CHAPTER FOUR
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"LOOKS LIKE IT'S TIME for me to go," Winnie sighed, pushing herself away from the stone wall she was leaning against. "What will you do without me to save you from trouble?" Louise rolled her eyes and let out a laugh.

"I can get on just fine by myself. I'm not that bad! Plus I'll be with Lily and Marlene and they won't let me do anything too reckless, don't worry," she assured her, waving her hand in dismissal of Winnie's statement. She left quickly, not wanting to be late and eager to get the detention over with.

She had only gotten a detention on one other occasion during her time at Hogwarts. The first time had been in her fourth year when she and Louise had been caught replacing Professor Slughorn's sugar for his tea with some Muggle laxatives. Of course, she had supplied the laxatives and it was predominately her idea, but she thought herself to be more mature than she was back then.

When she was about to enter the designated classroom, she found herself almost running right into — or rather over — Flitwick. "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor!" she apologized, stumbling back so that she wouldn't fall on top of the small man.

"It's quite all right!" he squeaked, now gesturing to the door of his classroom. "You may head in, I need to step out for a moment. There's another student in there as well."

Winnie nodded and each began to walk again in opposite directions. She pushed the door open and saw only one person in the room, as Flitwick had told her. He sat at the very front, his feet propped up in a casual position, doing anything but lines.

They were written on the board and Winnie could tell which ones she was supposed to be writing down. And she seriously questioned what he was in for when she saw the words 'I shall not propel enchanted objects at other people's heads'. Though, she supposed hers looked just as strange.

A blank piece of parchment was placed on the desk directly next to the boy's and she sat down there, figuring that was where Flitwick wanted her to go. Each of the two-person desks they sat at each had an empty seat.

His eyes drifted over to the new arrival as she set down her bag and pulled out a quill and some ink.

"You don't look like someone who blows up statues," he remarked calmly, tilting his head over to her with a smirk. Her eyes shifted and she glanced over at him with a shrug.

"I would say that you don't look like someone who throws enchanted objects at people, but you quite honestly do," she replied, dipping her quill in the ink she had opened a few seconds previously.

She began to write her lines, knowing that the task would get agitating very quickly. I shall not blow up statues or school property. I shall not blow up statues or school property. This went on for another minute before the boy removed his legs from the desk and swiveled over to face her.

"I'm Sirius," he introduced in the same confident tone that he had spoken with a few moments before.

"And I'm eager to get out of here as soon as possible, so I'd really like to focus," Winnie said, knowing she was probably not being all too polite, but he seemed cocky and someone she'd regularly want to stay away from.

He laughed lightly and brushed a bit of his long hair out of his eyes. A few lines were written on his parchment, while Winnie was already reaching halfway down the page.

Not once did she look up from her work even though she could practically feel him looking over at her every so often. After a few minutes, Flitwick had entered the room and announced that they couldn't leave until the whole page was filled with lines, and they weren't allowed to cheat with larger words.

She was about three-quarters of the way finished when a small piece of parchment was placed on her desk. Shooting a look at Sirius, she grabbed it and unfolded it as he grinned the entire time.

Dear I'm Eager To Get Out Of Here As Soon As Possible,

My good friend Louise tells me that she was the mastermind behind the statue, so that begs the question; why are you here?

From your now dearest friend,
Sirius

Winnie scoffed and rolled her eyes, even though she was secretly fighting the urge to grin at the note. No, he was annoying and cocky, she couldn't laugh at the stupid note. His kind of behavior is what would land her here again. She dipped her quill in the ink and scribbled out a quick response.

Dear Sirius, aka obnoxious,

How do you know Louise? And if you do, then you must know my name, you may as well use it.

From your not so dearest friend,
Winnie Atkinson

Passing the note back onto his desk, careful to make sure that Flitwick didn't notice, she continued her lines. The crinkling of parchment indicated that he was reading what she had written and the scribbling that followed meant he was working on a response. The parchment landed on her desk again and she reluctantly looked at the messy script that was squeezed onto the page.

Dear Winnie Atkinson,

Louise and I go way back! We share similar interests, clearly. And if I'm so obnoxious and you're so eager to leave, why did you respond?

From your very dear friend,
Sirius

The last few sentences made her realize that she was playing along all too willingly. Balling up the parchment and scribbling out her last few lines, she threw the parchment at his head and watched as it bounced off onto the floor.

Winnie grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, walking over to Flitwick's desk and handing him the parchment.

"Why thank you, Miss Atkinson. I do hope I don't see you here again!" he exclaimed in his high pitched voice. She smiled at him and turned around, passing a still grinning Sirius.

"See you later, Atkinson!" he called out just before she left the classroom.

"Not likely!"