A/N: I'm baaaaaack and so soon after I just updated! I got a lot of mixed reviews about the last chapter-a lot of you hated the fact that James and Sirius are back at each other's throats and a lot of you agreed that they never resolved anything so it seems fair. With all of this Rachael drama happening, I really do believe that James wouldn't be able to just let it go. And I know everyone is tired of the whole Rachael-Sirius drama but Sirius used to date her. He's blind to who she really is. He's a naive, innocent seventeen year old soon to be eighteen year old boy who definitely doesn't understand the female mind.
Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I don't own much of anything in this story except the plot.
Kisses on the Balcony
By ByeByeBirdie
Chapter 21: Of Stupidity, Birthdays, & Signs
"I hate that girl!" Riley claimed storming into the dungeon that Wednesday night with a livid look, throwing her bag against the floor with a loud crash.
"Uh…can you elaborate? There are a lot of girls at this school," Sirius snickered from across the room.
Riley jumped and let out a shriek. "Jesus, Sirius. You scared me. I didn't expect you to be here," Riley admitted, shocked that she got there after Sirius.
"I didn't hang out with…with her tonight," he admitted, shrugging awkwardly.
Riley snorted and continued standing in the doorway of the dungeon. "So you only show up on time when you're not hanging out with Rachael?" Riley sneered, harsher than intended. "That makes me feel so good inside."
"Riley," Sirius groaned. "Can we please have a night where her name isn't mentioned?"
"I hate that girl," Riley repeated, placing her hands on her hips, incensed.
"Oh. You hate Rachael," Sirius murmured, rolling his eyes considering he should have known who Riley was speaking about when she first entered into the room. "That's nothing new."
"Sirius," Riley said, her voice calm and patient, "she's using you. She's manipulating you. She just wants to get with you."
Sirius threw his arms up in the air and glared at Riley. "My God, Riley!" he cried out. "How many times do I have to tell you-"
"Sirius," she interrupted angrily, glaring at him heatedly. "She's using you. She's manipulating you. She wants to get with you," she repeated firmly, her eyes filling with determination.
"You're paranoid, Riley," Sirius murmured.
"And you're naïve, Sirius," Riley snapped, throwing her bag on the floor and walking into the room with an irritated grunt. "I don't think you fully understand who you're dealing with. But I do. She is is using this whole damsel in distress scenario to get close with you and you're falling for it. Rather pathetically if you ask me. Ask her why she doesn't want to tell anyone else. Ask her why she's constantly trying to hang out with you. Ask her for more information on her parents' death. Ask her, Sirius. You'll see I'm right."
Sirius frowned, sensing such pleading in her every words. He didn't bother commenting on any of her rant. "What happened to you trusting me?"
"Sirius, I do trust you," she admitted again with some sort of pleading look he never saw from her before. She was showing just an ounce of vulnerability to him, but he was shocked to see even that much. "I don't trust her. I don't trust what she'll do. She wants nothing else but to be with you and she's pulling out all the stops to get what she wants. Please stop falling for it." Riley was scared that Rachael was going to come between them even more than she had. She was afraid that Rachael was going to give Riley a reason to not trust her boyfriend. but mostly she was just frightened that trusting Sirius was the wrong thing to do.
"But I don't want her," Sirius whispered hoarsely. "I just want you."
"Sirius, I…" she trailed off, trying to find the words to tell him about her run-in with Rachael. And yet, she kept her mouth shut. Why couldn't Riley's word and her judgment be enough for him? "How can you be so blind to Rachael's ploy?"
"Because there is no ploy," he responded firmly, giving Riley a stern look. "And who cares if there is? I'm not planning on falling for it."
Riley sighed, running her fingers through her hair impatiently. "You're already falling for it," she whispered.
"I'm not," he whispered, shaking his head. "But I just can't abandon her."
Riley didn't respond. She knew that that was what she really wanted. She wanted Sirius to stop hanging out with Rachael. But she could never actually ask that of him. She wasn't the type of person to offer an ultimatum just because she felt uneasy.
When she didn't reply, Sirius sighed. She looked so frustrated and vulnerable and angry and sad all at the same time. Desperation gleamed from her blue eyes as she avoided all eye contact with him. His heart sank as he spoke his next words. "But if that's really what you want me to do," he said softly, "I'll do it."
She whipped her head around to stare at him. "Er...what?"
Sirius shrugged. "You heard me," he muttered. "If this is really bothering you this much, then I'll stop hanging out with her. I'll tell her that it's time to tell her friends about her parents. I'll...I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you and I are okay. Because hell, Riley, right now you're the most important thing in my life. I-I can't lose that. And I don't want to be the reason that I lose that. I'll just hate himself for letting you slip through my fingers for a second time."
Riley gave a feeble attempt at a smile, recognizing that he already was beginning to hate himself for letting someone else down. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Sirius frowned. "Yeah, me too," he muttered.
Riley hesitantly slid down the dungeon wall, resting her head against his shoulder. "And thank you."
He merely nodded. "I'm hanging out with her tomorrow night. I'll...I'll find a way to explain this to her-"
Riley's heart stopped as she cut him off. "Tomorrow?" she whispered.
He nodded.
"Thursday?"
He gave her a confused look and nodded again. "Uh…yeah."
She blinked, slowly scooting away from Sirius. "Are you being serious right now?"
"What? What did I do now?"
Riley found herself glaring at him, frustratin surging through her heart. "This girl really has put some sort of spell on you," she muttered, climbing off the floor and heading towards the exit.
"Riley, stop! What's going on?"
She paused in the entrance and glanced over her shoulder. "Have a happy birthday, Sirius," she spat in a hurt whisper. "Good luck telling the school that we're dating without me." And suddenly, she was out the door.
Sirius swore, punching the wall hard before taking a calming breath and slamming his head against the wall with a groan. Why did he have to be an idiot so much of the time? When he was done mentally kicking himself, he winced at the pangs of pain both in his knuckles and his head that were shooting throughout his body. He didn't know who he was most frustrated with: Rachael for screwing up something that had been going so well, Riley for being convinced that Rachael was bad news, or himself for everything that had been transpiring for so many weeks.
He groaned and rubbed his temple, swearing again at the sight of the blood on his knuckles. He had to figure out a way to let Rachel down easily and show Riley he was in their relationship for good. He still wanted the school to know about Riley and him. He was tired of hiding and he was tired of keeping secrets. He just wanted things to be stable for once in his seventh year.
A sigh emitted from his lips as he grabbed his school bag and unwillingly trudged through the hallways, holding his hand out in pain. He briefly questioned whether he should go to the hospital wing before shooting that idea down and choosing to return to his dorm room and just cleaning up the cut after himself. He wasn't in the mood for an angry rant from Pomfrey about keeping one's cool.
Sirius yelled at the sleeping Fat Lady, who jolted awake and yelled at him back for being up after hours. He rolled his eyes and muttered the password to be let into the Gryffindor house, secretly wishing Riley was still in the common room so he could apologize copiously.
He climbed into the common room and let out a sad grunt when he found the room empty. He sauntered upstairs to his dorm room and creaked open the door, praying no one would be up. He sighed a sigh of relief when he found everyone asleep as he slowly tiptoed into the bathroom, running his hand under cold water as he tried to think of ways to make it up to Riley. It's a good thing he didn't have to deal with his roommates. Glancing at the time briefly, he noticed it was after midnight. "Happy birthday to me," he muttered.
"What are you doing still up?"
Sirius quickly hid his bleeding hand behind his back as he let out a sheepish grin. "Not tired," he lied, praying Peter would return to his bed and ignore Sirius.
He knew better than to think this was likely, though. Peter pulled out his hand from his back, knowing he was acting suspicious. "Sirius!" he cried out. "What the hell?"
Sirius shrugged, running his hand under the cold water. "It's nothing. Just a little cut," he murmured, giving Peter a look.
"Where do you go every night?" Peter asked, staring at Sirius scrupulously as he took off a hand towel from the rungs and holding it out to Sirius.
"None of your business, Pettigrew," Sirius growled, thinking back to Riley again, staring at the towel in Peter's hand but not reaching for it.
Peter let out an irritated 'hmph,' and stated angrily, "You're insufferable, y'know that?"
"I get that a lot," Sirius murmured, unfazed by Peter's words.
Peter threw the towel in the sink, glaring at Sirius as he whirled around and stormed out.
Sirius silently prayed a 'thank you' to God, his eyes lifting towards the ceiling, as he grabbed the towel in the sink and held pressure to the small wound.
Sirius groaned when he saw out of the corner of his eye Peter reappear, leaning against the bathroom door. "It sucks, Sirius," he admitted in a quiet voice. "That you can't trust me…us with such an obviously deep secret."
Sirius stared at the towel against his hand, unexpectedly guilty at Peter's words. He was seconds away from spilling the beans, but because of everything that was going on with Riley, ended up deciding against it. Hopefully they would all find out sooner or later. "I'm sorry," he eventually muttered.
Peter sighed and turned around again, heading back to his own bed and crawling under the covers, thinking ill thoughts against Sirius. "I don't think you are."
"And I don't think I need this right now," Sirius muttered through clenched teeth.
"I'd care more about what you needed if you actually clued me in more to your personal life."
"It's none of your business."
There was a slight moment of silence before Peter threw his curtains around his bed to avoid the irritated look he knew Sirius was giving him at the moment. Sirius thought that was the end of it, but he heard Remus' muffled voice from his bed. "See, that's what I can't figure out," Remus said into the vast darkness. "You always used to make it our business."
"Things change," Sirius murmured, barely audible.
"No. People change," Remus corrected, muffling his words into his pillow. He sighed. "You've changed."
Sirius didn't bother responding. He didn't want to argue with his friend. All he wanted from Remus and Peter was a simple 'happy birthday,' but it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. "Happy birthday to me," Sirius repeated, not remembering the last time he felt so dejected. At that moment, he couldn't think of a single person that would want to wish him a happy birthday.
He never felt so alone.
Lily kept looking up at James that night in his room, as he attempted to drift off. She wanted to ask him about Sirius, but knew it was better to steer clear of the subject altogether.
"What?"
Lily jumped, his voice surprising her. "Huh?"
"I can tell you're staring at me," James laughed, peeking an eye open. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," she muttered, turning away.
James sighed. "Why do I have the feeling this is about Sirius?"
Lily grinned sheepishly. "Because you know me so well."
"I can't explain it," James mumbled, running his fingers through her hair adoringly.
"I know you can't," Lily sighed. "That's why I wasn't going to ask."
"Let's just say that I think I hurt Sirius more this time around than the last time." James shut his eyes again tightly, letting out a deep sigh. He wanted to let Sirius know how bad and guilty he felt that he was clearly choosing Riley's side, but he also knew that there wasn't much else for him to do. He hated that he even had to pick a side, but he also knew that eventually, that was what it was all going to come down to. He was just jumping ahead. Sirius didn't understand, and he didn't have to understand, but James had known Riley since she was a baby and had been trying to protect her ever since then.
"How so?"
"I don't think Sirius realizes how important a friend he is to me," James muttered. "The worst part is, I don't think I've given him any reason to realize it."
"So fix it."
"I wish it were that easy," James murmured, thinking back to Kay's words. Even if he did try to apologize to Sirius, James knew Sirius would probably not accept it. Not now, at least.
"It can be."
James' eyes fluttered open as he stared back down at his girlfriend. "You really are the best, y'know that?"
"Er...yes?" Lily said with a laugh, thrown back.
"I know you care so much about me and Sirius that all you want to do is help, but this is one thing that I don't think you can help me with."
"I just..." she sighed. "I just hate to see the both of you hurting so much."
"We're men. We don't get hurt," James snickered.
Lily gave him a look. "And I'm a woman. I'm perceptive. It's obvious you two are hurting."
James scowled. "I hate that you're so perceptive."
"And I hate that you're fighting with your best friend," Lily said uneasily.
James sighed and looked away, biting his bottom lip. "I'm sorry," he muttered hollowly.
Lily frowned. "Are you?"
James didn't give a response, running his fingers haphazardly through his messy hair.
Lily has a feeling she just got her answer. And it was a big fat no.
It was Sirius' birthday and Sirius could count on one hand how many people had wished him a happy birthday. And none of those people were his friends.
He sat alone at breakfast, having woken up early with an excited feeling in his stomach that he was finally eighteen. He hopped out of bed, took a quick shower, and threw on his school robes, hoping that by then Remus or Peter would be up. But their beds remained completely silent. So Sirius let out a sad sigh before grabbing his school books and heading to breakfast all by himself. Just what he wanted to do on his eighteenth birthday.
"Happy Birthday."
Sirius turned around, hoping it might be Riley there to forgive and forget, but alas he was greeted by Rachael and her two friends, Isabelle and Kyra.
"Oh. Thanks, Rach," Sirius said in what did not sound like a convinced tone.
"We still on for tonight?" she asked with a smile.
Sirius' stomach lurched a bit at the thought of having to let Rachael down, one of the few persons who actually wished him a happy birthday and clearly meant it, but he forced out a smile and nodded. If letting Rachael down was the way to get Riley back on his side, he was willing to do it. "Yeah," he said hollowly.
"Happy Birthday, Sirius," Isabelle and Kyra said in unison before grabbing Rachael's arm and dragging her down to the other end of the table.
Sirius poured himself some orange juice and placed a huge stack of bacon on his plate. He stared at the bacon for a good minutes, before sighing and pushing it aside. Even bacon couldn't make that day any better. He had only been awake for a half hour and he already wanted the day to be over. His best friend hated him. His girlfriend was feeling bitter towards him.. Remus was pissed off. Peter was hurt. He should just go back to his room, crawl into bed, and sleep his birthday away.
"Happy Birthday, Sirius."
Sirius glanced up and smiled at the sight of Lily swooping into the seat opposite him. "It's so good to see you, Lily-bean."
Lily grinned and stole a piece of bacon off the plate in front of her. "Oh? And why's that?"
Sirius didn't bother going into detail about his horrible morning. "It just is."
Lily glanced up at him curiously but didn't press the matter further. "So what are you doing for your birthday?"
The brief good mood that Lily put him in was quickly replaced with depression. Considering none of his friends were particularly fond of him at the moment, Sirius' birthday was looking very depressing. "Going to class," was Sirius' eventual response.
Lily quirked an eyebrow. "That's it?"
Sirius sighed and was overcome with such an overwhelming desire to cry. he didn't respond immediately, taking those moments to compose an answer that didn't sound terribly depressing. "That's it," he repeated, smiling hollowly.
Lily saw the frustration and anguish in his eyes plain as day, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. She offered him a lopsided smile and reached over to pat his hand. "I'm sorry."
"For what? You're one of my few friends who is actually speaking to me."
"Who else isn't speaking to you besides James?" Lily questioned curiously.
Sirius shrugged casually. "Riley. Remus. Peter."
"What? Why aren't they speaking to you?"
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't care," he explained, slumping further down in his chair impatiently.
Lily could have spotted that lie a mile away. As she gazed at him, she wondered how it was she could have let his sudden change in demeanor go unnoticed. He looked like someone had literally stabbed a knife through his heart. His face was pale, his eyes void of any feeling. The frown that filled his expression had looked to be unusually permanent. He picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it but it was clear that even eating his breakfast had lost all meaning on him. "It sucks, doesn't it," Lily eventually spoke.
"What does?" he murmured.
She looked up at him. "Not caring."
His heart skipped a suffering beat as he slowly met her gaze. "Yeah, Lily-bean," he sighed, turning away with a sigh. "Yeah, it really does."
"I'm sorry, Sirius," Lily uttered uncomfortably.
Sirius shrugged. "Not your fault," he muttered unconvincingly, chucking the piece of bacon back on to his plate.
Lily stared at Sirius helplessly, her heart wrenching with guilt, as if this was her fault that Sirius was miserable on his birthday. "Sirius," she said softly.
He didn't reply right away, too busy feeling sorry for himself and not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. Eventually he lifted his eyes to greets hers. "Yeah?"
"I'm around all day," she assured with a sympathetic smile.
Sirius felt himself smile, complacent relief filling his heart. "Thanks, Lily-bean," he whispered.
She shifted in her seat and pretended to sift through her bag before cheerfully smiling and lying, "Except for right now. I forgot my book back in my room. I have to go back and get it. I hope your day gets better, Sirius. I really do." She leaned across the table and unexpectedly pecked him on the cheek, before grabbing a last piece of bacon and swiftly leaving the Great Hall.
"Alone again," Sirius murmured, putting his head down on the table, wondering why he ever thought turning eighteen was going to be the greatest birthday ever.
"Lily," James whined for the twentieth time since Lily stormed into his room, forced him to get dressed, and dragged him through the hallways to the Gryffindor house. "Where the hell are you taking me?"
She gave him an irritated glance, not having spoken to him the entire way to the Gryffindor house. She continued avoiding his questions as she traipsed through the common room and up the steps to the boys' dormitory. She slammed open the door, not bothering to knock, and practically threw James into the room, scaring Remus and Peter in the process. Remus was in the middle of throwing on school robes, standing in only his boxers and a T-shirt and Peter was still lying in his bed. "You have to plan something for Sirius' birthday!"
Remus yelped and tried to cover himself. "I'm getting changed, woman!"
"Did you hear me?" Lily demanded, ignoring Remus completely.
"Yes, but I'd rather put on my school robes than plan a celebration for a guy who won't even tell us what girl he's dating or what he's going through with James or where the hell he goes every night or how this newfound friendship with Riley began," Remus retorted, glaring at Lily as he hid behind his bedpost.
"Yeah, and I'd rather go eat breakfast than plan a celebration for a guy I'm certainly not fond of," James admitted, stifling a yawn as he climbed on to his bed and plopped his head against his pillow.
"And I'd rather sleep than pretend like Sirius deserves anything from us when he clearly doesn't extend the same courtesy," Peter grumbled, his face still planted in his pillow.
"I didn't ask what you'd rather do!" Lily snapped, stomping a foot on the ground angrily. "I'm telling you what you have to do!"
James sighed. "Lily, you can't fix-"
"James, I really don't want to hear you come up with lame excuse as to why you're bowing out of party-planning," Lily interrupted, shooting him a glare. He fell silent immediately. "I know you pretty much hate Sirius right now, James, but-"
"I don't hate him," James murmured.
Lily let out an exasperated grunt. "He's still your friend! And he's having a miserable birthday thus far, which is an impressive feat considering the kid had only been awake for forty-five minutes. He's turning eighteen and deserves to remember this birthday! And hell, I am not leaving until you three agree to plan something!"
The three of them exchanged looks filled with hesitance but no one spoke up.
Lily sighed and gave them a pleading look. "Do you really want to have him look back in ten years when you are all still friends and remember a shitty eighteenth birthday just because you four were going through some sort of petty feud?"
James lifted his head out of his pillow and let out a sigh. "You really think we'll still be friends in ten years?"
Lily nodded almost immediately. "If you're not still friends in ten years, I have no reason to believe in friendship at all," she admitted sincerely. "You four are like brothers and it's really hurting Sirius that he's not sharing this birthday with you. Please," she pleaded. "He needs you guys. And you need him. Even if you're not willing to admit it now."
Peter sat up in bed and glanced at his two friends with a hopeful look, clearly agreeing with Lily.
Remus and James exchanged a look heavily weighted with guilt and remorse. "It's his birthday," Remus stated.
James sighed. "I-I don't know."
"So help me God, I will never have sex with you if you don't plan something for your best friend!" Lily snapped.
James quirked an eyebrow, ignoring the stifled laughter from Remus and Peter. "You're withholding sex just so I can partake in Sirius' birthday planning festivities?" he said incredulously.
Lily shrugged. "Is it working?"
James glanced over at Remus and Peter, who both were looking at him with amused expressions. He sighed. "Yeah, fine," he muttered. "He would do something for us."
"Oh, sure, like that's the actual reason and not because you want to hop into bed with Lily," Peter snorted. He yelped as a pillow came soaring towards him.
"But let's not do Hogsmeade," James murmured.
Remus shot him a curious look.
"I just think he'd probably want to spend his birthday with people he actually likes," James explained with a gloomy sigh.
"I'm assuming this is another one of your excuses to throw a surprise party?" Remus suggested.
James nodded, sitting up in bed and grabbing a piece of parchment off Peter's desk. "Okay, let's start planning. What do we need?"
"We need Lily to get out of the room so I can get changed," Remus responded, playfully snapping his tie at her.
Lily smiled. "That's alright. My work is done here anyway."
James smiled at his girlfriend as she waved her goodbye and swept out of the room with a thank you. "Okay, so guests, drinks, decorations," he listed, marking them off on his fingers. "Food probably and a lot of it, because Sirius will eat it all." He glanced down at the list with a frown. "Who thinks skipping Advanced Transfiguration is a good idea?"
"Oh, didn't realize you wanted McGonagall to castrate you today. That would certainly make that whole having-sex-with-Lily thing a little more difficult," he snorted, ignoring the glare he then received from James. "I'll sneak into Hogsmeade during my off period while you go to class and I'll get everything we need."
"Perfect," James said.
"If need be, we can skip Herbology to plan the rest of it," Remus suggested. "And figure out a way-"
"Remus Lupin!" James faked a gasp. "You're suggesting we skip class? I'm Head Boy. I can give you detention for that!"
Remus snorted and gave James a look as he started placing his books into his bag for Advanced Transfiguration. "You suggested merely a minute ago skipping class yourself, Mr. Head Boy."
James sheepishly smiled. "Heh. Oops."
"So does this mean you're going to actually talk to Sirius?" Remus questioned. "About whatever the hell this feud is?"
James frowned, unable to answer that question. At this point he wasn't so sure talking to Sirius would help anything. It was evident not only to James but to everyone around that Sirius truly believed his friendship with James was coming to a near close. And James didn't blame him. "I-I don't know," he muttered. "I'll figure something out later."
"Ah, procrastinating the inevitable confrontation. Why am I not surprised?"
James shot him a bemused look. "How about we just focus on the party planning?"
Remus shrugged. "Can't right now. We're going to be late to class if we don't leave now," Remus explained, throwing his bag over his shoulder and gesturing for James to follow him. "But we can continue planning along the way."
"Er…I don't have any of my books," James pointed out.
Remus let out an exasperated sigh. "Well then we're going to be really late. Hurry your arse up!"
James jumped off of his bed and rushed out of the room, waving a goodbye to Peter.
"Riley!" Rhett screamed for the hundredth time that morning.
Riley broke away from her daydreaming and looked at Rhett inquisitively. "Sorry, what?"
Rhett threw down his quill. "We might as well just stop trying to figure out this transfiguration thing now. You're not paying attention to a word anyone's saying."
Riley sighed. "Sorry," she replied hollowly, not sorry at all. She was too busy staring at Sirius and wondering if she gave him too much of a hard time to bother with class. She had slid into class just as class was starting so as to avoid having to see or talk to Sirius.
Rhett followed Riley's gaze for the tenth time that morning and saw her staring at Sirius once again. He sighed. "It's about Sirius, isn't it…" he finally mentioned.
That shook Riley back to reality. "Er…no. What makes you say that?"
"Because you've been staring at him the entire class period," Rhett explained, giving her a knowing look.
"Have not," she argued, thinking fast to produce an excuse. "I'm just staring in space, in a general area, and he just happens to be in that-"
"Riley, I know," he emphasized.
Riley's heart fluttered. "Uh…know what?"
He leaned in. "I know," he whispered, arching a knowing eyebrow.
Riley let out a confused grunt. "How is everyone finding out?"
"Everyone? Who's everyone?" Rhett asked.
Riley let out an irritated grunt. "How did you figure it out?" she asked, ignoring his question.
"It was fairly obvious to me, Riley," Rhett explained. "Considering I broke up with you because I knew Sirius fancied you. You were furious with him that day I told you what happened. Downright livid. I was convinced the guy was going to be murdered. But then you come back from Christmas Break and the two of you were friends. I kinda put two and two together."
Riley nodded and leaning back in her chair, contemplating this. "Hm. Interesting."
"What?"
"Sirius broke up with Rachael to be with me," she muttered. "You broke up with me so Sirius could be with me."
Rhett quirked an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Apparently everyone knew we should be together," she murmured with a slight smile, feeling surprisingly good about that, "Except for me."
Rhett gazed at Riley curiously, uncertain how to take that. "Well, you're with him now," Rhett said with a casual shrug.
Riley sighed and rubbed her temple.
"You are with him now," Rhett repeated at the disheveled look of Riley, "Aren't you?"
Riley wanted the ground to open up and swallow her up as she felt a tear at the brim of her eyelid. "I wish I knew."
"Well, I don't know what's going on between you two, but it seems to me that you deserve each other. You've been nothing but blissfully happy with him," Rhett said with a reassuring smile. "And that's all that really matters, isn't it?"
At that moment, McGonagall called out to them and let them all know the homework they were to do for the next class, but Riley wasn't listening to a word she uttered. She was going over the conversation she just had with Rhett, wondering why such a short exchange with someone who barely knew anything about the situation could make her feel better about Sirius. Sirius said he was going to do what she wanted all along and break it off with Rachael. It would have been better if he had done it after the first day he wandered in late. It would have been better if she didn't have to continually prod him until he agreed to do so. It would have been better if he was doing it not because he felt forced to but because he knew Rachael was using him. It would have been better if Sirius trusted her judgment and opinion.
But all in all, he was going to do it. And it was his birthday. She glanced over at Sirius and smiled, slinging her bag over her shoulder as everyone sauntered out of the room.
Riley turned to Rhett and stopped him before he could join his friends, grabbing his arm haphazardly. "Thanks, Rhett," Riley said off-handedly.
Rhett looked at her dumbfounded. "Uh…for what?"
"For making me realize he's the one I'm meant to be with."
"Er...you're welcome?"
She laughed. She really did think she was meant to be with him. And Rhett was right. She was happy with him, wasn't she? So why try and ruin that?
Maybe the time truly had come for she and Sirius to announce to the school that they were dating.
Her heart fluttered in anticipation but she quickly ignored it. He was the one she wanted to be with and if that truly was the case, she was done hiding it.
Once again Sirius was alone. Lunch had rolled around and Remus, Peter, and James made some lame excuse as to why they couldn't join him. Riley had traipsed off somewhere with Lily, though Riley did offer him a smile when she told him this so maybe he was making slight progress with her? He was scuffling the macaroni and cheese around his plate with his fork when a shadow loomed behind him.
"I hear 'Happy Birthday' is in order for a certain eighteen-year-old."
Sirius glanced behind his shoulder and smiled. "Hey, Kay. Thanks."
"Where is everyone?"
"Who knows," he muttered.
Kay opened her mouth to retort but was silenced by Rachael walking up behind them. "Where the hell are the rest of the Marauders?" Rachael asked curiously. "On your last birthday, the Great Hall ceiling had become the backsplash to a rather ostentatious 'Happy Birthday, Sirius' sign while fireworks shot out of pitchers of pumpkin juice."
Sirius cracked a smile at the reminder.
"Oh, hell, are they setting something up right now?" she snickered.
"No," Sirius said with a shrug. "I have no clue where they are. We're not attached at the hip, y'know."
"No, I don't know," she teased. "Considering I can't remember the last time any of you walked solo around this school."
"I guess there's a first for everything," Kay interjected, her eyes narrowing skeptically at the younger Gryffindor.
Rachael glanced at Kay out of the corner of her eye, a frown protruding on her face. "I guess so," she mused coolly. "I'll see you tonight, Sirius."
She waved as she joined her friends at the table a little ways down.
Kay turned to look at Sirius who was back picking at his lunch plate. "What's going on between you and Rachael?"
Sirius rolled his eyes, letting his fork clammer to this plate. "You, too, hm? What, been talking to Remus and Peter? You all trying to gang up on me?"
Her eyebrow arched in pure bewilderment. "I assure you I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to, Sirius," she said, shooting him a look as she began filling her place with pasta. "I've merely been noticing lately all the time you've been spending with her."
Sirius sighed, feeling only slightly guilty for jumping down her throat. "Nothing is going on between us. Feel free to relay that message to Riley."
Kay sensed a bit of hostility in his voice and based off the dark gleam in his eye, she had a feeling this topic had been conversed about in the past. So instead of pressing further, she merely shrugged. "Just don't do anything stupid," she said, a smile tugging at the end of her lips.
He frowned, glancing over at her. "What if I told you Riley and I were planning on telling the whole school about us today?"
Kay froze, slowly meeting his curious gaze. "I'd say it's about damned time."
Sirius blinked. "Seriously? You don't think that that might fall under the category of incredibly stupid?"
Kay chuckled, shaking her head. "You guys are clearly happy with each other. I think it's time you stopped hiding your feelings from everyone - which by the way, does include yourself - and come to the realization that you and Riley have done the impossible and found an actual lasting relationship within each other."
Sirius pondered her words, staring down at his macaroni and cheese with a curious expression. "What do you mean we've been hiding our feelings from ourselves?"
She was not surprised that that was what he picked up on most. "I think you've both been so scared to ask that age-old question 'where is this going' to each other since day one. But over these past few months you've both come to the realization on your own that you're really falling for each other. I see the way you two look at each other when you think no one is looking. I see the way your eyes light up just when the other's name is mentioned. I see you smiling at random times in class and know you're thinking of each other. I see that, so why can't you?"
That brought a rather unexpected smile to Sirius' face. It sounded so sappy coming from Kay, and yet he didn't actually mind that.
"So here's how I look at it," she continued with a shrug. "You can either continue to be scared and suppress the fact that you want to be with each other by hiding from the world. Or you can just admit you're scared and instead of letting that continue to run your relationship, make the conscious decision to tell the world that you want to be with each other so that you can actually be with each other."
Sirius gaped at her, his mouth hanging open slightly at the truth of her words. He opened his mouth to say something but the words wouldn't form. She looked amused at his sudden ability to remain mute.
"You know I'm right," she said with a grin.
"I know," he said slowly. "I just don't think I fully realized it until you just said it."
She shrugged. "Tell the world, Sirius. Stop hiding."
He didn't respond and she didn't say anything else. Maybe if they both hadn't been so immersed in their thoughts over the Sirius-Riley situation, they would have noticed a pair of frustrated brown eyes staring at them, a look of contempt on her face, as Rachael overheard the entire conversation.
Lily thought she would have to force Riley to help out with the surprise party after what Sirius had mentioned this morning about Riley not speaking to him, but when Lily met up with her before lunch and started to please, Riley simply grinned and agreed wholeheartedly before Lily even got a change to beg.
Which is why Riley was in the common room helping James, Remus, Peter, and Kay put up decorations for the party, along with a handful of Gryffindor volunteers. Well not so much volunteers as people who were sitting in the common room already and James compelled them all to join in with the setting up threatening them with a weeks' worth of detention.
"Dammit!" Remus cried out as the chair he was standing on to hang up the "Happy Birthday, Sirius" sign wobbled. "Remind me why we're doing this without magic?"
"Because it'll mean so much more in the end!" James cried out from the other side of the room.
"Not if we're not spending Sirius' birthday with him because we'll be in the hospital wing with multiple injuries," Remus muttered.
"I heard that!" James exclaimed. He headed up the stairwell to their bedroom where the snacks were stashed for the time being.
"Where's Lily?" Riley asked Remus, who was setting up tables with brightly colored tablecloths for food and drinks beside Remus.
"Hold the chair steadier, Jillian!" he complained as it wobbled and he had to grab the wall for stability. "She's in the library, tallying up the prefect points and organizing the chart because she cancelled the prefect meeting tonight."
Riley rolled her eyes. "Wasn't this party her idea?"
"No, technically it was James'. Lily just forced us to do something," Remus snickered, as he tacked up the sign finally. "Is that straight?"
"That side needs to go higher!" Kay voiced from the other side of the room where she was setting up the champagne fountain which James practically had to beg Lily for.
Remus swore.
Jillian laughed. "Don't fall, honey."
"I'm trying," he murmured, groaning as he took out the tack from the wall. "I'm also trying hard not to want to kill James for taking our wands so we wouldn't cheat."
Riley gave him an apologetic look. "Is Lily coming before Sirius shows up?"
Remus nodded. "Of course. She'll probably be back within the next twenty minutes. She's also gathering some more food from the kitchens for us. Apparently the mountains of chips and chocolate in our room isn't going to be enough," he clarified with a chuckle, attempting to stretch his arm higher. "Why are you so curious about her whereabouts?"
Riley shrugged. "Just making sure Sirius has a good birthday. I hear it was rather rough this morning for him," Riley explained.
Remus stopped outstretching his hand and glanced down at Riley's concerned face. "You guys really are friends again, aren't you."
Riley was taken aback by the unexpected question. She simply nodded and shrugged. "Yeah." What she neglected to tell him was that he was soon going to find out she and Sirius weren't just friends. A smile crept on to Riley's face as she thought of the look that was going to be on Sirius' face when she greeted him that evening at his own party with an overwhelming kiss on the mouth.
Remus smiled, sensing such sincerity in her voice. "I'm glad," he said, glancing back up at the sign and again, tacking it into the wall. "How about now?"
"That looks good," Jillian said. "Then again, I'm standing directly beneath the sign at an awkward angle."
Remus laughed. "Kay, how does it look now?"
"Looks good!" she shouted back.
The common room portrait swung open and Lily stormed into the common room with an aggravated glance, walking over to where Jillian, Riley and Remus were all gathered. She threw her bag on the food table right beside them. "God, I hate the library," she whined as she opened her bag and started placing some food on the table.
Remus' jaw dropped as he climbed down from the chair. "Whoa, that's not a sentence one hears coming out of your mouth everyday." He kissed Jillian's cheek. "Thanks for holding the chair."
"Yeah, well the library has no longer become a place to study," Lily grumbled. "Should we put the desserts on one side and the hor d'ouvres type stuff on the other?" she asked, holding up a plate of cookies in one hand and a plate of crackers and cheese in the other.
"Yeah, sure," Riley agreed.
"Why is it no longer a place to study?" Jillian questioned Lily, helping her set up the food.
"Well, a group of first years were gossiping about some new hot celebrity couple as they gathered around the latest issue of Witch Weekly, the Slytherin Quidditch team was going through some of their game plans—though it sounded more like gibberish to me, the fifth year Ravenclaw girls were flirting with the boys instead of finishing their essays, Dezzy and Drew were huddled in some corner definitely not doing work—don't let James' know—along with Skyler and Brad, Gideon and Marlene were playing footsie with each other and whispering sweet nothings into each other's ear, and Sirius and Rachael were making out! I mean when did-"
Riley spun around on her heels, horror blinking in her eyes. "What!?"
A/N: Oops, cliffhanger. Don't hate me! So what do you think is going to happen next? Sorry that there wasn't a lot of James/Lily in this chapter. They come back around in a few chapters. Please review!