Euphemia and Fleamont arrived within half an hour of the tree incident. Fleamont looked amused at the turn of events while Euphemia looked determined. She marched straight over to the door and swung it open to reveal the twisted tree within.
"Oh for Merlin's-" she said, slamming the door shut.
She waved her wand and the entrance to the room glowed red and pulsed once, twice, three times, before it settled for a moment and then returned to white.
"If I were you I'd not try to enter that room again. I've sealed it for now but it'll open again if someone tries hard enough. Trust me," she said, turning to James. "This is not a game. Leave this one alone."
The three boys gulped and nodded and Sirius' arm tightened around Bess. He'd not let her go since they'd all recovered from saving her
Lily and Bess hadn't needed any warnings – neither were curious enough to go against Euphemia, and even if they had been, Bess' experience had been worrying in itself.
With a smile which reminded Bess of Molly Weasley, she opened her arms and pulled Bess into a tight embrace which made her feel incredibly warm and happy. She then turned to Lily and hugged her as well.
"Sirius, can you think of any reason why your uncle would booby trap the flat like this?" Fleamont asked, turning to the floppy haired wizard who had slung his arm back around Bess' shoulders the instant Euphemia had released her. "I'll be honest, I thought the curses Euph and I removed in the study were the worst of it. We weren't able to get into the rooms on the lower levels, though now I'm under the impression that we weren't allowed in."
"No idea…" Sirius shrugged, frowning. "It's just weird, right? Why give me the flat if he didn't want me to have it?"
"He didn't mention any of this in his will?" Flemont asked, and Sirius shook his head no. Fleamont nodded and rubbed his chin. "Quite private was he?" Again, Sirius nodded. "Well I'm guessing the flat's rigged so that only the owner and people inside the flat while the owner's here can get into the rooms. That'd make sense, right, Euph?"
Euphemia nodded. "Unfortunately… how about you tell me what you've found so far and we'll go from there?"
"Uh- okay… so there was that room with those potions…" James said, frowning in thought. "We didn't try any, but Remus knocked one over while we were… uh… when he was walking through the room…"
"Lily?" Euphemia asked, raising an eyebrow at her future daughter-in-law.
Lily wilted under her gaze and blushed. She sent an apologetic look towards her boyfriend and then whispered, "They were playing catch."
"Thought so," Euphemia replied, rolling her eyes.
"The tree, obviously," Sirius supplied, and Bess could tell he was trying to move the conversation on as quickly as possible.
"There was that door handle that made Peter come out in an awful rash over Easter… it took three days to heal, remember?" Lily asked the boys, and Bess couldn't help but feel slightly jealous that she'd missed it.
"And that toilet that tried to eat me whole," James said with a mild shudder. He turned and in a loud whisper, said to Bess, "Don't go to the toilet downstairs. It's honestly not worth the aggro."
Bess smiled slightly, her annoyance at apparently being the very last person to see the flat evident to everyone in the group. She pursed her lips and said, "And those cursed brooms earlier."
"Cursed brooms? Who on earth was stupid enough to fly something they found in this flat?" Fleamont asked exasperatedly. He turned to his son, tilting his head to the side in disappointment. "James, tell me it wasn't you. Tell me my own son-" he stopped at the look of guilt on James' face. "It was you, wasn't it?"
James had enough sense to nod and look down sheepishly rather than face his father head on as he whispered, "Sorry dad."
Bess found the exchange very interesting – she'd thus far only seen the relaxed side of Fleamont which had led to her putting him up on a pedestal as an infallible person. Seeing his cheeks flush red with annoyance brought him down to earth somewhat.
"Euphemia," Fleamont said through clenched teeth. "Please have a chat with your son. I think he has a death wish."
"Oh for Merlin's sake. He gets that from you, not me. And calm down. You're just annoyed you didn't have a go on one of them," Euphemia answered, rolling her eyes at her husband, a stern expression on her face. "Though I have to agree, James, I'm disappointed."
Bess tried not to laugh at the similarities between Sirius and Fleamont's reactions to the fact that they weren't included in the cursed Quidditch game, and smiled when she saw James' lip curl up into the smallest of smiles when he realised he would ultimately get away with the crime.
"Well, I know that if I tell you to stop exploring you'll only explore more. If I tell you what the tree is you'll go to it more, and if I don't, you might try to find it again… So I'm in a lose-lose-lose situation here…" Euphemia said, sighing deeply. "How about this? If you find anything suspicious, you call for me. Day or night, I will be here. How does that sound?"
She waited until all of the teens had nodded and then walked over to the sofas. She sank into one and Fleamont sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Bess thought she looked tired and weary, but chose not to say anything. She didn't think Euphemia would appreciate her asking in a not-so private setting. Though, now that she looked properly, when Fleamont and Euphemia were serious and not smiling, they showed their advanced age more.
"And the tree is…?" Sirius asked when the teens had settled into the seats around James' parents. Bess tore her eyes away from Euphemia's tired face and turned to Sirius.
Euphemia sighed and answered, "It's an ash tree. And by the looks of things, it's sentient."
"An ash... that means…?" Sirius asked. He removed his arm from Bess' shoulders and braced his elbows on his knees. Bess breathed a sigh of relief that he was finally feeling comfortable enough to let her go physically, although she was incredibly aware of him – he was still as close to her as he could get on the sofa without her sitting on his lap.
"Ash trees are meant to ward off evil spirits," Euphemia explained. "And if that one's sentient, then I think it was testing Bess to see if she was a wrong'un or not."
"But we had to drag her out, so that means that she is?" James asked, shooting a confused look between his mum and Bess.
"No," Fleamont replied quickly, shaking his head, a small smile playing on his face as if the idea of Bess being bad were laughable. She was thankful for this reaction. "If the tree had decided Bess was bad then you wouldn't have been able to remove her from that room."
Sirius sat back and wrapped his arm around Bess again, who this time snuggled into his embrace and, in an effort to lighten the mood, asked, "How do we lure Voldemort here? Sounds like the right kind of flat to off him, don't you think?" Only Sirius reacted, and even then, he just let out a breath of a laugh.
"Do you remember what happened, Bess? Do you know why it let you go?" Fleamont asked.
Bess tore her gaze away from Sirius' hand sitting on her shoulder and met Fleamont's sparkling blue eyes. She gulped under the stares of the six people surrounding her and shook her head, "I remember it... I remember it feeling amazing, like I wanted to go to the tree… it was like it was summoning me. Even when the boys started pulling me out, I didn't want them to. I wanted to stay. And then I-" Bess stopped, thinking about what she'd smelt – Sirius.
"And then what? Bess?" Euphemia asked, shuffling forwards, an eager look in her eye.
"Nothing," Bess replied, frowning in thought at the memory of Sirius' smell. It was like it had jolted her out of her reverie, but maybe it hadn't. Maybe her love for him had- She felt like she was missing something, but couldn't put her foot on it.
"Well... I'd call that a dead end... so, apart from Sirius' uncle hating him enough to leave him a heap of gold and a terrible flat, and avoiding the event that Euphemia said I'm not allowed to bring up, what else is new?" Fleamont asked, clearly referencing the Covent Garden attack. There was a tint of pride in his tone and he clapped a hand on James' shoulder, clearly proud of his son for immediately heading towards the fight, no matter how much action he saw.
At his words, most of the rooms' inhabitants laughed, except for Bess, who was still thinking, and Sirius who, she noticed, had tilted his head to the side. She was saddened to see that he had a concerned and upset look on his face.
"I thought I was his favourite," Sirius said quietly, and Bess knew that if Peter had been here he wouldn't have been as vulnerable - he would never have shown weakness in front of the boy, but in front of Remus, Lily, James and his surrogate parents? In front of Bess? She placed a hand on his free one and gently squeezed as she stared at the side of his face. His expression was neutral and if you'd have heard his voice you might have thought that he was fine, but Bess knew different. She knew that when he spoke next he had the slightest quiver which betrayed his sadness.
He squeezed her hand back, took a deep breath, and continued, "When he'd come to visit he'd sneak down to the kitchen to see me. Always had a cup of tea and regaled stories Mother would have killed him for... He hated her and never seemed to think I was like her. He always went on and on about the family were trying to steal his money and about Regulus being a bloody good heir... about how I was the only one worth any salt… Not that he said any of that in front of Mother… he was always so cordial to her… I thought that was why he gave this all to-"
Sirius stopped talking when Bess began to laugh. It had finally come to her, what she was missing, and she couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled up as she thought about a set of Muggle books she'd seen on a shelf in the study earlier in the day.
"Oh my god! I know! I know why he did all of this!" Bess cried, throwing her free hand in the air. She brought it down to smack herself on the forehead. She trailed it down her face to touch her fingers to her mouth, trying to stop herself from laughing more. She let her hand fall to her lap and turned back to Sirius, asking, "Did he know you'd left home when he wrote you into his will?"
Sirius, whose jaw was clenched, his brow furrowed at Bess' odd reaction to a vulnerable moment, answered, "Maybe? I'm not sure really. It's probable Mother tried to keep it from him. Sounds like something she'd do. He wasn't well in the last few years so we barely saw him."
"Bare with…" she said, still chuckling to herself. She leant in to kiss him on the cheek and then ran to the study, grabbed the first book in the series, and ran back. She was slightly surprised that Sirius had let her go on her own, but didn't question it.
When she walked back into the room, she was scanning the pages, flicking pages as quickly as she could. "Sirius, have you been harmed at all?" she asked, still speed-reading, walking around the sofa and sitting down next to him. Sirius shook his head.
"And have you read this?" she asked, handing him the book.
Sirius frowned down at the leather bound book which was decorated in gold leaf and vivid drawings. He flicked through the pages.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring?" he queried in an interested voice. "No. I've never heard of it."
"It's a Muggle series, that's why," she replied, grinning at Sirius as she pointed at the book. When he glanced up, a confused look on his face, she leaned over to flick the pages back to the one she'd found. "Read this... But essentially, part of the story is that there's this eccentric and old Hobbit named Bilbo who leaves everything to his favourite nephew, Frodo. If I'm right, Alphard though of himself as Bilbo, and you as Frodo. But Bilbo booby trapped things and hid loads of treasure in his home when he lived there because he was sure that his relatives would try and take all of his things away. He doesn't trust anyone but Frodo. Seems like Uncle Alph was trying to make sure that your Mother didn't get her hands on his stuff… I could be wrong, but-"
"No," Sirius said, grinning at Bess now. "No, that sounds like exactly the type of thing he'd do. Oh thank Merlin!"
"Why's that a good thing?" Lily asked, frowning at the couple who were still smiling at each other as if lost in their own world. "He's still trying to kill you…"
"No!" Sirius laughed, shaking his head and tearing his eyes from Bess'. Part of her wished he'd never look away from her again - his stormy grey eyes felt like home. But she let him go, and he said, "Like Bess said, he trusted me. Which is why I haven't been harmed yet. Doesn't it strike you as weird that all of this has happened whenever I've turned my back? I think as long as you're all with me when we go into the rooms downstairs then you'll be fine."
"You have a weird family, mate," James replied, grimacing.
"Tell me about it," Bess said, finally looking away from the side of Sirius' face as she lightly scratched her left forearm. She could feel the six's eyes on her, but ignored them.
"Absolutely brilliant," Sirius said in an admiring tone, his hand gently massaging Bess' lower back. He smiled and leant in to gently rub his nose against hers, successfully changing the subject and turning Bess' thoughts away from Bellatrix.
Remus grabbed the book and began to read to the group.
"How did you know, Bess?" Lily asked once Remus had finished. "I can't say I would've connected the two right away..."
Bess bit her lip. "Uh- well... When the tree was pulling me in, I smelt Sirius and it snapped me out of it. When I looked at it again it was scarier, and I thought that Sirius would protect me, and that's when it let me go," she said, feeling the blush rising from her neck again when she said the last. She and Sirius may have been going out for eight months now, but she still felt embarrassed that she relied so heavily on the idea of him being there for her.
"That makes sense... We just have to work out how to explain to the house that we all come in peace... and in the meantime you'll all have to be incredibly cautious. Otherwise this side of the war will be losing some promising new recruits..." Euphemia said, looking pointedly at the boys, who had the decency to look shocked at her intonations.
"No idea what you mean, Ma!" Sirius cried, slipping his arm back around Bess' shoulders.
"Oh really?" Euphemia asked, raising an eyebrow. "So what exactly were your plans for when Peter gets here?" When the boys grimaced, Euphemia nodded and said, "I rest my case."
Euphemia and Fleamont stayed for dinner and then returned to their own home, having sealed all of the doors leading to the darker magical rooms (they left the ones 'which seemed like fun' open to satiate the teens' needs to explore and do something cool). They also left James at the flat, laughing when Bess asked if they could take him with them.
Exhausted, the five teens retired to bed when the parents left.
Bess could feel Sirius' eyes on her while she brushed her teeth, got ready for bed, and slipped under the covers, cuddling into his embrace. After being denied his touches and kisses for so long, she took the opportunity and tilted her head, capturing his lips in a slow and passionate kiss which she hoped made him feel the same was she did whenever he kissed her like that. It was as if everything melted away the instant her lips touched his and his hands slipped to her waist. She genuinely forgot that there was anyone else in the world, or in the flat, apart from two of them. She raised her hand to his neck, lightly tracing his jaw with her thumb, and deepened the kiss further.
That night they were intimate for the first time since the Easter break. Afterwards, Sirius held her, only letting her go so that he could fetch her another pain potion in the morning.
She had never felt so loved.
xXx
The next day, Bess found herself sitting in an armchair opposite a napping Lily. She was watching Sirius and James who were staring intently at the fireplace, their arms crossed as they leant against the back of one of the sofas. Her opened but unread letter from Jasper lay on her lap.
"He's late," James said for the umpteenth time, talking about Peter. They'd been worried all day that he'd forgotten the 'new' address, since they'd told Peter that the location of the house had become a secret 'for Bess' protection'. Apparently he'd been quite confused when the address of the flat he'd already stayed in had completely left his mind once the Fidelius charm was in place.
Sirius let out a groan of annoyance and asked, "Are you sure you gave him the right address?"
James rolled his eyes and raised a hand in the air. "Oh dammit! I'm your secret keeper and I forgot the secret I was keeping! How careless of me."
"Don't get pissy with me, he's the one who's late," Sirius replied, still staring at the fireplace, as if willing it to suddenly burst into flames.
"That's what I said!" James replied, letting out a huff of air.
Bess narrowed her eyes at the boys. She'd never seen them like this. Both seemed tense and worried - their usual laid back, jokey, self assured demeanours were slowly ebbing away as the minutes crept on.
"Moony!" Sirius called, grabbing Remus' attention.
The sandy haired boy was sitting in the kitchen reading a book, as far away from the 'action' as possible. He'd not moved since lunch.
"Where's Wormy?" James called absentmindedly, still frowning at the fireplace.
"Dunno. Meant to get here at five, isn't he?"
"Yeah, and it's five now," James replied.
Remus paused, frowned, checked his watch, and unhooked his finger from between the pages of his book as he began to read again. Bess thought he'd stopped caring about their conversation until he raised his voice and said, "Sure it's already five?"
"Yes! It says so right there!" Sirius said, indicating the clock on top of the mantle.
"My watch says it's one minute to," Remus replied in a bored voice, hooking his finger into his book again as he stopped reading with a long sigh and finally moved, standing up and walking over to the living room. He sat down on the arm of Bess' chair and pointed to the large bar of chocolate resting on the other arm.
Sirius waited until Bess had handed Remus the bar before he asked, "So?"
Bess smiled as she heard the snap of the chocolate, and decided to answer for Remus while he ate.
"So?" she replied with a small smile. "So, my dear, my love, my pup, my closet worrier, it's Peter. If he's early you'll both say he's keen. If he's late you'll both berate him for being late. But if he's right on time..."
Remus nodded along and said, "What she said," through a mouthful of chocolate. Bess grimaced when some splattered its way onto her bare leg - she was wearing a denim playsuit which Lily had bought her over Easter - and she wriggled her nose in disgust and wiped it away. "Sorry," he added, and Bess laughed when it happened again.
"Please finish your mouthful before you talk, Remmy! And Sirius, James, he'll be here in a minute, calm down, okay?" Bess said, raising an eyebrow at her and her best friend's boyfriends.
As if he'd heard her, the fireplace burst into emerald flames and Peter came spinning into view.
"Where have you been?" James asked immediately, clapping a hand onto Peter's shoulder, his face twisted into an accusatory expression.
"Late as usual!" Sirius added, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated motion as he flicked his wand and sent Peter's bag soaring towards the guest rooms.
There were three, and when the question of who Peter would be bunking with had come up, Lily had immediately and without blushing (which Bess thought must have taken a lot of courage on Lily's part), announced that she would be moving into James' room so Peter could have his own space. If Bess said that James' eyes had become as large as saucers, she would have been underselling his reaction.
"But- but- but-" Peter stammered, shooting a look to Remus, who shrugged and tapped his wristwatch. "But I got here on time! I left just before five!"
"What, were you waiting around, trying to figure out the best time to get here? Bit sad, mate," James said, rolling his eyes as he walked over to Lily, nudging her awake.
"Wormy!" she mumbled, smiling at him sleepily as she made a limp hand movement which Bess took to be a wave.
"No..." Peter replied, hanging his head slightly. "I just thought that- Sorry guys."
Bess felt sorry for him. She could see it from both perspectives - on one hand the boys were so worried that he'd gotten lost or had said the wrong house name, and were now trying incredibly hard to act cool and save face. And on the other hand, Peter, who was so desperate to be liked and be one of the group (even though he was), had followed the timing instructions to the letter which meant that he'd turned up and was being told off for doing everything right. She knew that this type of thing could cause resentment if not nipped in the bud, so she decided to do something about it.
She let out a small sigh and stood up, walking over to Peter. Against her physical and mental protestations, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. She waited until he hugged her back before she released him, stepping back to place her hands on his shoulders as she sent him the happiest and best smile she could muster.
"Don't listen to a word they're saying," she said, staring straight into his eyes, the smile still plastered on her face as convincingly as she could manage. "They've been staring at that fire for ten minutes and your arrival is the only thing they've talked about since lunch. Honestly, they're driving Lily and me so crazy that Lily had to have a nap just to get away from them."
"Truer words, Bess, truer words..." Lily called from her sofa.
At this, Peter's face transformed from downtrodden to happy, and Bess knew she'd done her job. To really sell it, and in an effort to keep him on her side, she added, "Since no one's said it yet, welcome. Now, I would ask Sirius to give you the tour but you know more about this flat than I do. Is there anything I need to look out for?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip.
Peter's grin widened and he nodded. "Has anyone told you about the fourth guest room's hidden door?"
Bess didn't need to pretend that her interest had spiked. "Uh... no! No they haven't! Tell me more," she cried, leading Peter over to the free sofa, sitting down, facing him. Her elbow propped on the back of the sofa, her chin in her hand, she listened to Peter regaling the tale.
She only looked away from him once he'd finished, and made eye contact with a very happy looking Sirius who nodded at Peter, and mouthed, 'thanks, love.'
It was only later, after dinner, when everyone had settled around to play games again, that Bess realised she hadn't read her letter from Jasper yet. She asked Remus, who was sitting in the seat she'd been in, if it was down the sides or on the floor, but they couldn't find it. After five minutes of searching she remembered that she was a witch and summoned it. Oddly, it flew out of the corridor leading to the bedrooms.
"Must've tidied it up earlier, sorry love," Sirius said when she sat down next to him, a frown on her face. She reminded him that neither of them had been back to the bedrooms since Peter had arrived, and he shrugged and replied, "the house did it then. Same with those potions last night."
"You can't blame the house for everything," Bess replied, still frowning down at the letter in her hand. She was sure she'd already opened the envelope, but it was now sealed.
She took a moment to shake the uneasy feeling and opened the seal, removing the letter within.
"All good?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he sat back from his game of wizarding chess, having been beaten by Peter, who was grinning and trying to get James' attention to tell him of his victory.
"Hmm," Bess hummed in reply, her eyes still scanning down the third page of the five page letter.
Apart from seeing Jasper at the Order headquarters two days previously, she hadn't had a chance to talk to him properly in a couple of weeks, and his letters had become more and more sporadic. Finally, she had her answer for what was going on with him - he'd been on back to back work and Order missions, and was finally able to catch her up on what was going on with him.
"Oh for god's sake," she whispered, and felt Sirius lean in to read over her shoulder. She tilted the page to let him see better. "Delbert's had my Gringotts key this entire time. Jasper says he's going to try and get another one for me, but that means I won't even be able to go to my own vault, doesn't it? Just in case he's there?"
Sirius winced and nodded, "Sorry love. Just hope he hasn't taken anything important..."
Bess frowned and shook her head. "Doesn't seem like it. I think a while ago Jasper said all of Daphne's things were in there? Otherwise it's money and not much else..."
"Good thing I've got plenty for the both of us," Sirius answered, leaning in to peck Bess on the cheek. She smiled at the sentiment but shook her head.
"I'm not worried about me, thank you though," she said, thinking about the will she'd completed. "I just don't like the idea of him living off the estate of people he murdered..." She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, falling silent as she finished her letter.
"You're quite close to Jasper, aren't you?" Peter asked, and Bess looked up to see him raising an eyebrow.
She smiled and nodded as she reached over to grab her ink pot, parchment and a book to lean the parchment on as she wrote her reply. "Yeah, he's one of my closest friends."
"Do you talk to him about everything?" he asked.
Bess frowned and tilted her head. "Everything?"
"Yeah, like... school, and the Order and... stuff?" Peter asked innocently.
Bess smiled again, her face relaxing, and nodded.
"And Sirius?" he asked. It took Bess a moment to realise that that was aimed at her, and that he wasn't calling for Sirius.
"Uh... what?" she asked, confused again.
"Do you and Jasper talk about Sirius?" he asked, elaborating. Bess could feel Remus, James, Lily and Sirius' eyes on her, even though when she looked around the room none of them were looking her way.
"Uh, yeah, sometimes..." she shrugged, "he's good with advice."
"Oh, that's good," Peter said, turning back to his chess board. Bess frowned again, staring at him for a moment, until she rolled her eyes at his weird line of questioning and turned back to her letter.
She began to write her reply, keeping it short and simple, as his five pages of reply had been a culminative response to her multiple letters over the weeks.
Dear Jasper,
Thank you for your letter. I'm so glad you weren't hurt too much in the action at the weekend.
And thank you for the update on my money. Hopefully it'll all be sorted out soon.
Where I am is absolutely lovely. If you could see it I think you'd love it.
Can't wait to see you next week,
All my love,
Bess x
P.S. Please say hi to Kingsley and Frank for me. Sorry to meet them under such terrible circumstances.
"An 'x'?" Sirius asked in a whisper, reading over Bess' shoulder.
"Of course," she replied, blotting the ink to dry it quicker.
"Of course," Sirius repeated in an odd tone which Bess couldn't quite pick up on. "What's next week?"
Bess turned to Sirius, frowning. "Yeah... the next Order meeting... and then I'm staying for duelling practice... wait... I don't understand what's going on. Are you mad because I'm writing a letter to Jasper?"
"I'm not mad at all," he said unconvincingly. "Just find it interesting that you talk to him about everything but you've barely talked to Lily about us or our arguments."
"How do you know that?" she asked, shooting a quick look to Lily, who looked as though she was just playing a game of cards with James. The embarrassed blush rising from her chest told a different story. "You know what," Bess whispered so that only Sirius could hear as she rolled her eyes and carefully folded her letter. "I'm not going to rise to it. You know that Jasper is my friend, and that he literally saved my life last year. I wouldn't be here with you if it wasn't for him. And anyway, even if he was interested in me, which I can assure you, he isn't, he has someone who he's pining after."
"He does?" Sirius asked, the tone dropping from his voice as he tilted his head in surprise.
"Yeah. But I never told you that, because he's really private about it, okay?" she asked tentatively. Sirius nodded, and she hoped that no one had overheard what she'd told him.
She wondered how she'd gone from reading a letter to suddenly having her boyfriend questioning her friendship.
Over the next few days, Bess found herself repeating the exchange in her head over and over again. Although he hadn't questioned anything since, and had been truly apologetic for getting riled up about Jasper's letter, she couldn't help but feel as though he had undone all of the progress he'd made in the past months. It was as if his jealousy had extended itself again from nowhere, and she couldn't help herself thinking that maybe Peter had asked her those questions on purpose. Her suspicions were somewhat confirmed on Friday morning when Remus headed home with Peter to pick up some supplies before his transformation that night, and James and Lily went out to Muggle London for a date.
After an epic water gun challenge, only using their wands which broke all of the remaining tension that had been bugging them, they retired to the study with a pile of snacks - Bess had spent the past few days skimming through Alphard's books as part of her 'alone time'.
They were sitting cross legged on the floor, staring at each other when Sirius explained that what Peter had said had got to him.
"To repeat you back to you, Sirius," Bess said, cupping his face in her hands, "I am yours and you are mine. Nothing's going to change that."
"Not even Greyback?" Sirius asked, placing his hands on her hips. "Or Sexy Serpen?"
Bess laughed and shook her head. She closed her eyes and leant her forehead against his. "Not Greyback," she whispered, "not even my friend, Jasper. No matter what happens, I will always be yours. In- in fact..."
"In fact what, love?"
"In fact... in my vision... in my vision, before Greyback gets to me, I saw myself looking up to the stars. And I know I was looking for you. Because as long as you're shining in the night's sky and here on earth, I feel safe. I feel like I'm home. I feel loved. And I will never stop trying to get back to you if we're separated."
"And I would never stop looking for you," he whispered back. "You are my everything."
And Bess knew he was telling the truth.
xXx
A/N: hopefully you guys are still liking this! Every time I post I ask myself why I can't just write a short scene and then move on. Also, as many chances as I give Peter, he just keeps coming up smelling like... poop.
Hmm... moving on... eventually they'll be exploring more of the flat, and trust me, the booby traps will be coming back round in the next book. Speaking of, I think we're less than 10 chapters away from Book 2 now, and I can't wait to share the final chapter of Book 1 with you all - it's actually the chapter that started all of this, so we'll see if you like it!
Thank you to everyone reading, favouriting, following, and to my wonderful reviewers: AvalonRivers, CharlotteGryffindor, themugglepadme24 - (thank you so much! I think I have a super overactive imagination which means that I can almost see these conversations playing out in my minds eye and that helps to structure them. Sometimes that's fun, but other times I find myself sobbing haha!), Ghost Claw 001, HorseGirl16, arispuffer and BlueHairedRaven. I really appreciate the support, everyone, honestly more than I can put into words (which is ironic since I can't stop writing!)