Nineteen

When they arrived at Grimmauld Place early in the morning, the house was unusually quiet. It was typical of those hours, but they were not used to being silent the last days. There were always unforeseen events, relentless vigilance, and unwanted surprises. Both Erin and Sirius had had enough for one day, especially her, who went to her room without saying goodbye except for a quick kiss on his cheek. She did not know if it was due to the potion she had taken before, or because she could not stop thinking about the inevitable, but she was not able to sleep at all. She tried drinking lime tea and it did not work either.

Erin had heard his door opening more than once that night, so when she returned from the bathroom and heard footsteps heading upstairs, she was not much surprised.

"Erin." She perceived Sirius' voice before seeing him. "I'm worried about you."

"I can't fall asleep," she admitted, barely a second later.

There was no point in lying or pretending. At that precise moment in the middle of the night, surrounded by darkness, Erin felt completely vulnerable and overwhelmed. Sirius, already at her side, ran his fingers down her cheek, as if he wanted to find her face in the dark. In a slight murmur his voice pleaded:

"Tell me what I can do."

Erin could not find the words. Sirius had fought with her, had helped her and her parents, dried her tears, and had accompanied her at all times. Only a couple of days ago he had told her he did not feel he deserved it and right now, she believed it was rather the other way around.

"Are you staying with me?" She asked him. "I would rather not be alone."

"Sure."

For a second, she thought he was going to stay in the armchair, but he got into bed right after her.

"I know this is not the time, " she spoke, "but I never imagined the first time sleeping with you would be like this."

"Erin" Sirius sighed.

"Sorry."

She wrapped the sheets around herself and curled up against him. After a moment, Sirius began to caress her hair, thinking about it.

"I never imagined that I would meet your parents like that either. It's been a weird day. " He murmured. "And tomorrow they'll go for the locket."

"Merlin, I forgot."

"I almost did too. I wish I could say everything will be fine. How can I spend the day without thinking about it?"

"Tell me about it." Erin whispered. "I haven't even thanked you."

"You don't have to, Erin. You would've done the same for me." Sirius explained. "And if we keep talking, you will never sleep."

Erin wanted to tell him had she known he would complain, she would not have asked him to stay, although she fell silent. Sirius did not say anything else, and although his intention would not have been to go back to sleep, he did so soon after. Sirius was already gone the next morning when she woke up, he was very likely saying goodbye to Harry, Ron and Hermione so Erin stayed in bed for a while. She did not feel strong enough to tell them anything. When she finally came down to eat there was no sound in the house, Sirius was neither in the kitchen nor in his room and she had only one place left where he could be distracted until Harry returned, the library. There she found him.

"Hello." She greeted him.

"Hello."

Sirius turned to see her at the door and although his face did not show surprise, his voice had given him away when he greeted her.

"What are you doing?" Erin asked.

"Just reading. Have you eaten something?"

She nodded and entered the room closing the door behind her.

"Have you, or are you just saying it so I stop pestering you?" Sirius insisted, looking over his book.

"Yes, I've eaten, I swear. I'm feeling better."

"Glad to hear it."

"Did you tell them about yesterday?"

"A little." Sirius admitted. "Does it bother you?"

Erin shook her head, not even knowing if she would be able to admit it out loud.

"We don't have to talk about anything." He added.

Erin seemed okay with that, she moved a chair until she was right next to Sirius and sat crossing her arms, with her feet propped on an old stool. Lying down, she laid her head on her side. From there she could see what he was reading without looking up. It looked like a collection of poems.

"What are you thinking about?" Erin asked. He had stretched his arms to caress hers.

"Tomorrow. Aren't you too?"

She nodded. Erin was worried, but nothing could be worse than the day before.

"I was starting to get used to this house." Sirius said. "I would've never imagined it."

"Neither would I."

He was silent for a second looking at the book, but not bothering to change the page. Then, he sat up a little and turned to look at her.

"We met here." He said closing the book. "I was thinking about it looking at the entrance when I came to the library. I also remembered when you fell down the stairs."

"Oh, yes with that bloody picture of your mother." Erin smiled to herself. "Very funny."

"Yes, but I was also thinking about the living room, and you and I kissing for the first time."

"On the couch."

"I'll remember every time I look at it." He said after giving her a quick kiss. "I wish I could have had more time with you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sirius."

"I know, but what will happen to us when all this is over? Think about when you have a friend, let's say from school. In those years you are inseparable, but when everything ends, you no longer know where to fit. It's not the same anymore. It is a product of the circumstances."

Erin separated from him, remaining silent. It was apparently bothering him and she had not even noticed.

"Sirius, every relationship works like that. You always know someone one way or another and then if it does not work, it's not because things have changed. You ...what do you want?"

"I don't want it to end."

"Well, me neither. What did you think I was going to say?"

"I don't know. I'm only certain I like you so much that I'm afraid to scare you with how serious I would like it to be."

"It doesn't scare me." Erin assured him, taking his hand. "It calms me down."

She was glad to know that she was not the only one who wanted it to work.

Harry, Hermione and Ron accomplished their mission without a scratch and now the real locket was theirs. They had prepared supplies, as well as ingredients for basic potions, their tents and sleeping bags among other things. The next morning they would leave before the sun came up, leaving what had been their only refuge. To say that Erin was nervous was not enough, if she had barely slept the night before, that night was even worse. The three boys had stayed in the living room standing guard and Erin had gone to her room to finish putting some clothes in her backpack. Then she got into bed, unable to avoid watching the minutes go by. A thought had been stuck in her head for a while, a desire that frightened and excited her. Heart pounding in his chest, she tiptoed out of the room, trying to be silent, and made her way to Sirius' room. She froze at the door, though later she realised a dim light was visible inside and she knocked once.

Sirius half-opened the door and his face softened when he saw it was her.

"Don't tell me you can't sleep again."

"I would rather not sleep." Erin pointed out.

Glancing around the room, she saw that his bed was not even unmade. He could not have been sleeping.

"I don't want to know what's going through that little head of yours." Sirius muttered, passing her off.

You sure would like to she did not say.

"I was thinking about what we talked about earlier," Erin said, approaching him once he closed the door. "We still have tonight. I don't want to feel like I haven't done everything I wanted."

Sirius frowned, as if he did not understand what she was saying, but he did not have time to say anything, because Erin kissed him. He did not stay behind while his hands travelled from her face to the lower side of her back.

"I know where you're going." He murmured between one kiss and another.

He pressed her closer to him and a longer, more desperate kiss followed. After the following one, Erin was absolutely sure she did not want it to be just a kiss anymore.

"Well?" Erin asked.

"Do you want me to stop?"

She shook her head and rested her hand on his neck.

"No. That's the issue."

He pulled away from her a little and brushed her hair off her face.

"We have all the time in the world."

"Do we?" Erin asked.

The next day they would leave, who knew what was going to happen next? She was afraid Sirius would start saying that nothing would happen to them as he always said, so the magic of the moment would break, but he did not.

"Are you sure, Erin? Look at me."

She looked into his eyes and took his hand, Erin was ceratin. They both wanted each other, they were both adults with full consent and she knew that whatever Sirius did he would respect her. What else did she want?

"Yes. And you?"

"Yes."

Sirius moved away from her for a moment and went for his wand, which was on his desk.

"Muffliato." He said pointing to the ceiling. Then he pointed to the door. "Colloportus."

The room was soundproof and closed. Sirius returned the wand where it was and before he returned Erin spoke again.

"Do you have silphium? The plant, I mean. To make an infusion later."

"I know what it is. Yes, there is some in the kitchen."

Erin murmured good and walked over to Sirius, who sat on the bed.

"What were we going?"

The first thing he did was not kiss her on the lips, but on the neck, as he slid the straps of her nightgown aside and it ended on the floor.

"It's been a long time since I've done this. "Erin confessed.

"More than ten years?" She shook his head. "I'm the one out of practice."

Erin kissed him and put her hands under his shirt, they had talked enough and could talk later. As he undressed her, she could not help but think about what Sirius had said, he had not been with anyone in so long and he had chosen her. There was little Erin had not already shown, so when she found herself truly naked, for once, she was no ashamed. She wanted to enjoy every second, every kiss and every caress. And she did. She was not going to forget Sirius' breathing against her, his hands on her waist, her hips, her hands tangled in her hair and the heat that had spread throughout her body.

Afterwards, Erin left only for other clothes. Sirius quickly went downstairs and Erin heard him go down to the first floor. When he returned he came with a steaming mug and perfectly cut leaves.

"They are completely asleep." He said, going back inside.

He placed the cup on Erin's bedside table and the girl sat in an armchair next to it, while Sirius went back to bed.

"Thank you."

"I don't want you to think I had this in mind."

"And what did you have in mind?" Erin asked while preparing the infusion.

"I don't know," Sirius said, staring blankly at the ceiling, "I suppose taking you to dinner first."

Erin laughed.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we lived together. We've dined a thousand times."

It seemed that they were skipping all the steps and doing whatever they wanted.

"Yes, but not as a date."

"I think it's a little late for that," she added, "maybe when it's all over."

Sirius fell silent, but did not lose his smile and Erin took her cup while still watching him. She could have stayed at that moment for a thousand more hours, calm and without any burden on her.

"I'm going to put this down," she said, rising to her feet, "and then I'll be back?"

"Sure." He replied.

Erin tiptoed down again, hoping they would still be asleep as before. Shee left the cup in the kitchen with little notice and went back up the stairs with the same care. She was already walking through the door when she heard a crash below that made her and Sirius almost run. Erin thanked the two of them for being dressed with minimal decency and not looking too suspecious, as she hurried downstairs. Harry had put a mattress in the middle of the room and Ron and Hermione had each stayed in an armchair to sleep that night, but when they arrived they were already on alert and wands in hand. Erin had thought it was too much to keep watch, and as if life was still testing her, it had shown her how wrong she was.

Right in front of the fireplace was a person on the floor, their clothes stained. At first she thought it was soot, but when she looked closer he realised that he also seemed to have blood stains. He did not seem to be a boy older than Harry or Ron. It was Harry who came up first, stooped down and turned him around to see how and who he was. He must have been there before because he has gone through the safeguards of the house, it was the only explanation. Erin watched everything with her stomach twisting. It was the last thing they needed. When Harry turned the boy around and saw his face, and also his platinum blonde hair, even lighter than hers, Erin had it easy. She had never dealt with him, nor his family, but she knew very well who he was.

"Malfoy?" Harry said puzzled.

Note: Thank you to the people that let me know I posted this chapter in Spanish, I uploaded the wrong document. Sorry about that!

Well, well, we have some novelties, new character too. I hope you had enjoyed this chapter, because I had fun writing it too ;) See you soon!