"Would you classify us as friends?" Sirius asked one late Saturday morning in December as Fern was trying to hook her bra back on.
"What're you on about this time," She sighed, mostly frustrated that she was missing the hook. Sirius pushed her failing fingers out of the way, and righted the tricky hook.
"Do you," he said sitting up and kissing the crook of her neck from behind. "Think us mates?"
Fern slightly smiled. "It was only a week ago you learned my name," she trailed off mockingly.
"Ah, yes," Sirius chuckled leaning back once more but trailed a rogue finger down her spine. "Sirius the numpty, let's have a laugh at him again."
Fern was waiting idly on a staircase that seemed to stall on its way upward. She leaned against the banister and allowed the portrait of a sailor to flirt with her a little.
"I see nothing wrong with the lasses achieving an education! Freedom to each his own, I say and if it is what the lady desires then I daresay nobody shall stop you!" he proclaimed, his hat jostled by his passion. Fern smirked at his antics before her attention was pulled away from a startled cry. She turned to see the culprit slide down a banister to a staircase perpendicular to hers before leaping dangerously onto the steps she was standing on. She attempted to mask any sign that she was impressed and the sailor harrumphed.
"Looking for me?" she asked with a bored expression.
"What makes you think that," he grinned cheekily. His eyes sinking to half-lids, Sirius bent his head but wasn't able make his mark as Fern took a step backwards. She gave him a smiling yet questioning look, but then rapidly moved only her eyes to her left then right. 'Not here' she seemed to signal.
"What's your name," Sirius asked. He was tired of only seeing her by chance. His enchanted map was useless to him if he didn't have a name to look for. "The real one," he added and she smiled. Fern was now impressed. The kid was persistent. Before she opened her mouth they were interrupted.
"Miss Khan! There you are," a very peppy voice above them hollered. The duo looked up to see the young Professor Sprout waving at them. "By Merlin, these stairs will never get their act together, I swear- oh! Brilliant! If you'd follow me please Miss Khan. Look alive Mr. Black, these stairs are unforgiving," Sprout had snatched up Sirius's final moment to get some foundation with the girl. Sirius, along with the portrait of the sailor, scowled at the lack of female presence, until it hit one of them.
"Not many Khans in this school, eh?" Sirius winked to the displeased sailor.
That night someone knocked on her and Abithica's room door. "There's a note outside your room that's been there a while!" a girl in passing had called. Fern opened her door to see the paper bird floating in mid-air. She gently clasped the wings and looked around curiously in case the sender was nearby. She opened it and it read:
WHAT KIND OF NAME IS FRANCES
"What do you want, some kind of prize?" Fern scoffed before coughing a bit. Sirius noticed that she was coughing quite a bit lately.
"It's only fair," he shrugged pulled her back onto him. "You're not getting sick are you?" he added in a forethought.
"Maybe," she shrugged. "I'm just winded," she smiled. "It's a bit cold in here too."
"It's the Gryffindor Tower," He mumbled, displeased himself. "What's the Hufflepuff's quarters like?"
"Like you don't already know," she grinned at him.
"You can be proud to know that you are the first Hufflepuff I've ever slept with," he shrugged. "That's to say, there aren't many birds in your flock, are there?"
"Yeah, yeah, we know. We especially know," Fern spoke on behalf of the Hufflepuff females. "Our year is incredibly out numbered. Lucky the fifth year girls. They've got quite the selection ahead of them," Fern shook her head good naturedly as she sorted out her long sleeved shirt before slipping it over her head. As an after thought she added, "It's warm, thank Helga. The heat from the kitchens warms the walls, I suppose. Nothing like here though. Our ceilings are much lower, obviously," she trailed off watching his expression of interest. He looked up thoughtfully.
"I'll have to pay you a visit sometime," he surmised. "In your hole," he suggested lewdly. Fern laughed.
"Please do. Or at least after my Hogsmeade date," she said slipping on her sweater. Sirius was reminded to make fun of the copious amounts of layers she would wear at a later time.
"Edwards finally had the balls to ask you?" he raised his eyebrows. Slipping out of the Gryffindor's bed, she turned her head back to simply reply.
"No, I took them so I could ask him before he had the chance," she tittered.
"'Atta girl," Sirius chuckled as she slipped out of his room. He reached for his bedside table once she was out of the room and found the map, him and his mates conceived. It was a map of the school with every known being and thing recorded in live time. Sirius liked to watch the tiny footsteps trace where Fern was walking to. In fact, it was how he found her most of the time for their "hangouts." Fern didn't know how he would find her, but when she felt she needed a pick me up, she would find an abandoned hallway or classroom and wait no more than ten minutes and within seconds Sirius would appear to whisk her off and have his way with her. If Sirius needed a pick me up, he just owled. It was an efficient system that didn't trouble either of them. He raised an eyebrow as he saw her take the route that one would take to the Infirmary. He rolled his eyes. If Fern was getting sick, then he should probably take a Pepper-Me-Up potion just in case to prevent whatever she possibly spread to him.
"Hey," Fern said tiredly whilst entering her room to see Abithica lounging in only her panties on her bed.
"Hiya," she said tersely not looking up from her magazine.
"You mad at me?" Fern asked almost amused at her friend's attempt at staying quiet. Abithica said nothing and flipped the page, clearly trying to ignore her friend's taunt.
"Sirius Black? Are you mental?" she finally burst, her magazine slipping from the bed in disregard. Fern chuckled and settled on her own bed, ready to watch the show. "You're bloody seeing Sirius Black?!" Abithica stood up in her naked glory to really lay on her performance.
"I'm not seeing him," Fern laughed at her friend's assumption.
"Bullshit. I saw you with him near the kitchens practically havin' a hump," Abithica's accent started to get Cockney which further amused Fern.
"And your point is?" Fern raised her eyebrows. Abithica became flabbergasted as her mouth opened and closed in shock.
"You're not dating Sirius Black? Are you bloody mental?!" Abithica shrieked.
"I can't really win here, can I?" Fern contemplated for a moment.
"Ferny," Abithica knelt beside her mate's bed. "That boy is the boy everyone wants for the long ride. You end this now," she said gently.
"It's fine," Fern shrugged. "We're... friends," she tested out the word on her tongue. Abithica looked like she was going to faint.
The next day Fern thought sincerely about what Abithica had said to her. At breakfast, she was surrounded by a group of her friends and kept Sirius Black and his amazingly good sex out of her mind. She was going to attend her classes for the week, do all her work, stay on top of her meetings, and then at the end of the week, take Chiros Edwards to Hogsmeade and perhaps snog him. It was a brilliant plan until the dreaded day came.
Sirius never noticed Fern in the Great Hall. What they did on their own time was enough for him to call it what it was. A good time. They weren't dating or 'together' or laid claim on each other in any way that meant monogamy. He didn't need to scan for her in the Great Hall and have a burning need to know where she was at every moment. However, one particular Wednesday following their tryst on Saturday brought Sirius's, and in fact everyone's, attention to the Hufflepuff table. The owls were hauling in mail as they usually do every morning, their wings bringing snow and water to those who didn't receive mail.
"Go away," Sirius muttered to a wandering owl who came to pick at his plate. A piercing crash and the clang of falling dishware startled the owl and Sirius.
"FUCK!"
Remus, who was sitting closest to Sirius, shared a look of confusion with his best mate.
"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" The accompanying sounds of more crashing made it clear that a curly haired girl in Hufflepuff was smashing things like a mad woman. She was standing and had tossed her plate and goblet in anguish and anger as well as caused the bench to nearly topple backwards. Professor McGonagall and a few other professors were already to their feet and rushing forward.
"FUCK EVERYTHING! FUCKING UGH!"
What confused Sirius the most was that Fern was sitting calmly right next to her Housemate staring resolutely at the table as it was being cleared. Finally the mad girl had sat down in utter misery burying her face in her hands. When Sprout had reached the table in panic and confusion looking to see the matter, Fern, without lifting her head at the Head of House, held up a letter. Sprout snatched it and read it frantically, McGonagall joining to see the problem. Sprout, slowly and with a look of heartbreak, handed the letter to McGonagall almost in the same fashion as Fern had just done, and placed a dejected and heavy hand on the now despondent destroyer. McGonagall, donning a more solemn look, gave Sprout a empathetic pat on the shoulder before moving back to the front to speak to Headmaster Dumbledore. Sirius was soaking in all that was happening from the movements of the professors to the weeping girl to Fern who sat almost serenly in the chaos. Sprout had muttered some words to the aforementioned girl, who nodded somberly and assisted her mate out of the hall. Sprout followed, with McGonagall and Dumbledore in suit. A very tense silence followed the rest of the morning in the Great Hall, leaving the students stunned and hungry for gossip.
"What the bloody hell was that about?" Peter asked in horror. The sight was indeed disturbing to witness. The Hufflepuff looked possessed as she tried to break everything in her reach. "I've never seen a girl react like that before," he said nervously.
"With the war and all getting worse, she probably lost a family member," Remus hypothesized logically, albeit sadly empathizing with the girl.
"That was awful, that," James Potter, who arrived late that morning, seated himself next to his friends. "Caught the end bit. Poor girl looked devastated," he said in a moment of sage understanding. Remus's, as per usual, inductive reasoning was most accepted by the school as the following days the girl had received flowers from Housemates and condolences (though nobody really had a name or idea who died). Strangely, the girl didn't look depressed, just angry. However, she kept it in check as people tried to comfort her. Sirius reasoned that people dealt with grief in different ways. In addition, Fern wasn't to be seen in the Great Hall for the rest of that week following the incidence. He thought to send her an owl questioning what happened, but he wasn't a gossip nor could he bring himself to care, to be honest. It wasn't his business. Let the Hufflepuff girl grieve on her own without the nuisance of people she didn't know querying into her private life.
The weekend brought some excitement for everyone as it was the last Hogsmeade trip before the holidays. Everyone was bundled in their finest holiday gear and in full spirits even though the village was freezing to the say the least.
"It's a cold one this year," Remus muttered, gripping his coat around himself tighter.
"Stop beating around the bush there love," James pounced on Remus and gave him a messy kiss on his cheek. Remus laughed as he struggled to push the madcap off him.
"Where to then lads?" Peter asked rubbing his hands together, clearly dying to set his foot in the pub.
"Need to grab another quill, I broke mine falling down the stairs the other day," Remus said sheepishly.
"Moony mate, you've gotta stop leaving your quill in your pocket," Sirius laughed with a clap on the bashful boy.
"We'll meet you two at the Head, Peter and I are going to Ollivanders to see if anythings wrong with his wand, though I doubt it, the little shit," James tickled the smaller friend a little before lugging him along with a laugh.
Sirius idly browsed the quill shop as Remus talked with the attendant in the front, a girl who didn't attend Hogwarts, but a smaller wizarding school in Glassgow. She helped her family with the shop on the weekends, to Remus's pleasure as he got to flirt with the chit shamelessly. As Sirius observed a very expensive looking quill with disapproval of its symbol of wealth, he noticed a familiar looking lad wandering around in the same vicinity. Chiros Edwards was moseying around with an unfamiliar girl, looking and behaving dopey and affectionate with her. Sirius scoured the shop to see if Fern was around, just in case she didn't know that Edwards was two timing her. But it seemed that Fern was not there. For a split second, he wondered if she cancelled because of him but mentally called himself a sod and thought no more of it.
