CHAPTER SIX! ༉‧₊˚✧
━━━━ ⋆𖤐₊˚.༄ ♡ ━━━━

ON THE AFTERNOON of October 31st, 1975, a symphony of screams echoed out of the Fifth Year Girl's dormitories.

Diya Talwar woke up on the floor of her dormitory, with a headache and covered in confetti.

"Happy Birthday, Diya!"

Diya was incredibly tired. So tired that she didn't respond to her friends, instead deciding to stay face down on the floor, groaning in annoyance.

The night before had been a rather grueling Quidditch practice in preparation for the Gryffindor v. Slytherin match coming up in the first week of November. Zoya had especially been pushing Diya, considering this would be her first Quidditch match ever, and Gryffindor wouldn't be playing again until the Hufflepuff match in March.

Diya was exhausted, and she had been excited to sleep in for once.

Groaning once more, she rolled onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling, leaving the room silent for a few seconds. Begrudgingly, she raised her hand, motioning for someone to lift her off of the ground.

Marlene offered her hand, pulling the girl into a hug, despite her lack of clothing.

Diya pulled back from the hug, trying to cover herself up, uncomfortable only wearing her nightgown. "Right, well, thank you all for this, but can I get ready now?"

Lily shook her head, taking her bottom lip between her teeth in excitement. She brought her hands forward from behind her back and thrust a robe into Diya's hands, motioning for Alice to help the birthday girl put it on.

After the girl was (moderately) covered up, Marlene took Diya's wrist in her hand and began to run, shocking her as the rest of her friends broke into giggles.

Diya nearly took a tumble down the stairs as her friends pulled her, eager for her to get to the Common Room.

She hadn't been awake for two minutes, and she was already tired of the day.

Diya gasped as her vision suddenly went black until she realized that someone had placed their cold hands over her eyes, preventing her from seeing the Common Room.

"Guys, come on, it's too early for this," Diya whined, although she regained her composure when she heard snickers coming from the couch area.

"Alright," Alice continued to stall, and Diya heard shuffling, making her slightly anxious.

"Open your eyes!" The hands left her eyes, and Diya winced at the sudden sunlight.

As she blinked the blurriness out of her eyes, she felt her mouth form an "o" shape as she processed the sight in front of her.

The Common Room had been decked out for the girl's birthday, no doubt Alice's work. A banner hung across the Common Room with "Happy Birthday, Diya!" messily scrawled across, which led the eye to several poorly wrapped presents next to the couch. The sofa seated Zoya and the boys of Year Five Gryffindor, all looking tired but smiling nonetheless.

"Do you like it?" Lily asked, swaying in place.

"I love it, you guys." Diya smiled back, still trying to take in the state of the Common Room. "Isn't it a bit much, though?"

"You only turn 16 once, Di." Remus's voice sounded from the couch, sending Diya a smile.

Marlene clapped her hands together, "Alright, I can tell that Alice is about to go into a long speech about your birthday, so I suggest you open your presents before the opportunity escapes you,"

The girls pushed Diya over to the presents, her robe billowing behind her. The four sank to the floor next to the gifts, inviting the boys and Zoya to join them.

Diya laughed as she sank to the floor, taking the top present from the pile, an envelope from Peter. She pried the envelope open, smiling at the hand-drawn birthday card that he had given her.

James gifted her a pair of quaffle earrings ("So you'll always remember who got you on the Quidditch team!").

Marlene and Remus teamed up and gifted her a box of Honeydukes chocolate, as well as individual presents: a bouquet of flowers from Remus and a book from Marlene.

Sirius had gifted her a slightly large sweater, making Diya wonder if it was his sweater or one of his conquest's.

Frank and Alice collectively gifted her a red and gold blanket, both her favorite colors, as well as her house colors.

Lily had gone out of her way to gift Diya her records from home, including her prized Abbey Road vinyl, which brought the girl close to tears.

"Here, Diya," Zoya handed her sister another parcel, wrapped in shimmering gold wrapping paper. The label on the gift was messy with crossed-out words at the end that read:

To: Diya Talwar

From: Zoya and

The second name on the parcel was scratched out, beyond recognition.

"...' And'? Was this a joint gift? I can't read that second name." Diya looked between her sister and the parcel multiple times.

"Oh, er—" Zoya scratched her head sheepishly, "It was supposed to be a mutual gift, but the other person chickened out last minute. They gave me the idea for the gift, though."

Diya carefully peeled the wrappings on the gift open, ignoring the yell from Sirius, who couldn't take the suspense any longer.

When Diya finally finished taking the wrapping off, flinging the ball at Sirius for good measure, she gasped as she examined the present: A copy of Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworth Whisp.

"Is this the copy from the library?" Diya asked as she carefully flipped through the pages of the worn book.

Zoya grabbed the book from her sister's hands, examining it and laughing when she saw the list of names at the beginning of the book. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Diya silently rolled her eyes at Patil's name being listed last in the book, instead offering her sister a warm hug as a thank you, extremely pleased with the book.

The gift opening lasted for about a half-hour (with a dance break to Octopus's Garden, since Diya played the album) until she got through all of the presents.

"Peter, stop eating all of Diya's presents!" Marlene shouted, whacking the boy over the head with a bare wrapping paper roll.

"Since you're so hungry, Wormy, just head down to the kitchens!" James suggested, repeatedly throwing a balled-up piece of wrapping paper in the air and catching it.

"The kitchens?" Alice tilted her head as she asked the question, looking shockingly similar to a puppy.

"What, you folk have never been to the kitchens?" Remus asked, ignoring Sirius, who sat up in his chair now, several knots in his hair from where he had spent time braiding his hair in boredom.

"There's kitchens at Hogwarts?" Frank chimed in, adjusting his sweater as he stood up from the couch.

"You lot seriously didn't know?"

"No!" Diya asked, throwing her hands up in the air and accidentally hitting Marlene in the process. "You have to take us."

"No. Absolutely not," Sirius said, shaking his head wildly, only knotting his hair more. "If the kitchens are unknown now, then they shall remain that way. We don't need a bunch of girls coming in and ruining our manly conversations!"

"Manly conversations?" Lily said apprehensively, laughing. "Sirius, you cried when I told you about the plot of An Affair to Remember."

"Oh, hush, Evans, that movie has the saddest story I've ever heard. It's not my fault you're heartless!"

"She's right, Sirius. We most definitely do not have manly conversations in the kitchens. The last conversation we had in the kitchens was about if the Dementors of Azkaban can fall in love with each other." Remus agreed, looking up from examining the copy of Quidditch Through the Ages that Zoya gifted Diya.

Sirius huffed, sinking back into his seat and begrudgingly agreeing.

"It's settled then! You're taking me to the kitchens, Mr. Sirius Black," Diya said, standing up. "I'm going to go change into proper clothes, though. I wouldn't want to walk around Hogwarts half-naked."

"I personally don't mind this look," Sirius winked, resting his face on the hand propped upon his knee. Diya threw a pillow at his head, successfully wiping the cocky look off of his face before she quickly ran back up to the dormitories.

༉‧₊˚✧

Diya adjusted her sweater as she nervously stood in front of the picture of the fruit bowl. James and Remus told Diya that the entrance to the kitchens was right behind the portrait, much to the displeasure of Sirius.

Sirius looked down at her with his eyebrow quirked in amusement as she frantically flattened her hair down and tried her best to look composed. He had been adamant in being the only person to go with Diya ("I was the one who found the kitchens in the first place! I'll be the one to show her around").

"You do realize that it's just going to be us and the house elves, right?" Sirius said, smirking when Diya silently threw a glare his way.

He stretched out his forefinger and tickled the green pear on the portrait, looking to Diya, who had frozen in shock. She jumped as the pear squirmed, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a large green door handle. Sirius grabbed the hilt and pulled the door open, revealing the kitchens to Diya for the first time.

She looked around in awe at the enormous, high-ceilinged room, as large as the Great Hall, with piles of brass appliances gathered around the stone walls and a great brick fireplace at the other end. Sirius muffled his laughter with his hand as he gazed at the expression on her profile.

"Mr. Black, sir!" A house-elf shrieked at the sight of the long-haired boy, whose expression had suddenly turned sour.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Sirius, Minty?" he asked, throwing his head back in frustration.

The house-elf began to tear up at the sound of disappointment in the boy's voice and apologized profusely. "Minty is so sorry, Mr. Bl— Sirius!"

Minty scrambled over to the pans and lifted one, preparing to bang it against her head. Diya quickly ran to the elf and snatched the pan from Minty's hands.

"Please don't hurt yourself, Minty!" Diya pleaded with the elf. Sirius ran over to Minty and hugged her lightly.

"Would you feel better if you got me a slice of cake?" Sirius asked, pulling back from the hug once he was sure that Minty wouldn't hurt herself.

Minty grinned, nodding wildly, before running off to get Sirius his cake. Sirius continued to kneel on the ground, his head in his hands.

"You're really good with her," Diya observed, watching as the boy nodded, standing up.

"Yeah, well, I'm the reason she's at Hogwarts." Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "I freed her without telling my parents."

Diya raised an eyebrow, still shocked at the differences between Sirius and his younger brother. Regulus may have wanted to do things like free a house-elf or defy his parents, but in his mind, he wasn't a Gryffindor. He couldn't ever be as brave as his older brother.

Regulus was insanely jealous of his older brother. It was one of the main topics of conversation between him and Diya when they met up in secret at the library. Diya was the only person that Reggie could go to without his thoughts getting back to his parents.

Diya quickly shook the sad thought out of her head and returned to the present, where Sirius sat on one of the barstools that Diya hadn't noticed was there.

Diya walked over and sat down on a companion stool, squirming slightly under Sirius's gaze.

"So, how's your birthday been so far?" Sirius rubbed his hands on his jeans, looking to Diya, who wore a bemused expression.

"You've been with me for the entire day, Black," Diya laughed slightly,

"Still! How am I supposed to know what goes on in that head of yours?" Sirius smiled, poking Diya's head with his index finger.

"It's a bit much, and I didn't want to distract from the Hallowe'en feast, to be honest," Diya admitted. "But other than that, things have been good, I suppose. Thank you for your gift, by the way."

Sirius nodded as he looked around the kitchen, his hickory hair swishing wildly. The knots in his hair caught Diya's attention, and Diya impulsively began to run her fingers through his hair to get them out. She hadn't realized the impact that this decision might have on Sirius or how it wasn't that normal for someone to begin unknotting someone else's hair unprompted.

"Er— What are you doing, Talwar?" Sirius asked eyes widened as he avoided eye contact with Diya.

"Oh, sorry!" Diya retracted her hands from his head quickly, as though she had been burnt, finally realizing how the boy might have interpreted the action. "The knots in your hair were beginning to piss me off. Zoya always has knots in her hair, y'know, so I'm used to just reaching out and untangling them, but I just realized that you're not Zoya, so—"

"When did I tell you to stop?" Sirius asked, crossing his arms haughtily. He was trying to get a rise out of her now.

Diya rolled her eyes and reached back out, this time turning the boy around on his stool so she could access all of his hair.

She untangled his hair with a smile on her face, the motion familiar and reminding her of her childhood. She bit down on her bottom lip as she tried her hardest to stay focused since Sirius was rather dramatic and would yell whenever he felt her starting to get sloppy. Diya apologized every time she accidentally tugged on the strands of hickory too hard, receiving silence in return after she'd called Sirius out on his dramatics. Halfway through the detangling, Minty came back with the cake that Sirius requested, and he took it greedily, beginning to scarf it down.

"Oi! Save some for me," Diya laughed, looking around his head to look at the cake he had left.

Sirius tried to respond but was muffled as crumbs flew out of his mouth.

Diya shook her head with a smile as she finally removed the last knot from his hair.

"Alright, Black, I've finally finished with your hair." Diya walked over to the pile of dishes and grabbed two reflective plates, handing one to Sirius and using the other one to reflect the finished product to the boy, imitating a hairdresser. "I think I've done a phenomenal job."

"Ah yes, thank you, Miss Hairdresser," Sirius snorted, turning forward to face Diya once more. "You're lucky I even let you touch this work of art."

""Let me touch?' Yeah, right." Diya waved him off, "You're the one who practically begged me to fix it!"

"I did not!"

Diya was about to respond, and Sirius knew that she would counter him, so impulsively, he grabbed the leftover cake from the plate and stuffed it in her mouth. As soon as he went through with the action, he used his cake covered hands to cover his face, shocked by his spontaneity.

Diya glared at the boy and swallowed the cake.

"Did you just stuff cake in my face?" Diya asked rhetorically, crossing her arms.

"Uhh— no?" Sirius said, eyes widening as Diya grabbed some cake in her hand and advanced toward him.

He shot up from the barstool and began to run toward the fireplace in a desperate move to evade her. She chased him, cackling, with cake in her hand and a smirk on her face. Sirius debated hiding in one of the many cabinets that lined the kitchens but quickly realized that he was too big.

"Get back here, Black!" Diya shouted as the boy sprinted away, looking for a place to hide.

He ran to the wooden utensils that resided next to the knives and grabbed a large wooden spoon. Turning back around to face an advancing Diya, he grasped the handle of the spoon with both hands, shaking with laughter.

"Get back, Talwar! I have a weapon, and I'm not afraid to use it!" He talked through a chuckle.

Diya let out an incredulous laugh, letting her cake filled hand drop to her hand. "A weapon? That's a spoon! What damage could it possibly—"

Diya was cut off by the wooden spoon rapping her on the forehead.

"Oh yeah, Black?" She giggled. "Two can play like that!"

She smeared the cake on his forehead, some buttercream entwining itself with the hickory strands of hair that she had just untangled.

Sirius grabbed hold of Diya's hand and opened it up, clutching some of the frosting and smearing it on her nose.

As both of the teenagers raised their hands once more, they both went to attack the other person at the same time.

"Not the hair!" They yelled in unison. Both had moved their arms to cover their hair, trying their hardest not to get frosting in it.

A beat.

The two looked at each other for a minute, Sirius cowering under his arms, and Diya with her arms facing up to fight back.

As Sirius cleared his throat and straightened himself once more, he stared at Diya, who had done the same. They made direct eye contact, and their lips twitched.

The two collapsed in laughter at the same time, a theme that seemed to reoccur, even when it was unclear what was so funny to the two.

The two only stopped laughing when Minty came back to the teenagers, her arms waving frantically.

"Mr. Sirius!" Sirius internally groaned at the new name, ignoring it when he realized it was better than Mr. Black. "You and Miss must leave! The Hallowe'en feast will begin soon!"

Sirius smiled at the elf, trying to be reassuring. "Yes, of course, Minty. Thank you for the cake!" He gestured to him and Diya, both covered in the food.

"Anything for kind Mr. Sirius!" Minty bowed before running away to begin the preparations for the feast.

"Never thought I'd hear the words 'kind' and 'Sirius' in the same sentence." Diya smiled at the boy as she began attempting to remove the cake from her face.

"You wound me, Talwar." Sirius placed a hand over his heart, mockingly feigning being shot.

"Oh, hush, Black."

༉‧₊˚✧
a/n

ok listen

i meant to post this yesterday bc it was halloween and this chapter takes place on halloween,, BUT i had stayed up until 5 am crying over jily death day and the marauders,, and woke up at 2 pm so i had absolutely no time to finish writing this chapter🧍🏽‍♀️

anyway, the next chapter will be up much quicker, since the plan was for me to post this one on halloween and i procrastinated.

also: WE HIT 900 READS AND WE WERE #1 IN ALICEFORTESCUE AND PRETTY HIGH UP IN ONE OF THE MARAUDERS TAGS SO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!

another also: it's literally been like one month and we're six chapters in and i cannot wait to go back and edit chapter one bc it makes me so angry 😁🙌

one last also: the gif at the beginning of the chapter has almost nothing to do w the chapter (remmy ended up gifting diya flowers for her bday and that's basically what the gif is) but i noticed an opportunity to make a gif and i took it so leave me alone.

if you have any questions about my story choices (the chapter titles, the gifs, certain aspects of diya, zoya, or rahul's personalities), don't hesitate to ask me! i'll gladly respond and answer your question, since almost every aspect of this story has a deeper meaning.