𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗜𝗜 ━━ 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗟𝗘
078. to distract our hearts

( song for the chapter:
BSC ━ maisie peters ) 

❝𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑙𝑦; 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑏𝑦𝑒𝑠, 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑
𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡, 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑑: 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 

 𝒔𝒓𝒘𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚

          𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟. 𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟.Sirius Black entered the Great Hall grumpily, his strut replaced with a walk-of-shame as Potter and Lupin shielded him from the eyes of the crowd to the best of their ability. The Hall roared in laughter, and some spat out their drinks in absolute astonishment. Mocking fingers were pointed at him. 

"What in Salazar's good name happened to Black?" Everest was one of those people who spat out her drink in shock, wide eyes falling out of her sockets when she laid eyes on Black's neon-green hair, the shade so light that it caught everybody's attention. Even McGonagall snorted, looking away and coughed as she excused herself. Everest turned to her best friend with amusement, "Did you do this?"

"No, why would I go near him?" Scarlet blurted out, rolling her eyes as she sipped her sweet drink from her goblet with a devilish smirk. She did not perform the harmless yet mischievous act by herself — it turns out that allying with Peeves served her with immense benefits. Peeves was more than glad to help her with this prank that would leave Black's reputation hanging by its thread, his hair meant life to him. Scarlet convinced Peeves to turn that life neon-green, colour identical to a Killing Curse Scarlet found utterly tempting lately.

      No, she did not have the urge to kill Sirius Black (Merlin forbid, she's not a monster). Peeves was just annoyed at the Marauders for stealing his specialty of tormenting the student body of Hogwarts with miserable and chaotic pranks. When the Slytherin Prefect allowed Peeves to perform such a devious act, he agreed instantly — never asked for anything in return. 

      It was the sight of a lifetime — watching Black enter the Hall with his head low, chin down in utter humiliation. everybody was still laughing and he did not even snap back with sly insults and threats as he made his way over to his designated spot at the Gryffindor table. His three friends were shooting awkward, grimy smiles all around, suddenly speechless.

      Although her friends were convinced Sirius had made her unstable, Scarlet was having quite a bit of fun.

      Slughorn decided it would be a great idea for seventh years' to pair up with the sixth-year students as they work on potions ━ in an attempt for the older students to pass down their teachings successfully. Realistically, Gryffindors stuck with Gryffindors, and Slytherins partnered with Slytherins. 

      Scarlet was with a sixth-year boy named Francis Greengrass, full head of soft-golden hair and he was very quiet which helped both of them focus. What did not allow them to focus was Evan Rosier who worked at the station right next to Scarlet and Francis's. 

      During Potions with Professor Slughorn, she converted a couple of leaves Sirius was going to put in his potions into slugs with a secretive flicker of her wand, and the liquid in the goblet caused an explosion. Gray, ash marks covered Sirius' face, and the entire classroom burst into another peal of laughter. Surely, the sixth year that was partnered with him looked absolutely miserable at the failure of an experiment, Scarlet did not care about that. It was Black everybody cared about, and all the Slytherins were glad to see the Marauder getting a taste of his own medicine after years of tormenting pranks.

"Mr Black," Slughorn sighed exhaustively. Nobody knew why he looked so tired, he was not even teaching. "Go clean up, and Mr Bellington..." he turned to Sirius' partner who was practically frowning, ash covering his hair, "why don't you work with Mr Lupin for the time being since Mr Black obviously cannot follow instructions."

"I did follow━ I don't know what happened!" Sirius exclaimed, and Potter looked sorry for his best friend, but that pitiful look was soon replaced with a grin.

"He's having a rough couple of days, Professor," Potter chimed in with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Perhaps a meeting with Professor McGonagall will help to ease his troubles."

"Great idea, Mr Potter!" Slughorn clapped his hands together joyfully at the suggestion.

"I don't need━I don't need any of that, 'don't need anything━!" Sirius huffed loudly, and it caused another roar of laughter from the students in Emerald.

"I will have a chat with Professor McGonagall about you..." Slughorn trailed off and frowned when Sirius walked out of the classroom.

Everybody moved on in a few moments, and Evan could not stop laughing.

"SHUT UP, ROSIER!" Scarlet hissed at Rosier who looked way too glad with himself, as though he played the prank. He had no reason to be this excited. 

"Pardon me, milady," he rolled his eyes, mocking her scolding tone. "I don't understand this, let me see yours," said Rosier before reaching over to touch her goblet.

Scarlet slapped his hand away, "Don't touch my potion," she hissed. "Don't want your filthy hands on my things."

"My hands aren't filthy—"

"When was the last time you washed your hands, Rosier?" Scarlet arched a perfect brow, and her partner Greengrass snorted in amusement. 

Evan scoffed, "You didn't seem to mind it when my tongue was down your throat—"

      Bang! A series of clatters caught everybody's attention as a chorus of gasps followed, an entire tray of ingredients shattering onto the ground. The sea of students turned to the back, watching a rosy-cheeked Barty Crouch Jr.'s wide eyes wandering around. He did not mutter any apologies as Slughorn was expecting. Not bothering to tidy up the mess he had made, Barty stomped out of the classroom. The seventh-year boy he was working with looked utterly miserable.

      Surely, Slughorn will understand that this technique of allowing the students to teach one another was futile.

Scarlet turned to a concerned-looking Evan and ignored the way Greengrass's eyeballs fell out of his sockets in shock, and she continued her chatter as though nothing happened. "It was a tiny peck on the lips. I was sad. You were there."

"Why are you sad?" Francis asked, and Scarlet and Evan ignored him.

It did not seem like Rosier was paying any attention because he merely nodded—in other times, he would defend himself with the most gut-wrenching insult and Scarlet would shoot back with even more horrifying words.

It was... there was—argh! Scarlet could not describe it and it truly bothered her. There was something about the way Evan was watching Barty's reaction and she could not help but connect the dots against her mind's will. There was something there. What, she did not know, but she could certainly promote it. Taking the hint, she leaned over to whisper to Rosier.

"Follow him."

"What?" Evan finally looked at her, prying his eyes off from the door where Barty exited from.

"I said follow him—make sure he's okay." Scarlet shrugged. The timing of the potions-accident—it takes place right after Evan's very inappropriate comment which caused Scarlet to surmise a wise theory.

Evan slowly looked at the sixth-year girl he was partnered up with, and Scarlet dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"I'll work with her, you go." Scarlet told him, and it was amusing the way Evan did not waste a second to run out of the class. Let's just say Slughorn was not impressed.

      31ST NIGHT, AND STUDENTS WERE AWAITING MIDNIGHT. Hogwarts arranged a celebration for New Year's which led everybody to gather in the courtyard. Filch was making everybody's lives tormenting because 'they were out of bed', and McGonagall yelled at him for being so dimwitted. 

      Scarlet stood at the balcony; watching the sea of students gathering in the courtyard. Her hands were clasped together, an uncanny void in her heart as she saw the teenagers laughing around. From a distance, she could see a laughing Everest taking a handful of cream from a cake and shoving it over Peter's cheeks who laughed loudly, excited. 

      Only then, did she hear footsteps, and her plans of spending the time of New Year's alone as she let her lethal thoughts drive her mind to insanity were interrupted by the last person she wanted to see—Sirius Black, himself. The almighty Sirius who claimed to be better than everybody else; she felt like sending a punch to his nose.

"Can we talk?" His tone lacked confidence.

      Scarlet bit the insides of her cheeks, resisting the urge to turn around as she kept her eyes locked forward, her figure still leaning against the railing. Sirius slowly walked and stood beside her, holding onto the railing tightly. She did not look at him at all. 

"I've been an arsehole." That is what he chooses to say.

"A self-serving, unfeeling, ignorant, lying, loathsome sociopath, would be a better description." She muttered in a snap. She did not want to speak to him and he would not leave her alone. He has been stalking her for an entire week, and how come he manages to find her every time no matter what corner of the castle she's hidden in? She has got no idea. She started to understand why Lily was so utterly irritated by James' approach all the time.

      Sirius glanced at her sideways, watching as she looked exactly the way she did the first time he met her. Her stone-cold expression, storm brewing in her eyes, and absolutely not a single care in the world. But now that he knew her, he understood the uttermost emotions behind that mask.

"I'm sorry." He whispered softly. Dumbledore's blooming voice filled the place as he started the countdown to New Year.

"TEN!"

Scarlet chuckled emotionlessly. "Trust me, I'm sorry too... for letting myself believe..." She trailed off with fury burning in her chest.

"NINE!"

She glanced down at his hands that started to tremble perhaps from the shivering cold, or the overwhelming regret in him. She stole a glance at the boy, and the bright-green from his hair was starting to fade away. It still looked comical, though. "I was trying to push you away... I didn't mean what I said." Said Sirius.

"EIGHT!"

"You've got to be a bit more specific because you said a lot."

"SEVEN!"

"I didn't mean anything I said that night," his voice shook with desperation. "Forgive me, Blondie... I know I hurt you and it was wrong and I feel horrible." Scarlet remained silent.

"SIX!"

"I won't do it again, I swear..." He said. "In that moment, I don't know what I was thinking but everything that happened between us, it was real, to me it was."

"FIVE!"

"You can't spring that bullshit on me now," she shook her head in disbelief. "I can't trust you," she scoffed, finally turning to him. "I can't ever trust you again because you use it against people... you did it to Lupin, you did it to me."

"FOUR!"

"That's not fair," he shot back at the sensitive topic. "You know how much I regretted the incident with Remus, don't bring it up."

"THREE!"

"What's not fair is that you took my idea of love, and you ruined it for me," her heart thumped at the look of deflation on his face, pain brewing in his eyes. Her tone remained neutral and strong, she was not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her vulnerable ever again. "You ruined everything."

TWO!"

His tone was soft with his next word, soft and thick with tension. "Love?"

"ONE!"

      The clock struck 12 as midnight fell. Colours of different houses—yellow, scarlet, emerald, royal blue—lit up the sky in the form of dazzling fireworks and the students burst into cheers of joy. The field of students was exclaiming in excitement, friends hugging electrically, couples kissing tenderly. Everyone looked utterly delighted. With the exception of the two on the balcony who failed to join the luminescence with the rest of their classmates.

      Scarlet looked away to the courtyard and smiled lightly at the sight of Everest and Marlene dancing in the crowd, the blonde twirling Everest. That was the idea of love she had, dancing in the crowd whilst the whole world watched. A sort of love that is not based on a lie and heartbreak. And Sirius took it away from her—her ability to love and trust. She was never going to forgive him for it because she would've never done this to him. Ever.

"Happy New Year, Black."

      There was something in her tone that Sirius never witnessed before—a lump in her throat. The tone suggested everything was gone. And he caused it. He could only stand and watch as she walked away down the empty hallway, leaving him standing on the balcony in silence, drowning deep in his regret. He looked up at the blazing sky and uttered to nobody in particular:

      "Happy New Year."