Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.
CHAPTER 11
"Wake up, sleepy heads! It's a beautiful day!" Sara sang while pulling back the drapes of the girls' dormitory.
"Somebody please push her out the window," muttered Lily's irritated voice from underneath her blanket.
"Hmm?" Nina said sitting up from her sleep rubbing her eyes and blinking furiously, trying to see through the sun that was now blazing in their room. "Did you just get back?" she asked Sara.
"No, of course not. I came back last night." Sara said cheerily while fixing her hair in the mirror.
"Yeah right," Nina said disbelievingly, "I was tossing and turning until two in the morning and you weren't back yet."
"Well, I came up at two-thirty." Sara told her. "You were fast asleep."
"Sara," Lily began to say, still sounding irritated, "is this going to happen every day or something? You've been coming up this late for the past six nights! And how can you be so damn cheery when you hardly sleep?"
"I don't know!" she said smiling. "I just don't feel sleepy these days. I could probably stay up all night talking with Remus if I wanted to."
"Talking, eh?" Lily said sarcastically.
"Yes, talking." Sara responded defensively. "That is what we do most of the time."
"Ooh," Nina added, "most of the time."
"Oh shut up." Sara said smiling. "Get your minds out of the gutter! Anyways, last night Remus was helping me with the History assignment."
"Oh damn!" Nina exclaimed remembering something, "I lent Sirius my History notes. I need them to finish up my assignment for this afternoon. I better go and catch him before he leaves for breakfast."
After quickly getting ready, Nina walked down the stairs from the girls' dormitory and made her way back up to the boys'. As she stood outside their closed door, she could hear a lot of loud voices and laughter coming from inside. They seem happy to be awake so bloody early in the morning. She knocked the door and the laughter suddenly stopped, and she could hear someone saying, "Quick! Put it away!"
After the sound of furniture being moved around stopped, the door opened, and James was standing in front of her.
"Nina!" he exclaimed extra cheerfully. "Good morning! How can I help you?"
"Er—hey," she said with a puzzled smile, "Is Sirius still up here by any chance?"
"Is it Nina?" came Remus's voice and he walked over next to James. "Hey! Is Sara awake?"
"Yeah. I think she already went downstairs." Nina answered.
"Oh good!" Remus said happily. "I'm going to go meet her down for breakfast then. See ya' Nina." he said giving her aaffectionate pat on the head as he left.
"Man, these lovesick monkeys are starting to irritate me." Nina said to James with a smile, "So is Sirius still up here or wha—" she stopped talking mid-sentence when she heard the distinct voice of somebody singing, "If ya want my body and ya think I'm sexy come on sugar let me knoooow. If ya really need me, just reach out and touch me, come on honey tell me soooo!"
"Is that Sirius?" Nina asked James, trying not to laugh.
"Yep, he's in the shower." James answered with a grin.
"Oh, okay. Interesting…so do you know if he's going to take a while?" Nina inquired.
"No, I don't he'll take long now. He's usually out in about ten minutes, so he should be done soon." James told her. "Oh… I hear the water being turned off so he probably is. You can come in and sit down while you wait for him if you want." Nina looked around the untidy room and didn't really see a place safe enough to sit in.
"Uh, no that's okay. I can wait here, thanks." Nina said standing inside by the door. She could still hear Sirius singing.
"Well, me and Peter are gonna head downstairs then." James said, grabbing his bag.
"Oh, okay." Nina said a little uneasily. They're going to leave me alone here? Oh my God, what if he comes out naked or something? Nina's uneasiness was soon relieved when James knocked the door of the washroom and yelled, "Sirius! Nina's here! She needs to talk to you! Get out quickly!"
"What?" Sirius yelled from the other side of the door.
"I said Nina is in the room. She needs to talk to you." James repeated loudly.
"Who?" Sirius yelled again. James rolled his eyes and he and Peter went towards the door.
"Well, I'm out. I'll see you guys downstairs." he said to Nina while walking out the door, leaving her alone with Sirius still in the bathroom. I hope he heard James. Nina decided to at least turn away from facing the washroom door, just in case.
"Oi, Nina!" Sirius's voice came from the washroom. Oh good he did hear him. "I just wanted to warn you before I come out, that I'm completely naked!"
"What?" Nina screamed just as the door of the washroom opened and out came Sirius. He was wearing his black school pants with his shirt unbuttoned on top of it.
"Hey!" he said smiling, "Ha! I told you I was naked, and you looked right at the bathroom door!"
"What? No I didn't!" Nina exclaimed feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Then why are you looking at me now? How did you know I wasn't naked unless you looked?" he teased her.
"I don't know. You caught me off guard." Nina said, trying not to look at him, or his bare chest for that matter. Can you please button your damn shirt!
"Sure," he said jestingly, "so what's up?"
"Oh," she cleared her throat. "I just really need those History notes that you borrowed from me the other day."
"What notes?" he asked her.
"Those ones from the day that you skipped class."
"Oh hold on." he said thoughtfully. "Didn't you borrow notes from me?"
"No you're thinking of Potions." Nina replied sounding a little impatient. "These are History notes. I seriously need them."
"Okay now I remember." Sirius said. "Hmm…where did I put them?" he asked himself.
"Sirius!" Nina exclaimed frustratingly.
"Yeah, yeah." Sirius said waving her off. "Don't cry, I'll find them and bring them down to breakfast."
"Okay can you please make sure you do." she said sternly as she walked out the door.
"Yes. Now get lost." he said shooing her away and added smiling. "And next time, think of a better excuse for you to come here and try to catch me naked, okay?" Nina laughed and went on her way to the Great Hall.
"Remus and I are going to take a little walk before class." Sara said while she and Remus got up from the breakfast table.
"A walk, eh? Is that what they're calling it these days?" James said sarcastically and everyone around the table laughed.
"No, no." Lily chided in, "I believe its called talking."
"My goodness, you all have dirty minds." Sara said exasperatingly.
"Oh, Nina's the dirtiest," Sirius's voice came behind them, as he walked to the table, "she just tried to see me naked." Nina rolled her eyes and held her hand out expectantly as Sirius dropped her notes onto it and sat down next to her.
"Thanks." she said to him and started working on the final part of her assignment, while the rest of the gang continued eating their breakfast. She was just writing her last sentence when a very majestic looking owl flew over their heads and dropped a black enveloped letter onto Sirius's lap.
"Uh oh." Sirius muttered looking at the envelope.
"What?" Nina asked him.
"Letter from home." he said quietly. He opened the envelope and read the letter, a frown forming on his face and deepening as he read on.
"Everything okay, mate?" James asked him across the table looking concerned.
"Huh?" he said looking up and then looked back down still frowning and said unimportantly, "Yeah everything's fine." He read the letter again and then folded it up. He muttered, "I'll be back," to nobody in particular and left the table, leaving everyone to wonder what the matter was.
Nobody saw Sirius in any class that day. He didn't show up for lunch or dinner either. Remus and James somehow knew that he was in the castle, but did not try to go and talk to him. When Lily asked him at dinner why he didn't go to him, James replied that if there was something going on in his family, it was best for Sirius to figure things out on his own. Nina and Lily both thought that was a stupid reason and thought maybe he would feel better if somebody talked to him.
"Believe me, when Sirius gets upset, it's best to just leave him alone." James said. Nina figured that James knew his friend better than they did and didn't argue with him after that.
"He is kinda moody though, isn't he?" Sara said.
"Yeah well, he has a lot of rubbish to deal with at home so he tends to have a lot on his mind." Remus reasoned.
After dinner, Nina went up to her dorm to change out of her robes and into something more comfortable. She grabbed her books and notes and headed down to the common room to study. There was a private corner near the window that Nina always liked to read at, since she found that most people overlooked it. She usually pulled a chair into the empty spot and sat there for hours either reading or gazing out the window. Holding her parchments and books she walked to that corner, and saw that somebody had already taken her spot. Sirius was sitting on the ground leaning against the wall with his knees up and one hand in his hair, supporting his head. She stopped and he looked up at her.
"Hey." he said quietly with a very small smile.
"Hey, sorry. I didn't know anyone was sitting here." Nina said cautiously, and then continued after a short spell of silence,"You uh, didn't come to class or dinner today. Is everything okay?" Sirius shrugged in reply.
"Do you need anything? Some food? Or something to drink?" she asked him with concern. Nina could tell from his exhausted face that he probably didn't eat anything the whole day. He shook his head.
"Okay." She paused and then continued talking, feeling a little sorry for him in this pitiful state. "You didn't really miss much today. You can borrow my notes later and copy them if you want."
Sirius nodded and said tiredly, "Yeah, I'll do that."
"Um, well, if you want, I can copy them for you." Sirius looked up at Nina and gave her a small smile.
"No, it's okay." he sighed. "I can do it later myself. Your handwriting is too messy anyways."
She smiled at him and said, "Okay then. I'm probably bugging you so I'll leave you alone. I'll be here in the common room studying if you need anything."
"No wait," he said suddenly, "come sit with me. I don't mind it when you bug me."
Nina sat down next to him, facing his side. She leaned forward, hugging her knees, and looked at him expectantly. "So…" she said.
"So…" he said back. He looked down on the ground for a moment and then looked back up at Nina and sighed. " So…I got a letter from my mother informing me that my uncle died last night."
"Oh no." Nina said sympathetically. Sirius continued to talk Nina as she listened earnestly about how his uncle was one of the few people in his pureblood mania family that he actually liked and went on to tellher about his family and their different ways of thinking.
"Actually, nobody really knows this, but I didn't even go home this summer. I went straight to the Potters'." he said and added bitterly, "I hope I never have to go back there again."
"Yeah, pressure from home is the worst. It's very stressful. You're lucky that you have people like the Potters to go to." Nina said understandingly and Sirius nodded thoughtfully in agreement. By now, the common room started to sound a little noisier, with the Gryffindor students lounging around and chatting with each other. Nina could make out the distinct voices of James, Remus and Peter as they walked into the room.
"Sounds like your friends are here." Nina said to Sirius. She turned around and saw them behind her. She waved to them and they walked towards her. Nina got up, thinking that the boys would probably want to talk amongst themselves.
"Alright, I'll see you guys later. I've got to do some studying." She said as she started to walk away from them. She headed towards the fireplace and spotted Lily and Sara already sitting there reading so she joined them. The girls were reading quietly for a while before they heard the boys going up the stairs.
While they were going up Nina heard James say to Sirius, "Are you sure you're still up to it? We don't have to do it." Then she heard Sirius reply to him, "Don't be mental. We've been planning it for months. We have to do it." Nina looked at Lily and Sara to see if they heard what she just did, but they were still engrossed in their books. Wonder what those boys are up to, she thought to herself.
The next day, none of the boys showed up for any of their classes. They didn't even come to breakfast or lunch. The girls were angry. Sara was angry because Remus didn't inform her that he would be away all day. Lily was angry because she thought James was being a poor example of a Head Boy by skipping class and neglecting his duties. Nina was angry because she had to listen to Sara and Lily complain all day about them. It wasn't until about an hour before the Halloween feast was supposed to start that Nina saw one of the boys.
She was walking down the hall after her Potions lesson when she heard someone running behind her. She turned to see who it was and saw Sirius come right next to her.
"Nina!" he said gasping for breath. "Good thing I found you. Quickly, come with me!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her away with him.
A/N: Hehehe...don't you just love cliffhangers? Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapters! I hope you enjoyed this one. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll post the next chapter!
