Rumor
Sirius took the cigarette to his mouth slowly, enjoying the invading taste, he settled into the stands of the Quidditch pitch trying to organize his thoughts as he waited for the team to practice.
Deep down I knew that Regulus was right, he was the worst older brother that existed, what kind of brother was he who ran away from home so as not to be tortured daily for not agreeing with the family, but left the other there? Even more so to suffer the consequences for having helped him escape.
The brunet's stomach turned at that thought, whenever his parents threatened to hex the youngest of the Black, Sirius would step forward, most of the time he was tortured for it.
At first he tried to fool himself with the thought that Regulus wouldn't go anyway, but there was a little voice in the back of his mind that said that was a lie, that if he insisted his brother would accompany him on his escape. All these thoughts were pushed aside by a blonde and a redhead who sat next to her, Lily seemed oblivious to everything with her face buried in a book, because she was probably dragged against her will by her best friend to watch training, Marlene she glanced at him before swiping the cigarette from between her fingers and bringing it to her mouth.
Sirius let out a growl.
-A galleon for your thoughts - She said smiling, ignoring the growls coming from the boy.
-Nothing relevant - He replied trying to get the cigarette back and failing.
McKinnon raised his eyebrows and looked him up and down.
-Let me guess… Did you fight with Black Junior?
The boy was still surprised by how much they knew each other, she was the second person who knew him best - the first was James - he could read each other easily.
-Exactly - Sirius muttered.
As much as he pretended he didn't care, so much so that most thought they hated each other, he cared, way too much, and those fights hurt him. Marlene was the “I hate everybody” type of person but when someone needed it, she was the first to come and help.
The arrival of the team - Remus and Peter too, the former was probably forced to be there by James - made the matter drop, Sirius and Marlene accompanied the rest of the team to the locker room.
After everyone was properly dressed, James was super excited and started a monologue with new techniques, ignoring the sleeping people they would pay later in training.
The gryffindor team was the only one with more girls than boys, Sirius noticed as they walked back to the field.
Practice went normally, except for the episode where James took Sirius' bat to throw a Bludger at a student who was in the stands trying to hit Lily, who was so focused on her book that she didn't even notice.
In the boys' dorm there was a small fight between Padfoot and Prongs to see who would shower first, which Sirius won.
The shower didn't take as long as he would have liked, as James kept banging on the door and mumbling complaints, but at least he had managed to put away any and all thoughts involving the Black family. He came out of the bathroom, still shirtless and finishing drying his hair, and plopped down on his bed.
While waiting for Potter to go down to dinner, Sirius took the Marauder's map to analyze, Remus went to study and Peter to eat. It wasn't long before the entire school was having dinner.
Sirius sat across from Peter who ate as if he had been hungry for years, dinner was full of jokes from Prongs and Padfoot, making Moony roll his eyes at most of them and laugh quietly, unlike Peter, who laughed exaggeratedly loudly.
After dinner everyone stayed in the common room, some doing homework, others just resting, Black didn't do anything exactly, he was sprawled on one of the sofas looking at the ceiling, and from time to time the friends who studied exchanged a few words, it was like that until the Quidditch team captain called the team to send everyone to bed, because it was already past 11 pm and the next day it would be the game against Ravenclaw.
Everyone quickly went upstairs to their dorms, James was the last, to check if they had really gone to sleep. The typical fight to see who would use the bathroom first was won by Frank, the others were lying in their own beds waiting for him to leave, to once again fight to see who would enter the bathroom.
-You were weird today - Potter said suddenly drawing everyone's attention
-Who? - Remus asked without taking his eyes off his book
-Padfoot - he replied with a shrug
-Me?
-No, my grandmother, of course you are you idiot
-I wasn't nervous
-Yes you was - Frank said leaving the bathroom
-And why were you like this? - Peter asked
It was clear that she trusted her friends, but she didn't really want to talk about it, so she answered the first thing that came to her mind.
-McKinnon
Bad idea.
James frowned at him - he considered Marlene as a sister - Frank, Remus and Peter looked shocked, after all he and Lene were best friends.
-Which? - Sirius asked in the soundest voice he could.
-You… - Remus started but was interrupted
-If you hurt her I swear I forget you're my brother - James threatened him before entering the bathroom
The conversation changed course from there.
Padfoot was the last to use the dorm bathroom to clean up, before settling into his bed, he had a little trouble sleeping with Wormtail's particularly loud snores.
The morning came faster than he wanted, Black woke up with Frank almost knocking him out of bed trying to wake him up. He packed up quickly and went down to the main hall, even though he didn't have breakfast on game days, he'd rather see the others eating than wandering around the castle, because he sure as hell couldn't sit still.
The game was pretty close until James got the snitch.
Before going to the party in the common, Sirius hinted to his friends that he would meet a random girl and stayed in the dressing room, saying that he would go to the party afterwards.
Ten minutes later two small hands on his shoulder, and soon the person began to distribute kisses along his neck, making his body shiver, whoever was behind him realized, because he smiled against his neck and whispered in his ear.
- Rumor has it I make you nervous - Gave a little giggle - I think I'll believe them
-That open mouth - Sirius grumbled as he pulled Marlene onto his lap.
Most of the time Prongs let things slip by accident, and most of the time it resulted in a person using something to blackmail you into doing what they wanted.
-Maybe we should tell our friends, they wouldn't try to throw you to me anymore
-I don't see a problem with them throwing me at you - Sirius said, pushing back McKinnon's hair and nibbling on her ear.
They'd wanted to tell their friends about that secret dating from time to time, but that meant the whole of Hogwarts would know about it, and the two of them being the biggest catchers in the school a lot of people would try to destroy the relationship - not that they were going to succeed, but it would be unbearable.
For now it was better to leave it as it was, while friends blurted out things they said about each other unintentionally or unintentionally.