Hallie didn't actually have to wait until her next round of patrols to see Sirius again because he was literally every. where. she. went.
In between classes, he would linger in the halls with his friends, inadvertently blocking her way to her next class.
At mealtimes, her conversations would be interrupted by boisterous laughter from the Gryffindors reacting to his jokes.
Even when she went to the library to study, truly the last place she expected to see Sirius Black, he'd be draped in a chair casually tossing a snitch back and forth with James Potter while his other friends diligently labored on their homework.
Hallie knew Sirius wasn't actually more present in her life—given that he gave no indication of acknowledging her during these moments—but ever since she had agreed to his little deal, she just… noticed him a bit more. A lot more.
Regardless, they kept up their routine every Wednesday night. They would cross paths at some point during her patrol, exchange a few quips and head on their respective ways. This worked well for about three weeks until he broke their system.
"You know, your patrol times are very inconvenient for me," he informed her. "This is when I usually make Peter do my Potions homework."
"Peter's better at Potions than you are?" She found it unlikely many people would be better than Sirius at anything, especially not timid Peter.
"No. I figured I'd be nice and let him get some practice."
"How generous of you." She rolled her eyes. "You could always find another prefect with a better schedule to harass."
"Nah, Lily would never let me get away with anything and even Remus is starting to be more 'responsible.' You're the only other prefect I know."
"You don't actually know me," she reminded him.
"I'd like to think I know a bit about the girl I've been coming to see for a month now, Hayley." He winked. "I'm kidding!" he added hastily after she glared at him. "I know your name, Hallie."
"Oh. Well, good, Cyrus." She shifted uncomfortably as he threw her a lazy smirk. Honestly, she didn't actually think he knew her name.
"So what do you actually do? When you're not meeting handsome and dashing Gryffindors, that is." Sirius looked around the empty hallway.
"Just walk around and make sure no one's out past curfew. Depending on the severity of the infraction, we can take away points or give out detentions."
"Hm. Well, it seems rather dangerous to do it alone. Never know when you could get hit by a nasty hex."
"I am perfectly capable—"
"No need to worry, Jameson," said Sirius gallantly. "I will chivalrously give up my evening to protect you on your patrols. Let's go."
He herded her forward with an insistent hand on her back, ignoring her protests.
"I don't need you to join me," she argued. "I don't want you to join me."
He gave her a wounded look.
"Don't you have to go on your 'run?'" She didn't put the air quotes around the word herself but they both knew it was there.
"I do actually run, you know. I told you, you could come see me any time for proof."
Hallie stopped in the hallway. Sirius closed his eyes momentarily in frustration.
"I don't think going on a run will be enough to distract me tonight," he told her in a low voice. "So could you please just humor me for now and let me come along?"
Unable to say anything with his intense grey eyes trained on her, Hallie simply nodded and they began walking once more.
"So," she said awkwardly, trying to think of a neutral topic. "How're quidditch practices going?"
"So you can report back to your precious House captain about our drills? I don't think so, Ravenclaw," he responded lightly. Luckily his mood seemed to have passed as soon as it came.
Hallie rolled her eyes. "Please, if anything, I'd give Randall the wrong information so he'd lose."
Sirius opened his mouth, presumably to ask her why, until it dawned on him. "Ah, OWL year for Ravenclaws," he muttered sympathetically. "I imagine Randall Davies is one of the worst of your lot, eh?"
"You have no idea." Hallie scowled, thinking of how Randall told the Ravenclaws in her year all about how they'd have to duel professional Aurors in their OWL and was known for Vanishing their homework right when they finished. All the fifth years knew not to finish their work in the common room anymore. All part of the torment they received during OWL year.
Sirius seemed to be thinking along similar lines and grimaced. "He's already such a dick in quidditch and in class. I can't imagine actually being in the same House as him during OWLs."
"I don't know, you have Cornelia Alcott in your year. At least Randall is older than me so I don't have to see him in my classes," Hallie teased. She knew full well the intense dislike Sirius harbored for the uptight Cornelia, whose focus on social status and rule-following to an unhealthy degree represented everything Sirius stood against.
"Ugh, so true. I don't know why she's in Gryffindor when she should so obviously be in—"
"Hufflepuff," Hallie agreed. "She's too nosy and just not original enough to be in Gryffindor. No sense of bravery there. She's probably too good for the Puffs though."
"Exactly! That's what I keep saying!"
They burst out laughing together and rounded the corner to see Professor McGonagall awaiting them, more stern than usual. Hallie choked on her laughter.
Fuck.
"Black, Jameson. Would you care to tell me why you are both out gallivanting at night?" Her tone held a measured irritation that implied she knew what they were doing already.
"Ah, Professor." Sirius was startled but quickly recovered and put on a charming grin. "Didn't expect to see you out here. Would you say—"
"Obviously, Mr. Black, I doubt you'd break curfew if you expected me." McGonagall was not swayed by his charisma.
"Right." Sirius floundered for a response. "Well, um, we were just…"
"Yes?" The professor's eyebrow rose, clearly waiting for him to give a bullshit excuse so she could throw them in detention and be done with it.
Sirius threw Hallie a desperate look, begging for help.
"I was just escorting him back to Gryffindor Tower," Hallie said quickly.
"Oh?" McGonagall was obviously not expecting that response. Sirius' face clearly read what the hell are you doing. Halle ignored him.
"He was breaking curfew, as you mentioned, Professor. I caught him during my rounds and gave him a detention but thought it best to go with him back to his dorm just to make sure he didn't do anything else tonight." Hallie held her breath hoping McGonagall would buy her excuse.
"Yep," Sirius said, throwing his hands up helplessly. "She caught me. Tried to talk my way out of it but she's a tough one."
Hallie eyed him, silently begging him to shut up. He was going to ruin it with his dramatics. Luckily McGonagall had a lot of experience ignoring Sirius Black and James Potter.
"Good job, Jameson," McGonagall said crisply. "Take him back to his dorm as you were. Black, you better have tomorrow's homework ready in class."
"Yes, Professor," they said together. Sirius grabbed her arm and they walked past McGonagall as fast as they could without arousing suspicion.
"I think we're safe," Sirius said, checking behind his shoulder before casting an admiring gaze on Hallie. "Quick thinking, Ravenclaw."
"It's in the House description," Hallie said modestly. "Um, you know I have to actually give you detention now. McGonagall's probably going to check to see if you actually serve it."
Sirius was less quick to commend her this time. "You couldn't have just taken points off? You had to give detention?"
"That's the usual punishment for breaking curfew and I couldn't let her think I was letting you get off easy. You're the one who just said it was a good idea!"
"I don't think I ever actually said it in those words," Sirius reminded her before losing his ire. "Whatever. I've served hundreds of detentions. What's one more, eh?"
He gave her a friendly nudge and Hallie relaxed now that he was apparently over it. As they crossed the dark hallways, Sirius was more concerned.
"I know you can protect yourself and all, but it seems like a bad idea to have prefects patrol alone." He scanned the dark corners of the castle walls. "They should really give you partners in case you run into a whole group instead of just a single person."
"We do. I just suggested to my partner that we split up to cover more ground at once."
"Who's your partner?"
"Garrett Blake." Hallie sighed, thinking about how she'd be late to meet up with him after their respective rounds were over.
"And here I was thinking you were actually being a good prefect by splitting up." Sirius snorted. "I'd just hex him during our first rounds and get it over with."
"I hate to say it but perhaps that's why you weren't picked as prefect." she asked lightly.
"Among other reasons." He gave a low chuckle. "Seriously though, kudos to you for your patience in dealing with him."
"He's not that bad." Hallie felt compelled to defend her partner. "He's just a bit…"
"Uptight? Bland? Pedantic? Killjoy?" He said, listing off everything Hallie herself had thought about Garrett before. "Face it, no one wants to hang out with him except for other boring prefects. You need to partner with someone a bit more interesting. Someone to loosen you up, perhaps."
"What, like you?" she retorted without thinking. His grey eyes brightened and his cheeky smirk made her lose her breath for a second.
"Someone exactly like me."
"Well, we're here," she stuttered out as they slowed to a stop in front of the Fat Lady. "You can go inside the tower now."
He burst out laughing. Hallie gaped and punched his arm.
"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," he snickered. "Relax, Ravenclaw, I don't bite. Not unless you want me to," he added with a wink. Hallie punched him again. "Ow! Ok, I'll stop, I'll stop. Night, Jameson. See you next week."
"You're the worst," she grumbled but Sirius just saluted her before entering the portrait door.
Ben was lying on her bed when she returned. Only Lola, who was dying her hair with her wand on her bed, and Emilia, who had given her a friendly wave as she passed by the common room, were accounted for of her actual roommates. Asha and Elena were nowhere in sight.
"How was our favorite Hufflepuff?" he asked without looking up from the quidditch magazine he was reading.
"Oh, fuck."
"Forgot to meet up with him?" He gave a short laugh.
"Yep. Whatever, I'll just tell him I was busy putting someone in detention." Hallie slipped off her shoes and gathered her lovingly worn pajamas to go change.
"Won't he be able to check that though? You know he's the type to do it."
"I had to actually do it so it's all on record." Hallie tried to sound casual and headed for the bathroom. "Is there anything in that magazine about Puddlemere's chances against the Harpies' chasers?"
"Nah, just about World Cup stuff, nothing much about the league. Who'd you put in detention?"
"Hm? Oh, just Sirius Black. So what does it say about England's team this year?"
But it was no use trying to gloss over it. Ben looked up from his magazine for the first time since she entered the room. Even Lola, who usually did her own thing and wasn't one to take part in school gossip, paused her wand movements upon hearing his name.
"Sirius Black, you say?" Ben said, intrigued. "What was he doing?"
"Just out past curfew, nothing important." Hallie shrugged.
"And you gave him detention?" His eyebrows rose. "Ballsy move, Hal. I don't know if I could give one of the Marauders detention if I had to, other than Pettigrew maybe."
"He was actually pretty cool about it."
Hallie didn't know why she didn't just tell him everything. It's not like Ben or Asha would get her in trouble or like Sirius forbade her from telling them. But it was almost a relief to see Sirius during her patrols each week. It was the one time her mind could take a break from the drama of friends and classes. Sharing that with someone else would break the little bubble of peace she had.
"Where's Asha?" She changed the subject. Ben grimaced, Sirius Black successfully forgotten for now.
"In the library finishing our Potions homework."
"Oh." Hallie paused for a moment, the information rolling around her mind. "Wait, we have Potions homework due tomorrow? Shiiit."
"That's what I said. But it's the one that's due next week." He didn't elaborate, eyes trained on her face waiting for it to click with her.
"She's working on it at midnight? When it's due next week?"
"I tried to tell her to come back but she insisted she was just going to finish this last bit tonight. Even though I'm pretty sure she hasn't done her Defense homework that's actually due tomorrow."
"We did Defense together on Monday but she left after just half an hour and we didn't get that much done. And she was supposed to help me out with Potions on Sunday," Hallie said slowly, wondering just how concerned they should be. "She's gotten like this before though. Remember third year when she slept in the library?"
"That was bad but it was just during finals week, Hal." Ben's eyes, usually so impish, were serious. "It's only October and she's already begun."
"I don't think there's much point in going after her right now," Hallie stated and Ben nodded in agreement. "I'll bring it up to her tonight when she comes back."
"So since you brought up Sirius Black," Ben said after a solemn pause. "Fuck, marry, kill: Marauders edition? You have to kill two of them since there's four and not three in their group."
"Do you want to also decide between the Marauders or do you want the Gryffindor seventh year girls to make it a real decision for yourself?" Hallie asked, amused.
"Nah, I'll do the Marauders too. They're frankly more interesting than their female Gryff counterparts."
Emilia came back up to the common room just half an hour after Ben left and Elena came through at one, noisily throwing her shoes around and grumbling to herself about something or another, no concern given towards her roommates.
When it was three in the morning and Asha still hadn't shown up, Hallie finally made herself fall asleep with a promise to talk to her tomorrow about healthy sleeping hours.