Winter In The Shade | Sirius Black x Female Ravenclaw Reader

IX

The marauders didn't stay at the Great Hall for long, running out of the large room as soon as the shouting coming from Professor Mcgonagall was heard from the front of the room; grins were drawn on all four faces as soon as her stern voice broke over the magic of their little Christmas show, leaving them frozen with excitement at the thought of another run to avoid the anger of Minerva Mcgonagall.

They all stared down at the source of her voice before breaking out of the first shock, the four marauders slipping on the same snow they had conjured to catch themselves a second later and making a run for the door. Their laughs echoed the stone walls of the Castle, their rapid footsteps leaving nothing behind but pure excitement as everyone witnessed Professor Mcgonagall marching after them with the most stern calm anyone had ever seen.

Although, you were sure your eyes didn't come up with the small smile tugging at her lips.

"They're amazing." Félix murmured in amazement, his eyes gleaming as he looked at you.

You chuckled lightly, ruffling his hair as you let the smile on your lips completely settle on your face. "They are something else, I'll give you that." Your eyes wandered at the door, Sirius' form disappearing from your sight just seconds ago as his words still played inside your head. The exchange had been so short and yet it felt like it dragged for hours, you were sure your own head was already adding to the memory to make it look like something that never happened, changing the entire interaction to something you might read in one of your favorite novels.

By the second time you replayed the memory in your head, it had already become something completely different from what reality had served you. Or has it?

You wanted to think, believe, that whatever Sirius was becoming in your life, that whatever role he was playing in your story, it was just something random. But deep down you knew it felt different. He wasn't just another person you would meet in your time at Hogwarts, he felt more important. You alone were giving him more importance just by thinking of him, by wondering. Because you knew that no one asks questions to then say they don't care.

*******

Sirius almost slipped three times on their way to safety from Professor Mcgonagall. One while trying to run over the melting snow in the Great Hall, the second one as he ran straight into Moony's back as he was being too careful not to step on the plates and goblets of the Great Hall, and the third one as he stole one last glance in your direction.

You weren't supposed to be there.

Not that he complained. You were the Christmas present that he never expected, sitting there with that little boy that always seemed to be at your side.

He hoped no one noticed the way his act dropped as soon he set his gaze on you, the way he felt his grin morph into a soft smile, the way his shoulders fell from their confident stand, the way his steps slowed until he was standing in front of you, how his voice came in a light whisper and not his usual loudness. But then again he didn't really care if they noticed. In fact, he wished they saw it all, that they took notes and photographs to remember the look on Sirius Black when he unexpectedly set eyes on you.

The raw look of love.

He had been scared at first. Love. Love, love, love. But after many nights in panic, many interventions from his friends who seemed to enjoy this confusion from him more than actually helping him figure out this foreign weight in his chest, he realized it was what it was. He loved you and it terrified him. He was mainly concerned at the speed in which it had happened, he thought love took time. Maybe it did for some. Not for him, not with you.

A hand around his arm snatched him out of his head and away from the hallway, the shushing sound of his friends as they all tried to stifle their laughter bringing him back to the present.