Disclaimer: Not mine.
"This is dumb."
"Tell me about it."
Sirius and I sat in the back of the Potions Class, me slowly stirring the love potion as he threw in the needed ingredients.
He was smiling though, sneaking glances at me every so often. It made me roll my eyes, but I couldn't help but smile back.
Since our trip to Hogsmeade together, things seemed a lot less . . . complicated. There was me and then there was Sirius and it was a simple as that. He didn't follow me around as much (most of the time) and I said hi to him whenever I saw him. And we talked always in class, in soft little whispers, smothering laughter in our hands as he mimicked Professor Binns. We were friends just like I was – will be – am (whatever) friends with Elliot, Anthony, and Lesley.
But there was always this annoying nagging at the back of mind whenever Sirius was around me . . . something that sent a shiver down my spine and couldn't keep me from smiling. I kept telling myself that it was only because he was cute (I'm not blind; Sirius Black was very hot), but that annoying nagging made things not so simple, because it made me think I liked him. But after only three and a half weeks? That didn't seem at all possible.
"Stranger things have happened," I recall Lily telling me.
It was just that, guys never liked me. Lesley thought for a minute that Elliot liked me back in like third year, but Elliot was Elliot, my friend since birth, might as well be my family kind of friend. I was abnormal and, for some reason, people were intimidated by my last name – you would think that they'd be more intimidated by Lesley, being a Malfoy and all, but boys were always trying to ask her out.
And so that was why it was real weird that Sirius was always trying to find excuses to be around me, like he did like me (which couldn't be possible). And it didn't make sense that he had the power to make me blush like he did, just because he smiled at me or said something nice.
This was ridiculous.
"I don't even see why we have to make a love potion," Sirius said, smirking. "It's not as if I need to slip anyone some."
I laughed softly. "You're so full of yourself Black."
"Only because I have a reason to be. . . . You know, it's been a week since you started talking to me and I realized there's not a lot I know about you."
"What is there to know?"
"Probably a lot – what's your favorite color?"
"I don't really have one."
"Proving my point. Most girls would have just said, pink or yellow or baby blue."
"I'm not like most girls."
"Obviously. You're complicated . . . but in a good way."
There goes the blush. "There's nothing really exactly specific about everyone. That would be like saying your hair was just black and your eyes are just black. My favorite color is a mixture of all darker colors. . . . I'm appalled by pink."
Sirius was smiling at me. "So what color are my hair and my eyes?"
"I'd say they're more of a dark brown, almost like incredibly darkened gold. It's easier to see in the sun than in this dungy classroom." I blushed after I said it, but Sirius smirked.
"Been staring at me that hard, Tory?"
"You're so full of yourself." I continued to stir the potion, glancing up to see that Sirius was staring at me. "What?"
"Your hair isn't just black and your eyes aren't just green," he said, smiling softly.
"Is that so? What color are they then?"
Sirius reached over and gently pulled a lock of hair towards him. "Well, you're hair has a slightly reddish tint to it, but it's hardly noticeable unless your outside or staring at it for a long time. And your eyes are darker than green, more like a dark forest green, with gold."
The blush on my face was probably more pronounced as Sirius twisted the lock of my hair in his fingers. "Been staring at me that hard, Sirius?"
"Actually –"
Whatever else he had been about to say was cut off as the bell rang. Slughorn called out for us to wrap up our potions wherever we were at and that he'd see us on Thursday.
I tucked my hair back behind my ear as I sealed our potion with the spell Slughorn had taught us and Sirius wrapped up the ingredients, the blush still on my face and a smirk on his.
Minutes later, Sirius and I were exiting the classroom, James and Lily behind us (arguing of course) and Remus and Peter behind them.
"Aww, meal time," Sirius said, rubbing his hands together. "My favorite part of the day."
I rolled my eyes again, smiling up at him. He reminded me of Cousin Hugo . . . or at least, Cousin Hugo reminded me of him (however that works).
"Oy, Sirius." I moved over as Sirius moved in between us. "Snivellus, dead ahead."
I looked in front of me, just maybe five or so people away, and saw a boy, his hair greasy looking and his nose buried in a book. "Who is that?" I asked.
"Severus Snape," Sirius said smirking. "But we refer to him as Snivellus."
"Only because of the filthy little sniveling brat that he is," James explained with an almost maniacal gleam in his eyes.
"Oh," I said. So that was Severus Snape. I had heard good and bad things about Snape. Uncle Ron referred to him as an evil git and Harry referred to him as the bravest man he knew, and he only explained that to me because I had asked why he would name my dad after an evil git.
I looked over my shoulder to find Lily, knowing that she had some kind of connection with him, but she was obviously trying hard to ignore the boy, talking to Remus with a forced smile on her face as they walked in a completely opposite direction.
The next thing I knew, Sirius was on my opposite side, slowing to stick out his foot as we walked past Snape. The boy trip, sprawling on the ground, his book skittering away from him and the supplies in his bag flying everywhere. People in the hall at that time were laughing as Severus scuttled around to pick up his things.
"Probably should keep that big nose of yours out of books and watch where you're going," Sirius said.
"Sirius!" I said angrily.
I startled them, making both James and Sirius jump. "What?" they both said.
Looking around quickly to make sure no teachers were present, I used my wand to gather Severus' stuff back in one place and bringing his book flying into my hands.
"Tory, what are you doing?" James said, confused.
"Helping, obviously, since you dolts want to act like you're in grade school," I told him. Severus was soon off the floor, his stuff thrown messily back into his bag, and I handed his book to him, smiling. "Here you are."
Surprisingly, he was glaring at me and he snatched the book away, saying, "I don't need your sympathy, Mud –"
Sirius was in front of me in seconds. "Go ahead and finish that sentence, Snivellus. I dare you to."
Severus' mouth clamped shut and he sent one last scathing glance at me before walking off, his head bowed again as he opened his.
Sirius turned to me, rolling his eyes. "There are just some people you can't act nice to, Tory."
"Like you?" I said, glaring at the both of them.
"Me? What on earth did I do?"
Sighing, I shook my head. "Tell me, Sirius, how is your picking on Severus any different from Slytherins picking on Muggleborns?"
Sirius opened his mouth again, but I stopped him. "There's nothing different. It just makes the both of you bullies."
I turned and walked away, hearing James mutter something like, "Now you know how I feel."
A/N: I'm going to stop it there for right now but I hope you liked it. Stay tuned for the next one.
