One Step Ahead part I | Sirius Black

Chapter 125

{{another one! Yay!}}

Sirius practically dumps the Veela from his lap as he stands abruptly.

Gwen grips onto the edge of the table to steady herself, blinking confusedly as Sirius disappears from the kitchen. She looks to the boys and asks, "Was it something I said?"

James smiles slightly, scratching the back of his neck as he replies, "I think it's more—"

Sirius reappears quickly, a stormy look on his face as he stalks over to the table and slams down the Daily prophet. The boys jump from the sound, Regulus quickly reaching to steady his and Remus' shaking tea cups. Gwen chews anxiously on the inside of her cheek, refusing to read the front page. She couldn't see it. She wouldn't. Until Sirius grunts angrily, "Look, Inferi. Look at this."

She reluctantly allows her eyes to drift across the moving picture on the front of the newspaper, her stomach turning at the familiar skull symbol hanging in the clouds. She swallows down bile that threatens to rise, her ears easily recalling the screams from the streets of the village.

"You were there?!" Sirius asks, voice demanding and distraught. Gwen takes a quiet sip of her tea before replying calmly, "Yes, that would be in Bulgaria wouldn't it?"

He scowls at her passiveness, throwing the front page of the Prophet open and gesturing towards the headline. Gwen reads it thoughtfully, her heart clenching at the number of dead muggles and half bloods. She can't help but feel the tiniest bit relieved that no veela were noted, though that may have been the ministry looking over them again. She sighs at the thought of Andrei and Nikola, Ivo and Ivan and Bojidar. Kind. Innocent. She hopes they made it. The chances are small.

She lifts her eyes to see the boys staring at her, Sirius practically fuming from beside her. She blinks a few times before asking, "Yes? I assume you have questions."

"No fucking shit—"

Gwen's resolve snaps and she glares, silencing Sirius before he can finish his sentence. He clamps his mouth shut, grey eyes like tiny pieces of flint as he looks at her. She takes a deep breath in, saying pointedly, "I will answer questions that I can. I will not answer to being yelled at."

Sirius feels a very large rush of regret and fear. He was trying to win her back, get in her good graces. Not scare her off by being a prick. He couldn't help it. As soon as she said where he'd been, he'd seen red. Red hot anger that consumed him like wildfire.

The kitchen is awkward for a moment and he nearly panics when she stands and stares at him. What if she left again? What if she didn't want him? His breathing is borderline erratic, heart rate in the danger zone. But then she quirks a brow and asks curiously, "Aren't you going to sit back down?"

He swears then and there that he's going to be with this girl forever, no matter what. Here he was, practically yelling at her. And she merely asks if he's going to sit down in their chair again. Sirius swallows past the lump in his throat and nods, reclaiming his seat. His lips twitch when she simply sits back down on his knee.

He knows he's still in the dog house though, because she turns to the boys and waits patiently for them to speak, not sparing him a second glance. He suddenly realizes the wit of the being on his lap, always one step ahead of him. This was worse than a screaming match. He was being forced to sit quietly, to be patient and listen. Sirius could touch, could hold her. But only if he remained silent.

He scowls irritably, feeling like he's been put in a bloody time out. He grumbles to himself, but can't resist her, so he wraps one arm around her waist. His other hand creeps up to tug purposefully on her hair to signal that he knows just what she is doing.