A/N: In which the first detention is had.
haleygur7: He is quite noble in that regard ;)
DarkLordofMemes: Lol I can't take credit for the ship name though - it was the idea of one of my readers over on ArchiveofourOwn, bless her
Marnie Quiera: I know, I'm really excited that their friendship is starting to develop now! I love writing James's character, he's so lovable and insane :)
gwenwesley: Gavin definitely has some words in this chapter! I have humbly written a Gavian moment for all who have missed him (myself included). There will be more of him soon, I have plans!
Chrysanthemum: Regulus will be in the next chapter and yes, he's definitely taken notice at this point and will undoubtedly demand explanation
Toffeeloveryes: Lol I love your ship names, did you notice my usage of Gavian up above? ;)
Guest1515: It was my original plan for them to both use each other (so to speak) without realizing that there's any meaning or emotion behind it BUT I dunno, my plans seem to be changing somewhat now, so I suppose we'll have to see! Anyhow though, Regulus will have some screen time in the next chapter. I know he hasn't been around lately. I've been more focused on bringing Vivian and Sirius closer together, but I haven't forgotten him! Interesting thought on Adrian/Vivian's marriage being announced in the newspaper. This chapter touches on that plot a bit, but I still haven't entirely decided how I'm going to tie up that loose thread yet
Idontknoworcareanymore: Of course! :) I wish I could update more!
Anne J Black: That's perfectly fine! It's so amazing to me that so many people are enjoying this story. I do sometimes feel like it's going everywhere at once and gets a bit confusing with all the different plots. I guess that's the danger of writing a story while posting it! Anyway though, Happy New Year to you as well :)
LunaEvanna Longbottom: Lol yup, pretty much. I'm thinking I may turn the tables around a bit though... ;)
Rinsora: Yeah, I really need to edit in a slow burn warning at the start of the story! Trust me when I say that I'm surprised it's taking so long too. This story was supposed to just be about love poems and look what's happened! I hope you enjoy the long journey ahead though :)
LilyBlack18: Thanks for all the reviews! It's so fun hearing reactions to each chapter from newer readers and getting new takes on everything :) Sirius really does have it bad in this story, I've really put him through the wringer. As for Jily, I have plans...I think everyone will like what ends up happening on that front, it should be amusing!
x3sunnydaay: Neither can Sirius lol
Guest: Yeah, I forgot about them for a while, hence it's taken me this long to remember that they still need to get together/write their romance into the story ;) As for the detentions, this is literally what I've been waiting for since the first chapter. I'm so happy we're finally here :)
nosserate: I mean, who wouldn't love James? Lily won't be able to deny him once she joins the Marauder bandwagon, poor thing
laura-firewalker: I'm excited that Jily is moving along too, and as for Sirius, we are only just getting started!
Guest: I have considered whether Vivian will have a kid or not (and with whom) but I haven't decided what I'm going to do. While Regulus is going to be a large part of Season 2, Vivian is still going to be in love with Sirius despite him being in Azkaban, so...I'll need to think about it a bit more! There is going to be a lot of grief and sorrow surrounding the Regulus/Vivian relationship
Hope you all have a lovely week!
Chapter Forty One | Primogenitus
[The firstborn son]
"I'm a bit disappointed, Vivian," is the first thing that comes out of Gavin Clark's mouth when he sidles up beside her later that day.
The reason for his appearance is, of course, the prefect meeting that Vivian has grudgingly dragged herself to, despite her desire to skip it entirely. After dinner, she has to report to Filch's office for the first of many detentions, and she's not very pleased with the fact that her free time has been commandeered to such an extent. She hasn't gotten any further in figuring out what to do with the task set aside for her by the Dark Lord, and every second of her time is important.
Vivian, who has been in a foul mood all day, grouses, "I literally don't give a fuck, Clarke."
And Gavin, who's ears are too innocent for such language, purses his mouth at her and grouses back, "You don't have to be so rude."
She sighs, crosses her arms, and glowers around the room, which is slowly filling up with other prefects. The Head Boy has yet to show his face (she hopes he trips on the staircase and ends up falling on his arse, the prat), but the Head Girl is already standing at attention by one of the desks, preparing a stack of papers as she waits for everyone to arrive.
"I'm not in a good mood," she mutters, eyes flashing as she recalls the month of detentions lined up for her, courtesy of Sirius fucking Black.
"Yes, I noticed," Gavin says, crossing his arms too as he casts her a sidelong glance. "I highly doubt that you'd agree to take part in one of Black's schemes, so why haven't you taken this up with your Head of House? I'm sure Slughorn would make Filch revoke your punishment."
Vivian's immediate response is a frustrated, "I already talked to Slughorn about it. He told me that he'd speak to Filch, but I doubt that's going to happen. I think he's afraid of that useless squib."
Gavin purses his mouth again. "Language, Vivian."
She promptly turns her glower on him and grouses, "I'm too annoyed to be polite, Clarke. If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, I'm really not in the mood."
He huffs at her, but doesn't argue and instead just returns, "Maybe you should take this up with Dumbledore, then. He'd sort everything out."
Mention of Dumbledore makes Vivian grumble to herself. As if she would ever go to that second-rate wizard for help! He may be the Headmaster, but Vivian would rather go groveling to Filch himself than to ask Dumbledore for assistance. Of course, her current disposition may have something to do with Sirius's offer of help one week prior, but she's too stubborn to admit that. Her pride would surely take a hit if she were to go to him, and so she just remains silent and doesn't respond to Gavin at all, preferring to cross her arms more tightly and frown more deeply.
Gavin, who has become accustomed to her stubbornness by now, sighs.
"I really don't understand you sometimes, Vivian," he tells her.
"I don't think anyone does, Clarke," someone else responds, and Vivian frowns even more angrily.
"Shove off, Potter," she immediately scorns, redirecting her glower to a more deserving target.
James doesn't seem overly concerned with being said target, and just smiles pleasantly at her. He slings an arm over her shoulder as if they're the best of friends and proclaims, "Since I'm looking to name you an Honorary Marauder, Blair, I'll take your tone with a grain of salt."
Gavin raises an eyebrow upon hearing this and watches as Vivian lets out a disgusted grunt and shoves James's arm off. "An Honorary Marauder? You can't be serious," he mutters, raising his eyes skyward in exasperation. As if Hogwarts needs any more of those rule-breaking troublemakers. Merlin.
James smirks. "I think you're getting me confused with one of my accomplices, Clarke. I'm James, not Sirius. Speaking of dear old Padfoot though, he's really looking forward to detention tonight, Blair."
Vivian glares at him and sneers, "He's insane."
James nods in agreement and smiles happily. "His insanity is one of his charms, I'm afraid." Then, before Vivian can respond, he turns his attention to the red-head that he happens to be in love with and exclaims, "And how fares my Lilyflower on this fine day?"
Vivian watches with a baleful glower as he begins his usual ritual of tripping over himself to gain Evans' attention, and snorts. As Lily systematically rejects him and calls the meeting to order in the same sentence, Vivian laments, "When did my life get consumed by those idiots?"
Gavin shrugs. "I've already told you my theory."
She once more turns her glower onto him and mutters, "Sirius Black is not in love with me. He doesn't even know what love is."
"I didn't say he was going about it the right way," is Gavin's response to this, which is probably the most diplomatic underestimation of Sirius's approach to love as could be said.
But nothing more can be mentioned on the topic (thankfully), because apparently James Potter has decided that his appointment as Head Boy matters more to him than everyone had previously believed. True to his word before Christmas break, he now seems to be of the mind that stepping up and accepting more duties is only right, and so when he starts passing out the papers that Lily had been organizing some minutes before, he's quick to boast how he had come up with the ideas all on his own.
"Did you threaten him into this or something?" Vivian murmurs to Gavin as she glances down at the surprisingly put-together thoughts. When she looks over at him, though, it's clear that Gavin is as surprised as she is.
"I haven't had the chance to talk to him yet," he says, eyebrows raised. He appears vaguely impressed, which is probably a sign that the apocalypse is here. Gavin Clarke has never been impressed with James Potter in his life.
Vivian narrows her eyes at Potter, thinks back to the recent run-ins she's had with him and his idiotic friends, and mutters, "He's up to something."
But what it is, exactly, that James is up to, well…
Under the dishonorable code of Maraudership, he is not inclined to tell.
"I don't know why you think this is a good idea," Lily scorns an hour later, after the prefect meeting is over and everyone has taken their leave. "It's clear that Vivian hates him as much as ever, and you know what? I can't entirely blame her for it. He's only got himself to blame."
James, who had of course remained behind so as to speak to Lily about their deal, shakes his head. "Untrue," he announces, then catches sight of Lily's raised eyebrow and hedges, "Okay, well yeah, he definitely hasn't done himself any favors over the years with his pranks and all, but I don't think Blair hates him as much as she wants everyone to think."
The he that they're speaking of is, naturally, Sirius Black, who is the only reason that James Potter and Lily Evans are having such a civil conversation to begin with.
"It's not just the pranks, Potter. It's the name-calling and the insults and everything else he's done," comes Lily's exasperated response. "What woman in her right mind would agree to give someone like that a chance?"
"Oi, that someone happens to be my best mate!" James defends.
Lily rolls her eyes. "All I'm saying is that this whole plan of yours is destined to fail. You can't make someone fall in love overnight."
James pauses, tilts his head, and says, "Well actually – "
"Absolutely not!" Lily interrupts, knowing exactly what he's about to say. "Love potions are cheating. Not to mention completely abhorrent."
James pouts, thinking of the long month ahead, and mumbles, "Fine. No love potions. What's the plan, then?"
Lily opens her mouth, pauses, and then hesitantly says, "Well…talking to them, I suppose."
James stares at her for all of three seconds before bursting into laughter. Lily doesn't entirely appreciate it.
"What's so wrong with that plan?" she demands, crossing her arms and wondering (not for the last time) why she had ever agreed to this in the first place.
James dramatically wipes a tear from his eye. "What's wrong with it? Everything! I mean, what d'you think I've been doing this whole time, anyway? The finer point of Sirius's personality is that he doesn't listen to reason, that's why we're friends!"
Lily huffs at him. "Well it's a better idea than anything you've come up with."
"I disagree. Locking them in a broom cupboard would definitely work," James returns. Then, waving his hand, he shrugs, "But the fact is, they're already going to be spending every evening for the next month together, so our job is to just…guide them along, yeah?" He smiles, and Lily continues looking quite skeptical. "I propose that we split up. I take Sirius and you take Vivian."
Lily frowns. "I'm not even friends with Vivian. It would be weird to suddenly start asking her about her love life."
James rubs his jaw and contemplatively responds, "Well don't ask her about her love life then." When Lily casts him a confused glance, he clarifies, "Ask her about how much she hates Sirius, and then I'm sure we'll get somewhere. If I've learned anything about girls, it's that they're backwar – er, I mean – I'm counting you, Lilyflower," with a bashful grin.
Lily, thoroughly unimpressed, narrows her eyes at him and mutters, "And I'm counting on this whole thing failing spectacularly and being free of you for the rest of my life."
James just laughs hesitantly and watches her storm off with a grimace.
Anyone who has ever sat through one of Argus Filch's detentions should consider themselves very lucky, because the majority of the time, the sort of work that he assigns rule-breakers does not require chairs.
"This is going to take us all night!" Sirius complains when the caretaker doles out their torture for the evening.
Filch looks absolutely delighted with Sirius's exclamation. His mouth stretches into a smile that reminds Vivian of the gargoyle statues near the astronomy tower, and throatily responds, "It may just!" in a voice that sounds far too pleased to be in any way sympathetic.
It isn't the promise of another sleepless night that truly rankles Vivian, though. Neither is her ire induced by the gleeful way Filch apprehends their wands. No, what really makes her angry is the fact that she has to clean up Sirius Black's mess.
The corridor that had witnessed the 'spectacular' prank of last night is in shambles. Truly, there is no better word to describe the disarray before her. The night before, in the thick of it all, when the fireworks were blaring through the air, she had been too distracted by the hilarious sight of Sirius tripping his way through the corridor to really see the chaos unfurling in the wake of it. Now, as she stands at the top of the hallway and peers down the length of it with broom and dust bucket in hand, she realizes that she had been entirely too quick to laugh.
This really is going to take all night. The dozens of spent dungbombs and fireworks littering the floor will be easy enough to sweep away, but the soot marks on the ceiling? The charred tapestries? The broken pieces of flagstone that the Rochester Roman Candle had knocked out of place? With magic, she could straighten everything up in seconds. As it is, though, all she has is a bucket of muggle cleaning supplies and the school's resident dumbass.
"I can't believe this," Sirius grumbles, even though he was the one who made the mess in the first place.
Vivian's mouth tightens. She considers maintaining her silence, but to be frank, she's far too annoyed to even try, and sneers, "You were the one who thought it was a good idea to set a roman candle off in the middle of the school."
Sirius frowns at her and mumbles, "I told you, my reasons were innocent enough."
"Your reasons are never innocent," she snaps back, and stomps forward to sweep some of the dungbombs over to the side of the hallway, intent on gathering them all into a pile.
Sirius sighs and walks forward to help, only to have Vivian send a glare his way and point to the soot marks on the walls. "You can start scrubbing."
"I'd rather not," Sirius sighs.
"Just do it," Vivian snarls.
To say that she is angry with him would be a gross understatement. Vivian doesn't have time to babysit him like this. She doesn't have time to listen to him whine. She should be working on her task, not idling away in detentions that she doesn't even deserve.
This is all his fault, and she's never hated him more.
Well that's not entirely true, actually. Yes, she's annoyed, and frustrated that her time isn't being spent wisely, and upset because she hasn't properly slept these last two nights – and a great many other things, too – but hatred is too encompassing a word to describe what Vivian feels as the evening goes on. In fact, by the time the first hour passes, she finds that she's more confused than anything else. She's known Sirius Black for a long time, well before she had even started her first year at Hogwarts. She knows how temperamental he is and how mercurial is emotions can be. Given the circumstances of their laborious task, he is acting surprisingly calm.
They fall into a strange silence as they put the corridor back in order. Sirius, after finishing with the soot marks on the walls, now turns his attention to the ceiling while Vivian sweeps the corridor from top to bottom. It isn't until she's finished with that task and is taking out the mop that Sirius says anything at all.
"How're the wedding plans?" is the question that comes tumbling from his lips. It only then occurs to him that perhaps he shouldn't say anything too caustic when he's standing on a stepladder near a girl who probably wouldn't think twice about toppling it over. Alas, though, the words have already been brought forth, and he can't take them back now.
Vivian, who had been rather enjoying the quiet, turns her head to spear him a sharp look. Sirius can't see the look because his back is turned towards her, but he'd be damned if he said he didn't feel it burning holes into his skin. She does have quite an impressive glower, after all.
"I'm not marrying him," comes her staunch reply, but she says nothing else and Sirius is too surprised that she had responded at all to prompt her for several moments.
He pauses in his scrubbing and glances over his shoulder at her, eyebrows raised. In a careful voice, he says, "I didn't realize you were given the choice. That's not usually how these things work."
He would know. Besides the fact that he had grown up in the very society that Vivian is a part of, he had been betrothed once too. They both had.
Vivian scoffs beneath her breath. The mop hits the floor with a little more force than is strictly necessary. "Not that it's any of your business, but I refuse to be bought and sold like some object in a shop. Mulciber is just too thick to realize that it's never going to happen, even though I've told him a million times – " she abruptly stops talking, most likely realizing that she's complaining a bit too vocally and that Sirius Black doesn't need to know anything about her life.
Her tirade is probably due to the simple fact that she doesn't really have anyone to talk to about these sorts of things. Narcissa, Morrigan, and Rosalind might grouse once in a while about their futures, but they would never go against their parents' wishes. If Vivian were to claim that she is not going to marry Adrian despite the marriage contract already being drafted, they would probably have heart attacks. Everyone in Slytherin house would be shocked at such a move, in fact. Even Regulus, who has made it clear enough that he would prefer her not to have anything to do with Mulciber for the rest of her life. To her peers, there is a strict way of presenting oneself to society, and outright rejecting an arranged marriage goes directly against that.
As for those friends she has made outside of Slytherin house, few as they are, well. Gavin wouldn't understand her plight. He would tell her that of course she shouldn't marry Mulciber just because she was told she had to. While that perception is one that she absolutely shares, it is lacking the other point of view, and failing to take account of the many consequences that she will receive for such an action. The fact that Gavin is no Slytherin is something she happens to appreciate, but in this instance, he would be of little help for that very same reason.
She hadn't realized how much this topic has been bothering her until now, as she stands in the hallway in front of Sirius Black and wrangles down the words that want to come pouring from her lips. Merlin, she must be going mental if she thinks that he'd make a good listener.
But, as she's about to discover, he actually does. He was raised in the elite pureblood world, but has shifted to one far less stringent in its rules of decorum. He has the two perspectives that no one else seems to possess.
"He isn't going to take that well," Sirius points out. "It's a matter of pride for him, now. A challenge."
Vivian skewers him with another of her looks and, insulted, repeats, "You're saying that I'm a challenge to win, like some prize?"
Sirius sends her a look, too, and responds, "Or to lose, and we both know he doesn't like losing."
She wants to argue, but honestly, she doesn't have much to say in response to that. Sirius does make a point, after all. Not just about Mulciber in general, but about the idea of her being in such a position.
"That's how guys are," Sirius adds after a beat of silence. He returns to his scrubbing and says, "If you tell them no, they automatically think that you're asking them to change your mind."
Vivian frowns at his back and scoffs, "Don't act like you've never done that yourself before."
He actually looks a bit offended when she says that, and turns to face her with an insulted expression blazing over his face. "I haven't!" he defends crossly. She raises an unbelieving eyebrow at him, which prompts him to add, "Unlike Mulciber, I'm too charming and good looking to resort to those measures. If anything, girls try to change my mind."
Vivian is so obviously unimpressed with this that she scornfully turns back to her mop and mutters, "Please. I doubt you've ever said 'no' to anyone."
Sirius, still offended (though slightly less so at this point), raises a finger and announces, "I have, actually. I've said no to any Slytherin who has ever propositioned me. And also there was Emma Hearthright because she's got those snaggly teeth, and Isabelle Greer – I don't think I need to explain that one, and – "
"You really don't need to list everyone you've ever rejected, Black," Vivian drawls, cutting him off.
He sniffs, and continue on as if she hadn't spoken. "Did saying 'no' stop those girls from chasing me?" Then, pausing, Sirius hedges, "Well yeah, it did actually, because girls aren't as competitive as most blokes by nature – look, point is, I've got standards just like everyone else."
Vivian sneers, "I don't see how any of this helps me."
This is, apparently, the wrong thing to say, because Sirius immediately turns on the ladder to peer down at her, raises an eyebrow, and inquires, "I didn't think you wanted my help."
Memories of that day on the Quidditch pitch slam into Vivian's head. Along with them comes his wayward offer to assist her by speaking to Dumbledore on her behalf, and Vivian glowers at him petulantly.
"I don't," she all but growls, and returns to the mop.
Sirius makes a sound in the back of his throat and mumbles something beneath his breath, but doesn't say anything more for a good long while, and neither does she. Silence falls down upon them again, broken only by the sound of her mop hitting the floor and his brush scrubbing the soot from the ceiling. And so it remains, for many minutes, and they fall into a silence that might have been described as comfortable, if it wasn't for the way Vivian's heart keeps pounding in her chest.
She doesn't know why, but then perhaps it's just one of those frustrating side-effects that seem to sprout up whenever she's around him, and realizes that he isn't quite as insufferable as he when he's surrounded by his fellow Gryffindors and he thinks he has something to prove. Yes, that must be it. He's much more agreeable when he's not boasting about some stupid prank or trying to impress one of his classmates during a lecture. Behind the jokes and the clowning around, he's not nearly as annoying.
She's still not sure why that would explain her breathlessness, though. Maybe the reason for that is simply that she rarely ever finds herself alone with him like this – just the two of them, working in silence, without anyone nearby to witness it…
"Besides," Vivian blurts, suddenly uncomfortable with the notion of being so alone with him, "Dumbledore wouldn't be able to help me anyway. He doesn't have any influence in the pureblood community."
Sirius isn't expecting her to speak again, lest not about his offer of help. He pauses to look at her, mulling over her words for a long moment. He seems to realize that his response requires some degree of thoughtfulness – a degree in which Vivian had doubted him to even possess. But he surprises her now, when he says in a more solemn voice, "If you went to him for help, he wouldn't need to have any influence."
There's no trace of judgement in his voice when he says this, which quite honestly makes Vivian feel even more uncomfortable. It seems as if they are treading waters that they have never tread before, as if some invisible barrier that has always existed between them has suddenly, quietly, been taken down. She tilts her head up to catch his eye, wanting to know the expression that blazes over his face – to see if perhaps there is judgement there after all – but Sirius is staring at her with that careful sort of patience, as if he's merely waiting for her to come to the same conclusion as he has.
When she doesn't, he sighs, and begins to clamor down from the ladder. She watches him closely as he does, almost wanting to tell him to stay right where he is, because it's easier to talk about this when there's more distance between them and when she can pretend that, suspended on the ladder as he is, Sirius Black isn't even there at all.
But he is. He's here and it's impossible to ignore his presence. She's always known that he is hard to ignore – his boisterous charm catches everyone's attention whether they want it to or not – but it has never seemed quite so encompassing before. He tosses the scrub brush back into the bucket at the foot of the ladder and crosses his arms over his chest, studying Vivian as if he's never seen her before this moment in time.
In a way, she feels the same. The casually rolled up sleeves and rumpled uniform is the same. The mussed up hair that still somehow manages to fall perfectly despite the work they've been doing this past hour looks familiar enough. Everything about Sirius Black is just as she's always known it to be, except for one thing.
His eyes are (dare she even think it?) soft.
His voice is, too, when he says, "Dumbledore doesn't need any influence. He would just take you out of that society completely. He could help you find a safe house. You could live a normal life. Get a normal job. Marry the bloke you actually fancy."
At this, Vivian laughs a little, and yes, it's mostly scornful because she doesn't believe that it would be that easy, but – it's also incredulous because he makes it sound so…wonderful.
Perhaps Sirius catches onto that hint of wonder, because he takes a careful step towards her and murmurs, "You could have the life you've always wanted."
But it's here that Vivian flounders, because she doesn't know what she wants. She's been groomed to marry an elite member of her own society, to become a wife and a mother foremost, and to put her own desires to the side where they ought to belong. She has her hobbies and her interests, but she's never actually thought about what she would do if she was allowed to fully explore them.
"…I don't know what sort of life I want," she tells him with a downward turn on her mouth. Later on, after this detention is over and she's wrapped up in Slytherin green bedsheets, she'll scoff at herself for ever having admitted such a thing to Sirius Black. But right now, standing before him as he watches her softly, the words come pouring from her lips before she gives them any thought at all. That it's strangely easy to speak of such things to him should surprise her for the principle of it all, but he seems to understand. There is discernment in his eyes as he takes her in, and on his face as he hears her words, because he does know what she's talking about. He is the firstborn son of the Great and Noble House of Black, and he knows better than anyone the sort of pressures that accompanies such a title.
With a small smile, Sirius shrugs, and calmly replies, "I guess that's the fun part. Figuring out what path you want to take."
Not her parents, not her classmates, not her teachers or her fellow purebloods. Her.
Vivian stares at him, and he stares back, and then she slowly asks, "And have you figured it out yet?" because for some reason, she is truly curious.
He shrugs again and rocks back on his heels, breaking their stare to instead look up at the soot marks on the ceiling. "I dunno. I think, if it came down to it, I want to be an Auror."
At this, Vivian snorts and responds, "Why does that not surprise me?" He raises an eyebrow at her and she mirrors the expression. "It's so…Gryffindor," she extrapolates.
A part of her fully expects him to get annoyed with her for saying this, or to immediately defend himself or some such thing, but instead, Sirius lets out a barking laugh and grins, "I wonder what a Slytherin type job would be…mmm a ministry official, that way you'd be able to lord over everyone and impose your own rules?"
She immediately rolls her eyes at him and resumes her mopping. "That's not funny," comes her response, but her mouth curls up just slightly and gives her away.
"Ah, or you could have a shop in Knockturn Alley. That's very Slytherin," he adds, wanting her to smile more.
If she does, she's quick to press it down.
"I can picture you selling all sorts of illegal contraband," he jokingly instigates, though not meanly. His voice is light and amused, seconds away from chuckling. "Or – maybe a bookshop," he says after a moment more, in a slightly more serious tone.
Vivian pauses, and looks up. Their eyes lock once more. The sincerity blazing through his gaze makes her straighten her back and study him more closely.
"…Why did you rig this hallway with all of those fireworks and dungbombs?" she finally wonders, propping the mop up and leaning against it slightly.
Sirius pauses, looks down, and clears his throat. "I've already told you why," he mutters, and then turns back to the bucket and scrub brush to avoid giving her a better answer.
Vivian raises an eyebrow at his halfhearted response and says, "You said your reasons were innocent. You never said what those reasons were. I think I deserve to know why you've wrangled me into serving a month's worth of detentions."
When I've got more important things to do, she almost adds, but doesn't, because she'd rather not get into a discussion about her task right now.
Sirius glances at her, appearing almost frustrated. He looks like he'd rather not say anything at all, but when he sees the resolved expression on her face, he must know that keeping his silence isn't going to be easy. Vivian Blair is too stubborn for that; too determined to have her way.
"I did tell you my reason. On the Quidditch pitch last week," he mutters, and grasps the ladder to shift it a little to the left, so as to reach more soot stains.
This response is circular enough to make her pause for a moment to consider what he's referring to, but it doesn't take her very long to connect the dots. After all, those words have been lurking in the back of her mind ever since, much to her own dismay.
"You mean when you said – " she begins.
"I like you," he finishes, quite unapologetically, then falters in the wake of such staunch words and clears his throat awkwardly once more.
Vivian stares at him yet again, and falls silent.
"…You don't believe me, then?" Sirius wonders, sounding a bit too lighthearted to be truly genuine. He busies himself with ensuring that the ladder is properly aligned with the next bout of soot marks that needs to be scrubbed away, and doesn't look at her.
Vivian snorts, "Why would I? You're Sirius Black."
He pauses, stares at the soot marks for one long moment, and then quietly turns to face her. He returns, "And you're Vivian Blair." And he pauses again for a beat of a second before lifting his chin and saying, "You're too proud for your own good sometimes, and you make me crazy because you're the most stubborn person I know. You never apologize but that's…well, that's why I like you. You're not a push-over."
Vivian is…well, shocked. Her lips part in surprise, and this time, when she stares at him, it's because she has no idea what to say in response.
"You really do need to be tossed into St. Mungo's crazy ward," she finally manages.
Sirius grins at her and chuckles, "Yeah, I reckon I must be pretty crazy to like someone like you, Godric."
And – this time, Vivian just rolls her eyes and tells him to shove off, but her words come out just a little too breathlessly to sound truly angry, and Sirius just smiles as he turns his attention back to the ladder.