After what seemed like days of waiting, when in reality it was only a few hours, I casually strolled, or at least attempted to look like I was casually strolling, into the library, looking around for a tall and attractive long-haired boy who seemed out of place; Sirius didn't spend much time in there. I didn't see him from where I was standing, and was about to turn and walk farther in when someone's hands unexpectedly clapped over my eyes. I jumped a few good meters off the ground and let out a shrill yelp, earning me a disapproving hiss from Madam Pince. At least I assumed it was Madam Pince; it was difficult to tell when my sight was obstructed by a pair of unidentified hands.
"Someone's a bit jumpy," I heard the owner of the hands laugh from behind me, and I relaxed; the voice undeniably belonged to Sirius. After a moment of relief, I came to the realization that Sirius Black's hands were on my face, and I stiffened considerably.
"You took me by surprise…" I said quietly, painfully aware of my uneven breathing and praying he couldn't tell. He chuckled and removed his hands. I turned around to look at him, my cheeks burning where his fingers had been.
"Sorry," he said sweetly, smiling innocently, and jerked his thumb towards the back of the library, which was considerably emptier than the crowded center, "Shall we go to the back? I don't want anyone overhearing,"
"Alright," I agreed reluctantly, the idea of being alone with him in an isolated corner not quite appealing to me. I knew how haywire my emotions would go and, worse, what people would think if they noticed. I followed behind him as he led us to an empty table, blushing when he pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit.
"For the lady," he grinned, and I sat slowly, blushing even deeper and avoiding his gaze. Expecting him to take the seat next to me, I was surprised when he walked to the nearest shelf and started grabbing numerous books at random.
"What are you doing?" I asked, confused, and he continued to pull out books of all sizes, not looking at me.
"We need to look like we're studying," he said as if it were obvious, placing a large, teetering pile on the table in front of me, "Otherwise we'll look suspicious,"
"Yes, because being surrounded by books like…Fashion Tips for the Ill-Dressed Witch is definitely not suspicious," I replied, amused, picking up the topmost book on the pile and reading the cover. I scanned the spines of the rest of the books, smiling when I realized they were all about clothing.
"Yes, er, well," Sirius frowned, looking a bit embarrassed, "We won't look suspicious from a distance. Let's just hope nobody comes too close,"
"So," I said, finally mentioning the reason we had met after he sat, "The plan,"
"The plan," Sirius repeated, and I stared, expecting him to continue.
"Well…?" I urged.
"Honestly?"
"Honestly,"
"I've got nothing," he admitted, "I've been thinking about it non-stop since last night but there's always something wrong with everything I come up. It has to be perfect,"
"I know you told me to come with ideas, but I'm not any good at this stuff. I tried telling you last night," I said quickly, looking at him apologetically.
"It's alright," he sighed, but smiled soon afterwards, "That's why we're here. I even brought something to get our brains working," he grinned mischievously, and pulled a plate of biscuits out of his bag, placing them on the table and moving the books so they obstructed the view of the plate from the librarian.
"We're not allowed to have food in the library," I whispering, leaning out from behind the makeshift tower to glance at Madam Pince, who was reading something at her desk and not paying attention.
"I know," he mumbled through a mouthful, spilling crumbs all over the floor, "You have to learn to break the rules sometimes,"
"Madam Pince is scary," I shook my head, staring disapprovingly as he shoved another biscuit in his mouth, "I'm not sure this is the place where I should be breaking rules,"
"Loosen up," he urged, pushing the plate closer to me. I hesitated, my hand hovering over the dishware. I had to admit they smelled heavenly, clearly a freshly baked batch from the kitchens. With one last glance at Madam Pince, who was now reprimanding a girl for blowing bubbles out of her chewing gum, I hastily took a biscuit and ate it as quickly as I could.
"Oh, that's divine," I exclaimed and ate another one, slower this time to indulge in the flavor.
"Good, isn't it?" he beamed, "You passed my test," he added as I was reaching for a third, and I froze, looking at him questioningly.
"What test?" I asked warily.
"I had to make sure my partner-in-crime was able to disobey the law," he stated, wiggling his eyebrows at me, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"So you brought biscuits into the library?" I asked incredulously, giggling.
"You did hesitate," he pointed out and I held up my hands, jokingly admitting defeat.
"Fair enough," I said, reaching for the last biscuit and not realizing he was reaching at the same time. Our hands brushed, and I pulled away frantically, barely stopping myself from taking a sharp breath. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before he took his hand away as well.
"Go ahead and take it," he said softly.
"No, that's alright, it's yours," I replied, shaking my head.
"No, really," he said, pushing the plate even closer to me.
"I insist," I stated firmly, pushing it back. He looked at me for a few seconds before pushing the plate again, this time more towards the middle of the table.
"In that case, no one's going to eat it. What a waste," he said mournfully, "Just look at it, all alone,"
I laughed softly, and he looked at me feigning sadness, his eyes wide. I sighed; I really did want that biscuit. I almost reached for it once more, but stopped and looked back at him.
"Are you sure?" I asked, and he smiled triumphantly.
"Take it, take it," he pressed, then added, slightly quieter, "I got them just for you,"
"Thank you," I mumbled and looked down, embarrassed, trying not to read too much into the statement. He didn't mean anything by it. He just wanted to thank me for agreeing to help him. Yes, that was it. I took the biscuit and took a small bite out of it; it didn't taste quite as good as I thought it would.
I turned back to Sirius to see that he was now staring out the window thoughtfully, his face resting on the palm of his hand. I watched for a couple minutes, fascinated, as he slowly drummed his long fingers against his chin, forgetting completely about the biscuit in my hand. Suddenly, he slammed his other hand down on the table and whipped his head around to look at me, causing me to yelp for the second time in less than half an hour and drop the biscuit, which broke into pieces all over the carpet. His eyes were lit up and he didn't even seem to notice I had done anything unusual.
"Boggart," he said loudly, and I stared, dumbfounded.
"Er, what?"
"Boggart," he repeated excitedly, "You know how there's a boggart in the wardrobe in that one empty classroom in the left wing on the fourth floor?" he rambled.
"Um, there is?" I asked, still just as confused, if not more.
"Yes," he said impatiently, as if this was widely known information, "What if we lured the Slytherins in there and set the boggart on them?"
"So we could see what they're afraid of…" I said slowly, comprehension beginning to dawn on me.
"Exactly," he exclaimed, "We could just send them an owl telling them where to go and when. They're dumb gits, they'll go even if the letter's anonymous,"
"And what do we do after we see what form the boggart takes?"
"We can figure that out once we get to it," he was still talking very quickly and very excitedly, "But it'll be a start,"
"Right," I nodded, seeing it all play out in my head, "But…using their fears against them, isn't that a bit…low?" I asked, and he blinked at me, disappointed.
"They use your fear against you all the time," he said dully.
"They make fun of me for it, but that's all," I argue.
"That's enough," he grumbled, "They've never had any mercy on us. Why should we worry whether or not we're being low?"
"I just don't think we should stoop to their level," I mumbled.
"You promised you would help," he whined, "Please don't back out now,"
I stared at him. He was right; I did agree to help, after all. It would be mean of me to take back my promise. A thought popped into my head suddenly.
"We don't want them to know it's us, right?" I asked, and he smiled, taking my question as a sign of me still being interested.
"Right,"
"But we want to set a boggart on them,"
"Right,"
"So someone has to open the door of the wardrobe,"
"Where are you going with this?" he sighed.
"Well, how are we supposed to open the door without them seeing us?"
I expected him to be unable to come up with a good answer, but he stood up from the table instead, grinning at me devilishly.
"Follow me,"
Sirius walked rapidly down the corridor. I had to practically jog to keep up with his long strides.
"Where are we going?" I panted, struggling to stay level with him.
"Common room," he said quickly.
"What for?"
"You asked how we could open the door without them seeing us,"
"And how is going to the common room going to answer my question?" I huffed impatiently.
"You'll see," he replied, throwing me that same irritating grin he always wore when he was excited about something he was keeping secret, "Are you by any chance any good at nonverbal spells?" he asked, as if the question was in any way relevant to the topic.
"Sure," I shrugged, "But what-"
"Great," he cut me off.
"Why are you asking?"
He ignored my question, having just arrived at the Gryffindor tower. Saying the password quickly, he clambered through the portrait hole before turning to me.
"Stay here. I'll be right back," he said, disappearing before I had a chance to response. Sighing impatiently, I leaned against the wall next to the Fat Lady, crossing my arms over my chest. I had hardly waited a minute before I heard the portrait swing open again. Sirius scrambled through it, his bag bulging considerably more than it had been before.
"What do you have?" I asked, but he shushed me and motioned for me to follow him as he headed back down the corridor.
"Not here," he whispered, looking around furtively, and led me to a random door, which he opened and stuck his head in before entering and beckoning for me to do the same. I entered, closing the door behind me. We were in a dark classroom, empty except for dust and a few desks and chairs pushed against the far wall. I looked at Sirius incredulously.
"What's so secret that we have to hide in here?"
"I'll show you," he said slowly, "But you have to promise not to tell anyone,"
Interested, I stepped closer, nodding.
"I promise,"
"It's not mine, it belongs to James. It's been passed down in his family for years," he said, "And it's helped us get away with tons, so it's important that no one finds about it,"
"I won't tell, just show me," I pressed. He looked at me momentarily, before opening his bag and pulling out something large and brown, with a slight silvery sheen. I looked closely and gasped.
"That's an Invisibility Cloak!" I exclaimed, "They're extremely rare; I reckon this is the only one in the whole school,"
"I reckon you're right," Sirius grinned, "So Avery and Mulciber won't be expecting it,"
I stepped even closer, reaching out a hand.
"Can I try it?" I whispered excitedly, and he chuckled, placing it in my hands. I blinked at it in awe, before slipping it over myself. I looked down at myself, and seeing nothing, emitted a gleeful shriek, "This is wicked!"
I ran a few laps around the room, laughing delightedly. Sirius followed me with his eyes, presumably aware of where I was from the noise. He laughed, too, amused by my excitement.
"Just don't be that loud when we're actually in the same room as the Slytherins," he chuckled. I stopped running and walked over to him, closer than I would have dared if he could have seen me. We were less than a meter apart, and I breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm myself after running around and getting my nerves racing, but it was difficult when I was close enough to smell his musky scent. We stood like that for a few moments.
"Why are your eyes closed?" I asked, for, indeed, his eyes were shut tight the entire time I was standing there.
"It's strange knowing you're so close but having no idea where you are," Sirius said quietly, "It's disconcerting not knowing where to look,"
I took a couple steps backward before taking the cloak off. He opened his eyes finally, and silently took the cloak from my hands, folding it carefully and placing it back in his back. I cleared my throat.
"So we'll arrange for them to meet in the classroom at a specific time, and we'll already be there, under the cloak, and once they come in, I'll cast a nonverbal spell to open the wardrobe and let the boggart out. Is that right?" I asked, trying to get the full sense of the plan.
"Exactly," Sirius nodded, "Once we see what their boggarts are, we can plan our next move of action from there,"
"Got it," I said, committing it all to memory. It didn't sound that bad; I was sure whatever came next would be worst. I decided not to worry about it until we got there, though. I would focus on this for now; this much I could handle.
Sirius stared at me strangely, with a look I couldn't quite read, before he spoke again.
"What do you say we go join the rest of them in the common room now?" he asked, and I nodded wordlessly, simultaneously disappointed and relieved that it wouldn't be just the two of us anymore, the disappointed part taking over the majority of my emotions once he had turned and walked towards the door, holding it open for me before following me out of it.
I did notice, however, that it was slightly easier to breathe now that we weren't alone in a murky classroom.
Yet part of me wished it would happen again.
A/N: Thanks, like always, for the reviews. They really do mean a lot to me! :)
