One Step Ahead part I | Sirius Black

Chapter 128

{{another study break! Here you go lovelies!!!! I didn't edit—so don't judge}}

"I think I want a tattoo."

Sirius raises his head slowly, quirking a brow at Gwen. She turns to face him, flexing her arm and says cheekily, "Right across my bicep."

Sirius smirks and reaches out, poking her scrawny arms and replying with faux surprise, "Very muscular."

He instantly conjures a mental image of the small girl with black swirling ink across her smooth skin. He couldn't decide if he found it more funny or alluring.

Gwen rolls her eyes at his teasing and sighs, flopping her arms down onto the desk. Returning to Hogwarts from the holiday break had been hard. Two names had been added to her growing list of people that were working their way into her heart. Hugging Mia and Monty goodbye had been embarrassingly painful. Gwen had locked herself in the bathroom of the Hogwarts Express and pressed her palms against her face until the tears that begged to be free disappeared.

The workload had only increased, the professors already warning them about exams and Filius Flitwick was up her arse about what she was going to do when she left Hogwarts. Neither were willing to address the hippogriff in the room, that the future looked bleak. And anytime Gwen would spend at a normal job would likely be dedicated to the Order instead.

Sirius stirs her from her thoughts, his voice full of mirth as he asks, "Shouldn't you be working on—"

"I finished my star charts," She interrupts, earning a surprised look. She flushes slightly and shrugs, muttering while fiddling with her quill, "It's the easiest."

"Is it now?" Sirius teases, feeling a wave of affection for the girl. He had to hope he had at least some influence in her new found appreciation for Astronomy. Not that he would ever bother to ask, she was too stubborn to admit it. He smiles, glancing at his potions homework one last time. It could wait.

He turns to his bored Veela and asks, "Alright, Inferi. What tattoo are you going to get? The Witch Weekly logo?"

Gwen's lips twitch at his joke and she shrugs slightly, aimlessly doodling on the borders of her alchemy textbook. She grins slightly and says, "I was thinking about getting a stag  across my back."

She holds back laughter when his face morphs into a scowl and he grumbles irritably, "Absolutely not."

Gwen shrugs and teases some more, "Maybe a wolf? Or a rat?"

Sirius' face grows more disgruntled when she erupts in laughter, his heart betraying him and melting at the sound. He reaches over and pinches her side, secretly grateful to see her so full of life. He'd noted her depression upon their return to school. In an attempt to assuage the cloud over her mind, he rarely left her side.

She practically lived in Gryffindor now, and even when he wasn't with her, it was becoming less surprising with each passing day to climb through the portrait hole and spot her snoozing in her favorite armchair. The Gryffindor portraits had all taken a liking to her as well, the fat lady never minding to ask her for the password anymore.

Gwen finally takes pity on the jealous boy pouting at her side, saying playfully, "Perhaps a paw print."

Sirius doesn't look at her, but she can see his back straighten slightly and the pleased look that appears on his face. She smiles and muses, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Sirius glances at her, his silver gaze glinting with bated laughter. His grin returns before he can stop it. This girl. He chuckles and mutters, "Of course I'd like that."