In Love and War

2. Decisions

"STOP!" Ellie cried, gasping and trying to protect her stomach, "STOP PLEASE HAVE MERCY!"

"NEVER!" Sirius cried, wrenching her arms away from her stomach and tickling her. Ellie laughed, her brown eyes growing large and dilated, and Sirius grinned as he tackled her. With a sudden burst of inspiration, Ellie pulled him down with her, briefly drawing her lips to his. Their lips were centimeters apart, and Sirius was no longer focused on the tickling. She saw his weakness, saw his eyes flicker closed and his slight lean, and she bolted, running out into the yard and hiding behind the tree that, so many years ago, Regulus had tortured her under. "Hey!" Sirius cried, running out after her, "I didn't know you played dirty Green."

"And I didn't know you were ticklish Black." Ellie replied, and Sirius grinned as he ran towards her voice. Just as he stretched out his arms to catch her however, she transformed into a bird and flew over his head.

"Hey!" He cried again, incredulity sharpening his handsome features, "That's not fair! Dogs can't fly!" Ellie tweeted a response and he shook his head resignedly, black hair shaking around his face. Ellie landed and transformed back, and Sirius looked at her, smiling slightly.

"What?" Ellie said, her brows furrowing as she held a hand up to her face, "do I have something on my face?" Sirius shook his head again.

"Just wondering how I got so lucky, Ellie Green." Ellie looked at him and blushed. How he managed to do this to her after so many years was beyond her, and she smiled, walking up to Sirius and hugging him tightly.

"Oi!" A voice shouted from behind them, "Get a room you two- we're trying to win a war over here!" Then another voice, higher and more out of breath spoke in a reprimanding tone,

"JAMES! They're in love- shut up!" By this point Ellie and Sirius had turned around and were looking amusedly at James and Lily. Ellie walked up the hill to Lily and put her arm around her.

"I love you Lil," Ellie said, "But he's right. We've gotta get working. C'mon Paddy!" She said, and he skulked over, making a very rude hand gesture to James that made Ellie say, "SIRIUS." James shouted something equally rude back, to which Lily said, "JAMES!" The boys began to wrestle in the grass and Ellie and Lily looked down at them, shaking their heads and laughing.

***

A few hours after the courtyard debacle, Ellie found yet another piece of grass stuck in Sirius' curly black hair. She pulled it out and gave him a look, holding it reproachingly between her thumb and forefinger. Sirius' responded by leaning towards her fingers to inspect it, then taking it out of her hands with his teeth and swallowing it whole.

"That," Ellie said, gagging with each word, "was disgusting. Why do I spend my time with you?" Her face was in her hands and she looked scandalized, but Sirius rose from the stool upon which he was sitting and turned to face her. His eye contact flustered her, and her face turned bright red. He grinned,

"That's why." He looked so smug that she retorted,

"No. Only because I'm forced to!" But her slight smile gave her away, and she put a hand on Sirius' cheek tenderly, holding his gaze happily. He pulled her into a hug, long, sweet, and protective.

"I need you to make a promise to me," He whispered into her ear. Her breath hitched in her throat and she opened her mouth to respond, but he continued. "If something ever happens when we're doing recon together, I need you to disapparate." She pulled away from him, mouth open, eyes blazing. The tension in the room seemed to have gone from zero to one hundred, and a Ellie had to do everything in her power to keep her voice from shaking as she responded.

"Never. I will never promise to that." She said, voice rising, eyes dilating dangerously. Her anger permeated the room, but something much more prominent hung in the air between them. Fear.

"I need you to promise me!" Sirius said, almost shouting, running a hand through his previously grass-filled hair, pulling out another strand of grass and throwing it on the ground between them. It sat, a sad and small reminder of their childhood, which seemed to exist not half and hour earlier. His eyes were brimming with tears, and his face was red and ruddy. Ellie began to cry too, thick droplets streaming down her distraught face.

"I CAN'T promise that Sirius Black!" She said, "Do you even understand what would happen to me if something happened to you? Everything. Because YOU are my EVERYTHING Sirius."

"And I," He replied, and she was struck by his hoarse voice and bloodshot eyes. He looked so defeated, old and careworn, not a good look for an nineteen year old boy, "Would never forgive myself." Ellie looked at him sadly, returning to him and wrapping him tightly in her arms.

"I love you." She whispered into his ear, stroking his hair and rubbing his back, "I love you, and that's why we're doing this together. No promises about leaving each other. Because that will never happen." She wanted him to feel her love, to know that she was here, and so she squeezed him tighter. He squeezed her back and sniffed loudly, taking his hand to his face, presumably to wipe his tears away. They stood, it could've been minutes, it could've been years, savoring the feeling of safety with each other. Eventually they broke apart, and Sirius' eyes were still red. Ellie stroked the tears off of his upper cheekbones and smiled sadly at him. "This war will be over before we know it Pad."

"I know." He said, "I know." Ellie led him to the couch and there they sat, stunned, at the enormity of the consequences that faced them. This, was war.