Shadows and Fire
Eleonora
The air crackled with the remnants of distant magic as Eleonora stood in the Forbidden Forest, the moon casting long, jagged shadows across the clearing. This place was solace. Away from the expectations, the whispers, the ever-watchful eyes of Hogwarts. Here, she could simply exist.
Yet, she was not alone.
“I don’t suppose you’re out here looking for unicorns, are you?”
Sirius’s voice was smooth, edged with something unreadable. He stepped into the clearing, hands tucked into the pockets of his robes, as if he had simply stumbled upon her rather than tracked her movements like a hunter.
Eleonora did not turn to face him immediately. “And I don’t suppose you’re here to warn me about the dangers of the forest.”
Sirius smirked. “Not my style. I’m more of the ‘break the rules and see what happens’ type.”
Finally, she turned. He was standing just outside the reach of the moonlight, but his presence was like fire—impossible to ignore. His silver eyes gleamed, curiosity and something darker flickering in their depths.
“You follow me too often,” she observed.
Sirius tilted his head. “Or maybe you’re just always somewhere interesting.”
Eleonora sighed, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “And what do you think you’ll find, Black?”
Sirius stepped closer, just enough that the light caught the angles of his face. “Answers.”
She held his gaze, unflinching. “To what?”
“To you.”
A slow, knowing smile touched her lips. For all his arrogance, she could see it—the way he was always searching. For something more. For something real.
“And if I told you that some mysteries are better left unsolved?”
Sirius exhaled, something between amusement and frustration flickering across his face. “Then I’d probably ignore that warning and try anyway.”
Eleonora let the silence stretch between them, letting him feel the weight of the unknown that surrounded her. Sirius Black was fire—wild, reckless, untamed. But there was something else beneath it, something he didn’t like people to see.
“Be careful, Black,” she finally murmured. “You might not like what you find.”
But Sirius only grinned, reckless as ever. “That’s what makes it interesting.”
Sirius
Back in the Gryffindor dormitory, Sirius lay awake, staring at the ceiling as the sounds of his friends’ steady breathing filled the room. The encounter in the forest replayed in his mind, looping like an unfinished puzzle.
James shifted in his sleep before cracking an eye open. “You’re still thinking about her.”
Sirius groaned, running a hand down his face. “Don’t start.”
James grinned sleepily. “Can’t help it. You’ve got that look—the one you get when you’ve found something you can’t let go of.”
Sirius exhaled, staring at the moonlight filtering through the window. “She’s different.”
James chuckled, rolling over. “Yeah, mate. That much is obvious.”
Sirius didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Because deep down, he knew that whatever this was—whatever game Eleonora was playing—he was already too deep to walk away.