Cry

Sev landed, he was greeted with applause.

"What a phenomenon!" Sirius exclaimed. "Indeed, you'll beat Potter."

He smiled shyly. "It was not my merit, it was Hippolyta's, who taught me. What time have I done?" he asked the girl.

"Three minutes twenty-one seconds," she answered.

She loves numbers, she is exact down to the last second.Her two lucky numbers, and now mine too.I won the bet. "Two multiples of three, Hippolyta."

"Indeed."

They returned to the castle, Remus and Sirius accompanied him. I won't tell them what happened to us up there, I don't want to get annoying.

"What?" Remus asked. "The little one challenged you, huh?"

How much he knows me. "Yes, but I won the bet."

"What have you bet?"

"That she doesn't complain about food again until the next training session," Sev replied.

"Your idea?"

"No, hers."

"And what time has she given you?" Lupin asked.

"Five minutes."

"She made it difficult for you…" admired.

"Of course, so that I am the best," the Sly said very satisfied.

"She handles you the way she wants."

"Of course. But I love it, I wouldn't have achieved it if it weren't for that motivation."

"You're good for that too, huh?" Sirius told him. "How many classes have you taken?"

"The sixth one."

"Wow… how awesome. If you had played Quidditch since second grade, we Gryff wouldn't have won a championship, you would have won them."

"You are not the first to tell me this, but you are the first when I just found out that it is true," said Sev. "Do you know that last Friday I still had vertigo?"

"What are you saying?" amazed.

"What you are hearing, a lot, and she cured it for me, forcing me to chase her in the same way she chases the Snitch, turning to look at me and laughing at me all the time."

"Wow… she's the bomb," said Sirius, admired.

"And later, when I told her, she laughed at me again and called me a chicken, repeatedly, too."

They laughed.

"She knows how you feel about her," Remus said.

"Of course she knows it, she knew it even before I did, from the moment I met her."

"When?"

"The day of the mess," answered the Sly. "She was the third year girl who confronted me because she wanted to train and I didn't let her."

"Oh! It's true!" Remus, with deep understanding.

"What happened? What happened?" Sirius asked, very interested.

"We found out because we were right next to them, at the end of the Gryff table, where we sat before," Remus explained to Sirius.

"Tell me, please."

"Let Sev tell you, he will remember it better than me."

"Of course I remember it, as if it had just happened," said Sev. He described the situation to him verbatim.

"Wow... Without knowing you at all and with what you had just done, she had no respect for you," said Sirius.

"Yes, she had it for me. She admitted that I was the commander, and in the end they went to the table. Later she told me that she confronted me because she really liked the way I looked at her and she wanted to train with us at all costs."

"Wow... she also fell in love with you right away."

"No, she already had me signed up since first year," Sev clarified.

"Also?" amazed.

"Yes, as a good duelist, something that, as I already told you, I owe to you. She admires me deeply, and I admire her. And we are alike in everything, there are countless things we have in common. Soulmates."

"Do you have a new Patronus?" Remus asked him.

"New and unique, the others are gone."

"Oh... Can you show us?"

"No, not now, because I don't want the family to find out," the Sly refused. "They don't know what I feel, only Deborah. It seems inappropriate to me."

"Well, well…" Black told him. "She's not a baby, huh? She knows very well what she's doing and you're only two years apart. I have been with fourth grade girls who are almost two years younger than me."

"I don't care what you've done, Sirius. It seems inappropriate to me, and if I continue to feel what I feel for her, which now I can no longer be sure if it will last, given what I have seen, I plan to wait for her until she is the one who approaches me, never me her."

"You're doing very well, Sev," Remus told him. "When she's ready."

"Of course, because for her I feel what I felt for Lily before discovering that I also wanted her, it is a pure and innocent feeling and I like it much more than the rest. For me, I would stay with that for the rest of my life, even if I never did it with anyone again."

"Wow, Sev... you're unknown. In a week."

"She has turned me inside out."

"I think that this is also going to be forever."

"Me too," the Sly confirmed.

"Then if you want, you can show it to us tomorrow, in training. Tomorrow it's our turn."

"True. Aren't you going to let James come instead of you?"

"No, Sev, not after what you've told me about Greyback," Lupin replied. "I need to train as much or more than them."

"Of course, Remus, you're doing well. Then I'll show you tomorrow, we'll escape for a moment during the break."

"Besides, James also has to study, huh?"

"If the rat lets him."

They laughed.

"Are you going to fight me, Sev?" Sirius asked him.

"Of course, I'll dedicate the entire first hour to you if you want."

"Wow… what an honor. In the last training of the year. Almost an hour and a half just with me, I'm going to learn a lot."

"This way you'll leave them amazed in the OWL exam on Thursday," said Sev.

"True. They were already amazed in Charms, I was the first to do everything non-verbally. And I had just learned just twelve hours before, Lily taught me."

"Yeah, I know, just before the mess."

They laughed.

"Did you see them, Remus?" Sev asked.

"Of course I saw them," Lupin replied.

"Ah! Then I also have to tell you off. How did you not think to warn them?"

"Yeah… I do not know. Since you had spoken to Sirius alone that morning it didn't bother me."

"You are like all the Gryffs, you will never learn to dissemble," criticized Sev. "I had you in greater esteem, Remus, and also you, Sirius."

"Well, well," said Remus, unconcerned, "Sev's lectures. Don't listen to him, Sirius."

"You've never seen me really angry, Remus."

"No, never..." ironic. "When we attacked you you didn't get angry."

"That no longer counts."

"What I was telling you, Sirius, a piece of bread," said Lupin.

"Today I plan to go to sleep at curfew, so I'll be fresh tomorrow," said Sirius.

"If the rat leaves you."

They laughed.

"Shut up, shut up, he's unbearable," Black said. "Do you know he snores?"

"What are you saying?"

"What you are hearing. If he falls asleep before me it is very difficult for me to fall asleep."

"Me too," Remus said. "It's because he's fat."

"How awful... And you still have to endure him for almost another year. I never had that misfortune, none of the malefics of our year snored. My father did, he snored a lot, I heard him from my room."

"When he fell asleep drunk."

"Which was always," the Sly confirmed.

"Now you got rid of him, Sev. With luck you'll never see him again in your life."

"With a lot of luck."

"Like I won't mine," Black said. "With luck I'll go home to get my things one day when they're gone, that way I won't even have to explain things to them and I'll be able to copy their agenda freely."

"Ugh, Sirius... and don't you feel sorry for your brother?" Sev asked. "I don't have siblings and I'm very sad not to have them. He is still young, maybe he still has time to change."

"Well yes, I do feel very sorry for my brother, because when we were little, before me coming to Hogwarts, we were very close. We only are apart for a little over a year, we were inseparable."

"Ugh, Sirius... what a shame. Try to rescue him, stay at home for a few days, talk to him."

"Maybe I will."

"Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. He is a lion like you."

"I had never thought about it," said the Gryff.

"Convince him to go back to school next year. I will take care of him at home, I think what happened to him is that he lacked a family, an older brother, like it did to me, that's why I strayed from the right path."

"Ugh, Sev... don't tell me that, I feel very guilty."

Sev grabbed Sirius by his shoulders. They were both crying.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. What you told me before, if you had fallen in Sly, maybe you would have gone down the wrong path too. You have already done enough saving yourself, and if it is true that you were so close, I am sure that in some way you have also influenced your brother. It wasn't your fault, but the damn segregation in Houses. Try to talk to him this summer, if he returns to school, I will do everything possible so that he does not lose the year, that he can go to fifth grade, that he will have his fourth year exams in September and we will all help him so that he can pass them, get up to date and integrated. We will adopt him into the family and we will find him a house if he does not want to return to yours."

"Booff… my parents are not going to let him come back to Hogwarts."

"Yeah... Ugh... now I'm feeling terrible. I should have been interested in him before the mess, so he wouldn't leave."

"What did you know, Sev? It's the first time I've spoken well to you about my brother, I had never even spoken to Remus or James about him, I was very ashamed. I have been the one who has abandoned him, dedicating myself to many other and diverse tasks instead of what really matters, as you do, and leaving him alone at home with my parents on holidays. I have been very selfish."

. . . . . . . . .

The Sly family came home.

"Hippolyta, honey, let's rest for a while until dinner, is that okay?" Sev asked her.

"I can't, Prince, I have to study. I still haven't finished the Astronomy homework that you gave me yesterday, I didn't have time this morning," the girl responded.

"Don't worry about that now, you need to relax for a little while so you can have dinner in peace. Let's sit together on the couch and chat. I have an idea, do you like animals?"

"I don't know if I like them, I've never been with animals."

She can be very affectionate, it's one of her characteristics, we have to encourage her to let herself be loved, Sev thought. She is very sensitive and is very afraid to express her feelings, and that also hurts her.

"Ariel has a kitten, let him let her to us to caress her. She is very affectionate, you will love her."

"Fine, ask him."

"Sit down and wait for me, I'll go to his room to get her before he goes to the Library."

"Okay."

Sev went up to the third year boys' dormitory.

"Ariel, honey, can you leave Hippolyta and me your kitten so we can give her some cuddles?"

"Of course, Sev. How is she?"

"She is very tired, she has flown too much today."

"Of course, flying is very tiring," said the boy.

"Yes, and we have been very silly putting the two training sessions in a row, Quidditch and ours. We have exhausted her."

"Well, Sev, don't feel bad. You just haven't realized it. Today you cried and laughed a lot with your friend Sirius. He's very nice, isn't he? He has chatted with me a lot while you were training."

"Yes, he is great. I'm already as much a friend of him as I am of Remus. What do you think of how I caught the Snitch?"

"Wow… great. You are a better Seeker than Hippolyta."

"No, Ariel, that's not true. If I have achieved it it has been thanks to her."

"Yes, it's true, she was the one who taught you."

"You have to tell her how good she is. I want you and Shelley to become good friends with her, so she can visit you in the summer and we can all meet at Shelley's house."

"Of course, Sev, we are already doing it. This morning I have been helping her with her Astronomy homework, as you asked me to do yesterday."

"And how have it turned out?"

"Well, she does everything well by herself, but she does it very slowly, I don't think she will have time to finish her exam."

"Well, nothing happens if she doesn't get a good grade," Sev reassured him. "The important thing is that she learns, she will improve from now on until she takes her OWLs."

"Yes, she already told us that she wants to do two NEWTs like you, Defense and Astronomy. Maybe me too."

"Oh! What joy you give me. But in that case you will have to enroll in Divination next year."

"Oh… really? I will have all the electives," the boy realized.

"You won't have a big problem, you are an ace in your studies and you already have your Time Turner. I won't keep you any longer, I'll take the kitten and go down to the Common Room, where Hippolyta is waiting for me. If you want, we can continue chatting when we return from the Library at night, in my room, would you like?"

"Okay, Sev, and we'll sleep together if you want. Do you feel like it?"

"Yes a lot."

"Well, take her." Ariel gave him his kitten.

"See you for dinner, honey." Sev kissed him on his head.

He went down to the Common Room, Hippolyta was already waiting for him, lounging in the center of the couch. So that wherever I sit, be by my side.

"Ugh, Hippolyta... you're really exhausted. Wouldn't you rather go upstairs and lie down for a while?"

"No, Prince, I want to be with you more."

Ugh… I would invite her to lie on my bed, but that's too inappropriate. He sat next to her, on her left. "I know what we're going to do, lie down and rest your head on my leg," Sev proposed.

"If I lie down I'll fall asleep, Prince."

"Well, then go to sleep for a little while, I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner."

"And you're going to be bored," objected the girl.

"No, honey, I never get bored with you. Plus, I have the kitten to pet, I already have a good time that way. Have you ever seen her?"

"Yes, of course, Ariel has had her since first grade."

"Lie down, come on," he said.

Hippolyta lay down on the couch resting her head on his thigh, in a fetal position, looking outwards.

"Are you comfortable?" Sev asked her.

"Yes, Prince."

"Are you cold?"

"A little," she responded.

We don't get rid of the humidity in the dungeons even in summer, and she doesn't have any fat to protect herself from the cold, as Deborah explained to me. Sev took out his wand and conjured the heating spell to seventy degrees. "And now?"

"I already notice more warmth. Is it a spell?"

"Yes, a heating spell, you can regulate the temperature. Do you want me to hit it harder?"

"Okay."

He conjured it to seventy-five. "Better now?"

"Yes much better. What temperature have you set it to?"

"At seventy-five degrees."

"Very well, multiple of three," said Hippolyta.

She's meant to be eaten. "Do you want the kitten to pet her?"

"Okay."

Sev placed her on the couch in front of her, within arm's reach of her. Hippolyta caressed her, the kitten curled up into a ball and purred. Meanwhile, Sev was caressing her head.

"I love her, she's very soft," said the girl.

"Of course, have you never petted a kitten?"

"No never."

"Me neither, until last Christmas," he recalled.

"Wow... something else in common. Plus, I really like her because she has hair as black as you."

Merlin… I'll eat her.

"What's her name?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh... Have you never asked Ariel?"

"No, I didn't know that animals are given names," he replied.

Hippolyta laughed. "Look how silly you are, Prince, it's incredible."

True, Lily's owl has a name, I'm very silly.

"Let's name it ourselves," she proposed.

"Okay, think about it."

"I know."

"How?" Sev asked.

"Night."

"Wow… fantastic," admired. "Black as the night."

"Like you," Hippolyta said.

Ugh… I'm already starting to feel like Thursday. He took a deep breath.

"Have you seen what a coincidence before?" continued the girl. "Your time has been my two lucky numbers."

"Yes, I already realized that, that's why I told you that they were multiples of three."

"Yes, I also realized that you said it for that reason. We have hidden well."

"Of course, we are the best," he said.

"Something else in common. I really like it when you caress me, can you caress my arm too?"

"Of course honey." Sev did so, warming her. Ugh… I'm already about to cry.She is very in need of affection, of human warmth, and no one has realized until now.

"Wow... how nice, how warm you give me..." she said.

"Are you still cold?"

"A little on my legs."

"I'll go get a blanket," Sev proposed.

"No, don't move."

"Then I'll Summon it. What color do you like?"

"Black," Hippolyta responded.

Like me.In Erised she is also dressed completely in black. He Summoned a thick, black blanket. He threw it over her and wrapped her in it.

"But keep caressing my arm," said the girl.

"Of course honey." He caressed her arm over the blanket and her head with his other hand.

"Can I keep it?" she asked.

"Of course, if you like it."

"I love it. It is very warm, better than those at home. Tonight I'm going to put it in my bed instead of the green one."

"Are you cold at night?" Sev asked.

"A little, yes."

Ugh… how she must be in winter. He cried, but he tried hard not to let it show in his voice. "And why didn't you take more blankets from the common trunk in your bedroom?"

"I don't know… it hadn't occurred to me," the girl responded.

"Well, tonight you put both, the green one and this one."

"Okay."

"And tomorrow when you wake up keep it in the common trunk so that the elves don't take it," he suggested.

"Sure."

And she must also be very cold in winter in her uniform skirt.They must excuse her from wearing it, so that she can wear trousers until she recovers. "Are you cold in winter in your uniform skirt?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to ask the old man to let you put on trousers," Sev proposed.

"Oh really? Wow, Prince, great, because I don't like wearing a skirt at all."

"I'm going to ask him to let us dress however we want to go to class, and if he doesn't let us, I don't care, we'll disobey him, we won't listen to him. We are Sly, rebellious, let they punish us and take points from us, I don't care. Put your trousers on tomorrow if you want."

"Indeed I'm going to do it," she said.

Without a moment's hesitation, that's how I like it. "And in the summer we will go buy you clothes that you like, if necessary hidden from your parents, so that you have them to train with the Army, go to the Forest and to classes dressed however you want."

"But they won't give me that much money."

"Don't worry about the money, I'll buy them for you," he said.

"But you are poor."

"I'm not anymore, and if I don't have enough, Deborah and Jack, who have a lot, will buy them for you."

"And how will we bring the clothes to school?" Hippolyta asked. "I won't be able to put them in my trunk, my Mum always does it for me."

"Then we will bring them in ours, don't worry, just make sure your Mum doesn't fill it too much so that later you have room for the clothes we'll bought."

"Great... Ugh, Prince. Now I'm feeling terrible for the trouble I've given you yesterday and today. You have spent your meals crying, they must have made you feel bad."

"Don't worry, honey, it's over now," Sev reassured her.

"I'm going to listen to you in everything, not just until the next training session. Always."

Wooow… I got it, without having to tell her off, just by treating her well.

"I also noticed something else when you chased the Snitch," she continued.

"What?"

"That you have given everything of yourself to win the bet and that I kept my word."

"Of course, because at this moment in my life it is what matters most to me," said Sev. "That you eat and get strong. Everything else almost doesn't matter to me."

"Ugh, Prince... don't tell me that, I'm going to cry."

"Well, cry, honey, crying is not bad, I've been crying for a while now."

She turned, lying on her back to see him, and they cried together, looking into each other's eyes. He collected her tears with his fingers.

"How you look at me…"

"And you at me…"

"Because I love you…"

"And I you…"