The look of pure shock on Sirius Black's face was enough for everyone to tell that what Emery said was false.

Sirius was in the center of the Great Hall, right near the Gryffindor table with James Potter, both looking at Emery who was standing on the Ravenclaw table.

"What?" Sirius murmured. "What the hell just happened?" he asked to himself.

"Looks like you got a date to the ball," James teased, nudging Sirius and whispering lowly.

Some of the Hufflepuff girls groaned and began yelling profanities at Emery, while the Ravenclaws were just hoping Emery would stop embarrassing them.

Edgar Bones, an obnoxious Hufflepuff, stood up and walked up to the Ravenclaw table. "You're lying," he spat. "Prove that you're going with him. He looks just as shocked as the rest of us are," he said, pointing at Sirius.

Some other kids nodded in agreement. "Prove you're going with Black," said Thomas Abbot. "Prove it, and we'll leave you alone."

"She isn't going with Black, she's a liar," said someone else.

Another argument broke free with random people yelling at each other just to be part of the drama.

Emery was many things, but a liar was not one of them. She detested telling untruths and giving false testimonies just to save herself or her friends. This time, however, she had no choice. When people began swearing at her, and calling her a liar, she was nearly in tears.

All she wanted to do was disappear.

Still, she said nothing.

"See, she remains silent. Looks like Fowl was caught red handed," said Amos Diggory, who was still sore about being rejected in front of everybody.

"She isn't as great as everyone thinks," said a girl spitefully. "She's just a liar."

"Leave that. Even her name says it all. Fowl by name, and foul by nature," said Bertram Aubrey, making everyone cackle with notorious laughter.

Emery was about to burst out yelling when a loud clearing of the throat was heard.

Those who heard it were silenced. 

It was Sirius.

After watching everyone torment Emery, Sirius could bear it no more, and had stepped forward to intervene.

He climbed onto the Ravenclaw table, standing right where Emery was, and cleared his throat. Everyone held their breath in anticipation, wondering what Sirius would do.

His eyes were flashing dangerously with anger, and his teeth were clenched. 

Emery looked at Sirius, her innocent blue eyes wide open, tearing up as she wondered what he would do. She tried to catch his gaze, but Sirius refused to meet her eyes.

Instead, he looked at the watching students, then cleared his throat once more. There was silence, eerie and still.

Within a matter of seconds, his right arm had flexed around Emery wrapping it around her shoulders. 

Emery felt goosebumps erupt on her skin. She could feel Sirius' cold fingers through her shirt, and she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. With one hand, she lowered the hat she was wearing a bit more, then bent her head down, in an attempt to hide her blush.

"Emery is not a liar," snarled Sirius. "She's the most honest, truthful person I know. Just because you want her to be your date to the ball, it doesn't mean you manipulate her and insult her into being disgraced in front of the school just because she rejected you," he said angrily, clenching his fists as he glared at Amos Diggory and Bertram Aubrey.

"The reason why Emery rejected all of you, is because she spoke the truth!" Sirius declared. 

"She is going with me!" he growled angrily. 

Then he stepped down, back onto the floor, and offered his hand to help Emery down. She took it, biting her lip and looking at the floor nervously. Sirius wrapped his arm around her once more and pulled her close to him, glaring with malice at Edgar Bones and the rest of his crew.

On feeling Sirius' arm,  the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise, and she felt a prickly sensation all over, which had nothing to do with the cold. She felt the blush return to her face as she realized how close to Sirius she was. There was a mere inch between them, and she could feel the heat radiating off his skin.

"Anyone who insults Emery will have to go through me first," Sirius announced. 

Then, he grabbed Emery's hand and pulled her out of the Great Hall, ignoring the masses of students, leaving them to their bewilderment.

Once Emery and Sirius were alone by the lake, out of everybody's sight, Emery rushed up to Sirius and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much," she sighed into his ear, tears balancing in her eyes and she heaved a tiny sniffle. 

Sirius, taken aback, slowly brought his arms around her awkwardly, holding her back as she hugged him.

Emery pulled away from him and looked at him, guilt wrenched.

"I'm so, so sorry you had to go through all that drama," she sniffed. "It's all my fault. If I had agreed to go with Aubrey none of this would have happened, and I wouldn't have had to humiliate you. But Aubrey asked so rudely, and he seemed so cocky, I didn't want to go with him at all, but..."

But she never got to continue her sentence, because at that moment, Sirius had quickly pulled her into a hug.

He bent down slightly, and rubbed her back as she wept into his neck. 

"Listen Emery, You shouldn't have to go to the ball with someone you don't want to," he said. "As a girl, you should have your self worth. If someone doesn't respect you, take no crap from them, understood?"

She sniffed. Sirius let her go, and sat down on the grass, taking Emery's hand and pulling her to the ground. She sat beside him.

"You should have your standards, I don't blame you one bit," continued Sirius, taking a packet of sunflower seeds from his pocket and opening it.

"In fact," he said cheerfully as he noisily ate a seed, "you should be proud."

Emery stopped sniffling and looked at Sirius, who was munching on sunflower seeds loudly. "Proud?" she asked. "Why?"

"Because you've now got the finest catch there is to be your date to the ball."

At this, Emery burst out laughing. Her laugh was quite infectious, and moments later, Sirius had joined in too.

Once she had sobered up, she looked up at Sirius admiringly. 

"Thank you so, so much," she said. "It means so much to have someone stand up for you like that. I mean, Cecy does it too, but she's my cousin, so it doesn't count much. You're my first real friend."

"Glad to hear it," Sirius said, as he placed another seed in his mouth.

"I mean it," said Emery firmly. "Thank you."

Sirius grinned, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "Anything for a friend."

They fell into silence once more. The only noise to be heard was Sirius' munching as he peeled the sunflower seeds, the pile of sunflower shells getting larger and larger in the grass.

Emery fidgeted as she sat on the grass, leaning against the tree, watching Sirius eat his seeds.

She looked at the packet  in his lap, then impulsively grabbed a seed and put it in her mouth.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. "That was mine!"

Emery giggled. "You know, you're not the only one who loves eating sunflower seeds," she joked. "You should share."

Sirius barked a laugh. 

"I never took you as one to eat this stuff," he said. "To me, it seems like you're more of a person who eats raisins."

"You're sort of right about that. But the main reason why I eat sunflower seeds is to annoy people with the noise they make when you peel them," she explained. "Mama hates it."

"Of course you'd do that," chuckled Sirius. "You don't have a normal reason for liking anything, do you?"

"Nope."

Sirius twinkled. "Well then, dig in," he said, taking out another pack of seeds and prying it open.

 Emery grabbed a handful and started chomping on the seeds, aiding Sirius in making the pile bigger and bigger, both enjoying the silence.

Sirius glanced at Emery, who was preoccupied with feeding an ant she found in the grass. "Lookie, it's carrying the seed," she said, pointing to it and showing Sirius. "It's so adorable," she cooed. 

"I guess," said Sirius, before yawning loudly and stretching his legs. 

"What better thing is there to do than sit in the grass and eat sunflower seeds while the rest of the school is attending the morning lessons?" he asked, turning to face Emery.

Emery looked up at him, then thought for a second. 

"Hmm," she said, then launching into a long though process. "Feeding ants," she responded.

"What?"

"Uh-huh, that's what I said. Feeding ants is better than eating seeds yourself."

Sirius nearly facepalmed. "You really are something, Emery," he said softly, shaking his head.

"Yep," she said. "A human."

Then she bent her head down to the level of the grass. 

"Here little ant," she murmured, "I got a nice seed for you."

She placed a seed near the ant, which picked it up and carried it on it's back.

Emery looked up at Sirius. "IT TOOK THE SEED!" she cheered.

Sirius burst out laughing. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Emery. "You try." 

Sirius took a seed and placed it on the ground. 

"Not like that," quipped Emery. "You've got to put the seed on his head," she said.

Sirius placed the seed on the ant's head, then watched as the ant took it away, carrying it. 

"YOU GO GARY!" she exclaimed. 

"Gary?" Sirius questioned.

"Uhhh, yeah. I named the ant Gary," said Emery, then looked at the grass, following the ant with her finger.

"Oh. How do you know it's a male?"

She shrugged. "Lucky guess. My feelings just tell me," said Emery, as if it were that obvious.

Sirius pointed to another ant right near Gary. "This pretty one's now called Selena," he said. 

"That's not a female, you mutt," said Emery. "It's a male." 

"Well too bad, because I already named it. You can't change it's name, it will feel bad."

"Ohh, yeah," said Emery, sadly. She looked at 'Selena'. "I'm sorry Selena the Male Ant. You'll just have to stick with a girl's name."

"Hey, that's not fair, you can't be mean to an ant," said Sirius. "I say that 'Selena' is unisex."

Emery exploded out laughing. "Selena is clearly a girl's name. You want a unisex name? Emery."

"Wait, your name's unisex?" asked Sirius.

"Mhmm, but if you want another, then Elvendork is also unisex."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," said Sirius. 

He looked down at the ant. "I'm sorry Selena the Male Ant. I'll make it up to you by giving you food."

Emery beamed, as Sirius placed a seed on the ant's head. 

'Selena the Male Ant' took the seed and caught up to Gary, who was also carrying a seed. 

"Hey!" exclaimed Emery. "Look! They're racing to the ant hill. I think Gary's going to win."

"Oh, no he won't. Selena will win," argued Sirius, before launching into cheers. 

"SELENA! SELENA! GO WIN GARY! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!"

"GARY! GARY! GARY!" cheered Emery, watching as the two ants raced each other to the anthill.

In the end, Gary won, and Emery's face broke into a huge smile as she sang praises for Gary.

Sirius gazed at Emery, wondering what exactly was going on in her brain. She was unpredictable and interesting, unlike any other person had seen before. 

He looked at her as she tried cheering Selena The Male Ant up for not winning the race. In the end, Sirius agreed that Emery was right.

Feeding ants was fun.

Especially with Emery.

a/n: the chapter name😂😂

how are y'all liking the story so far?

please vote, comment and share.. THE HAT NEEDS MORE SUPPORT!!

anyway, i love you all, and thanks for reading.

love, elsie