Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.
CHAPTER 7
Sirius, James, and Remus walked into the castle to get to their next class. Right before entering the classroom, Sirius realized that he forgot something in the common room that he needed. He left the others and started walking towards Gryffindor Tower. Nina was walking towards class from the common room when she saw Sirius walking in her direction. When they crossed paths, he stopped her for a minute and she looked up at him. Oh no.
"Hey," he said with a sympathetic smile. "You okay?"
Nina couldn't look at him in the eye so she lowered her gaze and said, "Yeah, I'm just going to class." She looked up at him again and he was giving her a scrutinizing look.
"Are you sure?" he asked her.
She looked down again and shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "I guess."
"Hmm." He said thoughtfully slowly nodding his head and then added quickly, "Wait here a second. I've got to run and grab something from inside. I'll be back in less than two seconds." He dashed into the common room leaving Nina alone in the corridor. Why does he want me to wait for him? And then she realized, Hey, he's actually saying something for a change. Wonder what happened. Maybe he feels sorry for me. Great. He probably thinks I'm a loser with one less friend. Humph, I don't need anyone's pity. Maybe I should just start walking—but it was too late. Sirius had already reappeared and was by her side again.
"Sorry," he started to say while they walked towards the classroom, "I saw Leena in the common room and she practically jumped me."
"Oh yeah?" Nina said smiling slightly, "She's an affectionate kid."
"Yeah," he agreed with her, "hyper too."
"Mmhmm. So," she wanted to change the subject, afraid speaking of Leena would lead to Sara, "you guys are all taking Muggle Studies?"
"Yes, well, James sort of forced us to take it with him. I think he signed up for it when he found out Lily was taking it." Sirius said to her.
"Aah. That's why you guys are taking it. I thought maybe it interested you."
"Well, it isn't so bad, actually. Some stuff is pretty interesting." And then he asked her, "So why are you guys taking it? You probably know more about that stuff than the professor does."
Nina explained to him that Lily was interested in hearing about muggles from a wizarding point of view, and that she herself had only taken it for an easy mark. "Sara just took it because we were." she said.
"I see." Sirius said understandingly. Talking about Sara made Nina remember what had just happened. She tried to put it out of her mind, but now that they were standing outside of the classroom she started to feel uneasy again. She didn't want to walk in there alone and see Sara, especially if Lily wasn't there yet. Her uneasiness died away however, when the sound of her name came from behind her. She turned around and saw Lily walking briskly towards her. Sirius told her that he'd see her inside and left her with her friend.
"Where have you been?" Lily asked her with concern. "I was looking for you everywhere."
"Nowhere." she answered listlessly. "I was just in the common room and now I'm here."
"Oh." Lily asked her with some uncertainty, "So, did you see Sara by any chance?"
"Nope." Nina looked down at the ground. She suddenly felt like crying.
"Okay never mind," Lily said bracingly and took Nina's arm, "I don't think she meant what she said, Nina. She was projecting her frustration in the wrong place without knowing it. She'll realize she was being stupid and come to you. Don't worry about it too much."
"Yeah, whatever." Nina shrugged. "Let's just go inside." They walked into the classroom and saw the boys sitting towards the back of the room. Sara wasn't there. There were a few empty seats in front of James, Remus and Sirius. Sirius and James smiled at the girls as they came forward. Remus seemed to be reading his book rather intently, his face a little pink. Nina and Lily sat down, leaving the desk next to Nina empty.
The class started and Sara still hadn't shown up. The professor announced that there would be a group project that the students would be working on for the next few weeks. The project would be based on an analysis of a muggle profession.
"You will be working in groups of three," she was explaining, "and before you start choosing your best friends to work with, let me tell you that I will be picking the groups."
There were a couple of groans from the students and the professor continued speaking. "Now, to make it fair, I'm simply going to go down my class list in alphabetical order and group you. This will make my life much easier as well."
Lily looked at Nina and they both looked disappointed. They didn't want to get stuck with anyone who didn't work well with them. Nina started thinking about who else's last name started with an A. She couldn't think of anyone so she went to the B's. Oh damn. Bana. I'm gonna have to work with Sara.
And, sure enough, when the professor started calling off the names, Nina's and Sara's were right next to each other. "Okay, let's see. Aydin, Bana, and Black. You're one group." Oh shit! Bana and Black! What the hell am I going to do? Nina put her head down on the table.
The professor continued on with her list, "Chang, Diggory, Evans." Nina put her head up and looked at Lily. She didn't look too disappointed. Anthony Chang and Amos Diggory were pretty smart, and not bad looking either. Nina could hear a distinct grumble of contempt coming from James behind her. After a couple more groups were formed she announced, "Lupin, Pettigrew, Potter." She looked up at the grinning boys sitting next to each other and then looked back down on her list with a confused look on her face.
"Wait, that can't be right…anybody have a last name starting with M, N or O that I missed?" Nobody answered her. "Hmm. Okay must be a smaller class then. That's fine." The girls could hear the boys behind them chortling about something.
As soon as the professor finished reading off her list, the door of the classroom opened, and in walked Sara. The boys' chattering suddenly stopped and Nina could feel the tension rise in the air. The professor glanced at Sara and continued explaining the terms of the project. Sara walked slowly towards the back of the class, looking for an empty spot. There were two empty chairs three rows down from where Nina and Lily were sitting, and there was the empty seat next to Nina.
Nina could feel her heart beating. Why do I feel so apprehensive? Man, I can't stand having people mad at me. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. She started biting her nail when she looked up and caught Sara's eye. Sara looked at her with a discomfited face and her eyes looked a little red. Maybe she's afraid I'm mad at her, Nina thought. I can't stand this anymore. I should let her know that I don't mind her sitting next to me. It'll be up to her to sit down if she wants to…
Nina put her hand up and gave Sara a small wave and pointed to the seat next to her. Sara let out a slow breath. Nina could see the relief spread on Sara's face as she walked up the empty seat and sat down next to her.
Sara took out a piece of parchment, started scribbling something down with her quill and passed it to Nina. Nina read it. 'What did I miss?' she wrote. Nina picked up her quill and wrote back 'Group project—me, you and Sirius are together." She passed it back to Sara, who read the note and nodded. Sara let out a sigh and stared down at her table. Nina bent down to pick up her book when she felt something in her pocket. She reached her hand in it and took out the package that Leena had given her.
She scribbled a note to Sara telling her it was her package from her sister and passed them to her. Sara took the package and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears. She got up and quickly left the classroom. Nina and Lily watched her go out, unsure of what to do.
Lily poked Nina and mouthed to her to go and follow Sara, so she got up and left the room. As soon as she shut the classroom door, she saw a curly head turn into the girls' washroom down the hall. Nina followed her inside and saw Sara standing by the sinks, crying.
"Sara," Nina came to her and grabbed her by the hands, "what is going on? Why are you crying?" Sara, still crying, leaned her head on Nina's shoulder and hugged her. Nina hugged her back tightly.
"I'm sorry," came Sara's muffled voice through her tears, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't even remember what I said. I just know I said something stupid. Everyone probably thinks I'm an ass now."
"Oh, don't be silly." Nina said patting Sara's back, "Everyone already knew you were an ass." Sara started to laugh through her tears.
She lifted her head back up and started to wipe her tears away. "You're probably right. I'm sure Remus thinks I'm mental. I totally spazzed at him for doing something nice for you. I'm horrible."
"No, you're not, Sara." Nina said sternly.
"No seriously, Nina. I got so mad when he said he'd go with you to the dance." she said stubbornly, and then added in a quieter voice, "I got jealous."
"Well, you retard, I wasn't going to let him take me anyways!" Nina started to rant, getting everything out of her system, "You guys kept talking between yourselves and you didn't even let me say anything. I know you like him, you know. It's pretty obvious. I wouldn't purposely try to hurt you that way. What kind of a friend do you think I am?"
"I know, I know," Sara said indolently, "maybe I was just afraid that maybe Remus liked you."
"Oh please." Nina said rolling her eyes. "If he did, he would've been too shy to ask me to go with him like that. We're just friends, believe me. And besides, how could he possibly think of me that way, when you're available?"
Sara smiled and said huffily, "Whatever, Nina. You have no idea. You have this aura around you. I catch guys staring at you all the time. You're so pretty, inside and out. The more people know you, the more beautiful you get."
"Oh shut up," Nina told her, "you're getting way too cheesy for me. Let's head back to class."
Sara turned around and looked at her face in the mirror. "Ugh," she said making a disgusted face, "I look like ass." Nina laughed and yanked her friend away from the mirror and headed back to the classroom.
A/N: Okay had to get this sappy moment out and over with...no more, I promise! Thanks for the reviews!
