The woman in the mirror (Harry Potter fanfic)

The Marauders: Chapter 3 (The princess and the dog)

The Black Lake
Hogwarts grounds, Scotland
December 21 1975

Sirius didn't say anything as he went to sit beside her. Even though they had their silent agreement to meet here at least once a week ever since the beginning of the year, Sirius still wasn't used to her presence. How nervous she still made him.

Sirius was not the type to be nervous easily. He was famous around Hogwarts for his cocky smiles, casual stance and confident strides...but that all went out the window as soon as the sun goddess herself was in his line of vision. He was reduced to a puddle of unknown feelings everytime he sensed her presence.

Why did he do this to himself every time?

Why couldn't he just ignore her like all the other girls he didn't want to bother with....

That was it probably. He wanted to bother with Adeline. He felt something for her that he had never felt before and it scared him more than anything.

It was still dark out. The sun hadn't yet broken the horizon and no colours other than black painted the skies.

The light of the silver moon was the only thing that enabled him to look at Adeline's face in the dark. She was frowning at the sky, not really seeing it but seemingly deep in thought.

They didn't really speak much when they were alone together. For one because Adeline wasn't the babbling type and while Sirius was, he was afraid his voice would betray the shakiness he felt whenever she was around.

Not to mention the fact that she looked straight at him when he spoke to her....he couldn't handle that. Eyes as gorgeous as hers shouldn't be watching someone as ugly as him. It just wasn't fair.

But today something was obviously wrong with the goddess-like beauty. So he cleared his throat, trying to calm his erratic breathing.

"What's on your mind?" He whispered.

Adeline sighed, shaking her head as if getting rid of the thought. "Not something of any importance."

"Are you worried about your sister?" Sirius asked. "Because I'm sure she is fine."

Adeline looked at the ground and started pulling grass out. "Yeah, I know she is."

"Then what is it?"

Adeline shrugged again. She then did something she had never done before. She closed her eyes and leaned back into Sirius arms. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and waited for her to realise what she'd done and jump from his arms...but she didn't.

She sighed contently.

Sirius was sure Adeline could hear his loud beating heart in his chest and once again cursed the affect she had on him.

"If I ask you to answer a difficult question honestly, would you?" Adeline suddenly asked, her eyes still closed. Her breathing was even and her heart wasn't beating nearly as fast as Sirius's.

"Depends." Sirius breathed. His heart was beating so loudly in his ears he suddenly felt like fainting.

Adeline sat up straight again, much to Sirius's disappointment yet relief. She turned to look at him with that inquisitive sapphire gaze of hers.

"If you had to choose between living forever without love, or only living a few years with the love of your life, which one would you rather?"

"That's a hard one, I have to admit." Sirius bit on his lowerlip, avoiding her eyes. "I've never been in love so it's hard for me to imagine it. And there are still so many things that I want to do before I go. But I don't like the idea of living forever. It feels wrong, don't you think?" Sirius thought hard about his answer. He imagined what his life would be like without love. It sounded pretty good. But then he looked into Adeline's eyes. Those gorgeous blue eyes that had him feeling all sorts of things. An eternal life without ever having a chance with her. That might be more like hell than heaven. The choice was suddenly very easy. "I would die young if it meant that I could love someone." He said.