ink - sirius black

underground clubs and puppy dog eyes

February 10, 1977
8:15 am
Hogwarts

James, Remus, Lily, and Peter waited for Anneliese and Sirius to come back, sitting on a bench a few corridors away from the entrance to the hospital wing as they watched students pass by.

The come and go of the hallways from all of the houses as they traveled from breakfast to classes to dormitories was comforting to them, soothing from the anxiety of the first fight between their friends in over a month.

"Should we have left them?" James asked hesitantly. "Things wouldn't get.. violent, would they?"

"No, they wouldn't any more than a slap," Remus reassured them with confidence. "I've seen firsthand how horrible Sirius felt after hexing her, and there's no way he would do that again. If not for Anneliese's sake, then for his own conscience."

"I don't think that she would actually leave, would she?" questioned Peter nervously. "Is that even allowed?"

"Technically, yes," Lily said factually. "As long as a student can find a school within the next two weeks of departure, they are hypothetically allowed to leave a wizarding school anytime they want. But if they can't find a school, they have to return to their old one."

"But not technically, we can't really say," Remus added on. "We have no idea what Sirius did or what she heard, so whatever extremity it was will probably tell us when we figure out."

"B-but quidditch," James stuttered. "We have a match against Hufflepuff tomorrow and it's going to be the hardest one yet, if she left then-"

"I think we have bigger issues than quidditch right now," Lily interrupted as her eyes landed on Sirius. "Come on, we should probably get some privacy."

The three boys looked up to see that the redhead was right.

With swift movements, they all stood up from the bench and hurried over to Sirius, briskly herding the group into a spare room the size of one of their dormitories. Peter glanced outside in the crowded hallways before shutting the heavy wooden door to make sure they had as much privacy as possible.

"Sirius, why are you alone?" Lily asked with slight panic. "Where did Anneliese go? Just back to the dorms of something, or-"

"She left," Black cut her off in a choked voice. "I don't understand what I even did, I don't understand why she won't just let me love her-"

Sirius froze at his own words, nothing understanding what had just slipped out of his mouth.

There was nothing James could say, he was too busy being a mixture of confused and ecstatic that Black had finally said it. Next to him, Lily, Remus, and Peter were also in their own state of shocked relief.

"I-I need to go talk to Minnie," Sirius muttered, his legs taking him to the Transfiguration professor's office before he could even think about the action.

Much to his relief, McGonagall was already in her office sitting at her desk.

"Minnie, I have a serious problem," Black said breathlessly from climbing the stairs. "It's about-"

"Miss Callaway," the professor completed, standing up from her chair as she turned towards her student. "Yes, I am aware."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked with hopeful, wide grey eyes. "What happened? Did she talk to you?"

"Yes, you just missed her," McGonagall said, voice full of remorse for the teenager. "I'm afraid that she has every right to leave, as long as she is able to find a new school in two weeks. I'm sorry, Mr. Black."