~song recommendation for this chapter: A Thousand Times Good Night by Abel Korzeniowski~
Esmeralda couldn't keep it in any longer, she had to tell Sirius that she loved him back.
Ever since that shocking revelation made by Dumbledore, Esmeralda had been thinking nonstop about her relationship with Sirius. From the moment he first saw her until they finally got to hold each other. Their relationship, or whatever they had, did not start as romantic right away, which was what she liked about it. Perla always said that the best relationships are always between best friends because they have a strong friendship to support them through romantic feelings. Esmeralda knew that she would never find another person like Sirius, she'd never click with someone they way she did with him.
Sirius tried to spend as much time as he could with Esmeralda. He did not want to pressure her into doing or saying anything she didn't want to, but he enjoyed having her on his side at all times. The only time that they weren't seen together was at night when they went to their respective dormitories. It was odd to not see one without the other, and even more since the attack in the Forbidden Forest. She didn't mind it, though. Esmeralda also enjoyed having him close to her.
One night, while studying for a Transfiguration quiz, Esmeralda and Sirius were by themselves in the cozy Gryffindor Common Room.
"Why do we have to do this again ?" Sirius groaned, "We've been trying for hours and I can't do it properly."
"It's not that difficult," Esmeralda laughed, "Just choose the Pawn you want to transfigure into the Queen and say the incantation."
Sirius rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Thank you, Mer," he said, "I hadn't thought about that before."
Esmeralda breathed out in a playful way to signify that she was offended. She stood up and began to walk to the stairs up to the dormitories.
"Well, I guess you have it all figured out and don't need my help," she said, "Goodbye, Black."
Smirking, Sirius ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist while pulling her closer to his body. Esmeralda lost her balance and placed her hands on Sirius' chest. She removed her hands from his chest and looked away because she could feel her cheeks flushing with colour. Sirius let out a small chuckle and lifted her chin up so their eyes met.
"You're just gonna leave like that ?" he asked in a low voice, "That doesn't make you a good teacher, Dragonstone."
Esmeralda's heart was beating so fast she thought that it was going to leap out of her chest. Sirius' bright, beautiful grey eyes looked deep into her sweet honey ones and made her melt on the inside. She gulped before she spoke again.
"W-what makes you think that I wanted to be good ?" she said.
Sirius raised an eyebrow in surprise. He began to walk closer to Esmeralda, which made her stumble back until she hit a wall. He placed a hand on the wall and leaned closer to her face. Their noses were brushing against each other and Sirius could feel Esmeralda's agitated breath against his lips. The urge he felt to close the small gap between them got bigger and bigger as the seconds passed. He was not going to do anything she wasn't ready for, but it did not mean that he couldn't enjoy the teasing.
"So, now you're bad ?" he whispered, sending a shiver down Esmeralda's spine.
She knew exactly what he was doing, so she decided to play along. She straightened her back and slid a hand to the back of Sirius' neck. She pulled him closer to her body and looked down at his pink lips.
"That depends," she whispered back slowly, "How bad do you want me to be ?"
Sirius drew a hitched breath at her bold words and moved his head away from her. He had never heard her say something like that, and it took him by surprise. Esmeralda noticed this and immediately lost every ounce of confidence she had managed to channel. She quickly removed her hand from behind Sirius' neck and moved away from the wall she was leaning on.
"I-It's getting late," she managed to say, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sirius."
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and ran up the stairs to her dormitory, leaving her books and parchments behind. Sirius blinked a few times, confused by what had just happened. They had never gotten that close to kissing before, and Sirius knew that it was his fault it didn't happen. He stared at the stairs for a few minutes trying to think what he had done or said wrong, but nothing came to mind. Of course, he didn't know that his surprised reaction to Esmeralda's bold words were what threw her off and made her leave.
Over the next two days, Esmeralda avoided Sirius at all costs. She was too embarrassed to face him and talk about what had almost happened. She felt ridiculous and silly because of what she had said. She didn't even know where that had come from, she just got the urge to tease him until they finally kissed, but unfortunately, it did not happen.
Lily had been a great aid in helping Esmeralda stay away from Sirius. The red-haired witch had been hiding for years from James and had enough experience to sneak around the Marauders without being seen. Luckily, this whole thing had landed on a Hogsmeade weekend, which meant that the Marauders would be going to the wizarding village. Lily had asked James if she could go with them to make sure that Sirius stayed with them and didn't go off and looked for Esmeralda. This gave the Dragonstone heir some peace because she could stay in the castle without worrying about running into Sirius.
Little did Esmeralda know that Lily owed Sirius a favour. James, Remus, and Peter were walking behind Sirius and Lily, who were having a heated conversation about something that they couldn't hear.
"C'mon, Lily," Sirius said, "You owe me a favour, and you said that it could be anything."
The red-haired witch rolled her eyes and groaned.
"I can't," she said, "I promised Esmeralda I wouldn't tell you where she was no matter what."
"Is that the case ?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Alright then."
Sirius turned around and began to walk towards James.
"Hey, Prongs," he said, "Do you remember the gift I ga-"
Lily's eyes widened once she realised what Sirius was doing and grabbed his arm. She pulled him away from the other three Gryffindors, who were all looking at them with confusion written all over their faces, and forced him to walk with her again.
"Stop it," Lily mmuttered, "Alright, I'll tell you where she is, but please don't tell James about the gift. I'd be so embarrassed if he found out it was me who asked you to give him the letter and not the other way around."
Sirius smirked at his red-headed friend.
"I knew you'd come around," he said, "Now, where is she ?"
Lily sighed.
"She didn't specify where," she said, "But she mentioned that she knew that no one would find her there. She said that's where she went to when she wanted to be alone and think."
Sirius knew immediately where she was. She was in the Room of Requirement. He grabbed Lily's head and kissed her on the top of her head.
"Thank you, Lils," he said.
He turned around and began to run back to the castle. He stopped when he neared his friends. He went up to James and patted him on the back.
"You better not let that one go, Prongs," he said, "She's mad about you."
A grin grew on James' face at his best friend's words, but before he could ask him how he knew this, Sirius had already taken off.
Esmeralda was sitting in the middle of the Room of Requirement by herself. She knew that this room wasn't in the Marauder's Map, so it would be impossible for Sirius to find her there. It was the first time she had gone back to the place that kept her hidden for ten years, and it felt odd to be outside of the Mirror.
She walked in with the desire to see her parents again in the Mirror. Since she was no longer inside the Mirror, she hoped to see her parents smile back at her like they had when she first found the magical mirror. Unfortunately, when Esmeralda got closer to the Mirror of Erised, she could see nothing. Not a figure, a sparkle, or any sort of sign that the Mirror knew someone was in front of it.
Her heart sank once she realised that she might never be able to see her parents in the Mirror again. Seeing them there brought her so much joy and peace, she just wished she could have that back. The only reasonable explanation Esmeralda could think of as to why she was not seeing anything in the Mirror of Erised was that since she had been part of the Mirror for so long, the Mirror had no effect on her. It made her sad to think about it that way, but she still looked at the Mirror in hopes of seeing something.
Suddenly, something moved in the Mirror's reflection. Esmeralda looked up and saw Sirius' reflection in the Mirror. She turned around and met her honey eyes with his stormy grey ones. Her heart began to pound rapidly against her chest. She did not want to see him because she still felt to embarrassed about what had happened the other night.
Sirius walked closer to Esmeralda and sat down beside her, looking at their reflection in the Mirror.
"So," he breathed out, "Are you done avoiding me ?"
Esmeralda chuckled slightly.
"Not really," she said, "But you're here now, so I guess I don't have anywhere else to hide."
"Why were you hiding ?" he asked.
"I-I felt embarrassed," she admitted.
Sirius widened his eyes.
"Embarrassed ?" he asked, "Why ?"
Esmeralda took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. She knew she would eventually have to say something to him about the other night, but she had been avoiding it as long as possible.
"Because of what I said and did in the Common Room the other night," she said, "I don't know what came over me a-and I said all of that without really thinking about what it meant for us. When you pulled back and got scared I knew I had said something wrong..."
"What ?" he asked, "You did nothing wrong. If anyone was an idiot that night it was me. I was taken back because you'd never talked to me like that before, but I was not scared at all. In fact, I quite enjoyed the teasing."
She looked at him, this time in real life and not through the Mirror. He looked back at her and smiled.
"I didn't know how to react to it because... well..." he said, "I don't know if you're comfortable with me... you know..."
"Kissing me ?" she asked.
Sirius' eyes sparkled despite there being little to no light inside the Room of Requirement. He gulped before speaking.
"Exactly," he said, "Kissing you."
Their eyes traveled from the other's eyes to their lips. They leaned in until their foreheads were together and closed their eyes. Slowly, Sirius wrapped his hands around Esmeralda's waist and she did the same with hers around the back of his neck. It wasn't a very comfortable position because they were sitting down, so Sirius decided to pull Esmeralda closer, causing her to be on top him.
This sudden change in position did not scare Esmeralda at all. She was too busy focusing on the sensation that Sirius' lips caused against her own. The drumroll was enjoyable, but it had already been too long.
Esmeralda pressed her lips against Sirius' and began to kiss him slowly. Her lips danced seamlessly with his, it was like they had already done this before in another life and knew exactly what to do. Sirius pulled Esmeralda closer to him, pressing her body against his own and causing the sweet, slow kiss to become passionate and heated.
She ran her hands through his hair as he moved from her mouth to her neck. Sirius moved Esmeralda's hair out of the way and kissed the spot below where her jawline met her ear. Esmeralda rolled her head back and he began to kiss all the way down to her collarbones.
Esmeralda let out a quiet laugh.
"What ?" Sirius asked her, smiling at her.
"Nothing," she replied, "I'm very ticklish."
Sirius raised an eyebrow and smirked mischievously. Her eyes widened in realisation, but before she could get off of Sirius, he had already begun to tickle her. She tried to fight and push him away, but he wouldn't let her go.
After a minute, she finally managed to get a hold of his face and he stopped tickling her immediately once he saw her honey-brown eyes stare at her. She smiled at him and gave him a loving peck on the lips. She pulled away and looked back at his beautiful grey eyes.
"I love you, Sirius Black," she said.
His heart stopped beating for a second. He couldn't believe she had actually said it back. After months of not knowing if she did or didn't feel the same for him, she had finally done it.
Sirius leaned in and kissed her sweetly one more time.
"And I love you, Esmeralda Dragonstone,"
———-
a/n:
omg omg
they finally kissed !! i really hope that it was as good as you imagined. honestly, i loved it.
on another note, i am so sorry this was a late update. i was in class all day and we're having yet ANOTHER hurricane in my city. so i spent all day preparing for that and only finished a few minutes ago. i had to finish going over the chapter on my phone because we lost power.
question of the day; what is your first language ? i've realised that a bunch of people from non-English speaking countries read my stories and i got curious. mine is Spanish, but i've been speaking English and French since i was a little girl.
make sure you vote and comment if you're enjoying this story.
i love you. stay safe.
-isa