What the Heart Wants (Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 2

On the first day of term, as usual, Sadie awoke well before any of her friends would be up. With a glance at the time, she grumbled silently to herself about her complete inability to sleep in past 5:30 in the morning, no matter how late she'd been up the night before. In this case, it was quite late, as she and her dorm mates had spent much of the night catching up and sharing stories about their summer breaks. Try as she might, however, Sadie could not get herself to fall back asleep. With a resigned sigh and a prayer that she'd be able to stay awake during classes despite her lack of sleep, she rolled out of bed and changed into her favorite jogging outfit, figuring she may as well make the most of the early morning hours.

The moment she stepped outside the castle, Sadie's annoyance at being awake already was forgotten. She absolutely adored mornings. There was just something about the crisp air and the quiet stillness as the first rays of sunlight grew brighter over the horizon that made her world feel serene and simple. With a light smile and a sigh of contentment, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, taking several minutes to stretch out her muscles before starting off on her run.

Sadie found that she could never quite get enough of the Hogwarts grounds. Her feet landing lightly on the ground beneath her, she drank in the sights around her as she made her way around the Quidditch Pitch and along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She cast several longing glances into the trees as she ran past, but she knew better than to risk getting caught out of bounds and getting detention before classes had even started. Besides, especially with her new Animagus form, there would be plenty of opportunities to explore the forest in new ways throughout the year.

The sun had risen fully, and Sadie knew that she would need to get back soon if she wanted a shower before the other girls in her dorm were also rushing to get ready for the day. Cutting the final corner on her usual route, she sped up her pace to finish her last stretch along the edge of the Black Lake. As she drew nearer to the castle, she spotted a familiar redhead strolling toward her, hands in his pockets and a grin on his face.

"This is the kind of commitment I like to see, Sadie!" he called out to her. "Getting up early and training already! The rest of the team should be taking notes!"

Sadie flushed with pleasure at his words. Her mind scrambled to come up with clever things to say to him when she reached him, determined not to embarrass herself like she usually did.

Unfortunately, as the old Chinese proverb goes, one often meets his (or her) destiny on the road he (or she) takes to avoid it. So focused was she on impressing her long-time crush that she forgot to pay attention to where her feet were landing. Just as she was nearing Gideon and getting ready to slow down, her left foot came down hard on a large rock. She heard and felt a loud snap as her ankle rolled, and she barely had time to let out a cry of surprise and pain before she had tumbled right over a small ledge into the lake.

By one small stroke of luck, she had fallen into a fairly shallow area. She came up coughing and spluttering to see Gideon rushing toward her, a look of deep concern on his face. Sadie's cheeks burned with humiliation as he waded hurriedly to the spot where she sat, the water coming up just over his knees.

"Are you alright?!" he asked worriedly as he helped her to her feet. Sadie tried standing with as much dignity as she could muster, but the effect was spoiled as her ankle gave out when she tried to put any weight on it. Gideon caught her against his chest, frowning as her body quivered from both the cold and the pain. He let her lean against him and helped her out of the water, setting her down gently on dry ground.

Gideon quickly pulled off his school robe and wrapped it around Sadie's shivering body as she pulled off her shoe, grimacing with pain as she did so. She examined her ankle with a groan of irritation. It was severely swollen and had turned a nasty shade of purple, giving Sadie a fair bit of confidence that it was broken. Gideon winced in sympathy when he saw it.