"I swear I could nap and wake up two days from now." Studying wasn't apart of Atticus' lifestyle. No matter what the exam was on, he'd be winging it everytime because he's simply lost faith in himself at a young age. Thanks a lot Mr. and Mrs.Bulstrode.
Sitting in the library and trying to sleep, Nora rolled her eyes as she kicked his leg to wake up, making him practice for his herbology class. "Then you'll be right on time for the test because it's on Tuesday, not Monday."
Groaning and laying his head back on the table, Nora was done writing down questions for Atticus to have, almost like a mini test that could help him as Nora would mark it. "Here, you got ten minutes, should take you about 7 though."
Handing him the parchment and seeing her finger bleed from the parchment, almost giving her a paper cut that looked too deep for her own good. "I'll be back." Nora said, quickly standing up and wishing she had tissues. The fact she wasn't phased from bleeding was normal for her, of course she wasn't phased from blood or gore like this, thanks to Bellatrix and Rodulphus having fun using her as a toy when they were in 7th year, getting to use magic outside of Hogwarts.
Walking to the hospital wing and seeing the doors closed, Nora opened them as she saw a boy sleeping on one of the beds. "Miss.Black?" Madam Pomfrey asked, having a little bit of concern. "Got cut, I can clean it myself but I do need a bandaid." Nora said, showing her whole left index finger pretty bloody. "Go sit on that bed as I get the supplies." Pomfrey ordered, the one by the boy.
Obeying and sitting on the edge of the bed, Nora's legs were barely touching the ground, she swung them back and forth, wearing her favourite pair of black jeans and her grey top, perfect outfit for the cold weather today. "Pomfrey I swear I'm fine, classes resume soon, I think I'm fine." Said the boy under the sheets who sounded very familiar.
"Mr.Lupin, you are indeed not fine! Now take the covers off your face before you faint." Pomfrey scoffed, gently taking the sheets off and exposing his face. "Lupin?" Nora asked, getting him to turn. "Hello Nora, alls well?" Lupin teased, having a raspy voice.
His face looked different, fresh wounds and scars all over him. Nora observed as Pomfrey came to Nora and cleaned it. "You need to stop studying less, you high achievers are going to hurt yourself sooner or later."
Laughing and smiling at Madam Pomfrey, she had forgotten her glasses in her office, telling Nora she'll be back. "Why are you here?" Nora politely asked, putting her feet on the bed, watching Lupin struggle a little to sit up. "We were fooling around the whomping Willow and I got hit, Sirius and James too did too but they walked out a while ago." He said, avoiding eye contact.
That's not why.
"Oh I've been there." Nora scoffed, remembering that memory. "Pray tell?" Lupin asked, being intrigued.
"Was trying to learn how to do a cartwheel in first year, and nobody told me about how the tree can hit back, my arse hurt for weeks." She smiled at the memory. "Sounds harsh." Lupin said, smiling a little.
Pomfrey came back to cleaning the wound of Nora smiling brightly, turning to see three boys come back into the hospital wing with food. "Boys I've told you many times when to visit, why don't you listen?" Pomfrey sighed out, wanting a break. Sirius was holding a pack of chips when he saw his twin sister sitting and judging the three lads for walking like their life depended on it.
"Whats wrong with you?" He asked, coming over to see her get a cut for the millionth time. "I've been asking myself that for 16 years." Nora mumbled under her breath.
"Hello Nora, Poppy." Potter smiled at the two. "Pothead." Nora greet back, rolling her eyes when he wasn't looking. "Arse." She said, getting a look from pomfrey.
Letting the girl go and getting off the bed, Lupin waved a weak goodbye to Nora as she disappeared from the door, seeing the bandaid on her head and having a disgusted look "I feel like a muggle." She said, wondering if muggles get paper cuts regularly with bandaids.
Looking back up and making her way back to the library and hoping Atticus didn't make a run for it, Nora watched Avery and Snape talk very discreetly, having Snape against the wall as Avery was pointing his finger into his chest.
"You're nothing except our little bitch when you're not with that mudblood." He said proudly, looking the boy up and down. Nora knew that was the only way to make it to the library, grabbing her wand mumbling a hex that made him go all limped.
"And you look pathetic threatening someone who's two years younger than you." Nora said, shaking her head in disappointment. "You're a brat Nora." Avery said shaking, trying to get out.
"Yes well, you're a dick head." Nora smiled. "Bite me." Avery seethed. "This isn't the first time this has happened either. Also two steps ahead of you."
Severus stood there completely shocked, looking at Nora flabbergasted. "Why'd you do that? I was handling it." He asked. "Wow no thank you Sev? That's cold. Me, selfish Nora Black just helped someone and I didn't get a thank you?" She asked dramatically, still having Avery on the floor.
Walking over his body and putting her wand back into her hair, Avery laid there as Nora humbly walked away from Severus, making her way to the library and comprehending that Avery might have a death wish for her.
"He's still an arse." She said to herself, quickly fast walking to the library to see Atticus sleeping while she left. "If anyone asks I was always here." Nora said, fixing her high ponytail with her wand in it, wishing this library had a mirror.
"Hmm?" Atticus groaned, still sleeping. "Okay." He responded anyways. Seeing how he had finished the mini quiz, Nora gave a bright star for her best mate, and even a smiling face for good measure. "I knew you'd pass." Nora said; pushing Atticus' arm to wake him up. "Willy! Let me sleep please." He said, obviously thinking Nora was his house elf.
"Master Atticus must wake up and study, Willy wants master Atticus to graduate so Misses Nora doesn't have to worry about Master Atticus because I heard she's getting a headache." Nora said in a high pitched voice, hearing Atticus groan again. "Miss Nora can suck a dick. I'm sleeping."
Slapping the back of his head and startling the boy,! Atticus rubbed his eyes and seeing an annoyed Nora. "I need my sleep." Atticus said irritably. "You'll survive." She said, packing up their stuff to go down to the common room before dinner.
"Do you know how Barty is doing?" Nora asked, redirecting Atticus so they go down a different hallway to avoid Avery. "Evan said he talked to him this morning, still in pretty bad shape. But is it really our responsibility to help the lad?" Atticus asked miserably, rubbing his eyes.
"Not really, but i feel bad, his mother is probably a maniac for going against her own husband to make her son a death eater." Said Nora.
Shrugging his shoulders and wanting to change the subject, Nora wanted to tell Atticus about how she's agreed to do something with potter, thinking it wasn't the right time where she and Atticus said the password. "Can't believe those stairs still make me out of breath." Nora wheezed, walking and immediately going to the couch where Evan and Regulus were playing a wizards chess game.
"Hey Nora." Said Betty, approaching her. "Hi... Betty how are you?" Nora wheezed one more time before drinking water and watching Regulus try to not through a tantrum. "I'm good; mind if I sit?" She asked. Evan and Nora moved as Atticus went to Regulus' side. "Well hello Flint." Evan smirked dangerously. Nora saw the way his eyes beamed with pure lust, looking her up and down.
"Get used to it." Nora whispered, patting Betty's leg. "Soo," Betty smiled turning to face Nora.
"How'd the party go?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows. "No cake however it was fun, there were even Hufflepuffs." Nora said. Betty raised an eyebrow as Nora awkwardly nodded.
"Can I sit with you guys at dinner today? The other girls are going to skip out but I've been dying for some food." Nora asked the four of them, mostly Nora.
Talk about pressure.
"Uh sure yeah." Atticus said, looking at Nora for approval. "Shite, the one day we sit with Barty." Evan swore, getting checkmate.
"One, that's not checkmate, and two, she's out of your league you weasel." Regulus mumbled the last part. "So it'll be us three." Betty smiled, nodding. "Brilliant." Nora smiled back, all five of them now sitting awkwardly.
"How is Bartemius?I don't see the lad anymore." Nora asked her brother; knowing he would possibly see him at least once today. "Last time I saw him was the owlery when Cissy wrote to us, the theme for Bella's wedding is something along the lines of winter." He said, getting up from sitting down near their table.
"Well that's grand, putting me in a poofy dress? Hell no." Nora scoffed, only imagining her mother so happy to be putting her through that kind of misery.
"Oh yeah Rodulphus is getting married, I give three years." Betty piped up; getting the group confused. "Three years for what?" Regulus asked, sitting beside Atticus. "Until they fall out of love, only took my parents two after they had my eldest brother."
Falling out of love?
Nora knew many of the sacred 28' parents weren't very happy with the outcome of their lives, however falling out of love wasn't her concern when looking at her mother and father. It was because they were never in love in the very first place, being married to your third cousin was only to keep the name Black and the heirs they would have. Well, heirs and heiresses. Regulus had the same look Nora was having, love wasn't even in their vocabulary; and it was a clear reflection as to how they've treated all three of their children. One is a girl who's felt neglected all her life, one is in Gryffindor and rebelling, and the third is trying to please the parents even when he messes up.
Clearing her throat and looking the time to be near 7, the five of them stood up and made their way down as many kids in the common room did so. "Oh shite." Nora mumbled, seeing Avery walk in and looking around. "You're a little minx Black aren't you?" Avery asked, shaking his head. "Oh please, go pick on someone your own—"
Having a hand to her mouth, Atticus apologized to the very giant Slytherin, dragging Nora along until they were out of there.
"Salazar help me." Regulus said; looking up. Licking Atticus' hand and having him yelp; Nora smiled brightly, watching Atticus having to wipe his hand on her shoulder. "It's your saliva anyways." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh hell." Evan said as they began to walk up the stairs. "These stairs make me feel like I'm old and cant move anymore." He said, already panting. "Don't you play quidditch?" Betty asked, having fantastic stamina.
"Don't you have someone to snog?" Evan spat, rolling his eyes and dramatically falling to his knees when they made it. "There's crouch, bye Nora." Regulus said, walking over to his friend.
"See you kid." She whispered, too late to say anything. "And then there were three." Betty said, nudging Nora's shoulder.
"It's been a while since the three of us have been to dinner together, how are things Betty?" Atticus asked, walking with her as Nora had to third wheel.
"Ah Nora there you are." Turning to see Sirius come by with Potter, she tiredly blinked as she saw them. "What?" She gritted, moving her eyes to Betty who still gossips about Sirius.
"You go I'll say it." Potter suggested, having Sirius nod and go back to their table. "There's another party, you down?" Potter asks; shoving his hands into his pockets. "And for what? For fun?" Nora mocked, crossing her arms.
"All parties are for fun." Potter pointed a finger and flicked it in the air. "Well I'm partied out, plus one party a year is enough for me. My feet still hurt sometimes." Nora complained shaking her head. "Oh come on, this could be a good opportunity for you to help me, you said you would."
And I regret it.
"But everyone knows you still like Evans, unless you prove to me and your three friends that you're officially over her, then I will definitely help you. Otherwise as your wing woman this won't work until you do what I say." Nora commanded, having a bit of authority in her tone, only because she knew this position she was in was going to be a long one. Potter stood there long and hard as he nodded.
"And once you're over her, write down a few things about yourself so I can help you, because you suck at flirting." Nora shook her head, scoffing a little. "Oh yeah?" Potter said, trying to be a flirt. Nora's ears flushed red as she tried to play it off. "Oh yeah." She said back, dismissing herself and walking away.
"Why are your ears right?" Atticus asked her as she sat down beside him, seeing Nora in front of her. "They are?" She asked, touching them.
"Cold?" Betty asked, shrugging her own shoulders. "Nevermind that, eat your food so I can go and take a nap—"
"I barely started eating and you're already thinking about sleeping? What are you 100?" Nora snapped, arguing with this boy for the millionth time this week. "What the hell I can't nap anymore?" Atticus gritted, rolling his eyes.
"Oh yeah, nap all you want, fail your tests, sleep until I've graduated and you're still a bum in fifth year while you're 17. Would that make you happy?" Nora asked, completely being rhetorical question.
"If I'm sleeping then yeah—"
"Oh you're impossible." Nora huffed, eating her mashed potatoes and shaking her head. "Okay fine, I won't nap. I'm sorry." Atticus apologized.
"Sorry for calling you an arse." Nora mumbled, both getting on with dinner, forgetting Betty was in front of them, blinking. "You two had an argument and already made up.... how?" She gasped, grabbing more fries.
"We've gotten used to it." Atticus said, asking for the pepper. Seeing the girl go back to her fries, Nora saw Potter at the Gryffindor table talking to Pettigrew who just really wanted to eat, completely disregarding his friends words as he was enjoying him. To his right was Sirius, shaking his head and grabbing they quill they were using, clearly do a pro, con list.
"So why did Avery yell at you?" Betty asked Nora, clearly staring at the Gryffindor table. "Nora?" Atticus bumped her shoulder, looking away and redirecting her vision to Betty.
"Hexed him, he was annoying Snape and it made me nauseous— seeing Snape I mean, however I could've hexed both but every needed to be humbled." She said nonchalantly.
"You're an idiot." Atticus scoffed drinking his pumpkin juice. "He's fine, if anything he'd be sending daggers at me if I were anything but a Black. So I'm in the clear." Grinning mischievously, the three continued to eat their dinner and hurry along.
The pros and cons to breaking up with Lily Evans
(Mentally)
"Good add moony." James said, letting him take the quill to write it. "Otherwise it'll be weird." After James declared he was finally over Lily, Sirius didn't believe him and needed to write all the pros and cons to being over the girl he's loved since the train.
"This whole thing is weird." Peter said, sitting beside Remus. "Don't tell them we think that though." Remus whispered, sitting up and getting to read the reasons.
Pros
- get to expand my horizons
-a little bit of focusing on my studies than the back of her beautiful hair
- more time for pranks
-no more daydreaming
-no more humiliation
-not worrying about her every minute of my day.
Cons
- what if she enjoyed my compliments?
-if I don't think about her, she'll end up with someone else.
Both sides had very good points, which worried Remus even more when seeing them. "Prongs maybe you should think this over, you just declared at dinner that you were over Lily and for what?" Sirius asked the boy, confused as to how this happened. "Wait, you didn't even think on this? It was an impulsive decision?" Peter asked, eating some of Remus' plate.
Because I am over her.
"Well no offence but why is this a group decision? If I'm over her, then I am." James defended himself, being overwhelmed with everything.
"Just this morning you thought of her when you wore that shirt because she said it's a nice colour.... She wasn't even talking to you!" Sirius hissed, knowing Pomfrey wasn't too far from them.
For some reason James felt like nobody was hearing his reasons, the girl never seemed to care about his presence, even when he was just there in the common room to do homework. She never cared when James comes into the common room all sweaty and muddy most days. What did he have to lose with giving up on pleasing this girl? Nothing.
"If it makes you happy I'll think about it, but that won't change my feelings as to why I should keep liking Lily." He finally said, getting the group to stop talking for a whole three seconds. "Wow, you're actually going to do it? You're going to break up with Lily?"
"Mentally!" Remus added him, getting a sly thumbs up from Sirius. James sighed, probably rethinking his whole life at this point, everything that comes down to now.
"I am."
It felt like the world stopped, the words everyone least expected from the James Potter was giving up, but he gave up for a girl who looks at him with hope and a hint of being miserable, was he only doing this to please her? Was it even 7 anyways?
The walk back to the common room was miserable, nobody talked as the awkward tension between Sirius and James had gotten worse. What had he been mad about? It wasn't like Sirius and James were fighting over the same girl, nor telling him that he'll break up with her. As Peter and Sirius sat in the common room before heading up, James decided to sleep on this decision, maybe he'll dream about his conscience telling him this was a bad idea, or maybe he'll dream about the devil on his left shoulder will tell him he's doing the right thing.
Whatever his dream will be, he grabbed the map from Remus' bedside table and watched the footprints of Nora Black with Bulstrode and Flint: having them walk towards the Slytherin common room. His eyelids soon began to become heavy, overtaking him and putting his glasses on top of the map, watching her footprints disappear in an instant.
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This chapter made me go through so many emotions, especially with my playlist playing in the background. Sorry if it seems a little rushed, I hope it doesn't look like that but sometimes when the chapter is short it looks rushed but I swear I didn't mean for it to be lol
I really hope you like this chapter, please vote and comment so I know you enjoyed it. Don't be a silent reader either!! And if you're here from tiktok, welcome and enjoy this rollercoaster.
- t:)