Chapter Text
Sirius Orion Black yawned loudly, clambering out of bed. It was a Saturday, so his best friend, James Potter, would already be at Quidditch practice, while Remus and Peter, his friends and roommates, were probably already at breakfast. Sirius always loved a good lie-in on the weekends, especially after his friends had discovered that you could get a late breakfast in the school kitchens, meaning that there were no limits to when he could sleep till. However, on this particular day he had woken up earlier than usual, feeling a sense of restlessness that he couldn’t quite place.
Sirius grabbed a shirt and trousers from the mismatched bundle of clothes in his overflowing trunk, before trying to get his hair a little more under control. As usual, the aim was to achieve only slightly messy hair — chaotic enough to show that he wasn’t all prim and proper, but not as messy as James, who’s unstyled curls often stuck up in every direction. He achieved it in only a few minutes of styling, which was something almost unheard of (Remus spent many a morning complaining about how long Sirius took in the bathroom) and made his way down to the Great Hall with just enough time for breakfast.
Peter and Remus were already there, chatting with Lily, Mary and Marlene, three of the Gryffindor girls from their year. Sirius had dated Marlene in their second year, but they broke up amicably and now had that close bond that came from former lovers becoming good friends.
“I see the sleepyhead’s finally up and about,” grinned Peter. “We were placing bets on what time you’d wake up — Remus here thought you’d miss breakfast.”
“Nah,” grinned Sirius, “I love my food too much for that.”
“Well, you might want to be cautious about what you’re eating,” warned Remus, “We spelled the pears on all of the tables — unless you want to be burping bubbles for a few hours.”
“Such a model student aren’t you, Remus” replied Sirius, walking behind Remus and ruffling his hair. Remus made an indignant noise, swatting Sirius’ hand away and glaring (while trying to return his dark blonde hair to its wavy but neat state) but Sirius knew that the werewolf didn’t really mind.
Sirius plonked himself down next to Remus, grinning at the mix of jams and spreads on the blonde’s toast. If Sirius was sitting next to anyone else, he’d nick a piece, but he knew all too well that Remus would not let him get away with that, especially not this close to a full. Instead, Sirius grabbed some scrambled eggs and bacon. He was especially hungry this morning, but he didn’t really know why. Surely he’d expect to be less hungry than usual as he’d been up till 3am chatting and eating snacks with his friends last night.
Remus turned to him and Sirius felt a smile grow on his face. He’d always been close to the blonde, but recently they’d been hanging out more together. Marlene kept making confusing comments about it, like she was digging for some gossip, but Sirius wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Sirius and Remus were just friends. Good friends.
“So, what’s Hogwarts’ resident troublemaker up to today?” Remus said.
“Lots of gallivanting, maybe a little frolicking and definitely some dalliance. What about you?”
“Homework, mostly.”
“I still need to do Professor Bates’ essay on the usefulness of bezoars in medicine for DADA. It’s due tomorrow and I’ve barely done three inches,” Mary complained, “He sets so much homework it’s actually ridiculous.”
“It really bloody is,” replied Lily,”We have that essay due tomorrow, as well as one due for Wednesday. Doesn’t he know that we have like, six other classes with teachers that all set homework.”
Sirius zoned out, his brain helpfully reminding him that it was only a week till the winter break, when he’d have to go home and endure the wrath of his mother and father. Ever since he’d been sorted into Gryffindor they’d had it out for him, complaining about his attitude towards the (Remus’ words) ‘posh twats’ he had to mingle with at parties and social gatherings. It wasn’t like Sirius was standing on the table, declaring that they were all classist cunts (which he had wanted to do ever since he’d first attended a party), he was just pointing out, politely, that blood status didn’t matter. Naturally, that was seen as a declaration of war and had led to lots of shouting and screaming at Sirius. Still, Sirius would rather that the family’s anger was directed at him than at his little brother, Regulus, whom Sirius loved dearly.
Sirius was snapped out of his thoughts by a nudge from Remus, who looked at him worriedly.
“You ok? You seem a tad out of it”
“I’m fine mate. Just thinking about next week.”
Remus didn’t pry further and for that Sirius was glad.
Soon, the conversation came to an end as the plates disappeared, signalling the end of breakfast. Remus and Sirius were making their way to the library when Sirius felt a rush of dizziness overcome him. He grabbed the banister of the staircase that he was on and the world came in and out of focus. It was as if no matter how deep or frequent his breaths were, he still felt as if he’d just run a marathon.
Remus was quick to notice, gently leading Sirius off the stairs and into the corridor, where Sirius sat for a minute or so while he attempted to catch his breath.
“Are you alright? You suddenly clocked out on me for a minute.”
“I’m fine, thanks Rem. I think I was probably just dizzy because I didn’t have enough to eat.”
After a few minutes, Sirius and Remus got up and entered the library, Sirius already feeling much better. He was sure it was nothing, just a little dizzy spell that wouldn’t happen again. Little did he know that it was the start of something much bigger.