The room was already buzzing with the sound of quiet chatter amidst the soothing melodies of the string quartet that were arranged on a raised platform under a blossoming tree. Tables were arranged unobtrusively around the room, grouped under and around trees in sets of about four or five, with varying numbers of chairs. Each table was set with several flickering candles which some of the younger students were poking with various bits and pieces.
"Honestly, you'd think they could leave that kind of thing just for one night," Saffron remarked as they passed the offending table.
"Besides, it's dangerous," Remus added.
"Maybe you'd better go and sort them out professor," Sirius remarked with a grin.
Remus wrinkled his nose and shook his head, "honestly, can any of you see me as a teacher?"
"Yes," they all chorused, grinning at the expression on his face.
They walked on towards a group of unoccupied tables at the rear of the room, chatting amongst themselves as they passed other students. The enchanted ceiling above them showed bright pinpricks of starlight that dimly lit the darker areas of the room. Soft globes of warm light floated lazily around the room illuminating the small clearing in the middle which was occupied by one or two early dance couples.
Sitting themselves down, they ordered their drinks and the subject fell to the upcoming exams.
"The one I'm most worried about is the Charms. I think I can handle the rest, but don't you think Flitwick's being slightly over ambitious to want us to produce a Patronus?" Saffron asked, "I heard from Anna that they didn't do that when they were in our year and only have to do it this year for their NEWTS!"
"Maybe Flitwick decided to try it out on a younger class to see if they could do it," Remus suggested, in between trying not to stare at the fifth year couple on the next table who were hurriedly putting out a small fire they had made when experimenting on how well a piece of parchment would burn. Apparently the answer to that was profusely.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Sirius said, grinning at the efforts of the fifth years.
"No, you wouldn't," Saffron returned wryly.
"I can give you a hand if you like?" Lily offered.
"That's ok, you don't do-" she bit her tongue in time to cut off the end of her sentence.
"Don't do what?" Sirius prompted as Lily cast an anxious glance at Saffron.
"Do… anything that I could help her with in return," Saffron replied, recovering just in time.
"We can work on it together," James suggested, she nodded in reply and then turned to frown at Sirius who was tapping his fingers on the table.
"Can you not do that?" she said.
"You're being boring," he replied, "we're at a ball for goodness sake, where we don't have to talk about work." He got up and grinned at her then added, "honestly Ravenclaws!" in an all-suffering manner. Then before she had time to retort he walked smartly off towards a girl sat nervously with another girl and her partner who were completely ignoring her.
"So he really is going to do the whole shining-knight thing," Saffron remarked as she watched him go.
"What shining-knight thing?" Peter asked as he came to join them, partner in tow.
"Oh, you know, the whole "every girl deserves at least one dance thing"," James replied vaguely.
"Oh yeah, I remember," Peter said, looking over to where Sirius was now walking towards the dance floor, "I just hope he realises that some of those girls are going to be disappointed when they find out that he didn't really want to dance with them because of who they were, you know what I mean?"
"I never thought of that," Lily admitted.
"Neither did Sirius I'll wager," James added.
"Who's your friend?" Saffron asked, looking pointedly at the blond by Peter's side.
"Oh," he flushed, "this is Claire. She's a Hufflepuff- fifth year."
They all made the appropriate introductions but were interrupted by the quartet pausing and Professor Dumbledore informing them that it was time for dinner.
An hour or so later Lily leaned back against the tree behind her. They had abandoned their seats at the table for the more picturesque patch of ground beside the small brook. Out on the dance floor she could see most of her friends dancing in and out of one another, Meg and Ryan, Amy and Ben and Sirius and partner number fifteen. Saffron was a short distance away chatting to some of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team and Remus and James had gone to get some more drinks.
The evening was going so well, she'd been overwhelmed with the number of people coming up and congratulating her and James on the job they'd done with the hall. She finally felt like she could take a break from the whole Huntress deal without the whole word coming crashing down around her. Things between her and Remus finally felt right and as for James…well, she wasn't sure what she thought about him right at that moment. She looked for him and spotted him talking to Remus as they stood in the drinks queue. An overhanging branch was brushing the top of his head and he kept reaching up to bat it away. She smiled to herself as he looked up and caught her looking at him. He smiled and she gave a small wave before dropping her eyes to the ground.
Dipping her hand in the water she sighed and wondered to herself, if everything was going so well than why did she still feel so…what was the word for it? Unsatisfied?
"Lily?"
She looked up to see James looking down at her, "I left Remus in the drinks queue, I was just wondering whether, erm…" he ran a hand through his unruly hair, "well, would you dance with me?"
She nodded and got to her feet with the help of his proffered hand. Neither of them said a word as they walked through the small groups of chattering people to the clearing. Stopping, he turned to her and held out his hand, stepping towards him she put her hand in his, feeling a shiver run up and down her spine as their fingers interlocked. She smiled at him before taking a step closer and curling her hand round his neck. His arm slid round her to rest on the small of her back.
As they began to slowly revolve around the floor Lily found she felt unaccountably nervous and couldn't meet his eyes. Instead, fixing her gaze on the spot at his neck where his dress robes ended. She watched as his chest gently rose and fell with his breathing, acutely aware of the warm tickle of his breath on her cheek as he bent his head so his forehead rested in the top of her head.
"You smell nice," he whispered.
She looked up into his half closed eyes and blinked as she unexpectedly glimpsed the hidden depths in his unguarded expression, "James," she whispered, moving her hand from behind his neck to gently trace the line of his jaw, "James."
"What is it?"
Lily smiled and took a step closer, taking her hand from his to put both arms round him and rest her head against his shoulder, her forehead against his neck. His hands moved to hold her gently to him and he kissed the top of her head discreetly.
"It's nothing," Lily replied, "I just wanted to say your name," she let out a soft laugh, "I like the way it tastes on my tongue."
Neither of them spoke after that, they just held each other, slowly swaying to the gentle melody provided by the harmony of the stringed instruments soaring up and over one another, their tunes each different, from the deep, mellow bass of the cello to the pure, crystal song of the first violin. But somehow, when they intertwined their voices, each supporting the other while at the same time adding an individual touch that no other voice could bring, they all melding together to make a complete, perfect whole.
Saffron was talking to two of her Gryffindor friends when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned round to face them,
"Oh, hello Sirius," the smile she gave him was enigmatic at the best. It was a curious expression, both inviting and cautious at the same time.
"Can I speak to you a moment," he glanced at the couple she was with and added, "in private."
She shrugged her compliance and followed him through the crowds to a shadowed spot near the long glass windows. When he turned back to her, he was wearing an expression she was all too familiar with. It was the one he wore whenever he was working himself up to do something he was not so sure would be a good idea, but he was going to do it anyway.
"Saff, you've been avoiding me ever since we kissed," he began, "I don't understand why, but I've been thinking about it and I think that, one way or the other, what it comes down to is that you don't want to be in a relationship with me. Is that true, or have I just made a complete arse of myself?" he smiled, but she could see there was something strained about it.
She sighed and then, slowly, she nodded, "Sirius, I-"
He held up a hand, "It's alright, I'd rather not hear what you're going to say. Believe me, there's not a single method of gentle rejection that I haven't tried myself. But it feels different to be on the receiving end of that…" he looked directly at her, "anything you say to me, however you put it, whatever words you use, is going to sound like rejection. And I don't want to hear that, not from you." He took a deep breath, "but there is one other thing I'd like to ask."
Saffron could only nod, there was a tight feeling in her throat that prevented her from saying anything. And in her heart she had the feeling that she'd just done something terribly wrong. No matter how much her head was telling her that she'd done the right thing, that she'd be better off for it in the end, something inside hurt. A dull aching pain that she'd never felt before.
Sirius took her hand, "You see, the problem is, that all night I've been dancing with scores of women," he grinned and for a moment there was that flash of Sirius that she was used to, then his expression sobered as he continued, "but all the while, the only girl I really wanted to be holding in my arms was standing there out in the crowd. Wearing a red dress that just cried out to be looked at, and an expression that said that that was all you were allowed to do."
She ducked her head and looked at his hands, holding hers.
"And I was wondering whether, just for tonight, we could call a truce. Pretend that we never had this conversation. That I never saw you shake your head and that you never saw the disappointment in my eyes. Dance with me Saffron."
Closing her eyes in an attempt to veil her sadness for a moment, she looked up at him, and seeing his expression, her heart cried out to her to say something, do something before she lost him. But she just whispered, "yes."
And so he started to lead her back to where the other couples were dancing in the clearing, noting Lily and James among them, but she stopped and he turned to regard her questioningly.
"Not there," she said, "dance with me here." And she held out her hand.
He walked towards her until he stood just in front of her, his expression serious for once. The muted light coming from a small ball of light sitting in the tree above cast shadows on his face that made her heart quicken. Stepping forwards, she wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes looking out at the dimly lit surroundings, hoping that as he closed his arms around her he wouldn't feel her shaking. And as she closed her eyes and felt tears trickling silently down her face she hoped that he wouldn't feel them through his shirt.
She had no idea how long they had stood there when the music ended, signalling the end of the night. She felt warm were his body heat had heated her through his shirt, warming her own body where she had leant against him. Looking up she saw him looking at her and before she had time to quell the impulse she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. Their arms and hands holding each other tightly as their lips hardly touched, gently, sweetly before they drew apart, eyes still closed as if to hold the moment a little longer.
"Come," Sirius said, breaking the silence and stepping out of the circle of her arms, "it's over. The music has stopped."
They walked back through an almost empty hall. Ahead of them Lily and James, the last people save themselves, walked through the door, hand in hand. And as they neared the open doors the illusion around them faded, the crystal stream returning to brick walls and the lush grass to stone flagged floors.
They pulled the doors shut behind them and there was silence between them for a moment. Then Saffron reached out a hand to gently touch his arm and whispered,
"I'm so sorry,", and as she spoke she turned away, treading the familiar steps back to the Ravenclaw common room. But as she walked, she wasn't sure if she had been speaking to him or to herself.
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A/N: Poor Saffron and Sirius! She's a foolish girl, who in their right mind could say no to him? *shakes head* well, it'll be good for his ego. *grins* anyway, James and Lily are the cutest! Not much to say this time, you may or may not be glad to hear.
Next chapter: 'The Butterfly' and things begin to start moving again