I got the idea for the burning tapestry from somewhere online. If you know the source of the idea, please tell me so I can give them credit!
We'd just gotten past the Fat Lady when Sirius placed his lips back on mine. He held my cheeks in his hands and kissed me so thoroughly, I had to press my hand against the wall to keep my balance. When he pulled away, I was lightheaded and giddy in an unfamiliar yet thrilling way.
We were alone in the room so I pulled him over to the couch and pushed him to sit down. Before I could talk myself out of it, I straddled his lap and placed my arms over his shoulders to rest against the back of the couch. His eyes were huge as he placed his hands on my waist and waited for me to make the next move -this was uncharted territory between us and he was letting me lead.
"I want to do this, it's okay," I whispered, brushing his hair out of his face.
He nodded and moved forward to reconnect our lips. It was fierce as his lips moved against mine, his tongue teasing mine playfully. I got frustrated and slid my tongue into his mouth instead, charting it out as one of his hands reached up to clutch the back of my head.
I was pulling on his hair when I broke the kiss and pressed timid kisses to his jaw. I'd never actually kissed someone's neck before, but I was eager to try it with Sirius. I'd just made it down to the spot under his ear when he hissed uncharacteristically. I immediately pulled back, afraid I'd hurt him, to see his pupils dilated as he stared at me. I pushed my glasses back up my nose with the back of my hand out of reflex as I waited for him to speak.
"Why'd you stop?" he asked in a husky voice, his thumbs rubbing over my hips.
"I thought I hurt you," I said in a small voice. "I've never done this before."
"You were doing great, baby," he promised, kissing my chin. "You only do what you're comfortable with, okay? Don't worry about me."
I nodded and leaned back into his neck, going back to the spot from before. I darted my tongue out and licked over the spot experimentally, feeling his hips stutter underneath me. I took that as a good sign and started working over the spot until I was satisfied. I moved my kisses down to his collarbones, bared by his unknotted tie and partially unbuttoned shirt, where I focused.
I'd just brushed my teeth over it when he hissed and said, "Poppy, fuck."
A wave of confidence flooded me at his outburst and I reached out to continue unbuttoning his shirt. I thanked Merlin for Quidditch because Sirius was a sight for sore eyes underneath his white oxford. I kept sucking his collarbone before I moved my kisses down his chest a bit with my hands resting low on his stomach.
My kisses had just dropped daringly low for me when he moaned. It wasn't one of the pleased noises he'd been making before and I immediately looked up at his face. He looked a bit confused before another wave of pain washed over him and he moaned again. Panic coursed through me as I took his face in my hands so he had to look at me.
"Sirius, what's wrong?" I asked in panicked voice.
"I don't know, it feels like I'm burning from the inside out or something," he hissed. "And not like I was five seconds ago when you were kissing me. It's not good, I don't know what it is."
I was in the middle of freaking out when the entrance to the common room opened and Dumbledore walked in. Relief washed over me, he would know what to do to make Sirius stop hurting.
"Professor, I don't know what's wrong," I whimpered, moving off Sirius' lap to sit beside him on the couch with one of his hands clutched in both mine.
"Mr. Black, I've gotten word your mother blasted you off your family's tapestry," he told Sirius in an even, calming voice. "I would attribute this pain to that. Madam Pomfrey has brewed a Painless Potion for you."
"You two stay here, I'll go get it," I suggested, hopping up from the couch and rushing out of the common room before either of them could stop me.
I rushed down the hallway, not thinking about running into anyone as I raced to the Infirmary Wing. Madam Pomfrey was in her office and came to the door when she saw me enter, thinking I was hurt.
"Professor Dumbledore said you had a potion for Sirius," I said, panting slightly. "I came to get it for him."
She looked at me skeptically for a few seconds before bustling over to grab the potion. "This won't put him to sleep, but it will make him groggy for twelve hours after consumption."
I nodded and clutched the potion in my hand. "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey."
"Watch over him, he's going to be in quite some pain the next few days," she told me, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Some pain can't be pacified by potions, Miss Whitewall."
She was talking about how he was going to deal with being blasted off his family's tapestry. Most pureblood families had one hanging in the entryway to show all their visitors how pure their family was. I knew my family also had one, but I hadn't been blasted off it yet considering the pain that went along with it. I would definitely remember feeling that, but I'd only just moved it recently.
I hurried back to the common room and found James, Remus, and Peter sitting around Sirius who looked exactly the way he did when I left him -shirt open and a pained look on his face. His brow was still furrowed and it looked like he was sweating from where I was. Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen, but I figured he'd gone to get the guys before leaving.
"Hi, sweetheart, I brought your potion," I said quietly, crouching in front of him on the floor beside Peter. "Pomfrey said it'll make you groggy for twelve hours after you take it."
He nodded and took the potion from me without speaking, downing it in one gulp. I watched the tension on his face slowly fade until he closed his eyes and relaxed back against the couch. A wave of relief washed over me and I sagged forward onto the couch.
"You should get to bed, it's going to be a long night," I suggested to James more than Sirius.
"Will you come with me?" Sirius asked without opening his eyes as he blindly reached for me.
"Of course I will, sweetheart," I promised, watching James and Remus shoulder him up with Peter leading the way upstairs.
I followed behind fiddling nervously with the hem of my skirt. I'd never spent the night with a boy before, nor had I ever really cuddled with anyone. The last thing I wanted was to upset him, I'd probably do just about anything he wanted me to right now.
Once they deposited Sirius onto his bed, they went to their own and pulled their curtains after they said goodnight. I opened his trunk and dug around for a second before coming up with a t-shirt for me to sleep in.
"Do you want anything?" I asked, trying to be quiet.
"No, I'm just going to sleep in my pants… if that's okay," he tacked on, wincing slightly at the implication.
I swallowed thickly and nodded, undoing my tie and reaching up to undo my buttons. I watched Sirius close his eyes and laughed. I didn't think before I started taking my clothes off, I was just acting. I didn't want to be too far away from him. He was being a gentleman, I could only assume other boys would've watched with hungry eyes if their girlfriend started taking her clothes off in front of them.
Once I was in his t-shirt, I crawled into bed beside him and kissed his cheek. "You're sweet, ya know that?"
He nodded and pulled me close, brushing off what I said in favor of having me close. "It still hurts a little."
I felt my eyes burn and pressed kisses to his chest where my head rested. My eyes landed on the hickey I'd left earlier and couldn't hold in my giggles. The curtains were pulled tight around his bed to keep us hidden, and it felt like it was just the two of us in the world.
"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you being in pain, baby," I murmured, kissing below his chin affectionately. "I'm laughing at the hickey I left. Dumbledore had to see it and think we're always jumping each other."
That made a hollow laugh echo out of his mouth as his grip on me tightened a little. "Thank you for staying with me. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, but I really don't want to be by myself, not anymore."
"I feel the same way. I was so afraid to let people in that I pushed everyone away, but I don't want to do that anymore," I agreed quietly, running my fingers across his stomach as I spoke.
I don't remember falling asleep that night, but the next thing I knew I was waking up in Sirius' embrace. He was still snoring quietly in my ear so I did a quick mouth cleansing charm and peeked out of the curtains to grab my glasses from his side table. It was still early, I had time to do what I had planned.
He was probably going to be in pain today so I wanted to make his morning as good as possible. I rolled him gently onto his back and straddled his hips again, but he didn't wake up -he was a solid sleeper. I leaned down and kissed from below his ear down to his bellybutton before kissing back up to his jaw on the other side.
A groan alerted me he was awake before he took my face in his hands and tried to kiss me. "Ew, clean your mouth first."
He swore under his breath before casting his own charm and pulling my mouth down to his. "Better?"
I just nodded and let him kiss me, my hands resting on my chest as our lips moved together softly. It wasn't charged like last night, it was sweet and made me feel light. He was running his fingers through my hair as his tongue traced across mine gently.
"How do you feel this morning?" I asked when he dropped his head back down to the bed. "I can cast a pain relief spell if you like."
"It's not that bad, just a dull ache," he said flippantly. Then his eyes got a bit distant and he said, "You should probably head back to your room before people start getting up."
He was right and it made me sad, but I did as he instructed. I got up and grabbed my uniform, ducking into the bathroom to change. I laid Sirius' shirt on top of his trunk and went over to him to get a goodbye kiss. It was quick, barely a brush of our lips before he got up and headed to the bathroom.
I walked back to my dorm and thought about how weird he was acting. We'd been so close this morning and then it was like I was with a different person. I really hoped he was okay and things weren't different between us because we'd shared so much with each other.
I pushed into the girls' dormitory and headed to the bathroom before the other girls got up. I was just getting out of the shower when Lily came in, a bird's nest on her head. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw me -she was always the first one up.
"Where were you last night? Your bed hasn't been slept in," she asked through a yawn.
"I stayed with Sirius," I told her, hurrying out of the bathroom before she could react.
While I was getting dressed, Delaney questioned me. "You stayed the night with Sirius and are trying to tell me you didn't shag?"
"We didn't, he had a rough night and didn't want to be by himself," I told her, shrugging my shoulders indifferently. "Nothing happened, I swear to Merlin."
She reluctantly believed me and started getting herself ready. I'd just finished braiding my hair when we all went down to breakfast together. Remus and Peter were sitting at the table when we got there, but James and Sirius were nowhere to be seen. I fist closed over my throat as I rushed over to them.
"Where's Sirius? Is he okay?" I asked in a garbled voice.
Remus' eyes flooded with appreciation when he told me, "Yeah, he's just tired. I think he's going to sit out his lessons this morning. James went to get him a potion, I think. He was in a lot of pain when we woke up this morning."
That made a lot of sense, he made me leave because he didn't want me to see him hurt. My heart ached for him, his parents probably weren't very nice to him when he hurt. I wanted to go see him and tell him he could talk to me about anything, but I knew he needed some space. I didn't want to crowd him.
The girls joined us and nixed the conversation, something told me Sirius wouldn't want them to know. He liked people to think he was a carefree prankster, that's what I thought before I got to know him anyway. Then I saw he was so much more than that, he was the first person to make me feel safe other than Delaney my entire life and that both terrified and thrilled me at the same time.
Like Remus predicted, Sirius was sitting at the table when I came in for lunch. As much as I wanted to, I didn't run over to him because I didn't want to draw anyone's attention. Instead, I kept pace with Lily and Alice as we made our way to the table together. Delaney was already sitting with Remus, their heads ducked together as they looked at the book between them and spoke quietly.
"Whoa, is that a thing I missed?" I asked the two of them as we slowed our walk to gossip. "I know she's always thought he was cute…"
The two of them shrugged and we sat down together, me beside Sirius with Lily on my other side. She and James sort of tolerated each other again, but he was nowhere near as fawning after her as he used to be. He smiled at her and clearly still loved her, but he also went on dates with other girls now. I'd even seen him snogging a Hufflepuff the other day in the hallway after class.
"Hi," I greeted, kissing Sirius' forehead before grabbing myself a sandwich. "How are you feeling?"
I could see on his face he was still hurting and it made me frown. "I'm sorry I made you leave this morning, it wasn't fair."
I took his hand in mine and brought it up to my lips, kissing it. "You don't have to hide from me, love. I'm not going anywhere."
I realized what I said about the same time he did and froze. I'd said 'love' and it didn't make me want to vomit or go into a panic attack. Judging by the look on his face, he'd also heard what I said and was waiting to see how I reacted.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you when you tried to call me that," I told him, taking a bite of my sandwich before speaking again. "It just sort of slipped out of me and I realize why it happened with you. It doesn't seem like such a dirty word anymore."
He leaned over and kissed the side of my head, smiling when he pulled back. "I'm going to stick with freckles, you can call me anything you want."
I beamed at him in contentment, the warmth from earlier spreading throughout my body. I went back to eating and saw him slowly do the same. The others started talking about the upcoming holiday break and I felt nerves settle in the bottom of my stomach. I've never spent a Christmas anywhere but at my house.
"Do you want me to spend Christmas with you in the castle?" Sirius asked quietly so only I heard him.
That sounded wonderful, but I knew I couldn't bail on the Kalums. "I would love that, but I can't. I owe the Kalums."
He nodded and went back to his food, "I just want you to be happy."
A sudden burst of noise down the table from us drew my attention. People were laughing and looking at Phillian. His hair was bright green and his face was horrified as he looked at his reflection in a spoon.
"You didn't," I hissed at the four boys.
They all looked as surprised as I was and I knew it wasn't them. Then Lily cleared her throat and smiled -she must've done it. That bloody, brilliant witch pranked Phillian because I'd told her about what happened after Astronomy.
"Lily Evans! Did you prank him?" I asked, trying to not laugh at the surprised looks on the Marauders' faces.
"He was an asshole," she shrugged before drinking her pumpkin juice happily.
The look on James' face was pure adoration and, just like that, he was roped back in.
Like I said before, if you know whose idea the burning tapestry thing was, please leave it in the reviews! Other than that, thanks so much for reading! I appreciate you!