#starbrightblack‌

[bristlybranwen]

starbrightblack‌:

“While I’m sure it would get you out of future nursing, you’d have to deal with the results,” Sirius pointed out, although he wouldn’t necessarily put it past her. Last time he’d had to take the weird fizzing thing had been his only potion for hours, and he hoped that would be the case here too. Still, he snorted when she called him unappealing. Despite his persona, Sirius wasn’t actually vain enough to think everyone wanted him, but he couldn’t help wondering if she meant it or just putting on a show of it to keep arguing.

“You would not have,” he argued when Bran got just as worked up as he’d hoped by his thermometer stunt. “I figured you needed that information now.” His voice wasn’t quite innocent, but Sirius almost managed it. She wouldn’t believe him anyway. “And now you get to visit me again, how fun.” His grin spread as she started laughing, clearly despite her own best intentions. It was always the classics that seemed to get the good reactions. Why fix what wasn’t broken? 

“So… Aside from comedy hour, what has you here? I’m not trying to rude, but you never struck me as the type.” She’d seemed like exactly the same kind of stuck up snotty pureblood that his family was full of. Sirius wasn’t naive enough to think he was the only one to come form that stock and understand how messed their ideas were, but when he had thought of Bran, he’d figured she seemed happy with her princess position.

Bran’s response was just a dismissive whistle sound, caused by air sucked in through lips and teeth. That he even thought she’d ever get into nursing. As though that was something appropriate for her name and status. Sure, out of all the jobs one could have, nursing had a long tradition for noble women to do so, but, come on. Actual nursing was something for Mudbloods who needed an excuse to stay in their society after graduation, who needed to beg for people’s praise, and what better way to do so than by making them owe something for saving their lives? 

“Need? You’re the one who wants his coffee,” she tutted, still irritated by his stupidity. The annoying thing with food and drinks was that they required at least a minimum amount of manual labour. You couldn’t just whip your wand and have things appear if you wanted it to be sustainable, if you wanted it to taste good. That’s why every proper family had House Elves, right? But nooo... It was all about the gesture, she’d been told. That the gesture cured all the things medicine couldn’t. Ridiculous, really. And yet, here she was, in the kitchen, watching the coffee grains sink to the bottom of the french press. Not so carefully, she then pushed the strainer down, not at all caring that some grains had escaped and were now meeting each other again in the cup. Sugar? Milk? As Black as my name. That had her smirk again. Lousy joke. She was about to tap the cup with her wand to have it follow her, when a thought crossed her mind. 

Once returned to Black’s bedside, she handed him the coffee -- a big drop of cream having been mixed into it. “Yeah, well,” she said, as though not even aware of what she’d done there, “everyone takes turns with helping, aye?” You could always say you weren’t available, of course, but with some people in the Inner Circle having such a close eye on her, it was best to at least participate at least a little. “Surely, you’ve got some jobs too. Or are you just letting everyone serve your ass like a little prince?” 

black cat

[trustingpotter]

Bridging Gaps | The Marauders

Date: December 6th, 1981 Location: Potter Estate @silveranddittany​ & @starbrightblack​

James felt like he was the only one holding things together. Lily had killed someone innocent. Not that she’d meant to and James couldn’t find it in himself to be angry with her for it - but it was still something they had to deal with. Something that sickened him, just a bit.

And then there was Remus and Sirius. Both of them had gotten injured in the mission, despite James having been the one of the front lines. It was supposed to be him! Not his friends! He’d visited them both several times while healing up. Had gone to meetings with the inner-circle to discuss Frank and Lily’s mishap. Had talked about how the papers were handling everything. James had been busy and exhausted the last week - but there was still more to do. 

Sirius would be getting cleared tomorrow and James had made plans with Remus to come visit while they had a few moments of downtime. Or, rather, James had told Remus to meet him there. No asking involved. “Buck up, mate,” James said to Sirius, leaning back in a chair and kicking his feet up on the bed. It was his favorite pun. “You won’t be locked up much longer.”

[mckinnxn]

starbrightblack‌:

James had been tense and hard to pin down the last few days. While he hadn’t said anything direction, that led Sirius to assume there was some kind of secret mission going on that he once again hadn’t been trusted enough to be brought in on. Fine, he was going to not ask and try to pretend he didn’t care. Instead Sirius got done with his morning shift and immediately went down to The Leaky Cauldron. He could have gone home, sat with the radio on and Nettie on his lap, but Sirius knew he’d be wondering what the inner circle was planning then. Besides, if he did that now, what would he do tonight?

Spending an afternoon drinking alone was never a fun prospect, but when Sirius heard a greeting from a familiar face, he turned to her expecting a more promising adventure than he’d previously planned. “Marlene,” he said pleasantly. “Fancy meeting you here.” If she was here, that meant one more person who was also out of the loop, which made him feel just a little bit better about it. The farm also probably wasn’t involved because Sirius couldn’t imagine her walking away on a night something went down.

He gestured to Tom to bring over a glass for Marlene. Sirius didn’t know what she favored, but he knew she was more than capable of ordering for herself. “Not your usual haunt, but who am I to judge? It’s good to see you.”

“Definitely not the usual. Figured I would shake it up - pop in for a bit.” Marlene would never admit it out loud, but she always thought Sirius had an alluring feel to him. She could tell he had a natural knack for the charismatic and it was always so soothing to speak to him. However, Marlene would always keep that to herself - after all, it was Sirius Black she was talking about.

Seeing him now reminded her the last time she saw Sirius and the circumstances they’d been in. “It’s good to see you too. Seems like you’re feeling better than the last time I saw you.” Marlene said sincerely, then giving over a look and a nod to Tom, mouthing the words sour firewhiskey.

change in the afternoon // open

[peterdpettigrew]

starbrightblack‌:

Sirius sighed as he opened the door at The Leaky Cauldron, but he couldn’t pretend his own answer was terribly different than Peter’s. “You’re always too cooped up,” he said automatically without actually meaning for any heat behind it. They were all growing up somehow, and Sirius wasn’t sure how it had happened.

“I mean the weather isn’t amazing for it, but what else is magic for if not a warming charm on my seat.” Sirius grinned at the idea of being told he could just boss Peter around to get what he wanted. “That’s not exactly new news, but it is a nice reminder. I’ll have to drag you out and about at some point. I got Remus to go out about a month ago, and it’s a shame that’s the last time I saw any of you having fun. Yes, I’m including the party the other day because if you three had fun, I didn’t see it.” He flushed, thinking of the morning after, but Peter wouldn’t call him out on it. It was dark in here thankfully. 

Peter let out a faint hum noise as Sirius spoke, because, well, it wasn’t like the other was completely wrong. Peter had the habit of curling up and hiding, keeping himself cooped up more than he should. It wasn’t a completely bad thing, but he figured Sirius was right about it being always. Sometimes though, it just felt safer to go stir crazy than go outside and risk everything.

“A warming charm, huh?” Peter teased faintly, raising an eyebrow at Sirius’s words, “Not on your jacket or anything, just the bike seat?” He snorted then, since it was true; him being bossed around by the others was normal, and honestly, it was something Peter enjoyed. “Always here to remind you if you need it,” He snorted then, pausing and then asking, “You got Remus to go out? Sounds like you broke a record then.”

He thought about the party, about how he’d made a slight appearance but hid for most of it, and it was something he regretted. He should have made more of an effort, he thought, he needed to keep making an effort so no one would start worrying even more. That was the point. “I don’t know if I know exactly what that word means anymore,” He deadpanned playfully, “What is... fun?”

[peterdpettigrew]

starbrightblack‌:

Sirius wasn’t going to complain about the threat of actually getting to see one of his friends. That felt like such a nonissue, and he simply said, ‘Mhmmm, and I’m going to ignore that bit at the end, by the way. If you’re expecting that to get me howling, prepare to be disappointed.” He was proud of himself. He didn’t even crack a smile as his own return volley.

But Peter had another, and Sirius tipped his head to acknowledge the masterful way he’d slipped it in. “Do you want to walk all the way to The Leaky Cauldron or just settle for sandwiches at the tea shop up here? I’m good with either.” He was good with a lot right at this moment. Things with James were a little tense, and the Remus Situation–as he was starting to think of it–had too many turns to understand. But Peter made things simple when he was around. It was a breath of air, a chance to feel like things were normal. Sirius was missing that these days. He hated that normalcy had been reduced to rare in-between moments of his life. It wasn’t fair.

Peter couldn’t help but laugh softly at hearing Sirius’ words, another faint grin creeping across his face. “Ah, come on mate, you know I had to squeak a couple by,” He couldn’t resist it, especially as Sirius returned a pun as well. It wasn’t like it wasn’t fun, after all, tossing puns back and forth and just being silly. It was what Peter missed the most from Hogwarts; being silly, having fun, not being terrified that any second they could be killed or he could be caught... He had to shove that thought away, and fast.

“We could make the longer walk?” he offered then, “Bit more time and probably a little more filling food. That, and I think I’ve been to the tea shop far too often this week and they’re going to start questioning if I ever go anywhere else, or if I’m stuck in a time loop or something.” He laughed softly at the thought, though it wasn’t like it wasn’t true. He had been falling into a habit and just trying to keep his head down lately, but maybe that wasn’t good either. If he got too complacent, than things could fall apart too. It was all so much to deal with.