The following weeks were blissfully uneventful; that is, if you excluded events such as Lily's regular rejections and a few minor pranks on Slytherins (Severus looked absolutely charming with pink curly hair) and other students that the Marauders considered to be standing in their way.
Sirius had become increasingly on edge, always being watchful whether a certain Ravenclaw girl was wandering around nearby. His friends, despite being aware of his weird behavior, kept their comments to themselves, knowing that a confrontation would only result in a huge outburst.
Phia, however, remained completely unaware of his scrutinizing glances and undivided attention, always lost in a book, or her thoughts, depending on the time of the day.
He even went as far as to observe her during the few classes they shared and now began to wonder how he could not have noticed her before. Her diligence throughout lessons matched Lily's, but she had nothing of Lily's frantic ambition, her demeanor was calm and neutral to her surroundings and her voice matched the knowledgeable tone of a teacher. Her personality as a student seemed to differ vastly from the image he had drawn of her with their first encounter.
The girl was becoming a riddle and Sirius was all too eager to solve it. Yet, he held reservations when it came to approaching her. There was no telling how she would react and her cocky remark about his antics around girls had stung his pride (he would never admit this openly – what an insult it would be to give in to a stubborn little witch like her!).
The evening after their first encounter Phia's comment had been discussed among the Gryffindors briefly, mainly due to Peter asking what a 'Barbie' is. His question drew resounding laughter from the Muggle-born girls, and some boys, at the Gryffindor table and Lily, whipping away some tears from laughing, answered: 'Barbies are dolls, Pete, and most Muggle girls have them. They usually look like adult women and have long blonde hair.'
'And what does it mean if you call a girl a Barbie?', Peter inquired curiously.
'It's an insult, really. It basically means she's fake and has no brains.', Lily giggled and shook her head. Sirius' grip on the cutlery tightened slightely.
'Why are you asking this, Peter?'
'Oh, I-I –'
'Sirius ran into Phia on our way to the Great Hall.', Remus simply replied. James shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling a little jealous that his best friend could talk to his Lily in such a casual manner, while he was merely regarded with scornful words.
Lily laughed, yet again. 'Well, that explains everything.'
'She ran into me, Remus!', Sirius grunted, still furious at 'the shrimp', as he had taken on to calling her in front of the Marauders.
Nobody commented on him and there was no need to do so, he was boiling already as it was.
However, as the weeks went by and his furiousness had subsided, his curiousness took on seemingly immeasurable dimensions.
And when the first Hogsmeade trip in the new term approached (it was March), Sirius had made up his mind: he was going to follow Phia wherever she went. He would figure out what she was all about, come what may.
On said day, Sirius got up first in the morning, eager to be prepared to the max for his quest. He showered and put on his most inconspicuous clothes, hoping he wouldn't stand out too much – not that he ever actually tried to stand out. He just naturally attracted a lot of people with his looks and charisma.
He had additionally borrowed James' invisibility cloak and, mind you, it had been quite a deed to get his best friend to give out his most priced treasure. But Sirius being, well, Sirius managed to persuade the younger boy. James was going to spend the time in Hogsmeade with the two remaining Marauders all while providing Sirius the cover he needed: if people were going to ask for the reasons for the handsome Blacks' absence, they would just tell them he had snuck off with some blonde Hufflepuff girl they had never seen before. The plot was fairly simple, but credible enough, seeing that he was notorious for being a ladykiller.
The Marauders went to the Great Hall for breakfast in their usual formation, but the second they entered the hall he started looking around for a certain Ravenclaw, and to his relief, she sat in her seat, as always, not minding anybody but her own business.
While eating, doubts suddenly began to spring forth inside Sirius: was she even the type to visit Hogsmeade? With her antisocial behavior she probably had no one to accompany her.
Fortunately for him, she followed a small group of Ravenclaws a year below her, occasionally engaging small talk with them, but it seemed only in order to uphold a polite appearance.
Sirius slipped out of the hall shortly after and, making sure nobody was around, he put on the invisibility cloak he had hidden underneath his shirt. He ran into the Entrance Hall and slipped out of the portal. He could see Phia in the distance, still walking with the other Ravenclaws, but he made sure to keep a safe distance while he followed in the throng of students to the village.
To his disappointment, he didn't get to observe her questionable social skills any further, because, as soon as they reached Hogsmeade, Phia separated from her party, heading for the 'Tomes and Scolls', the local bookstore.
Sirius stifled a snort – how absolutely typical for a student like her to go there - but went after her anyways. He slipped in with a group of customers and quickly hid in the corners. He had never been inside this particular store, he generally limited himself to Honeydukes, Zonko's and the Three Broomsticks respectively, and of course, the Shrieking Shack.
Tomes and Scrolls was smaller than Flourish and Blotts, the only other book store Sirius had ever visited, significantly darker and full of nooks and crannies. It took him a good couple of minutes to find the small Ravenclaw hidden between the laden shelves. Sirius had to stifle yet another snort – Phia already had her nose buried inside a book, blissfully unaware of any other customers. He slowly approached her, curious about the title. It was a book on advanced Potion brewing. He scrunched his nose – how could anybody voluntarily read something like that?
But then he remembered Peter's words – that she was a candidate for the Aurors, and assumed that it was only comprehensible for her to be diving into advanced magic in her position.
Suddenly Phia snapped the book shut and Sirius gasped slightly, startled. She thankfully missed the sound and shot past him, the book tugged underneath her arm. He regained his composure as fast as he could and resumed to following her. Again, it took a while to find her, especially now that the customers, adults and students alike, were streaming inside the store in large numbers. He discovered a small set of stairs that lead to the upper story, and, looking around carefully, he went upstairs.
Sirius inwardly congratulated himself for this idea, because there she was, sitting cross-legged on the floor, half a dozen of books scattered around her. Taking in the interior, he noted how much comfortable and private this section seemed. Only two other customers were upstairs, and both sat in the arm chairs at the other end of the room. It wasn't as organized as downstairs, but a lot more homely. He found himself a corner opposite of Phia and decided to study her for a bit.
She was wearing an oversized sweater, presumably a males, that looked it was completely worn out, the grey color fading. On the bottom she was clad in a pair of navy leggings and lace-up combat boots. Her cloak was cast aside in a careless manner, piled on the floor next to her. Her messy hair stuck out in all directions and hid most of her pale face.
Sirius noticed the dark circles underneath her eyes and frowned a little. Did she really spent her nights studying like people said? With her being regarded as one of the most brilliant minds she shouldn't be in need of additional revising of subject matter. He read the book titles he could make out from his position and became absolutely certain that the things she studied were definitely not suitable for the ordinary student – all of the books were on advanced and ancient magic, he even spotted some written exclusively in runes.
Sirius sighed inwardly. What was he even thinking, spying on the likes of Phia?
She belonged to the students he gladly distanced himself from, the swots and geeks, the ones without friends, living for nothing but academic ambitions.
A soft sigh escaping her lips interrupted his thoughts. There she sat, slouched forward, head buried in her hands, her fingers massaging her scalp. She muttered something, but he didn't understand a word. For a second he wasn't even sure whether she was speaking English at all, but brushed it aside. He probably just couldn't hear her muffled voice clearly, that was all.
After a minute or so she went back to reading and Sirius let his thoughts continue to revolve around her, trying to fit the few things he knew about her together.
The person he had observed in the past weeks was so quintessentially different from the girl he had assumed she was. He had expected her to be as insufferable as Lily Evans, always holding her head high above others. (That was his view on Lily Evans, at least. Most would disagree with him, for in fact she was a sweet girl, always willing to help others.)
In Sirius' head he had already created himself a set image of Phia and now he found himself wondering if maybe he had, quite frankly, put her into the wrong category. She was nowhere near as pompous as he had made her out to be during their first encounter. She always carried an air of utter neutrality and indifference around her. The outburst directed towards him apparently had been something out of the ordinary, despite the fact that Remus and Lily, being the Gryffindors that frequently inhabited the library, knew about her mood swings.
The student body regarded the Ravenclaw solely as an isolated genius. The only thing known were her results in class, which were obviously beyond outstanding. Sirius had discovered that Phia had previously skipped the second year at Hogwarts and originally belonged to the students of his younger brothers' classes. He was a little befuddled by his own ignorance.
He snapped out of his thoughts when Phia suddenly rose to her feet, some of the books returning to the shelves by magic, others piling up in her arms. In a hurry, she descended down the stairs, her cloak draped over her left arms, and hastily bid the other wizards (whom Sirius had long forgotten) good-bye. Sirius scrambled to his feet and followed as silently as he could. He assumed it already was past noon and his stomach made objections that a meal was in order. He found her at the at the cash register, paying for one, two, three, four, five books, before she swiftly left Tomes and Scrolls.
He slipped out of the door before it could close and, to his relief, saw her walking towards Honeydukes.
'At least there's something normal about her.', he muttered under his breath.
