"We're going to need all the help we can get."
Remus stood tall at the head of the dusty table stationed in the dimly-lit room of 12 Grimmauld Place. His fingers tightly latched onto the back of the chair he was standing behind.
"And where do you ex...
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D E C E M B E R 1995, G R I M M A U L D P L A C E
"Do you remember the first time I saw you?"
Adelaide and Sirius were lying in bed together with their bare bodies hidden beneath the sheets. The healer's hair was messily thrown up into a bun on the top of her head as the side of her face pressed into Sirius' chest.
"The very first time?"
Sirius found himself smiling at the thought. He would never forget the moment that he first laid eyes on her. Even if she had been passed out on the moving staircase just before the Gryffindor portrait hole. Her pale skin was bright and clear of imperfection. Her hair was tied in a tight bun at the nape of her neck, and she looked so innocent. They both found it odd that she had passed out when she did. They still did not know the reasoning – she had not had another fainting spell since the first.
"Yes, you git. Now tell me." Adelaide let out a soft laugh escape her lips as she tilted her head back, looking at him now.
"You were beautiful. Even though I was technically Padfoot when I laid eyes on you for the first time... I knew that there was something special about you." Sirius let his fingertips run along her back, tracing patterns against her smooth skin.
"And the way that you brought me food, took care of me... believed me when I had nobody..." Sirius found himself becoming emotional. He had been alone, completely alone, for so long. Then in waltzed Adelaide Corden. Innocent, young Adelaide. She went to bat for him, even turned her wand against Severus for him. He knew that was not something that came easy for her.
She was not a fighter. No matter how much she wanted to be... she just wasn't. Strong-willed, sure. An excellent healer. The best one he had ever met. And no, he did not just think that because he fell in love with her. She had brilliant bedside manner, gentle hands, and a genuine caring smile. She was extremely intelligent, too. He enjoyed watching her go back and forth with Remus. It was about bloody time that someone gave him a run for his money!
Adelaide's eyes filled to the brim with warm tears. She refused to let them fall and buried her face into the crook of his neck as she cuddled herself into his side.
"When I left you on the top of that tower in that bloody cell..." the blonde spoke after a few moments of peaceful silence. "I don't know if I had ever felt that kind of heartbreak before." She admitted to him. Her fingers splayed out on his side as she held herself against him firmly.
"I had only just found you... And even though we were meeting in secret, those nights were what I looked forward to the most."
Sirius could not help but feel his heart swell at her admission. He was truly lucky to have found someone like Adelaide. Even after all this time he still did not feel worthy of her and her love.
