I Was at Godric's Hollow
By Eratosthenese
They say that love is what makes us all into what we are. And, if that is true, then all those who have had the foolishness to fall in love would be dead, for love ruins us all without a thought for the consequences.
But there are still those irrational young spirits who believe that love is the only thing that life has in store for them, and they are still alive. Alive, of course, in the sense that they are still medically functioning and physically existing, but not alive in the perception that their souls are still thriving with the happiness you are blessed with when you are first intoxicated with the poison of love that courses through our veins, tainting our minds with hallucinations of bliss and delight.
Young spirits such as that of Sirius Black.
Having just graduated from seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and moving on to pass his Auror exams for the Ministry of Magic, he was still in the senseless state of mind, where the only thing that he could think of was falling in love and finding a life for himself. His best friend, James Potter, another Hogwarts graduate, had married the perfect girl for him, Lily Evans, and his other best friend, Remus Lupin, was as much interested in girls as he was with Muggle fashion shows.
Sirius, however, was a bachelor, and hating it. At night, he would sit alone in the Leaky Cauldron, or other nearby town pubs, drinking butterbeer and eyeing beautiful girls, none of whom gave him a second look.
It wasn't that he wasn't handsome.
He was.
His black hair fell over his eyes in a cool, bored fashion, and his eyes were like deep pools that read all women like they were an open book, but a lone man drinking in a bar was never very attractive to many woman. Occasionally he would approach a woman with a corny pick-up line such as, "Hey, I've lost my shirt, can I use yours?" and "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'u' and 'i' together," and "If I said that you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?" Stupid things like that. One of James' favourite was "You blew my mind from across the room. I'm going to need your name and owl for insurance reasons."
But one night, on guys night out, Sirius hit gold at the Werewolf's Tooth. James had talked Sirius into approaching women with those types of pick-up lines, and Sirius being the daring boy that he was, had idiotically accepted.
After being rejected by about six females already, he neared the bar where a young lonely woman sat.
"Hi, I'm Sirius," said Sirius, as he walked casually over to the beautiful blonde girl, sitting alone and drinking a butterbeer straight from the bottle.
"And I'm kidding, nice to meet you, Sirius." James and Remus stifled laughs at the table. Sirius hesitated before going on.
"Are your legs tired, 'cause you've been runnin' through my head all day," he said, leaning against the bar. James and Remus both laughed harder at the other side of the bar.
Without giving Sirius a second look, the woman took a sip of her drink and said, "Are you the kind of guy who's so desperate for a fun night that he'll use any pick-up line he finds in those books on how to pick up chicks, or are you the kind of cute, stuttering idiot who doesn't know how to approach a girl and uses any pick-up line he finds in those books on how to pick-up chicks?" She took another sip of her drink.
Sirius was so taken aback by her response, that it took him a second to recalibrate with an answer.
"I'm the kind of guy who spotted the most beautiful girl in the room and approached her with a pick-up line he heard his best friend use to see if he could be lucky enough to get her owl address and maybe a date." The girl looked over at the handsome, dark haired man with an eyebrow raised in polite amusement. "But I think the real question we should be asking here is are you the kind of girl who rejects any guy who approaches you with a corny pick-up line because she's scared of getting hurt after a one-night stand, or are you the kind of girl who's too freaked out to get into a committed relationship at this time in her life?"
The girl smiled. "Here's my owl," she said. She kept gazing into his rapturing eyes, and left, leaving five sickles and three knuts on the table for her butterbeer.
"Wait! I don't even know your name," Sirius called after her.
"You won't need it, Sirius!" she shouted over her shoulder.
He stared at the piece of paper she had handed him. It was old and crumpled, as if she's been holding it for a long time, just waiting for the right person to give it to.
On it was scribbled, "68, Empyrean Street, London."
Sirius stared at it for a moment, before returning to the table where James and Remus sat. "I can't believe it," said James with a laugh, slapping Sirius on the back as he pulled up a chair. "I just can't believe it."
"Yeah, it's a bit unbelievable, isn't it?" said Sirius.
Remus smiled happily.
"Lily never would have fallen for that one."
"So things are working out for you two, then?" said Remus, sipping his butterbeer.
"Incredible. She's like this whole – she just—"
"Takes your breath away?" sighed Sirius, still looking at the parchment gripped firmly in his hand.
"Yeah."
Sirius laughed his bark-like laugh. "You look funny when you get that look, mate."
"Sorry, I just- Well, you know how I get when I think of her too much. It's high time we find a girl for you, though, chum," he said again, slamming his palm on Remus' back. He choked into his beer.
"Cut that out, will you?" he said, sputtering and coughing.
James and Sirius laughed. "I miss Hogwarts, sometimes, you know?" said James finally. He kept running his hand through his hair, as if messing it up.
"It's been a month," said Sirius.
"But still."
"Well yeah, I kind of do too, sometimes…"
"Who doesn't?" said Remus, leaning back in his chair. "Things seemed easier at school."
"For you, yeah."
"No, I mean, with everything. All of it seemed to have an answer. If it wasn't true, it was false, you know?"
By that time, Hogwarts seemed like a near memory. Occasionally, one would bring up past adventures and troubles caused by them back in the day. After all, they were growing up. Reminiscing on times like those were useless.
A wise man once said, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."