What the Heart Wants (Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 38

A/N: Okay, so first off, I am soooo sorry that this update is so ridiculously late! The last few weeks have been absolute hell. Seriously. I'm hoping that things are settling down a bit now. Fingers crossed at least. Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who has stuck around! Y'all are the best!

The remainder of the summer holiday passed quickly, and before they knew it, Sadie and Sirius were seated across from James and Peter in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Remus was taking his shift patrolling the corridors with Lily but would be joining them shortly. They had all gotten together at the Potter's house a couple of weeks before, so there wasn't much to catch up on, and they had lapsed into a comfortable silence several minutes ago. Peter was digging through a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans while James, who had been named the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain, focused intently on a stack of parchment containing different plays he'd drawn up over the summer. After the frankly humiliating second half of the last Quidditch year, he was determined to redeem Gryffindor's name. Sadie yawned and let her head fall onto Sirius's shoulder, and he squeezed her hand in response.

"Late night?" He smirked. He knew all too well how much of a wreck she was when it came to packing. There were very few things in the world that stressed her out more, and she tended to spend hours agonizing over whatever little things she might have forgotten. No amount of reassuring from her parents that they would simply send anything she needed by owl had ever seemed to assuage her anxiety.

"Quiet, you," she mumbled, elbowing him halfheartedly in the ribs.

He laughed softly and kissed the top of her head. "I thought you wanted to go hang out with the girls once Evans finished with patrols. They should be done any minute, which really isn't long enough for a nap."

Sadie sighed and reluctantly sat back up. "I suppose you're right. Maybe I should just go now. A little walk might help me stay awake."

Sirius gave her hand one last squeeze before releasing it as she stood up. "Have fun! See you at the feast." He then made a show of yawning and stretching out across the seat, apparently intent on taking his own nap. Sadie rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him but couldn't help but smile fondly as she slipped out of the compartment. It didn't take long for her find the other girls in her dorm, and they quickly ushered her inside upon seeing her.

"Ohhhh Sadie!" Marlene's eyes glinted in a way that told Sadie she had gossip that she was dying to share. "I have so much to ask you about! But first, Alice was just telling us about some things she overheard a few weeks ago, and she felt it might be better to share before Lily gets back."

They all looked at Alice expectantly, and she cleared her throat and spoke in hushed tones. "Frank and I met in Diagon Alley for lunch a few weeks ago, and we saw a couple of Slytherins who had just graduated. They were looking really shifty, so Frank and I decided to follow them and see if we could figure out what they were up to. They went into this really dingey looking pub in Knockturn Alley. Frank is of age now, so he quickly changed up some of our features so that they wouldn't recognize us. We managed to sit close enough to them to hear at least most of what they were saying. They were talking about how Rowle had failed at some major task or something and how he and his family had been punished really badly for it. They sounded really nervous, but then one of them mentioned something about Snape taking over the task or something like that. Then they started kind of laughing and saying that he was going to have to figure out a more subtle way to do it this time if he didn't want to get caught. That was all we heard before a big group came in and drowned out their conversation. I figured the subject of Snape might still be sensitive for Lily which is why I wanted to talk about it before she got here." The other girls nodded. the fallout between Lily and Snape at the end of last year had been a nasty one. "I wonder what he's up to though. It sounds dangerous, whatever it is."