Rough Waters |Sirius Black

Chapter Eighteen

"You want to do what exactly?!" Nixie asked for the millionth time as she sat in front of Sirius wide eyed as Sirius buried his face into his hands.

"I don't know how many times we have to go through this, Nini!" he snapped, but quickly realized his short temper had gotten the best of him to look up and see Nixie's stern gaze looking at him. "Sorry."

Nixie sighed heavily before looking out at the stormy weather outside. "Sirius, returning...would mean..it would put you in danger of being caught."

"I've been on the run this long, haven't I? Successfully, I might add."

"You're the one who told me you were nearly caught on the Hogwarts grounds that night-"

"Keyword : Nearly." he smirked at her. He could see the stress wash over her face as she shook her head, probably feeling the worse of returning back to Britain.

"Nini, everything is going to be okay, but you and I...we need to be there for Harry. His scar hurting is not just normal pain that other children feel."

"I'm well aware but I'm not fully sure what it means and neither do you. It's risky to go back when we haven't a clue as to what to expect."

"Where's your sense of adventure, Nini?" he teased.

"There is no sense of adventure if I lose you." she told him. "I can't lose you, Sirius. Not again."

Her voice cracked as she looked down at the letter that was still in her hands.

"Oh Nini, don't cry." he said. 'I was only trying to make you laugh or at least smile."

She remained quiet, reading over Harry's letter over and over complaining that his scar was hurting. The scar that had marked his forehead the night his parents were killed.

Poor Lily and James Potter.

Nixie squeezed her eyes closed trying to dismiss the mental image of her dear friends laughing and smiling over their newborn son when she and Sirius had been there to see Harry for the first time.

To return back to their homeland, certainly meant things were probably going to be dangerous as they would be back in the jurisdiction of the Ministry again. But she knew they really had no choice, she had told Lily that she would always be there for young Harry and for the past thirteen years of the boy's life, she had failed terribly at doing so.

She could hear Sirius moving closer to her, and eventually the letter was taken from her hands and placed aside. Both of his hands held the sides of her face, lifting her head up slightly to face him.

"Now that we're together again, we're going to stay together." Sirius told her. "I'm not letting anyone take you away from me, and I'm not anyone take me away from you. I refuse and I will put up the fight of the ages to keep it that way. But Harry needs us now, I don't know why his scar would be hurting, but we have to be there for him, Nixie. We made that promise to Lily and James, did we not?"

"Yes...we did." she answered.

He pressed his lips together for a moment. "I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do though. I can't make you go back-"

"I'm going back." she said. "Where you go, I go. Remember?"

Sirius nodded with a smile before bringing her back into a kiss, hoping for sure that time that one of the island birds wouldn't interrupt the moment. Nixie's hands rested on his bare chest making Sirius' skin tingle in pleasure as his fingers became lost in her long hair. As the two became lost in each other, Sirius stopped for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Nixie asked as she was left slightly breathless.

Sirius turned his head and brought her attention over to where Buckbeak was still resting in the tent.

The three were all looking at one another before Buckbeak made an irritable noise before picking himself up and leaving the tent.

"Buckbeak, you shouldn't go out in the storm!" Nixie called after the hippogriff.

"It's lighten up quite a bit, Nini." Sirius said as he stuck his hand out and only felt the light rain drops hit his hands.

Nixie whacked him lightly on the chest. "He still shouldn't be out there..."

"He'll be fine and if it gets bad, I'm sure he'll back. He just needs to walk around..stretch his wings a little."

Nixie didn't look all that convinced but before she could argue, Sirius grabbed her as he laid back, holding her over him.

"You know what I find funny?" he said softly as he tucked her hair behind her ears.

"What?" she asked.

"You really haven't changed after all these years." he smiled at her. "You're still as beautiful as when I first told you that I loved you. It was like when I finally came home and saw you...it was as if I had just gone back in time...nothing changed. Of course you probably saw me and screamed internally. Merlin's beard, what is that thing standing in the kitchen?"

Nixie laughed as she sat up in his lap. 'That's certainly not what I thought when I first saw you." she said as he sat up, keeping her legs wrapped around him.

"What did you think then?"

"I really thought I had ended up falling down the stairs and was dreaming...but when I realized it was real...I was just so happy. I'm still so happy that you're back...I didn't..I didn't think I would see you again. I held out hope but..."

"It's okay, Nini. I understand. I was hoping that you would have moved on with your life while I was gone...but part of me was selfishly hoping that you would be around when I went to see you. That we could pick up where we left off. I wasn't sure what to think when I asked Remus about you...he said he hadn't heard from you in so long, he figured you entered the waters. Then I thought about the merman that I was going to have to beat up when I found you."

She giggled before shaking her head. "No...merman aren't my type." she said. "I prefer those that do the doggy paddle when they swim."

He smirked before she kissed him.

"Let's go back and help our godson." she whispered against his lips.

"Are you sure, Nini?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have said it otherwise, Fluffy."

'Alright, we're going back then." he said. "But before we do that, we just have one thing to take care of."

"What's that?" she asked in confusion glancing around. She looked back to him to see the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh Sirius!"

He laughed before pulling her back and rolling over on top of her.

"Come now, Nini, you should have expected this." he said inches from her face, his hair tickling her face.

"You're right, I can't even argue with that." She admitted before closing the remaining space between them.

Buckbeak walked along the water when he peered up and saw the sun peeking through the dark clouds but in the far off distance he could see the darker clouds rolling in.

It was the calm before the real storm.