Chapter 13

Saturday morning dawned and Lucy slept. Sirius, oddly enough couldn't sleep. Brushing Lucy's hair off her face he climbed out of the bed and sat in the chair Lucy had placed near the window.

Most people were more relaxed when they slept, more peaceful. Lucy didn't appear to be either of those things. Now that he was out of the bed and she had more room, she turned out to be a fairly restless sleeper. Eventually she had wound the blankets tightly around her and couldn't move much. That didn't seem to bother her though, Sirius thought as Dora made her way to his lap.

Stroking the cat, his thoughts turned to the look on Lucy's face when he'd arrived at her door. She hadn't looked as bad as she had when he'd seen her on Tuesday but it was obvious to him that she'd had a rough couple of days.

She hadn't said anything to him about it, probably didn't want him to know. Well, asking for help was new to her. He couldn't expect miracles overnight. Besides she did have a point when she said he couldn't be here all the time. He wanted to be though. He didn't want her to hurt, wanted to protect her from the things that hurt her. But how could he protect her from things that didn't exist, worries that, to him, were unfounded?

Perhaps establishing a schedule would help. Of course she already had one with her job. Maybe it was just a matter of getting used the new schedule. After all their routine had been fairly consistent over the summer and she'd seemed fine then.

Rolling over, Lucy dragged his thoughts away from her problems. Her lips moved and he moved closer to try and catch what she was talking about in her sleep.

"Nick, no. I'm not doing that."

Nick? Who was Nick?

He wasn't going to find out as Lucy chose that moment to open her eyes and stare at him, "Oh, you're still here?"

He smiled, she didn't sound panicky, like she'd actually been worried he'd be gone when she woke up, "Of course I am. We've got a party to go to tonight, don't we?"

Lucy ginned back and at him and struggled out of her blanket cocoon, "Not if you can find a way to get us out of it that doesn't include me having to make excuses to Slughorn for the rest of the school year, we don't."

"Sorry. Slughorn can be pretty persistent when he wants something. He'd just keep inviting you to parties until you gave up and went." He hadn't thought of himself as a jealous boyfriend, but when your girlfriend starts saying some other guy's name in her sleep he figured he wouldn't be looked down on for having to ask, "Who's Nick?"

"Nick?" she looked confused, "Um, an old boyfriend. Why?"

"Well, you were talking to him in your sleep."

"Oh," she looked guilty, "I haven't seen him since I was fourteen if you were worried about that. He was my first boyfriend, if that's what you could call him. He was a seventh year when I was a fourth. We only dated a couple months. He pretty much just wanted me to do his homework. And there was that bet he made but nothing ever came of that."

"Bet?" he didn't like the sound of that, "What sort of bet?"

Lucy waved her hand. She didn't seem to want to talk about it but she was the one who brought up the bet. "He bet a friend of his he could get me to sleep with him. Unfortunately for him I found out about it. Even more unfortunately Bill and Charlie also found out. Not that I would have done it. I was fourteen that was much too soon for something like that."

"And you're dreaming about that?"

"No. Well, probably, I don't remember. He's been on my mind ever since Slughorn told me about the party."

"On your mind?" He'd had girlfriends before Lucy, but they'd usually only thought about him, not old boyfriends from ten years ago.

"Yeah, well, he was in the Slug Club. He loved to tell me about that. He loved anything that made him seem more important than what he was. I don't know if he's going to show up or not but I'd guess he will. This party will make him feel like he's really influential or something. He'll be there, we'll be there. Old boyfriend meeting new boyfriend…it's rather worrisome."

"Relax. You don't even know if he's going to be there and if he is then…we'll deal with it then."

Lucy wandered about her bedroom, getting ready for the party. The conversation they'd had this morning had be weird. It seemed Sirius was more territorial then she'd thought. She knew he'd had relationships before her, but she wasn't too worried about them. After all he wasn't looking at anybody but her now. She might feel differently if one of his old flames showed up though, she'd have to remember that in the future.

She began pulling on the dress she'd told Sirius about the other day. It was strapless and fell to just above her knees. It wasn't terribly tight fitting but she thought it made her look really good. It was also something that was dressier than her robes but just shy of being an all out formal gown.

She pulled some of her hair back so it was off her face, and exited the room.

"Wow."

Lucy smiled in that way girls do when they've impressed their boyfriend, "Like it do you?"

"Oh, yeah," he breathed.

She giggled, "Let's go and get this over with."

Lucy took a deep breath and entered Slughorn's rooms with Sirius in tow. They tried to sneak over to the snack table for a bite to eat, but before they could get there Slughorn cornered them.

"Ah, Lucy, you came. Sirius, how are you? It's been a long time, bet you don't remember your old potions master."

"Yes I do, sir. It would be hard to forget you."

Lucy looked over at her boyfriend and smiled. She hadn't missed the irony in his tone but from the look on Horace's face he hadn't registered it yet.

"You know I had your brother in the Club. Would have been nice to have both of you in the Club, but that never came about now, did it? Anyway, shame what happened to Regulus wasn't it? He was such a talented boy."

Lucy watched Sirius clench his jaw. She knew how he felt about his family. He knew what Regulus had done at the end of his life but she didn't think he had quite forgiven him for what he'd done before. She cut in before Sirius could make a remark, "It was a very brave thing he did before he died. I wish I could have known him…or at least known him after he'd realized what he'd been doing as a Death Eater was wrong."

"Yes, well, You Know Who could be very convincing…You'd know if you'd met him. Not that I agreed with his ideas," Slughorn quickly added, "No, no. He just…had a way about him."

"It's just as well I never had the opportunity to meet him then," Lucy said.

"Yes, I suppose it is. Ah! There's Dinah. You do know Dinah, don't you? What am I saying? Of course you do. Well, I must go greet her, but don't worry I'll be back and we'll continue our conversation." He hurried off before either of them could stop him. Not that they wanted to.

Sirius tugged on her arm, "Let's go. He won't notice if we're gone."

Lucy laughed, "Oh, yes he will. You're his new prized possession and I'm the one who brought you to him."

He rolled his eyes, "I didn't like him much when I was a student. I like him less now. Besides if this is a Slug Club reunion Snivellus is bound to show up sooner or later and it's probably best if we aren't here."

Lucy shot him a look that told him she didn't like his use of that name. Generally she let it go, having been witness to some of the goading Snape had inflicted on Sirius while he was shut up in Grimauld Place, but the last thing they needed was for the man to overhear that name at some point and create a scene.

Catching sight of Dinah, Lucy smiled and waved as Slughorn made his way back to them. The other professor waved back and Lucy found herself hoping Slughorn would get distracted on the way back.

Slughorn did get distracted but not for long enough to forget about them. Instead he brought over Didacus Boothby and his wife Phoenix Kettle to meet them. Lucy nodded in greeting before learning that they had been at school with Uncle's Gideon and Fabian.

"We were so sorry to hear about their deaths. They were very talented wizards."

"I didn't know them well. I was about seven when they were killed, but from the stories I've been told they were. "

"Yes, it was a tragedy," Slughorn butted in, "Anyway, Didacus, Phoenix, do you know Sirius? Sirius Black of course, he…" Lucy - and probably the other three too - stopped paying attention and eventually Slughorn ran out of steam and left them insisting they simply must meet his new assistant.

The other couple took the opportunity to escape heading out on to the balcony for fresh air and quiet.

"We should follow them."

Lucy smiled, looked up at him and said, "He'd just search the place until he found you. That's what you get for being so interesting. No, we're better off staying right here, at the very least we're saving others from being subjected to him like we've been." Lucy glanced around the room to see if she could spot where the older professor had gone. "Oh no," she whispered.

She hadn't spotted Slughorn. No, instead she'd seen a brown haired boy with hazel eyes. Except he wasn't a boy anymore and his face…well, she couldn't see what it was that had induced her to agree to date him in the first place. "Lulu? Is that you? Been a long time. What are you doing here?"

"Well, um, actually, I'm—"

"I'm doing great. Got a job in the Ministry working with Dad. Married Penelope Derby about three years ago. You remember her? Of course you do. We had a son, Troy, a year ago. That's why Penny's not here. Anyway, I've been moving up in the Ministry pretty quickly, or at least I was until Shaklebolt became Minister of Magic."

"I worked with Kingsley. He's a good—"

Nick cut Lucy off for the second time, "Really? When? You mean during that business with You Know Who? Yeah, I took Penny and the baby to America during that time. No need to get involved and get myself killed, eh?"

Lucy felt Sirius tense beside her and put a hand on his chest to keep him in place. She watched Nick notice the gesture, his eyes narrowing. It was the one time she thought she'd be grateful for Slughorn's interference.

She turned to greet Slughorn again and was surprised to see Dinah with him, "Oh, hi Dinah" she couldn't help sighing before turning to her co-worker, "Professor Slughorn."

Slughorn looked thrilled, completely oblivious to the tension in the group. "I'm back! And I brought someone I'd like to introduce to you," he turned seeing Nick for the first time, "Ah, Nick, good you can meet him too."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucy told Dinah, aware she hadn't introduced her to Nick yet. She was also sure she looked about as thrilled as she felt. She waved the hand that wasn't on Sirius's chest at Nick, "I didn't introduce you, Dinah. This is Nick Hill, one of…" for some reason she hesitated to say he was one of her old boyfriends. Sirius knew, of course, but it still felt odd to say, "well, I knew him as a student. I told you about him."

Sirius glared at Nick, clearly not happy with his presence or the things he'd said earlier. Nick, on the other hand thrust his hand out and almost hit Dinah in the stomach with it. "Dinah," he said not making any other comments.

"Nick Hill?" Dinah questioned. It seemed like she recognized his full name, "I think I knew you."

Nick, like Slughorn, seemed to be in the business of collecting people he thought important and instantly recognized Dinah. "I was a first year in the Slug Club when you were a fifth. We didn't talk much, but we saw each other."

"Ah, right," was all she said. Lucy would apologize for him later, when he was out of ear shot.

Slughorn started introducing his assistant, Eugene, to everyone but Dinah when he was interrupted by Hermione's yelling.

"Wait, I can get that! No! Don't! Stop!" Everyone turned to stare at Hermione struggling with one of the house elves trying to take away her empty plate. Lucy was happy to see Ginny go and intervene. She would have done it but she'd rather stay with her group. She liked Hermione and in some ways agreed with her about the house elf issue, but she tended to go overboard with it. Honestly, she wasn't going to change anyone's mind overnight, especially as it was part of everyone's way of life. It was hard to get people to change the things they're used to.

Lucy was glad for the distraction that the two girls provided for Nick and Slughorn when they came over after Ginny calmed Hermione. Lucy smiled and made small talk with Eugene and the others.

Sirius took her hand from his chest and kissed her palm. She looked at him and smiled. The tension was gone for now, but with Nick hanging around she was sure it would come back.

"Well, being an Auror and going around hunting old Death Eaters is a full time job. That said, it would have been nice if he could have come. Parties are generally more fun when you have a date." Ginny explained.

Lucy thought it would have been good if Harry and Ron had both been able to come. It would have allowed them to spend time with their girlfriends and Harry to spend some time with Sirius. She understood why he couldn't come though. Being an Auror was a full time job, especially now, and one in which it was hard to get time off at short notice. In some ways his job allowed him to be a regular person. Coming back to Hogwarts, and for this reunion, he'd be no more than the boy who defeated Voldemort. Not to the people here. No, most of the students would know him on sight and certain members of the Slug Club would have had him cornered retelling tales that didn't need to be told.

She was pulled out of her musings by a sneeze from Dinah, who she thought had been glaring at Sirius slightly.

"Bless you," he said, showing he did have manners.

"Thank you," Dinah said, sounding much like Lucy had done earlier in the week. "Well, that's rather odd. I seem to be coming down with something."

Lucy was instantly worried she'd given her friend her cold. Generally she didn't get sick often and she'd always attributed it to not being concerned about germs. She'd have to start being careful though. With this many people in one building a simple cold could get to be a real problem. "I'm sorry, Dinah! Did you catch it from me?"

Sirius slid an arm around her waist, giving Nick a pointed look as she fussed over Dinah.

"Oh, no," Dinah waved off her concern, "Don't worry about it. It's just as likely I got it from myself as from you."

"At least you didn't get sick from the food," Hermione said, and then grinned, "I recall being told that Cormac did so after I left him at the party year before last and he threw up all over Professor Snape's shoes."

Well, Lucy thought, at least he got to eat. Despite what she'd said earlier, Lucy would have liked to have been able to go over to the food table and grab some bits to munch on before dinner without Slughorn trailing them.

Dinah brought her hand up to her mouth but it was obvious she was laughing at the thought of a student desecrating Severus Snape's shoes in such a way. "Oh, my, that must have been so amusing. What I would give to have seen the expression on his face at that!"

Lucy stared at Dinah. She'd caught the two professors in close conversations a couple of times and had noticed the way they'd been talking at meals. She was beginning to wonder if something more than professional courtesy was going on.

"I'm sorry," Dinah sniffed and wiped at her nose with a napkin, "This really seems to be hitting me hard. Is there a bathroom where I can go for a moment and see if I can get this under control?"

"Oh, please," Slughorn said, edging away from both Dinah and Lucy, apparently still afraid of catching germs.

Dinah called her thanks as she sneezed again and headed in the direction Slughorn had pointed.

Sighing Lucy turned to Eugene, "So, you're working on some sort of potion? I think that's what Professor Slughorn said." The professor himself had walked off to find some other, non germ filled people to talk to.

"Yes! It's youthening potion. I'm hoping to make it permanent, but it doesn't last more than a couple weeks yet."

Hearing Eugene's accent Lucy could have kicked herself, "I'm sorry. I just noticed your accent. You're names not Eugene is it?"

"No, it's actually Evgeni Wilkins. My mother is Bulgarian and my father is British. Eugene is fine though. After all, most English speakers have problems pronouncing my name."

Nick spent a few minutes interrogating Eugene after that while virtually ignoring Sirius and Lucy. She felt badly for Eugene but was grateful for the few moments it gave her to go grab some stuff to munch on before dinner.

"Hey, Lulu! That Geni fellow just told me all about that potion of his. Sounds interesting, but I'm sure if I was working on it I'd be much farther along by now. Anyway, who's this guy hanging all over you? You know, if he's bugging you I can always get rid of him. You don't look like you're really enjoying his company."

"He's not bugging me. He's…"

"I'm her date! Name's Sirius Black. You know the crazy, lunatic murderer who escaped from Azkaban. Now will you please, for the love of everything you hold dear, stop calling her Lulu!"

"Sirius," Lucy grated, embarrassed.

"No, Luce. He's being an ass. He's been disrespectful to just about everyone he's talked to…Most everyone else are too nice to say anything, but I don't care. If you won't tell him to shove off, I will."

"Hey, now. She doesn't look too thrilled to be in your company either. And I know all about you. It was in the paper about you and Pettigrew."

"She looks like that because you won't shut up!"

"Sirius!" Lucy said pushing him away from the other man and into a quiet corner.

"Lucy, he's—"

"He's an idiot who doesn't listen and thinks he's oh so wonderful and smart and talented and everything that makes him feel important. He's not worth trying to reason with. He's not worth arguing with. Just leave him alone," she sighed and wiped her hand over her face, "This is what I was afraid of."

"But he's…"

"I know. I know," she said soothingly. "Look, maybe we should go. I know what I said earlier but if Slughorn asks I can tell him I was still feeling ill from my cold and you took me back to my rooms to care for me."

Sirius didn't look thrilled and she knew why. It would look like they were running from Nick, but she didn't much care.

She ran her hand over his chest and leaned into him, "If we go now, you can take me back to my rooms, help me out of this dress…"

He looked past her to glare at Nick. "But I…"

"You want to punch his face in? I know. But Bill and Charlie already did that. They got two months detention each and Nick spent a week in the hospital wing. I have done all the caring and thinking I'm ever going to do about Nick Hill. More than he deserved. Now I'm just thinking about you and how much we'd both rather be back in my rooms right now. We can get the house elves to bring us dinner…but don't let Hermione know that."

"But…"

Lucy rolled her eyes and moved her hand from his chest to his arm to gain his attention, "Sirius Lycurgus Black am I just not very good at this seduction thing or are you trying to tell me you'd rather spend time with Nick?"

She smiled when he finally turned to look at her. "Seduction did you say?"

"Mmmhmmm."

He grabbed her free hand, "Let's go."