The friendship between Gloria Sisyphus and Lily Evans began in a situation of shared misery.
After joint classes between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Sirius and James would call out to the two girls, grinning like a pair of idiots. Gloria and Evans happened to walk out together, and they exchanged a glance, reading the helplessness in each other's eyes. Evans smiled warmly at Gloria. Gloria was stunned for a moment, then returned the smile. That was the beginning of this rather pleasant friendship.
In truth, Elodie and Lily Evans were very good friends. With Elodie acting as a mutual friend to both of them, it was only natural for girls of the same age to hang out together. At first, Gloria always kept a certain distance from Lily. It was not because she disliked her; on the contrary, she cherished this rare friendship far too much. She could not let her father find out that she had a Muggle-born friend. For Lily, that would be a hurt.
Yet she had forgotten that Gryffindors are always brave. Perhaps everyone ought to take that brave step forward.
Gloria had never liked being tied down, and she had to admit that she liked Lily Evans. With such a flawless girl, surely very few people could ever dislike her. Oh, perhaps there were some—the pure-blood supremacist snakes.
Gloria was walking back to her common room. Classes were over for the day, and since tomorrow was the weekend, many students chose to take a stroll around the Black Lake before dark. But Gloria had lost track of time while reading, and by the time she left, it was pitch dark. As she walked toward the common room, she heard a familiar voice:
"Let her go!"
Gloria stopped in her tracks and looked toward the source of the sound. It was Lily's voice. She hurried over and saw a few students in Slytherin uniforms standing opposite Lily. On the ground lay another girl whom Gloria vaguely recognized as Mary Macdonald, Lily's roommate. Macdonald had clearly been cursed and could not move. Gloria frowned, watching the tense standoff.
"Hmph, another Mudblood. I don't think we need to be polite, Avery."
"You're right, Mulciber."
The Slytherin known as Avery gave a cruel smile, flicking his wand to cast a curse. Lily's brow furrowed as she took a defensive stance, but before she could react, a Shield Charm materialized right in front of her. Lily blinked, feeling a cool hand gently grab hers. She turned her head to see Gloria staring coldly at the two boys.
"What... are you doing?"
Her voice was icy, falling upon the ears of Avery and Mulciber like a chill even more biting than the Black Lake. Mulciber paused for a moment.
"We were just—just having some fun."
Naturally, they recognized the person standing before them. Setting aside her signature white hair, her reputation alone was enough to make them wary. Gloria Sisyphus, that genius girl. Very few pure-bloods dared to provoke her voluntarily, even if many people did not know why. Mulciber thought it was ridiculous that others were so afraid of such a young girl. Even though he was wary of her, he had no intention of giving her a wide berth. In his view, no matter what, she was still just a girl. How formidable could she possibly be?
"Fun? Bullying a classmate right out in the open school corridors? Are you truly not afraid of a professor walking by and docking points from Slytherin?"
Naturally, Gloria could not openly defend Lily, or else these bullies would never leave her alone. Slytherins valued honor; using the threat of point deductions was the best strategy. After all, the new school prefects were Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black, and she happened to be on quite good terms with Narcissa.
Sure enough, upon hearing Gloria's words, hesitation flashed in the eyes of the two boys. Shoving each other aside, they made to leave. Lily hurriedly rushed over to help Macdonald up. The curse on her had already been lifted by Gloria, though the lingering effects of the stinging hex still required a visit to the Hospital Wing. However, neither of them noticed the resentful and malicious glances Mulciber and Avery cast at them from behind.
Evading Gloria, the two boys cast a curse anyway. Gloria sensed it, but she was a fraction too late to stop it. She could only dash forward and pull Lily out of the way, though her own wrist was grazed in the process. Gloria winced, her brow furrowing in pain. Ignoring her wound entirely, she fixed her icy glare upon the two boys. Avery and Mulciber felt as though they were being targeted by a venomous snake, and they fled the scene in a hurry.
"Gloria, are you alright?"
Lily's anxious voice rang out, pulling Gloria's gaze away. Gloria used her wand to lighten Macdonald's body weight, letting Lily support her, and then silently led Lily down to the Hospital Wing.
After Madam Pomfrey bandaged the wounds of the two injured girls, she saw that curfew was fast approaching and decided not to make them head back. Lily was deeply worried about them and wanted to stay, but Madam Pomfrey persuaded her to return. Gloria also urged her to go back and rest without worry, and only then did Lily leave, weighed down by anxiety and guilt.
In the dead of night, a faint sound stirred at the quiet entrance of the Hospital Wing. A figure slowly stepped inside, walking quietly to the side of Gloria's bed. In his dark gray eyes burned anger and heartache.
It was Sirius.
Because Lily had not returned, James had been pacing anxiously in the common room, intending to drag Sirius out to search for her. Just as they were about to head out, they bumped into Lily, who had returned with a face full of guilt. The other girls in their year had also been worrying about her; seeing her return, they swarmed around her to ask what had happened. Upon learning the whole story, the most furious was James, followed closely by Sirius, whose face was like frost and whose eyes burned with rage.
None of the Gryffindors had ever seen Sirius look like that; it was an expression that sent a shiver of fear through anyone who saw it. After James offered Lily a few words of comfort and stormed back to the dormitory swearing loudly that he would settle the score with those two Slytherins tomorrow, Sirius didn't say a word. He left the common room, ignoring James shouting at his back, and came straight to the Hospital Wing.
Looking at the sleeping Gloria, Sirius sat down beside her and lifted her bandaged hand, lost in thought. After a long while, Sirius leaned close to that hand and pressed a kiss to it before slipping away.
The next day, the news of Sisyphus being injured spread like wildfire through the Slytherin common room. Beverly was the first to blow her top, nearly drawing her wand to hex the two culprits herself before Gloria stopped her.
Waking up in the morning, Gloria checked on Macdonald, ate breakfast, and returned to the common room. Evidently, the news had already reached everyone in the house—including Lucius Malfoy.
Just as Gloria had anticipated, their reckless stunt clearly displeased him greatly. Naturally, he would not dock points from his own house, nor would he choose to report them to a professor. But knowing Gloria's temperament too well, he merely reprimanded them verbally before casting one last meaningful look at Gloria and walking away.
Beverly was intensely dissatisfied that they had been let off so easily without any real punishment, but Gloria merely smiled. She knew that Lucius was handing the punishment of those two boys over to her. She also knew that look meant she should exercise some restraint. Keeping her composure, Gloria cast a sidelong glance at the two boys, who were currently patting themselves on the back and celebrating their narrow escape, a ruthless glint flashing in her eyes.
When night fell and the castle was hushed and still, Avery and Mulciber were walking back to their common room, having apparently just come from the Great Hall. From somewhere nearby, the sudden meow of a cat echoed, causing the two boys to stop in their tracks. A cat's yowl in such an eerie setting was hardly comforting.
They failed to realize that at this exact moment, they had paused right in a seldom-used corridor corner. Just as they intended to brush off their doubts and a growing sense of foreboding to keep walking, they were astonished to find their legs bound together by a Leg-Locker Curse.
Caught completely off guard, the pair crashed to the ground. As they struggled in confusion, the sound of footsteps echoed before them. Startled, the two boys lifted their heads and saw Gloria emerging from the shadows. A faint smile played at the corners of her lips, but her eyes were ice-cold as she stared down at them. She raised her still-bandaged hand to give them a casual wave, though her voice carried not an ounce of warmth—only a creeping chill that sent shivers surging up their spines.
"Good evening, you two."