Grey Eyes (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

24. Reconnection

Okay, I swear to Merlin’s epic beard that it was a reflex, but right when the room turned pitch black I became immediately and acutely aware that I was terrified of the dark. Sirius, being the only human in the room holding my hand like it was his unborn child, was evidently the unfortunate victim of my deathly embrace.

“Why-are-the-lights-off-are-they-trying-to-torture-me?!” A slew of words spill out of my mouth as I wrap my arms tighter around his waist.

“Oi, watch where yo—geez!” Before I can move another inch, Sirius literally leaps out of my arms and pushes himself away from me. “Bloody hell, Cecilia!”

“What?”

I see his silhouette rake a hand through his hair. “Don’t bloody grab me like th—you know what, nevermind.”

What’s his deal…

I reach down for the pillow at the end of my hospital bed to grab instead as my eyes, which are slowly getting used to the darkness, follow Sirius’ trail as he nearly trips over his own feet to stand beside the window instead. In the moonlight shining through the open window, I notice that he actually looks… flustered?

He must’ve seen me staring at him because he then turns around to face the window completely to avoid my gaze. My eyes narrow in confusion.

Wait, what exactly did I grab…

“They must have the lights each room set to turn off after visiting hours are over so patients can sleep,” says Sirius distractedly. “But… blimey, it’s, uh, getting kind of hot in here huh?”

He reaches behind his head to grab the back of his hoodie and pull it over his head. But as he sheds his sweatshirt, the cloth grabs the back of his t-shirt, pulling it up slightly as he tosses the hoodie to the side. In the faint light, my eyes catch sight of a gruesome scar riddled across the full of his back.

Something flashes across my mind. I’ve seen that scar before.

“Where… did you get that scar?” I say slowly, almost in a trance. “You didn’t actually get it from a Quidditch accident… did you?”

Sirius stops in the middle of pushing his shirt back down and turns towards me.

Mid-turn I can’t help but notice the words “that’s what she said” splashed across the front of his t-shirt, an oddly whimsical addition to the nearly suffocating atmosphere the room was suddenly enveloped in.

“I was saving your life,” he replies, his words so soft that I barely hear them.

My breath stops for a moment. “You… what?”

He heaves another sigh as he slumps back down onto the end of my bed. Though this time, he sits facing the window, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

“I was saving you,” he repeats in a low voice. “You probably don’t remember this right now, but when you fell into the pond behind my house eight years ago, I was the one that pushed you.”

I nod slowly, not quite understanding where his explanation was going. This… I somehow already knew. Or rather, I seemed to remember the moment he said the words.

“The day before you came around to Grimmauld Place, the window in my room was loose from a heavy storm a couple days back. I was going to remind my parents to fix it since I didn’t know any magic yet myself, but… I was so excited that you were coming over again that it didn’t cross my mind. I could easily get it fixed once you left the next day. We…” His hands clasp around the back of his neck and I notice his knuckles turning white from tension. “See, we shouldn’t have even been playing around that area behind the house. I mean, we were always adventurous little tykes, but I should’ve bloody known better. It was still so windy that day.”