Twists of Fate: Entangled Threads || Sirius Black FF

Chapter 19: Distractions

***

When the trio got through the Fat Lady's portrait, they sat down on the empty common room. They were all silent, unsure how to break it to begin with. Sandy would be the first to speak, barely raising her voice over her collar. "You guys can go. I'll just go upstairs. I'm fine."

Shaking his head, Sirius outright refused. "No. You need company. Trust me. I've had panic attacks before. I know what I'm talking about."

"You-you have?"

"Uhu," He grabbed onto her hand and squeezed, as he gave a small reassuring smile. "Yeah. James has helped me thought it every time. As you can see, he's very good at it, but still, you don't just get better in three seconds. We're gonna stay here, cuteness- at least, I am."

"Me too." Lily added after a second, still trying to process this new side he was seeing of the guy that always got on her last nerve. It made her smile a little. Oh course the boy couldn't be all bad. "I'm staying."

After a few more seconds, Sandy muttered something else. "I'm sorry."

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows, unsure why she was saying that. "What for?" 

In response, Sandy merely responded. Was she sorry about bothering them? About his panic attacks? Maybe it was a combination of them both and more issues. "I don't know."

As if reading her mind, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and brought her closer to him. "Listen, its all right. You know, I heard a saying ones, ummm, how did it go?... Right, flowers. They don't bloom all year round. And we're like them. We don't need to be okay all the time."

"I don't like flowers."

"What? Since when do girls not like flowers?" Then he turned to the girl named after a flower and whispered. "Don't all girls like flowers?"

She shrugged again, this time with what she considered a reasonable excuse. "I'm allergic to pollen."

"Oh? I didn't know that." But now that he did, he made a mental note to remember it.

"I prefer succulents." Sandy explained, as if it was necessary due to the hype flowers had. 

He rose an eyebrow, unfamiliar with the term. Was it a magical plant? "What are those?"

But the redhead did know about them. "A type of cacti."

"Aaah, so a thorny plant that can survive in harsh environments. I guess that suits you."

For some reason, she began to ramble about how precious succulents were for her. She had become acquainted with them in Australia. Her mother loved them too, and due to her pollen allergy, Sandy decided she did too. That shared love for a cacti made her feel closer to her deceased (or not yet deceased, technically) mother. "Succulents are kind of flower shaped. But, they rarely have pollen, some don't ever grow real flowers with pollen, so, I can enjoy them. And they persist through the seasons, not just spring and such. Sure, they don't really smell, but they're pretty. They also don't all have actual painful spines like normal cacti."

He chuckled in amusement at her nervous talking. Sirius took notice on how she played with the fingers of his previously free hand (as the other hand taken a home over her shoulders), trying to release her nervousness. "They sound nice."