Black caught up with me as I rounded the corner behind the herbology greenhouses.
"Where the hell are you going?" He demanded, catching me by the arm as I moved swiftly through the familiar woods, bound for the hutch.
"Brilliant question!" I responded cheerily enough, considering the fact that I had just been forced to miss lunch by an annoying asshole who had suddenly decided that his cousin's health was in jeopardy.
"Black, you are about to become a member of the trusted protectors of the hutch. We have a strict non-disclosure policy. I'm sure you understand that the last thing we want is a group of annoying busy bodies nosing around in our secret hideout," I winked at him.
He rolled his eyes at me. I wondered why he had insisted on checking on Andy. I mean, they weren't exactly close. We had turned up blind and stumbling to class too many times to count, and he had never seemed to care about her health before.
"A secret hideout? You're lamer than I thought, Reyes."
"Fuck off, Black. No one is forcing you to come. I still don't understand why you're here. You and Andy aren't even friends!" I exclaimed angrily.
"She is my cousin. I'm worried about her," Black responded, unconvincingly.
I wondered, not for the first time, whether he had ulterior motives. Maybe he wanted to discover the location of the hutch so he could blab about it and ruin our secret hideout.
"Come off it. You know she's fine; it's a muggle drug for Merlin's sake! What do you really want?"
Black sighed, turning to me with a weird expression. It was almost earnest, but I knew that couldn't be right. The boy hated my guts. He didn't look at me earnestly.
"Look, Reyes. I know we haven't really ever gotten along. And I'm not saying I like you or anything. But it's getting exhausting. We have basically every class together, and I'm tired of it all. What do you say we just forget the past and move on?" He said seriously.
"Black, I have never done anything to you. You are the one with the problem. If you want to move on from the constant whining whenever I enter the room thing, then that's entirely up to you," I responded.
I was pretty shocked to be honest. After all these years of hating me, he faked concern about the cousin he has never spoken to so he can call a truce? And why did he even hate me in the first place?
"Holy shit," Black breathed as the hutch came into view.
"It's something, isn't it? We reckon Hagrid used to have a few massive rabbits or something," I said, looking at the familiar structure fondly.
"Uh..It's okay I suppose," Black responded, remembering himself.
But I could see the admiration in his eyes. Throwing open the door, I strolled in and was met with the sight of Andy lying in bed smoking, flipping through a Witch Weekly. She sat up with a grin as I entered.
"Charlie! I was hoping you'd come back." Her smile turned to a look of utter confusion when her eyes landed on Black. "And, er, Sirius. What brings you here? Haven't seen you in a while, cousin."
"Charlotte said something about you being too wasted to come to class. I thought I'd check up on you," he responded with a disarming smile.
"Oh…" Andy looked even more confused. "Well, pull up a chair and grab a blunt. May as well catch up while you're here."
She raised an eyebrow at me, which I interpreted to mean: 'since when are you on first name terms with Sirius Black? And since when does he check up on me? And I know you stole the last of the fire whiskey last year!'
"Uh, yeah I will," Black said, sitting awkwardly down in an armchair. "So…how is the family? Haven't heard much since I escaped that hell hole last year."
He lit up a joint, and began puffing expertly. This was clearly not his first time.
"Psychopathic as per the norm. Bellatrix is delighted with her
newfound ability with the cruciatus, and Narcissa is delighted with..well, Narcissa."
An hour later and I was sitting open-mouthed in my armchair while an intoxicated Andy and Black giggled and reminisced about their home lives.
"God, do you remember old Aunt Cassiopeia!" Cried Andy.
"Demented bint. I swear she survived on a diet of suffering and misery," cackled Black.
I raised my eyebrows incredulously, taking a long drag of my cigarette before launching into the tirade that had been building up since Black first insisted he come down here.
"I have HAD it!" I began angrily, ignoring the confused looks that adorned Andy and Black's faces."What the hell is going on? Black, you hate me, so why the fuck did you insist on coming down here? And, since WHEN do Andy and I skip transfiguration to hang out with you? I don't even bloody like you! So I'm going to ask you one last time, why are you really here? And you better not give me that 'checking on Andy' bullshit."
Andy and Black looked at me, mouths open in shock. I kind of understood their surprise, I mean, I was the calmest person on earth. My life motto was make a joke, have a smoke and fuck a bloke. I didn't really make a habit of randomly exploding at people. And even after six years of Black constantly ribbing on me, I had never once gotten mad back. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to me.
"Be nice, Charlie. What does it matter why he's here? The shit between the two of you has gone on far too long. Just forget it," Andy implored, her brown eyes pleading.
"No, she's right. It's not okay," Black began, sighing heavily. "I know it's weird. But believe it or not, I don't actually hate you, Charlotte. Do you remember the first time we met?"
I really didn't. I shook my head at him, wondering where this was headed.
"Well I remember it like it was yesterday. James introduced us and you were just so nice and normal. It just didn't make sense with everything I knew about Slytherin's. I was convinced you were hiding something. But you know what really set me off? I said something to you, it was pretty rude, and Remus and
James defended you. Against me, their best friend. I couldn't believe it. I was so angry, I didn't speak to them for three weeks. Eventually we made up, but I guess I always blamed you for it. Lately I've been feeling a bit different. There's a lot of shit going on out there, you know? We only have two years left of school and then it's out into the big wide world. I guess the real reason I'm here is to apologize. Sorry for being a cock, Charlotte." He muttered the last part, looking down at his feet.
I took a moment to have a silent conversation with Andy. We had really perfected the art. I raised on eyebrow, and she responded by blinking twice, so I widened my eyes and then she tapped her nose. Nodding at her, I turned to Black.
"Look, Black-"
"Sirius." He interjected.
"Sirius, then. I've decided to forgive you. Welcome to the club, now it's time for your initiation. Let's get fucked!" I winked boisterously, reaching into the drawer and pulling out a big bottle of fire whiskey.
Sirius blinked.
"What? Just like that, I'm in? Forgiven?" Sirius questioned, his handsome features confused.
"Sirius, that was a brilliant piece of acting - pretending that you wanted to check on Andy because you were just so desperate to apologize to me, the guilt was eating at you and-"
"Well that's a bit of an exagger-"
"Aw don't lie, Sirius. You were clearly driven mad with guilt. Who wouldn't be, imagine being rude to this fine piece of ass for six years," I said, shaking my head solemnly.
"It's nice to see you two friends. If I ever have to sit through another deconstruction of the heinous deeds of Black I might actually explode," Andy smiled at us. "Now,
what were you saying just now? About getting fucked?"
I laughed, conjuring three shot glasses and filling them each.
"Last one to ten has to kiss Snape!" I yelled, downing my shot with a flourish.
A/N: I'm partway through the next chapter. Please review, it would mean the world!If I get a couple new reviews, I might even feel motivated enough to get the next chapter up tonight ;) Not that I'm blackmailing you...