Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.
CHAPTER 13
Nina refused to go to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, opting to go straight to bed instead. She wasn't hungry. She was too angry at Sirius to think about anything else. She lay in her bed for hours, thinking of different ways she could hurt him. She was in the middle of a happy thought involving Sirius and a bat bogey hex when Lily and Sara came into the dorm. She quickly put her head under her covers, closed her eyes and pretended to sleep; she didn't feel like talking to anyone.
"I know you're awake, Nina," Sara said to her, "but you can continue to pretend you're asleep. I just wanted to let you know that McGonagall told Sirius that your detention starts tomorrow evening at eight."
"Thanks for reminding me." Nina said sarcastically from under the blanket.
"Aw, Nina don't worry. It's not that bad. I'm sure Professor McGonagall won't be too hard on you. You never get in trouble. You're one of her best students." Lily tried to console her.
"I don't care." Nina said thrusting the blanket off her face and looking at her roommates. "I'm not just upset about the detention."
"Then what is it?" Sara asked her.
"I'm pissed off at Sirius. I want to kill him." Nina said angrily.
"Well, he did seem a little guilty at the feast about you getting a detention." Lily said.
"I don't care about the bloody detention. That's only a part of it." she said irritably.
"Then what is it?" Sara asked her impatiently.
"Oh forget it." Nina responded angrily and put the covers back on her head. "I'm too tired to talk about it. Good night."
The next morning, Nina did everything she could to avoid being in the same company as Sirius. She waited until she knew he was already in the Great Hall before she went down for breakfast, and when she did get there, she sat at another table. She did the same thing for the classes they had together by waiting until he already took a seat, and took her own as far away as possible.
When she wasn't avoiding Sirius, she was avoiding people's curious gazes at her. Word of the prank and closet incident spread around the school like wildfire, particularly among the girls who fancied Sirius. Nina noticed a lot of them giving her dirty looks throughout the day. She tried to ignore everyone and go on about her day as normally as she could.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Black." Professor McGonagall said as Sirius walked into her office for detention that evening. Nina had arrived ten minutes earlier. She didn't want the professor to give her any other reason to be cross with her.
"Sorry, Professor." Sirius said with a smile. "Late Quidditch practice."
She looked at him sternly and went right down to business. "Well, since you two love spending time together in broom closets, I thought it would be appropriate of me to assign you to clean out this one." she said while getting up towards a door in the back of her office. She opened the door and signaled them to follow her.
"Whoa, this isn't a broom closet, it's another room!" Sirius exclaimed as they walked into it.
"Yes, it's a storage room actually. I haven't any time to organize it, so you two will be doing that this week during your detentions. I want everything organized and put on shelves that you will be assembling. You can put your wand away, Mr. Black; you won't be needing it. I want this done without magic. I'll be popping by every now and then to check up on you, so don't try anything cheeky." she said and walked out of the room briskly.
"Shoot," Sirius said surveying the mounds of books and boxes, "this is going to be fun."
Nina ignored him and started moving the boxes around, trying to figure out how to organize everything. She noticed that there were tons of books, so she decided to move them all onto one side. She started piling as many as she could carry at once.
"Well," Sirius began to say cheerfully, "shall we just take the books and put them on one side first?" Nina ignored him again and kept moving the books to the side.
"Okay, let's do that then." Sirius said still sounding cheery. He started piling up some of the books. "So…looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together this week, eh?" Nina didn't say anything to him. She just kept right on moving the books. They worked quietly for about an hour and just when Nina thought that he had given up on trying to talk to her, Sirius dropped a box with a crash. Nina looked at him gravely.
"Whoops. I don't think there were books in this box." He said shaking the box and hearing tinkling sounds. "Reparo." he muttered with his wand and put the box on the other side. Nina went back to ignoring Sirius and putting books away. She was bending down to pick up a box when something hit her back. She turned around and Sirius was looking at her with a sheepish grin.
"Oh, sorry." he said still grinning. "I was aiming for that big bin." Nina looked around the room and saw the bin on the opposite side of the room. She stared at him coldly for a second and then went back to the books.
"Excuse me." Sirius said while cutting in front of her and taking the box she was in the middle of emptying. Okay, he's just trying to get your attention. Nina thought to herself. Just keep ignoring him. She turned around and he was right in front of her, startling her.
"You like coming in my way, don't you?" he asked her. She moved over to the side.
"So am I going to be talking to myself every night for the next seven days or what?" Sirius asked her, sounding a little bit frustrated. When Nina still didn't say anything to him he sighed heavily and said in a defeated tone, "Okay look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean for you to get in trouble. You can be mad at me; I don't care. Just stop the silent treatment. It's driving me crazy."
Nina stopped piling up the books and looked at him. "I'm not angry about the detention."
"Then what are you angry about?" he asked her confusedly.
"If you don't know, then that makes it even worse." Nina replied sounding annoyed.
"Well how am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?" he asked frustratingly.
"I shouldn't have to tell you." Nina said angrily. "If you were a decent person, you'd already know."
"A decent person?" Sirius exclaimed offended, just as Professor McGonagall entered the room.
"Alright, that's enough for today." she said while surveying the room. "You can go. I'll see you here again tomorrow night, and preferably on time, Mr. Black. Goodnight."
Nina and Sirius walked silently together back to the Gryffindor common room. On the way there, Sirius was trying to think of what he did the night before that Nina was so upset about. Once they were right outside the portrait hole, Nina stopped.
"You can go in first." she told him.
"What do you mean?" he asked her.
"I don't want to walk in with you. People are already talking about us; I don't want them to get any more ideas." she said sternly.
"But everyone knows we had detention together." he said sounding confused.
"I don't care. I just don't feel like going in with you." Nina said touchily.
"Why do you care so much if people are talking about you anyways?" Sirius asked her.
"See, this is exactly why I'm pissed off at you." Nina said angrily.
"Why?" Sirius looked thoroughly perplexed.
"Just move out of my way." Nina said irritably walking past him towards the entrance.
"Oh great, are we going to start the silent treatment again?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
"Yes." She said evenly and walked into the portrait hole.
For the next two days, Nina didn't talk to Sirius. He tried talking to her many times, but she refused to speak with him. In their detention periods, he persisted in "accidentally" hitting her with things or bumping into her. On the third night of their detention, they had to assemble shelves that were to be put up on the walls. Because they had to work together, Nina didn't have a choice but to talk to him, so she kept all conversation strictly about the shelves.
"I need a screw." Nina told him while holding two wood pieces together.
"Excuse me?" he said looking a little taken aback.
Nina rolled her eyes. "One of those spirally nail-type thingies."
"What?" he asked.
"Never mind." Nina said tiredly and reached over across him to grab one. As she did, her hair came very close to Sirius's face. He could smell the scent of her shampoo; it was sweet and fruity. Her hair looked very soft and Sirius had the sudden urge to touch it, but she had found the screw and moved back before he could do anything.
"Oh, I need a nut, too." Nina remembered.
"Sorry, I don't have any." Sirius said without any hesitation.
"No, its one of those round—ugh, I'll get it myself." Nina said and reached over again. Her hair was close to his face again, and the urge to touch it came back quickly. He moved his hand up, but as soon as he did Nina turned and looked at him suspiciously. Sirius quickly ran his hand through his own hair and pretended to stretch a little. Nina went back to the nuts, grabbed one and moved back again. She put the pieces together and started tightening the screw.
"I can't tighten this all the way," she told Sirius.
"Let me do it then." he said. Nina moved out of the way as he tightened it. As soon as the shelf was assembled he said, "Okay so let's pick it up and put it against the wall." Nina grabbed one side of the shelf and Sirius went on the other side. It was heavy and Nina had to grip it tightly. As they lifted it up towards the wall, a wood splinter went into the palm of Nina's hand.
"Crap!" Nina yelled, just as the shelf tilted into place.
"What happened?" Sirius said coming towards her.
"I got a splinter." Nina said looking at her hand.
"Here, let me see it." Sirius said trying to take her hand.
"No, I'll take it out myself." Nina said moving away from him.
"Don't be stupid, Nina." Sirius said sternly. "Give me your hand." Nina frowned and obligingly gave him her hand. He held it and looked at it, trying to see the splinter. When he didn't see it, he moved his fingers over her hand, trying to feel where it went.
"Okay," Nina said impatiently, "are you going to stand here caressing my hand all night?"
"I'm trying to feel for the splinter." Sirius replied.
"Can't you see it?" Nina asked. "It's huge." Sirius looked more closely at her hand.
"Oh, yeah now I can see it." he said. "Okay hold still." He tried to pinch the splinter out.
"Ow!" Nina cried and moved her hand.
"Stop fidgeting!" Sirius scolded her and grabbed her hand again. "I told you to hold still." He kept pinching her trying to take the splinter out. Nina felt like screaming every time. Finally after a few tries, he succeeded.
"There you go." Sirius said while taking one last look at her hand. "It's out."
Nina looked at her hand. "Thanks." she mumbled grudgingly.
"So," he started to say with a smile, "you still mad at me now?"
"Yes." Nina said with a frown. "This doesn't make up for what you did."
"Oh, come on." Sirius said exasperatedly. "What am I supposed to do then?"
"Nothing." she replied severely. "I just don't like you that much, that's all."
"Oh, please." Sirius said with a smile. "I know you love me, admit it."
"Mmhmm." she said sarcastically but still cracked a smile.
"See!" he exclaimed. "I knew it."
"No," Nina said seriously again. "I really don't like you."
"Are you going to tell me why or am I going to have to guess for the rest of my life?" he asked her.
Nina breathed deeply and said, "Fine. It's because you're a jerk."
"A jerk?" Sirius asked dryly. "Oh thanks. That explains everything."
"No, seriously." Nina started to explain feeling warm with anger again. "I told you very specifically in that bloody broom closet that I didn't want anyone to see us coming out together. And then what do you do? You go and tell Professor McGonagall, and in front of all these other students, exactly what I did not want anybody to think! We might as well have just stepped out quietly before. But noooo, you completely disregarded what I told you before, knowing what it meant to me,just so that you wouldn't get in trouble. That's a pretty jerky thing to do."
"Oh." Sirius said quietly looking a little guilty.
"Yes." she told him. "That's why I'm pissed. I would never sell out someone to save my own skin. It's just wrong."
"Well, I wasn't really thinking at the time." Sirius tried to defend himself. "I just said whatever popped into my head! I didn't even realize it, I swear. I wouldn't do it intentionally. I stayed behind in the closet because of you, remember?"
"Yeah, but still," Nina continued stubbornly, "you should've just taken the blame instead of pinning me with you."
"You think I should've told McGonagall that I was responsible for the prank and hiding from Filch in the broom closet?" he asked her.
"Well," Nina replied thoughtfully, "instead of saying what you did…yeah that would've been better."
"Fine." he said resolutely. "I'll go tell her right now. I'll tell her what really happened. If it will make you happy and not be mad at me anymore, I'll do it." Without any hesitation, Sirius marched right out of the storage room and into the professor's office.
"Professor," Sirius began, "there's something I need to tell you." As soon as Nina heard him actually talking to her, she ran out behind him.
"Yes, what is it, Mr. Black?" Professor McGonagall asked looking up from her work.
"I—" he began to say before he was cut off.
"We need more screws for the shelves." Nina said quickly to the professor. "We ran out."
"We did?" Sirius asked Nina confusedly.
"Yes." she said assertively. "Actually, I think I saw a box of them somewhere. We'll just go check and see if there are any more." Nina said as she dragged Sirius by the arm, back to the storage room. As soon as they were in the room, she let go of him.
"What did you do that for?" Sirius asked her.
"Are you crazy?" Nina said agitatedly. "Do you want to get suspended or something?"
"What?" he cried out. "You just told me you wanted me to tell her!"
"Don't be stupid." Nina said exasperatedly. "I didn't really want you to."
"Then why did you tell me you did?" Sirius asked her.
"I dunno," Nina replied, "I was just mad."
"I see," he said looking at her and then asked with a little hesitation, "Well, are you still mad?"
Nina thought that he actually looked worried that she still might be. She even felt kind of bad that she was mad for so long. She sighed and said, "No, I'm not mad anymore, Sirius."
"Really?" he asked, relief spreading over his face, "So we're cool?"
Nina shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." She looked up at him and smiled, "But, if you ever pull that kinda shit on me again, I'm seriously never going to talk to you."
"Fine." he said and grinned cheekily, "Just promise not to ever make out with me in a broom closet again."
A/N: Tell me how this chapter was! I'm only updating so quickly since you all are being so nice with your reviews. Hehehehe. Thanks!
