Heavenly Waters||Sirius Black

Chapter 26

{{I didn't edit again--forgive me!}}

"Do you remember the first time you came to my house?"

Gwen stares at the waves of green grass, rippling in the wind's wake. She peers over the lake, studying the white capped mountains that crest in the distance.

"Yes."

James snorts at her flat response. He's sprawled on his stomach beside her, his hair dancing in the breeze. He plucks a piece of grass, fits it between his thumbs, and blows. Gwen smiles at the whistle that sounds from the makeshift flute of his hands, her eyes reluctantly caving and shifting to him. He grins when he sees he has her attention, "When I opened my door and saw you standing on the stoop I thought I'd been dreaming. And then you stayed."

His phrasing makes her smile. She stayed. After that night, she stayed. Not just for the holidays. Her eyes return briefly to the water as she says, "It wasn't easy to leave once I saw what I was missing."

James sits up, looks at her with a stern expression. His lips twitch despite the seriousness, like his face isn't used to anything but smiling. And then he says it, "Mum loved you the minute she met you. Dad too."

Gwen's smile drops too, her eyes frozen on James' face. She lifts her hand and presses it hard against her chest, feels her heart knocking back as if to alert her that she still has one.

He smiles knowingly, and Gwen can only manage to say softly, "Love."

"I know, Love. I know."

Her body aches, as if it too is remembering the bitter cold of that walk through the snow covered garden. The walk she'd taken with Mia, denying that Sirius was anything but a friend. The walk that had introduced her to a piece of her future, a secret island of happiness that her wandering ship had crashed into while traversing an endless ocean of loneliness.

Mia. Monty. Her heart thumps their names back to her, and as if he knows it's far too painful to discuss, James changes the subject, "Why do you like snow so much?"

Gwen smiles faintly. There may be snow in her memories, but the sky was still a summer shade of blue in her dreams. The grass was green, the trees dressed in the finest leaf headdresses and gowns that she'd ever seen.

"Snow absorbs sound, love. I find that I do some of my best thinking when it snows."

James blinks at her, his lips slowly curving into a grin that makes her laugh. He shakes his head, and Gwen only smiles when he says warmly, "Merry Christmas, Ninnie."

"Ninnie. Ninnie."

Gwen doesn't open her eyes right away, instead enjoying the grumblings of a familiar voice. Her cheek twitches when she finally hears a sigh and then, "Are you ignoring me?"

"Is it working?"

Remus scoffs, and when Gwen cracks an eye open he pokes her shoulder, "You've been avoiding me again."

"Don't worry, Remus. I've been avoiding everyone," Gwen muses, pulling her blanket up tighter to her chin. This arm chair was just as fabulous as she'd remembered, though a part of her hoped they'd used a good cleaning spell on it at the end of each year. She was certain the chair had witnessed some unsightly things. It certainly had a few times when she and Sirius had been around.

Her eyes narrow when Remus suddenly yanks the blanket free from her body, exposing her to the cold air. He ignores her unimpressed look, or maybe he simply just doesn't recognize it for what it is. Gwen is tempted to flick a few flames at his feet, but instead she sighs and asks, "What can I help you with?"