A/N: Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, this is actually an update. I am terribly sorry it took THAT long. You know how it is, sometimes that thing called 'life' gets in the way. I will be doing my best to not let so much time pass again without an update. I stop babbling now and let you hopefully have fun with the new chapter!
Chapter - Of Flying Books and Helping Hands
The atmosphere of general excitement to be back at Hogwarts had died down after the second week of classes, making space for the routine that was everyday life. Since her disastrous first prefect round with a certain black haired Slytherin, Joanna had caught her gaze wander unintentionally into his direction more than once when she was in the same room with him. And every time her eyes found his form, his icy demeanour was firmly back into place. Nothing indicated that his face was even able to produce a smile, yet alone a sincere laugh, like the one that she had witnessed not long ago. At some point Joanna was almost convinced that she had imagined the whole encounter, but she was sure enough of her mental sanity that she was able to quickly discard that thought again.
Not wanting to waste any more thought on the mystery that suddenly appeared to be Regulus Black for her, she went back to trying to stay focused in her Transfiguration class, instead of secretly observing his every move.
Transfiguration was one of her weaker spots so she could not afford to be distracted by something so meaningless. She understood the theory of it all mostly, but the problem was, that she somehow was not able to connected it with the actual practice of performing these spells.
And her problem became quite obvious again earlier that day. She was supposed to turn Dorcas hair blue, but instead she accidently gave her tiny blue whiskers. It took Madame Pomfrey two hours to get rid of them. Joanna felt terrible after that fiasco. She apologized at least a thousand times to Dorcas and then hurried to get into the library, trying to find information that would help her solving her difficulties with that spell.
After sitting there for another two hours, trying to find anything that would be useful to her, she was on the brink of despair. It was only the second week of classes and she already did not manage to understand something, that most of her classmates had mastered with ease. How, by Merlin's great beard, would she be able to get the marks she needed so badly this year with a start like this?
A cold shudder came over her. She could not fail. But it was already happening and she did not know how to stop it. Clenching her teeth didn't stop the hot anger she felt at herself beginning run through her veins. A short growl escaped her lips as the burning sensation overwhelmed her. With one forceful movement of her arm she wiped the towers of books that had piled in front of her from the table. They clattered noisily to the ground, as she felt tears starting to burn behind her dark green eyes. She was such a disappointment. The hot anger had suddenly transformed into shame.
As Joanna propped her elbows on the table and laid her face down into her hands, as if to bury her shame, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly behind her. There was someone directly behind her. Someone who surly must have witnessed her whole outburst. At first, she thought it to be Miss Prince, the librarian, who was probably going to lecture her about upholding the sacred silence of the library and not treating the precious books in such a manner. But Joanna realised quickly that the voice sounded far too masculine to belong to that little, annoying woman.
Either way, Joanna was too exhausted to care anyways and went with ignoring whoever was interrupting her little breakdown. That person, though, did not seem to be satisfied with her lack of response.
"And here I though all Ravenclaws love their books more than their own mothers", the voice said behind her, clearly somehow amused "I definitely love my mother as much as you apparently love your books."
Joanna did not recognize the now obviously male voice, but it did sound somehow familiar to her. This, however, still provided no motivation for her to lift her head out of her hands and investigate the possible intruder. The person belonging to the voice on the other hand did not seem to be disheartened by that.
"Oh hey, come on, it was just a joke." he said and she heard him slowly slide down into the chair next to her "though I have to admit it's not one of my funniest."
He paused for a moment and then Joanna heard a little chuckle coming from him "You should have heard the one with the auror and the potion brewer, who stepped into a bar together. One word: hilarious."
Joanna still made no move to respond, whishing that person would just get up again and leave her the hell alone. He seemed to slowly get that she was in no mood to joke, because the trace of amusement had left his voice, when he spoke again.
"Hey, are you okay?"
She felt a rush of anger flooding through her veins again. She jerked her head with a fast upward movement out of her hands and was about to tell this person to leave her, by Merlin, alone! But her words stopped abruptly at the edge of her tongue as she suddenly looked into her intruders eyes and realised who it was that choose to sit beside her in the deserted library.
They belonged to Sirius Black.
She looked into Sirius Black's eyes.
He was sitting in the chair next to her, looking at her questioningly with concern written all over his face.
Why, by Merlin's underwear, was Sirius Black talking to her?!
She had never even seen him in the library before.
He was one of the most popular students at Hogwarts, who had guys envying him and lots of girls swooning after him. And was definitely no regular library visitor. It was quite possible that he did not even know of her existents, so why was he sitting in front of her now, looking more and more concerned by the second?
Oh yes, because she had still not uttered a word and was now starring at him wide-eyed like a deer caught in the headlights.
She shook herself a little, trying to stop her ridiculous behaviour "Ehm… sorry. I-…I was distracted."
"I can see that.", Black said, his face easing up a little now that he knew that his little joke did not seem to have mortally insulted her. He nodded his head in the direction of the books that were spread onto the ground. "So what did these do to you to deserve such a harsh treatment?", he asked with a reassuring smile, that gave Joanna's heart a little pause. Oh God, how can someone be that handsome? After realizing what she was thinking, she immediately chided herself mentally. What a silly and irrelevant thought to have right now. Joanna closed her eyes for a second and pushed that thought into the last corner of her mind, while trying to focus on his question. Onto something relevant.
"I…. I got a bit angry about something.", she answered eventually, while trying to keep her voice nonchalant.
A little laugh escaped Black at that "I assumed as much. I was just wondering what would have caused a Ravenclaw, who are normally disgustingly well behaved, to act so… so…" his mouth formed a lopsided smile as he searched for the right word "… rebellious?"
Joanna looked at him suspiciously and shook her head "Why would you even care?" From her sitting position she began to reach for the books on the ground, starting to put them back onto the table, one by one, while trying to not breaking eye contact with Black "You do not even know my name."
His expression darkened for a moment, but he seemed to force that little smile back when he spoke again "Of course I know your name, Green." His smile grew slowly bigger "How could I forget, ever since that game a year ago, when you threw me of my broom with that wayward Quaffle."
Making a strange moaning sound out of embarrassment, she hid her face behind the book she had just picked up. She remembered that. It had been the second game of the season. Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. After half an hour was played, Ravenclaw had been ten points behind Gryffindor. They needed to score. But every time Joanna thought there to be an opening she could work with, she had been immediately cut off again by the same Gryffindor chaser. She was not able to shake him, so she grew a little bit despaired and thought of a creative, but quite risky move. She planned to feint a pass to her fellow chaser, but actually to throw the Quaffle over the annoying Gryffindor chaser with as much force as she could muster, then quickly dive away under him to catch it again on the other side. Let's just say it didn't quite go as planned.
"I'm sorry, I never really apologized.", she muttered behind her book.
She heard him laugh warmly "It's okay, Green. It was just a few bruises. Happens. Quidditch can be a harsh sport. And don't forget, you certainly got worse out of it." And he was right, she had been banned from their next match because of it.
Joanna felt the book in front of her being gently pulled out of her grip. Now, that she had nothing to hide behind, she saw that his grey eyes were sparkling with amusement. "And you know, I do have to give it to you, that move could have actually been quite good. If it had worked. And you can throw pretty hard" a mischievous expression appeared on his face "I mean, for a girl."
Joanna huffed in annoyance and resumed to pick up her books, acting like he wasn't even here anymore.
"I was just teasing you", Black said, still clearly amused.
The sound of chair legs scratching over wooden floor reached Joanna's ears in the next moment. For a second she thought he must have finally had enough of her and got up to leave. But that thought turned out to be wrong, when she saw a pair of hands moving into her field of vision, gathering some of the books, placing them back onto the table.
With the unexpected help, the ground was quickly becoming book-free again and as he picked up the last one, Joanna lifted her gaze to meet his warm grey eyes with her dark green ones.
"Thank you", she said sincerely. Suddenly she wondered how his and his brothers eyes could be so perfectly similar in colour, and yet still so utterly different in every other way. Transfixed by that thought, she continued to stare into his eyes, until he broke the eye contact to read the title of the book that still rested in his hands.
After another moment of silence had passed, he spoke again.
"You're welcome", he said quietly and turned the book in his hands so that she was able to read its title "So what is the problem between you and Transfiguration through the Ages?"
Joanna groaned and mentioned to the various Transfiguration books now piled back up on the table "To be honest it's more like a problem between me and Transfiguration in general." She put one elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand "I do get the theory of it all, but I simply cannot manage to actually perform most of these spells. I even gave my friend accidently blue whiskers today in class…"
Black laughed a little "That would be great prank, though. You defiantly have to show me that one day." Jonna closed her eyes in embarrassment. As he continued, his voice sounded more serious "But, to be honest, if you are really having some problems with Transfiguration practice, I don't think studying all books the library offers on that topic is going to help you much."
Joanna was taken aback by that statement "What else am I supposed to do, if not study?" she shook her head in disbelief "Just go and except that I'm a failure?"
"No, of course not…", Black said slowly, apparently a little bit baffled by the strong reaction he was receiving " I'm just saying that if you are having problems with the practice of something, studying only the theory won't really help. You have to actually practise these spells. Like actually trying to use them in order to master them."
What he said actually made sense to Joanna. Why did she never thought of that before?
She sighed "Okay. Maybe you're right. I'll try that."
Black nodded "Yeah, do that. And don't get frustrated if you don't get these spells right at first. There is no shame in that. There is only shame if you stop trying."
A smile forced itself on Joanna's face. Surprisingly to her, his advice helped to calm the anxiousness that had been rumbling inside her.
"Thank you"
He nodded again, then starred at her for a moment. She could almost see how an idea was building up behind those bright grey eyes of his. "You know-", he started but stopped himself briefly. His mind seemed to race in search for the right words, while he ran through his shoulder long, black hair with one hand. When he spoke again his voice was firm "I could actually help you with that."
"Help me?", Joanna asked, thinking she did not hear him right at first "Why would want that? You already helped me with the advice you just gave me."
He cleared his throat "Well, I am actually not bad at Transfiguration, but I do have to take my final NEWT's this year and you know what they say: teaching is the best way of learning."
While Black was mostly known for being a notorious troublemaker, Joanna really had heard that he was actually doing pretty well in his classes. So maybe he could help her? Although she was never too prideful to accept help, she always wondered what her family might think if word would travel back to them that she needed extra tutoring from someone.
As if he was able to read her mind, he tore her from her musings: "If you're afraid for your reputation, we don't need to make big a show of it that we are helping each other out."
She starred him wide-eyed. "No!", she said quickly "I- … Don't think I would be ashamed of accepting your help or something like that..." Joanna paused for a second, trying to think of a way to explain the train of thought she had had. But then she decided to just leave it at that and gave him a little smile instead "You know what? Why not. I would be glad if you could help me."
It was like his whole face lit up after hearing that answer. "Great!", he exclaimed while leaping out of his chair "Do you know where the old Alchemy classrooms are?"
His sudden movement took her aback, but she answered him nonetheless "2nd floor, right?"
"Yup, see you there next week at the same time then?"
"Eh.. sure."
He gave her a short nod of approval, grabbed his bag from the ground and turned to leave. She heard a hasted "See you" from him and then he was gone.
Joanna sat there in silence for another few minutes, trying to make sense of this encounter. Eventually she gave up, gathered her stuff and began to make her way to her common room, still wondering about how, by Merlin's underwear, she was suddenly faced with the prospect of meeting both Black brothers weekly this year. What a strange coincident.