'𝕃𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕗𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞'
Sirius stood at the end of the table, his hands clasped together and his head slightly bent; Remus had said he would look the most pathetic that way and thus Gwen might just spare him.
In front of him, at an ancient mahogany table sat Gwen, her posture slouched as she wrote quickly across her parchment, her eyes never straying to him, beside her sat Nova who seemed most disinterested by his presence, a snitch floating above her head which she caught lazily every now and then. Finally, across the table was Juniper, her nose buried in yet another book except this time Sirius recognised the title of 'The tales of Beedle the bard', it was a book he himself had read growing up.
Sirius peered back between the library aisles; somewhere between them, the other Marauders had hidden themselves with the invisibility cloak, waiting to see how the scene would play out. Sirius cleared his throat; Nova gave him a short glance, her brow raised,
"What?"
Sirius peeked at his palm where Peter had written the words 'I'm sorry for being a prat'
'I'm not saying that' He thought to himself, clearing his throat again,
"I'm here to apologise to Fay...and Sabra for my actions in potions a few days ago."
Sabra's writing stopped but she didn't raise her head yet. Juniper kept her eyes glued to her book but Sirius noticed her eyes were no longer following the writing,
"Well ge' to it then."
Nova muttered as Madam Pince glared at them over her spectacles. Sirius shuffled his feet before mumbling lowly,
"I am sorry for not considering the dangers of my prank and acting rashly, I hope we can all move past this and try to get along in the future."
Sirius recited what he assumed Remus or Peter would say in his shoes, hoping that it would work in his favour. Sabra looked up at him eventually, her face carefully controlled as her fingers gripped the quill tightly enough for evident indentations to be left in her hand,
"Bullshit,"
She slammed the quill down on her page creating a small pool of ink at the nib which she chose to ignore for the moment,
"You're only 'sorry' you got caught. You're only 'sorry' because your friends made you be sorry. Your whole apology was drafted by them because of course it would look bad if the Head Boy and a Prefect let their friend have special privileges because of their rank; of course they had to make it seem like you gave a genuine apology so then at least if we rejected it, we became the bad guys never mind you who nearly blinded us!"
Gwen snapped earning a bitter shush from the librarian watching them. Sirius stood aghast, unsure what to say next or how to react. Juniper put her book down gently, tilting her head to meet his eyes; Sirius found they held no judgement or anger the way Sabra's did, instead they held disappointment which frankly, to him, felt worse.
Suddenly, something small hit the back of his head and at his feet a ball of paper fell, he heard shuffling which he assumed the girls must have heard too but if they had heard, they didn't comment on it,
"Look,"
Sirius ultimately said kicking the ball of paper away,
"I am genuinely sorry for not considering the risks of blowing up your potion but-"
Gwen scoffed crossing her arms in disbelief,
"But! I am not sorry for retaliating; Fay humiliated me, the Fat Lady told a bunch of people that she dropped me while levitating me so I thought it would be equal payback-"
"Sirius Black."
Sirius cut himself off slightly startled as Juniper addressed him herself for the first time, he found that her voice brought back the memories of the tale she had told him up the Astronomy Tower almost a week prior to now,
"Equal payback? Very well. But then you should only have targeted me, why would you hurt Gwen too?"
"Because he's a petty arsehole whose never suffered the consequences of his actions."
Gwen replied for him, her glare becoming more heated by the second. Sirius found he felt ashamed of himself, not because of Gwen's flashing eyes or Nova's tutting at him but simply because he found Juniper was being too kind to him even though he had admitted to wanting to hurt her.
"I...I'm sorry."
Juniper nodded slowly and Sirius found she had all his attention,
"Forgive me for not trusting your apology Black. I don't trust people who wear their arses like a hat."
Sirius found himself staring down at his feet while he kicked them against the floor unsure of what to say next,
"I forgive you."
Sirius almost fell backwards, he turned his stare on Juniper trying to convey his perplexation towards her words. Juniper just shrugged with one shoulder, picking up her school bag to put away her book,
"Why on Earth would you do that?"
Gwen growled standing up to pack her things away as well,
"Because everyone makes mistakes. That's how we grow."
Sirius almost flinched as Gwen grit her teeth, sneering at him,
"If you let people like him grow, the world will be full of weeds."
Despite his stoic front, Sirius felt a pinch in his heart; he would have preferred Gwen hexing him.
"Gwen!"
Juniper rushed in outrage and Sirius couldn't understand her desire to defend him,
"Don't let your rage blind you, regret follows carelessly spewn words."
Gwen flushed a light pink seemingly remembering her composure for she fixed her tie and moved some stray hair from her eyes and then inclined her head sideways towards Sirius in a silent apology.
"Sirius,"
Juniper called while slinging her back over her shoulder,
"Belatedly, allow me to apologise for causing you injury. I didn't intend to, I just got distracted and forgot to control my magic. I hope this will be the end of our bad blood, yes?"
Sirius noted that she spoke in stiff manner as if out of a 1800's novel, he presumed it was more to do with the fact that she was uncomfortable being around many people because he recalled her behaviour the night they met and he was certain she hadn't been anywhere near as formal when it had been just him. Juniper stretched her hand out towards him, offering a truce; a small smile poked his lips as she shuffled in mild discomfort at Gwen's disbelieving stare. He accepted her hand, shaking it softly and taking the time to study the three rings decorating her thin fingers; one was a plain silver ring with a small mouse on it, the second was much older and held a faded pearl and a chipped diamond at the centre, it reminded him of an old wedding ring and the third and final ring was another silver band ring with a mini star in the centre, it matched two other rings that were worn by Nova and Gwen, except theirs had a moon and sun respectively.
"A truce then?"
He asked, his voice instinctively becoming more silvery. Juniper smiled tentatively, pulling her hand away with a curt nod; she turned to her friends then and they began to leave. That was until Nova stepped on something and a sparkly cloak fell to the floor revealing the remaining three Marauders with Remus supporting both Peter and James that clung to his side, their legs wrapped around each one of his, Remus did not seem happy about this.
James quickly jumped off Remus, messing up his hair in a supposedly casual manner,
"Hi Noves, alright?"
Nova stared at him blankly before muttering,
"What the feck."
The Quidditch Captain blushed a violent red,
"We came to be morally supportive!"
He abruptly blurted; Sirius and Remus both resisted the temptation to run a hand down their faces and slap James.
"Obviously."
Gwen scoffed with roll of her eyes,
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
James protested, fixing his glasses as they began to slip down his face. Gwen placed a hand on her hip, a smirk touching her lips,
"It means you're predictable. One for all, all for one and all that."
"You can't blame us for assuming you would murder him if he came alone."
Remus reasoned playfully, his own smirk growing as Gwen glowered at him from under the red locks falling into her eyes. Juniper jumped in to stop any further tensions rising,
"Dinner will be starting soon, we should head to the Great Hall before it gets too crowded."
She rushed, looping her arm through Gwen's and tugging her away, Nova following behind them,
"Let me hex them just once!"
They heard Gwen plead as Juniper managed to drag her from the library.
Sirius felt a smile grow on his face,
"You alright, mate?"
Peter asked, wondering if they had missed Gwen hexing their friend somehow. Sirius ran a hand through his hair, rocking on the balls of his feet,
"I'm brilliant, Pete, absolutely spiffing, in fact."
'Crazy bastard' was all Peter thought.