Winter In The Shade | Sirius Black x Female Ravenclaw Reader

XXIV

"So she took it." James said, standing in front of a desperate Sirius struggling on the floor to put on his boot. He stared at him with half a smile, holding his hands in the front on his chest as he motioned widely in the air "What about it? Does that help us find her, because mum hasn't realized she is not here and she will kill us when she does so I need you to stop fighting your shoe and start talking." he rushed to say, snatching the shoelaces from Sirius' hands as he lowered himself to the floor and did the knot for him. That's when his eyes took a peek at his friend's hands, carefully placed over his knees "You're shaking." he noticed, his eyes going up to gray eyes as his hands worked with a mind of its own.

Sirius glanced quickly at James, not meeting his gaze for a second as he put them at use to get his jacket on "Just cold." he muttered, sliding one arm in and then the other.

"Right." James chuckled with a more bright smile "She'll be fine." he assured Sirius, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder "Now, about that letter." he asked again.

Sirius nodded "Regulus sent her the letter, asking to meet her about needing help or something." he blurted out, coming to halt when James turned to him.

"He needs help?" he asked with a frown.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him "Didn't you hear everything yesterday, you gossip?" he asked with the tilt of his head, moving past him and inside the kitchen where they were headed.

James just motioned widely in the air, the desperation bursting in his movement as he marched behind Sirius "Not everything!" he marked, following Sirius around "I just took a guess, why would I be listening to what you talked with Y/N?"

Sirius just shrugged, jumping on top of the counter "I don't know, what do we do the things that we do!?" he asked back with wide eyes "No one knows and clearly she has spent too much time with us and we need to find her, preferably before she gets to Regulus!"

James bit the inside of his cheek but nodded still "She couldn't have gone far." he established, resting his arms on the counter "We're in the middle of nowhere with only wizard families that live nearby, she's probably still wandering around."

Sirius nodded fervently, looking at James as the gears inside his head turned. Moments passed where nothing was said and when Sirius looked back at James he had grown tense, his gaze shaky "We're underestimating her, aren't we?" he asked, taking off his glasses as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger, a long sigh leaving his lips.

"We are." Sirius muttered, letting his head hang low. A humorless laugh escaped him, turning to his friend "How long has she been gone?" he asked.

"You ask me?" James asked in disbelief, finger pointing at his chest "You're the one who practically caged her in your sleep. Honestly, it's a surprise that she managed to escape you in the first place."

Sirius just glared at James "I'm a heavy sleeper." he muttered, James' look of disbelief never changing as he just lowered his head a little "I have to be! You talk in your sleep, Peter gets midnight snacks and let us not talk about me and Remus. We have to take advantage of every minute of sleep we can get."

A chill ran down James' spine, conceding Sirius had a point. "Anyway, we can just go to the place he asked to meet her. You read the letter." he pointed out.

"They have a code." Sirius muttered miserably "Apparently they need it. Who even needs a code?" he mocked, scrunching his nose as he buried his head in his hands.

James straightened his posture, turning with careful movements to face his friend "Sirius." James called with all seriousness written over his face "We have code names." he said.