What the Heart Wants (Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 15

The first Friday in December, Sadie awoke to a familiar cold, quiet stillness that she knew could only mean one thing. With a gasp, she scrambled out of bed and rushed to the window to gaze in delight at the snow-covered grounds. She bit back a squeal and quickly pulled on her favorite winter clothes and cast a warming charm on them before galloping down the stairs, across the common room, and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Bursting through the door, she bounded into the room and launched herself onto Sirius's bed.

"Oof!" He groaned and opened one eye to look at her, frowning deeply. "Merlin, Sadie," he grumbled in irritation. "It's too early to be alive. Go away." In contrast to his words, he pulled her under the blanket with him and hugged her tightly to his body. "On second thought, stay. It's freezing, and you're warm."

Sadie felt a new kind of heat spread through her body, and she found herself relaxing into his embrace with a sigh as he immediately fell back asleep. Her cheek and hand were pressed against the soft skin of his bare chest, and she absentmindedly began to run her fingers softly along the contours of his muscles; the last couple years of playing beater had been very kind to him. Tilting her head up slightly, she let her eyes wander over his face. Even in sleep, his dark hair framed his features with a sort of effortless grace. His jawline and cheekbones were sharp and defined and offered a nice contrast to the soft outline of his lips. Unbidden, the thought of how those lips would feel against hers entered her mind and was quickly followed by the sudden desire to strip off several layers of her clothing just to feel more of his skin...

With a start, Sadie wrenched herself away from his body and shook those images from her mind as best as she could. Sirius groaned again and opened his eyes to glower at her, but the grogginess in his expression spoiled the effect somewhat. He sighed and reluctantly propped himself up on his elbow, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Alright, what is it Sadie Mae?"

For a moment, Sadie simply stared at him with wide, panicked eyes. He quirked an eyebrow at her, and she shook her head quickly to clear it.

"Snow!" She squeaked. "It snowed!"

In an instant, all tiredness was gone from Sirius's expression. His face split into a wide grin, and he threw the blanket off of himself and jumped out of bed. Despite having seen it plenty of times before, Sadie averted her eyes uncomfortably from her boxer-clad friend. Sirius didn't notice as he was busy throwing clothes on as quickly as he could. As soon as he was dressed, he grinned and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the dorm with him.

This had been their tradition since first year. On the morning of the first snow of the season, they would get up early enough to spend a couple of hours outside before classes started. They would get in as much sledding, fort-building, and snowball-fighting as they could before reluctantly dragging themselves back into the castle in time to scarf down some breakfast and make it to class in the nick of time.

They had just made it to the bottom of their favorite sledding hill when Sirius sighed dramatically and laid down on his sled.

"I'm too tired to make it back up. You'll have to pull me." He smirked and glanced up at Sadie, who was staring at him incredulously. "Go on! Mush!"

Sadie scoffed, holding back laughter. "You wish! Besides, you're the dog here! If anything, it should be you pulling me!" Then, her eyes lit up, and she gave him a look that he knew all too well.

"No," he shook his head immediately. "Absolutely not."

Sadie knelt down in front of him with clasped hands and pouted prettily, batting her eyelashes. "Pretty please?"

Sirius clenched his jaw and tried not to look at her, but it was no use. With a groan of exasperation, he stood up and gestured toward her sled. "Fine. But only this once, and you owe me!"