invisible string
One thing about Sirius Black is that he’s always been extraordinary in everything he does, including procrastinating. In fact, even like-minded, self-proclaimed Master Procrastinator Mary Macdonald had almost murdered him during last spring when he finished his statistics final only seconds before submissions closed.
He is truly regretting his habits this time, though, as he walks into his historiography class with the worst professor on campus. Everyone had warned him to register before he ended up with Binns, but he had truly believed that he would be fine.
James’ frustrations about not registering for the same class were bad enough karma, but now Sirius had to actually pass. What a cruel world, this.
Sirius sits down with a sigh in the seat closest to the door just two minutes before the lecture is due to begin, paying no attention to the other poor schmucks in the hall with him.
There is a pointed cough from beside him.
He glances over only to find himself sitting next to the most interesting man that Sirius has ever seen.
Man may not be the proper word if the other is in his sophomore year, and thus just barely a legal adult, like Sirius, but there’s never been a word more fitting for a person’s demeanor. The person sitting next to Sirius is grown, perhaps beyond his years, but it remains that he is a level of maturity that most people don’t exude in such a way until at least middle age.
“You’re sat on my jacket,” the man points out.
For some reason, Sirius is mortified by this. He hands the man his jacket, but doesn’t say anything. He also doesn’t get up and move seats, which is a good thing, as the lecture begins less than a minute later.
Ninety minutes later, Sirius sits there, dumbstruck. Somehow his brain is both struggling to catch up to all of the information that was thrown at him and struggling to not fall asleep out of boredom at the same time.
“That was… definitely something,” he mumbles under his breath.
He’s shocked out of his stupor as the man from earlier responds.
“Shit is what it was.”
A bark of laughter claws its way out of Sirius’ throat.
“I thought that the first week was supposed to be easy.”
“I’ve a feeling that nothing about this class is going to be easy,” is the response as the man walks away.
The uncanny need to follow him, to not let the interaction end, seizes Sirius as he throws his half used composition book and stolen pencil back into his backpack and rushes after.
“I’m Sirius, by the way,” he proclaims when he reaches the man with a confidence that isn’t exactly honest.
There is half of a pause before the unasked question is answered.
“Remus Lupin.”
“I’ll see you then, Remus Lupin,” Sirius adds a teasing note to his voice while saying the other man’s last name before strutting in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until he was out of the building that he remembered that the quickest way back to his dorm was in the opposite direction, which just so happened to be the direction that Remus was going.
He takes the long way back in the dark.
“How was night class?” James asks with a laugh once Sirius enters their dorm.
After a moment where his best friend doesn’t respond, James looks up from his phone and is surprised by Sirius’ expression.
“What did you do?”
Grinning slightly, the black haired boy falls back onto his bed, still in his jeans.
“Nothing without you snookums.”
The air is punched out of him as a sudden weight falls into his chest. The two boys wrestle a bit before settling down comfortably in the small bed.
James eyes him, just as suspicious as when Sirius walked into the room.
“Why in the hell did you just walk in, twenty minutes late, after a class with arguably the worst professor on campus, with a smile on your face?”
A sudden shame flushes through Sirius. What about meeting Remus had him acting like a schoolgirl, grinning to himself and taking the long way home? It’s not as if they had shared more than a few, brief and casual sentences.
“One of the people in my class was cool, that’s all. Witty, that one”
That was it. After so long locked in his parent’s house, with all of his social interactions controlled, it was just cool to meet someone new on his own accord. His confidence doesn’t exactly stop him from being awkward every once in a while.
Not to mention that the other man really was witty.
“Alright, mate. Maybe Binns will be a bit more bearable.”
“Yeah, for sure.”
In his second class with Binns, Sirius and Remus say nothing to each other. Not a damn word and Sirius is terrified. Obviously, he didn’t expect the conversation to be flowing freely, but the complete lack of even a greeting is not what he wanted at all.
Of course, it has to be accounted for that Sirius once again walked in only moments before the lecture began, falling into his seat next to Remus just in time.
He once again walks the long way back to the Gryffin dorms, to keep up pretense, of course. He couldn’t possibly walk the same way as the man with the steady, yet sharp demeanor after last time.