Note: Chapter Eight! Yay! This story almost has direction. Thank you all so much for the reviews and the follows and the favorites. I get super excited every time I get one.
Chapter Eight
Beginners Luck
Soon enough it was Friday, and it was time for their date. Ophelia still had no idea what they were going to be doing. She'd been on a couple of Hogwarts dates but they had been so boring, she usually turned guys down unless they asked her out on Hogsmeade weekends. She still wasn't sure why she'd said yes to Sirius at all. She walked into the great hall, waiting for him. She glanced around, looking at her watch for the time. He was late. He was actually late. She clenched her jaw. She didn't like to wait; she didn't like it when someone was late, especially for a date. She jumped about a foot in the air when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked and there was nothing there. After a moment there came a laugh and Sirius appeared out of nowhere.
"What in the world…"
"Invisibility cloak." Sirius held up the printed cloak. "It's James's he let me borrow it for the night."
"Why?" She asked.
"Because he's my mate."
"I mean, why do we need it?"
"Because it's easier to sneak in and out of the school with this. Actually," He admitted, "We probably don't need it, but it's cool so I wanted to use it" He folded it over his arm and led the way up the stairs. They went up a couple of floors and then he led the way down a corridor to the humpback witch statue. Ophelia glanced around and when she looked back to Sirius, he'd opened a passageway.
"Where did that come from?"
"It's been here. We found it by accident and we use it all the time." He looked back at her. "it's how we never run out of sweets." He smiled and headed down the passage way, stopping and holding out a hand for Ophelia. She took it and followed him into the passage.
It wasn't that far of a walk before they came up.
"Where are we?"
"Honeydukes." He answered. He opened the cellar door and peeked out before slipping out. He helped her out and stashed the cloak. "We'll need it to get back in." He explained. They walked into the front of the store. It wasn't packed like it was on the weekends. And she liked that. They quickly bought come candy, Sirius needed to stock up anyway, then they headed out of the candy store.
"So what are we doing on our date? If you say Shrieking Shack-"
"No Shrieking Shack." He promised and walked down the street. "I'm taking you for food, then for a drink, and then I guess we'll head back to the castle." He smiled at her. She nodded, okay with that. They went to one of the few restaurants in Hogsmeade. He even pulled out her seat for her. She had a feeling he'd had a lot of practice taking girls out on dates. But she didn't say it. She didn't want to ruin the moment. They were brought menus and made small talk as they looked them over.
"O.W.L.S Are coming up." Ophelia looked up at him
"They are." He nodded.
"Are you nervous?"
"No, why would I be?" He asked. "I'm going to do great on them; I always do really well on tests." He smirked. He was extremely cocky. "I bet you're not worried."
"I am." She informed him. "I want to do well enough on my O.W.L.S to get into good classes."
"Well what do you plan on doing after Hogwarts?"
"I'm not sure." She admitted. "But I'm going to do something." She said quickly. He smiled.
"Well then, You and I will just have to make a lot of study dates. So you can benefit from the power of my brains." He grinned.
"You can't really be this cocky." She said, looking at him.
"I really can be." He argued. "And I really am." He added.
"You seriously think you're going to do amazing on the exams, so well that you can teach me everything I'll need to know."
"I don't think I can, I know I can." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, okay." She shook her head and took a sip of her water when the waiter brought it. They put in their orders and had a nice meal, nothing going horribly wrong, but to Sirius' delight. He had been sure something was going to go wrong. It always seemed to. However by the time they had finished eating, everything had gone fine.
"Alright, where are we going next?" She asked.
"For a drink. But there is a small problem."
"What's that?" She asked.
"We can't go to the Three Broomsticks. They know we're students."
"Then where will we go?" Her answer came a moment later as Sirius pushed open the door to the Hogs Head.
"No." She shook her head. "Nope, I'm not going in there."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to end up dead, Sirius." Ophelia looked at him seriously. He laughed.
"Sorry princess, but I don't think anyone here will be interested in murdering you. Not unless you take their drink." He wrapped an arm around her waist and led her into the dark bar. He walked with her up to the bar. Ophelia looked around, trying not to stare at anyone too long, still not convinced she wasn't going to end up murdered. A man at a table with a huge tankard of beer leered at her and she quickly looked away, moving closer to Sirius.
"What'll you have?" The bartender asked in his deep scratchy voice.
"Butterbeers." The man next to them predicted. "Look at 'em Jerry, they can't take anything stronger'n that." The two teenagers look at the man.
"Fire whiskey, Jerry." Ophelia ordered. She smiled sweetly at the man at the bar, Jerry put the glass on the bar and she downed it, slamming the glass back down onto the bar. "My parents don't lock the liquor cabinet and I don't like drinking water." She replied to Sirius's curious look.
"Oh cool, so you're an alcoholic?"
"No, I can't really drink when we're at school, so I'm a Seasonal Alcoholic." She joked. Sirius smiled and ordered them both a fire whiskey. This time Ophelia just sipped on hers. She didn't really care to wake up with a hang over in the morning. She may have had a few drinks in her life, but she'd never found a real way to avoid the hang over, because her parents did lock those potions up.
"What's going on over there?" She nodded at a table of men, all hunched over.
"Poker." He answered. "Serious poker, high stakes."
"Poker isn't too hard." She said thoughtfully. "I use to play all the time with Adrian, Nik and Stanford." She leaned against the bar. "And I always beat them." She smirked, and looked over in that direction again.
"No." Sirius shook his head. "I know what you're thinking, and no. You said you didn't want to end up murdered, so let's try and avoid that." She pouted and took another sip of her fire whiskey.
"You're no fun." She informed him.
"Yeah, but if you die, I'll have an army of your family coming after me to avenge your death, even though I wouldn't have been the one to kill you. I think your brothers are just looking for a reason to kill me at this point."
"They are."She nodded. "They hate you." She shrugged. "They hate that I agreed to go out with you at all, yet alone a second time."
"Why would they hate me?"
"I'm not sure. They just kind of do. I think it's because of how your mum talks about you. They never spend time with you so all they know is what they've heard from your mum." She finished her drink and put the glass down, declining when she was asked about another glass. She turned her attention back to Sirius, who looked thoughtful. "So did you talk to Dumbledore?"
"I did. He couldn't do anything. I guess he has to wait for proof, and I'm not exactly an unbiased source. It's no secret that Regulus and I don't get along… at all." He finished his own drink.
"Oh." She thought about that. She didn't regret not going with him to the headmaster though. She had her reasons for that. "Let's go. We'll have time to hang out before we have to go back to our dorms." She said, pushing away from the bar. She looked back at the poker game.
"No." He saw her looking.
"Just one game." She begged. "If I lose then I lose and we'll go."
"No Ophelia, that's a bad idea. I'm not here to watch you do something stupid."
"You're not my keeper Sirius Black, I can do it if I want."
"You can, but you won't."
"Wanna bet?" She asked, turning on her heel. He groaned and followed her. She walked up to the table to spite him. "I want in on the next game." She informed them. The men just laughed.
"You can't afford this." One man said.
"Deal me in and you'll find out if I can afford it." She glared at him. One guy shrugged.
"It's her money." He said. The game ended and he went to deal the hand. She pulled up a chair and shook her hair back. Sirius groaned and got ready to grab her and run, just in case. Ophelia picked up her cards, re-arranged them a bit and then glanced up at the read of them. The men all kept their eyes down on the cards as they registered what they had and what they needed.
Sirius watched Ophelia's face, and it was blank as she looked back down at her cards, moving one to the right. He was surprised, he never thought of her as one who could hide her emotions, at all. They went around, and she handed back two cards. When she got the replacements, she put them in place and made her bet. She threw out a few coins. She had money on her, but that was all she had to bet. The men were putting out odd objects. A knife with elaborate engravings, a few rare potion ingredients, just odd things. She put more money out and then they showed their hands. She wrinkled her nose when she lost. Sirius moved to get her so they could go, but the dealer already dealt her in. He sighed and sat back down.
This round she handed back three cards. She kept her face totally blank as they made bets. He had no idea where she was hiding all the money, but she managed to put out enough to equal their bets. Then it was time to show their hands. The first man had folded, the second one had two pair. The third had two pair as well, but not as high as the second one. The fourth man proudly put out his full house. Sirius eyed Ophelia, who smirked and put down her cards, a royal flush. He tried to hold back a smile.
"Thank you very much Gentlemen, but we need to get back to school before we're missed." She gathered her winnings, making Sirius carry a few things.
"You beat them." He said as they walked out.
"I'm good at reading people… and I got lucky. Beginners luck you know." She shrugged and turned the knife in her hand, the man who won it originally had re-bet it. She smirked and they headed back to Honeydukes, sneaking into the cellar and pulling on the cloak. They went back down the passageway and into the school. Once there, they crept away from the humpback Witch and then pulled the cloak off.
"Alright so tonight I learned you're an alcoholic card shark, and I thought I couldn't like you anymore than I already did." He joked.
"It's pretty hard to not love me." She shrugged and walked with him.
"I want to ask you something…" He stopped and looked at her.
"Go for it." She shrugged. He hesitated but then opening his mouth.
"When was the last time you saw my brother, well… before yesterday, but you didn't really see him then." He was nervous about her answer. He had no idea what Regulus had been talking about. His nerves just got worse when he saw the look on her face. Apparently that mask of emotionless-ness was only around for poker games.
"It's… complicated." She answered.
"Un-complicate it." He prompted. She bit her lip. "You and he didn't…"
"Date? God no." She shook her head. "Regulus is too much like you, but without the humor to break up the cockiness. Without the humor, he's just unbearable." She bit her lip and looked at the items she was holding. "Last time I saw Regulus was at a death eater meeting."
"You're a-"
"I'm not." She shook her head even more insistently. "I had gone to my brother's house, Sebastian's, and… I walked in on a meeting of Death Eaters. But you can't tell anyone. If they find out my brother is, then they find out your brother is."
"But I want them to find out my brother is. I want this to be stopped."
"Sirius, just keep your mouth shut. If it gets out that my brother was hosting one of those meetings, he'll be arrested and put in Azkaban."
"So? He deserves it if he's a death eater."
"He's my brother."
"He wants to destroy the Wizarding world."
"He's my brother." She snapped at him, grabbing the things from him. "And I will not risk him being put into prison for the rest of his life because of some stupid decision."
"Ophelia," He sighed.
"I know you don't give a damn about your family, but I care about mine and I'm not going to watch my brother wither into nothing in that hell hole." She turned on her heel and started to walk away. He started to follow but stopped, he knew there was nothing he could say, because he didn't agree with her. Not at all.
