CHAPTER EIGHT!
↳not the same

                     "JOSI, WAKE UP!", Lily's voice yelled into the brunette's ear, making her groan loudly, before a pillow suddenly hit her head.

"If you don't get up in the next 5 minutes, we will be late for breakfast!", Lily stated loudly while she threw another pillow at her sleepy friend.

Josephine slowly sat up, her hair standing in all directions before she rubbed her eyes. Meanwhile Lily went over to her wardrobe, pulling out Josi's Gryffindor school uniform.

The ginger threw the uniform at the brunnette, who caught it, before she quickly made her way into the bathroom.

As soon as the door closed behind the Potter girl, she looked into the mirror. The brunette had this deep circles under the eyes from the lack of sleep, but despite that, she couldn't force the smile off of her face.

The brunette shook her head before she quickly continued to get ready for school. When the girl opened the door, Lily was already waiting for her with her packed schoolbag.

The brunette girl let out a quiet chuckle before she went to hug her best friend. "What would I do without you, Lily?"

"You would probably don't survive a day", Lily stated laughing loudly. Josephine looked at her from the corner of her eye before she stuck her tongue out at the read head.

The two contiued chuckling loudly when they made their way through the portrait hole.

As soon as the two girls arrived in the Great Hall, they saw Alice and Marlene sitting with the Marauders, having breakfast.

"Fancy seeing you here?", James greeted the two when he spotted Josephine, a wide smile on his face. "Good morning, Lily flower", the boy then greeted Lily.

Josi narrowed her eyes at him while she sat down in-between Remus and her brother. The brunette felt the strength leave her body again and she placed her head on the table, letting out a loud groan.

"Is everything okay with you?", Alice questioned her concerned. Touching her arm softly, she leaned over the table.

"Yeah, it's just- I didn't sleep much last night", Josephine looked up at Alice, a small assuring smile on her face.

"You should eat. Class is starting in 10 minutes", Remus said while handing her a toast. Josephine gave him a thankful nod before she started her breakfast.

When the brunette let her gaze wander over the table, she suddenly noticed that Sirius wasn't there. It was really rear to see the the Marauders without Sirius.

The brunette frowned before she nudged James hardly into his rips,
"Where is Sirius?"

"Oii!" James looked at her in surprise. The boy then gave her a curious glance, "He said he wasn't feeling well."

"But he okay last night", Josi pointed out sceptical while she gave her brother a pointed look.

James eyes widened and he shot her a curious look. "I don't know, Josi! Why the sudden interested?", James then questioned her.

"I'm just curious, that's all", Josephine shrugged before she turned back to her breakfast, finishing it quickly.

The rest of the school day was rather boring without James and Sirius jokes.

James continued making jokes, but they weren't as funny as normal without Sirius bantering.

Josi's eyes kept closing again and again, the lack of sleep catching up to her. She just wanted to sleep and Magical History by Professor Bings wasn't helping much.

His lessons were always the worst and not in the slightest bit interesting. At some point Josephine gave up on trying to focus and started drawing little flowers onto her notes.

The girl looked at the Professor now and then, to make sure she wasn't getting into trouble.

Tapping her feather against the desk, she let her gaze wander around the room, wondering what Sirius would be doing now.

Her gaze suddenly stopped by the window. "Is there something interesting to see, Ms. Potter!?", the voice from Professor Bings suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

Josephine's head snapped towards the front, her eyes widening in shock. "No, no, not at all Professor", the brunette girl smiled awkwardly at the ghost.

Professor Bings gave her a sceptical look before he nodded and continued with his lesson.

After about 20 minutes, the Professor finally ended the lesson. Setting them free from his torture of boredom.

"Finally, freedom!", James exclaimed loudly, while placing his arms around Josi and Remus, while walking through the door and out into the Hallway.

Josephine quietly shook her head to herself. "I'll see you in an hour, Josi?", Remus questioned the brunette, a small smile on his face.

"Of course, Remus", the girl answered him, nooding her head at him, her grip tightening around her books.

"What are you two doing later?", James questioned them, a curious look on his face, while he raised his eyebrows.

Josephine shrugged with her shoulders, "Just some homework."

The dark haired girl then quickly ducked under James arm and ruffled Remus hair. She gave James one last look, before she spun on her heel and walked into the other direction.

After she'd had her last lesson for this day, the Potter girl made her way through the rather empty Common room.

Her eyes wandered back and forth between the Dormitories and the group in one of the corners.

There were Dorcas Meadowes, the Prewett twins and Mary McDonald, joking with each other, seeming quiet happy.

The two girls saw her first, waving while they gave her a smile. Josi immediately waved back when the boys spotted her as well.

Fabian and Gideon exchanged a suspicious look. Josie frowned deeply, but after a moment she just continued her way towards the Marauder's Dormitory.

When the brunette arrived by their room, she noticed her heavy breathing rythm.

She gluped quietly before her eyes wandered to the name tag at the door. There were four names written in gold letter.

Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

The girl released a deep breath before she slowly knocked. For a moment there was complete silence, so she she knocked once more. Now Josephine could clearly hear someone move inside the room, but no one answered the door.

She sighed deeply, she was unsure what to say. They weren't that close and the brunette was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

"Sirius? It's Josi. Can you please open the door", she finally spoke up, still facing the closed doors.

She quietly placed her hand against the wooden door. "Look, I'm not leaving until you- ", the brunette stated before the heavy wooden door swung open, revealing a rather annoyed looking Sirius.

He slightly narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "What do you want?", he questioned her harshly.

Josephine furrowed her eyebrows at the boy, confused to why he was so cold. She opened her mouth to spat something back at him, but Sirius was faster than her.

He held his hands up, a apologizing look on his face. "I'm sorry, Josi. It's just, I don't feel so well today", he explained his bad mood, while rubbing his neck with his right hand.

The boy stepped aside to make her space. Josi slowly walked past him, standing in the middle of the room she spun around to him, "So what is it? Yesterday was your Birthday, you should be happy! It was a really nice evening, you know."

Sirius remained silent while he sat down onto his bed, looking at the ground.

Josi knew that something was clearly bothering him, but she also knew that Sirius Black didn't spoke about his feelings. He kept his problems to himself and locked everything and everyone out.

Josi knew the boy well enough to know that pressuring him into talking wasn't the best move. So she just sat down besides him and placed her hand on top of his, giving him an reassuring squeeze.

The boy's head snapped up in surprise, looking at her hand the boy let out a deep sighed. His gaze then wandered off towards her face.

He honestly was a little surprised, never had Josi done such a thing. Normally she would've hit him over the head, when he even touched her.

But now she was sitting on his bed, besides him, comforting him.

The boy could still remember, in third year, that was the time when Sirius transitioned into a womanizer.

He just tried to place his arm around her shoulder and Josi had punched him into the face, so hard that he had to go to the hospital wing.

Sirius glanced at Josi from the corner of his eyes. "If you don't want to talk about it, then don't. But remember, I'm always here for you. You can talk to me, Sirius", the brunette told the Black boy honestly as she looked into his blue eyes.

"Thank you", Sirius choked out quietly, his mouth was completely dry and his hands begann to sweat.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and Josi took her hand back before she stood up.

The brunette walked towards the door and opened it, but she stopped and leaned against the frame. She spun around to the boy, "Library at five. You promised to study with Remus, Lily and me. Don't be late!"

She gave him a pointed look, while the boy watched her, a small smiled appearing on his lips. He nodded slowly, making Josi nod as well.

After that Josephine left the room. As soon as the girl was gone, Sirius let himself fall back onto the bed, heavily breathing out. His heart was beating in his chest, like it wanted to jump out of his rip cage. And his mind just wouldn't stop thinking about the brunette's perfect smile.

                       IN THE LATE afternoon Josephine made her way downstairs into the common room, her books under her arm. To her surprise, Sirius was already waiting for her, leaning against the red couch that stood in front of the fireplace.

"Hello, beautiful", the boy smiled at her, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "Hello, Sirius", Josephine answered him, ignoring his flirting attempt. But secretly she was really glad that the boy seemed to be more like himself again.

"Ready to leave?", he then questioned her, his left eyebrow raised. The girl nodded at him, a small smile playing on her lips, "Yes, I guess Lily and Remus are already in the Library."

The boy pushed himself away from the couch and ran a hand through his messy dark hair.

Josi bit down onto her lower lip, trying to suppress the dirty thoughts that flashed through her mind, when she watched him. The brunette shook her head slightly to herself, shocked that she even considered to think about his in that way while they climbed both through the portrait hole.

On their way downstairs, Sirius glanced at her, his heart beat rising again. His eyes wandered down towards the books in her hands, "Let me get those."

Josephine seemed rather surprised when the boy tried to grab her books from her. She still held onto them, giving him a appreciative smile, "No, it's okay. But thank you."

Sirius scoffed more to himself than at her, giving her an insisting look, he answered, "Don't be silly. Let me carry them." The brunette gave him a defeated look before she smiled again, "Thank you."

There was an awkward silence between them while they continued their way down the corridor.

Josie had a bad feeling about the question she was going to ask him now, but she asked it anyway. "Sirius? Why did you skip school today?"

The girl could sense how he tensed up besides her, the brunette's eyes widened in hectic, "Please, don't feel pressured to tell me. I didn't mean to push-"

The boy sighed deeply while he met her gaze, a sad look in his eyes. He remained silent for a small moment. "I got a letter from my parents."

Josephine remained silent while they contiued walking next to each other. Sirius eyes met her's, "And now- I feel like I'm about to hurl when I think about going home."

"I'm so sorry, Sirius", the brunette stated while she met his gaze. He immediately shook his head at her, "Don't worry. I'm alright. It was just-"

He stopped in the middle of his scentece when they rounded the corner, entering the library.

Like expected Remus and Lily were already seated at a table in the back corner of the Library.

So Sirius and Josi made their way through the room, Josephine sitting down next to Lily and Sirius besides Remus.

Lily gave Josi a knowing look as she greeted Sirius with a nod, who just handed Josi her books. But Josi just scoffed quietly and contiued to open her potions book.

They all had a big exam coming up the next month and after, there were also the Quidditch matches. So they had to study as long and as much as they could, before James would torture them with Quidditch training.

Josephine honestly loved her brother, but sometimes he was a bit much as their Captain. But it was really rare that the Gryffindor team lost a game.

Now and then, Josi gazed at Sirius over the frame of her book. The boy looked rather tired, like he hadn't slept at all. His black hair fell into his face and he furrowed his eyebrows at something in his Potion book.

And there it was again that weird feeling in her stomach. Josephine didn't knew what it was, but it kinda felt weird. In a good way, but the girl didn't knew what the feeling meant.

"Hello? Earth to Josi? I was talking to you!", Lily's voice suddenly reached her ear. The readhead snapped her fingers infront of her face loudly.

The brunette snapped out of her daze and looked at the girl next to her.
"Sorry Lils, what were you saying?", she questioned her with an apologizing look.

"I was asking you if you could hand me the book about the Troll war for Magical History", Lily repeated her words, looking at Josi suspiciously. Josi handed her the book in silence before she focused back on her Potion essay for the next week.

What the brunette didn't noticed was, that when Sirius thought no one was looking, he gazed at the girl infront of him.

Even thought she had her hair in a messy bun and big dark circles under her eyes, she was the most beautiful girl in the world to him.

It quickly became evening and time for dinner. Lily and Remus had left the library half an hour ago but Sirius and Josephine stayed. They were so busy talking about the up coming Quidditch season to notice that they already had missed dinner.

It was not until Madam Price approched them and asked them friendly to leave the library, that Josi looked at the clock. "Blimey, we missed dinner", she exclaimed facing at the boy, who sat across from her.

They both quickly gathered up their things and left the library, "Prongs is probably wondering where I am", Sirius said to the girl grabbing the books from her hands again.

"I could well imagine that he has already sent a search party to find his lovely wife", Josephine joked walking next to him. She had to slightly look up at the Black boy, they both laughed.

After that there was a silence, Sirius was deep in his own thoughts and Josephine didn't want to interrupt him.

The boy constantly thought about the letter his parents had sent him, he didn't knew if he should tell Josi about it or not. Like three month's ago they weren't even friends so why would she care.

He gazed at the girl, who walked next to him swinging her arms and humming a song. He started smiling, Sirius just loved the feeling she gave him, he didn't know what it was but he definitely liked it.

Her words from earlier echoed through his head. Sirius sighed and
ran his hand through his hair,
a nervous habit.

"Josi, you remember the letter?", he slowly spoke up. The brunette looked at him and nodded. "It was from my parents, it's a Howler", he told her, a little worry could be heard in his voice.

"Why do they sent you a Howler on your Birthday?!", she then questioned him shocked. Josephine knew that Sirius parents were not normal, but she thought that somehow, even they would love their son's.

Sirius just shrugged and slowly pulled the letter out of his leather jacket with his free hand.

Josi looked at it for a small moment, the girl couldn't deny that she was a little curious what Orion and Walburga Black had to say but she pushed her curiosity back. "Did you open it?"

"Yeah— regretted it the next minute." Sirius sighed deeply while he packed the letter away.

"I'm sorry." Josephine stated while they continued walking and Sirius shook his head. "Don't be— I'm used to it."

The brunette girl remained silent while she walked alongside him, feeling an overwhelming amount of compassion for the boy.