Nyctophobia - Sirius Black

Chapter 4

"No, you idiot. I'm his sister."

"Oh." He sighed in relief. Ruby rolled her eyes, and got out of the bed.

"I've got to get ready. See you at breakfast, Sev." He nodded, and she left, following the same path she had the night before to get back to her dorm. The other girls stared at her when she came in.

"Where were you? I woke up in the middle of the night and you weren't there, and you weren't there this morning either."

Ruby shrugged. "I was with Sev." She said, pulling her uniform out of her trunk. She felt a little uncomfortable changing in front of the girls, so she went into the bathroom. With a little work, she managed to button up her shirt, but her tie was a lost cause. She shrugged, and put it in her bag. The grey skirt reached mid-thigh on most girls, but Ruby was tall, which made the skirt shorter on her.

Ruby was used to wearing clothes that were too small, not having new clothes since Sev's third year. This uniform was no exception. When she pulled the skirt down a little so it would cover more of her long legs, her shirt came untucked, riding up a little to show her stomach. Shrugging, she brushed through her greasy hair with her fingers, and left the bathroom. She grabbed her denim shorts, and turned them the grey of the uniform's skirt with a spell. She changed into the shorts in the bathroom, and went down to breakfast.

Ruby decided she didn't want to sit at the Gryffindor table, and sat down next to Sev at the Slytherin table.

"Where's your tie?" Lucius asked, noticing the lack of one immediately.

"Couldn't figure out how to tie it, so I didn't. It's in my dorm."

"You're wearing shorts." Narcissa, Bellatrix's little sister who was in the same year as Ruby, gaped.

"Skirt was too short." Ruby said, before putting the last bite of a small piece of toast in her mouth.

Ruby swallowed her food and pulled out a beat up copy of Advanced Potion making. She pushed up her robe sleeves to her elbows, and began reading. Suddenly there was an explosion, the food at the Slytherin table exploding all over the table's occupants.

A shimmering protective shield appeared around the twins on instinct, leaving the two unscathed. Severus however, fell backwards off the bench. He groaned rubbing the back of his head as he sat up. Ruby was by his side instantly, focusing her magic on healing the lump that was forming on his head.

"Thanks, Ruby." He mumbled as he picked himself up from the floor.

Satisfied, Ruby turned to Narcissa, who was trying to pick food off of her uniform.

"Who did that?"

"Stupid Marauders, again." Ruby glared at the Gryffindor table, and their food suddenly exploded. The raucous laughter coming from the Gryffindors was cut off suddenly by the explosion covered them in food.

Narcissa looked between Ruby and the explosion, gaping. "Did you do that?" Ruby shrugged, and Severus nodded. "That's so cool." She squealed, before sobering. "We should get to class."

Ruby was nervous as she stood outside of Dumbledore's office. She was going to take her OWLS today, going only on her what she had learned from the books. She had been able to do a few spells with her wand, but didn't have enough time to try all of them.

First was Charms. The written portion was easy, but Ruby was more worried about the practical aspects of the lessons. For the practical part they started with simple charms like Lumos, Nox and Windgardium Leviosa, before moving on the more difficult spells. Although Ruby had been expecting it to be much harder than it actually was, it wasn't easy. She frequently found herself performing the spell with her mind, and only pretending to cast it with her wand. For the last spell she had to summon a book from across the room, and silence a singing parrot.