He kept his word on having Nora's back. As the months progressed, he kept close watch of her and anyone else who was close. The morning was rising, the pink and orange sun peaking through the trees as Sirius leaned against a very thin covered snowy rock, chatting away with Nora as she was in the Hippogriff pen, tending to her morning feeding job. He sighed at her tired eyes, the look of exhaustion and fear growing as she kept searching for uncovered answers of what happened that night. 

After seeing that she was okay, he left quietly and back towards the castle to tend to his other friends. Sirius never considered himself the caring kind as he grew up in the least caring environment ever but it was the reason he surrounded himself with good people; to rid himself of the dark demons that would follow him. He ran from his home before the 6th year had started and kept it very quiet but knowing his mother, the whole school already knew. He wasn't an open man when his feelings were involved but he had been developing a soft spot and it wasn't something himself or his friends were used too just yet.

As the late morning continued, Sirius, James and Peter stood on a bench in the overflowing corridor to look around and laugh at people as they let off secret stink bombs. Naturally, they were caught and received a week's detention. Good ol' McGonagall! 

Back over in the Great Hall, Nora, Alice and Poppy sat together in their free period studying about nocturnal beast whilst Nora looked into advanced signs of werewolves again. Nora was an incredibly bright girl, which she didn't get enough credit for, and her suspicions were up. Looking back through all the previous events, signs in her text books and theories, she knew one person could confirm her suspicions. She looked frantically around the hall for the familiar frizzy dirty blonde hair and too her luck she saw her Ravenclaw robes drift passed the door. She fell over the bench, groaning as she moved too quickly.

"Nora! You okay?" Poppy gasped, rising quickly and leaning over the table, trying to cover Alice's mouth as laughter erupted from her.

"Yes! aha! I just saw my sister and need to ask her something, take care of my bag!" Her voice faded to an echo as she half ran half limped out of the hall. "GEORGIA!" 

Turning with raised brows, she waved her sister to follow her as she was on the way to class. Catching up rather poorly, Nora took her hand and carried on limping. Her limp faded as Georgia's wand pointed towards her ankle. She was grateful that her sister was training to be a healer. "What's going on?" Georgia tilted her head.

"I need you to confirm a theory for me but not in public. It's quite important." Nora stopped them and kept her voice hushed. Nodding, Georgia opened a locked broom cupboard they were closest too and pulled them in, casting Lumos to see her sisters quizzical expression. "Okay... So I had been theorising this for 2 months now..." Nora began and ran through all her notes, ideas and evidence.

"Yep. Nail on the head." Georgia shrugged, sweet and short. Nora's eyes went wide and the air flow stopped momentarily.

"A-are you sure?"

Georgia chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Of course I'm sure. I figured it out in my 4th year, it wasn't until my 5th year when his friends started to help him. Remus is a werewolf Nora... Now! If I get a detention for being late, on your head be it!" She opened the door and let the two of them out into a sea of commotion, yelling and arguing. A fight broke out down the by the entrance hall. Being Head Girl, Georgia intervened. Nora wiggled in to see what was happening and glared at whom was the cause of it. In the middle was Garrett, Nicholas, James and Sirius. Sirius had squared up to Garrett's chest, his wavy long hair brushed back and his eyes menacing. 

Nora stepped in front of Garrett and folded her arms as her brow twitched upwards, a look of sadness and disappointment swam in her eyes as she looked at her friend. Sirius felt time freeze, her eyes swallowing him whole, a light bulb moment ignited and then shattered into thousands of pieces above his head. Hitting him like a 100 mile per hour train, his heart leapt and could feel the urge to pull her towards him and hold her tight. She was only supposed to be the object of his amusement, not the cause of his heart to wake up.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" She kept her voice low to avoid any further attention, her sister dealing with crowd control.

"We've looked at every possibility, Half Pint, Garrett here is the most obvious suspect!  You were with him the whole time!" Sirius' words almost sounded venomous and petty. Was there a jealous tone hidden too? She ignored the annoying nickname she heard from him all too often as she felt frustration bubble up

"Yes I was. I've already asked him and his friends and guess what Sirius! ... I was holding his hands ALL NIGHT! So, how could he slip anything into my drinks when I was holding onto him the whole time?" Nora prodded his chest and backed him up again. How he wanted to stop her again by placing his hands on her hips, reigniting the hormonal fire that he once found but considering the company and her sudden rage, he would be in a grave before his hands could reach her.

"Oh...Ugh." He rolled his eyes, moving away from her and walked over to James who was finding the obvious lovers quarrel very interesting. Although he knew Nora was oblivious to it, James knew Sirius was hot and bothered...

"Ugh?! If you ask me, someone sounds a little disappointed?" Nora's anger fuelled jab took a turn and all of a sudden, Sirius was facing a mirror; his familiar smirk now on the face of another. He was annoyed and strangely turned on at the same time. No-one could ever pull off his signature smirk.

"In your dreams baby. In your dreams." He laughed, turning away and walked away to class with James. Feeling a weird pulsing in her stomach, Nora ignored it and turned back to Garrett and apologised. Nora wanted to go after Sirius to talk about the whole Remus thing but given the current events, she thought it'd be best to leave that for another time.

- - - - - - - - - - - 

Nora paced back and forth, her footsteps clunking on the metal floor of the greenhouse. She stopped, grabbing the bench with a vice like grip and hung her head. It was the day they were to head back home for Christmas and Nora was met with an issue she hoped to never deal with...

She slowly lifted her head as she heard the door to the greenhouse open, the familiar face she saw every day tuck away a large wad of parchment in his bag and strolled over with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Talk to me." He muttered, leaning on the bench and watched her. Sirius was one of her closest friends now, if not the closest beside Lily but at that current moment, Nora wanted nothing to do with her.

"Lily came and met me here to help me put away the tentacular leaves for the winter and decided to blurt out that she really likes my brother... I've always known this but.... the sneaky git asked Lily out and she said yes. Assholes the pair of them." Nora sniffed, looking away from him. Sirius eyes grew, his hands now clamping on the bench beside hers. 

"Prongs is gonna jump off the Astronomy tower after he finds out." Sirius gasped, feeling his heart ache for his love sick best friend.

"Exactly... my own brother!! She could have liked ANYONE else but him! He's a walking cliché, he loves the attention and he's only going to break her heart... I don't want Lily to get hurt. What do I do?" Sirius listened to her carefully until her voice cracked at the end, pulling her in for a hug. Something they had yet to do... 

She found her head fit comfortably in his chest; soft, warm and smelling surprisingly incredible. His chin rested on the top of her head, his eyes shut as he took a deep sign of uncertainty. He too was worried about what to do but as he felt her arms wrap around him, he realised what he just did. He froze; body stiff and hard. He was worried that he was too outward with his emotions towards her and was feeling sick by how comfortable she felt against him. Trying to keep his cool, he distracted the aching feeling by trying to solve the problem.

"Evans is a smart girl. I'm sure she'll soon realise what a douche bag your brother can be, no offence, and besides; I'm sure Ben is just a cover up for how she really feels about James. Did you see those two at Mar's party? I'm surprised they weren't making out by the end of the night!" He snorted, laughing along side of her as he felt her body shaking, her laughter so addictive 

"Oh yeah?! Just like you and that weird Ravenclaw girl were!?" Nora pulled back from the hug to look up at him with that same smirk he saw the first time a few months back. She was small in his arms, his heart thumping rapidly and encased in her smile. He was dying inside, unable to comprehend the crush like feelings towards her. Was he sure? Was it a genuine love for their new found friendship, of perhaps he already knew the answer and was staring down the barrel of the gun that fate had formed together. Needless to say, he knew Nora wasn't going to be leaving him anytime soon.

"Anyyyyway! Back on topic please! Evans is smart and she's your best friend. You can trust her and as her friend, you'll be there to take care of her. Go and see her." He shrugged casually, folding his arms and smiling sympathetically at her. She smiled back and nodded with a conclusive sigh.

"Yes sir!" She saluted playfully before grabbing her bag and walked towards the door. She turned back to look at Sirius who watched her leave. Their eyes locked and there was a knowing look between them. They knew that their friendship was odd and strange but there was an unspoken layer to it. The question was; who was going to make the first move in talking about it.