ink - sirius black

adrenaline and wind

November 18, 1976
5:31 pm
Great Hall

A few seconds after Anneliese left and they were all simply staring at the doors in shock, Sirius realized that this was one of the times that he needed to do something. She had understood, opened up, and forgiven him when he was struggling and acted emotionally.

And now he needed to do the same for her.

The students all shifted their attention to Sirius as he quickly descended the platform and rushed out of the Great Hall after her.

Once he was outside, though, Black realized that he didn't know which of the many carpeted corridors and spiral staircases she could have taken from the Entrance Hall. His eyes landed on the courtyard a bit away through a stone arch.

When he was upset, going outside and getting away from everything helped him.

Maybe it would be the same for her.

The clouds were a bright grey that blocked out any tinge of pigment from above, and they glared brightly as if the sun was lighting them from behind. A small amount of breeze was pushing through the air with a late November chill, causing a rustling sound to fill the air along with the crunching of pine needles and brown, brittle leaves as Sirius walked.

It took him a solid half hour of walking along the shore to find her.

Anneliese was standing knee deep in the water underneath a draping willow tree, with her robes and tie discarded in the moss near her. She had taken her hair down from it's high ponytail so that it was now hanging loose around her shoulder, and her white sleeves were rolled up past her elbows.

Sirius would have wondered how she wasn't freezing cold in the icy water if it weren't for her telling them about Ilvermorny being on the shore and then going out in the ocean no matter what time of year it was.

Currently too busy hurling smooth, flat stones into the water as far as she could, which was quite far, Anneliese hadn't noticed his padding feet come up on the shore.

"So would you mind explaining what that was back there?" Sirius broke the silence.

To his surprise, she didn't whip her head around in shock, only stayed with her back to him as she answered his presence.

"A spell," she said simply. "I thought British people were supposed to be smart."

A dry smile went over Black's face as he slid his hands into his pockets.

"I think the question I meant to ask was what spell and why did you make it?" he clarified. "Is that better?"

At this, Anneliese turned around and looked at him with a glare.

"I made it to absorb the power of a spell and redirect it elsewhere," she told him truthfully. "The incantation is ausculta, which is a form of 'to absorb' in Latin. Does that answer your question, Grey Eyes?"

"Yes, thank you," he said with terse satisfaction, taking a step closer to the lake's black, reflective surface. "Now please explain to me why you are so interested in dark magic."

Anneliese froze at his bluntness.

"It isn't dark for christ's sake," she sighed, sliding up onto the elevated shore and sitting on the moss with her feet still in the water. "It's just powerful."

Sirius sat down by her as he thought over this, pulling a cigarette from the pocket of his black leather jacket.

"Can you show it to me again?"