One Step Ahead part I | Sirius Black

Chapter 120

His friends smile warmly and she begins to relax. He grins and gestures towards the chalk drawn on the pavement. She tilts her head at the Roman numerals and spies a stone sitting on a number. The boy with black hair says gruffly, though his face remains kind, "I am Andrei. This is Bojidar, Ivan and Ivo, and Nikola."

Gwen nods, shaking each of the boy's hands before saying softly, "I'm Gwen."

"Gwin," A boy with blonde hair and brown eyes, Ivo, she thinks, repeats curiously. She shrugs before telling him yes. It was close enough. Andrei gestures for her to watch as he hops across the boxes, dragging the stone along with one foot. He suddenly curses when his foot touches the line, his friends laughing as he groans and leaves the boxes.

Gwen laughs too, smiling sheepishly when Nikola, a boy with chocolaty brown hair that reminds her of James says excitedly, "You try, Gwin."

She bites back a chuckle at the way they say her name. They guide her to stand in front of the boxes and she begins to hop, trying to drag the stone along with her to the next box. She laughs when she nearly falls, the boys quickly grabbing her and helping her to right herself. They let her try again, Ivan and Bojidar holding her hands to keep her from tripping.

They cheer when she crosses the last box and her cheeks flush with excitement. She stands next to Andrei as Nikola gives it a go, the boys teasing him when he steps on the line almost immediately. Gwen joins in, playfully swatting away their hands when they go to gently punch her arms.

When the sun starts to set, they invite her to join them for dinner. She contemplates going back to her room and getting some rest, but she was having fun. A first in the last couple of days. All she'd thought about was war and dark Wizards and how badly she wished she could've been with Sirius for Christmas.

She throws her head back and laughs freely when Andrei and Ivo link their arms with hers, following Nikola, Bojidar, and Ivan as they walk through the streets. They say some things in Bulgarian that she doesn't understand, but Andrei always explains, translates or even teaches her the word that they throw around.

He cheekily has her repeat after him, saying, "Mnogo si krasiva."

Gwen wrinkles her nose, saying hesitantly, "Mnogo si krasiva?"

Andrei barks out a gruff laugh and she grins, elbowing him as they guide her towards a table at a restaurant. It's outdoors, but surprisingly warm near the side of the building.

"What does that mean?" Gwen asks, quirking a brow when Nikola quips, "You're very beautiful."

The Veela rolls her eyes, earning more chuckles from the boys. They order for her, her eyes growing wide when the food is brought to the table. There's sausages and soups and a white cheese that reminds her of pasta from the muggle village by her house. She smiles and steals a chip from Andrei's plate, hiding her laugh by taking a sip of the fruity alcohol they insist she try.

She leans forward and asks the boys, "How do you say thank you?"

Ivo is the one to answer her this time, a encouraging smile on his face as he says slowly, "Blagodarya."

She repeats it back and they all clap and cheer. She's not sure if it's the drink or the fun she's having that warms her from the inside. She can tell her cheeks and nose are pink as she thanks them all individually.

Her face gets warmer when she sees Andrei looking at her. He's handsome. But the boy that she sees when she closes her eyes is even better. She smiles wryly when he winks. Just as he goes to open his mouth, he freezes, brows furrowing.

"What is that?" He wonders, his head cocking to the side.

Gwen follows his gaze to the sky, her heart turning to stone in her chest. A dark greenish cloud begins to swirl, morphing into a skull. Her lips part in horror as a snake seemingly slithers from its mouth. The smokey cloud moves high, grows larger.

And then the screaming starts.

She whips around to face the scared faces of the boys, saying firmly, "Go to your homes." They stare at her, stunned and frozen. She raises her voice, insisting, "Go! Go now!"

They all scramble to their feet, saying a quick farewell before departing. Gwen feels a nearly intolerable wave of fear encroach on her mind as she sprints through the streets, shrieks and cries of pain cracking her resolve. She skids around a corner and ducks just in time to avoid a flash of purple light. She leans around the food cart she's covered by, yelling,

"Stupefy!"

She doesn't wait to see if the spell hit its mark. The cart blows up just as she backs away, splintered wood and shrapnel hitting her in the face. She wants to cry out in pain, blood dripping into her eyes. She merely takes a deep breath and runs down an adjacent alleyway, dodging people and crowds as they flood past her. She just needs to get to the inn that they were staying at. She just needs to get to Dumbledore.

She hesitates before saying hurriedly, "Expecto Patronum!"

Her patronus leaps from the end of her wand. She doesn't have to tell it where to go, it's already sprinting away, the opposite direction of where she was headed.

Gwen swallows a gasp when dark cloaks and silver masks appear in her line of sight. She presses herself up against the wall of a building, holding her breath as they pass. Tears finally leave her eyes when one stops short, lingering just on the other side of where she's standing. Then it continues on, her lungs biting for air. She waits until she can hear them hurling spells a street over before running again.

Tears stream down her face as she spots women and children, men laying dead in the streets. It hurts to leave them, hurts to not close the eyes of an elderly man staring lifelessly at the sky, the dark mark reflected in his gaze.

She doesn't have time to linger. As soon as the inn comes into sight, she runs harder, flying through the doors and scrambling up the stairs. She bursts into her room and screams, pointing her wand.

Dumbledore quickly raises his hands and says firmly, "It's me! It's okay!"

Her shoulders slump, her lungs desperate to recover air. The Veela stares at the Headmaster in horror and her hands shake as she whispers,

"Professor."

He waits patiently, the sadness and horror she felt reflected openly on his face. It's the easiest he's ever been to read. It scares her even more.

She sucks in another shuddering breath and continues, voice small,

"I'd like to go home now."