A/N: Later on in this chapter, please tune in to Enrique Iglesias's Addicted while reading for optimum enjoyment :D
Sirius fumed silently for the next two days. He secretly couldn't understand why the mere thought of Lizzie, his friend Lizzie, with Amos Diggory, filled him with an unprecedented rage, and made him want to break something, fast. His thoughts were filled with her continually: her devastatingly beautiful green eyes; her dark curls caressing her back; the small wrinkles around her face that appeared every time she burst into one of her dazzling smiles; and her long slender arms wrapped around Diggory in the process of bending forward to….
"This has to stop!" Sirius thought. "She's James' little sister. She's not that pretty. I do not care." Somehow though, convincing himself of that small fact was harder than he thought.
"I can't understand what they're fighting about." James said. "Do you think he's in love with her?" he added, turning to his worn out friend.
Remus hesitated, caught between wanting to express his genuine thoughts, and the fear that James would take the whole situation badly.
"You do think he's in love with her, don't you?" James insisted. "You're a bad liar, my friend; you can't hide much from me."
Remus smiled slightly at this, sighed, and nodded.
"So, do you think she's in love with him too?" James pressed on. "If she is then we must speak to Sirius now; he mustn't hurt her."
Remus' smile deepened as he saw James' brow furrow with worry.
"It's not funny!" James snapped, "That girl has been through enough already."
Remus was quick to explain himself. "I wasn't laughing, James. It's just touching though."
"What is?" James asked, running his hands through his already messy hair.
"You care for her so much, and she's not your sister technically. But you love her like a sister, don't you?" he added.
James was silent for a while. "She is my sister, always has been to me, you know." as he smiled back at Remus. "So what are going to do about Sirius now?"
************************************************************************
The day of the Yule Ball dawned cold yet bright. The sun shone brightly, lighting up Hogwarts with a glow. Inside the school, excitement abounded. Girls chatted excitedly as they buzzed through the corridors, many with their hair coiled up and wet, clearly the results of an Instant-Straightening Potion. Hogwarts was alight with laughs and merry moods, and nothing seemed to dampen the Christmas spirit that had settled inside the castle.
The sun soon started to set, and the Gryffindor common room began to empty slowly, as couples started making their way to the Great Hall. James, with Clara Lieras on his arm, followed by Remus accompanying Mary Smith walked away from their house, and into the hall, leaving a sulky Sirius to wait for his date by the stairs.
"She's not too bad," Sirius thought, as he saw Jane Ronson descend from the Ravenclaw common room in a frilly blue dress, a huge smile and shining eyes.
"Not bad at all," he added, as she linked her arm with his and leaned her head slightly on his shoulder. "Enough to show her she's not the most important girl in this school after all." he added drily.
"Wow!" he thought, as he stepped into the Great Hall.
What seemed like a million candles floated gently beneath the hall's invisible roof, creating a magical hue to the fascinating skyline that was visible above. Professor Filtwick had clearly charmed the many Christmas trees around, making them snow gently throughout the evening, and the hall was covered in wonderful wreaths in shades of gold and silver, adding a regal touch to the event. The house tables had been stowed away for the evening, and where the professors' table had stood a couple of hours before, a stage flooded in white light and snow appeared. The Hanky Pankies, the Daily Prophet's last voted No-1-Magical-Band was providing entertainment for the evening, and a number of girls piled themselves in front of the stage, swooning and screaming every time the lead singer looked in their direction. All around the hall, couples huddled together, dancing slowly, kissing, laughing. It was truly a magical night.
Sirius craned his head in search of one particular couple he couldn't see. He spotted James, Remus and Peter around the drinks table, laughing at some joke or another, but when he made as if to join them, Jane pulled him back, gave him a flirty glance and added, "Don't you want to go someplace quiet?" As he was about to answer, something at the entrance of the hall caught his eye.
He heard some gasps as Amos and Liz walked in, and he ruefully realised that he had been wrong. No Jane, Mary or Sally could ever look more wonderful and more beautiful than the girl standing there, with the Hufflepuff squid draped all around her. Sirius had often thought of Liz as one of the more beautiful girls in school, but all competition paled in comparison to her appearance on that night.
Clad in a flowing strapless lavender dress, she looked like a fairy in disguise. The colour of her gown made her ever green eyes appear deeper, and Sirius was sure that anyone could get hopelessly lost in those eyes that evening. Her black curls were draped into a bun, with some loose strands framing her face gently, and others falling to her back and caressing her shoulders.
Sirius moved towards her, wand in hand, and locked eyes with her. She blushed, and with a careless flick he blasted Diggory out of the way. In front of the eyes of half the school's population, he gently fingered her curls and bent down low to depths he had never imagined to reach, gently touching his lips with hers before delving in deeper.
Or rather, Sirius would have loved to do all that. Instead, he stood transfixed in the middle of the dance floor, with Jane Ronson tugging insistently at his arm, glancing horrified at Liz, his Liz, arms draped around Amos Diggory as he led her for a slow dance. A loud splash brought him back to his senses, and he turned around to see Peter drenched in punch after clearly having offended his date. James was snickering, but Remus seemed unmindful, looking at Sirius, instead, with a concerned look on his face.
"Remus knows!" Sirius' conscience thought, "He knows!"
"Knows what?" another part of his conscience added. "Is there anything to know?"
Sirius turned his gaze back to Liz, and her eyes caught his. He realised that her face was flushed, and he wondered helplessly if she had kissed him, if Diggory was the cause of the gentle blush on her cheeks.
And then realisation dawned at last. "I love her!"
************************************************************************
Ditching Jane so early in the night wasn't easy, but after a while he managed to evade her. As we wandered out of the hall towards the boys' bathroom he heard someone call him. He was surprised to see his older, Muggle-loving cousin Alex walk towards him.
"Alex, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years!"
Alex, acutely handsome with dark thick waves and deep set blue eyes laughed his hollow laugh. "You haven't seen me since our grandmother blew me out of the family tree." he teased.
Soon after leaving Hogwarts, Alex had fallen in love with a Muggle girl and had asked her to marry him. This had irked his family and led to his disownment.
"I'm here with the Hanky Pankies," Alex said. "I play bass."
Sirius was visibly impressed. Then suddenly, he had a plan. "Listen man, I need a favour."
************************************************************************
Liz looked into Amos Diggory's eyes and thought, not for the first time that evening, that they lacked life and energy. Her date's eyes only seemed to light up when Quidditch was involved, and since she was certainly NOT about to spend her Yule Ball, or the rest of her life for that matter, quarrelling about the game, she feared her relationship would be very short lived. With a sigh of relief, she realised that the fourth slow song in a row was coming to an end, and she started wrecking her brains for an excuse to get away from him for a while.
When the song had almost ended, Amos leant his head forward, and his blue eyes suddenly deepened.
"Oh no!" she thought. "He's going to kiss me. Help!"
And, as though someone had heard her prayer, a pair of strong arms grabbed her by the waist, and a low voice said, "I'll be having the next dance if you don't mind, Diggory. She's promised it to me ages ago."
Amos Diggory stood quite speechless as he gawked at Sirius Black dragging his date away from him.
Sirius found a secluded spot on the dance floor, and turned towards Liz, with a jovial look on his face.
"That was rude," Liz added, as the first guitar chords indicated the start of yet another slow song.
Sirius offered his hand, and Liz grudgingly accepted it.
Have I told you how good
It feels to be me, when I'm in you?
I can only stay clean,
when you are around, don't let me fall.
If I close my eyes forever,
would it ease the pain could I breathe again?
Liz noted unwillingly how well she and Sirius fit together. With one hand entwined loosely in hers, and the other resting on her back, Liz wanted that dance to last forever. Deciding that she didn't care whether her actions would have any consequences the following morning, she snuggled her arm tighter around his neck, closed her eyes and rested her head to his shoulder. Sirius smiled, and caught the glance of his cousin on the stage, who turned and winked at him. "Thank you!" Sirius mouthed to Alex, and snuggled Liz closer in his arms.
Baby I'm addicted I'm out of control,
You're the drug that keeps me from dying.
Baby I'm a liar but all I really know,
Is that you're the only reason I'm trying.
"I love this song," Liz sighed, raising her eyes to meet Sirius' dark ones and smiling.
"I know!" Sirius quipped. "I requested it especially for us."
Leaning forward he whispered dramatically, "I'm friends with the band, you see."
Liz laughed. "Impressive, Mr. Black! You're always so well-connected."
I'm wasted away
I made a million mistakes, am I too late?
There's a storm in my head,
And a race on my bed when you're not near.
I'm not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of losing you.
As Liz snuggled back into his arms, Sirius felt on top of the world. "Diggory Schmiggory," he added triumphantly. "You know you always wanted to come to the ball with me, so why you made it so bloody difficult is beyond me!"
And like that, the spell was broken.
"Sirius Black you are the most insufferable, most conceited pig I have ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on." she yelled, breaking away from his embrace. "Why do you always have to ruin everything?!" she added, turning abruptly and running away from the hall. As he saw her leave, Sirius was sure he saw tears in her eyes.
When you're lying next to me,
love is moving through to me, oh it's beautiful
Everything is clear to me till I hit reality and I lose it all,
I lose it all, I lose it all.
************************************************************************
"Splendid evening, Black, yes?" Professor Slughorn had clearly been sampling the firewhiskey. "Off so early, Black? Why don't you enjoy the party some more?"
"It's 1am, sir. Most people have left."
"So true, Black, but a man of your stamina, surely. No girl this evening I see. Has she run off? Playing hide and seek are we, eh?" Sirius looked lost for a minute.
"Sorry sir, but I really need to step out for some fresh air."
Sirius made his way to the grounds, and wandered aimlessly for a couple of minutes before deciding to walk to the lake. As he walked down he saw Lily whacking John Seymour with her small beaded bag. It seemed as though his night wasn't the only one which ended badly. "James will be pleased at any rate," he thought drily.
The air was cold, not surprisingly, considering the fact that it was December. He could hardly understand how girls managed to wear skimpy dresses in weather like this. "Skimpy lavender dresses that completely expose your shoulders and neck..." he thought. "Utterly mad…should be banned…no sense at all these days" he ranted to himself, and then suddenly stopped in his tracks.
There by the lake, stood that very skimpy lavender dress he had been moaning about, and its owner was prancing restlessly to and forth, clearly distressed.
"If you're here to gloat, go away." Liz said, when she saw Sirius staring at her. She had let her hair loose and it fell down in a curtain of black curls.
"I don't want to talk to you anymore." she continued. Her back was turned to him and she shivered slightly; Sirius was beside her in a jiffy.
"Silly dresses!" he said, taking off his jacket. "You'll kill yourself in this cold!" he reprimanded, draping her bare shoulders with it.
Their eyes met, green with black, and Liz saw all the life and energy missing from Diggory's eyes swimming in front of her. She wondered if he knew, if he had realised that she loved him, if he was toying with her to show her that nothing could ever take place between them.
"I..."
"I owe you an apology!" Sirius said, silencing her words. "I did act like a conceited pig, and I deserve every word you told me. I always wanted to go to the ball with you, and I thought you did too, but I should have asked you like everyone else does. I'm so sorry, Liz!"
She couldn't believe her ears. Was he really apologising? Sirius Black? Apologising? She frowned.
"Are you drunk?"
"Drunk?!" he said, visibly surprised. "No, I'm not drunk." He turned and started pacing as she had been doing a few minutes earlier.
"I was so jealous…he had his arms around you and you looked so happy together. You looked good together too…I know I can never stand in the way of true love, I shouldn't even try, and you were blushing like mad, I can see you like him. But I can't stop being jealous; I can try but I can't." he said, pacing frantically, now practically muttering to himself.
"Sirius…" Liz held out a hand to stop him as he continued to pace around the same spot. "I'm not in love with Amos."
Sirius stopped in his tracks.
"I've never been in love with Amos; I actually find him rather boring, poor thing."
It was at that moment that Sirius dared to hope. "I don't care if this ends badly," he said to himself. "I've got to tell her."
The distance between them suddenly evaporated, and Sirius' eyes darkened like never before. His face was oddly flushed, and Liz wondered to herself if he was catching a cold from all the prancing in the cold with only his shirt on. He lowered his head slightly, and looking straight into her eyes, he said in barely a whisper, "I love you."
Liz felt her cheeks burn. Her common sense told her there were many many reasons why she should just turn her head and walk haughtily back to school; he was James' best friend; he was probably lying; what about last night's girl, or the one before that? All very valid points, and all very irrelevant compared to the fact that his eyes held no lie, and that she too was in love with him.
So you can't really blame her for leaning her head forward towards his. It's difficult to say who kissed who exactly, for they both leaned forward simultaneously, pulled by some mythical force; and as their lips collided gently, both felt the same elated joy, and a glorious desire to run back to the ball and declare their love to the world.
That did not happen though. One hour later they were still there by the lake, him freezing in his nicest shirt with his arms around her kissing her like no tomorrow, and her wrapped safely in his arms, knowing she would walk to bed that night with his heart belonging completely to her.
"Life," she thought, "is really rather wonderful."