"Why the HELL would you do that, Sirius Black?!" Azura yells at me.
"I'm sorry-"
"I don't want to hear it, Black. Just shut up and go away. I'm never speaking to you again."
That hurt. I don't even know why that hurt, but it did. I should like the idea of her not talking to me, but I don't. I hate it.
"Fine!" I say and I storm off and up to the dorm.
I collapse on my bed. What was I thinking?
As if hearing my thoughts Reumus came in. "You bloody fool." He smirked. "You should always just apologise to an angry woman. You never say 'Fine!' and storm off."
"And why not?" Peter asked, coming in behind him.
"Because, my dear friend, it makes them angrier and then they start having thoughts of… uh, cutting your balls off… with spoons." He finished as if he wasn't affected.
"Oh bloody hell." I groan at them and flop onto the floor, in hopes of dying.
"It wasn't your fault, mate." James said.
"What?" Peter looks confused. As usual.
"We all know that when we get jealous, we tend to lose all control and go into fits of rage. Like I said, it wasn't Padfoot's fault."
"Why is she going out with that toerag anyway?" I asked.
"Because he's good looking, had the nerve to ask her out, unlike you, and has done romantic things before, other than having a good snog in the closet." Moony replied.
"That was so… unhelpful."
"Sorry, mate, but it's true."
"So, do you admit it, do you, Sirius Black, admit that you like Azura Lovegood?" Prongs said.
No. I don't like her.
Impossible. She's moody and up herself.
But she's sweet and beautiful and has morals… You know she's amazing.
Oh, god. I freaking LOVE the girl!
"I… uh, that is to say… Yes! Alright, I like her, I admit it."
"Good, now we have something to work with." Moony looked satisfied. Damn Moony.
"What do you mean by that?" I'm getting worried.
"Well, you like Azura, Azura is going out with a total git, and we need to fix that."
"Why? It's not like she'll ever like me back?"
It was true but painful.
"I have some sources who could tell you otherwise." James said. He was red. Oh god, don't tell me he's been with Lily… and he HASN'T TOLD ME!!
"Good god, man, have you and Lily finally stopped fighting?" I ask.
"Well, no. I have been talking to Alice."
"Oh."
"Prongs! You haven't fallen for Alice, have you? You know she's with Frank Longbottom!" Wormtail looked aghast.
"No, no, relax, Alice and me are just really good friends." He told us.
"Anyway, moving on, you were saying…" Moony looked at Prongs.
"Ah, yes, according to Alice, Azura has got it bad for you, Padfoot."
"Really? That is interesting. But has she actually admitted it?" I say to them. Immediately, James furrows his brow in thought.
"Not that I know of, but Alice says that she has all the signs."
YAY! WOOOOOOO!
"Those signs would be?"
"Umm… She talks about you non-stop, even if it is bad, it just means you're on her mind a lot. And according to Alice, when she glares daggers at you, there's some other emotion such as lust behind her eyes."
FANTASTIC! I FEEL LIKE I COULD FLY! And I don't mean on a broom stick.
"So, she likes me?"
James nodded like the idiot he is.
If I weren't in a room full of my best mates, I would go all un-manly and do a small victory dance. But that would make me… Well, un-manly.
To say the least, I'm happy. But that still doesn't make the situation any better.
"We've still got a problem." I growl.
"What?" James asks.
"Diggory."
"Ah," Reumus is saying. "That is a problem. We just need to find someone else for him."
That's my boy!
"Yeah, who?" James asks.
"I have an idea." Peter chirps.
Oh no. "Who do you recommend, Worm-tail?" I ask.
"That Hufflepuff, what's her name… That girl he dated last year."
"Samara Colby?"
"Yes, that's her. He's definitely not over her. He keeps looking at her."
Wow, Peter's right. Huh, funny, isn't it?
"You know," James says grinning. "That's not a bad idea." He pats Peter on the back, and he looks overly happy.
Azura's POV
I stifle a yawn as Slughorn drones on… and on, and on, and on. Does he ever shut up? Ha, I think not. It's now been a week since the Hogsmeade weekend… You know, the one I where I went on a date….
With AMOS DIGGORY! Lustful sigh!!
…
Next to me, Lily is listening intently. Nerd. Honestly, I think she might explode from all of the boring information she soaks up.
I snort, trying to suppress a giggle as other paper-airplane flies into her hair. I smirk at her as she rolls her eyes and takes her attention away from Mr. Boredom to untangle the charmed parchment from her fiery red locks.
She glares at my amused expression as she wordlessly hands it to me. As usual, I pull out my wand and the fun begins.
I practice my transfiguration skills and turn it into a mini statue of black. I giggle as he's dressed in pink frills.
I point my wand once more, and he begins to melt. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Lily rolls her eyes at my evil expression, but she's smiling.
"Ahem, are you done yet, Miss Lovegood?"
My eyes widen. "Uh, yes, professor." I say quietly, placing my wand on the table and glaring at the little statue that remains half melted.
He continues droning on until the bell sounds, signaling the end of classes for the day.
"Finally." I breathe a sigh of relief to Lily, who just rolls her eyes and grins.
We walk to the common room and find Alice waiting for us, looking frantic.
"Alice, what's wrong?" Lily asks.
"F-Frank and I h-had a fight." She said, tears threatening to spill.
"Oh, Alice, what happened?" I asked concerned for my friend.
She looks at us. "I-I don't want to marry him straight away."
"Alice, how could you not want to marry him? I thought you dreamt of it." Lily states. It was true. She always went on and on about how her and Frank were going to have a son called Neville, and a daughter called Celeste.
"I do want to marry him! I love him. It's just that he asked me to marry him."
It makes no sense. I tell her my thoughts.
"I meant to tell him, I couldn't marry him now. I have school to finish, and I wanted to start training as an auror. He just thought I said I never wanted to marry him. Oh, how could he have taken it that way?!" She sobs.
"What exactly did you say?" I ask.
"He got down on one knee, it was so romantic, and he asked me. At first, I was shocked, then I said 'Look, Frank, I don't think we can' – But he didn't hear what else I had to say!
"What I meant to say was, 'Look, Frank, I don't think we can get married just yet, but after I've started my auror training, then I'd be happy to marry you'. But I never got to finish!" She sobbed, putting her head in her hands.
"Oh, Alice, I'm sure that if you explain what you had meant to say, he'll forgive you and understand." Lily reassured.
"But he won't listen! Every time I've tried to talk to him, he just wouldn't listen to me, he kept walking off and glaring at me!"
"I'm sure he'll come around." Lily soothed. I stood there, rubbing her back as she wiped at her tears and attempted to calm herself.
Suddenly, a note comes flying into the common room, landing lightly in front of me. I open it and it's from Dumbledore.
Miss Lovegood,
Please come to my office immediately. The password is 'Cloud Sugars'.
Professor Dumbldore
I tell the girls I have to go and make my way to his office, saying the password at the Gargoyle.
I open the door and I grin as I see someone I recognize. "Xenophilius!" I exclaim at my older brother, throwing my arms around him.
However, when I pull back, I feel my stomach drop.
He looks haggard. He has black bags under his eyes, he is slumping and his usually happy face is saggy. He's only two years older, but he looks like he's in his early thirties.
"Xeno, what's wrong?" I ask in concern.
"Az," He says seriously, pushing me into a sitting position on the chair. "It's mum and dad."
My heart stops, my stomach clenches and I fear the words about to come out of his mouth.
"They're dead." He says putting his face in his hands.
I shake my head in denial, but I somehow know it's true. Tears spring to my eyes and I fight them.
"H-how?" I croak out.
"They were attacked," He pauses, looking up at me. "By Death Eaters." His voice sounds scratchy and unused.
I let out a throaty sob. Xeno gets up and puts his arms around me. We cry together.
It seems like an age when we pull apart. I rub my eyes, still not completely believing it. It just can't be true. They can't be gone.
"What are we going to do?" I ask.
"You're staying here for the next couple of hours, while I sort out some things on the estate. I'll come and get you for the funeral, and then we'll talk."
And then we'll talk.
Talk? What about? I decide to leave it.
"Okay." I say eventually. He puts his hand on my shoulder, rubbing comforting circles.
"Az, we'll be fine. I've got to go; I'll see you in a couple of hours." He kisses my cheek and squeezes my shoulders in a hug and leaves me sitting there, tears still sliding down my cheeks.
I take a deep breath and get up. Dumbledore comes through the door to his office, looking sad and worn.
"Miss Lovegood, I offer my condolences for your loss. I'm sure that you will find much support from your friends, but if you need to talk…" He trails off, looking over his half-moon spectacles at me.
"Thank you Headmaster." I bowed my head, wiping away tears before exiting and wondering back to the common room numbly.
I climbed inside and was greeted by Lily, who looked up from her book. "What did Dumbledore want?" She asked me.
I didn't know how to answer. I just stared, not realising.
"Azura?" She prompted.
A tear slipped down my cheek. Followed by many others and complimented with a sob. I suddenly can't breathe properly.
"Azura, what's wrong?" Lily asks me in alarm.
"Th-they're g-g-gone!" I sob. She envelopes me in a hug.
"Who's gone, Az?"
"Mum a-and D-dad." I whisper.
She gasps and pulls me closer, Holding me tightly and whispering comforting words to me.
I've gone numb again, my throat still constricted.
"Oh, Az, I'm so sorry." She tells me.
I feel sick. It's sinking in, I think I might collapse.
"Thanks." I manage to croak.
She only hugged me tighter. Tears were still spilling out my eyes as she led me up to our dorm.
We got half way up the stairs before someone called out to us. "Lily-Flower!" It was James' elated voice.
She turned and I could see her shaking her head, giving him a not-right-now look.
"Lily? Azura?" He must've noticed my hunched form in her arms. "Azura are you okay?"
"Look, Potter, just leave it, maybe she'll tell you later." She sighed as we continued up the stairs
I know they're going to find out, so I stop dead in my tracks and face the common room. James looks up at me, seeing my tear streaked face and painful expression. He looks concerned.
"My parents were murdered." I say quietly. A lot of heads snap up and stare at me, dumbstruck.
I turn away and continue up the stairs with Lily rubbing soothing circles on my back. It's helping.
I let out a strangled sob that I can't keep down.
In the dorm room, Alice had been sitting on her bed, deep in thought. A sob coming from e pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked up.
"Azura, what's wrong?" She asked, seeing my state.
"Her parents died." Lily said softly, her own tears threatening to spill.
Alice gasped. "Oh, Az, I'm so sorry." She hugged me and all three of us stood there for a while.
"What about Xenophilius?" Alice asked.
"H-he's fine. He's coming to get me and take me home soon, so I'd better get packing." I say, untangling myself from the other girls.
"Here, pack." Lily ordered to my things, pointing her wand around the room. They obeyed and piled themselves neatly in my trunk.
"Thanks." I mumble.
"D-do you want to be alone?" Alice asks, her voice quivering.
It's the last thing I want. "I think I might go for a walk." Why did I just say that?
"Okay." Lily says.
I walk out the door, down the stairs and through the portrait hole. I had felt all of the eyes on me as I walked through the common room; I needed to get away quickly.
I soon find myself walking up to the astronomy tower.
I open the door and walk inside, breathing in the air as if I hadn't felt fresh air for months. I lean out the large window and look down onto the Quidditch pitch.
I feel like jumping out the window and just falling. I wonder what it feels like to die.
I'm bought out of my slightly suicidal thoughts by the door swinging open. I don't even bother to turn around in hopes that I'm invisible.
But I'm not. Unfortunately.
"Azura, are you alright?" Its not a voice I want to hear.
"No, Black, I'm not, now bugger off." I say in a deadpanned voice.
He comes up behind me. "I'm really sorry about your loss."
I scoff. "It's not like you can be blamed for this one, Black."
"I know, but I just thought I could offer my condolences…" He sounds pathetic.
Merlin, I am a bitch. I think he sounds pathetic when he's offering his condolences? What is wrong with me? He's being nice, and I'm being a cow.
"Thank you." I say quietly.
"I never really had parents, you know." He suddenly says. "They hated me with a passion because I wasn't their perfect Death Eater son. They tried to kill me when they found out I was a Gryffindor." He snorts.
I turn to look at him. "How come you're still alive then?"
"My favorite cousin rescued me, Andromeda. It wasn't until I was in third year when I ran away. Haven't been back there since."
"Where – where did you go?" I am showing interest in Sirius Black's life? Ha! The irony!
"James' house. His parents took me in and treated me like a son. I couldn't believe someone could be so… nice."
"Why didn't you just turn them into the ministry?"
He snorts again. "I couldn't do that, who would believe Sirius Black? The son who hates his family. The troublemaker. Not to mention my family is held ever so high in Pureblood society. Hah!"
He looks angry and something's burning behind the grayish blue of his eyes. I never realised how nice his eyes were.
Ugh! What did I just think?
"My parents were the most amazing people." I say. "Dad was always experimenting with everything, and mum was always dancing wildly about, always trying to make us laugh. I think some of mum's craziness rubbed off on Xeno, but I got dad's flair for experiments." I say, thinking back to how we would spend summers together, before Xeno finished school.
Mum would be dancing in the kitchen, or singing opera, whilst cooking breakfast, while dad would read a book about potions or something that could help with experiment, then get up and kiss mum, just to shut her up once she got too carried away.
"I'm going to miss them." I mumble, more to myself, but Black hears and tears start clouding my vision.
"Who wouldn't miss a family like that?" He says grimly.