The Soul Collector

Ch. Thirty-Two

"Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves."

- Paul Tillich

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Sirius returned covered in dirt and with a small gash open on his temple. When she had tried to ask if he was all right, he'd just waved her off and disappeared into the bathroom where he'd spent what Galloway thought was an unreasonable amount of time in the shower. She was pretty sure the only reason he got out was because the water ran cold.

They left just as the sun was setting and drove for three hours in complete silence. It had to break eventually.

"Why did I kiss you?" The words were out of her mouth before she could really consider them.

She expected certain things from Sirius. Him suggesting that they "enjoy the ride", as he had so eloquently put it, was not one of those things. 

Teasing? Yes. Flirting? Definitely. The occasional physical confrontation? More than definitely.

But this wasn't one of those things. It was, in fact, very far from what she expected, considering where "enjoying the ride" would take them. Where it would take her. And perhaps this fell into one of the categories of the expected. But it didn't feel that way.

It felt more...serious. She frowned, wishing he had picked a name that was slightly less ludicrous. But the fact remained that she had never heard that particular tone of voice from him before and it had been a marvelous testament to her self-control to wait for so long to ask.

When he didn't answer, she looked over to find him glaring at the snow fluttering past the window. She bit her lip, wondering if she should ask again, or if she should leave it alone. Then she decided that this whole repression thing hadn't been working stunningly well lately.

She might as well give communication a shot.

As soon as she opened her mouth though, Sirius said, "What's it matter?"

"It seemed to matter when we woke up."

"Because you're tired of telling me no, apparently," he said flippantly, his tone instantly grating on her nerves.

She blinked, perplexed. "What?"

Sirius turned to her, a smug smile that didn't reach his eyes playing around his mouth. 

She bit her lip, wanting to slap that expression right off his face. "And what does that mean, exactly?"

He stretched, ruffling his hair up a little. "Just that. Either way, it's not like you really said it, so who cares?"

Galloway raised a suspicious eyebrow. "I'm tired of saying no?" she repeated. "That's all it took for a ghost to lure you in and jump you?"

Sirius smirked, like he was enjoying some private joke. "Well, that wasn't how you—it—whatever, said it."

"Then how—," she began, then shook her head. "No. Never mind. That's not really what I want to know about anyway."

It was agonizing to let this drop—to not ask if he was okay after being freaking possessed—but she could already tell that he wasn't going to say anything about it... Even if he maybe should talk about it. 

That didn't mean she believed him though, and Galloway wanted to understand what the ghost could have possibly said to make Sirius drop his guard enough to get possessed. But there was something a little more pressing than even that.