She stared at her food, trying to not hear the conversation in the other room— her mother screaming at the top of her lungs to know they have a Gryffindor their house. It was just her and regulus at the dinner table, trying to eat their food as Sirius was yelling back at them.
"Do you like being a slytherin?" Regulus mumbled out, startling his sister a little bit. Nora looked away from her food, shrugging her shoulders. "It's weird, Sirius isn't there with me. He has a new group of friends. One of them is a Potter." Nora cringed, being slightly rubbed the wrong way.
Regulus was disgusted, eating his steak and taking a sip of his lemonade. Nora pretended she couldn't hear the argument begin to get more heated, looking at her house elf Kreacher; who was standing near regulus.
"I am just as important as Nora!" She heard Sirius yell, groaning out loud as she was mentioned in the argument, looking at regulus and rolling her eyes. "Just had to drag me in it." Nora muttered; both being startled as they saw the door swing open.
"Nora darling, can you please come here?" Orion said in his fake voice, luring his daughter to come over. Nora hesitated for a minute, putting her fork down and walking around, her walk being being slow and poised.
Nora walked in the room that held the Black Family Tree, her ancestors that came before her and her brothers were on the very walls of that room. Her arms were covered in goosebumps, staring at her brother whose eyes were redder than ever.
She looked up at her mother standing right beside her son; pointing at Nora. "Nora, what happens if you betray this family?" Walburga asked, staring at her eleven year old child.
Nora stared dumbly at her mother, biting her lip and glancing at her brother for a moment. "Sirius didn't betray the family though mother, he tried to argue with the hat." Nora spoke up, defending her brother.
Her parents were taken back from the way she spoke up, looking at each other and back at the twins. Nora horribly winked at Sirius for sticking up for him; smiling at his sister. "I'm ashamed of you Nora, you're going soft all because he's your brother? Would you do the same if he was a Hufflepuff."
"I'd do anything for my brothers, mother. Family is everything to me." Nora said without hesitating, clenching her jaw and knowing she was going to regret saying those words, always taking a curse for her brother, not caring about the consequences.
She woke up on a panic; a cold sweat starting to approach, sitting up in her bed as she was trying to calm down her breathing, almost hyperventilating. The dream wasn't a dream at all, but the winter break back to the house when Sirius was in Gryffindor for the first time.
Nora felt like she was back to be twelve again with that dream, remembering the spots that hurt after that curse, crying in Sirius' shoulder and telling him she'll do anything to make sure their mother and father don't punish him.
How stupid young Nora was.
Here she and Sirius were, not talking to each other for the last three weeks, awkward eye contacts and moments where she fantasizes about cutting all of Sirius' hair off in his sleep for revenge.
Realizing she was still in the common room, Nora rubbed her eyes and took off the blanket that was on her body, rising to her feet and putting on the slippers that were near the couch. Either Regulus or Evan had put them out as there were snakes on them.
Dragging her feet and going to the girls dorm stairs, Nora felt her body go cold for a minute, wondering what time it was as she made it to the top. "Hi, Nora." One of the the younger girls said to her, smiling. Nora gave a tired smile to the third year, wondering how she even knew her in the first, making it to her dorm.
"Oh, didn't think you would ever come back." Betty had turned around, the only one in the dorm at the moment. Nora shut the door, awkwardly walking and seeing the time to almost be breakfast, groaning as she headed towards her wardrobe to grab her uniform.
"Why aren't you at breakfast already?" Nora bitterly asked, taking the clothes she was wearing off to put on her leggings and skirt. "Why do you care?" Betty questioned; putting her tie on.
"I don't." Nora thickly said, swallowing the lump in her throat. Nora didn't know how to talk to her friend anymore after knowing she was a death eater, walking on eggshells around the girl and trying to not let it effect her whatsoever.
As much as it did.
"Then? Why are you asking?" Betty snapped a little bit, scoffing as she almost choked herself with the tie; struggling in the mirror. Nora rolled her eyes, putting on her flats and grabbing her book bag, her robes in her hands in case she was going to be cold.
Heading the loo to brush her teeth and fix her crazy hair, Nora lightly brushed out her curls, hoping to not ruin them as she ran a hand through her hair to make them more natural, grabbing her green hair tie to grab two strands to loosely tie them back, not wanting her hair be in her face.
Nora glimpsed at Betty before she left, shaking her head as Betty was struggling. As much as she wanted to ignore Betty, Nora couldn't let her friend struggle, pouring her biggest secret to be ignored.
Coming over to the girl and slapping her hands away, Betty relaxed under the touch of Nora, mumbling an ow with how hard she had slapped her. Redoing the green tie, Nora looked at Betty; noticing her eyes to be puffy and a little a swollen, clenching her jaw.
"Thanks." She mumbled, loud enough for Nota to hear. Pressing her lips into a fine line, Nora hummed, staring at Betty before she turned around, throwing her bag over her shoulder.
She didn't think to wait for the lads, wanting to get to breakfast by herself. The walks to the great hall were her favourite past time, noticing other students either go back to their proper dorms or early birds like her heading towards the same place.
The sun was slowly rising and the colour blue began to show, staring at the sun from far away, watching the sky brighten. She stopped and watched watching the sun hit the tree from below; some of the windows on the castle reflecting off to be on the greenhouses.
She loved the mornings a little too much sometimes. Trying to forget about the dream, Nora lingered at the window for a minute or two, before continuing her walk. Going up two flights of stairs were her least favourite part of breakfast, getting a full workout in before anything else.
Gasping a little when she felt a hand grab her arm, Nora rolled her eyes as she punched James on the shoulder; scoffing. "A good morning is nice too y'know." James whined, rubbing his arm. Nora gave petty eyes, smiling at the boy.
"Good morning James, are you stupid? Why would you grab me like that?" Nora seethed through her teeth, her back touching the cold walls, being in an abandoned classroom. Nora looked at James, mentally asking the same question as she wondered why they were in a classroom.
"Why are you up so early? Usually you're at the later breakfast, not the six o'clock breakfast." James asked, raising his eyebrows. Nora wondered how James knew that, shrugging her shoulders.
"Had a nightmare, decided to go to breakfast instead of sleeping again," Nora used her wand to create light, seeing James' face and getting a little red. "You sure you're okay? I mean, you haven't talked to your brother for a while." James decided to bring up, pressing his lips into a fine line.
Noras smile, turned into a frown, not liking the fact they were going to talk about her brother. "Why should I? He walked out on me, to go to you." Nora bitterly said, pressing her finger into his chest.
James bit her lip, pretending he doesn't know what Nora was talking about, trying to reason with her. "He misses you though, he talks about when you two were younger and how you always defended him no matter what—"
"And he never did the same for me James, he's never been there for me. When I broke my arm, he wasn't at st mungos, it was just me in that hospital bed— and I was defending him then too!" Nora choked up, remembering horrible memories where she was torture by her parents, not wanting to rehash them.
James looked at Nora with sad eyes; putting his hands on her arms, looking down at her. "I understand, I didn't mean to make you upset. I'm sorry." He apologized, rubbing her arms. Nora liked the effort, mumbling it's okay under her breath; taking a deep breath and calming down, suspicious of how he was able to do that.
"It's fine, I was getting myself worked up." Nora repeated herself, looking at James as he gave a concerned look. "Nobody has ever calmed you down like that.. have they?" He asked, learning another thing about Nora.
"No, why do you ask?" Nora asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Her arm stared to hurt a little bit with the fact she was still holding the wand, in a dark class, two people staring at each other. James shrugged it off, trying to switch the subject.
"Wait a minute, why are you up so early?" Nora scrunched her face up, realizing it was six in the morning and James was also up at the same time as her.
"Peter kept crying in his sleep; he's deathly afraid of spiders, Remus and Sirius fell back asleep on the couches so I left them be." Nora couldn't tell if that was a lie or not, nodding her head.
The two turned when she saw the sun hit the window, shining on the desks that were scattered around. Nora smiled as she realized the sun had finally risen, turning to open the door and find the nearest window.
James was quick to follow, their shoulders brushing each other. "Sun rises can be so beautiful." Nora told James, both staring at the bright yellow sun that was shining above.
"The best way to see the sun rise is at the Black lake, my mum told me that." James said. Nora has never been to the black lake, looking at James and wondering where it even was, almost as if James knew what she was going to say.
"Where is the—"
"Can I take you to the black lake?" James cut off Nora, a little too excited to ask, turning to look at her as Nora hesitated to answer, pressing her lips into a fine line. "I'll get you breakfast from the kitchens after." James comprised, shining a bright smile to make Nora cave a little bit.
"Alright fine." Nora sighed out, yelping as James grabbed her hand to drag her to the nearest staircase. "Was dragging me really necessary?" Nora mumbled, ripping her hand away from James to not let anyone see the fact they were hand holding, rolling her eyes when James frowned.
"If you keep rolling your eyes, it'll stay in the back of your head. Did you know that? Remus told Sirius when the two were bickering last night." James said with a smile, having a fun fact for Nora.
"Why were they arguing? I thought you four never bicker?" Nora mocked, pretending to be shocked. "They fight like an old couple, it's quite entertaining sometimes." James snickered, smiling at that thought.
Going down another flight of stairs and making their way through the main entrance that was already opened, seeing the body of water not too far from them. "Won't we get caught?" Nora whispered, hoping to not see hagrid or even Filch out this morning.
"No no, we'll be okay." James reassured the girl, waiting for her at the edge of the forest. Nora had only skipped class maybe twice in her six years of being at the school, not liking the fact she'll be missing classes this morning— not to mention her breakfast time.
A little worried, Nora brushed up on James, holding his arm as the two walked down a little hill, scared she was going to fall. "Don't say a word." Nora grumbled, knowing James was doing nothing but smiling brightly.
"I'm doing nothing, darling." James said through his grin, holding his hand for extra support. Trying to not roll her eyes, Nora soon let go of James, walking together and standing above the lake.
Seeing her reflection made Nora laugh a little, nudging James to look down, both staring at their reflections through the body of water. "Freaky." Nora mumbled out; watching the little waves as her body was moving with it.
James had sat down behind her, patting the grass for her to come; putting his robe down on the grass. Nora turned away from the lake, coming to sit down, letting the sun try to warm them up over the cold wind that was hitting them.
"Did you forget it was October? It's absolutely freezing." Nora shivered a little, her whole body having goosebumps for a minute. "I did not forget, plus I thought it'd be a little warm with the sun." James defended himself; keeping his distance with Nora as the two were sitting together and staring at the lake.
The two stayed quiet, enjoying each others presence and how quiet it truly was. Nora felt comfortable around James, which worried her too much, not wanting to make this an everyday thing where her and James were together.
"I'm just wondering, did you always treat Sirius different, because he was in Gryffindor?" James broke the silence, getting Nora out of her head, needing to answer James' question.
"Not always, it was probably second year where I knew I would be taking care of Reggie while Sirius would be with you lads. It didn't bother me, I also had friends, but what stung the most; was going into his room to only see a note saying where he was, and it was code for your house." Nora shrugged her shoulders, wondering why James was so hyper fixed about Sirius and Nora's relationship, the sibling bond that was broken and could never be repaired properly.
"I always tried to defend Sirius, regulus never did, but being a girl was already a punishment, taking advantage of that." Nora smiled a little bit, remembering how her mother was shocked the first time Nora defended Sirius, getting the crucio spell anyways.
"So that's why you're rude to him now?" James asked, a little intrigued. Nora shrugged her shoulders, guessing that's why without even realizing. "There will always be a black sheep in the Black Family, for me, it was the first twelve years of my life, for Sirius, the minute he sat down as a Gryffindor." Nora simply sighed out, knowing being a girl was a punishment that could never be un-done.
Before James could ask another word, Nora jumped up when she saw someone at the top of the entrance, looking down. "Hey! What are you two kids doing!" Filch yelled at the top of his lungs, waving them down.
Nora grabbed her robe, running towards the hill to lose Filch, waving for James to come over, furrowing her eyebrows when she saw him not be there anymore, yelping as someone grabbed her hand.
Noras' day seemed to be boring after her adventurous morning, sitting in transfiguration class— her last class, staring at her professor as she couldn't understand why James was asking so many questions this morning, nearly eight hours ago before she saw him again in potions.
Nora didn't understand how James was able to have an invisibility cloak on Hogwarts grounds, realizing this was probably how they were able to get to places faster, not being seen as easily.
Being dismissed for the day, Nora didn't hesitate to leave the class, wanting to spend the rest of the day with Atticus in the library, wanting to help him with his ancient runes exam. Walking past her brothers table, she tried to ignore the whispers of his friends telling him to talk to her— knowing whose voice that was.
"Uh Nora," Sirius croaked out, a little nervous. Nora turned around, sighing at looking at her brother. "You want to talk?" Nora asked for him, mentally cursing at James. Sirius nodded, following her out of the room as the two stood to the side and looked each other.
"Have you ever counted how many times you've defended me?" Asked Sirius, looking down at the ground. "Yeah, have you ever counted for me?" Nora shot back, crossing her arms. Sirius shook his head, receiving a scoff back.
Nora didn't like the silence between the two, become a little angry and wanting answers from her brother "Why did you leave Sirius? Why did you leave me in that house? I wake up to you gone? Glass on the ground, mother not even leaving her bed, your name burned off the tree. Why did you do that to me?" Sirius' eyes were becoming darker, far less than wanting to cry.
"I had to Nora, and it may have been a coward move, but we both know you wouldn't come with me, because you're sacrificing yourself for Reggie; just like what I was doing for you—"
"For me? I was taking the beatings for two people when I was defended you, when I broke my arm you weren't there, you never told me to stop defending you; you watched me fall and crumble every damn time.... and for what?" her voice became small, a whisper coming out of her mouth.
Sirius clenched his jaw, watching his sister be composed on the outside, knowing she was ready to burst into tears. "You were never there for me, always at the damn Potters, or locking yourself up in your room. So don't tell me you had to leave, I have every right to leave the house, but will I? No because I have a brother to look after, something you never did."
Her heart was being with the last sentence, watching him flinch a little, hitting a nerve. Nora was worried as to what Sirius was going to do next, focusing on his next move. It felt like the world stopped for a second, the two twins staring at each other, hitting each other where it hurts.
The corridors were quiet, their voices not bouncing off the walls. Sirius was shocked to hear that sentence, pressing his lips into a fine line. "We are not the same Nora, we may be twins; but we are not the same—"
"We may not be the exact same, but rest assured, we both had the same thoughts of leaving, yet who thought about their younger brother? Me; because I'm not selfish." Nora huffed out, her eyes blurry, not seeing what sirius was doing, walking forward and leaving the corridor.
Sirius stared at his sister, watching her leave the corridors. He was raging inside, clenching his jaw and wishing he didn't let Nora have the last say, cursing himself to not write down exactly what he wanted to say.
Knowing he should get back to the common room to check up on Remus, Sirius grinned when he saw Snape, waiting for him come to talk to sirius, his face screwed up more than usual.
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This chapter is literally CRUCIAL for the next chapter, almost split into two chapters so it wouldn't be long.
James and Nora complete me, and make me feel so single, on Valentine's Day too... I can't catch a break fr.
happy Valentine's Day to those with significant others!
-t;)