Part Six:

The fourth year started out great. James, Peter, and I were busy trying to become Animagus for Remus, and we were getting close. This, along with Quidditch practices, made it hard to find time for girls, thank goodness.

Until just before Christmas.

In the Great Hall one night, in late November, Dumbledore announced that on Christmas, there would be a Yule Ball. As in, a dance that practically requires a date. Shit.

I wasn't worried about finding a date, actually. The Ball sounded lame, but it would be better then going home for the holidays. James was (fruitlessly) trying to get Lily Evans to go with him, and Remus and Peter were trying to find dates, too. But I knew that getting a date for myself would be no problem

But when I heard the news, I knew who I wanted to go with.

I heard, about a week after the announcement of the Yule Ball was made, I heard some fantastic news: Threacher had dumped Ruthie.

I found her in the library one evening, in early December. I sat down next to her, just as I had the year before. She gave me a look. "What do you want, Black?"

"Sirius," I corrected. Then I continued: "I heard what happened."

"Hasn't the whole school?" she said bitterly.

"He never deserved you." She snorted and pretended to read her book. "I mean, I would've never hurt you like that..."

"Yeah, right," she said. "I know how you are with girls."

"Um, my last two girlfriends broke up with me," I said. She looked at me, eyebrows raised. "Look, Ruthie, I know that you said you'd never like me, but...will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

Ruthie thought for a second. "Okay."

I couldn't contain my surprise. "Really?" Ruthie nodded, and I smiled. "You won't be sorry. We'll have the best time. Threacher gonna wish he never dumped you."

Ruthie smiled at that, then got up to leave. "Want me to walk you back?" I asked, standing up too.

"No, I think I can handle it," she said, and she swished around and walked away.

I hurried back to the Gryffindor common room to tell the other guys the news. Remus and Peter seemed happy, but James looked a little jealous. "Geez, Black always gets the girl, doesn't he?"

"Come on, Lily'll come around eventually," I said, not really caring if she did or didn't at the moment.

"Yeah, uh huh," James said, then grinned. "Hey, I'm happy for you, man. So was I: Ruthie was going to the Yule Ball with me.

But you wouldn't know it by the way she acted. She completely ignored me, as usual. When I tried to talk to her in the hall, she said, "Oh, I gotta go, Sirius. I'll talk to you later." My friends sniggered as she walked away.

"Ouch, iced," Peter teased.

"Who the hell are you going with, Pettigrew?" I demanded. That shut him up.

The night of the Yule Ball, we all got ready in our dormitory. I had new dress robes, of a deep Gryffindor red. I felt bad for Remus as I watched James and Peter get into their new dress robes, too: his family wasn't exactly rolling in Galleons, and his dress robes were second, maybe even third, hand. But at least he had a date.

I left a little earlier then the others, and went to wait for Ruthie in front of the Hufflepuff common room door. She must've been the last one to come out, and the Ball was about to start.

But it was worth the wait: she looked beautiful. Her black hair was in a complicated updo, and it seemed to sparkle with some sort of glitter. She wore form-fitting, silk dress robes in lilac. She smiled at me. "Hi, Sirius."

"Wow..." was all I could manage. She smiled, and I took her arm. We went to the Great Hall.

Everyone seemed to be watching us. The hottest couple at the Ball, I thought. I could see Ruthie's ex-boyfriend, Threacher, and his date, a pretty third year that I'd seen around, watching us from the corner.

We ate dinner at a table with my friends and their dates. James had settled for a friend of Lily's, a girl named Violet. Remus was with a Ravenclaw fifth year named Lucia Malone (way to go, Mooney!). Even Peter managed to get a halfway decent date (with James help, I expect): a third year named Ophelia Donaldson, who was on the Quidditch team with us.

Ophelia, James, and I talked about Quidditch, Remus and Lucia had a quiet conversation, and Ruthie, Violet, and Peter even had some sort of conversation. Things were going great...until the dancing began.

Well, even that was okay at first. Ruthie and I danced the first few together. She wasn't as good of a dancer as I would have hoped...but nobody's perfect, I thought.

After a few dances, Threacher came over to us. "Can I steal her for one?" he asked me.

I looked at Ruthie, who was looking at him. I nodded, and I knew the truth as he took her in his arms: they still liked each other.

Feeling discouraged, I went outside, which had been decorated for the Yule Ball. I could hear couples making out in the bushes. I walked towards the fountain in the center, my path alite with fairies on the bushes and trees, when I heard the unmistakeable sound of a sniffle. I turned the corner to find the pretty girl who'd gone to the Ball with Threacher, sitting on a bench, crying.

"Hey," I said, getting her attention. She looked up at me, horrified. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm just..." She sniffled again.

"Didn't you go to the Ball with Alexander Threacher?" I asked, sitting down next to her. She nodded. "He's an asshole."

"I know," she agreed. We smiled at each other.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Courtney Lewis," she said. "I'm in Ravenclaw." I nodded, and she smiled again.

"And yours?" I was surprised, but I tried not to show it. It was a pleasant sort of surprise: I'd never met a girl at school since my second year that didn't know my name.

"Sirius Black."

"Oooooh," she said, in a voice that said "so you're that guy". She smiled again. "So, you went with Ruthie Shaker?"

"Yeah...I kinda had a crush on her last year." I added the "last year" part to make it sound like I didn't like her anymore. The truth was, I didn't think I did.

"They still like each other," Courtney said with a sigh. "I mean, why did he even ask me to go if he still liked her?"

"Cause he's an asshole," I said again.

"Oh, yeah..."

We must've sat there, ragging on Threacher and Ruthie for hours. And by the time midnight struck the the teachers came out to find the missing kids, I think I was in love with her.

And from that night on, after our first kiss, we were a couple.

***************

I gave Sirius a happy ending! WARNING: the next chapter is going to be sad...