March 17, 1977

"THAT ONE LOOKS like a toilet."

"From what fucking angle?"

"Um, every angle? Seriously, Gray, are you blind or something?"

"Shut up, Berry. That one over there looks like you. It's a deformed face."

Adira scoffs, smacking his shoulder as he lets out a loud laugh.

She stares at his smile for a beat too long.

When she turns away, she looks back up at the pale blue sky, trying to find another weirdly-shaped cloud that she can point out.

With her attention somewhere else, Sirius moves his head ever so slightly to stare at her. There is a light smile playing at her lips as she stares up at the clouds. It is beautiful. So very beautiful that Sirius forgets where he is for a moment.

They have been out here by the Black Lake for hours, just watching the clouds drift by and move across the sky as they point out what different clouds look like. It is a mundane activity, and yet, with this girl, nothing is dull or boring to Sirius.

He can spend hours watching paint dry with her and he will not be bored. How can he be when she is wild and crazy and everything he wants to reach out and touch?

"That one looks like McGonagall! Woah, that is an eerie resemblance."

Sirius doesn't turn to look at where she's pointing. Instead, he keeps his eyes on her.

Any second he can get, he will take. Just a little longer, he tells himself. Just a moment more, he keeps reminding himself. One more glance, he promises himself.

But it is never enough, and it drives him fucking insane.

When he doesn't speak, Adira turns to look at him. She knits her brows together in confusion.

"Gray?"

He hums. She says something else, but he can't hear her. His eyes drop down to her pretty pink lips that look so soft. What would she do if he were to lean forward the smallest inch? How would she react? And if she were to respond, what would happen after? When everything was said and done, would she pretend it never happened or would she tell him that she feels the same burst of warmth in her chest when he looks at her that he does when she looks at him?

"Sirius."

He looks back into her eyes. They are unreadable, and that scares Sirius. She is quiet for too long.

Then she smiles a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Doesn't that one over there look like the Whomping Willow?"

Her attention turns back to the sky and Sirius stares at her for a second and then he looks away and suddenly the moment slips out of his fingers before he ever really had a chance to hold it.

"It sure does."

But neither is thinking about clouds anymore.