Eunoia | Sirius Black

|95|

Haslemere, Surrey, 1981
April 1st, pleasant.

A month had passed, one month more before we're separated forever.

"ELENA! WE'RE GETTING LATE!"

"COMING!"

I scream into my pillow. My hair are a fucking menace today. We need to leave for Godric's Hollow for a baby shower of Mary Mcdonalds.

It's dangerous but it's the only thing that we can do for ourselves to get our mind off the war.

Sirius barges into my room and looks at me with annoyance. "It's been two hours. Literally."

"My hair aren't cooperating." I nearly sob while saying this. 

He goes through various stages of emotions and at last resorts to surrender. Sighing, he moves towards me and turns me around so I'm looking at him standing behind me through the mirror.

Strangely, this time when he touches me I don't feel that intense burning that makes me want to hurl. But i'm not that good with it either, it still reminds me of old and good times and is still unbearable. 

He brushes his hands through my hair and I nearly groan. His hands feel amazing, so much that I hadn't even realised I was having a headache until his fingers dug in my scalp to make a braid. 

"What are you doing?" I ask softly. 

"Shhh," 

I frown and let him do whatever he wants to. It's not often that we have moments where we aren't trying to kill each other, or worse - verbally hurt each other and I don't want this one to be ruined. 

When he's done, he gently steps back and I turn around to look at myself over my shoulder. My hair look mesmerising. He's left them mostly lose with a few artistically done braids in between. 

One of those look like a very tiny rose and it makes me smile because my hair look darker today and the rose looks real. 

I look at him and I know through memory the crease above his lips means he's trying not to smile so wide because he finds me beautiful.

It makes me feel something I'd never admit to myself. 

We hold hands instead of apparating separately as we've done in the past these days. It's the littlest thing but it's something different and it makes me anxious because I seem to be forgetting all the bad he's done to me.

A quick reminder and as soon as we reach the doors of Potter cottage, I jerk my hand back from his, ignoring the surprise on his face. 

James opens the doors all giddy and jumpy. He hugs Sirius and hugs me extra long, I can smell sugar from his shirt. They must have made a cake. 

The house looks beautiful and so homely that I might just lay down on their couch, fall asleep and ask Lily to never send me back home. Home?

I give Lily a noisy kiss on the cheek and she laughs. "I missed you so much, Elena." She says and I feel okay. 

Alice and I share a hug and she immediately starts gushing about her and Frank moving back to live with Augusta Longbottom and how that woman is a pain in the arse. But it's important she says, now with Neville here.

I don't know what it is about Alice but she speaks the craziest stuff with such a straight face that it gets me clutching my stomach, lacking air. 

After the worst possible month the only thing that gives me so much relief is when I spend time with these people. My family isn't just Sirius, it's them too.