caused this much of a fuss!"