A sickle and a knut

One of the things that’s always been intriguing to Sirius is muggle things, like sports, why play baseball and spend your time running around when you could simply play quidditch instead?

Or rollerblading, skateboarding he could get behind, rollerblading not so much.

Another thing was their form of money, but after talking to Lily about it he felt confident enough to go to a muggle café and pay with their money all by himself.

It was raining a little bit as Sirius made his way down a street, periodically checking the street signs and looking at what some shops had on display in the windows.

He had made it to the café which had a few other people in it, he looked around at the tables and chairs and what sorts of drinks and foods various people were carrying to tables.

There was a group of friends, about his age, almost 17. He had seen them around before, they seemed to be having a good time. The group sat down with their purchases and ate and talked just like every other friend group.

It's just like Hogsmeade, a place to hang out and eat with your friends, maybe I should bring James, Remus, and Peter here at some point. If I don't make a fool out of myself, that is.

Sirius didn’t realise he was lost in thought until an older man, had to have been at least 45 bumped into him and asked if he was in the line, Sirius looked around and gestured for the man to take his spot in line and began paying attention to the sign above where people were making drinks and giving out food.

By the time Sirius got to the front, he had entirely forgotten what he was thinking of getting, all the names were so confusing and there wasn’t much description of anything and there were only pictures for somethings.

“Hello, what can I get you?” a girl behind the counter asked and made him drag his eyes away from the menu above him.

There was a few seconds pause where Sirius took in the girl in front of him, she must have been about his age and was definitely pretty and so far she seemed nice.

“Sorry uh, I’ll just take whatever’s easiest to make and doesn’t cost much” he looked at the display case of doughnuts and other pastries and pointed at a chocolate covered one “and one of those”.

“Ok so one black coffee, what size would you like?” the girl asked, black? Like my name black? Coffee? I’ve heard James say something about coffee before “I’ll have a medium” he said before he thought about anything for too long.

“One medium black coffee with one chocolate glaze doughnut, is that everything?” she asked while putting a doughnut in a little bag, “yeah” “alright that’ll be 4 dollars and 30 cents” she told him.

Fuck.

Somehow in an attempt to figure out what to get, Sirius had completely forgotten that the hardest part was actually paying, not deciding if he wanted a chocolate covered doughnut or a sprinkle covered doughnut.

He shoved a hand in the pocket of his black jeans and pulled out an assortment of bills and coins.

There had already been 2 other people finish ordering next to him but at least this girl seemed patient. Don’t make it obvious that you don't know what you're doing, he thought.

Sirius grabbed a bill that had a number 5 on it and gave her a couple of coins with it.

He didn’t realise until it was too late that he had thrown in a sickle and a knut as well, the voice of Remus chiming in his brain “don't put wizard money in the same place as muggle money, you're bound to get them confused and then you'll have other problems”.

Attempting to not facepalm in public he saw the girl smile at the sickle and knut, gave him some muggle coins and a couple knuts, “I know they get confusing sometimes” the girl whispered and handed Sirius his bag with a doughnut.

He flipped the knuts over in his hand while waiting for his coffee. Well Moony, it doesn't always go catastrophically wrong now does it he thought with a smile.

Another person brought him his coffee and Sirius scoped out the café to find an unoccupied table, made his way over and he sat down.

Sirius stayed there until his coffee was done and his doughnut was gone, all the while sneaking glances at the girl who took his order.

She can't possibly be in my year, I would have noticed her by now. Maybe she just has different classes than me, surely I would have seen her somewhere. I mean come on, she knew what the knut and sickle were and had some with her, I have to talk to her. Not here, too many muggles and what would I even say? Why am I questioning that? She's just really pretty I guess and I don't know what to talk about, now I know what James must feel like when he's actually trying to have a nice conversation with Lily instead of impressing her.

He took note of the time as he left, there was a break in the rain and as epic as it looks to walk in the rain in a cool black jacket and jeans, it certainly didn't feel cool being soaked.

Almost everyday after that, Sirius went to the cafe around the same time in an attempt to see her again.

She wasn't there for a couple of days though and he got discouraged but still thought about her all the time. Her voice was such a delight for him to hear and her eyes were so pretty he had to remind himself to pay attention to what he was being asked.

This went on for a couple weeks before Sirius saw the girl again, and again, and again.

That day he walked in the café and there was only him and an older couple sitting by a window, and from the looks of it they were going to leave soon anyways.

And there she was. Standing behind the countertop, restocking the doughnuts.

It seemed like there was nobody else working because the café was so quiet.

The girl looked up, Sirius whipped his attention away so fast that you would have thought he was dodging a rogue bludger.

“What can I get for you?” she asked in that same sweet voice he remembered.

When Sirius remembered that he was standing barely in the door of this café, he walked closer to the counter and ordered the same as before, a medium black coffee with a chocolate glaze doughnut.

“4 dollars and 30 cents” she said brightly and waited while Sirius felt around in his pocket for money.

To his dismay, these pants had almost no muggle money left, he pulled out all the coins from his pocket and dropped a few on the ground in his attempt to be faster at paying.

The girl giggled, “there's literally nobody waiting, you can take your time” she said.

Sirius was grateful for that and bent over to pick up some of his scattered coins, as he did so he caught a glimpse of the girl leaning over the counter to inspect the money he did get on the counter.

He tried to add up the amount it was but muggle money made no sense and he got frustrated.

“Just give me 3 sickles and 7 knuts and I’ll sort it out later alright” the girl whispered forcefully and quickly.

At least that was something Sirius understood and he gave her the coins and returned the rest to his pocket “thanks” he said, she smiled “you're welcome, Black”.

Trying to hide his shock, Sirius took his coffee and went to his usual table.

How does she know my name? Is she psychic?

About 5 minutes into his coffee, the girl joined him at the table, the old couple had gone.

“Black, not personally my taste but it's fine” she said upon sitting down.

This time his curiosity ate at him more than his confusion and how offended he was “what do you mean?” he asked.

“Black coffee, I prefer mine with milk in it”.

Oh, coffee, thats a relief.

He thought and took a sip. “Listen about the sickles and stuff, it was an accident, I’ve been trying to learn muggle money and my friend Rem-” “its ok, it happens to everyone” she cut him off. “I used to do it all the time, why else would you think I spend my summers working in a muggle store?” she asked.

“What house are you in? Cause I swear I’ve never seen you before” Sirius asked, “whichever one you think I should be in, I’m y/n by the way” she said, “I’m Sirius”.

Sirius took off his sweater, he's blaming it on the coffee being warm and it being summer but he's not entirely convinced of that either.

“You hang out with James a lot right? And Remus, and Peter?” she asked, finally a topic of conversation that was easier to follow. “Yeah, they're my best friends” “nice, I hear a lot about you guys from well just about everyone but mostly Lily and her friends considering James is trying to get her to like him at every moment he gets, but just between us, she likes him too” y/n leaned over and whispered to him.

They talked some more about things and how y/n is in fact muggle-born so she made a lot of money mistakes as a child pretending to sell things to her parents and would accidentally mix up galleons with dollars. She used to work here to get better at learning muggle money but now it's because she likes the job itself.

“y/n, I like you, like way more than I should” Sirius was focusing on rolling the edges of the bag that his doughnut was in so he wouldn't have to look y/n in the eyes. “I think you're pretty cool too, how about we hang out when I’m done here, say at the park for a little bit?” she suggested, “yeah, sure, when are you done here?” “around 4, see you then” y/n got up and went back behind the counter, Sirius left shortly after that because it was quiet in the store and the tension got a bit awkward.

As much as Sirius wanted to send an owl to the others, he didn't. He didn't know what he would even tell them.

So he sat in his room, way overthinking his next interaction with y/n.

In an attempt to distract himself until then, he took a look at a quidditch book he had read dozens of times, which isn't a huge feat seeing as the book was pretty short but Sirius didn't read much for entertainment, heck he only ever read books he was assigned occasionally.

It wasn't working, not in the way he intended because soon enough he was daydreaming of playing quidditch with James and Remus and Peter, even though Remus isn't a fan of playing the game itself.

Sirius got himself out of the daydream because he thought of the crowd watching and y/n was there which made him fall off his broom.

It wasn't time for them to meet yet but Sirius just needed a better distraction so he went to the park anyway.

Upon stepping outside he figured it would be easier as a dog so nobody would try to talk to him. It didn't quite occur to him that an unleashed big black dog with no collar might cause people to question his existence.

At first it was going great, a little girl who couldn't control the dog she was helping to walk came over, Sirius said hello to the brown lab and the girl was very shy in her attempt to pet him but he let her.

Then there were the adults in the park wondering what this dog is doing in a park with seemingly no owner, someone called what he overheard was animal control.

Shit.

Sirius tried to walk away faster from the park but not run because that would have been even more suspicious.

Where can I go to change back into myself?

The question kept bouncing around in his head as he made his way out of the park with a small following of humans that tried to seem like they weren’t following him, trying not to scare him farther away from them.

Sirius broke out into a run and checked behind him before darting in between two shops and transforming back into a human.

He looked at his watch and saw it was 4.

He went back the way he came as that was still the fastest way to the park from where he was, of course he ran into some adults who were running after that unleashed dog with no owner which made Sirius laugh.

Back at the park it was just like before, minus a few people, everyone else was unconcerned.

He saw y/n sit down at a bench, took a breath and walked over to her.

“Hi, can I sit with you?” Sirius asked, y/n laughed “where else would you sit? On the ground?” she nodded and made space next to her and he sat down.

“Why did you do that though? Other than it was really funny” y/n asked, Sirius panicked “you saw that? The dog, uh situation?”

“Well yeah, how often do you see an unleashed dog with no collar casually walking around like they own the place instead of trying to get away’” she said, he let out a nervous laugh and played with his hands.

“You're right, and now I got a whole bunch of adults on a wild chase for a dog that doesn't even really exist, at least not all the time” Sirius said, “honestly, worth it. What happened to you being a sort of troublemaker anyways?”

How much did this girl know about him?

“I am, I just wasn't planning that one, I should do it more often, at least then the muggle papers will have something funny in them every now and again, plus then you'll know that I’m alive and well” Sirius said.

There was a silence between them but Sirius needed his burning question answered.

“How come I’ve never seen you before? I don't mean that in an offensive way, I just thought I would have seen someone as pretty as you before” he explained, y/n giggled “try actually going to your herbology class more than once a week” she said.

He didn't really want to go before but now he had a reason at least.

“Listen, Sirius, I want to just get something out of the way before it consumes me fully” y/n started and looked him in the eyes, then the bench between them as she was sitting slightly sideways.

This can't be good can it?

y/n took a big breath “I like you, like like you actually, since, well a long time and I should have planned what I was gonna say after that” she buried her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment.

“Hey, it's alright cause, well I was gonna say the same, you were really nice in the café so I haven't liked you for such a long time but I still like you so that counts for something right?” Sirius told her and she moved her hands away from her face slowly “really?” Sirius nodded.

Time passed as neither of them knew what to say but it was comfortable. Just looking at her face was comforting.

Having her eyes stare into his, Sirius felt like she was staring into his soul rather than his eyes but he kept eye contact as her eyes were pretty too.

A baseball flew between them.

This caused multiple annoying things to happen at once.

Their magical, wonderful eye contact had been broken,

A child ran past and yelled his apologies at them.

Attention was brought to them in general.

There was no way to get that moment back and do it over either.

Sirius looked over at y/n who was looking in the direction the boy ran in to retrieve his ball, “that kid must’ve hit a home run with that” she commented and looked back at Sirius.

Home run, something sport, baseball! He thought. “Yeah” was all he said and managed a half laugh.

That moment might be gone forever but Sirius reasoned there would be more of those to come if everything went well.

y/n was looking around the park, so Sirius did the same to see what she was looking at and by now everyone had gone back to their own business. Good time as any.

“Hey y/n, uh I was wondering, would you like to be my girlfriend?” Sirius tried not to wince as he said it but the thought of how much more awkward everything would be if she said no made that very hard to do.

In the few seconds of silence, y/n’s eyes lit up and she smiled really big, “of course!” she said, Sirius was relieved. “Did you really think I would say no? I’ve literally had a crush on you since year 4 and you just asked me out. Could you imagine what you would feel like if your longtime crush asked you out?” she said, all with good intentions and hugged him.

It was unexpected but Sirius returned the hug, it was nice. y/n pulled out of the hug but Sirius made sure they didn't get too far apart, looked her in the eyes, held her face in one hand and kissed her.

I have a girlfriend, wait ‘till James hears about this!