I know you're dying trying to figure me out,
My name's on the tip of your tongue, keep running your mouth.
You want the recipe but can't handle my sound,
My sound, my sound.
-Dua Lipa
Hogwarts, March 1973. Marauder's Era
Sirius Black was clingy.
After their conversation in the kitchens, Lynn was expecting things between the second year girls and boys to go back to the way they had been before. However, Sirius seemed to be under the impression that they were now friends.
He would show up to her secret window seat on the sixth floor and sit with her while she sketched. To her surprise he knew quite a bit of astronomy and helped her finish her essay on Jupiter's moons. But not without mentioning several facts on the star he was named after. Apparently he was the brightest star in the sky.
Lynn thought he was the biggest pain in her ass.
At first she tried to give him the cold shoulder, but whether he simply didn't get the message or didn't care, he continued to have one sided conversations with her until she finally started to respond.
"Do you like quidditch?" Sirius questioned her on their way to dinner.
"Yeah. I'm not very good at playing but I'm a die hard Galway Ghouls supporter." She pointed at a small badge pinned to her robes, a little cartoon ghoul wearing a maroon cloak with 'GG!' in bold black letters.
"The Ghouls? I like Puddlemere United. But at least you're not a Chudley Cannons fan," he snickered.
"Oi, don't hate on the Cannons fans... they already hate themselves," she chuckled.
"They have to win the league at least once this century, right?" Sirius asked, sticking his hands into his pockets as they both waited for the second floor staircase to move towards them. "I mean, they've got what, 27 years?"
"I doubt it. They haven't had a good team in 70 years. I wouldn't put money on it."
Lily, Alice and Marlene were all sat at the start of the Gryffindor table, near the door. Lily and Alice both looked up from their food as the two entered, Marlene opting to concentrate on the roast chicken on her plate.
"I'll chat to you later. You'll still help me with my charms homework, right?"
"Umm, yeah, I suppose," Lynn shrugged. Sirius waved her goodbye sitting down with the rest of the second year boys further down the benches.
"Why were you with Sirius Black?" Lily frowned.
Lynn shrugged her shoulders, dumping a slice of lasagna onto her plate and grabbing a handful of chips. "Did you see the paper this morning? That moldywart prick attacked a muggle school."
"Yeah, I read about it," Lily nibbled at her lip. "You don't think they'd try to attack Hogwarts, do you?"
"I wouldn't worry about it, Lily," Alice squeezed the girl's shoulder. "There's nowhere safer than Hogwarts."
"I heard Dumbledore had some kind of secret army going on," Marlene said quietly, eyes wide in wonder. "You think we could join after school?"
"I reckon he'd let us in if we pass our NEWTS. There's not much difference between fighting terrorists and passing exams."
...
"I tried apologising to Lily yesterday, but she wasn't having any of it," Sirius told her, charms textbook in his lap as he tried mimicking the wand movements in the diagrams.
Lynn let out a quiet hum, not bothering to look up from her sketchbook. Sirius, clearly not appreciating the lack of attention she was giving him, began to poke at her shins with his wand.
"You're supposed to be helping me," Sirius pouted.
"You and I both know you don't need any help with the tickling charm," she scoffed, swatting him away. "I've seen you use it on Slytherins at least twice this month."
Sirius's cheeks darkened slightly. "Oh."
"Yeah. Oh," she mocked him. "If you want to spend time with me you can just say so, Sirius."
"Yeah, but you'll say no," he whined.
"I've already accepted your apology. You don't need to keep following me around, you know," she raised a brow at him.
"That's not why- well, Lily hasn't forgiven me," he stressed. "Do you think it's hopeless?"
"Aye."
"Oh come on, she has to forgive me eventually, right?" he batted his eyelids at her. She rolled her eyes.
"Well, you did land her in the hospital wing. I think it's best if you just leave her be. She wasn't that fond of you to begin with," Lynn advised him.
"Right," he nodded to himself. "What about you?"
"Hmm?"
He gave her a sweet smile. "Are you fond of me yet?"
She laughed at his theatrics. "More like I'm currently tolerating your presence."
Sirius pouted again, shutting the Charms textbook he had discarded in his lap and tucking it under his arm. "Come on. Let's go prank Filch."
"What?"
...
"Bloody hell Black could you be any clumsier?"
"Well I'm sorry McLaughlin but I wasn't prepared for being suddenly tugged behind a tapestry I never knew existed."
"Not my fault you couldn't see where we all went. You were wandering around like a headless chicken."
"Shush Filch is coming!" James whispered harshly, scolding the bickering pair.
Lynn was an idiot, she had come to realise. Only an idiot would willingly go along with a plan Sirius Black had made. Had she not learned from his incessant harassment of her that his plans never worked?
Sirius had assured her Filch would not catch them sticking his furniture to the roof of his office. But if that were true the five of them wouldn't be squeezed into a very bad hiding spot.
"We've got them now my sweet," Filch's nasally voice spoke. A responding meow could be heard.
The caretaker and his pet both stopped right in front of their hiding spot. The Gryffindor's all held their breath.
"Meow."
The tapestry flung sideways, and Filch's creepy grin appeared in front of them.
"Oh shit."
...
"What do you mean you got detention?" Lily angrily huffed at her.
"It really wasn't my fault!" Lynn stressed. 'Sirius-"
"Sirius?! Sirius Black?!" Lily's voice was getting higher and higher by the second. Marlene and Alice both hid behind their Witch Weekly magazines on the opposite side of the room.
"Ha ha... yeah," Lynn cringed.
"You've been running around with that imbecile for the last two weeks! And now you've got detention from Filch!"
"It's only detention, Lily," she rolled her eyes. "It's not like I'm going to Azkaban.'
"That's not the point!" She screeched. Marlene and Alice both jolted at the sudden noise, still cowering behind Witch Weekly. "You haven't paid any mind to me all week! I only ever see you in classes! You don't show up for meals, you make up excuses when I ask you to come to the library! All for Sirius Black!"
Okay. Maybe Lynn was exaggerating when she said Sirius was clingy. He was clingy, but she couldn't help but enjoy the boy's company. Especially since it was a Severus Snape free zone.
"Okay, fine! I've been spending time with friends that aren't you!" Lynn bit back at her. "But don't act like you never leave me out of things! You and Snape always do shit without me! Every class we share with the Slytherins you sit beside him! You always disappear with him and don't bother telling me!"
"That's completely different!" Lily huffed, turning her head away.
"Oh do tell me how it's different, Lily Evans," she smiled sardonically.
"Severus Snape never poured a whole jar of itching powder down your back!"
"That was an accident! At least Sirius Black isn't a blood purist!"
"Sev is NOT a blood purist!" Lily stressed. "You just don't understand him!"
"He says the m word every week! Sirius said so!"
Lynn had heard him say it once or twice, but Sirius had told her it was much more than she had realised.
"Oh, it must be true if Sirius Black says so!" Lily laughed. "Oh please! He hates Severus! He bullies him! I can't believe you're fraternising with the enemy! You're practically apart of their fanclub now!"
"Don't be ridiculous Lily. Honestly," she scoffed at her.
"Well if you think I'm that ridiculous perhaps we shouldn't be friends!" Lily huffed.
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
Both girls turned and marched to their respective beds, roughly pulling their curtains closed. Marlene and Alice both stared at each other in shock.
"What the bloody hell did we just witness?" Marlene whispered.
"I feel like we're watching our mum and dad fight," Alice whispered back.
...
When Lynn woke up the next morning Lily had already left the dormitory. Marlene and Alice were half dressed.
"Hey girlie," Marlene grinned sadly, pulling on her jumper. "You okay?"
"Yeah fantastic," she replied dryly, shoving her covers aside.
"We were wondering..." Marlene began, exchanging looks with Alice." How are we going to divide our attention between you two? I mean, until you both sort out your fight."
Lynn scrunched up her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"You know how when a friend group fights, they have to split up so none of the girls are left out?" Alice said, as if it was common knowledge. "Marlene and I are wondering, do one of us go with you and one go with Lily? Or is it more of a lunch time for Lily and dinner time you get to keep us sort of thing?"
"Oh." Lynn looked between the both of them with bewilderment. "I guess you can just stay with Lily. It wouldn't be good for her soul if the only company she has is Snape," she said, wrinkling her nose.
"True, true," Marlene nodded. "We'll see you later then. Make sure you leave enough time for breakfast."
They both waved her goodbye as they left the room.
Lynn never really sat with the Gryffindor boys during meal times. Which was why she felt exceptionally awkward walking up to them that morning. Sirius looked up from his plate as she approached, confusion painted on his face.
"Where's Remus?" She asked them, taking a seat beside Sirius and ignoring Lily who was a few spaces down from them.
"He's visiting his mum, she's ill," Peter replied quickly, looking between James and Sirius like they would say something about the change in company.
Lynn frowned at him. "Well I hope she gets better."
No one replied, so she took out her sketchbook from her back and a charcoal pencil.
"You're always drawing in that... Can I see?" Sirius reached out to grab the book from her hands, which caused her to yelp and hug it to her chest.
Sirius's eyes widened in surprise before glinting with curiosity. "What are you drawing? You're not drawing me are you? Though I wouldn't blame you, I'm a muse."
She glared at him menacingly before opening up her sketchbook again to a new page. "Hardly you eejit. I just draw whatever. They're not very good anyway," she muttered, cheeks turning pink.
Sirius scoffed. "Yeah right. I bet they're fantastic. You're bloody good at everything."
She rolled her eyes, not taking her eyes off the page as she dragged her pencil across the page quickly, almost as if on auto pilot. "I'm not good at everything. I can't whistle."
Sirius, James and Peter all snorted at her statement.
"Here show us and we'll tell you if they're good," James said, holding his hand out.
She looked at him distrustfully, before slowly putting down her pencil and handing him the sketchpad. James flicked to the beginning of the book as the Marauders each leaned in to see.
"I only started this book yesterday so there's only a few there," Lynn told them when they didn't say anything, playing with her hair nervously.
Peter gaped at her in wonder. "These are really good!"
"Wonderful."
"Bloody brilliant."
She blushed slightly whilst snatching her book back, shoving it into her bag. "They aren't that good.We should probably get to class."
They entered Charms right on time, and before she could even think about the fact her normal seat was beside Lily, Sirius grabbed her wrist and dragged her to Remus's empty seat.
"What if I wanted to sit with Lily?" Lynn told him, not protesting as she sat down.
"If you did, you would have sat with her at breakfast like normal."
Lynn's eyebrows rose at his perceptiveness, but said nothing to disagree.
"Thank you."
"Anytime."
...
I highly doubt I'll be finishing this little story of mine so I'm just going to republish everything I took from you. Enjoy x.