Hello, my beautiful readers!
I'm so excited to finally post this chapter because it does show a massive shift in the dynamics of Blackmore!
Thank you so much to all of you who constantly give your kind words of support and feedback, especially, marie0907, .2017, Raven that flies at night, madwamoose, XlorienXwarriors, Beetle126 and mazeygrace18.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter! The end scene is one of my favourites in the whole story! Please don't forget to leave a review xx
"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."- George Bernard Shaw
"Sirius the couch is not staying orange!" Elizabeth exclaimed in exasperation, Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Mary and Remus who were lounging on said couch, hiding their laughter at the couple's continuous banter.
"The orange is nice, it's always been orange why should we change it!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air and slightly cocking his hip out.
"No self-respecting person has an orange couch!" she wrung her hands and turned to the couple who were looking at them with bemused expressions. "Remus, you're self-respecting, Do you like the orange couch?"
Sirius let out a snort whilst Remus bit his lip and looked down sheepishly, running a hand through his light brown hair.
"Erm…I may have been the one to choose it."
Elizabeth pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and turned to Mary with pleading eyes. Mary shook her head with a smirk on her face, struggling to contain her laughter.
"You're alone in this babes, Orange is my favourite colour!" Elizabeth sceptically raised an eyebrow as Remus turned in surprise. Mary hated orange, she hated orange so much she didn't even eat orange m&m's.
"I didn't know orange was your favourite colour!" She widened her eyes at him, clenching her teeth together in a way that spoke volumes of her truth telling.
"Yeah Mare, Since when was Orange your favourite colour?"
Mary looked at Elizabeth and gave her a charming smile, her blue eyes twinkling.
"Since now." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and pointed at the couch, "You are outnumbered, Liz! And the orange looks better with brown that eggplant purple ever will."
"Eggplant purple would-" Mary raised a hand and interjected.
"No, the couch is staying orange." She raised an eyebrow at Sirius and Elizabeth who were standing with their arms crossed. "ORANGE!"
Sirius turned to Elizabeth and winked at her, she raised an eyebrow and clenched her teeth together. Remus cleared his throat causing the two to look at him.
"Since its my house too, I give you full permission to give the couch eggplant purple pillows."
Elizabeth flashed him a smile and a wink of approval.
2:03am
Mary snuggled closer into Remus's chest, he wrapped his strong arm around her waist and pulled her closer, inhaling the sweet apple scent in her hair.
"How long do you reckon they'll last until she kicks him out of the room?" Remus asked Mary, dragging his finger up and down her muscular arm. She let out a huff of laughter and looked up at him, with a toothy grin.
"The question is how long until Sirius kicks her out of the room?" Remus looked down in surprise, "Trust me, with her crazy rolling around and Sirius's limited amount of gentlemen-ness, someone is going to wake up on the couch."
The pair were not too far off. In the room at the end of the corridor lay a very irritated Sirius Black and a dead to the world Elizabeth Gilmore.
Sirius had to refrain from rolling his eyes as he once again pulled the covers from over Liz to himself.. They'd slept in the same bed plenty of times, without many problems regarding space or blanket hogging, But suddenly they'd moved in and she'd become a crazy blanket hog. how does that even work? He let out a growl as he felt the familiar tugging of the blanket and rolled to his side. He reached for the side table and grabbed his wand. With a wave of his wand, he expanded the size of the blanket and pulled it over himself.
Hopefully, he'd sleep through the rest of the night.
3:51am
Elizabeth let out a groan into her pillow as he started once again. He never snored before but now suddenly he wouldn't shut up! How in merlins name does that work?
She glared at his sleeping form in anger but the anger faded as she saw how vulnerable and young he looked. His facial muscles were relaxed, his full lips were pouting but slightly parted, his eyelashes fanned across his upper cheeks casting shadows. Even in the dark, she could see a five o'clock shadow appearing. A smile graced her face as she looked over her features until he started again.
Would he never shut up!
She kicked him in the shin in annoyance. She was doomed to forever suffer through sleepless nights! For a moment he stopped snoring and mumbled under his breath before shuffling down on the bed. She let out a sigh as silence perpetrated through the room.
Moments later Elizabeth clenched her hands into fists. He started AGAIN! She grabbed the pillow that was lying on the floor below her and threw it at him. She wished to be able to suffocate him with it but she felt as though that would be something she'd regret in the morning. Once again he mumbled under his breath and she couldn't help but sigh in annoyance. She didn't know he slept talk too!
Elizabeth turned onto her side and sighed, she gazed at her wand in longing. Would it be so wrong of her to just silence him? It's not like he'd notice until somebody told him anyway? She fingered the wand, she had work the next morning and was extremely tired already. He wouldn't mind. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.
"Silencio" she whispered and sighed in relief as all noise emancipating from him disappeared.
Thank merlin.
5:17am
Sirius frowned groggily as he felt himself pushed to the side of the bed, he looked at the glowing alarm clock Elizabeth had put on her bedside table. Why the hell was he awake this early. He felt as though he hadn't slept all night.
He turned to the side and rolled his eyes for the fiftieth time that night. Elizabeth was splayed, spread-eagled on across the bed on her stomach. Her hair was sticking up at the back and drool was running down her chin. A small grin filtered across his face before he scowled, she, Elizabeth Gilmore, a measly 5'5, had pushed his 6ft, muscular hunk of a perfect body across the bed and to the very edge.
There was no way she pushed him to the edge of his own bed. He lightly moved her arms and legs so she wasn't taking up his half of the bed and lay down on his back.
He had to be up at 6:00… he could just get up and be ready early… Sirius just shook his head and fell back asleep, an extra forty-three minutes was essential to his well-being.
A snort of amusement left Alice's lips when she saw Liz slump in the chair with a sigh of relief as Sirius apparated to the Ministry. Lily looked at her in curiosity and Mary rolled her eyes as she got an apple out of the fridge.
"You know Remus and I had a bet that one of you would wake up on the couch," Mary said as she took a bite out of the apple.
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"I feel as though I'm missing something here." Mary snorted in amusement and sat down, and winked at Liz, who took a large sip of coffee, wincing as the hot liquid scalded her throat.
"I don't think I slept at all last night." She announced with a grumble, leaning on her elbows.
"Were you and Sirius too busy?" Mary asked innocently with a bat of her lashes.
"You make it sound like I've never slept over before." She stated with a roll of her eyes, Lily shook her head in confusion,
"So suddenly you move in permanently and you can't sleep in a bed with Sirius?" Liz hesitated before nodding, causing the girls to look at her in bewilderment. In that moment she felt so unbelievably stupid.
Liz let out a huff of air in exasperation,
"You know when you sleep over at someone's house and no matter how comfortable you are with the person you never sleep as good as you do in your own bed. Usually, its like that or we're too busy to sleep if you get what I mean." She winked, ohhh those nights were marvellous. "But when you know it's your house you do whatever the hell you want and are super comfy?"
"If you say so…" Mary laughed as she took another bite of her apple, Alice looked at her with a secret smile, her eyes twinkled with untold secrets.
"Or perhaps it's because you've taken a large step in your relationship and now you both don't have any pressures to act perfect around each other." Alice let out a breath, "You two will learn so much about one another, some things you'll hate and some things you'll adore! But all those little, annoying habits make up the person you are madly in love with, no matter how much their habit infuriates you!"
Liz looked up at Alice, she was so wise and kind, she would one day make a wonderful mother. She had this uncanny ability to always be right, she truly was. Despite all his annoying habits, she loved him and would always love him. She wanted to grow old with him, she wanted to travel the world with him, she wanted to live with him and marry him, she wanted to bear his child and for them to raise their child… Merlin she craved it.
She wanted to give him the world because there was nobody in the world more worthy of the world.
"He snores Alice, I cant sleep in the same bed as someone who snores!" she groaned, a small smile flickering on her face, she could deal with his not putting the toilet seat down and always forgetting dishes on the table… but the snoring! It was going to drive her crazy!
Lily let out a cheeky grin at her statement,
"James talks in his sleep you know, last week he was having a conversation with himself!" she laughed, The girls stared at her in bewilderment, she shook her head lovingly, "It was as if he was talking to himself on the telephone!"
Mary leant back in her chair and shook her head, "Remus has this irritating habit of sleeping towards the middle of the bed. Every time I move in my sleep I end up kicking him!" she laughed causing the girls to join in, "I woke up one morning and he had these massive bruises on his shins! Turns out I've been kicking him all the time and he never said anything!"
Elizabeth's smile grew, you would never imagine someone had a certain habit until you found out about it.
Alice wrapped her hands around her peppermint tea, "Frank breathes really fast." She spoke with fondness, "Sometimes I'll try to fall asleep to his breathing and I just can't!" A large smile spread across her cheeks as she shook her head, "I breath so slowly and deeply compared to him, It seems as though his fighting Death Eaters in his sleep!"
Alice leant forward and placed Elizabeth's hand in her own, "In the next few weeks you are going to learn so much about each other, some bad, and some good. You are going to argue and cry and laugh, but that's okay because you are in love!" she shook her head in amusement, "You two are going to face such exciting moments as you adjust to these changes and it's only going to make you stronger."
Elizabeth looked at her friend and sighed, "Does marriage make everyone wise"
Lily snorted in amusement,
"If marriage makes everyone wise I'll propose to James myself!" Alice shook her head with a laugh, She couldn't wait to one day see them married and growing old with their beloved.
"I was born wise girlies" she winked, "And just think Liz, now you two can fart comfortably around eachother."
Elizabeth put her glass down on the wooden table and walked out to the balcony where Sirius had his feet up and was looking out at London, with a bottle of Butterbeer in hand. He turned around as he heard the pitter, patter of her footsteps on the wooden floor.
A smile spread across Sirius's face as he took in her lounged attire, her plain light grey t-shirt, her black shorts, her hair put up in a messy bun; the hot pink hair tie she used was peeking through, she was barefoot. He lazily flicked his wand so the chair next to him would be prepared for her to sit. A smile spread across her face at the gesture. She plopped herself down as she too raised her feet to rest against the black steel bar.
"What would your mother say at your disrespect towards the balcony?" She let out a laugh and took a swig of his Butterbeer. Sirius let out a bark of laughter and threw his head back.
"Sirius Orion Black, the Third!" Sirius shrieked, raising the pitch of his voice significantly and puffing out his chest. "HOW DARE YOU show such discourtesy and shame our noble family by defiling this black steel bar with your filthy feet! You are an abomination to my flesh, my greatest true!"
Elizabeth struggled to hold in her hysterics and simultaneously swallow her Butterbeer, Sirius hit her on the back. She snorted and choked causing the liquid to come spraying out of her nostrils. Sirius covered his mouth to hide his mirth as he watched her splutter. After she came to, she glared at him playfully.
"This was all your fault dog boy!" she pointed at him causing him to let out a snort and roll his eyes.
"Is that the best you can come up with Bookworm!" he taunted, shaking his head and laughing. She elbowed him roughly and stuck out her tongue.
"Fight me!"
Sirius shook his head and looked forward, "I would never fight you." She quietened down and took his hand in hers. They sat down in silence, hand in hand, sipping on Butterbeer. After a few minutes, Elizabeth turned to him and opened her mouth, before shutting it once more. Sirius, still staring ahead spoke.
"Ask ahead."
Elizabeth sighed, "Was it always awful? Were they always cruel?" Sirius looked at her regretfully and summoned a bottle of Odgens.
"Of course it wasn't, I was always on the wild side but until I was about nine years old, I believed in the whole blood purity bullshit. I would've been the perfect Black heir, ambitious, worldly, cunning, intelligent, rebellious. Everything a Black heir needed to be." He shook his head, "When I was a child I'd always sneak out of the house and play at the park in front of our house. After a while I became friends with a young girl, Charlotte, she became my secret best friend, a muggle, but my best friend never the less."
Sirius took a swig of his fire whisky, Elizabeth squeezed his hand.
"About two weeks later her house, which was two doors down…" Sirius paused and took a deep breath, "It burnt down."
Elizabeth gasped and gripped his hand tighter, Sirius let out a shuddering breath,
"My mum had the smuggest look on her face as she watched it burn down; Even at nine, I knew it was my mother, I knew she had done it and that was the day everything went downhill, that was the day i found out my mum was a true witch, like the ones in muggle stories.""
Elizabeth growled at the slew of images that flew through her mind at his childhood.
"From the ages 9 until 16, I got beat up more times than I can count." Elizabeth rubbed his bicep reassuringly, all his muscles were tense as he spoke. "Whenever Reg and I got in trouble, as a punishment mother would make us study dark curses and choose one for her to cast on us."
Elizabeth clamped her lips together to prevent a gasp from coming through, tears welled in her eyes as he described his childhood.
"If the punishment wasn't becoming of the act then she'd just use the cruciatus curse on us."
She couldn't hold in her gasp at this, she leant forward and pulled him into her embrace, pressing his head against her chest. He wrapped his arms around her. After a few moments, he moved away but continued to hold her hand, rubbing his thumb against her knuckles.
"When I was fourteen my father, the spineless coward, he sat me down and he tried to justify it all. He said that to raise a strong heir they needed to know discipline and pain, they needed to understand their mistakes to rectify the filth in society." He shook his head in disgust, clenching his jaw.
"He told me that there was no such thing as 'making love' only procreating and breeding, he said that a wife was nothing but a toy to have on your arm and keep you warm at night and that your child was nothing but your legacy, something to twist into a perfect image so that your reputation is pristine, I'm glad I turned out the way I did, I'd do anything to tarnish their reputations."
Sirius shook his head and spat spitefully, anger lacing his tone,
"I lost the little respect I had for my father that day, and I decided that I would never, ever give a child the burden of being of my bloodline."
Elizabeth looked up sharply at his statement. She knew he wasn't big on the family lifestyle but, she didn't think he was so sure of it. She bit her lip and looked up at him.
"You don't want kids?" she questioned, trying to hide the quiver in her voice. She couldn't help but imagine a boy with Sirius's dark hair and grey eyes, and a girl with his black curls and her light blue orbs. Playing together in a meadow.
Sirius looked down at her and bit his lip, perhaps it was wishful thinking on her behalf, but he looked reluctant.
"Look at the role models I had growing up, I would destroy that kid." He shook his head, picking at a thread on his top. "I could never burden a child with the last name Black, or have to resign to the fact that I'm their father. I would be the worst."
Elizabeth could help but marvel at his stupidity, She knew, with all her heart that Sirius would be a wonderful father.
"You've made a self-fulfilling prophecy." She snorted, " You'd be a wonderful father."
Sirius looked down sharply at the statement, shock was painted across his face and panic was tattooed into his eyes.
"Are," he took a deep breath, Elizabeth looked at him in confusion, "Are you…" his eyes flickered to her stomach, Elizabeth followed his line of sight and let out a giggle at the sheer panic on his face, however, a dull ache coursed through her body. Would it have been so bad if she was?
"No!" she laughed, hoping that her disappointment was well masked. "No, of course not, we're always careful."
The dull ache within her spread at the relieved expression on his face, she had to fight not to let disappointment show. After a moment of awkward silence, Sirius spoke up, his voice sounding slightly unsure.
"Do-" he cleared his throat, "Do you want them?" he asked, Elizabeth looked up in curiosity, "Kids?"
Elizabeth let out a sigh and picked at a loose thread on her t-shirt. She nodded slowly,
"Yeah." She whispered, "I'd love to have kids. I always wanted two, a boy and a girl."
Sirius bit his lip and placed a hand on her cheek, guilt in his eyes.
"I don't know if I can give that to you." He whispered, "I would give you the world, but I don't think I can give you that."
She looked up and ran a finger across his jaw, love glistening in her eyes. He was too good for her, too beautiful, too smart, too ambitious and many would say…too pure. He was the kind of man that didn't need intelligence to get by in life. He could do the most extraordinary things just by using his looks and charismatic words. He didn't need her, and he didn't need to be burdened with her childhood fantasy.
She didn't need to have children to feel fulfilled or happy, of course, she'd love it, but it wasn't a necessity. But Sirius, he was a drug, she couldn't live without him. She would do anything for him, for his happiness, for his laughter, for his joy, for his life…
As long as they were together, it would all be okay.
"I don't need the world." She whispered, "I just need you."
Awe, I know some of you were hoping for Liz to be pregnant, sorry! Also, the story Sirius told about Charlotte is actually mentioned in my other Harry Potter fanfic if you'd like to check it out, 10 facts about: Marauders edition, I'd really appreciate that. Anyhow the upcoming chapters are really jam packed and here is a sneak peek!
"I want to marry her."
Hmmmm, I wonder who it is? Please don't forget to leave a review, it would make my day!
Sending virtual hugs because I love you all,
Ruby xo