Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Would You Go With Me?" is by Josh Turner and I do not own it in any way.
Let Me Be Your Downfall
Chapter Twenty-five: Would You Go With Me?
If I gave you my hand would you take it
And make me the happiest man in the world?
"Miss Williams," Sirius smiled, clad in dress robes of a deep blue, accenting his sapphire eyes, and offering his arm to Jamie when she descended from the girls' dormitory.
"Why thank you, Mr. Black," Jamie smiled, taking his arm congenially, and then smoothing the fabric of her dark red robes over her belly self-consciously. Then, straightening her face, she said, "This is your last chance to back out of this - are you sure you want to be seen fraternizing with Hogwarts resident pregnant girl?"
Sirius gave Jamie a contemptuous look and said, "And, once again, I'm going to tell you that there is no one else I'd want to be with tonight and to shut your trap about being pregnant - I don't care."
"Are you sure there's no one else you'd want to be with?" Jamie asked as Jaclyn waved at the two of them in emerald robes, Mani leading her out of the common room.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius straightened himself up, shooting Jamie a look.
"Of course you don't," Jamie grinned. "Now, come on, let's go cut a rug."
"Did you just say 'cut a rug'?" Lily asked, coming up behind the two of them in gold robes.
"Yes, I did," Jamie nodded.
"I don't know if I can cut a rug," Sirius played along, looking concerned. "I can, however, boogie down."
"Can you bop? I'm afraid all of my dates need to be able to bop," Jamie asked, her expression just as full of concern as Sirius's was.
"No, but I can salsa," Sirius offered. "Is that all right?"
"Well, I suppose," Jamie nodded.
"Are you two really having this conversation?" Lily asked, dumbstruck.
"I think we are," Sirius mused. "Anyways, Lily, where is Prongs?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Lily admitted, looking around the common room. "He said - oh - there he is!" A grin split across her face and she began to back away from Sirius and Jamie. "I'll see you two later."
"Apparently Prongs is going to do it tonight," Sirius said excitedly under his breath to Jamie.
"Are you serious?" Jamie asked, her eyes wide. She looked across the room to see that her cousin did actually look a bit paler than normal. "He didn't tell me that."
"He wasn't sure until about an hour ago," Sirius nodded. "He's incredibly nervous."
"Does he actually think she's going to say no?" Jamie asked, watching the two. "She's more smitten by him than he is with her. I never thought that'd be possible."
"You're not the only one," Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "Anyways, d'you reckon we should head down to the festivities?"
"I think that sounds like an amazing idea," Jamie agreed, taking Sirius's arm once again as the two headed out of the common room.
"James, where are we going?" Lily giggled, putting a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as he pulled her through the main entrance.
"Not very far," James replied, squeezing her hand tightly. "Just out to the lake."
"Why?" Lily asked for the umpteenth time since they left the common room, a huge grin on her face in excitement.
"You'll see!" James replied, grinning back at her excitedly.
"It's, um, the beech tree," Lily said, looking confused, as they came to a stop by the lake.
"Yep," James nodded, swallowing hard and looking out over the lake.
"All right, I'll bite," Lily shrugged, following his gaze. "Are you going to tell me what's going on now?"
"I think so," James let out a long breath and then turned to face Lily. "Lily, there's, ah, something I've been meaning to ask you."
"What's going on?" Lily asked, biting her lip.
"Well, er, uh," James became increasingly nervous, which caused Lily to let out a laugh.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," James nodded, taking a deep breath. "Look, Lily, I'm not terribly good at this sort of thing, but hear me out."
"Of course," Lily nodded.
"I love you - I really do," James started, meeting her emerald eyes with his hazel ones. "I know that you didn't like me very much when we started Hogwarts and all and, well, I don't really blame you. Hindsight shows just how much of a prat I was. Nevertheless, even though I've been hopelessly crushing on you since third year, I never thought I'd be able to love you in the way I do.
"Lils, you are the first thought I have every morning and the last before I go to bed each night," James continued, wringing his hands. "I don't even want to try to imagine a future without you in it by my side. I want to grow old with you and I can only pray that you'd want to do the same with me."
"Of course - " Lily began, but James put a finger to her lips.
"Almost finished, I promise," James smiled. "Lily, I know we've only been together for just over eight months, but I honestly know that you are the only one for me. You complete me and fill that empty void in my heart. And, well," he busied himself by rummaging in the pocket of his dress robed, pulling out the small scarlet box that James had been sparing a look at least once a day since he showed it to Sirius. Holding the box in his hand, he dropped to one knee and opened it to show the sparkling diamond and emerald encrusted band. "Will you marry me?"
Lily gasped in shock. Truthfully, she had seen this coming, but not so soon. "Um, wow, James, yes."
"Yes?" James asked, his eyes wide.
Lily nodded, jerking James to his feet and kissing him hard on the lips. "Yes."
James breathed in a mixture of relief and excitement, pulling the ring out of the box and holding it up for Lily. "Yes?"
"Yes," Lily nodded again, leaning into James as he slipped the ring on her finger.
Once they reached the Great Hall, Jamie let out a surprised sigh. The Hall was elaborately decorated with strings of faeries illuminating even the darkest corners and garlands of flowers bringing colour to the room. There were ten or so round tables littering the floor, each donned with large centrepieces - each table had a different type of flower - and there were cards atop each plate that showed who was to sit at each spot.
"Oh, God, it's gorgeous," Jamie smiled, taking in their surroundings as Sirius steered her around the tables, searching for their seats.
"Ah, here we are," Sirius announced, stopping at a table that seated eight. He pulled out Jamie's chair quite gentlemanly before sitting next to her. "How do they know who comes with who?"
Jamie shrugged. "Magic?"
"I actually think that Professor McGonagall is a closet gossip hound," Sirius nodded, Jamie laughing at how serious his face was. They looked up at the professor, who was seated at the Head table, who was looking out at the students with a slightly disapproving look on her face.
"See, she's probably taking notes right now," Sirius joked, which made Jamie roll her eyes.
"Who do you suppose we're sitting with?" Jamie asked, straightening up in her chair and squinting her eyes as she tried to look at the other cards.
"I'm sure we're with Prongs and Lily - oh, yeah, that's Prongs right there, isn't it?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "They did the seating though, didn't they?"
"Padfoot was complaining that Flitwick tried to make it random, but they switched Narcissa and whoever she managed to come with out of our table for them," Sirius smirked.
"Fair trade," Jamie smiled. "Jaclyn and Mani are way over there with Lauren and Peter."
"Can you believe they're together again?"
"Jaclyn and Mani?"
"No, Wormtail and Lauren," Sirius replied, giving her a look.
"Oh, no, I can't," Jamie shook her head. "But, whatever floats their boat."
"I suppose," Sirius started, but stopped when he saw a beaming Lily and James stride toward their table.
"Hello," Lily grinned, not trying to hide the ring on her finger.
"Hurray!" Jamie squealed, jumping to her feet and launching herself at Lily, nearly knocking her off balance. "And James!" She turned and wrapped her arms around James, squeezing him tight.
"Er, thanks," James chuckled when Jamie pulled away from him, looking like she was about to cry. "Oh, stop that."
"My little James is all growed up!" Jamie exclaimed before bursting into tears and burying her face in James's shoulder.
James gave Sirius and Lily a helpless look, both of which looked very amused with the situation as a whole. After a few moments, James patted Jamie lightly on the back and she straightened up, wiping her face.
"Oh, God, I'm so sorry," she blubbered, trying to calm herself. "It's just my emotions are up and down because of hormones and I can't - "
"Why don't we just sit down," James interrupted, obviously fearing that the wrong words would incur another emotional breakdown from his cousin.
Before long, the other counterparts of their table - Alice Stewart, another Gryffindor, who had come with Benjy Fenwick, a Ravenclaw, and Donald Pritchard and Laura Troy, both of which were Slytherins - joined the four. James and Sirius kept sending angry glares at Donald and Laura, who refused to join in the conversation between the other six. 'At least Snape is on the other side of the room,' Jamie thought to herself and, judging by the expression on Lily's face, she was thinking the same thing.
Once all of the tables were filled, Professor Dumbledore stood at the front of the room, a hush filling the room as it always did when Dumbledore spoke. The professor was wearing extravagant purple robes, the stars glittering at them, much like his eyes. Jamie swore she saw some of them streak across the robes as a shooting star would.
"I would hate to keep you all from the lovely meal and merriment that will soon follow," Professor Dumbledore started, surveying the seventh years. "However, among the many things you have learned these past years is the fact that I cannot help but greet you all at the beginning of a feast.
"As I am sure you are all more than aware, the day after tomorrow marks your departure from the fair grounds of Hogwarts that you have called home for the better part of seven years. Each and every one of you has had a far different experience within these hallowed walls. You have made friends and enemies, lost loved ones, came upon surprises, and learned things that cannot be taught in a classroom. I only hope that the happy memories and cherished friends you have accumulated stay with you for all of your days and you will be able to think back fondly upon the years spent here."
The Headmaster paused for a moment and a few students actually stifled a sob at the words he was saying. After a moment, he clapped his hands together and continued forward.
"Now that that is out of the way," Dumbledore smiled fondly, "let us eat!"
The tables filled with food varying from pork chops to turkey and complete with numerous sides of mashed potatoes, sprouts, and a variety of other foods. Jamie smiled as she watched Lily dig into the bowl of potatoes in front of her. She let out a laugh as she remembered when they had first arrived at Hogwarts and how James and Jamie had laughed at the gasp of surprise Lily had let out when the food had appeared on the table.
"What?" Sirius asked, passing her a roll.
"I was thinking about when we first came to Hogwarts," Jamie explained, still smiling. "How Lily was so amazed by all of the magic."
"Hey - you guys lucked out by coming from magical families," Lily retorted, not noticing the two Slytherins giving her a nasty look. "All I knew came from books that I'd picked up at Diagon Alley after I got my letter."
"Still, it was rather humorous," James nodded. "Remember how we'd tell her how all sorts of things were due to magic?"
"Oh, yeah," Jamie grinned, thinking back. "Like how the Titanic actually sank because one of our great-grandparents was angry at a bunch of the passengers."
The others laughed at this idea, but Lily spoke up. "You know, I got a question wrong on my History of Magic OWL because you prats told me that," which only made the others laugh even more.
After the six friendly seventh years swapped anecdotes about their earlier years at Hogwarts, Jamie reached across the table and inspected the centrepiece.
"I bet you five Galleons I could get it out of the Hall for you," Sirius grinned, watching her eye it.
"And I bet you five Galleons it turns into something nasty if you try to take it off the table," Jamie shot back, giving Sirius a cheeky look.
"Sure, take all the fun out of the situation by inserting logic," Sirius sighed, leaning back in his chair and massaging the front of his robes.
"Padfoot, you're foul," James said, not looking up from his food.
"I aim to please you, Prongs," Sirius smirked.
"Lily, what do you think of centrepieces like this for the wedding?" Jamie asked. "You know, maybe not quite as elaborate, of course, but - "
"Oh, that's right," Benjy interrupted. "You're getting married to Remus Lupin, right?"
Jamie nodded and smiled. "That's me."
"Why isn't he here tonight?" Alice asked, glancing at Sirius, who was trying to conceal a belch behind his hand.
"He wasn't feeling well tonight," Jamie replied, shrugging. "It's too bad, really, because he would've loved to have seen all of the faeries." She glanced around at the garlands.
"I'm honestly expecting Frank to ask me as soon as I see him," Alice smiled, thinking of her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, who had finished school the year prior. "It's been murder not seeing him every day."
"You mean we're going to have to end our hot, steamy love affair?" Benjy joked. Most everyone at Hogwarts speculated that he was gay, but no one actually knew for sure.
"Alas, Benjy, I'm afraid so," Alice replied, feigning distress. "We'll always have those happy memories together."
After the others finished laughing, Laura spoke up for the first time, shocking the others. She gave Jamie a haughty look before saying, "You know, Narcissa Black seems to think you're pregnant. Is it true?"
"Uh, isn't it a little obvious?" Jamie asked, placing a hand on her bloated belly. "I've kind of given up on trying to hide it. It's not like you can have a secret in this school anyways."
Alice sighed heavily, giving Jamie a sympathetic look. "I couldn't even begin to imagine having a child this young."
"Well, we weren't exactly planning to have one," Jamie shrugged. Then, to take the attention off her, she said, "Er, did you know Lily and James are getting married?"
As Alice turned to Lily and James, her eyes wide, Jamie breathed a sigh of relief, glancing at Sirius, who was giving her a concerned look. Before he could say anything, though, the Headmaster instructed everyone to get to their feet. When they did, the tables and chairs disappeared, except for a few near the back of the Hall. Quite suddenly, instruments appeared on the platform where the Head table normally stood and the members of The Witching Hour, a popular wizarding band, ran onto the stage, quickly beginning to play one of their current hits, "In the Broom Closet."
The others began to dissipate into the crowd of students, but Jamie took a step back, running into Sirius. He took hold of her elbow and bent over to shout into her ear.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jamie shouted back over the music.
"Do you want to go somewhere?" Sirius asked, looking concerned again.
Weighing the options, Jamie nodded and allowed Sirius to lead her out of the Great Hall. As they passed a group of Slytherins, they all gave each other knowing looks and began laughing. Jamie felt herself flush, but remembered what Remus had said and tried to walk by in a dignified manner.
"I am so glad to be getting out of here," Jamie admitted, not taking into account where Sirius was taking her. "I can't stand the gossipy girls anymore."
"You were one of them once," Sirius smirked.
"To an extent, yes," Jamie agreed, crossing her arms. "I'm not proud of it, though."
"No one is," Sirius shrugged.
As they continued forward, they passed a window, which was letting the full moon's light to flood the corridor. Jamie sighed heavily, looking at the silver orb in the sky and swearing that she could hear a wolf's howl in the distance.
"What's on your mind?" Sirius asked.
"I'm just worried about Remus," Jamie replied. "He hasn't had to be alone in such a long time."
"He'll be all right," Sirius assured Jamie, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "He was alone for such a long time before the three of us started to get hairy."
"I just don't like the thought of him being alone during something so horrible," Jamie admitted. "He doesn't deserve that."
Sirius nodded. "No one does."
"I'm actually a bit nervous for when we move into our house," Jamie admitted, sparing Sirius a sheepish look. "It scares me."
"You can always stay somewhere else on those nights," Sirius suggested.
Jamie shook her head. "No, I don't want to discourage him. I know how Remus's mind works and he'll come to some daft conclusion of me being ashamed of him or something like that." She shook her head in dismay. "Besides, he swears that his transformations will be easier knowing I'm there."
Sirius glanced at Jamie, the expression on her face quite doubtful. He couldn't help but think that the wolf wouldn't care if it was Jamie or a random passer-by - any human was good enough for it.
"Well, if you ever need someone to come over and either tame the beast or just be there for you," Sirius offered, giving her what he hoped was an encouraging look. "Don't be afraid to let me know."
"Thanks, Sirius," Jamie nodded, smiling. "That means a lot to me."
After a few moments of heavy silence, Jamie cleared her throat and said, "Sirius, where are we going?"
"The Astronomy Tower," Sirius replied without missing a beat.
"The Astro - what?" Jamie asked, giving Sirius a wry look. "Why?"
"I didn't think you'd want to go back to the common room already," Sirius shrugged. "It's a good place just to be alone, especially on the nights we have balls and whatnot because people either think it's an obvious place for teachers to look or they go down to the gardens. Even though we won't be snogging and there's no reason for us to care, teachers never come up here."
"I'm not going to ask how you know that," Jamie rolled her eyes.
"The Astronomy Tower?" Jaclyn asked Mani in a hushed voice, following him through the entrance.
"Sure," Mani shrugged. "The gardens are so crowded and no one will be up here."
"All right," Jaclyn shrugged, a bit bummed that they had left the Gala so early, but not caring so much at the same time. She had been seated next to Gideon Prewett, who kept giving her looks that made her feel queasy despite Mani's presence.
Jaclyn took a moment to revel in how the clear sky was causing the entire tower to be cast in a dim glow, making her smile. However, the smile faded slightly when Mani stopped in a dark corner and put his hands on her hips.
"This all right?" Mani asked, then kissing her before she could give an answer.
As Mani trailed his lips down her neck and to her bare collarbone, Jaclyn tried to remind herself that this was her boyfriend - the boy she, well, liked. That was good enough, right? She tried to push how Sirius's robes brought out the blue in his eyes, which were already such a piercing shade that allowed all of his emotions to be projected to the world, and how wonderfully they clung to his body, making the muscles underneath them easier to envision than with his normal school robes. She forced herself to forget how much she wanted his own rough hands to be trying to trail up and under her emerald dress robes. She wanted to make herself believe that even though she wanted to Sirius's lips to be exploring her mouth that she wanted Mani's so much more.
As Mani tried to push her robes off, Jaclyn caught her breath, realizing with a start that this couldn't happen. She put her hand on his, pushing it away.
"What's wrong?" Mani asked, his voice rough.
"I can't do this, Mani," Jaclyn insisted, trying to pull away from him but backing into the wall behind her, realizing that she was trapped.
"Oh, come on, Jaclyn," Mani groaned, looking quite annoyed. "Why not?"
"It isn't right," Jaclyn replied, trying to fix her robes around her. "Don't you feel that it isn't right?"
"It sure was right a few days ago," Mani complained. "Come on, Jaclyn - we're almost done with Hogwarts and we're hardly going to be able to see each other."
"Mani, I mean that I don't think we can be together anymore," Jaclyn explained, biting her lip. "This isn't working."
"What do you mean it isn't working?" Mani asked, his eyes angry.
"It just isn't," Jaclyn tried to push him away, but he didn't move. "Please let me go."
"No," Mani growled, narrowing his eyes and allowing his hands to explore Jaclyn's body again. "Not yet."
Suddenly, voices echoed into the high ceilings of the Tower. Jaclyn instantly recognized them as Sirius and Jamie's, causing her heart to flip.
"I see what you're saying, but I don't know. I really like raspberry jam better than strawberry."
"Really? I don't like the seeds very much."
"You get seeds with strawberry, too, though," Jamie was saying as they entered the tower.
"Get off of me, Mani!" Jaclyn said angrily, trying to push him off one more time.
"Jac?" Jamie asked into the darkness, her voice concerned.
"What the hell!" Sirius exclaimed, his voice full of anger.
As though he had a sixth sense for it, he stormed over to the corner where Mani and Jaclyn were. He put an arm on Mani's shoulder and pulled him to his feet.
"What do you think you're doing, Patil?" Sirius asked, his fist pulled back and ready to strike.
"What does it look like, Black?" Mani asked, narrowing his eyes and trying to break free of Sirius's solid grasp. "I'm sure you recognized it with your experience."
Jaclyn stumbled to her feet, rushing to Jamie's side, who put an arm around her cousin as they surveyed the scene. Jaclyn was crying and her hair was rumpled, which, to her, was reason enough for Sirius to punch Mani in the face.
Seeing her state, Sirius turned back to Mani. "I'm pretty sure Jaclyn was saying no to you. Why were you being so pushy to my friend?"
"She's my girlfriend," Mani narrowed his eyes. "I can do whatever I want to her."
"Wrong answer," Sirius shrugged, throwing his fist forward and hitting Mani square in the jaw. "I'd now like for you to apologize to Jaclyn."
"Piss off, Black," Mani spat, staggering to his feet and glaring at the three of them before faltering out of the Astronomy Tower.
Sirius shook his hand out and walked over to where Jamie was trying to comfort Jaclyn. Between sobs, Jaclyn was trying to explain to Jamie what had happened.
"I'd remembered what you had said to me yesterday," Jaclyn managed. "And I - I didn't want to have sex with him. I couldn't stop thinking about… I just didn't want to anymore."
"It's okay, Jaclyn," Jamie soothed, rubbing Jaclyn's back. "It's all right."
"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Sirius asked sternly, glancing at the entrance to make sure Mani wasn't lurking anywhere.
Jaclyn shook her head mutely, playing with her fingers.
"Otherwise I'd have to kill him," Sirius said, his voice making the two wonder if he wasn't completely serious.
"Let's get you down to the common room," Jamie said quietly, an arm around Jaclyn's waist. "It'll be just fine - I promise."
Author's Note: Just to clarify, I'm basing the male dress robes more on what Jo says in the books - not how the movies show them. I see them a lot like normal robes, but a bit more lavish and all that. The girls' robes, however, are sort of like the movie, meaning they're more like dresses than actual robes themselves.
When they were talking about the different ways to say dance, I really wanted to say "get jiggy with it" or "get your freak on" but I wanted to stay at least halfway in the times. Sigh. And she's lucky I kept the below comment.. :)
As kamers's beta-reader now, I feel I have the right to place my comments on here directly. I LOVED it, and sincerely wish Jaclyn (a.k.a., me, lol) would just get together with Sirius already! C'mon! I want my puppy dog!
That is all.
-La Mariposa