CHAPTER 30: A Peculiar Hangout
"Black?" Isabella questioned as she neared the stairs. Sirius looked up from his hands and smirked.
"Ahhh, Clarke- just the person I wanted to see," he grinned. Isabella narrowed her eyes but grinned right back.
"How about we go back to not speaking to each other?" She rolled her eyes. Sirius snickered.
"Oh Clarke, then who do I have to bully?" He pouted. She feigned offence.
"Wow Sirius! More like I'm the one who ruins your life," she defended. Sirius hopped up and strode over to her.
"You wanna bet on that?" He raised an eyebrow. She cocked her head to the side.
"Mhm…just to let you know- I really enjoy having personal slaves, so that's what you'll be when I win!" She flipped her hair and happily smiled. Sirius did enjoy her new change of attitude.
"Watcha doin' back here Clarke?" He shuffled his feet.
"Forgot my book," she shrugged. "What are you doing back here?"
"Skipping," he nonchalantly said. She snickered.
"Alrighty then," she started to head up to her room.
"Join me," she heard Sirius say. She stopped and turned around.
"Join you for…skipping?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, why not?" He leant back against the armchair. She let herself be persuaded by him.
"Let's say I skip with you…what would we do?" She leant her head to the side.
"I dunno, mess with first years, prank- oh no wait, that's with James, ahhh just kinda chill?" Sirius continued smirking. Isabella took a deep breath before answering.
"Fine. Let me put my shit away," she walked up the stairs to her dorm, dropping all of her books off.
Isabella, you just agreed to chill out with Sirius Black. What's wrong with you, she thought and shook her head. She came back downstairs to find him lounging on the couch. "Alright Black, let's chill," Isabella rolled her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, Clarke," Sirius playfully snarled.
"I'll roll my eyes all I want at you," she bit right back.
"Feisty," he muttered. "Alright lets go to the Great Lake- maybe there's some first years there we can fuck with," he was already halfway out of the portrait hole when he suggested that. Isabella jogged to catch up with him.
"So why are we messing with first years again?" She huffed as she jogged along Sirius' side.
"It's fun," Sirius smirked. Isabella reciprocated that smirk and didn't think for a second about skipping History of Magic.
Remus placed his materials on his desk meticulously- a quill on his right side, a piece of parchment in the middle of the table, his textbook lying horizontally at the top of the desk and a small block of chocolate on his left side. Proudly gazing at his workspace, he looked at the door at the incoming students.
Isabella should be coming at any minute, he thought. He continued to eagerly wait, hands on top of each other on the desk, continuously staring at the door. More students of all houses piled in, yet none were Isabella. As the last few students came in, Remus' eager face turned to concern as he realized that Isabella wasn't coming.
"Alright class, please be seated. Oh, we seem to be missing Miss Clarke and Mr. Goyle! I'll ask to see them separately," Professor Binns skipped back to his desk to mark the two down. "Right! Let's get started," he cheerfully exclaimed. Remus' smile vanished and opened his textbook with a sigh.
"Hurry up you hippogriff," Sirius called after Isabella, who wasn't keeping up to his pace.
"OI! You can slow down a bit, Black," she scoffed, not even trying to keep up with him.
"I don't wait for anyone, Clarke," Sirius called over. She narrowed her eyes and fast-walked to catch up. They both continued strutting down the hallway to the Great Lake. Finally reaching outside, they both spotted a group of first years huddled around a tree.
"Isn't that the tree you losers hang around?" Isabella raised her eyebrow as she observed the group. Sirius flared his nose.
"You're correct. No one hangs around OUR tree," he growled.
"It's not your tree," Isabella casually corrected. Sirius paused and turned to look at her.
"Excuse me Clarke, that IS our tree, so shut up," he sassed. Isabella smirked.
"Wow Black, I didn't know we owned a tree together," she smiled. Sirius' eyes widened.
"OhmyGOD NO Clarke- I meant that's mine, James, Remus and Peter's tree!" He exclaimed. Isabella started laughing.
"You know I'm just fucking with your right? But then again, you would need to explain yourself to me," she winked at him and started walking towards the first years.
Sneaky, he thought. He trailed after her but stopped.
"Clarke! We need to devise a plan!" He said in a hushed whisper. She ran back to him and drew out her wand.
"Good idea. Okay, I'm pretty sure they've already seen us loitering here, so I'll distract them. You come up with something good," she cheekily smiled before strutting over to the first years. Sirius hung back and watched for a while. He immediately thought of the best way to scare the first years: transform. He skipped behind a tree, made sure no one was watching, and transformed into his big, black, furry alter ego. He snuck up behind the group, crawling on the floor as he fixed the group in his eyes. Isabella was busy showing the first years absolutely nothing on the lake and didn't spot this black dog stalking up to the group. Sirius now started growling and snarling to the group, who jumped and screamed at the sight of him. Sirius jumped and barked at the terrified first years, which dropped their books and screamed and ran. Instead of running away from Padfoot, Isabella gleamed at the dog with such love and a huge smile.
"OHMYGOD YOU CUTIE PIE, COME HERE!" Isabella dropped to her knees and held her arms out to hug the dog. Sirius was a bit confused by this reaction but then decided to mess with her. He ran towards Isabella and started jumping on her, licking her face and hands. Isabella too busy squealing and gushing over Padfoot to notice that Sirius hadn't come to mess with the first years. Sirius was enjoying Isabella's pats as he frequently turned over to get belly rubs. All of a sudden, Padfoot perked his ears up and took off running back to the castle. Isabella pouted and stood up, wondering what attracted this dog away from her. She started smiling again and looked around for Sirius. For once in her life, she felt genuinely happy. She didn't want to hurt herself or anyone around her- it was like the black cloud of pessimism had left for a moment.
Padfoot ran to the walls of the castle and transformed back to Sirius. He panted and smiled to himself. He had no idea how happy he made Isabella as his alter ego, but he enjoyed feeling that interaction. He walked back in the castle just in time as class had finished. Sirius strutted back to the Gryffindor common room to wait for Isabella to come back.
*Note: I'll be gone for 2.5 weeks, so I'll post when I come back!
