Hogwarts: A History [Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Chapter 20 - Birthday Girl

Dedicated to Bubbles947 for being an overall amazingly sweet person. She has started a Harry Potter thread on the forums, so if you want to be a part of it, go check it out! It's called Potterhaven: A Thread for Potterheads. 

Birthday Girl

It was Friday, the nineteenth of July and, coincidentally, it was the night before Gizelle’s seventeenth birthday. She was sat in front of her sitting room window with a cup of tea. Steam wafted up from her mug and she leant her face into it, taking in the subtle scent.

Soft long breathes were coming from the floor next to her. Hannah, Sirius and James were sleeping in a pile at Gizelle’s feet. Sirius shifted in his sleep, clearing his throat as he did so. She hadn’t been able to rest, but this time of year was always the hardest for her; it brought back too many memories of the past. An owl hooted softly as it passed by. Gizelle thought it might have had held a letter or package and she strained her neck to get a better view. The owl was long gone, though, so she sat back and sighed to herself, sipping her tea gingerly. Her house was too stuffy. It wasn’t used to so many bodies. The small rooms had only needed to keep a small family warm and now the windows were fogged with condensation.

She began to sweat, pulling her nightshirt away from her body. The room was too small, she was having trouble breathing.

Her cat woke up from where it was sleeping at the base of Sirius’s head. Stretching, it made its way over to Gizelle who whispered gibberish to it and scratched it behind its ear. “Almost time.” She breathed, tapping the purring feline gently on the nose. She fumbled around in the dark, making more noise than she meant to, until she came across her wand. She glanced at the clock on her mantelpiece. Half past eleven.

She balanced her wand on her forefinger. Half past eleven and one minute. Sirius shifted again in his sleep. Stepping out of the sitting room, she grabbed a coat from a closet and opened her front door. The cool summer breeze hit her face immediately. She took a deep breath, listening for the owl she had heard earlier.

She walked outside into her front yard and onto the sidewalk, though she didn’t make it past the first house before she felt a hand slide into hers. She looked up.

"Hey Sirius," She could feel her face flushing. His hand was so warm. Why did he have to give her butterflies?

Why did he have to smell so good; just like that musky scent she had smelt while around the Amortentia potion the year before. She blushed inwardly and felt her palm moisten in Sirius's hand, she hoped he wouldn’t notice.

"So...?" Sirius had to slow his pace so as to match Gizelle's; his legs were so long and they seemed to barely move compared to Gizelle's short ones, which were moving at a hasty pace just to keep up with him.

"So…" she mimed. There was such a height distance. He had to be at least six feet now, if not more. Gizelle stood at a mere five-foot-one.

"What are you doing out here?” Sirius was gently guiding her with his steps. They kept walking down the road. Towards the end of the street,

“What are you doing up?” She didn’t feel like explaining herself to Sirius tonight. It would be too long of a story for such a pleasant occasion. He chuckled, but didn’t immediately reply.

“Had a dream. Woke up.” He said simply. “You talk to your cat a lot.”

Gizelle narrowed her eyes. “You were up? Spying on me? That’s illegal in some places, you know.”

He shrugged.

Gizelle stopped dead in her tracks, staring into the woods that began just a few feet away from them. "What's wrong?" Sirius, who had, at first, not noticed Gizelle stop, turned to look at her.