↳ CHAPTER ELEVEN:

POINTING FINGERS ↵

             SEREN ENTERED THE COMMON ROOM ANNOYED with how the week went. First she blew up at Lucius and then Sirius! Was she insane?! She had avoided both boys for a few days now and it was hard–– even though the castle was huge.

"Oi, Seren!"

Seren sighed, shouldering her messenger bag better before turning to see her brother, James, and Peter looking at her expectantly from the confines of the common room couches. The brunette walked over to them, standing above the coffee table, expectant.

"Well?" She asked, annoyed at the silence that followed. No one had answered and Seren wasn't very pleased that her own brother was avoiding eye contact with her.

"You're going to help us with our next prank!" James suddenly broke the ice, a grin in place as he stared at his mate's sister.

"Don't test me, Potter." Seren spat in disbelief, narrowing her eyes at the boy in front of her.

"But where's the fun in that?" James Potter laughed, turning to his friends, hoping one would join in. None of them dared to poke fun at the young girl.

"Bloody hell," Seren crossed her arms before turning to her brother. "Remus, please tell your friends that I will not now or ever want to join you in your ridiculous pranks."

Remus nervously smiled at Seren and she narrowed her eyes: he was up to something. "You got to, sis." His hands were in his lap, twitching to move.

Seren sighed she hated how secretive and mischievous they were. "And why is that?"

"Well, it's Slytherin, we need an insider. . . . We need you to date Black's cousin or Lucius Malfoy." Remus told her, trying to be logical. Serena's heart stopped when she heard Lucius' name. All week she had tried to avoid thinking about the blond Slytherin boy but for some reason, all she wanted to do was think of him as a good person.

Seren, however, didn't like the idea. She laughed loudly, "you're joking, right? This is a bloody joke!"

"No it isn't," Seren turned and saw Sirius in the doorway that led to the boys dorms, he had just gotten up from a nap. His long dark hair was unruly, standing on end while his eyes were half open and bleary. He stared at Seren as she stood in front of the other Marauders in the common room.

"Don't worry, Seren, I'm not that bloody well pleased with it either."

The room was silent as Seren looked between Sirius and the other ragtag boys. Each were looking nervously at the ground, avoiding Sirius' eye. For once Sirius was not in on the prank?

"This is your fault!" Seren yelled in realisation, stomping over to Sirius with a glare that could kill. Although the young Gryffindor was short, her attitude could make up for lack of height. "You told them, didn't you?" She had no idea how Sirius found out about her morning with Lucius, (she had only been walking away from the Quidditch field when he found her) only that his antics were always hurting her. First the slug prank and now this? Why did Sirius Black hate her so much?

"Tell us what?" Remus asked in confusion, as if he had no idea why Sirius had involvement.

Seren laughed, "I'm not taking you seriously right now–" Seren immediately smacked Sirius in the back of his head as he began laughing, trying to speak up. "And don't you dare use your dumb line on me about that being your fucking name."

The room turned dead silent at Seren's cussing. None of the boys had been close with Seren to see her mad in person, this was unchartered territory. Before, they hid after the slug incident and she didn't want to associate with the Marauders. But now, she was pissed and ready to kill.

Seren was furious. These boys had no respect for her, just when she thought she could be friends with them– when she finally thought she had her brother back. The young girl opened her mouth, ready to insult Sirius once more when he marched up to her, frustration on his face. She couldn't lie, but him mad was kinda hot. He grabbed onto Seren, pulling her away from his friends.

Seren protested loudly at how roughly Sirius was handling her right now. He dragged the young brunette away from the common room and into the his dorm.

"Get your hands off of me!" Seren seethed in anger, he had no right to handle her this way.

"It wasn't my fucking fault."

Seren froze at the anger held in Sirius' voice, looking up at the tall Gryffinor with wide eyes. Now that she was alone with him she felt insecure, as if her anger was misdirected.

"W-What?"

"So don't fucking blame me–" Sirius continued on a rant, his eyes lit with a fire. Seren, yet again, held her breath as she stared in awe at the tall boy. For some reason, she liked seeing Sirius fired up and like this. It made him multi-dimensional– as if there was more to him than jokes. "It probably was Malfoy himself who went blabbing!"

Seren blinked, knocking herself out of her daze with a frown. "I-I," her brow furrowed more at her confusion. "L-Lucius wouldn't do that. . ." She wasn't even sure of herself, she didn't even know him that well.

Sirius laughed and Seren shuddered at how empty it sounded, she had never seen Sirius like this before.

"I know Lucius Malfoy, Seren. I know what he's like. I heard the rumours that you were playing Quidditch with him on Sunday, don't lie to me." Sirius leaned down so his eyes were level with hers, trying to get her to see his way. "He's bad news Seren, and I don't like how my friends think this is okay. How they're okay with you meddling in with someone as dangerous as him."

Seren gasped at the proximity of Sirius and she stuttered, her eyes focusing more on his lips, pulled in a tight line. Her eyes followed up to his eyes, "I'm sorry, Sirius." Seren squared her shoulders as she looked him in his eyes, she was just too stubborn to believe him. "I don't believe Lucius is bad, he's misunderstood! Just because he's a pureblood and his parents may have a bad reputation, doesn't mean Lucius is like them!"

"But you know he's bad, Seren. I know you feel it too!" Sirius grabbed Seren by the waist, pulling her closer. Her eyes widened in shock at the intimate moment, but she knew he was just trying to see his point of view.

Seren looked around the dorm, finally. Taking in how messy it was: each bed unmade, candy wrappers littering the ground, and books everywhere. She cleared her throat, never had she been in unchartered territory as the boys dormitory.

"I'm sorry, Sirius." Seren gulped, turning back to the pale boy. His calm expression faltered at her determined look as she pulled away from him.

"I'm going to do the prank with the boys, I'm going to prove to you that Lucius isn't bad."

º º º º