Desolate [SIRIUS BLACK]

CHAPTER NINETEEN

word count: 1,448

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

↳ DWELLING IN SILENCE 

     IT WAS QUIET AS SEREN SAT besides the fire, watching Sirius Black from the corner of her eye. His shirt was unbuttoned slightly, his chest exposed, and his sleeves cuffed and out of his way. Sirius had built the fire in her room at the Three Broomsticks after rescuing her from Lucius Malfoy. The fire was crackling loudly, stifling the conversations before they reached the cracks in the wooden walls.

"I'm sorry I ruined your date," Seren whispered as they sat in silence. She knew that his date with Marlene was the last thing on Sirius' mind but she didn't know what else to say. Lily and James sat in the corner of the room, whispering to each other. It was one of the rarest moments where the two were not fighting.

Sirius scoffed, turning towards the injured girl beside him, an eyebrow raised in disbelief. "That's what you're sorry about? Why aren't you sorry about dating that tosser?" Sirius dropped down beside Seren on the couch. "I warned you, Seren, that he wasn't a good person."

"He didn't talk about the Dark Arts at all," Seren protested, knowing that it was falling on deaf ears, Sirius would not want to hear it. "I'm not even sure what just happened–"

"When did it all change?" Sirius asked her, not wanting to broach the subject yet.

"On our way here to Hogsmeade. It was weird that Lucius was suddenly a Prefect and that his friends wanted to follow us..." Seren's voice trailed off.

"They were following you because they knew you were an easy target." Sirius sighed, turning towards his friend's sister... his friend? "You were naive, Seren."

"I know," Seren whispered, she wasn't sure how she could report what had happened... Whatever confusion charm he used on them distorted the truth... How could they ever find out the truth?

"Hey Ren," Lilly interrupted their conversation and Seren smiled at her brave friend. "James and I are going to go back to the Gryffindor common room. Are you going to stay here?" Lilly gestured to the room that Seren had rented for the night. 

Seren struggled to stand up and Sirius was by her side in a split second as she began to fall over. Her head was foggy from the exertion of moving. 

The four realised that Seren was too weak to go anywhere. She had to stay in Hogsmeade tonight and get some rest. She could make the trek to Hogwarts tomororow.

"What will you say when you get back tomorrow?" Lily asked her best friend, worried. She wasn't sure what to do if James and her got caught getting back into the castle.

"Do you really think they'll notice I'm gone?" Seren said wryly. "If we did explain this... I don't know what we would say. All of us were jinxed by Lucius so our stories won't match up. And it's not really substantial evidence to say he's a prick."