The wide orb that hung in the sky sent down beams of luminescent rays that lit the small room at the tower top, drawing attention to the lithe girl curled in a small cubby. It was secluded enough that chances of her being caught were slim but still allowed some light to drip onto her highlighting the words of the small book in her hands. The gentle snores of some of her roommates prevented her from becoming fully engrossed with the story she had begun yesterday. It detailed the adventures of a strange boy that had repulsed those around him and forced him into a life of seclusion. She could fully relate to his isolation and incongruity, hadn't her best friends been books for the past six years? That's not to say that the other girls were nasty, quite the opposite in fact, they had always been pleasant but she had struggled for as long as she could remember to remain interested by their fascination with platform shoes and tall, dark-haired boys.
She looked up from the worn, yellowed pages and glanced around her, she was deeply appreciative of this secluded spot. Up until a few days ago, she had always retreated to the second floor, where there was a small, remote, barely lit corridor until couples began frequenting there. It left her in the rather awkward position of trying to block out their sighs of pleasure or escaping with them most certainly seeing her. Either way it prevented her from doing what she had snuck out to do, and that was to read her book in complete and utter tranquillity. It must be understood that Marissa Gregory was not in the usual habit of late night wandering and rule breaking; in her mind those sorts of antics were strictly reserved for the Marauders.
It was at that specific moment a large shadow snuck towards where she sat, it was criminally quiet and showed no signs of being connected to a body. It leaned evermore forward until its source came into view. At this point Marissa's heart strained uncomfortably, pivoting rapidly against her thin ribs at the fear of repercussion. She retreated further into the shadowed cubby and ransacked her mind desperately for any viable excuses that would explain her presence in a lonely tower top at one fifteen in the morning. For once in her life she was appreciative of her thin frame and how it gave her the ease of making herself invisible. It was in the following split second that the shadows origin became visible. The face of ridiculously handsome Sirius Black trudged past where she hid and came to rest against the large window frame filled with a pane that presented pattern of sorts. She watched him slip one graceful hand within his pockets and withdraw a cigarette, oblivious to the wary breathless girl that watched him for any sign of recognition. She was deeply thankful for the concealment that the compact cubby offered her, what would Sirius Black conclude of her wound into a corner accompanied by a pink fluffy dressing gown and a withered book?
The tall figure that was Sirius Black gazed moodily out the slightly ajar glass pane. What would his dear old family say if they saw him now he thought sourly? The cool wall pressed against his skin, eliciting a shiver that flowed throughout him and the night breeze bounced calmly against his perfectly proportioned features.
Brooding, he reflected on the recent turn of events that had scattered his life before now. His home had never been a 'home' in the conventional sense; he had certainly been raised there and spent many a summer racing Regulus on their toy broomsticks in the garden. Although they had barely hovered two feet above the ground, Sirius remembered feeling absolutely invincible. It wasn't until that fateful day in first year when he had been selected as a Gryffindor rather than a Slytherin that things had tumbled at an alarming rate downward. He recalled the feeling of horror as he caught his brothers eye and slid meekly over to the table adorned with red and gold. Once Regulus had informed their parents (Sirius had been too terrified to relay the news home), they had written several ferocious letters to the headmaster demanding that he be resorted, it was too late and to their severe disappointment the magical bond of Gryffindor house had already settled. He had never imagined that something as simple as a house division would have resulted in his parents shattered glares and snide comments, even Regulus had distanced himself from the outcast of the Black household.
Each day he had become further disillusioned with everything he had believed in so clearly beforehand. The 'honour of the Blacks' and their need to uphold the 'values of nobility' now disgusted him and he had reached a stage where he was eager to participate in anything that would piss his parents off in the slightest. Some of his favourites included plastering his room with scantily dressed muggle girls and motorbikes alongside bringing home the prettiest muggle girls on Grimmauld Road. He had delighted in his mother's horrified expression as she viewed the "carnage" he had unleashed on the house (It had taken her a month and several very powerful Imminuedo charms to remove the graffiti proclaiming Gryffindor as the house of heroes in the halls two summers ago.) Naturally there was only so many of the shouting matches and attempted hexes one person could stand before internally combusting. He had hastily packed a bag and arrived at the house of a surprised but delighted James Potter two years ago. In the Potters house, nobody accused him of being "an abomination of their flesh" or looked at him like he had just urinated on their robes. Quite the opposite actually, James' parents were smiley and kind and welcomed him like a second son. Ultimately though, he had never let go of the Black family pride and bought his own place a few months ago. There he was free to smoke and drink as much firewhiskey as he pleased all while plastering the walls in posters of Ducati's and Harley Davidson's.
He liked the tower up here, it was silent and clean, unlike the Marauders own dormitory where clothes and books lay strewn across the ground and there was an endless stream of visiting friends. It gave him space to think and was always devoid of snogging couples. It was a hypocritical thought as he was very often one of them. Alarmingly soon he would have to abandon the safety of the castle's walls and face a war which he hadn't started. He looked down at the drop from the towers height to the miniscule ground below and pondered the consequences of the fall.
From where she was hidden, Marissa had watched the eloquent teenager smoke out the window with a troubled expression etched on his handsome face. In any other situation she would have enquired if the person was all right and listened quietly but earnestly to their response, however this was Sirius Black and in his presence her courage dissipated. As the smoke from his cigarette trailed ever closer unfurling towards her hiding place, she attempted to block up the passage to her lungs, with great difficulty. Her body screamed for air and reluctantly she opened her mouth to indulge. A puff of silvery white gushed into her mouth making her splutter and emit loud hiccupping coughs.
Sirius was quickly distracted by the sporadic noise emanating from the cubby hole he had failed to notice before now. Spinning around with his wand raised dangerously, he broke the silence with a series of smattered curses. A scrawny, fearful girl watched him apprehensively. He noticed her own wand lay stuffed in one comically fluffy pink pocket of her night gown. She was so slight compared to others Hogwarts girls he had been with; it was like she was still stuck in a lovely transient stage of child-like elegance. The first thing he noticed was the dream-like quality to her looks, she was more beautiful than any Veela Sirius had ever seen and true to his nature tepid lusty thoughts polluted his train of thought. He was fully aware of who she was-the frail witch who sat in the corner of most classes and frequented the library in place of attending parties in the common room.
At this, he recalled the memory of a discussion between James and himself a few months ago. They had been spread out on the pair of chesterfield couches that adorned Sirius' new flat and were enjoying the pleasant after effects of Firewhiskey. Moony was as per usual too sensible to have bothered with their antics and Wormtail was presumably hovered above the toilet getting sick.
"She could give Eva a run for her money" Sirius had noted drunkenly as their minds traced the delicate and balanced outline of Marissa Gardner's face.
"True" agreed James, he was in equal admiration of the mousy girls honey good looks.
"She wouldn't be as fun as Eva though" James quipped in his intoxicated stupor which resulted in the boys smirks morphing into satisfied laughter. Eva Thornwood had given both boys equal amounts of attention by night in the astronomy tower in the past.
He resumed his focus to the present and the crouched girl who's faced relayed an expression of deepest shock at being revealed. His eyes were drawn distractedly onto the slim outline of her narrow shoulders, skimmed with the falling material of her pink fluffy dressing gown.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he growled loudly dog-like.
Her bottom lip began to wobble and Sirius cursed his luck, he hated when birds overreacted and collapsed into a tearful stupor. To his surprise, instead of the emission of salty tears, she stammered profusely- "I didn't..I wasn't..I..I..".
He supposed he should have helped her up out of her cramped hiding position, which would have been the honourable thing to do, exactly the type of thing expected from a descendant of the Black household. 'Fuck that', he thought to himself, he had resolutely resolved to be rid of that house and all it's stupid, dark characteristics, so he remained fixed to the spot and resumed his cigarette. Marissa extracted herself from the cubby and glared at the devilishly handsome youth.
Too riveted in the moment by the recent turn of events, neither of the pair noticed the small grey tabby slink into their midst, by the time a pounding set of shuffling steps followed, it was regrettably late to make a hasty escape and laugh about it later.
'Students out of bed' grinned Argus Filch with malice at the unsuspecting pair.