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Detention on Friday night wasn't too bad. All Angelica had to do was help Madam Pomfrey down at the Infirmary. Despite the matron's sharp temper, she wasn't cruel. She had Angelica restock the medication cabinet and let her go within an hour.
Angelica awoke on Saturday happier than she had in a long time. The brightness in her room told her that it was around 10 am, and she perched herself up slightly, smiling when she found the dorm empty.
Most days, it was a rush to use the bathroom. Since four girls had to use it before 8 am, it was a hurry in and out, and most of the time, the hot water was completely used up by the last person. Usually, Angelica, since she fancied sleeping till as late as she could.
She spent an hour beneath steaming hot water just for the kicks of it. She probably wouldn't be able to have a shower like that until Christmas break. She wasted the late morning lying around the nearly empty common room, reading a book about hexes which the school syllabus never countered for.
A chime on the clock over the fireplace had her looking up and seeing that it was 1 pm. Her mind spiralled its way to a certain grey-eyed boy, but she shook her head, refusing to allow thoughts of him in.
Her eyes wandered to the curtained exit of the room. It wouldn't hurt her to take a walk down to the grounds. It wasn't as though she'd be looking for him. She merely wanted a breath of fresh air.
So, against her better judgement, she made her way out of the common room and took a slow walk down to the grounds. The school was practically empty, save for the few first and second years scattered around. The Sun shone brightly despite it being Autumn.
Angelica caught sight of a shaded patch beneath what she guessed was a Banyan Tree. Since she couldn't resist the opportunity, she found herself laying over the grass with her eyes closed. She breathed in deeply, her sense flooding with the smell of freshly cut grass and dew.
Something about laying on the grass had the rest of the world forgotten. She was just a girl losing herself in whatever she wanted for a few moments. She liked that better than what she usually was.
She liked herself better when all she had was her thoughts.
Her reflections were disrupted by the smell of nature battling with a scent of smoke and sugar.
Without thinking, she scrunched up her nose, but then immediately regretted it, wishing she had opted to pretend to be dead.
Do not open, she warned herself, knowing all too well who was there.
The disturbance spoke. "I know you're awake. I saw you scrunch up."
She felt a body touch the side of hers and used all her self-control not to shake him away. If she ignored him long enough, he'd get bored and leave. After all, he had the patience of a 3-year-old.
Minutes of unmoving silence followed, and Angelica grew astonished that he had not yet left. Unable to resist the urge, her eyelids shot open, and she found Sirius already looking at her.
"How long were you staring?" she asked coolly.
"Technically, my whole life," he answered. He reached over her and plucked a stray flower from the grass and slid it into her hair, tucking the stem behind her ear. "A flower for a flower."
She sighed and informed him, "That's an Angel's Trumpet."
His smile only widened. "Scratch that. An Angel for an Angel."
Since it was clear that he paid no attention to their last Herbology lesson, she continued, "It contains high levels of poison that could potentially kill anything that comes into contact with it."
His smile faded at once and he yanked the flower out of her before tossing it across the yard. "Why didn't you tell me that when you saw me putting it into your hair?"
"Because if I'm meant to get poisoned today, then that is what will happen."
"Still not afraid of death, I see," he said, letting his fingers run through her untied hair. She hadn't pushed him away, so it was a sign that she wasn't in an angry mood. He fanned her hair out around her head until it resembled a lion's mane.
"Still have an obsession with touching my hair, I see," she remarked.
He chuckled and then stated, "These days you always have it tied up. If you keep at it, you'll be looking like McGonagall sooner than you'd like."
She dug her fingers into the grass and pulled at the blades, throwing them into his face. He laughed while shaking his head. "Don't move around so much. You'll mess up my mane."
When he saw her eyebrows scrunch in confusion he explained, "Your hair. You'll mess up your hair."
As the realisation hit her, she said, "I don't like lions."
He tucked her hair behind her ear before laying down beside her and saying, "But I love them."
She didn't say anything to that, but she turned to face him. Once he noticed her position, he turned too, leaving them laying the same way they had when they were younger.
"Feel familiar?" he asked, a hint of a smile playing at his lips.
She pulled his right arm out and moved it underneath her own head, making herself comfortable. "Feels very familiar," she confirmed, shutting her eyes again.
"We used to do this every day," he said softly.
"And now we're doing it after 4 years. Character development."
"Angel," he hummed.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked into his. "What?"
"Why did we grow up?" he asked.
She wished she knew. She wished she had the answer for herself. But she didn't. So, she just closed her eyes again and inhaled deeply. "I don't know, Sirius."
They lay there in silence. Not saying anything and not moving. Just reminiscing the feeling of lying together on the grass. As though they were still naïve 10-year-olds. As though their lives had not changed completely.
Minutes turned into hours, and by the time Angelica felt herself being shaken awake, the Sun was completely gone from the sky. She squinted her eyes slightly before jerking upright when it dawned on her that she fell asleep. With Sirius.
"Idiot," she mumbled, shaking grass out of her hair.
He raked his fingers through his hair and nodded sleepily. "Yes?"
"Surprisingly, I'm not talking about you this time," murmured Angelica, stretching and noticing only then that a pair of legs were standing at Sirius' side.
It was clear who it was, but she slowly moved her eyes up, groaning out loud when she saw a smirking James Potter looking down at them.
"I see you two had a lovely day together," James commented, pulling Sirius up by the arm.
Though Sirius had been laying on grass and sand for hours, his hair looked way neater than James' tumble of curls flopping over his forehead. "When Sirius told me that the two of you used to sleep together, I never thought that he meant like this."
Sirius held out his hand to Angelica and helped her up, both of them ignoring James and his side commentary.
"So, you guys argue by morning, sleep together by afternoon and go swimming in ponds by night? What happens by evening?"
Sirius straightened up her shirt for her and she reached up and shook the remaining grass out of his hair.
James scoffed. "And now you stand here acting like there is no one else on this planet."
Once Sirius returned the favour and dusted out her hair, Angelica walked away, making a conscious choice to not speak to James Potter.
She made her way to The Great Hall, figuring that it was dinner time by the noise which was being emitted. She also figured that the entire school would have had to cross the grounds to get back into the castle after Hogsmeade.
So, she was pretty sure everyone would have seen her and Sirius asleep together.
She contemplated skipping dinner, but the rumbling of her stomach was an indication not to. You are Angelica Lestrange, she reminded herself, standing up straighter before walking into The Great Hall and paying no heed to any of the staring eyes.
She walked straight to where her friends sat and saw all of them avoiding her eyes once she took her seat at the bench. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and uttered, "Thank you so much you guys for waking me up. Best friends of the year award should really go to you lot. I am truly touched."
Fenella's flicked her hair out of her eyes and commented, "Someone's cranky."
"Yeah, that usually happens when I realise that my parents are going to kill me as soon as they can," said Angelica.
She looked at Regulus, but he was giving her his judgemental look.
"What?" she snapped. "Aren't you a little too old to be throwing tantrums like this?"
Regulus shook his head at her and, unsurprisingly, woke up from the bench, making his way out of the hall. Rabastan shot Angelica an apologetic glance before following after his best friend.
Both Alastair and Fenella glanced reluctantly at Angelica, pressing their lips together, afraid to say what they wanted to.
She massaged her temples. "Just spit it out."
"Angelica..." began Alastair, rather calmly, "You know how we all feel about Sirius—"
"Especially Regulus," added Fenella. "It's rather insensitive of you to keep hanging around him. There's many others to pass time with if you're that bored."
Angelica shut her eyes and exhaled loudly. She could not believe anyone could be as petty as that. Since she didn't have the energy nor care to reply to them, she pushed back from the bench and left The Great Hall.