Disclaimer: All ideas are based on characters and events belonging to J.K. Rowling.
Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 24: Repercussions
Olivia looked around the room. Sirius was picking himself up out of the floor, looking at her wild eyed, with a large scratch down his face. "Livey?"
That was all it took for the tears to fall. Sirius stood staring at her, not sure whether he should approach her or not, still unsure as to what had happened. She grabbed at the covers, trying to cover herself up, and if Sirius had not been listening intently he would have missed the broken, "I'm sorry" through her sobs.
He grabbed his boxers that had been discarded and pulled them on quickly before moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "Olivia? Are you ok, love? Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry." He sat patiently for her to start to calm down before he scooted into the middle of the bed and sat beside her, though he stayed on top of the covers while she was now under them, and cautiously wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Did I hurt you?"
She shook her head but stayed silent. Sirius ran his hand through his hair and sighed both in relief and confusion. "Livey, what's wrong?" Again, nothing. "Please, Olivia, you're scaring the hell out of me."
Slowly, she turned her head to look him in the eye. "I saw him."
Sirius' brow scrunched in confusion. "Who love?"
She looked forward again, avoiding his eyes. "Lucius."
All the color immediately drained from Sirius' face. How could he have been so stupid? He had told himself he was going to make their relationship move slow for this very reason, and he had let her down.
Her shoulders started shaking again. This time, Sirius pulled her close, trying his best to comfort her. She sobbed against his bare chest as he muttered calming words into her hair. Finally, almost an hour later, she had calmed down and was silently cuddled against Sirius, the covers still separating them. Sirius looked out the window and stood, putting his remaining clothes on and gathering Olivia's clothes to place on the bed beside her before he turned to walk out.
"Wait!" He turned to see Olivia staring at him from her position on the bed. "Where are you going?"
He motioned to the clothes. "I figured you could use some alone time to get ready before we head back to the castle. I'll run downstairs and see if Rosmerta can whip you up some hot cocoa."
She smiled at him, visibly relaxed, and rubbed her red and swollen eyes. He turned and walked out but she called out to stop him again. "Sirius!" He poked his head back around the doorframe. "Thank you." He grinned before continuing on his cocoa quest.
She slowly slid out from under the comfort of the covers and started dressing. She couldn't believe what had happened. Everything had been going so well, but the visions had been so plain, so real. She reached across the bed for her skirt, pulling it up and hooking it, before she pulled her shirt on. She buttoned her shirt but left it out and left her socks and tie off, crawling back onto the bed and laying on top of the covers.
Sirius walked back in levitating two steaming mugs of hot cocoa and carrying a plate of cookies. He crossed the room and placed them on the table located beside the bed. Olivia sat up when she saw him enter and eagerly took her hot cocoa, smiling at him.
He sat on the side of the bed, his cocoa also in hand. "Rosmerta sends her best, she sent the cookies on the house."
Olivia smiled. "That was nice of her."
"Whenever you finish, we'll start back to the castle. It's getting pretty late."
Her smile faltered slightly. "Why can't we just stay here tonight? We both have a free period in the morning, so we will have plenty of time to go back and get ready for class." He had an unsure look on his face and she knew she had given his a terrible fright. "Please, Sirius. I don't want to be alone tonight."
He smiled. There was no way he could say no to that. Not that he wanted to say no anyway, but he was still kicking himself for messing up so badly. "Ok, we can stay here for the night. When your brother realizes and kills me though, you have to promise to speak at my funeral." She smacked his chest, smiling. He always had a way of making her feel so much better.
Once the plate of cookies contained only crumbs and their mugs were empty, they crawled into bed to get some rest. Sirius waited for her to get situated before he stretched himself out beside her, staying on top of the covers. She looked up at him, confusion on her face. "Are you not going to cover up?" Sirius studied her face intently, unsure of what he was supposed to do, terrified of triggering another flashback. She reached up and ran her finger down the long scratch on his face. "I'm ok now Sirius. I promise."
After studying her face several more seconds he rolled off the bed, pulled the covers back, and crawled in beside her. As soon as he was covered up, she snuggled close to him and rested her head on his shoulder. She looked in him the eyes, seeing the love radiating there, and a smile crept its way onto her face.
Seeing her look relaxed and like herself again made Sirius feel worlds better. He gripped her tightly and kissed the top of her head. She rolled on her side to face him and placed her lips against his in a sweet goodnight kiss before she rested her head back on his shoulder, her arm draped across his chest. Sirius grabbed his wand from the bedside table and turned off the lights causing the room to fall into darkness except for the light of the quarter moon.
Olivia slept dreamlessly on Sirius' shoulder the entire night while Sirius was up most of the night watching her with what little light the moon provided. He carefully brushed some hair out of her face and behind her ear. There were only two things that kept running through his head. Firstly, that the girl lying beside meant more to him than he ever thought any girl would. She knew everything about him, about his life and family, and she still cared for him. Secondly, she was willing to give him everything and he was going to take it. He let his hormones lead him and he did everything he had told himself he wouldn't do. He had reminded her of everything that Malfoy had put her through, everything he was trying to help her forget. Now, he had to do every single thing within his power to make things right.
He finally fell asleep as the sun was beginning to run off the moon. He woke to a gentle hand on his face, stroking his cheek.
"Good morning."
He smiled up at her. "It's morning already? Ugh, just curse me now and leave me here."
She laughed. "We need to be getting back to the castle."
He grabbed her wrists and pulled her down onto his chest. She kissed his nose before meeting his lips. "Thank you for staying here with me last night, Sirius."
Sirius took her face in his hands. "Olivia, listen to me. I never, ever want to hear you apologize for anything that happened in this room. Nothing was your fault, you hear me? It's me that needs to be groveling at your feet for my actions."
She stroked his cheek. "It's not your fault either." She sat up and grabbed her tie, wrapping it around her neck. "I just want to forget about it, Sirius."
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "It's not something you can forget, Livey." He got up and put his hands on each of her shoulders. "It is, however, something we can work through, together." She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her tightly for several minutes. "Now, we really better be getting back to the castle."
She nodded and they both hurried to finish getting ready. The left the rented room hand in hand and left The Three Broomsticks, making their way toward Honeydukes. Sneaking back into the cellar of the candy shop was a little more difficult than sneaking out, especially considering it was early in the morning before there were a lot of customers. They quietly slipped through the wooden door that lead to the cellar while the shop owner was occupied at the register, working on some paperwork intently. After they made it through the shop, it was much easier to slip into the passageway and make their way back to Hogwarts.
They arrived back at the castle just after most of the students got to their first class. They were able to slip out of the passageway easily enough and hurriedly made their way up to Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady deterred them for only a second, opening after they gave the password so they could slip inside.
The common room was fairly empty, with only a couple second years huddled in a corner. Sirius wrapped his arms around Olivia, kissing her on top of the head. She turned to make her way up to her dorm but Sirius still had her hand and refused to let go. She laughed and smacked his chest. "Come on Sirius, let go. We need to get cleaned up before class."
He bent down and kissed her lips gently before letting go of her hand and making his way up to his own dorm room. He was looking forward to a nice, hot, long shower to help him relax. His plans were deterred though, as soon as he walked into the sixth year boys' room.
Remus was sitting in his bed, looking through a book for his next class. Peter was desperately working on an essay, most likely for his next class. James, though. James was pacing the length of the room and rounded on Sirius as soon as he walked in. "Where the bloody hell have you been with my sister?"
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Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for all the awesome reviews! Please continue to let me know what you think and I hope you like this chapter.
prettyinpunk66 – Yes, Sirius is definitely the hot and steamy type. I'm glad you enjoyed it though and thanks for the pen name compliment! :)
ForeverTeamEdward13 – Yes, but things will get better. Thanks for the review and please continue.
Idorvador – I do have a thing for cliffies. Lol I'm glad that you enjoy it and please keep reviewing!
HGromanticsap – Thanks so much for the compliments. :) Keep up the reviews!
VerityJeneve – No, no. The whole thing with Lucius was definitely not forgotten. It will have to be resolved. Sorry this one took a little longer, I'm glad that you look forward to my updates. :)
javalon14 – Yes, Sirius is definitely an understanding guy and he will have to help Olivia through it all. And yes, it was a bit fast, but it was meant to be. He started thinking with his hormones and he paid for it, and now he has to find a way to help her through it.
beba78 – Thanks for the compliments! I'm so glad that you like it and please keep reviewing!
QueenOfTheDiamondDogs – I'm so glad that you like it! Please keep reviewing and thanks for the heads up about the spelling of quidditch. For some reason, my brain just won't wrap around the spelling of it. Lol
Karawr – Sirius is definitely my favorite character. :) I'm glad that you enjoy this and please keep up reviewing!