Late night sessions

A/N: This story is written mainly as a test for myself, to see if I can finish a fanfic. And for you to enjoy, of course! Which I hope you will. This first chapter may seem a bit dramatic, but it will lighten up during the stories' course. Probably not a Sirius romance, sorry. For this chapter I made him a flat character, but if I can I will try and make him more interesting and less.. flirty and obnoxious. Or maybe that's just the Sirius we all love and want. I'll see where it goes.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Which sounds very zen, but it's true.

Late night sessions

Her eyes were swollen. Not because of the crying, she had done that already.

Boo-hoo, Sophie. Get your act together!

Feelings of regret and anger still lingered. She wasn't the kind of person that showed these feelings openly, because it was of no one's concern. In fact, she didn't care too much about it, untill it affected her sleeping habbits. Now she would lay awake and a stream of random thoughts would go through her head without ever stopping.

She had wanted to go to madam Pomfrey, but she was scared that Pomfrey would give her a wild card straight to St. Mungos. Potions wasn't Sophie's strongest asset too, and she prefered living as an insomniac than to risk never waking up again because of some overdose.

If only there was a way to get some rest and stop the train of thoughts. Sleep would come eventually, usually she would have at least 3 hours of rest. The thing was, with the O.W.L.s coming up, lately she had been exhausted to the max. All she could think about was getting some rest, but somehow, sleep wouldn't find her.

The Gryffindor common room was usually quiet. She would pretend to learn into the wee hours of the night, and most people thought she was just being her normal self. Hard studying, disciplined Sophie. Fun, happy Sophie.

People had noticed that she wasn't being her bubbly little self lately, but she had blamed it on the stress she had to cope with. What utter silliness was keeping her awake? She didn't know, at least not to the full extent.

Sitting in the comfortable chair, she tuck a strand of her light brown hair behind her ears. She would try to read another page of her Herbology book, and then go back to bed. Reading would make her sleepy occasionally, as long as she could concentrate on reading properly. Right now she was being disturbed by some creaking noises. She got up from her sitting position and eyed the place the noise was coming from. Great. Now I'm hearing things that aren't even there! I should hand myself over while I still can. But the moment Sophie thought she was going crazy, there was actually something there. Sophie could make out a figure of a man. Or a boy. Wait a minute.. That can't be? Yes, it is him. I should've known.

"Sirius! Do you even know what time it is?", she said, slightly aggitated.

Sirius smirked. Sophie Niche. She must've been the last person he would expect to be up this late at night. He strutted down the stairs with one of his eyebrows cocked to the side. He was extremely tired, too, but forget this in the heat of the moment.

"Well, well. I was hoping you could tell me. What are you doing up at this ungodly hour? Waiting for innocent boys to come roaming down these stairs?"

Sophie relaxed. Sirius wasn't that much of a hard ass. Sure, he thought he was great and all, but in the end he was a good guy. Never failed at amusing the lot out of her.

"Actually, Black, I was hoping indeed you'd come, sweep me off my feet and do that thing that make all the other girls in the hallway swoon. Oh yeah, and it's half past two. Took you long enough." She winked at him.

"Sophie, you know I'd never refuse you love, but what's that with your eyes? They used to be all big and cute and now.. They're small and poofy."

"Always the charmer you are, Black. And to answer your question, I'm just a bit tired. Need to finish this chapter of herbology before tomorrow though."

Sophie was aware that Black would flirt with anything considered female, so it was taken lightly on both accounts. They were 'friends' as you could call them, but they never hung out that much. They both liked playing games and having a laugh, so Sirius could count on some back up when he and his Marauding friends had been doing some bad stuff.

"That's it Sophie Niche, you are not telling me that you're here to study Herbology. Put that book away and go back to bed. Or my bed, whichever you prefer."

Sophie ignored his last sentence, and pouted. Half mockingly, half serious. "I really have to get this done or Sprout will kill me."

Sirius sat to the opposite of Sophie, and made himself comfortable aswell. "Soph, teachers can't really kill you. They have a code here on Hogwarts and I'm sure Dumbledore added to this code 'You shall not kill students. Detention, however, is allowed. Especially when the name of the student in question is Sirius Black.".

Sophie's eyes twinkled. "I guess you're right. If it were allowed to kill, you wouldn't be sitting here now."

Sirius nodded dramatically. "Unfortunately there is some truth to that statement. It's hard sometimes, being the Gryffindor martyr. But someone has to be willing to sacrifice his position every now and then." Sirius touched his hair lightly and then stretched his arms above his head. "In fact, Sophie, the man you see today can very well be vanished tomorrow…"

"How come?"

"I can't sleep. I've been having these nightmares. Unlike you, these nightly sessions are breaking me down."

Sophie frowned. "I haven't seen you in the common room at this hour before.."

Sirius chuckled. "What do you mean, Soph, you're actually here every night? That can't be healthy."

Sophie let out a big sigh. "Not every night. I like it here better than upstairs. The most frustrating thing for a sleep deprived person is to hear and see other people around you sleeping. Here, I can gather my thoughts somewhat."

"You should stop thinking that much and just close your eyes. Think happy thoughts."

"Sure as hell hasn't helped you yet."

"Oh it has, it's just that when I am asleep, I have these terrible nightmares and wake up all… sweaty."

"What are these dreams about?"

"Most of the time I can't remember. I just feel.. hopeless, at times."

Sophie gave him a reassuring smile. "I know that feeling. Our parents would call it 'teenage angst'. It'll pass, eventually."

They shared a knowing look. His grey eyes pierced her green ones. For a moment, they understood each other. Sirius wasn't sure if it was teenage angst haunting him at the moment, but he was willing to label it for now. He was more worried about Sophie. Everyone knew about her nasty break up with Lionel McAdams. It wasn't so much of a break up, he actually dumped her before anything official was bound to happen. He was sure this had something to do with Sophie's state of mind.

Even though Lionel had dumped her, she was by his side a lot. More than you would expect of a girl who has been dumped recently.

Lionel was generally a good guy, he was in Ravenclaw and they shared a few classes. Sirius didn't know him that much, but he was on his good side. He decided to question her about it.

"So how are you and Lionel these days?"

This question was followed by an awkward silence and then a shrug from Sophie. "Nothing much going on, really."

Sirius studied her. Maybe she really didn't care about it. He was willing to let her off the hook for now.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to finish this chapter of herbology and then try and get some sleep."

"Alright", said Sirius, "when you're finished let me know. I'll go back to bed, too."

Sophie nodded and remained burried in her book.

How dare he bring up Lionel. she thought, while pretending to read. Everyone immediately assumes that when you're a bit down, it has to do with some guy. Screw Lionel, and Sirius too. The things Lionel has done is nothing in comparison with Sirius and the female population of Hogwards. Hypocrite.

She looked up from her book and saw that Sirius was nodding slowly and about to fall asleep. She felt a sudden urge to shout at him. How dare he even suggest that Lionel had anything to do with her insomnia? Or didn't he suggest anything of that sort? She wasn't sure.

"Sirius!", she shouted.

"Huh, what? What's wrong?", he sat up immediately.

"You! People are right about you. You think you can get away with everything just because you have a pretty face. You assume the world revolves around you and therefore you can break any girls' heart because of it! I bet you think they should be delighted to have shared such intimate moments with you. If Lionel broke my heart, he isn't half the ass you are, because you broke plenty more. MEN!"

Sophie stood up and gave a frustrated snort. Sirius was slightly taken aback.

"Sophie?", he asked.

She turned around an faced him angrily.

"Don't believe everything you hear, love."

"Ugh!"

Sophie grabbed her book herbology and threw it at him. It missed him by an inch. She sprinted upstairs but not nearly as fast enough to hear Sirius say "I'm used to having things thrown at me. I do think you shouldn't confuse me with Lionel though."

She slammed the door shut but could not manage to ban the anger out of her system.

(A/N: please be nice and review, it makes me happy )