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“Just talk to him,” Alice says, nudging your elbow, breaking you from your rather obvious staring.
“Och, no,” you wave her off, rolling your eyes. Sirius Black does not know that you exist, and you have begrudgingly come to terms with that fact.
“You’re never going to get anywhere without trying,” she says before pausing, a smirk creeping onto her lips. “What if you just walked up to him one day and kissed him?”
You scoff, shaking your head. “I could never.”
Alice only hums, giggling slightly, and moves on, leaving thoughts of Sirius behind.
***
Blinking your eyes open, you glance at your alarm clock. Tuesday. Tuesday? Yesterday was Tuesday. You could have sworn it was. You know because you have charms with Sirius every Tuesday, and you sat there and stared at him yesterday. Which was Tuesday. There is absolutely no way that it could be Tuesday again.
Coursing with confusion, you hurry to pull your robes on and briskly walk to the Great Hall to find Alice. When you do, you immediately ask, “Alice, what day is it?”
“Tuesday, I think,” she replies with an apathetic glance.
“Tuesday? But yesterday was Tuesday. We went to charms together, and you tripped over that first year lying on the ground in the middle of the hallway. Remember?” you urge, sure that you weren’t making this up.
“No, we have charms today,” Alice frowns. “Are you alright, Y/N?” she asks, turning to you with concern in her features.
“Yes, fine,” you huff, undoubtedly even more confused than this morning.
Unconvinced, Alice stands up and you follow, setting out for charms. The two of you walk in silence. You begin to notice how everything seems to be playing out like deja vu. A couple kissing against the wall that you recall snickering about yesterday with Alice is there again. ‘Maybe they just go to the same spot every day, at the same time,’ you try to reason.
You believe that until you hear a contemptuous scoff from beside you. Your head whips to find Alice nodding towards the couple, whispering, “Hormone alert.”
You force a laugh, too freaked out to find her joke funny again. Glancing over at your friend, your eyes widen when you see her go crashing to the floor. Yelps from Alice as well as from a black mass on the ground echo off the walls, causing everyone to stop and watch the scene.
“What in the world?!” Alice exclaims while pushing herself to her feet. You rush to her side as well as to the moaning lump on the floor. Pulling the robes back, you find a first year, stick straight, lying face down on the ground.
The same one you found yesterday. Today.
“Johnny? Is that your name?” you ask hesitantly, vaguely remembering talking to the boy.
“Y-yes,” he stutters cautiously, confused. You quickly mumble a spell to counter the obvious hex put on him before helping him to his feet. Alice and the crowd are still watching your interaction with the boy intently, only turning away when you part ways with him.
The whole day goes just as the day before. Alice makes the same comments as you watch Sirius repeat the same jokes, actions, everything–not that you were paying that close of attention in the first place. You walk out of charms and eat the same sandwich for lunch, listen to the same lessons taught in class, eat the same meal for dinner.
Nothing changes.
You lie in bed, mind racing, wondering what tomorrow will bring.
***
Jolting awake, you check your alarm clock. Your heart sinks when the three letters read ‘TUE.’ Groaning, you flop back down on the bed, a deep sigh emitting from you. What is going on?
The clamor of students welcomes you when you step through the doors of the Great Hall. You scan for Alice, finding her in the same place as yesterday, today. You walk with her to charms, muttering, “Hormone alert,” when you pass the couple. Alice just laughs, exclaiming that that is exactly what she was thinking. You throw a hand out to catch her when she trips over the boy on the floor, earning a sideways glance and a relieved ‘thanks’ when you do.
When the lesson begins, you raise your hand to answer questions with uncanny accuracy, receiving house points that you know will mean nothing tomorrow because tomorrow will be today.
***
Several Tuesdays pass and you realize that this cycle is not going to stop any time soon. Frustrated, you get out of bed and start the same monotonous, tedious routine.
It isn’t until you are slumped in your seat in charms on the fifth Tuesday that you realize that something that might be the death of you could also be the best opportunity you could ask for. You could use your situation in this apparent time loop to talk to Sirius. You figure that if you embarrass yourself, you just have to live through that version of the day before you can try again with a fresh slate the “next day.”
“I’m a genius!” you mutter to yourself at your epiphany, causing a few heads to turn, including Sirius’. Heat pools in your cheeks, and you grimace in embarrassment. ‘Guess I’ll start being a genius tomorrow’, you think, shaking your head.
***
Deep breath. ‘I can do this,’ you repeat to yourself in your mind. You see Sirius standing up out of his chair when the lesson concludes, and you jump up, determined to walk to him. Snatching your excruciatingly heavy bag off the floor and swinging it on your shoulder, you begin your strides. You take one step before your sack catches on the corner of the desk. You, as well as everyone else in the class, watch it tip over with a loud crash. Everything in your bag goes flying to the floor, and you just stand paralyzed at the sight.
A sigh flutters from your lips before you gather yourself. You bend down to lift your desk to an upright position. You can feel others’ eyes on you as you clean up the mess, but you ignore them. Alice beside you is trying to hold her snickers behind her teeth rather unsuccessfully to which you just roll your eyes. Crouching, you begin to pick up the spilled contents of your bag hurriedly.
When you stand up, you scan the room for Sirius, but it is fruitless for he is long gone. You are somewhat grateful as you think ‘maybe he didn’t see me publicly make a fool of myself’, but a little part of you just doesn’t believe it. With a shrug, you and Alice make your way to the Great Hall for lunch to eat the same sandwiches served yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that.
***
Waking up to the same ‘TUE’ on your alarm clock, you get ready for yet another day and another attempt at talking to Sirius. While lying in bed last night, you determined that you would try to sit next to him. You know where he is going to sit because he has sat there for the past week of Tuesdays.
You stride into class, psyching up your nerves, and plop into the seat beside Sirius. Well, he isn’t there yet, but you know he will be. Alice shoots you a questioning glance, but realization dawns on her features when Sirius, as planned, takes the seat right next to you. She sends you a not-so-subtle thumbs up, causing you to shake your head and turn to the front of the classroom.
Out of the corner of your eye, you catch Sirius looking at you. Heat flares in your cheeks, but you keep taking notes, not really sure what to do now that you have executed your plan. You hadn’t thought this far ahead.
When it comes time to pull out your wands, you grab yours with hands that shake, your knuckles turning white at how hard you are gripping it. You know that you can do the spell. You’ve performed it in every class period for a week now, but sitting next to Sirius has got you all kinds of nervous.
“Grip your wand any harder and it might snap,” Sirius chides from beside you.
You let out an anxious chuckle at which he cocks his head curiously, clearly confused by you. The professor instructs you to perform the spell to spout water from the tip of your wand into the pot on the table in front of you.. On your first try, well, seventh try, really, water comes streaming out like a fountain, perfectly collecting in the large metal pot.
Sirius watches you easily perform the spell and proceeds to do the same.
“See? Wasn’t so bad,” he jokes, earning a smile from you.
“I’m Y/N,” you offer.
“Sirius.”
Before you can say anything else, the class is over and you are left obsessing over every minute of the encounter for the rest of the day.
***
By now, you are almost excited to wake up to every day being Tuesday because you get to see Sirius, sit next to him, talk to him, and then do it all over again. Or so that is your theory. You have only sat next to him once, and said about two words, including your name. But you are on the upswing.
In the back of your mind, you think that you should try to figure out what is causing the time loop and what could stop it, but until you do, you are happy how you are.
You sit next to Sirius, pull out your notes, your wand, and settle in for yet another charms lesson. You begin to copy down notes, but you realize that you know the lesson like the back of your hand it seems, so why waste energy on it?
Sirius throws a curious look over at you doodling on your paper rather than paying attention to the lesson. He too is neglecting his parchment, so he turns to you instead.
“I’m Sirius,” he whispers.
You smile, laugh a little to yourself, then reply with your name.
“Is it weird to say that I feel like we’ve met before?”
Your eyes widen slightly at the comment, but you answer coolly, “Well, I have been in your class for the past six years.” It comes out more sarcastically than you had intended, but you can’t retract it now.
Sirius smiles a little guiltily. “Yeah. That must be it.”
***
Lying in bed, you think about the conversation you had with Alice what feels like ages ago. She said something about how you should talk to him. Well, you’ve tried. It’s not really working out all that great.
Maybe you should try a different strategy. Like sitting next to him at lunch. No, you couldn’t do that. He is always surrounded by his little possy of boyfriends.
Could you walk with him to lunch after charms? Potentially.
***
You take your seat next to Sirius in charms, half-heartedly smile at Alice’s thumbs up, exchange a few whispers in class, take a deep breath, and ask.
“Sirius, can I walk with you to lunch?”
Smiling, Sirius shrugs. “Sure, why not?”
Elated, the two of you walk to the Great Hall with Alice spying on you from a few steps behind.
You talk about nothing really, just friends, classes, share a few jokes. Before long, you are at the doors of the Great Hall.
“I’ll see you around,” Sirius waves, striding to sit next to his friends, leaving you to find Alice who looks like she is bursting with questions.
“Where is this coming from? Sitting next to him? Talking to him? Walking with him? What’s next? Kissing him?” she exclaims, not even trying to hide her excitement or lower her voice.
You shake your head, heat creeping into your cheeks. “I just asked if he wanted to walk together to lunch. That’s all.”
Alice’s last question caught you off guard. Kissing him? Isn’t that what she said would get his attention? What if you did kiss him? Just walked up and did it like Alice said. Weeks ago, you never would have even considered doing anything of the sort, but now, you have nothing to lose and seemingly everything to gain from a little risk.
***
“Who was that, Sirius?” James asks slyly, nudging him with an elbow.
“I don’t really know,” Sirius replies, looking over his shoulder at you with your friend who seems to be interrogating you. You’re smiling, and Sirius can’t help but smile too.
“Her name’s Y/N,” Remus interjects. “She’s had classes with us for years.”
Sirius only hums in acknowledgment, tearing his eyes away from you.
“She seems,” he shrugs, trailing off.
“Nice,” Remus finishes.
Sirius nods slightly before grabbing a sandwich, trying, and failing, to get you out of his thoughts.
***
‘I’m going to do it,’ you repeat to yourself. ‘I’m going to kiss him.’
Last night, you had conceived a plan to ask him if he wanted to walk with you to lunch, pretty sure that he would say yes again, and then kiss him in the hallway. You had it all set up in your mind, played it out like a scene from a movie, and convinced yourself that it was a good idea. You have absolutely nothing to lose. You’ll just wake up the next day anyway, and he won’t remember any of it.
At the conclusion of charms, you pop the question. Sirius casually agrees, and the two of you set out for lunch. You wring your hands together, nerves suddenly eating at your stomach, making you need to pee and throw up at the same time, and neither would be very attractive.
You round the corner into a less populated hallway where you had previously chosen to spring it on him. You can hear Alice’s soft footsteps behind you, her eyes watching every movement intently. You hadn’t told her your plan, figuring that she’ll see it for herself anyway.
Nervous thoughts bounce around your brain until you are pulled out of them by Sirius.
“Y/N, Are you alright?” he asks gently, placing a hand on your arm, stopping you to take a better look.
It’s now or never. Gathering up your courage, you roll onto your toes, lean in, lick your lips, take a breath.
Then you panic. You fall back on your heels with a thunk.
“I’m fine!” you nearly yell before practically running away.
You almost kissed him. You cannot believe that you almost kissed Sirius Black.
***
You stare at the ceiling, still embarrassed by yourself. You had almost placed a completely unwarranted kiss on Sirius Black’s lips.
‘I am going crazy!’ you think to yourself. You are in a time loop, first of all, talking to Sirius Black, and nearly kissing him. ‘What is wrong with me?’
But you can’t help but want to try again. You were so close you could smell his cologne, feel his breath on your cheeks. Why shouldn’t you try again? You still have nothing to lose.
***
“Sirius, would you like to walk with me to lunch?” you ask, your heart in your throat.
“Sure,” he says, offering you the same shrug as the last two times you asked.
You walk together, again. Alice hot on your heels, again. This time, you pull him into the hallway, and before you can second guess yourself, you lean up and plant the quickest kiss right on Sirius’ lips. You are so nervous that you nearly miss, and before he has any time to think, you pull away, mumble a soft ‘sorry’ and dash in the opposite direction.
Soon enough, Alice catches up with you and starts screaming, “Y/N! What did you just do?”
“I kissed Sirius,” you say barely above a whisper.
***
Turning over in bed, you glance at the clock, fully expecting the same letters to be in the top corner as they have been for the past two weeks. What you see instead makes you sit bolt upright in bed. ‘WED.’
The air rushes out of you, in complete disbelief. You yank your robes on and make a mad dash to find Alice in the Great Hall.
“What day is it?” you cry, a few people looking at you with confused stares.
“Wednesday,” Alice answers quickly, gripping your arm and pulling you forcefully into the place on the bench beside her. “What is up with you? Kissing Sirius, now running in here like a crazy person yelling about the days. Are you okay?”
“It’s Wednesday,” is all you can get out, still in shock. Alice stares at you like you’ve grown another head, but you ignore her.
It’s Wednesday.
Reality then comes crashing down when you see Sirius strut through the doors. His eyes immediately find you, and his feet carry him to you before you can escape. You hadn’t thought this far ahead.
“Y/N, can I talk to you outside?” Sirius asks lowly in a tone that could be perceived as upset. You really hope that he isn’t.
You stand up and follow him out, throwing one glance over your shoulder at Alice, who just waves sympathetically. He leads you to the courtyard where only a few first years sit with books on their laps.
When he stops, he turns around, and just looks at you, expectantly, almost.
“Is there something that you would like to tell me, Y/N?” Sirius asks softly.
Your stomach drops, and you gnaw at your lip, contemplating which truth to tell. Do you tell him that you like him? Leave it at that? Then never talk to him again because he will think you are totally crazy? Or do you let him think you are a whole different kind of crazy and tell him that you were stuck in a time loop and only broke it because you kissed him?
You must have been thinking for some time because Sirius grabs your arm and says, “Y/N, you can tell me. It’s okay.”
You take a deep breath. “I just want to say I’m really sorry. What I did was completely inappropriate, and uncalled for, and,” you stop, meeting his eyes which are surprisingly understanding but firm in urging you on. “You are going to think that I’m crazy.”
“Why would I think that?” Sirius asks, the mirth clear in his voice.
Chuckling, you shake your head. “Because I am. If you want the truth,” he nods, “here it is: I kept reliving the same Tuesday over and over again. I like you, and I used my, uh, my situation as an excuse to talk to you and, unfortunately, kiss you because you, well, you wouldn’t remember the next day. Except you did. So, I’m really sorry, and you don’t have to believe me or ever talk to me again.” The words rush out of you, barely comprehensible.
Sirius ponders the information, never breaking eye contact, his hand still grasped on your arm.
“So you’re telling me that you and I talked every day, and I don’t remember any of it.”
You nod.
“Well, that’s not fair.”
You laugh.
“How many times did we kiss?” he asks, amused.
“Just the once,” you answer timidly.
“What do you say we try it again? When we both know it’s coming.”
You can’t help the grin that is spreading across your face. “I can’t wait.”
***
“Did you ever figure out who put you in that time loop?” Alice asks you one day out of the blue.
You and Sirius have been dating for months now, and he is the only person you have told about your unorthodox and strange two weeks of Tuesdays.
“What?” you whip to see her smirking from behind her book.
Realization dawns on you. The conversation. The “talk to him” and the “walk up and kiss him.” That’s why she always followed you around when you were with Sirius. She was waiting until you made a move.
“You?!” you exclaim. “You did it?”
She only grins wider. “How else were you going to talk to him?”
“You made me live that day for two weeks!”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”
You just roll your eyes. “Unbelievable. How did you do it?”
“Simple spell really,” Alice shrugs.
You laugh, shaking your head. “What would I do without you?”