No One Does It Better

Chapter 24

I don't want you like a best friend,

Only bought this dress so you could take it off.

I was going to Slughorn's Christmas party with Remus Lupin. It had taken him a little bit of convincing, but I got there in the end.

For yet another consecutive week, Sirius and I did not speak and I decided to distance myself from the rest of the Marauders, despite Remus agreeing to be my date and declaring that they were there for me. I did try to stay clear of Lily as well, but the girl was like an ever-bashing boomerang. She always found a way around my dodging tactics. By Wednesday, after Defence Against the Dark Arts, she forced herself upon me at the library and explicitly told me I was never going to get rid of her, regardless of my friendship status with Sirius.

It was both comforting and unnerving how fiercely loyal she was.

'Do you know what you are wearing tonight?' Lily asked me as we sat together at breakfast the Saturday morning of the party. It was just leaving 8 o'clock and the Great Hall was quiet with no one wasting their final weekend lie-in at Hogwarts before Christmas.

'I've not even given it a thought,' I replied dully. A party was really the last thing I wanted to do.

'You'll have something,' Lily spoke encouragingly.

'What about you?' I asked, trying to be excited for her.

'I'm stuck between my burgundy dress or I have a black evening gown – it's halter neck but it drops a bit at the back and I'm not sure-'

'Go with that one,' I cut in. 'James would faint on the spot.'

She blushed into her breakfast and I couldn't help but smile. It was amusing to see how far Lily had come with James since first year. Even with me being a Slytherin, I knew she had hated him, yet here we were.

'Has he even asked you to be his girlfriend yet?' I asked, the realisation dawning on me.

'No,' she looked at me exasperated. 'I'm starting to think that, because he has been on such a high with us just going on dates that he has just assumed we're official!'

I let out a quiet laugh. She was right, he was definitely so over the moon that she was even letting him hold her hand, that he had completely forget about the formality of making them official.

'Don't nip my head off,' Lily changed subject and chewed on her lip. 'But is Sirius not meant to be coming to visit you over Christmas?'

I shifted my eyes away from her to my plate and nodded. I had tried to forget about that but the thought kept resurfacing. Any time he had tried to talk to me in the past week, I kept convincing myself he was going to say he cancelled his trip, so I always just left where I could or just say I still didn't want to speak to him.

I did not want confirmation that I had managed to fuck it all up between us.

'Do you plan on speaking to him before we go home?'

I sighed and I felt the lump catch in my throat. 'I don't know.'

That was the truth - I didn't know when I would speak to Sirius again. I wanted to talk to him when I stopped seeing Christie Vain, Marlene McKinnon and all the other girls when I looked at his face. I wanted to talk to him when the pangs I felt in my chest when he grinned disappeared. I wanted to talk to him when I stopped looking at him as if he was Merlin himself, for fucks sake.

What kind of maniac actually fell in love with their best friend? It sounded like something that only happens in muggle films, yet here I am.

'He misses you,' Lily told me and I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach at the thought. 'He's not been himself since the prefect meeting.'

'Well, he was himself enough on his date at Madam Puddifoots,' I said scornfully.

'Nova, do you like Sirius?' she whispered, even though there was no one around us.

'Maybe,' I mumbled, my hand covering my mouth.

'What?'

'I said maybe,' I hissed.

I watched as Lily's face dropped and she sat quietly, pushing her food around on her plate.

'I'm sorry,' I apologised for my tone. 'I'm just – I'm confused about it all. It's completely blindsided me, I don't like it.'

She sat quietly and looked at me, almost as if she was searching for something.

'I'm surprised you both didn't realise sooner,' she eventually spoke. I raised an eyebrow at the use of the word both. 'Oh, he fancies the pants off you.'

I said nothing. I could argue with her or accept what she had to say and move on. She was wrong either way, but the argument to make her realise she was wrong was not worth it.

'Well, if he does, he has a funny way of showing it.'

Lily opened her mouth to reply but before she got the chance, she was cut off.

'Good morning, wonderful ladies.'

James had plonked himself down across from us with Remus and Peter joining him, whilst Sirius stood awkwardly, shifting side to side.

'Good morning,' Lily tried but failed to sound cheerful.

This had been happening a lot when Sirius and I ended up together in a group environment. We just made everyone else feel uncomfortable.

'I'll see you later, Lily,' I sighed and got up from my seat.

'Nova, please-'

I turned to Sirius who had started walking down the table with me.

'No, Sirius,' I said, the tiredness in my voice showing.

'I don't even know why we're not talking anymore,' he sounded frustrated. I tried my best not to look at him but how can you not look at the prettiest face in all of Hogwarts? I did sympathise, why would he ever possibly know why I was giving him the cold shoulder?

I thought about why we had stopped talking to each other two weeks ago. It was simply down to our stubbornness. We had tried to make one another jealous for fun and neither of us wanted to admit that we had maybe took it too far.

I looked at him straight in the eye for the first time in weeks. He looked tired too, almost miserable but I know he wasn't. He had been flaunting about school with Christie all week since their date.

'I'm tired of this - of us,' I said truthfully, without giving anything away. 'I'm really tired.'

'You better start smiling before I cast the pimple jinx on you,' Adaline told me while brushing her hair. 'Then you really will have something to pout about.'

I lay on my bed in my dress and watched Adaline in the mirror. I threw her a cheeky fake smile.

'Better,' she said and sat her brush down. 'Are you ready?'

'Mmhmm,' I replied and stood up, smoothing out my dress.

'I can't believe you are wearing red,' Adaline shook her head with a smile.

I looked down at my silk gown – I had forgotten all about it. I had worn it at a New Year's party last year and I had felt sexy in at 17, so I knew it would work a treat all over again for me tonight.

'I'm trying to make a statement,' I said.

'I bet you are.'

I had given myself a pep-talk after this morning. I was exhausted being down and I was tired of feeling sorry for myself. The only person, who was going to make myself feel better, was me and if I did want Sirius – which was still an ongoing debate in my head – then I was going to have to get my shit together.

Adaline and I walked out into the common room together and I stopped. Remus and Sirius were both standing outside that door waiting on us to appear and it all just felt too real that I was now knowingly going out of my way to impress Sirius. All of a sudden, I thought my heard was going to burst out of my chest.

'Are you okay?' Adaline looked back at me.

'Can you tell Remus I'll be out in a second?' I asked. 'You and Sirius just go ahead.'

'Sure,' Adaline nodded and I thanked her silently for not prying.

I took a seat on one of the leather chairs and tried to compose myself. I took as many deep breaths as I possibly could and sat on my hands to stop them from shaking.

You never care what boys think of you, I repeated in my head. Sirius is just another one of those boys.

I watched as Regulus and Nathaniel exited the boy's dormitory, suited up for the party and heading for the door. I didn't want Remus to be standing alone when they got out, so I hastily got back up and made my way out of the common room, hoping Adaline and Sirius were well on their way.

'Hi,' I breathed as I felt the door slamming shut behind me.

Remus stood against the wall, alone and beamed. Relief swept through me at the sight of him.

'You look beautiful, Nova,' he said and I smiled back. It felt like the first real smile I had had in weeks.

The door open up behind us. We watched as Regulus and Nathaniel walked out with their dates. Regulus did a double take at the both of us standing there but the group kept moving nonetheless.

'Ready to go?' Remus held his arm out for me to take it.

'Yep,' I nodded.

'I believe Padfoot was slightly disappointed when you didn't appear with Adaline,' Remus spoke softly to me. That was what I loved about being around Remus – he never spoke to spread gossip, be mean or make you uncomfortable. He said what you needed to hear, in the way you needed to hear it.

I only shot him a small smile in response and tried to ignore the excitement in my stomach. We walked through the dungeons to the classroom Slughorn was holding his party. I watched as people filtered in and the door closing, waiting for us to be the next ones to enter.

'I'm not going to make assumptions about why you're so nervous,' Remus said. 'But I think you need to hear this – you are Nova Bruce. You used to eat boys hearts for breakfast. I think she needs to come back out, don't you?'

He had done it, I laughed properly for the first time in weeks.

'Yes,' I replied, taking a deep shaky breath.

I did not let boys make me nervous – I made them nervous. 'Let's go.'

He didn't wait to ask if I was sure, he just flung the door open. The room was bustling when we stepped in but I felt like it had gone quiet as we both made our way through the crowd, searching for our friends. I wanted nothing more than to keep my head down and hide away but I felt Remus' moving his arm to squeeze my hand. I knew he was telling me off in a subtle way, so I pulled my head up and put on a confident smirk.

'There she is,' Remus muttered and I elbowed him in the side softly. We found Lily, Adaline, James and Sirius hovering around the drinks table.

'That was some bloody entrance,' James exclaimed with a cheeky grin on his face, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

'I have no words to describe how amazing you look,' Lily beamed at me and giving me a hug.

When I pulled away, my eyes gravitated to Sirius who was standing by Adaline. His eyes were roaming over every part of my body, leaving nothing unseen. His eyes met mine eventually and I detected a small blush at being caught looking.

'You look stunning,' Sirius said but made no move to come close to me.

I smiled back in a silent thank you.

'Well, Remus, I think you look dashing,' Adaline announced loudly, causing us all to burst out laughing and defer the tension.

'Thank you, Adaline,' Remus chuckled. 'I really thought it was me that had left everyone speechless.'

'Nova! So glad to see you, so glad,' Professor Slughorn interrupted us. I smiled politely at him and went to greet him back when he cut me off. 'And with Mr. Rueben I see! Ah oh, more guests - Enjoy your night!'

I turned back to everyone, bewildered before catching sight of Remus and bursting into a fit of laughter.

'Remus Rueben,' James pondered jokingly. 'Has a nice ring to it, mate.'

'Think he has had one to many whiskeys,' Lily scrunched her face up at the smell left behind.

'Speaking of drink, I still need one,' I declared and squeezed between Adaline and Sirius to get to the drinks.

Adaline smirked at me as I did so and I rolled my eyes in response with a playful smile.

'Remus, what would you like?' I held up two bottles of mead. 'Mead, mead or mead?'

'Butterbeer would be suffice,' he pointed to the crafts sitting at the back corner of the table. 'Let me.'

He began to get our drinks sorted for us and I scanned the room once more, trying not to purposely look at Sirius but he just looked so damn good in a suit with his hair pushed back.

'I thought Nathaniel was going to curse the hell out of Sirius when he arrived,' Adaline told me.

I took the glass from Remus and gave it a sip. 'Really?'

Sirius just nodded in response, looking everywhere else but me. I tried not to sigh aloud but this was not going to be as easy as I had expected it to be.

'Oh, James!' Lily gasped. 'That's Jocunda Sykes!'

'Who?' James replied incredulously.

'The first woman to fly across the Atlantic on a broomstick! Don't you pay attention to your Chocolate Frog cards?'

We stood and watched as Lily dragged him away to speak to the famous witch.

With the four of us left standing, I couldn't help but feel like there were eyes on us and I was right. The other Slytherin's invited were watching Adaline and me, Nathaniel being at the forefront.

'You would think that they had better things to look at than us,' I said taking another drink.

'It's because we are all so ridiculously good looking,' Adaline said. 'Come on, Remus. We're going to dance.'

Poor Remus never even got a chance to say no. He was whisked away, and I knew Adaline had done it on purpose. I just wished it had made things less awkward between me and Sirius, but it hadn't.

'You're awfully quiet,' I started.

I tried to sound confident, but I was fully aware that I was the one that broke us down, so I had to be the one to put in the work to build the relationship back up.

He shrugged. 'I wasn't sure you wanted me to talk to you.'

'Hmm,' I said. 'Well if you don't want to speak to me, I'll just go-'

'No,' he cut me off. 'You know what I mean.'

He met my eyes and I felt my heart skip a beat. His eyes looked so much like puppy dog eyes right now. Fuck, why did he have to look so good? I couldn't fight back when he made me want to melt into the ground.

'So, how does Christie feel about you being here? With Adaline?' I questioned even though I didn't want to know the answer. No one is a threat to you, I told myself. You always get what you want.

He shrugged. I hated when he shrugged in response.

'So she doesn't mind you being someone else's date to a party?'

'I don't see why she would.'

'Well, are you two not serious?' I asked, stopping myself from biting my lip.

'No,' he replied bluntly.

He didn't scoff. He didn't act like it was a ridiculous thing to think. He didn't say what they were. He didn't make a single joke about it.

'Oh,' I replied and finished my drink.

'Is that alright with you?' Sirius asked me, now with a slight smirk on his face.

Did he have to looks so good doing everything?

'I don't actually care,' I lied and poured myself another drink. 'You want another one?'

I ignored his eye roll and handed him a glass of mead anyway.

'So, if you don't care, why have you not spoke to me in two weeks?'

My eyebrow raised and I couldn't help but smirk right back at him. I was interrupted before I got the chance to retaliate.

'Nova Bruce.'

Sirius' face dropped almost instantly as I turned around to see who had called on me. Imelda Rosier, Adaline's soon-to-be sister-in-law. Great. She stood in a flawless deep blue gown in front of me, her black hair flowing all the way down her back.

'Imelda,' I plastered a smile on my face. 'I didn't realise you would be here tonight.'

'I'm always invited,' she pursed her lips. 'I never usually come, but Braisen thought it would be a good idea for me to get to know Adaline. Where is she?'

I could see Adaline and Remus moving side to side to the music, talking away to each other. There was no way I was prepared to ruin their evening when it had just begun. I looked the complete opposite way from them as if looking for her.

'She just went to the bathroom, over there,' I pointed.

Imelda didn't answer. Instead, she was staring at Sirius who was giving her a look of disdain in return.

'I sincerely hope you are keeping better company tonight,' she looked back to me, now looking me up and down.

'I am,' I replied and stepped further back to stand beside Sirius. I tried not to scream aloud when I felt his hand slither around the back of my waist.

'I see,' Imelda replied with a scowl. 'I'll go look for my sister-in-law now.'

We stood there and watched her walk away for a minute before I turned to face Sirius, noticing he still wasn't removing his hand from my body. I looked down at it and then back at him and this time, I let myself bite my lip.

He cocked his head to the direction of a door.

'I think we need to talk.'

Dress by TAYLOR SWIFT