Ancient Magician (Severus x Reader)

Chapter 49: Interruption

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 49: 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑏𝑦 𝑆𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑠 

─•❉᯽❉•─

You ever get those fleeting, golden moments where—for a change—the world doesn't feel like it's pressing down on your chest? Where the silence doesn't feel heavy or awkward, just... warm? Like your heartbeat isn't racing for the wrong reasons anymore?

That's what it felt like. Sitting in Sevvie's lap, curled up like I used to when I was eight and he'd read me old Potions texts because I insisted they were bedtime stories. His arms wrapped around me like a memory, and his heartbeat—steady, familiar—was thudding against my back in a rhythm I'd probably carry with me forever. Neither of us said much. We didn't need to. Sometimes being in the same space was loud enough.

His fingers were drawing faint patterns along my spine—like he was trying to trace old maps. Like he was trying to learn me all over again, just in case I disappeared tomorrow. That was the thing about Severus: he held on like people were always about to leave.

Peaceful. Safe. Close.

And then—

CRACK.

The sharp, unmistakable sound of Apparition thundered through the house like someone had slammed a door open in a cathedral.

I jumped. Sevvie froze beneath me, his hand still mid-motion on my back.

From downstairs came a bellowing voice, so loud it practically rattled the windowpanes.

"BUMBLEBEEEEEE! WE'RE BAAAAAAAACK!"

Oh, no.

I groaned, forehead thunking gently against Sevvie's shoulder. "Please tell me I've finally lost it and I'm hallucinating Sirius Black."

His voice was a flat, suffering drawl right next to my ear. "You're not that lucky."

I barely had time to process before there was a loud crash—followed by a very familiar irritated hiss.

"SIRIUS! The vase— Merlin's beard, why—!"

"Oops!" came Sirius's utterly unapologetic voice. "It was an eyesore anyway!"

I snorted, face still buried in Sevvie's robes, muffling the giggle rising in my throat. "They weren't supposed to be back till tomorrow."

"No," he muttered, arms still around me, "they weren't."

But something had shifted. I could feel it even as we stayed wrapped up in each other. His annoyance was real—but under it, there was a strange softness. A peace he didn't often let show. As though for a moment, even with the noise echoing from below, something in him had quieted.

That didn't last long.

Footsteps came bounding up the stairs with all the subtlety of a hippogriff in a ballet class. There was an enthusiastic knock that lasted exactly half a second before—

BANG.

The door flung open like it had been kicked. And there he was.

Sirius Orion Black, grinning from ear to ear, holding a suspiciously misshapen paper bag and positively vibrating with excitement.

"HELLOOOO, LOVEBIRDS!" he announced, striding into the room like he paid the rent. "Aww, were we cuddling? Did I interrupt something tragically romantic?"