I stared at myself in the mirror. My dark hair hung to my midriff. It was straight today - sometimes it'd be straight, other times it'd be wavy. Mostly straight though - the last time it was wavy was on the train, two weeks ago, and it been months before that day for it to be wavy. My hair is weird like that. My bangs covered my hazel eyes so that only half of them showed. Like always. My skin was a dark chocolate color. It wasn't milk chocolate - I always liked that tone better, but nooo, my skin has to be incredibly dark - on the verge of black. My lips pouted into a frown at this thought. My lips were completely pink, something rare for people with my color of skin, but I guess I'm just that lucky. I don't even need lip gloss.
"You're going to burn a hole in that mirror if you keep staring at it like that," drawled a voice from the dormitory. I glare at Sarah Nelson and she grinned back, her shoulder length brown hair falling into her big blue eyes.
Sarah Nelson is one of the few other Hufflepuff's that I'm actually friends with. Jenny's in Ravenclaw and Sirius is in Gryffindor, and I'm even good friends with a few decent Slytherins (much to the disapproval of Sirius and Jenny). I'm nowhere near as close to anyone in Hufflepuff as I am people in the other houses.
So, we never get to have super duper sleepovers. Oh well.
"So how are things between you and Sirius?" Sarah asked in a suggestive voice.
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.
"Oh come on!" the brunette answered in an exasperated voice, "Are you guys going out or what?"
My eyebrows rose at her bluntness.
"No!"
"Hmph," huffed Sarah, "Well anyone with eyes can see you two like each other."
I laughed aloud. It had been two weeks since Sirius came out to me and I was still trying to figure out how I hadn't known he was gay in the first place. Mostly he acted normal, but there were the little things - the way he took care of his hair, he hung his wrists, he blushed whenever Jake O'Malley was in the vicinity (which was extra funny because Sirius Black never blushed), and some of the things he said sometimes...honestly...He told one Ravenclaw girl he liked her manicure once. Said it looked absolutely fabulous.
She was a little freaked out.
"Sirius and I are just friends," I said simply, throwing my hair into a ponytail, "Brother and sister like. Trust me..."
I was itching to tell her the whole truth.
"Whatever," she said shrugging, "But seriously, you need a boyfriend anyways."
I left the bathroom and threw myself on my bed. As much as I hated to admit it - she was right. I sighed and looked at her hopelessly.
"I know!" she exclaimed suddenly, "There's this guy I know, his name is Mitchell."
"And?"
"And I could set you guys up on a date"-
"I don't even know him!"
"Ever heard of a blind date? You'll go with him next Hogsmeade trip."
"But"-
"No buts."
I glared but complied reluctantly. There was silence for a couple minutes.
"You know who'd make a cute couple?"
"Who?"
"Allison and Vincent..."
--
"OH MY GOD!"
Sirius and I jumped and turned around to see who was shrieking. In the next second I was attacked by a tall blonde in a vicious hug.
"Oh my god, oh my god!" she squealed, "I haven't seen you since school started!"
Holly Myers, a blonde Hufflepuff sixth year, looked at me through heavily made up eyes. She looked the same as always - horrible. Her blonde hair was dirty and stringy with way too much glitter and her bangs just looked wrong. Her makeup was just the worst. Her mascara was running down her cheeks, and her eyes and basically everything around her eyes were a dark blue. Her lipstick was a deep red and ran across her cheek slightly. Her blush was spread all over her face, a deep, deep, red.
I think she gets ready in the dark.
"How are you?" she was babbling, "this summer I went to France with my dad and I met a boy there" yeah, right, "he thought I was gorgeous, but so does everyone. I mean look at me!" I looked at her. Sirius snorted.
Holly mistook his snort for something else entirely and turned and batted her lashes at him.
"I'll bet you think I'm gorgeous too," she said in what was supposed to be a deep, sexy, voice but really came out sounding like she had a throat ache. Sirius looked mortified. Again, she misinterpreted him.
"No need to look so embarrassed," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. I was having trouble containing my laughter, "Would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade next weekend?"
His eyes widened and he started stuttering. Holly giggled.
"Can't believe your luck?"
His eyes widened more.
"No! I mean - yes - I mean, I don't want to go to Hogsmeade with you."
Holly immediately dropped her hand and glared.
"Why?" she asked, her 'sexy' voice gone.
"Because - well - I'm sorry, I - I'm-"
Gay. Say it. Say it, Sirius. Let it all out, man. I'm gay. I'm gay. Say it! I'm gay. I'm gay and proud. I'M GAY AND PROUD DAMMIT! SAY IT!
-"Hanging out with my mates."
I felt my heart sinking and I glared at him. He glared back.
"Fine."
Holly gave us both one last scathing look (why I got one, I don't know) and stomped away. Sirius and I stared at each other for a moment before bursting out in laughter at the same moment. I put on my 'sexy' voice.
"Oh, Sirius," I said, batting my eyelids as he grinned, "wouldn't you like to go to Hogsmeade with gorgeous, gorgeous, me?"
"No, but going with Jake O'Malley would be alright."
We both burst out in peals of laughter again.
"What?"
Our laughter stopped immediately as we slowly turned to see who we knew owned that voice. James Potter stood there with a perfectly bewildered expression on his face.
Uh oh.
"Oh," said Sirius nervously. He looked like he was going to throw up any second now...I do feel so bad for the stupid git..."Hi. James."
"Yeah..." said James uncertainly, "So...you're gay?"
Sirius took a step backwards at James' bluntness.
"Well, in a matter of speaking..."
James rolled his eyes, strode up to Sirius, and grabbed his arm. Sirius actually looked rather scared.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me you bloody idiot? Seriously, what did you think I would do? Like I didn't already have my suspicions..."
"WHAT?"
Sirius looked horrified. I giggled.
"Come on, Sirius," said James, smiling slightly, "You've had one girlfriend in your entire life, you're always staring at Jake O'Malley"-
"Am not."
"You are! Honestly, I think you should ask him out."
"THANK YOU! Don't you think he should come out too?"
"You should, Sirius, really"-
"Wait, what?"
"Oh! Oh, I have a question. From a gay guy's point of view am I hot?"
"Well, James, that's kind of uncomfortable"-
"Why would you want a gay guy's point of view anyways?"
"I dunno. Hey Sirius, do you like me?"
"How can you ask that so casually? And, no, I don't go for great prats like you"-
"Oh no, that's right, you go for great prats like"-
"Jake O'Malley."
He and I laughed at Sirius' blush. James slung an arm around Sirius' shoulder and steered him towards nowhere in particular. I smiled as Sirius looked down uncomfortably. James noticed, rolled his eyes, and slipped his arm away. I watched.
"What the hell is your problem anyways?"
"Nothing, it's just that, this is awkward and stuff"-
"How?"
"Oh, I dunno, maybe you just found out I'm a poof"-
"Oh, stop making such a big deal about it. I'm your best friend and I've lived in the dorm and slept in the bed opposite yours for five years, I basically knew it."
Sirius glared.
"No, you didn't," he mumbled.
James snorted and swung his arm around Sirius' shoulders again. Sirius sighed.
"See that?" he asked, "See, doesn't that make you the least bit uncomfortable? I mean"-
"No, it doesn't," James cut across him sternly, "You're still Sirius, honestly I don't give a fuck who you like, it's your business. So don't give me that shit, because you're the only one who feels uncomfortable here, and unless you like me, which I highly doubt, and if you do, that would suck, but - whatever. Unless, you like me"- Here, Sirius shakes his head no frantically, "I don't see what the problem is with me doing the same stuff I do every day."
Sirius sighed, but not in frustration this time. He looked at James with a small smile on his face, and same as he did with me, mumbles a 'thanks'. For the third time, James slips his arms around Sirius' shoulders and I can see from the look on Sirius' face that he is tremendously relieved that James is doing that.
"Sirius," James said, shaking his head and chuckling lightly, "Honestly, you are such an idiot sometimes..."
--
A/N: I was so excited with the outcome of my first chapter! This story became like an instant hit, I've never gotten so many alerts for just one chapter, it's crazy, but I'm not complaining. The only thing that really irked me was that people would alert it but not review. Really, it's only decent to review if you're going to alert something. I know most writers hate that, but for me it's really a pet peeve and I hate it more that most. So if you alerted me already and didn't review please do so now or I will be terribly upset, and if you're going to alert it, PLEASE REVIEW. Even if your not going to alert it, review. Even flames would be welcome. )
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