Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Twelve

Sirius couldn't bring himself to sleep as the night settled in. Nixie had long fallen asleep and was curled up on her side, her back facing him. Since the near meltdown on the beach earlier, neither one of them had really spoken to each other. He had tried to approach her after realizing she was crying, but Nixie quickly picked herself up and left to a different part of the island for the majority of the day. He hadn't realized how much guilt Nixie carried over not taking responsibility over Harry, but she wasn't aware that she didn't have too much say in the matter. It was Dumbledore who had made the decision for everyone to place Harry in the Dursley's care and it was obviously for a reason even if they didn't understand it quite fully.

Pushing himself up, Sirius crawled over to the other side so he and Nixie were face to face. Her hair was draped over her face as she slept, her hand wrapped tightly in a fist around something. He reached his hand forward and opened up her hand gently to reveal that she had fallen asleep holding onto her wedding ring. He sighed heavily before pushing her hair out of her face. She scrunched up her face as the movement of her hair tickled her nose. Letting out a sound of irritation she tried to nuzzle further beneath her robes but failed miserably much to Sirius' amusement.

He laid down beside her, watching as her face softened and she drifted back into her peaceful slumber.

"I'm sorry, Nini. You shouldn't have been put through any of this." he said softly. "It really is all my fault even though you don't think so."

He moved her robes over her body a bit more to cover her before he sat up and looked out at the water, he let out another sigh before reaching into his pocket and grabbing the wand that Nixie had given him. He glanced over at his wife before standing up and walking a good distance away from her.

He didn't want to wake her as he apparated from the island.

Nixie awoke the next morning to her side being nudged. She lifted her head, squinting her eyes as they adjusted to the light. She looked over to see Buckbeak nudging her repeatedly with his head.

"No." she said before pulling her cloak over her head trying to ignore the hippogriff. Buckbeak was not taking no as an answer as he let out a loud screech and flapped his wings at her.

"Get a job.' she grumbled at him. 'And leave me alone."

Buckbeak grabbed her robe and pulled it off of her body before tossing it to the side.

Nixie sat up. "I thought you and I came to an understanding."

Buckbeak snapped in her face. 

"Yeah, well same to you." Nixie told him before rubbing her eyes and staring out sleepily at the water. "Couldn't you have woken up Fluffy first?"

She looked over as she went to wake Sirius up but noticed he wasn't lying next to her. She turned the other way but he wasn't there either.

With a frown, she stood up and looked up and down the shoreline.

"Where is he?" she asked Buckbeak. The hippogriff raked his claws into the sand but remained still.

"I have no idea what that means, by the way." she said. A small surge of panic ran through her chest as she didn't see Sirius anywhere. She lifted one of her hands to her mouth and chewed on her thumbnail for a moment as she walked along the water. The warm water splashed along her feet but her body still felt extremely cold in the moment.

She wondered where Sirius had ventured off to and without Buckbeak at his side. She searched the regular spots but he wasn't present at any of them. Reaching for her wand, Nixie looked to the vacant island before looking out at the water.

'No." she cursed under her breath at herself. She hated the thought that had ran through her mind. "He wouldn't do that, Nixie, stop it."

With no sign of Sirius, her mind began to piece together a horrible scenario that he had left her. Perhaps things had not been the way Sirius had planned them to be, maybe she wasn't what he was expecting upon his return.

Buckbeak nudged her forward again with his head as she stood still, nearly gnawing the end of her finger off.

"Maybe I said the wrong thing yesterday." Nixie confided in Buckbeak. "I have a tendency to do that."

The large bird creature stared at her but of course, said nothing.

"It's just...he's so hard on himself when he shouldn't be. He couldn't have known what would have happened and I know that if Lily and James could tell him, they would say they don't blame him. I know they don't...you know?"

She glanced over at Buckbeak who lowered his head slightly.

She sighed. "The fact of the matter is...Sirius is innocent but even he doesn't fully believe that. But I don't know how to get him to see that."

Rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand, Nixie closed her eyes for a second trying to figure out what she was going to do.

She had no idea where Sirius had gone, even if it was to the other side of the island, but she was worried as to why he didn't inform her of his departure. 

It had all been so sudden.

"What do I do, Beaky?"