"Okay. Okay. Renervate."
Elena stirred, eyelids fluttering, and shifted as she came to, and Sirius knelt beside her, wand in his hand, face wary. "Elena?"
"Mhm?" She stretched as she sat up, completely relaxed, eyes bleary but content, and then froze, face dropping and clouding over with remembrance. "I…oh…oh…no! You…did you Stun me?"
"Sort of, yeah."
"Why did you do that?" Her voice rose in tone sharply, and Sirius adjusted his grip on the wand.
"You weren't…you weren't right to talk. And I wanted to talk, properly."
Elena stared at him, accusingly, then nodded slowly. "Okay. Let's talk. Did you feel bad when you killed my boyfriend in cold blood, Sirius?"
"Elena-"
"Did you?"
"He was a Death Eater, Elena, he was going to kill hundreds of people-"
"So you killed him, and framed me for it."
"To save hundreds- I didn't think you'd be framed...and I didn't know you then, I didn't think-"
"So you let an innocent woman go to Azkaban, a woman you didn't even know-"
"It wasn't like that. I didn't really think. I wasn't told anything about what happened after. I was given a mission and I completed it."
"So it was just a mission to you."
"Elena, please just listen."
She waited. "Listen to what? There's nothing you can say to make this better. You killed the man I loved. You left me to be chucked in Azkaban for life without a second thought."
"I didn't know-"
"I don't care."
"I don't care that you didn't know. You didn't have to know anything about me or my boyfriend or what was going to happen, killing is wrong. You should've known that."
"I've paid for it."
"Have you?"
"13 years in Azkaban? Yes. I have paid for it."
"And I paid for it too. 12 years. 12 years of hell. That I didn't deserve."
"I'm sorry-"
"It doesn't matter if you're sorry or not. It doesn't change anything."
"I know it doesn't. I know it doesn't. I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to do the right thing, but I obviously bloody didn't, did I? I obviously can't do a bloody thing can I? He was a fricking Death Eater Elena! He was evil!"
"You're a Black, right? So was your family evil?"
"Yes!"
"No wonder you're such a dick." Elena muttered, and Sirius sighed, but she wasn't finished, looking him straight in the eyes. "He wouldn't have killed me."
"He was going to!"
"And how would you know that?"
"The Order, they had inside knowledge, he was planning a mass killing spree. You knew who he was, what he'd done, he wouldn't have just let you go-"
"You didn't know him."
"Yeah, and I'm glad."
"Why are you glad?"
"Because then I would have been able to kick his fricking teeth in, and I don't think you'd have liked that."
"Whatever happened to respect the dead!"
"The dead started to disrespect us."
"Oh don't you get all poetic on me you prick!"
"Elena-"
"No." She took a few steps backwards. "No. We need to stop this. We need to stop. We need to go."
"Go?"
"Go back to Harry. We need to make sure, to make sure that he's safe. We have to go."
"Um, okay-"
"Where's the wand?" Elena started towards Sirius and he held it to his chest.
"I've got it."
"We need to Apparate." She looked around, panicked, at the darkening sky. "We need to go!"
"Okay! Okay. Let's go then?"
Sirius was beyond confused, but went along with her frantic demands.
"Elena, are you okay-"
"Sirius!" Her voice was sharp, deadly serious. "We need to go!"
"Okay-"
Sirius was cut off as Elena stepped quickly next to him, grabbing his wrist and clutching it tightly, painfully. "Go!"
He Disapparated, and he could Elena shouting as the familiar Apparating sensation overtook their senses, and then they appeared in the middle of a lake. They didn't have time to orientate themselves before they crashed into the murky water.
Elena nearly sucked in a breath at the shock of the freezing temperature of the water, then spat it out, lungs burning as dirty water flooded into her mouth and up her nose. Her eyes flew open, searing with pain, and she kicked out frantically, not sure which way she was up. Something grabbed onto her wrist and she hit out, her cry of alarm spewing out in a whole load of bubbles, then flailed her arms, pushing herself as quickly as she could towards what she thought was the surface, chest burning, mind blind with panic. When she broke the water she shoved her mouth greedily up to gulp down the air, breathing raspy, as she splashed desperately, trying to keep herself afloat.
"Stop, relax!" Sirius shouted after he emerged, treading water jerkily. "The shore's over there."
"I…can't…s-swim!" Elena shouted back, teeth chattering.
"Just kick your legs?"
"Wow thanks!" Elena yelled sarcastically. "I totally wasn't doing that already!"
"Stop being a smart-arse and focus on not drowning!"
"Who…died and made you…in charge?" Elena tried to sound calm, but she was thrashing under the water, heart racing.
"Just swim Elena!"
She went under, coughing out the dirty water in her mouth.
"I told you, I…can't!"
Elena went under again, and Sirius hauled her back up again. "Just try and…copy me-"
She tried to mimic his smooth movements, following him towards the grassy bed, spitting out water, until she could just tickle the lakebed with her toes, then she waded through the long grass and the mud, wincing as she stepped on stones and suspicious objects, the cold water chilling her to her bones, skin covered in soil and soaking wet.
Sirius had sat heavily down on the bank, pushing his long hair out of his face, by the time Elena staggered through the grass towards him, annoyed. The cold water seemed to have shocked her out of her glazed-over, slightly scary state she'd been in before, and Sirius was relieved, studying her face carefully as she exploded angrily. "What the hell was that?"
"What?"
"You Apparated us to the middle of the lake! And you know I can't swim!"
"Oh yeah, sorry about that…" Sirius wasn't really listening, just watching her movements and manner closely as she slumped down on the ground next to him, breathing deeply, a bit light-hearted. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? I think I just swallowed half the lake!"
"Yeah, but are you sure you're okay? You were a bit…"
"A bit what? Jesus, Sirius, what are going on about?"
"Do you not know…-"
"Do you want to go back to what we were discussing previously, or should we move on to the more pressing issues at hand?" Elena's eyes were piercing.
"No, um, let's, just…"
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere near Hogsmeade. I remembered seeing that lake out the window on the Hogwarts Express."
"Couldn't you have landed us on the dry land or something?" Elena was wracked with shivers, teeth chattering violently, and Sirius was the same.
"I wasn't thinking properly, you just said we needed to move, so sorry about that."
"We'll get hypothermia if we don't dry off. Where's the wand?"
"It's here." Sirius placed it on the ground between them. Elena snatched it up, hand trembling as she shuddered in the cold air, and Sirius instinctively lunged for it. She jerked it out of his reach, looking confused and hurt, and he looked slightly ashamed but didn't explain himself as she waved the wand over herself, shivering and sighing with relief as warmth settled over her body. She then passed it to Sirius so he could do the same, standing up and shaking out her cold-deadened limbs.
"Okay, so what are we going to do now?"
"See how close we can get to Hogwarts."
"But term doesn't start for a while, does it?"
"I suppose…Diagon Alley, then? We'll be able to get any news that way. Then, we'll come back here, and see if we can get into the grounds."
"So we could have bypassed the swim, then." Elena grumbled, and Sirius shoved her in the shoulder, so she veered off course, then punched him hard on the arm, so he yelped.
"Oi!"
"Don't push me then!" Elena sighed exasperatedly. "Honestly, sometimes you don't even have to open your mouth to make my head hurt."
"Any shorter and you'd probably just fade out of existence."
"Ironically, I don't blame them for not giving you a trial. You give off this lovely vibe, like you want to murder everyone you look at. That, or they all want to murder you. Or maybe that's just me."
"I'd be scared if you could reach me to hit me."
"I can't believe you still here, Sirius. I thought you'd be at the theatre group."
He laughed disbelieving. "You what?"
"You know, auditioning for A Midsummer Night's Dream. I heard they're looking for an ass."
"Where were you born, on the motorway? Because that's where most of the accidents happen."
"Where were you born, Battersea Dogs Home? Because you're a son of a bitch."
"Did you hear that? It's the sound of no one caring."
"It's funny, I couldn't hear that over the sound of your false sense of self-importance."
"I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and shit better arguments than you."
"That'd make a nice change from all the shit that's coming out of your mouth, Sirius."
"If you were any more of a bitch, you'd have puppies."
"Then you wouldn't be the only son of a bitch in the room."
He laughed. "Nice. Unlike your face."
"Jeez, that was a new level of pathetic. If I throw a stick, will you leave?" Elena picked up a chunk of wood from the ground and threw it. "Fetch!"
Sirius laughed and transformed, bounding forward to get it, then jumped up at her, bowling her over, barking. "Real mature." She scoffed, as he started licking every inch of her he could reach. "Oh, yuck! Sirius…stop it! Ew!"
His bark sounded like a laugh, and she swatted at him, giggling furiously as she was tickled, trying desperately to quell her laughter. "Oh, for fu- Sirius, stop it-"
"Hello? Who are you, and what are you doing on my land?"
As Elena sat up slowly, only one thought crossed her mind as she faced the befuddled looking old man standing in front of them.
Shit.
I hope you liked it!
Seena: I worried that that might not be clear, but Sirius told her about in one of the earlier chapters? Thank you for the feedback x
JamesTKent: They will resolve it, but they're both putting it off :) neither of them are the emotional talk-y types, in my opinion, but never fear, this WILL be resolved. Thank you for your feedback!
Let me know what you thought in a review!
Fly xx