chapter
↳ eight
moodboard
↳ lucinda talkalot

-

It was two in the morning when a spider threatened the lives of five sixth year Gryffindors. Sirius had gotten up for a middle of the night pee, and made the mistake of glancing up in the bathroom where a large, spindly spider was hanging from the ceiling. He yelled in surprised, finishing his business as quickly as he could and washing his hands so fast it could've been a new record. He ran back into the dormitory, where the rest of the boys had been startled awake — save Remus, who simply ignored it, turned over, and went back to sleep. "There's a spider!" Sirius yelled as a wake up call.

The first to sprint out of bed was Benji, who claimed he was too done with the world to fight a spider and decided he'd go sleep on the common room couch. The next was Peter, who transfigured into a rat and burrowed under his pillow, where his fearful squeaks were muffled by the cotton. Remus was a lost cause, so Sirius simply jumped into James' back, slapping the poor boy's bare skin until it turned pink. "Get up, get up, get up!"

"Get off me, mate," James muttered calmly, as if he had been through this calamity before. Indeed he had, many times, as he was the resident spider killer in his home. Sirius had nothing to worry about when James was there, shoe in hand. James shoved the shorter boy off of him, allowing his soft body to fall against the hard floor with a resounding thump. Then he grabbed his dress shoe and entered the bathroom. After what sounded like a slap against the bathroom tiles, then another, then another, it seemed the beast had been vanquished.

"My night in shining armor," Sirius said, face still squished against the floor.

Peter seemed to realize the danger was gone, so he turned back into his human form and frowned. "I'm hungry."

"You know where the kitchen is," James grunted, pulling the covers over his head and resuming whatever quidditch dream he had previously been having.

"Not fair," Peter said. "You know I get caught the most whenever I go to the kitchen. And Remus yells at me if I go in my rat form."

Sirius pulled himself up and stood, sending his pudgy friend a wolfish smile. "I'll go knick something for you, Wormtail. I'm a bit famished myself. Fear takes a lot out of you, you know."

Peter grinned, his eyes warm and watery as Sirius grabbed James' invisibility cloak out of the boy's trunk. "Can you get me a sandwich and some brownies?"

"'Course, Mate." Sirius pulled the cloak around his shoulders and donned the hood, disappearing from Peter's sight. His voice reappeared, "I'll be back in a few."

By the time Sirius reached the kitchens, he concluded that he could use some cherries to stump his appetite. He asked the house elves nicely to make Peter's meal, and ducked his head into an ice box to find a basket of cherries. While waiting for the elves, he sat down in front of the fireplace and popped a cherry into his mouth, pulling the meat off the stem and leaving the pit to be thrown into the flames.

The door to the kitchen opened suddenly, and Sirius ducked onto the floor, still chewing his cherry as he waited. Then he heard Millie's voice, asking the house elves for squash, strawberry ice cream, and dried cranberries. His eyebrows furrowed and he peaked over the tables to see Millie in her pajamas — flannel pants and an emerald tank top — he ducked back down to hide his red ears. He bit into another cherry to try and distract himself from her, who suddenly seemed to be everywhere he was. If she could stop, that would be lovely. Instead, Sirius had to now see her much more often, as she was helping them get Benji and Demetria together. She was really doing it for her brother and her best friend. Sirius wondered if he'd be subjected to hearing her and Demetria whisper about Regulus for the rest of his life. If anything, that was enough reason to get the Benji and Demetria together quicker.

The two never seemed to take a hint. Granted the entire group had only hung out twice, but Sirius thought they might've at least talked to each other during both times. However, during both group study sessions at the library, Benji was content to compare potions notes with Lily and Remus, while Demetria was busy listening intently as Millie explained all the best make out spots in the castle.

Sirius had wondered if he were that annoying last year, when all he wanted to talk to his friends about were the girls he had snogged or hooked up with. He must've sounded like a conceited git, he thought. Luckily, each  of the marauders changed since last year. Things were different. Fights had occurred. Everyone was getting older. Many factors made them each step back and decide what was really important in their lives. Each came up with the same answer: the marauders. Friends. Sirius had decided then stop playing with so many girl's hearts. By now last year he would've had two girls waiting to snog him senseless in the broom closet by tomorrow morning. Instead, he had his mates, and that was just as good, if not better.

One of the house elves' squeaky voices ("Here you go miss!") snapped Sirius out of his train of thought. He watched Millie again, thinking she might take her strange choice of delectables and leave him in peace. Instead, she sat down and began to mix the food together in one large mixing bowl.

Sirius just couldn't stop himself. "Really, Millie, what are you doing?"

The girl stopped stirring the ice cream at a rapid pace and looked up like a deer caught in the headlights. "I'm ... eating."

"What kind of meal is that?" Sirius inquired, pulling a cherry stem out of his mouth. "Is this one of those menstrual things? Like when you get weird cravings?" He knew women having their periods were more likely to have nightly cravings. (What? Mrs. Potter has a lot of women's health books in the guest bathroom and Sirius gets bored.)

Millie licked her lips anxiously and glanced down at the meal. "Yeah. Totally. My cravings woke me up so I thought I'd come and see what there was."

"Does it hurt?" Sirius pulled out a chair and sat across from Millie. "I read that it can feel worse than appendicitis."

"I guess it can," Millie said. "I'm not in pain tonight, though. I'm just hungry."

"Oh," Sirius paused, unsure what to say. "Well, let me know if you need anything. Pain killers, a heating pad, cuddles," he ended with a wink, causing Millie to scoff and look away.

"I'm sure I can handle it, Sirius. Anyway, how do you know about muggle stuff like pain killers and heating pads?"

"Mrs. Potter," Sirius answered casually. "I mean, Lily teaches me a lot too, because she can get really agitated on her period and likes to explain to any nearby person how she's feeling in detail."

"Why?"

Sirius could see a house elf scuttling towards him with a plate full of brownies and sand which halves. "I think it makes her feel better," he commented nonchalantly, already getting up to gather his food. "Bye, Millie. See you later."

"Okay."

-

As soon as Millie was sure Sirius was far enough away, she grabbed the bowl of mismatched food, thanked the elves, and darted out of the kitchen. She dashed for the Slytherin common room, where Lucinda was curled up on the couch with a blanket. Millie could only hope Pinky kept her comforted while she was trying to keep Sirius off her scent.

What was he doing there anyway?

She sighed in relief to see Lucinda still sitting on the couch, Pinky in her lap, writing in a large planner. "My fitness planner," she explained as Millie set the food down. "I've got to change my entire routine since there's a human in my stomach right now. I can't risk hurting him or her. Thanks, by the way."

"No problem," Millie grabbed Pinky and placed the black cat in her lap. "Have you told Martin?"

Lucinda sheepishly took a spoonful of her ice cream and averted her eyes.

"Lucy! You said you would tell him last month!"

"I know," Lucinda pouted, "but he really likes me and I just want to spend as much time as I can with him before I start showing and he decides to leave."

"If he's going to leave you for a kid that he put in you, then it doesn't matter how much he likes you: he's trash," Millie said, stroking Pinky's head.

Lucinda pouted, "Can you go with me to tell him?"

"I don't know..." Millie trailed off. "Don't you think it'd be better to do it yourself?"

"I suppose. You have to help me write my parents though. I feel like they'll be less angry if I don't misspell anything."

Millie chuckled. "Agreed."

-

a/n

i'll be sure to include a lot of s/m and b/d next chapter

that makes it sound like i'm writing bdsm but no i meant sirius/millie and benji/demetria lol