"Alright, spill." Sirius ordered as he slid into the seat next to me during potions, for once on time. "Both you and Evans have been bawling your eyes out, and Snivellus is nowhere to be seen around either of you. James is depressed because Lily isn't even calling him an arrogant toe rag anymore, and that's making me depressed.  So spill."

"There's nothing to spill, Black." I laughed bitterly, barely paying attention to Slughorn's ranting. My eyes traveled over to where Lily was sitting with Marlene McKinnon, and a pang of sadness and jealously washed over me. "Besides, she looks fine, she's already replaced me. There's nobody for me to replace her with, my entire house is a bunch of bloody gits. Why do you even care, Black?"

"Because I enjoy annoying you, and you aren't annoyable right now. Besides, like I said, James is down."

"I assure you, I'm still plenty annoyable. That's not even a word, by the way."

"Walking dictionary." Sirius teased, and a small smile stretched across my face, a genuine smile. "There's that smile!"

"Mr. Black, Miss Elise, is there anything you'd like to share with the class?" Professor Slughorn's voice rang out across the classroom, and I flushed immediately, ducking my head embarrassedly. Lily gazed at me hotly, but her eyes held a deep sadness within them, a sadness reflected in my own eyes.

"No, Sir." Sirius told him, and with a sigh, Slughorn returned to his lesson. "What's got you so pink, soap dope?"

"He called us out in front of the entire class! It's embarrassing! Stop talking to me, we're breaking the rules, no talking in class." I hushed him, my cheeks still a fiery red.

"Aw, did I upset you? I'm sorry, Cascade."

"Shove off, Sirius."

"You know, you're not that mean when you're sad. I kind of like this side of you, you're so nice to me, it's sweet." Sirius said, throwing his arm around my shoulders as he knew it infuriated me. I didn't even bother to shove it off.

"Okay, there is something seriously wrong with you." He said suddenly, and raised his hand. Professor Slughorn called on him with a sigh. "Sir, Cascade here isn't feeling well, and I think I should take her to the Hospital Wing."

The lie was believable, I looked like a mess. There were large and dark bags underneath my eyes, eyes that were red and puffy from crying and moping around. Slughorn scanned me over, and nodded his head at Sirius, before turning back to the lesson.

"Come on, let's get you out of here." Sirius muttered, collecting his things as I swung my bag over my shoulder clumsily, before exiting the classroom.

He led me into an empty classroom, and with a start, I realized that it was the classroom Lily and I had argued in. A fresh wave of tears swept over me, and I soon found myself sobbing into Sirius's chest, him patting my head awkwardly.

"Erm, it's going to be alright, Elise. Um, you can stop crying now...anytime, really." He said, and I laughed, wiping my nose with my sleeve.

"I'm a mess, aren't I? I can't even hate you right now, look at me!" I laughed hysterically, and Sirius lifted me off of the ground and sat me down on a desk so that I was at his eye level.

"Okay, Cascade, look me in the eyes right now. Just focus on me, okay? I didn't just get you out of class for you to sob all over me." I nodded weakly, concentrating on his eyes. They were a nice grey, and a few freckles that I'd never noticed dotted his nose, something that intrigued me for some reason.

"Okay, good, take deep breaths. Tell me what's wrong." Sirius said soothingly, rubbing my back and getting over the awkwardness. I opened my mouth to speak, before I shut it quickly, realizing that I couldn't afford to spill all my secrets to my enemy.

"I-I can't tell you, we hate each other, this isn't supposed to be happening." I stuttered, and Sirius sighed.

"Yeah, but I hate seeing people sad. I promise I'll never use anything you say in this room against you, okay? You can tell me what's wrong, you need to tell me what's wrong so that I can fix it. Because of you and Lily, all my mates are falling apart, everything's falling apart. I can't stand it. So talk to me, tell me what's wrong." Sirius whispered, wiping away a few of my tears with his thumb.

"Severus stopped talking to me after we got back from break." I blurted out. Sirius raised an eyebrow, but gestured for me to go on. "I-I decided that if he was going to ignore me, I would ignore h-him. He only started acting weird around Lily two weeks ago, and she cornered me to talk about it. We had a huge fight, and I haven't spoken to her since." I explained, and it felt good to confide in someone what had taken place. It felt good to have the weight taken off of my shoulders.

Sirius inhaled sharply, and nodded his head slowly, chewing on his lip.

"I see. That does make sense though, why Evans is down and why Snivellus is sitting with the Death Eater crowd." He mused, and I sighed.

"I should go..." I said softly. "I don't even know why you bother to try and help me. I guess I'm just on my own again. Right after I finally patched things up with my family too."

At this Sirius perked up, his eyebrows furrowing together worriedly. If I didn't despise him so much, I would've actually thought it cute.

"You have family problems too?" He questioned, and I backed away, surprised at the harshness of his voice. "Sorry, I-I really don't get along with my family, I'd never wish that upon another person."

"I-it's fine." I managed. "I made up with them, everything is fine. I'm going to go, thank you, Black." A smile appeared on his face at his surname, an assurance that I was feeling better. 

"See you, soap dope."

"Egocentric buffoon."

"Learn a new name, princess perfect."

"Flea magnet."

"What! I do not attract fleas, Oompa Loompa!"

"What the hell is an Oompa Loompa?"

"A very short muggle fantasy creature, short stuff."

"I'm leaving, die painfully, fluff butt."

"Is that because of my patronus? Wait, you're actually leaving? Bye soap dope!"

"Toodles, Black." I called, significantly cheered by the annoying prat.

Sirius watched Cascade leave, a funny look on his face. He gazed at her long, wavy, dark hair, her green tie, and the smile on her face. Sirius shook his head, a small smile beginning to form on his face.

"Merlin, mother would be proud. I'm beginning to fancy a Slytherin, that also happens to be a pure-blood. James is a bloody oracle."