Occasional Correspondence (Open!)

[Sirius Black]

The Owlery was not a common haunt of Sirius Black's. He didn't like animals, for one, nor did he have much correspondence with anyone outside of the castle. Over breaks, away from his friends, he would write to them, and often - when he could get his hands on an owl, that is. When they were all at school, though, his list of mail recipients decreased immensely. He had his work; he and his employer communicated through mail, but as little as possible. Sirius was left mainly on his own in that regard, having to step up and take responsibility with little instruction. And he certainly didn't have a family to write to. The Howlers had stopped by now. There were old friends who'd graduated, neighbors, people he'd met along the course of life, but for the most part, Sirius didn't find much need to be at the Owlery.

This brisk mid-March day proved to be an exception, as Sirius was climbing the winding staircase to the owls' perch. In his hand he clutched a letter to a friend back home; after moving in to his small apartment in a mostly-magical neighborhood, he wasted no time in starting up some social interaction with the neighbors. Though some seemed to resent his 'social interaction' and the disturbances it caused, he had managed a few friends; none that he wrote to constantly, but the occasional correspondence was alright. This one in particular had many the same interests as Sirius, like huge parties, loud music, and generally pissing off the rest of their neighbors. And of course, these long months at school gave his neighbors a bit of a break, but he definitely liked hearing about their woes every now and then. It was entertaining, to say the least.

It was a nice surprise to receive a letter a few days before filled with stories of blasting Muggle music so loud that he couldn't even hear the neighbors knocking to complain ("you've got to hear it, Sirius, it's great, though the people next door don't seem to agree"), new people moving in down the block ("can't be worse than the ones before, those old hags") and a guy who might be interested in selling a motorcycle ("it's not the best, but nothing a few simple spells couldn't fix up"). So it was worth a response, albeit a short one, because he'd been writing it in class before he got reprimanded for 'not paying attention,' and worth a short trip to the Owlery. When he reached the top of the Tower, he held the envelope to the wall so he could scrawl down the address quickly before sending it off.

[Deleted]

Fina stormed up the stairs, her signature boots clicking loudly as she did. In one hand she clutched her opened and crumpled up howler, and in the other her own hot-headed response. She crumpled up her father's howler even more, as if it might help to squash the feeling of frustration she help. God damn the day her mother taught her muggle father how to use a howler. It had been a plague on her ever since. Anytime perfect Aiden got a little too sensitive about her escapades, her militant father was on her ass as if she was still living at home. Of course, maybe Aiden didn't like rockets as much as she did, but it still was no reason to tattle as if they were still children.

But she was the immature one. She scoffed again, although no one was there to hear it as she stomped her way up the stairs, chest huffing from making her own howler, and her fair Irish skin as red as the crimson envelope. So what if Aiden no longer had eyebrows. She shoved open the owlery door, reaching for the first school owl she found and swiftly tied the envelope to his ankle before he could fly away as the rest did upon her dramatic entrance.

The owl was quick to fly away, glad to be out of her probably more than firm grip.She threw down her father's howler, crushing it with the tip of her combat boots into a pile of owl droppings before she finally felt satisfied. Inhaling deeply, she looked up, having completely missed the other presence in her fit of anger. "Hey Sirius," she sighed, kicking away the beaten up howler. She folded her arms, approaching the window to ensure her owl vanished into the distance. Leaning against the cool stone walls, she shoved a hand through her unruly curls before they fell back into place. She made a face, although it didn't really bother her. She sighed again, plopping down on the window ledge and facing Sirius. "Aren't parents the best?" She grinned sarcastically, leaning her head back against the solid wall. Through all of it, no one understood being the black sheep of the family the way Sirius did. 

Though of course, he'd found his freedom. She looked back out at the March morning, a feeling of yearning tugging in her chest. There was nothing more she wanted than freedom. She looked back at Sirius, this time a real smile on your face. "Already spring," she mused. "So what does the infamous Sirius have planned for his last weeks at school?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, twisting her body to completely face him. She would never admit it, but she was going to miss Sirius and James and their pranks next year, although she would miss the friend she had found in Sirius the most. But she was Fina, and she wouldn't verbally admit to missing anyone. She glanced up at Sirius, knowing he that the message wasn't lost on him. Whatever silent language they had developed made it hard to keep her thoughts private from someone so much like herself. 

[Sirius Black]

 

If Sirius had been paying more attention, he'd have noticed that the footsteps coming up the owlery stairs were louder than normal, and he wouldn't have been so surprised to see Serafina enter in such a huff. But he'd been distracted, tying the letter to a school owl because he didn't and wouldn't have one of his own after finishing scrawling down the address, and looked up casually when he heard someone enter the room. He smiled and opened his mouth to greet his friend, but she stormed by without apparently even noticing he was there. Instead, he silently sent off his own owl as he watched her with hers, wondering what could have infuriated her so, but he had a feeling he knew the answer. They'd been friends for quite a while, and good ones at that, so by now he had a knack for just knowing these things. And she was a girl plagued with the curse of family, which he was all too familiar with.

Sirius leaned against the owlery wall, hands in pockets as he watched her, still wordlessly. His eyes followed her boots as they angrily crushed some letter in the waste of some owls, and as she looked up and found him there, his eyes went upward as well to meet hers. Finally, she noticed. "Hey yourself," he said in response, and then walked toward the discarded letter she'd thrown unceremoniously to the messy owlery floor. He looked down at it, kicking it over slightly, and immediately recognized it as a Howler. He'd received his fair share of Howlers over the years, enough to determine its identity instantly, but not for a long while. His suspicions were confirmed as she gave a sarcastic quip about parents, causing him to turn his gaze from the floor toward her again. He smiled a bit at that. "That's not exactly the word I would use," he remarked as his feet once again changed course to where Fina had perched herself in the windowsill. He stood beside her where the window met the wall, one arm leaning on the wall. "What did they do?"

When Fina's head turned to the window, Sirius looked out there as well, at nothing in particular except the tranquility of the spring morning. This time when she spoke he didn't immediately look back to her, captivated a little by the lure of the springtime climate, finally settling over Hogwarts and coming to a close his last winter as a student. She was right, the weeks were really winding down, at times feeling like they dragged on forever and other times he found himself wondering where the time had gone. But those sorts of nostalgic or anticipatory feelings were uncharacteristic of Sirius, who usually shoved them aside in favor of living in the moment. "Nothing terribly different from the usual," he answered, and at the conclusion of his sentence his eyes met hers again. He supposed he did have NEWT exams coming up, but he'd be damned if he'd let his final times at Hogwarts be dominated by testing. Nope, whatever he did, he was sure they'd be fonder memories, of friends and trouble-making and copious amounts of women and alcohol - so, like he'd said, nothing unusual by his standards.