so in love with you // sirius black

chapter 41

"Thanks, Rosemerta," I said warmly, taking the coffee she was holding out. She gave me a quick smile before I headed out of the pub. It was early December and snow was falling softly in the morning air. As usual, my only plan for the day was work. When I made it back to the bookstore there was someone standing there in the snow.

"Harry?" I asked.

"Yeah, Hi"

"Harry it's eight o'clock in the morning, why are you here? It's not even a Hogsmeade weekend." 

"Sirius got into the castle last night." 

"Oh," I said quietly. 

'Yeah," The bags under Harry's eyes had become suddenly noticeable.

"I think you should come inside."

Harry nodded and I unlocked the front door of the shop. Harry sat down behind the desk. 

"I need to open, just talk while I work," I told Harry, who had already settled down behind the front desk. 

"Sure," Harry said.

"So, what happened?"

"No one really knows. He attacked the Fat Lady and ran before anyone else found him. I overheard Dumbledore talking to Snape about it, but they didn't know any more than I did. Everyone's terrified."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No one, except the Fat Lady, and I'm pretty sure she can't actually get hurt."

"That means Sirius is probably somewhere around town," My stomach clenched at the thought. "Damnit Harry you shouldn't of left school, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a full-blown search party for you."

"I thought you should know."

That made me feel terrible. "Someone would have told me eventually, next time please just wait."

"Okay."

"Good." 

I watched Harry carefully as I restocked the shelves and filled the till. He sighed deeply and leaned back against the chair.

"Are you okay?" I asked. 

"It's just- um all of this has made me realize how little I know about my parents" His words pained me. "I always get told I look like them, or I remind people of them, but I don't actually know what they were like."

"They were the kindest people in the whole world I think. I never felt anything but love from them, and they always knew how to make me laugh, especially your Dad. Even in a life-or-death duel James was trying to make his friends laugh. They loved each other, and you, very much."

"What about Sirius?" Harry asked. The question surprised me. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about him, but I'm just curious."

"I haven't talked about Sirius in years, maybe it will be good for me." I thought out loud. "He was the biggest flirt I ever knew. I watched him flirt with himself once. He was James's best friend, they were inseparable. He pushed me away for a whole year because he thought he wasn't good enough before we started dating. He put up a farce of being fiercely loyal. But it was all a lie." I paused, lost in memories. "It's so hard to believe that he was faking it all, spying on us. We really trusted him." I finished speaking and we fell into silence.

"Thank you," Harry said. "For telling me all this."

"Anytime Harry." I wanted to hug him, but I'm not sure he was ready for that. 

He smiled.

"Now you need to get back to the castle before McGonagall comes down here and kicks's both our asses." I laughed.

"You're probably right, even if the teachers haven't noticed Hermione definitely has, and she'll be just as mad, or madder than McGonagall would be." 

"Bye Harry, tell Lupin I say hi!"

"Of course." The door swung shut behind him.

I found unexpected tears in my eyes, but I forced them away as I flipped the sign on the door to 'open'.

•••

I walked through the dark book shop, I had been sitting upstairs reading a book when I remembered I hadn't locked the front door. To be fair a locked door wouldn't stop anyone with a wand, but it had always made me feel safer. It was cold and I shivered as I pulled my sweater tighter around me.

Ah, that's why. The front door was half-open. Which was a common occurrence, due to the stuck bolt that I refused to find time to fix. I quickly forced the door shut, and flipped the lock. I turned back around and wrapped my arms around myself. I headed back toward the stairs when there was a flash of movement between the shelves. I tensed, reaching for my wand, which was thankfully in my pocket.

"Hello?" I asked, it felt rather stupid, it was probably just my mind playing tricks on me. 

I was starting to think it was truly nothing when a dark figure stepped in front of me. I froze. I didn't dare move. I didn't even breathe.

"Maude," His voice came out low and scratchy, as though he hadn't used it for years, and he probably hadn't.  

Something inside me cracked.

The man was deathly thin, he had gaunt eyes and long stringy hair. But it was, without a doubt, Sirius Black.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice coming out much softer than I intended. I pointed my wand directly into his chest to combat my treacherous voice,

Sirius raised his hands in the air as if surrendering. I didn't lower my wand. 

"I just want to talk, you have to trust me," he was begging. 

I felt a flash of sympathy at his wild eyes and the sadness in his voice. 

"Give me a single reason to trust you." I recovered my anger and stepped close enough to dig the tip of my wand into his flesh. "Lily and James are dead because of you. Peter is too. My whole life fell apart and it was all your fault. You betrayed us. You made me believe you were in love with me. We were engaged, Sirius." My voice broke on the last sentence and hot angry tears started spilling down my face.

"I was in love with you Maude. I am in love with you."

"Bullshit," I sobbed. "Give me one good reason not to turn you into the Dementors right now."

"Peter Pettigrew is alive."

hi everyone!

um we hit 1k reads yesterday, that's so crazy, thank you so much!

also, i changed the cover of the book. thoughts?

i hope you're all enjoying the story

xx anna