𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 . . .𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤

𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔

"SO SIRIUS HOW was the pull-out?" Fleaumont asked innocently to the girl, recalling her taking their pull out sofa due to the fact she had no other item to use as a bed in her new home of a home.

Sirius choked on the water he was midway drinking as Ariyah froze and just looked to the oldest man at the table, awkward glances were exchanged between the Potters, Sirius, and Ariyah. The girl immediately realising what he meant the second it had all clicked in James's head.

"It was comfy, Mr Potter. Thank you," Ariyah smiled as the man nodded at her. "Sirius stayed because he ending up helping me unpack all my stuff and by the time we'd done he didn't want to come home and wake you all," She lied.

"Well, I'm glad the two of you made up," Euphemia smiled.

Ariyah and Sirius shared a quick glance, knowing James was already eyeing them mischievously. "Riy, can you pass me the salt?" Elora, whose mind was in other places, turned to her best friend who nodded.

Reaching over to the salt grinder, Sirius had obviously decided to help out as their hand clasped on it at the same time. A nervous blush written on her cheek as she pulled it and looked away, "Here," She muttered to Elle who smiled slightly.

"Sirius, I don't remember getting your opinions on the pull-out," James raised his brows to his best friends but it was Ariyah that choked on her yorkshire puddings with the words.

Sirius, who wasn't ashamed but promised Ariyah not to tell anyone, only grinned to himself and tried to ignore the brunette at the table as though there was nothing for the duo to be caught out on.

"I didn't end up sleeping on the pull-out, James. Ariyah decided to spread out as much as she could so I ended up making a bed on the floor with pillows and whatnot," Sirius responded casually.

"Yeah I bet she was spread out as much as she could," James leaned forwards as his parents gasped in shock, Elora looked up with an amused smile, Sirius shared a mischievous smile and Ariyah downed the rest of the red wine in her glass.

"James Potter!" Euphemia, who had still been oblivious to the dirty joke, dropped her knife and fork against her empty plate and threw a stern look at her son.

Whilst the woman began scolding her son, Sirius looked opposite him to see Ariyah laughing hysterically at the scene before her. With his eyes on her, she turned to face him as he immediately turned to look at James and Euphemia.

She liked to feel his eyes on her when she looked away.

. . .

THE BRUNETTE BOY was sat on Ariyah's window ledge with a cigarette nearly burned out between his fingertips, the girl was in the loft making tea for the both of them as Sirius stared up at the starry sky.

"Sirius, is it two sugars?" She called out to him, but no response left his lips.

The girl furrowed her brows and noticed how still he was, placing the spoon on the countertop as she slowly made her way towards him. Ariyah's hand met with his back whilst she crouched down on the window ledge beside him. "You okay?" She whispered.

Sirius just sniffed, the moonlight displaying his damp cheeks as Ariyah looked at him in both deject and confusion. "Sirius, you can tell me- I'm here for you and I know I may not be able to do much to help whatever's wrong but I'll listen well and-" She took hold of his hand.

"-Why is that everyone I love I somehow drive away?" He turned to her. His eyes had lost the light that they always held, they were dark and full of void. His voice wasn't clear and confident but shaky and scared.

"I-" She began and brought her hand to his cheek, brushing the tears away with her thumb as he took hold of her petite hands.

"My mother sees me as nothing but a disappointment, my father never loved me. My cousins don't believe I'm worthy enough to be seen in their family, my brother hates me and now Elora's pushing me away," He said a little louder than a whisper.

Ariyah sighed, moving her hands so that they were behind his head as she pulled it into her shoulder. "And non of it is your fault, Sirius. Your family are in no way shape or form able to state what you are and aren't," She told him. "And I'm not leaving, I won't ever...I promise,"

Silence crept over the two as she stared at the stars above them, "We aren't perfect, we will never be." She whispered whilst his lips parted in disbelief she was going to end it before it even truly started, "But I love talking to you, I love telling you how I feel and having you listen to me." Her voice cracked as tears fell down his cheek. "And having to listen to you too. I love it. All your hopes and dreams and insecurities...Because when everything fades away and our age begins to show, all we have left is to listen. And because I love the sound of your voice and the echoes of your soul, I will listen to you for the rest of your life. Your thoughts mirror my thoughts, together, two parts of a whole,"

There was no pause un-necessary or hesitation and stutter heard in her beautiful words, and that's what hurt and scared Sirius the most. That everything she had said was true and honest and it feared him how someone with a heart like her could love someone with a heart like his.

Sirius dropped the cigarette as he pulled his arms around her and slowly began to cry into her shoulder. "I love you, Sirius,"

The boy's lip quivered with her words, "I love you, Ariyah."