When Doves Cry

~~When other friendships have been forgot Ours will still be hot~~
At breakfast the next morning, Sirius seemed to be more like his old self again, although he still seemed a bit frosty to me. I wasn't sure what his problem was, but at least he wasn't being a total jerk. James, apparently, also thought he was being odd. He would look at Sirius, frown, and shake his head.
"What?" Sirius finally snapped after James frowned at him and shook his head for about the twentieth time.
"Nothing," James said quickly.
"Planning on writing another love letter to Evans?" Sirius asked with a smirk.
James turned a bit pink but did not take the bait. "Actually, I was wondering what was going on with you."
"With me?" Sirius suddenly looked guarded. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Well, I know we have to protect our Roxi from the evils of male testosterone, but you were quite the prick yesterday to her. Why such a negative reaction?"
"I just don't want her to get hurt," he muttered. "Besides, she was sneaking around behind our backs. Marauders don't hide things from each other."
I opened my mouth to protest, but Remus beat me to it. "Can you blame her?" he asked. "Every time she has a date, or even talks to a boy, you two jump in and ruin things for her. There are Gryffindors who aren't even brave enough to approach her because they're afraid of receiving your wrath. Of course she hid her date from you."
"Remus is right," I said. "Mason is a good guy, and I didn't want you two to ruin things for me. I appreciate your concern and all, but I can look out for myself. And if he ever breaks my heart, I give you both full freedom to totally destroy him. Okay?"
"Fine," Sirius grumbled.
Deciding that was the best I was going to get from him, I let it be for the time being. Breakfast ended, so we all got up and started walking out of the Great Hall. Mason was suddenly beside me, smiling at me with those amazing eyes of his.
"Roxi, can I walk you to class?" he asked.
"Sure," I answered with a smile.
He extended his hand, silently offering to carry my things for me. I thought it was such a cute act of chivalry, so I eagerly handed them over.
"Is he all right?" Masons suddenly asked.
I looked up to see Sirius walking a few feet in front of us, looking tense.
"He's just worried about me, and the raging sea of testosterone walking beside me. He'll get over it."
"Raging sea of testosterone?" Mason repeated, laughing.
I smiled and shrugged. "Pretty much."
"I like it," he said.
Unfortunately, since he was a year above me, we didn't have any classes together, but he was waiting for me after each class I had, which was sweet. During History of Magic, the last class before lunch, I was sitting next to Sirius. He had a glazed look in his eyes, completely ignoring whatever Professor Binns was saying. I was too, actually. That class was totally useless. Deciding to take advantage of the fact that Sirius was right next to me, I scribbled a question down on a piece of parchment and passed it to him, nudging his hand with it until he finally snapped out of his daydreams and looked down.
Me: Are you mad at me?
After quickly writing something, he pushed the paper back over to me.
Pad: No.
Me: You seem like you are. Did I do something? Surely this can't all be over me hiding my date from you.
I heard him sigh before he wrote out a response.
Pad: It's not that...
Me: So you are mad at me!
Pad: I'm not mad. I'm just upset.
Me: Upset? Over what?
Pad: I'm worried that you'll leave us for Cross.
When I saw that sentence, I stared at it for a long time. Seriously? He was worried I would leave them for Mason?
Me: You're crazy! Why on earth would I leave you guys??
Pad: Because you have a boyfriend now.
Me: Peter has a girlfriend. Are you worried he'll leave everyone for her?
Pad: Peter’s different. He’s dependent on us. We protect him, entertain him, and show him a much better time than he could ever have without us. He needs us. But you can enjoy yourself just as much with us out of the picture. And now that we’re not the most important people in your life, you have no need for us anymore.
Me: Is that what you think? That I don’t need you? I am first and foremost a Marauder! We stick together, no matter what! Marauders to the end! Through thick and thin we stay together, always and forever! Right, Siri?
I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye.
Pad: Right! So you’re not gonna leave us for that Ravenclaw?
Me: Of course not. I might spend a little less time with you guys now, but you’ll be okay. He could never compare to the four of you. You’re all as much family to me as Adrian is. Our bond is too deep to be broken by some boy, silly mutt.
Pad: Good to know.
I rolled my eyes and lightly smacked his arm. He chuckled and responded by poking me in the leg. They were little things, but they meant a lot. They meant things were good, and Sirius would no longer be giving me the cold shoulder. And hopefully, he wouldn’t be rude to Mason either. Although I wasn't willing to bet on it.
Once the class finally ended, I walked to the Great Hall with Mason. Sirius was walking ahead of us again, but this time he didn't seem to be tense. In fact, he seemed cheerful and bouncy, just like he usually was while at Hogwarts.
"It sucks that we're in different houses," Mason said, bringing my attention back to him. "I'd like to eat lunch with you."
"I could always sit at the Ravenclaw table. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've done."
He frowned. "Would the teachers allow that?"
"Professor McGonagall will probably get ticked off about it, but she'll live."
He grinned. "Excellent. Then you should definitely sit at the Ravenclaw table with me."
"Will the other Ravenclaws mind? Not that I particularly care, I just don't want to have to deal with a hostile lunch setting."
"No, they'll be fine with it. We've come to expect strange things from you. Besides, you're dating one of us, so they should be totally fine with it."
He was right. Other than a few surprised glances from some of the Ravenclaws, no one really reacted to my sitting with them.
Mason set about introducing me to all of his friends, and I smiled and greeted them all cheerfully. They got into a discussion about 16th century magic, and whether witches and wizards had better lives now or back then.
"Back then, they didn't have to hide their identities from Muggles," a boy named Damian was saying. "They could use magic out in the open and not worry about it being illegal, or about Muggles freaking out."
"Not true," a girl named Bethany countered. "Muggles were very superstitious back then. Witches and wizards were constantly burned at the stake, believed to be in league with the devil."
"But it didn't hurt them," Damian argued. "And besides, a lot of witches and wizards posed as shamans and healers, so they made good profit and were revered for their abilities, not persecuted."
"Actually, she's right," I said. "Up until about the 19th century, it was pretty dangerous to be open about being a witch or wizard. Sure some of them had good lives, but they also hid their true abilities behind medicine and herbs. For the most part, all magical people were feared, and we all know that fear can make people do stupid things. Like try and kill someone just because they have better talents than you. In fact, some Muggle communities were so afraid of witches and wizards, they took to burning, drowning, and otherwise torturing anyone who was in any way different or odd."
They all looked at me in shock, either surprised that I knew so much, or that I had contributed to their discussion.
"I'm a bit of a history nerd," I said awkwardly, suddenly wishing I had stayed silent.
"See?" Bethany said smugly. "She agrees with me. And her logic is sound. We're right, you're wrong."
Mason wrapped an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek, beaming at me. "Way to outsmart a Ravenclaw," he said proudly.
I smiled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises. Especially when it comes to knowing history."
"Are you saying it would be fine for us to reveal our magic now? You said up until the 19th century, it was dangerous. Is it not anymore?" Damian asked me. Not like he was challenging me, but more like he was really into intellectual discussions.
"I'm not saying we should go out to the nearest Muggle shopping center and start transforming their fruits into peacocks, I'm just saying people would be less frightful and more greedy now. No one really believes in evil anymore, which makes the fear of magic less potent. But it doesn't change the need for us to hide our abilities."
"I see. Still, seeing their faces when their fruits turned to peacocks would be pretty hilarious," he said.
I grinned. "It totally would." A Ravenclaw with a sense of humor. Who knew it was possible? This had turned out to be a great day.