Chapter 39: A Friend

Ariadne ate dinner alone that night, ostensibly studying for Arithmancy, with the dense textbook laying open next to her plate. But even though her eyes were on it, she wasn't seeing any of the contents of its pages. Instead, she was reliving the events of the morning over and over again, wishing she somehow could have changed their course.

After Sirius kissed her and professed his love for her, Ariadne unleashed an indignant diatribe and stormed out of the dormitory. She couldn't even remember exactly what she said—something about using a traumatic event to manipulate her emotions. She left Sirius looking bewildered, and as she exited, heard James say tentatively, "Might not have been the best timing on that, mate."

Sirius and the others had maintained a respectful distance from her in Transfiguration today, most likely sensing that trying to talk to her would not have produced good outcomes for anyone. But Ariadne could guess how hard that must have been for Sirius, because (as much as she hated to admit it) it was hard for her, too. She had become accustomed to his sarcastic, witty, challenging presence- the sly comments in her ear, the furiously whispered debates when they disagreed with McGonagall (and more often, each other) on a point of theory, the raised eyebrows and suggestive comments that indicated that they might be spending some time alone together that night.

Stupid, emotional, hormonal boy, thought Ariadne to herself. One night of dancing, a pretty dress and a shared moment of vulnerability and he thinks he's in love. Ariadne couldn't believe he was being so foolish. She thought Sirius was smarter than to fall prey to a teenage infatuation. She thought that his cool, snarky, aloof exterior and the bristly friction between them would protect them from something messy like this. She thought they had a kind of understanding about what they were—and never imagined Sirius would suddenly want more.

Ariadne was pulled away from her thoughts by the quiet appearance of Remus. "May I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the seat next to her.

Ariadne hesitated, but nodded. "But I hope you know better than to come here as his apologist to spin some sad tale and try to win me over."

Remus gave one of his small smiles. "I wouldn't dream of it, Ariadne. Unless my dreams involved Madam Pomfrey putting my body parts back in the right places."

Ariadne couldn't help but smile a little in return. "Well, then, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Just a friend checking in with another friend who might be in distress."

"I'm not distressed by Sirius apparently confusing his Firewhisky for a love potion."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Ariadne," replied Remus gently. "I know you still haven't had time to process what happened at the masquerade. And so many things happened so quickly right after it."

Ariadne released a breath and almost felt herself deflate. Remus was right, of course. She was still disturbed and troubled by the message carried to Hogwarts directly from Voldemort himself. But Sirius's ill-timed declaration had obscured everything.

"I know that you're going to try to tell me it wasn't my fault. But Black and I had tasked ourselves with looking after the castle, and we completely abdicated that responsibility. In fact, we never should have taken it on in the first place. I should have told McGonagall immediately as soon as the first girl in the skull mask threatened me."

Remus gave her a quizzical look. "Girl in a skull mask? You're going to have to fill me in, Ariadne."

Ariadne realized that in their overconfident stupidity, she and Sirius hadn't even informed the Marauders about what had gone on at the masquerade before the mysterious messenger's appearance. She hurried through the details with Remus, concluding, "We had plenty of signs that something bad was going to happen, and instead of trying to prevent it, we got drunk and hit the dance floor, and somewhere along the way Sirius decided he fancied me."

"Sirius, half of Gryffindor House, and a handful of Ravenclaws," murmured Remus, half to himself.

"Exactly!" Ariadne practically threw up her hands in frustration. "Remus, you've been Sirius's friend for much longer than I have. How could he see me in a white dress and suddenly decide he's in love with me?"

Remus's puzzled look had returned. "There's not much that's 'sudden' about it, Ariadne." He paused. "Well, I suppose I can see how it would have seemed out of the blue to you. But not to others who are close to Sirius."

Ariadne folded her arms. "Please enlighten me."

"Well…" Remus hesitated. "I'm not exactly sure how to break this to you gently, but Sirius has been madly in love with you for months." He paused. "Of course, he hadn't exactly said so in so many words, at least until this morning."

Ariadne was still in denial. "But doesn't Black have a new love interest for every phase of the moon?"

Remus smiled slightly. "I know that that's the…persona Sirius has cultivated around the student body, but it's based less in reality than you might think. Sirius doesn't have any more time in the day than we do to divide among studying, sleeping, scheming with James, and going to class. It doesn't always leave that much extra time for wooing unsuspecting witches."

"I'd say he does carve out a little surplus time by regularly skipping class, but your point taken. Still, he just never seemed the type to dramatically fall for a girl and then risk making a fool of himself by declaring it to everyone. I felt like I was in a fluff piece written for Witch Weekly," replied Ariadne.

"I don't think Sirius expected to fall for you like this, either, Ariadne," said Remus. "But I've never seen him act this way about a girl. He almost never stops talking about you. And even when he isn't, I can tell that he's thinking about you. He's had flings and infatuations, like you say, but not like this."

Ariadne frowned. "What do you mean?"

Remus gave another of his discreet smiles. "He'd petrify me if I told you the degree to which he's obsessed over minute details of your…relationship, but suffice to say, I think Sirius was quite astonished to find someone else at Hogwarts who is as brilliant, attractive and confident as he considers himself. And when he got over his surprise, he realized that all he wanted was to be with that person."

Ariadne was quiet, so Remus continued. "I'm not sure if he had even admitted to himself how he felt about you before this morning. But I can assure you, it was no impulsive whim. I suspect something about the masquerade and the horrible things that happened last night put his feelings into focus for the first time. And I think he really meant what he said."

Ariadne felt like she was sinking, into a place she didn't understand and didn't know what to do. It was an alien feeling to her. Her concern must have showed, because Remus's expression softened and he tried to comfort her. "You're the perpetually unfazed Ariadne Morrigan. Nothing scares you. You can handle a little emotional involvement with a teenage boy."

Ariadne wasn't sure about that.