"Let me get this straight...all of you are busy?" I cross my arms over my chest, staring them all down suspiciously.
Sirius interjects with a raised finger, "On the contrary, love! I've got a free schedule."
"Fantastic!" I clap my hands together. "It's a rather nice day out. I suggest we start there." I point at the window currently emitting sunlight into the boy's dormitory. The sky is a clear blue, not a cloud in sight, and a thin sheet of snow blankets the grounds.
Sirius shuffles over to their shared bathroom and yells, "Oi, James! What are you so busy with that you can't join?" He's been strangely secretive about it all morning. The only person seemingly in the loop being Peter, oddly enough.
"Er – just off to the library....thought about doing some light reading." He facepalms at the sound of his own words.
Something I've noticed about James is that when it comes down to lying to his mates, he is a terrible liar.
"Light reading?" I snort.
Sirius struts back into the room, wiggling his eyebrows at James with a cheeky grin splitting his face. "So stalking Evans again then."
"Should've known." I say, causing Peter to chuckle from beside James.
"C'mon, Pete!" James tugs the boy by the back of his shirt upon hearing Lily's voice from the common room. "We'll see you two later!" They wave at us before dashing out the room. And just like that, Sirius and I are left alone. We waste no time in beginning to dress ourselves up for the cold weather.
Sirius shoots me a glare when I come skipping down the stairs wearing only a scarf and jumper in addition to my oversized t-shirt and jeans. He scolds me about dressing warmly and orders me back up to my dorm to layer up.
"Awe, but Siriuuss.." I drag out his name the way I would when begging my mum to buy me something.
"No."
I stomp back upstairs, each footstep loud enough for him to clearly hear. Fine, he wants layers. Then I'll give him layers.
I put on every single piece of clothing that I own. I recognize that this is very childish behaviour, but hey, I am a child.
I hop down the steps once more and smile, innocence dripping from my features. "You're unbelievable!" Sirius says frustratedly, though I can hear the slight hint of amusement in his voice.
"What? I only did as you asked." I bat my eyelashes, holding my hands behind my back.
"Cut the innocent act! I know what you're doing!" Sirius smirks, leaning against the back of a couch.
"Alright alright!" I put my hands up in mock surrender, laughing. "It was only a joke, grandpa!" I almost miss the sound of Sirius emitting his own laugh behind me as I rush up to change for the third and final time.
"Let's go now! Time waits for no man!" I sing.
I playfully smack Sirius' butt on impulse to get him to leave quicker.
What? It was there.
"Holland! I am scandalized!" Sirius jokes, placing a hand over his heart. I laugh carelessly and slap him again, this time across his back.
When we get outside, the cool winter breeze greets me kindly. The air is cold and fresh and I take the opportunity to breathe it in deeply.
I twirl around, dancing in circles with my myself for a bit. Dizziness creeps up on me, leaving me to fall on my back with a lighthearted chuckle.
Sirius, who's been watching this whole scene play out, laughs along. He puts up his hood and joins me in laying on the snow-covered ground.
"What do you want to do now?" I question, feeling a rush of exhilaration. "Do you want to run around? Or build a snowman? Or –" I am interrupted by a very entertained Sirius.
"My, you've got quite some energy. And you ask a lot of questions." He says the last part with a curious look on his face. "And I'm not only referring to now, you ask everyone loads of questions all the time."
"Well how else am I supposed to get to know anyone? How else am I supposed to get anyone to trust me and open up to me?" I ask, though my questions aren't ones I expect an answer to.
I flutter my eyes shut, allowing myself to enjoy the simple act of breathing in and out.
I feel a burning feeling on my face, one that I normally get to signal someone is watching me.
I flip one eye open to find silvery-looking orbs on me. "What?" I ask him, getting lost under a storm of swirling grey.
"You say you want people to trust you?" He asks me, intrigued.
I nod, thinking for a moment before speaking again. "I want the people around me to feel comfortable enough to confide in me about whatever. I wanna be a place where you can get something off your chest without fear of being judged."
"That's a lot of pressure on you, isn't it?" Sirius questions further. "Surely you have your own issues to deal with. Why pile on everyone else's?"
I ignore his questions and continue, "And I'd like to know what their past is like. If it's bad, then I'd at least like the chance to make their present better. And if it's good...I suppose I'd just to do what I can to keep it that way."
A comfortable silence looms over us until Sirius breaks it. "What's your past like?" He asks me, quietly this time, and I find traces of sadness in the way he utters the four words.
He never moves his eyes away from my own. Our eyes stay locked for what feels like an eternity.
I hesitate to tell him the truth about how I really feel in my family. Looking into his eyes, I find something there. Something that he's holding back but desperately wants to let out.
He's got nice eyes. Unique in the best way possible. I think eyes are the most beautiful feature on a person. You can find out so much about someone just by looking into their eyes.
Sirius is so willing to listen to what I have to say. I've never had that – someone willing to actually listen to me.
"I've always been the oddball of my family. I don't know if you know...but every single one of my relatives has been a Ravenclaw, going back generations and generations."
"Yeah, my mum mentioned it." Noticing my confusion, Sirius justifies bitterly, "She's very well-informed in the businesses of pureblood families."
I carefully nod my head. "You can imagine the disappointment I am, then." I laugh completely humourlessly. "I'm dreading going home this summer because I don't know what's going to happen." I feel my eyes welling up with tears. "I-I'm scared. They wouldn't hurt me physically, I don't think. I'm more scared of what'll be said. My mum took it upon herself to start teaching me before I started at Hogwarts because she hoped it would spark up the Ravenclaw in me." I gesture at that, air quotes playing across my fingers. "She's upset with me right now. She refuses to even respond to my letters."
"I'm sorry, Chiara." Sirius says earnestly, moving a lock of hair out of my face. "Is that why you've been staying up so late studying? To try to impress her?"
"You knew about that?" My big eyes widen, "I tried to hide it from everyone..." I trail off.
"See I have these nightmares, and I, uh, I occasionally go down to the common room when I can't sleep. And I sometimes find you asleep with your head in some books when I do." He smiles.
"Oh." I feel my face heating up, a blush quickly rising on my cheeks.
I shrug and plaster on my signature happy face. "Talk to me about your past! I need to know which way to go with you. Start with your family, what're they like?"
Sirius finally breaks our intense eye contact and tenses up.
I deflate, wondering why my closest friends keep closing themselves off from me. "Unless you're not comfortable enough yet...that's okay too." I try to smile reassuringly.
It takes him a while to decide whether or not to share his life with me. I remain silent, understanding the difficulty of revealing one's home-life. "We aren't so different. You and me." He finally mutters, almost inaudibly.
His eyes return to mine and he continues, "I come from a long line of Slytherins. My mum is a pure-blood supremacist. Almost all of my family is, really. And I hate her and everything she stands for. I always find a way to voice my disagreement and she hates me right back for it. Me being sorted into Gryffindor was the final straw, I suppose." I reach out to squeeze his hand comfortingly as he slowly gets more and more worked up over the subject.
His face softens when he focuses back on me. A grin slips onto my face as I push myself off the ground.
"What are you doing?"
"We, Sirius Black, are making your present better." I smile brightly at my friend. "Starting today." I hold out my hand for him to take.
He returns my happy expression and I help him off the ground. "What do you say to exploring the Forbidden Forest?" A smirk replaces my excited smile. "Unless, that is, you're scared! Is wittle Sirius too afraid?" I mock, my attempt at lightening the mood.
Sirius throws his head back and a bark-like laugh escapes his lips. "Please, Holland!" He scoffs, "Sirius Black is never scared."
*
"We are lost." Sirius states as we delve deeper and deeper into the sea of identical trees.
"We are not lost, little grasshopper." I laugh, uttering every word in a rather convincing way. "I'm the navigator here, I know exactly which way to go. Trust." Sirius eyes me sceptically but says nothing more.
After a moment or two more of walking, I frown at an unfamiliar tree. "I don't recognize this one."
"And how could you, they all look the damn same! Admit it, you have no idea where we are or how to get back." Sirius crosses his arms over his chest and sassily purses his lips.
"I may have embellished just a little on my navigational skills." I hold my index finger and thumb close together gesturing to my skill, or lack thereof.
Sirius exhales loudly, before erupting into uncontrollable giggles. I soon join in, managing to announce between laughs, "I guess we'll just have to keep walking until we find the way out!"
We run forward, make a left, turn right, then repeat again...and still nothing but trees for miles.
"We're going to die here!" I yell, panic slowly settling in around me.
"This is not the way I expected my life to end!" Sirius stresses, pulling at his hair. "I always thought I'd go out swinging!"
I pretend to weep into Sirius' shoulder. "Curse this place! Each and every one of you disgust me!" I point an accusing finger at a group of innocent trees who blatantly mock me by concealing my place of destination.
We really are the most dramatic couple of students, aren't we?
I frantically whip my head around in every direction, searching for any sign of life outside of these woods. I squint my eyes when a small yellow light comes into view. It appears to be floating towards us, getting bigger and bigger as it does. Then, I make out a large dark figure along with it. "It's Hagrid!" I gasp, clutching Sirius' shirt and shaking him wildly. "Hagrid is here to save us from our terrible fate!"
"Merlin's beard! I won't be dying tonight!" Sirius exclaims, just as excitedly.
"What're you two doin' out 'ere?" A gruff voice asks. As Hagrid gets closer, his concerned expression becomes clearer, as does the rest of him.
"We got...lost?" I send him an innocent smile and urge Sirius to do the same, hoping that the half-giant would take pity on a couple of seemingly naive, and very lost first years.
"Ya know the Forbidden Forest is restricted to all students." Hagrid proclaims authoritatively.
Fully expecting to receive at least a detention for breaking the rules, I bow my head.
Hagrid glances around to make sure no one else is watching, as one would do before they were to perform an illegal act. "Well, come on! You must be freezing!" He says, surprising both me and Sirius. He kindly ushers us towards his little hut to warm up.
*
"Well, I'd love to hear more abou' yehr hustling ways, dear girl." He looks pointedly yet amusedly at me. "But you and Sirius really best be heading back inside for dinner." He ushers us out of his home. "And don' let me catch ya out there again!"
"No promises!" Sirius muses.
"Thanks again, Hagrid!" I wave at him with a smile.
On our way back up to the castle, I sigh, "Well that was close! I was about ready to write up my will on some tree bark." Sirius just laughs in response.
We walk into the Great Hall side-by-side, still in our winter clothes, not paying any attention to the strange looks that we are receiving.
See, somewhere during our time spent in the forest, Sirius thought it would be a good idea to tie our scarves around one another to stay warmer. And that's how we ended up still tied together here.
Sirius and I plop ourselves down at the table with the rest of the boys. I find myself seated beside Remus who mumbles a quick greeting whilst scooping mashed potatoes onto his plate.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" James wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
"We have two cold students." I announce, still shivering. Sirius unwraps both scarves from his neck, and drapes them over me upon noticing my shivering.
Peter hands us each a mug of hot cocoa. "This'll help!" He says cheerily.
"Thanks, Pete!" I boop his freckled nose and he blushes a deep red. I take a swig of my warm drink and turn to Sirius, "I had a lot of fun with you today."
"So did I." He smiles genuinely. We get lost in another staring contest, of sorts. That is, until someone interrupts.
"Aww, did you?" James coos.
"Sod off, James!" I roll my eyes, though I can't help the small smile that settles on my face.