Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter characters. They belong to JK Rowling. I don't own Ivy. She belongs to my editor. I own the ring…Muahahaha…Nevermind.
"You missed dinner." Sirius said as Ivy walked up behind him.
"Well, I was busy." She replied.
"Busy? Couldn't you call?" He asked.
"No. I couldn't. Unless you wanted me to get caught and killed?" She said rolling her eyes.
"That's not what I meant. Darnit Ivy, why does it have to be you? I never see you anymore."
"Well sor-ry. I came now, didn't I?" She shot back.
"Well yeah, but..." He started
"No. I came. I'm sorry. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going home to get some sleep." She said, turning to walk away.
"Ivy, wait!" Sirius yelled after her as she turned and walked away.
"What is it Sirius? You want to make me feel worse?" She said, turning to face him. She looked sad and angry at the same time. She looked tired and stretched too thin. Her normally beautiful and full brown hair with green highlights was slightly stringy.
"What else could you possibly say?" She asked him.
"I just wanted to spend time with you. I never get to see you anymore. You're always working for the Order, or being called away. All I asked was for one night of dinner." He replied, walking to catch up with her.
She looked away from him, not able to face him for saying that.
"You think I want this? You think I want to be stuck doing work all the time? I'm in constant fear of my life and everyone else's life. I never get to spend time with you or Lily. I don't get sleep because of the endless nightmares. What more do you want from me? I'm drowning!" She told him, her voice breaking.
He put his arms around her, attempting to hold her, but she shrugged him away. She started walking down the street.
"I'm sorry Sirius. I'll talk to you later." She said, her voice fading as she turned the corner.
He watched her walk away, and thought to himself how helpless he was, unable to help her. She was under so much stress, and he just added to it by bothering her like that. He was sorry now, but he couldn't say it.
He turned to walk back into his house, then it struck him. He knew how to help her. He knew what to do now.
…………………………………………………………………………..
Sirius stood before the door of the house of his best friend. He knocked on it quickly, hoping that James was home.
Lily answered the door, smiling at him.
"Hello Sirius, what a pleasant surprise. You haven't been here for a while."
He smiled back at her, walking into the house as she offered him entry.
"Is James here? I really need to talk to him." Sirius said, his voice expressing excitement over his brilliant idea. He felt like he was back at school making up plans to trick a teacher or get around a rule. That's what he was doing though. He was getting around a rule.
"James!" Lily yelled up the stairs. "Sirius is here and he wants to talk to you!"
"Alright, tell him to come up here then." James's faint reply came from up the steps.
"You heard the man, go on up. I think he's in the Study, reading or something." She said, shrugging as she went back to the kitchen. He could smell lunch cooking.
He bounded up the steps, making his way to the study, where James was reading, his feet propped on a mahogany desk. He fit, there in the study. He had always been kind of bookish, even if he never admitted it. He looked like a husband. Which he was. But he looked the part.
"James…I have an idea, but I need your help." Sirius said, almost breathless with excitement. "I've figured it out. I know how to get around everything." He said, slightly crazed.
"Get around what? What are you talking about, Padfoot?" James asked, putting his feet on the floor and laying his book on the desk.
"I know how to get Ivy out of the double agent life." He said slowly. "It's so simple, so easy, and I finally figured it out."
"So, what is the conclusion you've come to?" James asked, hoping his friend really did find the solution.
"I'm going to ask her to marry me."
James sat there dumbstruck for a moment before bursting out laughing. Sirius had come over like a crazy man just to tell him this? It was just so funny, especially since he had taken this long to consider it for any reason.
"What's so funny, Prongs?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, I'm sorry Padfoot, but you're just such an idiot." James replied shortly, lowering his laugh to a slight snickering.
"What!" Sirius said loudly, wondering what was funny.
"Well, it's just that I figured you would have thought to ask her for another reason than just to get her out of a job…" He replied.
"That's not the only reason I thought of it. I love her. I just never could come up with the right time and reason to ask her before now. Now I have it. It'll be perfect." Sirius said, his eyes getting a far away glazed look.
"Well, I'm glad for you Padfoot. You've grown up." He gushed mockingly.
"Oh shut up." Sirius replied. "I came to ask you something though. How should I go about picking a ring?" He asked.
James thought for a moment. "Well for engagement it's best to keep it a little simple. You might want to go with silver or white gold." James said.
"Simple, expensive…got it." Sirius said, taking mental notes. "I'll get it now. Then I'll call her and ask her out to dinner for tonight." He said, turning to walk out the door. He was out, door closed behind him, when he turned back and opened it again.
"James, promise you won't tell Lily or Ivy?" Sirius said.
"I solemnly swear on the Order. I won't tell Ivy…or Lily." James said.
"I'm holding you to that. Now I have a ring to buy." Sirius said, closing the door again.
………………………………………………………………………
Sirius was at the jewelry store, looking through all the engagement and wedding rings there were in the case, each one prettier than the next. He couldn't find one good enough for her though. She'd be happy with anything, but he wanted it to be special. She was everything to him.
He'd known her since he was thirteen, and they'd been dating since he was sixteen, nearly seventeen. Now he was almost twenty. It was kind of funny, the way they met. He had met her on the train to Hogwarts in third year. She was alone in a compartment, and James, Lily, and he had nowhere else to sit. They joined her, and they talked for a while, but she never said what house she was in. They would've never known if Bellatrix hadn't come to get her. That was when they found she was in Slytherin. James and himself had become distant then, their blatant dislike of Slytherins taking over. Lily however didn't care. She defended Ivy, and yelled at Bella. Ivy and Lily were fast friends ever since. James and Sirius had warmed up to her by fourth year.
Sirius sighed at the memories, and then he found it. The ring he'd been looking for. It was silver with little emeralds. "I'll take this one please." He told the lady behind the counter.
She smiled at him as she took it out and placed it in a navy blue ring case. "Some lady's real lucky." She told him, handing him the ring and winking. He paid her the money and hurried out of the store.
…………………………………………………………………………
The idea struck him as he was halfway home. He needed to talk to one more person before going to see Ivy. He had to go and talk to Dumbledore. He wasn't sure how the older man would go for this. Ivy was important to the Order, but would he say no to this?
Sirius apparated, a sensation of being pulled in multiple directions coming over him, and then feeling squeezed tightly. He was released from this feeling to be in front of a building with some of the windows appearing to be boarded up. This was the Orders headquarters.
He walked inside quietly. He saw familiar faces that smiled briefly at him before returning to their conversations. Sirius returned their smiles before taking to the stairs leading to the upper levels of the house. Up one flight of stairs, then two, before coming to a landing with a single hall with a door at the end.
He knocked lightly, and Dumbledore bade him entry. Sirius stepped into the office to see the elderly wizard seated at his desk, reading over some parchment. His attention seemed to be elsewhere and Sirius almost considered turning back, but Dumbledore finally looked up. His eyes seemed slightly tired, but happy in the way people are when seeing old friends.
"Sirius! What a surprise. It's been a while hasn't it?" Dumbledore said brightly.
"Yes sir, I suppose it has." Sirius replied. "Sir, would it be ok if I asked you something important?" Sirius said, diving right into the point of his visit. Dumbledore gave him a look of curiosity before nodding his head.
"Well I wanted to ask if you could find someone else to do Ivy's job. She's not sleeping well and she's irritable well more often then usual. Severus should be ready to work on his own, shouldn't he?" Sirius said.
Dumbledore frowned slightly. "I would love nothing less than to give Ivy her normal life back, but she's very important to our cause. I'm not sure if she'd want it for anything less than important." He said, pausing for a moment. Then he continued, "I suppose if there were some very important reason for her to stop working here that would be alright."
"Sir, I want to ask her to marry me." Sirius said.
"I suspected as much." Dumbledore replied, a smile coming to his face, and the twinkle returning to his bright blue eyes. "I suppose that she could be free of her duties, if that is her wish."
"Thank you!" Sirius exclaimed. "Thank you very much sir."
"No, Sirius. You and she deserve it." He replied.
Sirius bowed his way out. Here and now he decided that Dumbledore was the greatest man alive.
Now it was time to call Ivy.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
He called Ivy at four. She sounded as though she had woken up not too soon before.
"Hey Ivy, I'm sorry about what happened before. Do you think maybe we could have dinner tonight?" He said when she answered.
"Tonight?" She repeated slowly, as though checking a mental schedule. "Well, I think I'm free tonight." She said at last.
"Alright, tonight it is. I'll come for you around seven. I think I can pull reservations for where we would have gone yesterday." He replied.
She sighed into the phone and said, "Alright." But she was smiling as she hung up.
Once she had hung up the phone, she went to her closet, worried she didn't have anything to wear. She normally wasn't vain in any way, but she felt like dressing up a bit for once. She found that she had a light green dress, not bright, but almost pastel, which matched her highlights. It would do well enough, she reasoned. She set it out so it would be ready when it was time.
When it was six-thirty, she got dressed. She found a forest green button down sweater to go with the dress, and put that by the door for when she was leaving. She pulled a brush through her hair and quickly braided a few strands together. She was amazed at how much she was putting into this, as she usually wouldn't have cared. She guessed it was her way of making it up to him. She had seen how saddened he was when she had skipped yesterday.
She heard a knock at her apartment door at seven on the dot. She pulled on some green boots and ran to answer it. She pulled together some composure and answered it with a slight smile.
Sirius was stunned, staring at her. When Ivy raised her eyebrows questioningly he said quickly, "You look beautiful." He told her, giving her a heart-melting smile.
She just shrugged, trying to ignore his smile. She grabbed her sweater and put it on as they walked out the door and out of the apartment.
…………………………………………………………………………..
When they were seated at the restaurant, Sirius began to get slightly nervous. He kept thinking he'd forgotten the ring, but he knew it was safe in his pocket.
The two of them ordered dinner and ate, making polite conversation about work and different things such as that. They also watched people and made fun of some of them, a thing they often did on dates.
Then they ordered dessert, and ate that too. He had ordered a cherry tart and she had ordered a piece of chocolate cake. Sirius sat all through dessert mulling over exactly what he would say. When dessert was over he had finally decided.
"Ivy, I asked you here for more than just dinner. I was going over it in my head, and I came to this conclusion." He paused. "Well, maybe I should say this first. How would you like to stop being a double agent?" He asked.
Ivy raised her eyebrows at his question. "What do you mean how would I feel? Do you even have to ask?"
Sirius sighed and she knew she should answer the right way.
"Of course I would like to, but you know that I can't." She said solemnly.
"Well…what if I said you could? What if I said that you could live a semi-normal life without having to look over your shoulder, or worry all hours of the day?"
"I'd say you deserve to be hanged for not saying what you're going to say." She said impatiently.
"Ivy…Dumbledore said that if you had a really good reason you could quit." Sirius said. He got down on one knee before her and pulled out the navy blue box. He opened it to reveal the silver ring with small emeralds.
"Do you think this is reason enough?" He asked with a heart-melting smile.
His smile combined with the proposition of marriage was too much. "Sirius, you're not asking me…to marry you." She said, unbelievingly. "This is a dream that I'm going to wake up from now…"
"I hope not." Sirius replied. "I really hope you're not dreaming. I went through one hell of a day to get here." He replied.
"It's not a dream then?" Ivy asked. She smiled then and threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, I'll marry you." She told him, as he stood up and returned the hug. "I'll marry you." She repeated.
"I always hoped you would." He replied. He broke the hug and took her hand. Then he took the ring out of its case and slipped it onto her finger. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it softly.
"I always hoped you would."