The Godmother

9. appeal

ELIZABETH RESTED HER HEAD IN THE NOOK OF SIRIUS' ARM. She turned her head to look at him. He was already staring at her.

She hadn't done what she did with Sirius in years. The feeling of satisfaction- of complete bliss- had well washed over Elizabeth. The yearning had been fulfilled. Elizabeth was for the first time in a long time, somewhat satisfied.

"I love you, you know that, right?", Sirius said. Elizabeth felt him lean over and kiss her hair.

"I love you, too, Sirius", she said.

"I've been waiting for years to do that", he sighed, "years".

They laid for a while more before Elizabeth looked towards the clock on the wall. It was nearing 1pm. Elizabeth knew that if she was gone for too long, people would grow suspicious. With Remus frequently checking up on her and students that would potentially try to find her during their spare time, Elizabeth had to be on the ball and only come down for short amounts of time.

She knew she had to leave, but she felt like her bones had attached themselves to Sirius, like the roots of a tree digging deep into his mattress, forcing her to stay. It was warm and Elizabeth was contempt. Happy. It struck her that she was happy, possibly for the first time in 15 years. Happy. No depression or impending sense of doom. Just happy.

"I can't come down so much, Sirius", Elizabeth admitted. She shifted and laid on her side, perching her hand against his thin chest.

"Oh", he said.

Sirius had bloomed slightly since she'd last come down. Now that she got to properly look at him, she saw that the pink had come back into his face. His eyes weren't so black and his cheekbones weren't so prominent, even his body looked less hollow and more- manlier. His tattoos were still weak and faded against his skin. He'd bared them for a long time.

"Where did you get these from?", she asked, tracing her finger through a Survival rune drawn in the centre of his bare chest around other symbols.

"Well, I told you how the Death Eaters shunned me because they all knew the truth. I thought getting tattoos might be a way of..."

"Trying to look cooler?", Elizabeth looked up at him and raised an eyebrow tauntingly. Sirius rolled his eyes, trying not to smile while looking away from her. "Sirius Black not being cool and popular? My God, this world is utterly upside down", she teased.

"Shut up", he bitched, "it wasn't just that! Runes protect you", he said defensively, "being in a place that horrible, I wanted all the protection I could get", he explained.

"It makes sense", she said more soberly, tracing over a new rune. "A love rune?", she said, remembering the shape of the ink, "why would you need a love rune?"

"So I could remember you. If my mind was sent to the same place as my body, atleast looking at the rune could remind me of you. You're trapped in me forever, Liz. I refuse to live without you", he said.

Elizabeth looked up at him and nodded. It took all the energy she could muster, but she stood up from the bed and put on all her clothes.

"Have you got much food?", she asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Why? Are you hungry? I can make- er- something", Sirius offered. He had moved to sit on the edge of the bed and was now buttoning on a shirt.

"No, I'm making sure you're not starving", Elizabeth said. She walked to the pantry and opened the cupboard. It looked almost bare. She waved her wand towards the shelves, and instantly, tins of soup, biscuits, spices, bread and chips appeared scattered amongst the shelves. She did the same to the fridge, only this time, restocking it with red meats and fruit and vegetables.