When Lily told the girls in her study group what went down outside the Ravenclaw tower, she never expected the story to hit a chord with any of them. It was just a silly bit of gossip, a little inside joke that should have stayed between those at the table, but she was extremely wrong.
By lunchtime the next day, all of Gryffindor were aware of Giselle's spontaneous flashing incident. Giselle walked down to breakfast, nose buried in the same Potions books she had neglected to read the night before, and stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Toby and his mates chuckling between themselves as she passed, it wasn't a common occurrence and it sparked her attention. Toby's friend Michael caught her eye and he snorted into his pumpkin juice, failing to cover his laughter.
"What?" Giselle spat, narrowing her eyes as she met Toby's, and he gulped, actively trying to avoid another berating from his touchy teammate. The Walters jokes had been banned from the Gryffindor changing room already and he didn't want to feel her wrath again, he wanted to keep his testicles intact.
"Marlene might have mentioned that you gave Walters an eyeful when James kidnapped the Ravenclaws," he admitted, getting the confession out as quickly as he could, and Giselle's stomach plummeted. Oh no… she expected Marlene to talk about Walters, her enthusiasm the previous night proved her interest in Giselle's love life, but she swore not to mention the reason why. No one was supposed to find out that the Head Boy had been up to trouble - James was going to kill Marlene!
"Ah fuck!" swore Giselle, rushing to join the boys as she scrambled to think of a plan to cover up Marlene's huge mistake. "Who knows?!"
"Just us Gryffindors," muttered Toby, sensing her panic straight away, "we haven't told anyone else and I think everyone knows not to mention it in front of the staff."
"Good because if they find out that the Head Boy was the reason why those boys ended up all over the castle…" Giselle trailed off and shook her head, fearing the worst. What if they already knew?
"Yeah, I figured," assured Toby, giving Giselle a small pat on the arm, "I'm on it, I'll spread the news."
"You are an angel, Fawlkes, I could kiss you!" she sighed, relaxing a little more as she scanned the rest of the table, "and please, tell everyone if they say a word about this to anyone outside of the tower I will personally hunt them down and cut their tongue out."
"Already done," said Toby, unsure whether she was serious or not, and she dazzled him with a smile.
"Thank you mate," she muttered, finding her place in her book as she climbed to her feet again.
"You know, if you really wanted to thank him then don't be shy, Giselle! Whack 'em out!" suggested Michael cheekily, nudging his friend as his face flushed brighter than the fried tomatoes on his plate, but Michael ate his words as Giselle glared murderously at him.
"Kidding! Totally kidding!"
Just as she expected - James was seething when he heard the news.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" James' roars radiated from the Quidditch pitch and drifted off into the deep orange sky, startling the sleepy birds hidden in the forest nearby, and Giselle could only offer him a sheepish smile. Somehow he had managed to survive a full school day without encountering the newest rumour, Giselle was rather impressed by the Gryffindor's commitment to keeping quiet, but she felt the urge to tell him when he turned up to practice, jovient and blissfully unaware. It wasn't fair.
"I cannot believe this, really, I am stunned," he scoffed, his face crumpling with rage as he absorbed the information, "who told her about this?"
"Lily," admitted Giselle, wincing as she snitched, "but she told everyone in our study session not to say anything. She didn't mean for this to get out, it wasn't her fault."
"I know, I believe you," groaned James, massaging his eyes to relieve some of his stress, "bless her, is that why she's all over the place today?"
"Yeah, she's been shouting at everyone who dared to mention it around her," confessed Giselle, "I've never seen Lils work so hard, she's got your back Potter."
"Man, I love that girl," he sighed, moved by his girlfriend's loyalty, and Giselle couldn't stop her squeals of delight at his declaration. Awww!
"Stop it, I'm going to vomit," she teased, bringing him out of his lovesick daze.
"Aren't you mad that everyone knows about you flashing Walters?" asked James, changing the subject before he blushed, and Giselle shrugged.
"Honestly I thought it would have gotten out sooner," she admitted, "so no. Also I've done worse things, this is pretty tame for me."
"Mhmm," James narrowed his eyes, studying her for a moment before letting out a sudden scream of frustration. "I think I've finally reached my limit! It's happening, this is it! Savour this moment Elle, I'm officially done! I need to go and have a word with Padfoot," he announced confidently as he shoved his hand into his pocket and revealed a small handheld mirror. Giselle recognised it immediately and hastily shoved away the returning throb of arousal that followed the boy that was constantly on her mind, the owner of the mirror's twin.
"Huh?! What do you mean you have to go? We have practice right now! The Cup Final is in a week?!" she exclaimed, abruptly realising that her captain was ditching. Their game against Ravenclaw ended the moment the giant was spotted and Gryffindor snuck their way into the final with their cosy eighty point lead, it was their easiest semi-final game ever and Giselle was afraid that everyone was slacking off. They hadn't won yet! "Potter!"
"This is more important, you're in charge. I'll be right back!" promised James, distracted by his mirror as he rushed off into the changing rooms, his shoulders hunched as he tapped the glass repeatedly. Giselle could only watch him go with a sour pout. Nothing was more important than Quidditch, what was he playing at?! He can deal with the gossip later!
"You better!" she called after him as she summoned Flash II up from her feet, "I've got Astronomy straight after this and I can't be late!"
After a lacklustre Quidditch practice (James joined them for their final hour, apologising for his disappearance with a smile on his face but Giselle noticed the added force behind his throws) Giselle jumped in the shower and scrubbed herself clean, both dirt and apprehension trickling into the drains as she got ready for her late evening class. Astronomy was by far the hardest class to sit through, her and Sirius were the only Gryffindors and he gravitated towards her as though she was the sun - those lessons were torture and she wasn't feeling particulary strong today, Marlene's fuck-up had fed the naughty hisses at the back of her mind and a part of Giselle was itching to see what Sirius thought about the Walters situation. He hadn't said anything to her yet… in fact, he avoided her all day.
You need to talk to him first, you need to tell him what you truly think, her subconscious reminded her as she adjusted her stockings, feeling rather self-conscious all of a sudden. This has to be the final straw, they're going to break up. Tell him how you feel!
Thankfully Giselle hiked back up to the castle alone since the rest of her team were too caught up going over their final plays, but she much preferred the silence and solitude. It gave her time to think, to truly figure out what she was going to say to Sirius but the more she thought about her true feelings the more muddled she felt. She needed to tell him about Junior, about him meeting with his cousin, she needed to ask him about his disowning, she was desperate to know what really went down… she needed to tell him to dump his girlfriend and choose her instead. There was too much to say and time was ticking away, ridiculing her for not acting on her gut instincts and declaring her love the moment she gave him the chest full of letters. You're an idiot! You let it get this bad!
"Oh, it's you," a voice interrupted her thoughts and Giselle jerked out of her daydream, glancing over her shoulder to see which prefect had caught her but the familiar hateful drone sent shivers down her spine. She hadn't spoken to him in months.
"Oh, it's you," sneered Giselle, watching her brother climb the last step as she turned to face him, she hadn't noticed him following her up from the sixth floor and she was slightly disconcerted that he had been watching her for a while. She didn't trust him enough to keep her back to him, his wand was already in his hand and she furtively slipped her own out of her pocket.
"Where are you going?" he barked, his badge gleaming in the dim lantern light of the seventh floor corridor, and Giselle rolled her eyes as she shoved her Astronomy textbook in his direction. He knew she took a late night class but she decided to humour him in the hopes that he would leave her alone. Now was not the time for a duel.
"Class, I'm allowed to be out," she called out, not daring to move any closer to him. "Go away."
"You can't blame me for being suspicious," he jeered, leaning against the railings separating him from a sheer drop to the ground floor, and goosebumps stung her skin as he looked her up and down as though she were a hag he had stumbled across. "I'm shocked you're not skulking around the dungeons with your tits out-,"
"Don't start with me, Junior," Giselle cut him off harshly, shifting her handbag so he could see her wand, "I mean it, shut your mouth and leave me alone." Her frenzied mind fuelled her anger, she had no room to tolerate her brother's remarks tonight and she rolled her wand between her fingers, itching to use it.
"But we haven't seen each other in a while, Giselle," sighed Junior, smoothing his sandy hair back out of his eyes, not concerned with hiding his disdain as his copper gaze darkened with her attitude. "We have so much to talk about."
"You mean you have so much to talk about, I've got nothing to say," she corrected him, "I've already heard what you've got to say so we don't need to do this, keep your purist shit to yourself because I don't want to hear it and neither does anyone else at this school."
"Always on the defensive, aren't you?" sneered Junior, amused by her brashness. "I was trying to be nice-,"
"You've never been nice, not once in your whole life, stop talking shit," Giselle spat.
Junior scoffed and walked towards her, eyeing the wand in her hand. "It's not shit, it's the truth, something you seem to have an aversion to," he said, "you can't keep fighting me, Giselle."
Anger paralysed her, her stiff limbs refused to move as she watched her brother join her side but her brain was racing, fixing together a plan in case he tried to attack her. He was so close she could smell his expensive aftershave and it churned her stomach, poisoning her with his signature fresh scent. She hated being this close to him, every time she got a whiff of his aftershave it meant that a physical assault was imminent and she automatically clenched her fists.
Junior noticed. "I'm not going to attack you," he teased, enjoying how on edge she was, "not now anyways. I wanted to talk to you."
Giselle narrowed her eyes, "...about what?" She couldn't deny she was curious, but she knew whatever was about to come out of his mouth was going to be racist.
"I know you're trying to get yourself disowned, and as you already know I couldn't be happier with that decision," he drawled, a smile creeping onto his smug, freckled face, "but for some ridiculous reason, Father wants you to stay. Out of the goodness of my heart, and because I am the best brother in the world, I've been fighting your corner and I've tried to persuade him to ditch you but he's not listening."
Giselle stayed quiet. She already knew Junior was rallying for her disowning, he wanted her out so he could continue his dark ways without her persistent attempts to out him as a Death Eater, he needed her gone so he could corrupt their parents - he had already duped them into thinking he wasn't interested in Voldemort but the chilling realisation that Junior would have a clear path to ruining the family when she left rooted deep in her gut. Whatever he had planned would go ahead without her interference, there wouldn't be any opposition in the Crouch household anymore. Her parents were fucked.
That's not your problem, she tried to inspire herself, don't think about that. They don't want to listen.
Junior was impressed with her silence and continued, using it to his advantage. "I know you and Father have a deal, if you fuck up one more time then you're out, and I want to make sure that this happens. We only have a couple of months left till you graduate, and you haven't gotten into trouble yet," Junior pursed his lips, his gaze darkening, "why? You're not having doubts, are you?"
"What?" snapped Giselle, suddenly infuriated that he was sticking his nose into her business, "Why do you care? Even if, for some insane reason, I don't get myself disowned before the year ends I'm never going back to that prison. The three of you will never see me again. I'm not having doubts."
"Don't get my hopes up, Elle," chuckled Junior, "don't make false promises. Why haven't you done anything yet? What are you waiting for?"
"I'm not waiting for anything! Our exams start next week and I need to concentrate, I'll get into trouble before the year is out so please, for the love of Merlin, leave me the fuck alone!" yelled Giselle, riled up by his jabs. This was none of his business, why was he so bothered?
Absorbing the shrill echoes of Giselle's yells, Junior watched his sister and lightly licked his dry lips as he mulled on her reaction, but Giselle had reached her limit for tolerating bullshit and turned to leave him in the middle of the corridor - but Junior wasn't done.
"Exams have never stopped you before, what are you really doing? Why haven't you been disowned yet?" he called after her, his footsteps getting faster as she picked up her pace. "What are you planning?"
"What are you planning, Junior? What are you up to?" Giselle countered, peeking over her shoulder to scowl at him, "You can't keep deflecting the blame, I know you're up to something - what are you going to do to Mother and Father?" The corridor they had arrived in was darker than the last, the candles in their holsters were at their lowest and it increased the tension between the Crouches as they continued their fight.
Giselle's accusation forced Junior to skid to a stop and he guffawed, eyes ballooning in glee. "Why do you care? I thought you hated them-,"
"I do but you do too. I know you want Father to fail just as much as I do but your hatred towards our parents is different to mine. I want to leave them but you want to hurt them," defended Giselle hotly, freezing again to scream at her brother. She didn't want to do this but her brother always touched a nerve, he knew how to get her worked up but unfortunately she knew which buttons to press too.
"Father deserves it and you know it," growled Junior, his left eye twitching as he thought of his name sake.
"But Mother? Does Mum deserve this?" she wondered, "she thinks the world of you, both of them think you're going to do great things but you know that everything you're doing is going to kill her. Is there not one part of you that cares about her?"
"You're such a hypocritical cow," spat Junior, somewhat incredulous at her words, "I'm the one who's going to hurt her? You've already hurt her, you didn't have to listen to her endless sobbing after Father finally gave you the beating you deserved, she's already hurting because you're tearing the family apart - I could never hurt her like you already have."
That was a true dagger to her heart, Giselle felt his words jab and twist, forcing the wound open and he shovelling his drivel inside. She wasn't prepared to deal with her feelings towards Adelaide yet, her involvement in keeping Sirius' letters from Giselle was hard to shift and she didn't have the time to reflect on her mother. She knew Adelaide didn't want her to leave but she never gave her daughter a choice, Giselle had to go.
She wore her disgust on her face with pride and stared up at her brother, urging him to leave with her glower. "That's not true and you know it. The second she finds out you're a Death Eater… you know what that will do to her," she muttered, not needing to raise her voice. She knew Junior heard every word.
But he never responded, he simply smiled through the darkness. That smile gave Giselle all the answers she needed and her stomach hurtled down to the ground, the g-force of the shock winded her and she tried to stay composed as she stared back at him but she couldn't. He had joined Voldemort, he was a Death Eater - he didn't even try to deny it.
"You're truly evil," Giselle laughed coldly, looking at the boy who had never been family, "I can't wait to take you down."
"And I can't wait to see you try," Junior hissed, and she saw his intentions pop up in his face like a tick, she recognised the familiar spasm from their previous duels and she knew what was about to happen. Her handbag fell to the floor with a soft thud and she deflected his offensive crimson spell with ease. It ricocheted off the stone wall and blasted a nearby suit of armour into pieces, its loud clatter filling the hallway as Giselle and Junior continued to duel.
"Impedimenta!" Junior cried, forcing Giselle to backtrack as he stormed towards her but she effortlessly cast a shield and silently sent a weakening hex his way. It caught his knee and he stumbled but the flash of humiliation in his eyes felt like a win in itself, being beaten by his older sister was one of his biggest fears and he hated that he hadn't conquered that particular shame yet. Every encounter ended with him on the floor and her getting away - but this time he knew he was going to win.
"If you want to do this properly then we should head down to Hogsmeade," suggested Giselle in a puff, rolling her sleeves up after she cast another tripping spell. She wanted to hurt him but she wouldn't dare do it on school grounds, the chances of her getting caught using powerful hexes was too high and she didn't want to give Junior the satisfaction of being the reason she gets disowned - he didn't deserve that.
"If we go down there, only one of us will return," he threatened her, fighting against her shield with a cascade of fierce curses. She felt the anger and loathing in his spells, she felt how much he wanted to hurt her and he wasn't afraid of using dark magic.
"Then let's go little brother! I know a shortcut!" she challenged, baring her teeth.
"Confringo!" Junior finally tore through Giselle's shield and attempted to blow her up but she was just a second faster.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Giselle, and Junior's wand flew through the air through the sparkling debris of the failing shield. It landed a few feet behind her, lazily rolling along the stone floor like an abandoned child's toy, and Giselle stood tall before it, daring her brother to fetch his wand.
Junior snapped.
"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" he roared and launched towards her like a bloodthirsty beast, desperate to squeeze the life out of her for humiliating him again but he never reached her. A violently green spell yanked Junior from the air and slammed him onto the floor, latching around his neck and keeping him down, and Giselle almost fainted from relief when she saw Sirius storming down the corridor towards him, his wand controlling the force wrapped around Junior's neck. He was resplendent in his fury, the pure anger pulsing through him stressed the muscles in his arms and shoulders and Giselle dropped her glowing gaze when his shirt tightened as he picked Junior up from the floor and pinned him against the wall by the throat, the throbbing deep inside of her came rushing back like hot running water.
"And what do we have here?" growled Sirius, inches away from Junior's face as he kept him still. "A prefect trying to murder a fellow student? Naughty, naughty-,"
"Fuck off, Black," gasped Junior, fighting to breathe, "you don't know who you're messing with anymore."
"Wow," laughed Sirius coldly, ignoring the stray black hairs that had fallen into his eyes, "you really are your father's son, aren't you Junior?"
Giselle went to chip in with her agreement but she bit her tongue when she saw Remus jog over, his face bright red and pouring with sweat, and she chose to join him instead of getting involved. Sirius clearly had been waiting to catch Junior alone and she rather enjoyed watching the pair fight, especially when her brother was clearly losing.
"What's going on? Are you ok?" whispered Remus breathlessly, giving Giselle a small squeeze but his gaze never left the bickering pair next to them.
"I'm fine," she assured him, still watching the boys as well, "I'll tell you later, Astronomy starts in a minute and I can't be late."
"-pathetic, little worm," Junior finished spitting and Sirius tightened his grip on the boy's neck until his freckled face darkened, oxygen seeping out of his brain as Sirius's fingers dug deeper, "you act all big and tough when you're at Hogwarts but I know you're still the whimpering coward you've always been. Regulus told me all about that meeting-,"
Junior yelped as Sirius punched him in the nose, instantly breaking the bone in one swift blow and Giselle clutched Remus' arm as Sirius threw Junior to the side, his face draining of all colour as he watched the boy clamber to his feet and fetch his wand. Her brother knew something they didn't, it was painfully clear on Sirius' face and she heard Remus swear under his breath.
"You better pray that we don't run into each other again, Crouch," said Sirius, his voice colder than the air between them, "your nose won't be the only broken bone you'll have to deal with."
Junior healed his injury with a flick of his wand and the crack echoed slightly, but nobody winced. Wiping the blood from his face, he gave the Gryffindor trio one last look before skulking off, sore and defeated.
As soon as he disappeared Giselle felt as though she could breathe properly again and she hurried to scoop up her handbag and the books that had spilled out. The hairs on her body pricked as she felt Sirius come closer but she fought against the alluring shivers and met his worried eye.
"I was about to ask if you were ok but you don't even have a scratch on you," he mused, inspecting her face for any sign of blood and she rolled her eyes, pushing away his hand that tried to grab her chin.
"I'm a beast, remember?" she reminded him, and colour returned to his cheeks as he smirked, relaxing out of his stiff posture.
"Trust me, I remember," he teased.
"You know," interjected Remus, subtly backing away from the pair with a knowing smile, "I'm going to stay here and fix that suit of armour, you two go ahead without me, your class just started."
"Yes sir," joked Giselle, purposely stepping around Sirius as she turned to go, but he stuck to her side and waved at his friend as they headed off to the Astronomy Tower.
"Have fun on your patrol buddy! Don't miss me too much!" he shouted, and Giselle tried not to brush his arm too much. He was standing awfully close to her.
"So," sighed Sirius, looking down at her as they walked, "what did he do this time?"
"Who?" Giselle blurted out, distracted by his sparkling eyes.
"Oh no, did he hit you with the Confundus charm?" groaned Sirius sadly, pausing to grab her face again to examine her vision, "do you know who you are? Giselle! Answer me! Do you know who I am?!" He panicked, and Giselle snorted in laughter, swatting his hands away again. They were hotter and rougher than she remembered and goosebumps ravished her body when he held her close, seduced by skin on skin contact.
"I'm fine," she chuckled, pulling away from him with an eye-roll, "it was nothing, just his usual spiel of crap."
"Ah yes," Sirius nodded, "I heard he's been spewing a lot more recently."
"Yup," she copied him, "he pretty much confirmed that he's a Death Eater so we know where all of this is coming from." She tutted and pouted at the ground, annoyed that she was right. She didn't want to be right but she was, and now she knew her parents were in trouble.
"I thought so…" murmured Sirius, sharing her animosity, "Elle, you understand that your parent's ignorance isn't your fault, right?"
Giselle blinked, blindsided by his accurate assumptions. Was he practising Legilimency?
"I know you, don't act too surprised," he chortled, endeared by her look of disbelief, "I know what you're thinking."
That I want to drag you into the nearest empty room and fuck you? Her subconscious chipped in unhelpfully, and Giselle's entire face burned at the dirty thought.
"You were close," she muttered, "I know it's not my fault but I still feel like I need to help, well, help my mother at least."
"You're way too good for them," countered Sirius, frowning at her point of view, "they don't deserve you. They never helped you so why should you help them? If you go back there then something bad will happen and I'm not prepared to let that happen."
"I'm never going back there, Sirius," she promised, her heart rattling around her ribcage like a feverish bird, "I have a bit of money on me, it might cover a couple months rent somewhere but if all else fails then I'll move in with James…" she bit her lip, "with you."
Sirius managed to catch his jaw before it dropped, he was glowing at her confession and Giselle had to take a few deep breaths to calm down when he grabbed her for the second time. The hope in his eyes was mesmerising, she couldn't look away and she let him take her in his hands so she could watch it grow.
"Move in with us," he ordered her, searching her face for her answer, "don't go anywhere, stay with us."
"Ok," she stuttered, under his spell, "sure, I'll move in with you guys."
The door to the Astronomy tower nearby creaked as it swung close, alerting the pair that they were officially late, and they snapped out of their intimate daze before rushing up to join the class that had started. Giselle swallowed the lump in her throat and furiously pushed away the giddy butterflies in her stomach so she could concentrate but it was hopeless, Sirius grabbed her hand and led her to the empty seats at the back of the room so they could continue their conversation.
Their final Astronomy lessons took place at the top of the tower so they could study the summer stars in real time, no conjured projection could do them justice and Professor Jacobi, the elderly professor who seemed older than the planets they studied, decided to charm the tower's turret to unwind and open up to the heavens. The rest of the class sat in pairs at their tables, gazing up at the sky above them as their professor stood before them with his wand above his head in order to highlight the appropriate constellations. Nobody bothered to turn and tease the tardy Gryffindors, after seven years the novelty had worn off.
"Do you mean that? You're really moving in?" whispered Sirius, silently shuffling his chair closer to hers so they wouldn't be heard. Giselle found her place in her book and nodded, looking up to meet his desperate expression.
"Yeah, I don't want to leave you all again," she hissed, pretending to listen to the croaking professor, "I worked my arse off to get back here to you, I can't waste all that hard work." Giselle immediately flushed at her hidden meaning but she didn't correct herself, she did come back here for him - why lie?
"Good," smiled Sirius, sinking back into his chair and slipping his arms behind his head as he studied the stars. Giselle absorbed his reaction and joined him, leaning back so she could follow along with Jacobi's explanation of the constellation Cygnus.
"Cygnus is one of the more predominant constellations at this time of year, its name comes from its swanlike shape," he explained, slowly pacing as he traced the bright cross in the sky above them and Giselle heard Sirius scoffed, smirking to himself as he turned away from the stars. He hated when the familiar names popped up and she loved to tease him about it.
"Isn't your uncle-?" Giselle started to ask and Sirius threw his quill at her in an attempt to shut her up, showering her in tiny droplets of black ink. Giselle held in her gasp and automatically reached for her own silver inkwell, itching to start an ink fight, but Sirius reached over the table and seized her hand with his, forcing her to drop the jar. The burning deep in her started to bubble, rising up through her, and she froze.
"Don't you dare," he whispered cheekily, "don't draw attention to us, I want to talk to you."
"Fine," she breathed, wriggling out of his grip but she never sat back. She wanted to be as close to him as possible, "you're incredibly lucky because you know you would have lost."
"Don't tempt me, Elle," he growled, his eyes darkening for a split second, but she couldn't help it. She winked.
"I don't think you need tempting," she whispered back, but she sobered up when she suddenly remembered they were in a classroom full of other people, "what did you want to talk about?"
Sirius licked his lips and composed himself before saying, "What did Junior say? Before I got there, why were you fighting?"
"I already told you, the usual crap," she repeated, running her fingers through the scratches on the table, "he really wants me to get disowned, he's up to something and he wants me out of that house for good."
"He's just being a prick, don't think too much about it," Sirius assured her, "he's saying all of that to mock you, he's trying to get under your skin."
"Well, it's working," she grumbled, her brows dipping into a frown, "he's going to hurt them, I can feel it."
"But all of this is hurting you," he countered in a soft tone, hoping she would listen, "don't worry about them, worry about yourself. Your parents put themselves in that position and you've done everything you can but enough is enough and I don't like seeing you sad over something that's beneath you. You're a billion times better than all three of them, you don't need them and they certainly don't need you."
Giselle sat in silence as she listened and her heart panged when she realised he was right. She was done, she had put so much time and energy into showing her parents that Junior was the bad one and she couldn't do it any longer. "You're right," she mumbled finally.
"I know," said Sirius simply, smiling at her and she spotted his dimples through the short, dark stubble he had been sporting recently. "You don't need them, you've always got us."
"What about you?" Giselle whispered, urging her willpower to stay strong. She could smell his aromatic conditioner from her position and she tried not to imagine raking her fingers through his hair like she had done in the past. "How are you dealing with it all? Truthfully?"
Sirius hesitated and glanced down, letting the professor's description of the constellation Draco fill the silence between them. Giselle couldn't take her eyes off him, she was terrified he would reject her question if she looked away, and she almost sighed in relief when he answered her.
"It's been tough," he confessed under his breath, "I never expected to leave on the terms which I did, it was… harder than it should have been but obviously I'm so glad I did leave that night."
"I can't imagine what it must have been like," Giselle hissed, instinctively reaching over to scoop up his hands, "I should have been there like we planned. I should have made sure you never went back there"
Sirius guffawed but he never took his hands away. His calloused fingers were intertwined with hers and he shook his head, refusing to dwell on what that would have been like. "Absolutely not, I'm glad you weren't there! It would have been too… disturbing," he chose his words carefully, skating around the real reason why he ran away, but Giselle didn't want to play that game anymore. The feeling of his hands on hers gave her the confidence to tell the truth and she didn't fight it anymore. The dark thoughts won her over.
"Why?" she whispered, yearning for him not to break their shaky eye contact, "Sirius, tell me what happened."
"Elle," he tried to fight against her but she didn't let him.
"What did Junior mean when he said you had a meeting, what did Regulus tell him?" she begged, and Sirius gave in when she massaged her thumb against his palm.
"The She-Devil forced me to go to my aunt and uncle's house in the Cotswolds," he stammered, and Giselle could see the tale play out in his eyes. He was terrified. "There were so many people there, not just family members, and they were all there for… a very specific kind of meeting."
"Wait," Giselle heard the tremor in his voice and her gut wretched in horror when she picked up on his hint. "No, Sirius, they wouldn't… they took you to a Death Eater's meetup?"
Sirius shifted in his chair and looked at their hands, the corners of his lips fighting to stay upturned. "It might have been," he breathed.
"Was Voldemort there?" she needed to know, the question came out before she could stop it but the light leaving his eyes was said a thousand words. He was. A surge of fury rushed through her like a shiver and she tried not to react but it was tremendously difficult, she couldn't believe it. Holding his hands helped her channel her emotions, their contact kept her there in the moment with him instead of rushing off to find Regulus to confront him about throwing his brother into the centre of the viper's pit.
"I'd never felt more alone than I did in that room," Sirius blurted out, spitting out his darkest thoughts as though they were poisoning him, "they took me there to intimidate me, they wanted me to crack but I didn't let them. Elle, I was so scared…" The agony in his whisper cut her deep and she instinctively kissed his knuckles, needing to show him how much she cared about him. The gesture took him by surprise and he froze, tears brightening his already light eyes.
"You will never be in that position again," she promised him in her quietest voice, ignoring the professor's rambles about the brighter summer stars, "you are not alone, you are loved and you are so incredibly brave. I don't think I can describe how proud I am of you, Sirius. You didn't back down, you stood your ground and stayed true to yourself and you need to know that they will never ever hurt you, I'll make sure of it."
"Thank you, Princess," murmured Sirius sincerely, looking down at her as he leant his elbows on the table, and Giselle shamelessly swooned at the pet name, "really, that means the world. I feel better now, the Potters have helped a lot and I don't think I could ever repay them, all three of them have been so loving and accepting so I wasn't alone for long. You, however…" Giselle shied away from his mournful gaze and her heart palpitations got worse. He was being really honest with her too, something was happening.
"What about me?" she prompted, thankful that the classroom was dark enough to hide them from the short-sighted elderly professor. They were the closest they had been in years, she could almost count the individual hairs on his chin.
"You had no one at all, my heart breaks every time I think about you all alone in France," he admitted guiltily, "I wish I could go back in time and fix everything that happened, it's not fair."
Tell him now! You've got to! Just rip the plaster off, you'll be free! Every force controlling Giselle pointed her towards him and she let the words rise through her like lava escaping a volcano after years of building pressure. The courage she needed to tell the truth appeared as though it had been waiting like a shot of adrenaline, her hands started to shake and he noticed straight away.
"Elle? Are you-,"
"Sirius, I lied," she spat out in a heavy breath, and she felt him tense up.
"What are you talking about?" He sounded scared.
"That day everyone returned to school after Christmas," she confessed, hot blood exacerbating her ashamed expression, "that conversation we had, when we agreed to be friends - I lied."
"...which bit?" he whispered, transfixed.
"When I said I wanted to stop hating you, I didn't say everything I wanted to say and I've punished myself for that every day since. I lied about just wanting to be friends, I-," Giselle swallowed the lump in her throat and finally spat it out, "reading your letters made me realise that I'm still in love with you, I think about you every single day without fail and I know that I shouldn't be saying this but I needed to tell you. What I wrote to you in those early letters… I still mean every word."
Her confession had paralysed Sirius, from his breathing to his blinking he was as still as a gargoyle. He was in shock and Giselle started to panic. I shouldn't have said that, why did I say that?! We're in class! I should have waited, I should have told him in a place where we could talk properly! I sprung this on him out of nowhere, well done Giselle! Struggling to keep herself from collapsing out of shame, she held onto his hands for dear life and waited with bated breath for him to recover. She needed to hear what he had to say, she knew he still had feelings too but she needed his confirmation, she wouldn't be able to function if he stayed silent and ignored her declaration.
When he didn't move, Giselle started to recoil from his touch but he suddenly tightened his grip on her hands and silently asked her to stay. Her hopes skyrocketed and she bit her lip, not ready for what was to come, but she welcomed the unknown with open arms. They never looked away from each other, it was impossible for them to focus on anything else except the person in front of them but the universe allowed them a moment in time to reconnect. The twinkling stars smiled down on the mischievous seventh years hidden at the back of the tower and the professor reached their final constellation of the evening with a swish of his wand.
"-and neighbouring Vulpecula is our final constellation, Lyra," he announced, and for a moment Giselle glanced up at the black night sky to catch the glistening outline around the cluster of stars above their heads that illuminated the room and she smiled at the beauty of the universe. The constellation Lyra beamed down as Professor Jacobi described its musical mythology and she liked the way it sounded. That's a beautiful name… Sirius followed her gaze and admired the stars but the brightness of Giselle's smile distracted him and he finally found his voice. It was too perfect.
"Princess," Sirius whispered, and her head snapped back to him, her inky eyes shining with hope, "I-,"
All of a sudden, an almighty explosion rocked the Astronomy Tower and the class screamed, spooked by the unexpected bang. Ears still ringing from the magnificent sound, Giselle slipped her hands out of Sirius' and scrambled to her feet, jumping into defensive mode and desperate to help. That wasn't a normal sound, the blast was too powerful to be nothing - this was another attack.
"Elle!" Sirius screamed after her but she ignored him and tore down the spiral stairs, her feet working faster than her mind but with her wand in her hand she didn't care, she worked well under pressure.
As soon as she emerged onto the seventh floor she knew something bad had happened. White clouds of dust filled the entire corridor, suffocating and blinding anyone who dared to explore its deathly vapour, but Giselle covered her mouth and battled through, the light of her wand fighting hard to clear the smoke. Somewhere in the distance she could hear people yelling, footsteps were close but not close enough, but she pressed on and searched the floor for the source of the explosion in case something nefarious was still happening. Maybe she could catch the culprit in the act-
"Elle!" Sirius shrieked as he arrived, choking and spluttering as he bellowed her name, "Giselle!"
"I'm here!" she squeaked, wheezing as another cloud hit her in the face and she watched his panicked face emerge through the white like a guardian angel and he yanked her close, wrapping his arms around her and cracking every rib in a tight hug.
"Don't ever do that again!" he croaked, torn between fury and sorrow, "what the fuck were you thinking?!"
"I didn't mean to scare you," she muttered, confounded by his warm embrace and she tried not to melt in his arms when she inhaled his gorgeous, musky aftershave that made her shudder, "I just wanted to help!"
"Then you should have waited for me! What if there's another-," but Sirius yelled and dove at her as the corridor shook again. Giselle lost her breath as she was knocked to the floor but the weight of Sirius' body on hers felt like heaven, he pinned her against the closest wall and protected her from another bout of powdery debris that showered them.
"Are you ok?!" he panted, steadily climbing off of her when the shaking stopped and she thanked him for his help as they jumped to their feet again, ready for whatever was about to happen. They still couldn't see anything, the enemy could have been a mere foot away from them and they wouldn't have known.
"I'm fine," she panted, afraid to let go of his hand, and he pulled her closer to inspect her face.
"You're bleeding," he muttered, carefully wiping away the blood dribbling from her eyebrow but the second he touched her face, a scream so terrible filled the hall and they froze, wincing at the very sound. It was terrified and hurt, whoever it was were screaming out for help and the Gryffindor pair snapped into action for the final time. Never letting go of each other out of fear of losing each other in the thick clouds, Giselle and Sirius ran towards the gut-wrenching screams and used their wands to clear the air as quickly as possible.
Once it cleared, however, Giselle wished the clouds were back. The scene that met her knocked the wind out of her and she lost all feeling in her legs, the pure shock took away her ability to function and she clung onto Sirius before she fainted. He managed to hold her steady but his own knees were knocking and he struggled to say a single word, all he could do was stare.
"NO!" cried Dorcas, shaking the lifeless Mary that was sprawled out in front of her at an unnatural angle, "No! Please! Don't leave me Mary, come back! Please!" They were drenched in Mary's blood, the gash on her neck seemed to be the source, but Dorcas didn't seem to care as she tried to push against her girlfriend's chest, forcing air into her lungs but her attempt was futile… it was too late, she was gone. Dorcas finally looked up when she realised someone had answered her cries for help and she broke down at the sight of her shell-shocked friends' arrival, clutching onto her girlfriend though it was the only thing she could do.
"Help her, please… Mary, don't go…"
I've been dreading this chapter oh my lord!