Chapter 46: Hideaway

Cressida is in a hideaway. Well, not a very good one since there is noise still around her, but the noise provides the comfort of company that the library could not bring, yet she is spared from the responsibility of talking back or having someone approach her. And that somewhere is under Sirius' bed. Quite literally, under the frame, her notes and a book laid out on the floor in front of her. There is surprisingly enough room for it to be decently comfortable and with a pillow underneath her chest, it's even tempting to take a nap there. And with Sirius' terrible habit of not making his bed, his duvet hangs over the sides just enough for light to come in, but also hide her away.

She had come in just a few hours ago with Remus who had found the boy's horde of sweets that they kept from him and studies on his own bed with wrappers surrounding him.

The strain of not having sat up in a while does take its toll, but Cressida is determined to finish her revision work before she comes out of her hiding which Remus had astonishingly not given up.

James, Sirius and Peter had been coming in and out of the room in odd patterns with nothing really to do since they have no interest in studying the same way that they do. Last she overheard; they were headed to go see Hagrid down in his hut. The half-giant always has some sort of odd creature that he's taking care of. But be warned of the tea and cakes.

Remus' bed creaks as he leans over the side of it and Cressida watches his head peek into view. In his hand is a chocolate bar of some sort. "Heads up," he says then slides the bar across the floor. It glides along the stone right to Cressida.

"Thank you," she giggles, tearing the wrapper open. Lunch would be soon, but the sweetness is a boost of energy to get the last few pages done. She briefly wonders why he'd give up the chocolate bar of all things he found before she bites into it and realises that it has nuts through it.

Just as she finishes the bar, brushing away the crumbs off the parchment in front of her, the dorm door opens again and all three remaining members wander through. "You didn't miss out on much," James announces to Remus and unknowingly her. "Hagrid had found one of the wells infested with Cornish Pixies. Spent about half-an-hour informing us how he rounded them all up."

"Not a very enlightening story," Sirius continues. Cressida eyes their feet, the words on the parchment becoming even duller than before. Each head towards their respective beds and the wooden frame creaks over-top of her head. "But Fang's always good company."

"He creeps me out," Peter objects meekly.

"Oh sod off," James breathes, "you're scared of your own shadow some days." There's a pause, shortly followed by a groan. "You found them?"

Remus hums affirmative, sounding like he has his mouth full once more. "Terrible hiding," he gargles. "Why does everyone hide things under Peter's bed?"

"I would like to know the answer too," Peter adds pointedly. "Because I don't remember giving anyone permission."

"Because you chuck everything under there," Sirius sighs. "If you're not careful, Pete, you'll end up a hoarder like James' aunt."

James makes a sound as though he is going to argue but it transforms into mumbled, "Yeah." Peter grumbles incoherently. "Anyone know where our dear Cressida is? I wanna see if she'll do some Charms study with me."

"I thought you were studying with Evans?" Sirius points out. Cressida loses focus of her own work entirely, cursing at how intently she's listening.

"Ehh, she's gotten too busy," James responds nonchalantly. "And apparently I'm not a fun 'study partner'."

"Well I think Cress is staying low at the moment," Remus answers the original question. Cressida holds her snort, leaning her jaw on her palm. "In fact, she's probably getting a little nibbly."

"That's a weird thing to note," Sirius acknowledges slowly. She can hear a slight shift in his weight. "She's feeling nibbly, James. According to Remus. Might want to try the kitchens?" Cressida's face lifts as Remus' arm extends down past his bed frame once more, another of the same chocolate bar in his hands. It glides across the room like the one before, zipping right under the end of the bed frame and into her waiting hands.

"What the absolute fuck was that?" James demands immediately. "I brought those for Cress."

"Thank you," Cressida mutters.

"I was wondering why you had them," Remus muses. "You know I hate nuts in my chocolate. You really should have separated the piles then, I've just been eating whatever."

"Are we just going to ignore that you threw food under my bed?" Sirius splutters. "How long have you been doing that for?"

She imagines Remus shrugging, along with an innocent face as he bites into something sweet. "Not long."

Cressida winces as the bed creaks loudly, weight moving from the top to the foot where her head is. It stops suddenly, a hand slapping against the floor from above, the owner resting their weight on it. A second one appears; long and lean fingers grasping the duvet edge. It is snatched upwards, replaced by a waterfall of black hair and a startled face.

Her eyes widen like saucepans at Sirius' shriek, frightening himself and her. The arm holding his weight gives way and he falls to the ground at the foot of his bed in a heap. She can hear the smack of his head. Cressida rolls to the side and out of the cover of the bed, ears filled with the sound of Remus' cackles. "Sirius!" she half-cries, half-laughs.

James has almost leapt from his bed, wand at the ready, unlike Peter who has scampered closer to his headboard and Remus who hasn't moved.

"Are you okay?" she asks him, pulling his hand away from his head. Sirius glares at her, hissing in retaliation as she goes to touch the red spot forming just above his temple. "Aw, you've got a boo-boo."

Sirius yanks his hand back to cover the spot. "How long have you been under there? Why were you under there?" She realises he doesn't know whether to be pissed or laugh yet.

"Three hours," she answers honestly. "And I've been studying." To prove her case, she reaches back under, pulling out a piece of parchment with a tight smile before dropping her brows into a frown. "Are you actually alright though?"

"I'm fine," he mutters, slipping away from her attempt to reach out once more. "Stop trying to touch it."

Cressida narrows her eyes, forcing her way through his resistance. "I'm not trying to poke it," she snaps, "I'm trying to figure out if it needs something."

"It doesn't."

"Well how do you know that?"

"Because it's barely even sore."

"It might be from the shock."

"The shock?" he deadpans. "From hitting my head from twelve inches off the ground?"

Cressida shrugs, barely keeping her grin concealed. "You had your body weight behind the fall."

Sirius' jaw nearly drops to the floor. "You laughed at me when a bludger knocked me off my broom, but this you'll dote over?" he exclaims.

Holding up a finger, she adds, "I did make sure you were alive before I laughed." By the end of the sentence, she can't hold herself together and falls into a soft chuckle, dropping back onto her heels. Leaning forward momentarily, she grasps either side of his face, only being met with half-hearted resistance. "You're too easy," she tells him. Sirius' eyes roll, flinching away as she pats his cheeks. His hatred of being babied has become all too entertaining, but like everything, he has limits and she knows them. But he also knows her. "And can we put a raincheck on the Charms study?" she asks James, regretting the words as they come. "I'm meeting with the Prewetts and Elias after lunch. They want an even number so they can practice for their D.A.D.A practical assessment."

As much as Cressida toys with the idea of studying with James once more, alone, in the Room with the Hidden Door, she can't go back on her promise to help her other friends. Friends – that's a nice term to label them as.

James nods with his chin scrunched to his bottom lip. He doesn't betray anything in particular – whether he doesn't care or he does but hides it behind the façade he can build. Cressida has noticed, more recently than before, that he is the most skilled at building that wall. So much so, that she has a hard time realising it is even up some days. She wishes he'd just let it go sometimes. "Tomorrow morning?" she offers are prolonged silence. James nods again, this time with a slight smile that draws on one side more than the other.

Xx

Cressida stands on the defensive, deflecting continuous spells that are thrown her way by Fabian. Gideon and Elias are parallel in their own match. By this point, though no one has said it, she's sure their actual studying is over.

They parry back and forth as Fabian allows her to throw in her own practice at offensive. "It's only fair," he had remarked at one point, since her own exams are soon. A grin stays firmly planted the entire time, only widening each time she manages to catch him off guard. Though it is usually the other way around since his focus was non-verbal spells.

Nothing distracts her, not even hearing Gideon collide with the tables from a particularly strong stunning spell from Elias. Not until a voice belonging to none of them sounds.

"This does seem a lot more fun than studying with James."

Cressida lowers her wand at his voice, almost forgetting about her opponent. Sirius stands at the threshold of the classroom, leaning against the frame with loosely folded arms, his wand poking out from underneath his elbow. He has a sly smile, with squinted and observing eyes.

A strike of blue light emits from Fabian's wand, encasing the side of her vision. Having no protection spell at the ready, the sparks of the flippendo spell collide with her shoulder. It feels like a punch to the shoulder, Cressida' feet forced from the ground.

"Oomph."

She lands against a pool of chairs that had been pushed aside, the metal legs clanging against one another. She's lucky that none of them impaled her, despite their blunt ends. "Ow," she drawls loudly, more for the sake of informing Fabian that she wasn't prepared than pain. Shoving a chair off her, Cressida emerges from the mess, met with the twins laughing together. Elias is jogging towards her, the back of his hand under his nose but the squinted eyes betray the chuckles he also lapses into. Sirius has moved from the doorway, arms resting by his side with the wand still in his right hand.

"Good thing you're tough," Elias says, offering her a hand up. Cressida sharply blows air from her mouth to push away a strand of hair, but takes his hand.

She isn't given a chance to answer. "As tough as a bear." Four eyes turn to Sirius who lives in the attention. Like he is born for it. He saunters forward, power and purpose in each step. "Well, a bear cub, that is."

Cressida laughs out a scoff, resting her hands on her hips. It seems he's in a better mood – which he has been as of late. It's nice to have him back. "You start the fights, I'm the one who finishes them."

His smile morphs into a smirk; cocky, arrogant and most of all teasing. "Is that so? I'm not sure we're remembering the same things."

Gideon leans against a bookcase, tapping his wand on the wood. "I'm not quite finished for the day," he muses. "Up for a challenge, Black? Elias isn't the strongest dueller and I need something worth my while."

Elias shoves him with a lighter smile than the rest of them. He is a strong dueller – and everybody there knows it, even if he isn't one to be seen practising in the halls or courtyards.

Sirius' arm lifts from the elbow down, displaying his long, square-cut wand twirling around between his fingers. "Could do with some practice. Some Slytherins need to have their heads reset." He strides past Cressida who has become an observer. He gives her a look – one that she can't describe well but knows what it means immediately. James told him about the incident with Snape.

Cressida, Elias and Fabian take seats on the crowded tables just off to the side as Sirius and Gideon each step into position. The older wizard raises his wand, but Sirius only stands with his feet slightly apart, wand back at his side. Gideon raises his brow in questioning, but Sirius only nods as though to say 'get on with it'.

Against all expectations, Sirius is the first one to cast anything. It comes so quickly, that all four of them jerk back slightly. Gideon barely reactions in time with a protego. It becomes a tennis match. Fabian, Elias and Cressida watch intently as spells are thrown back and forth, sometimes hitting, sometimes not. Unlike study practice, there's no sequence – no expectations. It's a true duel.

It only comes to an end once Gideon holds up his hands, his chest moving in long pants. Sirius is also breathing hard, but his face doesn't show it. Cressida stares at him – and she's sure the others are. She'd never seen him fight so intently before, at least, not when she was on the sidelines and actually got to watch. He's… insanely good.

"Damn," Elias murmurs, slightly stunned as she is. "That was intense."

Cressida pokes her tongue against her cheek, leaning back with her hands braced along the table. "That was hot. Did you come here just to show off?" she questions Sirius as he approaches the seated group, walking as though coming from the restroom or something.

His shoulders rise and fall in silent chuckles, shaking his head. "A pleasant surprise," he answers. He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pocket. "I actually just came to hang out with you for a while, since you hid away all morning."

"Honoured," she smiles assertively. "So I'm going to guess that Remus is still studying, James went to do something stupid to gain Lily's attention, and Peter followed him which left you alone."

Sirius runs his tongue along his teeth, breaking into a tired chuckle that transforms more into a sigh. "Something like that," he replies. "Do you wanna go hang out on the pitch for a while?"

Cressida glances at the older three students but they've drifted into their own conversation so she nods. "Yeah," Cressida smiles.

The pair head at a leisurely pace towards the pitch grounds, despite Sirius' quite obvious need to do something distracting. The question of wondering what is on his mind keepings creeping up into her mouth and even a few times, her lips part to do so but something holds her back from asking. Maybe it's Sirius himself; the blatant way he carries himself that is telling her that he wants to deal with it himself.

"I think you enjoyed that duel," she notes lightly. Maybe she can draw out what is going on in his strange head without directly asking. "Looked like you needed it."

The sides of his lips tweak up in an unexpectedly soft smile. "I did," he agrees. "We should practice more together. Maybe you might stand a chance against me one day."

Cressida bumps her shoulder into his but gives no verbal response, wanting to see if he'll talk more on his own. With a heavy sigh, Sirius winds his arm around her shoulders, letting his hand hang limply over her front.

He doesn't say anything more for a while, but she finds herself content enough to enjoy his silence. They pass through mostly unoccupied halls by his lead, probably wanting to avoid speaking to anybody that he doesn't have the patience to – which runs quite thin most days.

But their peaceful strolls is tainted as they take a left-hand turn on the first floor. Two students, a year or so below are striding down the corridor in the opposite direction. The first sign of recognition for Cressida is the dark head of hair that is very much alike Sirius', only shorter and more polished. Regulus, and a Slytherin buddy.

In her head, all she intends to do is continue walking past them, having no intentions of an immediate quarrel. But she can feel Sirius stiffen and stretch taller as they approach.

"Cress?" he whispers. She hums in acknowledgement. "If you had to do something for me, what would be the limit?"

Her brows pinch, head shaking slightly in confusion at the question. "I…I would die for you," she answers candidly, unsure if that is the answer to the question he is looking for. The two Slytherins look like they also intend to pass without word, but do not withhold their disdained glares. "Why?"

She looks up at him, watching his dark eyes become hard at the sight of his brother. They dart down to her every few seconds with contemplation. Then his limp hand becomes strong once more, gripping her shoulder to pull Cressida to a sudden stop.

The bright, sandy-coloured hall turns dark from a head of hair that doesn't belong to her. The gasp that is meant to come from her mouth becomes trapped behind another's. Stunned and unsure, her counterpart takes the lead entirely, guiding her arms around his neck.

"Get a fucking room," the second, unknown Slytherin hisses as they stalk past.

Sirius' hand presses against the back of her head as he kisses her hard enough to almost stumble back before finally straightening his neck and allowing Cressida a moment to breath. Unable to find any words, she can only watch as his eyes trail over his brother's retreating figure with loathing.

Sirius used her to get at his brother, she realises. And his family, for that news surely is to travel. Cressida isn't unaware of the state of his bedroom; the posters of muggle women half-dressed, as well as Gryffindor memorabilia all along his walls. But he's also never had a true relationship with anybody – including muggles, so the sight of him near-snogging muggle-born, witnessed by his own brother, is a sure-fire way to piss his parents off.

Unable to find whether she should feel upset or overwhelmed or downright flustered, Cressida settles on being flat to the events that just occurred. "Are you sure about what you're doing?" she asks Sirius. He has to return home soon.

He finally tears his glare away, softening to something familiar. He nods firmly. "I do. Thanks for that. I would've asked but I didn't want to chicken out of it."

Cressida huffs. "Chicken out of kissing a girl?" she drawls. "That doesn't seem like something you'd do."

"No," he chuckles, turning back around to the way they originally walked, forcing Cressida to do the same. "That part I could've done any day." His smile, however small it originally was, drops. "But I think I finally figured out their last straw."