The Gryffindor Girls
Adhara’s second day at Hogwarts had been pretty much the same as the first (although she somehow got lost more times than the day before), until Professor Slughorn came to find her after lessons had finished.
She was in the common room with Elodie and Ophelia, practicing the levitation charm they had learnt the day before, when he bumbled over to them.
“Hello girls, sorry to be a bother, I can see you’re practicing your charms, very good of you indeed, but Adhara, I need to borrow you for quick chat in my office, if that’s okay? Don’t worry, we’ll be back in a jiffy.”
The other two girls gave Adhara a quick look, their eyebrows furrowing. She smiled at them reassuringly, despite being confused herself. She ran through a quick checklist of if she’d done anything wrong recently- well, since the fight with Sirius- and her mind quickly landed on sleeping in Sirius’s dorm.
Slughorn’s office was on the other side of a door in the potions classroom that she had been in the day before. It was rather large, with big wooden desk in the middle, and bookcases filled with all sorts of things- lots of pictures of people, a few trophies and certificates (although, Adhara couldn’t imagine what Slughorn would win awards for. Perhaps least time awake in a lesson?).
He sat on the other side of his desk, in a rather large armchair, and motioned for Adhara to take a seat in one of the smaller chairs on the side nearest to her.
“Now then Adhara, before I explain, I just want to let you know, you’re probably not going to be in trouble.”
Adhara wanted to let out a little sigh of relief, but instead she just nodded, “Thank you, sir.”
“However. It has come to my attention that last night you were not in your dorm room, but rather with your brother? Now, Professor McGonagall and I understand that it’s bound to be difficult for you and Sirius to be separated, and it’s only your first few days here, so we also realise you might not know all the rules yet, so I am here to tell you that you must not enter the Gryffindor common room or dormitories at any…”
At this point Adhara started to zone out, occasionally nodding and making noises of agreement, but she had had enough lectures during her lifetime (mainly from her mother) to know Slughorn wasn’t going to say anything else interesting for a while.
When he finally stopped talking, after what felt like a good half an hour to Adhara, she explained that she was just so homesick and sad, and she honestly didn’t know, and she was so sorry.
However, she wasn’t actually sure how Slughorn and McGonagall had found out she was there, and she knew she’d be in genuine trouble if she got caught again. In fact, her mother would probably be told.
----
When she went to the Great Hall for dinner with Elodie and Ophelia, her brother and James came over. James looked quite uncomfortable, shifting his feet, and glancing nervously at the Slytherins around them, as if they’d attack at any moment.
Adhara tried not to laugh at him, and instead turned her attention to her brother. He gave her a Look saying he wanted to talk in private, so she stood up sighing and followed them out the Hall apologizing to Elodie and Ophelia for leaving (again).
As soon as they were relatively alone Adhara looked at Sirius, “I assume McGonagall talked to you? And this is what you want to talk to me about?” Sirius nodded, and James just stood behind him gazing around at the ceiling, not wanting to interrupt.
“I’m sorry Siri, I don’t think there’s anything we can do. I don’t know how they found out, and if we got caught again, they’d probably tell mother and father, and, well, obviously we don’t want that, you know?”
Sirius just nodded again, looking forlorn. Adhara knew he’d probably struggle to get any sleep with his nightmares, and being overtired would just make them even worse.
Suddenly she looked between Sirius and James- who looked to be in his own little world- and dragged Sirius out of James’ earshot. “Why don’t you just sleep with James? I’m sure he wont mind, and you seem very close already.”
Sirius looked thoughtful, but then shook his head, “Isn’t that a bit weird though? And I don’t want to explain it to him really.”
“Ok, it’s up to you. Just think about it though, ok?”
Sirius nodded and they walked back over to James, who was staring at them curiously.
They went back into the Great Hal, and as Adhara was walking back to Elodie and Ophelia she heard James ask, “Are you alright, mate? If you need to talk to me at all, I’m here, yeah?” and she knew Sirius would be ok with James.
She sat back down at the table, thoughtful. She would consider Elodie and Ophelia her friends now probably, and they seemed really nice, but the three weren’t even nearly as close as James and Sirius seemed to have become so quickly. Although, Elodie and Ophelia weren’t too far off.
Adhara thought of them as a pair within their newly made trio, and although it made her kind of an outcast, she wasn’t annoyed about it at all. At least she wasn’t like Severus, who had made no new friends and was opting to just follow Lily around like a dark cloud.
As much as she never expected to have to admit, she had friends- or rather people she thinks she will be friends with- in Gryffindor, and the other houses. It surprised her how little loyalty she felt towards Slytherin, considering her family, but she supposed it must be because of Sirius being a Gryffindor.
----
That night, Adhara slept in her own dorm, and she had to admit it was nice to be able to sleep and wake up without her brother’s feet in front of her face, and get ready without having to drag him out of bed first. She loved Sirius, but she felt secretly glad she wouldn’t have to share a room with him anymore.
She saw him at breakfast, propping his head up with hand, underneath his eyes his skin was dark and looked almost bruised with his exhaustion. She suddenly felt guilty for her earlier relief, and sat down next to him on the bench.
Next to Sirius, James sat beaming as he excitedly talked to- or rather at- Peter, Remus and Kingsley on the opposite side of the table. Adhara whispered to Sirius, “Bad night? I’m really sorry.”
He shook his head gently at her, ad nodded his head subtly towards James and talked as quietly as he could, “I talked to him about it, and he slept with me, but, Merlin, he did not stop moving. At all. I’m sure I’ll have bruises from the number of times I got kicked. I didn’t sleep a wink.”
Adara snorted, and looked towards James, who was waving his hands around animatedly. She could imagine he wouldn’t be still whilst he was asleep, he never stopped when he was awake, so it made sense.
She turned back to Sirius, her eyebrows furrowed. “What do you want to do then?” she whispered, but Sirius just shrugged, “Could you talk to one of the others maybe? What about Kingsley?” Adhara suggested, remembering his kindness in giving her his cloak and potions ingredients.
Sirius shook his head again, “Honestly, I don’t think he even wants to be in our dorm. Doesn’t like the mess or something.” Sirius rolled his eyes, but Adhara found that perfectly reasonable and understandable and nodded.
“Remus or Peter?” she asked, but Sirius just shook his head again. Neither of them were really sure what to do. Adhara briefly considered talking to McGonagall about it, but she didn’t want to embarrass Sirius.
“Ok, well, it’s up to you then. It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” She said, seeing the worry in Sirius’s face.
They straightened up from their position huddled together, looking as if they were plotting something, and Adhara met Remus’s eyes, which had been narrowed at the pair, before he quickly looked away, his ears turning red with embarrassment.
Adhara frowned sightly, before her expression cleared. It wasn’t as if Remus could have heard them anyway, the Hall was much too loud, and they had been whispering very quietly. She studied his face, and saw he looked tired as well, and slightly ill, she was sure his skin had gone even paler than it had been a few days ago.
Just then, as she was about to suggest her go to the hospital wing, she heard her name being called, and looked around the hall for the source. It was Lily, a few tables down with most of the other Gryffindor girls.
She was waving Adhara over, and Adhara didn’t see any other option except to go over. Besides, she secretly genuinely enjoyed Lily’s company, despite her mother’s voice in her mind telling her otherwise.
She excused herself from the boys table, and walked over to Lily. She sat at the table in between Lily and a girl she didn’t recognise. She gave an awkward half smile at the girl, “I’m Adhara Black.”
The girl raised an eyebrow at her, unimpressed, “Molly Bates.” She said shortly, before turning back to her food.
Unsure what to make of the girl’s rude behaviour, she turned to Lily, who just rolled her eyes and said under breath “She’s been like that with everyone, don’t worry.”
Mary and Marlene were on the other side of the table, and Mary leaned in towards the table and said to Adhara, “We noticed you’ve been spending a lot of time with the boys Adhara,” wiggling her eyebrows.
“Uh, yeah, because of my brother,” she replied uncertainly.
Mary didn’t look convinced, raised her eyebrow and whispered loudly, “Not James Potter? Because that’s the only reason I’d be over there.”
Adhara looked at Lily, not sure how to respond, but saw her face had turned a vibrant red that was creeping down her neck and to the top of her ears, and sighed. “Definitely not because of James. But… if we are talking boys, Kingsley is way better than James.” She said, feeling a burst of confidence and trust in the Gryffindor girls.
As she said it, she realized she kind of meant it, and also, if she was going to have a boyfriend, her mother would not be able to complain about Kingsley, in fact she’d probably approve.
Mary giggled and asked Lily what she thought, but she somehow went redder, and just said, “None. They’re all silly. Anyway, uh, what lessons do we have today?”
The girl’s chatted right up until it was time to leave for lessons, the conversation never really slowing or becoming boring, and Adhara found herself really enjoying talking to them all- except Molly of course, who had just sat there moodily until she finished her food, and just stood and left on her own.
The girl’s first lesson was DADA, all together and they sat together. Adhara was surprised by how clever Lily seemed, she thought she just must have a particular talent for potions, but it seemed as if Lily was good DADA too.
Professor Pettingale was talking to them all about simple shield spells, which Adhara was fairly certain she could already do, and the professor’s voice sounded especially annoying today, so she turned and talked to Lily in a low voice instead of listening.
Lily didn’t seem particularly willing to talk over Pettingale, and Adhara supposed that was fair, since Lily probably didn’t know how to cast a shield charm. That, and the glare she was receiving from Severus on the other side of Lily made her quieten and just put her head on her arms and zone out instead.
Not much about Lily seemed to align with what Adhara knew about muggleborns, and if it wasn’t for Lily’s constant fascination with ordinary magical things and occasional need for an explanation or clarification on something, Adhara suspected she wouldn’t even be able to tell.
It did make her wonder about whether she was right about muggleborns or not, but she figured Lily