All the Time in the World | Sirius Black

15. Duel

James and Sirius predicted that the weather was going to be horrible on Saturday; they were wrong and that is why they were failing Divination.

"What do you want to work as once you graduate Hogwarts?" I asked them as we walked down to breakfast.

It was one of the few times that the Marauders accompanied Lily, Marlene, and me to breakfast. Usually the girls and I would end up at the table almost half an hour before they even showed up. But our late start of the day made it so we were all gong down together.

"I want to be an Auror," Sirius said confidently.

"And I... actually, I have no clue," James shrugged. "I'll probably work with my dad as a Potioneer."

It was interesting to hear what they wanted to do outside of Hogwarts. They never got the chance to do so being Sirius was sent to Azkaban and James never lived to have an occupation. Sirius's ideal career seemed on brand as he ended up in the Order of the Phoenix. James's choice didn't make much sense due to the fact that he wasn't the best at Potions.

"Okay, not what I was expecting," I laughed, "but why do you two insist of taking Divination if you're so bad at it?"

"It's fun—!"

"—And easy!"

"Merlin," I chuckled, rubbing my face. "'Easy'? You're failing!"

Breakfast wasn't any better than the conversation we had. If it wasn't for Lily and Remus, James and Sirius would have caused a Hall-wide food fight. It started by Lily throwing a grape at me, as she usually does whenever I say something she doesn't like, and ended up with James having a sausage link stuffed in his shirt and maple syrup in my hair with bloody licorice in my shirt.

"You two are horrible," I seethed, trying to clean the sticky substance out of my hair. "You aren't any better!" I snapped at Peter, who only laughed the entire time.

"Scourgify," Lily said, pointing it at my hair. I groaned as my hair was now damp but clean.

"I hate you guys," I mumbled pulling out the candy from my top.

Lily and I finished our breakfast with half an hour left until she had to meet Severus in the entrance hall. James and Sirius looked as if they wanted to tease us and say something about us hanging out with him, but actually restrained themselves.

The three of us opted for going into the courtyard to hang out, mostly because I was too lazy to walk around the forest and to the lake.

"Guess what I've brought," I sang, pulling out the pack of cards.

"No, I'm so bad at Exploding Snaps," Lily laughed. "My reflexes aren't fast enough!"

"Better for us," Severus teased. "I'm great at it."

"I'm better," I challenged.

"Game on."

Lily complained for most of the games, always losing by many points. Severus and I tied most of the time, but his reflexes were much faster. It wasn't until after lunch that Lily got tired of our games and said,

"I have a set of Gobstones in my trunk. I rather play that. You two finish your game and I'll get them."

I wanted to protest, but before I could, she was gone. There weren't many people in the courtyard for it was still winter, only Severus and me along with a group of five friends. Today was one of the nicer days, the sun was out and the snow had melted some. Before our game, I had cleared an area for us to play in so that we didn't have to sit in the remaining snow.

"Aurora?" I saw a hand wave in front of my face.

"Huh?" My eyes finally focused back and I realized I was absentmindedly staring at Severus's face. My face flushed and my eyes widened, "oh, I'm sorry— I was in my own world. I can't even remember what I was thinking about!"