Chapter 4. The partner

The tension between me and Ally stayed the whole afternoon, but no one of us wanted to fight so we acted polite with each other. Or, I at least avoided doing or saying anything that would bother her more than necessary. Our last lesson of the day did not make the situation easier as for it was one hour of Transfiguration. When we stepped into the classroom we both stopped in the doorway. Our usual place was taken, or, half-taken. I glanced at Ally and saw her jaw tightened as she went right towards the table were Diane was waiting for her. I sighed and headed forward to our usual-place-that-was-half-taken and sat down next to Sirius, trying to act as if everything was normal.

"Hi, Sugar", he greeted me and I looked back with raised eyebrows at him where he sat, leaning his long body back at the top of the chair. He made a small smirk before he sat up properly and put one of his elbows on the table so he could look at me the whole time.

"Well, hello", I said picking up my books and stuff that we maybe would need, happily doing anything else than looking at him.

"Still angry with me?", he asked, and I froze with one book in the air, before I continued moving again.

"I was never angry, irritated is a more suitable word", I answered and looked at him for a second before I continued. He turned his head forward and placed his chin in his hand. My movements slowed down again as I watched him. From my point of view he looked like a freaking statue of a god. I found myself staring at him and stopped immediately and opened a book instead.

"May I ask one thing?", he said and I looked up at him again.

"Sure."

"Why are you trying to make me get together with Allison?" He looked a bit amused but I could see the glance of irritation in his eyes. I glanced at Ally before I answered him.

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No. Why would I do that?"

"You tell me."

We glared at each other for a long time before I had to look away. Luckily for me, Professor McGonagall started the lesson at that moment and Sirius got no more time to ask me about it before she was done speaking. But as soon as she had urged us to begin with our projects, he continued, of course.

"I don't do relationships, you know."

"I wasn't trying to get you to together! I just...", I started, but I had no idea what to say, and the whole thing felt very ridiculous now. I glanced at him, and he was looking straight at me, waiting for an answer. I sighed.

"Okay, I'm sorry.", I said, giving up all my chances of speaking myself out of it.

"Good.", he said, suddenly sounding very satisfied and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"This wasn't about Ally, huh? You just wanted me to give up!", I said accusingly and hit his arm lightly while he was starting to laugh.

"It was really fun to see your brain work that hard, never seen that before!", he said and laughed even more when he saw my face expression.

"Shall we begin with the project instead?", I asked, pretending to not care about his insults and began to look in my books. Sirius calmed down and we started to search around for ideas. As time went on, I realized that he was not just good at Charms; he was also a natural talent in this subject. He knew so much about it, things we had not even learned yet.

"Oh, I wish I could do that.", I said and pointed at the chapter about Conjuring spells.

"I can teach you.", Sirius said and I looked at him, surprised.

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, it's quite easy actually. Tell me when you have time and I'll try to teach you."

"Er, tomorrow, after school?", I asked cautiously and he nodded.

"That'll be fine. We'll meet in the common room."

After he said that, professor McGonagall interrupted us all and said that the lesson was over. I began to pack all my stuff back into my bag. Sirius did the same, but he was a lot faster than me.

"See ya, Iz.", he said and rose from his chair and went out from the classroom. I looked after him until he was gone, and then I continued to put the last things; a quill and my bottle of ink, into my bag and rose from my chair too. I began to walk back through the lines of tables and stopped when I came up next to Ally's and Diane's. Ally seemed to be much happier now than before, and she and Diane were having a very vivid conversation about their idea for the project. It actually made me smile, because I was happy that she maybe had gotten over this ridiculous Sirius-thing. I was tired of fighting with her, and we had only been at school for a few days. If it was going to be like that for any longer I would not stand it. When they came closer, Ally looked at me, reading my face expression.

"How is it going for you and... him?", she asked me with a strange tone in her voice when she said the last word.

"Er, we haven't come too far yet, to be honest. But he's going to teach me a thing tomorrow and maybe we can do something out of that then.", I said and shrugged. Ally only nodded her head before she insisted to leave the classroom.

Later, when we had had our dinner we went back to the common room. It was a quite noisy activity going on in there. Almost everyone was babbling loudly and some students were running around, chasing each other. Ally and I decided to sit down in two cosy armchairs in a bit calmer part of the big room. We chit chatted a bit as we watched the rest fooling around. After for about ten minutes or so, I saw in the corner of my eye, Sirius getting up and walk towards us. I looked straight at him when he took the last meters in three long steps, smiling at me.

"Hey, Izabel! I forgot that we have try-outs for the quidditch-team tomorrow after school, but I'll be here as fast as I can, I promise.", he said.

"It's okay, take your time.", I answered, smiling back at him. He grinned and went back to his friends, and I glanced nervously at Ally. She did not look too happy, but she hurried to start a new conversation, acting like nothing had happened.

That evening, when we had got into our beds, it took a longer time than usual for me to fall asleep. I tried to get my mind blank, but I did not want to obey me. And the most confusing thing about it all was that I was thinking of a special person, and it was not my best friend. I mean, hanging out with Sirius made me realize he was actually a very nice person, not that arrogant snob he seemed to be at the surface. And of course, he was very good-looking, no doubt about that. But still, I was not in love with him. That was Ally's business, and I was the helping hand when she needed someone to share her thoughts or boy-problems with. So why would my mind not let me get a pause from Sirius?