The Comfort of Knowledge, Chapter 9
They were gathered around a large rectangular table in a room just outside the library.
Despite the jovial atmosphere and the wide array of house colors— Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Gryffindors had all turned up—Sirius could not help letting out an exasperated sigh.
Terry and Paige were seated next to Remus at the far end of the table, talking and laughing. Sirius was at the opposite end with Azalia and several of her Ravenclaw friends that he only vaguely recognized.
At the start of the session, the group had decided to arrange themselves in such a way that various topics—particularly those related to one's year— could be discussed productively. As he was older than Remus, Sirius was forced to take a seat amongst the other sixth years— in between the pretty blonde and a nerdy Ravenclaw boy who kept staring at him for extended periods of time.
So far, his side of the table had covered the week's reading for Potions, the Transfiguration essay due at the end of the following week and the sixth year Charms homework.
It felt like it had been hours.
It wasn't as if Sirius needed to be at the study session in the first place anyway. He and James were at the top of every class—a fact that James had casually reminded him of before he left that evening.
The dark haired boy glanced up at the sound of giggling.
Paige had been reading something over Remus' shoulder for the past ten minutes. He couldn't hear what they were talking about over the chatter of all the students between them but that didn't stop him from straining his ears to hear. No, Paige definitely wasn't Remus' type…Sirius was sure of that. She giggled too much. Even Remus' Ravenclaw friend appeared to be annoyed by the girl's presence.
Merlin, this was a long time to be doing nothing but studying.
Sirius continued to sulk, rolling one of the girls' muggle pens back and forth on the table in front of him. No one seemed to mind that he had ceased all involvement in their discussions on homework assignments and current Potions projects.
A hand on his thigh reminded him why he generally avoided coming to these things. He looked at his "date" and noticed that she too was observing Remus and the giggling brunette.
"They're perfect together, aren't they?"
Sirius scowled. "Bloody adorable."
He hadn't even tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice but the blonde had already turned away to whisper to one of the other girls, and didn't appear to have noticed.
Sirius, though he was quite impartial to the blonde, noted that this wasn't so much a time for her to study, as it was a time for her to gossip and socialize with a larger group of people than normal.
It was another long, dull forty-five minutes before one of the Ravenclaw fifth years finally let out a loud yawn—causing many others to do so as well—and the majority of the students began packing up their books and heading back to their common rooms.
Sirius sat up a little bit straighter in his chair and looked across the table again.
Remus, Terry, and Paige remained huddled around a book, talking quietly. With only a few of them left, Azalia urged Sirius and the remaining girls to shuffle a few seats closer to the trio.
"And what are you three up to?" she asked, leaning across the table—showing much more cleavage than was necessary in the process—and trying to see what they were reading.
Remus looked up with a warm smile on his face. "I'm afraid I'm boring these two with my thoughts on the Goblin Rebellions of 1634."
Terry instantly nudged the smaller boy playfully with his elbow. "You know you couldn't bore anyone if you tried, Rem."
Rem? Now that Terry's chair was within reach, Sirius wondered if he could get away with kicking it and knocking the other boy over. Anything to wipe the Ravenclaw's stupid grin off his—
"Hey, after this shall we go for some late night quidditch practice, Rem? You can try out that new permanent sticking charm so you stay on this time."
Sirius' eyes narrowed.
Remus laughed softly before shaking his head in regret. "Alas, I don't even think permanently fastening me to a broom will help to improve my abominable flying skills."
Paige laughed and grasped Remus' forearm eagerly. "A wizard who isn't obsessed with quidditch? Remus Lupin, you really are perfect."
Remus smiled and shook his head slightly.
Sirius could see a faint blush had tinged his cheeks.
Grinning, Terry put his arm around Remus and turned to the sixth years.
"We just have a few things left to go over if you guys want to get going…I'm sure this has been one of the longest evenings of your life, Black," he said, laughing.
Sirius felt his annoyance rise and it didn't help that now two people were touching Remus.
"As a matter of fact, I'd love to stay and help you with your homework, Terry," he answered, snatching the book that lay open in front of the boy.
"Let's see. What is it that you're having trouble with? Oh, giants, eh?" he questioned. "I must say giants are quite an interesting people. Six hundred and fifty-two tribes of them. Admittedly violent, but to be fair who doesn't get the urge to beat someone to a bloody pulp every once in awhile, right? Have you read about Brudgon the Great yet? I wrote an essay on him in my second year. Big guy. Nearly thirty feet tall. All the giants in his tribe didn't even bother trying to fight him. He could knock 'em down with a single punch—and let me tell you, that is quite a feat. Befriended a witch when he was young; killed anyone who so much as looked at her. She went away eventually; ended up becoming good friends with some bloke from Russia. Old Brudgon found out though. Stomped on the guy a good fifty times. I suppose no one told him once was enough. Sounds like quite a brute, I know, but can you really blame him? Besides, giants are completely misunderstood if you ask me. They're not the only ones though, I suppose."
Terry raised an eyebrow at him. Azalia snorted. And Remus … Remus just stared at him with those big, golden eyes.
Sirius had the desperate urge to shove Terry and Paige away from Remus and take him somewhere, anywhere, away from there.
He wanted to tell Remus that he knew his secret; that he could be a better friend than either of the others could ever hope to be; that he would protect him. But it was such a foreign thing to feel so much at once that Sirius simply didn't know what to do.
When he felt Azalia's small, feminine hand on his thigh again, quickly travelling to somewhere he, for some reason, no longer wanted it to be, he jumped up quickly.
He had to get out of there before he said something he would regret.
With a quick glance at Remus, he grabbed his stuff and all but ran from the room.