What the Heart Wants (Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 33

A loud rushing sound echoed in Sirius's ears as his eyes cracked open. Where was he? What was going on? The first sight to greet him was that of Sadie gently removing some sort of material from around his bare chest. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth as her eyes wandered over his skin, her fingers lightly tracing seemingly random patterns along his upper body. He felt himself shiver ever so slightly. This had to be a dream.

At the movement, Sadie's head turned sharply to look at his face, a most curious mixture of emotions overtaking her features: Surprise, then immense relief followed quickly by some embarrassment and apprehension. She quickly removed her hands from his chest, much to his disappointment, and assumed a carefully neutral expression.

"You're awake," she breathed, and there was no disguising the complete and utter exhaustion in her voice. "How do you feel?"

Sirius frowned in confusion at the question but took a moment to quickly scan his body and figure out how to answer her. He was sore, he realized. Ridiculously sore. Everywhere. He bit back a groan of pain as he attempted to sit up, and Sadie was there in an instant. She used one hand to help support him while the other quickly slid more pillows beneath his head, shoulders, and upper back. Soon he was laying back in a reclining position, her hand resting absently on his chest, and he closed his eyes against a wave of nausea.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled. Sadie immediately snatched up an empty bowl and a vial of some kind of potion from the coffee table. She helped him to turn slightly onto his side and placed the bowl just next to his face, rubbing his back and whispering soothingly as he wretched into it. Nothing came up; his stomach must have been quite empty, but he spent a good couple of minutes dry-heaving before his body decided to give up. He collapsed back onto the pillows, closing his eyes once again and taking deep shuddering breaths. He felt Sadie's hand slip gently behind his head to raise it slightly, and she patiently coaxed his mouth open to poor a few drops of the potion down his throat.

"For the nausea," she explained quietly. The potion tasted like peppermint, and he relished the fresh taste and feeling it left in his mouth. "Give it a couple minutes to take effect, and then you really should try to eat something. You've been out for hours." For the first time, there was a slight tremor in her voice, and he opened his eyes just in time to see her take a shuddering breath and look away from him. "I sent Daisy with a note to Mum and Dad, but I'm not sure how long it will take to get there. Until then...I think I've gotten you patched up enough that we don't need to take you to St. Mungos."

The nausea was already abating. Sirius frowned in confusion. "What...happened?"

Sadie kept her gaze fixed determinedly on her hands in her lap. "I got a note from..." She hesitated. "Well...from Regulus saying that you were in danger." Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "I got there as quickly as I could, but...Bellatrix had already done a lot of damage." Her voice was becoming higher and shakier as she spoke. Ignoring the pain that it caused, Sirius forced himself into a sitting position and reached out to tilt her chin up to look at him. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and her lower lip trembled as he peered at her in concern.

"Hey," he murmured. He still had a lot of questions, but that was no longer his priority. "You've done amazingly. Thank you."

That did it. She let out a choked sob, and suddenly her arms were around him, face pressed into his neck as she tried in vain to stop her tears. "I'm s-sorry...you're the one who's h-hurt, and here I am..." Sirius tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, unsure how to tell her that just being able to hold her again was exactly what he needed. "I was j-just so...so scared! Wh-what if I hadn't d-done enough and..." She gave a shudder. "And to th-think we'd sp-spent the last couple m-months fighting because of some st-stupid kiss..."