Grey Eyes (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

38. Out in the Open

Cecilia

“T-this is the worst idea ever. How did they get me to agree to this again?”

I wrap my arms even tighter around my body as I slowly make my way through the Forbidden Forest. Yeah, yeah, I know I’m making Sirius’ oh-so-suave body look lame, but I can’t stop myself from shivering uncontrollably! Every time I take a step, I feel as though I can hear some ungodly beast creeping up behind me.

Right… behind me…

WAY TO FREAK YOURSELF OUT, IDIOT.

I shake my head furiously and lean against a tree trunk to catch my breath.

Forget James and Sirius, Imight actually win best pathetic death scream if even so much as a rabbit sneaks up on me. And I mean genuinely pathetic death scream.

Though, speaking of Sirius… I wonder what Sonata was on about with Lucius Malfoy and all that. Why is his name coming up so often now anyway? I mean, wasn’t Sirius reading a letter from Lucius at King’s Cross too? And what does Regulus have to do with any of this?

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re all just having a row,” I mutter under my breath. “But… why would he tell Sonata about it?”

“Tell Sonata about what?”

And this is when I let out the most epic, deafening scream of my life. It wasn’t my proudest moment.

Immediately, I feel a small hand clamp over my mouth and a familiar voice hiss, “Blimey, that was loud! It’s just me!”

“Sirius!” I spin around and rip his hand away from my mouth. “Why did you sneak up on me like that? You know I’m scared of the dark!”

He gives me an amused look. “Are you telling me me that no matter how I approached you, you wouldn’t have screamed your head off anyway?”

“Well… no,” I reply lamely. He probably could have bounded over with cakes and flowers and I would still have freaked out. “Anyway, what are you doing here? Guess you’re the murderer then?”

“Ahh…” Sirius rubs the back of his neck. “Er, no. I thought you might be scared, so I came to find you.”

“Oh, um, thanks,” I mumble, my cheeks suddenly feeling warm.

It seems like Sirius’ eyes adjusted to the dark faster than mine because I hear him chuckle and then take my hand. “Don’t mention it.” I can hear the grin in his voice. “C’mon, let’s go.”

He starts pulling me through the dense forest by the hand and I can’t help but smile to myself. It’s weird to think that it comforts me to feel my body’s tiny hand holding my own, but it does. Maybe because in this darkness, when it’s hard to see even a few feet in front of me, I can imagine it really is Sirius leading me through the forest.

“Where are we going?” I ask after a moment of silence.

I see his silhouette shrug. “Anywhere. Well, anywhere far enough away from Sonata.”

“Er, why?”

“I’ll bet you anything that she rigged the drawing so that she’d get the murderer slip. Then she could let the game go for as long as she wanted until she found me.” He pauses. “Well, or you, rather.”

I make a face in the darkness and roll my eyes to the back of my head. Sonata has got her ways, I’ll bloody give her that. What could she possibly be planning to do to Sirius in the Forbidden Forest anyway? Assault him? Then again, Sirius seems to be pretty used to that already…