The Pureblood Princess | Sirius Black

|95| I'm Not an Effing Veela

Adelaide's fingers momentarily paused their fiddling with his hair. The mental image of him in the water, alone with another girl, a rather pretty girl, in nothing but her swim suit did not sit well with her. "No." she said a little more aggressively than she intended, returning again to playing with another curly lock of his hair.

Sirius was much too relaxed to catch the sharpness to her tone. "Why not?"

"I-I just—" What was she supposed to say? 'I'm too jealous and insecure to let you go off swimming with my pretty, probably part-mermaid friend'? No, that would just make her sound like a crazy girlfriend... which even if it was true, was not the vibe she was really going for. "I-I just don't think it's a good idea is all..."

"Hmm... Well I think it is..." he said a little stubbornly. "You didn't see her, Ads. She swam so fast, I swear she had to be part fish!" he chortled.

"I could swim fast if someone taught me..." she grumbled nastily.

"I know, silly—that's why I wanted her to teach... you..." he trailed off, sitting up so he could look at her properly. "Hang on... Addy, are you—are you jealous?" he asked looking far too amused for her liking.

"No." she said tersely, chewing on the side of her cheek.

"Oh, good merlin, you are!" he said in slight surprise.

"I just said I wasn't!" she snapped half-heartedly.

"Addy, you know how much I love you... You have absolutely nothing to be jealous about..." he chuckled softly, gently moving her hair out of her eyes and tucking it behind her ear, smiling as his grey eyes looked at her as if she was the only person on the planet.

"I-I know that..." she said quietly, stomach fluttering and thoughts getting a little jumbled, as they usually did when he looked at her like that. "It's just that you—well you talk about her all the time... and how good a swimmer she is..." she trailed off. It wasn't until she said these words out loud that she realized how utterly ridiculous it all sounded. What was he going to do, dump her because some girl he hardly knew could swim better than her? She half expected him to laugh at her for being so silly, but thankfully, he didn't.

Instead, he looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then leaned forward to kiss her on the nose as his warm hand rested on the side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Addy, she could be the best swimmer in the world, and I'd still pick you... I'll always pick you." he said, eyes boring into her with a striking amount of intensity, as if he was willing her to believe him (which, of course, he was). "Besides, you're way hotter..." he smirked.

Adelaide snorted a laugh and pushed him away as he chuckled loudly. "Probably because I'm part Veela..." she remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"No, it's because you're Addy." he said honestly, kissing her on the cheek, making her face flush even more. "Though, if I'm being honest, I really wouldn't be surprised if you were part Veela..."

Adelaide groaned in exasperation. "I'm not an effing Veela, Sirius!"

"Look, all I'm saying is... you don't know that much about your dad's side of the family... and it wouldn't be unlike him to keep some big secret like that hidden away, especially if it made people suspect their precious 'pure blood' was tainted somehow..." he said casually, making himself comfortable once more as he rested his head near the crook of her neck, guiding her hand so she would play with his hair again like the needy puppy he was.

As Adelaide ran her fingers through his soft hair, she briefly wondered if maybe he had a point. It would be just like her father to keep something like that a secret... If he lied about her having a brother for most of her life, what was to keep him from lying about something like that? "I'm not a Veela." she said stubbornly, not totally sure if she was lying or not.