One Step Ahead Part II | Sirius Black

Chapter 215

{{MATURE! this one is pretty steamy ;)}}

Gwen stares at the ceiling, noting the long thin crack in the bathroom that branches off like blood vessels.

Blood.

That's all she'd seen when Antonin Dolohov joined the crowd of death eaters around Gideon and Fabian Prewett. The twins had it, they had it. Gwen had been fighting off two of her own, and while she couldn't tell who they were without their masks, she'd heard enough about Lucius Malfoy to recognize the pompous nature of his dueling. Pompous, over confident. But then she'd turned, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett disappeared. Right in front of her eyes.

As if they had never been physical entities.

She'd been close enough that the force of whatever curse had been used on them had freckled her cheeks with red.

It made her sick, not that she'd told Sirius. That when the screams quieted and the death eaters fled the carnage, she'd stumbled behind the ruins of a house and puked until her throat was raw.

She loved the Prewett twins. Their energy was like pure laughter, and Gwen tried to remember a time where she had been able to look at them without smiling.

She'd smiled when she and Fabian ended their Valentine's Day with a kiss that ended in an eruption of laughter. It had been a good kiss, the boy was sweet. But he'd simply leaned back from her, sighed, and said with a dry chuckle that he knew exactly who she wished she was kissing. He'd been right, and she didn't need to apologize. Instead, they laughed. They laughed because Gwen tried to kiss him again, and while her Veela charm certainly worked on him, they smiled the whole time their lips touched because somehow they both knew that Ninnie the Narc was meant to be kissing the playboy Marauder. Sirius Black. It had always been him.

"Inferi."

She smiles, her eyes tracing the blood vessels of the Potter's house, the cracks that she hadn't noticed until branches of her life began to wither away and die. Mia. Monty. Gideon. Fabian. Her list was growing long, but it had started with her mother. She wishes for her now. Wishes for someone that knows more about the world than she ever could. Her mother held the world in her heart, the ocean in her eyes. And Gwen's life in her palm. 

"Gwen."

Her chin lowers and then she's looking at a shade of grey that soothes her soul. Sirius. Her's. He was her's. She blinks at him, saying quietly, "Maybe I shouldn't have told."

Sirius' brow furrows in confusion, and then his face smooths. Alice. Gwen had known Alice Longbottom had been pregnant for sometime. And yet, she had waited. Something had told her to. He shakes his head slowly, "No," He sounds so sure of himself, and Gwen's shoulders finally slump under the weight of the day, the secrets revealed. "It was right of you. She shouldn't have hid it. It's not fair."

"Is there really fairness in war?" Gwen questions, seeking an honest answer. Sirius hesitates, his lips twitching into a half smile that looks so soft it pains her. He shrugs, admitting, "I think you're far more suited to questions like that, you bloody seer."

Her eyes close, and she laughs quietly, "Not a seer. Just an observer. You'll learn."

Her heart feels like air despite the danger of today, despite the burn in her throat that hadn't faded since she saw Antonin Dolohov rid the universe of the joy of Gideon and Fabian Prewett. And as if hearing her nerves fray, Sirius gently drags his lips over the line that forever splits her neck and reminds them of life. Not death. No, this scar was precious in a way others hadn't been and would never be. 

Life. 

Her breathing hitches at the contact, and her hands reach out, grasping at his still slightly damp shirt. He smells of smoke and sweat, and instead of opening her eyes to witness the beauty of her dream, she blocks one of her senses to enhance the feeling of others. The feeling of him.