9.1
Rekindling an Old Flame-
My days are filled with spending time with my girls, school work, publicly hanging out with Adelaide, and snogging with random students. It's mid-October. I've settled into a schedule that repeats almost daily, dulling my life. In my walks between classes, I tune out the whispers of adultery as I pass. They have yet to get to the point that they speak to either me or my 'girlfriend,' but that could change with how it's going any second.
I swiftly dress myself after getting up from the bed where a Ravenclaw boy lies watching me. He is haphazardly covered by his sheets, showing the marks I left on him over our busy two and a half hours. I grab my jumper and phone before silently turning towards the door. He makes a sarcastic comment before I leave, which I don't bother to reply to.
I look up from my phone once I am out on the staircase. I look up only to make eye contact with a boy I haven't been alone with since third grade. His grey eyes are just as wide as mine, and he smiles as he opens his mouth to make a comment. He seems to stop himself before passing me, grabbing my shoulder, and guiding me down the stairs. Sirius Black doesn't say a word as we exit the Ravenclaw common room.
I realize where he is taking me after going up a floor. The Astrology tower is a floor away, but I pick up on the sound of two pairs of footsteps as we turn a corner. As the footsteps draw near, I grab Black by the small of his back before shoving us into a dark corner. I cover his mouth as he goes to make a comment. I have my back out, and I notice his eyes moving from mine to behind me. They track the two people behind me until they leave the corridor. His eyes meet mine again once I clearly hear they are gone. I let go of the slightly shorter boy before stalking in the right direction. He follows me silently for once before walking by my side a moment later.
The air is comfortable for two boys who haven't talked to each other in years. I let him go ahead of me on the stairs to the top of the tower. Once on top, I follow him to the side of the tower, where he leans against the edge before looking back at me. I cut him off from what he opens his mouth to say by offering him a cigarette, which he turns down.
"How's life been, Ansley?" His smirk is wolfish, reminding me of the nickname between him and his new friends.
"You'll have to be a little more specific there, Black." He chuckles before spinning to lean his elbows back on the edge and looks back at me from his new position. "It's been a while since we last did this." He barks a laugh and shoves my shoulder with his slightly. I look away from him and towards the stars. I hear him sigh a little before he continues to speak.
"I've heard some things over the last few weeks, Ansie." The corners of my lips turn up as I hear him utter the nickname he gave me all those years ago. His tone is light, but I know he's curious about this. I debate on telling him the truth. I don't know if he would keep it between us, unlike how I would years ago.
"Still not specific enough," I answer in the same tone, which gets me a cut-off laugh. This leads us to start catching each other up on our lives; even though we have spent most of our time in the same school, we couldn't have been more separate. We migrate from the ledge to sitting on some of the floor pillows left by the Astrology class. We sit across from each other while bringing up old inside jokes and things about the friends we have made since we spent every minute we could with each other to avoid any other kid at those parties we were forced to go to by our parents. I stretch out my legs, and he copies me, our feet reaching each other's knees. He knocks his ankle against my leg as he laughs at a joke he told about Remus.
I look at the boy across from me. His hair is layered, reaching past his shoulders. His grey eyes reflect the moonlight strikingly. He is in his version of the school uniform, meaning that his shirt is loose, so is his tie, and he's wearing an oversized leather jacket on top of everything. He's wearing thick leather boots, but he's learned how to walk silently in them through all of his pranks. I feel like if I reached out to him, he would disappear in a cloud of pot smoke. Silver rings litter his hands, and he's wearing a silver chain or two around his neck and a thin strip of leather forming a studded choker. I could bet that he makes dog collar jokes every time he gets.
He talks with his hands as he explains one of the last pranks he and Potter pulled on a group of third-year Ravenclaws. I laughed at the point where he told me one of the boys fell on his face while trying to get away from the two boys. He looks sorta proud as he watches me lean my head back in laughter.
I momentarily reach into my bag and feel around before bringing out a joint. I ensure it's packed right before lighting it, which is the way Sirius made me learn to try to look cool years ago. Back when he would steal his mother's cigarettes out of her purse. I watch as he realizes exactly what I did and starts to shake his shoulders in humor before pointing it out verbally. I take a hit or two before holding it out to him. This time, he accepts it, taking a few hits before leaning back and taking another hit.
"Any bands you got to recommend? Been looking for something new." He passes the joint back before answering with some bands I already know, but I ask him his favorite songs from them anyway. The laughs come easy between us, making us comfortable enough to start calling each other by our first names, just like we used to do before all this shit happened. We gradually grow closer on the floor, Sirius ending up beside me on another floor cushion. Passing another joint, we started to tell more and more personal stories, which you wouldn't catch me dead telling someone while sober. It's around four AM when we get on the topic of our parents.
"Your Mum still a bitch?" Sirius asks me while leaning against the wall next to me. I laugh wholeheartedly before taking another hit.
"Get this, she sent me a letter telling me not to fuck up my relationship with Adelaide. I mean, we aren't even actually dating, so it was pointless." Sirius stops laughing suddenly. Oh, fuck me."You're not actually dating Ewing?" His eyes are as wide as he can get them as he points at me lazily. I nod, which receives a disbelieving huff from the boy. "No wonder she is fine with you whoring around." I let out a hard laugh before shoving his shoulder. I get a wolfish grin in return from Sirius before he steals the joint from me. He takes in too much smoke, which makes him cough out a lung, his face in his hands, and his shoulders shaking violently.
"You have a phone?" I ask as I bring mine out of my bag. As his coughing fit ends, he brings out a small black phone that lights up to show a picture of him and his boys. "What's your number then?" I click open my contacts and begin a new contact. He motions for my phone, and I gently give it to him. It takes a second for him to finish it, but he hands it over with a slight smirk once he does.
I look down at my phone and see that he has put himself in as 'Star Boy.' It was one of our many nicknames for each other while also connecting him to one of the artists he told me about earlier. I chuckle before clicking the empty messages between my new contact and me. I send a quick "Fuck you, Siri." to him; his phone buzzes in his hand before he checks the notification. His shoulders shake as he opens the message and makes a contact for me. I don't get to see what he named me in his phone before he slides it back into one of his leather jacket pockets.
The joint starts to burn my fingertips as I take the last hit of it before snubbing it out by tapping it on the floor between the two of us. I straighten my back, rise to my feet, and walk to the ledge. I look only at the stars while Sirius follows my lead and takes his spot beside me. We stand in silence, looking at the horizon as the sun rises, silencing the moon and stars as dawn breaks. "We should leave soon," I tilt my head in his direction. Sirius leans on his elbows before making eye contact with me again. He nods before verbally agreeing with me. "I don't know if anyone comes up here before breakfast begins." This explains why I want to end our serene air of familiarity.
"Let's go together; you can help me not get caught." His humor has a slight twinge of confusion. I'm guessing he is questioning how I heard the two before he did with his Animagus hearing. He's not the only one who is confused about this, either. But we'll come back to that later.
I flick the roach off the tower's ledge before leading him down the stairs. My pace is slightly slower than usual as I listen to him follow behind me. We walk side by side through the empty corridors to the Gryffindor Tower. We managed to not come across any teachers or prefects. I tune out the password he uttered to The Fat Lady to open the painting. I leave after he waves back at me. On the quiet walk down to the dungeons, I run my thoughts over what my night consisted of. Connecting with an old friend after years and smoking with him. I look at the contact he made for me as I sit on my bed. I have a feeling that this will be the start of many nights full of laughter between two childhood friends.
-1,808 Words-