The Discovery
It had been a while since Remus met Sirius for lunch in Muggle London. In fact, they hadn't been out to eat since the fiasco that was Sirius' birthday party – and that was almost two months ago. So when Sirius suggested they have lunch together, Remus thought it would be an excellent opportunity for a "gentleman's afternoon out".
He arrived at Sirius' office a little early so he expected that he would have to wait a bit for the ever-busy Mr. Black to reach a stopping point in his work. Sirius liked to work alone on cases and very seldom had needed to ask his co-workers for help. But something was different today. The usually closed door to the office of Mr. Black was wide open and, much to Remus' surprise, there seemed to be a steady stream of people coming and going.
The first such person Remus took particular notice of was a rather short welsh woman with long, dark hair. She was wearing a rather obvious amount of perfume. From the smell of it, it was supposed to be a light gardenia fragrance, but she had applied so much of it that Remus had to lean away from her when she passed him. He was certain that the strong aroma would overwhelm even someone without heightened senses. A short time later, when the woman left the office Remus could have sworn he heard her growl through her seductive grin.
Since when do woman growl at Sirius?
The next visitor to approach Sirius's office was a slightly round woman who looked to be midway through pregnancy. She stopped right out side the door and checked her face in the mirror on the wall. With a wave of her wand, she cast a curling charm on her semi-flat hair and then made sure her lipstick wasn't smudged. She adjusted her blouse before heading into the office. When she left a few moments later Remus could just barley make out that she was singing softly to herself.
"I know you I walked with you once upon a dream…"
A love song? From a pregnant woman? Surely not…
Remus started to really wonder at this phenomenon when a yet another woman (dressed rather casually for a law office, Remus thought) stopped a man carrying an armload of files toward Sirius' office. She pushed her blond hair behind her ear and asked, "Are you taking those into Mr. Black?"
"Yes, he asked for them before lunch."
With wide eyes the woman reached to take the files from the man. "I'll take those for you. I'm not busy at all and I know you were just assigned to the Fletcher case."
The man was a bit
puzzled. "It's no problem. This will
only – "
"NO! I'll do it!" she nearly shouted. Gaining her composure she smiled and said, "I insist. Let me take those in for you."
The man shrugged and handed over his files. With a deep breath the woman turned toward the door, held her chin high, and walked into the office. She was only in there for a few minutes, but when she left Remus heard her singing, "What's it take to make you mine?"
All right…what's going on?
"Ready to go?" Sirius asked, finally merging out into the corridor.
"Only if you are. You seem busier than normal today."
Sirius grinned, "Oh, that…well, it seems that I've become the advice man around here. Must have been my big win a few weeks ago. Everyone seems to need my help with something."
"Yes, and all of them are female."
The comment confused Sirius. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just wondering why none of your male colleagues seem to be needing any help?"
"I don't know where this is going, Remus, but if you're implying that I would…"
"No, no, Padfoot. I'm not accusing you of anything. Just making an observation. They all seem to be…terribly concerned about the impression they'll make, judging by the perfume and the hair curling charms I've just witnessed."
Sirius laughed. "I think it's more of an effort to impress a well respected colleague."
Remus could only roll his eyes. "If you say so." Remus looked at the outfit Sirius was wearing. "Isn't that the sweater Griffin gave you for your birthday?"
Sirius smoothed out the sleeves of his black sweater. "Yes it is. I need to ask him where he got it as I rather like it."
"I've noticed. You always seem to be wearing it when I see you."
Sirius began walking toward the door. "This sweater is quite comfortable – I like the way it feels. And besides, Liz says it sets of my eyes rather nicely. Why all the questions today anyway, Moony?"
Remus followed his friend out onto the street, suspicion settling into his mind. "Just…trying to strike up a conversation."
"I'm sure there are more important things we could talk about besides my wardrobe. Say, perhaps – Roarke and this new boyfriend of hers."
Slumping his shoulders Remus sighed, "Now did you have to bring that up?"
They continued on down the street chatting about the various things going on with work and their families. Sirius smiled broadly all the way to the restaurant, no matter what the conversation came around to. Remus almost could have sworn it was his imagination, but a few ladies that they passed followed them with their eyes. No, that wasn't right…they were following Sirius with their eyes, but Sirius didn't seem to notice.
Once they arrived at the restaurant, the hostess was very polite and more than willing to get them the best seat available. She kept looking up at Sirius through her long lashes, batting her eyes and being none too discreet about flirting with him. As they sat down and she reluctantly excused herself, Remus couldn't bite his tongue any longer. "All right, Sirius. What's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why are all these young women falling all over you?"
"You're imagining things."
"I am not." He pointed to the hostess, who was looking over at them longingly from across the restaurant. "That girl can't be older than twenty-five and she was flirting with you like there was no tomorrow."
Sirius laughed and picked up his menu. "Oh come on. She was not."
"She was, too."
"And even if she was, what would be wrong with that?" Sirius demanded.
Remus sat back, surprised at Sirius' question.
"She finds me attractive, that's all. It's not as if I asked her if I could buy her a drink." Sirius continued
Remus raised his eyebrows. "So you don't find this at all…unusual?"
"No. Now, if I was repulsive and hideous to look at, say, with greasy hair and sallow skin…."
"That's not what I meant. It's just that, well…when was the last time you were hit on by a twenty something year old woman?"
"Last week," Sirius answered, just a bit smugly.
Dropping his jaw and nearly falling out of his chair Remus said, "What?"
"Yes, last week I was asked out to dinner. I had to disappoint the dear by informing her that I was happily married, but I was flattered by the invitation."
Remus shook his head. "Something is going on, Sirius. This isn't normal."
Sirius looked at Remus pointedly over his menu. "I do believe you're jealous!"
Remus rolled his eyes and picked up his own menu. "You wish."
Just then, the most stunningly gorgeous woman approached their table. He hair was a golden blonde that fell in smooth form around her shoulders. She wore a v-cut blouse that left little to the imagination and a short, form-fitting skirt that showed off her figure as well as her sculpted long legs. Her voice was sultry as she said, "Pardon me, but from the moment you walked in I couldn't take my eyes off of you."
Sirius tried to speak, but he was a bit tongue-tied.
"I told myself, 'Emily…you simply can not let that devilishly handsome man get away from you'," she purred.
Swallowing hard Sirius managed to croak, "Emily?"
"Yes, Emily – Emily Darren."
"Sirius Black," he said taking her hand awkwardly. "And this is Re-"
"Seriously gorgeous is more like it. I come to this restaurant every Wednesday. It would be a crime if we didn't meet up again."
"Er –"
"In fact, give me a call." She handed him her card and ran a finger down the side of his face. "Perhaps we can make arrangements for a more intimate dining experience." She winked one eye and let her lips kiss at the air before leaving. "Ciao."
A stunned silence hung in the air for a moment. Sirius starred off at the woman as she walked away. Remus stared at Sirius. Cutting the silence Remus asked, "And I'm supposed to believe that that is normal?"
Sirius was speechless.
"Did you take a potion?" Remus questioned.
"I beg your pardon!"
"I know, you still have the instructions on how to make that Aphrodisiac Potion, don't you?"
"You know as well as I do that Lily made James burn those instructions in our sixth year."
"Well, it has to be something."
Sirius looked down at the card the woman had left. "All right. I admit that there have been some strange things going on. But it's not what you think." Remus waited for an explanation. "I think that…" Sirius sighed. "Moony, this is a bit personal. Can't you just ignore…"
"No. What's going on?"
Sirius leaned across the table, and in a hushed voice said, "Well…my birthday. I think that I had some kind of a – I'm not sure – a resurgence of…of…"
Remus also leaned over the table. His voice very quiet, he asked, "Of what?"
Sirius cleared his throat. "Well, you see…Liz and I have been – lately we've had very good success…not that it wasn't always good…but now it's absolutely amazing. And I think…maybe these other woman are sensing that."
"Are you suggesting that all of these woman can sense that you have a rollicking good sex life?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have put it that way, but, well, yes!"
Remus thought for a moment…unable to believe he was actually having this conversation. There had to be more to this than what Sirius was suggesting. "Then let me ask you this – has Liz had similar experiences?"
"You mean, are men flirting with Liz?"
"Yes."
"No."
Remus scratched his chin. "And it all started on your birthday…" He was lost in thought, looking Sirius up and down. Remus was certain that this wasn't a mere coincidence. There was a connection to the female attention and…and…the sweater? It had to be the sweater. What else could it be?
"Sirius, are you and Liz busy for dinner tonight?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Why don't you come over to the house this evening. I want to look into a few things and possibly get to the bottom of this."
"There isn't anything to get to the bottom of, Moony. Really."
"If that's the truth, then there would be no harm in my looking, would there?"
The waiter arrived to take their order, halting the conversation for now. Remus allowed Sirius to change the topic and continue to done with the belief that it was his own libido attracting all these women, but Remus had a plan to prove other wise. Oh, this could turn out to be loads of fun, indeed!
(AN: Yes, that was me, Thing1, and Durayan who flirted with Sirius…in case you were wondering.)
