One Step Ahead part I | Sirius Black

Chapter 37

She felt a little more suffocated amongst the stone walls of Hogwarts, but that was normal for Gwen.

Whenever she would return to school from her beach home, the lack of peaceful noise was hard to reckon with. Even though the beach and the waves held bad memories, it was also where she felt the most free. Dorcas thinks she'd be a hobbit, living off the land in solitude if she could. Maybe she was right.

"Gwenyth!"

The Veela peers over her shoulder, smiling as a flash of red hair and a mess of sandy curls come hurtling at her. She barely holds herself up under the force of Lily and Marlene's hugs, laughing,

"Lily, Marlene! Good holiday?"

"It was lovely," Marlene says happily.

"But we missed you!! Did you have the Christmas you were hoping for?" Lily wonders, smiling at Gwen.

The Veela nods, hiding a secret smile as she replies, "Even better. Come on, I told Remus that Dorcas and I would eat with you guys. She's probably already there chatting with him about Runes or something."

Lily looks excited at the prospect of seeing her fellow bookish friends. Marlene on the other hand let's put a grunt of disgust, "Bloody runes. Awful I'll tell you."

They round the corner and Gwen feels like her breath has been stolen away.

A familiar head of black hair is tangled in a girls fingers, the two of them leaning up against a statue next to the great hall. They're practically shagging, moaning and whispering things that she's grateful she can't hear.

It's hard for her to unravel the feelings in her gut. Anger, disappointment, embarrassment. She was embarrassed. Embarrassed that she'd spent the rest of her break thinking that she and the boy she'd spent Christmas with were something...more. Perhaps she was mistaken.

Marlene and Lily notice her reaction, quickly looping their arms through hers and tugging her past the snogging teens and into the safety of the Great Hall.

James looks up cheerfully from where he's chatting with Peter when he sees the three girls. Gwen smiles weakly when he throws his arm around her shoulder and tugs her down into the seat between him and Peter.

"Shouldn't you want to sit with Lily?" Gwen wonders quietly when her red headed friend takes a seat next to Dorcas, already joining in on the chat about homework with the Ravenclaw and Remus.

"I'm trying not to be too pushy, like you said. She doesn't seem to hate me anymore so I reckon it's working," James muses, gently elbowing Gwen in the side. The truth is, he knew exactly what Sirius was doing right now. And he also knew that the Veela had to have seen it.

He keeps an arm around her shoulders, his fingers tapping against her arm playfully. She laughs at James and his antics, feeling very appreciative for his friendship. She smiles when Peter addresses her,

"Gwen, how was your break?"

Her heart twists and she wants to tell it to cut it out. That she was being stupid.

"Fine," She says simply. "I enjoyed the alone time."

James frowns slightly, but it fades when she gently nudged him and continues,

"I got to see James here over the holiday."

Everyone turns to them in surprise, Dorcas' eyes like saucers. She makes brief eye contact with Lily, sharing a look of shock before she asks curiously,

"And how was that, Gwen?"

The Veela shrugs, looking rather bored with the conversation. "Fine. I got to meet Mrs. And Mr. Potter. Lovely people."

James feels a flare of pride for his parents and affection for the girl, squeezing her shoulders and changing the subject when he notices a tiny bit of discomfort on her face,

"Lily flower, did you miss me?"

"Hardly," The red head scoffs, though Gwen can't help but smile at the tiny twitch of her friends lips.

Marlene pipes up, saying cheekily, "I heard that some boys missed you over the break, Ninnie."

"Oh great, I'm glad to see that nickname is catching on," Gwen sighs, laughing when Marlene sticks her tongue out at her.

"It's true," Remus chuckles. "Gilderoy Lockheart stopped me and Peter to ask if we had seen you."

Gwen wrinkles her nose and makes a gagging noise. She wouldn't touch Lockheart with a ten foot pole.

Peter jumps in, saying playfully, "I'll bet 5 galleons that Gwen gets asked out at least once by the first class tomorrow."

James uses the hand of the arm wrapped around the veela's shoulder to stroke his chin, making her head smack his shoulder from the motion.

"Ow," She grunts, shoving at his arm. "And no bets, that's not fair."

"I'll take that bet," Dorcas says, grinning when Gwen gasps and says with faux anger,

"Trahison!"
[betrayal!]

"Come on, Ninnie! It's funny," James teases, reaching with his free hand to pinch her side.

"What's funny?"

James jumps, startled by the voice behind him.

Sirius stares down at the arm of his friend, slung casually over Gwen's shoulders. He grows even more irritable when the Veela does not turn to acknowledge him, just continues to look at her plate.

He clears his throat. Still nothing.

The girls and the Marauders look at each other awkwardly until Dorcas asks nervously,

"Uh, hi Sirius. Did you have a good holiday?"

He glances at the mousy girl, her cheeks turning pink under his grey gaze. Dorcas smiles encouragingly so Sirius relents, saying quietly,

"It was...good. I enjoyed it. You?"

"Y-yeah! Good mine was good." Dorcas rushes out, quickly averting her gaze to the book spread out between her and Remus.

Sirius frowns when James glances at Gwen before saying cheerfully, "Take a seat, Padfoot."

"Tell me what's funny, Prongs," He grits out, growing increasingly angry at his friends proximity to the blonde. James pauses and then opens his mouth to speak, but then Gwen is turning and standing right in front of Sirius.

"A bet. They're making a bet. One that doesn't concern you," Gwen says simply, barely meeting his gaze before moving past him. His blood boils at her bored tone, her unimpressed gaze. Her eyes were flat, not sparkling with mirth or reflecting the sun that comes off of water. Cold, icy.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asks harshly, freezing when she pauses and peers over her shoulder. She's heart wrenchingly beautiful, the days he spent away from her only made that more clear.  And it made him more and more confused, desperate for something easy. Something he could do without thinking. Or rather someone, though he wasn't sure what the name of the girl he was just snogging was.

Gwen smiles and shrugs, replying, "To win Dorcas 5 galleons."

She glances down at his lips, heart shriveling in her chest as she says surprisingly nonchalantly,

"Red isn't exactly your shade, Black."

Her hair whips behind her as she walks, smiling and chatting briefly as she passes students on her way out of the hall.

Sirius angrily wipes the lipstick she was talking about off his face, his heart and mind at war with one another as she disappears.