One Step Ahead part I | Sirius Black

Chapter 38

"Padfoot, this is embarrassing."

"Shut up, Moony," Sirius whispers furiously, huddling tighter together with Remus and Peter and James.

It was broad daylight, not the usual conditions for the use of the invisibility cloak. But Sirius had insisted. Gwen had been ignoring him since dinner the night before, sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Dorcas for breakfast.

It was weighing heavy on his mind. She was. He wanted to see her. Be near her. Talk to her. But she was cold and unimpressed, his least favorite mood of hers. And now he had to watch her talk to every lad in the place except for him

They all hold their breath when Gwen turns away from Eddy Bones and heads directly towards them. They look around for some path of escape, but she's closing in.

"What do we do?!" James ask frantically,

"I don't know!" Remus hisses. "I told you this was embarrassing!"

"Just shut the fuck up!" Sirius mutters, freezing as the Veela stops right in front of them. She clears her throat and says warmly,

"Morning James. Remus."

"Morning," The voices in unison seemingly coming from nowhere. But she knew better.

"Pete?"

She smiles when he suddenly pokes his head free from the invisibility cloak, smiling sheepishly. She wonders if people passing by notice that she is in fact talking to a floating head.

"I'm here to collect the money for Dorcas."

Peter sighs, shaking his head and fishing in his pocket for spare change as he asks,

"How much?"

"Well, you said 5 galleons if I got asked out at least once before class. And Eddy would be number 4."

Sirius glowers while James laughs and Remus looks impressed. Peter grumbles as he hands her 10 galleons, "Merlin, Ninnie. I'm going to run out of money."

The Veela laughs and gently pats his arm, saying playfully, "Don't worry, Pete. They shouldn't ask anymore."

"Have you said yes to any?" James wonders, popping his head out from the cloak. He can practically feel Sirius boring holes into the back of his head. Gwen quirks a brow and shrugs, not answering before she begins walking away.

Sirius glares after her, torn between running after her and running in the opposite direction. He's upset, because obviously he's made her mad. But he's also fucking furious, because this was all rather juvenile. He hadn't ignored someone so blatantly ever in his life. Perhaps he just wasn't as good at it as Gwenyth Whitlock.

He decides as soon as he sees a familiar pair of twins stopping to chat with her. James chuckles lowly, glancing at Sirius and his angry scowl. Remus winces when Sirius flies out from under the cloak and storms down the hall.

"He's scary when he's jealous," Pete muses quietly, watching with James and Remus as the scene unfolds.

Gwen looks up in surprise when a hand suddenly grabs hers. Sirius. She hadn't talked to him—not really—since she left the Potter's on Christmas. His eyes are piercing, angry. He's mad at her. She wants to tell him he has no bloody right to be mad at her, not when she's only talking to boys. And he gets to snog everything that moves. She looks away from him and back to Fabian, saying nonchalantly,

"Sorry, continue."

The ginger grins widely at her cheekiness, nodding his head at Sirius, "Black, Good holiday?"

"The part of it I spent with Ninnie, yes."

It's a declaration, an implication that there's something more between them. And it pissed her off, because that wasn't fair. He did not get to do that. Not now, after he'd shagged who knows who since he'd gotten off the Hogwarts express.

Fabian looks at her in surprise over Sirius' words, again smiling at the hint of irritation on her face. She shakes her hand free from Sirius and tells Fabian,

"Ignore him."

"Yes, that seems to be the trend these days. Ignoring me," Sirius snaps, averting his gaze from the lads to glare at Gwen. The twin's necks must be tired from looking back and forth between the Veela and the marauder. Gideon scratches his head and asks confusedly, "Am I missing something?"

"Yes."

"No."

Gwen frowns at the unison of their voices, finally turning to the boy with grey eyes and saying exasperatedly, "Yes, Sirius? You needed something?"

He's stunned by the attention, stunned by her finally addressing him. He wasn't prepared for this part. He stumbles over his words before saying lamely, "I-I just wanted to remind you that we have to make star charts tomorrow night."

Gwen nods, sending him a tight lipped smile. His shoulders slump slightly and he pleads quietly, completely ignoring the witnesses to how soft he can be when it comes to her, "Ninnie—"

She swallows roughly and backs away, saying quickly, "I'll catch up with you later, Prewett."

"Which one?" Fabian teases while Gideon winks.

She shrugs and replies cheekily, "Whoever I decide."

Gideon laughs as she walks away, but grows quiet when Fabian elbows him in the side. They both awkwardly look at Sirius as he stares after Gwen, Fabian offering quietly,

"Don't worry, mate. I think everyone knows you're pretty keen on each other."

"Evidently not," Sirius grunts, turning away.

Gwen passes a gaggle of glaring girls, rolling her eyes to herself when she hears her name and a certain someone with "sexy hair and beautiful eyes"

She halts, points in the direction she's coming from and says flatly, "He's that way, ladies."

She recognizes Jen and Vaness—Veronica. And a few other girls that have tried to get Gwen to get Sirius to like them. Their eyes all widen and then they're running in the direction of their "dream guy"

Gwen feels sick. Sick because she's so mad. And not even at Sirius, but herself. She's mad because she feels like she's just another snog, that they aren't even friends. And she's mad at herself for being mad at him. Because she'd been the one to say it—to say they were just friends. But she didn't feel this way about her just friends.

She didn't have to fight a smile every time she was around James, or feel her heart pound faster in her chest when she'd hug Peter.

She lets out a groan, her shoulders slumping as she realizes what has happened. What was happening.

She fancied Sirius Black.

The boy that had been around since first year, always one step behind.

{{thanks for being patient! I'm gonna try to update again today!}}