CHAPTER ELEVEN !
↳ just a friend

                             IT WAS ALREADY late afternoon, nearly evening, when Josephine made her way through the empty corridors.

Now and then, a pair of students passed her while the last sunbeams that were falling on the stone floor slowly disappeared from the windows.

Josephine turned around the next corner and when she was about to knock on McGonagall's door, she took notice of Sirius, who was strolling in her direction from the other side of the hallway.

The brunette made eye contact with the dark haired boy, who immediately had his smug smirk plastered on his face.

She gave Sirius a small nod, "Hey."
The boy looked down on her, his grey eyes staring into her brown ones, "Hello, Love."

Josephine immediately felt this weird sensation in her stomach, which she tried to contain immediately. The two stood there for a small moment, neither of them moving before Sirius pushed past her.

Josephine felt the warmth of his body when he leaned past her towards the door and knocked against the wood.

He took his arm back and the two could hear quiet footsteps coming from the other side of the room. After a small moment the door swung open, revealing their house professor, who was looking at them through her glasses.

"Good Evening, Professor", Josephine nodded at her with a small smile. Sirius on the other hand had his mischievous smirk on his face, while he greeted McGonagall, "Evening, Minnie."

"Good Evening, Ms. Potter", the woman nodded at the brunette infront of her before her eyes wandered towards the boy besides Josephine. "Black."

There was a silence between the three before McGonagall closed the door behind her and started leading them down the corridor.

"Today you will be cleaning the library. There's been an accident with one of the third years. They knocked one of the book shelfs over", McGonagall explained to them while they were currently making their way past the great hall.

"This will be the last time you will have to serve detention by me, Ms. Potter. I fear you Mr. Black have to see me another two weeks because of the Quidditch pitch", the professor told them while she opened the door to the library for them.

The two students entered the library and turned to face the professor. "Wands", McGonagall stated as she stretched her hands out for them.

"Minnie, you know you can trust us", Sirius stated while he gave her a meaningful look. McGonagall just raised her eyebrows at them and nodded towards her hands in silence.

Josephine shot Sirius a small glare before she placed her wand silently into McGonagall's hand. The boy smirked at her while he glanced at the brunette besides him. He then handed McGonagall his wand as well and the Professor immediately turned on her heels.

She gave them one last look, "Left side, last row." And with that she closed the door behind herself.

As soon as the two Gryffindors' were alone, Josephine made her way over to the empty book shelf. The floor around it was covered in all sorts of books and Josephine groaned quietly to herself when she imagined how long they would take to clean the mess up.

Sirius cleared his throat as he appeared besides the brunette, looking down at the pile of books.

The two exchange a small glance with each other, before slowly starting their work.

Casually chatting with each other, the two had completley lost track of time. At some point all the lower parts of the shelf were filled.

Josi grabbed the next book from the ground and tried to place it into the shelf, but even when she stood on her tiptoes, she couldn't reach the top.

Suddenly she felt Sirius presence behind her. The boy's body was leaning slightly against her back when he carefully grabbed the book from her hands.

"Here let me." His warm breath hit her ear while his voice sounded very low.

Josephine glanced at him over her shoulder, the surprise visible on her face. "Oh- thank you." She quickly side stepped him awkwardly before she handed him the next book.

Continuing, they filled the rest of the shelf together. Now and then, Sirius glanced at the brunette, seeming like he wanted to say something to her, but couldn't bring himself to follow through.

At some point Josi sighed loudly and turned to face the dark haired boy, "Just ask, Sirius."

The boy seemed like he was caught doing something very embarrassing. He shrugged with his shoulders as he grabbed the next book from her hands. "Oh, uh- I was just wondering if you'd already met with Prewett for his tutoring."

Their hands brushed and Josephine felt as if, time stood still. The brunette stared up into his stormy grey eyes before she suddenly snapped back into reality. "Um- no. I haven't. We are meeting this weekend."

There was a moment of silence between them before she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, facing the shelf once more. "Why?"

The boy shrugged again, still facing the girl with his body. "It's just- I heard that he is actually quite good in potions and only uses it as an excuse to get closer to you. So be careful."

Josephine eyebrows rose sceptical. "Where did you get that rubbish from?"

"Boys gossip too, you know", he smiled lightly before he placed the last book into the shelf.

The two were gazing at each other in silence once more, before the door flew open and Professor McGonagall rushed inside. Their wands were already in her hands and when she came to a stand in front of them, the Professor quickly handed them over.

"That looks quiet satisfying. Ms. Potter, Mr. Black", she raised her eyebrows at them before she continued speaking. "No detours on your way up to the common room."

The two nodded in union. "Yes, Professor. " Josephine glanced over at Sirius, hoping he would just keep his mouth shut for once in his life.

"We would never do such a thing! You know me, Minnie!", The black boy exclaimed with an amused voice, making Josephine roll with her eyes.

"I'm warning you, Mr. Black. I would hate yo see you in detention for the rest of the term." The Professor glared down at him warningly.

Josephine was the one to answer now, hurrying to speak before Sirius. "I'll make sure that he reachs the Gryffindor tower, Professor."

The Professor nodded at her before Josephine slowly grabbed onto Sirius arm and pulled him out into the corridor.

"Do you ever know when to shut up?", Josi hissed at the black haired boy besides her, not realizing that she still had her hand placed on his arm.

The boy smirked down at her hand and when Josephine realized where her hand was, she immediately pulled it back.

"You know, you love me", Sirius stated confidently, the smug smirk still plastered on his face.

He watched amused how Josephine fought to suppress a smile from forming on her face. He nudge her shoulder with hers, before she pushed him playfully to the side.

"Shut up, Black."

                            IT WAS ONLY the end of the week, the last days of November, when Josephine met up with Fabian in the Gryffindor common room.

The brunette had her book pressed to her chest while she climbed down the stairs into the red large room.

It was only early afternoon and most of the students would come back from Hogsmead in two hours.

To Josephine's disliking, she immediately spotted half of the marauders in one of the common room corners.

The brunette immediately recognized her brothers hair, peeking over the edge of the couch. Her eyes then wandered off towards the boy besides him, the black hair gave it away immediately, the boy besides him was Sirius.

Josephine quickly let her gaze wander over the other people that were filling the room, pretending like she didn't see her brother.

The minute her eyes caught sight of Fabian, she hurried down the rest of the stairs, meeting him by the one of the tables, far away from Sirius and James.

A small smile immediately spread over Fabian's face when she came into his few. Josephine smiled at him as well before the two hugged briefly and then sat down to study.

"So with what exactly do you need help?", the brunette girl questioned him, while playing with her quill.

Fabian leaned into the table and flicked over a couple of pages before he stopped by a potion Josephine had never heard of.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, "That's what Slughorn is doing with you guys in basic course?" Fabian nodded his head at her, seeming quiet frustrated.

"The old git wants us to show him that we have improved since last term. I swear, I'm so over him. There's a reason I didn't take potion advance", the boy mumbled grumpily, making Josephine chuckle in amusement.

The boy glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, while a small smile tugged at his lips. "No worries, I'm going to help you."

So for the next one and a half hour the two Gryffindors were sitting by the table, their heads buried in a book, completely oblivious to the work outside their bubble.

Sirius, who had been talking to James about their upcoming prank realized that the brunette boy infront of him didn't even listen to him.

The black boy turned in his seat and followed after James gaze, spotting Josephine and Fabian on the other side of the common room.

"Oii, I'm talking to you", exclaimed Sirius at James while he turned back around and faced his best mate.

James just glanced at him unimpressed before his eyes fixed on Fabian once again. "They seem like their having quiet the good time."

Josephine let out another chuckle when Fabian gave her the complete false answer to her question.

The brunette girl looked at the blond boy besides her in amusement. Fabian's face flushed immediately and he let out a deep huff before he leaned into the table once more. Only now, Josephine could look at him a little bit closer.

The boy had eyes like the ocean, so blue, that you thought that you could drown in them. And his face was covered with hundreds of freckles that made him seem a bit more mischievously.

"I think that's enough for today, Prewett", Josephine stated as she clapped him onto his shoulder. Fabian smiled at her appreciative, "Thank you Josi."

The two got up from their seats and after thanking her again and promising her to repay her, Fabian immediately went to find his brother.

Josephine on the other side, flopped down on the couch that was right besides the table and immediately felt the warmth of the fireplace.

The Potter girl watched the flames while she listened to the chattering from the other students. Growing more and more tired by the minute, she closed her eyes. She didn't get much sleep last night due to a very bad dream that she couldn't really remember at the moment.

Suddenly the couch sunk a bit and when Josephine opened her eyes Sirius and James had flopped down on both of her sides.

Giving her a smirk Sirius leaned against the back of the couch, his feet placed on the small table infront of them. James, also smirked at her while he gave his sister a small wink.

Josephine frowned at the two immediately, "What do you want?"

James face expression immediately turned into a frown. "What do you mean what do you want?" He gave her a curious look, before he stated, "You seemed to be having a lot of fun with Prewett."

Josephine was slightly irretated right now, "Yeah, he's my friend. Of course we're having fun."

Her gaze lingered on the fire once more before suddenly Remus and Peter joined the three. Having massive sweet bags on their laps the boys smiled from one eye to the other.

Remus than caught Josephine's gaze, "You want some chocolate?" He pointed at the chocolate bar in his hand.

Josephine nodded her head before the boy handed her some of his chocolate, smiling. "Thank you, Remus."

"So what were you up to all day?", Remus then questioned his two friends, a curious look on his face.

"Oh, we? Nothing. A little prank here and there, but nothing special", James waved him off quickly, seeming a bit bored. His gaze wandered over the common room and his eyes widened slightly when he spotted Lily and Marlene by the entrance.

James shot the redhead a bright smile, "Looking good, Evans." Lily met his gaze for a second before her cheek's flushed and she quickly excused herself and went up into their dorm.

James green eyes were wide open when he looked at the other's, "Did you see that?" There was silence. "Did you see that?"

Josephine couldn't hold back a grin from forming on her face. "Yeah, we saw that, Prongs", Sirius smirked at his best friend amused.

Marlene sat down in-between Peter and Remus, making Peter bush madly before he quickly scooted away from the blond.

"It seems like she finally got a thing for you, James", Marlene giggled while she wiggled her eyebrows at the brunette boy.

"Lily and James sitting in a tree-", the blond then started singing before she gave James a questioning look, awaiting a reaction from him.

But the brunette boy didn't seem to hear any of her words, staring into the fire, completely preoccupied with his own thoughts.