A Break from Monotony, or, How That Idiot Sirius Black Managed to Charm Me

Disclaimer: The fabulous Ms. Rowling is the owner of all characters from the Harry Potter series. Credit is given where credit is due.

Chapter 9

Sirius' Secret

"You know, Lily," Morgana said as the two girls entered their dormitory, "I think something might be wrong with Sirius."

"I was thinking the same thing," Lily confessed, pulling off her robes. "I was expecting some form of theatrics or explosives-"

"But it was just a bloody cake!" Morgana finished, throwing her hands up. "I don't like it. I feel like something's coming."

"Maybe he's trying to lull you into a false sense of security," Lily suggested.

Morgana considered this, but found it to be unlikely. "Sirius isn't one for subtlety, though."

"He is pretty flashy with his pranks," Lily mused. "Well, I suppose you'll find out in the morning if he's got anything else up his sleeve."

"I can hardly wait," Morgana said sarcastically, before climbing into her four-poster and blowing out the candle on her night stand.

X

Morgana was met with no surprises the following morning. Her breakfast did not dance, her robes did not change colors, she was not presented with a nasally badge – and she gathered that the birthday surprises were over.

As she buttered a slice of toast, Sirius slid into the seat next to her. Remus, James, and Peter took seats across the table, Remus giving Morgana an all-knowing stare.

"Good morning, Sirius," Morgana said without looking at Sirius, "May I assist you in any way?"

"I-was-wondering-if-maybe-you-wanted-to-be-potions-partners-in-class-today?" He recited at top speed. James covered his face with his hands, Remus became rather interested in the Prophet, and Peter blushed furiously for Sirius.

Sirius, as well, was blushing. A first for him, Morgana assumed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," Morgana said, smiling to herself, careful not to let Sirius see. Judy and Lily, who were sitting opposite Morgana, were both red-faced, holding back laughter.

Of course Morgana had heard what Sirius said, and understood it quite well. She just liked seeing him losing his cool.

Sirius was akin to a Greek God in the eyes of Susie and Geraldine, along with practically every other female at Hogwarts. He was suave when he was around them, mercilessly sweeping girls off of their feet and letting them crash painfully to the ground when he told them he just wanted to be friends.

Morgana, however, was a very different case. From the first day they met, he seemed to be less than smooth around her. Whether he had food in his teeth, potion on his robes, or had forgotten his pants, he was never quite as cool around Morgana as he was around any other girl.

Oh, how Morgana liked seeing him suffer.

Sirius took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Perhaps we could be partners in Potions today," He said, obviously forcing himself to keep his cool.

Morgana gave Sirius a pitying smile and patted him tenderly on the hand. "I've already promised Remus I would be his partner in Potions every day for the rest of the school year."

This was true. Remus was so terrible at making potions that she had indeed promised to partner with him every time they had class to help him out. He was not as abysmal as he was at the beginning of the year, but he was still severely suffering in the class. It was the only class he had trouble passing.

Sirius frowned. "Oh," He said, clearly disappointed. "Alright then."

Sadly, Sirius slumped from the table and headed for the dungeons without eating breakfast or waiting for his friends.

Morgana, who was quite pleased with herself, returned to her toast and pumpkin juice. As she was munching away, she received a swift kick to the shins from underneath the table.

"What was that for?" She shouted at Remus, who clearly had done the assaulting.

"You could have just said yes to him," Remus said, unapologetically.

Morgana, confused, stared at Remus, her mouth slightly agape. "But why would I do that?"

James butted into the conversation. "Oh, come on Morgana. Isn't it obvious?"

"Isn't what obvious?" Morgana asked loudly. She faced Lily, asking silently if she knew what the boys were talking about. "What are you talking about?"

"Morgana," Remus said patiently, "The cake? The lack of a prank? Asking to sit with you during class? Can you seriously not-"

"Sirius Black doesn't like me, does he?" Morgana asked wildly. "You can't be serious."

"Serious as a heart attack," James said, before taking a bite out of a fried tomato. "The kid's got it bad."

Morgana stared blankly at the three boys. Remus seemed no longer interested in the conversation, and had returned his full attention to the Prophet. Peter shrugged at Morgana and continued to eat his breakfast. James looked rather disappointed with Morgana, but decided against pressing the conversation any further.

Rather confused, Morgana barely noticed that Eustace was sitting in front of her, hooting dolefully for her attention. It wasn't until Eustace gave Morgana a sharp nip on the finger until she noticed him.

Eustace had a letter in his beak and a velvet pouch tied to his ankle. Morgana took the letter and untied the pouch, and with a soft hoot, Eustace flew off to the Owlery.

The letter was from her aunt and uncle, wishing her a belated birthday. The pouch was filled with galleons and sickles. How very thoughtful, Morgana thought disappointedly to herself. Although it was nice to receive some form of acknowledgement from her extended family, she felt slightly uncared for to receive gold. If they had put forth the effort to get to know their niece, they would know full well that she would rather receive a nice, well thought out letter over all of the gold in the world.

She could not complain, however. Gold was better than nothing, and she saw this in the eyes of Remus as she stowed the pouch away in her school bag. She felt guilty, seeing as Remus always had the shabbiest robes of the group, but did not say anything to him as they walked down to the dungeons for Double Potions.

When Morgana, Lily, Judy, Remus, James, and Peter entered the dungeon, they noticed Sirius sitting glumly next to Geraldine, who was wearing a garish shade of orange eye shadow today and speaking very animatedly to him. Sirius, in these types of situations, would normally humor the girls in question, often flirting back shamelessly. Today, his heart did not seem into it, and he simply nodded and said, 'uh-huh' every time Geraldine paused to take a breath.

James, wishing to avoid Susie, who had taken a very large interest in him ever since he tried out for the Quidditch team, hastily dragged Peter over to the table Morgana and Remus usually occupied.

"Sorry, Evans, Judy," He said, placing his bag territorially on the table. "Can't risk Susie today."

Lily and Judy rolled their eyes and marched half-heartedly to the table occupied by Susie and Justin. Morgana glanced apologetically at the two of them; Lily shrugged and Judy pointedly ignored her.

Not unlike their last lesson, Slughorn lectured for the duration of the double class period. Morgana, James, Remus, and Peter all diligently took notes, seeing as none of them were well-versed at the subject at hand.

Every so often, Morgana would look up to find Sirius staring at her profile. She would meet his eye and he was hastily look away, taking deep interest in his quill or Slughorn's bulging belly. Morgana shook this off, thinking that perhaps, he was just staring off into space or had momentarily been scanning the room or was actually staring at James, trying to get his attention.

But after the fourth time this happened, Morgana could no longer kid herself. Sirius was staring at her. He was not taking notes. He was not flirting with Geraldine. He was not paying any attention to anything else but Morgana.

Morgana nudged Remus, whose quill trailed across his parchment.

"What?" He hissed, irritated that his perfect notes had been ruined.

"Did one of you slip him a love potion, or something? This is another one of your pranks, isn't it?" Morgana asked, vehemently, underneath her breath.

"Would we really do something like that?" He asked, staring at the long trail of ink across his notes. "That's too dangerous, even for us."

Morgana gave him a fierce stare, one that would make even the avidest of liars break. Remus stared back, unafraid and unflinchingly. She was forced to believe that he, nor James, nor Peter had anything to do with Sirius' new found attraction to Morgana.

She sighed and returned her attention to Slughorn, who was rambling aimlessly on about his most recent brush with Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies.

Author's Note: Yeah yeah yeah, I know. I'm really spastic with posting. I'd like to say this is because college is hard and I'm swamped with work and I'm busy being a social butterfly, but those would be blatant lies. I really haven't had much motivation to write because I feel like people aren't enjoying this piece. I have come to this conclusion because of a lack of reviews. I'm not going to be one of those people who threaten to stop posting if they don't get reviews because I am not one of those people. I'm just saying that it would be nice if I could get one once and awhile. Just a thought. :)