ink - sirius black

confessions and glass shards

January 1, 1977
5:27 pm
Gryffindor Common Room

The Marauders stepped back into the tower with a satisfied sigh, both sad that the holidays were over and happy to be back at school. The room was incredibly busy with students from all years tackling one another in enthusiastic hugs from the missing month.

"How are we supposed to get to our dorms?" Peter asked with a sigh. "They're blocking the way."

Sure enough, there was an enormous pod of third years gossiping about what had happened over their break, tightly knit so that no one could access the stairways leading up to their dorms so that they could go get settled back in.

That was, until, a very irritated blonde went down from the stairs.

Sirius felt a happy jolt go through his stomach as Anneliese walked down the stairs, but the smile that had formed on his face fell almost instant after he saw her expression.

It just looked so hurt.

"Out of my way, tiny people," Anneliese grumbled loudly, shoving through all of them. "Yep, there you go- thank you."

The common room fell partly silent as she angrily pushed through the thirteen year olds, having expected her to happily greet Sirius after the events of Slughorn's party, which had become public knowledge among the school.

"Hey, A-" James started with a confused expression, but she just shoved right past him and slammed the portrait hole behind her. "Oh shit."

The common room resumed it's bustle a few seconds later after a few surprised blinks at Callaway's rejection of her friends, assuming that they would find out soon enough because of how gossiping their house was known to be.

All of them were confused besides James, who was starting to realize what Anneliese must have found. Sirius's words from months ago were coming back into his head, blaring with truth in his ears.

Callaway is different from Lily. She has a much shorter temper, and she'll never speak to me again in a second!

"Maybe she didn't see us?" Peter suggested half heartedly. "And that's why she walked past?"

"No, she definitely did," Remus said thoughtfully. "Did you send her some really shitty letter? Or just do anything in general to make her mad?"

Sirius racked his brain for a few seconds, but the search came up empty.

"No, nothing," he said under his breath, turning to look at the slammed shut door. "Should I just let her cool off, or-"

"I would let one of the girls talk to her first," Remus interrupted wisely. "Probably Lily, I'll go ask her right now."

Sirius felt a sickening sensation go through his stomach already as Lupin walked away with the Map in his pocket, knowing that whatever this was wasn't going to blow over with one quick talk from the expression that had been on Callaway's face.

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If Anneliese had thought that she was angry before at just the bet, seeing the Marauders in person was another wave of humiliation that made her cheeks burn and dark blue eyes water with total shame.

Her feet took her furiously to the library as the section of the castle that provided her the most comfort, not really making the conscious decision to go there.

As her hands made contact with the cool stained glass to push open the doorway, a swath of calm instantly washed over her with a long exhale now that she was out of the stuffy, crowded common room.