Harmony Sea gasped awake, only to find that her surroundings weren't much better than they were in her dreams.
"I'm in this bloody place again? Talk about a record, wholy shit." Harmony muttered angrily, glaring up at the windows of the Hogwarts hospital wing and the dark, cloudy night sky behind them.
Someone snorted loudly. That someone was James. "Good morning, sunshine." he commented sarcastically.
"How long have I been out?" Harmony asked, sitting up, regardless the searing pain from her side.
"It's been about a day." James said, saying that it was about a day since Death Eaters got past the enchantments of the Potter's house on New Year's, at four am, and tried to kill Harmony.
"Wonderful. Wait, what's the time and date? The second right?" Harmony asked, pushing her untidy brown curls out of her face.
"About quarter after nine. On the third of January." James said casually.
"About a day? That's two days! I slept for two days?" Harmony asked in disbelief.
"They kept giving you sleep potion." James explained.
"Why in the world did they do that?" Harmony asked, checking under the sheets to see what the heck she was wearing, if anything. There was just a thin gown and her underclothing, all free of bloodstains.
"They figured you'd be an emotional wreck when you woke up, finding out that Voldemort's after you and all." James said, poking his finger through a hole in his jeans.
"What am I, a teapot? One drop and I'll shatter?" Harmony said in annoyance, peering down at her arms for any sign of damage. There was nothing but smooth pale skin there. She was still trying to figure out why she was in a hospital-like gown. Would it have been that had to put on pyjamas?
"You're just a right ray of sunshine, you know that?" James muttered, handing Harmony a cup of cold water from a little table beside the bed.
"Thanks." Harmony took a big gulp of water. "When can I leave this place?"
"Good question." James said dryly.
"James." Harmony warned, glaring at him from the bed to where he was sitting on a wooden stool.
"But you were so mean to me! Give me a break! Be nice!" James whined.
"You want a break? How about I demonstrate it on your neck, yeah?" Harmony said, glaring at James.
"I'm going to get you coffee. And I'll send it in with Sirius. I'm never taking shifts to watch you while you're in this place again." James said, standing up and making a beeline towards the double doors in the darkness.
"The perfect combination, coffee and-" Harmony stopped dead, her face turning scarlet. Was she actually about to say Sirius?
James gave her a wink and called, "Did you get a chance to admire the tree by the pond in my yard at the party?"
"You shut up. Or I'll lie to Lily that you have a shrine of her hidden under your bed, including her favourite blue knickers." Harmony threatened, still blushing.
"You wouldn't." James hissed.
"Oh, but I would." Harmony grinned in triumph.
Then James looked serious as he asked, "Are her favourite pair really blue?" James inched closer to Harmony.
"With white polka-dots." Harmony nodded sincerely, as if she wasn't feeding out lies and bullshit to this innocent boy who was in love with her best friend.
He didn't reply for a while. James just looked up and out the window, a dazed look on his face.
"I also might let slip that you were fantasizing about her in those little blue and white panties if you don't go get me caffeine now." Harmony prompted.
"Right!" James snapped back to reality and left the hospital wing swiftly, a slight blush rising on his cheeks.
Harmony was left to her thoughts about all that had happened within the last few days.
The party was great, from what she could remember. And Sirius. She had kissed Sirius. Under a tree. Under the fireworks. Under the stars. It was pretty much perfect. And he was a damn good snogger. Like wholy shit.
Did Harmony fancy her best mate? Did her best mate fancy her? Sirius was the one who told her he was going to kiss her, after all. And he did. And it was amazing. It was think-about-it-for-weeks-and-have-butterflies-twenty-four-seven amazing. His lips, nose, rough thumbs rubbing circles on the back of her neck, his hands on her back.
All she was sure about was that Harmony really wanted to have that experience with him again.
Ugh, she sounded like such a Sirius Black fangirl or something. The difference was Sirius was attractive to Harmony because of so much more than his looks, it was that whole other part of him. The kind, caring and genuinely funny part that had Harmony swooning.
She just got attacked by Death Eaters and she was thinking about kissing Sirius? Harmony thought, annoyed at herself for being such a typical teenage girl.
Then Harmony started to worry. Were her family okay? Did the Death Eaters attack them in hopes of getting to Harmony? Harmony started to have a little panic attack. She got up out of the stiff, starch white, unfamiliar bed, her legs wobbly and unstable from sleeping for so long. Harmony almost collapsed at the sudden pain in her side. She glanced down to the curve of her hip where all the ache was coming from, and remembered Avery shooting a curse in her direction before Sirius apparated them away from the Potters' and to Hogsmeade.
She felt through the light fabric if her dressing gown and wasn't surprised to feel nothing but smooth skin there. No, the inside was damaged, not the outside. It was probably a deep cut, a cursed wound. The matron could do a lot with a wand and some healing spells, like closing a wound, but she couldn't do anything if it was cursed by dark magic.
Harmony tried to ignore her injury as she stumbled her way across the empty, dark and cold hospital wing. She needed to see Dumbledore, like right away.
On a mission, she tentatively pushed open the large double doors leading out into the corridor and checked it for any sign of movement or another person. It was deserted. Harmony felt a bit lonely, for it was only Thursday, and the rest of the Hogwarts' student body arrived back from break on the coming Sunday.
Harmony wandered through the silent corridors, shivering in her night gown but still stopping to look though the clouds in hopes of seeing a star out of every window she passed. It was quiet, peaceful, but still a bit eerie. That was why Harmony jumped about four feet when she heard someone speak.
"No shoes? Again? Why don't you ever wear shoes?" a voice asked, echoing down the corridor from the opposite end that Harmony was standing at.
She whipped her head around to see the silhouette of Sirius. "If I'd seen them, I would've worn them. But seeing as someone dressed me in a gown that makes me feel like I belong in St. Mungo's, I didn't think they'd leave my trainers behind. Probably sturdy and practical slippers or something." Harmony said, as Sirius approached, bringing a steaming mug in hand and the strong, heavenly smell of coffee with him.
Sirius put the mug down on the windowsill and turned to Harmony, arms crossed. "Twice in two weeks, Harmony. Just this time there was more blood."
"You lot are insane. It wouldn't have even a big deal if I had woken up a day ago, instead if being drugged out by more sleep potion. Bloody idiots think I'd be mentally unstable, like a child losing a teddy bear." Harmony glared out the window.
"Well, at least your personality didn't change. Still full of your little temper and sassafrasing." Sirius grinned down at Harmony.
"Yeah yeah whatever. What happened to me, anyway?" Harmony asked honestly.
"That Avery bloke hit you with some dark curse that creates deep, cursed wounds that are almost impossible to heal. Like a sword...kind of." Sirius said like he was reciting a textbook page, all the concern easing back into his face at his own words.
"Brilliant!" Harmony said in mock-cheerfulness. "And my family? Are they okay?" she added on in a worried tone, her face darkening.
"They're fine. No attacks or attempted attacks." Sirius said soothingly, rubbing Harmony's shoulder.
"Can I go back to my dorm to change? I hate nightgowns. They create unnecessary coldness and discomfort." Harmony complained, trying to hide the enormous relief in her voice unsuccessfully.
"Sure. Just don't tell Madam Pomfrey. You're most definitely not allowed out of the hospital wing. But because you'd probably hex me if I tried to stop you, I have no choice but to join you." Sirius sighed, slipping an arm around Harmony, supporting her as she struggled to walk in the most painless way.
Sirius' arm made her think of just two days ago, when that arm was also around her then, the owner's soft lips pressed against her own. Harmony's cheeks flushed at the memory and she was suddenly glad that it was dark.
"Is everybody else here, too?" Harmony asked quietly.
"Yup. They're all in the common room. And I think Lily went to the library." Sirius answered, rubbing Harmony's back in an attempt to keep her warm.
"Was anyone hurt? We're you hurt?" Harmony suddenly realized that Sirius could have very well been hurt too, as he and Bellatrix sort of got in a one-sided fistfight.
She stopped dead, slipped out of Sirius's arm to survey him.
"No, I'm fine. No lasting damage." Sirius smiled down at Harmony's concerned face.
"You got clawed, didn't you?" Harmony asked, pulling at the bottom of Sirius' t-shirt.
"Look, they're not bad. Just a couple of scratches." Sirius said, pulling Harmony's hand away.
"Sirius, let me see." Harmony said sternly.
"No." he said a childish voice.
"They're bad, aren't they?" Harmony asked, whispering.
"No. Let's go, you're cold." Sirius tried to pull Harmony away, but she stood her ground with surprising strength.
"Sirius." Harmony hissed, and tried to pull his shirt off unsuccessfully.
"Fine!" he said loudly back, pulling his shirt off. "Look, they're not bad."
In fact, they were quite the opposite. Long, deep scratches ran down his bare chest to his lower stomach. They were purple and scabbed over now, but it looked as though they gave him quite some pain before, maybe even still did. "Why didn't you go to the hospital wing, Sirius?"
"Because you needed more looking after than I did." Sirius simply said honestly, trying to cover the scratches up.
"Bloody caring git." Harmony mumbled, half mad at Sirius for not caring for himself before her.
"Hey-" Sirius said.
"Shh-" Harmony cut him off. She took Sirius' wand from his hand and moved his arms gently away from his chest.
Harmony could feel Sirius's intense gaze on her as she mumbled healing spells and trailed the wand slowly down the cuts, one by one. The wounds closed, the skin growing over smoothly, only leaving faint scars behind.
Harmony finished, and looked up at Sirius. He was looking a her with something odd in his eyes. Concern? Gratitude? Admiration? Was he just simply studying her reaction? She'd seen the emotion on his face and in his eyes before, but never had she understood it.
"There, you're better now." Harmony breathed out, trying to not get lost in his eyes as she gazed right back at him.
Harmony shifted her gaze to the scars on Sirius' chest. Then back out the window. She couldn't stand it, Harmony had to look away. Or she'd probably kiss him again. She didn't think he wanted that. Harmony was probably just the closest girl to Sirius that night, and he wanted a New Year's kiss. And he was drunk. Did he even remember it? A weight dropped in her stomach. What if he didn't remember it?
All her thoughts were brought to an abrupt stop when Sirius placed a finger on the bottom on her jaw and guided her eyes back to his. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, his eyes now searching her's for any clue as to why she had felt crushed a moment before.
Harmony just closed her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't look at Sirius. She couldn't look at how his shaggy wavy black hair fell into his eyes. She couldn't look at his breathtaking grey eyes now swirling with concern, either. She couldn't look at his pink lips, the very same lips that had her thinking non-stop about him. The very lips that had kissed so many girls before, she kept reminding herself.
Suddenly, Harmony felt warm breath tickle her nose. She had half a second's notice before a pair of lips were pressed gently against hers. A familiar pair of soft lips that she would recognize anywhere; Sirius'.
Before Harmony had any time to process that Sirius was kissing her again, he pulled back too quickly.
Harmony opened her eyes which were now bright. Her eyes found Sirius', as she trailed her fingers feather-light down his chest, where they found themselves in the grooves of his scars. He shivered, leaned closer, and placed a hand on Harmony's good hip, the other in her hair.
Harmony trailed her hands back up one more time, and left them on Sirius' broad shoulders. Using them, she pushed herself up to try to capture his lips again. Harmony flinched violently at the searing pain from her side when she tried to stretch upwards.
"Don't," Sirius muttered, easing her back down with both hands wrapped around her. He then proceeded to lean down far enough so she didn't have to go on her tippy-toes.
Harmony smiled slightly and closed her eyes. She leaned in this time, and when their lips brushed, a warm sensation filled her body, from her scalp to her toes.
Then Sirius kissed her full on the mouth again, and all bets were off. Kissing Sirius was like a drug, a potion. It took Harmony from reality, made her forget everything from Voldemort to the four waiting essays she had to complete. It was even better when she was sober, when her senses were sharper, so she could truly appreciate him.
Sirius pulled back to catch his breath and kiss Harmony's jawline. Harmony tried to catch her breath and make her heart slow down, for it was beating so fast it was getting painful.
Harmony pulled Sirius' jaw back up slowly, looked into his glowing grey eyes again, and kissed him. He didn't reject in the slightest. His arm wrapped around her waist tighter, pressing their hips against each other, and the other went up to hold her jaw, his thumb making slow circles on Harmony's cheek as they kissed.
"Sirius! Harm-oh." Liven stopped dead in her screeching, Lily, Alice, Becca, James, Peter, Remus, Dumbledore and the Hogwarts matron also freezing. Well, not Dumbledore. He just stopped as if he expected to find Harmony and shirtless Sirius wrapped around each other, snogging rather passionately.
"Found them!" a member of the group called, and snorts and giggles erupted from Harmony and Sirius' friends.
Harmony stepped out of Sirius' arms, her face bright red, heart pounding and lips tingling along with her waist and cheek where Sirius' hands were a moment before.
"There should be none of that! Miss Sea is nowhere close to recovery! The last thing she needs-" Madam Pomfrey started, her voice rising steadily.
"It's young love, Poppy. Let them be. Mister Black is well aware of Miss Sea's current state." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled like the stars behind the clouds.
"Uh-" Harmony interjected, as Sirius put his shirt back on awkwardly, her face now in a competition with the Gryffindor banners. The smirks, knowing grins and barely-suppressed laughter of the pair's group of friends weren't helping matters much.
It took all Harmony had to keep her thoughts inside her mind. They were buzzing like a pack of angry bees, bouncing off the walls of her head.
She just kissed Sirius again!
That was amazing!
Wholy shit he was good at snogging-
"Come back to the hospital wing, Miss Sea. We need to get you warm and back to sleep." The matron said sternly, looking like a scary mother and pulling Harmony out of her Sirius-filled mind.
"I am not being put back to sleep in the hospital wing. If I'm to sleep, it will be in my own dorm, in my own night clothes and without potions." Harmony said, her temper flaring dangerously. She felt Sirius' hand brush against in a warning that clearly said, Watch it, don't go pissing off the matron now. Harmony almost smiled.
"Do not be difficult, Miss Sea. Come with me now, please." Madam Promfrey said, wagging her finger.
Before Harmony could reply, Dumbledore cut in. "As it seems Miss Sea thinks she is fit to get back to normal, that will be the case." he turned from the outraged matron to Harmony, who was still standing very close to Sirius and suppressing the urge to glance at him. "You may go back to your dorm as you wish. If the need was to arrive, potion to deal with the pain will be in the hospital wing."
"Thank you, Professor." Harmony tried to contain the ha-I'm-fine attitude from her voice and smiled instead.
Then the matron stomped off, with mutterings like, 'last time I checked I was the Hogwarts matron' and 'they cannot blame me if she gets even more wounded'.
"Although I have granted you permission to leave the wing, I trust you will be cautious with yourself." Dumbledore spun on Sirius, "And you will watch her, for her health needs to be restored because both attacks have had a toll on her body, no doubt."
And with that, Dumbledore turned away and swiftly walked down the corridor from where he came, his cloak swishing and barely catching Sirius' "Yes, sir."
Everyone left stood in silence, waiting for someone to crack the first snogging joke. The pair's mates were grinning at Sirius and Harmony expectantly, eyes flying between them.
"Right, you wanted to change into clothing?" Sirius turned to Harmony, his face still pink.
"Oh, is that what you working at? I was under the impression you wanted to take them off her." James commented, to which everyone but Harmony and Sirius burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
"Shut it, you lot." Sirius half-heartedly scolded. He then proceeded to shove laughing James into the wall, hitting a suit of armour. It crashed over with a lot of clanging, the sound echoing all around them.
Before Harmony walked back to her friends, she grabbed the now just warm mug of coffee off the windowsill.
"Wow, she chose you over the coffee, Sirius. You should be proud." Becca said, and the whole group (minus Sirius and Harmony again) started laughing. Immature jokes like these kept up until the nine Gryffindors reached their common room.
The girls and boys went their separate ways up their own dormitory stairs. When the still-blushing Harmony and her mates arrived inside their warm, fire-lit bed quarters, and the door was closed, questions flew around the room.
"Is he a good snogger?"
"How are you feeling?"
"How many times did you kiss?"
"Was it magical?"
"Are you going to be okay?" Alice tearfully asked this question, launching herself at Harmony and hugging her tight. "Oh, I got so worried, Harmony, when I found out. I left and came here as soon as I could."
"No comment, just peachy, no comment, no comment and yes, Alice. I'll be making a full recovery." Harmony replied to their questions, hugging Alice back but then detaching herself. She eased down to her trunk on the ground which probably was retrieved from the Potter's after the Death Eaters left.
Harmony pulled out a pair of fuzzy pyjama pants and an old hoodie. Slipping the ugly gown off and her own clothes on, she asked Lily, "Can I borrow a quill and some parchment? I need to write James' parents and tell them I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, Harmony." Lily said sternly, but still reaching for her school bag.
Harmony settled down at the old wooden desk in the dorm, covered with scratches and names carved in by wands or sharp quills. Harmony started to write:
Dear Charles and Grace,
I just wanted to say thank you again for inviting everyone to your home, and I'm really very sorry about the destruction from the Death Eaters, as I'm the reason they came. I will send gold to pay for the damage and I hope they didn't decide to harm or take anything else. Those bloody idiots will be soon off to Azkaban, I know, because you both are really fantastic aurors (sorry for the language).
Happy New Year,
Harmony Sea
After Harmony was satisfied with the letter, she aired the parchment so the ink would dry, folded it and tucked it in an envelop. Marching over to her trunk (and wincing only a couple of times), Harmony pulled out two handfuls of gold, shoved them in a pouch, and gave both the envelop and the pouch to her owl, Kingsley, who was sitting peacefully on the windowsill, to deliver.
"Bring this to the Potters, please. James' parents." Harmony instructed the owl. Then she realized something. "Hey, why is my owl even in here?"
"You parents sent you a letter a little while ago, and Kingsley insisted upon staying." Lily called from the bathroom.
Harmony picked up the sealed letter left on her pillow. Reading it over, it was written in Harmony's mother's neat and curly handwriting. The content was asking about if Harmony's okay, how worried they were, they love her, if she ever wanted to come home she could. Harmony's heart swelled at her mother's heart-felt words, and she wrote back a quick reply saying that she was okay and would return back to full health soon. She told her mother that she loved them all and not to worry.
"Everything okay?" Liven asked, rubbing Harmony's back.
"Yeah, I just had to let them know I was okay." Harmony explained. Then she sighed, the blush returning to her cheeks. She looked up at Liven, the girl with the most experience with boys, and said in disbelief, "Sirius kissed me multiple times, Liven."
Liven nodded. "Yup, I knew we'd discuss this sooner than later. How about somewhere private?" Liven asked, pulling Harmony to her feet. "We're going down to the kitchens, ladies!" she called to the girls around the room.
"Okay!" Becca called back from her spot on her bed, nose buried in a book. Harmony was truthfully starving, and would be happier if she had a solid meal in her. Hey, at least she slept off the hangover, though.
The girls made their way down to the common room, then out into the corridor. "Well, we all saw this coming. So, New Year's and today, right?" Liven started.
"Yeah...on New Year's we just sort of, I don't know, leaned in and he told me he was going to kiss me. And it was really good, Liven." Harmony whined.
"I bet. But you were half-drunk. What about today in the hall? What happened?" Liven asked.
"We were just talking-" Harmony decided not to mention Sirius' cuts, for she felt that it was just something between her and Sirius. "-and I had closed my eyes for half a second, and he just kissed me. And then...gah this is weird."
"No, it's not. I'm a girl. A girl who snogs boys daily. Spit it out, woman." Liven said.
"And then we kissed again, and it turned into a snog, I guess." Harmony finished lamely.
"Oh, we saw that part, love." Liven chuckled.
"Was it that bad?" Harmony asked in a shy voice, enough heat radiating off her face to defrost the entire North Pole.
"No, no. It was actually so cute. You were all wrapped up in each other, and, ugh, I want a boy to hold me like that. I wish I had a camera because it was like a scene from a muggle film, kissing in the moonlight." Liven snorted.
"Liven!" Harmony scolded, tying to hold in a smile.
"Is he any good?" Liven asked, sobering up.
"Shit, yeah." Harmony said instantly, recalling the softness of Sirius' lips, the gentle but mischievous way he kissed her, how their lips moved so naturally together. "I bet he's had loads of practice, though. Have you ever snogged him, Liven?"
"Once, I think. Fourth year. We were drunk at a party after Gryffindor won a Quidditch match. We didn't do anything, it was just in the common room with everybody else at the party." Liven told her honestly. The girls reached the painting of the pear and Harmony reached out to tickle it. It swung forward revealing the deserted kitchens.
"Do you think he fancies me, Liven? Even a little?" Harmony asked.
"Yeah, I definitely think he does. I have never seen Sirius black treat anyone the way he treats you. Your relationship with him is so true, so loyal and so different than anything I've ever seen, to be honest. But that's my opinion." Liven used her wand to boil water for tea, and in Harmony's case, coffee. Harmony rummaged through the large storage cupboards for something to eat. She came across the massive stash of cereal and poured herself a bowl.
Liven handed Harmony a mug a minute later after making her way around the large kitchen to grab the necessities for coffee and tea. Harmony considered Liven's words as she sipped her coffee quietly. "Was Lily upset? About Korey helping the Death Eaters?"
"She wasn't upset, it was more like fury. That's what it seemed like when she told Dumbledore. We still don't even know when he joined. Or if he actually did. Maybe it was forced out of him for all we know." Liven took sip of her warm drink, tossing her straight dark hair over her shoulder. "He might've also given them the information because he was really pissed at Lily for going to James' house for New Year's."
"Perhaps. But I think Korey definitely would have been a Slytherin if he didn't love learning and his education so much. So, perhaps not." Harmony sighed and rubbed her side, where a dull ache was getting steadily more prominent the longer she sat at the little table.
"Let's talk about something cheerful, yeah? I'm getting depressed." Liven said. "So, where'd you get that firework? The one you let loose at James'?"
And so the subject was changed and Harmony and Liven laughed and joked, trying to forget their problems for a little while.
"Damn it, Harmony." Harmony muttered to herself quietly, as to not wake anyone else while turning over in her bed to look out at the snow falling in the dark outside their dormitory window. Liven and her had come back from the kitchens only two hours before. Harmony should've been tired at this hour. But after sleeping for two days, it was kind of hard to be. It didn't help that her stupid brain was caught up in the 'what-if's and 'might-happen's.
Truthfully, only now did Harmony actually feel like crying. Not all for herself, but because she was worried shitless about her family, her friends, the war. Her parents were muggles, her little sister virtually defenceless. They were easy targets. Loved ones and friends dying was the only thing that could really break Harmony.
Her brain was especially keen on torturing her with images of her little sister, Charlotte's, dead and mangled body lying lifeless on a stone floor, Bellatrix Lestrange's laugher echoing around in Harmony's head.
"That's it." Harmony got up too quickly, and toppled back down because of the pain in her side. "Why am I crying? There's no bloody need to cry." she was muttering to herself as she stumbled to the large window, displaying the cold dark snowy sky above.
Harmony glanced back to the clock hanging on the wall. It was three am. It's official: she was nocturnal. Harmony thought to herself, trying to desperately trick her brain into thinking about something else. Anything else.
It didn't work.
Her mother, her brother, her father. Little Charlotte, innocent and incredibly beautiful Charlotte. James. Remus. Peter. Alice. Lily. Becca. Liven. Sirius.
Their bodies flashed by quick in Harmony's head, each looking as though they'd been through their own type of hell.
"Stop it!" Harmony hissed to herself once again, her voice cracking. Great. Now she's bloody talking to herself, too.
Harmony banged her head against the window, willing the tears to stay in her eyes. Why was the emotional part of the attacks coming to her now, at two am? If she was up, she should have been at least thinking about something nice, like snogging Sirius.
Too bad she'd already cleared that subject five times over in her head previously.
And this is just starting to stir up. Two attacks already! That must be some sort of record. Harmony thought. A sob escaped her. Her heart ached at the fact that this was only the beginning of the war. What were the chances of her and everyone she loved getting out of this war alive? Slim. Very slim.
Harmony suddenly found herself wiping tears furiously from her eyes, her lips trembling as she tripped over to the dormitory door and down the stairs to the deserted common room.
She slipped through the large room, the fires dim and wind from the snowstorm outside howling and beating the windowpanes to their limits. Harmony stumbled up the stairs to the boys' dorm rooms, trying to cry as quietly as possible. If she absolutely had to cry, then it had to be done quietly, at the least.
Opening the doors to the marauder's dorm room, Harmony sniffled, the tears falling to fast and freely now to stop them.
And there stood Sirius at the end of his bed, arms open and waiting for her, the dull moonlight reflecting off the snow out the window making his figure sort of silhouette-like.
"I heard you." he said simply as Harmony made a beeline for him. At that second, there was nothing she wanted more than to feel him hug her.
"Probably." Harmony choked out, suppressing a sob. But as soon as she got up close to Sirius and looked in his eyes, and saw all the grey swirling in a storm of concern, she couldn't suppress it anymore. Sobs came out, tears flowed, her body shaking. Harmony began to truly realize that there was a dangerous war coming on, coming on fast and dangerous.
Sirius wrapped his strong arms around her, and hugged her to him tightly, supporting her as her knees gave out from the pain in her side and the sudden exhaustion. Harmony just buried herself in him, inhaling his scent until she calmed down. She could feel his soft breath tickling the back of her neck as he muttered soothingly to her.
Sirius picked Harmony up gently by the waist, and brought her over to his bed. His smell was overpowering, and it brought Harmony extreme comfort as she laid down on the squishy mattress. Sirius slipped in with her as Harmony moved closer to his warm body. His eyes glowed in the dark as she felt him studying her.
Harmony thought must have looked like hell, with the darkness under her eyes, tears streaming down her face from her big, red-rimmed eyes. What she didn't know, however, is that Sirius still thought she looked beautiful. Even when she was so venerable like this, so different to the strong, brave and daring Harmony he saw everyday. It made him feel just a bit warmer inside to know that she came looking for him, not her friends or any of the other marauders. Just him, the boy who she'd kissed back. Just him, Sirius Black, the boy who was falling for this oddly perfect Harmony Sea even more everyday.
Harmony didn't mind that this being wrapped around each other in Sirius' bed should've been awkward for them, as they'd snogged just hours before. Instead, Harmony and Sirius laid in a comfortable silence, watching the snow outside swirl and blow down in huge amounts without mercy. And just as Harmony was finally falling asleep, she felt the light brush of lips on her cheekbone and Sirius whispering, "Sweet dreams, Harms."
A/N: Someone asked me in a review how many chapters I was planning on having... and honestly, I have no idea. Anyway, thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows and favourites. It makes my day a billion times better when I see someone else has read my writing and left me a review. Thank you all!