You Leave Me Breathless
By Lily Orange
Upon entrance into her sixth year at Hogwarts, Isabel Willoughby decides she is sick of her friend Sirius Black's incessant love games with all the girls in their year – her solution? To play Sirius at his own game, by creating the whole new persona of Amanda through the excessive use of Polyjuice Potion. However, as Isabel lets Amanda get incredibly close to Sirius – she finds herself slowly, but surely, falling in love with him...
A story of romance, friendship and humour
"Friendship often ends in love; but love in friendship – never." - Charles Caleb Colton
A/N: Wow, thank you so, SO, SO much for all the lovely reviews and comments! Thank you to kitcool, vampire-luver101, baby blue eyes10, .limits111, Rabid-Sirius-Fangirl, ginaandlunaBFF, Sam-EvansBlue, French Fries and Blue Moons, ClaireMarieCullen, Freya-Rhianna, Lollypop, Stephie Cat-Kat, n, xolunaxx, Ash Blue, stina, vanillabean18, Flicka200, Squid7000, Warning- May Contain Pepsi, Amy, sarlovesoccer and spannieren for reviewing and thank you to those who reviewed multiple times; thank you to Zalaril and vampire-luver101 for adding my story to their alerts and thank you to French Fries and Blue Moons, Miss Raella Morgan, vampire-luver101 and baby blues eyes10 for adding my story to their favourites!
This is the last BUT ONE chapter so please enjoy and review!
Chapter Twenty-Five
You Leave Me Breathless
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Sirius spent every waking moment with Isabel the next day – a fire was roaring in her bedroom and she had a potion which she had to drink every two hours, which he carefully administered. As Isabel was not quite up to keeping her cousins entertained, James, Lily and Remus had consented to do it, but came to see her when they could. Sienna Rosetti treated James as her idol and followed him round everywhere, constantly smiling and asking questions. Isabel and Sirius used this as a source for amusement in the hours they spent sitting in her bedroom together. Her mother had said that she would be perfectly fine by the next day – her birthday and the day of the ball.
She awoke the morning of her birthday feeling brilliant and back to normal. She looked up to see that Sirius had fallen asleep in the armchair by her bed, snuggled up in a foetal position with his head against one of Isabel's many cushions. She smiled – he was the sweetest thing.
"Oh Merlin – I'm seventeen!" she suddenly remembered. Deciding that she wanted to fully exercise the fact she could now do magic outside of school legally right now, she transfigured an earring into a trumpet and cast a spell so that it started playing a fanfare so that everybody could get up – it wasn't too early, and Isabel wanted to spend the whole day pampering herself with Lily and getting ready for the ball tonight.
"What the– ARRRGGGHHH!" Sirius yelled as he saw the trumpet right next to his face – having miraculously woken up straight away. He fell off his seat onto the floor, howling in surprise all the while. Isabel giggled. Lily rolled over and opened her eyes to see the scene unfolding before her. She shook her head despairingly and smiled to herself.
At that moment, James came rushing in brandishing Sirius' beater's bat, which, for some strange reason, he had bought with him.
"WHERE IS THE SCOUNDREL?" he bellowed, shaking the bat menacingly.
"Put it down, Prongs!" Sirius ordered from the floor.
"Oh, hello Padfoot, how are you this morning?" James asked brightly.
"Fine and dandy thank you, but why, may I ask, have you got my beater's bat?"
"Well, we heard screaming, and thought perhaps the girls were in trouble and we wanted to defend them, being the manly men we are!" James grinned, flexing his muscles.
"Prongs – it was me that was yelling. And you thought it was the girls. Do you think I have a girly yell?" Sirius asked interrogatively.
"Er, no... 'course not, Pads! Where on earth did you get that idea from?" James said, darting his eyes to meet Remus' shiftily.
"Happy birthday, Isabel!" Remus said happily, breaking the tension.
"Oh yeah, Merlin! Happy seventeen birthday!" Sirius smiled at her.
"Have I got a birthday surprise for you... and if Padfoot would care to join me..." James said, going and standing on the window seat. Sirius obliged. "When we were young, carefree and innocent–"
"You've never been innocent!" Lily laughed.
"Yeah well, moving swiftly on... we decided that we were bored one afternoon and good old Padders here came up with the bloody stupendous idea of forming a band! So we practiced, wowed the crowds–" James continued.
"Wowed? You practically deafened me!" Remus scoffed.
"Shut up. I'm trying to deliver a lovely surprise for dear Isabel here, and everybody keeps interrupting!" James said exasperatedly. "And we are now going to sing one of our specialities for you – start of in a B flat, Pads."
"Do you even know what a B flat is?" Remus asked sceptically.
"Of course," James said, flapping his hands. "A one, a one, two, three – GO!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Sirius howled in any note but a B flat.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ISABEL..." they screeched together – their singing voices tuneless and the equivalent of somebody scraping their fingernails down a blackboard.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" they finished.
"Um, thank you?" Isabel said, almost questioning them rather than actually stating it.
"We will be back for Moony's birthday, do not despair!" Sirius beamed at them all.
"Look out for a world tour of Hogwarts soon!" James said as they bowed.
"Happy birthday!"
Suddenly, many cousins and relatives rushed into the room, crowding round Isabel's bed, clutching presents. She felt a bit overwhelmed as she had numerous cards and packages put on her bed for her to open.
"Merlin, where do I start?" she laughed.
"With mine!" Sienna chirped up. She clambered onto the bed holding a small box wrapped in sparkly blue paper.
"Thank you," Isabel said as she took it from her and began to neatly unwrap it.
"Hurry up, Iz, I do want to see all of them before I'm fifty!" Sirius groaned as everybody chuckled.
"Fine – speed unwrapping!" she grinned mischievously and began to unwrap them with the speed of lightening, proclaiming thanks as she moved onto the next one. Five minutes later, everything was unwrapped and opened, everyone thanked and hugged.
Everybody began to leave her and Lily in peace, except the Marauders.
"Buzz off, boys, we're getting ready for the ball!" Lily declared.
"But it's half past nine in the morning! The ball doesn't start till half seven, you don't need ten hours to get ready!" James pointed out exasperatedly.
"Yes we do," Lily responded.
"We don't mind staying whilst you get ready," James winked. Lily rolled her eyes – something she seemed to do rather a lot.
"It's perfectly fine James, skedaddle," Lily ordered. Remus and James exited, James grumbling irritably, but Sirius lingered, his eyes hovering on Isabel.
"Don't worry, Sirius, I won't disintegrate whilst you're away!" she grinned and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
"Right, now they are out of the way, we can get ready!" Lily said, twirling around the room like a ballerina.
"Watch it, twinkle toes," Isabel said cheekily, and Lily threw a pillow at her.
*
At quarter past seven, the two girls were finally ready. They had literally spent all day – except for meal times – pampering themselves and ensuring that they looked perfect for the ball. They had gone downstairs for their lunch with their hair in curlers, still wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns. The boys were incredulous – they had spent the day down at the beach playing with the cousins. Colin, Will, Ollie and Jack, who had come to join them, went down to the beach and Sienna and Fiorella Rosetti came with them – the boys taught them how to play football. They spent the afternoon doing this, whilst Alessandra stayed with the girls, lounging in the garden under the warm April sun. They had all disappeared at half three to get ready, and Isabel's Auntie Lou had been sent by the rest of the adults to commandeer, firstly her own girls to get them into the dresses she had bought them, and secondly the boys to go and get ready.
Isabel and Lily had expressly forbidden the boys, or anyone for that matter, to come into their room all day. They were now standing, analysing their flawless reflections, in a full-length mirror.
Lily was wearing a black floor-length evening gown which looked striking with her hair, which she had left down and softly curled, with part of it held up with a sparkling silver hairclip. The dress was halter-neck, emphasising her curves, and fitted perfectly. Her eyes were lightly lined with black kohl, and her eyelashes were curled and looking excessively long due to several coats of mascara. Her green eyes lit up her whole face with the lining and long eyelashes, and her lips were coated with a smidgeon of clear lip gloss. She grinned at herself in the mirror – it was like one of her and Isabel's dress up sessions in their room back in Gryffindor tower, but for real. This time they actually were going to be the belles of the ball. Lily tore her eyes away from the mirror, not quite believing what she was seeing, and turned to look at her best friend.
Isabel normally wore slightly tomboyish options at parties, pairing dresses with jeans and jackets, establishing her own style which was not really that girly – but tonight she had gone all out and indulged her femininity. The dress she had on was one she had picked out with Lily when they had nipped into the town one day in the last week (telling the boys that they were buying some food for the kitchen; when the boys said that they wanted to come, they pretended that it was the sort of food that ate boys because they smelled. It wasn't the best excuse they had come up with, and the boys saw straight through it, so instead they just sprinted off before they could respond), and she could safely say that she adored it. It was her favourite shade of brightest blue, the exact same colour as her sapphire eyes. It was fitted and floor-length, exhibiting her slim figure advantageously and strapless and tight at the waist. The material was silky and floaty, and made every movement look effortlessly graceful. On her feet were silver high heels with the most delicate of straps criss-crossing across her feet, matching the silver necklace she had around her neck. Her hair was the true masterpiece though – Lily had spent almost an hour perfecting it. Her hair was softly pulled back into a loose bun, with some curls staying around the front, framing her face. Across the top of her head, Lily had plaited some of the curls around so it gave her a beautiful Grecian style look. Her face was lightly made up, with a little grey eyeliner smudged around the corners of her eyes and some mascara, with a peach-coloured lipstick.
"We clean up well, don't we?" Lily smiled at her friend. Isabel nodded – she couldn't believe that the girl staring back at her was her: beautifully flawless and elegant.
"Is it nearly time to go down?" Isabel asked. Lily nodded.
"You have to stay up here don't you, and wait until everybody is in the Great Hall? Is somebody leading you down the stairs?" Lily questioned.
"Remus," Isabel answered swiftly.
"I'll make sure Sirius is standing near the bottom of the stairs," Lily winked. She hugged her best friend and left the room, knocking on the boys' door to tell them to go down with her.
Isabel breathed slowly. It would be fine... she would be graceful, walking down the stairs without tripping. She would dance with... whoever asked (preferably Sirius or the other Marauders). She would be fine... she hoped.
"Isabel? Is it okay if I come in?" she heard Remus ask from outside the door. She bit her lip and swallowed.
"It's fine," she finally said and he slowly pushed open the door and walked in.
"Wow, Isabel, you look beautiful!" he said, giving her a hug.
"You don't look so bad yourself," she complimented back. He really didn't – he hadn't gone with the whole wizard robes composition, but a black suit, white shirt and green tie.
"Thanks – do you want to go?" he suggested. Isabel slowly nodded. She had to go eventually, she couldn't stay in her room forever – it was a ball for her birthday, for crying out loud, she had to be there!
The seconds ticked by as Remus led her out of her room and down the stairs. To get to the Great Hall, you could either walk down right to the ground floor and get in through the normal door – but Isabel's parents had insisted that she should go in through the gallery at the top and descend the staircase in front of everyone. This was, for Isabel, who was not renowned for her grace and poise, more like clumsiness and lack of hand-eye coordination, inducing a lot of stress and had her breathing loudly as they walked through the passages and corridors to get to the gallery.
However, they seemed to get there quickly and Remus opened the door for her to step through. She saw all of her family and friends standing there (luckily, she had managed to dissuade her parents from the idea of inviting the Carmichaels as she didn't really want Jonas to see her with Sirius when she had denied everything) and smiled. Remus offered his arm and she took it, carefully walking down the stairs, praying that she wouldn't trip over. Lily was grinning at her happily and so was her family, but the person she sought with her eyes was Sirius – instead of standing around the edge of the room, leaving the space in the middle free to dance in, he was standing right at the bottom of the stairs, smiling at her adoringly. It was like the looks James gave Lily – something Isabel had wanted, something she had wanted to be a reality for her, instead of something she was unsure about.
"I'll take her from here, Moony," Sirius said softly, taking Isabel's hand and leading her to the floor. The music started and they began to dance, little steps and twirls whilst they stared into each other's eyes. Other couples joined them on the floor – Isabel's parents, Isabel's aunts and uncles and Lily and James. Remus stood on the side just looking at them all, slightly regretting his decision to swear off girls because of what he was, until Erienne boldly walked up to him, wearing a scarlet floor-length dress with spaghetti straps and a nipped in waist, requesting that he dance with her. He smiled and accepted, and soon they were spinning around with everybody else.
But Sirius and Isabel weren't concentrating on anybody else. All that mattered to them was the person in front of them. They danced in silence for a while – until Sirius leaned in to kiss Isabel. It wasn't just a brief kiss on the cheek, it was a proper kiss that lasted for a while when they zoned out of where they were.
"I love you, Isabel Willoughby," he smiled as they pulled apart. Isabel hugged him close.
"I love you too, Sirius Black," she replied.
"You didn't have to say it just to make me feel better," he grinned.
"Oh, don't worry, when would I say anything to make you feel better?" Isabel laughed and Sirius joined in. "I meant every word. My heart truly does beat for you."
Awwwww... not too much of a cliffhanger there! The next chapter is absolutely massive and I think you will like it - let me just say it jumps into the future... please review and thanks for reading!
:) x Lily Orange x (: