Love & Scars

50. House Hunting

The others were relieved to see them together again, but as the weeks progressed, Sirius felt the distance between them. And he didn't know what to do about it. She opted to sleep in her own bed with the help of a sleeping draught instead of sleeping with him. In class, she sat with Lily or Remus, but that wasn't too unusual. She sat next to him in the Great Hall, but feeling the distance between them, he didn't reach out for her.

Just like now, it was Friday night, and they were eating dinner. The space between them was physically hurting him. His mind wandered to the time she leaned into him, locked her foot with his or intertwined their fingers together. But now nothing, they weren't touching at all. He came out of his thoughts when he heard James talking about the houses.

"I was thinking we head out tomorrow morning. Remus, you can take the cloak with Lily and Regulus. It will be a tight fit, but it should work. Sirius and I will change into Progs and Pads." He stopped, and he looked at Izzie. Then his eyes flickered to Remus before they rested back on Izzie. "Uhm, Iz-" Izzie looked up from her plate. Sirius noticed that she was absentmindedly playing with her food for the past five minutes. "Did you get that flat already?"

She opened her mouth and closed it again before she said, rather silently. "No," she glanced to Sirius for a second before she turned back to James. "I'm still choosing between two options. Why?"

Sirius reached over slowly and intertwined their fingers; she looked up to him. There was a small smile and a flicker of hope in his eyes. "You can-" He cleared his throat. "You can stay with us at the house. It would save you money and... and I can't think of you living alone and not seeing you every day."

"I don't know." She frowned. When Sirius's face fell, she squeezed his hand. "I'll think about it, I promise. I will put the flat on hold. But I need a little more time."

"Alright." Sirius tried to offer her a smile but failed. She reached up and kissed his lips lightly. He revelled in the feeling of her lips against his, even if it was so short and light.

"But I'll come with you tomorrow, if you want." Sirius started to beam at her. "I'll show you my favourite rooms in every house."

"Alright," he said again, but now with a smile that stretched all over his face.

"But the four of us can't fit under the cloak," Regulus said.

"We can just go through the passageway of Honeydukes, disillusionment ourselves until we're out of the shop."

Sirius stopped listening to Lily's plan rather abruptly when Izzie leaned into him. His heart soared as she leaned in even closer when he wrapped his arm around her waist. He kissed the top of her head, breathing in her scent. Because he had his eyes closed for a few seconds, he didn't see that happy smile on her lips when he kissed her head.

***

The first house they went to visit was in a magical town. Even though the house was big enough and beautiful, they decided against it. When they took a stroll around the block, they saw multiple wizards known to prefer the dark arts. Not that Sirius was really looking around the houses or the wizards in the street, because ever since James opened the door to the first house, she had intertwined their fingers together and guided him around the house with a beaming smile he couldn't help but mimic.

The second house was James and Regulus' favourite because it had a Quidditch post in the backyard that was hidden from the muggles. Lily and Remus liked the Muggle appliances in the house. Izzie scrunched up her nose at seeing the washer and dryer, making Remus and Sirius laugh while the others looked confused at their sudden outburst.