╔═══════════════╗
first year,
library friends
╚═══════════════╝

With her back to the rest of the great hall, Aimee sat with her chin resting in her palm, she toyed with her food. Her appetite hadn't been great, she had nothing to do, no one to talk to, Evan and Severus weren't the best company. She was annoyed that Sirius hadn't even thought about apologising to her, then again she didn't expect him to, she sighed believing they were past this.

"Are you alright?" Andromeda asked, seating next to her

"Yes, I'm fine, why'd you ask?"

"You looked upset this morning,"

"Honestly Andromeda, I'm fine," Aimee said,

Sirius' attention was drawn to the unusual pair, he wondered what his cousin was up to. He knew that Andromeda would have good intentions but it still concerned him that she was interacting with Aimee. Once she stood leaving Andromeda for her last class, he raced out of the Great Hall to catch up with her in the halls.

"Hey, Burke," Aimee ignored him, continuing to walk ahead to their class, "Burke wait," he grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks, she shoved him away from her.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"I just wanted to ask why Andromeda was talking to you," he asked, he could see the flash of frustration that masked her face.

"Are you kidding me!" Aimee said, her voice raised, she looked away from him, sucking air between her teeth, taking a deep breath, "I actually thought you might apologise to me,"

"Why what for?" he asked

"Why!" she repeated, "You had no right to keep my book-

"I wanted to read,"

"Then go to the library or ask," she argued

"You're mad about a muggle book, it's just a book,"

"Muggle book, wizarding book, I don't care, it's a story that I love," she threw her hands up in the air, "It was my book, you should have given it back to me, the minute you found it," Aimee whipped around, her long ponytail almost hitting him in the face as she left for class, she found a seat next to a Ravenclaw girl furthest away from him.

She wouldn't look at him, Sirius didn't think she'd be so angry about a book being ruined, especially a muggle book. Aimee had confirmed to him, she wasn't prejudiced like her family. And he had screwed up his chances of being her friend. As class ended, Professor McGonagall waited outside to escort, Aimee, Sirius and James to detention, McGonagall lead them to a classroom.

"Sit at least two desks apart, read a book or write lines, no talking," McGonagall gestured for them to take a seat, Aimee sat furthest away from Sirius and James.

She immediately opened a transfiguration book, not to study, just to read, the subject interested her. Aimee looked through the theories for human transformations using various potions and complicated spells. She was mostly interested because her parents were Animagi.

Her father is a crow and her mother was a fox. They were unregistered, which was a huge risk as her father worked at the ministry, she desired to be one too. Someday she hoped her mother might teach her when she was ready, the more she learnt before the more prepared she would be.

It is often said that your Animagus form, is linked to a person's true personality, hence why a wizard may never choose the animal form they take. Falco Aesalon was an ancient Greek wizard, being able to transform into a falcon at will, he was the first recorded Animagus.

She read, taking notes she hoped that learning how Falco Aesalon became an animagus, might help her learn how the transformation occurs, the length of time and precautions she needed to take. She was so immersed in her book that she hadn't looked up from her desk once, not even to check the time.

Sirius meanwhile, kept looking behind him. 'What was she studying for? We didn't have any homework due. Maybe she was doing extra credit, to try and score Slytherin some house points.' James was dozing off at his desk, which didn't go unnoticed.

"Mr Potter, sit up," McGonagall said,

James sat back in his chair yawning as he adjusted his glasses, he glanced a Burke, creasing his brows, she was writing so quickly. 'What in merlin's name was she doing?' James looked at Sirius, he shook his head, not knowing what she was doing.

Detention was over quickly for Aimee, while it dragged for James and Sirius, she packed away her book and notes, leaving to head for her common room. She was oblivious to Sirius following behind her, she gritted her teeth when she heard him call her.

"Burke!" he shouted, she didn't stop, pretending that she never heard him, she continued to the dungeons.

"Burke, I'm sorry," he said, loud enough for her to hear him. She halted her stride sighing she turned around he hurried over to her.

"You're what," she asked thinking she had miss heard him.

"I'm sorry, that I-

"No," she shook her head, "You're not sorry,"

"Yes, I am," he argued.

"No, you're only sorry because I yelled at you," she told him, "you not truly sorry," she walked away, at the last second she pivoted on her heel back to him, "and just for the record I haven't done anything to hurt you," she pointed a disapproving finger at him.

"Why are you so mad, it's just a bloody book," he told her,

"You wouldn't understand-

"I'm pretty sure, I under more than you think," she rolled her eyes at him. "You read muggle books, I listen to muggle music, much to my parent's disapproval, do you parents know you read muggle stories?" Sirius continued, Aimee looked away from him. "They don't, do they?" Sirius stepped closer to her, he leaned forward, a big smirk grew on his face.

"We're not so different after all," he whispered, he quickly moved away from her, when he heard footsteps coming around the corner

"Sirius?" Narcissa said, glancing between him and Aimee "I didn't expect to see you down here, what are you doing?" she asked

"Nothing, he was just leaving," Aimee told him, she left with Narcissa entering the Slytherin common room. Aimee quickly hurried to her room before Narcissa had a chance to quiz her on, the reason for Sirius being in the dungeons.

If Aimee hadn't met Narcissa before Hogwarts she would have never believed they were cousins, they never spoke or glanced at one another, she thought that could have been due to Sirius being placed in Gryffindor. Although from the looks of things there would still be tension between the cousins even if he were sorted into Slytherin.

***

Once she had a free period she finally had a chance to look for a book to replace The Hobbit. Though every book she picked from the library didn't come close in comparison to The Hobbit, she just hoped she could find one similar, that would have been just fine.

'We're not so different after all,'

She shivered remembering what Sirius said, replaying in her mind like someone had pressed the repeat button. Aimee had been avoiding him ever since. Whenever he looked at her from across the Great Hall, in the corridors or class. She would awkwardly look away from him.

Aimee pulled a book from the bookcase, sitting at a nearby desk, she attempted to read, when she couldn't get into the story. She frustratedly slammed the book shut, catching the attention of the other students in the library, she ran her through her hair, gripping her hair sighing loudly.

"Hi," someone said, as the tapped her shoulder, she shrieked holding her hand against her chest, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, do you mind?" he gestured to the seat next to her

"It's alright Remus, I didn't think anyone else was here," she moved her bag for him to sit down.

"I saw that you were upset, you know after Sirius and James ruined your book," she nodded, wondering if he told Sirius that she was upset. "You were reading the Hobbit right?"

"Yeah, I just got halfway through," she told him, Remus nodded he looked around him, before turning to Aimee.

"I have a copy if you want to borrow it," he offered

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to be a bother-

"You won't, it's a shame you only got to read half of it, it's a good book,"

"I've read it before, it's just one of my favourites, you sure you don't mind?" she asked

"Yes, come on, it's in my dorm room," Remus told her, she smiled at him, grabbing her bag as she followed him out of the library. She realised she didn't have any idea where Gryffindor Tower was. Remus walked up a long staircase leading up to a portrait of the fat lady, who asked for a password.

"Erm, wait here," he told her.

He leaned towards the fat lady's portrait, whispering the password and preventing her from hearing Gryffindor's password. She patiently waited for him to come back, a few other students eyed her curiously, then she heard it, laughter from down the hall, knowing it all too well. Potter and Black were coming this way.

"Oh, come on," she sighed, thankfully Remus came back as though he heard her plea.

"Here, I hope you enjoy the rest of the book, you can give it back whenever you like," he smiled at her, she smiled brightly taking the book from him, she threw her arms around him, her eyes widened. Realising that she was hugging someone she barely knew, she let go of him, moving away.

"Thank you," she said, averting her eyes from him, "I'll give you your book back as soon as I'm finished," she smiled at him, she turned to head back down to the Slytherin dungeons. Remus sighed as James and Sirius ran over to him.

"What was that?" James asked

"What was what?" Remus said

"The little hug, sweet smiles," James mocked

"I felt bad for something you two did, I gave her my book to finish reading it,"

"Why?" James questioned, Remus thought about his answer

"Because she was upset about her book, it's one of her favourites," Sirius scoffed

"How would you know?" he questioned

"Unlike you, Sirius, I actually had a conversation with her, without judging her she's really nice, I don't know why you don't see it,"

***

In their next class, she sat in the far back of Flitwick's class, resting Remus' book on her knee reading a little when she wrote a bit of her work, she acted interested in Charms. Though Lily Evans sat with her for a change, she carefully read the book hoping Lily would turn a blind eye to her not paying attention to Professor Flitwick.

"I'm sorry about Potter and Black," Lily mumbled, she closed the book turning her body to face Lily, "They shouldn't have done that to you, it was cruel, did they even apologise?" she didn't respond to her, "If you'd like you can join me and my friends?" she offered.

"I'd like that," she smiled at her, Lily smiled back at her as she turned away to continue on with her work. While Aimee had been so focused on the book more than her own work, she hadn't realised that the class were already packing away their books.

"I'll wait for you outside," Aimee looked around her, seeing most of the students exiting the classroom. She quickly packed her textbooks away, just as Lily said, she waited for her outside, the pair walked to the great hall.

She felt a pit in her stomach as they walked towards the Gryffindor table, she looked all around her, positive that everyone was looking at her. Lily looked back at her gesturing for her to sit down, she hesitantly sat down beside her. One of the girls was sighing loudly, while the other clenched her jaw, seemingly annoyed with the girl.

"I'm starving, I haven't eaten since breakfast," one of the girls said.

"That's Marlene," Lily whispered to Aimee, "the one next to her is Alice," she nodded remembering them from the train 'the noisy girls,' she thought, smiling a little.

"Where's Mary?" Lily asked

"She's talking to McGonagall about something, I don't know, I wasn't listening," Marlene began, "So tell me what's it like in the Slytherin common room," she asked, as she took another mouthful of her food.

"It's dark, lots of dark furniture, it has a sort of preppy feel to it," she said, they didn't say anything and just nodded their heads, "the Bloody Baron it irritating, I try to stay out of his way, there's a feeling of pride, I can't explain why, but there is," she explained further, though neither of the three Gryffindors spoke. She shuffled in her seat desperate to fill the silence. "What's your common room like?" she asked

"Loud, lots and lots of noise," Marlene said,

"Well, you shouldn't complain, you contribute to it," Alice said with a soft tone, trying not to sound too harsh.

"I do not!" Marlene exclaimed putting her hands on her hips, realising she spoke too loudly, "I do not," she repeated more quietly.

"Oh I believe you do Marls," Lily said, causing Alice to giggle.

"If I'm loud, then what are they," Marlene said, pointing back up the great hall, towards the door, where on cue, bounding through were Peter and James, with Sirius and Remus not far behind them. Being loud just like she said.

They sat further down the table, Aimee avoid looking at them, however, Peter noticed the Slytherin sitting at their table. He nudged Sirius who turned to look in their direction she avoided his gaze, quickly standing, when he walked towards the girls.

"Sorry Lily, I have to go," Aimee said, walking to the Slytherin table sitting alone, she knew Sirius wouldn't come over to the Slytherin table. She actually enjoyed sitting with Lily and her friends, that is until he had to show up and ruin something again.