Together they passed through the front doors of Hogwarts castle and into the pleasantly warm May sunshine. As they drew closer to the lake a whistle erupted from a nearby clump of bushes and from behind it emerged the tall form of Sirius Black, long dark hair spilling onto his broad shoulders, looking gorgeous in the afternoon light.
"Hey, beautiful," he called, striding up to Celeste and throwing his arm around her waist. "I thought you guys would never get here, the food's getting cold. Hey, Celeste," he said, looking down into her face, which barely came up to his shoulder. "I snitched a bottle of wine, think you're too young to have a taste?"
Celeste smirked; she was often teased by her friends for being younger than them, although only by a year. But what Sirius didn't know was that the wine supplied to the Hogwarts castle for the teachers' use actually came from her father's vineyards and that she had been tasting fine wines since she was ten.
"Of course I'm not too young, Sirius, but I think I'll have something to eat first," she gently removed his arm and ran ahead to join the other three waiting by the lake. She settled herself between her pretty redheaded friend, Lily Evans, and Lily's boyfriend, James Potter.
"Now look here you two," she said in a mock serious voice as James tried to push her away. "I won't have the two of you snogging while the rest of us are trying to eat. I have a very healthy appetite right know and I don't want it ruined." So saying, she picked up a turkey sandwich, poured herself some butterbeer, and began to eat.
Soon everyone followed suit and there was a relative silence broken only by the chinking of plates and bottles. By the time everyone had started on seconds, however, conversations began to spring up. James began telling an awestruck Peter Pettigrew once again how he had managed to win the quiddich cup with a spectacular dive, catching the snitch right under the Slytherin seeker's nose. Peter was the only one James could really impress with this story, even Lily had gotten tired of it by now.
Next to James, Celeste and Lily were discussing the O.W.L. exams and how difficult the Potions exam was likely to be. Lily and the others had taken them the year before, but Celeste would be taking them in a few weeks time. Celeste was an overall good student, but it was common knowledge she was terrible in Potions, at the moment she was telling Lily about how the bad grade she had received on her last piece of Potions homework had earned her detention.
Remus, sitting between Peter and Sirius, had been listening to Sirius list the things he wanted to do on their next Hogsmead visit, but soon Remus' eyes were drawn to Celeste. He tried to focus on what Sirius was saying, but he couldn't help noticing how her dark brown hair kept falling into her face, or how animated her face had become as she gave Lily a blow by blow account of her detention with Professor Brewster and how part of a pickled rat brain had gotten caught in her hair.
The conversation soon turned to the summer vacation, there was some talk of them all getting together some how, but there didn't seem to be a time that would work for everyone. Remus would be working for his uncle, Celeste was going to France with her father, and James and Sirius were traveling to Morocco with Mr. and Mrs. Potter who owned a summer home there.
After Peter had expressed his awe at the amount of money the Potter and the Black families had, Sirius gave a short, bark-like laugh. "I know who won't be having a very enjoyable summer," he said happily.
"And who might that be," Lily asked."Whose future misery is bringing you such joy, Sirius?"
Sirius smirked. "Why, none other than Snivellus Snape. His parents are planning to host a few Pureblood cocktail parties this summer, among others; my mother has been invited. Ah, yes, I'll be soaking up the sun while Snivellus is pouring drinks for my dear old mum, ha!"
While James joined in his laughter, Remus saw Celeste shoot her boyfriend a very dirty look. Remus knew she and Lily were not fond of the pranks James and Sirius liked to play on Severus Snape, Remus didn't care for them either, but Severus usually gave as good as he got, and the two Gryffindors had been left looking foolish more than once.
Remus suddenly wondered why Celeste chose to go out with Sirius. He was handsome, yes, and even occasionally funny, but they really had very little in common, and at times Celeste looked at him in utter dislike, like now. Sirius didn't even know what color eyes she had, he thought they were brown, they were in fact gray, flecked with emerald. Remus admonished himself sternly, he was merely being jealous. Last spring Sirius Black, who could have dated any girl in the school, had asked out the only girl Remus had ever really liked. The girl he had had a crush on since his fourth year. It was his own fault he didn't ask her first, Remus reminded himself ruefully.
After the picknick, the six friends headed back to the castle, James once again talking about the quiddich game and occasionally ruffling his hair.
"You know, James," said Celeste, suddenly."I bet if you keep running your fingers through your hair like that you'll probably pull it all out one day."
Lily started to giggle but stopped at a look from James, Remus and Sirius however, burst out laughing. Peter couldn't make up his mind and so settled on a nervous laugh and a sneeze.
Back in the common room everyone said good night and went to their separate dormitories. But Celeste asked Sirius to stay a moment; there was something she wanted to talk over with him.
-
Remus woke early the next morning, rolling over to try and get back to sleep, he caught sight of Sirius sitting on the bed next to his, head in his hands.
"Sirius," he said, groggily. "What's wrong with you?"
Sirius looked up; hands away from his face Remus could see he was very pale and looked as if he hadn't slept all night.
"Celeste broke up with me," he said croakily. "Said we didn't have enough between us to be more than friends."
Wide-awake now, Remus sat up in bed. "Looks like it hit you hard," he commented softly, not mentioning the fact that he had been thinking just the night before how incompatible they were.
"Yeah, well its not as if I'd ever been rejected before, is it?" Sirius gave a small laugh. "But she's right, you know. I've been thinking about it all-night and, well, she's just too good for me. She'd be better off with someone else."
Remus' stomach gave a small squirm; he'd very much like to be that someone else, he knew. But he couldn't think of that right now, Sirius needed his help.
"Listen, mate," said Remus, climbing out of bed. "We've got a Hogsmead visit today, clean yourself up and let's have some breakfast. Maybe a visit to the village will keep you mind off things for awhile."