No One Does It Better

Chapter Thirty-Two

I'm yours to keep and I'm yours to lose

You know I'm not a bad girl, but I

Do bad things with you

I counted down every minute from the moment my feet landed outside my home back in Glasgow on New Year's Day to the day I was packing to leave for Hogwarts later that week. Both of my parents were awake when I walked through the door, but they believed my story that I had woken early and went for a walk to feel better. I wrote to both Sirius, Lily and Adaline to let them know that everything was okay.

We usually had New Year's dinner with just the three of us but unbeknown to me, due to my early departure at the Rosier's party the previous night, my parents invited the Greengrasses to join us. My only saving Grace was that Nathaniel's older sister, Aurora, had joined them that night. I liked Aurora a lot, but you could see she was ill. None of us spoke of her health and while I could tell she was struggling to put a front on for the dinner, she was a welcomed distraction to me.

My mother never brought up what we spoke about when she came home with me that night, but she seemed nervous and on edge any time she was around either me or my father. When it came for the day for me to return to Hogwart's, she would normally accompany me to London, but I she made an excuse to stay home.

'I'll see you in a few months,' she kissed me on the cheek as we stood at the fireplace. I was going to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron with my father and he would then have one of the Ministry's muggle cars drop me off at Kings Cross station. The forced smile on my mother's face worried me. Like me, she very much let her face do the talking, so to see her fake her feelings wasn't sitting right with me. I knew she had worked out that marrying me off to Nathaniel wasn't going to be an option and she was probably in panic mode to find someone I would say 'Yes' to come May. If only she knew it wasn't worth worrying over.

My father and I landed in the Leaky Cauldron and didn't speak a word to each other as we left the pub and found the car waiting for us. Once it dropped me off, it would take him to one of the Ministry's many entrances.

'I'm going to start applying to the Ministry when I go back,' I swallowed as we sat quietly in the car. 'Is there anywhere you recommend I stay away from?'

'Am I allowed to say my department?' he read the Daily Prophet with a small smile. My father worked in the Obliviator Headquarters in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. All I knew was that he was in a very high-up position.

'If you really don't want a hard worker, that's your own fault,' I joked back. 'I just want to know where the best starting place would be to get into the Department of Mysteries. They don't let recent Hogwart's graduates in at all.'

My father lowered his paper and looked at me briefly before turning the page.

'Stay away from Transportation and Magical Creatures,' he quipped. 'Does your mother know you plan on working after school?'

'Do you really think she does?'

The car stopped outside Kings Cross Station. To my surprise, my father helped me get my trunk out of the car and then gave me a brief hug.

'Try to enjoy these last few months at school, Nova,' he said as he pulled away from me and went back over to enter the car. 'And don't be running off on any late-night adventures.'

Well, shit.

I found Adaline on the train and pulled her into the nearest empty carriage for me to unload my pending mental breakdown on her. My parents knew I wasn't home on New Year's Eve and they knew I wasn't with any of the pureblood inner circle we associated with. I was surprised I hadn't been disowned.

'What exactly did he say to you?' Adaline asked me again.

'Don't be running off on any late-night adventures,' I groaned. 'Why the hell did they not lock me in my room the minute I got home? I don't understand what the fuck is going on.'

'Well, there is no point in worrying over it now,' Adaline told me. 'You're not telling me that in five months-time that they will bring it up again.'

I didn't reply, instead I chewed on the inside of my lip. The full situation adding up but Adaline was right, what would they possibly do about it in May? I would be living with Sirius by the time they even had the chance to bring it up with me and even then, they really had no control over me now that I am 18.

'Are we going looking for your boyfriend and his gang then?' Adaline asked, going through her bag. 'Or are we just waiting until they find us?'

'Wait until they find us,' I told her and curled up on the seat of the train. 'I think we deserve one last quiet train ride into Hogwarts. Don't you?'

I was desperate to see Sirius, but I my head was spinning wondering why my night out was completely ignored by my parents and why my mother was acting so strange before I left to come back to school. I decided it was best to sleep it off and hope the underlying anxiety of something bigger happening would go away eventually.

'Good morning, pretty lady.'

'Hey,' I smiled tiredly up at Sirius as he sat next to me in Potions.

'I thought I'd see you on the train,' he yawned.

'Do I always need to be the one coming to look for you?' I asked with a cheeky grin.

'I suppose not,' he nudged me with his shoulder. 'How was the rest of your time at home, then?'

I shrugged. I had made the decision not to tell him that my parents knew I was out that night. It wouldn't matter in the long run, really.

'Nothing, just the usual boring stuff.'

'Well would you like to do something unboring after classes today?'

'Hmm,' I sucked on the edge of my quill. 'I'll have to check my diary.'

I felt Sirius' hand on my thigh the minute I finished talking and felt it slide under my skirt and further up my leg.

'I think you might just be free.'

I couldn't help but grin back and shove his hand away. I turned my attention to Slughorn who had started drawling on about this being the 'final push'. I thought back to telling my father about my plans to go into the Ministry as a graduate from Hogwarts. I don't know why I told him, to be honest. I knew I wouldn't get the approval from my mother, but I knew that, even if he didn't show it, my father would be proud that I wanted to work and that I didn't just want to be a doll in the wizarding world society. But I also knew that he didn't want me distancing myself from our family and our beliefs.

Potions ended up being one massive revision session and I had a feeling that from now on, that was what the majority of the classes were going to be like. I began to dread the workload that was about to come my way and the complete and utter panic over NEWTs set in. When we left the class to head to Transfiguration, Adaline met us as she left the common room.

'Adaline, happy new year!' Sirius bellowed and grabbed her for a hug to which she pushed him off her quickly.

'Thanks, you too but I am not a hugger.'

'How can you not be a hugger?' James asked, looking astounded and went to attempt to go near Adaline who then drew her wand out on him.

'I'm serious, Potter – don't touch me.'

I couldn't help but laugh as James took a precautionary duck and moved as far away from Adaline as possible. This was almost surreal, walking with a bunch of Gryffindors and my best friend. Sirius had draped his arm around my shoulder lazily. I hadn't felt so full in so long, or maybe at all. I couldn't help but smile up at Sirius as we came out from the dungeons and headed towards the stairs.

'What?' he asked me, grinning back.

'Nothing,' I told him. When I looked away all I could do was feel all eyes on me or should I say, us.

'I'm trying to work-out if people are more upset that Nova is taken or Sirius,' Adaline said, noticing too with a smirk on her face.

I didn't think this would bring so much attention. People in Hogwarts began dating all the time and we were no different. I wanted to shift out of Sirius' grasp, but I also knew he was loving that people knew that we had each other. I didn't like attention like this, I enjoyed blending into the background and getting on with my personal life behind closed doors. I don't even think people knew outside Slytherin that Nathaniel and I were together a few years ago. I just wasn't for displaying my life. I didn't want to people to see how vulnerable I could really be. Everyone filed into Transfiguration when Sirius kept us back to go in last.

'You okay?' he asked me.

'Fine,' I forced a smile, but he raised an eyebrow at my response, so I decided to tell him what was bothering me. 'I don't really do attention.'

'I see,' he kissed my forehead. 'It will die down eventually. I mean, you are with the most handsome boy in the school.'

I laughed and shoved him playfully and opened the door to the classroom.

'I'll see you after last period in the Prefects Bathroom.'

I was incredibly lucky that my only two classes of the day on a Monday were in the morning and I had the rest of the day free. No one had any classes between morning break and lunch time, and I managed to convince everyone to sit in the library instead of the Great Hall so that there would be no onlookers now that the dynamics of our small group had changed.

McGonagall had set us a tough revision timetable and was going to be doing random assessments on the build-up to the NEWT exam, so I had Sirius helping me do every form of Transfiguration possible. All the Transfiguration talk later turned into Adaline questioning the three boys on how they became Animagi. Remus dodged the question by saying he had absolutely no interest in becoming an animal and much to our relief, she believed him.

After lunch, everyone headed to their classes and those of us left went back to our common rooms for the time being. Once upon a time, I would have loved retreating back to the Slytherin common room but now I was filled with dread. I was worried that absolutely no one would talk to me or that everyone was talking about me. It was fine when I was just friend with Sirius to say exactly that – we were friends. Now, being involved with him, it made everything different. I was lucky that all the girls from my dormitory were in a class or elsewhere in the castle, so I sat and read through my textbooks until it was time to go and meet Sirius.

I was the first one there and while I didn't anticipate actually taking a bath, I turned the taps nonetheless and slid my tights off so I could sit on the edge with my feet in the water to heat me up. Around after 15 minutes I heard the door open and my face lit up at Sirius walking in.

'Alright?' I said to him.

'Yeah, why?' he questioned and took his cloak off.

'Sorry,' I half laughed. 'I just meant hi.'

'Ah, you and your Scottish-ness,' he playfully sighed and walked over to bend down and give me a kiss.

To my surprise though, it was a quick kiss and he pulled away and undressed himself down to his underwear.

'What?' he asked at my raised eyebrow. 'You're not telling me you weren't planning on actually getting in?'

'Not really,' I shrugged and watched as he dived right into the now full bubbled bath. He swam up and rested his chin on my bare leg.

'I just came from Care of Magical Creatures where I was trying to feed some Thestrals, I need a bath.'

'Thestrals?'

'They are apparently like a horse with wings,' he spoke. 'You can only see them if you have seen death.'

'Lovely,' I swallowed.

'Can't I tempt you in?' he looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.

'Mmm,' I shrugged as he placed a kiss on my knee. He swam away from me and he seemed to wriggle about before I saw him throw is soaked boxers onto the side of the bath.

'What about now?'

I couldn't help but grin at him. I began to unbutton my shirt but kept my Slytherin tie on and then stood up so slide my skirt off. I stood for a moment with a smirk on my face as Sirius watched me closely. He was looking at me deadly serious and I loved it. I slid of my underwear and unclipped my bra before sliding into the water with just my school tie on. I swam up to him and the minute he could reach me he pulled me into his arms.

'Who knew a Slytherin tie could look so good?' he muttered before kissing me.

This time, the kissing didn't stop. At one point, I caught sight of the Mermaid in the portrait who had turned her back on us in disgust.

After we had our fun, we dried off and I wrapped myself in a bathrobe and sat in one of the chairs that was left out while Sirius put his trousers and shirt back on.

'I missed you, you know,' he told me as he walked over and sat on the chair next to me that I had pulled over. 'I know it was only a few days, but they were fucking awful.'

I couldn't help but smile at his declaration.

'I missed you too,' I said quietly and then looked at him. 'Can you actually believe this is happening though? Us? Our parents would have been absolutely overjoyed.'

'That they would have,' he smiled then it dropped a little. 'Did you tell your parents? Just with your mother seeing us at Kings Cross that day.'

'No,' I shook my head. 'I just said we were partners in potions and I only kissed you on the cheek to annoy her.'

Sirius nodded slowly and I sat up.

'Is that okay?' I asked.

'Of course,' he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

I got ready and we left to head off to dinner. We took our time as Sirius was telling me all about his motorbike. It was ridiculously cute how excited he got over it. We left the fifth floor and began walking down the stairs when we heard raised voices coming from the fourth floor corridor. Sirius pressed a finger to his lips, and we moved quietly to the entrance of the floor. The voices were moving away from us and deeper into the castle. There was no mistake that Regulus was one of the voices. I peeked around the corner and saw there were at least four of them. I grabbed Sirius' hand as we followed behind them as quiet as possible. They came to a stop, and Sirius pushed us into an empty classroom so we could listen in.

'What do you mean you're not sure?' Regulus demanded.

'Exactly that,' I heard Nathaniel say. He sounded uneasy. 'I'm not doing anything I'm not sure about.'

'That's downright pathetic. Do you know how stupid I looked?' Regulus spat. 'How stupid we looked?'

'He wasn't happy,' it was a voice that sounded like Severus but, despite what he said he didn't sound like he was attacking Nathaniel like Regulus was.

'What does it matter?' Nathaniel raised his voice a little. 'It's not as if me not being there held any of you back!'

Someone snorted.

'Let's just go,' we heard an unfamiliar voice. 'There's no point in wasting our time on him anymore.'

Sirius looked at me, trying to work out who the fourth person was. It dawned on me and I mouthed Rowle, a boy in the year below us, and he nodded. We waited on the footsteps disappearing before we decided it was safe for us to leave. Sirius left first and checked the corridor was empty before signalling that I could leave the class.

'What do you think that was about?' he asked me as we headed back towards the stairs.

At first, I shrugged but it was obvious and there was no point in trying to pretend I didn't know in order to protect Sirius' feelings.

'I think it sounded like they are-'

'Death Eaters,' he muttered. 'It didn't seem like Greengrass did it though.'

'No,' I shook my head. 'It doesn't seem like he did.'

We walked in silence for a while when Sirius pulled on my hand to stop me.

'You and Greengrass,' he swallowed. 'What exactly went on?'

I looked at him plainly, not fully registering what he was asking me but then I looked at his face. He was trying not to show it, but he seemed almost worried.

'We were just friends until fifth year, that was when we just decided to start going out. It lasted about a year and then we decided that being together wasn't for us. After that, we were just there for each other when it was convenient. I – I have never loved him in any other way but as a friend.'

Sirius simply nodded. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that my parents were going to try and set me up with Nathaniel after school. Even though I wouldn't be going home, I didn't want Sirius to think there was even a slight possibility that I would need to deal with Nathaniel in any form of romantic way.

'Why do you think he didn't become one?' he then asked, his voice sounding a little bit firmer.

'He's not a killer, he doesn't have the stomach for that kind of stuff.'

The words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying and what I was then implying Regulus was. I felt my eyes go wide and Sirius half laughed.

'Let's go eat,' he said and put his arm around my shoulder once more, keeping me close.

Lyrics are Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince by Taylor Swift