Changes
by NicolaPadfoot
Authors Note: Hello my people, I'm back! But I am disappointed, I want more reviews!!! Don't give the reviews to all the writers that already have, like, eight hundred. They don't need anymore!! Sorry, I know begging isn't in the least bit good but I love reviews, I worship them. I appreciate them more than other people (probably) So go on, review! You will even gat mentioned in my next chapter!!!! (bribery) Anyway, here are the wonderful people that did review my story~
Scarlett*eyes~ Yet again another wonderful review! I thought that line was cute as well, bless her. They don't argue in my fic (Lily and James) That might change later, but I doubt it. Thanks and keep on with the reviews!
Princess Gin – Gin~ You'll soon see if he can be a gentleman, it's in this chapter! You said you felt sorry for Serena with her family problems, I agree, but it does make her more interesting..(hee hee, what a nasty writer I am). Keep reviewing!!!
Mrs Grim~ I loved your review! Very encouraging! I haven't had time to read your story yet (bloody homework) but I will!! I have overcame my writers block, but I have just deleted about half of a chapter off the computer, arggggggghhhhh!!!! It has really stressed me out! Keep up the reviews!!!!!!!
Milkyweed~ Thank you so much for your review. It is greatly appreciated! So you know what I'm gonna ask you. Please review again!!
Caytebelle~ Omg! Adoring fan! I love it! Sowwy I'm getting a bit hyper, been drinking too much coffee. Here is the next chapter, and thanx so much for the lovely review!!
HERACLAS~ Yet again, another amazing review!!! Btw, i think we should all have a summer wedding, you name the place. Ohh yes, I also believe that we should share what we have. We can swap husbands every now and then, lol! I'm determined to find a Dill Pickle you know, I will as well one day. I wanna move to New York when I'm older, I bet they sell 'em in New York! Thanks honey for another great review! I WANT MORE!!
Lauren~ Hiya babez, thanks for reviewing the story, and not just tellin me what you thought at schools, I like reviews better! Btw, I don't like ****** anymore, he's too immature, just thought I'd let you know. I dunno who I like any more, ohh well, Orlando Bloom will suffice for now....mmmmm.....Orlando Bloom. Sorry, back to the point, loved your review, see you at school!!!!
Disclaimer~ I don't own anything, I've decided! JK Rowling does, and I love her for it!!!!
6. The Perfect Gentleman
Later that day at dinner, the Gryffindors got into a conversation about the Welcoming Dance. Mainly they were deciding on who they wanted to go with.
"I'm going to ask Laila in Hufflepuff," said Peter, "She's really pretty, and she never says anything bad to me, she's always so nice."
"That's because she can't string two words together," said Serena, "If you want a girl who you can talk to, I wouldn't choose a Hufflepuff."
"Will you go with me then Serena?" She noticed that he had been gearing himself up to ask her, she didn't know how to let him down without hurting his feeling.
"I'm sort of keeping my options open Peter," his face fell, "It's not that I don't like you or anything, it's just that I see you as more of a friend. You are a really cool friend Pete," his spirits seemed to lift back up again.
"You better get a date for the dance soon though," moaned Lily, "We can't walk down the hall without someone asking you to the dance."
"It's the same with you Lil', and don't pretend it isn't," said Serena, she gave James a meaningful look, he gave a confused one back. Boys were so clueless.
"Sirius won't be making any plans on who he's going to the dance with, not if he fails on today's bet," Serena said to Sirius.
"Honestly, I hope you win, anything to please you Serena," She was becoming increasingly worried, he was being the perfect gentleman, he hadn't made one fault yet.
Later on that night, Sirius was still acting like the perfect gentleman, even when Lily called him clumsy and stupid when he got his Charms homework wrong, he didn't rise to her bait. It was five minutes to midnight and Serena was becoming anxious, she had to go for desperate measures. She moved to the fireplace and sat next to Sirius on the warm rug.
"Sirius, please don't do this to me, I can't sing in front of everyone at your party. If you were a real gentleman you wouldn't make me do it." Serena said edging closer to him, she looked into his big brown eyes and put on an unhappy face. He stared straight back at her.
"I'm sorry, I only want you to sing at my party because Lily told me that you have such a lovely voice," Serena noticed that he was not going to give up the gentleman act. The bell on the common room clock the began to chime, after the twelve times, Sirius moved from the rug and went up to the boys dormitories.
"You can choose the song," he said with a sarcastic smile spread over his face, Serena gave a 'Humph!' and ran up to the girls dormitories.
Serena told Lily what had happened in the common room downstairs, Lily was sympathetic.
"It'll be fine Serena, don't worry you have such a lovely voice. As long as you don't bottle it you'll be fine."
"But that's my point Lily, what happens if I do bottle it? Sirius will think I'm such an idiot, everyone in Gryffindor will think I'm an idiot."
"Serena, you aren't listening to me," Lily said sternly, "You won't bottle it if you believe in yourself, we all believe in you, so should you. Your such a good singer, your a good friend, your clever, the list goes on. You need to believe in yourself and this could give you the confidence to do that. Please don't worry about it, think of a song and put yourself into it. Show everyone how special you are. I know you can do it."
Lily got up and left the room to go to the bathroom, leaving Serena in her thoughts. She so wanted to prove to everyone how she was so much more than just a brainbox, she new this, so did Lily and Remus but it wasn't enough for her. With this she went to bed, she wasn't going to run away this time, she was going to face it head on. No matter how hard it was.
The next morning Serena woke up and went to the hall for breakfast. Sirius came in five minutes later, with a large grin spread on his face. He sat down next to James and opposite Serena, and ladled out large proportions of chocolate porridge into a bowl.
"Guess what James? We have entertainment for my party, and she's sitting right in front of me, I won the bet." Sirius swelled with pride, Serena kept quiet playing with the toast on her plate. She had suddenly lost her appetite. "What will you be singing for us Serena, have you chosen yet?"
"Yes actually," she said forcing a smile onto her lips, Sirius looked puzzled at her smile, "I'm going to sing 'Fallin'', you wont know the song it's just been written (It's the Alicia Keys song, I know it's the wrong era, but I like the song so much)."
"As long as you can get the music, I'm fine with whatever you sing, as long as you perform. We do want our moneys worth." Sirius said happily.
"Oh, you'll get your moneys worth, don't worry about that." With that she stood up and walked out of the hall, her head held high.
Two weeks into the school year things were going well. The marauders had already pulled some excellent tricks on the Slytherins, and to their great satisfaction, had been caught out every time. Professor Dumbledore had actually congratulated them for their impressive amount of detentions in their school career.
Serena had realised how many boys there were in Hogwarts, mainly because the majority had already asked her to the Welcoming Dance. She didn't understand why, but she had said no to each and everyone of them. She had a suspicion that it was because she was wanting Sirius to ask her.
She lived by her promise though, she told James to ask Lily to go to the Dance with him, he did, after Serena assured him about fifteen times that she would go with him. Lily had taken to the job of getting Serena a date after that, but Serena was content with going to the dance on her own. Sirius had been asked to the dance by Narcissa, and to Serena's disappointment, he jumped at the chance. Lily said that this was because Beatrice had been pestering him to go with her, and he needed an excuse for not to. If he said yes to Narcissa that meant Beatrice couldn't ask him anymore. Narcissa would beat her up. It didn't stop Serena from being disappointed though.
After classes that day the Gryffindors ran to the common room to get ready for the party. The only person who didn't seem to be positively buzzing about Sirius' birthday was Serena, her stomach felt as if it was writhing with snakes. She got ready very carefully for the party, she wanted to make a good impression on Sirius and show how good she was, even if she didn't feel it. She wore her baby pink mini skirt, her bright pink paisley halter neck and her knee high boots, she looked very pretty.
Everyone gathered downstairs at seven o'clock to give Sirius his presents. James got him a magical joke book filled with things you wouldn't do to even your worst enemy, Sirius loved it. Remus and Peter pulled together to get him their present. It was a new beaters club, top of the range. Lily bought him a book called 'How to Deal With My Own Cockiness' by Memyself Andi. To Lily's relief Sirius found this highly amusing. Serena gave him a wishing well, a well that will give you anything you want, as long as it's legal and it's not to become a millionaire. All in all Sirius was very pleased with the presents he received, he got many more from the people in Gryffindor.
At about half past seven Sirius dimmed the lights and stood on James' transfigured stage and gave his announcement.
"I have been waiting for this night since the beginning of September, not because of all the presents, but because of the entertainment. I don't know if she's any good or anything. The main reason I want to get her up here tonight is because I won a bet and I want to show her that I hold people to bets, and that next time she might not get off so easily." Sirius looked at some of the puzzled faces in the common room, "I should explain."
"Tonight Serena will be singing for us," many of the people in the room laughed out loud, they remembered the last time she tried to sing, "So come up here Serena!" shouted Sirius.
Serena walked gracefully towards the stage and gave Sirius a small smile, he blushed profusely. She sat on the stool and nodded to Lily who started the tape.
I Keep on fallin' in and outta love with you
Sometimes I love you,
Sometimes you make me blue.
Sometimes I feel good,
At times I feel used.
Lovin' you darlin',
Makes me feel so confused.
I keep on fallin' in and out of love with you,
I never loved someone the way that I love you
Oh..oh..I...never felt this way,
How do you give me so much pleasure?
Cause me so much pain.
Cause when I think I've takin' more than would a fool
I start fallin' back in love with you
I keep on fallin' in and out of love with you
I never loved someone the way that I love you
Ahh..ahh..ahh..ahh fa-ll-in'
Ahh..ahh..ahh..ahh fa-ll-in'
Faa..aa..aa..aa..aa..aa..Faa..aa..aal
I keep on fallin' in and out of love with you,
I never loved someone the way that I love you.
I'm fallin' in and out of love with you,
I never loved someone the way that I love you.
I'm fallin' in and out of love with you,
I never loved someone the way that I love you.
The Gryffindor common Room erupted into cheers, Serena smiled. She had done it, Lily smiled at her from the other side of the room. Sirius looked at her in disbelief, she walked up to him and gave him a hug.
"Happy Birthday, Sirius," she whispered in his ear. James stood on the stage, ready to make yet another announcement.
"Okay then, err... the foods in the corner, and err... I'll put some music on, and you have a good time," while saying this he was looking at Serena and he couldn't help himself, "God, your full of surprises, Serena." Everyone laughed.
The 5th years found a corner to sit in and got some food from the table. Sirius began the conversation.
"Why didn't you tell us that you could sing, your really good," said Sirius, "Lily told me you could sing, but she didn't tell me you could sing like that."
"I don't do well with compliments Sirius, I can't take them," said Serena, she was very embarrassed, "What are you going to wish for in the wishing well? I didn't know what to get you, then I saw the advertisement in Witch Weekly. I thought it was pretty cool."
"I dunno, I have so many wishes and dreams, now I've got to work out which one is the most important." said Sirius
"I'd find it hard to choose one thing," said Reemi, "Take your time in thinking about it."
"Yeah Si, be careful what you wish for, it might just come true," Penny said dramatically, she was very into Divination.
"Don't listen to Penny, she's trying to be Professor Trelawney," said Alaine.
"You mean she's trying to do our heads in," Lily said, she was definitely not into Divination. She was quite good at it but she didn't like the way Professor Trelawney always bugged her about what she could see, and Lily never liked to talk about it.
At one o'clock Professor McGonagall came into the common Room to tell them to wrap it up, Serena was quite glad of this because she was tired of talking about her singing to everyone who asked. After saying goodnight to everybody, she hurried upstairs, got undressed, and climbed into bed. Smiling as she slept.
Please keep reviewing, it really is greatly appreciated. I hope you liked it!!!!! In the next chapter we have the arrival of the Irish!!!!!
